Chapter 61
It was my first time hiking as a grown-up. Honestly, I thought it would be easy, but it was really tough.
"Ugh. I'm dying. Hey! Can we slow down a bit?"
I asked the group ahead to adjust their pace.
Yang Juhee and Bong Ji-yeon were zipping up the stairs and rocks as if they were in some kind of competition.
Both Yang Juhee and Bong Ji-yeon were high school girls who loved physical activities. Their stride was different from quiet students like me or those who prefer sitting and reading books like Jung-seok.
"Hey, Young-won. Let's take a short break."
Jung-seok, who had been gritting his teeth and pushing on until halfway up the mountain to impress Bong Ji-yeon, finally gave in.
Jung-seok and I collapsed onto a rock halfway up, and Yoo Dahee approached us, offering sports drinks from her bag.
"Are you guys really tired? Should I carry your bags for you?"
Yoo Dahee had been walking at a similar pace to us but didn't seem particularly tired.
Who knew that Yoo Dahee, who commutes by car every day, would be this fit? Wasn't she supposed to be a literature girl?
Anyway, we decided to take a short break halfway up.
We also needed to find this "rocky area". As we were rummaging around the rocks, some middle-aged women in sun caps who seemed to be coming down after going up earlier, each had something to say to us.
"Look at these young kids hiking!"
"Oh, how cute."
"What good are those boys, sprawled out like that! Get up and keep climbing!"
It certainly wasn't a common sight to see a group of high school boys and girls hiking together.
We're probably the only ones who got up on a Saturday morning during finals season to go hiking.
Jung-seok and I spread out a mat and ate some kimbap we got from the middle-aged women who were drinking some unidentified beverages. We decided to ask for some information while we were at it.
"Ma'am, do you know where the rocky area is?"
"Rocky area? I've heard of a spring, but..."
"Never heard of a rocky area... Are you talking about the mountain lodge?"
"Gaeryong Lodge? That's right. There are tons of rocks near the lodge!"
Hikers generally liked to meddle. It meant they enjoyed chatting with strangers and sharing food.
I'm not sure why. Maybe because they're healthy extroverts?
The important thing was that we got some useful information.
Soon, Yang Juhee, who had gone far ahead, came back down with Bong Ji-yeon.
"Hey, why are you guys sprawled out here?"
Yang Juhee, with her good stamina, couldn't understand human limitations.
Despite having climbed to a high point and come back down, she didn't seem tired at all. Bong Ji-yeon, however, looked a bit worn out.
"Haa... haa..."
Unable to hold back, Bong Ji-yeon unzipped her windbreaker wide open and panted heavily. Her eyes seemed to be secretly watching Yang Juhee, filled with a sense of inferiority.
Anyway. We regrouped halfway up the mountain.
It was 10 AM. It was still early for the sun to be high, and the weather was cool.
"Look at that! It's a squirrel!"
On the way to what they called the lodge, Yoo Dahee pointed at a tree.
A squirrel was jumping around on the tree, its frantic left-right movements were quite dizzying.
Of course, Yoo Dahee was delighted like a child.
"Look at the squirrel's stripes! So cute! Will it come if I feed it?"
Swish-
Yoo Dahee opened a small bag of nuts and held it out to the squirrel. Soon, the fearless squirrel scurried over and picked out the almonds from her hand.
Do animals recognize pretty people too?
As I was slightly surprised, Yang Juhee, who was walking slowly beside us, shouted,
"Wah!"
Scamper-
The squirrel, hearing Yang Juhee's loud cry, leapt away. I realized Yang Juhee not only liked chasing away stray cats but squirrels too by shouting at them. Does she just dislike animals in general?
Yoo Dahee frowned.
"Hey. You scared the squirrel away."
"Don't keep feeding wild animals. Haven't you heard it makes them lose their wild instincts?"
Yang Juhee frowned and lifted just the corner of her mouth in a mischievous grin. I was reminded again that Yang Juhee used to be a bully. Bullying is what nasty kids do. But Bong Ji-yeon, who was also a former bully, harshly criticized Yang Juhee.
"That crazy bitch. She's always been like that with animals. Total psychopath."
Bong Ji-yeon took Yoo Dahee's side in most things. She must like rich people.
In fact, everyone liked rich people.
***
[700m to Gaeryong Lodge]
The steep slope was getting worse, and the easy-to-climb stairs were disappearing. One wrong step and you could easily tumble down.
"Wow, look at these students tackling the expert course."
"That's what youth is for, struggling through hardships."
The equipment of the adults climbing the mountain looked more professional compared to the middle-aged women from earlier.
Jung-seok, looking at his phone, said,
"Apparently, the path to the lodge isn't recommended for beginners."
It seemed that way.
But a man in sports sunglasses who was coming down the mountain must have overheard us and said,
"Are you kids trying to go to the lodge? There's nothing there. Gaeryong Lodge closed down a few years ago. They shut it down completely because of frequent accidents and injuries. You won't find anything there."
The lodge is closed?
It was shocking news, but in a way, it made our reason for going to the lodge even more solid. A lodge closed due to frequent accidents...
"This smells fishy."
"What! I didn't sweat that much! This isn't my smell!"
Thwack-!
