Dive Into You

Chapter 8: The Plan & the Knight

Much to Haechan's dislike and even with Jae-min having to drag him half of the time, the group returns to the cabin setting once again. This time, they're formulating a plan to save Tae-il and to also end the curse, while also learning about the four legends of the mysterious creature-minions of the great dragon lord, Yong-sun. (You know this already don't you, dear readers.)

WinWin faces them and launches first into the tale of the Daltokki. "There once was a village where there lived a rabbit, a fox and a monkey who often played together. One day, the Great Emperor in the Heavens decided to test the animal's loyalty to him."

"I think I've heard this one before," Hak-nyeon remarks. "A very do-good by your actions tale."

WinWin ignores his comment and continues with, "He came down from the sky disguised as a beggar and asked the animals each to bring him something to eat. The three generous animals instantly set out to honor the poor man's request."

"Oh! Yeah!" Hak-nyeon suddenly exclaims and says, "The fox returned to the beggar with a fish; likewise, the monkey with some fruit. The rabbit, being a small and more limited animal, unfortunately was only able to bring back the grass he could gather."

"Small and limited..." Shin-won echoes, pursing his lips together and looking at his bandmate to his side. "Sounds like you, Jin-ho-ssi."

Jin-ho looks down at his feet and bites his lip. He mutters to himself, "Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him."

"Yes," WinWin says, "and he was ashamed of his feeble offering. So, the rabbit, in an act of self-sacrifice, proceeded to ignite the grass he'd gathered and threw himself into the flames to be eaten by the beggar as a meal."

"That's terrible!" Seung-kwan gasps, his hands cupping over his mouth. "Poor little bunny."

"The action of the rabbit so touched the beggar-emperor that he placed the rabbit in the moon to become its guardian and surrounded him with smoke as a reminder to all of the rabbit's noble death."

"So does that mean, I'm not a bear but a rabbit to protect my 'Moon?'" Haechan inquires.

"No," WinWin looks at him strangely like he's turned purple.

"But if the moon rabbit - Daltokki - is technically good, how is he an evil minion to Yong-sun?" Ravn questions.

"Trust me, the other three make him seem like nothing. Maybe he was tricked into it by the Dokkaebi or the Gumiho. Neither you'd want to meet anywhere. The Dokkaebi are known as nature deities or spirits possessing extraordinary powers and abilities that are used to interact with human and play tricks on them at times or help them. And, as for the Gumiho, she's a fox with nine-tails or a beautiful woman that can transform and seduce men - and lure them to their death."

"Sounds like a Pokemon!" Seo-ho remarks.

"Definitely far from it!" Kyung-hwa says. "But what about this...fire dog...?"

"The Bulgae or hell hound?" WinWin questions. "Quite literally a dog on fire."

Seo-ho looks at Ravn.

WinWin dips his head. "This is where things will make some sense...maybe...the story of the Bulgae: legend says that these dogs originated from the kingdom of darkness. Its Korean term is Gamangnara."

"Ah! Yes, I tell Shinwonie to go to Gamangnara all the time," Jin-ho states, folding his arms. "See, I can joke too. You started it and I'll end it."

Shin-won sticks his tongue out.

Jin-ho returns it.

WinWin ignores the two members of Pentagon and carries on, telling the story: "The folklore tells that "bulgae" or "fire dogs" are the reason behind the moon's eclipses. In the legend, the Ganamngnara's king had so many concerns over the kingdom's darkness so he sent out these fire dogs to capture the moon and the sun."

"Ah..." Haechan growls out. "I see...the stupid dog wants to burn to death capturing my moon."

WinWin stares at him and blinks. Then he shakes his head and continues on with, "Sadly, each moon and sun proved to be too hot or too cold for these dogs to handle. Thus, they would burn or freeze when they tried to carry them over to the kingdom. The king, however, would not give up and kept sending more dogs to retrieve them. And therefore, a lunar or solar eclipse occurs each time a dog tries to retrieve the moon or the sun for its master. I believe Yong-sun has used the Bulgae for the purpose of ending the curse. His curse spoke of a sacrifice, so, getting down to it: Moon Tae-il is the sacrifice to end the curse and bring peace and he has him on Udo."

"But there's got to be another way?!" Haechan gasps. "I'm NOTHING without my moon. Without my Taeilie."

"And if there's not...I say goodbye Moon Tae-il," Ryu-jin remarks. "It'll get me back to looking drop-dead gorgeous with the sass to chase any man away from me instead of thinking I'm super hairy and ugly."

"We HAVE to get to Udo NOW! I'm leaving! I have no time to waste on waiting around and wasting time!" Haechan snarls.

"Haechan-ah, wait!" a familiar voice calls out in clear, crisp English.

Everyone gasps and turns to look at the magical foliage curtain of green that conceals the cabin area off.

Standing there, boldly and proudly, dressed in black and silver knightley attire with glistening silver hair...

...is none other than...

...Mark Lee.