Chapter 110
“Hello! Director Yeo Moon-beom?”
Oh Seok-gu, who had arrived at the dock early after receiving the call, greeted them from a distance with a deep bow that nearly brought his knees to his nose.
Seeing that all preparations had been completed for immediate departure, Yeo Moon-beom hurried his steps.
“Oh my? Who might that be…?”
Just as he stepped onto the gangplank to board, the boy on Yeo Moon-beom’s back caught Oh Seok-gu’s eye. It was Eun-hwi wearing a brimmed hat instead of a dokkaebi cap.
He had deliberately not put the dokkaebi cap on him, to present him as a new outsider, giving him a role as a human so he could freely move around Wolhwa Island in the future.
“A late-born youn—”
“My nephew.”
Just as Oh Seok-gu was about to say “late-born youngest brother,” Professor Bang Ki-bong cut in first. With an expression suggesting this was much more natural, he stroked Eun-hwi’s back and added:
“His illness won’t heal, so we’ve brought him to pray to the Mountain God.”
“Ahh, I see.”
As if only now understanding why someone would be wrapped in blankets and wearing gloves in the middle of summer, Oh Seok-gu nodded. Yeo Moon-beom added:
“Time is of the essence, so please go as quickly as possible.”
“Yes! I’ll take you there as fast as I can, sir!”
Oh Seok-gu opened the cabin door to let the three in, quickly finished preparations, and began steering the boat. As the salty sea breeze blew through the slightly open door, Yeo Moon-beom sat blocking the wind with his back and examined Eun-hwi’s condition.
“…Ungh.”
The small child, moaning faintly from pain, looked as precarious as a salt figurine that might dissolve without a trace in a single wave.
Looking down at the motionless body that seemed devoid of soul and the face drained of vitality, Yeo Moon-beom whispered quietly:
“Eun-hwi.”
“…”
“We’re almost there. Just hold on a little longer.”
A large, thick hand with rough, callused fingertips caressed the half-dokkaebi’s frozen white cheek. There was tenderness in the body heat transmitted from the point of contact.
I don’t want this…
Eun-hwi tried to turn his head away, feeling his heart grow colder despite the warmth.
It was painful to believe that this being, so gentle that he wanted to trust and depend on him, was actually a human who practiced deception while pretending to give his all.
His mind was conflicted between wanting to question the secrets hidden under Yeo Moon-beom’s tongue and wanting to believe it was all a misunderstanding.
Yet no matter how much he tried to deny it, he couldn’t help feeling a corner of his heart collapse and become empty in the face of a truth that was difficult to ignore.
Why are humans such cruel beings?
To think they could even offer warmth falsely to get what they want.
The half-dokkaebi cried while swallowing his tears.
He had always regarded himself as a dark stain that couldn’t blend in anywhere, but now he realized that the real stain contaminating the world wasn’t himself but humans. Uncontrollable hatred and sadness filled his heart completely.
“Aaack! Dokkaebi fire!”
A bluish fireball suddenly appeared through the thick sea mist covering the entire ocean. The fire, resembling ghost fire, floated slowly around the boat before disappearing.
Oh Seok-gu fell on his backside as he backed away in panic. He turned around to see the boy with the unfamiliar face and Yeo Moon-beom, whom the villagers had treated as a dokkaebi.
“D-d-d-dokkaebi?”
With every minute and second being crucial, the boat’s bow lost direction and tilted to one side. Feeling the crisis, Professor Bang Ki-bong jumped up, grabbed the helm, and shouted:
“Calm down! That’s not dokkaebi fire, it’s just St. Elmo’s fire! It’s just a type of lightning where particles split into compounds of oxygen and carbon, carrying electrical charges and connected in chain form to create a sphere!”
“Light…ning?”
“As a sailor, don’t you know the folklore that when St. Elmo’s fire appears, you’ll catch lots of fish?”
“…Lots of fish?”
“Yes, you fool. Trust this fish expert and grab the helm now!”
Oh Seok-gu, regaining his senses at Professor Bang Ki-bong’s impatient cry, hurriedly took the helm and turned the boat’s direction.
As the situation was safely resolved, Oh Seok-gu’s lips twitched upward, apparently pleased by the lightning that predicted a good catch.
Unlike the expectant Oh Seok-gu, Yeo Moon-beom embraced the half-dokkaebi with an expression that couldn’t hide his anxiety.
He couldn’t understand how Eun-hwi, unconscious and hovering between life and death due to the curse, had created dokkaebi fire. His heart sank at the possibility it might be a signal of imminent danger.
Even when he lacked spiritual power, Yeo Moon-beom had always possessed good intuition. In the bottomless sea and the endless gray fog, he stared out the window with anxious eyes, feeling an eerie chill.
A remote island separated from the world. The journey to Wolhwa Island felt especially long today.
* * *
“You’re going to pray to the Mountain God?”
Village Chief Jeon Man-sik, who had been guarding the dock with fierce eyes upon hearing that the person who had recently turned the village upside down was returning, asked as he looked at Yeo Moon-beom carrying the pale-faced boy on his back.
