Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
〈Chapter 87〉
“I mean it for real! Those are not mermaids, they’re babies! Babies that weren’t born yet and died!”
Baek Ran was speechless for a moment.
“Stillborns, eh?”
He soon mumbled and looked at the bead with a new understanding.
“It may be the safest place in the world, but even there, incidents occur. I heard that if something happens in the early pregnancy, the hospitals don’t even treat them as stillborns but as medical waste. However, even a mere doll can have a soul. Someone must have picked only the ones that had souls and made them into curse mediums.”
A chill went down Yu Dan’s arms.
“Right! Someone put them in hot fire. Several times!”
“Since ancient times, the ghosts of children were said to possess powerful powers, so there were many shamans that used them in their sorcery. They would cut off a part of baby’s corpse to bring around and summon a ghost, or kidnap children to put them in a large jar, or…”
Baek Ran’s words trailed off.
“I don’t have to tell You everything.”
“I agree.”
“Anyway, the things entangled with the souls of the babies who died at the hospital were deliberately made into wicked curse mediums. Their corpses were transformed and disguised as beads. The dead babies were released here, but they didn’t know what they were. Their lives ended too quickly, before they could learn it.”
Their lives ended too quickly…
Listening to the fox’s explanation, the chill he felt when he first learned about the identity of the beads gradually subsided. It was always like this. Once he learned about the other party, the fear weakened. Instead, other emotions took its place.
“When the dokkaebi first saw them, they looked like something that was neither a human nor a fish floating like they were swimming in water, so they mistook them for ‘mermaids’. At their shouts ‘mermaids’, the babies must have thought that someone finally recognized who they are. Because even in the womb, they could see and hear things. The babies probably knew what mermaids were.”
「We’re mermaids.」
「What is a mermaid?」
「I know. It’s this.」
He imagined the fetuses souls turning into mermaids one after another. Though terrifying, it was also a beautiful sight.
“So they made this house into the sea, huh?”
“Yes. Because the mermaids live in the sea. They need water to swim in. The babies’ consciousness transformed this space.”
“Now I understand a few things. I couldn’t immediately find the things containing the cursed energy, because they were scattered all over the place.”
“Do You know the reason they hate hot fire so much? Or why the newborns fell especially ill? For a young mind, how hateful and spiteful the babies with moms and dads had to look?”
“And the horn in my hands…”
Yu Dan summoned the dokkaebi horn again and looked down at it.
“Perhaps it looks like items used at hospitals?”
“I guess so.”
All riddles were solved.
However, rather than feeling relived, something fizzled in him.
“Waste? How…”
“There is nothing we can do about it.”
Baek Ran mumbled.
“It’s decided by law. When they’re too small, they’re not recognized as humans.”
“But the people, who should suffer Heavenly Punishment, pocketed them and made them into curse mediums! They couldn’t even rest comfortably…”
Yu Dan sighed. He couldn’t be any more bitter.
“What now?”
He asked out of habit, but he already knew.
“We have to retrieve them, right?”
“Yes.”
Like always, a simple answer returned.
Knowing their true nature, he now clearly saw where they were. Together with Baek Ran, he wandered around the house and retrieved the beads containing the fetuses’ grudges and put them in a wrapping cloth.
The dokkaebi thought they were just ordinary beads. They attached them to hair decorations, they put them in the children’s toy boxes, some were tied to the fan’s strings, and some got into corners behind the furniture.
It was easy to find them, but the fox never hurried with them. For each he carefully wrapped them in his two hands and silently prayed with great sincerity.
Yu Dan still felt uneasy, but…
He carefully stretched out his hand.
The moment his fingers touched the strangely smooth surface, he couldn’t help but shudder. But as he continued this, he got used to it little by little. They retrieved them one after another.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
He felt like he had to say something, so he kept muttering it inside.
Once they found them all, the wrapping cloth was full. As he was going to show it to the dokkaebi, Baek Ran poured his part into his cloth too.
“Say You did it alone. They aren’t going to thank me anyway.”
And like he had nothing else to say, he turned around and went away. The hem of the black mourning clothes quickly disappeared in the corridor.
“Our Bukchon and Seochon’s enmity runs very deep. I already told you this a few times, but the elder was born from the blue-white porcelain Seongjong given to Seonggyunkwan. But the head of Seochon was born from the ashes of the jeoksam[1] dyed with blood of Deposed Queen Yun.”
Yu Dan blinked at Do-ssi’s explanation.
“What is that?”
“You really don’t know? That’s common knowledge.”
“I have none of what others call common knowledge.”
“Yun was the queen of Seongjong. But Seongjong took away her position of the queen and sent her poison.”
An awful story came out. If that was true, then wasn’t it natural that the two dokkaebi families hated each other to death? Thinking that, he looked around.
Once they retrieved the beads, the curse energy vanished like a lie.
The Susanjae returned to be an old mansion with a great history. The male and female, old and young, all dokkaebi came out to the yard and were chatting happily.
