-Hm… Did something happen?
-Yea, they don’t deliver stuff anymore so I can’t take everything.
The spirit fell silent for second before answering back.
-I’ll negotiate with them.
-Huh?
Jaehwang tilted his head as he wondered what she meant. She followed it up by explaining a way to negotiate and resolve the problem.
-Can you help me? I want to buy all of this.
-What do you need?
-Okay, If it’s not too much to ask for, I would just need help taking my stuff.
Jaehwang nodded his head on what she said.
-How can I take all of these?
-Give me a second.
After she went over on what she had to say they waited at the cart filled with the groceries. He then heard her voice again.
-Hand out your right hand.
Jaehwang opened his right hand and looked in surprise.
-What’s this?
He asked as soon as he saw a deep black hole that had suddenly appeared in the middle of his palm.
-Okay, now… Touch the groceries with your hand.
He followed her instruction and touched everything in the cart with his right hand.
Syuuuk
Everything had started to move and he was left speechless.
-What happened?
-Just a little magic. There’s endless amount of magic in the mountains that I could tap into. But here I have a limit on what I can do. It’s not good to store your food in this place but we had to do it. This could take a while…
-Ah… I see.
And the magic started again and Jaehwang then said,
-…Wow this is going great.
She kept quiet as she took in all of the things from his cart with his hand.
“Huh…”
An employee saw Jaehwang sucking everything he bought into his hand. He got scared, he was just wearing old shabby clothes and a hat over his face. He was the one who came earlier to requesting for delivery and he didn’t seem to be that strong.
‘If he has that kind of ability then why is he asking for something like a delivery?’
The employee wondered why he didn’t use that power in his own favor. He looked like a man who had a lot of pride and wants to let everyone know that he was a hunter.
‘Maybe it was on purpose…’
Soon after using that plan to ask for delivery service, it was not working out as he planned.
Of course, it was a dangerous plan but, it was worth the risk. Now the employee would have to give that hunter some settling money when he leaves. It could only be a small amount of change but the employee knew that he had to do it or else, he would be eating breakfast in the hospital tomorrow.
Jaehwang started to absorb the groceries with his hands. He got the attention of other people in the market making them take a step back. No one could see his face so none could recognize him.
“S-sir…Excuse me?”
“Yes?”
A male employee asked as he scratched his head in confusion. He had beads of sweat on his face as he looked around at the other senior employees. He then walked to the customer and asked what was going on.
The male employee from earlier started to laugh. He laughed at the idea that he was now getting involved with him again asking if it was really that necessary. He was about to talk to him and Jaehwang then felt a strong force hitting at the back of his head.
Pang!
“Ow!”
He fell flat on his face.
“Sorry, sir. We would be doing some retraining so this kind of thing won’t happen again.”
He looked at the one who interrupted him and hit him in the head. His facial expression couldn’t be recognized because of his hat but he glared at him without saying anything.
The employee didn’t know what kind of mistake he made but he had experienced this kind of trouble with hunters before. He realized that it would be best to accept what would happen and get over with it.
Th hunter came and complained about the products that he bought were expired. He didn’t know who to talk to so he went towards to the female employee and she didn’t have the answers he needed. Both parties were at fault since the hunter didn’t check the expiration date ahead of time for the expired product.
The employee replied back in an angry tone and the hunter responded by picking up his items ones by one and throwing them towards her. That day, everyone watched an employee eat 2.5 liters of spoiled milk.
“You…Whatever, it’s okay.”
Jaehwang unconsciously waved his hand with a deep breath to calm himself down and relax. No matter what happens, he didn’t want them to see him as a bad person.
“But, I have to buy some things.”
“Really?”
Jaehwang said as he walked over towards the snack corner.
-What’s this?
-Chocolate, snacks.
-…Like pancakes?
-Candy
-It’s like sugar? What’s this?
-Chocolate
-Hm… It’s weird but it looks good. Buy it.
Jaehwang placed it in the cart.
-That one… and that one…
He then went over towards the food corner and as they passed by something that the spirit wanted he would just put it in the cart without a word.
-That too, that looks good. Put that in there too.
