The Elder's Tale
The story of the Jongmyeongja…?
When I was staring at the tale collection with my eyes wide and trembling, the child spoke.
“Seonin-ssi…?”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll read it for you.”
I read the tale collection.
The content of the tale collection went roughly like this.
― Long ago, there was an Emperor who ruled over the Heavenly Realm.
― The Emperor had seven beloved disciples, and one day the Emperor and his disciples fought bitterly.
― The disciples left the Heavenly Realm that the Emperor ruled and descended to the human world.
― The Emperor called them Jongmyeongja because they did not listen to his command.
― But the human world was harsh, and the seven who became Jongmyeongja cried tears of suffering while longing for the Heavenly Realm.
― Seeing this, the Emperor made a path in the sky for the seven disciples to return, and they walked the path and returned to the Heavenly Realm.
― The seven Jongmyeongja walked the Heavenly Path made by the Emperor again, returned to the Heavenly Realm he ruled, and lived happily beside the Emperor, serving him.
It was the rough plot of this tale.
And.
Chilling, chilling!
I felt a strange, soul-deep revulsion and fear rising from the depths of my being, taking over my body.
Strange. Goosebumps ran over my entire body.
Why?
This tale itself was a fairy tale of the kind told to children, teaching them not to leave home carelessly.
But.
‘Why…?’
Every sentence in this tale felt ominous to me.
Especially the ending, where the Jongmyeongja lived happily beside the Emperor, sent chills racing across my skin the moment I read it.
“Seonin-ssi, are you okay?”
The child tugged at my sleeve, looking worried.
“Ah…!”
I suddenly realized I had curled into a tight ball with a twisted expression on my face.
“I’m fine. It’s just… my stomach feels a little upset. Don’t worry.”
‘What is this?’
Emotions rose from deeper than my soul at these sentences and content I had never seen before.
Something was wrong.
What exactly was this content?
‘Is there something hidden in this book or on the paper?’
I finished reading the Jongmyeongja tale and moved to the next tale.
‘Ah, this one I know too.’
Luckily, the tales from Chapter Ten onward were the ordinary ones I had seen before.
A man jumping into a frozen pond in winter to catch loach for his mother.
The story of an old man who built a tower to offer sacrifices for his fate.
They were the same tales I had seen long ago, each teaching the lesson of knowing sincerity moves heaven.
This time I read them comfortably to the child without any strange feeling.
Then.
‘Hm? This is one I haven’t seen before…’
Chapter Thirteen, the tale titled The People of the Round Land, was also a story I had never read.
‘Ah, this…’
This was the tale Buk Hyang-hwa had told me in her own way.
There were people living in the Star Realm too, they said, clinging to a round piece of land.
“Wow, how do people live clinging to the land? Won’t the people living under this round part fall down?”
“That’s right.”
I gave a wry smile and turned the last page of the tale collection.
The last page of the tale collection was the story I had seen last time about the edge of the world.
Go east, west, south, or north in the world and you reach the edge.
The world has a rotation force or something that wraps it.
And on the last page there was a roughly drawn map of how this world was shaped.
‘This…’
At the center of the map was a huge desert.
In the center of the desert was a small island-like shape.
On the left side of the desert were the countries Yeon Kingdom, Byeokra Kingdom, and Seong Empire.
On the right side were several barbarian tribes.
Above were vast grasslands.
Below was an endless sea.
And at each of the east, west, south, and north edges there were clear boundaries, and beyond those lines were drawn sun, moon, and stars.
‘Is this all of this world…? Hm?’
Suddenly I widened my eyes at a tiny, cylindrical shape drawn far outside the map.
‘Bongmyeong Castle…? It’s here too? Hah…’
It was too detailed for a simple rural children’s tale book.
And then I found another strange point in the tale collection.
“Seonin-ssi, look here. See the sun and moon~?”
The little boy pointed at the sun and moon marked outside the map and said.
“They look just like eyes!”
“…”
The map had drawn the sun and moon like eyes.
Inside the golden sun were lines like veins and a pupil that was hard to see without looking closely.
The silver moon was the same.
And both the sun and moon’s pupils were facing toward the continent inside the map.
Chilling, chilling!
When I realized it was the eyes, another chill ran over my entire body.
‘What kind of world is this…?’
Suddenly, the setting sun far away and the rising moon far away felt terrifying.
