I Am Called Kongji (2): The Wandering Scholar's Folly
The next day, Scholar-nim’s behavior changed.
What could I say… If this had not happened yesterday, I would have thought he had been hypnotized by the yokai.
It was that obvious how much kindness he showed toward the yokai, or rather, toward Patji-nim, in his actions and words.
…Honestly, it was enough to make me jealous.
Even though I knew it was his plan to lure the yokai.
Scholar-nim spent most of his time with the yokai.
He would go into the mountains to play or serve in the village, or till the soft earth, and always brought me along.
Because of that… I found myself left alone far more often.
But I did not feel lonely.
Because Scholar-nim had given me instructions.
[Kongji-nim, you must prepare what you made before—the bean bracelet.]
It was a request to create a means to counter the yokai.
I gathered beans, various grains, and all sorts of other things, hidden from my stepmother and the yokai, and headed for the gravel field, now my own quiet little spot.
I twisted a string, tied the beans together, and attached the grains with grass to make something.
But I wondered if this would really work.
Of course I trusted Scholar-nim… and followed his every word obediently.
I made this clumsy-looking bean bracelet and went to find him in the middle of the night, handing it over.
Then, Scholar-nim examined the bracelet and suddenly pulled a talisman from his saddlebag and stuck it on.
“Nim, wear this on your ankle. More precisely, somewhere the yokai’s gaze cannot reach.”
“Eh?”
“This will keep you safe.”
“But… then what will you do, Scholar-nim…?”
“I already have the bracelet you gave me.”
As he said this, Scholar-nim lifted the bean bracelet and smiled gently.
Even though it was a bracelet with no real power, Scholar-nim treated it as if it were a miraculous object.
It made me ashamed of myself for having made it.
And the days passed once again.
During that time, the village did not change much, and Scholar-nim continued to act as if he had been bewitched by the yokai.
He would climb the mountain and gather herbs and wood, or ask me to make bean soup.
I wondered what he was trying to do.
After some time… it became the sixth night.
That night, before entering the room, Scholar-nim said,
“Tonight, no matter what happens, do not leave the room. And definitely wear the talisman bracelet I gave you. Pretend to be asleep.”
“I understand…”
“And… tomorrow morning, when you are alone, open this pouch.”
A sense of unease crept over me.
Before I knew it, the house felt icy, and somewhere a crow’s cry echoed.
Even the village, which had been lively for a little while, was now extremely quiet.
That day, Scholar-nim had gone to sleep early.
Soon I heard his gentle, rhythmic breathing.
Despite Scholar-nim’s warning, I could not fall asleep.
And… I heard it.
Creak… creak…
“Scholar-nim, are you asleep?”
The yokai was approaching Scholar-nim’s room.
A chill ran down my spine.
The shadow cast by the candle was not the shape of Patji-nim.
It was taller, uglier, and twisted in a grotesque way.
The yokai had revealed its true form to devour Scholar-nim.
I bit my lip in terror, and the yokai slowly passed in front of my room.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“…”
“Kongji, are you awake? I have something to say.”
I quickly clutched the bean bracelet and pouch Scholar-nim had given me and turned, sliding under the blanket.
Soon the door opened… and through the gap, I saw the long tongue of the yokai slither inside.
“Shiiiiik. Shiiiiik. Are you awake? Disgusting girl.”
“…”
“You insolent wretch. The girl who thinks she can fly on the grand sky. It won’t be long before I eat you. A wise scholar’s liver, surely my stomach can digest it too.”
“…”
“So wait. Hehehehe.”
The yokai muttered something I could not understand and left the room, then entered Scholar-nim’s.
I had no idea what happened that night in Scholar-nim’s room.
Somehow, with fear gripping me, I held the talisman bracelet close to my face… and gradually, some cool and blue aura steadied my mind.
When I finally woke up…
“…”
“Hah…!”
Scholar-nim’s room was filled with the stench of blood.
There was no sign of Scholar-nim, only a room drenched in blood.
Even as I sat up in terror without meaning to, my stepmother approached with an emotionless voice.
“You are to finish all your chores before attending today’s welcoming banquet for the new magistrate. Weave the cloth and crush the outer skin. Do not even think of coming home before you finish.”
“…”
“Mother, where is Patji-nim?”
“She went up the mountain for a short while.”
The mountain…
After she had devoured Scholar-nim, she had gone to deal with the remains.
I answered as calmly as I could, using the fact that the scary yokai was no longer near me as comfort.
After my mother left, I collapsed onto the floor.
“Waaaaah! Scholar-nim…”
Scholar-nim had been eaten by the yokai after all.
I could not hold back my grief.
