Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 65⟩
After passing the door, another door appeared, and after passing that door, yet another door appeared. After passing countless weeping willows, at last they reached the grand mansion, and the boys stopped the dragon with ‘Whoa, whoa’.
As he left the cart and looked up, he wasn’t able to see the top of the pavilion buried in the clouds. It was impossibly high.
“From now on we have to be really careful.”
Baek Ran warned. Now even the smile disappeared from this fox yokai’s face.
Following the boys, they climbed the stone stairs, and the curtains that closed by themselves opened a way. In each room on the both sides of the corridor, guests were sleeping. Some leaned against the chairs, some laid down on the tables. In their limp hands, they were still holding the wine cups.
Soon, they arrived in a spacious room.
Hanging from the middle of the high ceiling, a round mirror was slowly rotating. Mysterious smoke wandered in the air.
Seeing the person sitting at the head of the long table, Yu Dan flinched. She was tall, with very long hair, and wearing elegant clothes, but she was wearing a white animal skull mask. Some kind of goat? There were curved horns on both sides.
Do-ssi swallowed saliva.
“Ah, really. This place is so big, if you try to go back, you will lose your way.”
He threw off his nervousness, and suddenly turned overly chatty. In the quiet atmosphere where everyone held their breaths, the dokkaebi’s jesting voice boomed.
“But is that Person Monghwi-nim? She is different from what I imagined. Isn’t it the same for You, Cheonho-nim?”
“According to 『Sanyu Records (珊柳記)』the dream-giving goddess Monghwi wears the skull of ancient dokkaebi she had hunted through the dreams. It’s a mask that lets one never sleep. So, bones, don’t they suit the goddess of dreams very well? As the dreams are just remnants of reality.”
At that Monghwi held up her hand and took off the skull right away.
“You’re wrong. The dreams make the reality.”
The red eyes blazed like the charcoal embers in the darkness, the appearance of the goddess was very elegant and confident. The strange animal, that leaned against the side of her chair, let out a small cry towards them. It looked like a bear with an elephant nose. Baek Ran looked at it and said.
“The nightmare eating beast, Maek[1], eh?”
“It sniffed and got agitated, huh? It must not have eaten nightmares worthy of being called nightmares recently.”
Monghwi slowly scrutinized the fox yokai.
“I don’t get close to yokai, but I heard rumors about you. All kinds of horrible ghosts wait for you to sleep to enter your dreams. I won’t mind even if you leave some of those nightmares here.”
“As I heard, indeed, the welcome is warm. Looking at the way we came, many guests were so touched they stayed here forever. Is it truly not disrespectful? I cannot bear to commit such rudeness, so I’ll refuse.”
Baek Ran waved his hand at the fruits, snacks and numerous things to eat that the boys brought. The corners of Monghwi’s mouth were slightly raised, as she observed the fox yokai. It was a smile of suppressed annoyance. Baek Ran feigned ignorance, pretending he couldn’t see it.
“But that’s not the goal today.”
“Right. I’m truly surprised that a human, who dreamed the qilin dream, appeared.”
Monghwi’s gaze turned to him. Yu Dan was nervous, but he worked hard not to show it.
“A human intimate with yokai? And you really have a strange eye, huh? Cheong-ho what is that?”
“I’m also not sure. He is just a human who drops over at our shop.”
“It was truly a long time since I saw this type of human. So you have the qilin dream?”
The lid of the teapot placed in front of Yu Dan let out a rattle noise, and opened by itself. When he unconsciously glanced at it, Baek Ran immediately closed the lid.
“I understand that You’re impatient because it has been so long since the qilin dream appeared, but even so, it would be difficult if it goes on like this. Of course, I’m not holding any misunderstanding, but I could think that You’re trying to steal the qilin dream. If You want to trade, wouldn’t it be better to follow the official procedures?”
A sign of anger flashed at Monghwi’s face. She commanded the boys.
“Bring it.”
The two boys left and then soon brought a scroll and unfolded it. It was a blank paper with nothing on it, but they held it up and stood behind Yu Dan.
