Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 27⟩
As expected, something was strange.
Thinking about it now, that female ghost’s wail that caused shivers, wasn’t it just the sound of weeping? As she hugged her bloodied baby and cried, wasn’t it a sound of her trying to say something with “argh, argh…”?
Was she perhaps unable to speak?
When his thoughts got this far, the ghost’s appearance started to look different.
She looked exhausted and out of breath. Even when she wobbled, she forced herself to squeeze out her strength and kept looking around as if looking for something. With terrible anxiety.
What are you looking for?
Yu Dan suddenly stood up.
The small yokai were startled.
“Where are You going?!”
“You can’t! Don’t go! You will die!”
He shook off their hold and stepped out onto the road.
The snow gradually became more violent. At some point snow was piling up even on the ground. Everything was an illusion following the female ghost…
But how was it this cold?
Shivering, he asked the ghost.
“What happened? What happened for you to be like this?”
The somewhat bluish, frozen face with little pockmarks suddenly turned towards him. Pitch-black hollow eyes. As if those eyes discovered Yu Dan, she struggled to approach him with an “argh.”.
Yu Dan glanced at the baby in her arms, and turned his gaze straight away with a surprised ‘Heuk!’.
What the hell happened to them? The upper body was so crumpled, it almost became a lump. It was such a horrible sight, it was difficult to even call them a baby anymore.
“That’s a bit too much… What should I do?”
He asked her, who approached so close, she was just before his nose.
“Argh, argh…”
The female ghost explained something with hand and feet gestures and then as if frustrated, she suddenly grabbed Yu Dan’s hand. Through the terribly cold hand, she passed her memories.
An old village with detached houses lining up.
But it wasn’t that long ago.
After the town laid down an iron road, a train came. Everyone stepped out to see it. The baby in a diper was curious and crawled up to it.
The woman, who was hanging out laundry, was late to notice it and screamed. She threw the basket and ran in a hurry, but it was already too late.
A horrible sound of something small being crushed.
In the place where the train passed crying out its horn, only a bloodied lump remained. The woman cried out and hugged that small piece with trembling hands.
Baby! Baby…!
She screamed with an awkward pronunciation and looked at the people, but everyone was startled by the horrible sight, and just fled.
At some point the dusk became dark.
Thick snowflakes fell on the head of the aimlessly wandering woman. From some point, the snow that didn’t pile up yet dyed her hair completely white. From her hoarse throat a cry as if she was vomiting blood leaked out.
Baby, baby…
The people just passed her by with indifference. Even if they sometimes stopped in their tracks, they only pointed fingers at her and whispered.
The baby is dying…
The small tremors in her arms slowly subsided, and she couldn’t move any longer at a certain point. The woman’s steps gradually slowed down. Even so, she tried to take at least one more step forward, squeezing out all the strength in her body, but…
Finally, she collapsed.
White snow built up on her little by little.
…. a small snowflake fluttering in the winter wind brushed his cheek.
Yu Dan flinched as he returned to the reality.
In front of him, the female ghost was once again using hand and feet gestures, trying hard to communicate something.
“Hospital…? You mean to go to the hospital?”
“Aah, aah.”
The ghost repeatedly nodded.
“Follow me.”
It wasn’t far away. Beyond the darkness, a hospital sign was shining. Yu Dan took the lead and climbed a slope.
Luckily, there wasn’t anything in front of the hospital. Behind a lonely ambulance was an emergency room. The light was bright.
“Here, here.”
Yu Dan pointed as he guided the female ghost. Behind his back, the automatic door opened.
“Aah…”
The ghost looked at Yu Dan with grateful eyes. She bowed her head to say goodbye, and she hastily ran into the emergency room, once again tightly hugging the baby. She disappeared among the busy doctor and nurses as if melting.
Was it done now?
Was it done, because he brought her here?
He looked at the place where the female ghost and the baby disappeared for a while, and then turned around.
The snowflakes that filled the sky at some point disappeared, and warm air was softly carried by a spring wind.
There was only one small lantern illuminating the night garden.
Each tree, full of spring flowers, embroidered the bright darkness like a beautiful dress. When the wind blew, the flower petals all blended together and dropped in a flurry.
The owner of this garden, the fox yokai, mumbled as he sat on the maru[1].
“How sad, mortals of six paths. How sad, sufferers of three realms[3]. Even when you’re born, you’re only born in vain, not knowing life’s true meaning. Even when you die, you only die in vain, not realizing the reason of death, huh?”
Yu Dan raised his head.
“What are you talking about again?”
“Just a passage from a book. I suddenly thought about it.”
Beak Ran’s gaze turned towards the night sky.
Even bright flowers would be covered in thick layers of darkness at night, but that fox yokai, who lived for over thousand years, was clear without losing any of his light even in the depths of night. After observing him for a while, he followed the fox and looked at the sky.
“The stars are bright.”
“Because starlight becomes brighter when there is no moon. It’s fortune. Because someone has to light up the darkness.”
