The moment Yunoh picked up his spoon, the restaurant door beyond the kitchen flung open and all kinds of languages could be heard. Egypt, India, Russia, Ukraine…. Even without ever taking a plane, just being here made Yunoh feel like he’d traveled the whole world.
“Delicious, right? Eat this young radish kimchi too. It’s well-fermented.”
Boss Park and his wife, who’d missed the timing and couldn’t have children, treated Yunoh like a son. Though Yunoh hadn’t grown up being abused, there had been an insurmountable wall between him and his parents, so this ordinary atmosphere kept making him stay here.
He shouldn’t stay too long, he shouldn’t…. Having struggled hard for the first six months, whenever he thought about leaving, he kept thinking just one more day, just one more week. Yunoh smiled while chewing.
“It’s delicious.”
“Right? Should I sprinkle more sesame seeds?”
“It’s okay, ma’am.”
“What ma’am. You can call me mom.”
At the warm gaze, Yunoh grinned bashfully. Just then, Boss Park who’d finished smoking came back in and saw that sight.
“My goodness. Looking so pretty like that, I don’t know if you’ll ever get married. For a guy.”
“He’s just handsome, our Yunoh. Are you jealous because you look like a burly butcher?”
“Jealous my ass. Yunoh-ya. You need to bulk up. You can’t be so pale and thin like that. And handsome? He’s pretty.”
“These days pretty guys are considered handsome. You don’t even know.”
Boss Park’s wife, who snorted grandly, handed Yunoh barley tea. Yunoh hurriedly continued eating.
Meanwhile, the sound from the TV in the hall that was always on made Yunoh’s ears perk up.
[*In East Asian cultures they’re called Geumín and Chiin, while in European and Western cultures they’re called Alpha and Omega—there are various theories about the origins of these heteromorphs. In Europe’s case, they view the Romulus brothers who are said to have founded Rome as the first Alphas. Since they grew up drinking wolf’s blood, it’s said to come from Alpha, meaning the leader of wolves, which is quite persuasive. China believes that Nüwa, a goddess with a serpent lower body, was the first Alpha, or Geumín. In our country’s case….*]
“Come to think of it, they said a drama with a Geumín and Chiin as protagonists is coming out next week.”
“What’s so interesting about that?”
“Better than you saying it’s not interesting without even watching.”
“…I’ve seen a Geumín before. At the big house.”
Boss Park, who rarely talked about the big house, suddenly brought up that place. Even though Yunoh tried to act otherwise, all his nerves were drawn in that direction. His spoon work had already been poor from the moment he started hearing talk about Geumín and Chiin, Alpha and Omega, from outside.
“They say not all Geumín have pairs, but I don’t really know. That Geumín had killed his Chiin and come there.”
Yunoh trembled at the approaching fear. An unavoidable curiosity surged up.
“Why, why did he kill the Chiin…?”
“He said it should have been his pair but they were with another guy so he had no choice. Geumín are just crazy bastards.”
Boss Park, who must have seen all kinds of things, shook his head.
“I don’t know about other things, but when that heat or breeding period or whatever came…. Even using tranquilizers meant for animals wouldn’t calm them down. They’re just animal bastards.”
Yunoh finally put down his spoon. His appetite had completely disappeared.
There are three types of people in the world. Geumín (禽人), Chiin (治人), Anin (安人).
Long ago, an immortal descended and told the animals that if they could endure 100 days in a cave eating only mugwort and garlic without seeing sunlight, they would be made human. A bear and a tiger stepped forward. The tiger lasted 50 days before leaving, and the bear lasted 100 days. The bear became human and gave birth to a child. That child had a child, and that child had another child, and they became what we know as ordinary people, the Anin.
The tiger that left midway went back to live with the animals in the mountains. But he was no longer an ordinary animal. Unlike the bear’s children, he didn’t leave records, so no one knows how they bred and eventually gave birth to offspring in human form. But it doesn’t seem like only the tiger knew that method. Very few offspring of animals like tigers, foxes, and wolves survived.
They could see farther, hear better, were sturdier and bigger than the bear’s children, but weren’t complete humans so they periodically lost their reason. The desire to breed and have offspring after losing reason appeared like a heat cycle. That heat fever was so high they often died or went mad.
They were called Geumín because they were animals. Half-beasts.
However, only Geumín were born continuing generations like this—Chiin were not born this way.
Those who tame beasts, Chiin.
It was said that when Geumín spent time with Chiin, their heat periods were controlled and their violent pain disappeared. However, this characteristic wasn’t inherited, and the cause of occurrence was unknown.
