BBS(5)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost

 
⟨Chapter 5⟩
 

Yu Dan took out a string from the desk drawer, and put it together with scissors in the backpack.

He was a bit worried, but…

Just like Baek Ran said, no one was able to see the jeung. Sometimes there were people who straight up looked at it, but their gaze just skimmed past it.

Yu Dan was reassured. He took out the string and the scissors, and tightly tied the jeung to the side of the school desk.

“Don’t cause any incidents and stay quiet. Endure just for a little bit, until the misfortune appears.”

The jeung struggled, but as it was tied extremely tightly, it couldn’t make the slightest move. It was so comfortable. He regretted that he didn’t think of it before.

Yu Dan opened up the textbook.

He was completely prepared, but even when the final class ended that day, the misfortune didn’t appear.

His pulse calmed down.

As he stood by the window, he searched far in all directions. But he saw nothing strange at all.

Perhaps the misfortune disappeared by itself? He would be glad if it was like this.

Anyhow, it seemed that he will have to go to the Banwoldang again and ask.

Yu Dan threw the limp jeung into the bag. Perhaps because he kept having a war of nerves with this straw doll, he was flooded with fatigue.

In the light of setting sun, the entire playground was dyed bright red.

As he trudged forward, he ran into the kids from the same class. The children made ‘uh’ sounds as they recognized him.

“Going home?”

“Um- yeah…”

Yu Dan’s gaze headed to their side.

— Hyungs… do you want to play soccer with me…?

A bloodied boy was standing, holding a soccer ball. Yu Dan heard a story that once, at this school, a boy was playing soccer alone at dawn, and a teacher-nim, who couldn’t see him, hit him with a car.

— Do you want to play with me…? Uh? Hyungs…. Let’s play together…

The boy’s hand grabbed the hem of some kid’s clothes. A red hand-print formed on the school uniform. The blood also dripped from the ball and wetted the playground. Yu Dan couldn’t watch it any longer and turned his head to look away.

The children chatted without knowing anything.

“I’m hungry. How about we go to buy something?”

“Yeah, I should use the cheeseburger coupon.”

“If you buy one, you get two, so if you buy two, you get four? Are you also going to eat?”

Suddenly, everyone’s faces turned towards him. Yu Dan was embarrassed.

“Me?”

At that moment.

Something terrifying, a strange sound reached his ears.

Snap.

Startled, he looked down.

At some point, the bag opened. In the hands of the jeung, which freed itself, were scissors he put in the bag. In the jeung’s other hand was a handful of hair it cut a moment ago, and it was hurriedly putting them into its mouth.

“Don’t!”

His voice rang out like an echo.

The world distorted. All colors and shapes blended together, and contorted like in a kaleidoscope. Yu Dan felt dizzy and sat down.

“Are you okay?”

In surprise, the children gathered around.

Not around Yu Dan, but the jeung.

At some point, that thing became bigger, and became him.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go. I would also like a cheeseburger.”

The jeung spoke with his own voice.

You can’t do this!

Yu Dan leaped to catch the jeung. However, his hand helplessly passed through the jeung’s shoulder. As if he became transparent.

He blankly stared at the jeung who walked together with the children. After the jeung said something, everyone burst out laughing.

I’m not like this! This is not me!

The jeung, who had his appearance, looked back at him with a smile.

“Now I’m you and you’re me. Look at that. Everyone likes me more. There is no place for you.”

“No!”

“Then answer me that! Do you value your own place?”

“….”

“Look at that! Even when it was stolen, you have nothing to say! Hahaha!”

The ground shook, and a black hole formed in front of his eyes. In the instant, it widened and swallowed the playground. It swallowed both buildings and the sky.

“Get in there, Misfortune Receiver!”

The jeung shouted.

The brand on his forehead burned as if it was set on fire. He tried to move, but he couldn’t even move a step. At some point, chains jumped out of the darkness and binded Yu Dan’s legs. The big like the world cogwheel turned, slowly dragging Yu Dan to be swallowed. While the wheel creaked, he realized its name. It was ‘Natural Law[1]’.

In the end, this is the fate of the Misfortune Receiver….

Since ancient times, even before they were born, everyone inhereted that kind of feeling, through the blood and flesh of their mothers, the crushing feeling as if suffocating.

The fear of being made into an example of wrongdoings.

Because his throat was so tight, he couldn’t even let out a scream.

At last, the darkness covered his vision.

At that moment.

A sharp light brushed past his vision. Yu Dan opened his eyes wide.

