First Snow, and the Hearth — 3
"But I don't want to go anywhere!"
Bang Seongeun had been invited to join the tour bus trip to the sheep ranch at Daegwallyeong Pass, but she couldn't leave Songji behind all alone.
Songji hates crowded places.
No matter how happily the two of them played by themselves, the moment anyone else appeared, Songji would dart into the closet or hide inside the sink cabinet.
"The whole village is emptying out. Aren't you scared staying home by yourself? All the grown-ups are going, and what if something happens?"
"That's right, Seongeun-ah. It's been so long since our family went anywhere together. Don't dig in your heels — come on out."
Bang Jeongsoo coaxed her gently, but Seongeun just burst into tears and hid herself in the closet.
"No! I said no!"
"This is a mess. We can't leave Seongeun behind and go sightseeing, but we can't skip the trip either — the whole village's elders are going."
Bang Jeongsoo sighed in frustration.
"I called Yoonho, and he said he'll be right over. She won't listen to us, but she'll listen to him."
At Han Mija's words, Bang Jeongsoo let out a faint sigh of relief.
"Let's hope so."
Just then.
"Hello, Seonghyun's father and mother."
I smiled and greeted Bang Jeongsoo and Han Mija, then cast a quick look around the house.
Bang Seonghyun, standing at the edge of the wooden floor, gave a small bow and spoke up.
"Uncle, my little sister says she doesn't want to go on the trip... I think I should stay behind and look after her."
"No, you won't. You're riding with your father and mother."
I shot Seonghyun a pointed glance — go with your parents — then turned to Mija.
"I'll talk Seongeun around and bring her along myself. We'll be right there, so don't worry."
Mija and I had already settled everything over the phone.
"Th-then, we're in your hands."
Watching everyone file out the gate to board the tour bus, leaving Seongeun behind, I stepped briskly up onto the wooden floor.
"Number One, let's begin."
[Got it!]
In an instant, Number One slipped out of his possessed body, became black smoke, and swelled in size.
Now, get inside Seongeun.
[Uuugh! I hate parasitic spirits... but b-because you command it, Master, I'll do it.]
Number One seeped smoothly through the gap in the closet doors.
A moment of loud clattering and thumping — then suddenly, bang! The closet doors swung open.
"Seongeun-ah."
Seongeun's body crumpled as if collapsing, and I caught her in my arms.
There we go. She's asleep.
Number One had the power to gift people nightmares — but putting the target to sleep had to come first.
Sleep now. By the time you wake, everything bad clinging to your body will be gone.
From the depths of Seongeun's unconscious, the spirits parasitizing her body squirmed loose one after another, gathering into the shape of a person — a small figure the size of an elementary schooler.
It became a little girl in a pink t-shirt and navy pants. Of course, her arms, her legs, every part of her body was made of different spirits clumped together.
You'll follow me, won't you? Come on — let's go on the outing.
After murmuring to the parasitic spirit in my heart, I gave Number One his order.
Wake Seongeun and have her walk.
[Got it.]
Seongeun rose smoothly to her feet. Her eyes opened slowly, but they wouldn't focus.
Right now, in her dream, she was probably playing hide-and-seek with Songji.
I picked a hat off the floor — Seongeun's, apparently — and set it on her head.
Looking at her like this, she's like a mischievous middle schooler.
When I guided Seongeun out the gate, I could see the tour bus parked in front of the village hall.
The elders were already climbing aboard, their laughter and chatter carrying all the way over.
The parasitic spirit, dispersed into water droplets, trailed along behind me.
Everything's going according to plan.
"Why does Seongeun sleep so much?"
Mrs. Han Su-ja glanced back with a worried look, and Mija answered.
"She took motion sickness pills. Honestly, I'd rather she sleep than suffer. This morning she kept insisting she wanted to stay home alone — you wouldn't believe the trouble we had."
"Is she at that age already? Still, if she wants to make friends, she ought to be going to school."
"Ahem!"
The village chief cut the conversation short with a loud clearing of his throat.
"Her own aunt worries about Seongeun more than anyone, so don't go offering lectures."
