WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈
Chapter 118: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (118)
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What was so good about using company funds to install disaster-prevention facilities in an aging village?
“First of all, Onik, it lowers the taxes you have to pay this coming May!”
The bad adult puffed out his chest as he spoke, but the good child looked less than enthusiastic.
“Um... Grandpa said paying lots of taxes is patriotic...
“And Teacher said it was admirable when I paid lots of taxes last year...”
There was a reason for Onik’s lukewarm reaction.
Last year, he had already received praise from his grandfather and teacher for paying so much tax.
If he paid his taxes without using loopholes, it was obvious that this year’s tax bill would be greater than last year’s.
And if he paid even more tax, Grandpa and Teacher would call him an even more admirable child.
In short, by Onik’s standards, praise from Grandpa and Teacher was far better than money.
If it meant receiving more affection from them, he could spend every bit of the money he had earned so far without the slightest pain in his heart.
“Ah, um... Well, you see...”
Thrown off by a reaction so unlike what he had expected, the hunter barely managed to come up with a new excuse.
“...Ah, right. Think about it. If you save on taxes, you can spend that much more money on the village, can’t you?
“You were happy when I negotiated down the installation cost and left you with extra money. You were talking about buying continuous glucose monitors for the elders with diabetes and such.”
“Ah, that’s true! Boss really is a wise adult!”
“R-right? Hahaha, hahahaha...!”
“Are there any other good points?”
“Of course there are. Why wouldn’t there be?”
“Please tell me!”
“If we do this with company funds, it counts as giving back to the community.”
“Can protecting our village really count as giving back to the community?”
“Ahem, no! You’re doing it to protect our village, but once we receive approval to install a firefighting water tank, ownership and management authority over the site will ultimately go to the fire department.
“Do you think the fire department will use that water tank only for our village? They’ll use it to put out fires throughout this whole area.”
“Ah...”
For a moment, Onik nearly felt disappointed after hearing the hunter’s words.
But when he thought about it again, using it to fight fires throughout the surrounding area meant using it for this village as well.
Wouldn’t it be best to put out a fire before it spread into the village?
‘Even if they can’t put it out, it will buy us time.’
If it bought time, the villagers would have a better chance of escaping safely.
The good child’s disappointment vanished before it could even raise its head.
The hunter continued.
“Anyway, if we do it that way, we can donate it into public ownership and have it recognized as a special qualifying donation.
“It’s better to do that through a corporation than as an individual.”
“A special qualifying donation?”
“Yeah. It might be a little hard to understand, but simply put, the more money our corporation spends, the more its taxable income goes down.
“Unlike ordinary donations, it’s a full one hundred percent deduction! And since it applies to corporate income, the limit is generous too!”
“Ah. If we reduce taxes that way, then we’ll have more money to spend on the village too, right? We could say that half the taxes we save are my share, couldn’t we?”
“...Huh?”
The bad adult had only been thinking about reducing corporate tax.
But to the good child, saving corporate tax was simply an extension of the income-tax savings they had discussed earlier.
Making money and saving tax were not the goal. They were a means.
A way to do more good things.
Legal Hunter was a bad adult, but he was not bad enough to flatly say, “That’s not how it works.”
Even in the worn-down heart of that bad adult, there was affection for the good child.
So the hunter barely managed to nod.
“R-right... The corporate taxes we save... can be used for the village too...”
“Wow! Boss really is such a good adult!”
“Hahaha... Right... This uncle is a good adult...”
The bad adult smiled outwardly while shedding sad tears in his heart.
#
There were many other things that made the hunter worry about Onik’s spending.
Around the beginning of the year, he received the shocking news that his young business partner had suddenly donated fifty million won overseas.
‘Is this kid planning to spend every penny as soon as he earns it?’
Onik’s real financial situation was not as concerning as the hunter feared.
That was because Onik had become a middle school student who earned an astonishing amount of money.
Even now, his earnings continued to rise.
Still, the hunter went to Three-Way Intersection Church.
The donation route Onik had found went through Pastor Kim and his eldest son Kim Pi-deuk’s trading company.
“Pastor, what exactly did you say to talk that child into it?
