Mission Accomplished
Neoul looked at the rabbit in surprise.
So it knew Bai Zhujiu!
It seemed the rabbit Bai Zhujiu had brought here some fourteen hundred years ago was still alive and well.
He had assumed the rabbit Do-seungji spoke of and the one standing before him must be different animals entirely.
Rabbits must live a long time, just like Father or the Sea Witch.
Neoul’s eyes shone with delight.
He had thought it might not be an ordinary creature, and it seemed he had been right.
With such a spirit about it, perhaps it possessed the magnificent liver needed to cure the Dragon King’s illness.
“If you give me your liver, I shall certainly repay this kindness. I could even let you live in luxury for the rest of your life in the Dragon Palace.”
“Huh? No! I-I don’t need that……”
“!”
The rabbit’s eyes went round as it frantically waved both hands to refuse. Neoul’s face, rejected, turned white, then slowly darkened with despair.
So it didn’t want wealth and glory. Then what was he supposed to offer? Should he plead with tears streaming down his face, appealing to its pity? Even then, would it readily hand over its liver? If he truly needed an organ, should he offer up one of his own as well?
Neoul seriously considered whether he ought to give up his liver in exchange too, or perhaps throw in a heart or swim bladder for good measure.
Then the rabbit, flustered, hurriedly changed the subject.
“Could you get up now? The ground is stone, so your knees must hurt……”
Neoul rose unsteadily, like a calf just born.
“Then what must I do for you to give me your liver?”
He asked gravely, and the rabbit blinked and fiddled with its ears.
After a moment, it let out a soft, hesitant “Uh, um……” and seemed to search for the right words before smiling faintly.
“If we debut successfully together, I’ll give it to you…!”
“……?”
Debut……? First advance?
He would give him his liver if they succeeded together in advancing?
Advance where?
Thanks to the Rabbit Language pill he had taken, the words had been translated literally on their own, but that did not mean he understood everything.
“You said your name was Neoul, right? I’m Baek Yuri.”
The rabbit introduced itself and extended a hand with a snap.
“Let’s do well with the mission together!”
Mission? An assignment? What assignment……?
Neoul guessed that extending a hand must be a human greeting. Still, there was something he needed to ask before accepting it.
“Where must I debut? Where do I go to do it? How does one succeed?”
“…? Well, if you work hard on the mission here and survive the survival show, you can do it…?”
Survival? He was supposed to survive in survival? What sort of turtle-shell-cracking nonsense was that…….
It seemed the Rabbit Language pill must have gone bad from age.
This is confusing, but there’s no way to check whether the translation is actually correct.
For now, Neoul copied the rabbit’s outstretched hand and awkwardly held his own out into the air. Baek Yuri reached for it, then recoiled in shock.
“Eek! It’s cold!”
“……?”
“Why is your hand so cold? It’s frozen! Isn’t this hypothermia?”
“My body temperature is normal.”
Suspicion filled Baek Yuri’s eyes.
“Shouldn’t you go to a hospital? Can you even do the mission?”
“I can. I will!”
Neoul did not understand what sort of task he was meant to carry out, but he answered with firm desperation. Baek Yuri had said he would only give him the liver if he debuted and did the mission.
Baek Yuri still looked uncertain, but nodded as if to say he understood for now, then turned to go toward the mission area. He had a sticker board tucked under one arm and a self-cam in his hand.
Neoul slung his bag over his shoulder and tried to follow after him.
But then…….
How do I move my feet?
He did not know how to walk.
“…….”
“What do you like better, dancing or singing? I’m a little more confident in singing. Neoul?”
When the figure ahead failed to follow, Baek Yuri turned around.
Neoul frowned in obvious difficulty, then wiggled his toes and at last managed to lift a foot.
Both feet at once.
Hop-hop-hop. Thud.
“……?”
He hopped with both legs pressed tightly together, then toppled forward. Neoul staggered back up and tried again, only to hop-hop-hop once more.
Thud.
Hop-hop-hop.
Thud.
Goodness. He simply could not figure out how to move one foot at a time. Moving forward while keeping his balance was difficult too.
Unlike the water, where pressure and buoyancy coexisted, land felt altogether strange. It made him a little seasick.
