Please, Help Me...
The man made for the finest house in the village and settled into the seat of honor.
"Do you know why I have come?"
"I—I cannot say that I know, my lord..."
Mother trembled. The color drained from her face, and beads of sweat struck the floor.
The man spoke as though the sight thoroughly delighted him, his voice bright with pleasure.
"To aid this wretched village, of course."
He lounged back, lazy in his seat.
"I have walked your village. Already a miasma of death has spread to every corner. Before long this place will be a hell."
"C-can it be true?!"
The old man gasped.
"...Hah!"
The man glanced at his own sleeve. The old man's spit flecked the cloth.
"F-forgive me! I have committed a crime worthy of death!"
The old man cracked his forehead against the floor at once.
"You wretch..."
The man's voice sank.
He rose and drove a kick into him. The blow landed with a dull thud.
"Ghk—!"
"I came in person because your plight stirred my pity, and this is the vulgarity you show me! Just as I thought—an unlettered cur who has pawned even his manners!"
"F-forgive— ghk!"
The man kicked the old man's head and ground it into the floor.
"You think a little authority in this village makes you someone? No. You are nothing but trash."
"M-mercy..."
The old man wrung his hands in wretchedness.
"Today is an auspicious day, so I will overlook it."
"Th-thank you."
The man returned to his seat. Mother and daughter shook at his ruthlessness.
"Very well. How far had I gotten?"
"Y-you said a m-miasma of death lay thick over the village..."
Mother spoke with her head bowed lower still.
"Good. Then I will say it again. This village has no hope."
All three of them flinched.
The man arranged his face into pity.
"Corpses wander the roads. Heaven sends down no grace. In the forest, starving beasts drag people off in their jaws..."
With a snap he opened his fan and waved a hand.
"A child clutches an empty belly and wails, and the parents do not know what to do. Their stomachs are no different from that cracked earth. Ah, how grievous."
The taegeuk on the fan swam before the eyes.
"It means the qi of the land has died, and fortune has fled. How could one not feel pity?"
He appealed to their pity. He bewitched them. The fan fluttered, and gooseflesh prickled over the child. The man's tongue had drawn thin as a snake's and was coiling around Mother and the old man.
"It lies plain before my eyes. How could I treat it lightly? To turn away would be to forsake the way of Heaven and become a beast, no longer human."
Tears fell from the man's eyes. They were a snake's drool.
"Do not fret. I have received the revelation of the gods of heaven and earth, and I shall gather you into my care."
And so—
"You must not doubt."
"We believe! Save us!"
The old man wept and sang the man's praises.
"Please help us! We don't even have a root left to eat!"
Mother cried out, stricken. Water ran down her gaunt cheeks, and the snake's tongue coveted it.
"It is only right that I should help."
The man rose and gathered the two of them into his arms.
"I will pray to Heaven and save this land."
The snake's eyes turned upon the child. Beneath those bewitching pupils, she went rigid.
"Your bellies will be filled with white rice, and your hands will be dyed in gold."
The snake that had bound them stretched its neck long and flicked its tongue.
"This child will aid me."
At his words, Mother's eyes went round.
"B-but that child is only my lowly..."
"Hah!"
The man bellowed.
"Your eyes cannot see what is right!"
The fan pointed at the child.
"Th-that—!"
The man crooked a finger.
"Let me ask you one thing. Unlike other children, yours must have been difficult to grow fond of."
"Y-yes. I tried to hold her in my heart, but I could not draw near."
"Of course. She bears the qi of Heaven. How could she be the same as a human?"
The old man and Mother nodded as if something had at last become clear.
...Mom?
The child looked at her mother. Mother did not look at the child.
"That a tiger carried her here with his own mouth is proof she bears Heaven's qi. A mere beast found her too lofty to covet, and so it enshrined her."
No. Lord San-gun is not a being like that. He only found her pitiable, and so he showed her mercy.
But the child could not refute him. The snake's eyes did not permit her to speak.
"Ah."
"Your merit is no small thing."
The man whispered, and Mother sank into ecstasy.
"You bore a shrine maiden, so one might even call you a holy mother. In a sense, have you not given birth to another buddha?"
"M-may someone like me hold such a station?"
"Regrettably, not yet."
The man put on a regretful face.
