Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 29⟩
Chaeu hastily ran to drag Eunbi back.
“Please come here! I’ll guide You around!”
“Really? Since I had lunch.”
She turned around. Do-ssi followed after them, and hastily grabbed the antiques that were knocked down by Eunbi.
Yu Dan was dumbstruck.
“’Had lunch’? Then what did you eat just a moment ago?”
His stomach growled. The hunger, which he forgot for a moment, surged again.
“Wait a moment. I’m making new rice right now.”
Heuk-yo returned to the kitchen. Through the wide open door, he saw the lid of an enormous gamasot[1] jump up and down.
“Anyhow, we had a strange misunderstanding a moment ago.”
The dokkaebi, who came back, spoke:
“You suddenly barge in, saying that the very important, only one in the world person faced a crisis. I thought you perhaps brought a nice and pretty lady from somewhere. But it was Mia-yang’s friend?”
“What do you not understand? That’s the very key of it. She is a rare species, you know? There’s no other but just one in the world, and this endangered species is facing a crisis right now. Isn’t there a saying that even cicada larvae have the ability to crawl[2]? Aren’t all friends who socialize with ‘that Na Mia’ amazing?”
“Who are You cursing right now? As a cicada larvae without talent to even crawl.”
But he wasn’t cursing, he truly said that thinking they were amazing and precious? It seemed that he used an old saying a bit wrong, but even so, a larva without talent to even crawl…?
That was too accurate of a criticism.
When he flew into rage and looked up, the fox yokai quickly picked up a book laying on the table. It was Annals of the 『Past and Present Bizarre Occurrences』, which recorded all supernatural things in the world and he brought it whenever something strange happened.
“Anyhow, it’s true that the sweet water is very effective at soothing hungry ghosts. The original story is here.”
Baek Ran unfolded the book.
“Please look here. One of Gautama Buddha’s teenage disciples, Moggallana went to hell to find his mother…”
Hm?
Yu Dan forgot about their quarrel from a moment ago straight away and interrupted.
“Why is it so bloody from the beginning? Why did his mom fall into hell?”
“Because she committed many sins during her life. Seeing his mother, who became a hungry ghost and struggled with starvation, Moggellana cried sadly, when Buddha-nim appeared. Following Buddha-nim’s teachings, Moggellana gave Buddhist scriptures together with the sweet dew to all living beings and rescued numerous hungry ghosts like his mother. According to this story, he gave sweet water to the hungry ghosts, so it indeed can make the hunger immediately disappear and naturally return to the place they should have returned to.”
“What the hell is that sweet water? According to Mia noona it seems difficult to get.”
“If an outstanding king spreads their politics, it’s bestowed by Heavens.”
“It probably won’t be easily bestowed. Especially nowadays.”
“How did You know that? I knew that well and stored plenty of it a long time ago.”
After he removed the cloth covering the table, a bottle with a long neck appeared. It gave off a bright and strong brilliance, so it didn’t seem ordinary.
“It’s ‘Sejong year 1426’.”
“’Sejong year 1426’?”
“When Sejong the Great spread people-loving politics like recognizing the slaves, who were treated as untouchable, as subjects of Heavens, and prolonged the maternity leave for the government officials, the Heaven was pleased with his heart, which cherished his subject and poured sweet water. I received it at that time.”
As he judged Eunbi’s build, he picked out eight bottles among them.
“Can we use that many?”
“I gathered them to use in such a situation in any case.”
Baek Ran motioned to everyone to gather. Heuk-yo whispered with a worried face.
“We should hurry. There is also an issue of going out of all rice, but…”
She pointed to the other side.
Even while absorbed in admiring ornaments from Joseon period, yells were heard from Eunbi just like before.
「Hungry. Hungry…」
As if drawn in by that sound, the black shapes approached closer.
Baek Ran nodded.
“As expected, the hungry ghosts are attached to her, eh? Good. We’ll finish it in one swoop.”
“You guys lure that young lady here. Older brother, please go over there. You will stay here with me.”
Heuk-yo, Do-ssi and Yu Dan each held two bottles of sweet water. Baek Ran held the remaining two bottles.
“When she enters the range, pour it indiscriminately. Understood?”
“Yes, Cheonho-nim.”
At that moment Eunbi looked back.
Everyone shut their mouths, as they already said everything. In the silence, only the sound of radio rang out.
「Seoul Grand Park opens its door today[3]. Following the zoo which took five years and seven months to complete, President Jeon Duhwan and his wife, Lady Lee Sunja, came to visit the grand park together with their model children…」
Eunbi’s eyes grew wide.
“Uh?”
Baek Ran stretched out his hand and turned off the radio.
