Episode 29
How many days had it been since he started caring for Hanin, her body burning like a furnace?
“…”
Joon-wan, who had fallen asleep leaning against the bathroom wall, opened his eyes.
The steam had cleared, and Hanin was gone from the bathtub. He sat up abruptly, his heart pounding.
“Hanin?”
“Aaagh!”
A scream pierced the air from outside the bathroom. It was Hanin’s voice.
He jumped to his feet, his heart racing.
“Aaaaagh!”
Hanin, who had been bedridden for days, was screaming for some unknown reason.
He rushed out of the bathroom, his clothes still damp.
***
What becomes of an Imugi that fails to ascend?
More precisely, an Imugi that loses its ability to ascend?
An Imugi that, despite trying to remain positive, harbors resentment towards the world deep within its heart?
Some of them become Gangcheol, harbingers of disaster, the opposite of dragons, the benevolent water deities.
‘It’s so hot.’
Their very existence becomes a raging inferno, scorching the land for miles around, drying up rivers and even the rain clouds in the sky, causing droughts. Wherever these Hwaseo (禍祟) tread, autumn turns into a barren spring.
‘I’m burning alive.’
After losing my Yeouiju, I experienced firsthand what I had only heard stories about.
The transformation into a Gangcheol.
‘I want to submerge myself in the ocean, or a lake, anything to cool down…!’
That was my desperate desire.
But then, someone’s heartfelt wish reached me, and I slowly cooled down.
‘What’s happening to me?’
The fiery energy that had threatened to consume me gradually condensed and settled within my chest.
How much time had passed?
I finally opened my eyes, the searing pain that had twisted my bones subsiding.
‘Where am I?’
I wasn’t surrounded by mud or water… I looked around and realized I was in a bathtub, submerged in lukewarm water.
‘Huh?’
As I sat up, I noticed a man with black hair sleeping on the bathroom floor, his head resting against the bathtub.
‘Why is he sleeping here?’
Looking at him, memories of my life before and after meeting him flashed before my eyes, like a galloping horse.
“…”
Having lived for so long, even my reminiscing was lengthy.
Yes, I had lived in the earth, worshipped as a deity, then forgotten. I had waited, then attempted to ascend to the heavens. But I had failed.
‘He’ll catch a cold sleeping like this.’
I caressed his hair, trying to remember what I had done before falling ill.
‘I had gathered the last of my strength and sent my Yeouiju to the heavens, to stop the rain.’
It had been a desperate measure.
‘Did it stop the rain?’
I opened the bathroom door. Outside, I saw a window bathed in morning sunlight. There was no sound of rain.
‘Thank goodness.’
I had at least extinguished the immediate crisis. I sighed in relief, but then…
‘Huh?’
I felt a swirling energy in the empty space within my chest, where my Yeouiju used to reside. It was a hot, dry energy.
‘What is this?’
I touched my chest, the place where my Yeouiju had been nestled, like a pearl within an oyster. It should have been empty now.
‘But this heat…’
A sudden realization struck me. The agonizing pain, the scorching heat that had threatened to consume me after I released my Yeouiju, it all made sense now.
“Aaaaagh!”
I screamed.
Yes, I was a Gangcheol.
“I’m a Gangcheol!”
I couldn’t stop screaming, the realization of my transformation overwhelming me.
“What does this mean? I’m a Gangcheol!”
It was absurd.
“What did I do wrong to become a Gangcheol?”
The pain I had endured was simply the process of my metamorphosis, my transformation from a Jiryong into a Gangcheol, my bones reshaping, my essence changing.
“I’m a Gangcheol!”
Should I be grateful I didn’t turn into an earthworm?
‘I’d rather be an earthworm!’
No, I would have preferred starting over as an earthworm. This was worse, far worse.
I clutched my hair and screamed.
“Aaaaagh!”
It made no sense.
I had stopped the rain that threatened to flood the world, saving the creatures of this land.
‘How could this happen?’
I couldn’t understand why my selfless act had turned me from a benevolent deity into a monster.
‘I should be rewarded, not punished! Why? Why?’
My screams, bordering on hysteria, woke the human sleeping in the bathroom.
“Hanin? What’s wrong?”
Joon-wan seemed confused, still trying to grasp the situation. I continued to scream, staring at him.
“Aaaaagh!”
The consequences of my good deeds were too cruel.
‘I tried to help the humans, animals, and plants of this land!’
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
He finally seemed to understand and grabbed my shoulders, his voice filled with concern.
Thankfully, I didn’t seem to be as hot anymore. He wouldn’t be able to touch me if I was.
