NTH 122

“Why the fog?”

“I heard that gumihos use fog to hide their lairs or to make the humans they intend to eat lose their way. After two and a half years of searching blindly like that, I finally met that bastard, my father’s enemy, again.”

It’s easy to say, but wandering the entire country for all that time, climbing mountains every day in search of a gumiho, was no ordinary feat. Imagining the arduous days Yonggeol must have endured made Chaewoo’s heart grow even heavier.

“So, did you use the monk’s talismans?”

When Chaewoo first found him, Gu Minho was injured and left alone. If he had a guardian, he would not have ended up in such a state. It seemed likely that Yonggeol had gotten rid of the large gumiho.

“There were three talismans in total. When I burned the first one, the gumiho became unable to smell me. A gumiho’s eyes are not as sharp as its nose, so I could just hide my body behind a tree, but if that thing caught my scent, wouldn’t I end up like my father before I could even try anything? That’s why the first talisman was really important. Thanks to the monk’s wisdom, I was able to safely erase my scent.”

Yonggeol mimed flicking a talisman between his fingers. Chaewoo, too, marveled at the monk’s wisdom.

“Next, I dug a pit on a path where the gumiho was likely to pass and made a trap. After camouflaging it with branches and leaves, I burned the second talisman over it. That was a talisman that would let humans or beasts pass by, but would make only monsters get caught in the trap and fall to the bottom.”

“Then another monster besides the gumiho could have been caught in that trap?”

“That’s right. But I could catch the small fry with my arrows before they even reached the trap, so I wasn’t too worried.”

“I see.”

“For the final step, I filled a water pouch to the brim with a liquid made from the deadly poison, and I hung it invisibly between the high branches of a tree above the trap.”

As the story reached its climax, Chaewoo swallowed hard. Yonggeol raised the corners of his mouth in a triumphant expression.

“Before long, the gumiho, transformed into a woman, appeared there. I, who was up in a tree, shot the water pouch with my bow and burst it as soon as the gumiho fell into the trap. As the poison liquid poured gush gush over the gumiho’s head, I, without delay, shot a volley of arrows slathered in deadly poison at its vital points.”

“So, did the gumiho die?”

“It didn’t die, but it yelped kyeng kyeng in agony and then suddenly spat something out of the trap with a hwak.”

“What it had eaten?”

“No. Its fox marble.”

Toward Chaewoo, whose eyes were wide open, Yonggeol raised his fist.

“It was this big, and a pearly color close to transparent, and it was incredibly luminous. It was a rare treasure that would be hard to find anywhere in the world, so as soon as I saw it, I wanted to take it as a trophy, but the monk’s words that I couldn’t completely destroy this thing without getting rid of it came to mind, so I held back and took out the third talisman.”

Chaewoo became curious about the purpose of the last talisman. Could it be something like a fatal curse that could kill a gumiho?

“I stuck the talisman to the fox marble and recited the incantation the monk had taught me. And what do you know, the talisman suddenly caught fire on its own, and the marble started turning pitch black. As I watched, mesmerized, the marble soon started to crack jjuk jjuk, and eventually, it split and shattered into pieces.”

“So what happened?”

“It disappeared. Both the broken marble and the gumiho grew increasingly transparent and vanished from this world. That is how I completely annihilated that bastard.”

Chaewoo rolled his tongue, forcing moisture into his parched mouth. The large gumiho, presumed to be Gu Minho’s guardian, had killed Yonggeol’s father, and Yonggeol, in retaliation, had killed that gumiho. The revenge was complete, but the anger and justification still remained, burning fiercely in Yonggeol’s chest.

“It seems you went through a great deal of hardship. But your father’s matter is truly sad and mournful, but now that you’ve killed the gumiho, shouldn’t it all be over…?”

Yonggeol stared straight into the eyes of Chaewoo, who had cautiously brought up the subject. With the most resolute and serious face yet, he slowly gripped the bow on his lap.

“No. Of course not. The cub is still alive, isn’t it?”

For some reason, Chaewoo felt a chill at Yonggeol’s gaze. Awkwardly trying to hide his discomfort, he scratched the back of his head.

“Haha, is that so. From what you said earlier, it felt like a very small and powerless thing, so I was just thinking it might starve to death if you just left it alone…”

“If I don’t kill it, won’t it eventually grow up big? It will not hesitate to do things like tear human bodies and eat raw livers. It could also bear young and increase its numbers. So it must, absolutely must be killed now.”

