Baekya
“Oh my. Oh my. Looks like he really likes you!”
The landlady clapped her hands like a seal, beaming with a wide grin. Park Su-hwan looked down at the cotton-ball of a puppy clinging to his leg.
“He’s asking you to pet him, isn’t he? Go on, try. He doesn’t bite at all—he’s a total sweetheart.”
“Is that so…?”
Su-hwan didn’t know much about dogs, but he could roughly guess the breed. A country mutt, or maybe a Jindo mix—something along those lines.
Besides, its fur was far too clean and glossy for a stray. It looked like it had an owner.
Yip, yip.
Just then, a sharp ringing stabbed through his ears.
“Ugh!”
Su-hwan clamped his hands over his ears and sank to the spot. The startled landlady shrieked and rushed over.
“Su-hwan! What’s wrong?!”
Baekya.
Beyond the buzzing tinnitus, a deep, low male voice he had heard in a dream layered over itself.
That’s right…
The nightmare of dying as Choi Yuri had been so traumatic that he had completely forgotten he had dreamed something else as well.
“Are you hurt somewhere? You are, aren’t you? We’re going to the hospital right now. I’ll take you.”
“N-no, I’m fine.”
Su-hwan gently pushed away the landlady’s hand that was tugging his arm and rose to his feet.
“I just… didn’t get much sleep. I prayed pretty hard last night.”
Her worry didn’t look like it would settle easily, so he deflected with a half-truth. It wasn’t entirely a lie, so he felt no guilt.
He had slept, yet his body felt as heavy as paper soaked through with water. He had gotten a bit of fresh air; now he needed to lie down again.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Alright, alright. Get some rest. I’ll bring you some porridge later, so eat it.”
“I’m fine, really.”
The puppy began making pitiful little sounds, as if begging for attention.
Yip, yip.
“Hm? Does he like Su-hwan that much?”
Su-hwan let out a long sigh and lightly patted the pup’s head. Then he turned and walked into the shrine without looking back.
Whine, whine.
“Well, I’ll be. That’s something. You two just met, didn’t you? Anyone watching would think he was already your dog.”
The puppy’s whimpering trailed after him from outside. Su-hwan ignored it and burrowed deep under the blanket.
“Don’t make a fuss. Go play over there. Auntie will give you a treat.”
As the landlady’s voice faded, silence settled quickly around him. Grateful for her kind concern, he was just beginning to drift off when he suddenly threw off the covers and sat up.
“…I can’t sleep.”
If he did, he would dream of dying as Choi Yuri all over again. The sleep that had been creeping in vanished in an instant.
“Haa…”
He had expected the nightmares the moment he failed to receive any bokchae. But what on earth was that other strange dream?
“Baekya, was it?”
The name the unfamiliar man had called the puppy. Dreams usually had some connection to reality, didn’t they? Yet in his entire life he had never heard such an odd word.
The man’s voice had been equally unfamiliar. He had never heard a voice so pleasant in all his days.
“Somehow…”
This did not feel like an ordinary dream.
He had no logical reason to offer, but his gut said so. And Park Su-hwan’s gut was rarely wrong.
“Right. The Peach Banquet. What’s that supposed to be?”
Another word from the dream surfaced. Before he could forget, Su-hwan hurriedly unlocked his phone and searched.
“…A banquet hosted by the Queen Mother of the West?”
The banquet where she, cultivator of the peaches of immortality, entertained the heavenly gods alongside the Jade Emperor. That was the description of the Peach Banquet.
“I told you to stop eating so many peaches, little one. The Peach Banquet is coming soon.”
A puppy that seemed to wander in and out of the Queen Mother’s orchard, and a man scolding it. That man had not seemed like an ordinary human.
“…Then why did I dream something like that?”
A fresh question raised its head as if it had been waiting. He felt as though he had come full circle back to the start. The unyielding mystery left him frustrated, yet his mood was not entirely bad.
Thanks to it, his sleepiness had completely fled.
“Mungchi… Come on, stay with me…”
Park Su-hwan was having the nightmare again. He—no, Choi Yuri—was racing to save Mungchi, who was dying in her arms.
He had tried to stay awake all night to escape this horrific dream. Yet at some point he had slipped under as if possessed, and now he was here again.
Not just once or twice…
And this time he had even forced himself to watch a horror movie he would normally never touch.
By now he was certain: the nightmare could not be avoided.
Just two days. Hang on for just two days.
Su-hwan heaved a sigh and soothed himself.
