Chapter 84
“What’s an after party?”
Baek Dong-man’s question echoed through the silence where not even a breath could be heard.
“Is that really important right now?!”
Village head Jeon Man-sik, who was standing at the front holding a torch, turned around and severely scolded Baek Dong-man for speaking thoughtlessly. The villagers, who had been murmuring among themselves because they didn’t understand the meaning of the word, closed their mouths with a subdued expression.
“How dare you crawl in here on your own feet! Your liver must have grown outside your body!”
Clang!
As the chaotic atmosphere settled, the shaman wearing colorful ritual clothes made a loud noise by clashing a crescent-shaped moon sword and a trident.
“The General is angry! The General is angry because of that wicked dokkaebi! Oh heavenly gods! We beseech you! Please look down upon us and punish that man with impure energy so that these poor mortals do not fall victim to plague!”
Exclamations mixed with fear burst out here and there at the sight of the shaman wildly wielding the ritual tools as if possessed, while chanting an invocation to summon spirits.
The way he jumped up and down as if about to soar into the sky was so mystical. It looked as if the general spirit he was serving was grabbing his neck and shaking it up and down.
All the villagers watched the almost magical dance, entranced. The music that had briefly stopped at Yeo Moon-beom’s appearance echoed throughout the village once again.
‘Hmm…’
Although he had almost lost his strength, his eyes were still bright, so Yeo Moon-beom watched the shaman’s movements, which lacked both divine and spiritual power, with an expressionless face.
As expected, the shaman was a fraud who only looked impressive on the outside. It seemed there was no danger of Eun-hwi being cursed by the influence of the gut ritual.
“You evil spirit spawn who should be struck by lightning and burned to death! Get out of here!”
When Yeo Moon-beom continued to stand calmly watching the gut ritual despite the ongoing exorcism, Hwang Young-ok, wearing a white headscarf, took out red beans from a jar and threw them wildly.
Compared to eggs that smelled fishy and were sticky all over, the smooth surface of the red beans was nothing more than crumbs. Yeo Moon-beom casually dusted off his clothes and said to Jeon Man-sik:
“I haven’t come to a place I shouldn’t, but your hospitality is quite poor. This is too much.”
“We never invited an evil dokkaebi like you as a guest! Get out of here now!”
“Think about it, Village Head. If I were a real dokkaebi, why would I come to a place like this? It could be harmful.”
Yeo Moon-beom shrugged his shoulders and shifted his gaze to the meager offering table prepared in half a day and the table filled with various ritual tools in contrast. They were all large and heavily decorated, terrible as weapons, but at least well-sharpened.
Yeo Moon-beom politely asked permission from the shaman who was putting on a show by repeatedly stabbing a chicken’s head in a rubber basin with the trident.
“May I borrow a knife for a moment?”
He put down his sports bag and picked up a ritual knife decorated with abundant tassels. Then he extended the tip of the blade towards the shaman who was struggling with the trident deeply embedded between bones and not coming out easily. It happened in an instant before anyone could stop him.
“H-help! Aaaaaargh!”
Sim Bong-pil, who had gotten scared thinking they were going to be attacked, ran away at full speed still holding the torch.
“My, my. He must have had an urgent call of nature.”
Yeo Moon-beom smiled at the villagers who were shrinking back with tense faces and showed his left arm. Their frightened gazes focused on his forearm with slightly flexed, long-split muscles and thick wrist.
“It’s no wonder you suspect me of being a dokkaebi. I would do the same if I were you. But you see.”
Swish—
Yeo Moon-beom changed the direction of the knife tip that was facing outward and dragged it down his own arm. As the sound of people swallowing their breath was heard from all around, the shining sharp blade cut through his skin.
Bright red blood flowed from the split flesh and dripped onto the ground. Hwang Young-ok grabbed her head and staggered, seemingly dizzy just from seeing the blood.
Clang!
Yeo Moon-beom finally withdrew the ritual knife and threw it on the ground demonstratively, then shouted to the villagers.
“What color does the blood flowing from this arm look to you? Isn’t it the same color as what all of you here have?”
Jeon Man-sik extended his torch to brightly illuminate Yeo Moon-beom’s arm. The color of the blood reflected in the flickering flames was neither green nor blue. It was a deep, vivid red like the chicken blood in the basin.
“It’s, it’s a lie! Are you believing that thing that spouts nonsense every time it opens its mouth? It’s trying to kill us all!”
“That’s right! That’s right!”
Sometimes, human beings were creatures that denied even the actual phenomena before their eyes.
