WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈
Chapter 93: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (93)
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#93.
There was a truth the lonely boy did not know.
The dark crimson aberrant nature that had taken firm root in the boy’s soul.
The indiscriminate murderous intent this aberrant nature raised against those precious to him was, in fact, being blocked by a newly formed trauma.
A trauma imprinted on his unconscious mind around the time he fainted.
At its heart was the fear of loss.
When Teacher Lee Eun-jeong, relying on her intuition, had asked her student a difficult question, the boy had frozen beneath a fear so dreadful it was almost unbearable.
What if Teacher came to hate him?
What if Teacher began to shun him, or became afraid of him?
What if, because of that, he lost his precious Teacher forever?
His fear of that loss had been so great that he had fainted.
Had Eun-jeong’s instinctive response been absent or delayed, the fainting would never have ended with only one episode.
But in truth... the reason the boy had felt such overwhelming fear was also the effect of another trauma.
Because the boy had already experienced losing someone precious.
His cold father, who had swept in and then swept away again, had created soil in the boy’s heart where a trauma of loss could easily take root.
After all, the boy had grown up carrying a great emptiness.
As that emptiness swelled, the place precious people occupied in his heart could only grow wider as well...
With such rich compost of emptiness already spread within him, Yohan’s death had been enough to become a trauma all on its own.
The trauma deepened each time Onik blamed himself for Yohan’s death.
‘I never want to go through the same thing again. I don’t want to lose even one more precious person...’
There were pains and fears one could not understand until one had truly lost something.
The more deeply a person regretted losing something precious, the more tightly they tended to cling to what remained.
And the lonely boy did not have many precious people to begin with. That was why the fear of losing his teacher had reached the point of making him faint.
In other words, contrary to the boy’s hopes, the aberrant nature clinging to his soul had not improved.
His heart had merely developed a new illness that suppressed it.
It was a case of one poison holding another poison down.
Depending on the circumstances, poison could become medicine.
When murder led directly to an irreversible and sorrowful loss, the fear of loss, proportionate to how precious the other person was, suppressed the desire to kill in the unconscious mind.
The result was good, of course.
Seen positively, the boy’s newly acquired trauma had ultimately arisen from his love for those precious to him.
Was it not because one loved that one feared loss?
In short, through his love for precious people, he had gained a new weapon with which to fight the ominous aberrant nature within himself.
But it was a truth the boy himself was better off not knowing.
After all, it was not the kind of progress he had wanted.
#
Time passed, and it became the middle of December.
It had been about two and a half months since the frightening boy had shared a secret with his precious teacher, a secret for just the two of them.
Though a considerable amount of time had passed, the boy could still hold the hands of precious people.
He could hug them whenever he wished.
He could look into their eyes for a long time and smile at them brightly.
People still differed in how comfortable or uncomfortable he felt around them.
His hypothesis that his discomfort lessened in proportion to how precious he considered the other person steadily gained strength in his heart.
His wish that this welcome change would not be temporary only grew stronger.
Apart from the joy he gained from the warmth of precious people in everyday life, his anxiety that he might lose it at any time never diminished.
The boy had endured the dark aberrant nature within him for many years, sharpening the blade of self-hatred in order to fight it.
For that reason, it was difficult for him to be optimistic about the problem of his aberrant nature.
So the boy thought:
‘...Something that appeared suddenly could disappear suddenly too.’
The new joy and new anxiety generally held each other in balance.
The reason for saying “generally” was that the balance did not always remain even.
Whenever his emotional balance collapsed, anxiety held the narrow advantage nine times out of ten.
Again, the boy was not someone who could see this matter optimistically.
Only more time could solve this problem.
Throughout those two months and fifteen days, Legal Hunter had found his young business partner’s changes strange.
‘What is this? Puberty?’
The hunter and the other people around Onik who cared for him could not possibly have failed to notice his changes.
The sudden shift in his behavior from one day onward had been far too obvious.
Was Onik not the boy who would always let his gaze slide away whenever he met another person’s eyes for even a little too long?
But now, Onik no longer avoided the eyes of people close to him.
In fact, he often tried to meet their eyes first.
