Lee Jonghak’s raised fist stopped in mid-air.
“My son is dying, so why should your perfectly fine son have to die!”
At the rough cry, the blood pooled in Lee Sanghoe’s mouth spattered in dots on Lee Jonghak’s face. It even seemed to have gotten in his eyes, as bloody tears appeared to pool in his eyes rippling with fury.
Lee Jonghak gripped Lee Sanghoe’s collar with both hands and gritted his teeth.
“It’s already been decided. It was already decided ten years ago.”
“There was a case where another child became the sacrifice instead!”
“Yeah! Once! And that was only because the child who was supposed to be the sacrifice met with an accident and the position was empty, so there was no choice! The situation is different from now! Besides, if Geon-i just goes to the hospital tomorrow…”
“Haha! Hospital? Ha, haha! Can you even take the boat out tomorrow? You know better than anyone that there’s no hope!”
“……”
Lee Jonghak’s two eyes shook with agitation.
It was because the anxiety he had desperately hidden was dragged out unsightly and thrown down.
“My son dies today, and your son dies tomorrow—what a double celebration!”
Lee Jonghak’s face twisted miserably. The strength in his hands gripping the collar also weakened. Lee Sanghoe didn’t miss the opportunity and grabbed Lee Jonghak’s collar, flipping their positions.
“Why do two innocent children have to die!”
At the cry filled with resentment, Lee Jonghak was greatly flustered. Because he couldn’t deny his words. He tried to remove Lee Sanghoe’s rough hands with trembling hands, but when it didn’t go as intended, he ended up shouting words he shouldn’t have.
“Geon-i is… my son can’t!”
It was a statement that stoked Lee Sanghoe’s anger.
“You bastard…! So my son can die? There’s nothing different between my son and your son! Anyway, your son too…!”
Thanks to that, Lee Sanghoe also ended up spitting out words he shouldn’t have.
“Shut up!”
Lee Jonghak cut off his words with a shout, then reached out his hand to grab Lee Sanghoe’s neck and began to strangle him with all his might.
“Urk, what…! Kuk, keurk!”
“If your son is so precious to you, you go up instead!”
As Lee Sanghoe’s eyes were about to roll back, Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong hurriedly approached and began to stop Lee Jonghak.
“Stop, he’ll really die at this rate!”
“Calm down and talk! Talk!”
At that moment when the four were entangled together, a small voice filled with fear was heard.
“D-Dad…?”
Lee Jonghak turned his head in surprise. Lee Migeon was standing in front of the windbreak door. Lee Jonghak hastily let go of Lee Sanghoe and shouted.
“Go inside, Migeon-ah! Go inside and lock the door!”
Migeon hesitated, then quickly turned around and ran into the house. Lee Jonghak pushed away Lee Sanghoe, who was coughing on top of him from being strangled, and got up.
“The sacrifice will not be changed. Go back and prepare.”
Lee Jonghak informed Lee Sanghoe in a firm voice, then turned his body to enter the house. From behind, he could hear Lee Sanghoe’s coughing and Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong’s voices asking about his safety.
But when he hadn’t even taken a few steps, an urgent voice from behind called Lee Sanghoe’s name, and soon began calling his own name as well. The moment he turned around wondering what was happening, he felt intense pain in his head, then his vision spun round and his sight went pure white.
Regardless of his will, all the strength in his body suddenly drained. Lee Jonghak collapsed as if crumbling without even realizing he was falling.
“Jo-Jonghak-ah!”
“Lee Jonghak!”
Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong came running in a hurry. Blood flowing from the fallen Lee Jonghak’s head was soaking the dirt ground.
“Lee Sanghoe! Are you crazy?”
“What are you doing!”
After checking Lee Jonghak’s condition, the two people sharply rebuked Lee Sanghoe. A large rock covered in blood rolled from Lee Sanghoe’s hand. Lee Sanghoe, who seemed flustered by his own impulsive action and hesitated for a moment, looked briefly at the fallen Lee Jonghak, then immediately ran to Lee Jonghak’s house.
Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong didn’t even think to stop Lee Sanghoe’s actions and were busy stopping Lee Jonghak’s head from bleeding. Lee Jonghak desperately held onto his eyes that kept trying to close and grabbed the hand of Lee Hangil, who was stopping the bleeding from his head.
“St-stop him…. Stop him… please, Geon-i….”
At Lee Jonghak’s plea, Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong looked at each other once, then looked at Lee Jonghak’s house. Shouts, breaking sounds, and a young child’s screams and crying kept bursting out continuously.
A little later, Lee Sanghoe came out of Lee Jonghak’s house holding the limp Yugeon in his arms. Behind him, Migeon was following out crying and wailing, clinging to Lee Sanghoe’s leg. Though he sobbed and reached out his tiny hands toward his hyung, they didn’t reach.
The eyes of Lee Sanghoe, Lee Hangil, and Lee Seokyeong met in mid-air.
Lee Sanghoe turned his body while firmly holding Yugeon in his arms as if wary of the two, and Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong tried to stop his actions, but somehow weren’t very active about it.
It was regrettable for Lee Jonghak, but between the perfectly fine Lee Jaeyeong and Lee Yugeon who seemed hopeless from pneumonia, which would be more efficient as a sacrifice was as clear as day.
