Boy Monster Chapter 59

They settled into a secluded corner of the mansion for their urgent talk. The two stood leaning against a corner of the wall next to the warehouse where the boy had been confined.

From beyond the wall, the clamorous sounds of the outside world drifted in. Swing jazz music from a radio, the voice of a newsboy shouting out an extra edition, and amidst the noise of cars and rickshaws mixing as they passed, broadcasts praising the Japanese Emperor day after day also spread loudly.

Jae Eunho, having handed the notebook to Jang Hwonwoo, finally managed to speak.

“Outside this mansion, it’s chaos. You’ve been devoted to the loyal spirit of our Sashimcheon family since you were young, so you must know this well.”

“Yes.”

“…To get straight to the point, I need an ally in this mansion.”

“An ally… sir?”

“The reason I said I was too busy to deal with you was for this reason. I am secretly preparing a separate anti-Japanese righteous act. To regain freedom from those who stole my country and my life.”

Jang Hwonwoo couldn’t tell what Jae Eunho was trying to say. He sensed that his words were some kind of excuse, but it was hard to guess what his purpose might be.

“Your notebook also had the same intention written in it. I was impressed by the great cause you understood and embraced even at your young age.”

Flattery…. There’s definitely a purpose. Jang Hwonwoo maintained an attitude of listening attentively on the surface, while trying to read Jae Eunho’s hidden expression.

“So, what I’m saying is… would you be interested in studying with me from time to time? If we get bored of studying, we can play, and go on outings like before.”

Jae Eunho said with a faint smile.

It was impossible for him to watch a person like this collapse from the Head’s fist and tremble. Recalling the events of a few days ago, Jang Hwonwoo scrutinized the man before him as if observing him.

This man is now changing his course, trying to win Jang Hwonwoo over.

He didn’t know the purpose, but that much was certain.

Jang Hwonwoo didn’t think for long. It was a simple calculation of the future.

‘If I want to know what this person is thinking, I need to stay close to him.’

What do I have to lose by spending time with him as he wishes? I consider my father an enemy, but so what? It’s just a nuisance for me if that old man is alive. Surely he doesn’t intend to push me aside as well… and if he is thinking that… it’s a pity, but I can just kill him.

That would be such a pity. So very….

Jang Hwonwoo thought this as he looked at Jae Eunho, but he couldn’t hide the great sadness that came over him. Perhaps thinking that the reason Jang Hwonwoo had shown a momentary look of sorrow was because he was recalling the cold treatment he’d received, Jae Eunho embraced Jang Hwonwoo with an apologetic face.

Jang Hwonwoo feigned a voice filled with emotion, hoping that Jae Eunho’s “honeyed words and a sword in his belly” were not directed at him.

“I would love that, Lord Sa Yeonri. I’ve wanted to get closer to you for a long time….”

:･⚜️⊹.️

From that day on, Jae Eunho began his work of making the boy his ally. Although it began with a purpose, the relationship, once it started to break down its walls, gradually developed into an intimate master-disciple bond.

“Don’t use your shapeshifting arts in front of me.”

“Sir Sa Yeonri, you’re not even a Hwelju, but your eye is fearsome.”

“How do you, with so many fears, manage to infiltrate here and there to help the secret society’s activities and take down the Japanese bastards?”

“I’m not as scared as I used to be. It’s all thanks to you, sir, personally showing me your evil side on a regular basis.”

“What?”

“Haha.”

After the scheduled classes and training sessions were over, and when the Head of the House was also away from the mansion, the boy spent most of his time with Jae Eunho. Rather than preaching his plans or ideology, Jae Eunho spent time telling the boy stories about the Sashimcheon family’s history and detailed episodes, with the aim of first making him completely attached to Jae Eunho.

With a few outings and a dozen or so light conversations, winter passed in a flurry. Jang Hwonwoo, just as Jae Eunho wanted, was growing attached to Eunho and opening his heart.

On a full moon night when the streets were covered in snow, cars and rickshaws gathered at the grand mansion.

It was a meeting where the Paldo Dochongseob of the Hoguksa Temple, the manshin, and the monks were all gathered in one place. The faces of those gathered were full of concern. Moreover, the Head, who usually had his son attend meetings, had not sent word today.

The atmosphere was different from usual, so it was essential to know the content of the meeting. Jae Eunho took Jang Hwonwoo’s hand and hid under the window of the main building.

The Head, smoking a Western cigarette, broke the silence with a tired voice.

“I had hopes for Prince Ui’s granddaughter…. I was wrong!”

“Are these the results that just came in? Was the ritual performed at the Hwangudan Altar?”

“Damn it, that child isn’t the master of the Sa Hwelju either. Haa….”

The bloodline of the Sa Hwelju, which had not appeared for years.

The room was engulfed in anguish and despair.

The Head looked around at the people in the room with eyes that said it was all over. With a face that had grown fiercer than the size of his despair, the Head spat out his next words. What he brought up was an agenda item no one could have imagined.

“What happens if someone who is not of the Sa Hwelju bloodline receives that power into their body.”

“……!”

It seemed to be a strictly forbidden topic within the family. The complexions of everyone who heard the words turned pale with fear. Amidst the tense jockeying for position, the monk in charge of the Paldo Dochongseob broke the silence.

“There was once a treason case where such a thing was attempted. There was someone who thought it would somehow work with just the sealing talisman and a Sa Yeonri. He started a rebellion and invaded the palace, but….”

“……”

“Well, it was hundreds of years ago, so I can’t completely believe it myself, but they say his body exploded and he died.”