“I know he wants to help people, but is it really all right to take such a huge donation from a kid who has only just entered his second year of middle school?”
“I did not talk him into anything. Onik came to me first.”
The kindly pastor chuckled warmly, though he seemed troubled.
“He said he wanted to donate somewhere that saved people’s lives, but that he could not trust ordinary charities.
“So he asked me to introduce him to somewhere trustworthy, if I knew of one.”
People in this country generally had deep distrust toward welfare and charity organizations.
(In truth, it was not a problem limited to this country.)
The good boy from the aging village was not free from that distrust either.
“So you introduced him to your son’s company?”
The hunter pressed the matter in a tone that made it clear he could not understand.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Pastor, but is a family company normally what you recommend in a situation like this?
“Shouldn’t you recommend somewhere that has nothing to do with you?
“And I heard your eldest son runs a trading company. Is that even the kind of place that can receive donations?”
The heart behind his questioning was clearly concern for his young business partner.
If the hunter had been nothing but a bad adult, he would not have cared at all how his young partner spent his own money.
Pastor Kim, who could not have failed to understand those feelings, answered with an even gentler expression.
“Of course, I first recommended other charitable foundations. There simply were none among them that satisfied Onik.”
“Why wasn’t he satisfied?”
“First... he asked whether there was any guarantee that the places I recommended would never misuse donations.
“But there could be no such guarantee.
“Even organizations under the United Nations, which are watched by the international community, are not entirely free from corruption.”
“Hmm. That’s true...”
“Next, all the foundations I know well enough to recommend to others are Christian foundations.
“But Onik does not like ‘Uncle God’ very much. He says he does not seem like a particularly good god.”
“...Can a pastor really say that?”
“Hahaha. What can I do when it is true? Personally, I believe our Father in Heaven ought to show a little sincerity first.
“If he wants to earn the trust of our good Onik, that is.”
“Huh. You really are something else...”
“Onik said that Christian organizations all do good deeds in Uncle God’s name.
“And that they sometimes even include pastoral work as volunteer service.
“He said he did not like that. Then he added something quite memorable.”
“What did he say?”
“Conscience and morality should belong to people, not gods... That is what he said.”
Remembering Onik’s clear words and manner, Pastor Kim smiled broadly.
“Hearing that made me very happy. I could understand Onik’s thoughts, and they seemed very deep.
“Finally, I thought that this pitiful yet admirable child was strengthening his own resolve and growing up straight and true...”
This thought of the lonely boy’s had first begun to take root when he spoke alone before Yohan’s gravestone.
If there was no god in this world who loved people, then saving people and killing people remained wholly the responsibility of people.
Then conscience and morality, which made people save other people, ought to belong to people.
That was Onik’s conclusion.
The hunter asked again, uneasily.
“...Pastor. Are you really allowed to say things like that?”
“It is all right. Onik is a good child. And through Onik, I glimpse the goodness of God the Father.”
“Huh, honestly. Huh, honestly...”
At that, the hunter could find nothing to say and merely smacked his lips.
There was an aura around the quietly smiling Pastor Kim. An aura that made it difficult for even a bad adult to add another word.
The pastor continued his recollection.
“Anyway, after that, Onik seemed to sink into thought for a moment. Then he said he would rather entrust the money to me.”
“Huh? To you, Pastor?”
“Yes. He said that since he could not trust charities run by strangers, he would like me to create and run a new organization.
“He said that after his grandfather and Teacher Lee Eun-jeong, I was the person he trusted most.”
“What?! After Granduncle and Teacher Lee Eun-jeong?!”
The hunter pointed at himself.
“Then what about me?! You’re saying I, Hapless Chief Jo Cheol-sang, rank below a pastor?!!”
“...Hehe.”
Pastor Kim simply looked at the bad adult with the same gentleness as before.
Legal Hunter, who committed many illegal acts, could not endure that soft gaze for long and had to awkwardly look away.
“Ahem... Let’s just say that’s how it is. I’ll be generous about it. But...”
This time, the hunter pointed at the pastor.
“You’re a pastor too, aren’t you? If you ran a charity, wouldn’t you be doing it in the name of God?”
The pastor shook his head.
