Notes.

How that chapter was written :

Me : So, there's a beach in Sochko, right ?

Woon, Mago, the gisaeng, Hui Seon, Go Hyang, Dong Soo, the soldier, Cho-Rip, the king, pretty much everyone : Hoe, don't do it.

Me : BEACH EPISODE (goes full Beach Boys "Wouldn't it be nice" all over the place) !

Everyone else : Oh my gawd.

Okay, small spoiler here, but about that "Woon never saw the sea" in the second part of the chapter, and since I can literally see some questions coming from space (call me The Weeknd) - grabs a megaphone - : I KNOW, OKAY !

The thing is, it was really hard to conclude anything from the drama alone. In episode 4 and 5, yes, I do am aware we see them in front of what "looks like" a beach. Why "looks like" ? Oh, my dear darlings, I'm so glad you ask, because that one drove me almost insane. We know the boys are supposed to be in a training camps...in the mountains. See where the problem goes ? It's supposed to be near Hanyang, not too close, but not too far either, cause at the beginning of episode 3, we see Samo take the boys here, and they seem to walk a relatively small distance, since Samo doesn't even take a bag with food or anything, they do not reach the camps at night, and the town where he lives is supposed to be quite close to Hanyang as well (cause I'm not sure Dong Soo's mother would have been able to travel that much while being that much pregnant).

The camp is showed to be in the mountains (I mean, mountains all over the place during that episode, so I guess I'm not making any wrong assumptions here), but close to a water thingy that could very much be a lake (small waves, the way the shore looks and everything). Regarding the "test", it's a bit trickier, and that's why I went with how I went in this chapter. We understand that the boys have to cross in order to get to a bank from an island. Looks like a beach at first (the sand, the shore, the waves, there's no horizon..), but they're supposed to be in a camp in the mountains, near a lake, not far from Hanyang, and when I looked at the map on Google, there isn't any location that fitted truly (I mean, with a real lake and not in the middle of a city, which were built at the time of Joseon). So basically, the camps could be anywhere near Hanyand, south, north, east (not west = not enough lakes + when you want to get some lake, you need to get away about thirty miles from Hanyang, which I think is too long considering the route of Samo and the boys).

But the thing is, if it can't be west, and if it can't be too far from Hanyang, then the camps can't be near the sea. So, I know, probably bad filming and whatever, but still, with that plus the fact that the camps has to be secret, and they never seems to wander very far for the test, I really wondered how could the test actually be near the sea ? So, my guess was, maybe two very wide bank of the Han River and a lot of fog that make us unable to see the others mountains all aroung, or a big lake (but to have these waves and that kind of shore and wide horizon, I believe you'll need at least something the size of Lake Superior in Canada, and guess what ? There's nothing like it in Korea), or at best, maybe somewhere near Paju when two portions of the river meet, or at best, up north, near Kaesong in north Korea, but there's no Google Street and I couldn't see, and anyway, it still wouldn't be the sea, but the Han River. So, in short : Woon, first time with the sea. Now we can move on (seriously, I need a hobby, sorry about that).

Soundtrack (at the end of part 2) :

Afloat, by Raymond Yan (ambient music, if you need relaxing, that should do it)


CHAPTER XXXVI


" We float on the river of time

Hold steady, hold steady

The sea comes 'cause the summer forced out the cold

The boat fought the change of the tides

Hold steady, hold steady

Storm for hours, and rainy days "

(HAEVN, dutch artists, "The Sea")


a. The Oceanids

The entire household had been quiet during the day, and the windows had been left open most of the time to allow fresh air to circulate between the corridors and the rooms. Entertainment houses were subjected to the heat with as much force and intensity as any other household, except that they were usually more crowded and more likely to heat up quickly, rising towards hellish temperatures. The previous summer, Lang Yeong-Ja had witnessed many of her sisters' discomforts as the scorching heat weakened them like flowers fading under the weight of the elements, and had seen them take every opportunity to go out for a swim on the small beach less than a mile away from the establishment.

