BBS (68)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost

 
 

⟨Chapter 68⟩
 

The miss was quickly climbing the stairs to their top. Opening the driver seat door, Gwinam also followed.

“Wait! Let’s go together.”

The miss looked back. She must have thought he spoke to her. Seeing the two people climb the stairs, she opened her eyes wide.

“Why are You following?”

“Ah, that, that, because…?”

Instead of the taxi driver, who fumbled with his words, Yu Dan stepped forward.

“Noona doesn’t have a wallet, correct? How do You want to come back then?”

“Ah, that’s right. I made a fool out of myself. I didn’t think of it.”

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah.”

The driver quickly helped.

“It’s such a remote place, without people, it’s a bit too much to send miss alone. Isn’t it better to go together and then return to the company to get the bag?”

“Is that really alright? Thank You. I just came here for a moment anyway. I’ll be done in no time.”

She turned around with a smiling face.

Old multiplex housing units lined up beside the stairs. Without gardens or fences, they stuck close to each other. The wet with rain gates were rusty, and the walls were peeling off because of age. There was even a fortune-teller shop plastered with red swastika[1] papers.

The miss, who was quickly climbing the stairs, hesitated for a moment, and glanced at the slightly open green gate of a certain house.

“There was a very big and scary dog here…”

She first hurriedly passed by, but then took a look through the gate. There was nothing there but an enormous rubber barrel and styrofoam flower pot in the cement garden.

“But it has already been over ten years.”

The miss mumbled and entered a side alley.

Houses lined up at both sides of the long and narrow alley without any streetlamps. She walked, looking around, and finally stopped in front of a certain house. It was a house with red brick walls and a black gate.

“This is the house I lived in a long time ago.”

The miss stared at the house for a while, and her feet turned around. She walked to the neighborhood house, with exactly the same red brick walls and black gate, and knocked on the door.

“Auntie!”

Inside was quiet.

Could they not hear the ghost’s voice? But after a moment, they heard the sound of the front door opening.

“Who?”

The miss’s face brightened.

“You’re still here, huh! It’s me! Minhwi!”

“Minhwi?”

The gate opened. A middle-aged woman, with wrinkles around her eyes and permed hair, stuck out her head. Seeing the young miss standing in the rain, she was startled.

“Oh my! Who in the world is this?! When did you grow up so much? But the face is exactly the same as when you were a child!”

“Who is it?”

A middle-aged man in a vest came out, quickly putting on slippers.

“Do You remember? Minhwi, who lived next door!”

“Minhwi?”

The man’s eyes shook.

“That kiddo Minhwi? Aigoo! You have become a fine lady! If I saw you on the street, I wouldn’t recognize you!”

The miss smiled as she looked at the pair.

“Uncle and auntie didn’t change one bit.”

“Alas, you’re all soaked! Come in quickly. Oppas and unnie are all inside.”

The neighbor auntie quickly opened the gate, but she hesitated when she discovered two other people. Minhwi explained.

“That’s taxi driver-nim. You see I left a bag at the company and have to go back, and well. He said He would wait.”

“Ah, is that so? How kindly. It’s raining, so please step inside. The student here…”

“Ah, yes. That’s my nephew.”

Yu Dan and the taxi driver followed the ghost inside.

Inside was noisy. Two young men and young woman came out of the living room and happily greeted them.

“Who is that Minhwi?! I would have never thought it’s our neighbor Minhwi!”

“Yeong-jin oppa, Jehwi oppa, Jueon unnie… You really didn’t change at all.”

Minhwi looked around the living room in amazement.

A table was opened on the ivy pattern carpet. With everyone sitting around it, Yu Dan and the taxi driver followed suit. It was someone else’s house, but somehow it wasn’t awkward at all. They grabbed the seat in the corner and observed the ghost in the earnest.

She mumbled while stroking the table.

“I clearly remember it even now. I did homework every day, while sitting here. Oppas and unnie would help me with it. If I didn’t know something I would ask, and I would talk about what happened at school. I hated being alone at the empty house so much, that when the school ended, I would naturally come here. I would stay here until mom came back from work. Now that I think about it, it was so much of a nuisance, but it didn’t feel like it at all.”

“Uh-huh, what nuisance are you talking about?”

“No, uncle. At that time, I really didn’t know. I thought it was too natural. Then later, when I matured, I couldn’t be more thankful. I should have come to say it in person, but because I was out of my mind when attending university and then working, that I couldn’t make the time. I really wanted to see You. I was worried what I would do if You weren’t still here, but I’m glad that You’re still here.”

“Speaking for all of us, I thank you for not forgetting us and coming here. Alas, now that I came back to my senses, I should have treated you to something, but there is nothing in the house.”

The middle-aged lady wobbly stood up.

Minhwi raised her head. Her gaze was directed not at the auntie, but at the wall behind her. There hung a mirror in the shape of a sunflower made out of paper mache. She stared at that mirror intently.

What? Why?

Yu Dan’s gaze followed hers and turned towards the mirror. He glanced at it, and then looked at it again with surprise.

