Chapter 1: Prologue
Forewarning:
You don't need to read the Prologue, it will show up later in the story. If you do, though, you will understand some events, but you will have spoilers too. It might be disturbing for some.
Be warned.
............
27 YEARS AGO
Park Nam Joo, a pregnant 23-year-woman, looked with hope at the property on the horizon. The late fall tinted the landscape in red and gold_ except for the sky, which had a plumbeous color contrasting with the silhouette of the estate at the distance. She caressed her huge belly, smiling:
"If there is a place to have pomegranates at this season, it can only be there. Wish me luck, Mrs. Shin," she optimistically said, from her position next to the truck parked by the side of the interstate road.
"Aigoo, girl..." Mrs. Shin didn't look comfortable in the driver's seat. "I don't think it's a good idea, my Gosh, why don't your husband come out there and do it instead? It's a strange place, and you don't even know the owner. Why don't we just go to the grocery and buy another type of fruit, my dear?"
The beautiful young woman turned her head to answer the older lady,
"Mrs. Shin, I went to nearly all the groceries in our town, and my husband searched from top to bottom, without success…! I crave eating ripe pomegranates... Oh, I even can feel its taste and texture in my mouth just by thinking of it, my mouth even fills with saliva... And, my husband would be very angry if he knew that I'm going around the town asking things to strangers. However I was told that a pregnant woman was seen there, so she sure will understand my situation... To be honest, I also find this property a little odd, but what can I do? If the pomegranates that will satisfy my craving are there, then I should knock on that door."
"Aigoo, that I remember how hungry I was for popcorn when I was expecting my first child. There is nothing to replace a pregnant woman's craving!" the older lady nodded, with an empathetic smile. "Nam Joo, I wanted to go and do this with you, but I have to get to the bank before it closes. Promise me to not get yourself tired. After doing my errands, I'm going by your husband's workplace."
"Just let him know he needs to pick me up at this exact point when he leaves his work, just as we agreed."
"And take it," the driver searched the back seat and gave the younger woman an umbrella. "You should use it to protect yourself in case of rain, and also defend yourself from stray dogs or whatever."
"Aish," the pregnant youngster laughed sheepishly, taking the loaned umbrella. "Our little town is very peaceful, Mrs. Shin. Nothing happens even if we want to."
"I hope it stays that way," Mrs. Shin smiled, starting the car, "Nam Joo, by any chance don't you want to leave this for tomorrow, so I can come with you?"
"Ah, don't worry that much, Mrs. Shin. People who believe in haunted houses just have a lot of imagination and free time to think about it. I'm sure there's an explanation for the property's neglected state. I want to go there before the last pomegranate rots and I'm not even sure I can sleep tonight without gnawing my teeth on a pomegranate!"
"Hahaha, that's right, I'm going to come by your husband's garage... And tell him only after you have done what you want to do, so he cannot prevent you from doing it! You're really smart, Nam Joo!
"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Shin, and thank you for telling my husband! And for the umbrella too!" Nam Joo shouted in genuine appreciation, greeting her benefactor as the car drove off and Mrs. Shin waved goodbye.
Nam Joo nodded to herself optimistically, feeling that her plan of action would work out very well. She opened the umbrella and reached the unpaved road that led to the property. She whispered to her belly,
"Yes, I'm walking slowly this time. I have plenty of time for this and to wait for your papa to pick me up here after work. We're going to be fine today, finally, my little baby girl!"
...
The fairy Myung Hee wiped a furtive tear from the corner of her eye, closing the cameo where the image of her lover smiled tenderly at her. Her pale, wan face was very weak in health; her frail hands had little energy left.
With languorous movements, she stood up, seeming not to mind her own advanced state of pregnancy. Whatever her gaze was on, there was a memory of her beloved husband, Jeong Hyuk. Even on the ceiling, where a starry sky was cleverly drawn, encircling portraits of him and her touching each other's hands... The touch of their hands matched the chandelier in the center.
"You were so talented and creative..." Myung Hee finally sat down again. A heavy sigh came out of her chest. A new urge to cry was suppressed with a sob. "I don't know what to do! If only you were here!"
After some time looking at her own empty hands, she lightly touched her own belly, "I have no will or reason to live, but why it should be a burden on you? I still need to eat, for you... But I cannot go outside like this... Or could I?"
Myung Hee went to the window, watching carefully through a crack in the curtains. The property's garden and orchard, once a cultivated and productive place, now grows wild and untamed; full of thorns and twisted parasite branches trying to stifle fruit plants and flowers.
The fairy narrowed her pale eyes, searching through the chaotic landscape she can see from her window. After a while, she could spot them, among their hiding places.
Wraiths. Lots of them. Their somber and distressing presence wreathes the surroundings of Myung Hee's house. One of them suddenly loomed in her field of vision, as if mocking on her. Like hyenas, they were there patiently waiting for her to lose her strength, Myung Hee knew it, "That will not take long," she said aloud, with horror putting her feelings into words.
Closing the curtain with a surge of energy created by fear alone, Myung Hee walks away from the window, reaching for a kettle that she clumsily filled with water, in order to make some tea. She sits down at the kitchen table with a grimace of pain and discomfort.
"Myung Hee!" She hears the voice of her beloved, calling her outside. "Myung Hee ... Myung Hee" his voice echoes and doubles, in varying tones of joy, apprehension, calling, suit.