They see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and believe only what they want to believe.
Because it was much easier to turn away and ignore reality than to accept it as it was, the villagers chose once again to distort the facts.
However, this reaction was also fully expected. Yeo Moon-beom approached Hwang Young-ok with an indifferent expression and extended his arm soaked in blood.
“Could I have a cloth, please?”
Nevertheless, the visual stimulus couldn’t be completely ignored. Hwang Young-ok looked up at Yeo Moon-beom with blank eyes and handed over her headscarf. Then, as if suddenly remembering how she had shaken off Jeon Man-sik’s arm and thrown it away, she stepped back in surprise.
“Thank you.”
Yeo Moon-beom deliberately smiled broadly and casually expressed his gratitude. When nothing happened even though their fingers brushed slightly, a dazed Hwang Young-ok stopped midway as she was about to put her hand into the jar containing red beans.
“I heard dokkaebi blood is blue. Mine is red.”
He hinted while fixing his gaze on the red blood seeping into and dampening the white cloth.
“Whether you believe it or not, I am human like you. A human who fought monsters and returned alive from the brink of death with the protection of the mountain god.”
Although there was some exaggeration, it was a fact without a shred of lie. Perhaps more rebellious due to Yeo Moon-beom’s unwavering attitude, cracks appeared on Jeon Man-sik’s face, which had been pretending to be calm all along.
“Mountain god? Don’t talk nonsense!”
“That’s right! There’s no way the mountain god would save such a vile bastard!”
The villagers visibly wavered and became agitated. It seemed unbelievable that the mountain god, who had only been passed down in legends and never received by anyone until now, had saved a suspicious outsider.
“Then let me show you proof that I fought monsters.”
Yeo Moon-beom, who had wrapped the cloth around his arm to stop the bleeding, took out an old fur rubber shoe from the sports bag and tossed it at Jeon Man-sik’s feet.
“This is one shoe worn by the monster I eliminated. I brought it to return to its owner.”
“Th-this is!”
“Oh my goodness! Father!”
No Soon-ok, Jeon Man-sik’s wife and the head of the Wolhwa Village Women’s Association, confirmed the name written in marker on the side of the fur rubber shoe and burst into wailing.
The owner of the shoe stolen by the Yagwanggwi along with people’s fortune was the village head’s father who had died in a bathroom accident a few years ago.
Even now, there remained a custom in Wolhwa Village of bringing all shoes inside at night so that the Yagwanggwi couldn’t steal them.
Feeling that the impact brought by the fur rubber shoe was greater than expected, Yeo Moon-beom took the initiative before Jeon Man-sik could speak.
“As you all wished, I will leave this island for a while. In return, if the blood on this cloth doesn’t change color by the time I return, you will acknowledge it. The fact that I am a human who came to help you.”
Jeon Man-sik, who had been comforting No Soon-ok as she cried profusely while holding the worn-out shoe, nodded silently. It seemed he couldn’t deny his father’s memento.
There was no need to waste more time dealing with the villagers here. Yeo Moon-beom handed the blood-stained cloth to Hwang Young-ok and asked the dazed shaman in passing:
“Is the General still angry?”
“W-well…”
“If you throw flesh in the wrong place, that flesh will return to you. If you don’t want to die from being struck by lightning, you’d better stop here. It’s time for everyone to go to sleep.”
It wasn’t his business whether they held an ineffective gut ritual or not, but he could do without the ear-splitting bell sounds. He also didn’t want to see Eun-hwi trembling in fear.
“D-did you think I didn’t know anything! This was also the General’s plan! He said that’s how the village’s fate would be resolved naturally!”
Suddenly putting down the trident and moon sword, the shaman grabbed a five-colored flag and began to chant a prayer for a bountiful catch.
These frauds, really.
Seeing the shaman still wagging his tongue till the end, Yeo Moon-beom let out an exasperated laugh and slung the sports bag over his shoulder. He was somewhat concerned about Jeon Sunam and Yang Jincheol who were said to be locked in a warehouse, but they weren’t characters worth investing time in, so he just moved on.
“Wait a moment!”
Jeon Man-sik, who had handed the torch to Baek Dong-man, hurriedly grabbed Yeo Moon-beom and asked:
“Let me ask you one last thing. Why do you insist on staying at the dokkaebi grounds instead of in the village?”
“Hmm…”
Before coming here, he had vowed to resolve the situation with only the truth. After briefly choosing his words in his mind, Yeo Moon-beom narrowed his eyes and said in a smiling voice:
“There’s an incredibly lovable rabbit living there.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