After a lifetime of swimming with nothing but his tail, trying to walk on two legs was so impossible that all he could do was hop around like a hopping corpse.
Baek Yuri’s pupils shook wildly as he watched him. His expression seemed to be screaming, What is he doing? Why is he like this? I’m scared.
Seeing Neoul continue to fall and rise again, Baek Yuri could no longer hide his unease and came over.
“Did you get hurt?”
“No.”
“Do you need help standing?”
“No……”
Neoul refused, then tried once more to walk on his own. But he changed his mind, fearing that the rabbit teacher might abandon him and run off if he decided not to give him the liver.
“Yes……. Please…… help me.”
In the end, Neoul crossed the crowded beach with support.
“There’s an open mic spot over there. We’re short on time, so would it be all right if I start first? If you know the song, please sing along!”
Baek Yuri led Neoul to a cluster of speakers and equipment tangled with black cables, set the self-cam on the sand, adjusted its angle, and planted the sticker board upright in the ground.
Then he picked up two microphones that were already prepared, switched them on, handed one to Neoul, and brought the other to his own mouth.
Is it something to eat?
Neoul was just about to put the microphone in his mouth when the song coming from beside him made him stop.
[Shall I turn back the clock
So you won’t forget me
Not for even a single moment can I fall asleep]
It was a song by the hugely popular solo singer Seo Seim, known by men and women alike.
Its hallmark was the sorrowful, aching lyrics set against a bright and cheerful melody.
Baek Yuri’s steady voice rang through the speakers.
Unlike the other contestants who had chosen songs for the busking mission and were using backing tracks, Baek Yuri launched straight into the song a cappella.
He was that confident in his singing, and besides, there had not been enough time to hunt down the instrumental on the installed laptop and cue it up.
They had lost too much time looking for a partner.
Already, two teams had finished their mission and rushed off to the producer.
The signal-song center candidates were limited to the first ten teams.
Since they had to pair up in teams of two, that meant only five teams out of forty would be accepted.
[I never knew
Closing my eyes could feel so frightening]
Baek Yuri’s clean, vivid tone seized people’s ears. He sang as if speaking softly and evenly, yet perhaps because his vocal placement was so good, a rich dimensionality stood out in his voice.
[What if the precious memories I’ve cherished
Disappear like a puzzle missing its pieces
Hmm—]
The lyrics spoke of a fear that if one fell asleep, the precious memories of a loved one would gradually fade, so one stayed awake, turning those memories over and over in the mind.
His unadorned voice, stripped of all embellishment and technique, touched the listener’s emotions all the more directly and movingly.
Some of the people who had been watching other contestants dance nearby slowly turned their heads and shifted over toward Baek Yuri and Neoul.
“Whoa, what is that? His voice is insane.”
“Ohhh. I came from over there, and this is honestly the best I’ve heard so far.”
“Shh. Be quiet and listen.”
One sticker after another began to fill the board. Neoul also listened to Baek Yuri’s singing with earnest focus.
He had heard whale songs and the unintelligible wails of ghosts many times, but this was his first time hearing a human sing.
The melody, full of the sensibilities of this strange land, was fascinating and beautiful. The song itself was lovely, but Baek Yuri’s voice fit it perfectly.
If the Sea Witch heard this, she’d glare with envy and try to snatch him away.
As he imagined her eyes slit wide with those horizontally narrowed pupils, his spine went cold.
Meanwhile, a third team had already completed the mission and boarded the bus under the producer’s guidance.
[I’m afraid
So I spend another night awake
I want to remember
Remember you— hoo—]
By the time Baek Yuri looked up, twelve spectators had gathered before him, and in an instant ten stickers had been slapped onto the board.
But it was not easy to draw in an audience that had been standing at a distance, focused on another trainee’s busking.
The beach was very long, and the other contestants were doing everything they could to catch people’s eyes.
Even the sound of the waves kept Baek Yuri’s voice from carrying as far as it should have.
“Cute! And he’s handsome!”
“Ah! What do I do? I ran out of stickers! I should’ve saved some!”
Baek Yuri smiled gratefully at those cheering him on and kept singing.
By the end of the song, he had collected thirteen stickers. Far too few.
In the meantime, the fourth team triumphantly held up a sticker board that had completed the mission.
His heart thudded in his chest, and anxiety left his mouth dry.