Bong Ji-yeon punched my side. It seemed like a playful hit, but it really hurt.
As I was clutching my side in pain, the sunglasses-wearing man who looked like an experienced hiker said,
"If you do go to the lodge, make sure to come down before sunset."
"Why?"
Yoo Dahee asked. The expert hiker thought for a moment and then said simply,
"You can't see anything around here when it gets dark."
I see. Anyway, it was only 10 AM now.
We had plenty of time and planned to descend before sunset no matter what, so there shouldn't be any problems.
With that in mind, we headed towards Gaeryong Lodge. Because the course was tough, our progress was slow, and it looked like we'd arrive after 11 AM.
That's when Yang Juhee discovered something.
"Hey, look at this. There's an iron stake stuck here. Isn't this one of those stakes that Japanese people supposedly drove into Korean mountains to cut off their spiritual energy? Those Japanese were really devious."
Yang Juhee frowned and then snickered.
The story of driving stakes into mountains. I felt like I'd heard it as an urban legend too.
But Jung-seok shook his head.
"I've heard that's a distorted story. They say it's not from the Japanese colonial period, but stakes left over from land surveys after the Korean War. This is probably one of those too. Construction waste."
Swish-
Jung-seok pulled out the stake as if showing off his strength to Bong Ji-yeon.
Pop-
The rusty stake, about 1.5 meters long, came out more easily than expected, but its appearance was strange.
"What's this?"
At the sharp end of the stake Jung-seok pulled out, there was something like paper wrapped around it.
I discovered that the paper was covered in strange writing.
Talismans. They were talismans.
Someone had attached a bunch of talismans to the stake, wrapped it, and driven it into the ground.
It was a very strange object, and Yoo Dahee, who had been quiet perhaps due to fatigue from the tough course, suddenly shouted as if startled,
"Put that back in! Quickly!"
"O-okay."
Startled by Yoo Dahee's uncharacteristically loud shout, Jung-seok nervously tried to put the stake back. But for some reason, the stake wouldn't go back in as it was originally, and it wouldn't go in deep.
Clang! Clang clang!
"...It won't go back in."
Jung-seok seemed quite flustered. Soon, Yoo Dahee said with a serious face,
"I've read about this in a feng shui book. There's a spell where you drive a pillar into evil ground to cut off its energy. It's probably that. Something like this pillar. You should never pull it out carelessly."
Jung-seok's face was turning pale at an alarming rate. It was because Jung-seok was a coward.
Caw, caw, caw, caw-
Crows suddenly started cawing for some reason. I felt chills run down my spine.
"Hey! Jung-seok! Let's put it back quickly! Hurry! Drive it back in!"
Jung-seok and I grunted as we tried to drive the stake back in. It seemed like we'd need a huge sledgehammer to drive this in properly.
Whether there were a lot of rocks underground or not, it wouldn't go in even 30 cm. It felt like the ground was rejecting the stake.
...Rocky area! Suddenly, that phrase flashed through my mind. Yoo Dahee said with an unusually cold expression,
"I'm not sure, but that stake probably has some magical significance. Since we've pulled out a stake driven into evil ground, normal methods might not work..."
Oh, shit… Did we just get cursed or something?
Jung-seok, you bastard!
As I was thinking this,
"You rascals! What are you doing! What are you doing! Oh no! This is terrible! Terrible!"
Someone shouted at us loudly. When we turned, there was a man standing there.
He was wearing what looked like very expensive hiking gear and was holding two golden rods in his hands. You could call them 'water vein detectors'.
"Oh no! You kids! How could you just pull out the pillar!"
"...Who are you, sir?"
I asked. The man replied,
"Me? I'm Dr. Ji! More importantly, you rascals! How could you pull this out! Don't they teach you in school not to touch other people's things carelessly? Especially things with talismans attached!"
He had a very flippant voice.
The man soon took out talismans and a bell from his pocket and started burning the talismans while ringing the bell.
"I'll perform a temporary pressing ritual, so all of you give me money! I don't do this for free! There must be a price! That's how the ritual gains power!"
Money? He's asking for money?
As Jung-seok and I were rummaging through our pockets, Yang Juhee clicked her tongue.
"Pressing ritual, my ass. Hey, you guys. Are you men so weak? Give it here!"
Swish-
Yang Juhee, who had been listening, snatched the stake from our hands as if she was fed up.
And she just shoved the big pillar into the hole. What Jung-seok and I couldn't do no matter how hard we tried, went in smoothly in Yang Juhee's hands.
Jung-seok and I were greatly surprised, and Yoo Dahee seemed quite shocked too. Dr. Ji also looked very surprised.
"Wow. That's amazing, Miss. You must have a shaman's constitution. The land around here is spiritually so hard that it's called a rocky area. They say even the old Gaeryong tutelary shaman had a hard time driving in stakes."
Dr. Ji grabbed Yang Juhee's palm and read her fortune.
When Yang Juhee pulled her hand away as if she didn't like it, Dr. Ji seemed greatly surprised.
"Wow. I've never seen such a terrifying palm with so much 'kill' energy before. If you were born a man, you could have been a general capable of becoming president... As a woman... I've seen a similar palm once in my life... Student. By any chance, what are your mother's or grandmother's names?"