-You’re going to eat that?
-Uh… Well, it only has a good package to make you buy it, right?
They then went over to the fruits and the bakery section.
-Look at that! That red thing! And that over there too…It looks good. I want it.
The spirit pointed out and begged for a colorful cream cake until Jaehwang placed it in the cart.
– The total amount is $52 dollars and then all I have left is 9 dollars.
He counted the cash in his wallet and then suddenly stopped. He looked at everything he bought and most of it was snacks like chocolate, candy, cake etc… He started to think about his parents again as he remembered that these were the ones that his mom and dad never allowed him to eat.
But then a market representative saw a glance of his face and signaled someone to go and assist him. A female employee rushed to his side and extended her open palm.
“Hand me your card, please.”
“Huh? Why?…”
“Just hand it, please.”
“Okay okay…”
She swiped his card through the cash register and gave him some cash.
“Why are you giving me this cash?”
“Our employee made a mistake and we’re sorry for the poor service”
Jaehwang just looked at her and nodded his head. It was a result of an employee giving him poor service but he soon thought about refusing that compensation.
They then then finished swiping his card and paid for his groceries. As he left the senior employee took a deep breath of relief and looked the one who caused the problem.
“Finally…”
“Yeah… yeah”
Peoeok…
The senior employee hit the male employee on the head.
“The payment for those things are coming out of your paycheck. Understood?”
“Y-yes…”
“I hope that you learned your lesson about saying unnecessary things.”
“The next time that hunter comes, tell me so I could leave.”
“Yeah…and thanks.”
***
“Jaehwang!”
He arrived in the village and turned around after he heard someone calling his name. It was a head of the village, Mr. Kim who ran towards him and caught up.
“Hello.”
“Hi… were you going up the mountain?”
“Yeah.”
Mr. Kim was one of the youngest in the village head. He helped the village by taking care of its people. He did a really good job.
“Cool, how are you enjoying mountain life?”
“It’s great.”
He greeted Jaehwang before giving him a business card.
“The day after tomorrow?”
“Yes, the day after tomorrow. We were trying to gather hunters to help catch that monster… It will be great. And you haven’t even seen the face of the mountain general yet.”
Jaehwang responded by nodding his head. It was a bit of an inconvenience but, people could die if that monster was left to run free.
“Okay, got it. I’ll be there.”
“Okay. Ah… and…”
Jaehwang waited for what Mr. Kim was about to say. He saw him run towards the city hall and came back a moment later with a black box. He handed it off to him with a smile.
“What’s this?”
Jaehwang asked Mr. Kim as soon as he took the box in his hand.
“We are trying to bring cell phones into the mountain but we’re in the middle of a remote area so it was pretty difficult. So we’re taking out village fees to buy metropolitan phones.”
A metropolitan phone on the mountain or a remote area somewhere would eventually lead to smartphones. It would be a necessity to hunters but it may not be worth it. A phone’s price was double the amount of the payment that they would usually ask for.
“Why are you giving this to me?…”
“I just wanted someone to see it. But you don’t have to take it.”
“No, it’s okay, I’ll take it.”
After a second thought, he returned the black box to Mr. Kim and declined his participation in the hunter-gathering.
“Oh…I see… You caught the wild pigs for us and… you know. Honestly, this mountain is very dangerous so…You know… You were the only help that this mountain has ever had. So please, help us with this, please?”
Jaehwang noticed that he kept saying ‘You know’ and it almost made him laugh. He also wondered why was he trying to give him this high priced phone. He knew at the back of his head that there were more important things that had to buy.
This wasn’t only about needing to buy buy things for him. This mountain was special to Jaehwang and buying off a few phones would not change it. He decided to join the monster hunt and take the phone.
“Okay.”
He made a promise with himself since he was young that if the people on the mountain needed help, he wanted them to call him and he would not reject their request. He gave him a nod and took his box.
“Thank you. II hope that it’s not that big of a deal and that it would be too much of a burden to you…”
“Yeah.”
Jaehwang took back the metropolitan phone and said goodbye.
“Okay then, see you in a few days.”
“Okay.”
A spirit is very useful 2, The end.
