Chapter 114
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“What’s wrong, Lord Moon-beom?”
The hand pouring alcohol suddenly stopped at the unexpected cool sensation that brushed against his neck.
‘You’ve been hiding something interesting.’
That voice, resonating in his head like an echo, belonged to Professor Bang Ki-bong, who wasn’t present. It carried a heavy yin energy that made his entire body shudder.
Yeo Moon-beom held his breath and quietly listened to the sounds around him. His heightened senses picked up only Kwak Young-ho’s drunken rambling with a heavily slurred tongue.
“It’s nothing.”
He tried to relax his frozen expression to avoid showing his surprise and continued pouring the drink. However, his trembling hand poured until the glass overflowed. The white vinyl-covered table became soaked with the spilled liquid.
“Th-th-that precious alcohol, wasted like that! Director Yeo! Are you drunk?”
Kwak Young-ho, with half-closed eyes, pointed accusingly at Yeo Moon-beom as if he were a great criminal.
“I suppose so. It’s been a while since I drank, so I must be tipsy.”
Though he avoided alcohol and tobacco to maximize his physical capabilities, he possessed the talent of never getting drunk even if he consumed crates of liquor. Yeo Moon-beom smiled casually, deliberately attributing his unintentional mistake to intoxication.
He couldn’t reveal his anxious true feelings in front of the fox monster who might do something unpredictable at any moment.
“I’ll go out for a smoke to clear my head.”
He grabbed Park Jeongbae’s cigarette pack and went outside. The sun had already set, darkness had fallen, and the village, devoid of people, felt desolate. Seeing that the lights were also off at the inn where Professor Bang Ki-bong was staying, it seemed he hadn’t returned yet.
He rolled the lighter wheel to light the cigarette and took a deep drag that hollowed his cheeks. The grayish smoke that passed through his lungs momentarily obscured his vision before dispersing into the darkness.
Yeo Moon-beom, with the burning cigarette in his mouth, checked his wristwatch. Despite it being well past the time to return from the mountain, there was no word from Professor Bang Ki-bong.
Could he be chatting with Eun-hwi like before? Or had something happened to him, like with the Eodukseoni?
He couldn’t shake the anxiety rising from a corner of his mind. He had discreetly checked before leaving, but the Black Fox still had seven tails, and the Jomakyung mirror showed no other ghosts existed. It seemed he had heard an auditory hallucination.
Click, tap.
Click, tap.
Opening and closing the lighter lid, Yeo Moon-beom, lost in thought, stomped out the cigarette that had burned down to the filter. The mint scent that Eun-hwi always said emanated from him enveloped his nostrils.
The sense of smell directly reaches the hippocampus, which controls memory, and the amygdala, which governs emotions. In other words, smell, not sight, most vividly awakens memories.
Would Eun-hwi think of him when smelling this imprinted scent? Or would he curse him with a shudder?
Yeo Moon-beom took out a plum-flavored candy resembling Eun-hwi’s scent and put it in his mouth, rolling the wrapper in his hand. Despite two seasons having passed, the soft touch of skin he had caressed countless times came vividly to mind.
I miss you, Eun-hwi.
Through his mother’s death, he had become unfazed by most things. He thought he had become so emotionless that he considered himself a monster, but that was arrogance.
Facing the frustration of separation—unable to touch or speak to someone right before his eyes—Yeo Moon-beom painfully realized that he too was human, not a monster.
He found himself ridiculously insane for showing weakness to the target of revenge he had honed his entire life for.
However, he had no intention of confessing this painful and anxious feeling, asking for understanding. He wasn’t shameless or unprincipled enough to pass on to someone else the karma he should bear alone.
‘I need to send them away quickly.’
Chewing the candy with its sweet taste reminiscent of Eun-hwi, Yeo Moon-beom entered the village hall instead of calling Professor Bang Ki-bong. He planned to send the visitors away quickly and then climb the mountain.
The heavily intoxicated gathering showed no signs of ending. Kwak Young-ho, who claimed to have won an amateur dance sports competition in his heyday, was dancing with flashy steps.
Something about the Black Fox, who was watching the drunken spectacle with a smiling face while savoring his drink, bothered Yeo Moon-beom. His impeccably natural human act gave an unnatural impression.
Yeo Moon-beom helped the staggering Kwak Young-ho to his feet and addressed the black fox who was enjoying the entertainment:
“Someone seems more intoxicated than me. Shall we wrap this up before it gets too late? We need to prepare various things if we’re to resume construction tomorrow.”
He pressed an envelope stuffed with Wolhwa Island specialties and wads of cash into the director’s hand. Then he headed to the dock where the yacht they had arrived on was moored, to see them off.
“I look forward to what’s to come, Lord Moon-beom.”
The tone carried some hidden meaning. Yeo Moon-beom, staring directly into the Black Fox’s narrowed eyes, pondered the words whose intent he couldn’t grasp, then nodded.
“I’ll proceed promptly to meet your expectations. Please give my regards to the Chairman.”
No matter how capable of using his tails for magical techniques, once aboard the ship, he wouldn’t be able to act recklessly.
It was regrettable that construction could no longer be delayed. But for now, the priority was to remove the potentially dangerous element that might harm Eun-hwi by sending them away from the island as quickly as possible.
Yeo Moon-beom ostentatiously gave cash to the waiting captain and watched until the yacht disappeared to a dot before finally turning away.
“I have somewhere to go, so I’ll head back first.”
