Boy Monster Chapter 50

Just now, Jae Eunho had treated Jang Hwonwoo like an enemy. He had openly ignored the family head’s son. It was just as the rumors said.

To be frank, the man’s situation was in the gutter. No matter the fate of this country, his body was destined to be offered to the one with the greatest power.

But even in that situation, the man’s eyes had not lost their wickedness. That cold sharpness made the boy’s heart uneasy.

The boy thought as he watched the direction the man had disappeared. To think he can’t even control his own body, intoxicated by a pill. To think he lives on the condition of offering his body and abilities to the Sa Hwelju.

And he dares to throw a tantrum in that state? While he smiles so sweetly in front of the family head, he looks at me like I’m a bug? In a few years, he’ll have to bow his head to me too.

An uncomfortable feeling surged. As he tried to suppress it, he couldn’t hide a sneer.

The boy gently lowered the ends of his eyebrows, stained with disillusionment.

“What a pathetic sight…”

That was Jang Hwonwoo’s second assessment and remark to Jae Eunho.

:･⚜️⊹.️

Rickshaws and cars arrived one after another at the mansion bearing the Sashimcheon family’s sign. Elderly people dressed in various attire- monk’s robes, suits, hanbok- gathered in the main building. A discussion was taking place on the large wooden floor above the stairs guarded by the Four Heavenly Kings statues.

“Japan is acting unusually. Not just in Joseon, but last year and the year before, they’ve been causing incidents and stirring up trouble in Manchuria and Shanghai. It’s not enough for us to protect the people while avoiding public eyes and supporting the activities of the Righteous Brotherhood and the revolutionary army.”

“We even helped with Yun Bong-gil’s righteous deed, but with those who sold out the country occupying the high positions, nothing is changing.”

The impatient family head kept downing cups of alcohol. This land, which the Sashimcheon family had protected for over a thousand years, was facing an unprecedented crisis.

“You all know that Japan withdrew from the League of Nations last March, right? There’s a rumor that Germany will withdraw soon too.”

“What’s certain is that in 1933, Japan is preparing for war. ‘Imperial Japanization’ and ‘Japan and Korea as one.’ That’s all in preparation for mobilizing our military and youth for the war.”

The boy sat with a straight posture behind the family head, listening to the adults’ words. It was a gathering of the Chief Buddhist Monk of the Eight Provinces, Prince Yeongchin’s close aides, the command of the Joseon military, and informants from the independence movement groups.

“We must never let Japan find out about our power. The power of our Sashimcheon family must never be known!”

The family head bellowed a stern warning. The Sashimcheon family’s grand mansion had to be disguised as a temple to avoid surveillance and suspicion ever since the Japanese tore down part of the Hwangudan Altar site and built the Chosun Hotel. They avoided the eyes of the Japanese by disguising it as an educational institution that taught Buddhist traditional rituals. There was a reason the family head was on high alert to protect the family.

“That’s also true, but since the Namseong Inn closed down, the independence fighters have fewer and fewer places to hide. Even now, the Japanese police are rounding up and torturing teachers from professional schools. It’s only a matter of time before they find the mountain where our troops are hiding. Please, just this once, help them escape safely to Shanghai.”

“Sigh… I understand.”

The family head, who had slammed down his cup, called for Jae Eunho, who was sitting on the far side of the veranda reading books to the young Yeonri.

“Eunho!”

Fearing the drunk family head might throw a cup or a book, Eunho quickly approached him and knelt. The family head, who had stood up, checked his wristwatch and said,

“I’ll be back, so prepare for the hallucinatory ritual.”

“Yes. How long will it take?”

“It won’t take one or two hours. While I take the Hwelju to the mountain and safely evacuate the independence fighters, you erase that event from the minds of the Japanese police. Carry it out as soon as you receive the telegram.”

“I understand.”

“Hwonwoo, this is the first time you’ve seen that Sa Yeonri use his empathy ability, right?”

The family head, turning his head to his son, whispered in a thick voice.

“Watch him carefully. That one, that one, you can’t know what’s inside him.”

“Yes.”

Jae Eunho bowed politely to the family head but did not give his son a glance.

The family head left the mansion with a dark face, accompanied by the 1st Poom Hwelju. The lives of the independence fighters were at stake. The faces of those who remained in the mansion were also filled with tension.

Monks and sorcerers to assist with the hallucinatory ritual arrived one after another with drums and ritual instruments. A shaman priestess who would control Eunho’s ability to prevent it from heading in the wrong direction also soon entered the mansion. A mat for Eunho to perform the empathy ritual was spread in the main courtyard, and a framed painting of <Suwol Gwaneumdo> was placed in front.

Now it was time to wait for the telegram from the family head. The afternoon sun was beginning to set. The impatient children started talking to Jae Eunho.

