BBS (3)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost

 
⟨Chapter 3⟩
 

“All that said, no matter how I look, You’re cherished lot. You’re a fool of a dongsaeng, but You ask so earnestly to save Your life, how can I pretend not to know?”

A fool? Me?

Yu Dan was about to argue, but because the white hem of the sleeve moved softly and intersected his vision, he put that off at the time.

“Then, this way.”

Baek Ran pointed at the stairs leading to the upper floor, and without waiting for an answer, he disappeared first.

“Really…”

The middle-aged dokkaebi clicked his tongue. At the side, the young lady serpent was glaring at him as if outright saying she will kill him.

With his back of the head being burned by a very hot glare, he stepped onto the wooden stairs.

The stairs were terribly old. Each time his foot touched them, the creaking sound rang out loudly, and yet, the fox climbed them lightly, without even one trace of sound.

On the upper floor was a spacious study.

The instant he put his foot inside, he had a feeling that he entered a space much bigger than visible with eyes. Perhaps because there were so many books there. The bookshelves on all four sides were fully stacked with old books.

In the middle of that cool, old and lofty space, something stood up abruptly.

… a cat?

He had such a vague thought, and then was surprised when he recognized its identity. The chest piece of the red round collar robe and belt embroidered with cranes. That creature, looking like a small and adorable jeongseung[1] doll, was very much a frog.

Behind him shimmered numerous silhouettes. It seemed that the several beings that were following him didn’t dare to reveal their identities and hid.

The jeongseung frog looked at Baek Ran and scuttled towards him with happiness.

“Where did You go? I used that knife You lent me to cut that punk evil ill-omen. Here is the neck.”

He politely offered a big bundle of silk wrapping clothes with his two hands.

Neck? Did he say neck, just a moment go? Didn’t Yu Dan hear that wrong?

“Well done.”

The eyes of jeongseung frog sparkled at this one word of praise. He clasped his two tiny hands together and looked up at Baek Ran with eyes full of respect and reverence.

“There is no need to worry for the time being. Our Cheonho-nim always solves such difficult problems, so it’s truly…”

The frog, who was about to give a long speech, at last discovered Yu Dan and jumped.

“Aaack! Unbelievable! Human! Human appeared! Such imprudence, huh! You dare to step with your dirty feet into such a place!”

The frog fumed with rage, took out something like a small jade accessory from its pocket, and smacked Yu Dan’s leg with it. It didn’t hurt. Not even a little bit.

“He is a guest.”

When Baek Ran said that, the frog’s hand stopped, shocked. His face turned red.

“Ah, guest…”

He stealthily put away the jade accessory and cleared his throat ‘hmhm’ as if he felt awkward.

“Is that so? I didn’t see a guest in a long time. Excuse my rudeness. Ah, that’s it! Should I bring the book? The book You always take out when a guest comes.”

Without even waiting for the answer, the frog quickly ran to the bookshelf and brought a book. He groaned while he holding a book easily bigger than him, but he put it on the desk.

“Then, I’ll see You again next time as You’re busy now. Call me anytime when You have a matter to order.”

Yu Dan observed the frog as he politely bowed and retreated.

After entering this place, his mind felt stranger and stranger.

While shaking his head, he sat across the desk. He looked down at the book, which looked so old he couldn’t guess its age.

“Zhān lìng…”

“It’s gǔ jīn.” [2]

The fox yokai corrected him.

“There is a saying ‘if you saw one, you saw them all’. Even though You didn’t know, didn’t something like this happen because You tried to do something thoughtlessly? Don’t try to read the book and just listen to the explanation, please. It’s all in Chinese anyway.”

He was treated like a complete illiterate. Should he stay quiet even with this much? He wanted to say a word, but because he was in the position of asking for help, he endured.

“Got it. I can’t read it. So what kind of book is it?”

“This book is called ‘Annals of Past and Present Bizarre Occurrences’, and records all kinds of supernatural things known up till now.”

“What supernatural things? The yokai, ghosts and spirits all seem to be that.”