Myung Hee covered her ears, shaking her head. 'You are feeling weak, susceptible.'
She looked around, seeing shadows that look like her husband's silhouette, through the window curtains.
"No, it's not real. Jeong Hyuk is gone, there's no way he's coming back!"
She glanced at the door. It seemed as if she heard it open. She then saw her husband, the handsome, smiling Jeong Hyuk, arriving with apologetically loving eyes full of longing, opening his arms to her as if apologizing for making her wait so long.
"No!" she screamed, covering her face, succumbing to a moment of despair. The pain in her womb made her twitch, the sensation of life itself bringing her a bit more resilience, she with a grimace faced the door once again, and the illusion vanished like smoke.
'It's leaking. Soon I will not have more strength left to resist. I made a mortal mistake.'
Opening the diary within reach on the table, the fairy forced herself to read aloud the record from the previous day.
"Two hundred days passed without you. I know there's no turning back, not in this life of mine. Why did it have to be like this, and why was I so foolish to give up everything, if you'd left me something to cherish? You did what should be done, because you had confidence that I would be well. But... foolish me, I was driven by despair and buried my magic under the ground... And I opened the door of my heart for their thirsty. If I am here..."
Tears would stop her to continue reading, she nodded. "I'm not going crazy, I have to endure it... Hold on, baby!"
Myung Hee stood up unmoved to prepare something for herself and stood up to turn the stove on for the tea. 'Just a miracle...'
Suddenly in the midst of her desperate thoughts, she hears a woman's voice calling with energy:
"Oh, hello there, is there anybody home?"
---
Looking tidy, nice, and smiling, Nam Joo positioned herself confidently in front of the house's porch, waiting to be received.
Although the place looked abandoned and a bit spooky from the outside, some evidence made her convinced that there was no danger to be expected from the property's residents. A boyfriend's swing, lace curtains, a charming weathervane on the roof, a shelf with little plants in their pots, now withering or being parasitized by weed... It was definitely a house of loving, receptive people.
Maybe they were having financial difficulties, or someone was very sick. That was what Nam Joo could think at the time. Her eyes ran all the time to the trees where pomegranates hung like tinted globe lamps, fat and heavy. But her upbringing would not allow her to pick them up without asking first, so she stood resolute in her position.
Inside the house, Myung Hee peered through the lace curtain, fearful it could be a new illusion or kind of trap. She spotted the intruder, standing at her door, totally unaware of the danger out there. Just standing there like an easy target for the wraiths.
With a sigh, Myung Hee reached the door, but her hand shook as she touched the latch, hesitating for a moment. Perhaps, if she ignored the call of the trespassing human, then this innocent person could leave the place without problems. Opening the door was definitely going to create a contact that would touch the life of that human forever.
If only she had her wand with her! But when she got news from how her beloved husband died, she was consumed by her sorrow. She buried her wand to never be able to cast spells again. She just wished to let the magic inside her die by itself… but it didn't work that way. If not for the magical barriers in the house, she'd be dead by now. She took a while to notice their presence, and a long more to be able to identify their doings and true forms. And when she realized all that, it was too late to turn back. This prolonged siege was slowly killing her, but what now, when a human inadvertently crossed their ways?
'But ... and if it wasn't possible for her to leave unharmed by now?'
'Ohhhh ...! What to do?!' This thought filled her head with new emotions, taking Myung Hee out of the lethargy she was in for a moment. She felt panicky, startled, and distraught.
Wraiths became aware of the vital and brilliant human's arrival with her hope and desire as she crossed the threshold of the ranch gate.
They saw the human woman as a pulsating figure who emitted light; her clear aura standing out in the dark and depressing scenery they had created over time outside Myung Hee's house.
Wraiths did not see colors as humans do, but they had their own way of identifying feelings and vitality through the halo of light humans emit. That human woman emitted the warm and radiant light type that disturbs them, and soon they realized that in her prominent belly, the light was more intense. She carried a baby with its own energy. They usually would just avoid such type of 'shining person', but they're hungry by now.
Nam Joo opened the umbrella again, thinking that she made a mistake coming there. Her instincts said there was someone inside the house, but perhaps these people weren't willing to receive anyone.
When she was young, before she got married to her high school boyfriend Jeong Geun, she used to hear stories about how delicious were the jams and liquors made with the fruits of the ranch's orchard. The owner used to giveaway these goods to anyone coming to her house. But perhaps, this ajuhmma just died or was very sick… Thinking it could be the reason no one was coming to greet her, she decided to try once more. What if a lonely and sick poor ajuhmma was in need of help?
"Hello?!"
Were the wraiths moved from their places, haggardly, drawn by the easy prey that came with her own legs into the midst of them. How to refuse such a tempting offer? The boldest among them slid like a liquid shadow across the floor, ready to cautiously rise behind the human's back and lunge at her. This type of prey was hard to get, anyway. Two others moved along the sides of the pregnant human, to prepare their lunges as well, and with them, an icy breeze rose and touched the woman's face before them.
'Oh! Is there anybody home? How unlucky! Should not I have come then?' Nam Joo rubbed her suddenly frozen face and shifted to the side, feeling a sudden discomfort in the lower abdomen. Perhaps she had gone too far on her efforts to get a pomegranate?
She looked around, suddenly very aware of the place. It was as if she was being watched. It felt like someone was coming to her, but she heard no steps or anything.
