Episode 13
Joon-wan silently recited the names in his mind.
‘Toryong, Geunin, Toseon, Hanin, Hanin…’
It seemed the most modern-sounding among them.
“I’ll call you Hanin.”
“As you wish.”
The woman replied, sinking further into the passenger seat, as if indifferent to what she was called.
Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat.
The relentless rain continued to drum against the car windows.
“So… when will the rain stop?”
He couldn’t stop thinking about her claim that the rain was his fault.
“Well, it depends on your sincerity.”
The woman frowned, gazing out the window.
“I also wish to ascend to the heavens as soon as possible.”
She sighed, leaving him with a cryptic answer.
“But what can I do about this situation? I have no choice but to accept it…”
Joon-wan ushered her into his office.
“You can do whatever you want in here, but you can’t leave before I return. Don’t answer the door, even if someone knocks.”
“But when will we eat?”
“It’s almost lunchtime. But it might be a bit later.”
“Lunch?”
Joon-wan glanced at his wristwatch. The woman, seated on a chair, her eyes sparkled.
“When is lunch?”
Her question irritated him.
“Are you possessed by a hungry ghost or something?”
“No, why would you say that?”
She widened her eyes, looking offended.
“I’m just trying to regain my strength. Do you know how large I truly am?”
He recalled the enormous, pink creature he had seen on the night of the earthquake. He still couldn’t believe it was her.
“Wouldn’t it be better for you if I ascended quickly?”
‘Ugh.’
He rummaged through his drawer and pulled out all the snacks he could find.
“Eat all of this.”
He wasn’t much of a snacker, but he often received gifts, so he had a stash of snacks, thankfully.
“Hmm…?”
She looked at the assortment of snacks with a puzzled expression.
“How do I…?”
“Just sit here and eat. Don’t leave the office. Understand?”
“But wait…”
He cut her off and left the office, flipping the sign on his door to “Lecture.”
As he walked to the lecture hall, holding his umbrella, he noticed things he hadn’t seen before. Like the numerous earthworms wriggling on the asphalt.
‘Ah…’
He had never intentionally harmed them, but he hadn’t been particularly mindful of them either. He would have found them repulsive before.
‘They’re quite pitiful.’
He carefully avoided the creatures he had never paid attention to before.
“Today, we’ll be studying the Inju folktale, which stems from the belief that human sacrifice during large-scale construction projects, such as building walls, dams, or irrigation systems, would prevent the structures from collapsing.”
Joon-wan’s mind was troubled as he lectured. Half of his attention, no, most of it, was on his office.
“Ancient people believed that large construction projects couldn’t be completed without human sacrifice, and that the gods valued human sacrifice above all else.”
He regretted bringing the strange woman to work, but leaving her alone at home didn’t seem like a good idea either.
“These two beliefs combined to create folktales about burying people alive in dams or throwing them into Gongal Pond.”
But should he kick her out? That didn’t seem right either.
What if… what if she was telling the truth?
“It might sound cruel, but this folktale about sacrificing one person to benefit many in the future…”
The relentless rain continued to fall. Joon-wan felt a sense of dread. He had done something terrible.
‘If I can resolve this by simply feeding and accommodating her, it’s a small price to pay.’
Moreover, even if the rain stopped, he had to help her ascend if she truly was a dragon who had failed to reach the heavens.
‘Because…’
What would happen to this land if a divine being held a grudge?
“…”
He realized he had paused mid-lecture and hurriedly continued.
“Sorry. Compared to China and Japan, Korea has fewer written records of such folktales. However, in May 2017, evidence of the Inju folktale was discovered at Wolseong Fortress in Gyeongju…”
He couldn’t remember how he finished the lecture. After the three-hour class, he stood before his office, his heart heavy.
Knock, knock, knock.
“It’s Min Joon-wan.”
“Come in!”
A cheerful voice responded from inside. Joon-wan breathed a sigh of relief, shook the water off his umbrella, and entered the office.
‘She’s here.’
Her absence would have been a bigger problem.
“You’re back?”
He had anticipated some disruption to his meticulously organized space, but the sight that greeted him was beyond his expectations.
“…”
The woman was sitting at his desk, diligently licking a snack wrapper.
She stopped and looked up as he closed the door behind him.
“I stayed here the whole time, just like you said.”
She beamed at him, her expression bright and welcoming.