I had been weak and fearful, so I had not intervened in yesterday’s tragedy.
Thus I could only sob loudly without thinking of the chores my mother had left.
Then, I remembered the pouch Scholar-nim had left behind.
The pouch he had told me to open tomorrow morning when I was alone.
Inside it…
There was a single note.
“Go to the banquet. Lure the yokai. Somewhere all eyes will be on you, visible from the mountain cliff.”
“…”
This meant…
I unconsciously looked toward the mountain Scholar-nim and the yokai had often gone to.
By chance, the open cliff there faced the magistrate’s office where the banquet was being held.
I headed to Scholar-nim’s blood-soaked room and discovered something strange.
“This is… not blood…?”
Closer inspection showed it was something similar to blood, mixed with bean water and grass. The stinky smell I had thought was blood was actually the scent of a strong-smelling wood burned.
It was so pungent that my nose went numb.
Could it be…
I could not suppress the pounding of my heart as I searched Scholar-nim’s saddlebag… and found…
“…”
Nothing.
I noticed the bow and arrows Scholar-nim had carried on his back were gone.
Realizing this, I abandoned everything and ran wildly toward the office where the banquet was being held.
Even though my lungs burned and one of the flower shoes my father had given me slipped off.
I kept running.
The welcoming banquet for the new magistrate was… not what one would call a banquet.
“Hooray! Here we go!”
The office was filled with villagers swaying to the yokai’s grotesque tune.
Among the villagers, the yokai’s mouth was stained with blood, and beside it lay the unconscious Satto-nim.
If we had been a little later, that yokai would have eaten Satto-nim too.
I was terrified.
The kind villagers and my overbearing stepmother had all been bewitched, leaving only me sane.
But now…
I believed the words written on the paper and stepped forward with more courage than ever.
“Huh? Kongji? Why are you here?”
The yokai, who had been dancing inside the building, noticed me and approached.
No longer hiding its true form.
It appeared with the same grotesque shape as yesterday, scratching its belly, and grabbed my head with a brutal hand.
“Probably my sister sent you here, why are you here?”
“I… finished everything…”
“Eh? ……Fuhahaha!!”
The yokai began laughing at me endlessly, and the villagers joined in, pointing and laughing at me.
In the situation where everyone was insulting and mocking me, and the yokai was grabbing my head… I loosened the lacing of my jeogori.
Then, raising my arms toward the sky, I shook the lacing wildly.
…It had been stained red from wandering Scholar-nim’s room, a brilliant red far visible even from the distant mountain.
And.
“——————!!!”
There was a sound like wind splitting.
“—Krrngh.”
Somehow, an arrow had lodged into the center of the yokai’s forehead.
Boom!
With a single arrow.
The yokai died instantly.
And in that moment, as the one who had bewitched the villagers and my stepmother died, they all returned to normal.
“Eh…? Here… Uwaaaah!”
“The yokai, the yokai!!”
“Ugh… My head… Kongji…?”
Seeing the villagers and my stepmother return to normal, I could not contain my joy.
I wanted to ask if they were all right and hug my stepmother, saying she must have suffered a lot.
But more than that, there was something I wanted to do.
“Kongji? Kongji! Where are you going! What is going on right now…!”
“Step-mother, I will tell you at home. Right now, I must visit someone.”
I spoke more firmly to my stepmother than ever, then headed straight home.
And halfway there, I stopped abruptly.
From far away, a person was walking toward me.
A scholar in a white dopo fluttering, wearing the heungnip, was approaching.
In his hand was a bow and… the bean bracelet I had made.
In the other hand, he held the flower shoe I had lost.
“Over here, beautiful lady. I picked up one flower shoe along the way… and it just so happens you don’t have a pair either. Would you like to try it on?”
Though surprised by the sudden situation, I nodded with a blushing face.
Since it was my flower shoe, my foot slipped in softly.
And…
“Thank you. You must have been very scared. Now everything is…”
“Thank you, Scholar-nim…”
“Waaaaah.”
Thud.
Without meaning to, my emotions surged as I threw myself at Scholar-nim, and he, unprepared, collapsed.
And I ended up on top of him…
“Kongji-nim. Your strength is stronger than I expected. And… you are quite bold.”
“Eh? Kyaaaaah!”
Only then did I realize I had lured the yokai by loosening the lacing and covered myself.
You naughty scholar…
But thanks to Scholar-nim’s teasing, I could finally relax the tension that had gripped me, and I fell asleep without realizing it.
When I woke again…
I was lying in my own room.
“Are you awake, Kongji-nim?”
And Scholar-nim was looking down at me with the same gentle smile as always.