Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
〈Chapter 88〉
〈Ghost bride〉
In the old times, a government official was in deep grief after losing his son. A daoist, who happened to be passing by, told him of the sacred tomb site where the dead son would give him a grandson. The daoist told him to bury a silver blade with the deceased. One day, the daughter of a local governor happened to be passing by the place, when she met a man. He gifted her a silver blade and not long after she became pregnant.
The local governor wanted to kill the daughter, who he believed demeaned the family. The daughter pleaded to differ in tears, as she showed her father the silver blade. The local governor, who could not bring himself to kill his daughter, ask all around about the owner of the silver blade. The government official, who heard the news ran at once to meet his daughter-in-law and grandson. The people called this beautiful story ‘Blooming of dead tree’ and praised it wide.
『Compilation Of Lucid Dream Stories』
There are dreams, which you don’t know they’re dreams. At that moment, you believe they’re real. In contrast, there are dreams that you know are dreams. Yu Dan’s current dream was the latter.
It’s the dream.
His thinking was clear.
He was on a bus. Because it was packed, he stood holding a handle. A woman stood right before him, he saw her neck between the black hair. He looked at her, as they swayed according to the bus’ movement. How could a human neck be as white as porcelain? For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Then he abruptly realized.
Her skin didn’t have any pores.
He felt goosebumps. She wasn’t human. A water ghost.
He at last looked around the backs of all passengers. All backs were exactly the same. Pure white and soft skin without any pores — they were all water ghosts.
Yu Dan suddenly opened his eyes.
He saw the living room ceiling. He heard the hum of the air conditioner. Even in not cool, but rather chilly air, his whole body was soaked in sweat.
It was a premonition dream.
He had such a gut feeling.
‘I’m going to meet that water ghost…’
Then he felt chills again.
Until now, if a wicked thing beckoned him, he would approach it like drawn by the hate towards that wicked power, even if it was scary and hateful. But for some reason, this time he wanted to avoid it. He had to avoid meeting that water ghost by any means possible. He hated it so much.
But how does one avoid a water ghost?
First of all, it seemed he had to keep maximum distance from water. He would be stuck at home, while careful about washing.
Yu Dan laid down again.
But then he abruptly thought.
Was the water ghost perhaps not coming to him? Was it perhaps coming for other people, for example, the Banwoldang? Then what should he do? It was vacation after all, so he could stay at home, but didn’t he have to go there and warn them?
Yu Dan stood up again.
That was the problem. Baek Ran could invade other people’s dreams as he liked, or do things similar to calls, but Yu Dan didn’t have such abilities. The Banwoldang had a phone, but they wouldn’t give him the number. They said that someone could imitate Yu Dan’s voice and babble strange things. Of course, the yokai didn’t have an e-mail. In the end, if he had something to say, he had to go in person.
“Aaah, really…”
He drew the way to the Banwoldang in his head. It felt like it was going to be really chaotic. Surely, he wouldn’t meet that water ghost on the way? He had to be on alert. Careful about each and every one of his steps.
With such a resolution, he left the house.
He shrunk even at the splash of water in the aquarium of the sashimi restaurant in the apartment complex. He shrunk at the puddle in the street hole. He shrunk at the water from the sprinkle in the flower shop. He threaded carefully, with full wariness, each time discovering that water was all around in the world, but…
“Can I ask what are You doing right now?”
He heard a very polite voice behind him.
It wasn’t a voice he heard for the first time. He clearly heard it before. His memory flickered.
“Who are you?”
Yu Dan turned around. But there was no one.
“Here! Over here!”
He looked down.
Creatures gathered up and stood before him. Dwarfish old man in antique clothes, a carp with hands and feet, a rabbit who walked upright, old book with fluttering pages and a bird resembling a mandarin duck.
“It’s you guys?”
“Yes, that’s correct! It’s us!”
They were none other than the small yokai, who tried to pick a fight with Yu Dan out of fear of the female ghost of moonless night. Nevertheless, meeting a familiar face in the moment of anxiousness gave him a pleasant feeling.
“Long time no see.”
“You said that. We were curious how You’re doing, but we didn’t know where You live, so we couldn’t visit. But we met You by chance on this road. We’re living very peacefully. It’s thanks to the benefactor-nim bravely stepping forward that night.”
“What? I just happened to do it by chance…”
“Where in the world is a person who exorcizes ghosts ‘by chance’? We will do anything to repay Your kindness. If You have anything for us to do, please tell us. But unless we’re mistaken, it seems You’re in some kind of predicament right now.”