“But this has no taste. How do you eat it?”
The desk was littered with half-eaten snack wrappers, bearing teeth marks.
Joon-wan shuddered.
‘Oh no.’
It was common for wild animals to mistake plastic bags for food and die from intestinal blockage.
“You don’t eat it like that!”
He had recently read a news article about an endangered whale that had washed ashore in southern Thailand.
“Huh?”
The whale had no external injuries, but an autopsy revealed 8kg of plastic bags in its stomach. The cause of death was plastic ingestion.
Realizing the situation, Joon-wan rushed over and snatched the bite-sized chocolate snack wrapper from her hand. She looked at him, her expression a mixture of confusion and disappointment.
“You have to peel the wrapper like this.”
“Hmm?”
He then proceeded to open each snack wrapper for her, while she watched with fascination.
Joon-wan was aware of his own fastidiousness. He didn’t wash his hands until they were red or wear gloves all the time, but he disliked physical contact with people. And he hated anything dirty.
‘This is strange.’
However, he felt no aversion to touching the snack wrappers she had chewed and licked.
“You didn’t swallow any of this, did you?”
He was genuinely concerned.
“It smelled delicious, but it tasted like nothing, so I didn’t eat it.”
She said, her face lighting up with satisfaction every time he fed her a snack. Her expression was innocent and childlike.
Flash!
Her body began to glow faintly again.
‘Is there no way to control this light?’
Yesterday, it had been blindingly bright, but now it was more like a mood light. He just couldn’t figure out where the batteries were.
He asked cautiously,
“Does your body… glow every time you eat?”
“Hmm?”
She looked down at herself.
“Ahaha! No, that’s a funny thought. It’s simply my natural response to your offerings and your desire for the rain to stop. I can stop it whenever I want.”
As if to prove her point, the light emanating from her body dimmed until it was barely noticeable, visible only upon close inspection.
“But when will we have our meal?”
She asked, having just consumed two boxes of snacks.
“…Shall we eat now?”
Joon-wan was also hungry, and he had another appointment.
“Are there any foods you don’t eat?”
“I can digest anything a human can.”
‘Is that so…’
Feeling slightly guilty about almost feeding her plastic, Joon-wan decided to take her somewhere nice.
‘If I ask her what she wants to eat, she’ll probably say she hasn’t tried anything.’
After all, she claimed to be a divine being who had lived underground for thousands of years.
‘I’ll just decide.’
He chose the menu and location himself. He called a Korean restaurant at a nearby hotel and was relieved to find that they had a private room available.
***
“…”
The woman was strangely perceptive, despite her apparent naiveté.
She had been gazing around with wide-eyed wonder as he escorted her through the luxurious hotel lobby, into the elevator, and down the hallway, but she refrained from any outbursts in front of others.
“Oh…”
To onlookers, she probably just appeared to be someone experiencing such luxury for the first time.
“You don’t drink that.”
“…”
“Not that either.”
She had tried to drink the finger bowl and eat the warm towel provided at the table, but the waiter, maintaining a professional demeanor, left the room without a word.
The woman protested as soon as the waiter left.
“Why would you put things on the table that aren’t meant to be eaten…?”
“You only eat what’s served on the plates. If you’re unsure, just watch me and do as I do.”
And then the first course arrived.
“But…”
She stared at Joon-wan with an incredulous expression as a small plate of dried jujubes and colorful handmade chips was presented on a beautiful mother-of-pearl dish.
“Don’t worry, there’s more coming.”
“Well, I suppose so…”
Her skepticism lingered, but as more dishes arrived, she seemed to relax and began to devour the food.
“This is… delicious.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Her attire made her appear like an ordinary woman, someone you might encounter anywhere.
Of course, she was far from ordinary. Her striking beauty, worthy of a celebrity, captivated Joon-wan as she wielded her chopsticks with a satisfied expression.
“Um…”
What was her name again?
“Call me Hanin, as we agreed.”
The woman, having devoured the cold appetizers, abalone, and grilled prawns, spoke in a benevolent tone, seemingly pleased with the food. The waiter entered several times, bringing more dishes.
“Hanin…”
“Yes?”
The moment the waiter left the room.
“If I offer you proper sacrifices every day, when will you be able to ascend to the heavens?”
Joon-wan finally asked the question that had been on his mind throughout the lecture.