She turned suddenly, having a clear impression of almost being touched. And it almost happened, anyway. But the wraith sneaked around the same time as her, staying all the time behind her.
"Should I ...?"
She rubbed her arms, bothered by the cool breeze, and instinctively coming closer to the house, blocking the wraiths' access to her back. Nam Joo backwardly stepped the first step of the threshold, seeking shelter from the cool breeze beneath the little porch.
Then the door opened slowly, with a delicate, pale hand reaching out, inviting her inside.
Something about it made the pregnant woman feel distressed, her throat dry and her body shivering all over. Or it would be the fact of being outdoors. 'Where in the world is that a proper way to invite someone in?' But there was something urgent in the wave of that pale hand inviting her in.
Apprehensively, but feeling exposed and troubled out there, Nam Joo decided to take the risk and answer the invitation of the stretching hand.
Swallowing hard, she stepped inside.
---
"He... Hello!" Nam Joo looked around, noticing the environment, which somewhat matched her expectations, but seemed abandoned and dusty. Her gaze fixed on the woman, also pregnant, in front of her.
In addition to her exotic appearance, the first thing Nam Joo could see in the pale eyes was apprehension and fear. The house owner seemed haggard and starving, though.
"Sorry, but are you... okay?"
"Yes," that was the plain answer.
Myung Hee, by her side, saw in contrast to herself all the stamina and vital energy of the human woman, her broad and sincere smile, full of hope and will for living. The visitor exuded charisma.
"Can I... help you?"
"Oh, sorry, what a rude person I am. I'm really sorry to knock on your door like that, and keep straight gazing at you even more… It's that you... You're so beautiful!"
This drew a sad smile from Myung Hee, who did not feel beautiful anymore, especially in front of this woman with such exuberant energy. The fairy sat down, motioning for the visitor to do the same. She really did not feel well today, from all days.
"Your eyes must be deceiving you, ma'am. I'm not pretty. I do not even look pretty at all."
Nam Joo shook her head in disagreement but didn't insist on this matter. She introduced herself, grinning:
"What a coincidence, don't you think?! We are both expecting babies. I'm Park Nam Joo. I live down there in the town."
"Coincidences are part of the magic of life," said the fairy with a faint smile. The visitor was pleasant. But she still didn't understand what "coincidences" that led this Mrs. Park Nam Joo to her door were.
"I am Myung Hee. How many months?"
"Oh, my Gosh, eight months. It seems an eternity! Doesn't it?" the visitor laughed.
"Yes, it seems, indeed." Myung Hee smiled again, but for different reasons she thought it seemed like an eternity. "A novelty like the visit of a neighbor is always refreshing. What can I do for you, Mrs. Park?" Myung Hee tried to hide the discomfort that was beginning to take over her body; a constant pain that moments before was diffuse, began to become pungent.
"Ah yes! I'm even a little ashamed to speak, but, before doing that! Forgive me, but you look pale, are you all right? Do not tell me you spend your time alone here in this state? How long have you been waiting now?"
"Still seven months, I believe."
Nam Joo tried in turn, tried to conceal the feeling of pity for this poor beautiful woman in this strange situation. 'What is happening?' She seemed to need help, but she also did not seem like telling a stranger anything about what was happening.
"I came for the pomegranates. I mean…" Nam Joo laughed at herself. "I came because I cannot sleep or do anything except craving for pomegranates. They say these cravings are things that happens only at the beginning of pregnancy, but you know ... I feel that way for many months from the beginning on. It's not about persimmons, it's not blackberries, I want pomegranates. What can I do? It's the little girl here, that sweet tooth punk, who wants lots of pomegranates!" the human woman caressed her belly tenderly.
"So you know it's a girl?"
"Yes! And yours? I could not guess, your belly is small."
The question asked so naturally shocked Myung Hee. She only vaguely thought "the baby," until then. As if to prove her existence within her, a sharp pain was felt in her womb. Myung Hee took a deep breath through her teeth, resting her hand on her belly, concentrating on being inside her.
This little communion woke up things dormant deep within, numbed by Myung Hee's sorrow and fear. Her eyes filled with tears suddenly:
"It's a girl. A little girl!"
"Aigoo, good! I hope our daughters can be friends!" a little embarrassed, but sincerely moved, Nam Joo watched the strange woman's reactions carefully. She seemed very sensitive at the moment, so the visitor decided to talk only about good things like she used to do anyway.
"Just picture this: the two of them going to school together! It's so good to have a friend of the same age! Well, at least once a day, I wonder what my daughter's life will be like! I keep myself hoping that everything will work out well for her! Anyway, me and my Jeong Geun, we are poor. He works in Central Auto Repair, you know where it is? Anyway, I'm grateful to have a husband like him, though. He compensates in other ways, being a good man. But even being poor, he managed to save something before we marry, so we have a house that is really ours, with a backyard! Do you know? I want to put a swing porch out there, so we can see the stars together in the summer, see my baby grow up from there, watch her playing around the backyard... Sometimes I rest my head and dream about her... I mean, I hope she's as beautiful as she is in my dreams," this time Nam Joo's eyes also got teary, just by remembering her daydreams. "I dream of this little girl with a wide grin, bright eyes... In my dream, she is full of energy, and a little funny too…"
The voice of the human woman speaking off her dreams, plans, and hopes, got to have its own pleasant cadence that calmed down Myung Hee and even made her forget the uncomfortable pain. But the visitor could not stop talking:
"But the girls grow up fast, do not they? We know that life is not a sea of roses…"
"Yes, indeed."