“Please don’t concern Yourself with that.”
But as if Eunbi felt something was wrong, she suddenly took a step back. A strange brilliance bloomed in her two eyes.
“What are You trying to do? You can’t. Every one of them is a pitiful soul.”
“Catch!”
Eunbi was about to run outside, but Heuk-yo hastily caught her. Do-ssi sprinkled the sweet water like lightning.
“Take it!”
Clear and refreshing scent spread out. Following the water droplets jumping in all directions, bright five color rainbow rose.
Eunbi’s body wriggled as if it was hit by lightning. The hungry ghosts were squirming together and screamed.
「Can’t! I can’t go! I want to eat! I want to eat more!」
Yu Dan followed others and sprinkled sweet water.
“Your end is now! Come out quickly!”
The hungry ghosts, whose essence was hit by the sweet water, were dyed with five colors. They sighed deeply “Huu…” and gently floated up.
But…
They suddenly felt enormous pressure.
The hungry ghosts, which were set free, were swiftly sucked back in. They hit the floor with a bang. It was such an amazing force.
“This! When I tried to tear off a hungry ghost, such a strong force dragged them back!”
“Someone is invoking this power, eh?”
Baek Ran’s eyes turned sharp.
The atmosphere changed.
The energy that was usually suppressed slightly revealed itself. Golden brilliance seemed to come out of the fox yokai’s form. He never saw such distinctive brilliance. As expected, Cheon-ho was on a different level from other yokai.
“The living and the dead have to stop intruding on each other, but there is someone who can’t let go of their attachments and insists on staying by all means?”
He spoke with no particular force, but had a dignity that couldn’t be denied. Eunbi collapsed and her body wiggled.
“I saw it!”
Yu Dan shouted in surprise.
As Eunbi’s image flickered, he saw it overlap with some short woman. Her face turned jet-black and two cheeks sunk.
「Hungry. Hungry. Hungry… 」
The voice coming from her dragged in the hungry ghosts like a black hole. The Banwoldang’s yokai’s eyes turned round.
“Who are you? How can you be so powerful?”
At that moment, a vibration shook the whole floor as if it was an earthquake.
Yu Dan wasn’t able to catch his balance and fell. The instant his knees touched the floor, it suddenly disappeared and everything turned pitch-black.
Where am I? Am I being dragged in somewhere right now?
He heard a static noise from somewhere. As if matching the frequency, the noise was cut off and then came back again, and then abruptly a voice rang out.
「Sec- O- Di- Key-. This in Gyeongseong Broadcasting Station[4].」
Yu Dan suddenly raised his head.
The sound was flowing out of the radio on a butterfly shelf. Unlike the one with a few huge metal dials, this was a radio from thick red wood.
Was there such a radio here a moment ago?
His gaze turned to the table again, and the first thing he saw was something like an unfolded textbook written in a foreign language. Looking at the front, it was a 『German Reading Book』.
German? Me?
He saw his own appearance in the mirror opposite of him, wearing a black student uniform with a standing collar. Confused, he looked around.
The space formed with lattice windows and wooden pillars with marks of time. Under the framed posters of foreign movie actors, laid a gramophone with a golden horn.
At the side, a bookshelf displayed foreign dolls and brass decorations, and twins were whispering as they took out a newspaper. Chaeu was wearing shorts on suspenders and a bow tie, while Chaeseol had a skirt on suspenders and a velvet hat, both of them looked cute.
The inside door opened, and Do-ssi wearing a straw hat and a white suit appeared. As the glossy white boots flashed here and there, he picked up the cane, leaning against the antique furniture.
Heuk-yo, who was wearing New Woman fashion chimajeori[5], guarded the counter and then glanced at him.
“You’re going out again?”
“On the last banquet, my dokkaebi friend said he was selling a bicycle, so I’m going to see it.”
“Please don’t lie. Who doesn’t know that You’re trying to go to that coffee shop again? Older brother. We work at a tea shop, so how can we go to others’ coffee shops to drink tea? That crafty madam is sure to be a transformed monster, whether you see it or not. She is sure to reveal her identity to You soon.”
“Uhu, I’m not going to the coffee shop, alright?”
“Kid, if you’re not going to study anyway and just doze off, follow that uncle to watch him. And grab movie flyers in front of the Joseon Theater.”
“Got it.”
Yu Dan stood up.
On the other side of the lattice window, he saw people of Gyeongseong[6], busy coming and going.
The weather was very nice. It was such a day that even if he closed his eyes, he would be dazzled, and the word ‘spring’ came to mind… Wait a moment. Didn’t he have such a thought some time ago?
Yu Dan tilted his head, while the door opened.
Someone was standing in them.
