Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 111

God-Given Top Star 111. Punishment for Wrongdoing (2) (111/401)

111. Punishment for Wrongdoing (2)

2022.02.19.

“Excuse me?”
“I’ll gladly accept whatever punishment you give.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, I need to correct my attitude first. Starting with kneeling….” Woo Do-gyeom straightened his back, which had been deeply buried in the seat. Unfortunately for Yeon-woo, the spacious car was large enough for a robust adult male to kneel.
“No, why are you suddenly doing this?!”
“Am I not adopting the attitude of someone seeking punishment?”
“I’m going crazy, really….”
It was good that Woo Do-gyeom unexpectedly admitted his fault so easily. He had been upgraded from non-burnable trash to at least recyclable trash. That was fortunate. He had lost his temper earlier and lashed out without looking back, but after cooling down, he could see reality. Yeon-woo could just overturn everything here and leave, but….
‘Other people would be affected.’
Thinking that way, it was indeed fortunate that Woo Do-gyeom readily admitted his mistake, but….
“If kneeling isn’t enough, perhaps corporal punishment….”
As expected, his repentance wasn’t ordinary.
“Excuse me?! What kind of crazy talk is that?!”
“Ah, is that not the way to go?”
“Where on earth did you hear such a thing?!”
“I didn’t hear it, but I saw it.”
“What did you see?”
“There was a movie about a certain religion, and it showed a person practicing asceticism [self-discipline and avoidance of indulgence] in a self-denying way. He took off his clothes and whipped his own back with a horsehair whip.”
“What kind of movie are you talking about….”
“The young master of the Kwon family kindly sent it to me. The genre was thriller. That scene wasn’t the main focus, but it was memorable.”
“…….”
He had no idea what movie it was.
“That’s enough. There’s absolutely no need for corporal punishment.”
“Why? Shouldn’t I do that much to relieve your anger?”
Woo Do-gyeom didn’t kneel, but he lowered his body and looked up at Yeon-woo. Haa. Yeon-woo sighed deeply.
“That’s enough. More than that, if you really think you’re at fault, take responsibility for this incident and clean it up.”
“Is that all it takes?”
“Take care of the unnecessary articles that are coming out on your own.”
“Any other compensation you want?”
“Just clean up the mess properly.”
“I should also compensate the staff separately. If I pay them in the form of bonuses….”
“Are you crazy?”
Yeon-woo was appalled by the idea of compensating with money, like a corrupt *chaebol* [South Korean conglomerate] chairman. Actually, that was right.
“Just don’t tell those people what you did at all. That would be better compensation than money.”
The mental health of the staff is very important. Especially for someone as delicate as Director Ji, who is like glass. If they knew this fact, they would be shocked and horrified, saying, ‘What?! Our investor used us as sacrifices to promote our movie?!’ Director Ji would fall into a slump from then on.
‘That would be the worst.’
It would be better if they didn’t know this fact at all.
“In the future, if you’re going to do something to me or those around me, be sure to ask me first.”
“Ah, you want obedience? Fine. I’ll gladly obey you as I would a lord.”
“No… what kind of bizarre….”
Now his head started to throb in a different way.
“I’ll try. But it might be difficult to perfectly follow your words. After all, timing is everything in business.” Woo Do-gyeom smiled, as if telling him not to worry.
“I’ll try to meet your standards as much as possible.”
Why didn’t he feel relieved by those words?
‘Can I trust him?’
That question arose. He was such a strange person that he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
*
Thanks to Woo Do-gyeom’s assurance, the atmosphere in the car was somehow salvaged.
“……But why did you suddenly say you were wrong?”
He had repeatedly asked the same question and acted like he didn’t understand, so it was strange that he suddenly did that.
“Hmm. I’m a little curious about that too. It was a very unfamiliar sensation.” Woo Do-gyeom suddenly stared intently at Yeon-woo.
“Strangely, the more you look at me and talk to me, the more my reason crumbles little by little.”
“What are you talking about?”
He asked why he was doing things he never used to do, but instead of an answer, strange words came back.
“It’s as I said. Every time you looked at me reproachfully, I felt a strange sensation.”
It wasn’t just reproachfully, he had properly reproached him.
“It’s the first time I’ve felt such a sensation, so I don’t know how to express it. I should say I feel like I’m getting weirder and weirder. Clearly, what I want is something else, but different words come out of my mouth. And even though it’s strange, it’s not strange at the same time.”
The eyes staring intently at him came a little closer.
“It’s like that even now. Strangely, it’s fluttering here.” Woo Do-gyeom pressed down on his chest.
“I went to the hospital, but they didn’t find any specific illness.”
“…….”
Yeon-woo was speechless. No. Was that something to go to the hospital for? Woo Do-gyeom even went a step further.
“Actually, I don’t really trust hospitals. As you know, my children were very sick. But no hospital could find the reason.”
That was inevitable. It was probably too early for the essence of modern science to find a supernatural phenomenon.
“Thinking about that time makes me grind my teeth. You can’t even imagine how much those little children suffered. It was also the first time I felt such helplessness. Clearly, my children were sick and getting worse, but I couldn’t do anything for them.”
Woo Do-gyeom’s thick eyebrows twitched as if bad memories had surfaced.
“Anyway, that was me, and I barely made time to get an endoscopy and even an MRI, but my organs were very clean. I even had an electrocardiogram, but that was also clean.”
And he even went to the hospital for that. At this point, Yeon-woo thought.
‘……This guy must have been seriously worried?’
But even his worries weren’t ordinary. Even his choice of words when he was worried was uniquely novel.
“Why an electrocardiogram?”
“I suspected arrhythmia [irregular heartbeat].”
“…….”
As expected, this guy wasn’t normal.
“It was also the first time I felt disappointed in myself. It was a different feeling from helplessness. So at first, I pondered this unfamiliar sensation. But even with that unfamiliarity, I could define it relatively easily. I could feel hesitation about my choices.”
“When did you feel that again?”
“Just now. Until right before I felt you were getting angry. I felt like I had become a complete idiot. I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Not even once?”
“Not even once.”
A definite answer without any room for doubt.
“It only applies to you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else. Ah, right. Did you cast some kind of hypnosis on me?”
“……Do you think I would do something like that?”
“Well, that kind of trick wouldn’t work. I wouldn’t have believed in ghosts or anything like that if it weren’t for my children and you.”
As a human born with the lineage of a foreign demon, it was natural. Even if he stayed still, the surrounding *japgwi* [low-level spirits or 잡귀] would fall off on their own, so he wouldn’t be able to see anything even if he tried.
‘Tsk. I’m jealous.’
Looking at it, he had a very comfortable constitution. He was envious. Some people have lived a very difficult life because they can see ghosts and get entangled with them even when they stay still. Some people can live a pure life because they were born with the lineage of a foreign demon, even while doing things that would attract ghosts.
“Is it because I’m getting weaker….” Woo Do-gyeom looked even more intently at Yeon-woo. Now it was as if he was going to lick every single hair on his body with his eyes.