The trend had quickly spread among the city's courtesans, and seemed to be a habit in the coastal cities, where sandy beaches and waves became an attraction of implacable power as soon as the month of May ended and the heat of summer began. In Busan, it was said that the entertainment houses organized almost every year games and outings with their clients to the seaside, where the gisaengs would take off their shoes to dip their delicate bare feet in the salty water, and the literary gentlemen, the eminent intellectuals and scholars, the politicians, the military, gave up their serious airs and stiffness to join them, laughing like children and splashing their ravishing companions, who returned the favour with euphoric giggles.

June was just beginning and it was already hot throughout the country, and Yeong-Ja knew what such a situation meant for her. Under her jeogori, under her chima, her skin was too pale, and veined with blue in many places. Her belly still bore the marks of the unknown disease, which the doctors had been unable to name, that had killed her during the winter of 1685. She never fully undressed with her clients.

It was a fantasy that was allowed to her, for she was very beautiful, and remarkably talented in many areas, including poetry, music, and conversation, especially on military topics, and to which current discussion tended to come back, but she knew that dead gisaengs were one of the population categories most at risk of identification and capture. In the collective consciousness, the echoes were categorical, and the exchanges that she sometimes managed to establish with some of her congeners, although often fragmented and incomplete because of her still oscillating mastery of the mechanisms of the common mind of the gwishins, revealed to her all the difficulty of their situation and the infinite diversity of the stratagems they were led to resort to in order to protect themselves.

For some of them, the circumstances of their death allowed them to do so with less modesty, but for others, the scars on their bodies or the visible stigmas of diseases made things look like a obstacle course. In addition, it was difficult for a newly hired courtesan to express what was then perceived as a whim. The profession by principle hardly supported a goody-goody attitude, although house mistresses generally cared about proving the respectability of their establishments and their girls, and any attempt at modesty was seen as an insult and a refusal to serve customers.

At times, however, for those who knew how to use the right weapons, keeping their hanbok had advantages in terms of excitement and desire that could provide a solution to dead gisaengs. In essence, the kingdom was rooted in a culture where women were expected to keep their clothes on and, for the wealthier ones, to conceal their body parts at the slightest opportunity, as soon as they set foot outside. Yeong-Ja had little taste for jangot, which she had never stopped seeing worn by the richest women in the country without understanding why they didn't take advantage of their status to show off their possessions, and while she spontaneously refused to weigh down and distort a silhouette that she remained proud of despite her resurrection, she played on her willingness to wear her clothes in all circumstances, and the privilege that her position and abilities gave her.

Her clients, some of the most prestigious in the city, which was still an understatement compared to the renowned Hanyang houses, were well aware of her penchant for mystery, and all of them, without exception, enjoyed what they considered to be a flimsy and innovative sign of seduction. As for those who preferred nudity, Yeong-Ja sent them to her living sisters, who had no status to hide. Some of them, attracted by her wit and wordplay, still returned to her not for lustful activities, but simply to share the pleasure of her conversation. All the dead courtesans were far from possessing such an empire over their lovers, or such leeway granted by a headmistress open-minded and experienced enough to accept other methods. At times, during her nightly trance of consciousness, Yeong-Ja had heard pleas for help, cries of desperation, and screams of fear and suffering. The distance cancelled out any possibility of action, but the shared mind perfectly conveyed the emotions, the sensations, and all the real horror of the hatred of the living.

Yeong-Ja was therefore particularly cautious regarding her status, following the advice given to her by the majority of her peers, regardless of their background or position in the living society. Secrecy is the only thing that really protects us, one of her sisters (her name is the Voice) had said, whose intellect made the consciousness bend, and who, she knew, ran a gisaeng house in the capital with an iron grip.

There was also the old woman, Jae-Ji, who urged them to take extreme precautions and to lay low. When Yeong-Ja had first met her, as she was blindly fleeing from a patrol that had spotted her a few months after her rebirth near Cheonan, the town where she had lived and been buried, the shaman had offered her shelter in a cave that was hard to find, and which she was familiar with in the surroundings. She spoke in an obscure way, with nebulous expressions that seemed to date from another era. Oh, Yeong-Ja suspected that she was ancient, for all Gwishins were ancient by nature, and the Eye was probably one of the oldest, and whenever she projected herself into the common consciousness, her thoughts had the strength of an army and the precision of a skilled archer, and everyone bowed under her dominion, for there was nothing else to do.