There was nothing in the mirror. The neighbor auntie was clearly standing in front of it, but her back weren’t reflected at all.

Yu Dan looked away from the mirror again. At last, he realized. The glass of the grandfather clock. The broken television. The family wasn’t reflected anywhere.

“Heuk…”

The taxi driver, who belatedly realized, held his breath.

Minhwi hunched her shoulders.

“Truly, no one had changed. Auntie, and uncle, and oppas, and unnie, all look as I remember You.”

She presciently stared at each one of them, as she spoke.

“However… that can’t be right. Soon over dozens of years will pass.”

No one from the neighbor family said anything.

How? How was the family able to see the soul of the young miss so well and have a conversation? That was because everyone was a ghost, huh? He knew that there were ghosts who looked like living people and acted like living people. However, he didn’t expect that besides this miss, Minhwi, the neighbor family would also be ghosts. Then why did she come to find other ghosts again after becoming a ghost?

Minhwi’s eyes turned downcast.

“You have told me to keep it at secret, because if mom and dad learned that I went to the neighbor house every day, I would be scolded. When I moved and thought about it later, I found it strange. Even putting aside auntie, why is uncle, oppas and unnie always home during the day? And I went from the first to the fifth grade, so why did everyone look exactly the same? How could it be possible? It was too strange, so I stealthily brought it up, but the neighbor family mom and dad remembered were completely different. It was a young couple that both worked. In the end, I had such a thought. Wasn’t the next-door family I played with every day ghosts in fact? Because I, who hated to be alone at home and came to play, was so pitiful… Didn’t they act like living people and treat me with kindness?”

She bowed her head. Tears dripped on the table.

“It wasn’t scary when I realized it. Even now, it’s not scary. I was just thankful. I was thankful that You let me come to play every day. Auntie, uncle, oppas, unnie. Thank You for teaching me and helping me study, for listening to my chatter, and for always smiling warmly. Thanks to that, even though I was an only daughter of working parents, I didn’t experience even a bit of loneliness and grew up well. Thanks to that, I got into a good school, and got to work at a good company. I wanted to say that. I wanted to come find You to show You how the neighbor kid, who you took care of every day, grew up.”

Minhwi raised her head.

The neighbor family was looking at her.

Silence fell. After a while, the auntie spoke up.

“Yeah. In fact, all of us are ghosts. Before you moved in here, we died in this house.”

“As expected. What kind of thing happened to the entire family all at once…”

Minhwi couldn’t continue and wept.

“Ah, but then shouldn’t You be at peace now? Shouldn’t You be going to a good place?”

“Right.”

The family nodded.

“Now that you have come here, I think we will be able to comfortably close our eyes.”

“I’m glad.”

Minhwi smiled with a tearful face.

“I’m really glad. I did well coming to visit You.”

“Yeah. Thank you. We should go in a bit. We should have gone before, we’ve stayed for too long here.”

Everyone stood up from their seats. And looked towards Minhwi with warm smiles.

“You should also go. You have to go to work tomorrow, right?”

“Ah, right.”

Minhwi looked at each member of the neighbor family for the last time. It seemed that she was firmly engraving their appearances in her memory, because she wouldn’t be able to see them again.

“I wanted to stay longer, but I should go now.”

She knelt down on the spot and kowtowed. Lastly, with her head deeply bowed, she paid a silent tribute and turned around.

“Rest comfortably. Thank You.”

And as if she forgot about the taxi driver and Yu Dan, she left alone with light steps, suddenly disappearing.

“…”

Silence fell.

The neighbor family stared blankly at the air. The neighbor unnie, named Jueon, clicked her tongue.

“Tsk tsk. How did that kid die?”

“Just when she bloomed like a flower, that’s too pitiful.”

“How much better it would be if she didn’t die and came here alive?”

They murmured with bitter faces, and abruptly looked back in surprise.

“Aigoo, were You surprised?”

It seemed that they at last remembered the taxi driver and highschooler who were there. When the ghosts’ eyes focused on them, the two people, who were quietly watching, became embarrassed.

“Ah, no. We knew that miss was a ghost, so…”

“Of course, we didn’t expect that everyone was a ghost, but even so, it wasn’t that surprising. This uncle and I can see ghosts.”

“Is that so, huh?”

They slowly nodded.

“Is that how Minhwi came here? She was able to come here, because she met driver-nim, huh? Huu, even after dying, she didn’t forget about us and came to find us!”

The neighbor auntie sighed.

“You know, actually we aren’t even a family.”

Yu Dan was surprised.

“You’re not a family?”

“Yeah. Originally it was a boarding house. I was the boarding house owner.”

“I was a long-term resident, who lived here for a long time.”

“And we were university students, who boarded here.”

The middle-aged man, the two young men and young lady all answered. Hearing that and looking closely, the young people’s souls didn’t resemble each other, and there didn’t seem to be a particular age gap between them. The taxi driver asked.

“No, then you all lost your life at the boarding house?”

“Yes. Because of a gas leak in the middle of the night…”

“That’s right. That’s right.”

“Anyway, Minhwi thought we were a family, so we just roughly matched that. Well, isn’t it a family if you say it’s a family?”