“Maybe it’s because the atmosphere is a bit different from before. Even I think you’ve always had a weak spot for me….”
‘Hmm?’
Wait a minute.
‘Atmosphere?’
One thing came to mind with that word.
‘Could it be because of that stat I got on the island?’
The S-rank stat, ‘Worship for the Forgotten God.’
He remembered that there was an explanation that it ‘makes them feel attracted to you in some form.’
‘But it wasn’t this dramatic for other people?’
As Woo Do-gyeom said, he had a certain amount of leniency towards Yeon-woo. He didn’t even need to ask anyone; he could just gauge it by looking at the expressions of the Cheongwang people.
Yeon-woo was vaguely aware that Woo Do-gyeom was putting up with a lot for him. It wouldn’t be strange if that was strengthened a little more with the power of the stat.
‘No one else has made me as frustrated as Woo Do-gyeom, so there wouldn’t have been any friction, and there wouldn’t have been any regrets or guilt… It wouldn’t be too strange if only Woo Do-gyeom was like this.’
Yeon-woo analyzed the situation very calmly. Meanwhile, Woo Do-gyeom was still looking into Yeon-woo’s eyes.
“It’s amazing to me that I’m even having this conversation. These stories can become my weaknesses.”
“Then you don’t have to say them, do you?”
“No. Because I feel like I have to say something to you and ask for forgiveness. It’s very unfamiliar, but I feel like I have to.”
When you think about it, this man named Woo Do-gyeom isn’t the type to apologize to someone or do something he would regret. How many times would someone who has been sitting on the throne since birth have to bow his head and say something regrettable to someone?
“Isn’t it strange? Why only to you….”
It wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to be strongly influenced by the stat and to feel unfamiliar with the sensations he had never experienced before. Yeon-woo had no intention of explaining it kindly.
‘Let’s see you suffer.’
If he could make this man, who was somehow inhumanly twisted, suffer, he would keep his mouth shut as much as possible. That was definitely his plan. If only Woo Do-gyeom hadn’t jumped to a strange conclusion.
“Ah. I see.”
“……?”
Woo Do-gyeom suddenly had a look of realization on his face.
“This is….”
“Wait. Hey? Don’t say crazy things.”
Yeon-woo hurriedly interjected. He had a bad feeling that the word that would follow would be very terrifying. And as always.
Yeon-woo’s bad premonitions never missed.
“I haven’t finished speaking yet?” Woo Do-gyeom muttered with a dissatisfied face.
“Do I have to hear it?”
“Ah, so we understand each other without words. Not bad.”
Of course, he quickly loosened up and spouted crazy things.
“Just in case, I hope you never bring up that word in front of me. If you say that crazy thing, you’ll never see me again.”
As he said with a shudder, Woo Do-gyeom stared at Yeon-woo and muttered.
“Well, if you already know it without me having to say it, there’s no need to say it.”
“No… what is that….”
I’m going crazy. Whether Yeon-woo said that or not. Woo Do-gyeom nodded as if he was satisfied with something.
“Hmm. That’s not bad either. But it’s a little disappointing that you call it crazy. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit. Isn’t it right? The feeling of your heart fluttering when you see them, being swayed even though it’s not your intention, and having no choice but to give in. There’s only one thing that can be.”
“Absolutely not.”
“But what the doctor said was similar.”
“……What doctor?”
What kind of doctor used such crazy word choices?
However, Yeon-woo was speechless at Woo Do-gyeom’s next words.
“After the electrocardiogram and it was determined that it wasn’t arrhythmia, I went to a psychiatrist.”
“…….”
“And I received counseling. I heard about it there.”
“…….”
Strangely, why did he have a feeling that he could imagine that situation?