His face showed concern as this was an extraordinarily young child in Wolhwa Island, where the average age was 78.
The faint breathing, seemingly about to break, and the small frame contrasting with Yeo Moon-beom’s large build evoked sympathy from the villagers.
“Even the big hospitals in Seoul said there’s nothing they can do, so we’ve come to seek the Mountain God as a last resort. A human life hangs in the balance, so just for today, I ask that you let us pass without argument.”
Yeo Moon-beom, who had never bowed his head and always maintained his pride in any situation, lowered his head toward Jeon Man-sik.
“…”
It was a sincere gesture, not deliberately appealing to emotions. Professor Bang Ki-bong, standing with his arms full of luggage, also wore an utterly miserable expression, making it impossible to dismiss them as lying as before.
In the solemn atmosphere where no one dared speak carelessly, Hwang Young-ok, who had been at the forefront of throwing raw eggs at Yeo Moon-beom, said with tears in her eyes:
“So that’s why he tried to protect Wolhwa Island!”
“That’s right! He must have been trying to convince us ignorant folk because something terrible would happen if that dreadful human-faced bird harmed the Mountain God!”
“See, I told you he wasn’t a dokkaebi!”
“Right, right! He couldn’t possibly be a dokkaebi!”
The villagers standing behind Jeon Man-sik whispered among themselves and reached their conclusion. Jeon Sunam, Park Jeongbae, and Yang Jincheol looked around with dumbfounded expressions at the suddenly friendly reaction of the villagers.
“Hurry up the mountain to the shrine!”
Whether he couldn’t ignore the sick child or couldn’t deny the Mountain God’s influence on the village, Jeon Man-sik cleared the path he had been blocking.
Extending kindness out of pity for the boy, not knowing he was the dokkaebi they had considered so ominous.
With this, Eun-hwi became not an object of rejection but one deserving of a helping hand and inclusion.
Though disgusted by the villagers who changed their attitudes without principles depending on the situation, Yeo Moon-beom silently climbed the mountain without saying a word.
“Wait just a little, Eun-hwi. I’ll go quickly and bring you medicine.”
He laid Eun-hwi on the warm floor heated by the fire he had stoked in the house and covered him with a blanket. He noticed a letter sealed with a small scent pouch attached, but had to leave without time to remove it.
“I’ll go alone from here.”
He set off alone, restraining Professor Bang Ki-bong who tried to follow. Although Professor Bang Ki-bong seemed to want to plead with the Mountain God together, there was no need to further provoke the human-faced bird who already disliked humans.
Yeo Moon-beom hurried toward the Mountain God’s domain, feeling the dokkaebi power within him gradually fading.
“For what reason have you come here again!”
As he entered the flower field where evening primroses bloomed abundantly past the Yongma Waterfall, the human-faced bird appeared as expected. Its neck, which had been torn to shreds before, had recovered cleanly without a trace of being cut.
Showing his empty hands as if he carried no threatening weapons, Yeo Moon-beom asked the human-faced bird:
“Call the Mountain God.”
“How dare a lowly being like you act so impudently! Show proper respect immediately!”
“Eun-hwi has been cursed by a white fox. There’s no time for this, so call the Mountain God quickly. I need the immortality herb.”
“…A white fox’s curse?”
The black, thick eyebrows of the human-faced bird, which had maintained a dignified expression throughout, twitched. As it hesitated while staring at Yeo Moon-beom’s dirty clothes with holes in various places—
“You’ve come, Beom.”
Along with the clear cry of the magic phoenix, the awe-inspiring voice of the Mountain God came from the distance.
“Mountain God!”
She seemed to have already understood the entire situation, wearing an expression tinged with mockery. Her gaze, rebuking the foolishness of inviting trouble despite having been given ample opportunity to avoid it, was sharp as a blade.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Yeo Moon-beom knelt and prostrated himself on the ground. He had long since abandoned petty animosity and stubbornness. He would do anything to save the half-dokkaebi.
“Eun-hwi is dying from a white fox’s curse. Please show mercy just once more.”
“Mercy… True mercy means taking your pain as my own, so why should I show mercy to you who regard me as an enemy?”
A cold rejection came back. But as it wasn’t an unexpected response, Yeo Moon-beom spoke with an even more earnest tone:
“You don’t need to bestow anything on me. I will endure any suffering myself. Just please don’t turn away from Eun-hwi’s pain.”
Perhaps unable to ignore the desperate plea any longer, the Mountain God stepped closer and extended her hand into the air. At her gesture, the magic phoenix came with a blue herb shaped like a hericium mushroom in its mouth.
“This is the last immortality herb remaining in the divine realm.”
The last immortality herb.
What the Mountain God possessed was an herb of incalculable value. To Yeo Moon-beom, who bowed his head deeply with a face full of gratitude, the Mountain God asked as if to confirm:
“The moment of choice has not yet come. Do you still want this immortality herb?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
