He, who had been smiling affectionately at me, passed the bead to the Haechi beside him. Ah, the Haechis who opened their mouths gulped it down.
“Gasp…!”
Startled, I grabbed one of the Haechis and shook its body vigorously. It was Dal, who had my dad’s soul.
“It swallowed… it swallowed it! What do we do? Should I make it vomit?”
“You seem to have forgotten, but Haechis are also guardian deities that ward off disasters.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, right? Right…?”
“Of course. Rather, it probably became good nutrition.”
If it’s nutrition… that’s a relief. Haah, I breathed a sigh of relief and put the Haechi down. The two made eye contact and wagged their tails energetically as if in a good mood, then began running excitedly around the yard.
“Here.”
Bihyeon put the picture frame and USB in a bag and held it out to me.
“If possible, move the recipe somewhere else. Since it’s a machine, I don’t think it’ll last long.”
“Yes, I will.”
Since I don’t have a laptop, once my body heals I should go to a PC room and move it. I received the bag and moved to the room with Bihyeon. After pondering where to put the frame, I set it down above the blanket. Standing at the door and looking around his empty room, he muttered.
“Now I need to fill this place too.”
“With what?”
“Do you like beds?”
“Uh… I’m not sure.”
I think I slept on a bed with Mom and Dad before the accident. I had memories of it being soft and cozy, so I nodded my head.
“I think I like them.”
At my words, Bihyeon smiled. He held my hand, sat me on the blanket, and left the room again saying he’d go change clothes. Though perhaps anxious even for a moment, he came back in, draped his jacket over my shoulders, and left again. Ah, it smells like Bihyeon-nim. Sniff sniff, I was smelling it when I grabbed the frame, lay down on the blanket, and looked at the photo. The Haechis who came into the blanket and lay down with their bodies pressed right against my side raised their heads and looked at the photo together. In case memories might surface, I put the frame back in its place and held the Haechis in my arms.
“They’re a handsome man and beautiful woman, right? Of course, since I resemble them.”
– Kkuung?
“It’s okay, you don’t need to remember. I’ll remember everything.”
I smiled and stroked them. I’ll remember and cherish everything we enjoyed together, everything that was sad….
* * *
While recovering my body, furniture increased in the room once a day. Starting with a wide bed, then wardrobe, desk, chair, bookshelf, and so on. It felt strange to see the palace filling with modern items, but seeing the inside of this wide and desolately empty room become packed was quite pleasing to the eyes. And knowing that all those things were for me made my heart feel reassured.
But a latest model laptop with a new USB. He even brought a new mobile phone I’d forgotten about, so these days I was pondering when I should stop this. And right now. Leaning against the bed, transferring the recipes from the USB to the laptop, I looked at the expensive earphones in my hand and squeezed my eyes shut. I should have stopped him long ago. He looked so happy giving things to me that I kept just letting it pass….
“Bihyeon-nim….”
“My eyes have been happy lately, can’t you just let it pass?”
…This god, really. He makes the first move before I even speak. I weakened at the face looking at me with even an eye smile while sitting at the bedside and pressed my eye area firmly.
“Ah, and I have one more gift.”
“Bihyeon-nim.”
“You’ll like this one though?”
Bihyeon got up, opened the door and went out, then reached out his hand and brought in a baseball bat. It was covered with talismans. Huh? A baseball bat? I tilted my head and received it for now. It was full of Bihyeon’s energy.
“I’ll have to burn them all anyway, but I thought you’d want to smash at least one.”
“Ah….”
“Since it has my power, it’ll be smashed to pieces with just a little force.”
I gripped the bat tightly and looked at Bihyeon. He, who wrapped his hand over mine, spoke in a low voice with somewhat subdued eyes.
“Let’s go now.”
My body must have gotten much better. I trembled my lips, then—phew—took a deep breath and nodded my head. But this baseball bat, it’s too good to use just once. Perhaps seeing me with regretful eyes, Bihyeon laughed—haha—softly.
“It’s not a disposable gift, so use it freely. Since you’re holding it, you can even hit people.”
“No, that’s a bit….”
“Should I make it like this so it’s easy to carry around?”
Bihyeon brought his hand to the bat. It instantly became a small bat keychain. Oh, my eyes sparkled as I looked at the bat and received it respectfully with both hands. Self-defense, self-defense…. I should attach it to my bag, I was thinking, when suddenly the bat—swoosh—rose upward. When I raised my head, Bihyeon who smiled brightly spoke in a low voice.
“I won’t rush into dangerous places and will only take it out for things that charge at me. Promise.”
“What if those things charge at the Haechis or Bihyeon-nim?”
“These guys are much stronger than you.”
Whether that “these guys” included himself, he was pointing at himself and the Haechis while still smiling fiercely.
“These guys can’t touch humans either.”
“Ah, if the target is human, you can go around beating them freely. If you don’t like them, just beat them.”
“…I’ll only take it out for things that charge at me. Promise.”