More and more, she was getting lost in her memories and past experiences, and she was hardly surprised to find herself outside her room, contemplating the carps in the small pond without a word, and without really knowing how she had gotten there in the first place. The Eye had told her that the phenomenon was common among the dead, and even more violent among those who had been dead for a long time.

Yeong-Ja was nearly a century late, and her landmarks were broken, her habits had evaporated, and her memory was at times the only safe and quiet place where she could regain some familiarity. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching. In front of her stood two individuals, whom she thought at first glance to be a man and a very young girl. Then, as the faces came closer and the features became clearer, she recognized one of them, the girl, with her large black eyes, naturally suspicious, and her hair in a disorder even worse than the one Yeong-Ja had witnessed when they had seen each other a little more than two years earlier, when she had left the Anseong countryside to try her luck near the east coast. I know that face, she thought suddenly, realizing how much she was in search of something familiar, reassuring, and she greeted the two visitors with a smile that she knew was too big, and too revealing.

- I didn't think I'd see you again so soon, she told the girl (Mago), while realizing that her youthful appearance hadn't changed an inch despite the years.

The girl seemed happy to see her again, as gwishins often were. Since she had been in Sochko, Yeong-Ja had seen many of their people pass by, sometimes in her entertainment house, whose coordinates she had indicated within the network of consciousness, as did all Gwishins to increase their chances of survival, but also simply in the streets, in the mountains, on the beach or in taverns.

Coastal towns were, along with forests and borders, the places most frequented by the dead. As the threat had recently increased in the south, more and more of their counterparts were moving eastward, and Sochko was gradually becoming a nest of gwishins, like some other towns in the country whose main advantage was their good geographical location.

- I could use your help, Mago told her after they embraced and Yeong-Ja took her and her male companion to her room, checking that her mistress or her sisters weren't spying on her movements.

It wasn't that kind of house, and it was small enough to maintain a modicum of discretion, but Yeong-Ja remained vigilant. She asked them to sit down, and served them some ginger tea, which she had originally requested for herself, but which she felt was always more pleasant when shared. She also went to the kitchens to fetch them some meat. Leftovers from lunch had been saved, and Yeong-Ja pretended a craving for a snack and a new sense of waste in order to take them away.

While eating with appetite, Mago explained to her, in broad outline, that she and her companion wished to stay in Sochko for less than a week to rest before leaving, and that she was hoping eventually that Yeong-Ja could provide them with shelter or, if not, suggest some names and addresses of other Gwishins who could help them. She had been unable to send all the information properly into the consciousness, as her own practice of the mechanism remained awkward, but Yeong-Ja remembered hearing some echoes of an impending arrival in Sochko, and a need for temporary accommodation.

- In truth, this house isn't big enough to receive travelers, and my room is certainly not the most appropriate place, she told them apologetically. However, we have, along with the other Gwishins in the town, arranged a system which I think will be quite suitable for your situation. We're getting used to our people visiting us. I will give you the name and coordinates of a gwishin who will receive you without difficulty. He's a former soldier who has managed to join the army because of his abilities, which are still quite good. He's very useful to us, and he has already welcomed and protected many other gwishins.

- A soldier ? Mago repeated, with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

- Don't worry, Yeong-Ja was quick to reassure her. He's one of us, I told you. He is getting all kinds of information for us, he has already saved many of our people, and he is a charming man. He lives with a woman, also a Gwishin, whom he met shortly after his resurrection. They live north of the city, in the nicest neighborhood, where they bought a hanok that is large enough to have two guest rooms. I think you'll be very comfortable there for your stay.

She looked at the man, waiting for his reaction. He must have been less than thirty years old, for Yeong-Ja saw very few wrinkles folding the skin of his face, where those of the Eye created hills, trenches, and furrows of past life. She found him relatively handsome, in correct proportions, although his nose was a little too crooked for her taste, and his eyes expressed a sadness that she felt annoyed at for having too much in herself, and sympathized with for the same reasons. I'm Yeo Woon, he had told her when they had all bowed in greeting, and since then, he hadn't said any more words, just listened to the discussion and let Mago speak. I wonder where she found him, Yeong-Ja thought, because she herself had never seen him, and she usually liked to know who she was talking to.