“If I am spending Onik’s money at Onik’s request, why would I invoke God’s name anywhere?
“I would only be fulfilling the request of a child as an adult he can trust.”
“...It would be a lie to say I never knew, but you are a truly strange sort of pastor.”
“Hehe. I hear that often.”
“So that’s why you recommended your son’s company?”
“Yes. It would involve less waste than creating a new organization from nothing. Onik’s donation must be used carefully.”
“Hmm...”
“Our Pideuk’s Banseok Trading Company was founded as a fair-trade business.
“Under commercial law, it is a corporation, but its articles of incorporation state that at least two-thirds of distributable profit must be used for social purposes.”
“Social purposes?”
“Yes. The specific purposes are included in the articles of incorporation as well.”
The social purpose of Banseok Trading Company, as written in its articles of incorporation, was:
“Fair-trade business supporting the economic independence of vulnerable producers in Africa and improving unequal trade structures.”
“So because it has articles like that, it can receive donations?”
“Regardless of its purpose, it is still a for-profit corporation, so it cannot simply receive them. It must receive separate certification from the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
“Pideuk’s Banseok Trading Company received that certification long ago.”
“Hmm, Pastor. Then can our Onik receive a tax benefit for the donation too?”
True to his nature as a bad adult who valued money, Legal Hunter immediately looked after his young business partner’s tax benefit.
The pastor smiled and nodded again.
“Once it receives certification, it is a proper public-benefit corporation. In older terms, it is also called a designated donation organization.
“Would I have recommended it to Onik otherwise?”
“True...”
“Onik also said that if it was Uncle Pideuk’s company, he could trust it.
“Because he is my son and the older brother of the late Yohan. He said that if I trusted him and Yohan had trusted him, then he would trust him too.
“And he said he could give him extra points for being a fellow Busan Seagull.”
“Busan Seagull?”
“It is the symbol of the Lotte Giants, and of their fans as well.”
“I know that much. Honestly. Is that Lotte Giants business some kind of disease...?”
“Haha... And Banseok Trading Company’s majority shareholder supervises the business locally in Congo. That person is very strict about such matters.”
“Really?”
“Yes. They also do not believe in the existence of a good god, so if we give them a word, they will use the money in a way that suits Onik’s wishes.”
“Meaning without Uncle God’s name being involved?”
“Yes. Without Uncle God’s name being involved.”
At last, there was nothing left to criticize on that front.
Still unwilling to let it go, the bad adult grumbled one last time.
“Pastor, couldn’t you at least have talked him into giving a smaller amount? He has only just entered his second year of middle school, and he wants to spend that much money...”
The strength in Pastor Kim’s smile faded slightly.
“That is the reduced amount. I was worried too, so I tried to persuade him in my own way. But he said that if I would not accept it, he would use it for something else that could save lives.”
“Oh, Onik...”
Legal Hunter could not help letting out another cry of dismay.
#
The hunter’s cries of dismay did not end there.
“Oh, Onik! Fine, let’s say I understand everything else!
“I understand spending money to protect the village, and I even understand donating to help other people! But, but...!”
The bad adult, who knew the value of money, could not contain his frustration and beat his chest with his fist.
“What on earth do you mean by saying you want to give Kim Ju-won a horse like Thunderbolt for his birthday?
“Since when were you two close enough for that, huh?”
The hunter had asked Onik a similar question before.
「Onik, since when was Kim Ju-won someone you could call an older friend? Nothing happened after you saved him at the riding school, did it?」
It was when the good rural boy had gone around asking the people close to him for understanding and cooperation, one day before Ju-won was forcibly summoned to a mountain village in another world.
The hunter’s words about nothing happening after saving Ju-won at the riding school showed that he still had not forgotten the grievance of having to blur out a rising popular video.
A bad adult was the sort of adult who remembered such things for a long time when someone they were not close to had disappointed them.
(Fortunately, people close to him were exceptions. He was a bad adult, but a less bad one.)
And now Onik wanted to buy a horse for that ungrateful high school student. How could the hunter’s frustration not boil over?
The hunter even felt wronged.
“Why? You invited him to the village, fed him for free, let him sleep for free, and even played with him!
