At Least Double — 14
People see more ghosts at night than they do in daylight.
The same goes for stormy days over clear ones — the kind of days when thunder rolls and lightning splits the sky.
That's because human fear itself becomes fuel for ghosts and evil spirits. That much, I already knew.
But according to Abe, who had studied the sorcery of Japanese onmyoji, it was negative yin energy that made spirits so much more active on days like this.
[On days when the yin energy runs strong, as it does today, the conditions become ideal for anything carrying spectral energy to move about.]
Abe said this as he led me down toward the lower reaches of the valley.
[Things that normally lie hidden draw power from the yin, revealing themselves and running wild. Banishing such creatures through the power of sorcery, rather than brute strength — that will be today's lesson.]
Ever since he'd agreed to become my teacher, Abe had finally begun my first lesson today.
We hadn't planned it in advance. He'd simply decided the weather was perfect for working with yin energy and marched me off to the valley.
[Keep your eyes on the surface of the water and do not look away. We shall begin.]
What could possibly be in the water?
In our village, spirits dwelling in objects and ghosts born of the dead had either gone into hiding or migrated away entirely — mostly because if Spirit No. 1 caught them, they'd end up as a meal.
And on top of that, if they so much as caught my eye, they'd be forcibly relocated to the afterlife.
I just have to look at the water?
[Yes. I will show you what Cho Eun-sun intends to make use of.]
Abe pressed his index and middle fingers to his lips and began to chant.
Wooong, wooong, wooong.
A sound like an old folk song playing at quarter speed hummed out from between his lips. Then motes of light sprang into being like fireflies and swept across the surface of the water.
"Ugh!"
The valley water, which had been nothing but a sheet of black until now, turned translucent and bright.
And drifting downstream, floating in perfectly straight rows, were spirits.
All of them different. One with tree roots hanging from its head like hair, one shaped like an animal, and ghosts in the form of humans.
They all floated past in postures of watching me — or so it seemed. Probably trying their best not to catch my attention.
[You see? Every last one of them has its eyes fixed upon you, Master.]
"Yeah, that's... kind of creepy."
I wasn't paying them the slightest bit of mind — but clearly, they were.
They must have been tracking my every move, doing everything they could to slip past me unnoticed.
[They are incapable of harming you in any way. They are, after all, beings of trivial spiritual power. But Cho Eun-sun can turn such things into monsters.]
Abe pressed his fingers to his lips once more, chanted, then pointed at the water.
Fwoosh! Blue flame spat from his fingertip.
One of the spirits that had been trying to sneak past me downstream jerked upright, snared in his sorcery.
It looked like the spirit of a raccoon dog strangled in a snare. But under Abe's spell it swelled to the height of a man, transformed into a snarling, monstrous thing.
[Cho Eun-sun will make use of not only the malicious ghosts, but harmless spirits like this one as well. Let me teach you how to counter such things with spells and talismans.]
Abe took my hand and traced a talisman onto my palm.
Golden characters etched themselves into my skin, became a translucent talisman, and shot through the air to strike the raccoon dog spirit.
[Keeeeek!]
The monstrous raccoon shrank back to its original size and plunged into the water with a splash.
Whoa, that's impressive.
[It is a spell that gathers and governs the energies of yin and yang both. With your exceptional spiritual power, Master, you will learn it in no time.]
I immediately tried the spell myself, exactly as Abe had just done — copying the movements precisely as I'd seen them.
My fingertips grew hot, and blue light burst forth just as it had from Abe's hand — slamming into the surface of the water.
[Uuuuu! Uuuuuu!]
[Aaaiiieeee.]
[Aooooooo!]
Apparently I'd botched the power control. Every spirit and ghost that had been drifting downstream to avoid me jolted upright all at once.
"Ohhh."
And they were hideous. A wild boar, a rabbit, even a ghost of a Chinese soldier — all of them shambling around grotesquely, dark and mangled like zombies.
[Dispatch them. If they flee, there will be trouble.]
"Got it."
I traced a talisman onto my palm just as Abe had and flung it out. Again, nothing more than an imitation of what I'd watched seconds ago.
Fwah-fwah-fwah!
It actually worked?
Talismans took shape and struck the transformed spirits, knocking them back into their original forms one by one.
KRAKOOM!
A lightning bolt struck nearby, setting fire to the zelkova tree standing in the middle of Grandfather Sang-jong's field.
"Whoa! First time I've ever seen a tree get struck by lightning."
[That is a good omen. Your sorcery has sent the yin energy surging into greater turmoil, Master. You have a rare talent as an onmyoji as well.]
Abe, thoroughly worked up now, moved on to teaching me another spell.
It seemed sleeping tonight was out of the question.
Well, it is fun, though.
"Everyone, line up! Carve a seal from a lightning-struck tree and your family prospers for three generations!"
From early in the morning, the villagers came flocking to Grandfather Sang-jong's field.
Word was that carrying a piece of a lightning-struck tree warded off misfortune and brought good luck.
"A jujube tree would've been even better, but still — look at this thing."
"It's amazing it caught fire from the bolt and went right back out, isn't it?"
"The rain put it out. What's so amazing about that?"
"No, no — it went through all that and the tree didn't even burn!"
The way I saw it, the lightning had raced along the surface of the trunk and been partially absorbed, deflecting the worst of the strike. Only Abe and I had witnessed that part, though.
The villagers all chimed in, one after another — the tree had to be saved, it should be enshrined as a sacred tree, they should rope it off and build a shrine around it, and so on.
"Yunho, my son, I'd love to get my hands on one of those pieces too."
"You too, Mom?"
