Young-hee and the Pullocho (14 page)

“Yes and no, I would think,” said Cheonha. “It won't take you to the pullocho, but it can take you Lake Mey.”

“And over the mountains, too?”

“Perhaps,” said Cheonha. “The thing is …”

“Oh, hush now,” interrupted Jiha. “You'll scare the girl with your running on.”

“What? Tell me. What is it?”

“Well,” continued Jiha, “you have so much to worry about already. But if you really wish to know: The Cheongyong Mountains are large and treacherous, the biggest in our realm, and home to many great and terrible ogres … and worse.”

“Ogres?”

“Some of the first ogres,” said Cheonha. “Huge as these trees, some of them, with many cruel heads.”

“And worse,” Jiha repeated. Jiha's eyes rolled back as she used her far-sight. “At Lake Mey, on the far shore, is the cave of Darang. It is a short cut under the mountains.”

“And no ogres?”

“Something protects the cave from ogres. However, you will have to cross Lake Mey by boat to reach the cave. And Mey is famous for its water dragon, I'm afraid. Very large and fierce.”

“A dragon?”

“Yes, but the Lake Mey dragon is …,” began Cheonha, but Jiha cut him off again.

“Dragons are nothing to be trifled with,” said Jiha curtly. “Especially for a bear daughter.”

“Oh drat,” said Young-hee, not needing more discouragement.

“Well, you can always go around the lake, I suppose, and take a road around the mountains,” said Jiha. “But that would make your journey much longer. Weeks more, maybe; it is quite a large lake.”

“I need to find that pullocho and get back as soon as possible, for Bum.”

“Well, then, I do not envy you your choices, child. Do you have a light for the cave?”

“Grandma Dol gave me this,” said Young-hee, taking the lamp from her bag.

“Ah, Glory Cedar, I do believe, very nice.”

“And, Young-hee, be careful,” warned Cheonha. “You are a bear daughter, and there are many creatures that would like to capture you, just like your brother. Everything in the goblin market becomes known throughout the land soon enough.”

“
Aish
, it just keeps getting better,” Young-hee said. “I don't suppose your world has any buses, does it? Maybe a taxi?”

“
Boosses
?” asked Cheonha. “A
taek-shi
?”

“I didn't think so. Never mind, I'll be okay,” said Young-hee, muttering one last “annoying.” She looked at the road before her. Flanked by dense trees, it curved up the steep hill that was Haechi Horn. She had no idea how far the journey might be. Or if she could find the ruins of the Sacred City or the pullocho that supposedly grew there.
I don't know anything
, she thought.
Why did I bring Bum to this place? I should have known it was too dangerous.
In that moment, though, she decided she didn't have the luxury of regret or self-pity. All that mattered was rescuing Bum.

She checked her cell phone for messages and emails she knew would not be there. But its clock told her it was after eleven at night in Korea. Back home her mother would be so upset, wondering what had happened to them. Young-hee wanted to feel bad about that, but doubted it was possible to feel any worse.

“What is that, child?” asked Jiha.

Young-hee closed and re-pocketed the phone. “Doesn't matter,” she sighed. “Where does your, uh, guardianship end?”

“Just slightly up the hill,” said Cheonha. “It varies.”

“Yeah,” said Young-hee. “And past that? Aside from dragons and ancient spirits and killer dragonflies and ogres, what else am I going to find?” She thought about the books she read in the weeks before returning to Strange Land. What else had there been?

“Ghosts,” offered Cheonha.

“Oh, right, ghosts. How could I forget.”

“Don't let them worry you, dear,” said Jiha.

“You think I'll be okay?”

“Well, honestly, I don't know. It's a dangerous world, but you have spirit. And smarts. You'll need both. But you should have as good a chance as any.”

“
Great.
Very encouraging,” Young-hee said. “Well, I guess I should be going.” And with that, Young-hee thanked the jangseung one last time, waved, and began her journey.

As she walked out of the jureum forest, along the path toward Haechi Hill, she thought about the doorway to the basement and back home.
Maybe this is just a crazy dream, and once I get home again, Bum will be there, and everything will be normal again.
She couldn't believe she actually wanted normal again. She wondered if she was doing the right thing, and had a chance of making it back in one piece. But then she looked at her feet and the road, stretching up over the Horn. Nothing to do but get started.

✴ ✴ ✴

As she walked out of sight, Cheonha scowled at his partner. “Why did you interrupt me?” he asked. “She's a good girl, polite and respectful. I was going to tell her more about the lake's dragon, and the cave demon, and how to avoid the animal spirit sisters.”

Jiha shrugged. “Some things she can learn on her own,” she said coldly. “Other things, it would be better if she doesn't learn. At least not until the right time.” Jiha looked at Cheonha with great purpose and seriousness. “We are guardians of this place, not of her. There are bad days coming, as you said, maybe even war, and I intend to be on the winning side.”

Act II

The Children of Bear

Long ago, Hwanin ruled the endless expanses of the Heavens and was much beloved by all the great spirits of his realm. Hwanin and his favorite concubine had a son named Hwanung, and one day Hwanung decided that he wanted to rule over the lower world, much as his father ruled the upper world. So Hwanin gave his son the Three Heavenly Treasures, the three great Masters of Wind, Rain, and Cloud, and three-thousand spirits, and sent Hwanung to the world below. There, by the Sacred Sandalwood tree on Myohyang-san—Mysterious Fragrant Mountain—Hwanung founded the Sacred City.