“Why are you offering to buy him such an expensive horse? What value does he have that makes him worth that?”
With his hands clasped behind his back, Onik looked away and smiled awkwardly.
“Oh, value? Friends are not people who become friends by weighing each other’s value.”
“Then since when have you been that close?”
“Since this winter!”
“No, no, no...!”
“...”
“All right, let’s say you and he are close friends! But even between friends, giving such expensive gifts is strange!
“And if you just go around giving expensive gifts to friends, it can actually ruin the friendship!”
To the hunter’s surprise, Onik nodded.
“That is true.
“Friends should not become friends by weighing each other’s value, but if you casually give expensive presents just because you are friends, then you will eventually become friends for material gain.”
“If you know that so well, why?”
“Um... This one time is an exception. It is necessary!”
“How is it necessary?”
“I cannot tell you the details because they are a secret between friends. But Ju-won has a lot of hurt tied up inside him!”
“Hurt?”
“Yes! As his friend, I want to help ease some of that hurt. Then he can become a better person in the future!”
What riding meant in Ju-won’s life, after he had lived so long under intense control.
How hurtful it had been to be called a horse-less loser by the “good friend candidates.”
How disappointed he had been in parents who did not notice such hurt.
And finally, how stressful it was for Ju-won now that trauma from the accident prevented him from riding properly.
Onik kept all of it to himself.
They were things the shy, prickly high school student had found the courage to speak about only with great difficulty.
The reason that prickly high school student could honestly reveal his inner feelings was the sadness and loneliness he had first glimpsed in Onik.
Having learned of the lonely rural boy’s pain first, he had found the courage to speak of his own pain as well.
“Oh, Onik... Oh...”
The hunter looked close to tears as he asked again.
“I do not know what this hurt of his is, but if you spend so much money helping him ease it, what is left for you? Nothing, is there?”
“No? There is.”
“What is there? What remains?”
“A bookmark remains.”
“Huh?”
“A very beautiful bookmark remains.”
The good rural boy smiled softly with his pale face.
Once, the boy had made this promise before a kind idol sister.
「I am going to try fitting other people’s lives into the life I will live. Like bookmarks.」
After that, he had swallowed the words that should have followed.
「That way, whenever I become disappointed in myself and begin to hate myself, I will have memories worth opening again.
“This is how someone as far from ordinary as me can remain a person. It is also how I can become someone who lives up to Grandpa and Teacher’s expectations, even a little more.」
The prickly high school student Kim Ju-won was the second person whom the frightening boy had saved from suicide by using his ominous abnormality.
Therefore, Kim Ju-won was already a bookmark to Onik.
Onik wanted to make that bookmark even more beautiful and meaningful.
Ju-won had to find the strength to live as an upright and good person, so that Onik’s new bookmark could take on a beautiful color and keep that color for a long time.
Bookmarks like these would help the frightening boy continue forward without losing his way.
...They would be a great help someday, when he lived outside the village.
The boy carrying his own lack was slowly preparing his heart.
Onik gave the good adult who worried for him a gentle smile.
“I cannot tell you the details because they are a secret, but please think of it as preparing my heart to leave this village and live elsewhere.
“I have to make preparations like this whenever I have the chance.”
Still looking close to tears, the hunter asked again.
“Our Onik is far too kind. Can’t you explain it in a way this uncle can understand?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I told you it was a secret.”
The bad child’s secret could not be spoken.
The boy hiding that secret ended the conversation simply by adding apology to his smile.
#
The hunter was not the only person troubled because he could not understand Onik, who was like The Giving Tree itself.
When Ju-won heard that Onik wanted to buy him a horse, the scale of Onik’s kindness was so enormous that it left him confused.
The confusion was so great that there was no room to feel happiness.
Was that not simply how tsunderes worked? If you drove pure kindness straight into them again and again, they broke down.
No matter how much he thought about it, Ju-won did not feel that he was worth receiving such kindness.
So the question that stumbled out of Ju-won’s mouth was exactly like the hunter’s question.
“Hey. Why, why are you doing this much for me...?”
Onik smiled brightly.
Footnotes:
“Horse-less loser” recreates a Korean slang joke that combines “horse” with a term for someone who does not have something.
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