WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈
Chapter 5: Ah, Merciful Moon
──────
“Wow.”
Kim Hyeong-un, a convenience store clerk, stopped moving the overnight stock and stared up at the sky.
“Pretty.”
He had no hobby of admiring the night sky. He wasn't sensitive enough for that, nor did he have much of an eye for beauty, but this was an exception.
“It’s really blue.”
How could the moon be that blue? It had an oddly mysterious air about it. He spent a long time gazing up at the moon before a customer calling for him finally brought him back to his senses.
‘There must be some scientific reason it changed like that.’
After ringing them up, he searched it on his phone. Just as he'd expected.
“So the moon looks blue when there’s a lot of dust in the air?”
That was as far as his interest went. Dealing with the stream of customers mattered more than looking at a strange moon. The store was in a busy district, so it had plenty of customers even at dawn. Since it was Friday night, he was run off his feet.
“Have a good one.”
After changing shifts with the daytime worker, he was heading home with a light step when he stopped.
“Ugh.”
There was a flower bed there, and naturally, bees were flying around it. The sound of their wings stabbed at his ears, making him slowly back away.
‘Let’s turn back.’
When he was young, he had gone to visit a grave with his parents and been badly stung by a ground wasp. Ever since, bees had been something he avoided.
[Put soybean paste on it and it’ll get better in no time!]
His swollen leg, his grandmother applying soybean paste to the wound, the fever that tormented him all night, and the doctor's voice he heard in a daze at the emergency room they visited too late.
[If you’d come any later, you could have died of sepsis.]
The shock of that day made Kim Hyeong-un hate bees and soybean paste. There was a time when the sound of buzzing wings would send him into a fit, and the smell of soybean paste would make him break out in a cold sweat. Time had healed him enough that it was only dislike now, but he still couldn't stand either of them.
“I wish winter would get here already. Then all the bees would freeze to death.”
After returning home and showering, he sat at his computer like any other young man, then frowned.
‘Is someone cooking fermented soybean paste stew somewhere?’
＊＊＊
“The moon’s blue again today.”
Kim Hyeong-un looked up as he organized the stock. The Blue Moon was deeper and bluer than before, more beautiful than yesterday, but somehow unsettling.
‘Maybe it’s because I’ve had such rotten luck today.’
He didn't even want to think about the day. Since morning, the whole hallway had reeked of soybean paste, and even after he got to work, three out of every ten customers smelled like soybean paste.
‘Did some famous soybean paste soup place open up? Or did a star chef come up with a recipe using soybean paste?’
That wasn't all. Whenever he walked down the street, he kept hearing bees buzzing around his ears. Yet whenever he startled and looked for them, there was nothing there.
“Again?”
Once he finished organizing the stock and went inside, he heard buzzing wings.
“Sorry?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
The customer in front of him looked as though they hadn't heard anything, so Kim Hyeong-un quickly finished the transaction and wondered if he should go to a hospital after work.
‘Where should I go?’
An ear, nose, and throat clinic?
Or...
‘...Not a psychiatrist.’
＊＊＊
“You can see the moon?”
“Yes.”
Kim Hyeong-un frowned at the psychiatrist.
“And you smell soybean paste?”
“Yes.”
“And you can hear bees buzzing?”
“Yes.”
He could see the Blue Moon even in broad daylight. The moment he woke up, the overpowering smell of soybean paste made his head hurt, and now he could hear bees buzzing somewhere in the distance no matter where he went.
‘Am I going crazy, or is something wrong with my brain?’
Maybe it was a brain tumor. A tumor in his brain could be making his eyes, ears, and nose malfunction.
“Hmm.”
He hated the idea of seeing a psychiatrist, but the thought of going to a large hospital and being diagnosed with a brain tumor terrified him enough to come here first. The doctor soon gave him a diagnosis.
“There's nothing seriously wrong.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. You don't need to worry too much.”
I knew it! Coming to a psychiatrist first was the right choice! The doctor mixed in difficult medical terms, so he couldn't understand everything, but one thing was clear. Stress was the cause. Hearing that all he needed was a simple injection and some medicine, he smiled and thanked the doctor.
“Thank you, doctor!”
“Get your injection, and I'll give you a prescription. Take it to the pharmacy downstairs.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Kim Hyeong-un left the examination room and headed to the injection room.
