Strange Symptoms (1)
Moments later, a clicking rhythm of heels announced the Sea Witch, who swept into the CEO’s office in elegant dress, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses.
She was dressed far more flamboyantly than the last time he had seen her, so her condition seemed to have improved.
“You there, youngster. Why is the hospitality in this place like this? Hurry up and set the table.”
The Sea Witch pointed her chin at the empty table and proceeded to make a scene. Given that her temper had returned, there was no doubt she was back to normal.
I worried for nothing!
“You came here all of a sudden, Madam.”
“So I have to call ahead before I come? I’m the one who built this building, aren’t I?”
Won Hasin instantly changed tactics.
“What? Huh? What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything. Song Bi-seo! Order some food, quickly!”
“Which menu would you like?”
“Sashimi! Sushi! All kinds! Just everything!”
“Understood.”
Won Hasin glanced at the Sea Witch for approval, then lowered his voice and whispered, “Leave out the octopus sashimi!”
After Song Bi-seo went off to place the order, the Sea Witch flopped onto the sofa and kicked off her shoes. Then she sprawled back and said, “Prepare for Seuseim’s comeback.”
“All of a sudden?”
“How long until Duncis’s full album comeback?”
“It’s scheduled for early next summer, so about eight months.”
“Can’t you pull it forward to this year?”
Won Hasin nearly blurted out, Have you lost your mind? before catching himself. Before he could even ask what on earth had gotten into her, the Sea Witch asked again.
“You’ve got the members in Duncis preparing solo projects too, right? How’s Woo Yongdam’s solo album coming along?”
“It’s set for next spring.”
“Mm. Good. And Ruma?”
“Ruma is early this winter.”
“Good. Let’s move Ruma’s comeback up a little.”
The Sea Witch clapped her hands and sat up.
Won Hasin walked over to the sofa and picked up the shoes she had carelessly tossed here and there, placing them neatly beside the couch.
“Why? Is there a reason we need to pull our artists’ comebacks forward all of a sudden?”
“Yes. A very important reason.”
Listening to her voice, Won Hasin rummaged around the office. A moment later, he found a pair of slippers and set them down in front of her feet.
The Sea Witch took off the hat whose brim was so wide it fluttered awkwardly, and set it on Won Hasin’s head. “Once our prince’s survival show is over, we’ll line up the activity period so it overlaps with the debut date.”
Won Hasin, looking ridiculous in a refined women’s hat that suited him not at all, stared at her in shock. “Huh? But if the schedules overlap, then people’s attention will be split when the fish... no, when Gal Neoul debuts.”
“Exactly. That’s what I want.”
“Huh? Why?”
A vicious smile curved the Sea Witch’s lips.
“From now on, we’re going to do everything we can to get in Neoul’s way.”
She slipped her feet into the slippers and leaned back against the sofa, folding her arms.
Won Hasin wondered if he had heard her wrong, but the Sea Witch’s next words shattered that doubt completely.
“I’m going to make him feel, with his whole body, just how brutal and exhausting life on land is. How filthy, cowardly, and petty the world is. How selfish and rotten humans are.”
“W-why?”
“So he can shatter his fantasies about land. I’ll make him sick to death of humans, so sick that he’ll be desperate to crawl back to the sea.”
Won Hasin took off the hat that kept getting in his way and placed it on the side table. “So why are you doing it? Why go that far? Can’t you just let him do whatever he wants?”
“Because that’s how the prince survives.”
Won Hasin froze and looked at her.
The Sea Witch was no longer smiling. She only stared down at him, crouched at her feet, with a face as cold and hard as stone.
Won Hasin scratched at his ear. What was that supposed to mean? This time, he was sure he had heard something truly strange. So he asked again.
“...What?”
“Do you really think a mermaid who lived in the sea can endure long on land?”
The Sea Witch tilted her head slowly and asked in return. Won Hasin straightened his knees and sat down on the sofa across from her.
A mermaid who lived in the sea, endure long on land? Then does that mean Gal Neoul will die if he stays here too long? If he can’t last long, how long can he last exactly?
In Won Hasin’s shaken eyes, the Sea Witch looked perfectly fine.
Forever young and beautiful and alluring, moving between sea and land as she pleased, the woman who called an old man a little brat.
“B-but Madam...”
“Do you think he and I are the same?”
Her slit pupils glinted with something chilling.
A giant octopus who had lived for more than two thousand years. A shaman who would never grow old. An emissary of the sea god. At times a witch. To some, a monster.
They were different. So different that no explanation was needed. The innocent, easy-to-read mermaid prince and the Sea Witch before him were completely unlike beings.
Won Hasin was briefly overwhelmed by the fear rising sluggishly from his toes.
The Sea Witch closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the sofa. Won Hasin forced himself to steady his trembling body and asked in a much smaller voice, “...Will you also interfere with finding the rabbit?”
“No. I’ll leave that alone.”
The Sea Witch opened her eyes again, blew her bangs away from her mouth, and went on. “What we need to interfere with is the success of the group Neoul debuts with. And the expectations and love Neoul has for humanity.”
“....”
“After he finds the rabbit and returns to the sea with my liver, I want him to be sure he never wants to come back to land again.”