Under brown hair, the face was white. He seemed to be his peer, and appeared quite arrogant with a cape hung over his school uniform. Even so, because he was a guest…
“Please come in…” [7]
In the instant, his face was splashed with cold water.
“What are You doing?”
“Uh?”
Hit by cold water, he suddenly came back to his senses.
And thinking about what they were doing?
Baek Ran entered with big strides. He suddenly was soaked to his nape, but the words of compliance didn’t come out. It was because while he blinked, Do-ssi, Heuk-yo and twins were hit by cold water in exactly the same way.
“No, Cheonho-nim…”
“’Sejong year 1426’ also has such an effect.”
Baek Ran put down the long-neck bottle he was hiding under the cape on the table.
“Everyone, please come back to Your senses. Soothing hungry ghosts with sweet water failed. We have to find another way.”
The memories, which disappeared for a moment, returned.
While they were sprinkling sweet water on the hungry ghosts in the study, they suddenly ended up in this strange place. Even so, everyone accepted it very naturally.
But now that they came back to their senses…
Even when he looked around again, the scenery didn’t change. A street with old signs, like ‘Lady Burial Company’ and ‘Gomusin[8] store’. The people wearing hanboks and suits naturally mixed together. When a black and shinning ford appeared, everyone stopped in their steps and admired.
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Have we gone back to the past?”
“No.”
Baek Ran shook his head.
“This isn’t reality.”
“Then?”
“By all possibilities, it seems that we were caught and eaten.”
Everyone was startled and stared at Baek Ran.
“Caught and eaten? What are you talking about?”
“I can’t help but express it this way. They don’t communicate, so they dragged us into their world. Not only us, but they also swallowed a part of the store. By all accounts, it looks like a great number of hungry ghosts.”
“In other words, we currently entered noona’s friend’s stomach?”
“Rather than that, it’s an inner world.”
Even after hearing the fox yokai’s explanation, he was just confused. Other yokai also tilted their heads. Do-ssi asked:
“Why is that world Gyeongseong of all things?”
“That soul we saw at the last moment. An unidentified woman with outstanding power to suck in the hungry ghosts. It’s because we’re inside her world. She is the key.”
Yu Dan asked again.
“Then we can’t go out until we find that key?”
“It’s not that we can’t come out, but because it would mean ripping her apart…”
Baek Ran’s words trailed off.
What? ‘Ripping her apart’? No way, Eunbi?
His vision turned dark.
What would he say to Mia? He couldn’t exactly say things like “Noona’s only friend swallowed us. I’m currently inside her”. And he couldn’t say “Sorry. We ripped her apart to come out” even more.
“Really. We were swallowed into the world of a hungry ghost? Why all of the guests-nim this punk brings seem to be like this?”
Heuk-yo grumbled.
At that moment.
Black shapes shimmered outside of the lattice window. Grotesque appearances. Huge heads sat on thin necks. The bulging bellies and thin limbs like that of spiders.
Yu Dan was startled.
“Hungry ghosts!”
Everyone looked outside the window. The pitch black guests stretched out towards them.
“They found us! Us, who tried to make them ascend!”
Chaeseol’s face turned pale. Chaeu tightly grabbed his noona’s hand. However, he trembled more than her.
Baek Ran sighed.
“A bowl they liked was taken out and they drank tea, and then there was a bolt out of blue, right? I thought it would be quickly solved with ‘Sejong year 1426’.”
Something felt subtle about that tone. Yu Dan looked at Baek Ran.
“Didn’t you say that we have to find another way a moment ago? There is a way, right?”
“There is.”
“What?”
“What is it?”
“Are you joking?”
“It’s not something difficult to think about.”
“No way, it wouldn’t be such a thing, right? Because hungry ghost are jumping because of hunger, we gonna feed them until their stomachs burst.”
“No.”
The fox’s face hardened.
“However, it’s not a complete miss.”
*~*~*
[1] gamasot — a type of big cauldron.
[2] even cicada larvae have the ability to crawl — in a bad way it means that even useless/stupid people have at least one talent.
[3] Seoul Grand Park opens its door today — It opened in 1984. Surely not ‘today’ of the story.
[4] Gyeongseong Broadcasting Station — It was established in 1927 by Japan during their occupation of Korea. It broadcasted to 1945, after which it was taken over by US and later renamed.
[5] chimajeori — a traditional skirt.
[6] Gyeongseong — Name of Seoul under Japanese occupation.
[7] “Please come in…” — that’s bad… Yu Dan used a polite tone.
[8] Gomusin — a type of traditional Korean boots made out of rubber.
Translator’s note: Yu Dan, I can’t believe you didn’t snap out of it the moment you saw a textbook.
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