Hook Hill
[Hook Hill]
It had been Harris’s choice.
When they dug into the records, it came up as the Battle of Samicheon.
The site lay on the left bank of Samicheon in Panbu-ri, Jangnam-myeon, Yeoncheon-gun, north of the Imjin River. It was a ridgeline position, rising to about two hundred meters above sea level and pressed right against the Military Demarcation Line. Because the terrain curved like a hook, the British veterans had called it Hook Hill.
When people thought of hill battles, Punchbowl and White Horse Hill came first to mind. They had become synonymous with close-quarters combat. But the fighting on Hook Hill had been no less fierce: after four brutal assaults by Chinese forces, the American and British Commonwealth troops held the position and, by doing so, helped secure most of Yeoncheon-gun as Korean territory.
[The Samicheon Area]
And this was the very region in question.
The Hook Hill battle had been a great engagement that secured Jangnam-myeon, Baekhak-myeon, Misan-myeon, and Wangjing-myeon in Yeoncheon-gun, north of the Imjin River, as part of the Republic of Korea.
After the Black Watch, who had fought bitterly against Chinese troops in the second Hook Hill battle in early November 1952, withdrew to reserve, the Duke Regiment—gloriously tied to the Battle of Waterloo tradition of the Duke of Wellington—was deployed in mid-November.
Not only did the Duke endure countless provocations from Chinese forces, but they also had to survive the bitter winter. Then, beginning on May 28, 1953, they came under a full-scale Chinese offensive and launched a savage artillery duel followed by hand-to-hand trench fighting.
That day, after some fifty hours of shelling and bloody trench combat, they defeated the Chinese forces and held the hill. That battle was the Samicheon engagement.
Wellington had been Britain’s hero who brought Napoleon’s era to a close, so this felt like a choice made for maximum dramatic effect as well.
“Dharma Master Kang-to.”
As the landing dock receded into the distance, Harris called out to Kang-to.
“The team leader is looking for you.”
Lisa passed the message along. Kang-to had been in the cabin’s corner as usual, looking at a tablet.
“If I go out there, everyone’s going to get splashed with seawater.”
“Pardon?”
Lisa blinked in confusion.
“Is it all right if you throw that outfit away?”
“……”
“All right. Anyway, I warned you.”
Kang-to stood.
The team leader was standing between the old warhorse, Ian, and Samson. It was still the chilly beginning of spring, and yet there was warmth in the wind. Spring was a change no one could hide.
“That place over there, Chiluijae. The legend you explained on the island...”
The moment the team leader pointed toward the seven hills,
whoosh.
A wave rising from Kang-to’s side crashed over the documentary crew.
“Oh my.”
Lisa nearly jumped out of her skin. Kang-to’s warning had hit the mark.
Of course, they already knew about Kang-to’s spiritual abilities. During the three days of background filming, they had gotten a firsthand taste of his gongsu.
Over the course of that time, Kang-to had seen more than a hundred visitors. Even when they had randomly selected guests, hidden cameras, or staged public filming, his oracle messages had proven right every time.
In the end, they had volunteered to be the ones tested.
“I’ll do it...”
The volunteer was Dr. Ailie.
In her late thirties, she had opened a new frontier in genetic testing. She had taken part not only in world-class genetic research institutes, but even in NASA’s studies of alien genetic systems.
Genetic testing that normally took one to eight hours—using Ailie’s new method, both PCR and NGS-based sequence analysis could be brought down to astonishing precision and astonishing speed.
“Whenever I go somewhere cold, my lower abdomen hurts. I had a thorough exam, but it wasn’t anything like enteritis or IBS. Can this be resolved through shamanism too?”
Ailie’s English had a soft accent, which made it easy for Kang-to to understand.
“……”
Kang-to answered with silence.
“Is it a medical issue?”
“No. Though I do think you should have the camera put away.”
“Pardon?”
“The taejagwi doesn’t like cameras.”
“The taejagwi?”
“Will the camera be all right?”
“Yes.”
Ailie answered without hesitation. She was a highly successful scientist, so she regarded shamanism as little more than a mysterious talent.
“Take a handful of rice, then let it fall through your fingers.”
When Kang-to told her to do so, Ailie complied.
[Amelia]
The instant that single word appeared, Ailie’s mind let go.
“Dr. Ailie.”