Yonggeol’s will seemed to have already become a conviction as hard as stone. Chaewoo thought of Gu Minho, who was lying down all day because his internal injuries showed no signs of healing. Since yesterday, he seemed to have difficulty even digesting a rat; when Chaewoo brought him one, he couldn’t eat it and just turned his head away.

If Chaewoo told Yonggeol about Gu Minho, he would immediately run over and kill Gu Minho. Even if he hid the truth and left Gu Minho as he was, he might die someday from the deadly poison. If Chaewoo stopped visiting him and left him neglected without even bringing him water, he would die even faster. Was Gu Minho fated to die an early death, one way or another?

But did Gu Minho really have to die?

The large gumiho, who was his guardian, had harmed a human, so it was deserving of death, but the young monster, Gu Minho, had not yet committed any wrongdoing. If his yang energy could be satisfied just by eating rats, maybe when he grew up, he could replenish his yang energy by eating the livers of beasts instead of humans. Even so, did he have to be killed right now for the uncertain reason that he would become a harm in the future?

Humans also eat all kinds of beasts. In particular, Yonggeol and his father were men who made a living from hunting. If the offspring of a tiger they had killed came harboring a grudge against Yonggeol and bit him to death, would that just be the natural course of things? Are humans absolutely not to be killed by other living things, while it is fine for beasts or monsters to be killed wantonly by humans? Are humans truly such noble and great beings?

In a way, the large gumiho that Yonggeol killed might have sensed the danger of being killed by Yonggeol’s father and attacked first to save its own life. Unlike the other killings it had committed to obtain yang energy, in the case of Yonggeol’s father, it was a situation where if it didn’t kill him, it could have been killed itself. In such a time, wouldn’t anyone choose to preserve their own life?

Furthermore, that gumiho had met Yonggeol’s eyes, so it must have been aware of his presence, yet it did not kill Yonggeol and left the scene as it was. Could that action not be interpreted as it not bothering with an unnecessary killing?

Chaewoo was not sure if having these thoughts was extremely strange and un-humanlike. He was uneducated and not skilled at complex thinking. The only thing that was certain was that he had, at some point, already hardened his heart toward saving Gu Minho.

“By the way, what exactly happened with that gumiho cub that you had almost caught it but then lost it?”

As Chaewoo steered the topic toward a hero’s tale, Yonggeol’s voice brightened again.

“After getting rid of the big one, I searched that mountain thoroughly, but the cub didn’t show up anywhere, as if it had already run away. I was at a loss as to how to find it, as it didn’t seem like it could use various spells or conjure fog.”

Chaewoo remembered how Gu Minho had transformed into a human when he washed and carried him. The large gumiho seemed to be able to transform freely just by flipping its body over and even create suitable clothes, but Gu Minho had only picked up Chaewoo’s jeogori from the room and wrapped it around his small, naked body. What could he, who had suddenly lost his guardian, have done with that paltry demonic power? For some reason, Chaewoo had a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I’m sure that was the case. It must have been difficult to find any traces since it was so small, so how did you find it?”

“I used my head hard. If a young monster the size of a puppy that doesn’t know how to use spells felt the presence of someone chasing it, where could it run to?”

“Well, I’m a pretty ignorant fellow, so I wouldn’t know…”

“The answer is simple. ‘The next mountain over.'”

Chaewoo stared blankly at Yonggeol. As if he knew a supplementary explanation was needed, Yonggeol kindly added to the story.

“With that size and that stamina, it absolutely can’t go far. It can’t teleport like the big ones, and its transformation would be incomplete, so it can’t go to a village where people live and blend in naturally. So its only hiding place is the mountains, and wouldn’t choosing the closest place it can reach the fastest be good for survival?”

“That makes sense. You are really smart.”

“Hey, not at all. It’s just a hunter’s instinct, I’d say.”

Yonggeol waved his hand at Chaewoo’s compliment. Chaewoo urged him on, as if he couldn’t stand the curiosity.

“So what happened?”

“That ‘next mountain over’ was this very mountain. As soon as I got here, I poked around all the places a small animal might stay. I didn’t discriminate between rabbit warrens, badger dens, and abandoned houses. Then, in the dead of night, I finally discovered the little rascal.”

Chaewoo’s hands started sweating for no reason, and he rubbed his palms seuk seuk on his pants. Yonggeol pulled an arrow from his quiver and fiddled with it.

“I had built a campfire to sleep outdoors and was lying down, when I heard a rustling sound nearby. It was very suspicious.”

“Why?”

