Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Chaga'an and the Fairy-Seeing Puppy
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“If you get scared, they’ll know.”
At Narang’s words, Yeonwoo quietly looked at the horse.
Mongolian horses were definitely small.
The average height of a Mongolian horse was about 127cm to 140cm, and this one was about the same height as Yeonwoo.
The small but incredibly sturdy horse quietly gazed at Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo stroked the horse’s head, which had big, clear eyes, and said,
“I’m not scared.”
Yeonwoo said that and tried to climb onto the horse’s back. It wasn’t as easy as he thought.
“The big brothers will help you.”
“Ah.”
Yeonwoo turned around.
The two young tribesmen who had come with him were smiling at Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo bowed his head politely to them.
“Thank you.”
With the young men’s help, Yeonwoo climbed onto the horse.
Yeonwoo wanted to grab the reins and gallop off right away, but his brothers wouldn’t hand them over.
“You don’t know how to handle a horse yet, so... what’s Жолоо in Korean? That big brother’s holding it. What’s it called? Oh, the reins? Yeah, we can’t just give you the reins. You never know what the horse might do.”
“Yeah, I see.”
Yeonwoo said that, gripped something like a handle on the saddle, and looked around.
Even on a small horse, being up on its back changed his view completely.
“What must Genghis Khan have felt like?”
Narang burst out laughing at Yeonwoo’s words.
“The Great Khan probably didn’t have time to feel anything?”
“Huh?”
“He was too busy conquering the world.”
Yeonwoo nodded, thinking, yeah, that makes sense.
“Let’s go slowly.”
Narang said that, mounted her own horse, and took the lead. One young man held Yeonwoo’s reins and walked slowly forward. Another young man rode behind them.
“How is it?”
“It’s amazing.”
Me, riding a horse.
Yeonwoo was simply amazed.
“Where does this path lead?”
“To Bolkan oppa’s ger next door.”
“Really? How long will it take?”
“At this pace, about thirty minutes?”
Yeonwoo nodded and silently let the horse carry him along.
After about ten minutes, his butt started to feel a little sore.
Still, somehow, he was starting to get a feel for the horse’s rhythm.
“Can I try holding the reins?”
“Hmm... You don’t seem scared. [Oppa, let him hold the reins.]”
“[You think it’s okay?]”
“[He won’t get hurt. I’ll stick right next to him.]”
“Yeah.”
Yeonwoo took the reins in his hands. His heart started pounding wildly.
Not from fear, but excitement.
“The word to go is ‘chu,’ stop is ‘ju,’ right is ‘bar,’ left is ‘tsuun,’ gallop is ‘gish,’ slow is ‘alhu’... um, and the most important one! To say ‘please stop, stop right now!!’ you say ‘jogus.’”
“Okay.”
“Okay? You memorized all that?”
“I’m good at memorizing.”
“Even so...”
Yeonwoo just smiled.
How could he explain that he never forgot anything he heard from Narang?
Yeonwoo tried the most useful command for now first.
“Ju! Ju!”
After repeating it a few times, the horse stopped.
“When you do that, pull back lightly on the reins too. It listens better.”
“What about when you want to go?”
“Shake the reins like you’re whipping it. Shake lightly to say ‘let’s go,’ and keep doing it to make it go faster.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Yeonwoo shook the reins and said “chu.” The horse, understanding right away, started walking again.
How long had they gone like that?
Yeonwoo thought riding a horse was easier than he expected.
‘No, are you just smart?’
Then it hit him—maybe it wasn’t him being good at it, but the horse being smart.
Like it was being considerate so the rider wouldn’t get hurt?
When Yeonwoo said the horse seemed smart, Narang replied,
“You’re right. She’s incredibly smart. Her foals are smart too. She’s my dad’s favorite.”
“What’s her name?”
“Chaga’an. It means ‘white.’”
“Chaga’an, you’re such a good girl.”
Yeonwoo called her name and stroked her head. She snorted, “prrr,” almost like she was answering.
“Alright, shall we try going a little faster?”
When Yeonwoo shouted “gish,” Chaga’an gradually picked up speed. The clever Chaga’an matched the pace of Narang and the young man’s horses running alongside her and didn’t bolt suddenly.
“Keep your mouth shut! You might bite your tongue!”
“Okay!”
Yeonwoo nodded, and atop the shaking horse, he felt his chest swelling with grandeur.
‘Genghis Khan must have felt like this.’
At least in that moment of riding, Mongolia’s great hero must have felt the same as Yeonwoo.
Possessed by Genghis Khan(?), Yeonwoo arrived at the young man’s ger and dismounted to rest for a bit.
Just then, sheep started gathering around the ger.
Yeonwoo looked at them curiously.
“The sheep aren’t running far away?”
“They know if they stray from here, they’ll freeze or get eaten.”
“Ah.”
Wolves were still around here.
Yeonwoo nodded, then suddenly widened his eyes.
“N-Narang, isn’t that a wolf over there?”
“Huh? Oh, hahaha, no, that’s not a wolf. It’s a dog.”
“A d-dog?”
Yeonwoo stared at the black wolf(?) running from afar.
Looking closely, it definitely wasn’t a wolf. It was a massive dog.
