Chapter 92: Village Conflict Resolution

The filming location for this episode of [Neighborhood Guard] was Gangwon-do.

Among the areas there, the production team chose the location of a local police substation in Hanil-myeon.

Since the previous episode had shown a busy city police precinct with frequent incidents and accidents, they had intentionally chosen a quiet rural neighborhood this time.

“It’s truly fascinating that we managed to cast him.”

At Writer Go Seon-young’s words, PD Jang Jun-sung nodded as well.

“Tell me about it. He must be incredibly busy during his comeback promotions.”

From the production team’s perspective, it was a massive stroke of luck.

They saved face with the National Police Agency and generated buzz for the program.

It couldn’t get any better than this.

“So, let’s make sure Sun-woo looks good. We need to make them feel it was worth coming.”

“You’re right, Writer Go. I’ll edit it brilliantly. Justice, order, service—and among those, today is—”

While they were discussing the direction of today’s editing.

A van appeared in front of the village hall where they were waiting.

Vrrrr— The door opened automatically, and—

“Conflict! Antagonism! Clashes!”

The Demon God burst out.

“Sun-woo, I told you that’s not it.”

“Hyung, it’s justice, order, and service.”

Following behind him were Team Leader Oh Dae-ho and Yoon-seo.

The Team Leader was expected, but Yoon-seo had been drafted against his will.

The production team had requested Yoon-seo to appear alongside him.

This was due to the scene he shared with the Demon God in the firefighting video.

Thanks to that, Yoon-seo ended up as the Demon God’s sole aide.

“I need an active performance to cover up my dark history! Bring me a crime at once!”

It was a suffocating mission….

At any rate, the Demon God’s objective was clear.

An intense performance to cover up the scene where he spaced out in the firefighting video!

However.

Moooo— Moooooo—

In this peaceful place, a cow lowed from somewhere.

“?”

While the Demon God was momentarily bewildered by the unexpected atmosphere.

The production team, who had also been momentarily bewildered upon seeing the Demon God, approached.

“You’ve arrived. Nice to meet you, I’m PD Jang Jun-sung. This is Writer Go Seon-young.”

“Hello. You must be Team Leader Oh Dae-ho? Nice to meet you too, Sun-woo and Yoon-seo!”

“Hello, I’m Yoon-seo.”

“Bow your heads.”

Yoon-seo bowed his head in greeting, while the Demon God demanded they bow theirs.

“I’m Oh Dae-ho. Our kids are exactly as you see them.”

Now, Oh Dae-ho didn’t even bother making excuses.

“Hahaha! It’s exactly as I’ve heard.”

“Kyahaha! Director, am I right? The other writers told me he’s incredibly funny.”

An amicable atmosphere.

However, there was someone else to greet today.

Standing at the village hall was the substation chief, wearing a police uniform.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Woo Kang-soo. I heard you were idols, but you truly are tall and handsome.”

[Neighborhood Guard] was originally a real-variety program where four cast members experienced rural police life.

However, they occasionally broadcast episodes where guests served as police officers for a day, like today. On such occasions, the four regular cast members would only provide reactions as a panel for the recorded footage.

Usually, a veteran field officer would be attached to them, but this time, since the guests had a stronger promotional purpose, the substation chief stepped forward personally.

“Chief! What is the current state of crime in this place?”

Where there are shouts of justice and order, there must always be chaos and disorder!

“Crime?”

However, Chief Woo tilted his head.

“There isn’t much of a current state to speak of. It’s an incredibly peaceful neighborhood.”

“What?! What about conflict, antagonism, and clashes?”

“Eh?”

Chief Woo explained the atmosphere of the village to the Demon God and Yoon-seo.

“Basically, Hanil-myeon is a peaceful village.”

“Peaceful?”

“There’s no one disturbing the order.”

“Order?”

“Though occasionally, crop thieves do appear.”

“Oh, that is excellent.”

“?”

Yoon-seo cut in and waved his hands.

“It’s because he grew up overseas. Anyway, it’s because he grew up overseas.”

However, at this rate, it would be difficult for the Demon God to achieve his objective.

Since he couldn’t create a crime that didn’t exist—

“Shall I create one?”

“Hyung, create what…?”

“…….”

“What is it, why aren’t you saying anything!”

The Demon God was conflicted.

He had even brought Shadow with him; he wondered if it would be a good idea to create a small crime and resolve it himself.

Fortunately, Chief Woo thought of something.

“Ah! Come to think of it, a report came in right before I came here.”

“!”

“They said a huge fight broke out. Would you like to go there?”

The Demon God’s eyes sparkled.

“As expected! No matter how peaceful a place is, if people are gathered, problems are bound to arise.”

“Well, that is true.”

Chief Woo laughed good-naturedly.

And the production team chimed in from the side.

“We were just thinking that it would make for a good scene.”

It seemed they had already had it in mind for their first dispatch.

“Sun-woo and Yoon-seo, is it not too rushed to dispatch immediately?”

