Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 61⟩
He walked in the direction from which the voices came from, but found no one. Only all kinds of relics placed under the artificial lights. Confused, he looked around, when he heard different voices.
“Who is it? Who?”
“Damn, he also has a strong spirit.”
“Did such a human come here to suppress our energy?! When will we stand up tall again?”
The invisible things were whispering. Did a hanging scroll inside the glass box suddenly flutter? He glared at it and it stopped.
By all accounts, it seemed that while Yu Dan admired the museum’s treasures, the treasures also admired Yu Dan. It was truly a subtle feeling.
He probably should quickly finish his homework and leave.
Looking around, old dolls behind the glass caught his eye. They were colorful wooden dolls. A man and a woman holding hands. A warrior riding an animal, holding a sword. A government official. For some reason his gaze was drawn to them and he looked at them for a while.
Were they toys? But toys this neat?
He read the description.
「Dolls put in the funeral bier with the intention of guiding the soul of the deceased.」
He flinched at the completely unexpected context. The moment he looked at the dolls again, he caught something slightly moving in the corner of his vision.
Yu Dan swiftly turned his head in that direction. The wooden doll holding a sword just disappeared outside the entrance.
“What is that again?”
He mumbled in shock.
It wasn’t a real thing. The relics were still enshrined in the glass. The wooden doll that just slipped out was transparent. It looked like a very thin film reflecting on the walls and on the floor.
Yu Dan followed it. The illusion of the wooden doll moved through the corridor, and suddenly disappeared upstairs.
“What?”
He was about to follow after it upstairs, but stopped in his tracks.
It wasn’t just the wooden doll. Dokkaebi faces engraved on the tiles, black tigers, ghosts with red hair from old Buddhist paintings appeared. Everyone appeared like a thin and transparent film, and suddenly disappeared upstairs.
That was a serious matter.
Yu Dan urgently turned back the way he came.
He didn’t see the yokai. After looking around the exhibition rooms and searching for a while, he at last found them in the calligraphy room. Baek Ran was busy admiring the calligraphy paintings and stone rubbings hanging on all walls, while the twins sat in the chairs, tired.
He approached them and said:
“I think something is happening upstairs.”
The three yokai were surprised.
“I saw it a moment ago. Something looking exactly like the relics here, but thin and transparent, floated upstairs. The dolls to put in the funeral bier, dokkaebi, tigers, ghosts, things like that. What is that?”
“Samulryeong(事物靈 spirit of object). It seems you saw the objects’ souls, he?”
The fox yokai replied.
“The objects have souls?”
“Indeed. It especially happens to old objects. They seem to be the spirits of the relics, that’s a big deal, if the object’s spirit leaves, the item will break on its own or catch fire for no reason and burn down. I don’t know why they took off and went upstairs, but we have to send them back to their place.”
Yu Dan and the yokai left the calligraphy room and headed to the third floor. Thinking ‘is it really the weekend noon?’ they found no visitors under their noses. Instead, they found transparent film-like souls everywhere.
From the Japanese room, an old warrior’s armor walked out clinking. The masks with bizarre faces floated around. From the Chinese room, the lion-like monster, enormous horse and a terrifying general, who glared at them, sneaked out.
“Even Virūḍhaka?”
Baek Ran stared at it with a serious face.
The spirits of objects floated up in the air from the lower floors of the museum and passed them by. From the first floor, they passed over the heads of the visitors, who wandered around knowing nothing, and entered one of the exhibition halls on the opposite side, which lined up like corridors.
He heard some kind of sounds out of there. Someone’s suffering groans, that sound was drawing the spirits of objects in.
“We have to hurry.”
Everyone followed Baek Ran, circled the corridor and ran into the opposite exhibition hall.
They saw a great spectacle the moment they entered.
The exhibition hall was swarming with all kinds of scary phantoms. Everyone’s eyes blazed red and they glared at them. Animals roared. The armors threateningly clinked. The generals twirled their blades and stepped forward.
Baek Ran’s eyes turned sharp.
“You’re blocking my way right now, mere object spirits dare to defy me?”
He instantly took out the enormous spear that he usually kept sealed, and a dazzling light burst out in the dim darkness covering the exhibition room. Baek Ran was startled and quickly put back the weapon.
“The relics here can be damaged, eh? We can’t use magic here.”
Thinking about that, the museum was a very fragile space, where even a camera flash couldn’t be used. They couldn’t think what to do. While they were flustered, the spirits of objects flashed their red eyes, and stealthily gathered.
“What should we do? We left our weapons behind when changing clothes.”
“If we can’t use magic, then we only have healing powers left.”
“I can catch the ghosts and beat them up.”
“You absolutely can’t touch the spirit of the object. It will damage the relic.”
“Then what can we do? It seems like those things will rip us to shreds.”
“There is but one way.”
“What?”
The fox yokai moved swiftly and hid behind Yu Dan. Even the hesitating twins quickly followed behind.
“You’re going to use me as a shield?”
“Isn’t there something like the power of gaze? That eye has power. So please glare at those things.”
