WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈

Chapter 12: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (12)

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The lonely boy's favorite teacher had changed her phone number at the beginning of the previous month.

Before she did, his teacher, who had seemed more troubled than usual, cautiously asked him a question.

"Onik. Have you ever given my phone number to someone else?"

Not understanding why she was asking, the boy shook his head with a puzzled expression.

"No? It's personal information. I haven't forgotten what we learned in practical arts class."

"......I see. Onik is a model student."

Even in a country where personal information was practically treated as public property, children were still taught that it mattered.

Clever Onik had not forgotten a single thing he had learned.

Just as his own personal information mattered, so did other people's. How could he possibly go around giving out his precious teacher's information to just anyone?

His teacher stroked the boy's head and spoke gently.

"I'm going to change my phone number soon, all right? I'll be sure to tell you, Onik, as soon as I do. But if anyone asks for my contact information, tell them you can't give it to them. Understand?"

"Yes! But what about Grandpa?"

"I'll tell your grandfather myself."

"Okay!"

Onik's grandfather and Lee Eun-jeong, his elementary-school teacher, often kept in touch about him.

Ever since their first parent-teacher conference, old Jo Jeong-ho had been deeply grateful to Eun-jeong for taking such special care of his grandson. He was not someone who would do anything that might harm her.

At the time, Onik had simply thought his teacher was changing her phone number.

He had wondered whether it had something to do with how often she had seemed gloomy over time, but he had not been certain.

Back then, Onik had no other clues.

Now, with his mood soured, Onik could finally guess what had happened.

‘Stalking is bad.’

Whenever he ate with his grandson, Onik's grandfather habitually turned on the news.

Grandpa taught him that he needed to know what was happening in the world to become a wise adult, so Onik watched the news quite diligently during meals.

Whenever a report on the Lotte Giants' games came on, he turned his head and covered his ears to protect himself from evil. Still, regardless of the subject, he watched, listened, and learned from every other report with a seriousness far beyond his age.

Onik also enjoyed asking Grandpa questions and talking with him about what they watched.

Of course, there was another moment he found most satisfying. It was when Grandpa, watching the news, said with contempt, "People like that deserve to die."

Every time he heard those words, the frightening boy sank into happy imaginings.

For the past few years, stalkers had often proven themselves harmful people who deserved to die.

They frequently did not stop at stalking, but went on to commit more serious violent crimes.

Until now, Onik had only encountered them through the news, so he had thought they belonged to another world.

Yet someone he knew, an adult living in this very village, was doing that terrible thing to his precious teacher of all people.

‘......But why didn't I know until now? If the Village Youth Association President had been persistently following my teacher, isn't it strange that I never noticed when I'm with her so often?’

Quick-thinking Onik soon reached the truth.

‘He must have avoided bothering my teacher when I was around. Because he didn't want Grandpa to scold him.’

This was the kind of village where neighbors were not strangers.

It was not simply that people shared deep neighborly bonds. It was an old clan village whose history stretched back to the early Joseon period.

That did not mean everyone in the village shared the same surname.

Still, there was one principal clan surname, and nearly everyone with another surname had been bound to it through marriage for more than a dozen generations.

In such a village, Onik's grandfather, old Jo Jeong-ho, was treated as the highest elder.

That was true both because of his generation within the family and because of his own background, as well as his father's.

The village was old and crumbling in every way, so people usually lived in a more modern, easygoing fashion. That, too, was largely because Jo Jeong-ho, the village's senior elder, had strongly insisted on it. In serious situations, though, the traditional hierarchy came back to life.

If old Jo Jeong-ho scolded him, the Village Youth Association President was in a position where, as his junior, he could only listen in silence.

At least within this village community, that was how it worked.

Having thought that far, the frightening boy's mood sank even lower.

‘What? Then that means the Village Youth Association President knows he's doing something bad, doesn't it? Even if he talks like he doesn't.’

If he truly believed his actions were as honorable as his words, why would he go out of his way to avoid bothering Eun-jeong when Onik was there?

Onik was not too foolish to understand that much.