The word had already spread that the girl was in such poor health she couldn't even attend school, and everyone had been adding their two cents. Afraid the chatter might stress the child — or Mija — the chief shut it down flat.
"Let's just trust that Mija knows what she's doing. That's all we can do."
"It's not lecturing, it's genuine worry. She's my niece."
"She's not my niece, then? If you've got so much free time, worry about me for a change."
"Why on earth would I worry about you?"
"Because I'm your husband, that's why. I take you on a nice outing and this is what I get."
Lately, the village chief's marriage had hit a rough patch.
The Women's Association President of Ugok 2-ri kept provoking Mrs. Han Su-ja, trying to grind her down at every turn.
The problem was that Park Dae-hyung, chief of Ugok 1-ri, was the sort of man who felt not a shred of rivalry, no matter how well Ugok 2-ri was doing for itself.
"Ahem! Yoonho, young man — are we still far?"
"The ranch at Daegwallyeong isn't far at all, but I thought we'd take a short break first. I've packed lunch boxes, and the weather's fine, so please step out of the bus and stretch your legs."
"G-good weather, you say?"
The sky was heavy with clouds, and a cold wave warning had gone out just the night before.
Some parts of the country were forecast to see the season's first snow today, but as everyone knew, Gangwon weather was only ever certain once you got there — the forecasts missed more often than not.
The Taebaek range stood like a great wall across the province, so the slightest shift in the wind's direction could scatter clouds or summon them out of nowhere.
"I don't know what these lunch boxes are, but getting off the bus is a bit..."
The chief clearly had his heart set on finishing the ranch tour, then sitting down to a comfortable meal at the restaurant he assumed we'd reserved.
I understood the feeling perfectly — but not a single thing could be allowed to deviate from the plan I'd laid out.
"The lunch boxes are pig's trotters with salted shrimp and lettuce wraps. If we ate them on the bus, the smell would be a problem — the driver already said no. And I made our restaurant reservation for four o'clock, so if nobody eats before then, some of our elders are going to keel over."
"You reserved for f-four? No, but why—"
Mrs. Han Su-ja cut the chief off before he could finish.
"What are you nitpicking for? It's what our treasurer decided. Isn't that right, Yoonho young man?"
That's right. I had taken the post of treasurer — the position directly beneath the president of the Ugok 1-ri Women's Association.
You could ask what a grown man is doing as treasurer of the women's association — but a job's a job.
The fact was, the association president trusted me.
"It's thanks to Yoonho young man that we get to come out this far at all, so it's a yes from me no matter what. So you just eat what you're given and do as you're told, honey. A young man worked hard to put all this together. Isn't that right, Yoonho young man?"
"The association president is the best, as always."
When I answered without a moment's hesitation, the chief shot me a sour sidelong look.
From the glint in his eye, I'd be getting a proper dressing-down in private tomorrow.
"Everyone off! Off you go!"
The bus, cruising along the road where the accident had happened years ago, pulled to a stop at the drowsy-driver rest stop I had chosen.
A four-lane national highway. Five hundred meters ahead, a tunnel.
A perfectly unremarkable stretch of Gangwon road.
Nowadays the nearby expressway has siphoned off most of the traffic, but back then, cars tore down this road at full speed.
This was where a drunk driver had crossed the center line and slammed into an oil tanker, causing a catastrophic pileup.
The drunk driver was a couple in their twenties who had spent all night drinking in Gangneung before heading back to Seoul.
They ended their own lives that night — and sacrificed a busload of young ones to do it. They'd be paying for it in the world beyond, surely.
Burn for it, all of you. Every last drunk driver out there.
Mrs. Han Su-ja lifted the mood.
"Did you all hear? Our Yoonho young man went all the way to the township, bought a whole pig's leg, and boiled it himself. Everyone hop off, have a cup of makgeolli, and rest a spell before we go on."
"Boiled a pig's leg himself? Honestly, is there anything that boy can't do?"
Grandpa Hosik helped Grandma Mak-sun down from the bus.
As the driver hauled the cooler box of trotters, sauces, and lettuce out of the luggage compartment, Mrs. Han Su-ja and Mija began setting out the food.
"Aigoo, it's cold. Freezing my fingers off so I can eat pig's trotters."