He felt something being sucked out of his head. The boys rolled up the scroll that shined with brilliant five colors.
“Okay, then let’s have a look.”
Monghwi stretched out her hand, but Baek Ran grabbed the scroll and snatched it. The goddess couldn’t hide her annoyance.
“You have told me to follow the procedures, so I made preparations to trade a dream, what is the problem now? Cheon-ho, why do you keep cutting in the matter between me and this human!?”
“Cutting in? Did You forget? Originally this qilin dream was promised to be sold to me. Do You mean to say You don’t know the power of the promise? Based on that, half of this qilin dream belongs to me. I only exercise my rights.”
Monghwi now openly glared at Baek Ran. When Baek Ran acted indifferent, pretending not to see her, she looked at Yu Dan again.
“Human. Shouldn’t you be a bit more cautious? He just told you would receive the heavenly official jade belt as a price for the qilin dream, but he probably didn’t let you actually check it. Do you think I don’t know?”
No. He didn’t even say he would receive anything for it.
Of course, he couldn’t say that.
Then what should he say? Not expecting the ball to be thrown to him, Yu Dan was flustered. If he put his heart into writing the script, shouldn’t he roughly match their words beforehand?
When Yu Dan hesitated, Monghwi became even more convinced.
“Look at that. You don’t even know what trick he used. Humans cannot dare to compete with the yokai’s craftiness. Especially with Cheon-ho. He promised to give the heavenly official jade belt, but it may be something completely different with the exactly same name. For an instance, he could give you a rat and shamelessly gloss over it saying the rat’s name is ‘Heavenly Official Jade Belt’.”
“How can You say such things. I already showed the heavenly official jade belt to this Person to confirm.”
“I asked that human. Answer, human.”
What should he do? The moment he tried to turn his head towards the fox yokai, his neck snapped back, letting out a creaking sound. Baek Ran frowned.
“If You do that, he will die.”
“Really? I had no idea. Anyway, don’t look at that fox and answer me. Speak honestly. If you lie to me even a little, you will never be able to leave, like the numerous people sleeping here.”
The goddess’ eyes looked straight at him.
He was suddenly scared. Looking now, Yu Dan wasn’t on the speeding up car, but on the runaway train. That meant he couldn’t leave now.
“I checked… it was genuine.”
“Hmph! Human! You have been truly deceived, huh? There is no way that the heavenly official jade belt still remains in the world. Cheonho, you brought that thing as I told you?”
“Yes. I ordered my servant here to bring it.”
“Put it down.”
Do-ssi shrunk back.
“This the price of the dream prepared by Cheonho-nim. If the qilin dream isn’t sold to Him, what for to showcase it?”
He replied with quite good cheekiness, but his complexion was not good. His pupils were shaking violently. As expected, it was fake. What should he do?
Monghwi lifted her head with the expression saying ‘see that’?
“Human. I got better things than the fake heavenly official jade belt, so sell me the qilin dream.”
“Fake, You say?”
Baek Ran shouted. As if he was greatly insulted, his cheeks turned red.
“How can You say such thing? This heavenly official jade belt was undeniably an item bestowed by the Heavens.”
“Don’t lie. Listening to you, when you open your mouth, eight lies come out. It would be as easy as breathing to coax one greenhorn human.”
“That’s really too much. What are You going to do if this jade belt is real?”
“Why do you keep shrinking back when saying that? Put it down.”
“We can’t. It’s going to get dirty.”
“I’m a god, how is it going to get dirty!?”
“Anyway, we can’t. This heavenly official jade belt is a valuable treasure of mine, so no matter who begs to show it, I will absolutely not show now it. I took it out taking a big risk to buy the qilin dream.”
Monghwi finally lost her patience.
“I told you to put it down!”
She roared like a thunder, and suddenly, the table leg changed into a dragon and snatched the box hugged by Do-ssi. It absurdly got stolen in an instant. The dokkaebi’s face turned pale and he screamed.
“Ah, no! You can’t!”
“What right do You have to do this!?”
Baek Ran protested, but Monghwi didn’t even listen him with one ear.
