They say when you’re too surprised, your body stiffens and no words come out, and that was exactly how it was now. Through the thick fog, I reflexively hugged tightly the large golden body shining beautifully and the snake-like cold scales caught in my hand.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and not long after, my feet touched the ground so I opened them wide. The fog had already cleared and I saw the Mountain God in front of me. He smiled warmly, grabbed my hand, and pulled weakly.
“You came?”
“Yes… Huh? Wow…!”
Bihyeon wasn’t next to me, so I was about to say that when the sparkling lake caught my eye and I naturally let out admiration first.
I’ve never seen such a beautiful lake in my life. The water was so clear that you could see all the way inside. Something dazzling was swimming inside.
I was so surprised that I couldn’t say anything and slowly approached there. I felt hazy and a bit dizzy as if dreaming.
“It’s really beautiful…”
The Mountain God gripped my arm tightly as I knelt and looked closely.
Splash!
A fish that peeked its face out of the lake smiled and shook its head. Is it greeting me? It looks happy.
“Ah, hello? I came to visit today. I’m in your care.”
When I spoke quietly and gently, the fish shook its body left and right excitedly. Just when I thought it went back into the water, it came out again holding something.
It seemed to be a stone from the bottom of the lake. Holding a brilliant black stone, it gestured its head toward the back. And it tapped my hand tap tap. Oh, is it giving it to me?
“This is also fate, so take it.”
Today especially, Mountain God-nim’s voice sounds strangely different…
Hearing the Mountain God’s words, I held out my hand. Then the fish spat out the stone ptooey and dove back in with a splash. I bowed to the fish and looked at my hand.
Wow, it’s like a jewel and pretty.
“Ah, right! Mountain God-nim, Bihyeon-nim…”
When I turned around to the Mountain God, several eyes I’d never seen before slowly opened from his body. The multiple eyes embedded in the tree felt strangely like I’d seen them somewhere.
Those eyes smiled warmly at me. The Mountain God who slowly raised his hand pointed inside the lake. I turned my head following that direction. Something huge and golden was swimming in the lake.
“…Dragon?”
It was a golden dragon.
Part of the dragon’s body moving and swimming was dyed black. Like Bihyeon’s hair… As it continued to stay in the lake, the black was gradually disappearing though.
I blinked and approached closer, holding out my hand. The dragon that stuck out its head seemed to ponder for a moment, then soon brought its cheek to my hand with a thud.
“Bihyeon-nim… right?”
The dragon smiled with its eyes, then went back inside.
After swimming a few more times like that, when it came out, it had changed back to Bihyeon’s appearance. Now the black part of his hair had disappeared and become gold.
I instantly exhaled the breath I’d been holding and smiled. What, he’s incredibly beautiful.
I raised my hand and carefully removed the hair stuck a bit to his cheek dripping with water.
“What about the Mountain God?”
“Huh? Behind me…”
When I turned around, there was nothing.
He was definitely holding my arm just a moment ago… I touched my arm and looked around.
Step, I heard urgent footsteps from far away. The Mountain God who pushed through the bushes with a rustle approached us with apologetic eyes.
“Phew… I didn’t know you’d come this quickly and was feeding the birds. Did you wait long?”
“What…?”
No, he was definitely with me though…
I blinked and looked at Bihyeon, who tilted his head.
“You were definitely… behind me. Bihyeon-nim saw too, right?”
“Hm? That one was alone until now.”
That can’t be…?
“No. He even told me to take this…”
I held out my hand and opened it carefully. Huh? It was a beautiful stone earlier, but it strangely changed appearance. The stone that was just like a black jewel had now changed to a stone mixed with blue and green. Rather than just a stone, it looked like a beautiful jewel containing the mountain and lake as they are.
The Mountain God and Bihyeon stared at my hand. Soon the Mountain God spoke.
“It’s a soul stone. As the name suggests, it’s a jewel containing the power of this lake and mountain.”
“What?!”
When I was startled and pulled my hand back, Bihyeon laughed haha.
“At the very bottom of the lake, once every few hundred years, a jewel is made gathering all the energy of this place. The guardian spirits only give it to precious guests…”
But I’m not a precious guest. When I trembled my hand and held out the jewel, both shook their heads.
I’m scared to have all these incredibly precious things. How many times is this now… Please…
When I quickly looked at both alternately, the Mountain God laughed “Hehe” and took the jewel. And he also took the flower with the bookmark string I had and wove them together with the jewel.
Instantly they combined and a small bracelet was made. The Mountain God who grabbed my hand and personally put it on my left wrist looked at me smiling warmly.
“That it gave to you… means there must be a reason it should go to you.”
Ugh… it ends up coming to me after all.
Moreover, the bookmark string I gave back then also came back to me.
“Mountain God-nim, this…”
“Yes… this too must have been something that should return to you.”
Is it okay to just receive like this? I gave this and received that precious flower…
“The walnut pie, I really ate it deliciously. I’ll ask for it often.”
The voice speaking with “Hehe” laughter was really kind.
