Seoryeong furrowed her brow for a mont.
“There have been countless people who called sothing or other. So it’s only natural that I have no na. Everyone called whatever was convenient for them.”
Her gaze toward Myungdo carried the wariness of a wounded animal. A fragnt of the past flickered through her mind.
“Hey, then what are you going to call ? Hm?”
The voice of a young Seoryeong, sticky with expectation. She lifted her head to look up at the woman beside her.
The woman’s face was blurred by the sunlight, hard to make out. It was dazzling.
“Well... what does a na matter? If you’re always by soone’s side, there’s no need to call them separately.”
The woman in the black skirt spoke as she walked, holding Seoryeong’s hand. There was no na given to Seoryeong. And yet Seoryeong smiled, pulling her cheeks upward.
Because not giving her a na sounded like a promise to keep her close even without one. Because it felt like cherishing her even if she had no particular use....
They walked together in silence.
“So stop prying. You’re really starting to ruin my mood.”
Ending the brief recollection, Seoryeong shoved Myungdo’s shoulder with both hands as he brushed dust from her clothes. This ti, Myungdo yielded and stepped back willingly.
Myungdo grabbed Seoryeong by the nape as she struggled to get up and pulled her upright in one smooth motion, then took the bundle from her hands with crisp efficiency.
“You little—!”
“Please hold on to this. You’ll feel more at ease that way.”
Myungdo handed Seoryeong an ornant hanging from the tip of his black sword.
“What is this? This cheap junk. The gold and jewels in my bundle are worth hundreds, thousands of tis more than this! Ease, my ass.”
“It was a gift from my late mother. I swear that, if only to retrieve this again, I will not do anything reckless.”
Myungdo lifted Seoryeong’s heavy luggage as if it weighed nothing and started walking forward again. Left standing alone, Seoryeong hurried after him with quick steps, chattering as she went.
“Hey! Don’t get the wrong idea just because you’re doing this. I’m not going to take care of you all the way. If you get in the way, I’ll ditch you anyti.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Even if Jeongan sent you, it doesn’t an much to . Got it? Carve it into your head!”
“Yes, I will carve it into my heart.”
“Don’t try to sche! I can see right through you!”
“If it appears that way to you, I have nothing to say.”
Myungdo gradually slowed his pace. Matching his stride to one comfortable for Seoryeong, he added,
“It is only natural for a healthy man to help soone weaker.”
Whoosh—.
A gentle mountain breeze passed between them. Myungdo t Seoryeong’s eyes, gave a short nod, and continued on.
“By the way, where are we headed?”
“...To where I feel sothing.”
Seoryeong looked off into the distance. In her clear, unreadable eyes, it seed as though she sensed sothing.
“I feel an impure presence. Very strongly....”
The shackle on Seoryeong’s arm clinked as the breeze brushed against it. The end of the white lotus-embroidered cord tied to her wrist fluttered softly with the bracelet.
“We’re heading to Heavenly Vein Land.”
Their footsteps overlapped as they walked.
* * *
The sound of a water wheel turning rang out clear and fresh. In the atmospheric space, the magistrate sat with the wide window open, looking over docunts and letting out a coarse laugh.
“A stipend for virtuous won... heh.”
It was the support money granted by the state because of the tearful story of Janghwa and Hongryeon. Since it was ant to repair the old magistrate’s office, it was effectively renovation funds.
“With this, I’ll quickly put up a grand pavilion, and with the leftover money... hmm.”
Filling his own desires with the subsidy ca first for the magistrate.
“And as it happens, the nearby Sunken Underworld Land had poured an enormous amount of funds into bridge construction, only for it to be halted because of an accident....”
What if the bridge project were taken over here, in Heavenly Vein Land?
It would be natural to give another chance to a village making a fresh attempt, rather than one that had already failed.
“Hey there—. Is anyone around?”
“Yes, Magistrate.”
The magistrate cleared his throat a couple of tis, then spoke to the person outside.
“Tell Soyeong’s mother-in-law that I have urgent business to discuss.”
The magistrate’s eyes glead with greed.
* * *
Seoryeong’s steps ca to an abrupt halt. She stood frozen in place, her jaw trembling.
“What is it?”
Myungdo bent down to look at her face. Seoryeong had gone pale, her gaze fixed on sothing beyond.
“In the mountain....”
As if uneasy, she fiddled with the shackle bracelet on her wrist. Clink— clink— the small wooden beads struck together painfully.
“It’s... there....”
She didn’t say what “it” was.
Without another word, Seoryeong bolted forward like a madwoman. Dust billowed up in the air. She kept whipping her head around, searching for ‘sothing.’
Whatever that ‘sothing’ was, finding it in the vast mountain seed nearly impossible.
“What exactly is there? If you tell , I’ll look for it.”
Myungdo tried to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“You can’t!”
Seoryeong slapped away his large hand irritably, her breathing coming fast and shallow.
Collapsing to the ground, Seoryeong hiccupped as she began chanting a spell.
“Heaven and earth know all... let the wind guide my steps... I pray to behold the mont of truth.”
Her small body shook violently. Seoryeong clenched her teeth as if in intense pain. The ground began to tremble faintly.
Small stones rattled and jumped upward, grrk, grrk, like a prelude to an earthquake.
“...There.”
Whooosh—. Whooosh—.
A chilling wind blew. Seoryeong’s clear eyes stared blankly, moisture gathering at the corners.
A small cave hidden behind leaves and spiderwebs—inside it was the ‘sothing’ Seoryeong had spoken of.
“Dangerous!”
The path beneath the cave was particularly treacherous. Catching Seoryeong’s arm as she nearly slipped, Myungdo spoke calmly.
“I—I will check.”