“No, not exactly…”
“Please don’t lie. If not, there is no way that benefactor-nim would act so strangely. So if we may ask, what are You doing?”
The conversation circled back to the beginning. Yu Dan shrugged.
“In truth, I’m avoiding water.”
“No! Was our benefactor-nim bitten by a mad dog!?”
“Mad dog? What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Doesn’t benefactor-nim have a symptom of rabies, the fear of water, because He was bitten by a mad dog?”
“No! I was never bitten even by a perfectly fine dog! I’m avoiding water because of a dream. I saw a water ghost in the dream, and no matter what, I feel like it was a premonition dream. I have a gut feeling that I absolutely must not meet that water ghost. But it’s not only me who has to avoid it, I have to tell the fox, dokkaebi, serpent and ginsengs to be careful too. So I’m going there right now, while avoiding water as much as possible.”
The small yokai stirred.
“Benefactor-nim wasn’t scared of such a terrifying female ghost and glared at her. How great must this water ghost be?”
“No! We shall protect benefactor-nim!”
“Right! Right!”
They threw punches, raised their tails or fluttered their pages, full of excitement. It was absurd to see.
“No, it’s fine. I know how scared you are.”
“Even so, we will protect You!”
“Don’t follow me.”
“We will protect You!”
“Wait. Are you perhaps scared after hearing me? Is it why you’re following so closely behind me?”
“No! We will protect benefactor-nim!”
He thought they would stop, but the small yokai followed him relentlessly, even though scared. They didn’t leave Yu Dan even when he took the bus. It was noisy and annoying, but thanks to them following with a bustle, he was able to forget for a moment about the unknown uneasiness.
Once they arrived in front of the Banwoldang, they suddenly hesitated.
“That’s the benefactor-nim’s destination?”
“We should retreat here, eh?”
“Then see You later.”
“Next time, we will repay Your kindness more properly.”
The small yokai bowed and disappeared.
“I said that there was no need.”
Yu Dan turned around.
Behind the gate of Banwoldang, it was really quiet too. Suddenly, he had an ominous feeling. Was something about to already happen? The moment he quickly entered the yard, a water stream flew towards him.
“Heuk!”
Yu Dan was startled and stepped back. Chaeu was startled even more than him. He screamed ‘Eieek!’ and almost dropped a gourd.
“You entered now of all the times! The weather is so hot, I wanted to sprinkle some water in front of the shop. You were almost doused by water. I apologize.”
“No. Any other time I would have no problem being hit by a bit of water. But right now it seems I’m about to have a nervous breakdown because of water.”
“Yes? Why?”
He looked around instead of answering.
Unlike what he worried, Banwoldang was very peaceful.
Heuk-yo and Chaeseol were sitting on a bench, trimming leek. Baek Ran stepped out into the yard and was looking up at the neighbor tile-roof with a serious face. An orange calico cat stole a brush without a handle and was watching out, fur all bristled. Do-ssi was swinging a long stick, but it didn’t reach the cat.
“I guess there are no problems.”
“Of course.”
Chaeseol replied and smirked.
“Doesn’t Yu Dan-i also have no problems? Thanks to our unnie, I mean.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“We heard. You went to the sea, and unnie escorted you home because it was late.”
“What escorted?! I said I was fine, but she chased after me! Do you know how many people at the apartment saw it?”
“Anyway, how can a woman can escort a man? It should be a man who escorts the woman.” [1]
In the end, Heuk-yo cut in with a frown.
“Did all those dramas get into your head? I dragged him out, so how could I send that thing that can’t even take care of himself home alone at twelve o’clock? I had to at least watch him enter the apartment complex.”
“Wow! As expected, unnie is really cool!”
“It’s not just that. I didn’t go back right away but hid and checked if the lights in the house that punk lives in turned on and then went back.”
“Such immaculateness! As expected from trustworthy nunim.”
“Not just that. I also, also…”
Heuk-yo worked hard to try to babble even longer. But was there nothing more, perhaps…?
“What more should I have done?!”
She hit the bench in regret with a bang. And glanced at Yu Dan.
“Anyway, look how much I! Bother about! Your safety!”
She spoke with emphasis and sent him a very intense gaze. She was appealing for something diligently, and it was obvious what it was.
“I know, I know. Besides, I finally got my allowance.”
At those words, the serpent yokai peeked behind Yu Dan’s back right away.
“But I couldn’t buy it. I was too out of my mind to visit a cake shop today.”
“No, why?”