The Sea Witch’s voice was utterly serious. This was not one of her usual mean little jokes. She was sincerely saying that she would obstruct Neoul.
“If you’re that worried, why didn’t you stop him from coming in the first place? Why did you help him until now?”
“If I had stopped him, do you think he’d have listened with more than one ear?”
She gave a snort of disbelief.
Won Hasin thought of Gal Neoul, who had said he would give up everything to save his father. With that stubborn, unwavering resolve, there had never been any real sense in trying to stop him.
“Mm... no, probably not.”
“Exactly. He has to find the rabbit quickly and leave on his own two feet. Pushing him from behind would be useless. I know that, which is why I’ve helped him until now.”
Won Hasin nodded.
So, to put her words together... she intended to make Gal Neoul so exhausted and disillusioned with humanity that he would find the rabbit and then return to the sea. Never to come back to land again.
Won Hasin fell silent, not knowing what to say. A moment of silence passed.
Knock, knock.
A knock broke the silence.
“Come in, Song Bi-seo.”
Song Bi-seo set the sashimi and sushi he had received from the deliveryman lavishly on the table and then stepped back. The Sea Witch scooped an entire plate of sashimi into her mouth.
“Haven’t you eaten?”
“Yeah. While I was sleeping.”
“When did you wake up?”
“About a week ago, I think?”
“You haven’t eaten in a whole week?”
“I have.”
Ah... I see. Since she had slept for so long, she must have been hungry no matter how much she ate.
Won Hasin waited until the Sea Witch had finished a fair amount of food, then spoke up suddenly. “Madam, before, I heard Gal Neoul tell you... that there was a story about a mermaid and a haenyeo falling in love. And that the haenyeo died because of a kiss.”
“Ah. That’s a story I told him.”
“I see. That’s what he said. But in the entertainment industry, there are beautiful girl idols, actresses, and charming female comedians too. He’ll meet a huge number of people. There’ll be temptation as well.”
“And?”
“Isn’t it hard to avoid developing feelings at all? What if, by some chance... someone dies like that haenyeo?”
One day, they could end up in the social pages with some absurd headline like: Idol Gal Neoul Commits Murder with His Lips! It Wasn't Intentional, He Claims.
When Won Hasin asked with a grave expression, the Sea Witch shook her head.
“I actually lied to Neoul.”
“...?”
“The haenyeo didn’t die then.”
“What?”
“It was the mermaid who died.”
“What do you mean...?”
The mermaid died...? Why?
“When a kiss links the emotions of a mermaid and a human, and the human goes mad, there’s only one way to save the human.”
The Sea Witch made a slashing motion across her neck with her chopsticks and stuck out her tongue.
“You forcibly sever the connection.”
“You mean...”
“The mermaid has to die first, before the human does. Then the connection breaks.”
“...!”
Won Hasin’s eyes widened. The Sea Witch casually picked up a salmon sushi and ate it before continuing.
“The mermaid cut off his own life to save the human. In that brief moment, he threw himself away before anyone could stop him. That foolish mermaid.”
“But there’s no guarantee Gal Neoul would do the same.”
“Why wouldn’t there be? It’s a trait of the species. Didn’t you ever read The Little Mermaid when you were a kid?”
“The Little Mermaid?”
“Yes. The story about the youngest princess with blue eyes. She went and tossed her precious life away because she couldn’t stand to watch some worthless prince die.”
“T-tossed it awa...”
The Sea Witch ignored Won Hasin’s muttering and kept going.
“Mermaids are that kind of species. Which is why he has to be sent back to the sea even more urgently. And probably...”
She stopped moving her chopsticks and looked out the window into the distance.
Gray buildings packed tightly together filled the city. Beneath the polluted air, people looked small as ants as they hurried back and forth.
A world utterly different from the depths of the sea.
“He’ll already be starting to show strange symptoms in his body.”
* * *
Neoul would sometimes stop in the middle of practice and stare at Baek Yuri with eyes as flat and expressionless as a flounder’s. The stare continued while they ate, while they practiced dancing, even back at the dorm.
Baek Yuri could not endure the suspicious gaze that had gone on for days, and the instant he opened his eyes at 4 a.m., he woke Neoul up. Then he dragged him outside and said one thing.
“It wasn’t me.”
No, make that four more.
“That lie detector is a toy. It isn’t accurate. You don’t actually think I’ve been deceiving you this whole time, do you? That would really hurt, and I’d be upset.”
After the lie detector had declared Baek Yuri to be a rabbit disguised as a human, Gal Neoul kept up the flounder-eyed stare.
“Hav yer memry cum bak?”
“If my memory had come back, I would have said something. No, but why on earth is your pronunciation like that?”
“My mouf hurts.”
“Your mouth hurts?”
When Baek Yuri frowned, Neoul turned his lips inside out to show him.
There was a large white ulcer inside his mouth, badly inflamed. It sat in exactly the wrong place, grazing his teeth over and over whenever he spoke or ate, causing sharp pain.
“You’ve got a canker sore?”
“What is a canker sore?”
When he asked what that meant, Neoul was given yet another word even harder to understand.