Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 11⟩
Third Story
⟨Thousand Years Old Moonlight⟩
…. It was especially prevalent since the Silla period, and while it had several purposes, it usually had a bigger shamanistic meaning. Moreover, there were many people who claimed that if you make a wish in it, your dream will come true….
『Teaching on the customs of Eastern Sea』
Yu Dan hesitated for a while in front of the library.
Looking at the entrance, he had an impulse to turn around. He really didn’t like the quiet atmosphere of this public library with a long history.
However, didn’t he make a resolve to read a book today?
He won’t know everything about the strange things his eye sees just because he read a book for a bit, but wouldn’t the chances to suffer the fool treatment decrease?… Well. It should decrease. Maybe?
While making hopeful predictions without any ground, he chose a book from a shelf. The title he was interested in caught his eye.
『What is a ghost?』
He brought the book and opened it.
But regretfully, he got only this far.
He couldn’t read even one letter. Because when he opened the book, all sorts of things appeared from somewhere and set up a camp.
Even while he was glaring at them right now, the yokai resembling a giant snail crawled on the top of the book and covered it with its body. Regardless of Yu Dan’s feelings, it seemed to be protesting for someone to look after it a bit.
It wasn’t only that.
Was it because it was a really old library? Naturally, around the desk and in every corner of the shelves, the dark shadows were crouching. Every time a library guest passed, each one of them commented:
— This book is anticlimactic…
— He really doesn’t have a good eye for choosing books, eh….?
— ‘You won’t borrow a fun book’. Such curse…
They couldn’t be more distracting than that.
Couldn’t they be quiet?
He showed a fierce face, but no one among them bothered. They were just happily doing their own things.
He couldn’t take it any longer and closed the book with a ‘thump’.
The people glanced at him. Though they didn’t say a word because of Yu Dan’s blunt face, they sent him gazes that said that ‘if you aren’t going to read a book, leave’.
He stood up from his seat as it couldn’t be helped.
This was wrong. Something was very wrong. How is that, it was impossible to read a single book in the library. Why the hell no one cleaned this place up?
If so, he had no choice but do it himself.
He hurriedly left the library.
No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.
Considering Banwoldang’s size, there couldn’t be a room this wide inside. The sliding partition doors with the old pattern shaped like full moon knitted on them, lined up like fake walls, looked like some sort of palace corridor rather than a room.
It surely wasn’t this wide the last time.
Yu Dan kept tilting his head.
Anyhow, didn’t Chaeu say to go to the backyard? He had to go to the end. He opened the door, and opened another one, and another, until he got slowly tired of sliding the doors, and only then the different scenery appeared.
Under the hung up partition doors like awnings was a worn-down wood floor with the traces of time left on it. He saw the fox yokai’s back sitting there. He wasn’t exactly sitting, rather completely leaning his body against the pillar.
What? Are you sleeping?
Should I wake you up? He was hesitating for a moment, but Beak Ran suddenly raised his hand and touched the thing directly at his side.
Looking now, the thing was geomungo[1]. The head part had a threatening-looking dokkaebi’s face, and the body was also definitely a hideous body of dokkeaebi. Opposite of that, the bamboo plectrum he was holding in his hand was a very beautiful treasure laid with jewels, shaped like a white horn. Baek Ran was roughly plucking that extraordinary geomungo without putting his heart into it.
“That’s a strange case of sleep-walking.”
Even when he said a word, he didn’t react. Only after the wooden floor creaked under his feet, Baek Ran at last looked back. His narrow eyes turned round.
“When did You come? There was no sound…”
He stopped what he was saying and, with the ‘ah’, he raised his hand to his ears and took off the fluffy earmuffs. It seemed he didn’t sense him because his ears were covered.
“Have You perhaps heard the geomungo’s sound?”
As he asked with a serious face, Yu Dan shook his head.
“No, I didn’t hear a thing. Did you really not hear? Really. How can you practice with your ears covered to this extreme? Even I can do more—“
At that moment, he lost consciousness.
He came back to his senses thanks to something cold poured on his face. As he opened his eyes, Baek Ran was looking down on him, holding a wooden bucket. His expression was saying ‘pathetic’.
“For some reason, I wanted to practice that song today. I guess I expected that an uninvited guest would come.”
“What was the song?”
“Sleep song. In other words, lullaby.”
“Did I fell asleep just now?”
Yu Dan hastily stood up. His clothes smelled fishy.
“That said, it’s too much to splash me with pound water, you know?”
“Too much? If You didn’t wake up quickly, You may end up sleeping from dozens to a hundred years, when should I bring clean water?”
“So you’re saying that you had to splash me with water, eh?”