Down in the mortal realm, Tiger and Bear decided they wanted to live as men, so they traveled to the Sacred City to meet Hwanung and petitioned him to turn them into humans. Hwanung warned that the magicks were powerful and the cost great, but both were undeterred. Hwanung finally relented. He gave Tiger and Bear a large bag filled with mugwort, twenty pieces of garlic, and a pullocho; and told them to enter a deep cave high on Mysterious Fragrant Mountain. Hwanung promised that if they stayed for one hundred days, never seeing daylight and eating only the mugwort, garlic, and pullocho, when they emerged they would be human.

Eagerly, Tiger and Bear went into the cave. But time crept slowly in the darkness. Day by day the Mugwort grew drier and more foul, the garlic more harsh, and the pullocho more bitter. Tiger said he hated those plants, and Bear complained she was so very hungry, but they had no choice but to endure.

After just a few day days Tiger gave up, leaving the cave with a bitter growl. But Bear continued to suffer and wait. Finally, after one hundred days, she emerged. Hwanung was very impressed with her patience and turned her into a beautiful woman. But Bear had no one to marry and was very lonely, so she made an altar under the Sacred Sandalwood Tree and prayed. Hwanung heard Bear's prayers and took pity; he married her and they had a son named Dangun.

Dangun would build the great city of Pyongyang, which grew into the Gojoseon Dynasty, as well as the people of Shilla and Goryeo in the south, and Okcho in the north, plus the Puyeo, the Ye, and the Maek. Dangun governed them all for 1,038 years, until finally he left his kingdom for Mount Asadal, where he became the Spirit of the mountain.

Young-hee felt as if she had been walking through the silent forest forever. At first she had passed the occasional house and, sometimes, other travelers, but now she was on her own. The path, such as it was, kept changing, seemingly without reason: sometimes it was wide and built of large, smooth stones, other times just a dark dirt path. When a hill crested, Young-hee would look to the mountains for a sense of her progress. But with no idea how far she had to go or even where she was going, the journey seemed timeless and endless.

Eventually the sun did go down, so Young-hee laid her sleeping roll in long grass, covered herself with the cloak from Bassam, and balled up her windbreaker for a pillow. She lay close to the road, remembering instructions from Gyeongbi Shin and others about not leaving the path. Luckily, Strange Land's silky grass seemed clean and bug-free and the ground was reasonably soft. As Young-hee settled down, she noticed a big, round rock with a noble air and wondered if it might also be a person, like Grandma Dol. It was not talking now, but that didn't mean it couldn't. “Goodnight, rock,” she said, just in case. Thinking about Bum, she looked up at the bright moon and strange stars, convinced she would never sleep but, after the hard day, she quickly drifted off.

When she woke up, the sun was warming the ground, evaporating the dew around her. She had no idea how long she had slept, but felt surprisingly good after the deepest, most dreamless, purest sleep she had ever known.
I guess it's not surprising you don't dream in a world that is already a dream
, she concluded. Eating a granola bar and some rice cakes, Young-hee spied a pine cone by the rock, added it to her rather full bag, and set out again.

She walked and walked. Every so often, she thought she saw a movement in the woods or heard a rustling in the grass, but no matter how hard she stared, saw nothing. A dark speck moved high across the sky—
a bird?
The harder she looked, the less sure she was. But a shiver of discomfort that something was spying down on her was real enough. She could do nothing about birds or woodland animals. All she could do was keep walking the lonely path.

Finally, Young-hee just stopped.
This is crazy
, she thought.
I haven't seen another person for hours. Or a goblin or giant frog or talking totem pole guardian. Nothing.
Discouraged, Youngee kicked a small, gray stone at the edge of the road. She needed more advice, she decided. Maybe she could hire a guide. Anything would be better than this interminable walking.

So she decided to head back for help. Turning around, she immediately felt better. Her feet hurt less; her bag was lighter. She had started on this path too quickly, she thought, without proper preparation. Maybe she could even try negotiating with the dokkaebi again.

But she hadn't backtracked for more than five minutes when, ahead of her, the road split in two directions, and both paths looked the same.
Very, very odd
, she thought.
I definitely don't remember any intersections.

Determined to get back to the market and the jangseung, she forked left. All the trees and hills had begun to look the same, and the road turned so much she lost track of which way she was going. But after a few more minutes, she came to another fork—this one with three roads diverging. “
Jigyeowo
!” she growled to no one in particular. “I
hate
this place. So annoying.”

Once again, all the choices looked the same, and she was absolutely certain there had been no three-way intersection before. She must have taken the wrong path at the last crossroads, she decided, and turned back to take the other choice.

So she walked back. And walked. And walked some more. But even after what felt like forever, there was no intersection at all.
Where did it go?
she wondered. Just to be sure, she walked ahead a few more minutes, but nothing. And then, in the middle of the road, was a small, gray stone, exactly like the one she had kicked before turning around. Had she passed the intersection without seeing it again? “Bah!” she said, exasperated, and turned around one more time.

Once again, after a little while, she came to a forked path. Not in the same place as last time, but that hardly mattered to Young-hee. This time, she forked right, marching ahead full steam.

Again the road diverged … into four paths stretching into the forest. “
Argh!
” she shouted.
This place is mad!
Young-hee kicked at the grass. How could a road change depending on which way she walked? She plunked down on the grass at the side of the road and fumed.