He even seemed to enjoy it. The boy would suddenly lean his face close and smile brightly, giving the people around him a warm sort of happiness as well.
Though it was a change he showed only to certain people, it was still a monumental one.
Laughter increased greatly in the aging village.
The happiest person, naturally, was the boy’s grandfather.
Old man Jo Jeong-ho had the hunter deliver a sack of rice to the female teacher’s house. The teacher was deeply embarrassed when she heard it was meant as thanks...
But the eyes were windows into the heart.
Having more chances to look directly into the eyes of the kind country boy also meant that the moments of anxiety passing behind them became that much easier to see.
Because the boy had grown brighter than before, his shadowy moments of wavering stood out even more.
‘Looks like this kid has something else worrying him again.’
The young business partner’s state of mind was an extremely important matter to the hunter.
Part of it was also the concern and affection of a village elder who had watched Onik since he was a baby.
Even the hunter did not know which mattered more, but it did not particularly matter that he did not know.
So the hunter whispered about it with his wife.
When it came to children, he thought his beloved wife had a better eye than he did.
The following was the conversation he had with his wife.
“Puberty... doesn’t it usually make kids a little rougher? But this kid feels even gentler now. He smiles more when he sees people. He seems brighter too.”
His wife, who had not received much education but possessed a thoughtful nature, replied.
“Well, Onik is already working toward his dream at that age. Very steadily, too. Far more steadily than most adults. So I don’t see why he would become rough like other children.”
“Is that so?”
“He has something he works hard at every day. He enjoys it too. He’s busy enough just focusing on it and enjoying it, so why would he wander? There is the matter with his father, but the elder and Teacher Lee Eun-jeong are taking good care of him.”
“Then it isn’t puberty?”
“Who knows? Not wandering and not having worries are different things.”
His wife shrugged.
“Isn’t it normal to have lots of worries at that age? I did, and you were even worse when you were young. And your friends, goodness, they were unbearable to watch. They always looked as if they were carrying every worry in the world, getting angry at the slightest thing and acting like grown-ups.”
“Hmm. So you mean I was the best among them?”
“Wow, look at this man. How did you hear it that way? What confidence.”
“But it’s true. I don’t think I was that bad.”
“Dear. I’m your childhood friend, you know? I’ve known you since the days when you wet the bed, went around with your pants off and a winnowing basket on your head, asking the neighbors for salt. Who are you trying to fool?”
“Fool? That’s harsh. I’m your husband...”
“Anyway, just dote on him. Other kids might get spoiled if you only indulge them, but Onik is different. I think he’s a child who will grow well on his own if we just cheer him on.”
“Hm. Well, if that’s what you think.”
“Christmas is coming soon, isn’t it? How about giving him a memorable gift to mark the end of the year? How much have you, and all of us, received from Onik over the past year?”
“I was planning to give him a gift anyway. There’s something I’ve been preparing.”
“A person needs to know gratitude. That’s how blessings keep coming in. I won’t say a word even if you spend a little more. We can’t even give Onik a birthday present.”
“Come on. I know that much. There you go nagging again.”
“You know, but I thought you might forget.”
“Goodness, I’m hurt. My wife is treating her husband, who is as high as the sky, like an old man with dementia now...”
“If you really get dementia, you won’t be my husband from then on. Be careful.”
“...You mean that as a reminder not to forget the gift, right? That’s what you mean?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“I’ll believe you... I love you, dear...”
The hunter, who truly became hapless before his wife, decided to follow his wise wife’s advice as always.
He already had a decent gift in mind.
A gift that could unite his private feelings and business interests.
While Legal Hunter often left to prepare that gift, all construction on the Guest Rest Pavilion and Guest Lodging Pavilion was completed.
Two months and fifteen days was enough time not only to finish all the work but also to build additional furniture afterward.
The staff from the small and medium-sized construction company who had helped with the work could not stop marveling whenever the exceptional boy lent a hand.
It usually went something like this.
“You cut joints this cleanly with just a hammer and chisel? Really? This isn’t the skill of someone who has only done this for a day or two. Where did you learn?”
“I learned by watching YouTube!”