‘…No, it can’t be. It’s just a book a rural child has. The person who made the book probably drew it just for fun…’
I forced a smile and pushed the horrifying thoughts in my head away.
‘But why is the map in the book a child from the countryside has carried drawn Bongmyeong Castle and even Deungsunhyang at the center of the Dabcheon Desert exactly?’
Crunch.
Even when I closed the book, the faint pupils drawn on the sun and moon remained burned into my mind.
What was the person who made this book trying to convey?
And was there a secret hidden in this book?
“Hey… won’t you give me this book?”
“Huh? No! That’s the book I was going to read with my sister when she comes!”
“Hmph…”
I made a troubled expression.
‘Is there no way…?’
The child was quite stubborn.
At that moment, the sun setting far away came into view.
‘Night will come soon.’
It was when the poisonous beasts were approaching.
“By the way, kid, won’t you come inside? It’s dangerous to wander outside at night.”
“Hm… I have to wait for my sister…”
“Today there’s a festival in the village, right? Don’t you want to see the festival?”
“Hm…”
After a moment of hesitation the child took my hand and said.
“If Seonin-ssi comes too, I’ll go!”
“Hm…? I…”
“If Seonin-ssi doesn’t go, I won’t either!”
I sighed and collapsed the dirt seat I had made with the law technique.
“Okay, okay, then I’ll go too.”
Immediately after, I made a dirt doll again by sealing the law.
Whoosh, whoosh.
And using the method of the Eumhon Gwijumun, I created one small curse and blew it into the dirt doll.
“Wow, Seonin-ssi. What is that doll? It looks creepy…”
“…It’s a cursed doll.”
The Eumhon Gwijumun contained techniques to make a cursed doll and manipulate it remotely through curses.
One could inflict curses through the cursed doll, or blow in one or two curse words to make it act.
It was said that the creator of the Eumhon Gwijumun, who manipulated one hundred eight curses at once, made a doll exactly like a human, blew the one hundred eight curses into various places, and then manipulated it exactly like a real human.
Whoosh!
The cursed doll with the curse words inside twitched and moved awkwardly, standing at the village entrance instead of me.
“I’ll stand guard at the edge instead of you.”
If anything crossed the village boundary, the cursed doll would send a signal, and I could just detect it from far away and blow it away.
“Wow… Seonin-ssi is really amazing.”
“Haha, now that you’ve seen something amazing, go inside the village quickly.”
I took the child’s hand and went inside the village together.
At the same time, I sealed the law, made three more dirt dolls, blew the curses into them, and sent them to guard the four directions of the village.
With this, defense was no problem.
***
“Oh, does Seosa too plan to participate in the festival?”
Buk Hyang-hwa, wearing a new white court robe that looked like the traditional festival attire, appeared walking with the child and me.
According to the festival rules, she had a single simple hairpin in her hair like the other village women.
“Yes, thanks to this child.”
“Wow, you’re a celestial maiden!”
The child looked at her in the traditional village outfit and said.
Her appearance wasn’t particularly outstanding, but in a neat white robe she looked quite beautiful.
“Ah, will Seonin-ssi also participate in the festival?”
The village chief and several sturdy men came over and asked.
“I’ll participate… but is there any problem?”
“Ah! No. It’s just… have you heard about the festivals in the mountain areas?”
“I know. The Wiryoe-je, the Gyeongsul-je, and the Ssanseonmu. They say the three festivals are the most famous.”
“Yes. This festival is the Ssanseonmu festival among them. After people were taken by mountain beasts, they always held the Ssanseonmu to console their minds and bodies.”
In the mountain areas of the Seong Empire, there was the Wiryoe-je held once a year on the day lightning covered the entire mountain region,
and the Gyeongsul-je hosted by the Seong Empire, a kingdom of scriptures and scholarship, where scholars recited classical texts.
And the Ssanseonmu festival, held when people were taken by mountain beasts or demons in the mountain areas, was the most famous one praying that such things would never happen again.
“I know that too. Ah, but Ssanseonmu requires all participants to wear the same clothes, right?”
Thinking about it, if I rushed to participate there might not be spare clothes.
“That’s fine. I’ll bring clothes that fit Seonin-ssi’s body, for the young men who match his physique…”
“Hm, no need. If that’s the case, I’ll just not participate.”
The clothes were coming, so was he actually saying to skip the festival?
At that moment Buk Hyang-hwa approached me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s just that I don’t have festival clothes, so I decided to skip it.”