Harris and Lisa, along with the others, all gasped.
“Just a moment.”
Kang-to stopped them. This was his territory, the lighthouse shrine. The subject had given permission, so he continued the attunement.
“Mom.”
From Kang-to’s voice came the faint sound of a baby.
Mom.
When it repeated a second time, Ailie opened her eyes. In them, she saw the shape of a small child.
“Amelia...”
Ailie straightened.
Cold.
“Amelia...”
Cold.
The spirit drifting in front of Ailie moved over to Kang-to’s side.
“It’s your daughter, isn’t it? The one who was never born?”
Kang-to asked. The tone of his voice had changed, and with it came a soft but piercing majesty that cut straight into the mind.
“Yes...”
“Look closely at the chest area.”
At Kang-to’s words, Ailie focused her gaze. There was nothing there. A hollow space, like a hole, had opened in the white body of the spirit.
“Why is the body empty?”
“……”
“That’s why the child is cold.”
“……”
“Dr. Ailie.”
“Yes.”
“The child dislikes ‘that place.’ So she keeps going back and forth between the universe where she belongs—her mother’s womb.”
“My God...”
“That’s why your abdomen hurts. It gets worse when you go somewhere cold.”
“Sob...”
Ailie lowered her head. Tears spilled down her cheeks, but no one moved to help her. Kang-to had not yet given the word.
“Baby... where is she?”
“Hoo.”
“……”
“I was four months pregnant when I lost her because I became absorbed in a new research project. So I asked the pathologist to return the heart, and I kept it in the lab’s cryogenic solution. I just couldn’t let her go—I wanted to keep her close, even like that...”
“Coming to you as your daughter was an extraordinary bond. But you’ve blocked that child’s river of reincarnation. Please let her go now. Only then can that baby be reborn into another life.”
“I understand.”
For a long time, Ailie could not stop crying. Along with that, she set aside the last trace of doubt or skepticism she had held toward Kang-to. Dr. Ailie had experienced him for herself, and it became the beginning of a special bond between them.
But then—
This was the sea.
It was one thing for an eye that could peer into human pasts and futures to exist; it was another thing altogether to think it could affect the vast, living ocean. No one had expected the waves themselves to be swayed.
“Charles.”
Harris called for the camera.
An additional round of filming began.
The stage was the sea.
Wherever Kang-to went, the waves followed.
Even stranger was the way the water behaved. It trailed after Kang-to, yet remained docile toward him; most of the spray struck everyone standing near him instead.
“Well, now...”
The seasoned veteran Ian gave a small shrug.
He was a veteran and living witness of the Monodrama program, which meant he had met world mysteries and extraordinary people countless times. But this was the first time he had seen someone who could summon waves and bring plants back to life with the brush of a hand.
“Hah.”
There was nothing but anticipation in Ian’s smile. He hadn’t come just to see what the waves could do.
An Eastern shaman who could make even the sea respond. British warriors who had died far from home on a battlefield in a foreign land. The hope that they might be able to deliver good news to their families was quietly, steadily taking root in him.
At the dock on the mainland, they bought a newspaper, and the reason was Yoo Jae-hee’s article.
[Hardened by hardship, Yoo Jae-hee returns to her roots and joins hands with director Hong Chan-woo.]
A photo showed the two of them standing together in mutual resolve. Yoo Jae-hee, who had received Kang-to’s oracle, must have gone straight to see Director Hong Chan-woo.
According to the article, Hong had refused at first. He had felt uneasy about an actor who had been fed on big-star popularity lowering herself to a smaller stage.
That was when Yoo Jae-hee played her trump card.
Zero appearance fee
She made an outrageous offer.
OK.
Director Hong accepted her. He did, however, attach a running guarantee as an option, which explained the 2 percent figure.
One percent had been Yoo Jae-hee’s request; the other percent had been added by Hong, and together they had sealed the deal.
Yoo Jae-hee had suffered public embarrassment after a complete flop, yet she was still one of the country’s top actresses. Her counterpart, meanwhile, was a nobody of a director, a byword for box-office disasters who could barely produce low-budget films. It was a pairing of two entirely different chemical compositions—perfect material for a gossip piece.
“Dharma Master Kang-to.”
Just after they finished lunch with cold noodles, Ailie spoke up.
“Go ahead.”