"Still, it'll taste good. Ooh, look at that steam rolling off it."
"That's right — smells rich and savory too."
The elders gathered around the trotter spread, wooden chopsticks in hand.
Number One, wake Seongeun and have her follow us.
[Got it.]
Seongeun stood up, still asleep.
Supporting her by the arm as if steadying her, I spoke to Mija.
"Seongeun and I are going to take a little walk. She woke up feeling sick to her stomach."
"Should I come?"
When Seonghyun started to follow, Mija stopped him.
"Seonghyun-ah, help your mother."
I gave Mija a nod, then walked toward the accident site.
Mija probably thinks I talked Seongeun around and persuaded her to come along...
Seongeun had left the house and had not woken once since — deep, deep asleep.
Behind her, the parasitic spirits drifted along like fragments bobbing on water, scattered in pieces.
An upper half here, a lower half there. Arms, legs, even a head of its own.
But one part never changed: the face.
Seeing the parasitic spirit's face — identical to Seongeun's — made it clearer than ever.
The parasitic spirit that has seized control of Seongeun's consciousness lives in her face.
Unlike the lesser spirits infesting the rest of her body, the mightiest one — the strongest in both power and strength — clung to the child's face.
Was it here? The accident site map... yes, this is it!
I replayed the accident in my mind.
The tanker rammed the ski camp bus from behind, and the bus sheared along the guardrail and tipped over onto its side.
Boom!
I could see the crash unfolding before my eyes.
The tanker exploding at its rear, the spilling fuel catching fire and leaping onto the bus.
Horrible.
I laid a hand over Seongeun's face and began reciting the victims' names, the ones I'd found through my search.
"Kim Joo-ah, Park Eun-ji, Song Da-mi, Kim Si-eun, Lee Sung-jun, Choi Songji..."
The moment the name Choi Songji left my lips, Seongeun's eyelids flew open. Her black pupils rolled back, leaving only the whites of her eyes.
Sssrrk!
A prickling chill shot from the base of my spine to the crown of my head, like an arrow of ice crystal slamming into my back.
I turned slowly — and on the road, a child's spirit with no face rose to its feet.
"So you're Songji."
The fragment of Choi Songji that had become an earthbound spirit.
And the parasitic spirit that had split away from Songji's soul.
The parasitic spirit, which had been clinging to Seongeun's face, writhed as its true body drew near.
[The parasitic spirit realized who it is.]
Number One spoke in a trembling voice — then released his power.
Pushed hard from within Seongeun's body, the skin of her face rippled and squirmed with a sound like something crawling beneath it.
Then the parasitic spirit peeled away like a mask.
The mask, identical to Seongeun's face, twisted as it searched for its original shape — then smacked itself onto the earthbound spirit.
And there, at last, it became a complete little girl, about ten years old.
"You're... you're really Choi Songji."
[Mommy... where are you? Where is this? Please take me home.]
Her true self — dead alongside so many other children, bound to this stretch of asphalt as an earthbound spirit.
And the fragment that, not even knowing who she was, had become a parasitic spirit and clung to her best friend's face.
Now the scattered pieces of her soul had gathered and reclaimed her original self, and Choi Songji wept and begged.
[I want to see my mommy.]
It's all right. I'll take you to your mother.
I stepped up to Songji, swept her up into my arms, and set her down gently behind my back.
In that instant, a brilliant light poured down, and Songji was drawn up into the beyond.
"Your mother passed away in an accident a year after losing you. That's what I found when I looked into it. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
It was the regret of the living.
That no more families would be torn apart, no more children sacrificed, to drunk drivers — please, let it end here.
"Do you think your mother is waiting for you on the other side? I hope so. I truly hope so."
As Songji vanished into the beyond, the other parasitic spirits scattered like water droplets, drifting and clumping together across the road.
It seemed they too were searching for the true bodies they had lost, just as Songji had found hers.
Oooo, oooo. The wind moaned over the road, sounding for all the world like children sobbing.
My heart ached.
"How lonely and frightened you've all been. Come on — let's go home, kids."
Murmuring to the scattered souls drifting across the asphalt, I gave Number One his command.
"Number One. You have to find every remaining child's true name — all of them."