Kang Chi: Beyond Life and Time

Chapter 2: Beyond Time: The Peach Tree With A Crescent Moon

Kang Cheol slightly raised his gaze to look up at the peach tree atop the mound, just behind Yeo Wool. A crescent moon was shining brightly above it, and its own luminance, combined with the artificial lights in the park grounds, created a very familiar scene from long ago. This is his 5221st crescent moon, but unlike the previous 5220th, it seems that he would not be spending it alone. He smiled with teary eyes. Now, the crescent moon, once again, has a significance to his existence.

The running lady in the intersection...She is the one I saw earlier....

Crescent moons do not usually fascinate him. But on that fateful night when he was flogged, driven away from his only home, chased, and drugged by the inn's loyal guards, he caught a glimpse of a crescent moon against the dark blue velvet sky. He remembers it so vividly, because on that exact moment, he thought it would be the end of him. Then, as if blown about by the wind, someone came to save him. He fought off the guards with all his skills and might, grabbed on to his left arm, pulled him up back on his feet before running away together into the forest, getting lost in the darkness of the night. His saviour's gat fell off as they were running to safety, and his long, black, silky hair cascaded to his shoulders. Because of the dizzying effect of the drug and his sight failing him at that moment, he was not able to get acquainted with him. But...

Cheong Jo?

"Cheong Jo...." He whispered, even though he knew he could not be her.

Ani, it's not her...Then who....?

As the question was running through his head, a guard appeared, pointing his sword before swinging it at them...then complete darkness. He lost consciousness as the drug took its toll on him. The next thing he knew, he was giving his name to the two men in front of him (in a most unfriendly way), dragged back to the 100-Year Inn with his hands bound and humiliated in front of Tae Soo's servant.

But despite the unpleasant circumstances surrounding their first meeting, it did not matter as time passed. Especially when he discovered that he was a woman.

Earlier that night, a similar incident happened when again, they met at a very unfavorable circumstance of mistaken identity and misapprehension. During the interrogation, he could not take his eyes off her, because he was still in awe at who is finally in front of him. He had been waiting for this moment for 422 years. But....

No...Not like this. Not this way...This is embarrassing....

Then Yeon Seok came to take him away. He wanted to stay longer and subject himself to the interrogation just so he could be with her, but he had to leave for the anniversary party which he should have been on, forty-five minutes ago, at that moment.

For a while, Yeo Wool's image and the earlier events left his mind as he spent the night with his friends, colleagues, and guests. The people who had made him who he is now, who put him in his current position, and who will still help him continue as he is, were all gathered in this special occasion and location-the anniversary party of the Baeknyeon Hotels at the Seoul branch which has the largest banquet hall of all the hotels in the city.

A quarter before midnight, he decided to leave. In his car, as he was waiting for the red light to turn green, he recalled seeing a woman running across the pedestrian lane.

Yeo Wool-ah....

Upon arriving home, he took off his jacket, poured himself some wine, and stood in front of some ancient artifacts on display. But the framed jade sword hanging on the wall was particularly the subject of his interest at that moment. He vividly recalled the day Yeo Wool's father, Master Dam, gave it to him for safekeeping, after she passed away.

The feeling of utter helplessness when she was dying in her arms, the frustration by her rejection of his marriage proposal, and his heartbreaking wail of sorrow when she breathed her last as they kissed, fueled his desire to feel her close to him just like before, as the memories came flooding back. The longing grew even more intense than ever, now that he knew they could continue where they left off. His time, that stopped with Yeo Wool's death, could start running again.

Yeo Wool-ah...I miss you so much. At last, we meet again....

But then, as quickly as the onset of joy and excitement is, the commencement of fear and uncertainty. Because....

Yeo Wool obviously doesn't know who I am.

He had anticipated it. All his family and friends that had been reincarnated, so far, still had no idea about him. He is still hoping that the time will come when they would realize who he really is, and what roles they play in his life, then and now.

Especially Yeo Wool. She was the grand reason why he wanted to become a human, and she still is. After four centuries, his pursuit for the Gu Family Book, once again, will have a meaning. The time has come for him to stop living as a Divine creature and live as a human instead, with the one he loves.

It did not matter whether the Gu Family Book actually exists. So Jung had told him way back that nobody in his family had ever succeeded in finding it. The last one to attempt to do so was his father, Wol Ryung, but also failed at it. Then, he remembered Admiral Lee Sun Shin's answer to his question regarding the existence of the book.

"If you believe in becoming a human, then it probably exists."

And he held on to those words. His desire of becoming a human, fueled by his love for Yeo Wool, once again came to be.

He walked towards the sliding glass doors that lead out to the veranda. He slid it open and stepped outside into the cold night air of the modern world that was much different from the one he was born in. He looked down to the busy traffic below that-even in the middle of the night-seemed to be too hectic.

He, then, raised his head to look at the crescent moon once again. It was already far up in the dark sky, therefore not as big as it was earlier that night, but still holding on to its shape. For many, it is just a phase, but for him, it is an element of his existence.

I have to see her again.

He went back inside and closed the door behind him.

Whatever it takes...I have to see her again.

He downed the remaining wine in the glass he is holding, set it down on the minibar, and headed towards his bedroom, as a blue firefly-like orb of light floated behind him.