Yu Dan was dumbfounded. In the instant, he ended up in a staring contest with numerous object spirits alone. In the tight spot of watching both sides, Yu Dan felt like he was fighting for his life.
“There has to be some kind of way. My head hurts because of heat…”
“You can’t! Think!”
“Cheongho-nim! Save us!”
“Yu Dan-yi is working hard! We have just a little bit of more time!”
A giant stone horse suddenly stomped its feet. The twins swallowed their screams.
“Ah, that’s right.”
Baek Ran suddenly took out the phone from Yu Dan’s pocket, unlocked the password with familiarity and just swept through everything, as if it was his. Yu Dan was startled.
“What are you doing right now?!”
“This will do.”
Before long, Baek Ran played the mosquito sound repellent he downloaded out of curiosity. He heard it was an ultrasound that wouldn’t be audible for human ears, but this fox yokai touched it a few times, a terribly sounding beep noise came out. It seemed like he cut out only the most unnerving among the ghostly wails.
At that sound, some of the spirits of objects were shaken.
“What is that?”
“It’s a kind of soul wave amplifier. It will maximize the souls’ aversion reaction. Please keep glaring at them, while holding it and moving forward. We will follow behind You.”
He couldn’t help but do as he was ordered.
As if they really hated that sound, when he held up the phone in front of him and took a step, the spirits of things hesitantly stepped back. It felt like hearing a flock of sheep.
“Good. Just like that. Get out.”
While softly kicking them out, they succeeded in chasing them out of the exhibition room. Baek Ran took the phone again and put it at the entrance.
The souls congregated in front of it for a while, and then started to leave one after another. He was embarrassed that they took his phone as they liked, but seeing this, he couldn’t help but be relieved.
“Was it a success?”
Baek Ran shook his head.
“We can’t relax. It’s the end if the museum staff comes here. Before that, we have to find out what pulled those spirits of things here and solve it.”
Yu Dan only then looked around the cleared up exhibition room.
This place was a bit unique. The glass exhibition boxes lined up in order, and in each one of them was a blue pottery.
“It’s the celadon room.”
Chaeu said.
They sensed a strange energy from the corner of the exhibition room. Following it, they found a recess in the corner’s depths.
In the dark space with the emergency exit and fire extinguisher, a certain soul was crouching down. It was an elder with a bandanna wrapped around his head, jeogori[1] hanging below his waist and baggy pants.
“It’s the work of that elder, eh?”
“Shh, listen.”
In any case, he seemed to be deeply lost in his own world. He kept touching the air as if something was there, and his hands pretended to pull down, rotating something. It was a creepy sight.
“What is he doing?”
“It seems he is rotating the wheel and molding a pot. I guess he is a potter from Goryeo.”
Baek Ran replied.
Everyone held their breaths and approached the soul of the old man.
He looked very blunt. His country bumpkin face was deeply wrinkled, and from his firmly pressed lips, a powerful devotion could be felt. That devotion seemed to have pulled the spirits of objects in like a whirlpool.
“Ehem, potter-nim…”
The good-hearted wild ginseng boy spoke up, but the man didn’t show any reaction. Baek Ran stared at him.
“You seem busy, eh?”
“…”
“I want to order a pot.”
The old potter at last raised his head.
“Don’t say funny things. Where a dead person is going to use a pot? I guess you didn’t realize yet, you guys are dead and you have entered Avīci. Just like me.”
He replied, growling with a hoarse voice. He spoke with an old language, but the meaning of the words was passed into his head.
Baek Ran spoke again.
“You know You’re dead, eh?”
“Right so. I’m dead. I was dead for a long time.”
“Then why do You keep making pots?”
“Because I couldn’t complete it.”
“Complete what?”
“I couldn’t make it. Even though I knew that I couldn’t make it, I couldn’t not make it.”
“Then what was it?”
“A new celadon.”
Baek Ran thought for a moment, and then smirked.
“If it’s a celadon, are You perhaps talking about Yue ware?”
At those words, the potter stared at the fox yokai. It was quite dark, so Yu Dan couldn’t be sure, but he seemed to be glaring.
“What nonsense is that? I’m not talking about Yue ware.”
“But Yue ware is the best.”
With the fox’s particular expression of ‘are you a fool’, the potter lost his temper right away.
“Do you take me for a fool!? Yue ware is not the best! My pottery is the best! There is only one pot of this color in the world!”
“Is that so? Pardon me, can I witness it then?”
The fussing potter lost his energy right away.
“Didn’t I say that I couldn’t complete it?”
He started to again pretend to turn the wheel and mold the pot. It seemed he couldn’t stop it, even in extreme suffering. He roughly guessed what kind of story it was. Yu Dan nodded.
“Got it. That elder-nim couldn’t make that pot in the end and so he is stuck here.”
“But Cheonho-nim, what is Yue ware?”
When Chaeseol asked, Baek Ran explained.