“Those Seochon bastards are watching for an opportunity to make our lives harder and chase out by any means necessary and then to take this house for themselves. In the end they resorted to such vicious methods, wicked bastards!”
The Bukchan elder was livid. The dokkaebi shouted that they should raid Seochon right and wreck them. They were emancipated from the effects of the curse, but everyone seemed fine.
In this excited atmosphere, Baek Ran sat alone, seemingly bored.
The dokkaebi made very deliberate effort to ignore this extremely conspicuous fox yokai, but a few young children hid behind distant pillars and were glaring at him. It seemed they saw Cheon-ho for the first time in their lives.
“That’s all good, but shouting too loud brings too much trouble. Be quiet but confident. Do You understand?”
Do-ssi nagged the elder.
“Looks like things are roughly settled, so we will get going. Sister and the kids are looking after the shop. Cheonho-nim, let’s go.”
“Wait.”
The elder stared at Yu Dan. Under the gaze of this stern and unbending dokkaebi, he felt very uncomfortable.
“Yes?”
“You had a hard time.”
“Ah, yes.”
“We, dokkaebi, are not good with words. In addition, we hold many prejudices against humans, so there are times when our words come out as rougher than expected. We can’t curry a favor with a pleasant and seemingly friendly words like some with nine tails, and don’t match our speech with words that are pleasant to hear.”
“What do You mean? I guess You have no idea what powerful verbal abuse that fox wields. If You’re bothered that You have called me a fraudster at the beginning, I don’t have particularly good memory anyway, so…”
Surprisingly, a slight smile appeared on the old dokkaebi’s stubborn face.
“You’re certainly different from that earth puppy, huh?”
After saying that, which seemed to be some sort of amazing praise, he rummaged through his pockets. However, it seemed that he had nothing worthy of taking out.
“If I had something like a dokkaebi club or dokkaebi hat, I would give it to you. But all those things were stolen by humans a long time ago when we were naive.”
“He would have no need for it anyway. He already has an amazing treasure.”
Seokryu spoke.
She saw when he was attacked by mermaids, huh?
Yu Dan glanced at Baek Ran. He clearly heard everything, but he acted like it didn’t matter. Was it fine then? He took out the horn to show it.
The dokkaebi swarmed to him. The Bukchon elder asked.
“What on earth is it?”
“I heard that this is a horn of an ancient dokkaebi.”
“Where did you get such a thing?”
Baek Ran glanced at Baek Ran again.
“The Dream Goddess Monghwi had it. We exchanged it for a Qilin Dream.”
“Really? Then it must be genuine.”
The Bukchon elder and the other dokkaebi couldn’t take their eyes off the horn.
“Even just one of an old dokkaebi’s face engraved on a tile can display enormous power to stop curses. A horn of ancient dokkaebi is no different from a treasure. I heard that the dokkaebi of distant past rivaled gods.”
“Is that so?”
Just then, the brats hiding behind the pillar ran away crying. It seemed that Baek Ran finally has done something to make the kids cry.
The parents covered their children and glared at the fox yokai. ‘Didn’t your children do wrong first?’ was what Baek Ran’s face said, as he confidently stood up.
“Let’s go. It’s boring.”
Without waiting for a reply, he leisurely left first.
“Then we’re going for real now. Goodbye, elder. Everyone, stay well. See you.”
Do-ssi also left. And Yu Dan followed after him.
The dokkaebi quietly watched. They really had no way with words. However, even the elders, who still faltered on their legs, all carried the canes or took the help to come out. They send them off until all of them disappeared instead of words, it was more than enough.
“We, dokkaebi, engrave grudges and gratitudes in our bones.”
Do-ssi said as they walked. Yu Dan looked at Baek Ran.
“As expected, I should have said that we did it together, not that I did it alone. Why couldn’t I say anything until the end? You worked so hard to solve the curse.”
“Doesn’t matter. I have already crossed the river of no return with them. Even if I helped somehow out of the kindness of my heart, they would obviously only harbor suspicion towards me. They would watch my every move to find a fault, as the saying goes. I know they will. You can believe a fox.”
It seemed a lot accumulated in the meantime. This fox appeared to have no plans on mending his relationship with the dokkaebi.
Even so, supposing an opportunity arises one day, should he tell properly about everything that happened today?
Yu Dan decided to put that thought on hold for now. Right now, he had a much more important problem than this.
“Anyway, what are we going to do about these?”
He looked at the bundle in his arms.
It was full of beads.
Perhaps thanks to Baek Ran going around with him and retrieving them with care, the curse energy disappeared, but each one of them still contained a fetus’ soul.
They sometimes wriggled. He could hear a very faint sound of babbling.
“That’s right. What should we do about these?”
“We couldn’t leave them there in the first place, so we brought them, but…”
Baek Ran and Do-ssi worried with helpless faces.