Leaving behind Park Jeongbae, who was too drunk to come to his senses, he grabbed the dokkaebi cap and went outside. For some reason, he couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
Hurrying his steps, he made a phone call. Despite the continued ring tone, Professor Bang Ki-bong’s voice didn’t come through.
“What are you doing? Answer the phone.”
As a human more infatuated with dokkaebis than anyone else, Professor Bang Ki-bong wouldn’t betray him. However, what worried him was…
“Di-Director Yeo…!”
A groaning voice was heard from a distance. Running quickly, Yeo Moon-beom saw Professor Bang Ki-bong getting up, limping on one leg as if he had twisted his ankle.
His body, stained with blood in various places, clearly showed signs of being attacked by someone, and his necklace of prayer beads was missing from his neck, allowing Yeo Moon-beom to guess roughly what had happened.
“A gh-ghost suddenly… The dokkaebi sir is in danger!”
After being attacked by the Eodukseoni, Professor Bang Ki-bong had carried a Taeguk amulet¹ to protect himself. If he hadn’t had even that, he would have lost his life.
‘Director Yeo. Sometimes time is needed, but judging the timing to approach is also important. Time doesn’t wait for us. Instead of just circling around like this, why not try asking the dokkaebi sir for forgiveness again? Are you going to regret losing him forever?’
He recalled Professor Bang Ki-bong’s words from not long ago, when he had berated him while drunk.
He shouldn’t have left him alone for fear of hurting him. He should have protected him directly.
Yeo Moon-beom moved without hesitation, running up the mountain. He didn’t stop until he reached the dokkaebi site, jumping over rocks and cutting through pathless forests.
Swoosh—
The fog, draping like clouds, had turned to rain, scattering thick raindrops. The winter wind sliced his cheeks like blades. It was weather reminiscent of the day he had faced death after being attacked by the White Fox. The meeting of falling rain and body heat created white steam.
“Eun-hwi!”
Exhaling breath that had risen to his chin, he entered through the half-open gate. He searched every corner of the house, but the hearth fire was out, and no human presence could be felt. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as a chill ran down his spine.
He came back outside, anger and frustration intertwined. Just as he was trying to find the end of the tangled thread in his mind, his eyes caught animal fur dropped in front of the gate.
If it were brown or gray-brown, he wouldn’t have thought twice. But there were no animals with long, thick, black-colored fur on Wolhwa Island. It was clearly from the Black Fox.
Could it be that from the beginning, the tail…
The source of the inexplicable anxiety was finally identified.
From the moment the Black Fox set foot on Wolhwa Island, it had separated one of its tails to follow Professor Bang Ki-bong. It was Yeo Moon-beom who had been caught in the scheme.
‘I look forward to what’s to come.’
The long-slanted corner of his eyes twisted. Yeo Moon-beom took out the White Fox’s bead that he had been keeping, reluctant to use its power. Murderous intent seeped into his eyes, eroded by despair.
* * *
‘Eun-hwi is my rightful possession, received as payment for the bet.’
‘Eun-hwi’s father, the jangseung dokkaebi, gave me his son along with this ring.’
…No! No!
Eun-hwi covered his ears, unable to escape the dark, deep quagmire. He tried desperately not to hear the voices, but it was futile. The resonance stirring the darkness penetrated his ear canals and lodged like thorns.
He had thought his hatred toward Yeo Moon-beom had diminished compared to before, as peaceful days continued without the torment of ghosts or human malice.
But wounds aren’t forgotten. They just become less sensitive.
The reopened wound in his heart was too painful. Eun-hwi cried endlessly. He couldn’t bear how much he hated Yeo Moon-beom, who had deceived him with sweet words.
‘Wake up, Eun-hwi.’
‘Wake up.’
No.
‘Open your eyes quickly. It’s dangerous.’
No!
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head vigorously. Yeo Moon-beom’s voice, pretending to care for him, was only loathsome, especially after carving up his heart with words that couldn’t have been more cruel.
‘Eun-hwi, I want to protect you. Please trust me.’
His heart moved at the desperate plea, and forgetting that he had been sobbing, he lifted his heavy eyelids as instructed. His vision repeatedly blurred and cleared with intermittent flashes.
“Yeo Moon-beom…?”
Blink, blink. The blindingly bright light disappeared, and a black silhouette gradually became clearer.
Instead of the straight forehead, deep eyes, straight nose bridge, and lips with gently upturned corners, the half-dokkaebi saw single-lidded eyes with a cunning look and thin lips.
It was the Black Fox he had seen in Yeo Moon-beom’s past memories. The terrifying fox monster that devoured humans without hesitation.
Suddenly, the shock hit him as if water had been splashed on his face. Startled, Eun-hwi trembled, unable even to scream. He heard the sound of waves crashing loudly against the boat’s sides, but he had no capacity to focus on that.
“You should be asking ‘Who are you?’… I wonder why you’re not asking.”
The Black Fox, wearing a sinister smile, lifted the half-dokkaebi’s chin with his elongated nails and asked. His gaze, examining the trembling eyes thoroughly, was not ordinary.
“Little one. You know me, don’t you?”
I’ve been found out…!
He tried to quickly transform into dokkaebi fire and escape, but the Black Fox moved even faster. Placing his claw at the throat of Mr. Kim, who was lying sprawled on the floor in deep sleep, he said:
“Make a wrong move, and I’ll kill him.”
Footnote:
1) Taeguk amulet: An amulet made to ward off evil spirits. The front has the eight trigrams pattern and a copper mirror, and the back has the Taeguk symbol.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