Some said this was a metaphor for shamanism. A plausible but uninteresting hypothesis that it was evidence of mythology becoming reality, like the relationship between shamans and gods. And through that, they tried to explain the existence of Chiin.
In other words, the theory was that just as shamans don’t actually inherit through bloodlines but have god-daughters and god-sons who inherit shamanic tools and knowledge, Chiin also might be passed down not through blood but through other characteristics. However, there were still no persuasive claims about what those other characteristics were.
And Yunoh was precisely such a Chiin. Even though there were no Geumín or Chiin in his family, he’d been different from birth.
In the winter vacation before starting fifth grade of elementary school, he had a trait examination at the hospital. But even before receiving those results, his grandmother knew Yunoh was Chiin from seeing him cry while dreaming at night. Not all Chiin dream, but Yunoh did. As if announcing that his destined partner existed.
Even while the world was changing, heteromorphs were often treated as exceptions. The notion that they were beings incomplete without each other was treated as a kind of special constitution, like some immutable law.
In fact, even after receiving the result that he was Chiin, Yunoh hadn’t faced much inconvenience. Except for the nightmares and inexplicable resentment toward his pair. Chiin could probably live as normally as Anin.
But Geumín were different. Geumín still stood in the position of predators in modern times, and their desperation for their partner was far greater. While saying they were incomplete without their partner wounded their pride, it was also a useful law to exploit.
Instead, they’d give what was wanted. They’d provide what was desired. If it was uncomfortable that it was natural fate for Geumín and Chiin to meet, they’d at least make it look beautiful. They said Chiin tamed Geumín, but it seemed like Chiin were the only ones truly being tamed.
So even now, quite a few families considered it like winning the lottery when such children were born. Yunoh’s parents thought so too. There was no malice. He was just unlucky. Having a grandmother and father who seemed to live in a world from about a hundred years ago wasn’t malice. Just bad luck.
…Getting lost in thought wasn’t good. Feeling as if someone was chasing him from behind, Yunoh stood up abruptly.
“I’ll check the rice cooker and side dishes.”
It was a good excuse. The appetite of workers who’d labored hard in dust all day was always beyond imagination.
“Boss, please eat. I’m done.”
“It’s fine. It’s fine. Don’t go out.”
“It’s okay. Please eat slowly.”
When he tried to go out to the hall wearing a hygiene mask, sure enough he heard a request: “More soup please!” Yunoh left the kitchen carrying the large soup pot that had been simmering on low heat to stay warm. The mask hanging a bit loose seemed about to fall. He scrunched his nose and pulled up the mask.
When he changed the soup pot, those who’d been waiting ladled out the ingredients first. Meanwhile, as he grabbed the mask that had almost come off, suddenly a tray was thrust in front of him.
“Don’t you have young radish kimchi?”
He was an extremely tall man. His eyes were long horizontally but narrow vertically, with prominent cheekbones giving him a cool and somewhat frightening impression. Especially because of the faint scar running from his cheekbone to beside his lips, that impression was even more pronounced. Had he just come from the big house? Yunoh went into the kitchen saying to wait a moment.
“Ma’am. Someone’s asking if we have young radish kimchi.”
“Oh my, we only have what’s for us. Tell them it’s run out. Say we’ll make more on the weekend.”
Yunoh went back out and relayed the message as is. He’d expected the man to grumble in annoyance, but the man simply nodded lightly. Then he sat at the nearest table and ate his meal silently.
People usually sat with those from the same hometown or in the same work group, but the man was alone. What was stranger was that people sitting around him also left one chair’s distance from him. The man didn’t care and occasionally just looked at his phone. He wasn’t watching YouTube or anything. All he did was send texts.
“Yunoh-ya. Do we need to bring out more?”
“The spicy stir-fried pork ran out. The stir-fried fish cake too.”
“They sure know what’s delicious.”
Though grumbling, Boss Park’s voice sounded happy. Payment would come in nicely this month too. At least until next year, the year after would be fine.
Just yesterday they’d hung up a banner saying a large complex was coming in. Even the construction noise loud enough to hurt the head sounded to Boss Park only like the clinking sound of money coming in. Though he’d washed his hands clean, younger brothers he knew prevented other Korean buffets from opening in this area, so there was no chance of competitors appearing.
Boss Park was just happy, and Yunoh also leaned on that noise to quietly push away tomorrow’s worries again.
* * *
Yunoh slept in a container. It was lodging that had been cleaned and fitted with new flooring in the place where Boss Park and his wife had temporarily lived. Without weather strips the draft was severe and it was terribly hot in summer, but Yunoh was satisfied enough, and actually quite liked this place. He liked it because it was quiet and he didn’t have to pay rent.