“Everyone, prepare to be tied to the trees and sleep for an eternity.”
He felt as if his heart froze. That was really bad. It was really bad until now, but from now on, it was even worse. Yu Dan stiffened as he stared at the goddess.
Monghwi confidently opened the box. In that instant, her red eyes grew wide, and her long-nailed fingers hurriedly picked up something from the inside the box.
The belt of thickly clustered jade beads hung down. It was a beautiful jade in the color of the green sea. When the jade beads bumped into each other, they let out a clear and marvelous sound like some sort of musical instrument. Matching that rippling sound, the surrounding scenery blurred, like an out of focus picture. Monghwi stared at the heavenly official jade belt as if she was possessed without realizing.
“How can it be? It’s real?”
What? How was it possible?
Yu Dan was dumbfounded and glanced at Baek Ran. Baek Ran’s face was angry, but looking closely, his eyes were smiling. While he kept watching Monghwi’s eyes, he crept to the fox’s ears and asked:
“Did you make it look real?”
“No. That’s truly the real thing.”
He became even more confused.
“Then why all this effort not to show it?”
“There is a saying ‘Make noise in the east, and attack the west’. If we make her upset with a trick, she won’t be able to recognize the truth.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“In other words, the actual fake is here.”
Baek Ran pointed to the qilin dream scroll. Yu Dan was startled.
“What?”
“How can I have something that even the god of dreams doesn’t have. That qilin dream is an elaborate counterfeit.”
“You’re trying to sell a fake dream right now? To the dream god? No way, we won’t be caught?”
“Obviously we will be caught right away.”
“You’re crazy.”
“You only realize it now?”
He wanted to snap back, but he quickly shut his mouth. Monghwi returned to her senses and urgently put down the belt. It seemed she at last realized that the surrounding blurred because of the jade belt’s sound.
“So You absolutely can’t show her this scroll first.”
Baek Ran whispered a warning.
It’s not that you won’t be able to leave if you make a mistake, you will be able to leave only if you do well.
The fox yokai’s words came to him again. It felt as if a cold snake was crawling up his spine. It was nothing like the feeling of crisis he felt a moment ago.
You dragged me into this?
Yu Dan truly felt the threat to his life.
“Did You get a good look?”
Do-ssi grumbled, and got back the box with the heavenly official jade belt.
“I was so surprised my heart hurts. You’re the ancient goddess-nim, so why are You so rough with the guiltless dokkaebi?”
He now understood the look in Do-ssi’s eyes. That sly acting was a desperate struggle for survival.
“Why couldn’t You believe us? Although it’s not the most famous King Jinpyeong’s heavenly official jade belt[2], it’s without a question a jade belt. There are no two such treasures under the Heaven. What did our Cheonho-nim do wrong?”
“As I said. I discovered the qilin dream first and made a promise, so how could I be so shameless? My sin is nothing but obediently accepting Your call. I’m truly disappointed.”
Baek Ran was also struggling for survival. He had truly many things he wanted to say to this fox yokai, but first he could do nothing but assist them.
“I also like this belt. But I just wanted to make a deal.”
“Then how about just doing it here? Among the treasures, there is no equal to the heavenly official jade belt, but if it can be traded off for the qilin dream, it would be rather profitable for me.”
“Hahaha! Rightly so! I think the same. Congratulations, Cheonho-nim.”
“I’m so happy. What should I do when I have that qilin dream?”
Monghwi looked back and forth between the fox yokai and the qilin dream scroll. The extreme desire to have it seemed to surface on her face.
“Wait a moment!”
“What’s the matter? Do You have something to say to us?”
“Not Cheonho, human! Listen to me! You probably have no idea how the hell long it was since the qilin ream appeared, but can’t you tell what it means if Monghwi, the goddess of dreams, couldn’t put her hand on it? I’ll offer something much more precious than the heavenly official jade belt, so sell the qilin dream to me!”
“However…”
Yu Dan glanced at Baek Ran.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have a conversation with Cheonho, and solve it.”
Monghwi gave a signal to the boys with her eyes. The boys left and then returned holding an armful of scrolls.