“Not a long time after the alive Minhwi moved, some good person discovered us and held a nice ancestral rite for us to obtain rest. But for some reason, our eyes opened by themselves.”

“That’s probably because Minhwi’s death anniversary was around this time. She didn’t forget us even after death and specially came to visit, but how sad she would be if we weren’t here. So, without even knowing, we put on the act again. And acted like we would be able to comfortably close our eyes because we met Minhwi.”

They looked at each other.

“That said, I thought it would be just once…”

“It’s strange, right? Does it mean she will come next year?”

“It clearly ended well, and You sent her out well.”

The taxi driver scratched his head with a lost face.

“Um, actually I brought her here last year and a year before. What should I do? Should I stop doing this?”

“No! No!”

The family waved their hands.

“You did well. You’re doing a good work. Anyway, thanks to You, it ended well this year too, and I think it’s time for us to close our eyes again.”

Their forms started to become blurry.

“Before we disappear, we should send them off.”

“Then goodbye. You go in peace too.”

“Thank You for bringing Minhwi.”

The ghosts said goodbyes to Yu Dan and Gwinam, while they left.

After walking a few steps, they looked back, but the house was dark. The house felt cold, as if it was abandoned for a long time. They couldn’t believe they sat inside until a moment ago.

“Huu, really. There are all kinds of strange things.”

The taxi driver muttered.

“Ghosts, really. They are both creepy and sad. And everyone excluding us was a dead person…”

He shook his head in resignation, and then suddenly flinched and looked at Yu Dan.

“I told You, I’m not a ghost.”

“No, I was just making sure.”

He took the lead again and climbed down the steep stairs. Then, his feet abruptly stopped, and he glanced back at the stacked up houses in the rain.

“It seems like there was no redevelopment work here for a while. Next year, around this time, I should go to see that building again…”

He mumbled to himself like that.
 

***
 

“I have listened well. As expected from a rainy day, it was a ghost story.”

The serpent yokai started to peel the potato she left for a while.

“The ghost, who comes to visit to soothe other ghosts? And it has already been the third time? That’s unusual. Cheonho-nim, from how I see it, it was solved well, so why does she keep doing this?”

“Well. I can’t know for certain. She could be doing this because her mind as a ghost isn’t whole. And it could be that it was a memory with the most powerful impression in her whole life, so that it became a powerful imprint on the soul. And it could be that she was so thankful that visiting them just once wasn’t enough.”

“Anyway, a taxi, which carries ghosts? How romantic. Who knows? If I’m lucky, one day I’ll also run into that taxi driver.”

“There is no need for luck.”

Yu Dan took out a crumpled note from his pocket.

“Here is his business card. Tell that to the ghosts you know. Yokai are fine too. If you’re going somewhere, call this uncle.”

“Why drive a taxi? If you have two legs, you should walk. I’m not looking for a taxi.”

“Then that’s a relationship where you can’t meet each other in the first place anyway!”

“That’s why it’s even more romantic.”

Leaving behind the words that couldn’t be comprehended, Heuk-yo packed her potatoes and went downstairs. Baek Ran grumbled a little.

“But why is she peeling potatoes here?”

“Unnie is making potato pancakes.”

“Why is she peeling potatoes ‘here’? Here in the study.”

That study was a mess right now.

The books were hurriedly evacuated under the wall, the bowl was gathering the rain water, and dozens of damp cloths were lying around, that was such chaos.

It was a surprising, if not an amazing thing for Yu Dan.

“Entire house is soaked in the rain these days? Last night, even though that neighborhood looked very old, it didn’t leak.”

“It can’t be helped. The age of this study…”

Baek Ran turned around for a moment, and the books piled up on the side promptly crumbled down. The twins raised their two hands as if tired of it.

“Let’s just clean it up later!”

“On a rainy day, there must be a ghost story. Cheonho-nim, please tell us a ghost story.”

“Aren’t there any very old and scary stories?”

As Yu Dan added a word, the fox yokai’s eyes turned to him right away. The look in his eyes was really heartless.

“Why are You matching their rhythm here?”

“It’s nothing. I just have nothing to do until dinner.”

“Ah, is that so? That’s a big deal. I want to help You somehow, but I’m not some sort of living sack of stories…”

Baek Ran, who was mumbling insincerely, stopped talking. He stared at Yu Dan and the twins, and then raised the corners of his lips into a smile.

“It’s a tale from old days.”

The study’s atmosphere suddenly changed. The scenery outside the window rapidly darkened, and foggy vapor crept out from the space between hanok’s rooftop. The three were flustered.

“Wait a moment! What kind of story are You trying to tell?”
 

*~*~*
 
[1] red swastika — nothing to do with nazis. Swastika (卍) is considered a symbol of good fortune in Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and many folk beliefs in the East. In fact, it held similar good meaning in the West before WW2.
 

Translator’s note: If I was to go visit people after my death to say thank you… that would be a bit awkward because most of them wouldn’t even know me. Sorry in advance to the poor authors, whose books changed my life or just made it better.
 

 

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