They simply asked if they were uncomfortable heading to the scene as soon as they arrived.

“Rushed? My active performance is urgent.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

The Demon God and Yoon-seo didn’t care in the slightest.

Once they appeared on a program, Pantheon always did their best.

At that sight, the production team smiled happily.

They accepted the casting right away and didn’t hold back.

“Great! Sun-woo and Yoon-seo, let’s quickly change into police uniforms and head out.”

The Demon God and Yoon-seo received their police uniforms.

Crisp dark blue shirts and navy trousers.

On the shoulders, a patch specially inscribed with ‘Neighborhood Guard’ added an extra touch.

When they changed and came out of the village hall.

“Wait…, how do these uniforms suit you so well?”

Chief Woo stared at the two of them in bewilderment.

Small gasps of admiration also slipped out from the production team.

“Our cast doesn’t have that fit.”

“They’re so different from the old men.”

“It’s because they’re idols.”

Oh Dae-ho answered with a satisfied smile.

“Do police uniforms naturally look good on idols?”

“Of course. They have to be able to pull off any fashion to confidently call themselves idols.”

“My, truly amazing.”

With Chief Woo’s admiration, the Demon God and Yoon-seo split up and got into different patrol cars, each with a junior police officer.

They moved out together, with the cameras following behind.

A huge fight.

The scene of conflict, antagonism, and clashes was—

“Oh my, that dog is barking again! Are you just going to let it be?”

“If the dog barks, you talk to it! What am I supposed to do if I don’t let it be, cover its mouth? Why don’t you shut your own mouth!”

Two grandmothers were raising their voices in a house courtyard….

The Demon God blinked at the sight and then turned to Chief Woo.

“Excuse me? Chief?”

“Oh my, the grandmothers are fighting severely.”

In Hanil-myeon, this was considered a huge fight.

It was that quiet of a neighborhood.

“Eh? Why have so many people come?”

“Huh? The old man next door said he called the police, was it true? Chief Woo! Has the Chief come?”

The grandmothers, belatedly noticing the arrival of the people, looked around.

The Chief approached the two grandmothers and explained the situation.

“They came from a broadcast.”

“A broadcast?”

“Yes, they say they’re going to film you grandmothers fighting, haha.”

“Us? What are they going to do with that? Embarrass us?”

“Aigoo, if you know it’s embarrassing, you shouldn’t fight. Why are you fighting so much?”

Chief Woo slyly went about understanding the cause of the fight.

The gist of it was that Grandmother Park’s dog had been barking too loudly these days.

Grandmother Kim had demanded she do something about it, leading to the fight.

“It’s not loud.”

“There you go with that again! It’s not loud to you because you’re deaf!”

As they spoke, the two grandmothers seemed ready to argue again.

“Is the dog really that loud?”

Everyone looked at the dog in question.

However.

“…….”

The dog had kept its muzzle tightly shut from the moment the Demon God appeared.

A dog has its own animalistic sense.

One of the young junior officers came up with an idea.

“Shouldn’t we just make it bark somehow and measure the decibels? Then we’ll know if it truly counts as noise.”

Chief Woo chuckled and shook his head.

“Do you think they’ll accept it if we tell them the decibel level? What do you think, is there any other way?”

The Chief threw the question at the Demon God and Yoon-seo.

Of course, he didn’t expect the two of them, who were even younger than the junior officer, to have a good idea.

It was simply an action requested by the production team, who had asked him to be sure to ask questions and talk to the two of them.

“Conflict mediation. That is not how it is done.”

“?”

The Demon God, who had been sullen about the nature of the fight, spoke up unexpectedly.

“Oh? Really? Then what should we do?”

The Chief asked back, wondering what the young friend was going to say.

“Yoon-seo, let us go grocery shopping.”

“Yes!”

An even more unexpected statement came from the Demon God and Yoon-seo.

““?””

Not only the Chief and the junior officers, but even the production team wondered why they would go grocery shopping at this moment—

One hour later.

Everyone came to understand the logic behind conflict mediation.

“It’s delicious, truly delicious.”

“Yes, it’s tasty.”

The two grandmothers’ taste buds were captivated by the various dishes Yoon-seo had prepared.

“Try some of this too. The taste is incredible.”

“Really? You try this. It’s easy to chew even with my dentures.”

The taste buds soften—

The stomach softens—

And then the heart softens.

Sharing a meal softens it even more.

“This Yoon-seo is a top-tier chef of whom I boast.”

“Boasting about me, Hyung, that’s not bad.”

The Demon God and Yoon-seo laughed at the same time, Hmph.

“This is how it is done. The basis of resolving a conflict is changing the atmosphere.”

The massive army of Grand Commander Demon God.

Were there truly no conflicts among his subordinates within it?

That couldn’t be. With numerous diverse races in the situation of war, conflicts, antagonisms, and clashes occurred frequently.

Most were sorted out on their own, but.

– You bastard! I will kill you!

– That’s my line! I will cut off your head right now!