“I had a very scary and bad premonition dream. I was riding a bus, and closely observing a woman standing before me, when I realized she was not a human but a water ghost. No one in that bus was a human. It was so frightening, I woke up.”
“Look at this punk! What do we do if he just woke up at that moment!”
“Usually, a bus appearing in a dream means a road to afterlife. And all the passengers are dead. No matter what, You have to get off in the middle. You’re in big trouble.”
Yu Dan was pissed.
“What are you so happy about? I wanted to just stay shut at home alone for a bit, but I took all this trouble to come here to tell you…”
“Yes? You deliberately came to warn us?”
Chaeu asked back in surprise. Silence fell for a moment. Everyone’s eyes grew larger. Chaeseol spoke up.
“I just had a very strange feeling a moment ago. How should I express it?”
“Ridiculous.”
Baek Ran answered back. Yu Dan turned around.
“I’m going.”
Chaeseol abruptly stood up and grabbed him.
“No! No! Absolutely not! Cheonho-nim, you’re too much! Really!”
“What can I do? I don’t believe in foresight. Anytime You glimpse the future, it’s just a part of it. That includes all revelations. Even if You try to avoid it, You will get involved in ways that You can’t imagine.”
“What? Then I’m going to meet that water ghost no matter what?”
“However, Cheonho-nim can read the cards beforehand and play a trick. Please play a hand beforehand, so he doesn’t meet that spiteful water ghost. He had a connection not with just any fox, but Cheonho-nim, doesn’t he have at least this degree of privilege?”
Chaeu pleaded diligently.
“I don’t think it will be any use anyway, but…”
Baek Ran thought.
“Since it’s do it or not, shouldn’t I use a strange method that no one would expect at least once?”
“Wait, you mean you’re abandoning me anyway? You’re using me for the last test and then leaving me to eat it up?”
Baek Ran already disappeared. But he came down a moment later.
“Wasn’t there a ruckus about the grades of meat in this backyard not a long time ago? I had a bizarre thought flash in my mind at that time.”
The fox was hiding something behind his back. It was very worrying.
“What is it?”
“Have You ever seen it? Sometimes they put a green stamp on the meat.”
“Uh, I know that, but…”
He heard the sound of the gate closing behind him. The twins ran to him and grabbed him by the arms. Their strength was enormous.
“What are you doing?”
“We don’t know! But is it just a day or two when we do such things?”
“Somehow it seems we should do this!”
“Well done. Please drag him here.”
He tried to escape, but they held him tight without even budging and brought him in front of the fox yokai. Baek Ran raised a hand. And then did something. But because he was as fast as lightning, he had no idea what it was. His forehead prickled.
“What did you do!?”
Baek Ran showed what he was holding in his hand. It was a jade stamp engraved with a fox symbol.
“I stamped you.”
“What is that stamp?”
“If You look for the most similar thing in the human world, it’s a stamp that represents grades of meat. An Offering Seal. A seal stamped on the offerings presented to me in the past. The water ghosts are ghosts that capture the living. However, who would dare to touch Cheon-ho’s offering?”
Hearing the explanation, Yu Dan was shocked.
“I’m a meat now?”
“It’s probably better than doing nothing. I don’t know for how long it’s going to be effective, but wouldn’t you endure at least three days? We will think again after that.”
There was nothing to say. In the first place, if the water ghost couldn’t touch him for three days, he was glad that he wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of avoiding water, but…
Yu Dan touched his forehead. His fingers burned. Even that fox said it was a strange idea, but wasn’t it too excessive?
Baek Ran looked at him, and his eyes curved up.
“Why? Feeling anxious?”
“Ah, no.”
“Please don’t worry. The ranks of offerings were divided into nine rates, if something wasn’t first-rate, I didn’t eat it. Even if I didn’t eat the second-rate, I would at least play with it, and with the third-rate I would sniff it and shout ‘take it away!’.”
Hearing this, something else bothered him.
“What rate is this?”
“Would you like to look in person?”
Chaeseol brought him a hand mirror. On his forehead a golden writing sparkled. It was surrounded by old hanji which he didn’t know the meaning of, but he knew the big character.
“Pal (八 eight)…?”
Yu Dan raised head.
“At least it isn’t the ninth rate?”
“Regretfully, I lost the ninth rate seal.”
As expected, he was heartless. There was a reason why there was no need for air conditioning here, wasn’t there?
*~*~*
[1] “Anyway, how can a woman can escort a man? It should be a man who escorts the woman.” — Chaeu’s sentence, and my dear boy, can I punch you?
Translator’s note: Ghost bride story is four chapters long.
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