“They are.”

Baek Ran unfolded the book.

“Supernatural things roamed this land since ancient times. They burrowed into humans’ weaknesses, but not necessarily out of evil intentions. While they by themselves can’t be explained, they can be sent to the place they had to originate from only by clearly recognizing their identity and dealing with them properly. Therefore.”

His finger stopped. As if he finally found what he was looking for, he turned the book around to hand it over to Yu Dan.

At the side of neatly written classical Chinese, there were several pictures. Among them, one particularly horrible drawing pulled his eye. In it a monk was laying in a pool of blood, stabbed by a knife to death.

“This is the very Misfortune Receiver.”

Beak Ran spoke.

“First, You have to understand what is misfortune[3]. Misfortune is an evil energy that comes suddenly. It causes unhappiness and hurts people. You can lose something valuable, suffer an unexpected incident, or even lose Your life in a gruesome way. Because of it, everyone wants to avoid this misfortune. Of course, You can’t avoid it just because You want to avoid it. You have to make a different person take it instead of You. Here is the very example of that.”

His attitude never could be called kind, but unexpectedly his explanation was generous, and he spoke calmly and orderly, so it was easy to understand. Yu Dan leant his ear while concentrating.

“This is a famous story, so it was written about even in the old books like 『Tales from the Green Hills』. In the old days, lord of Hapcheon had a son in his late age. As he pampered him as a precious child, that child soon became arrogant and impudent. Therefore, the child was brought before Haeinsa Temple’s great monk-nim and severely scolded.”

In the drawing, monks were holding a child. And the great monk-nim was stabbing the child’s thighs with an awl.

“Wait. Isn’t it too much for a scolding? Isn’t it a murder attempt?”

“The child held a grudge and studied diligently, he passed the official examination and rose to the position of the Gyeongsang Province governor. He was fully determined to knock all monks of Haeinsa Tample to death, but the instant he saw great monk-nim, all his resentment disappeared like melting snow. While the great monk-nim knew all about this, he begged the governor that when he later becomes an official of Pyeongyang and he will send a monk, to make sure to sleep with him in one room.”

Baek Ran pointed at the next drawing.

“And indeed, a monk from Haeinsa Tample came to visit on the promised day. The official treated him very kindly and arranged for him to sleep in the araenmok[4]. Then, in the middle of the night, he was startled by a fishy smell that assaulted his nose, and touched the place where the monk laid, only to find it wet. When a candle was lit, the monk was dead, stabbed in the stomach by a knife. Upon investigation the next morning, it was revealed to have been committed by a slave. The slave was deeply in love with a courtesan[5], who the official cherished, and held a grudge against him, so he tried to kill him, but the slave naturally thought that official was sleeping in the araenmok and stabbed there. The great monk-nim, who knew about the future, and thus about this, sent a monk to take that unexpected misfortune for him.”

Yu Dan stared at the last drawing. The sight of the dead monk laying down in a pool of blood sent a shiver down his spine.

“Was it because this monk was guilty of something?”

“Why should I know? There probably was some cause and effect, but as it didn’t come up in the story, there is no way to know.”

Baek Ran raised his head.

“Anyhow, You should be able to understand what is Misfortune Receiver with this much. Misfortune Receiver is someone who had to receive misfortune instead of someone else. But there is one problem. If someone was tricked into becoming the Misfortune Receiver, and they knew about this, would they quietly take the misfortune instead of someone else?”

“No!”

“That’s right. The Misfortune Receiver will trick someone else to become their Misfortune Receiver. Then, that Misfortune Receiver will trick somebody else again, and someone else will become the Misfortune Receiver instead. After such thing repeats over and over, a problem arises. Misfortune is kind of like a typhoon. There is adequate time You should deal with it, but when You don’t do that, it will draw bad energy from the surrounding and gradually grow bigger. As a result, it becomes so enormous as now. It seems that someone of a pretty high level caught that misfortune and sealed it, but then someone thought it was a treasure and quickly snatched it. Even though they knew its identity, they couldn’t thoughtlessly throw it away, so they had a hard time, but then a naive human appeared and said to hand it over, aren’t they so lucky?”