Still, because this mission had to be done with a partner, he could not keep singing alone forever, so Baek Yuri asked Neoul if there was a song he wanted to sing.
Neoul stared blankly at Baek Yuri. He glanced at the people gathered around them, then at the black camera pointed his way.
I don’t exactly understand what’s going on, but……
Neoul’s breath flowed softly through the microphone pressed close to his lips.
Does this mean I should sing into it like the rabbit teacher did?
Ah—
When he let out a little sound, the crowd burst into applause and cheers.
Neoul rolled his eyes uncertainly, gauging the mood, then closed his mouth.
Baek Yuri, frustrated that Neoul still had not answered and was just standing there silently, was about to ask again.
But then.
Hmm— hmmm— um—
Humming.
A sweet, dreamlike voice flowed out in a melody unlike anything anyone there had ever heard.
The bustling beach fell silent in an instant.
Only Neoul’s humming rang out into the distance, riding on the sound of the waves like accompaniment.
As if bewitched by a water ghost, people froze in place and listened to Neoul’s humming without moving.
Even the other trainees who had been dancing hard, singing, or performing tricks stopped what they were doing, switched off their music, and stared at him with mouths hanging open.
With nothing but a hum and not a single lyric, Neoul captured every eye and ear on the beach.
Standing barefoot in the sand, he was the tallest and broadest person there. That made it easy to sweep over the countless gazes fixed on him at once.
Hmmm— hmm— um— hm—
Neoul awkwardly pressed the microphone—his first ever—to his lips and hummed a melody he often sang in the Dragon Palace, blinking as he went.
His notes rose and fell, pure and sweet.
So the Sea Witch’s greed was understandable after all. It seems my singing is not so bad even on land.
Thinking this, he finished the humming, which had lasted just over a minute, with a look of wonder.
The beach was drowned in silence.
For a brief moment it looked as though time itself had stopped. Then the noisy surf and the cries of seagulls pulled everyone back into reality.
Wooaaah!
A roar erupted.
“Whoa! That was insane! Unreal!”
“Wow! I’ve never heard anyone hum like that!”
“That was amazing. What was that just now? What did I even hear?”
“Hoo…. I felt like I’d been caught by a siren or something….”
“Damn. And his face is ridiculously handsome too.”
The crowd surged forward in a commotion, jostling to place their stickers.
Baek Yuri stared blankly as the sticker count on the board flew past thirty and then, before long, reached forty-five.
Who exactly is that person……?
It was almost frightening, how he had managed to seize everyone’s attention on the beach in such a tiny span of time. Before long, several cameras were pointed their way.
Ah, this is no time to stand around.
Turning in the sticker board to the producer was the final part of the mission.
“Just a moment! You can stop sticking them on now! Thank you!”
Baek Yuri quickly grabbed the self-cam and sticker board and dashed toward Producer Seo O-young near the main camera.
Hop-hop-hop. Thud.
When the rabbit suddenly ran off, Neoul hurried after him and promptly fell again.
“Why, why are you running like that?!”
Baek Yuri stopped mid-stride, spun back in a panic, then simply hoisted Neoul onto his back and ran.
“I’m sorry, excuse me! I’m really in a hurry!”
That part, at least, was thrown in for good measure.
“Produceeeer!”
The white rabbit-ear headband Baek Yuri had been wearing tumbled to the ground.
“Rabbit teacher! Your ears fell off! Your ears fell off!”
Neoul, dangling with his feet dragging across the ground, cried out in alarm. But Baek Yuri did not even look back, too busy running.
“It’s okay! I can pick them up later!”
So rabbits could run around without their ears!
Neoul gained a new understanding of this mysterious land creature.
The sticker board in Baek Yuri’s hand was handed over to Producer Seo O-young.
“Baek Yuri! Neoul! You passed thirty stickers…! Ngh! Hah! Heavy!”
Gasping for breath, Baek Yuri set Neoul down.
Good heavens, what sort of weight is that…. Lifting three major lifts at the gym would have been easier than this.
Producer Seo O-young held the sticker board up where the camera could see it clearly. The camera director also zoomed in on Baek Yuri and Neoul’s faces and captured them through the lens.
“What did you say your names were?”
“Baek! Yu! Ri! Neoul! …I mean!”