“I ate something cold, but my stomach hurts only a little. That’s thanks to you, isn’t it?”
“It’ll keep getting better.”
“It’s amazing. I trusted you and tried something cold, but I was still worried... Before, even ice cream...”
“Then while we’re at it, why don’t you try ice cream too?”
“Really? I do love ice cream.”
“I’ll treat you.”
They went into a coffee shop and chose ice cream. Dr. Ailie took a cautious bite, then pressed a hand to her stomach and promptly ate the entire thing.
“Wow.”
Even then, she looked down at her abdomen as if she still couldn’t believe it.
“Your mother’s feelings reached the spirit. If you follow my oracle exactly, you’ll be completely fine.”
“Thank you.”
While she was thanking him, Song Ji-na called.
“Kang-to, I heard BBC is there?”
“Yes.”
“It’s been a few days already, hasn’t it? Why didn’t you call?”
“I was planning to contact you after we found the remains.”
“What?”
“I’m not in the habit of getting ahead of myself.”
“That much I know by now, but...”
“I’m on my way inland now, heading for the battlefield.”
“The members are impressive, aren’t they?”
“They are. It’s truly a dream team.”
“I made a special request to Mitchell. If they were going to verify this, I told him to assemble the most authoritative experts they could. That way nobody would have anything to complain about afterward.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you? Aren’t you supposed to be resenting me?”
“For making it easy for me?”
“That’s how most people would take it.”
“That wouldn’t be your style, Grandma, and it’s not mine either.”
“I like that mindset. Call me the moment you get results.”
“Understood.”
By the time the call ended, Seoul was drawing near.
“The remains recovery team has just departed.”
Harris, in the passenger seat, turned around. Their group was riding in a vehicle fitted with special equipment.
Ailie’s genetic analysis gear was loaded there too. From bone identification to DNA testing, they had brought the kind of setup that could confirm everything on site.
“The Korean police have just set out as well.”
News from Team Leader Jin followed. The destination entered into the navigation systems of all three teams was the ridgeline at about two hundred meters above sea level in Samicheon, Jangnam-myeon, Yeoncheon-gun.
“Step on it.”
At Harris’s command, the vehicles of the main team accelerated.
Beep beep.
As they neared the destination, the sound of horns came drifting over. It was the remains recovery team. Seeing the main team, they tightened formation and came in close. Behind them, Team Leader Jin’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit vehicles were also visible.
“Dharma Master?”
Team Leader Jin, having picked up speed, rushed to the front with a greeting. Thankfully, he had taken on the role of escort.
The vehicles stopped in the parking lot of a pension in Jangnam-myeon.
“This is Dharma Master Lee Kang-to, the star of this documentary.”
Harris introduced Kang-to to the recovery team.
“And this is Team Leader Jin Dae-yeol from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit.”
Kang-to introduced Team Leader Jin in turn.
“So that’s Hook Hill, then?”
Team Leader Harris pointed to the ridgeline matching the tablet’s coordinates.
“How do you feel?”
Team Leader Jin asked Kang-to.
“Reverent.”
“The metropolitan investigation chief, and even Deputy Chief Woo, are looking forward to this. It could become a historical excavation.”
“Thank you for your support.”
“Our forensic DNA team is on full 24-hour standby from this moment on.”
“Understood.”
With a calm answer, Kang-to turned his gaze toward the ridge.
The shamanic verification of the world’s top institutions.
At last, he had reached the site itself.
Voices rose in the distance.
Bang, boom.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
It almost sounded as if cheering and gunfire and artillery shells were all crashing together in the same moment.
Mom.
In the end, that had brought Kang-to all the way here.
At this moment, he forgot Cheonjo Group.
He forgot his biological father and that man’s entire family. From this point on, this was Kang-to’s world, and only Kang-to’s world, and his focus could be nothing but collecting the British soldiers who had died so nobly and been left behind without even a gravestone, reduced to part of the mountain and the stream.
This was shamanism.
The hypocrisy of human beings, who looked down on it openly yet turned to it when life became hard. He wanted to strike a warning into that contradiction.
Shamanism was not fraud. It was not exaggeration. His relationship with his biological father was merely an incidental matter attached to it.
As that sense of mission deepened, the ridge came into view.
Wait for me.
Deep inside Kang-to’s eyes, the fire of spiritual sight began to flare.
---