"But what can I wish for my daughter beside the best? May she be beautiful, and intelligent, and capable, and find someone who loves her and who has success and money. All this is what a mother wants, I am no exception. What I most want is for her to have a great destiny, aigoo!"
"A great destiny has big responsibilities, maybe too big for a little girl."
The somewhat pessimistic comment from her host made Nam Joo pause for a moment.
"Yeah, you're right. One cannot have everything. But a mother can dream, right?"
"Yes, a mother may wish everything for her daughter. If the right star listens, a mother's wishes can come true," then Myung Hee added, not to reveal herself or to sound crazy: "That's what I heard when I was little."
"Hehe, yes! I also heard things like that. Make a wish for a star," despite her smile, Nam Joo was bewildered by the surrounding scenario. It did not seem right. Things seemed to tell a sad story, the scattered photos of the man, the number of lit candles, and the dusty table set for two... She also noticed that the mistress of the house barely seemed to listen to her. She hardly seemed to have the strength to do anything for someone or for herself, for what matter.
The kettle's whistle made itself heard, interrupting the conversation.
The annoying noise hissed for a few seconds. Without no mention from the house's owner to do anything about it, Nam Joo got chafed. When she was about to get up on her own and take care of the situation, Myung Hee looked up and said:
"Can you please, help me? ...The water in the kettle…"
"I can do this, of course! You look like you don't eat or drink for a while, unnie. Let me take care of you. That's what are the neighbors for, right? Isn't it good that a friend is here?"
Despite feeling nosy to be acting like this in less than 10 minutes of making acquaintance with Mrs. Myung Hee, Nam Joo rather wished to believe that in an emergency case, when these little things like etiquette rules should be ignored. She was really sure that this wan woman, Myung Hee, could faint from starvation at any moment.
Nam Joo went into the kitchen, took the kettle off the stove, and searched for tea in the cupboards. She was horrified to see that the pantry was almost empty except for a few items. She found a handful of rice and some canned sardines, and little more than that. She could only make one cup of tea with the rest of the tea can.
'What's going on here?!' she questioned herself in agony. 'Why so many candles? Why these closed curtains? All this neglect in and out of the house? And why does this beautiful poor woman live like this?'
Nam Joo handed the cup to Myung Hee, who did not seem to care much about etiquette, and simply sipped the liquid as it was given to her. Her face seemed a little upset. The visitor took the courage to mention her doubts aloud, completely taken by concern and curiosity.
"I'm sorry, but did your husband leave you, unnie? Did he die, by any chance?"
Nam Joo said that in a hurry, and stood up, ready to be scolded by her impertinent questioning and to fight for her truth. She just knew she had to know, she had to be sure why this woman was living in that abandoned, lonely and depressing way.
A tear trickling down the livid face of the strange woman was what Nam Joo got as a reply.
"Oh! My God, my God, I didn't want to hurt you, unnie!" Nam Joo came closer, touched. Now, at least partially, she understood the scenario she had stumbled upon with. Coincidence or fate, she simply couldn't allow this pregnant woman to remain there, in that state, on the brink of death! 'No, it would be at least irresponsible.' The details of how it was going to work out, she was going to figure out later, but definitely, she was taking this lady Myung Hee out of that unhealthy environment. She hugged the frail woman, trying to calm her down.
"Unnie, please don't cry, okay? Don't cry, for your baby! It's not good for your baby! Don't cry unnie! Your baby needs smiles, and love, all right? Gather some strength, unnie. Your baby needs you to recover."
The pretty woman with light eyes felt welcomed and bewildered at the same time with this noisy human who had crossed the garden of death to speak those gentle words to her and bring this much energy and hope with her arrival 'I wished this had happened earlier when I had the strength.' But now Myung Hee was aware that her mistake could be repaired, if only partially.
"Help me, I want my baby to live!"
"Oh, yes, unnie, let's do it; you have to come with me."
"I can't, but…"
"How come, you cannot ?? There is nothing preventing you from, Unnie!" the human woman stared wide-eyed at the fairy, realizing that it was a request with more nuances and implications than she could grasp at first. Only one of them was obvious at this moment, when she noticed her host's dress smeared with liquid on the bottom part:
"Are you... having your baby right now?"
Myung Hee just nodded, with a frightened face.
---
Jeong Geun had arrived for at least half an hour near the intersection sign as Mrs. Shin had explained to do. But the sunset was dying the horizon with orange and pink hues, and there was no sign of his Nam Joo coming.
"That little fox!?" he grunted to himself, yet fond of his wife and the way she was. He looked at the house from a distance, wondering whether or not to go there. 'Talkative as you are, when I get there you will introduce me and tell them our whole life, from kindergarten to our today's breakfast, and the owners of the house will not be able to do anything but invite us to dinner. If I go there, we'll definitely just come home late at night, I know her well, that loudmouth …!'
Jeong Geun was a pragmatic man in the middle of his 20s. All he wanted was to go home after a heavy day's work, but Nam Joo's little adventure had changed his plans. Not that it was the first time she'd done something like that.
He looked at his watch once more, starting to worry. He did not want her to walk alone at night. 'Should I go there? Aish!' he turned off the radio, and got out of the car, kicking the dust by being forced to do something he was sure was trouble.
...