“Can you really do this much from YouTube...? As someone in the trade, I’m having a bit of a reality check...”
A try square, a pen, a chisel, a hammer, and a saw.
And a workbench, a support stand, and a few clamps.
Even with only those tools, the exceptional boy could complete most woodworking tasks at a professional level.
It was not work that killed anything, but woodworking was still physical work in the end.
So there was no reason the boy could not do it.
Was he not a boy who possessed not only senses and physical abilities beyond human limits, but also extraordinary learning ability?
Whether wood or metal, joints that fit together with precision gave those who saw them a strange sense of satisfaction.
The process of making such things skillfully gave a similar satisfaction as well.
So Onik’s subscribers happily watched the construction process.
The most common donation message was, as always, this:
「Onik. Are you scamming us again today...?」
The process of the exceptional country boy quickly cutting and hammering things together looked far too easy and simple on screen.
It was natural for viewers to think, ‘That looks like something I could do too. Should I really try it?’
And without a single exception, every one of those people faced the disaster they had brought upon themselves.
When those struck by disaster left comments that were not quite complaints, the editors, whose numbers had grown, always pinned those comments at the top.
Representatives from sponsoring companies would try to advertise and promote their products beneath those preserved comments.
It was another source of laughter for viewers.
Thus, among the subscribers who had now surpassed one million, the infamy of Jo Onik the swindler only rose higher by the day...
Though the construction was finished, the administrative procedures needed to use the buildings officially had not yet been completed.
They had to obtain approval for use, change the registered details in the building ledger, and complete registration of the building changes before the facilities could legally operate.
So for the moment, the Guest Rest Pavilion and Guest Lodging Pavilion were spaces used privately by people close to them.
“If this were a game, we’d be in closed beta testing. Viewers, you still can’t come yet. We can’t accept visitors.”
Many viewers pretended to be upset at Onik’s relaxed words as he sat at the counter inside the cafe created in the Guest Rest Pavilion, sipping warm cocoa.
They complained that he only cared about enjoying himself, and that he had lost his original heart.
It was the usual WWE-style performance.
The country boy saw the chat’s uproar and smiled.
“Come on. What can we do if that’s what the law says? Come later, later. If you’re lucky, you might meet the Truffle Candy noonas. And don’t be disappointed if the village elders are here instead of the noonas.”
Sorin, serving as the daily barista (unqualified, uses instant products), leaned her upper body over the counter and waved cheerfully at the camera.
The remodeled Japanese colonial-era house consisted of a residence, a garden, and one warehouse building.
The garden was broad, and the warehouse was quite large.
That was because the owner during the Japanese colonial period had been a famous rice miller who dominated this area.
So the hunter and Onik turned the large warehouse into the Guest Rest Pavilion.
In keeping with the nature of a Guest Rest Pavilion, a place where guests could sit and rest for a while, half the usable warehouse space was given to the cafe.
Truffle Candy’s members were planning to work there for special events.
Sometimes as baristas, sometimes as servers, and sometimes as singers and instrumentalists.
The first person to suggest it had been Yesul, the third member.
「I looked into it, and apparently it’s pretty common in the idol market in the neighboring country across the sea! On days without schedules, they work at businesses connected to their agency and earn income! Let’s try it too! Huh? Money aside, it sounds fun!」
The youngest member, Mina, eagerly seconded the idea, and Sorin and Sera eventually agreed as well, so the proposal passed.
When Truffle Candy’s members were not working, village elders without anything else to do planned to tend the counter as a pastime.
As a businessman, Legal Hunter hoped the world would see this cafe as a model case of revitalizing rural communities in an aging society.
At the far right end of the people seated along the counter, Mina looked around the room with a proud expression.
“Wow, it’s amazing when I think about it again. We made this huge cafe with our own hands. The Guest Lodging Pavilion too.”
Sorin, behind the counter, scolded Mina.
“Say it properly. How much did we really help? All we did was trail after the bosses helping us and Onik, working as gofers.”
“Unnie! Gofers? Do you have any awareness that you’re an idol? Say things more nicely!”
“That’s my personality. The subscribers like it too.”