“Look. This is the Dream of Hua Xu of the Yellow Emperor, the Butterfly Dream of Zhuangzi, the Dream of Handan of Master Lü Wēng, the Nanke Dream of Chunyu Fen, the Silk Skirt Dream of Queen Munmyeong and all kinds of fantasy dreams like the Nine Cloud Dream, Wushan Dreams[3], strange dreams, divine dreams, life dreams, daydreams… Kings, sages and spirits bowed their heads to me, asking for those dreams, but if I didn’t like them, no one got the dream. But if you just say so, I’ll give them all to you.”
“Alas. That can’t be.”
Baek Ran shook his head.
“You of all People should know, so what are You doing? Even all those dreams combined wouldn’t compare to the heavenly official jade belt. They even more so can’t compare to the qilin dream. There is no rule that You have to trade dream for a dream, correct? If I was to think about the treasure worthy of comparing to the qilin dream among the treasures You have…”
When his words trailed off and he looked at the skull she took off for a moment, Monghwi flinched.
“This won’t do.”
She handed the skull to the boys, and the two boys placed it on a pedestal covered in silk far away. Baek Ran smirked.
“Of course, that’s not what I meant. That would be insufficient.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t there a mask that You used to wear in the past?”
“That broke down.”
“There is no person, who doesn’t know that You’re safekeeping its remains like a treasure. The horn of the dokkaebi Monghwi crossed dreams to hunt down in the ancient times. That thing not only suppresses the heavenly official jade belt, but also is comparable to the qilin dream.”
“How can that…”
Monghwi frowned towards the fox.
“But didn’t I say I will talk with you separately? It’s no longer your business, so why do you keep cutting in like it is? That’s truly strange.”
“What is strange about it? Isn’t it natural? If it spreads that Cheonho wanted to buy the qilin dream, so he even took out the heavenly official jade belt, but he couldn’t buy it because he was pushed out by trivial things Monghwi put out, what would happen to my face? Even the yokai of the Road to Hell that are under my command right now would all despair and leave me. As such I have to make sure Monghwi-nim also will offer the most precious treasure.”
“So you mean you’re meddling now because of your reputation!?”
“Is there something more important than that?”
“I’m done with you! Get out! What use does a human have for the dokkaebi horn?!”
She lost her temper and unhook her necklace.
“Human-ah. I’ll give you this ‘True Dream’ of Monghwi. This is a treasure that lets you control dreams as you wish, and make others dream the dreams you want. Thanks to that, you can look into people’s heads. Humans are unexpectedly susceptible to dreams. You can manipulate authorities in high positions, rich men and beautiful women as you wish. You will be able to live as you like, enjoying endless wealth and honor.”
That couldn’t be the fox’s real goal, right? He secretly side glanced at him, and Baek Ran was slightly frowning. His eyes very slightly moved in another direction. To the mask Monghwi put away a moment ago.
Yu Dan looked at Monghwi again.
“I like the dokkaebi horn more….”
“What?”
“The person-in-concern spoke, so what will You do?”
The fox slyly put in the word.
Monghwi ordered the boys with her eyes as if she couldn’t help it.
After the two boys left, she crossed her arms and fell into thoughts. She had a very serious face. Do-ssi looked at her expression, and then stealthily stood up.
“Isn’t there a bathroom here?”
Monghwi didn’t bother whether the dokkaebi was walking and peeking around. But Yu Dan was bothered. Because of the fox and the dokkaebi, his stomach ached.
“We brought it.”
The boys were very carefully holding a silk cushion.
On the cushion there was some lengthy object. At last the dokkaebi horn was brought in. What the hell was this thing? Yu Dan carefully observed it from his seat.
It was pitch black and bigger than expected. It seemed to be two or three hand spans, seemed extraordinary, giving off a strange brilliance.
They said it was an ancient dokkaebi, but it didn’t seem very close to them, wasn’t it perhaps something like unicorn? He was suddenly curious. Baek Ran’s eyes also shined as if he was interested.
“It’s indeed great. Worthy treasuring.”
