The next morning, when he opened his eyes, the child who had been beside him was nowhere to be seen.

Myojeong went outside and looked around, only to discover the child clinging to a tall tree like a cicada.

“What are you doing up there?”

“None of your business...”

Myojeong could not understand why the child had suddenly climbed the tree. The child said nothing and only glared at him. As Myojeong watched him closely, he soon realized why the child had gone up there.

It was the season between autumn and winter, and a few persimmons left as treats for the magpies still hung from the persimmon tree. It seemed the child had climbed up with his eyes fixed on the fruit. Myojeong sighed and gestured to him.

“You little rascal. You mustn’t covet what’s been left for the magpies. Hurry and come down.”

“......”

“I said I will ask for breakfast right away, so hurry and come down.”

“......”

Though Myojeong kept beckoning, the child remained silent. Only then did Myojeong understand.

The child had climbed too high and seemed too frightened to come down.

On the way up, he had somehow found footholds here and there and managed to climb, but now that he wanted to descend, his feet could not reach anywhere. And if he jumped from that height, he would surely break his legs. His greed in choosing such a large fruit had brought this on him.

“Can you get down?”

At Myojeong’s question, the child’s face soured. It seemed he had no confidence that he could.

Myojeong grabbed a branch and tried to climb the tree to bring the child down himself. But as if it could not bear the weight of a grown man, the branch cracked and snapped the moment he put strength into his arms.

What should he do...

After thinking for a moment, Myojeong stood beneath the tree and stretched out both arms.

“Try jumping down here. I will catch you.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Hm?”

“You’re going to pretend to catch me and then cowardly step aside, aren’t you?”

“......”

Myojeong was dumbfounded. He could not imagine what in the world the child was talking about.

“Why would I ever do such a thing?”

“Or you’re trying to make me your servant, right?”

“What?”

For some reason, the child seemed to believe Myojeong had brought him along in order to sell him somewhere or work him like a slave. Now that he thought about it, whenever he looked away, the child’s gaze would invariably follow him. It seemed the child had been observing him in his own way, trying to determine whether he was someone he could trust.

“I have not the slightest intention of dragging around a glutton like you, so hurry up and come down.”

The child’s eyes darted anxiously as he gauged whether it was truly safe to jump. Myojeong did not hurry him and simply kept his arms outstretched. After a long hesitation, the child finally made up his mind, squeezed his eyes shut, and jumped.

Myojeong quickly caught the child’s body in his arms.

With an awkward expression, the child hurriedly scrambled out of Myojeong’s broad embrace.

“Are you all right?”

Myojeong silently raised a hand and stroked the child’s small head. The child made no attempt to hide his discomfort, but he did not reject Myojeong’s touch either. Then, as if he still had not given up on the magpies’ persimmons, he looked up at the tree again. Seeing that, Myojeong let out a small sigh.

“What will you do if you get stuck again?”

The child kicked at the ground and grumbled sullenly.

“Then you can just rescue me again...”

After saying that, the child lifted his head and looked at Myojeong.

The moment their eyes met, Myojeong froze.

Like a clear waterway that revealed everything within it, the child’s eyes were direct and clear. Myojeong found himself looking away first, as though the child might see right through him, discover who he was and what he was hiding.

Originally, Myojeong’s plan had been to eliminate the calamity god as soon as possible.

Whenever he thought about having to eliminate the calamity god, his resolve hardened. But when he actually looked at the child, he found himself hesitating. He would spend the whole day agonizing, and before he knew it, the day would be over. He would lie down determined to take the child’s life the next day without fail. But when the next morning came, he would once again invent all manner of excuses and overturn the decision he had made the night before.

Putting it off day after day because his heart would not move, two days had passed.

In just a day or two, the weather had grown noticeably colder.

“It’s snowing.”

The child’s voice came from outside the door.

“It’s snowing outside.”

Myojeong, who had been sitting in the room reading a book, looked out.

The child was flailing his arms, trying to catch the snowflakes fluttering down like flower petals. He looked so much like a stray cat trying to catch a butterfly that a faint smile touched Myojeong’s lips.

It was now the heart of winter. The season in which all things died was gaunt, desolate, and bleak. But sometimes, it also became a pure white landscape, unstained by anything.

After watching the snow pile up for a while, Myojeong headed to the back of the yard to tend to the brazier.

“How long are you planning to stay here?”

Just then, the innkeeper, who had been stoking the furnace fire, came over and whispered in his ear.

At the subtle question, Myojeong looked puzzled.

“Is there some sort of problem?”

“You had best be careful. There are many people who see that child as a thorn in their side. Ever since he appeared in this village, a few bad things have happened in the area, so everyone thinks it is because of him. When the time is right, take the child and leave. Or at least send the child away...”

At first, the innkeeper had been openly reluctant. Back then, she had clearly taken them in as guests against her will. But perhaps she had grown fond of them over the past few days, for her attitude was now much warmer than before.

“I’m saying this out of concern, but no good will come of misplaced kindness. It is pitiful that he’s wandering around with nowhere to go, but you are a complete stranger to that child, aren’t you?”