“I’m not okay! I’m not okay!”
But the situation was worse than I had imagined.
“What am I supposed to do?”
I asked, even though I knew he didn’t have any answers.
“I’ve become a Gangcheol. Do you even know what a Gangcheol is?”
“…”
His grim expression suggested he did.
“Oh no! Oh no!”
I wailed, collapsing onto the floor, tears streaming down my face.
Honestly…
‘I would have searched for another solution if I had known! Even if I couldn’t find one… I wouldn’t have sacrificed my Yeouiju!’
…It would be a lie to say I didn’t regret my selfless act now.
But I had my reasons.
Gangcheol.
In human terms, they were like disgruntled individuals who, having failed their exams, turned to arson out of frustration.
While dragons soared through the skies, controlling rain, clouds, and lightning, Gangcheol crawled upon the earth, spewing fire, scorching and drying the world.
Dragons were revered as celestial beings, servants of the heavens, while Gangcheol were monstrous beasts that needed to be subdued.
And now, I had become one.
‘How could this happen to me? After all the good deeds I’ve done, all the lives I’ve saved?’
They were creatures that were often vanquished by celestial warriors sent from the heavens, or captured and neutralized by divine emissaries.
“Oh no! I’m doomed!”
I collapsed, overwhelmed by despair.
“I’m doomed! I’m truly doomed!”
I felt like I was going to faint. My despair spiraled into extreme thoughts.
“I’d rather die than live as a Gangcheol!”
“What?”
“Don’t stop me!”
It would be faster to die and be reborn as something else, starting over and accumulating good deeds from scratch, than to try to become a dragon again as a Gangcheol.
“Stop what…?”
‘Anything is better than being a Gangcheol!’
Yes, it would be faster.
‘I’ll start over!’
I made up my mind and jumped to my feet. I ran towards the window, bathed in morning sunlight.
‘All beings die eventually, sooner or later.’
But it seemed like an extraordinary event to the human, who lived for a mere century.
‘Let’s fly!’
As I was about to jump out the window, Joon-wan’s arms wrapped around my waist.
“Wait! Wait! How did you reach that conclusion?”
He exclaimed, his face filled with alarm.
“If I’m subdued by a celestial warrior as a Gangcheol, I’ll be erased from the cycle of reincarnation! Do you even know what annihilation means?”
It seemed absurd to explain the situation in such detail, but the damage was already done.
“Let me go!”
The only way to rebuild was to tear it all down.
“This life was filled with ill fate between us, but this must be the will of the heavens, is it not? Don’t stop me!”
I tried to break free again.
“Wait!”
He shouted.
“There’s a better way!”
Could his words be true?
I froze.
“…”
His arms tightened around my waist, his hands clasped together, as if he would never let go.
“There’s a way. I found a way for you to become a dragon again, from a Gangcheol.”
He seemed desperate.
“There really is a way. It’s not impossible. So please, please, I know you’re panicking, but just listen to me.”
His expression was even more desperate than mine.
“…”
I didn’t know of such a method…
‘I’m skeptical.’
But I was already prepared to die. I had nothing to lose by listening.
***
What if Hanin transformed into a Gangcheol?
Or even if she didn’t, what if she became a Hwaseo, a creature that harmed humans?
What if she became a monster, her very existence a threat to humans and livestock?
Joon-wan had worried about those possibilities too. The texts he had read on the day Hanin sacrificed her Yeouiju had filled him with dread.
‘Could Hanin be turning into a Gangcheol?’
The fate of an Imugi that failed to ascend.
‘What if she becomes a monster that swallows the sun, scorching this city?’
When the ice in the bathtub melted within minutes due to her intense heat, when the steam filled the entire bathroom, he had feared being incinerated himself.
‘What would happen to me, being so close to her?’
Like Icarus, who flew too close to the sun with wings made of wax and feathers, only to fall to his death.
‘If she’s turning into a Gangcheol, shouldn’t I run away?’
His rational mind screamed at him to flee, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her.
Because of guilt?
No, he wasn’t a saint who would sacrifice his life out of guilt. Then why?
‘Please, anyone, save Hanin…!’
He didn’t even know who he was praying to.
How much cold water had he poured over her? How many bags of ice had he added to the bathtub? Thankfully, the heat emanating from her body gradually subsided.
…He felt a sense of relief.
‘The Gangcheol described in the texts are monsters that turn autumn into spring. Hanin can’t be a Gangcheol.’
It must have been just a fever.
But had his initial fear been correct after all?
***
Hwaseo (禍祟)- Calamity brought on by the curse of evil spirits