The word ‘naive’ hit the mark. He didn’t want to admit it, but his face turned red. Yu Dan pressed his forehead that was constantly throbbing.

“Then what should I do now? That hole doesn’t seem like it will budge no matter what.”

“There is a logic to misfortune. The misfortune forms to cover someone. So you have to end it for certain by covering something, otherwise it can’t stabilize.”

“If so, the way to solve it…?”

“Doesn’t someone naturally have to cover it?”

The fox spoke calmly.

“Another Misfortune Receiver is needed. The one which won’t avoid it this time and will take it for sure. So, say, is there someone You particularly wish to choose?”

“What?”

“I’m talking about a person you want to cover with misfortune.”

Yu Dan, who realized what he was talking about, shouted:

“None! What are you talking about?!”

“If so, then should we catch a dog or a cat to use?”

“I hate it!”

“A mouse will be fine too.”

“Of course not! I hate a mouse too!”

“Then who do you want to cover?”

Yu Dan was speechless. Looking at him, who hesitated as he was flustered, the fox narrowed his eyes and smiled broadly. Up till now, among the expressions he showed, this one seemed the most fox-like.

“I was joking.”

Yu Dan burst into anger at those playful words.

“Not funny!”

Listening or not, Baek Ran stood up. He traced with his finger the shelves under the desk, and then pulled open one of the drawers with both of his hands. Perhaps because of Yu Dan’s mood, it seemed that the drawers silently increased.

“There is probably one or two left… Ah, as expected, eh?”

He took out something yellowish.

A small doll made of tied straw.

It was a jeung[6].

He saw jeungs in a museum. However, the one the fox yokai took out was different, he had a feeling as if it was about to sprout to life and move at any moment. As expected, wasn’t that why Mia said ‘real’?

“We will make it into the target of misfortune.”

Beak Ran placed the jeung on the desk.

“Ryu(柳) for willow and Dan(丹) for red[7]. Correct?”

He cut a square paper while asking. Realizing that he was asking for his name, Yu Dan quickly nodded his head.

“Right.”

The fox wrote Yu Dan’s name on the paper and stuffed it into the jeung’s chest.

“Usually we should make clothes for it to wear, but there is no time, so a piece of Your clothing will do. Is it difficult because it’s a school uniform? If so, then please take off one button.”

After he took off one of the sleeve buttons and gave it to him, Baek Ran wrapped it in red cloth and stuffed it inside the jeung’s stomach. Lastly, he drew a fake brand on the jeung’s forehead.

“As I said, I chased the misfortune away for a while, but it will soon return. So please throw this jeung into the black hole as a substitute.”

Baek Ran swiftly pushed the complete jeung in front of Yu Dan.

“Can You do it?”

“Probably.”

“It won’t be difficult. There is only one thing you have to be on guard against. Please keep it in mind. Don’t feed the jeung any part of Your body. I’m talking about things like fingernails, footnails, hair.”

“Why would I feed it that?”

“I don’t mean opening its mouth and feeding it, but about the jeung trying to eat it, so You have to be very careful not to let it do that. Because it will make things You hate seeing, You will hate watching it, but You will have to bear it and watch it.”

“Doing this… So this will spring to life and move?”

“Isn’t it natural? It received life. Please don’t take Your eyes off of it, and make sure to keep it at Your side. Don’t leave it alone even for a moment.”

Yu Dan looked down at the jeung with a reluctant expression.

“Hey, I don’t know how it’s with you, yokai, but if I carry it around, won’t I be treated like a freak? Though, I’m treated like this even without it. Because in other people’s eyes, there is nothing there, they think I’m staring at air or chasing the wind. If, in addition to that, I bring to school something like this, I may really end up being dragged somewhere.”

“You don’t have to worry about it.”

The fox yokai smirked. Looking at this expression, it seemed that he said something extremely foolish again.