The delivery was confusing, fast and scary, to the makeshift midwife, Nam Joo, who just carefully cleaned the little girl, delivering her to the exhausted mother. She was not sure how much time had passed, or how she had managed to do all that without any experience, only instinct. But she was equally exhausted, her body aching in several places, her nerves at the edge. But truly satisfied that mother and daughter were doing well, thanks to her interference.
"All right now. Your little baby needs milk, unnie; and you, good hot food and actual doctors and nurses," she grinned to Myung Hee.
Myung Hee barely had the strength to smile back, but she managed to; the little one being nested to herself, sucking the milk with all her strength.
"Thank you, Mrs. Nam Joo."
"Do not thank me now, I'll absolutely get all the pomegranates out there and then you'd done thanking me," Nam Joo teased, wiping the sweat from her forehead. The gloom in the house bothered her, the still air was suffocating now. Nam Joo went toward the curtains, placing her hand on her aching back. She certainly had overreacted at all, also had her concerns about her own health after so much effort and emotions, but she would not complain.
"What if we opened the window a little bit, eh?"
"No!" the woman lying down exclaimed, making a move so that Nam Joo wouldn't open the curtains. Nam Joo instinctively stepped back, obeying the owner of the house.
"Unnie!" Nam Joo wanted to ask questions but thought that it would be better to do so when the pressing problems were solved. She had to go now, not only because she had arranged a meeting point with Jeong Geun, but also because they needed to get a doctor for Myung Hee and her newborn baby. "I have to go, unnie. Be right back. You're very weak, and it's not good. I'll get help for you and your baby."
"No, you cannot leave!"
'She is afraid of being alone with the baby, but there is no other way, what can I do from here? Why can't she understand? She's so scared and weak. What should I do?'
The younger woman took the woman's hand, trying to calm her down. "It's all right. I'm not going anywhere, then. Do sleep, unnie, I'll stay here."
When Myung Hee, who struggled with all the strength she had to avoid it, fell asleep, Nam Joo knew she should risk leaving them for a moment, so she could get help. Step by step, she left the house and went for the early evening outside.
...
The events inside the house did not go unnoticed by the creatures that surrounded them. The legion of wraiths, who eagerly awaited the inevitable moment when they could get Myung Hee, crawled uneasily, preparing for it.
Nam Joo left the house, surprised by how much time had passed. The sky was already tinted with indigo, the silhouettes of the trees and objects a little diffused at the magic hour. She felt cold, and hugged herself, rubbing her arms. From the part where she was, Nam Joo could not see the road in the distance, but she imagined that Jeong Geun was already there, waiting for her.
Oh, I'm so tired..." she mumbled, stepping down the steps to the front yard. She hardly believed what had happened this afternoon. Because of pomegranates...
"I cannot believe it. I didn't even come close to any pomegranates."
The cool breeze that had come with the late afternoon seemed wet and unpleasant. The sound of leaves swaying, followed by silence, brought sadness and loneliness.
"I don't even hear birds..."
A light thump reached her ears. She pricked up her ears, trying to find out the source of the sound. 'Was it a fruit falling from the tree? Or something else?'
Straying a little from her path, with her attention drawn to the nearby orchard, Nam Joo took a few steps, uncertain, thinking that it would not hurt anyone to quench her crave of pomegranates that brought her here. However, feeling totally uncomfortable in that wilderness, she wielded the umbrella she was carrying with a firm grip, for eventual protection.
"We both deserve a prize for today's good deeds, don't we, my baby girl? Who could deny us one fruit? she indulgently smiled at her belly, now taking confident steps to a pomegranate tree, avoiding and turning away the bushes and twigs entangled along the way.
"Aigoo, where are you, chubby pomegranate?"
She turned her eyes to the floor, trying to see between the fallen leaves and rotting fruit, the fresh fruit that had just fallen. She poked here and there with the shaft of the umbrella. "Where are you, juicy?"
Behind her, the ghostly shadows gathered before the attack, while Nam Joo inadvertently sought her well-deserved compensation on the soil of the abandoned orchard.
The sound of footsteps in the dry foliage alerted the pregnant woman. Nam Joo stopped what she was doing, the umbrella hanging just inches from the ground. Her heart chilled, her legs weakened. She did not know what was behind her, but she was convinced she didn't want to know it either. The taste of fear in her mouth was nauseating.
In a way, Nam Joo sensed that this was why Myung Hee kept herself locked in the house even under these conditions.
But what could she do, but turn around to face whatever it was? Squeezing the handle of the umbrella, she slowly turned.
"Omo ...!"
---
Nam Joo cried out, in despair, witnessing the grim horror the wraiths unfolded before her eyes. It was as if she could see through lenses with poor focus, as if she saw through somebody else's bad dreams.
A sharp pain ran through her body like lightning, Nam Joo stepped back and shook the closed umbrella in front of her, as defense, not knowing if this ridiculous expedient would keep her safe.
The spectral creatures were bending and stretching and shape-shifting, two of them quickly reaching their arms with long, icy fingers made of darkness. The light touch seemed to be able to penetrate her soul if it was prolonged, but she shook herself and realized she was capable of pulling away, which she did immediately.
Though Nam Joo couldn't understand what they were, how they acted, or what they wanted, she was sure of one thing: she should run and escape.
Now.
Nam Joo turned on her heels, and realized she could see them distinctly now. The woman used the umbrella's sharp end to jab them back, or so she thought, when they come forward to reach her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a gap in their formation, and wondered if she could slip through it, even though she was feeling heavy and aching.