"Mm-hm. Next year's my third curse year, so I was thinking of carrying it around on my wrist."
Through the eyes of a transcendent medium like her son, there wasn't a shadow of misfortune anywhere near my mother.
But there is such a thing as the placebo effect.
If carrying a piece of lightning-struck wood put her mind at ease, then as her son, I had to get her one somehow.
"Look around the village with Dad. I'll get one for you."
"Thank you, sweetheart."
I went straight over and joined the line of people hoping to snag a piece of wood. Apparently Grandfather Sang-jong had noticed me do it.
"Hey there, young Yunho!"
He was waving me over.
"Yes, sir?"
"You there! Been keeping up with your shooting practice?"
Why was he asking that all of a sudden?
Ever since I'd gotten my permit, I'd left the gun at the police substation and hadn't been back for it once. He knew that as well as I did.
And yet —
"I set aside pieces for you and your parents ages ago. No need to stand in that line — go on and show your parents around."
"Oh! Sir... thank you so much."
"That's my line. You're the one who caught the thief that stripped my dure shoots every spring. Hahaha. Go on now — I'll bring them by your house later."
Grandfather Sang-jong gave my back a gentle push, telling me not to waste a minute of my parents' hard-earned visit to the countryside.
I thanked him again and again, then took my parents for a drive along the Pyeongcheong River.
"This place is wonderful, Yunho. Can your mom and dad come down often?"
"Of course."
At my answer, my father leaned in close and whispered in my ear.
"Don't you worry — I'll drag your mother off hiking so she can't come down here too often."
He seemed worried that I might feel burdened by their visits.
"Not at all. Mom's welcome anytime."
"Really?"
"Really. Come whenever you like — breathe the good air, eat the good food, heal up. It's no trouble for me at all."
The repair work on the empty houses would be finishing soon. If my parents wanted to stay long-term, I could lend them a whole house.
It wasn't as if they'd be suffering away in some strange, empty countryside — this was Ugok 1-ri, the village their son had a firm grip on.
They could come to a house I'd fully renovated, fish, hike, and live it up to their hearts' content.
When I finished explaining, my mother and father clasped each other's hands and spoke in deeply moved voices.
"Honey, I felt it yesterday too, but I think we really did raise one fine son."
"Raise him? Yunho grew up just fine all on his own."
My father patted my shoulder.
"Yunho, thank you! Honestly, your dad and mom are going to have such a happy retirement thanks to you."
And then —
After lunch at a famous spot along the Pyeongcheong River and a cup of coffee, the two of them grew restless.
"I've got a badminton meetup tomorrow."
"And I promised my club I'd go to an exhibition."
My parents had spent their whole working lives as civil servants in Seoul, and all their friends lived there — all of them retired, too. So they had social commitments every single day. There was never a dull moment for them.
Coming down to our village was probably just them showing they cared. Haha.
Still, it seemed their feet wouldn't leave easily with their son behind.
After loading the lightning-struck wood Grandfather Sang-jong had given her into the car, my mother pulled me into a tight hug.
"I know you're living well, but still — answer your mother's phone calls, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am! I'll make sure you never come sprinting down here in a panic because I didn't pick up."
My father laughed.
"I swapped numbers with the village head, you know. We agreed to keep in touch, so you won't have any stress about missing our calls."
He opened the car door for my mother, then gave me a wink.
Didn't Dad handle that well? — that was the look. I gave him a subtle thumbs-up.
Best dad ever!
Always, without fail, he'd been on my side — my father.
"Stay healthy. And keep taking your lion's mane mushroom brew."
"What's a father for, if his son says it for him? You came down here because you were ill, didn't you? If you go worrying about me, I'll only feel guilty."
His eyes reddened as he remembered the time when I'd been sick.
But then, worried that even that might weigh on me, he flashed me a bright smile and got into the car.
"Drive safe. Eat properly, you hear?"
"I will. Safe travels."
I waved until the car disappeared from view.
As always, having people come visit was a true joy.
And watching them head home after a good time? That made me very, extremely, tremendously happy.
"I suppose it's about time to send Min-seok's family off too?"
After the rain, the bean sprouts shot up fast.
Chai, Bang Jeongsoo, and I were out in the fields every day for the second round of pruning.
The sun had grown noticeably fierce, and even my forearms — pale by nature and slow to tan — were turning brown.
I bought UV sleeves and fitted my hat with a sun brim as well.
I also made absolutely sure that Chai and Bang Jeongsoo put on sunscreen, UV sleeves, sun brims, and sunglasses before setting foot in the fields.
Our bodies are precious. And honestly, a farmer tanning himself black for the look of it? Not a great trade.
Every spare moment, I studied spells and talismans under Abe.
And then, at last!
The twelve kittens of Spirit No. 1 finished their vaccinations, and the neutering surgeries began.
The vet said he couldn't manage more than four surgeries a day, so we had to make the round trip to the animal hospital at the county seat across four whole days.
Twelve cats — so why four days instead of three, you ask?
Because Third Wife needed to be spayed too.
Once all fifteen surgeries were done and everyone was recovering, we ate dried pollock seaweed soup every day.
We'd desalt the pollock, crush it into nourishing food for the cats, and the humans got the scraps.
A few days later, Chai and I — who had essentially been squatting in the cat house — finally got our home back.
The twelve kittens were being sent off to live on their own.
[Master! I've got to position my kittens in the shape of the Haechi. That's the only way the village stays protected.]
Spirit No. 1, who had apparently already scouted out all the locations, led the way.
But then —
Why is that lying here?
At the first spot Spirit No. 1 had picked out, there was a stone worth a cool 1.9 billion won sitting on the ground.