“Teacher, have you been to the Chosun Hotel in front here? They say it’s the most luxurious restaurant in Gyeongseong. You can even eat ice cream there, and there’s something called an elevator, and they say you can float in the sky even if you’re not a Poong Hwelju 1st Poom!”

“Is that all? They hold dance parties too. Teacher, at that hotel, a guest singer sings, and a dancer who does Western-style dancing also performs.”

“Really? It would be nice to go there to rest with the patriotic heroes someday. I hope that day comes soon.”

Eunho responded in an infinitely gentle voice. After smiling briefly at the six or seven-year-old children, Eunho looked at the sky. Butterflies are fluttering in. It’s the season when the plum trees bloom with yellow leaves, so their feathers will be mixed with the colors of autumn leaves.

“Teacher, they’re building something called an apartment in Jukcheomjeong1), and they say a hundred people can live in a place smaller than our mansion!”

“Is that so?”

“You kids, let the teacher rest before his important task. Talk to me.”

“Ah? Lord Hwonwoo….”

Jang Hwonwoo’s voice mixed in with the chatter of the Yeonri. He, who had been on the main veranda, had approached the other side at some point.

“Lord Hwonwoo, have you ridden the electric train? What about the radio shop? You’ve seen motion pictures with the family head, right?”

“Lord Hwonwoo, you’re a Poong Hwelju 1st Poom and a Hwa Hwelju 1st Poom, right? Show us you making fire, show us, show us!”

“Hehe, I’m still too young to do that.”

“Liar!”

Eunho was thinking as he strolled under the plum tree with its gently swaying pale yellow leaves. It was a fantasy of the family head dying and not returning to this mansion.

He had had that happy fantasy several times. Then he could live freely as ‘Jae Eunho’, not as a Sa Yeonri, and avenge his parents. He could escape the pain of being tied to an enemy and used as a weapon….

Because he was thinking such thoughts, he couldn’t put on a pleasant expression when he saw the boys and girls who had flocked to Hwonwoo, their faces flushed. He saw a small shadow approaching the plum tree.

“Lord Sa Yeonri, is there anything I can help you with?”

Jae Eunho hesitated for a moment. Would it be better to answer, or not to?

‘Don’t shove your face that I can’t even bear to look at. Who do you think you are, acting all familiar? Go and clean up after your great father.’

It was better not to answer than to say those words. Eunho slowly turned his eyes away from the boy, and then turned his back completely. But he thought he heard laughter from behind his head. He turned around with a bewildered face. The boy was not smiling. He just looked embarrassed from being ignored. Did I hear wrong? It definitely sounded like a sneer.

“Do you dislike me, Lord Sa Yeonri?”

How could I possibly like you? Are you stupid, or are you pretending to be stupid? Eunho spat those words with his eyes and walked out of the main building. He heard a small voice from behind but didn’t stop walking.

“Do you dislike me because I am a successor mixed with the dirty blood of an uncertain origin….”

“……”

Just as he came out into the large courtyard, a telegram arrived. The content of the telegram was simple.

All independence fighters have boarded the train.

Erase the events of the past 5 hours related to ‘Mt. Samgak’, ‘Gyeongseong Station’, ‘Shanghai-bound’.

All Japanese police in Gyeongseong

If the area of empathy was the entirety of Gyeongseong, it was Eunho’s maximum limit. It was a very large ritual. Jae Eunho forgot the boy’s last words and focused on the ritual. He stood in the center of the mat and brought his hands together.

The prayer beads emitted a majestic golden light. Jae Eunho’s hair began to scatter in a fierce wind.

Jang Hwonwoo stood crookedly under the plum tree and watched the scene. A transparent whirlwind rose around Jae Eunho, and soon countless butterflies gathered. The autumn plum leaves encircled Jae Eunho, flew up, and embroidered the sky. Feathers and flower petals filled the sky of Gyeongseong.

Jang Hwonwoo unfolded his arms. His crooked body also straightened. The countless butterflies that the closed-eyed Jae Eunho moved swept through the atmosphere like air and flew around. At the sight he was seeing for the first time in his life, Jang Hwonwoo held his breath. The boy, after correcting his momentarily furrowed brows, clenched his fist tightly without anyone knowing. By the time the boy lifted his head high and then straightened it, he had already wiped away a single teardrop that had fallen.

The boy wanted to remember this moment that felt like an eternity for the rest of his life. Looking at the butterflies and flower fragments that filled the land and sky, which he had never once thought beautiful in his life, he said.

So I was abandoned in such a beautiful world….

The boy’s gaze, which had followed the eaves down, settled on the man who guarded the center of the wind and did not move at all. Jang Hwonwoo’s eyes were fixed on Jae Eunho the entire time.

1. Present-day Chungjeong-ro, Seodaemun-gu