Kang Chi: Beyond Life and Time

Chapter 6: Beyond Time: Life As He Lives It

Jirisan, Jeolla-do, 1698

Kang Chi pulled up the fishing net across the river where the trout gather. As expected, the fishes caught were more than enough to feed him for weeks. He pulled and threw them one by one in a large basket that he brought especially for them. When he finished, he traversed the route back to the village where he had been staying for almost twenty-one years. Four more years and he would be leaving again, to settle in another village, so that his youthful appearance would not be a cause of mystification and be held against him. He could still get away by dusting flour on his head for the illusion of graying hair and hopes to do so until the time to leave comes.

He was grilling some fish, together with the sweet potatoes that he harvested earlier that morning, when a familiar face appeared in front of him. She was accompanied by two men with swords who retreated a few meters away when she slightly bowed her head to the side.

Cheong Jo?...Ani...She can't possibly be....

He was too surprised he was unaware he was staring intensely at her, to which she responded with a soft laugh, and then she spoke.

"Annyeonghashimnikka." She softly said with a smile.

"Cheong Jo?" He asked, his voice wreaking with bewilderment, to which he himself answered after shaking his head and waving his hand in front of her. "Aniya, aniya...Guereojyo?"

"Guraeyo." She answered with an even wider smile. "Deudio mannage dweo bangapsumnida. Jeoneun Cheong Sa imnida. Cheong Jo was my great-great-grandmother."

He was not quite ready for that last bit of information. If she is Cheong Jo's great-great-granddaughter, then....

Hwa...I've been living for too long...and alone for too long....

"Eo...Anjeuseyo...." He politely said, after collecting his senses. Cheong Sa sat down on the wooden platform under the cherry tree where he told her to do so.

"I would not want to take much of your time..." She continued, but now in a serious tone. He just stared back at her in anticipation of what she is going to say next, and how important that would be to make her travel the distance. As far as he knew, the 100-Year Inn is a five-day journey away. He sat down in front of her.

Cheong Sa signaled one of the men forward. The one with a sack bag came to them, pulled out something wrapped in red silk, prostrated himself and handed it to her with both hands. She took it from him and slightly bowed her head in acknowledgement and dismissal at the same time. She carefully laid the item on the wooden platform, occupying the space between them. She gracefully untied the knots.

He could not quite believe that it was not Cheong Jo who was in front of him. She was just too much like her...

Has she been reborn already?

As he was still being mesmerized by her, she slowly raised her eyes to him as she pulled the last corner of the silk wrap to reveal a familiar book that is obviously old but well-kept. He immediately recognized it was Cheong Jo's journal. The small yellow flower with a solitary bee drawn on the bottom corner of the cover gave it away. He remembered seeing Cheong Jo writing on it on occasions. And he would never forget how she flogged him when he playfully snatched it from her and began reading it. She was so mad she gave him the cold shoulder for days. He had never seen her like that before. That incident taught him a lesson-and he learned it well. Since then, he never attempted to even look at the book again.

Even now. He would not dare...More so touch it.

"I have read this journal many times." Cheong Sa said with a loving smile. "And I am very much fascinated by the accounts about a certain man named Choi Kang Chi."