Thinking about it, there seemed to be particularly many stars today. Like numerous stories hidden in the veil of darkness under the night sky.
He looked up at the sky for a while with strange emotions.
“… So what was it?”
Baek Ran asked.
“Uh?”
“Didn’t You say there was something You’re curious about?”
“Ah. That’s right.”
Yu Dan turned his head back.
“So I brought that female ghost to the hospital and walked away but…. No matter what, I kept thinking that there was something a bit strange.”
“What?”
“Even if she had a deep grudge that she couldn’t go to a hospital, the female ghost wanted the baby to receive treatment. But then how could she disappear straight away? Did I do something wrong? Isn’t she perhaps wandering around the hospital at this very moment? I don’t know if I indeed ended it properly.”
“Aah…”
Baek Ran nodded slightly.
“So that was the reason? You thought a bit, eh?”
“Um, well, if I don’t finish it properly, I’ll meet her again, right? I hate that. So a bit of thinking…”
Yu Dan shrugged. Because it became somehow awkward, he fiddled with the end of the broom Baek Ran used a moment ago to sweep flower petals.
“However, as always it seems You only thought about wanting to think. And You ended up overlooking a very important thing.”
The broom in his hand froze.
“What did I?”
“That hospital You spoke about.”
Baek Ran stared at the fallen flower petals, as he spoke leisurely.
“A quiet residential area. A deserted mountain trail under a mountain. How could there be such a hospital in such a place? In addition, didn’t You say You climbed a hill? Then wasn’t it in the a middle of a mountain?”
“Uh?”
Yu Dan was at last embarrassed.
“Thinking about it, it was strange. However, there certainly was a hospital? When we climbed the mountain road, the emergency room… ah, as expected, that wasn’t right! Then where did I lead that ghost? Where the hell was it?”
Baek Ran smiled.
With some kind of meaning you couldn’t know. Are you smirking, or are you thinking something is funny?
“Shall we go take a look? Stealthily look around and come back?”
Saying that, he picked up a chorong[3], that was at the side a moment ago.
Its light dispersed the darkness and made a way.
Yu Dan followed behind the fox yokai like possessed.
After a few steps, he soon couldn’t recognize where he was. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary road, right? Thinking like that, he silently followed behind.
The air became more refreshing.
The mountain shrouded in darkness swiftly materialized before his eyes.
“Ah, it’s here!”
Yu Dan ran forward and then abruptly stopped.
It was the place he brought the female ghost to before, but only flowering trees like cherry blossom and white magnolia circled him. There was nothing like a huge hospital, ambulance, or emergency room with bright lights.
“It’s strange! It was certainly here! How could it happen? There was a real hospital here a moment ago! I’m sure I saw something like that!”
Yu Dan’s face turned white and he mumbled.
“What the hell have I done?”
“Well…”
The fox yokai walked past him with a smiling face. He stared blankly at that peaceful appearance, and then was surprised once again.
Looking at it, there was a small temple among the flowering trees.
After he followed the fox like possessed, he smelled a faint scent of incense. In front of a stone Buddha, only candlelights left by people flickered. Holding a chorong, Baek Ran slowly entered inside.
“Even so, it seems that You somehow led Her properly.”
Saying that, he held up the chorong to the mural in the temple.
Yu Dan stared at it.
Among the numerous living at the feet of Buddha-nim, a certain woman alone drew his eye. She was holding a young boy and was smiling with a bright face.
“The pitiful mother and son were taken in by Kṣitigarbha, eh?”
Baek Ran said.
Yu Dan looked up at the benevolent face of buddha-nim, and then lowered his gaze again.
Looking closely, there was a bit of pockmarks on the woman’s face.
*~*~*
[1] maru — an open floor
[2] mortals of six paths, sufferers of three realms — to be precise, six paths refer to the Buddhist six realms of reincarnation, mortals refers to all living beings in those realms, the three realms refer to Trailokya, three cosmological words (earth, heaven and hell), the sufferers refer to beings who didn’t gain enlightenment and can’t escape suffering. I’m not sure from where this quote comes from.
[3] chorong — a traditional lantern you would take when going out in the night
Translator’s note: I’m glad… (So Yu Dan just comes to Banwoldang in the middle of the night now, huh?)
Patron thank you note
Thank you patron, Nobody, please accept this Sarcophyton pachyphyllum’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Al, please accept this Sobralia macrantha’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Luca, please accept this Soterosanthus shepheardii’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Amy Peters, please accept this Sacoila lanceolata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Dust, please accept this Schlimia alpina’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Maru, please accept this Scaphyglottis bidentata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, kamisonk, please accept this Seidenfadenia mitrata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Kasimir Ilmonen, please accept this Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Tara Hess, please accept this Specklinia glandulosa’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ice, please accept this Spathoglottis plicata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, anonymous Kofi-supporter, please accept this Solenidium lunatum’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Links to support this translation and access to 5 advanced chapter (Patreon & Kofi)
> Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LibraryKeyTranslations
> Kofi-Euro: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslator
> Kofi-USD: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslatorusd
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
Leave a Reply