"Stand back, you! Hey!"
She did not even know if they understood what she was saying. She felt her heart as if it were going to explode. Nam Joo had never been so panicked in her whole life. But she decided to risk it.
She turned abruptly, opening and throwing the umbrella on them, on a single movement, and taking this little surprise move as an advantage to escape through the gap between them. She squirmed through the orchard, running as hard as she could.
Not only did the twilight blurred her vision, but after zigzagging from obstacles in her flight from the creatures behind her, only made the woman realize she was running out of energy without a plan of where to go. The panic was dizzying her out, her energies depleting faster.
Nam Joo, though she did not want to, had to stop, panting, resting her hands on her knees, and trying to breathe. Her terror was palpable, she no longer knew where she was, she just felt she had no escape, she could not seem to be able to run or even walk anymore.
"Please, I just can't anymore... "
moment of lucidity came over her, realizing that she thought she had a coat with her, but that was not true, she had never come there wearing a coat. In horror, Nam Joo glanced at her back, and saw the creature perched on her shoulders and swathing her arms.
"Ohhh!" She slammed her back against a tree, filled with disgust and irrational urgency. The creature melted in smoke, gliding over her head.
Nam Joo witnessed terror-stricken at the flight of the fluid, dark creature.
And her eyes landed on something worse.
In front of her, the wraiths that found her back, and surrounded her, started to gather together in a disgusting shred of ever-changing coiling shapes and movement, which loomed taller, blocking the way ahead. They seemed to form a new towering, grotesque, and terrifying creature.
Nam Joo didn't know if she was pissing herself as she witnessed it, she just felt the liquid run down her legs.
She just thought there was no hope at all, and a sense of revulsion against this dark fate was even stronger than her fear. But what could she do now?
When the huge creature slowly leaned toward her, what could be the head opening his mouth, Nam Joo only instinctively closed her eyes and took both hands forward, trying to protect herself.
'No!'
A flash suddenly cut off her field of vision, causing her to open her eyes and crouch down, fearing the explosion.
Her hand ached a lot, she just glanced up to see that something was stuck in it. In the midst of the flares, fog and sparks, Nam Joo spotted without a shadow of a doubt, Myung Hee, standing in front of her, holding her feet between her and the shadow monster, and shielding Nam Joo with her own body.
"Nam Joo! Run! Come back home!" the fairy spoke imperiously, turning to face the monster once more.
Nam Joo knew that if she obeyed, she would let the other woman die in her place.
...
Jeong Geun was driving halfway down the semi-abandoned property, watching the distant stars in the clear sky, when a flashing light disrupted the nearby horizon, breaking the darkness for a brief moment.
He rubbed his eyes, but his instinct was telling him that something very wrong was happening at the place where Nam Joo was at the moment. He sped up, trying to get to the place as soon as possible.
...
"No! Let's run together!"
Nam Joo stood up, becoming aware at this very moment her baby's sac had burst. She barely felt the impact when she took it, barely understood that it was Myung Hee throwing herself at her body, this movement followed by a scary and grotesque sort of wail.
The two stumbled and fell to the floor, and even in heat of the moment, Nam Joo could see the bloodstain on the other woman's chest.
Myung Hee struggled to her feet, staggering, keeping her stance to guard the human behind her, one hand outstretched in front as if she could do something to stop the next imminent attack.
"Run!"
This time Nam Joo regretfully obeyed, but she was feeling much pain after she felt on the floor. Stumbling, she slipped away, still looking back, seeing flash after flash as the creature repeatedly attacked the other woman.
Myung Hee staggered, and there seemed to be sparks and sparks coming from her as the monster repeatedly struck at her body. It was obscene to witness; its horrible hissing echoed loudly, as it seemed to not have success on whatever it was trying to do. The frail body of the pale woman seemed to barely endure it, grotesquely convulsing and popping sparks and light everywhere, as if about to crack from inside out.
Nam Joo at last sighted the barbed wire fence separating the property from the road, and while unsure how she could manage to, she sneaked her heavy body to pass through it, just thinking about getting on the road as soon as possible.
---
Jeong Geun violently braked the truck the moment he recognized that he was going to run over something alive. Human or animal, he did not see well.
When the car stopped, he recognized the silhouette of his wife. He got out of the car, coming to her and grabbing by her arm. She was looking disheveled and distressed, breathing heavily, and her skin was cold and sweaty. She seemed like she was going to faint at any time.
"Nam Joo! What is going on?"
"No! We can't... We gotta go back!" Nam Joo, taken by a wave of adrenaline, get rid of his grip and almost threw herself into the truck when she saw the opportunity to come back and try to save the woman she left behind. "We need to save someone! Hurry up!"
Jeong Geun just blinked, but his brain processed that his wife's heavy breathing and panic, the flashes and his wife's agitated state were interconnected, and got into the car in a hurry, and soon he was driving faster than before in the empty branch road.
But he still turned to Nam Joo, realizing she seemed to be in extreme suffering in the passenger seat:
"You? What happened? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
"I'm fine."
Nam Joo knew Jeong Geun enough to know that he would not put the safety of anyone else in front of his family's safety. If she said she was in labor, he would not save Myung Hee and her baby. But on the other side, she knew that she had no time left: she, too, was giving birth to her baby right now! 'But what to do? Leave that woman to die?' Her husband's interruption made things easier to decide, though:
"Who needs to be saved?" he asked, moving on to the next urgent thing quickly.