“All right, I'll apply the soybean paste now.”
“Yes...?”
“The soybean paste.”
“What are you talking about?!”
Startled, he turned around. The equally startled nurse stared blankly at him with a syringe in hand.
“Um, sir? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
Something really must be wrong with my head. After getting the injection, Kim Hyeong-un called the convenience store owner and decided to take some time off.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Someone I know happens to be on leave, and they said they'll cover for you. Get some rest and take care of yourself.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? Get better soon and come back.”
I hope so too. He looked at the Blue Moon outside the window and swallowed his medicine.
‘I got an injection and took my medicine, so I’ll get better soon.’
＊＊＊
“...”
Kim Hyeong-un took his medicine as he looked at the Blue Moon still hanging outside the window.
‘The moon got bigger.’
The overpowering soybean paste smell made his nose ache. People were supposed to get used to bad smells, but this one only grew stronger with time. He couldn't get used to it at all.
‘It’s only been one day. I can't expect to get better in a day.’
Let’s take a walk.
The smell grew worse the moment he went outside. It didn't disappear in the park or as he walked down the tree-lined street.
‘It’s all fake. It’s a hallucination caused by mental illness.’
Which meant the buzzing that had been ringing around him since earlier was fake too.
The sound that came close to his ears and blew gusts of air at them as if fanning him was fake too.
The feeling of something crawling onto his shoulder, the sensation of something stinging his face, it was all fake.
“Eek!”
Pain flared across his lips, as though he had been punched. He kept telling himself it was a hallucination, but the pain made that resolution laughable.
‘W-Was it real?’
He turned on his phone's camera and checked his lips. They were badly swollen. He had definitely been stung by a bee.
‘I guess it was real this time, not a hallucination.’
How could this burning, throbbing pain be fake? Kim Hyeong-un endured the pain in his lips and headed to a pharmacy.
“Do you have ointment for bee stings?”
“Of course. Right here.”
The pharmacist held out a tub of soybean paste.
“When you get stung by a bee, soybean paste will heal it.”
“...”
It was just like the nurse. He squeezed his eyes shut.
‘This must be a hallucination too.’
When he opened them again, thankfully, there was ointment instead of soybean paste.
“Where were you stung, though?”
“My lip.”
“You look fine to me.”
“...Do I?”
It still hurt.
On the way home, he bought several bottles of soju at a convenience store.
‘Let’s have a drink and go to sleep.’
He didn't think he could sleep without getting drunk, not with the overpowering soybean paste smell and the constant buzzing of bees.
＊＊＊
‘I’m not crazy.’
Kim Hyeong-un trembled as a swarm of bees flew madly outside his blanket. He forced himself to recognize it as a hallucination and act normally, but every time he did, the bees stung him all over with insane fury. He kept writhing in unbearable pain.
“I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy.”
Ordinary clothes couldn't keep out bees, so he dug out his military uniform from the back of the wardrobe and put it on. The red name tag and sergeant insignia were still clean because he had barely attended any reserve drills.
“Why would I be crazy? Huh? My mind's just sick for a little while. I’m absolutely not crazy.”
Right. If I take my medicine, I’ll be fine again. I need to eat before taking medicine, right? Let’s have a simple bowl of rice mixed with water.
“...This is fake too.”
Bees floated and swam in the watery rice. A bee fluttered on top of a heaping spoonful of rice, but he put it in his mouth without caring.
“It’s fake. Fake.”
Crunch!
“I said it’s fake.”
Crunch! Crunch!
“And what if it is real?”
Ten bees in one bowl of rice.
He took his medicine and lay down on the bed.
“Sleep. Once I wake up, everything will be fine.”
The overpowering smell of soybean paste was still there, but for some reason, it made him feel good this time.
＊＊＊
“Bees go buzz-buzz.”
A swarm of bees filled the tiny studio apartment. Their wings made the air tremble as if there had been an earthquake.
“Soybean paste goes reek-reek.”
Every breath brought in the rancid soybean paste smell, stabbing deep into his lungs and making him nauseous. It was so foul now that he couldn't breathe through his nose and had to use his mouth.
“And I go hee-hee.”