A massive dog that could probably carry Yeonwoo around.
“Her name’s Bankhar. She’s on the smaller side.”
“That’s small?”
Yeonwoo stared in utter disbelief, and Narang laughed as she said something to the young man.
The young man chuckled too, then went somewhere and brought back another dog.
“Wow...”
“The one from earlier guards the sheep or patrols. This one protects us from wolves.”
Yeonwoo looked at the massive dog, Bankhar. The Bankhar looking back at him had black and yellow fur.
Maybe because it grew up in the mountains, its fur was so fluffy it sometimes looked like a wolf, sometimes like a black lion.
“Can I pet her?”
“You can’t just touch her right away. She’s loyal, but wary too.”
As she said that, the young man—maybe sensing the situation—approached Yeonwoo, stroked his head, and picked him up.
Yeonwoo was startled for a moment but went along with it.
Then the young man brought Bankhar over and sat her in front of Yeonwoo.
“Act like friends now, and she’ll be fine. If the owner’s friendly, she picks up on it.”
“I see.”
Yeonwoo nodded and extended his hand to Bankhar.
Just like on TV, he pressed the back of his hand to her nose to let her memorize his scent. Bankhar brought her head to Yeonwoo’s hand on her own.
Yeonwoo stroked her. The texture was rough, but also soft.
“You’re so cool.”
Yeonwoo gazed at the majestic Bankhar with sparkling eyes.
The young man said something upon seeing Yeonwoo like that. Narang had a surprised conversation with him, then turned to Yeonwoo.
“Oppa says this one just had puppies not long ago. Wanna go see them?”
“Yeah! I wanna see. But Narang, why are you surprised?”
At Yeonwoo’s question, Narang said,
“Bankhars usually only have puppies in the cold winter. But she had them at this time of year.”
“I see.”
Yeonwoo wondered what was surprising about that, but Bankhars really only gave birth in winter.
“But they’re not from our village. He didn’t know.”
“They were keeping it quiet because it felt ominous.”
Bankhars guarded the home by day and chased away evil spirits by night—they even had religious significance.
So when a Bankhar gave birth out of season, they hid it just in case.
Amid that, Yeonwoo’s eyes went wide. A blue fairy had appeared out of nowhere, swimming through the air.
Where did it come from?
Then a sound reached Yeonwoo’s ears.
Whine, whine.
Anyone could tell it was a puppy crying.
Drawn by the sound, Yeonwoo took the lead and walked toward it.
The sound came from behind the ger. There was a single puppy.
By Yeonwoo’s standards, it was huge for a puppy, but considering the full-grown Bankhar, this seemed right for a pup.
“No way... why...”
Yeonwoo was shocked too.
Two or three blue fairies were flying around the small, cute puppy.
Even more shocking, the puppy was whining at the fairies, jumping up as if trying to catch them.
After a moment.
The baby Bankhar looked at Yeonwoo.
She seemed to look right at Yeonwoo and the colorful fairies flying around him, then trotted over to him.
She sniffed at his toes, then immediately rolled over and exposed her belly.
The young man following behind was shocked and said,
“[What’s wrong with that one?]”
“[Why?]”
“[Other than her mom, she never acts that friendly with her dad or the owner. She never shows her belly. If you force that little thing over, she freaks out.]”
Bankhars were famous for their extraordinary loyalty to their owners.
One rejecting people?
“[Not only born in summer, but her behavior’s not like a normal Bankhar either.]”
Her birth was unusual, but so was her behavior.
The key was that this Bankhar pup was showing her belly and acting cute to a famous musician from the Solongo’s country whom she’d never seen before.
“Oppa’s amazed because this pup never obeys anyone but her mom—not even her dad or the owner. But weirdly, she’s showing her belly to you.”
At those words, Yeonwoo glanced at Narang, then at the Bankhar pup.
The pup was staring at Yeonwoo with bright, sparkling eyes.
Come to think of it, the fairies flying around her weren’t ordinary either.
All the hovering fairies were in puppy shapes.
‘You’re a really special puppy, huh?’
A puppy with blue fairies following her.
Suddenly, he recalled what he’d said to Narang on the way.
Like other Bankhars, this one was a mix of black and yellow, with a pair of yellow spots above her eyes.
Mongolians said those two spots let them see spirits.
Maybe this one could see fairies with those spots?
It seemed right.
Being able to see blue fairies meant...
Yeonwoo pulled out his phone from his pocket and played one of the many samples he’d composed.
It was the one he made while coming here, inspired by the草原.
As the melody flowed out and blue fairies began to spawn, the pup perked up her ears and lifted her head to watch them.
And...
Awoooo!
She let out a cute, puppy-like howl, responding to the song.
Seeing her, Yeonwoo smiled without realizing it, then called the fairies over and gathered them by the pup.
Bankhar sniffed at the fairies’ scent and licked with her tongue.
The fairies recoiled and flew off, and Bankhar howled again.
Yeonwoo, now sitting in front of her, stroked her head.
Bankhar closed her eyes as if savoring his touch, then grinned wide and burrowed into his arms.
‘The only one in this world...’
A living being who could see fairies like him.
Yeonwoo felt a strong pull of fate toward this one-of-a-kind existence in the world.