The Dokkaebi Waiting for the Moon

Chapter 14

On the day he became the winner of the bet, the dokkaebi who handed over the ring he was wearing transformed from human form into a wooden jangseung post.

He had returned to his original cylindrical body.

No matter how much force was used to push it, the jangseung remained deeply embedded in the ground like a tree with firmly established roots, immovable. It seemed to be the result of losing the bet.

According to what he heard from the monster expert, a ghost that has returned to its original form needs to absorb yin energy by receiving moonlight for a long time before it can transform back into human form.

How would Eun-hwi react if he learned that his family, whom he had been waiting so eagerly to return, had become immobilized due to the bet?

Moreover, if he found out that he himself had been handed over as the prize for the bet by his own father.

Moon-beom became curious whether Eun-hwi would resent and hate him for winning, or if he would accept and embrace the result, being a dokkaebi who also enjoys betting. Moon-beom stood quietly, observing Eun-hwi’s expectant expression.

“I’m not sure about that. Is there anything else I can help with?”

As expected, Siri couldn’t provide a proper answer. The half-dokkaebi’s clear face was filled with questions.

“Looks like you didn’t understand. Let me rephrase the question.”

At Moon-beom’s explanation, Eun-hwi shouted loudly enough to make his ears hurt.

“Siri! Tell me where my father is!”

He’s not some old man who ate a train’s boiler. Increasing the volume wouldn’t result in a more accurate answer, but seeing him like this, he was every bit a 300-year-old geezer. A hint of laughter flashed across Moon-beom’s sharply upturned eyes for a moment.

“I’m not sure who you’re referring to. What is your father’s name?”

“Kim! Ga! Bi!”

“It seems that the person search service is not available in your current location.”

“Person search, service?”

“It looks like there’s no search service app. You can search for the app in the App Store.”

“…App? A-app?”

A banner appeared on the screen prompting to open the App Store application, but Eun-hwi, not knowing this, continued to hold the phone and speak to it.

“Siri! App?”

“App Store.”

The App Store application automatically opened, and the pearl-shaped AI icon at the bottom completely disappeared.

“What’s an App Store? Huh?”

Despite his urgent follow-up question, the screen just gleamed black. Eun-hwi showed the phone to Moon-beom and asked,

“Moon-beom, what’s wrong with this? The shining pearl suddenly disappeared. Siri’s not answering anymore either. Does it not like me and refuse to talk?”

“It’s not that. Siri doesn’t know either. Give me the phone.”

Moon-beom took the phone, pressed the power button, and put it in his pocket. He was both annoyed at having to explain Siri’s mechanism, which Eun-hwi couldn’t understand, and felt it was a waste of time to let it drag on unnecessarily.

“It said it could tell me anything…”

The battle between the desperate half-dokkaebi searching for his father and the indifferently responding machine, which had oscillated between comedy and tragedy, finally came to an end.

Since no one but Moon-beom knew the location where the final showdown with the jangseung dokkaebi had taken place, it was a fight without a winner or loser from the start. But Eun-hwi, unaware of the inside story, ended up as a defeated soldier who had suffered a KO loss.

Moon-beom, who had been quietly observing Eun-hwi’s gloomy appearance like a dog with drooping ears, spoke softly.

“Dokkaebis are beings that appear and disappear mysteriously, right? Even the almighty Siri wouldn’t know where Mr. Kim Gabi is or when he’ll return. Surely.”

“…Is that so?”

“To be honest, I don’t know either. When Mr. Kim Gabi will return.”

Because the time of ghosts and humans was clearly different, it was impossible to know whether his return would be in a year, ten years, or a hundred years.

It would be great if he came here tomorrow and gave him a weapon to annihilate ghosts, but that didn’t seem likely. Moon-beom’s intuition was excellent, even if he lacked spiritual power.

“…*sob*”

Eun-hwi bit his lip hard and his eyes welled up with tears again. He seemed upset that there was no way to find out news about his father.

If there had been nothing to expect, there would have been nothing to be disappointed about, but once a small hope had sprouted in his heart, it was difficult to crush it.

Knowing this feeling better than anyone, Moon-beom quietly spoke.

“Hope is a torch that never goes out unless you abandon it yourself.”

“…”

“Even if strong winds make the flames die down, it will blaze up again someday and shine light, so you must hold onto it tightly without letting go. That’s how you can keep living.”

“…”

“Let’s go eat some candy and cheer up. I’ll give you some before dinner as a special treat today.”

The half-dokkaebi, who had been sitting dejectedly, slowly raised his head at the mention of plum-flavored candy. However, an uncharacteristically weak response came back.

“…I don’t have an appetite. I don’t want to eat.”