Kim Hyeong-un forced out a laugh and sang. His trembling voice was full of tears, but he barely pushed aside the urge to bury himself beneath the blanket and opened the refrigerator.
‘Take the medicine. If I take it, I’ll be fine.’
He took out the side dishes. The delicious-looking pan-fried tofu was covered in embedded bees, and the stir-fried zucchini was full of bee heads.
“I’ll make soy sauce egg rice.”
When he cracked an egg into the heated frying pan, a bee stuck in the yolk flapped its wings, still alive.
“Fuck.”
This was mental illness. An illness. It was all hallucinations. He tossed the medicine into his mouth in one gulp, swallowed it, and lay back on the bed again.
‘Please, please, tomorrow...’
Let everything return to normal.
＊＊＊
Kim Hyeong-un hadn't slept since yesterday and felt like he was going insane. The room was packed with bees, and their buzzing was so loud he couldn't even hear himself breathe. The soybean paste smell that stabbed into his lungs was so strong that it felt as if he were smelling it with his brain instead of his nose.
“Haa, haa.”
More than anything, though, it was the Blue Moon that kept him from sleeping. He was clearly lying in bed. He was staring at the ceiling, not looking out the window.
Even so, he could see the Blue Moon. It was physically impossible, but there was no other way to explain it.
The Blue Moon could be heard. Before his eyes, no, perhaps inside his head.
『You, one-eyed one, son of Kim Hyeong-sik, child of Park Hee-seon, grandson of Kim Tae-bu, grandchild of Lee Mal-suk.』
The voice was visible. He could clearly feel the beautiful, vivid Blue Moon, studded with countless mouths and eyes, speaking to him.
『I am the savior of your kind, the practitioner of mercy, the patron of the adorable, the rogue of the great, and the giver of eyes. See the world through the gaze of one with two eyes.』
He ate an intense pain. Beyond his open eyes, his soul glided across the ceiling, and he drank the experience of being swept along amid all manner of floating matter.
“Ah, aah!”
He became dust. A tiny speck of dust drifting through the vast river called the universe, settling upon a grain of sand inside the world resting atop it, living a pitiful little life.
“Aaaaaah!”
He caught the scent of the world's greatness.
How pitiful an existence he was.
How shallow a puddle human knowledge was.
How small a phenomenon science was.
How shallow the concept of dimensions was.
How ludicrous a story perception was.
And...
“Aaaagh!”
How dangerous and horrifying the world was.
“Haa, haa.”
Kim Hyeong-un barely regained his senses and sprang from the bed. He quickly grabbed a knife from the kitchen and pointed it at his heart.
“I have to die. I have to die!”
Before they noticed him.
Before those things took an interest in him.
Before he even happened to cross paths with them.
“I can still die now!”
But he couldn't stab himself in the chest.
‘What about Mom if I die? Dad? My younger sibling?’
I might escape through death, but my family could not.
“No!”
He immediately ran outside. On the way to his family home, countless people saw him and fled in terror.
“He has a knife!”
“Run!”
Ah, I have to save my family.
Yet when he saw the people passing by, unbearable pity overwhelmed him. He had no choice but to swing the knife.
“Please save me!”
“Aah!”
Tears streamed down his face at their screams. At the same time, relief welled up inside him because he had saved them.
“Freeze!”
“Hands up! Drop the knife, you bastard!”
It was a busy district, so the police arrived quickly. Their appearance disappointed him.
‘I need to save at least one more person.’
The police are people too. Let’s save them. He charged at them, but bullets tore through his body.
‘They used live rounds right away? No warning shots?’
Ah, there were a lot of crazy bastards going around stabbing people these days, weren't there? The law must have changed so the police could use live rounds right away on people like that.
‘I’m not trash like them.’
I haven’t even saved my mother yet.
I haven’t saved my father, who does nothing but work every day.
My poor younger sibling had only just been discharged from the military, and I haven’t even saved them. What am I supposed to do?
“Suspect subdued! Send ambulances! There are more than ten victims, so send several!”
Still, he had saved at least a few people. Feeling his body grow cold, he looked up at the sky.
“Oh, ohh...”
He reached for the Blue Moon looking down at him.
“Ah, Merciful Moon.”
Thank you for giving me this chance.
‘And if possible...’
Please grant the same mercy to my family as well.
Footnotes:
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