Butterflies…? No, those were talismans. Dozens of talismans were flying in the air. Twinkling in his eyes, they turned into an enormous golden wheel and crushed into the cogwheel. The sharp sound of clashing metal pierced his eardrums, and light exploded in all directions. The cogwheel that dragged Yu Dan screeched and suddenly halted.

“The Chakravati’s dharmachakra is a cartwheel of justice and order[2]. The wheel of that king crushes and breaks the mountains and rocks, like it crushes the sentient being’s suffering, karma, reincarnation and fate.”

It was a familiar, cold voice. Yu Dan turned around.

Through the apparition of golden fragments pouring down like rain, he saw the fox.

His appearance itself was completely different from when he saw him in daylight. Didn’t he think that he somehow didn’t feel exactly like a human? He was a being of the night, which hid himself when in the light, but revealed his brilliance in the darkness.

The hair and eyes, which looked pale brown during the day, now were of the color of glorious gold. In the darkness, it was a color that didn’t match with the cold, wicked energy. Even while it was so extremely alien, somehow he unknowingly felt drawn to him.

“I told You to be cautious.”

At the icy voice, which seemed to tell him he was pathetic, he came back to his senses.

Now that he looked, the fox was holding a weapon. It was a golden spear splitting into nine prongs, and it held an enormous power.

For hells, he had no idea he would come personally like this.

“Don’t move, please. Because it’s bothersome. I only came here to eliminate that.”

“Ah, sorry. I….”

“No. It’s me who owes you an apology. I was careless thinking it’s a simple task, so I apologize. I couldn’t guess there is a person in this world who can’t follow one instruction. My thoughts were truly short. Will You kindly forgive me for it?”

It would hurt less if he just cursed him. He wanted to say this is too much, but knowing it was his mistake, he had nothing to say and his face just burned red.

“What do we do now?”

“If You’re asking me that, then hm….”

Baek Ran replied with a cold face, while swinging his spear towards the going berserk darkness. A road appeared in the air, formed from numerous yokai and small creatures, at the thick dark energy emitted by them, the darkness suddenly withdrew.

“This is…?”

“’Road to Hell[3]’. Don’t look at it too closely. Those things submitted to me for a while. There is a wisdom to ‘fight poison with poison’. They are quite useful for matters like these, but…”

The fox swung the spear softly as if playing with the fog. The flock of yokai and small creatures spread out in all four directions like a mirage.

“Too bad it only works when overpowering your opponents to destroy them. Even with that, I can’t vanquish the misfortune. Didn’t I tell You? From the beginning, the misfortune was born to cover someone. It can’t be butchered, purified or destroyed. The only certain way to end it is if it covers someone.”

The enormous darkness, which he thought was withdrawing, suddenly stretched out behind them and instantly swallowed the jeung. Something exploded with a bang. Yu Dan was shocked.

“It grew bigger!”

“Naturally. The jeung was already broken, so it couldn’t function as You. Because You tried to fool it, the misfortune is enraged.”

After Baek Ran swung his spear again, the yokai and small creatures all screamed together. His ears were ringing.

“In any case, I’m a yokai. Even that dharmachakra is just an imitation made from talismans. I only borrowed a fake blessing through the same look, it’s not a real thing. So the time it can earn is limited, but that’s a pity, it seems it already consumed all of it. Then…”

Because of the sound of explosion, his words were cut off. The corner of the dharmachakra broke down and fell, while the shattered pieces erupted into flames in four directions. The sparks showered down like rain.

“So I can’t help it.”

The fox yokai turned his head and stared at him. The light of golden eyes scattered the darkness, while drawing a clear trace.

“Yeah. It can’t be helped, right?”

Yu Dan’s shoulders dropped.

“It’s like noona said. I brought it upon myself. Tell them I have no grudges. Okay. That should be worth dying for. But even so, thanks for coming to help me.”

“What are You talking about?”

Baek Ran took out a talisman. It burst into flames in his fingertips, while even thicker and darker energy than the darkness bloomed.

“It seems You’re truly a fool to the end.”

With a sneer like smile, he drew a black energy, with a long tail, from his forehead.

Yu Dan was terrified.

This situation was completely unexpected, and beyond his understanding.

What the hell was he about to do?!

Yu Dan suddenly grabbed the white sleeve fluttering in the wind.

“Why are you accepting misfortune instead of me? There is no need to go so far for me!”

“You’re mistaken—.”

Baek Ran shook him off of his sleeve as he spoke.