I was going to say our world means you go to prison if you do that, but he was smiling with glowing eyes, so I shut my mouth tightly with an uneasy feeling. Why is he smiling like a villain? You know how it is in movies. The underworld boss who commits crimes and tries to bury them with money. Right now Bihyeon had exactly that atmosphere, so I trembled my body and shook my head quickly.
“And if I do that, won’t I receive Heavenly Punishment…?”
“Since you have the Cintamani, they’ll probably think you’re judging bad bir… humans.”
This god… he definitely tried to curse. When I sighed, Bihyeon burst into low laughter and stroked around my heart area. After making eye contact without saying anything for a very brief moment, I opened my mouth.
“Shall we go two days from now?”
“Two days from now?”
Seeing me with eyes asking why that time specifically, perhaps realizing, I smiled bitterly while watching Bihyeon frown.
“It’s my mom and dad’s death anniversary.”
I was going to ask the bear if I could borrow the kitchen that day anyway. Since I don’t know memorial services well, I was going to make the food they loved most myself, as I’ve always done. After briefly closing his mouth and looking at the Haechis sleeping by my side, Bihyeon reached out his hand and stroked the Haechi’s head.
“How about instead of observing their death anniversary, we observe these children’s birthday?”
“That’s good too. Then I’ll make two days from now the last time I observe it.”
“Alright….”
I cupped the cheeks of Bihyeon who had worried eyes. I wanted to let him know I was really okay, but I didn’t know how to say it. It seemed he didn’t believe my “I’m okay” at all anymore. So I—thud—weakly leaned my forehead against his forehead.
“After the accident, were you in a lot of pain too?”
“They said I had almost no injuries because Mom was holding me tight.”
It was half true and half a lie. Because it was a big accident, I couldn’t have been completely unharmed either. But because I lived without being in my right mind, I didn’t even know I was in pain, and my memory of exactly where I was hurt was hazy now. Because both my body and heart hurt so much that I had to forcibly blur the memories of that time.
“…Let’s finish everything and come back.”
“Yes.”
“After finishing everything, do everything you want to do with a comfortable heart.”
“I will.”
How reassuring. My heart became comfortable and I burst into laughter. I hugged back his body that hugged me tightly as if to comfort me and closed my eyes. The end of the long, long past is coming. Strangely, I wasn’t scared anymore.
* * *
After packing the red dagger Bihyeon got from somewhere, and the candle and matches the wandering merchant gave me in my bag, I took a deep breath. Bihyeon, who had been leaning against the door in hanbok attire watching me, looked at my determined eyes and spoke in a low voice.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. When Yeonho went before, he took measures so she’ll be caught easily.”
I couldn’t help but be nervous. Because I had to personally stab Aunt with this dagger. It didn’t matter where. I was told I just needed to stab anywhere and make her bleed. But how would I have ever stabbed a person? I can’t even watch myself getting shots well….
“Yes….”
“I can’t tell you not to go.”
Bihyeon held out his hand to me. Phewww, after one more deep breath, I held his hand and stood up. Bihyeon who pulled me back slightly sat me on the veranda, went down, sat in front of it, and personally put shoes on me. They were my old sneakers. And next to them, I could see new sneakers bought to fit my size. Somehow it felt like telling me to throw everything away there and make a new start, so I smiled. Thanks to that, my tension seemed to ease just a little.
“Hansol, if it seems like something big will happen, just run away. Got it?”
“Right, don’t overdo it.”
I put on my shoes, stood up, held Bihyeon’s hand, and headed for the door. Then the palace family came out to see us off and spoke worriedly. The tiger who was looking at us while swishing his tail slowly waved his hand.
“Come back.”
Ah, it had been a long time since I heard this greeting, so I couldn’t react for a moment before smiling and waving my hand. The Haechis whined as if wanting to follow me, but the bear was holding them tightly. Since I didn’t want to take them to that house alone, I had already finished talking with Bihyeon about leaving them, so I deliberately didn’t look at the Haechis and bowed.
“Yes. I’ll be back.”
While holding Bihyeon’s hand, I stepped outside the wide-open door. When I crossed through the door, I could see Aunt’s house that looked like a shrine right in front. Whether I should call it Aunt’s house or originally our house. Feeling strange, I was looking at the front gate and then placed my hand on it. There were talismans attached that I could feel Yeonho and Bihyeon’s power from.
“Grrr….”
I thought it sounded like a beast. Looking at the yard, there was something like a black lump fallen in the middle. And it was connected to the house. The closer it got to the house, the bigger and stranger it was, sticky and oozing. Looking at the lump that was ominous and disgusting just to see, I pushed the gate and went inside. Hup, for a moment I stopped breathing. Seeing the jars filling one corner of the yard made my spine crawl. Just when on earth did this….
“Urk.”
There was a terrible smell. I covered my nose and staggered at the stench that stung my nose and made my head dizzy. Bihyeon, who caught my body, looked toward the inside of the house with a chilly gaze. Behind the wide-open door, Aunt was sitting with her head deeply bowed. She seemed to be wearing shaman clothes, but the color was strangely dark.
