Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 52⟩
Baek Ran opened his eyes wide and asked:
“What is the situation right now?”
“What?”
“A clear loud noise came from the first floor. So I roughly coaxed the elder out and sent Him away, but when I quickly came down, there was no one there.”
“Ah, okay?”
Yu Dan hid the eggs and water bottle behind his back.
“It seems that everyone is busy. Of course, I’m also busy. Then I’ll just…”
He stealthily took a step back to push the door with his shoulder, but the door didn’t budge. Even when he gathered strength and slammed them, it didn’t open. Yu Dan was embarrassed.
“Why isn’t it opening?!”
“Because it’s not a door.”
The fox yokai answered with a very pitiful expression.
“What on earth are You hiding?”
“Nothing!”
At last, he opened the door and fled, but Baek Ran suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. When did he get in front of him?
“What is it?”
“I said it’s nothing!”
He tried to escape, but he was blocked. He tried to flee again in a different direction, but was blocked again.
“If it’s nothing, why are You hiding it?”
Suddenly, he heard the fox’s voice behind his back. At the same time, the things he held in his hand swiftly disappeared. Yu Dan turned around in surprise. Baek Ran was holding the bowl of eggs and a water bottle. Ridiculous. Wasn’t he in front of him just a moment ago?
“Since when can you teleport?”
“It’s not me, it’s the ground which moved. I just reversed the movement direction and counter direction with the Yin-Yang Five Elements’ land incantation.”
“You used such a grand thing to merely steal someone’s eggs? Rather than believing me that it’s nothing, you had to see it?”
“Just to be clear, today in fact is my birthday…”
“Really?”
“That’s a lie.”
The fox yokai swiftly plucked the eggshell stuck to Yu Dan’s sleeve. Now it’s all screwed. When did that get stuck to him?
“What is that?”
He tried to pretend not to know, but it was useless. Baek Ran held it up to sunlight. As if it was unexpected, his eyes turned slightly narrow.
“From a Peng bird egg, eh? Did it hatch? Where is it?”
“It’s a secret.”
“It’s the best you answer as quickly as possible.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“That’s not it, some time ago, the Peng egg, which was laying on the desk, seamlessly disappeared, so..”
“That wasn’t me! The old man with a big head gave it to me!”
He looked at the fox’s expression and realized.
“Did you lie again?”
“Yes. But that’s not important. Don’t You know who that old man is? He is Old Man Suseong[1].”
“I knew he was an alien!”
“Not that Mercury, ‘Su’ means ‘longevity’ and a period of time here. It’s a star called Canopus of Carina. Old Man Suseong is a god, who supervises over lifetimes.”
“What is a god doing standing in an apartment corridor in the morning?”
“To speak precisely, it’s a star in the sky, which obtained divinity. Suseong is among the ‘Three Stars’, who with Bokseong and Nokseong[2], presides over lifetime and fortune. He is also called an Old Man of the South Pole, and appears in the masked dances under the name of ‘South River Old Man’. He is very often spotted around the Jeju Island’s horizon, and it’s believed if the Old Man Star is visible during the day, the country will be at peace.”
“Why is such an old man throwing something at me as if doing a pyramid scheme and flees…”
Yu Dan grumbled and then flinched. He thought that for some reason this fox yokai was slowly laying a story for him without even asking for it.
“Why are you following me so naturally?”
“I want to see it too.”
“You can’t! I told you it’s a secret!”
“Is it here?”
The fox yokai was already heading to the shack. Yu Dan dashed to open the door first.
“Why did it take so long?”
The twins turned around at the same time, and the moment the fox yokai’s face popped out, they freaked out.
“Ch-Cheonho-nim!”
“Sorry. He used some kind of trick and forcibly followed me.”
“Is it a crime scene?”
“No. That’s not it…”
Baek Ran brushed past the flustered twins, and walked straight up to the box. It seemed that even this fox yokai found the Peng’s chick to be marvelous.
“It’s true. A healthy chick was born, eh?”