He and Mago exchanged a brief glance, then the girl agreed, and the deal was concluded. The gwishin soldier, Goh Dae-Seong, was currently on duty at the barracks, and was not due back for another two hours. His companion, Ran Gyeong-Ja, was also there, but Yeong-Ja didn't tell them the reason for her presence, preferring to let them discover the truth by themselves.

She offered to escort them to the house herself, indicating that they knew each other well and that the couple would have less difficulties to welcome them if she came to plead their cause. Moreover, neither Mago nor her companion were familiar with the topography of the city, and Yeong-Ja had noticed in recent years that lost travelers were always attracting more attention from patrols than those who seemed to know the area.

- They'll let you go ? The man, Yeo Woon, wondered when she informed them of her decision.

- Oh yes. I'll say you're my client, she added with a mischievous smile. It's always easier when Gwishins are men. I'll give you a discount.

Mago laughed wholeheartedly at her remark, and Yeong-Ja then invited them to rest with her while they waited for their military counterpart to return. They agreed, and she had them bring back their horse, a mare they had politely left outside the hanok, and settle it in the small meadow adjacent to the establishment, where peaceful-looking donkeys were grazing. The mare seemed satisfied with their company, for she came to meet them with a friendly step, and began to eat right next to them, snoring contentedly.

Once their bags were dropped and the tea was drunk, and the two Gwishins showed no sign of wanting to lie down or simply be alone, Yeong-Ja suggested that they go to the beach with some of her sisters, who regularly took their clients for walks.

- It's very charming at this time of the day, she said to convince them. And if I say that you, she pointed to the man, are my client, we'll have an even stronger cover and less danger to fear.

Mago seemed keenly interested, where her companion seemed barely intrigued and not very enthusiastic about the idea.

- Can we swim in the sea ? she asked with an almost childlike curiosity and enthusiasm.

- It's the sea, Yeong-Ja replied cautiously. Anyone can swim in it, even the Gwishin. But I don't think I need to remind you to keep your clothes in the water. Our status must remain hidden.

The young girl nodded her head, well trained as she was in survival strategies for the dead. Yeo Woon finally nodded similarly.

- So it's settled, Yeong-Ja said, and she got up to go pack her beach clothes, as she had been doing for two summers already.


b. Calypso's call

The entertainment house, while lovely, was nevertheless much more modest than those in Hanyang. The Spring House had no less than thirty gisaengs and apprentices, which was a respectable number for a city of the size of the capital, and this one had to be around less than fifteen young women, including the headmistress. The gisaeng, Yeong-Ja, warned them that they would probably not see her mistress : she was indeed requisitioned for a private banquet held at the hot springs of Mount Seoraksan by some of her wealthier Yangban clients.

I'll take you to visit them, if you wish, the young lady added with a bright smile, it's a very beautiful place, very quiet, very popular in the area, and the hot springs have properties on the rest of us that you would never have suspected. She also spoke about an old Buddhist temple at the foot of the mountain, which was an almost obligatory passage for the monks, and which contained a monumental statue of rare poise and finesse, whose natural setting enhanced its beauty and majesty. Mago expressed great interest in the excursions, but Woon nevertheless thought it advisable to emphasize the short duration of their stay, and the impossibility of lingering too long on the regional treasures. Yeong-Ja took no offense at his remark, and he thought that she was probably used to the short breaks of the gwishins in her home town, and therefore no longer felt embarrassed by their refusals.

They left the house as the sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, taking on ochre colors and making the sky bleed. The evening promised to be beautiful, and although none of them were able to feel the temperature variations, on their way to the beach they passed several men who had rolled up the sleeves of their hanbok and other gisaengs, coming from the rival house, who laughed in transparent jaegori, fanning themselves with talented relaxation. Yeong-Ja asked them about their journey, their destination, and the various stages they had made.

When, while phlegmatically following the edges of the lake, Woon mentioned his meeting with the Herbalist, the courtesan seemed to be gone for a moment in her memory, and she ended up telling him, in a tone of admirable frankness, about her own experience with the old man's mixture. I've never been so afraid in my life, and yet I'm dead, she told him, as Mago, who then walked a little in front of them with her hands folded behind her back, joined them and gave her own opinion on the matter, saying that the Herbalist was perhaps drawing his knowledge and powers from the clearings that had appeared at the same time as the Gwishins, and that the flower in the shape of a white insect that Woon had seen was probably one of the secrets ingredients that triggered the horrifying hallucinations.