"The mother of a buddha became great because her child became a buddha. A shrine maiden is the same. Once she completes her mission as shrine maiden, you will become a holy mother."
Mother looked disappointed.
"A-and my husband? What becomes of him?"
"Husband, husband..."
The man frowned, then smoothed his brow again at once.
"He will become a holy father, I suppose."
He went on as if the matter held no interest for him.
"Now then. Do you understand my meaning? That this village still has hope?"
"Can we be saved?"
"You ask what is obvious."
The man spread his arms.
He adorned himself in the aspect of an apostle.
"Ah! We believe! We believe!"
"Save us! Save us!"
They had fallen in. Into a hungry ghost's maw.
...A monster. To bewitch people with nothing but a handful of words—if that was not a monster, what was?
The man knelt before the child.
"Shrine maiden. Your role and mine are no small things."
The hungry ghost opened its maw.
"Shall we not join together?"
"..."
The child kept her mouth shut. It was the smallest rebellion she had.
When she fell silent, Mother and the old man bowed to her.
"O shrine maiden! Save us, we beg you!"
"Save us!"
Mom...
The child clenched her teeth. She thought she might cry. But she must not speak. If she spoke, that would be the end.
A crack ran through the man's expression. His eyes clouded with confusion, as if this was not how it was supposed to go. Then he struck his own forehead.
"Dear me. The shrine maiden has not yet awakened!"
He arranged his face into regret.
"Yes. She is still a young child. She has surely not realized her own mission!"
He adorned himself once more.
"A lamentable thing! Heaven has sent down a trial!"
"Have mercy and spare us!"
The two of them wailed.
"Do not fear. A trial can be overcome."
The man dropped his voice to a murmur.
"I will make the shrine maiden realize her mission. And afterward I will bring fortune to the village."
"Ah!"
"To do that, first—"
He raised a hand toward the child. She felt sick, as if at filth.
"We must keep the shrine maiden safe."
"N—!"
A hand sealed her mouth.
"Shrine maiden, do not worry. I understand everything."
His expression was gentle, but annoyance lodged in his eyes. The child grasped his intent. He meant to confine her, so that she could do nothing at all.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
She tried to force out some word. The grip tightened as if it would break her jaw.
"Oh dear. The shrine maiden seems to be suffering a divine fever."
"Ah— no, that won't do!"
Mother was desperate. She was not afraid for the child. She was afraid for her lifeline.
The child squeezed her eyes shut. It was no use. She could not get free.
"Cut off every human footstep around this place."
"Yes, my lord! I will not let so much as an ant pass!"
The old man was packed tight with a sense of mission. He truly believed this was the road that led to salvation.
"Wait. I will resolve it well."
The two of them withdrew.
The moment they were gone, the man changed. The apostle vanished, and what remained was a human soaked in greed. He raked a hand through his hair.
"Fucking hell. What a goddamn pain."
He looked down at the child with irritated eyes.
"You rotten little brat!"
"Ugh!"
He seized her by the head.
"Finally opening your mouth, you damned little shit."
"Nngh—!"
"I don't know how you're still in one piece, but it hardly matters..."
The man smiled, vile.
"From now on you're going to do exactly as I say. You damned little runt."
He pressed the fan against the child's cheek.
"You know what happens if you don't, don't you?"
"No... don't..."
The child knew by instinct. That man would not harm her. Instead—
"Quick on the uptake. You saw it earlier, didn't you?"
The man licked his lips.
"Your mother, howling like a slut. Figures, with a kid hanging off her. Every last move she made was obscene."
One of these days I'll have her.
The child wept.
"N-not that... anything but that..."
"I'd like that myself... But if she offers herself up on her own, what can I do?"
Turning away from a feast already laid would be rude, wouldn't it?
"Please... please..."
The child begged him to leave her mother alone.
"Why would I? You don't have a choice."
He struck the child's head with the fan.
"Your father and your mother are both going to live for me."
And then—
"If you keep resisting, I'll have to punish the two of them, won't I?"
What was she going to do?
The child swallowed her tears and spoke.
"I... I..."
She could not rebel against the terror.
"...am the shrine maiden Heaven sent down."
Pleasure settled in the man's eyes.
"Wise of you, shrine maiden. Let us join hands and call fortune down."
"Yes..."
Anyone. Please.
Help me."
The child prayed.
But no one answered.
No one.