In the end, they entered Banwoldang without coming to an answer. The beads hated to leave the side of Yu Dan or Baek Ran, who retrieved them, but the moment they saw Heuk-yo, they suddenly left the boys and hastily went to her, trying to be hugged.
“No, what is it? Uh? What are you doing?”
Heuk-yo unconsciously accepted and hugged the bundle. After hearing of the story of what happened, she looked down in blank shock. The beads squeezed together, as they really hated being left behind. Do-ssi clicked his tongue.
“Aigoo, how much did they have to miss the mother’s embrace…”
“Hey, kids-ah! I’m not your mother! Why would a maiden lady with promising future do that?”
Heuk-yo was disgusted. However, she didn’t dare to let go of the bundle of beads that buried into her arms.
The next day, Heuk-yo was very awkwardly carrying the bundle on her back, while honing the sword in an awkward posture. Her face was ruddy.
“What’s up with you? Were you drinking at work?”
“Noisy! This punk!”
As if afraid that someone may see her, Heuk-yo kept looking around, even though no one was there.
“Huu, I’m being thoroughly punished for opening older brother’s letter, huh?”
She sighed deeply. But she still wasn’t able to put down the bundle. When he saw her again in the afternoon, she was shaking a rattling toy to the bundle with a sour face. When he saw her another time, she was sleeping with a bundle in her arms as a pillow. Another time, she took out a stroller, and rode the bundle around the yard, while soothing it.
“She became a complete caring mother.”
Chaeseol whispered.
“No matter how much Cheonho-nim asks them to go with him, it’s useless. They don’t want to leave nunim’s arms even for a second.”
Chaeu also whispered. Heuk-yo glared at them.
“Hey, you! Why do you suddenly come so often!”
She shouted while bullying Yu Dan, but… A few days later, when no one was around, she secretly approached him and whispered.
“Save me.”
Yu Dan glanced at her.
“What can I do?”
“Let’s send out those guys. Where is the closest sea to here? Of course, I can’t go alone, I have to ride the train.”
“Why?”
“Aren’t they similar? The sound of rattling and the sound of a heartbeat.”
Heuk-yo spoke with a serious face.
Like that, he took a parasol and with Heuk-yo hugging the bundle, he left the Banwoldang in a late afternoon. And they rode a subway.
“Aah, so cute!”
The aunties looked at them with a smile.
“Please sit here.”
One miss offered a seat.
Heuk-yo’s face stiffened. Somehow, everyone looked at the bundle like it was a baby. He was nervous that it would tick her off, but…
“Thanks…. Miss.”
She said that and sat down.
“Did you almost just say ‘thanks’?”
“Don’t tease me.”
Huek-yo browbeat him, and then she looked around.
“I’m still unmarried.”
She self-introduced herself again though no one has asked.
“Oh my, how bad, how bad.”
“Must be hard for you, alone.”
The people looked at her with even more pitiful faces. It had a completely opposite effect than intended. Yu Dan almost burst out laughing.
Luckily, it was the only time.
Was it because the regular sound of the train wheels on the rails really resembled heartbeat as Heuk-yo said? The beads were quietly sleeping.
The sun set while they rode the subway. After getting off on the Oi Island Station and they took the bus again, at last reaching the sea. Lengthy promenade stretched out following the shore.
Heuk-yo kept looking around. She found a secluded spot without people like a devil, and hugging the bundle, she quickly crossed the wire fence.
“You too! Quick!”
Yu Dan looked around, and he too crossed the wire fence, landed behind the sea breaker and crouched on the stone wall. The disturbed seawater swayed.
“We’re done if someone sees us.”
“Ssh, be quiet.”
Heuk-yo unfolded the bundle under the shadow of darkness. And she took one bead, putting it in the sea. The moment it was submerged in the seawater, its appearance changed.
“I didn’t say anything. It’s better they think they’re mermaids until the end.”
He saw one small mermaid whip their tail and swim between the sea waves.
Heuk-yo put the beads in the water one after another.
It was the gentle sea where the school of fishes swum under the dazzling light like in the fetuses’ dream. But even so, they returned to the mother sea. As if happy, the school of mermaids swum around, and then they turned their back one last time.
“Safe travels.”
As if she grew some affection for them over the few days, Heuk-yo’s voice was a bit wet. She put a hand to her forehead and stared blankly.
The school of mermaids swum, leaving without anyone knowing. Only the city’s lights circulating around the coastline were watching them.
“Safe travel.”
Yu Dan also mumbled. And he thought.
It was the world you couldn’t be born into and which only gave you pain, but even so, if you remember your parents, and if you remember there was someone who worked hard to warmly receive you…
I hope that one day you will return.
*~*~*
[1] jeoksam — 적삼 short upper-garnet of hanbok.
Translator’s note: This story is quite difficult for me to analyze, because I keep having to disentangle the ‘Western’ views and discourse around fetuses from my understanding of what author-nim was trying to say. In the end, it was all very tiring.
Anyway, this is the end of ‘Mermaid Legend’ story.
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