So it would be better to cut ties before he became attached, the innkeeper added. Her words sounded right to Myojeong. In any case, it was time to decide.

Myojeong fell into thought for a moment.

Should he eliminate the calamity god today, right now...

On the night they first met, he had taken the opportunity while the child slept to apply a temporary measure, preventing the malevolent force from leaking out as much as possible. For the past few days, there had been no incidents such as red mist being released.

Myojeong peeked his head out and glanced toward the yard. The child was now gathering the snow that had piled up in the yard with his bare hands and playing with it.

“......”

Myojeong said he would look for a suitable place to stay and asked for a little more time.

The next day, Myojeong went out. In order to move lodgings, they would have to travel elsewhere, but the only clothes the child had were thin. They needed to prepare if they were going to set out on the road in the cold wind.

Myojeong decided to go to the marketplace to buy clothes for the child. At first, he considered taking the child with him, but he was worried that if the villagers spotted him, the child might be beaten or subjected to hostile glares. So Myojeong firmly instructed the child to stay quietly in the room and headed to the marketplace in the next village. He bought winter clothes for the child, earmuffs, fur gloves, and other useful things.

When he returned to the inn with both arms full of bundles, the child was nowhere to be seen.

“Where have you been all this time!”

The innkeeper ran to Myojeong, her face pale with fright.

“There’s trouble, terrible trouble!”

“What happened?”

The innkeeper stamped her feet, panting for breath.

At the entrance to this village, there was a sacred tree that had been protected for hundreds of years, but the perfectly healthy tree had suddenly withered and died overnight. The villagers, believing it was surely a sign of misfortune, had gathered a few able-bodied men and taken the child far away.

Hearing the story, Myojeong’s face hardened at once.

“Where did they go?”

Myojeong began walking quickly in the direction the village men had dragged the child. At first, he strode with long steps; then, before long, he was all but running up the mountain path.

In the distance, he saw the child being held by three or four men, dragged along like luggage.

“Let go of me! I said let go...!”

The child was screaming and struggling. Looking closely, Myojeong saw a wound on the child’s face, whether from falling and hurting himself or from being beaten.

Myojeong’s face hardened terribly.

“What do you think you are doing? Let him go this instant.”

As Myojeong strode toward them with a blazing expression, the men flinched and backed away.

“Who are you?”

“I am...”

Myojeong faltered for a moment.

“......”

He did not know how to explain himself.

“This is not a matter for an outsider like you to interfere in. You have no connection to this child anyway, do you? You’re not his parent, nor are you related by blood, so what business is it of yours?”

Myojeong was at a loss for words.

It was not untrue. Strictly speaking, there was no connection between Myojeong and the child. If there was any relation at all, it was that as the Bangsangsi, Myojeong ultimately had to eliminate the child, the vessel of the calamity god.

Myojeong’s gaze fell on the child.

The child was panting, tears streaming from his reddened eyes.

“This child is my disciple.”

The words left Myojeong before he knew it.

“It may look to you as though we have no connection, but this child has great promise, and I decided long ago to take him as my disciple. What teacher would stand by while his disciple is falsely accused?”

The villagers exchanged glances. They seemed confused, unable to tell whether Myojeong’s words were a lie or the truth. The child, surprised to be called his disciple, stared at Myojeong with wide eyes.

Myojeong strode forward and seized the child’s wrist where the men were holding it.

At that, the men tried to stop Myojeong’s hand and raised their voices.

“This child is definitely possessed by a ghost. Do you know what he was like when he first came to this village? His eyes rolled back, and he spouted all sorts of strange words! Strange things started happening in the village from that moment on!”

“And can you prove that this child did those things himself?”

“Uh...”

Myojeong glared at the villagers with cold eyes, then turned his back, taking the child with him.

“Do not harm an innocent person. We will leave this place at once, so do not do this again.”

After that fierce rebuke, Myojeong took the child by the wrist and started walking in the opposite direction. But the child limped and let out a pained sound. Myojeong bent down and examined the child’s ankle. A dark bruise had bloomed there.

Myojeong gritted his teeth and drew a deep breath.

“Those wretched people...”

Myojeong suppressed his anger and looked back the way they had come.

“Let’s go. This is no place for us.”

Myojeong lifted the child onto his back. The child awkwardly let himself be carried, but then squirmed as if something felt uncomfortable.

“You have to hold tight around my neck so you do not fall.”

The child, small and thin, was extremely light. He clumsily wrapped his arms around Myojeong’s neck. The warmth against Myojeong’s back was pleasant.

“Wh-where are we going?”

“Well, I suppose we must go home.”

“I don’t have a home.”

“I don’t have a home either.”

“What? Then what home are you talking about going to?”

“......”

Myojeong was silent for a moment.

Having renounced his position as Bangsangsi and dissolved the Office of Narye, Myojeong no longer had a duty to fulfill or a place to go.

“When you feel in your heart, ‘This is my home,’ then that place is your home.”

Readjusting the child on his back, Myojeong walked up the snow-covered mountain path.