"The house's mistress! They are attacking her! Things! They're going to kill her."
Not sure what she meant, but believing in her sense of urgency, the young man made his best to drive his old truck into the orchard to the spot Nam Joo was leading him to. It was dizzying, and the shadows and forms seemed to pop up before his eyes, as he dodged trees and whatnot. Her hysteric behavior by his side wasn't helping him either, but he tried to concentrate on getting there as soon as he could, without having any idea of what he would find next.
"There! Over there!" while Nam Joo could clearly see through the trees the towering monster and the supernatural sparks and gloom, Jeong Geun, saw only the sparse flashes that could be caused by an electrical wire, for example.
Nam Joo spotted the amalgam shadow monster with its back to them, and shouted, pointing:
"Come on over!"
Immediately after saying this, she covered her eyes with her hands in anguish.
Her husband, however, braked abruptly. The scene was nothing like he imagined. Nam Joo pictured to him an apocalyptic scenario just by the scared grim on her face and her urgent tone. This and the lighting thing he saw when driving to the ranch, made him imagine some sort of huge accident. Though the jumbled words of his wife seemed to imply that animals of some sort were attacking a person in the orchard But what about the flashes?
But when they finally came up to the place Nam Joo was guiding him, Jeong Geun only saw a woman lying on the ground, trying to get up but having no forces left to do it. He saw anything about the undulating mass of shadows that together created a frightening 4-meter-high nightmare creature, though he was feeling all the hairs in his body up, a chill in his stomach, and his instinct of preservation screaming to him to go away right now.
Their arrival, crossing the monster with the high beams of the truck, seemed to culminate with the moment the creature began to dissipate upwards. The car stopped and Nam Joo slowly opened her eyes.
Jeong Geun got out of the car, amidst the rags of shadows that seemed to seek hiding places away from the light. Nam Joo shouted:
"What are you doing?! Jeong Geun!"
Her husband still looked over his shoulder, worried, but turning to the fallen and wounded woman in the middle of the orchard:
"My goodness ... What happened here?" he picked up the woman from the floor, who seemed to be on the lowest point of one's stamina, and weighing as same as a feather. He noticed the bloodstain on the front, and something sharp impaled in her chest. Jeong Geun could tell for sure that she did not have much life left, so he just wanted to get her to the hospital soon.
Nam Joo just watched from the seat of the car in terror, the creatures dancing around Jeong Geun, and disappearing, leaving the place as if there was nothing else they wanted left, by now.
Nam Joo gave space on the truck seat, moaning quietly, and trying to accommodate the unconscious woman by her side while she tried to deal with her own pain, breathing in rhythmically as she was taught:
"My Gosh, woman, what happened here? This woman is on the verge of death, she has to go to the hos... "Jeong Geun sounded strained, mainly for figuring out the shocked look on his wife's face, but he recognized the technique:
"What... are you doing breathing like that?"
Nam Joo shut her mouth up, trying to muffle out her attempts to control her breathing just as taught in the birthing classes she had in the last months. She also got worried because Jeong Heun was staring at her, waiting for a reply, instead of looking ahead while driving.
"Eun Ha."
Before she could respond, their attention was called by the voice of Myung Hee, who was staring at the nightly sky that changed abruptly from cloudy to bright, letting the stars be seen from the once darkened property. Nam Joo grabbed her husband's arm, wide-eyed, realizing several things at once, including that he had no time to lose.
And that he had to choose between life and death.
---
The starry night was cut off by the strident cry of an energetic baby, and Nam Joo's heartfelt sobs.
The final conversation she had had with that strange woman Myung Hee was just carved in her mind. They were lying in the same bed, the only one in Myung Hee's house, the two babies between them. Jeong Geun had left briefly to bring the truck closer, for now, that his wife had had the baby, all four of them were to go to the hospital. Nam Joo had split feelings right now: joy for her baby's birth, and sadness because she didn't have much hope about Myung Hee, and it hurt her heart. If she had not told her husband, they might have been in the hospital now, and the woman could be saved.
"Your daughter is very special ... She has something different…" the faint and hoarse voice of the other woman was barely heard.
Nam Joo swallowed hard, for she felt that this meant far more than the words said. She turned around with a smile, but looking at the woman made her heart ache as if she were the one to carry that thorn in her chest. And all the events of the day still did not make sense. She knew that she just experienced and survived something supernatural and evil, but what?
"I hope our daughters become good friends," Nam Joo did not know what to say to the woman who seemed to lose the gleam in her gaze with each choked breath, then spoke that, and it was true.
"Can you... look after my Eun Ha?"
Nam Joo nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Yes, I will take care of Eun Ha." At that moment, her words mirrored her heart.
This drew a smile from Myung Hee, who nodded, and made an effort to take Nam Joo's hand, laid it on the head of Nam Joo's newborn baby, and put her own over:
"Then since you promised it, the star will grant her the desires of your heart. Just wish it aloud."
Nam Joo's hand hurt by the thorn's wound touched her baby's forehead, and she shivered from pain. She felt so overwhelmed from what she just passed through, that she felt a knot in her throat, and could not speak. Myung Hee noticed it, and taking the human's hand on hers, looked at the palm, staring at the wound for a moment, and the fairy's gaze grew sad:
"I think you cannot do it, as you're so hurt in your heart… I am so sorry for your baby... But... I KNOW. She will be strong, and beautiful, and talented…"
Why her mind was filled with only pessimistic thoughts about every word said with an effort by the woman with pale eyes? Why being beautiful could be an obstacle, and a danger; why being strong could be misunderstood, why being a smart woman could be a burden? What good is talent, if ... 'What was happening to me?'