At my words she chuckled.
“Oh, was that the issue? Tell the village chief. I’ll make Seosa’s clothes.”
“Hm…? What does that mean?”
“Ah, hurry and tell him.”
I was bewildered but translated the message to the village chief anyway.
The village chief laughed heartily, nodded, and left.
“No, Miss Buk. The festival is about to start…”
“It’s fine. Hold your arms out.”
She pulled out a tool like a measuring tape from her portable workshop and measured my body everywhere, then pulled something else from the workshop.
Whoosh!
Thud!
A small model house-like thing shot out from her workshop, and with a bang it landed in front of me.
“This…?”
“It’s my portable workshop. Wait a moment. I’ll make it quickly.”
After a while, I heard something moving quickly inside her workshop, and she brought out a white robe.
“…Is it just the clothes that were originally inside the workshop?”
I asked, peeking inside the workshop at the unnatural speed.
“Why would the traditional clothes of this region be inside the workshop? Stop talking nonsense and try wearing it.”
“Hah…”
‘Is she a law technique master…?’
Those with innate talent for “making” things.
With ordinary law techniques you couldn’t do it, but apparently you could make an ordinary set of clothes in one go.
I admired the speed for a moment, took the clothes, changed inside the workshop.
What I received was a loose white robe. Even the shoes were custom-made, so to anyone looking at me from outside I looked like a crane.
“Hm, it suits Seosa quite well, doesn’t it?”
“Hah, thank you. Miss Buk looks quite good too.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Whoosh!
She shrank her portable workshop again and put it in her law technique.
I soon headed to the open space where the festival was to be held.
The village chief was supervising the festival preparations.
“Ah, Seonin-ssi. You came. Haha, it suits you well. How many times have you seen the Ssanseonmu?”
“Ah, actually this is the first time. Until now I only saw the festival in books…”
The village chief stroked his beard and nodded.
“It’s an honor that the first Ssanseonmu I can show you is in our village.”
“I am honored to witness an old tradition as well.”
“It’s a festival with a deep tradition passed down for sixteen hundred years in the mountain areas of the Seong Empire. Please enjoy it happily.”
I asked in surprise.
“Sixteen hundred years…? Quite an old festival?”
“Yes. It is said in legends that long ago, two celestial beings defeated a famous evil spirit in this mountain area and began the Ssanseonmu from the dance they performed together. Because of this, when people are taken by demons or mountain beasts, we hold the festival praying to the virtues of the two celestial beings so that such things never happen again.”
The village chief suddenly wiped away tears, moved with emotion.
“Until now, because the snakes and demons lived too close, even when people were taken we couldn’t even dream of holding a proper funeral or festival. But like the two celestial beings in the legend, when two Seonin appear and save our village, this old man is so moved he can’t say it.”
I listened to the village chief’s words and watched the scene of the festival being prepared.
After a while, the sun set and the festival began.
The village women and adults beat drums, gongs, and the biwa in their homes.
Regardless of the music, the festival had a soothing nature for the dead, not too strict, with a gentle melody.
And young men and women gathered thickly at the center of the village.
All wore the same white robes, and village women came to the young men and women giving each one paper fan.
Each fan was different in shape, all old and worn.
Even when there were not enough, they just folded paper and held it.
Flutter, flutter!
On both sides of the open space, a banner depicting two celestial beings from long ago was unfolded.
And the village chief in front of the open space prayed for the repose of the dead and chanted a prayer that such a tragedy would never happen again, praying to the virtues of the two celestial beings.
And the festival began.
Ssanseonmu meant literally that a pair of men and women holding fans gathered and danced.
The strange point was that at the beginning of the festival the women covered their faces with white gauze like face veils, making it hard to confirm each other’s faces.
‘Hm, Miss Buk really hid her consciousness.’
If she had consciousness, we would recognize each other instantly, so it was no fun. Probably.
I too closed my eyes and changed my consciousness into the Invisible Sword.
From the open space, men and women began pairing up.
I floated at the edge of the open space without pairing and threw the Invisible Sword far away.
Whoosh!
Trapped by the cursed doll’s detection, a poisonous beast trying to enter the village exploded on impact from the Invisible Sword.
Boom, boom!
I danced roughly, adding strength to the village’s defense from the center.
Until Buk Hyang-hwa made the law technique in a few days, I was in charge of guarding the village, so I had to do my best.
