Nation of Rice and Fire
Koreans are a nation of rice, sure, but we're also a nation of fire. The fiery breath embedded in this cramped scrap of land is still being passed down through countless people even now. When we get pissed off, we burn down someone else's shop, house, or even Sungnyemun Gate without a second thought—that's our unique national trait. It's why we've come to see fire as just another toy. The classic fire play is mouse fireworks, where hordes of humans tear open dimensional gates in the darkness—a sight straight out of a spectacle. Or like us, blasting fireworks just 30cm away in fog so thick you can't see the sky.
"Truly grand and beautiful. A real sturdy beast."
"It's been sitting unsold as toxic stock at the rest stop for ages, so yeah, it's gotta be from way back when they banned sales on this stuff. Never seen a firecracker this massive myself."
"Don't go getting weird ideas just 'cause we're holding something thick and long."
Spitting out fireworks is worlds apart from spitting white, sticky fluid, after all.
"Lighter... I don't smoke."
"Figured as much, so I grabbed the burner from the truck."
"You're one prepared buddy, aren't you?"
We lit the firecracker's fuse with the precious gift of civilization that lets chain-smokers puff away even inside a car. Our little spark shot up into the hazy fog and went BOOM!—exploding huge. Just when I leaned in close, wondering if that was all for such a big, beefy one, a delayed barrage of sparks grazed my face and rocketed skyward. As the blasts and blinding flashes painted the pitch-black night, our excitement ramped up even more.
"Fireworks. We need more fireworks."
"Hold tight. I'll whip up something killer."
We bundled small firecrackers onto a near-1m super Armstrong jet cyclone cannon, wired the fuses together, and crammed the ends full of popper pellets.
"Hee hee hee! Ack!"
"Uh huh huh huh!"
Regressing to our wild youth out of nowhere, we barely stifled our laughter as we lit the bundle. I hoisted the fizzing pack high overhead, Bible tucked under my arm with my free hand.
"Statue of Liberty."
"Uh huhk! Kek! Ack heh!"
PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-PA!
The poppers ignited first, raging from the inside out, triggering the tightly linked firecrackers in a chain reaction that spewed insane fireworks in sequence. I wasn't some serene Lady Liberty anymore—I was the Hell Demon King, harbinger of the underworld and death.
"Abracadabra!"
"No, don't! Ah! Hot! Eee hee heek!"
While flinging stray embers at S-man with some muggle wand play, we pulled out the last box firecracker. No clue what was inside, but yank the string at the end hard enough, and it supposedly lights up and explodes on its own. What kind of lunatics were kids our age back in the day to play with this deranged shit?
"Instructions say just pull the string, but how do you know what kind it is without pulling?"
"Old product like this? Ninety percent chance it's a mine-type that blasts every which way."
"Could be a rocket that shoots straight up."
"Pulling from above? Doubt the firecracker below shoots upward."
"That elite uni brain of yours thinks different, huh."
We tugged the string on the massive box firecracker right in the middle of the road, sniffing the acrid gunpowder with utmost caution. The string was longer than expected, building hype for the heavy box's explosion. Didn't even get this heart-pounding with first love.
Then snap—the string refused to budge further. Sensing the moment, we let go without regret. Exactly two seconds after it whoosh-ed back into the box, a retina-searing flash blinded us. It was a literal festival of light. Tiny firecracker bits shot out every direction, popping and repopping in a frenzy of brilliance. Like thousands, no, tens of thousands of fireflies slamming into each other in a mad orgy party.
"Still not enough. Right?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
"Yeah, the fire's just getting started. You wanna play more, don't you?"
"Yes! I wanna play more!"
"Right! Just like on that frozen lake!"
"Just like on that frozen lake!"
Then all light vanished, fog too, revealing a nameless lake frozen solid smack in front of us. I sprawled flat on the crystal-clear ice and licked it. Pure grade-1 water, frozen pristine without a speck of dust.
"Can't hold back anymore. Too bad we don't have some instant rice."
"Shoulda grabbed some from the rest stop."
S-man, licking the ice with his tongue just like me, looked wistful. But no quitting now that we're here. I clapped his shoulder, urging him on.
"Don't forget the important part. You've got someone to meet here, right? The one you promised to play with tomorrow."
"Oh, right!"
"Where's she at? You said you met her on this lake! Let's get her licking this fresh ice too!"
"Hmm, looked everywhere—no sign."
"Then we find her."
I grabbed a spare tire from the truck bed, lashed it with rope, and set it on the ice.
"Pull, Rudolph. Time to hunt the phantom girl."
"Gladly."
S-man wiped his runny nose in the cold, shouldered the rope, and dashed off. I sat on the tire, scanning all directions. Road, fields, woods, paddies—gone. On this ice, we were Antarctic explorers braving chill and dark.
Still not enough.
"Tell me more about her from your memories. What was she like? Sexy?"
"Kid stuff, so 'sexy' might not fit. But she was crazy cute."
"Knew she had that spark young. Luring in pure, innocent girls one by one, huh."
"Haha, anyone hearing that'd think I'm some total scoundrel. Nah, I just loved playing on the ice with her."
"So you made a promise you couldn't keep?"
"Planned to. But as a kid dragged home by my parents, impossible."
S-man's breaths grew ragged pulling my tire. Like something crushed him from above, twisted his ankles, cursed him to weigh more with every step.
"Still, thanks to you, boss, I'm back here happy. Alone, I'd never have come."
"Why not?"
"She was some unrelated kid our family sacrificed to the lake ages ago."
"I see."
Once the deepest secret spilled, S-man's words flowed free.
"Next day after we played like crazy, adults rushed us back to Seoul 'cause I got too close to her heart. For family revival, they sacrificed an innocent, pure kid—curse runs deep in our bloodline."
"Intriguing."
"So the elders babied me more. Spent fortunes hiring pros, raised me like a greenhouse flower to protect the sole heir."
"Half-expected that."
"But eventually, talismans and beads couldn't hold it back. Felt like she could see through them. So I ditched it all. Wandered crowded streets, hooked up with girls, hung with friends—figured the vibe would hide me."
"Hide the tree in the forest, yeah."
"Wasted effort. A guy like me crumbled fast, nearly died to some lame yin trap. Without you, boss, I'd be Guinness record for most pathetic death."
"Fair point."
"So when you asked about my family mess and said we'd fix it here... overjoyed. Couldn't solve it alone—apologizing to her, getting forgiveness."
Thud. S-man collapsed on the ice, couldn't walk farther. I gazed down at the water ghost clinging to him from the tire and said nothing.
"That's your side?"
CRACKLE SNAP CRUNCH CRACK!
"Bought that fireworks set to play with you. You loved shooting them too."
GRIND! CRACKLE!
"So, nice end with the cool guy keeping a decades-old promise? Or nasty one with a total stranger? Let's settle it here."
CRACK! Snap!
"Fine, if you insist on nasty after all this courtesy, no skin off my back."
On cracking ice splitting crack-crack-crackle, with limp S-man between us, the water ghost and I stared each other down.
"Jesus heaven, nonbelievers hell."
"INSTANT KILL."