The Head silently fiddled with the lid of his pocket watch, clicking it open and shut. The manshin shaman continued the monk’s words.

“The story I heard is similar. I heard it when I was being taught how to make the sealing talisman. My god knows that spirit too. ‘He who covets the forbidden power shall perish by that power.’ That’s exactly it.”

The Head, maintaining his stern expression, asked as if picking a fight.

“But I have sorcery, don’t I? The Gwija-deukhwal-sul*….”

“Hey!”

The manshin shaman shouted in a loud voice.

“Not that curse! It’s different from the power the Sa Hwelju possesses. It can’t be done with ordinary magical objects, and you don’t know where the evil spirit will strike! Don’t you ever think about it!”

At the strong opposition, the Head glared at the manshin, but only for a moment. With a sigh, the Head let out a great lament.

“The Sa Hwelju. The power is there, but there is no physical vessel to receive it! If this is the goddamned fate of this country… what can be done!”

Damn it! The sound of him cursing and kicking the door could be heard.

Jang Hwonwoo, perhaps frightened by his father’s unstable rampage, squeezed Jae Eunho’s hand tightly. Jae Eunho enveloped the boy’s hand and held his shoulders in an embrace. The boy remained in Jae Eunho’s arms for a long time, warming himself from the cold.

That night, along with his lamentations, the Head’s patience snapped.

Just as a rope that had been rotting for a very long time suddenly breaks, it was just as futile.

The Head of the House let go of everything he had been holding onto. On a harsh winter afternoon, a few hours before the Japanese Prime Minister and the Government-General’s Senior Secretary for Political Affairs stepped through the gates of the Sashimcheon mansion, Jae Eunho was having Jang Hwonwoo read a book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

“Focus!”

The two sat facing each other on the veranda of the inner building, completely unaware. It was a class that was, as usual, half-joking and half-chatting.

“You learn shapeshifting and swordsmanship like lightning, but is studying with me a joke?”

“I am focusing. Sir, you are currently interfering with my ‘private freedom.’”

It was at that moment, as the switch Jae Eunho was holding playfully tapped Jang Hwonwoo’s shoulder.

The order came down to get dressed and gather in the garden. Everyone in the mansion gathered in the frozen garden, knelt, and bowed their heads to the ground.

Jang Hwonwoo stood next to the Head of the House, dressed in the uniform of a Japanese soldier.

The Sashimcheon family was incorporated as a secret unit under the Japanese Government-General.

It was the first month of 1936.

:･⚜️⊹.️

The Head of the House had finally sided with the power of Japan.

Jae Eunho’s revenge grew distant, and the fight became longer and more arduous.

The Head said he had made a choice that aligned with the currents of the world. What he had protected was a homeland that kept him in a position of ruler, so what mattered to him was not the country he was born and raised in, but the country that gave him what he wanted.

He was a man who could not endure the position of a poor loser. If the situation had come where the Sashimcheon family was taken and humiliated by them without him first offering it to Japan, he would have chosen death instead. However, a dog’s death that would leave no mark was never the death he wanted, so the Head made the decision he did now.

Ideology followed the choice.

“This is the way to make our Joseon a great power and protect it.”

After changing their names to Japanese style, the Hwelju and Yeonri all received positions in the Japanese army. The Head took the position of an aide in the Government-General, and in return for his cooperation with the Great Empire of Japan, he received a magnificent mansion and real estate. The Head’s authority was no longer a secret.

The Government-General gave the Head of Sashimcheon a carrot and cracked the whip to ensure the highly useful secret army was well-mobilized for their purposes. The Head, who had handed over a family with a thousand years of history to Japan and secured wealth and power, followed the mobilization orders of the Government-General and said this:

“We are still the sacred army of this land.”

The folding screen that had been in Changdeokgung Palace became the property of the Japanese Empire and was moved to the house of a military officer of the Government-General.

Prince Ui sent a personal letter expressing his regret over the Head’s decision, and left the most vicious criticism he could. It seemed Prince Ui would continue his resistance as he saw fit, along with his son. The Head could have reported Prince Ui’s letter to the Japanese, but he did not, instead having Jang Hwonwoo set it on fire.

Eunho thought of that act as the Head’s final farewell to his homeland.

The Head was busy adapting to his new power and connections. As a result, he no longer had an immediate need for the Sa Hwelju’s power, so the pressure on Jae Eunho was greatly reduced.

Sexual union also was often glossed over as there was no time to select a suitable partner. Jae Eunho used his wits to avoid intercourse by giving money to the partners who came for the practice. The area where the Head’s surveillance was strict was the pill issue, due to past precedent, so Jae Eunho was able to avoid the unions without much trouble.

The grand mansion of the Sashimcheon family, which had been disguised as a Buddhist ritual education institution behind the Chosun Hotel, was also remodeled into a new-style Western house. Even after the house was largely demolished and rebuilt, only the plum tree in the garden remained in its place, and Jae Eunho and Jang Hwonwoo would often walk together in front of the tree.

The boy in the Japanese uniform was now called ‘Hiroshi.’ Jang Hwonwoo learned Japanese quickly. His appearance, which deepened in its profoundness day by day, also captivated the daughters of high-ranking Japanese officials, so the Head had more and more things to boast about each day. He even dreamed of marrying him off to a child of the Japanese wealthy class while he was still paired with a Yeonri. In the Head’s mind, a few years from now, it was clear that women would line up to marry Jang Hwonwoo, even if he was connected to a Yeonri.

Footnotes:

1. A spell to bring the dead back to life