Ballad of the Mountain Fox

제 7 장: Rhyme or Reason

Yes, this is where I come into the story.  I suppose you’re thinking it’s about time, correct?

I had seen the whole little failed robbery, of course—after all, they were on my mountain, and I like to know what transpires upon it.

I suppose you’re imagining I was hiding in a tree, or perhaps in some bushes, like a silly bird or rabbit.  In actuality, I had been standing by the side of the road the entire time, resting against a tree trunk in the shade.  I was in plain view, but the humans had just been too busy to take notice of me.

Well, maybe there had been a bit of spell weaving involved, too.

I pushed off from the tree and began to make my way to the motionless figures of the would-be bandits lying in the middle of the road.  The first one I came across stank a bit, so I decided to skip him for the moment.

“Who are you?” was of course the first question the girl asked me.  Humans are a bit predictable that way.

“Me?” I glanced over for a moment, and her pupils dilated in surprise—and, I hoped, a bit of panic as well.  It’s fun to scare people, if they aren’t too annoying about it.

“Your eyes…they’re like a fox’s!” she exclaimed, obviously stating the obvious.

“Indeed.”  I took a dainty step over an arm sprawled before me.  If she was smart, it wouldn’t take her long to find the answer to her own question…

“That means you’re one of the yokwe, doesn’t it?”  Ah.  There it was, or close enough.

“A gumiho, to be precise,” I elaborated, and took delight in her shocked gasp.

“So what you’re doing now—are you going to steal those men’s livers?”  Apparently she had more knowledge of Korean spirits than other humans I had come across.

“It’s not stealing if they no longer have any use for them,” I said with a sniff of disdain.  As if I could be compared to these lowly thugs!

I thought she would speak more, but she remained silent.  Perhaps she had fainted?

“He has quite a nasty curse on him,” I said, looking up from the current body I was inspecting.  The girl hadn’t fainted, but was still staring at me with a bit of a stupid expression across her face.  I had to admit that she was braver than most.  Other humans I’d met would have either fainted at the sight of me or screamed to alert everyone within a five ri radius.

Well, no matter, as long as it didn’t interfere with my meal.

I turned back to the human before me.  There was no pulse, which meant I wouldn’t have to ask for permission from this one.

“What do you mean?” the girl asked, finally finding her voice again.

“I suppose your human eyes can’t see it,” I said, “but ask any shaman, and they’ll say the same: that Park Young Min, as he called himself, is cursed.”

“What kind of curse?” the girl said.

I rolled my eyes, though my back was to her and she couldn’t see it.  “Do I look like an expert?  I’m just trying to make polite conversation—isn’t that what you humans are all about?  Honestly, I’d rather not talk to you at all, but I figured you’d take offense if I was to just ignore you.”

“Surely you must have a guess as to what the curse is, though,” she said, and I gave a frustrated sigh.  Was it too much to hope for a bite in peace?  Humans could be so pesky!

“Fine.  Yes.  If I had to make an assumption, I would say it’s some sort of physical ailment—an illness.  There’s a sickly green aura to the pattern.”

“Illness?” she echoed.  “But he’s perfectly fine!”

“Obviously it won’t take effect right away,” I said around a mouthful of liver—oh it was so delicious!  “There must be something to trigger it.  Perhaps a time limit, or a number of steps…” A sudden thought occurred to me, and I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and turned back to her.  “You aren’t actually thinking of helping him, are you?”

“Well, I mean, he’s really annoying, but he means well, and he did save that merchant family from the bandits…” she answered, deliberating.

“Aigoo.  It’s more trouble than it’s worth.  Just let him get what’s coming to him.  Messing with others’ curses is never a good idea, especially when they’re of a completely different class than you.”  I waved my hand as if to discourage the thought and moved on to the next prone figure.  This one, unfortunately, was still breathing.

“Even if he deserves to be cursed, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t at least try to help him,” she continued, refusing to drop the subject and let me eat in peace.  “Otherwise that would make me just as bad a person as him, or whoever cursed him.”

Annoyed at finding yet another person alive, I spun on my heel and marched over to her.  She took a few hasty steps back, probably thinking she had angered me, or perhaps just frightened by the gore on my dress, but I paid it no mind.  Instead of showing anger, I tried instead to reason with her.

“Just because you can help him doesn’t mean you should,” I purred, trailing a finger along the rope that kept her to the tree and leaving a line of blood behind.  “If I were to untie you now, you would be free to leave him and no longer worry about your silly morals.”

I watched as she bit her lip, thinking it over.

“Just because he’s a yangban doesn’t mean he’s a bad person,” she finally said.  “Once I can get him to trust me—”

“If you can get him to trust you.”

“—maybe I can help him.”

I raised my brows.  “You don’t like him, do you?”

She fixed me with a glare, annoyed that I had even suggested such a notion.  “No, I do not like him.”

“Well then,” I said with a shrug, “I can’t fathom why you would carry through with such an unrewarding task.”

“Not every good deed necessitates a reward,” she replied hotly.  “I’ll help him because it’s the right thing to do.”

I turned away, yawning.  “That sounds like quite a boring reason.”

“I suppose it was too much to hope you’d understand.”

I pressed my lips together in a very thin line before slowly turning to face her again.  Now I was angry.

“Go ahead,” I told her.  “Suffer being misunderstood and led around on that rope in humiliation just for the sake of doing the right thing.  But all you’ll be left with in the end is misery and regret.  And then you’ll realize that some matters are better off just left alone.  Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish my lunch.”