Chapter 111
The moment when gaining one thing means losing another.
He wanted to ask when and in what form that moment of choice would come. But he had no grounds to demand an answer.
‘I don’t care about anything else. As long as I can save Eun-hwi.’
Life was an endless process of choices anyway. Unlike gods with foresight abilities, as long as he lived as a human who couldn’t predict the future, he just needed to take full responsibility for the best decisions made in each moment.
Yeo Moon-beom still had no intention of giving up anything.
In his mind, it wasn’t “complete revenge and then obtain Eun-hwi,” but rather “obtain Eun-hwi and then complete revenge.”
Therefore, he just needed to be especially careful not to lose one thing while gaining another. To ensure nothing like today ever happened again.
“I want it.”
Once more, he bowed his head and pleaded earnestly. With the movement of a long skirt hem, the mountain god approached, entering Yeo Moon-beom’s field of vision.
“Rise.”
The mountain god commanded in a solemn voice. As he slowly rose from his place, she gazed at him with deep eyes, as if looking into his heart, and extended her hand. A delicate-looking nightingale, resembling a cluster of gardenia flowers, gently alighted on her elegant fingertips.
The mountain god, receiving the herb of immortality from the nightingale, looked directly into Yeo Moon-beom’s eyes and asked:
“I will ask you one last time. Among promises, secrets, and life, which will you protect first?”
“Life.”
The power he had so desperately wanted because he hated himself for not being able to protect anything.
Even if promises were broken and secrets leaked, it was nothing compared to experiencing eternal separation. Yeo Moon-beom gave her his answer without even considering it.
“Choices come with responsibilities. Do not regret your choice and fulfill your responsibility, no matter what moment comes.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
As Yeo Moon-beom bowed his head with utmost respect, the mountain god finally handed him the herb of immortality she had been holding.
“Curses lose their power in the face of heaven’s grace and blessing. Take this and feed it to that small dokkaebi quickly.”
“Thank you. I will never forget the kindness you have bestowed.”
Regardless of his lingering discomfort with the mountain god’s existence, his gratitude was sincere. Yeo Moon-beom bowed politely with proper formality. He caught sight of the human-faced bird watching him from behind the mountain god, its guard now lowered.
“Then I shall take my leave now.”
After bidding farewell, he quickly descended the mountain. Almost all of Eun-hwi’s power that had remained in his body was gone, and encountering spirits would have been disastrous. Fortunately, thanks to having eliminated the spirits that preyed on humans beforehand, he was able to return to Hwichukdang without any interference.
“Did anything happen?”
Professor Bang Ki-bong, who had been pressing his ear against the main gate listening for sounds from inside, was startled by the sudden voice, took a step back, and hit his head against a pillar. Clutching the back of his head in apparent pain and groaning, he responded to the question:
“Nothing. Neither people nor monsters showed their faces. The dokkaebi has remained inside the whole time.”
Professor Bang Ki-bong stood at attention like a royal guard at the palace. His eyes shot laser-like glares, as if to say he wouldn’t let anyone set foot in this vicinity.
“Did you meet the mountain god?”
“Yes.”
Yeo Moon-beom showed Professor Bang Ki-bong the celestial herb he had carried carefully to ensure not even a corner of it would crumble.
“Ohhh! Th-this is the herb of immortality…!”
In the midst of this urgent situation, Professor Bang Ki-bong’s eyes sparkled with scholarly curiosity as he looked at the herb of immortality.
However, with an expression of relief rather than amazement, Professor Bang Ki-bong wiped his chest and pushed Yeo Moon-beom’s back as if telling him to go inside quickly. When his ringed hand touched the door, the main gate, which had remained immovable due to the barrier set by the Jangseung dokkaebi, creaked open.
“Eun-hwi. I’m back.”
“Ugh…”
During his absence, Eun-hwi’s face, which had already been pale from loss of blood, had turned ashen.
Just watching him writhe in pain made Yeo Moon-beom feel as if his internal organs were burning and his blood was flowing backward throughout his body. His heart burned black. He bit his lips to contain his rising anger.
“I got the herb of immortality from the mountain god. Hurry, eat it and recover.”
He lifted Eun-hwi’s body, which was stiff as a wooden block, and sat him up. Then, holding his cheeks that had no warmth, he tried to feed him the herb of immortality with his mouth.
Just as the half-dokkaebi had done for him when he was torn apart by the human-faced bird’s attack.
But his lips, frozen like ice and tightly closed, blocked Yeo Moon-beom’s intrusion as if in rejection. Growing desperate, he pressed his chin firmly to force his mouth open and stuffed the herb in with his tongue.
The bitter taste of the herb, which one would want to spit out immediately, clung to the tip of his tongue. It was such a terrible taste that even his own face wrinkled, but he kept his lips pressed against Eun-hwi’s and pushed his tongue in until he swallowed it down his throat.