"She would be lucky if she couldn't exist in a world where things like this exist," Nam Joo uttered, with a bitter feeling, while looking at the little face of her asleep baby.
The newborn human hiccuped just after her mom's ominous words, and the fairy shushed Nam Joo:
"What are you doing, you crazy woman? This is your daughter,... she deserves to live. Don't ever again say it!"
But Nam Joo just felt the pain in her palm, where the thorn spiked her deep, and her voice came out panned. "What are you saying, witch? That monster will come again, will chase us again, will eat the babies!"
"No… because… This girl, your daughter... She will indeed have all a woman can wish... but one thing. This is the word of a star. Your early wishes for your daughter will come true, regardless of you. In exchange, you will take good care of her and of my baby daughter Eun Ha.
Nam Joo tried to speak, but with a movement, Myung Hee demanded her to remain silent. It as clear that the fairy was struggling to utter her final blessings:
"She will grow untouched by any supernatural harm. This monster will never be able to do any harm to your daughter. I promise you. Once she keeps my last forces into her, nothing but… " the fairy shifted her gaze to a picture beside the bed, where her departed husband was smiling, and uttered the condition of her ritualistic speech, "…but a broken heart will make her kneel."
"What are you?"
"I am a fading star… And what is the rest of me is going to be part of a nova…"
"Huh?"
And, when the time comes,... this human baby..." she leaned next to the human baby's face, and tenderly blew in her nose, with great intention. This time, Nam Joo couldn't see anything supernatural, but she felt goosebumps all over. She just knew what she was witnessing right now. The baby awoke but remained calm, her glazed eyes seemed not to focus on anything. Myung Hee reclined again, seeming very tired and very worn out:
"…this human baby will take back all the stars this monster stole. This is not a coincidence you came today. It's not a coincidence you were able to see what is not seen by human eyes. It's her… It's her destiny, to do great things."
Myung Hee smiled, but she coughed blood with her last words. Her hand dropped, lifeless, and her eyes went out. Nam Joo was startled by the speed and intensity of how life faded away, like a light that is turned off.
...
This was the memory that had stayed in Nam Joo's heart, even when Jeong Geun told her that nothing she had witnessed and lived was real. That woman, Myung Jee, had died out of heart problems, aggravated by pregnancy, starvation, and possibly, a psychotic episode that made her try suicide after giving birth.
"Nam Joo", her husband had said, looking through the glass in front of the hospital nursery, where the two girls were in cribs side by side. "I'm sorry to say, it's impossible to keep both. I'd be irresponsible with this other girl and with our daughter if I agree with this idea. Plus, I heard of someone who can care for this baby better than we could."
Nam Joo was tired of crying, tired of insisting that what she had experienced was real; that Myung Hee was a supernatural being and that ghostly shadows attacked both in the orchard. She had noticed the social workers whispering about postpartum depression, and realized that her husband was starting to believe in it.
It was heartbreaking that he didn't believe her, and that he insisted on turn off the lights when she needed to keep them on.
When she looked at her own daughter, Ye Rim, she knew the fairy was right, for from the moment the little baby had left her womb, something seemed to have gone out of her forever. She used to stare at the palm of her hand and the resulting scar with melancholy and a strange feeling of emptiness.
"Do you think I'm crazy, Jeong Geun? Do you think I can hurt the babies? Do you think I don't want to protect them, with my life, as did that woman?" she choked on her crying because it hurt so much having to ask him that.
Jeong Geun hugged her.
"I cannot agree with you just to please you, Nam Joo. I didn't see anything you told me. I feel sorry for what happened, I feel sorry for this baby, but you don't need to protect anyone from evil shadows.I promise. I'm worried about you, too."
But he sort of conceded, talking to the social workers that the couple would work it out together. The four of them returned home, the little house that Nam Joo one day thought of expanding with a porch and a swing to see the stars with her husband and daughter.
But Nam Joo, despite being with the two girls and loving them equally, did not feel safe unless with all the lights on, all the time.
Her scattered mood, filled with unexplained melancholy, and the obsessive attitude toward the children filled her husband with worry. Jeong Geun carefully watched every action of his wife, fearing for the worst. As the winter drew near, the days shortening, Nam Joo became even tenser and distressed, showing by many of her actions that her mind still believed in the things she had told about the fairy who faced the shadows, flashing as she was struck by a monster made of fear, and that the children were special.
It was Christmas week, things have reached their climax.
Nam Joo placed some blinkers around the girls' cradle, and exhausted, fell asleep. One of the little lamps, in contact with the fabric, caused a small fire, but Jeong Geu, which was arriving from work earlier, managed to control.
They had a violent arguing. Desperate to bring his wife into normalcy, Jeung Geun forcefully locked his wife in the dark garage for the rest of the night. He just imagined that making her face her fear of the dark once for all would do the trick.
In the morning, with a regretful heart, Jeong Geun opened the garage door. Nam Joo was there with the babies, looking apathetic. She finally was seemingly to recognize reality_ and that there were no monsters in the dark.
On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Shin came to fetch Eun Ha from the Nams and take her to another foster family.