I smacked my lips and shook my head. I’m receiving too much. As I frowned, this time Bihyeon grabbed my arm.
“Let’s go down and at least eat the remaining snacks.”
“Yes, shall we go together?”
The Mountain God and Bihyeon take the lead and walk slowly. I walked with my arm held, then turned back.
At that moment, the fog thickened so I could no longer see the lake… but somehow I felt like someone was waving their hand at me. I slightly raised my hand and waved wave wave, then looked forward again. Because of the fog, nothing was visible.
By the way…
‘Bihyeon-nim… was a golden dragon.’
It’s surreal. Everything I experienced today was all so surreal that it really felt like I was dreaming.
I also felt like I’d entered a fairytale.
‘Did I save a country in my past life?’
I just endured because I was alive, but living on, days like this come too…
I stared blankly below, then at some point confirmed the fog lifting and looked forward. There was the palace.
The huge door opened and we went inside. The tiger and fox who were sweeping with brooms welcomed us and approached. From the dining room, the bear was coming out holding yakgwa and clumsily made cookies.
“Hey, Hansol! Is this right?!”
Still feeling hazy, I was blankly looking around when I snapped to attention at the bear’s loud voice.
“Ye-yes…?”
“This, I mean this! The cookies!”
He approached with thump thump thump and held out slightly black cookies.
“Are they supposed to be this color? It seems a bit different from what you made…”
I raised my hand, picked up that cookie, and took a bite.
Mm, I thought it was burnt but I guess not. It’s delicious. I smiled and nodded.
“It’s delicious. This just needs the shape refined a bit?”
“O-of course! What dish can’t I make!”
“Of course. Hyeonwoong-nim’s hands are golden. No, how can I compare them to gold? They’re so full of sincerity…”
“You, damn… Is there anything you want to eat?!”
Ugh, my ears are ringing.
Haha, small laughter burst out so I laughed and shook my head.
The food given until now is already full in the refrigerator and freezer, so I don’t have to worry about eating for a while. Thanks to that, my stomach has expanded so I’m eating a lot of rice too.
Bihyeon and the Mountain God who were quietly watching my smiling face made eye contact with each other, then soon laughed along.
“Hm? But you, that bracelet…”
“What? Ah, this…”
“Wha, what? This!”
The bear’s eyes shook as if he’d seen something tremendous.
“Oh my! This…”
The fox and tiger who came here sniffing opened their eyes wide when they saw my bracelet.
“Go do your work.”
Those who had leaned their faces close to look scattered at Bihyeon’s words with a rush.
The bear who placed snacks in the pavilion and hurried into the dining room gestured to me as if to look forward to it and laughed heartily. His sharp teeth showed, so I was scared for a moment, but I smiled back awkwardly.
“But Hansol-nim, is the time okay?”
The fox who was about to go do her work tilted her head and looked at me.
“What?”
I think I wasn’t at the lake for long. Wouldn’t it be okay? Thinking that, I picked up my phone to check the time.
“Gasp.”
It was my part-time interview time. If I didn’t run right now, I’d be late.
Wha, what? Wasn’t I really only there for a moment…! I sat in the pavilion then immediately stood up, and Bihyeon laughed haha.
“Ah, I forgot. Time flows a bit differently at the mountain top.”
“You should have told me quickly!”
I took off the durumagi, neatly arranged it, gathered my things, and ran to the door.
“I’ll be going! Thank you for today!”
There was so much more I wanted to say, but I was flustered so I bowed at the waist in greeting, then grabbed the opening door.
“Thank you, Door-door!”
Right in front, I could see an alley close to where I had to do my interview, so I urgently shouted and crossed through the door.
I ran through the alley, then suddenly stopped and turned around. The door disappeared and silence flowed in the empty alley.
‘Wow… it really feels like I dreamed.’
For a moment, my heart felt empty as if hollow.
Is it more like that because I was in a noisy place and suddenly came to a quiet place…?
Ha… I exhaled a sigh that came naturally, then soon turned around again and ran. Knowing I wasn’t late since I was almost there, I ran with all my might.
***
As expected, there aren’t many decent part-time jobs around here.
When I entered the place for the part-time interview, the boss was trimming vegetables with hands reeking of cigarettes. As soon as I saw that, I smiled awkwardly, looked around briefly, and came back out. And the next one too, and the one after that also had no customers and seriously bad cleanliness, so I just appropriately went through the interviews.
Sigh. I let out a small sigh and had nothing particular to do and nowhere to go, but I didn’t want to go home, so I wandered the streets.
‘…Let’s go home. What’s the point of walking around more…’
I really had nowhere to go.
Just as I was about to turn around and walk home, I saw a small stationery store and stopped walking.
When I went inside, I could see cute little items.
I peeked around and slowly looked, then saw pretty colored ribbon strings and carefully grabbed them.
‘This seems to be a similar color to Mountain God-nim’s flower.’
I glanced at the price.
It was a tremendous amount of money, over ten thousand won, but I took it with determination.