In some cases, the Demon God had to personally mediate the conflict.

– Shut up.

– Yes, sir.

– Yes, sir.

Of course, simply suppressing the conflict itself with the Demon God’s overwhelming presence was enough, but.

The Demon God did not like stopgap measures.

If he did that and it exploded at a crucial moment, it would bring about even worse results.

– Let us change the atmosphere. Bring the vat of alcohol.

– …….

– …….

At such times, the Demon God would change the atmosphere to open the flow of conversation.

– I will dunk you in this vat of alcohol. After repeating it a few times, the atmosphere should change.

– Pardon?

– No, wait!

Of course, the method of changing the atmosphere was somewhat different from now, but.

– Cough, I am sorry! Please spare me!

– Blergh, we will not fight! Please spare me!

Sometimes, simply changing the atmosphere was enough to solve the problem.

“Hmph.”

The Demon God smiled slightly as he recalled those joyful memories with his subordinates.

And today, the problem was being solved simply by changing the atmosphere.

“Alright. I’ll try to keep Yellow quiet. Honestly, I keep telling him, but lately he just won’t listen. It’s been like that since we started hearing strange noises from the mountain.”

“Aigoo, so you were trying to tell him. Maybe Yellow is acting like that because he’s startled by those noises too. I’m sorry for getting angry.”

“Grandmothers, please have some dessert too. This is delicious.”

Just as the dishes Yoon-seo continually brought out melted softly on the tongue,

The conflict also melted away and disappeared.

Everyone smiled warmly, and this entire scene was captured on camera.

It was coming to a perfect end.

“But still—”

The junior officer who had suggested measuring decibels suddenly spoke up.

“What is it now?”

Chief Woo asked him.

“Doesn’t the problem only get solved if we stop the dog from barking? How do we do that? Even earlier, as soon as Sun-woo and Yoon-seo went grocery shopping, it barked like crazy.”

Yellow had barked intensely at empty air as soon as the Demon God left the spot.

“There is a solution for that as well.”

“!”

As the Demon God spoke confidently, this time everyone looked at him with expectation.

And sure enough, a confident solution was presented.

“Hang my photo. Then it will not bark.”

“…….”

“It is truly so, you know?”

In truth, it was real.

The Demon God approached Yellow, crouched down, and spoke quietly.

“Wandering spirits have gathered. You were barking to tell them to get lost. Good boy.”

Sometimes, when dogs or cats show hostile reactions toward empty air.

There is a saying that there is a spirit in that spot.

It isn’t the case every time, but this time, it was exactly right.

“When I appeared, the wandering spirits fled, and then reappeared when I left, right? Do not worry. My photo will solve it. And—”

I will annihilate them before I leave this village.

They weren’t evil spirits, just slightly distorted wandering spirits.

Even if left alone, they would soon vanish on their own, but dealing with them in advance wouldn’t hurt.

“Do you understand?”

“Whimper.”

The Demon God stood up.

“Yellow has agreed to cooperate.”

““…….””

People wondered what on earth he was talking about, but surprisingly, they saw Yellow keeping its muzzle obediently shut behind the Demon God.

“Huh, he really is staying quiet?”

“This time, it will stay quiet even if I leave. If you are insolent enough to doubt me, someone may stay behind to verify.”

At that, the decibel-measuring junior officer quietly raised his hand.

“I knew it.”

There were subordinates who only understood after experiencing it personally.

“Haha, let’s do that then.”

Chief Woo let out a hollow laugh, then suddenly made eye contact with Team Leader Oh Dae-ho.

The Chief stepped outside the camera’s view and asked quietly.

“Is that friend originally like that?”

“Exactly so.”

“Can we trust him?”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

Chief Woo nodded and asked one more question.

“Are you alright?”

“Pheeeeew—”

It was a sigh containing many things.

At any rate, today’s conflict was mediated.

Hanil-myeon had regained its peace.

“Chief Woo!”

“Yes?”

Is it not over?

The grandmother made one more request of the Chief.

“If you see our Hyun-seo on your way, please tell him to come home.”

Hearing those words, Yoon-seo thought of something.

“Grandmother, the food you set aside earlier, is that for your grandson?”

“Yeah, your cooking is so good, I want to feed it to my grandson too.”

“Hehe, thank you.”

It wasn’t a difficult task.

It was still broad daylight, a time when children gathered to play.

Since the places they played were fixed, they decided to find him and send him home.

“Grandmothers, please don’t fight anymore!”

“If you are going to fight, I would like you to fight loudly!”

The Demon God’s group left the grandmothers’ house.

And a moment later.

Beep—

A radio transmission came in.

[It’s real. He isn’t barking.]

Chief Woo, who was driving the patrol car in place of the decibel officer, received the transmission.

“I see. Make your own way back.”

[Pardon?]

Now, everything was truly over.

***

On the way back.

The Demon God’s group arrived at an abandoned housing complex where the children often played.

“It appears the children are surrounding one exceptionally small child?”