“It’s not for other people. It’s for myself. I can’t fail, even if I want to fail, it’s just that.”

In that instant, Yu Dan recalled the conversation he shared with Do-ssi and Heuk-yo at the Banwoldong.

They said that one shouldn’t boldly ask for help from others when one has ability. Now he understood the reason.

Because it puts a burden on others.

This fox yokai accepted that burden as if it was natural. And with a cold face, he told him not to meddle in his own business. He didn’t even try to pretend he was doing it out of goodness of his heart to save others. He was just going to calmly get covered by that enormous misfortune instead of Yu Dan as if he knew it would be like this from the beginning.

Was that the Cheon-ho’s pride they were talking about?

“But that’s too much!”

Yu Dan pushed the fox, and jumped into the hole he was avoiding that much.

If anyone had to take responsibility, it was him. Because from the start, it was him who mistakenly grabbed the bead containing the misfortune.

As if waiting, the darkness wrapped around him all at once. All kinds of swirling emotions poured down into him.

At the beginning, it was a very small existence. Just bad energy from somewhere bundling up together. It was enough to be called a misfortune, but it would just end on losing money or ending up in a small incident.

However, it couldn’t find its place. It wasn’t born like this by its own choice, but everyone feared it and avoided it.

The misfortune was sad.

Not everything in the world could be bright and joyful like a day. Everything which exists, even in the darkness, even in the shadows, has its own meaning. The reason things are alive.

What should I do if everyone avoids me like this, because everyone hates even a small unhappiness? If only someone accepted me, I would be able to wither comfortably.

Everyone hated it and only shifted it onto each other. A Receiver of Misfortune made a new Receiver, and that Receiver made a new Receiver once again. It was fooled again and again.

It was too much, you know?

Its sadness grew, so its body also grew accordingly. It wandered aimlessly with its enormous and heavy body.

Everyone just avoids me. Then what should I do?

The misfortune felt squashed by the feeling of pain and anger.

Yu Dan unintentionally mumbled.

“I know that feeling.”

That feeling was too familiar.

When he was young, he talked about the strange things his eyes saw and his ears heard.

— Why is there a person hanging upside down from the ceiling?

— Who is that person dripping with blood following behind you?

— Please give something to eat to that person outside the window too.

Everyone’s faces turned white in fear. They told him not to say creepy things, while looking at him like he was a monster. Once he was branded as a strange child, he couldn’t fit in anywhere. Even after he stopped talking about strange things with people, the rumors followed after him tenaciously. He felt that wherever he went, there was no place for him.

His eyes tingled.

Whether it’s me, or these things, they’re all the same in the end, you know?

He finally realized. There is no meaning in fighting it, then. You have to solve it in a different way.

Yu Dan stretched his hand out towards the darkness.

Come here.

The pitch black darkness hastily embraced him. He awkwardly stroked the enormous mass swept over him like a whirl.

It’s okay. It’s okay now. You can relax.

The thick darkness suddenly turned bright.

Yu Dan squinted his eyes.

His vision was so bright, it was pure white. The mass of dazzling light filled the whole world. Like an expanding star, it exploded, and then at some point, it broke into countless small fragments. They sparkled like the light of fireflies and scattered in all directions.

He was dumbfounded by that light.

“What happened?”

The fox was standing in the hundreds or thousands pieces of light. His side-profile, which observed the dazzling lump of light scattering in all directions, looked somehow lonely and soft.

“Destruction.”

“Didn’t you say you can’t destroy it?”

“To speak precisely, it self-imploded. The misfortune couldn’t cover a person who recognized its loneliness and sadness for the first time. In the last moment, it directed that energy at itself and destroyed itself.”

The light drew numerous patterns in the air. It was worthy to call it a spectacle.

“Thanks to that, it returned to its origin.”

“Origin…”

Following the fox yokai’s words, Yu Dan mumbled.
 

*~*~*
 

[1] Natural Law — ‘Reason (順理)’

[2] Chakravati and dharmachakra — Chakravati, the ‘wheel turning king’. The ideal and universal ruler in Buddhism and Hinduism (though there are differences in their meanings in the two). Dharmachakra, or Wheel of Dharma, is the wheel which brings… well, order and justice. It’s the main symbol of Buddhism.

[3] Road to Hell — 冥府魔道, I would literally translate it to Demonic Road to Dark Village (hell), but my Chinese is below terrible. That old quote was heavily popularized by ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ manga, so you may heard about it from there.

Translator’s note: ㅠㅠ
 

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