Since Onik was so attached to Yo-han, the Village Youth Association President probably had not even tried to win him over. It would only have stirred up trouble for himself.

As raised voices flew between the pastor's son and the Village Youth Association President, the boy considered what to do.

‘......Should I tell Grandpa?’

He did not have to think for long. The boy decided to put off reaching a conclusion.

It would not be completely ineffective.

But the power of Grandpa and the other village elders only worked within this village, which grew older and declined by the day.

Seeing how the Village Youth Association President calmly said things he knew were untrue, Onik thought there was a high chance he would not stop his twisted fixation and behavior even if he was scolded.

It might even make things worse.

With Grandpa's wisdom as his guide, Onik had learned about the world through television. Many criminals tended to commit worse crimes when they thought of themselves as already ruined, their lives already destroyed, their reputations already beyond saving.

If the Village Youth Association President ruined his reputation in the village where he had lived his whole life, and if he somehow tried to take out his resentment toward the elders who blamed him on his innocent teacher......

‘That wouldn't be good.’

This concerned his precious teacher. He could not make a mistake.

Onik decided to wait and watch carefully.

If he wanted to help his teacher, he thought he should first speak to her. He could suggest that there might be a way to handle this and ask her to consider it.

At the same time, Onik remembered Grandpa's teaching.

"Remember this. Whether it is a person or an animal, it is rash to judge whether they are good or bad based on a single aspect."

Grandpa had said it when explaining that sparrows did more good than harm. The terrible Reds in China had not known that, killed all the sparrows, and suffered for it.

As a diligent student, Onik never forgot any teaching from his respected grandfather.

Until this very moment, the Village Youth Association President had been no more than one of the good adults who praised him.

Stalking was certainly bad.

Still, not every stalker committed serious violent crimes. Not every stalker was someone who deserved to die.

What he could see and hear at present was only one side of the matter.

Onik needed to learn more about someone he thought he knew. Deciding what kind of person the Village Youth Association President was should come afterward.

After thinking that far, Onik stopped short as a question rose within him.

‘......A conclusion? What conclusion?’

His train of thought had begun with whether or not to tell Grandpa about the Village Youth Association President's wrongdoing.

By the end, though, it had somehow changed into judging the Village Youth Association President as a person.

Onik became suspicious.

Had a dark wish from his unconscious slipped into that change like a stain?

The bad desire for the Village Youth Association President to turn out not to be a good person, but someone who deserved to die.

His face hardened. Seizing the chance, Onik threw a sharp question at the black lump writhing in his heart.

‘If the Village Youth Association President becomes someone who deserves to die, what more could I do then?’

It was not a question of whether he could do more.

He simply must not do anything more.

Onik could not kill someone. Not even over something involving his precious teacher.

Even in the past, when he knew nothing, he would have shaken his head and told himself he could not become a bad child.

Now that he had heard the old stories about his father and mother and come to dislike himself so much, it felt even more terrible......

He had always dreamed of being loved while killing people it was considered acceptable to kill, people whose deaths would make the world better.

But imagination was imagination, and reality was reality. Onik had always kept the two apart.

From now on, he intended to be even firmer about it.

Onik truly wanted to become an ordinary child.

If possible, he wanted to drive the secret dream for his future, the one he had cherished alone until now, completely out of his mind.

It kept circling through his thoughts whenever he let his guard down, leaving him despondent time and again.

Once he killed a person, Onik himself would become someone who could never go back. He knew it with the certainty of instinct.

Could a vampire who survived on animal blood truly return to how it was after tasting human blood?

The boy let out a sigh too heavy for his age.

During that time, the argument between the pastor's son and the Village Youth Association President came to an ending that was not an ending, leaving only deeper hostility between them.

"You! You will be punished! Whether by human law or God's law!"

"Ha, what are you even saying...... God said it himself, didn't he? Of faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest. I'm trying to love someone, so why would God punish me? I don't even believe in that fellow to begin with. If he's the sort of strange fellow who punishes people for this, then I did well not believing in him."

"Ah...... Let's stop talking. It feels like I'm talking to a wall, not a person!"