When he stretched out his hand into the box, the chick responded right away and staggered to him. As it examined him left and right with the eyes covered by thin film, it lightly jumped on top of the fox yokai’s hand and rubbed its head against his palm as if acting cute.
“You can do such a thing!?”
“It didn’t treat us like this!”
The twins shouted, and the fox yokai smiled. He observed the baby bird for a while, and then suddenly asked.
“Do You know 『Zhuangzi』?”
“I think I heard about it somewhere.”
“It’s a book written by the ancient Chinese Taoist thinker Zhuangzi.”
“『Zhuangzi』 by Zhuangzi? It’s annoying to come up with a title, eh?”
“In the first chapter 「Carefree Wandering」 of that 『Zhuangzi』, such a fable appeared: In the North, there is a fish living in deep sea and its name is Kun(鯤). Kun’s size is unknown as if it’s a few thousand li[1] long. Kun changes into a bird, and its name is Peng(鹏). The size of Peng’s back is unknown as if it’s a few thousand li big. When it flaps its wings with all its might, its wings are like clouds covering the sky.’ How about it? Isn’t it great?”
“I knew it’s a huge bird, but…”
Yu Dan looked at the chick.
“It doesn’t look like that from just based on its appearance. Isn’t it just an ugly chick?”
Chaeseol hastily covered the bird’s ears.
“Don’t listen! You are not ugly! You’re the cutest thing in the world!”
“Frankly speaking, it’s not cute.”
“Even Cheonho-nim is like this?”
“But when it fully grows up, it’s a very cool bird.”
Baek Ran looked at the baby bird’s head. Yu Dan also followed him and looked at it. A part on the top of its head moved up and down slightly.
“What is that?”
“It’s a breathing cavity[2]. It’s still soft because it was just born.”
The twins looked at the top of the bird’s head together.
“According to the 「Carefree Wandering」 when the sea shakes, Peng sets out to the Southern sea, and that sea is called Cheonji (天地)[3], the pond of Heaven. Peng causes a whirlwind and rides it for six months flying through the boundless sky, until it descends to the ground and rests. Its enormous body can only swim in the deepest sea, and its enormous wings can only be carried by an equally strong wind. Peng is a bird that can only fly when a powerful wind blows, a wind bird.”
The baby bird fluttered its short wings. The fox yokai smiled and asked.
“How is it? How is the wind of this world?”
As if wishing to reply, the bird raised its head and chirped.
“I know. It’s not the world that You should have been originally born in. The forest of enormous ancient trees. Grand pavilions. People worshiping gods. You should have spread Your wings and been flying in the sky of such a place. Even so, how is it? As You ended up being born, You should live, right?”
The baby bird blinked. It seemed that even though it couldn’t understand what it was hearing, it was listening carefully. Then it rubbed its head again against him.
“We’re your owners!”
Chaeseol shouted. Baek Ran looked at the twins.
“As expected, isn’t it better for me to take it?”
“No! This time we were first to find this bird, before Cheonho-nim. So it has to be us.”
“We will do it. We can do it too.”
“Anyhow, Yu Dan-yi[4] gave it us. He said he hated birds.”
“That’s right. So we will be fine.”
Chaeseol was expected, but even Chaeu was stubborn. Baek Ran stared at them, but the two firmly stood their ground.
“I think it would be better for me to take it, but…”
Baek Ran placed the baby bird, who sat in his palm, back in the box.
“Do as You wish. Instead, I won’t help you even a bit.”
When the fox yokai turned around and left, the baby bird cried out and tried to follow. Before it could fall out of the box, Chaeseol grabbed it.
“No! No! This way! We’re your owners!”
Chaeu ran to quickly close the door. He checked if Baek Ran truly left, and swept a hand over his chest.
“That’s fortunate. Isn’t it right, noona?”
“You’re right. It’s really fortunate.”
The twins looked at each other and smiled. Yu Dan asked:
“It is so good?”
“Yes. Thank You. For giving us this bird.”