“The ordinary people’s eyes will be obscured if a supernatural power is displayed. To be precise, they will obscure their eyes on their own accord. Because they are afraid of what they may get into. Therefore, even when they see supernatural, they don’t see it, and even if they hear a ghost, they don’t hear it. No matter how strange You act, no one will notice. Because that’s one of humans’ most primitive instincts. Of course, there are kinds of people, who have it broken from the beginning…”

“For example, me?”

Baek Ran didn’t reply. Yu Dan felt as if his eye was throbbing again. He raised one hand and covered his left eye.

“It wasn’t like this from the beginning, that day, that…”

His words were abruptly cut off. As expected, no matter what he did, he couldn’t get used to it. It was as if something was stuck in his chest, and he couldn’t easily get it out.

“You survived an incident.”

Beak Ran said it instead.

“How do you know?”

“I roughly saw it. But it’s very confusing. It seems that You probably met a very powerful monster, eh?”

“I don’t know what it was. Anyhow, things became strange after that day. Not only yokai and ghosts were visible. I saw black spots gradually grow on some people’s necks, only for them to later die because of lung cancer. I saw a person who was surely wearing white clothes, wear red clothes in the picture, and later that person got in a traffic incident. It’s like this the whole time. I really don’t want to see them. Can’t this eye truly not be healed? Why do I have to be cursed like this…?”

“It’s not a curse.”

Baek Ran replied.

“If what You said is right, and what I’m seeing right now is right, then it’s probably a Heavenly Eye.”

“Heavenly Eye?”

“An eye, which sees through the laws of life and death. It’s a treasure that anyone who walks this world would want.”

Yu Dan was shocked.

Until now, he only thought it was a curse given by a devil. But it was a treasure? He couldn’t believe it.

“It can’t be. How something like this can be a treasure? It just bothers people. I don’t have any need for that. If it’s so good, why won’t you take it instead?”

“I can’t do that.”

The fox shook his head.

“I just can’t understand. What is bothering? It only makes things visible.”

“However, nothing can be done when I see it. Because others don’t see it. So I’m the only one who can do something. So if something appears in front of me, I have no choice but to step forward, even if I hate it.”

“Alas, what a sorry thing, eh?”

Baek Ran replied calmly.

“But since you don’t know anything to the degree to mistake a misfortune bead for a magic weapon, it would be better to live quietly, pretending not to see, if You’re so stubborn. Can’t You control Your temper? Is this what it looks like to be, how the people of this world put it, ‘destined to die early’?”

“It was just bad luck this time!”

“Impossible. Your luck was extremely good until now. Because this world is a very dangerous maze. You don’t know what will appear when you turn around the next corner. Even thinking about the people who worry…”

Baek Ran was talking and then halted.

“Really, me. What am I doing nagging like this? Every destiny has its own role. In any case, even if I give You advice, You won’t remember it.”

At those words, Yu Dan was pissed.

“I’m not that much of a fool?”

“I didn’t mean that, it was about what I said before. People’s instinct. Our meeting is so vivid right now, in reality, but it will soon fade away in Your memory. The Banwoldang, where antics and books are sold, and the second floor of this place where a fox yokai lives will all be forgotten.”

He spoke like this with such a wide and bright smile, it was provocative.
 
*~*~*
 

[1] jeongseung — In old times, the person holding the highest administrative position, something like a prime minister.

[2] “Zhān lìng…” “It’s gǔ jīn.” — Yu Dan tried to read the title of the book. It starts with 古今, but Yu Dan read it as 占令.

[3] misfortune — 액 (aek)

[4] araenmok — the warmest place in the ondol room

[5] courtesan — 기생 (gisaeng), a female slave that provided entertainment to men.

[6] jeung — a straw doll used to ward off evil.

[7] Ryu(柳) for willow and Dan(丹) for red — Yu Dan name is 柳丹. 柳 (willow) can be read in Korean as either Ryu(류) or Yu(유).
 

Translator’s note: Of course the first thing that Baek Ran says to Yu Dan is that he is a fool…
 

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