"Same here. I'm practically your elder, and this little punk's got no manners, shouting at me like that. I won't waste another word on someone who doesn't know respect. Tch, ptooey."

After spitting sharply, the Village Youth Association President withdrew as if he were the one avoiding something filthy.

Onik had watched, intending to stop them if a fight broke out, but their argument did not turn into anything beyond words.

Yo-han was frustratingly kind-hearted, while the Village Youth Association President, despite his loud mouth, seemed secretly intimidated by Yo-han's sturdy build.

The boy's shadowed eyes followed the Village Youth Association President's back as he turned the corner and disappeared.

Before long, the wind blowing over the wall carried the smell of cigarettes.

As always, the frightening boy could identify the person smoking from the scent of the cigarette alone.

#

The year changed.

At Onik's house, the first page of the New Year's calendar from the National Agricultural Cooperative was torn away. Among the magpies busily carrying twigs all over the aging village, some were beginning to finish their nests.

It was a time when the abandoned houses briefly came alive again.

For the lonely boy, though, it was only a time when his loneliness deepened once more.

It felt as though the Chuseok when his unfamiliar father left had happened only yesterday.

Yet another holiday was already coming. How could he not feel lonely?

The problem involving Yo-han and Teacher Lee Eun-jeong, another source of worry for the boy, did not seem to have improved either.

The lonely boy had limited ways to find out how that matter was progressing.

He could not ask the people involved directly, and it was not yet time to return to school.

He could hardly ask his teacher, already surely burdened with worries, to go somewhere with him.

Still, there was one clue that let him indirectly guess what was happening.

It was the mood of the village where he lived.

Onik found it strange.

‘I definitely heard back then that Teacher had filed a complaint.’

There was almost no such thing as a secret in this village.

If someone from a household was questioned by the police, rumors were bound to spread that same day.

Even the people working at the police station were only two or three degrees of separation from the villagers. It was a small society.

Even so, the village remained quiet.

According to what the worried boy had learned through searches, by now the police investigation should have ended, followed by some kind of measure or prosecution.

‘Are the police officers not doing their jobs?’

Onik often saw similar reports on the news with Grandpa. It was natural for him to suspect as much.

Onik could only guess, but reality was unfolding exactly as the young boy suspected.

For the wrongdoing he had committed and was still committing, the Village Youth Association President had received only Provisional Measure No. 1, a written warning.

It was the kind of world that a child who watched the news could see through so easily.

There was another circumstantial piece of evidence supporting the worried boy's suspicions.

It was the way Yo-han and the Village Youth Association President normally acted around the village.

The two tried to avoid even running into each other.

But when they did meet by chance, or when it could not be avoided, each gave the boy a clue through their behavior.

Yo-han quietly clenched his teeth, while the Village Youth Association President wore an intentionally triumphant expression.

He overdid it so much that even young Onik found it ridiculous, but the man himself was serious.

In the end, Onik's worries only continued to grow heavier.

Worrying about himself was already more than enough, and now he had worries about Yo-han and his teacher as well.

The weight of both worries together was too much for a child's heart to hold.

As his grandson's worries deepened, so did Grandpa's worries as he watched him.

Old Jo Jeong-ho still did not know Eun-jeong's situation.

So he believed all of his grandson's worries came from his worthless son and the old stories.

Wondering how he could lift his grandson's spirits, the old man asked whether he wanted to go see the sea.

"The sea?"

"Yes. It's been nearly a year since we last saw it, hasn't it? We'll look at the sea, catch a belated New Year's sunrise, eat something delicious, and come back."

"......"

Onik understood why Grandpa had made the suggestion.

But Onik did not want to see the sea.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa. But I don't want to go."

"Why not? You liked it before."

"Mother is in the sea. She might not like it if I go looking for her."

"......"

The old man could not bring himself to say that could not possibly be true.

He thought that if his daughter-in-law had suffered from mental illness until the end, perhaps she really could feel that way.

In the end, the grandfather and grandson's trip did not happen.

The grandson, who had turned away his beloved grandfather's thoughtfulness, felt even heavier afterward.