“There’s something even more delicious than plum-flavored candy. Don’t you want that either?”

“…Something more delicious?”

Eun-hwi, who had become interested, slowly moved his tightly closed lips.

“Chocolate milk.”

“Cho-co, milk?”

They say curiosity for a dokkaebi is like an itch that can’t be endured without scratching, and this was exactly the case.

Although he pretended not to be interested, his peach-colored cheeks gently puffed up and the tips of his ears stood straight. No more tears fell from his bloodshot rabbit eyes.

He fell for it again.

One of Moon-beom’s eyebrows slightly raised and then lowered again. Skillfully erasing any hint of amusement from his face, he responded in a serious voice without a trace of joking.

“Chocolate milk is…”

“What is cho-co milk?”

“It’s a mysterious panacea that cures all sadness and pain.”

Thanks to being the child of the Great General jangseung dokkaebi, Eun-hwi rarely got sick, but being half-human, he sometimes caught colds and had to take medicine.

Even ginseng or wild ginseng, let alone all-heal, only tasted bitter, but to think there was a panacea more delicious than plum-flavored candy. Eun-hwi’s eyes widened, unable to hide his surprise.

“There’s such a thing in the world?”

“Of course there is, that’s why I’m telling you. When have you ever seen me lie?”

“Hmm… Never?”

“It’s soft and sweet, so you’ll feel much better after drinking it.”

Once, on a spring night with a full moon, he had a sip of the elixir that Gabi often drank. Originally, it was a liquor that could only be drunk at three hundred years old, but Gabi had handed him a cup, saying it was a good day to enjoy the elegant taste and he would let him try it specially.

Just one sip made him feel tipsy, as if floating on clouds. But the elixir, brewed with medicinal ingredients, was neither soft nor sweet like this ‘cho-co milk.’ Rather, the moment it touched his tongue, its bitterness made him grimace, and he almost spat it out involuntarily.

Unable to imagine the taste, Eun-hwi puckered his lips into a circle and chewed on nothing. As he was lost in his own world, imagining about the cure-all cho-co milk, Moon-beom poked his hollowed cheek with his fingertip and said,

“I’m going to find the lost mushrooms, so wait here quietly. If you disappear without saying anything again, I won’t give you the chocolate milk.”

“Okay, I won’t go anywhere. Come back safely!”

The half-dokkaebi, who had been drooping his shoulders with a gloomy face, now waved his hand with a bright expression as if nothing had happened.

Thinking to himself, “At first I thought he was a scary tiger general coming to catch dokkaebis, but I’m glad Moon-beom is a good Mr. Kim.”

The light and shadow of the forest shade were gradually deepening. Eun-hwi, sitting on a rock and wiggling his toes, blew gently on his scraped knee, just as Moon-beom had done for him.

“Ah, it stings.”

Perhaps because he had relaxed quite a bit, the skin where scabs had formed stung. His body, bruised all over from rolling down the hill, ached so much that he wanted to go home quickly, wash up, and apply medicine.

“When will Moon-beom come back…”

Even with his aching knee, Eun-hwi stamped his feet impatiently, staring at the bushes where Moon-beom had disappeared. He worried whether Moon-beom might have lost his way, or if he had bumped into a tree and fallen while looking at the ground for mushrooms.

He wanted to jump up and go look for Moon-beom, but he held back because of their promise.

The power of the mysterious panacea, ‘cho-co milk,’ was great enough to momentarily suppress the half-dokkaebi’s lack of patience.

Rustle—

The sound of dry leaves being stepped on came from the other side of the leaf-dense forest path. At the small noise breaking the silence, Eun-hwi’s cute, pointed ears perked up.

“Moon-beom!”

He lifted his head abruptly to confirm the face of the person he had been waiting for so eagerly.

“…Huh?”

However, all that was reflected in his shimmering sulfur-yellow eyes were leaves swaying gently in the breeze. The sturdy man enveloped in the scent of mint was not there.

I definitely felt a presence…

“What? It was just a squirrel.”

The one he had encountered earlier in front of the wild strawberry bush scampered down the sloped path. It was tightly gripping an oyster mushroom with its base cleanly cut off.

The ivory-colored cap, spread like an open umbrella covering the squirrel’s head, filled Eun-hwi’s vision.

“Oh no! Give that here!”

Finders keepers, but to take not only the wild strawberries but the oyster mushrooms too?

He couldn’t forgive this. Eun-hwi gritted his teeth and lunged at the squirrel.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

It was then, as he was chasing after the squirrel that was quickly escaping with his fist raised. A low voice sounded from behind him at the same time as a strong scent of mint stung his nose.

“You’re not listening. Again. I told you to wait quietly.”