They spoke quietly, cautiously, changing the subject whenever a passer-by approached. Yeong-Ja was more measured about the clearing : the word was crossing the collective consciousness, was beginning to be well known and assimilated, but she doubted that the Herbalist would draw his knowledge from them. For me, it seems on the contrary that he always possessed it, even when he was alive, she finally noticed. She was wearing a summer hanbok, pink and turquoise blue.

The road to reach the beach was very short, as the House of the Lake had also been built to serve this purpose, and Yeong-Ja warned them that they would probably meet some of her sisters, for whom the beach was a hunting and seduction ground like no other. Most of the time, they would go there in small groups with their clients, but sometimes they would go alone or just among themselves, to enjoy the waves and revel in the warm, fine sand under the soles of their bare feet. Since the beginning of the summer season, the number of visitors was increasing. The phenomenon was recurrent, and repeated every year.

Mago decided to explain to them that the courtesans of the southern cities, from Ulsan to Suncheon, were subjected to the same logic. In winter, the beaches were desperately deserted, but as soon as the heat and the sun came, they were covered with passers-by who enjoyed walking while listening to the sound of waves crashing on the sand and the distant cries of the seagulls above them. In Hanyang, the trend was much less developed, but the capital was mostly known as a political, economic and artistic center. Woon couldn't remember ever having set foot on the beaches of anything, or even ever having actually seen the sea.

He and Dong Soo had grown up in the mountains along the Han River, which bordered the city of Hanyang, and the largest body of water they had ever set eyes on must have been a lake or something alike. There had been Incheon, or Siheung and Ansan, which had gained a reputation for their beaches and proximity to the capital, but Woon had never visited them during his living existence. He wondered, briefly, if Dong Soo had ever been there.

Mago was almost bouncing with joy as they moved forward, looking more and more like a normal child in the eyes of the two Gwishins who followed her, and definitely looking like one to those who crossed her path and had no knowledge of her true status. Suddenly she leapt forward, pointing her finger in front of her, and shouting, "That's it, I can see it, I can see the sea, it looks so pretty," forcing Woon and Yeong-Ja to hurry to catch up with her. They reached thus finally, the courtesan delicately raising the vaporous fabric of her skirt, the exact place where the lake Yeongnanho threw itself in the Sea of Japan.

A thick and exquisite bridge had been built there, which made it possible to cross from one side to the other. Turning his gaze eastward, Woon, for the first time, came face to face with a deep, clear blue mass on which the sun's rays shimmered with unparalleled ardor, and toward which the burning star plunged inexorably, as if the sea had been the only thing capable of engulfing it, and it most likely was, for Woon had never seen anything like this, accustomed as he was to rivers and lakes and ponds, small and basic things in the end faced with this endless monstrosity, of which he couldn't see the end, and which seemed to be only waiting to swallow him up, to swallow him up (come let me drown you child look at me let me swallow you in my blue depths).

- Impressive, isn't it ? Yeong-Ja said to him, looking at him between her elegantly curved eyelashes and visibly appreciating his astonishment and wonder.

She had asked him earlier during their walk if he had ever seen the sea, to which he had answered negatively. She seemed all the more satisfied that Woon's ignorance, although nourished by stories and myths, made such a vision all the more fantastic, plunging him back into a strange and disturbing state of childhood.

They had almost lost sight of Mago, because she had rushed like a girl towards her mother, and had already reached the beach. They found her taking off her shoes and socks, and when they arrived at her level, they heard her grunt of happiness as she buried her dead toes in the sun-heated sand.

- You must do the same, she told Woon, as Yeong-Ja was already imitating her and laughing with her at this little pleasure. You can't feel much, but when you do, it's wonderful. Just try it. I'm sure you'll like it. All Gwishins like to feel things.