“Really, thank you. And thank you for bringing eggs. We’re going to be busy now, so you can go.”
The twins crushed the yolk into small pieces, put it in their palms and when they made chip-chip sound, the bird opened its beak wide and gladly devoured it. Yu Dan watched it for a while, and then left the shack.
As he circled around and returned to the shop, Do-ssi and Heuk-yo were having a hushed discussion.
“It would be truly better if I took it and raised it.”
“You killed even a flower pot plant. Please don’t even dream of unthinkable things.”
“Even so, wouldn’t I be better than the immature kids?”
“Huu, if only I wasn’t a serpent…”
The two spotted Yu Dan and shut their mouths. Do-ssi unfolded a newspaper and Heuk-yo fixed the knot of her apron.
“I transferred the bird egg, so I’ll be going.”
He said goodbyes and stepped outside.
On the stone steps leading to the front yard maru[5] sat Baek Ran. He looked at Yu Dan with a face as if he drank a bowl of a very sour lemon juice, and even when Yu Dan ignored him and passed him by, the gaze kept following him.
“If Old Man Suseong comes to me again and gives me an egg, I’ll give it you.”
“I’m alright.”
The fox yokai replied very unenthusiastically. Under the scorching gaze drilling into the back of his head, he escaped the Banwoldang.
It seemed that the yokai of this place took care of each other, but he didn’t expect for them to engage in such a war of nerves over a bird egg. He guessed it was a truly precious thing. Peng bird. Peng bird…
Yu Dan walked and then raised his head. He saw the windows of a skyscraper. He raised his head even more and found the blue sky above it.
The wings, which cover the sky, they say.
He saw a phantom of an enormous bird flying above the city forest. What if Peng was visible in other people’s eyes? The scene of the startled company workers, who would raise their heads as an enormous shadow covered the ground, was drawn in front of his eyes. And in the next second a great wind would blow.
His heart fluttered a bit as he imagined it.
Everyone seemed worried, but even so, wouldn’t the twins raise the bird better than the fox, dokkaebi or the serpent? He hoped it would grow up quickly.
Yu Dan thought so, and started walking faster again.
***
“I wrapped it up in a warm blanket for the night and fed it milk, but when I looked in the morning, it was like this. I was crying the entire day.”
“Don’t cry. You didn’t do anything wrong. Rather, you did well. It was warm and full at least for one day.”
“Right. It went in peace. The dogs and cats go to Heaven first to wait for their owners.”
Yu Dan’s head slammed against the window and he opened his eyes.
He saw female students holding the bus handles and whispering to each other. The eyes of one of them were puffy.
He abruptly thought about the baby bird.
Was it growing well?
He couldn’t help his curiosity. It was past eight pm, but it wasn’t a place which closed its door early. Couldn’t he just secretly go take a look?
Yu Dan rung a bell and got out on the next stop.
As he arrived at Banwoldang after changing buses, it was quiet. It seemed that everyone was inside. Good. He wanted to just secretly go look at the chick and then go, so he circled around and headed to the shack.
The lights were on. As he released the bolt and opened the door, it was quiet. It looked as if the box beside the shack’s window was empty.
“Are you not here?”
In the instant, something popped out of the box. The baby bird flapped its short wings and chirped loudly.
“Did you recognize me perhaps?”
Funny bird. It seemed that hearing someone coming, it crouched and hid, but it quickly came out. It saw him once, but it recognized him, so it wasn’t stupid, right? Yu Dan walked up to it and looked inside.
The box was laid out with an electric blanket and finished with a light-bub. It seemed that the twins were indeed putting their hearts into looking after it.
The Peng grew a lot in the meantime. On the first day it was only the size of a chick, but now it seemed to be around the size of an ostrich’s baby. The thin foil, which was covering its eyes, fell off, and it was looking at him with a very clear gaze, chirping.
“What is it? Are you hungry? Did your owners not feed you and went somewhere?”
He looked around and then discovered something.
On a straw stack laid an old book. A trace of someone being here a moment ago.
