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The beer bottle flew through the air like a baseball pitched with all might.

The momentum was so strong that it felt like it could break bones upon impact.

But Jinseong didn’t flinch at the sudden oncoming beer bottle; he reached out his hand and grabbed the neck of the bottle as if it had been thrown to him.

Then he approached William and slowly extended his hand.

It was a handshake.

“Huh?”

William gazed at Jinseong, bewildered by the sight before him.

He had just thrown a beer bottle, yet Jinseong casually caught it without a hint of surprise, smiling as if he intended to do so all along. Not to mention, the damn bastard who came in with Agnes was now approaching him and even asking for a handshake.

“What are you doing?”

Jinseong didn’t respond to William’s question.

He just smiled brightly, as if asserting his harmlessness, and kept his hand extended as if waiting for William to shake it without any sense of urgency.

Seeing this, William, apparently irked, swung the remaining beer bottle upside down towards Jinseong’s hand.

Thud!

But Jinseong easily caught that beer bottle too, tossed it far away, and casually asked for a handshake again. At this, William seemed to lose his anger and, with a sound like a deflating balloon, chuckled softly and moved his hand.

Splat!

Instead of shaking Jinseong’s outstretched hand, he slapped it hard, spitting on the ground in disbelief and asking him:

“What the hell are you? Do you know me?”

But once again, Jinseong didn’t answer.

He simply maintained his smiling face and, like a non sequitur, spoke something completely different.

“Your face shows signs of worry.”

It was a peculiar way of speaking.

It sounded as if he had pieced together his English from learning it from various people.

Even in short sentences, it mixed the posh English of the upper class with the kind of language Americans might use, and the Eastern style of speaking.

If words had a shape, that speech would resemble a bizarre collection of limbs from various animals awkwardly stitched together.

It was a fashion that didn’t match his elegant and youthful, yet almost dimwitted-looking appearance, creating a horrific dissonance in his words.

Yes, it was reminiscent of the speech pattern of a foreign shaman who had learned languages while interacting with various social strata.

“The signs of worry are a precursor to misfortune. Terrible calamity gives off a sense akin to a corpse, always reeking of its presence. Just as the smell of a corpse can reach you before you even open its coffin, a repulsive odor, favored by disgusting insects, wafts in before you even open the door.”

Jinseong took advantage of the moment William flinched and elaborated at length.

And even while speaking, he combined different types of English to overwhelm William’s ears.

He wanted to plant a bad image firmly in William’s mind.

“There are many reasons for these concerns to arise. Such as when one’s luck runs out, or when several calamities hit at once, or if murky energies seep in, preventing good fortune from manifesting properly.”

Jinseong said this with a bright, smiling face.

If William tried to interject, Jinseong swiftly employed strong English to cut off his breath and prevent him from speaking, moving his hand slowly to distract William’s gaze.

And when he shifted his focus to the gesture, he would accent his speech again, directing William’s gaze right back to his words.

In this way, he captivated the easily bored William with a tone perfectly suited to his disposition.

Just when William began to lose interest in one thing, he smoothly steered the conversation into another.

When he started to lose interest in that, he would switch again.

Like passing a ping pong ball, Jinseong utilized accent and speech speed, along with gestures.

And when the effect was maximized, Jinseong turned to William and asked, “Do you happen to know the term ‘yuhan’ (憂患)?”

And just when William, taken aback by the question, was about to curse at Jinseong, he didn’t even wait for his response and continued speaking.

“I thought you wouldn’t know it. It’s not a term one uses often, especially not in Europe where Eastern culture hasn’t spread widely.”

William had no choice but to swallow his words in light of Jinseong’s sudden intrusion of speech.

He stared at Jinseong in disbelief.

It was absurd.

He had never encountered someone who would arbitrarily interrupt him mid-sentence.

Having lived a life of debauchery, where it was rare for anyone to cut him off or shut him up, William’s shock was substantial.

“This term ‘yuhan,’ like many East Asian words, is built from characters, and it contains several meanings. It could indicate illness, worry, or concern.”

Jinseong continued speaking, oblivious to William’s gaze.

“It consists of the character for ‘skewer’ combined with the character for ‘heart’ or ‘mind’. To put it plainly, it signifies a penetrating pain that pierces through the heart, mind. Moreover, since the center of the mind also forms a figure with two parts, being forced to think of two things at once is naturally a situation of worry, so the meaning aligns perfectly, doesn’t it?”

“This crazy bastard is trying to lecture me right now….”

Jinseong watched as William seemed to feel his limits of patience.

And before William could spew another round of curses, he abruptly cut him off.

“Just like there’s a skewer lodged in your heart.”

At those words, William sealed his lips tight as if he had been hit squarely.

But whether it was because he felt embarrassed for being hit where it hurt or simply irritated, William scowled with frustration. He then rummaged through his bag, pulling out a beer bottle filled with alcohol, raising it as if to swing at Jinseong’s head.

But before he could swing down the beer bottle, someone stepped in to protect Jinseong.

“What are you doing!”

It was Ella.

Ella had been rapt in Jinseong’s conversation, but when she saw William preparing to hit him, she quickly intervened. With her eyes narrowed fiercely, she protested vehemently to William, and as he stood there flustered, she pulled Jinseong away, creating distance between them.

“Hair Park, are you alright?”

“Thank you for your concern. I’m completely fine.”

As Ella stepped back, she looked at Jinseong with a worried expression, examining him closely.

Especially focusing on his hands, which had caught the beer bottles twice, checking if they turned red, swelled, or even if any bones were broken. Not stopping there, she touched his hand to assure there was no pain anywhere.

Only realizing she had been treating Jinseong’s hand like dough after a moment, she hurriedly withdrew her hand, blushing with embarrassment and stepping back a pace.

“I’m sorry, I was just so startled…”

“There’s no need to apologize. It was rather an honor that Frau Winter was concerned for me.”

It was quite a warm exchange.

“Huh?”

William watched the friendly scene between the two and wore a look of disbelief, placing the beer bottle he had held onto the table, studying Jinseong’s face intently. But even then, nothing came to mind, so he tilted his head and rummaged through his bag to pull out a notebook.

I’m told I’m going to Korea, so the clan had recorded important people’s faces and names here, pleading that I would avoid any incidents involving them. He flipped to the ‘B’ section and leafed through the pages until he stumbled across a man with the surname ‘Bak.’

Park Jinseong.

A promising shaman participating in the ‘Coming of Age Day’ event.

“Oh, I remember now. Cute Ness and Ella said this guy lives at their place?”

William nodded as if suddenly recalling after reading the notes.

“Come to think of it, this guy’s younger sister is kinda cheeky and friends with that brat, right?”

He skimmed through the notebook, hoping for more details.

But based on his standards, there was nothing exceptionally noteworthy.

Just dull details about the mansion’s owner being a top businessman in Korea and his connections.

William stuffed the notebook back into his bag and looked at Ella and Jinseong again.

‘If that brat was making that face… hmm.’

His gaze fell upon Ella, who, instead of the usual ice-cold demeanor, was showing a much more submissive attitude, like a girl at a ball who had just met a man she liked.

“Ha.”

Upon seeing that, William’s anger swiftly subsided.

“The brat who was whining seems to be getting on with things after all.”

He quickly cast aside his irritation and strode over to Jinseong.

Ignoring Ella’s watchful gaze, he looked at Jinseong with a smirk on one side of his mouth and said,

“Hey, you should’ve said something. If you mentioned you were the son-in-law, I wouldn’t have acted like that.”

 

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