Navigating the steep slope skillfully, Myungdo brushed aside the spiderwebs and entered the cave. In the dim space sat an old wooden box, abandoned.
“...”
Lifting the dust-covered box, Myungdo took a breath. A damp, fetid stench vibrated at the tip of his nose. Sothing inside was rotting.
Clunk.
With a small sound, the box finally opened.
“...This is....”
Myungdo doubted his eyes. Inside lay ‘sothing’ shaped like a human.
Greenish-brown hide, ten fingers and toes, nails worn away at the tips with dried blood clinging to them, tattered clothes....
“Hu—man, this... hu—man....”
For once, Myungdo stamred. In his field of vision appeared the delicate nape of a human being. It was faintly breathing.
“Move....”
Seoryeong, who had co close without him noticing, quietly took out a water flask beside him.
Tilting the flask at her waist into the box, Seoryeong slowly poured water.
As the water seeped into the parched lips, it looked like a stream of tears.
“Ghk....”
The trembling lips barely parted. As if even that small movent was exhausting, the thing gulped, wetting its mouth with just a few drops.
“....”
Then it stopped moving. As if it had never been alive to begin with.
“...Is it human?”
At Myungdo’s question, Seoryeong nodded calmly. It was a sight that would make anyone frown, yet Seoryeong sohow looked accustod to it.
“This is called a child-ghost talisman.”
Seoryeong’s composed explanation echoed coldly through the cave.
“It’s a child ghost. After a child dies, the soul flies away, and what remains clumps together and attaches to a person. It’s a potent spirit that divines fortune and misfortune, and can relay events from a hundred ri away.... Yes. With this, you can even cast curses.”
Seoryeong crouched down and touched the hand of what had once been human. She poured water over the shriveled fingertips, washing away the dried blood.
Splash.... The lonely sound of water touched its fingers.
[♨If you don’t watch, it’s your loss: Strange Tales Ep. 3 Thread♨]
—This was terrifying even when I listened to it as ASMR TT_TT
—The CG is insane;; why does it feel so real, kind of like a mummy?
—Wow I seriously have no words... this is so scary, so scary
“Sothing... I feel like I’m almost getting it... ah. There’s sothing here.”
Aetami stared quietly at the screen. This felt like foreshadowing. As if the director ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) were dropping a hint, saying, ‘You real fans will recognize this, right? Try guessing.’
After all, Seoryeong’s gaze wasn’t just that of soone looking at a sacrificed child. Her intermittently ragged breathing seed to recall sothing deeper.
“...This is absurd.”
Myungdo’s rigid jaw trembled as he breathed roughly.
“How can soone wear a human shell and do sothing like this, how...!”
The water flask was empty. As if it were nothing, Seoryeong took a talisman from her bosom and pressed it to the child’s forehead, chanting a spell.
“You ask how soone can wear a human shell and do this.”
Pulling out a blade, Seoryeong answered flatly as she sliced into the shriveled flesh. The blood that flowed into the gourd was dull and sticky, from lack of nourishnt.
“It’s because they’re human.”
Corking the gourd, Seoryeong chanted again. Flas surged up—crackle... crackle...—and the wooden box containing it caught fire.
The smoke from the cremation stung their eyes.
The sll of the small box burning was particularly acrid. Smoke filled the narrow cave in a pale haze.
Beyond the cave where Seoryeong and Myungdo stood, billowing smoke rose into the sky.
* * *
Saaa—. Saaa—.
A fierce wind blew. A bamboo village shrine tied with red cords in all directions ca into view. Bamboo leaves scraped together in the wind, creating an eerie sound.
Before it, Yeomga was dancing languidly. Only her back was visible, but it was clear she was in an excellent mood.
“Hm hm—. Hm hm—.”
Yeomga’s humming dance resembled Jeongan’s final monts.
The way she spread her wide sleeves and slowly lifted her body from below to above mirrored Jeongan’s movents when she had tried to return Yeomga’s curse to nothingness.
“Hm—. Mm....”
Ripples spread across the bowl of water set before her. Yeomga continued to hum her song.
“At the opening of the Heavenly Gate, the Human Gate opens as well—.”
Her soft, murmuring voice as she sang about the heavens and humanity was strange.
It was different from the humming with rises and falls from before. Every note was flat.
Whoosh— the wind shaking the bamboo leaves grew stronger.
“At last, it has arrived.”
Swish— Yeomga turned around, her face covered by a Hahoe mask.
Beneath the expression that seed unable to contain its delight, it was impossible to tell what she was hiding.
* * *
Inside the magistrate’s office. Soyeong’s mother-in-law looked nothing like the vicious woman she usually was. Her rolling eyes were filled with unease. The magistrate, offering words of shallow comfort, asked in a languid voice,
“Still, with your son gone and no real source of inco.... You must be having a hard ti.”
“Oh no, not at all, sir. That Soyeong girl is crafty—running around here and there, earning just enough to put food in her mouth.... Piecework sewing, laundry, she’s stubborn to a fault, yes, indeed!”
“Heh heh heh. You really are naïve.”
Shaking his head, the magistrate leaned forward conspiratorially. Then he whispered in a low voice,
“And that’ll feed you forever, will it?”
“...Pardon....”
“She’s young, running around making money—who knows which man she might catch eyes with and run off with, abandoning her poor mother-in-law altogether!”
At the magistrate’s words, the mother-in-law’s face flushed red with rage.
“That Soyeong girl, I’ll—!”
“Well... you know, there is such a thing as a stipend for virtuous won.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“A reward given to a virtuous woman who loses her husband overnight and attempts to preserve her chastity for the rest of her life....”
The magistrate grinned. His greasy face spread with a smile.
“Wouldn’t that more than see you through the rest of your days?”
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