“Urgh…”
Soon, a thin groan escaped, and simultaneously, the evil energy that had been pooled throughout his body gradually disappeared like clearing clouds. Heat began to circulate through his cold body.
Relief at not repeating his regrettable past and joy at regaining his sanctuary welled up in Yeo Moon-beom’s heart.
Tears welled up in his eyes, which had been dry like someone who had shed their lifetime’s worth of tears after losing his mother. The pearl-shaped droplets moistened his eyelashes, then fell, drawing a line down his roughened cheek.
“…Ugh.”
For some reason, Eun-hwi exhaled a breath filled with pain as if it would break. The icy energy, which he thought had completely subsided, spread again.
“Eun-hwi. Are you conscious?”
His eyes had always shone beautifully like a full moon embracing all things. The moment Yeo Moon-beom realized that he was no longer reflected in those eyes, which he had found so desirable that he wanted to kiss or even lick around them—
“…Why.”
A coldly sharp voice flowed from between his lips, which had regained their color.
“Why did you save me…?”
“…Eun-hwi?”
“Why… Why did you save me?! Did you want to drain all my power and make me like my father?”
Like his father.
At those words, Yeo Moon-beom instantly realized. That the box of secrets, which had been locked, nailed shut with steel nails, and made impossible to open, had been opened.
‘Choices come with responsibilities. Do not regret your choice and fulfill your responsibility, no matter what moment comes.’
The meaning of that added admonition now became clear. The mountain god, true to her divine nature, had seen through everything.
“Did you want revenge on that scary man and the black fox back then?”
“…”
“So you needed my power?”
Despite the white fox’s curse being gone, his frozen heart showed no signs of thawing. Eun-hwi stared blankly at Yeo Moon-beom, who maintained his silence and couldn’t even make excuses, with blurred eyes.
The man who had treated him more tenderly, maturely, and composedly than anyone else.
The man who had strongly shaken his heart with his deep dimples when he smiled and his attractive voice.
The man who had been by his side when no one else but Gabi would approach him.
The half-dokkaebi had loved him.
“I hate you, Yeo Moon-beom.”
“…”
“I hate you more than anything in the world. You.”
He had thought that nothing made life as colorful or elevated one’s worth as much as love.
But now he realized that no emotion plunged a person into the abyss, made them so shabby, or made them struggle in a bottomless swamp like love did.
Love was a punishment and a curse.
His eyes, which used to curve gently like a crescent moon, were now torn fiercely as he glared at Yeo Moon-beom. He found the man who had manipulated him with countless lies utterly detestable.
“…I hate you.”
Eun-hwi resented Yeo Moon-beom for making him aware of emotions he had never wanted to know. But what he hated even more was himself, for being unable to harm the man despite the immense power within him. He felt dizzy, as if something was boiling inside.
Past events that he had tried not to think about, that he had pretended to forget, vividly appeared before his eyes, evoking despair. Darkness covered his yellow eyes.
‘No one can be by your side. Because you’re a monster.’
‘No one could ever love something like you.’
It felt like a sharp knife was not only cutting his heart to pieces but carving it out entirely, and he couldn’t bear it anymore.
Eun-hwi pushed Yeo Moon-beom away, stood up, and threw off all the clothes from the human world he had been wearing. Then, he put on the white jeogori and pants he had always worn like a second skin, tore off the long ribbons from his clothes, and held them out to Yeo Moon-beom.
Cutting off the clothes ribbons meant cutting ties formed through affection.
The face that had been hatefully feigning composure turned white.
“There’s a misunderstanding. Listen to me first.”
Eun-hwi approached him as he tried to soothe him with honeyed words as he had always done, and tied the symbol of farewell around his wrist instead of the watch he had bought for Yeo Moon-beom.
“You know, Moon-beom. Humans and monsters can’t be together. We live in different worlds.”
A bluish curtain draped like a wall in front of Eun-hwi, and soon transformed into dokkaebi fire that chilled the hearts of those who saw it. Yeo Moon-beom trembled at the rejection reaction that was the same as, no, even stronger than when they first met, and tried to grasp the intangible ball of fire.
“I’ll explain everything, Eun-hwi. Don’t do this. Please don’t do this, okay?”
“There’s no need for explanations. I know everything.”
“Eun-hwi. Please.”
“Don’t call my name!”
At his cry filled with pain, the large hand that had been groping the air weakly curled its fingers. He asked with eyes soaked in grief:
“You said you liked me. Was it all lies?”
“That was…”
His throat tight, he swallowed a slow breath and said:
“I was just enchanted.”
Just as humans are enchanted by dokkaebi fire, dokkaebis too can be enchanted by humans out of curiosity. It meant nothing.
It was a useless emotion that would disappear after a night’s sleep.
“…Goodbye, Moon-beom.”
Transformed into complete ghost fire, Eun-hwi used all his strength to create a fire storm to drive the deceptive intruder out of this house.
He also didn’t forget to take away the ring imbued with Gabi’s thoughts, so that Yeo Moon-beom could never set foot here again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