“Celadon from old China. It was first made in the Yue kingdom, and until the Song dynasty, it was simply called Yue ware. It was very famous even in Goryeo. Everyone endlessly praised the graceful blue color of the celadon.”
“What nonsense.”
The old potter spat out.
“Everyone praised it? I didn’t praise it. I was disappointed the moment I saw it.”
Chaeu tilted his head.
“Why is that?”
“Why was I disappointed? It was different from my imagination.”
“How did You imagine it? Can’t potter-nim tell us in a bit more detail? I’m curious.”
The potter’s lips were pressed shut so firmly they almost formed a straight line. Was that the end? He was about to urge him again, but the fox winked at him.
“My parents-nim sold me as a disciple to a famous potter.”
At last, he spoke up.
“My master-nim treasured me a lot, saying I was born a genius. During the breaks, he told me all kinds of stories about pottery, and among them the story of Yue ware was the most magnificent. The Yue ware was considered matchless pottery in the past and present, they say that it was clear blue as if it contained the soul of the sky. The young me dreamed of making Yue ware with my own hands one day, while looking to the sky. Then one day, the administrator, who was acquainted with my master-nim, bought a quite precious Yue ware celadon and invited several people. With master-nim’s consideration, I also followed and was able to witness it. But…”
The old potter shook his head.
“The Yue ware I saw for the first time in my life was just disappointing. The peony flowers and butterflies engraved on the bottle were truly pretty, but the problem was its color. It wasn’t the color I imagined. That was supposed to be the color of the sky? I unknowingly said it out loud. In the instant, the complexion of the administrator changed. The people, who were excitedly chattering, instantly became quiet like a mouse.”
As if the memory of that time was still vivid, the potter stopped talking for a moment.
“My master-nim went into a fit of rage. He said I didn’t understand the beauty of Yue ware, so I didn’t have qualifications to make celadons and expelled me. I was more angry than regretful. No matter how I thought, I was right and they were wrong. I’d make sure to create that blue color I saw when I looked at the blue sky as a youth. I’d make sure to make the one in the world pot. I promised myself that.”
Baek Ran didn’t even breathe and perked up his ears to the old potter’s story. Yu Dan and the twins also quietly looked at him.
“From that day on, I gritted my teeth and worked day and night. I wasn’t the only one who thought like this. Here and there new celadons using the techniques only from our country were made. But they didn’t meet my eye either.”
“It wasn’t the color potter-nim wanted, eh?”
“Yeah. I knew very well how to do it in my head. The soil is the most important. I wandered everywhere, looking for the best soil. The enamel is also important. A clear and transparent glaze without a bit of impurities. And it had to be applied even thinner than the Yue ware. The necessary trick was to be delicate and soft, like a Goryeo’s beauty waking up in the morning and adding a touch of elegance with a thin make-up, so to speak. Fire was important too. The well dried pine wood had to burn for two days without going out. During that, even a wisp of wind can’t enter the kiln. The clear color will only appear if you withstand the freely burning hellfire.”
The potter, who was speaking with excitement, turned sullen again.
“But it wasn’t easy. I was just stuck doing numerous trials, unable to bring out the blue color I wanted. At some point, I became a middle aged man. My master-nim, who was strong and straight, became a white haired man, using his disciples as support, and came to find me. But seeing me pulling the same crap as before, he went amok and turned back. After that I didn’t hear news of him again. Everyone said I went crazy. The boy potter, who was once praised as a genius and everyone held expectations for, turned into this? If he just made Yue ware, he could pat his stomach and live in comfort by now.”
In the darkness, the potter seemed to spit out a bitter laugh.
“The days just passed by like that. At some point there was no one who remembered me. They would just say ‘Ah, that crazy old man’, and pass by. While making scraps of pots to barely make the ends meet, I made celadons day and night. But not matter what I have done, the blue color I wanted didn’t appear.
By this time, my body became so weak it was difficult to move without a cane. I felt I didn’t have much life left. While preparing to make probably my last pot, I recalled the memory of my younger days. That desire to want to make the clear blue pot that seemed to contain the soul of the sky…
As I was making the bowl, as I made up my mind. I wanted to put the soul of the sky in that bowl. While making the desperate wish, I engraved the patterns with my whole body. I put it in the kiln and didn’t rest for the whole two days, praying to the gods of Heaven and Earth. What burned in the kiln was not wood, but my soul. I burned the last embers of my soul, and took out the baked pot with trembling hands.
But that wasn’t it. The color was murky, just like before. I was devastated.
I failed in the end, huh?
I couldn’t endure any longer. I collapsed on the spot and drew my last breath. In the end I couldn’t make the blue pot I wanted to make my entire life. Even after my heart was broken, and I died, I kept pretending to make pottery.”
The old potter sighed deeply. They felt the desperate and powerful devotion from his frail old voice, and what followed was a pang in their chests.
“Is your curiosity satisfied now?”
*~*~*
[1] jeogori — the outer upper garment of the hanbok
Translator’s note: I feel ya potter elder, I feel ya. Though I don’t know if it’s a healthy thing to feel.
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