He picked up a cloth from the side and roughly wiped his face. He got a lesson that he shouldn’t approach that fox yokai, even if he hears a sound of instrument in the future.
“But what brings You here? Have You perhaps by chance saw a person needing help when passing by again?”
“No, today…”
Perhaps because of an unexpected humiliation, he forgot about it at first.
“Ah, right. I came to ask for a talisman to use.”
“Why talisman?”
“I went to a library just now, but it was swarming with all kinds of strange things, you know? If you opened a book, they would lay down on top of it, and every time others borrowed a book, they meddled and… You simply couldn’t read a book.”
“What do You mean?”
Baek Ran was startled. Yu Dan was even more startled.
“Is it so severe?”
“No, that’s not it… It is surprising that You went to a place like the library, but You even read a book? That’s extremely unexpected.”
“Can you please listen to me a bit seriously?”
“I’m listening seriously.”
“Then the talisman can be used? Because we have to send back those things to their original place.”
“Yes.”
Baek Ran nodded.
“But that place is the original place.”
“What?”
Yu Dan raised his eyes.
“What do you mean? That library? You can’t be serious!”
“Please speak honestly. Were any other people bothered?”
“No, but I was bothered!”
“So You mean that they have to be chased away according to your whims, eh?”
“But if we just leave them, I can’t go to the library?”
“Does it mean that You like the library so much now? If you really wanted to go, aren’t there other ways, besides such aggressive methods?”
“What kind?”
Instead of replying, Baek Ran lightly pushed something in front of him.
They were earmuffs from a moment ago.
“…”
“They’re very efficient.”
“The problem isn’t efficiency, you know?”
“Is that so? It’s not like You want to say something childish like because the library is a space made by humans, it means that the things other than humans can’t enter, correct? Then what is the problem?”
Baek Ran mumbled, while stroking the geomungo.
“They were already born in that place. And they didn’t cause any big clashes with humans up till now and are living well. Even though their actions are sometimes annoying, they don’t have any particular malicious intent. They are like this because a human who can see them is amazing. But it can’t be helped if you really hate them…”
Suddenly, he raised his eyes and looked into the distance.
“Perhaps we are wishing for too many things from humans. However, the mountains and waters. The trees and rocks we see all the time. The wind brushing past. A handful of grains. The drawn well water. Even a serpent secretly living atop a pillar. There once lived people on this land, who believed that everything in this world has a divine spirit and didn’t treat things carelessly. They… were different.”
“How?”
“They were kinder.”
A light smile appeared on the fox yokai’s face.
“How is that? To change Your mood for a moment, how about You try to have such a kind mindset for a bit?”
“It’s not a suggestion I’m particularly drawn to.”
“I knew it would be like this. As expected, we want to too many things from humans.”
As if he lost his enthusiasm straight away, he turned his head away.
That attitude that seemed to say ‘that’s so natural’ was somehow annoying. The moment he was about to reply with something, Baek Ran picked up geomungo’s plectrum again.
For some reason it seemed that he wouldn’t wake him up this time.
Before the first note rang out and spread, he fled the place. While the partition doors, which were wide open a moment ago, closed one after one behind his back, he returned to the store, but there was no one here but piles of antiques.
“Where did everyone go?”
The wooden door beyond the tables for drinking tea and behind the cash counter were slightly opened. There was probably a kitchen there. Because it was a place Chaeu came out from before holding a tea pot and snacks.
Yu Dan stuck his head into the wooden door.
As expected, it was a kitchen.
On the side was an agungi[2] and gamasot[3], on the other side was an oven and fridge. In one more niche, beyond the polished, wooden cutting board, was a treadmill and mortar that could appear in a historical drama.
This strange kitchen was quiet.
However, it was not that there wasn’t anyone there.
With her back to the light, a black haired beauty, with her hair tied into a ponytail, was standing straight, holding a long sword. Like a swordsman facing a formidable enemy, she radiated a cool atmosphere that took a breath away.
The twins watched her without even blinking.
For an instant, the air split in half.
The green leaves gently fluttered in the air.
She, Heuk-yo swung the sword. Not even a sound of wind splitting was heard, but the leaves were cut into dozen of hundreds of pieces. The green leaves, turned into fine powder, neatly poured down on the plate of cuttlefish on the table without a single mistake.
“Wooah…”
He unknowingly let out an exclamation of admiration.
Everyone looked in his direction. The twins opened their eyes wide.
“Did you already finish your conversation?”
“How did it go? Did He grant Your request?”
Yu Dan shook his head.
“He rejected me immediately.”
“You made a ridiculous request again, right?”
Heuk-yo clicked her tongue.