“Unnie’s sorry… Hic, sob… Open your eyes…”
Choi Yuri’s tearful voice burst out. Her sorrow transferred to him whole, tightening his chest.
Would she be able to escape the cruel fate that was about to arrive?
Su-hwan could not say for sure. Right to the end, her eyes had been full of distrust.
If he had learned why Mungchi was sick from the ledger, he could have warned her about the accident far more forcefully.
Tch. Then she might have listened better.
It was regrettable, but that was all. Regret changed nothing now, and it wasn’t as though he had given no warning at all.
From here on, everything rested solely on Choi Yuri’s choice.
Whether she would struggle to escape fate or simply accept it.
Choi Yuri was bouncing on her feet, watching the crosswalk signal. She had to get the ailing Mungchi to the animal hospital as fast as possible.
I really hate this… Truly.
Su-hwan swallowed dryly and steeled himself for the terrible pain about to come. Or rather, he prepared his heart.
Just then, a sharp dog bark rang out from somewhere.
What…?
Kang-kang!!!
He thought he had misheard, but the sound came again.
Huh?
On the day of Choi Yuri’s destined fate, nothing like this had happened. Not even in the nightmare he had dreamed yesterday.
Su-hwan could not understand the situation. He wanted to turn his head and identify the source of the sound. But he could not. Trapped in Choi Yuri’s body, he could only stare at the traffic light.
Kang-kang!!
Where is that coming from?
The sound seemed near yet distant at the same time. He could not get any sense of direction.
At last the signal he had been waiting for turned green. Despite Su-hwan’s silent protests, she tried to cross faster than anyone.
BEEEEEEP!!!
Kang-kang! Kang, kaaang! Kang!!
Just as a massive shadow skidding on the rain-slicked road was about to crush Choi Yuri—
…!
The world stopped. The sedan above her head, the startled people, the birds flying through the sky—everything.
Crack, snap.
What is this…
He had no time to grasp what was happening. The world around him shattered like glass and then collapsed completely.
“Aaaaah!!”
Su-hwan screamed as glass shards rained down and bolted upright. He frantically patted his face. Thankfully, not a single scratch.
“Haa… haa…”
He wiped the sweat streaming down his forehead and tried to pull his scattered mind together.
Haa… This is driving me insane.
The turn of events had completely defied his expectations. He had fully believed he would suffer through the traffic accident and then wake up.
Kang-kang!
“Huh…?”
A dog’s bark came from outside.
This sound…
It was identical to the one he had heard in the dream. Without realizing it, Su-hwan looked toward the shrine door. Beyond the frosted glass, a little Jindo-mix puppy was scratching at the door and barking.
“Oh my. You two were playing together?”
The landlady appeared carrying grocery bags from the mart. She looked startled to see Su-hwan playing with the puppy.
“Ah… Good morning.”
“More like good afternoon. The sun’s high in the sky. How’s your body? Was the porridge good?”
“Ah, yes. I’m feeling a lot better thanks to you. Thank you.”
“That’s a relief.”
The landlady watched Su-hwan teasing the puppy with a weed. The little dog was hopping desperately, trying to snatch the grass.
“He really seems to like you. When I try to play with him he just takes off right away.”
“Really?”
The second I try to go back into the shrine he starts barking like crazy… Su-hwan had already been playing with the pup for over an hour.
“I’m telling you. The moment you went inside yesterday he vanished somewhere. More importantly, I thought you didn’t like dogs?”
“Me? That’s not it. I do like them… Well.”
He could not answer her with confidence.
Animals had never been part of Park Su-hwan’s life. He was busy enough feeding himself; taking responsibility for another living creature felt far too heavy a burden.
His head was complicated for other reasons. He was certain that the reason he had been able to wake from the nightmare was this little guy.
But how that was possible, he could not begin to guess.
“Oh, right. This little guy must be hungry. I should feed him.”
The landlady clapped her hands as if suddenly remembering something.
“I already fed him for you.”
“What…?”
And not just any food—expensive premium Korean beef, at that. If there had been dog food he would of course have used it, but of course there was none.
So he had no choice but to tearfully place that precious meat into the pup’s mouth. Along with a little gratitude.
If not for the little guy, he would have suffered that horrific pain to the end.
Just as the landlady was about to say something carefully, a strange man poked his head in from outside.
“Um…”
“Oh.”
“Hello. It’s… been a while.”
The face was familiar. Yoon Ji-ho. The rookie officer Su-hwan had once warned would be stabbed to death by a madman. He had come looking for Park Su-hwan.