“Yeah. There are only a few bones of the ancient dokkaebi, but I’m the only one who has such an old horn.”
“I heard so too. Thanks to today’s invitation, we get to see something so precious!”
While Baek Ran was fussing over and praising it, Do-ssi approached the pedestal where the boys put Monghwi’s mask. He seemed to wander around in a relaxed manner, but with each step he took his legs slightly trembled. As expected he was trying to do something…
“Well, I was acting tactless. But I wanted to put my hands on the qilin dream. I opportunely have a contract I prepared to make a trade with this human, do You want it?”
Baek Ran smiled widely as he spoke.
*~*~*
[1] Maek — nowadays this name is used for tapirs.
[2] King Jinpyeong’s heavenly official jade belt — 26th king of Silla, father of the badass Queen Seondeok mentioned last chapter. The jade belt mentioned here is one of the three treasures of Silla. It was sent to him by Jade Emperor when Jinpyeong ascended to the throne.
[3] Now is my time! The notes attack!
Dream of Hua Xu 華胥之夢 — The Yellow Emperor dreamed of a perfect country Hua Xu, that country had no ruler as everything ruled by itself in perfect harmony, and people had no concept of earthly desires, conflicts, losses and profits, and didn’t fear death. A perfect Tao country.
Butterfly Dream 胡蝶夢 — Zhuangzi’s anecdote about the dream of becoming a butterfly and contemplating the nature of existence and transience of existence.
Dream of Handan 邯鄲之夢 — Master Lü Wēng gives a dream to the young man, who he met on the road to Handan, who complained about his poverty and hardships of life. In that dream the young man achieves great success, then goes through hardships, but prevails and finally dies of old age, happy. And then wakes up and is able to abandon the earthly desires, because he was through an entire life already.
Nanke Dream 南柯一夢 — Similar to Handan dream, the man falls asleep under an ash tree. In the dream he is invited to the world in the hole under the tree. There he achieves great things, marries a princess, has many children, etc. but then the king orders him to go back home. When he wakes up, he only finds anthills in the places where the kingdom and the place he treated as home were. During the night, those anthills are destroyed. The man decides that the earthly things are not worthy of all of it, and becomes a monk.
Silk Skirt Dream 錦裙夢 — that’s the dream from the story at the beginning of the chapter and then explained by Baek Ran when talking about the exchange of dreams.
Nine Cloud Dream — The Nine Cloud Dream by Kim Man-jung is a romance novel from 1687, whose plot revolves around a Buddhist monk, who is tossed down from heavens after he is discovered to have earthly desires. In the human, secular world, he becomes a prime minister and marries eight women. Now, the rest is a spoiler, so if you want to read it (the novel is praised as very beautiful), proceed with caution. His eight wives are actually the fairies the monk met on an errand in the heavens and why he held earthly desires. While living his human life, he realizes he will one day lose it all and start to pursuit immortality. He goes to meet Buddhas and long story short, he is informed it’s all a dream, he wakes up and goes ‘wow, I see, all those earthly things are in vain! I’m now going to follow Buddhist doctrines to attain enlightenment’. And then the eight fairies come, because they also had a dream and realized that life was futile, and decided to become Buddhist monks, and so they studied together and then all of them gained enlightenment and ascended.
Wushan Dream 巫山之夢 — it’s a term for a sexual dream, and the story behind it is as such: a king had a dream where a beautiful lady visited him, they had their time together, and then the lady told him “I live in the dry land of the south, Wushan. In the morning I become a cloud, in the evening I become rain, so I’ll yearn for you under the rays of sunlight (rough translation)” When the king woke up, he looked in the direction of Wushan, he saw beautiful clouds. Therefore, if you hear something like ‘love in clouds and rain’ or ‘exchange through clouds of rain’, it also refers to this story, and colloquially means secret love/affair.
Translator’s note: Perhaps Baek Ran took his slyness after author-nim, because as much as a lot of things in this chapter are true, Monghwi and the book mentioning her Sanyu Records are for 98% not real. That’s at least my conclusion after several hours of scavenging the internet for either of them.
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