‘It might be good to practice the footwork at the edge.’
I practiced the footwork similar to the Ssanseonmu dance and floated around.
Then.
‘Hm?’
Far away, in the opposite direction, I saw a person floating toward me.
‘No, why are you floating too?’
She said she would enthusiastically participate in the festival.
I approached Buk Hyang-hwa coming toward me with awkward dancing.
When I reached her, she looked at me as if she had recognized me somehow.
“Seosa?”
“As expected, Miss Buk. Why are you floating here? You seemed eager to participate enthusiastically in the festival.”
“Ah, that’s… dancing is hard.”
She smiled awkwardly and said. I suddenly became curious and asked.
“By the way, with the gauze in front of my face, how did you recognize me?”
She had hidden her consciousness inside her head along with the others for the sake of the festival.
Because of that I couldn’t use my consciousness, yet she had recognized me right away.
‘With the gauze blocking my vision, I can only see the sides and the other’s feet…’
“How? Seosa’s clothes, shoes, everything I made. Why couldn’t you recognize?”
She asked me back instead.
“That’s beside the point. Seosa, how did you recognize me? I had my face covered with gauze and didn’t feel my consciousness swirling.”
“Ah, that’s…”
I began matching the dance steps with her simply and answered.
“It’s because I remember everything about you — the sound of your breathing, the heartbeat, body shape, scent, the shape of your hands. Even if the face is covered, those don’t change.”
At my words she asked in surprise.
“Ah, wait, why do you remember such things?”
“Ah, that’s…”
I almost said “It’s a habit when you reach the peak,” but thought the tone sounded weird.
Even if she was a Peak Martial Artist or Peak Expert, she probably had no interest in the realm of martial artists.
‘A habit when you reach the peak… sounds perverted…’
Then maybe just a normal habit?
‘I am a person who remembers the breathing, heartbeat, body shape, scent, etc. of people around me…’
Somehow that also felt perverted.
‘Damn, thinking about it, why am I worried about this.’
It was a sense that applied to not just people but the surrounding environment, so I hadn’t felt anything strange.
‘Yeah, just say something normal…’
I gave the most normal-sounding answer I could think of.
“Just… Miss Buk stood out to me.”
‘Yeah, this is normal.’
We gradually matched the dance steps and entered the inner part of the open space edge.
‘Is something wrong?’
I glanced at her.
Buk Hyang-hwa said nothing after hearing my answer.
‘Hm? Are you sick?’
And somehow her neck was bright red.
“Miss Buk, are you okay?”
“…”
“Miss Buk?”
“Stop saying that. Seosa. The dance is already hard enough without Seosa confusing me.”
“Haha, sorry.”
The ends of the fans I and she held brushed.
At the same time my Invisible Sword encircled the entire village, driving away the poisonous beasts rushing toward it.
I stepped the three rounds of footwork to the left and turned a full circle.
She moved the same way and turned a full circle too, and the ends of our fans brushed again.
Eventually we had entered the center of the open space, and the second half of the festival began.
Swish, swish, swish.
The village youths removed the gauze covering the faces of the partners who had been dancing in front of them.
I too, following the people around, removed the gauze covering Buk Hyang-hwa’s face.
“Hah… now I can see.”
Because of the gauze, her face was flushed.
Our fan ends brushed again.
We stepped the three rounds of footwork to the right and turned a full circle again.
My Invisible Sword rotated around the village in a circle.
Multiple layers of circles were drawn, overlapping and spreading in countless changes, scattering the poisonous beasts in all directions.
At the center of the village, countless torches, drum sounds, biwa sounds, and zither sounds rang out, and the footsteps of the young people echoed.
“The drumman can’t dance even though he can see, he seems unable to use his body.”
“Are you teasing me? Looking at Seosa not being able to wear the clothes properly, it doesn’t seem right for you to talk.”
“Haha, sorry.”
Over and over our fan ends brushed, and in the exotic mountain festival we teased each other and chuckled.
People laughed, some cried, some beat drums,
some prayed looking at the banner with the two celestial beings drawn on it.
On the banner was a celestial being holding a spear and a hunchbacked celestial being after defeating the evil spirit.
The two celestial beings lowered their weapons, held fans, drew circles, and danced.
The celestial being with gauze on her face and the hunchbacked celestial being had only their mouths drawn, but they smiled at each other.