Then, the shack’s door creaked open, and a Baek Ran entered hugging a few books. They looked at each other in surprise.
“What? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t help at all?”
“Didn’t You say You hated birds?”
An awkward silence fell for a moment.
“I was just curious, so I came to have a glance at it. Look. If I didn’t come, what would happen? The bird would starve.”
“If it’s about food, I fed it a moment ago.”
“What? You fed it?”
Yu Dan looked in the box. The bird hunched and just rolled its eyes. It seemed like it was seen through.
“You pretended to be hungry! You liar!”
“It’s indeed a liar.”
Baek Ran also acknowledged it.
“I have no idea how much it eats. It seems to eat every hour. It’s as much as possible without getting a stomachache.”
“That’s not an ordinary work.”
“Looking after a chick is hard work. These two kept taking turns and stayed up all night, but today they finally reached their limits, and were out cold a moment ago.”
“So you took this opportunity to covertly take it away?”
“No.”
Baek Ran sighed.
“I gave up on taking this bird now.”
“Then why did you come here?”
“There was no one there, so it kept crying. As the two said they would take care of it, I tried to pretend not to know, but it was so noisy, I couldn’t help it.”
“It was quiet when I came in.”
“Anyway, I won’t snatch anything from them, so don’t worry and go.”
“I just got here, and you’re already telling me to go?”
Yu Dan looked at the baby bird inside the box. He saw something between its fathers on its neck.
“What is that? Isn’t it a nametag?”
“Correct.”
“They even gave it a name, huh?”
“Yes. The two brainstormed together, worrying about it for half a day, and it seems they decided on ‘Pungun[6]’.”
“Why is its name so normal? Wasn’t it better to name it a Dog Poop or a Pig?”
“Are you really not going?”
“Just a moment. There is something I’m curious about. You said that a fish named ‘Kun’ transforms into Peng bird. Then shouldn’t it be born as a fish? Why was it born from an egg?”
“When a male and female Peng meet, they lay an egg.”
“Then if the Peng returns to water, will it change into a fish?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you see it in person?”
“Yes. A very long time ago, there was a place we called a Divine Forest in this land. I saw the enormous Peng there. It was so marvelous, I once followed it. After it reached the sea, the Peng jumped into the water. When the huge water column settled, I saw a gigantic fish departing into the distance. It was bigger than an island.”
Yu Dan tried to imagine it. As expected, huge things are cool.
“There are pictures on the internet of enormous fish, which claim to be sea monsters sometimes spotted in the Pacific Ocean or Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps it was Kun?”
“It’s possible that Kun was by chance captured by humans’ cameras.”
“When are you going to bathe it?”
“Yes?”
Baek Ran looked at him with a bewildered face.
*~*~*
[1] Old Man Suseong — 수성노인, Suseong (수성) means Mercury in Korean, but as Baek Ran explains, ‘수 su’ means longevity, while ‘성 seong’ refers to a constellation of stars.
[2] breathing cavity — I’m actually very confused what author-nim means by the word they use in raws. It’s ‘숨골 (sumgol)’, which literally could mean ‘breathing hole’, but from what author-nim said here, it seemed to me like they meant the fontanelle, aka, the soft parts of the baby skulls, that tend to move when breathing and moving, when babies are still young. But from the next chapter I gather they meant something else.
[3] Bokseong and Nokseong — I’m using Korean names for consistency, but their Chinese names would be Fuxing(福星 ) and Luxing(祿星), and Suseong would be Shouxing(壽星).
[4] Yu Dan-yi — As I started to do it for EX replay, I may as well use it in BBS. Yi/i is a particle added to make a name sound cuter, as a show of affection.
[5] maru — open floor
[6] Pungun — 풍운 — it means ‘winds and clouds’ or ‘a good omen read from winds and clouds’, or ‘something grand and beautiful’ or ‘voice that calls winds’.
Translator’s note: Yeah, no one cares about this bird. No one! This translator also doesn’t care! Not at all! *sneakily feeds the bird cookies*
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