‘I don't want to keep making Grandpa worry......’

But if Onik had forced down his discomfort and gone to the sea, Grandpa's worries would surely have grown worse.

Wouldn't the cold winter sea have made the lonely child feel even colder?

Not going at all had been best from the start.

In the middle of all this, something did happen today that made Onik feel a little better.

Ever since the chestnut burrs had ripened and fallen, he had been making bows with the old Master Bowyer. Today, he had finally completed them.

Every last one of the thirty.

"You've worked very hard all this time."

The old Master Bowyer did not hold back his praise.

"Your skill is exceptional, and you've helped me greatly. You're far better on your own than the apprentices I formally took in. Of everyone I've taught, you're learning the fastest and doing the best."

"Oh, that can't be true."

"Do you think I'm talking nonsense? No. You're better than those old students of mine who are probably somewhere clearing their throats and calling themselves certified heritage transmission instructors. It's been a pleasure teaching again in my old age."

Receiving heartfelt praise from a nationally recognized master craftsman, Onik smiled with innocent brightness for the first time in a while.

Hearing someone besides Teacher Lee Eun-jeong say that he was a pleasure to teach gave him a new kind of joy.

Onik could no longer accept bows, tools for killing things, with the uncomplicated pleasure he once had.

Even so, spending nearly four months making something and receiving an adult's praise for it could not help but bring joy and a sense of accomplishment.

If he could live on joys and accomplishments like this alone, that would be an ordinary person's life.

The boy who wanted to become ordinary someday gave this moment special meaning.

"Here. Take them."

The old Master Bowyer gave the boy three bows as gifts.

"This white horn bow was made for you to use now. The black horn bow in the middle is for when you've grown. The last one is the biggest and strongest. Try using it once you're fully grown, if you can manage it. If not, it can't be helped. Though I think you'd have more than enough strength to use it."

"Thank you, sir. I'll use them well."

"It's a little early, but congratulations on entering middle school."

"You have to stay healthy for a long, long time."

"All of a sudden?"

"I think that all the time."

"Huh. I'll cling to this world with all my strength until you can handle that second bow properly."

"Uh...... Then should I never use the second bow?"

"You little rascal. If you've made a bow, you need to take responsibility and let it live a proper life at least once. Do you think simply making it is the end of it? If that's how you'll be, give it back. I can't give it to someone who won't use it."

Onik had made a joke with good intentions and ended up being scolded. All he could do was smile awkwardly.

The part about taking responsibility and letting something live a proper life took on another meaning for the lonely boy.

‘Simply making it isn't the end......’

Those words could apply to people as well as bows.

The Master Bowyer often lamented that bows lived in an age where their purpose had died.

He was famous for his stubbornness. If he did not think someone would use a bow properly, he would not sell it to them at all. He said it was the maker's responsibility.

Because of that same stubbornness, he had not let Onik even touch a bow when the boy was younger, just as he did not let his own children, grandsons, or granddaughters do so.

Simple affection alone was not why this stubborn craftsman had given Onik the bows.

The old Master Bowyer believed few people would use bows as properly as Onik. It was a conclusion he reached after watching him for years.

He was certain that Onik's interest in and affection for the bows he made was different in kind from the fickle, short-lived interest of other children his age.

The Master Bowyer thought to himself.

‘Even if I give this boy a bow, it won't become a discarded toy in a year or two.’

He made bows, not ornaments or toys.

Wanting to repay the old craftsman's faith, Onik set out hunting with a bow in broad daylight.

Lunar New Year was not far away. It would be meaningful to give his master the first game animal he killed with a bow.

The fact that he was not yet used to shooting a bow did not concern Onik much.

A bow was a tool for killing things. It would not take long to learn. It had been the same when he first learned to use a sling.

The frightening boy was a genius at killing things.

For the first time in a long while, the boy hummed a song.

"Lotte! Lotte! Strongest! Lot! Te! Bird flying alone over the dark seashore♬"

The great Giants on the mound, who had not won a championship in over thirty years, briefly lightened the weight of the boy's worries.

Footnotes:

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