“You don’t even know the basics. What kind of attire you went in to see Cheonho-nim?”
“What is wrong with my clothes?”
“I’m talking about the scarf, not clothes. The winter already ended, yet you’re still wearing it wrapped this? I’m dying from suffocation by just looking at it, huh?”
“Fuck off. Because I’m cold.”
“You don’t have friends, because you’re like this, right? If you keep being stubborn, should I make you unable to wear that scarf again?”
“Don’t!”
Chaeu blocked her way.
“Please reconsider, nunim[4]. This scarf was made by His late mother-nim. So He insists on keeping it from the early autumn to the late spring.”
Heuk-yo’s expression changed.
“Okay?”
She frowned and stepped back slightly.
It was truly unexpected. It seemed that she was about to pull out her blade at any moment, but she changed her attitude straight away at one word? Her expression was clearly saying: ‘Although it makes me unhappy, I can’t interfere with that, right?’.
Was that perhaps the display of that very kindness he was talking about?
Even she, a cold serpent yokai, who glared the moment she just saw a human, knew how to make concessions if something was very important for the opposite party.
“… Young master-nim? What are You thinking about?”
He returned to his senses.
Chaeu looked at him with a face full of curiosity.
“Why are you like this? What did You talk about with Cheonho-nim?”
“What are you talking about what we were talking about?!”
Yu Dan cut off his words. As he looked around, looking for something to change the topic, the pile of grass that the serpent yokai cut earlier, caught his eye.
“What is that grass? That green color is particular.”
“You don’t know? That’s nareun grass.”
“What grass?”
“You don’t know what nareun grass is?”
“It’s basil.”
Instead of Heuk-yo, it was Chaeu who explained.
“What is basil again?”
“The herb. Pasta appeared on the television before. Because it looked tasty, everyone decided to eat it together, and so, nunim said She would prepare it in person. Because She said we couldn’t eat the one sold outside, because it has many harmful components.”
“She’s exactly like a housekeeper.”
“You can say that, but She is in charge of cooking.”
“What ‘you can say that ’? Where am I like that? There is no dish I can’t make in this world. I can make such western noddles with my eyes closed. Don’t you know? Because the nareun grass turns brown very quickly after coming into contact with iron, it can’t be touched with a knife blade, and you have to use sword qi to chop it. Commit it to memory.”
“Sword qi? Then how can you make pasta or something if it’s like this? Ah, you’re making it, huh? Right now.”
“Please don’t worry. It’s because nunim’s cooking methods are difficult for most of other people to imitate. But Her cooking skills are first class.”
Chaeu, who was smiling widely, suddenly halted in his words, and hesitatingly checked Yu Dan’s expression.
“Hey, have You already eaten, perhaps?”
“What time is it to eat dinner?”
“Er, if so, why won’t You eat with us a little later?”
“Why?”
“If you’re asking why, there is no particular reason, but if it’s perhaps putting You in a bad mood, I apologize…”
Instead of Chaeu, who started to talk gibberish, the twins’ noona stepped out with support fire.
“I concur! I have no idea how long it was since we put, no, offered a seat to a human at the table!”
“Why are you swallowing while speaking?”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m just imaging the western noodles. With a delicious dish, if you share, it will be even more delicious, you know?”
“What are you talking about? At whose will are you inviting the human for dinner?”
Heuk-yo suddenly made a noise.
“But didn’t unnie also have to pay back for the cake? Since when do we eat for free? If the human is so prejudiced, isn’t it even less free? So…”
The face of Chaeseol, who continued her clear words, suddenly darkened.
“No, it’s over. Looking at that expression, he made up his mind to refuse. All humans, who hear bothersome offers are like this, he will say some empty words like ‘Thanks, but I have matters to attend to today, so…’ and then just leave. And then I’ll be extremely disappointed. Because I’ll keep thinking about it, I won’t be able to enjoy the deliciousness of the western noodles unnie specially made. I said something pointless.”
Then she vacantly looked up at Yu Dan.
It was such a pitiful and pathetic expression that no matter how cold-blooded the person may be, they wouldn’t be able to refuse. This yokai girl certainly completely mastered very clever ways to obtain what she wants. As if Heuk-yo thought that it was already over, she took another handful of pasta noodles with a resigned face.
“Okay, well. I should accept a payback, right?”
*~*~*
[1] geomungo — traditional Korean zither.
[2] agungi — a fire hole or box used to burn firewood or other fuels.
[3] gamasot — a large pot placed over agungi.
[4] nunim — older sister
[5] nareun grass — 羅勒, a different, older name for basil
Translator’s note: Thousand Years Old Moonlight story is 3 chapters long. Also, that plectrum… that white horn-like plectrum…
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