“That’s only because this channel’s subscribers are unusually kind! We haven’t even properly broken through yet, so stop giving us a sour and astringent image! I’m suffering because of it too!”
“What? Sour and astringent? You really don’t hold back with your unnie.”
Onik, who had been quietly listening at the far left end, said one thing.
“Honestly, I think Eagles fans are kind of like that. Sour and astringent.”
“What are you suddenly talking about, Onik...?”
“It’s true. They were happy, and happy, and happy some more, until everyone ended up becoming foxes.”
“What does that mean? And what do foxes have to do with anything?”
“Don’t you know the story of the fox and the grapes? A championship too far away to reach. Grapes too high to eat. So everyone thinks, ‘That championship must taste sour and astringent. Those are sour, astringent grapes. So there’s no need to try so hard to eat them... I’m happy even without eating them...’ As a Giants fan, I understand how they feel...”
“It’s just a pile of nonsense, but somehow it makes me solemn...”
“I am-m happyyy. I am-m happyyy.”
“Stop it, Onik. Please. It really hurts.”
The live chat filled with laughter and playful outrage.
Fans of one particular baseball team joined forces to call for his downfall. Sera covered her mouth and quietly laughed.
On one side of the cafe, a Christmas tree glittered with electric lights, filling the room with the mood of year’s end.
At the center of the cafe, a cast-iron coal briquette stove sent up a faint haze as it warmed the indoor air.
Onik liked this warm atmosphere very much.
The more it was shared with others, the warmer it would become.
First, his grandfather and teacher.
Then the elders of the aging village and the many friends in town.
After that, even people in the city whose lives were difficult.
He intended to slowly widen the circle and share this warmth with them.
There were moments when anxiety surged from within the boy, lonely because he was frightening.
But even so, this winter felt as though it would become the warmest season among all the winters the boy had experienced.
Holding that warmth in his heart, Onik thought:
‘The name of this cafe... Candy Box should be enough, right?’
He could ask Grandfather to write the sign.
As the elder of a historic head family, Onik’s grandfather was quite good at calligraphy.
His grandfather’s handwriting should go not only on the cafe sign, but on the signs for the Guest Rest Pavilion and Guest Lodging Pavilion too.
How nice would it look if they dried a board of beautifully grained solid wood, lettered it in black ink, and gave it a smooth coat of lacquer?
A meaningful space completed with the handwriting of the most precious person in the world.
The smile would not leave Onik’s lips as he imagined it.
#
While the frightening boy was feeling a rare, pure happiness, there were people who, in contrast, came to feel pure stress because of him.
An unpleasant chill hung over the executive committee beneath the organizing committee of the provincial archery tournament.
It was completely unlike the atmosphere in the cafe where Onik was.
“Association President... no, Chairman. What is this?”
One of the archery experts who had joined the executive committee raised an official document toward the seat of honor.
It was a notice requesting advance cooperation that had come down from the organizing committee with only four months remaining until the tournament, and its contents were far too absurd.
“They want us to recognize traditional horn bows as competition equipment starting with this tournament? What kind of ridiculous request is this? Can we even call it a request? It sounds more like an order than a request.”
The chairman of the executive committee was usually also the president of the Provincial Archery Association.
The chairman and Provincial Archery Association president wore a troubled expression.
“Well, apparently it is a strong request from somewhere higher than the county governor. I only heard it through others, so I can’t be sure, but it may be the provincial governor’s intention...”
The association president had mentioned the county governor because the governor oversaw the administrative district where the international stadium was located and also served as chairman of the organizing committee.
On paper, the organizing committee was above the executive committee.
But it was an unspoken rule that the organizing committee, whose members were local notables such as the county governor, county council chair, Provincial Archery Association president, county sports council chair, county police chief, and provincial assembly members, took almost no part in the practical work of the tournament.
The Provincial Archery Association president was the only expert among them.
That was why the president of the Provincial Archery Association also handled the executive committee.
The independence of the archery association was not merely a source of pride for archers. It was no exaggeration to call it a source of pride for the Republic of Korea itself.
The faces of the archery experts twisted into gloomy scowls.
Footnotes:
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