“Animals are afraid of fire, so if you have a campfire, they absolutely do not come close. Yet the fact that it appeared despite the risk might be because it thought it was a fox-fire.”

“Fox-fire?”

“It’s like a will-o’-the-wisp, and I heard that gumihos can handle fox-fire at will. The little cub might have mistaken the flickering fire in the dark of night for a fox-fire created by the large gumiho. That’s just my guess, though.”

Perhaps Gu Minho, despite knowing it was dangerous, had approached the fire, chasing a thread of hope. Thinking this, Chaewoo’s heart ached, and he wanted to go to Gu Minho right away. He needed to give him water and hold his increasingly cold body in his arms to warm it.

“I quietly stood up and drew this arrow. At that moment, my eyes met squarely with two eyes shining at me from the darkness! I was so startled, my whole body tingled.”

Yonggeol handed the arrow he was holding to Chaewoo. Chaewoo took it and looked closely at the arrowhead. At a glance, it looked extremely pointed and sharp.

“While chasing it, I shot arrows. I shot four or five of them, but none of them hit properly. My father could hit a target even while running, but I was never that skilled of an archer to begin with, and I couldn’t practice archery much because I was absorbed in researching poisons.”

“I, I see…”

“Still, I occasionally heard a whimpering sound, perhaps because the poison-coated tip had grazed its body. I ran following that sound, but oh no! The little rascal ended up falling off a cliff. Below was just pitch darkness, so I couldn’t even tell where it had rolled off to.”

Chaewoo thought he knew which cliff Yonggeol was talking about. Having lived only here since he was young, he could picture every nook and cranny of the mountain with his eyes closed. The path Gu Minho had taken to flee to the thicket in front of Chaewoo’s house after falling from the cliff must have been quite far and rough, considering his small size.

“I had no choice but to go back to where I had built the campfire and try to sleep. After daybreak, I went down below the cliff and started investigating the area again. But as luck would have it, I found a truly precious wild ginseng! Thinking it might wither or spoil if I carried it around carelessly, I had no choice but to go down the mountain to quickly take it to the village and sell it. By the time I came back again, quite a bit of time had passed.”

Precious wild ginseng was often found on this mountain, so Yonggeol’s words were likely not a lie. Handing the arrow he was done looking at back to Yonggeol, Chaewoo said.

“If that many days have passed, the gumiho cub might have already died or run away to another mountain.”

“If the deadly poison has seeped into its body, its condition will be quite bad, so running away to another mountain is impossible. It would be a relief if it’s dead, but I think I’ll only be satisfied once I’ve confirmed with my own eyes that it’s not on this mountain. After searching every inch for a few days, if it’s still not here, then I’ll assume it’s dead and end my long revenge.”

At Yonggeol’s words about combing the mountain, Chaewoo’s heart sank with a kung. There was no chance of the farmers stumbling upon the abandoned house where Gu Minho was hidden, but that didn’t mean it was a completely invisible secret fortress. It was in a place that could be found with enough determination, so the moment Yonggeol opened the door of the abandoned house, he would immediately discover the huddled Gu Minho.

What if he let Yonggeol sleep here tonight instead? After letting him confirm with his own eyes that Gu Minho was not in this house, tomorrow, once he leaves, he could immediately bring Gu Minho and hide him well, whether in the shed or somewhere else. Then, after a few days, Yonggeol would think Gu Minho was dead and leave the mountain, and at that point, he could take him back to the abandoned house and hide him.

“Um, I have a question that came up while listening.”

Chaewoo put on an innocent expression, trying to make it sound like a question born of simple curiosity. Yonggeol, who had tossed the last of the boiled beans into his mouth, chewed and swallowed them oomul oomul.

“Go ahead and ask.”

“It’s about that deadly poison you said you made yourself. Is there perhaps something like an antidote?”

“What do you think?”

A playful look crossed the face of Yonggeol, who replied lightly as if joking. Chaewoo tried hard to think of the answer that was the opposite of his hopes.

“I don’t think there is.”

“And the reason?”

“Because you deliberately made the poison to catch a monster, and since your goal was to kill it completely, I figured there wouldn’t have been a need to make an antidote.”

Even though he said it himself, it was so plausible that Chaewoo felt a slight sense of despair. Yonggeol seemed to like his answer and nodded his head emphatically.

“Yes. That was certainly the case at first.”

“‘At first,’ you say? Then…”

Yonggeol suddenly untied the arm guard wrapped around his arm. When he rolled up his sleeve and showed his arm to Chaewoo, Chaewoo was once again astonished and took a sharp breath.