In the end, Lee Sanghoe was able to take Lee Yugeon as he wished.
Only the unconscious Lee Jonghak, two people with their heads bowed as if shamefaced beside him, and the wailing Migeon remained in Lee Jonghak’s house yard.
Lee Sanghoe was heading toward the top of the island, panting as if his breath would give out. The breathing of Yugeon held in his arms was becoming increasingly rough, so he had to hurry his steps even more.
Arriving on the hill surrounding the dragon pond, Lee Sanghoe put Yugeon down on the ground and vigorously shook both his shoulders.
“Yugeon-ah, Lee Yugeon!”
The two eyes that had been shut from fever slowly opened. Lee Sanghoe grabbed Yugeon’s chin to make him meet his eyes.
“Listen carefully, Geon-ah. Soon a snake, an imugi, will rise from that lake.”
The dazed eyes didn’t understand the words. As the eyes that had barely opened were about to close again, Lee Sanghoe mercilessly struck Yugeon’s cheek.
“Snap out of it! You bastard!”
After hitting Yugeon’s cheek several times, Lee Sanghoe pressed Yugeon once more.
“You must see that sight! Understand?”
“Yes….”
“Right, you have to stand here like this and watch everything. Got it?”
Yugeon nodded weakly. Ssaek ssaek, his breathing became even rougher.
Lee Sanghoe looked at Yugeon anxiously, then looked down at the dragon pond once. And with a frightened face, he earnestly entreated once more before leaving.
“Watch until the end! You mustn’t lose consciousness!”
After Lee Sanghoe left, Yugeon, left alone, looked at the lake while swaying.
His fever-addled head couldn’t understand what Lee Sanghoe was saying. He couldn’t understand why he was here either.
“Dad….”
Yugeon muttered blankly. Dad, I’m sick.
My head hurts, my cheeks hurt.
How long had he been standing like that—the clouds covering the sky darkened and another layer of deep darkness descended, then the center of the lake began to swirl. The lake water shot up into the air, and a streak of lightning struck down around the lake, and with thunder, rain like a downpour began to fall.
And from the center of the swirling lake, something shot up as if being fired.
Lee Jonghak, who had been unconscious, opened his eyes while gasping for breath. And when he hastily tried to get up, he grabbed his head and collapsed forward. His head hurt as if it would split and he was dizzy enough to make his whole body sway.
Lee Jonghak tried to endure by covering his mouth, but soon couldn’t hold it in and vomited directly onto the blanket. Yellow gastric fluid poured out endlessly. Lee Jonghak, who had been suffering from the feeling of his insides turning over, tried to get up from his spot again when he discovered Migeon sleeping beside him and stopped his actions. The dried tear marks around his eyes and his swollen eyes caught his attention. He was unconsciously reaching his hand toward the child’s eyes when someone called him.
“Jonghak-ah!”
“Hyung!”
When he raised his head, he saw familiar faces.
“Mother….”
It was his mother, Lee Gwimyeong, and his younger brother, Lee Seonghak. Lee Gwimyeong looked at Lee Jonghak with a face full of worry and concern, then picked up the sleeping Migeon.
“If you’ve woken up, come out for a bit.”
Lee Jonghak looked at Lee Gwimyeong blankly, then hurriedly grabbed Lee Gwimyeong’s hanbok skirt.
“M-Mother, what about Geon-i…? What about our Yugeon…?”
“…First come out.”
Lee Gwimyeong couldn’t readily answer and hesitated, then turned and left first, and Lee Seonghak approached to support Lee Jonghak. The broken room door particularly caught his eye.
When he came out to the wooden floor with his younger brother’s help, murmuring sounds were heard. For some reason, most of the village people were gathered in his house yard.
Lee Jonghak, who came out to the yard, squinted at the sunlight, then suddenly looked up at the sky.
“Why…?”
The clear blue sky filled both his eyes.
When Lee Jonghak, who had been looking at the sky as if he couldn’t believe it, looked at Lee Seonghak as if seeking explanation, Lee Seonghak shook his head as if he didn’t know either.
Not knowing why the sky was like that and why people were gathered in his house yard, Lee Jonghak was moving his gaze when he discovered someone and opened his eyes wide. Lee Sanghoe, kneeling like a criminal, surrounded by the village people, holding his son Lee Jaeyeong in his arms and trembling. Nearby were Lee Hangil and Lee Seokyeong, who similarly couldn’t raise their heads.
Upon discovering Lee Sanghoe, Lee Jonghak slowly moved forward. He even pushed away Lee Seonghak’s hand trying to hold him back, and as he gradually picked up speed, he passed by the startled and cowering Lee Sanghoe and ran down the yard.
The place Lee Jonghak was heading was the top of the island.
After offering the sacrifice, severe thunderstorms would blow for several days. Severe thunderstorms so bad that not only could boats not be taken out, but one couldn’t even leave the house. But now….
Something was wrong, very wrong.
Lee Jonghak, who crawled toward the top of the island, searched all over the crater and found the collapsed Yugeon. Lee Jonghak, who approached while wailing at the sight of his son buried in silver grass and dead with a peaceful face, embraced him and opened his eyes wide in surprise. Then he felt his son’s cheeks and forehead, put his finger under his nose, and even put his ear to his chest.
“!”
The son who should definitely have been dead was alive.