The gisaeng in turn encouraged him in a charming way, and Woon, who remembered his barefoot walks in the gardens of the Spring House, didn't resist for long. Mago at their head, holding their shoes in their hands, the three of them ended up walking along the shore, gradually getting closer to the wet sand, and finally decided to stroll close to the waves, where the salt water came to lick the cold skin of their feet. Yeong-Ja raised her skirt, and the picture she was forming must have been delectable, because Woon saw the glances of several men turn in their passage in the direction of the young woman with an expression which he had learned to know.

They also encountered gisaengs, who greeted them, including the famous Yeong-Ja sisters, pink and colored, with which she stopped for a short moment to chat, presenting Woon as her customer. Mago walked on her own, her feet in the water, her arms outstretched as if she had been balancing on a tightrope, and sometimes enjoyed throwing sprays of sparkling water towards the waves. Yeong-Ja and Woon continued their discussion for a while, notably on the reasons that had pushed Woon to leave Hanyang ("the situation is apparently becoming very unstable", Yeong-Ja told him, having heard some echoes in the collective consciousness), but Woon soon felt more absorbed by the movement of the waves and the total absence of horizon in the distance, and the gisaeng, skillfully guessing his distraction, stopped talking and seemed to concentrate on her own sensations, while nevertheless enjoying the company of one of her peers.

As the light was fading and their ascent of the seashore brought them closer and closer to wooded peaks where the width of the beach was shrinking considerably, Yeong-Ja suggested going back, to which Mago replied, in all and for all, that she was planning to swim and refused to leave before she had fully immersed herself.

- We still have time before our friend's return, the courtesan assured them, and she seemed to be amused by Mago's determination. The only condition if you want to bathe is that you must not take off your clothes, you know that. If you have something to change in your luggage, you will be able to do so when we come back home to pick up your bags and your horse.

That's all it took. Mago, with a cornered smile that reminded Woon of his own when he was younger, rushed like a maniac towards the blue vastness, totally carefree and unrestrained, and turned around for a fraction of a second to shout "Come, master !", pulling out bursts of vaguely mocking and above all hearty laughter from the walkers around them. Yeong-Ja herself had a small giggle of pleasure, and proceeded to raise her skirt to step into the water and to bathe the lower part of her legs.

Woon followed her, a little worried despite himself. He felt somewhat oppressed by the immensity of the sea, and when he saw the thin arm of Mago waving in their direction, much further, he turned towards Yeong-Ja, and inquired in a slightly nervous tone if the girl was safe. He had been told of the treacherous effects of the current and the tides, and he remembered it vividly.

- No, the gisaeng told him in a soft voice. Don't worry. She can swim well, and the current is not so strong. You should try it. It feels really good. Water is the thing we feel the least at first.

- Try what ?

- To swim. Lie down in the water and let yourself float a little. I recommend it to all the Gwishins who come here. It's very pleasant.

At first Woon showed some hesitation, but the young woman gave him such a demonstration of the benefits of an immersion, real this time, that he finally gave in and advanced further in the water, which he felt only to a very slight extent against his legs, while he saw Mago swimming in their direction with exaggerated gestures, projecting water all around her, a huge smile stretching her lips and wet face. When the water reached his shoulders, he let himself fall backwards and adjusted his arms and legs into a star position to let himself be carried by the water. It bounced against his flanks and cheeks, with peaceful lapping noises.

He didn't really feel the water or its temperature, but it felt like something was holding him, and he closed his eyes and allowed the gentle current and the sound of the waves, muffled by the water in his ears, to rock him (let me submerge you get the measure of me of all I am). He knew that his hair was floating like a black seaweed. It's very pleasant, Yeong-Ja had said. A little hand came and grabbed his, and it was Mago's, who gave him a knowing smile as he turned his head as far as he could to look at her through the water. There was no more sound, no more time. Just the floating, and the water, and Mago next to him, and the idea of Dong Soo still lurking in his mind.

When they were fifteen, he had a terrible dream, which he finally told Woon because his fear had become so strong that he had felt the need to share it. I dreamed I was in the water, but there was no bottom, no top, nothing, just blue everywhere, water everywhere, with no limits, and I was swimming and there was nothing but me, and I could see myself from afar, and then, something appeared, something huge and black, and I dreamt that I was snatched into the mouth of a monstrous shark, that its teeth were closing in on me, in the blue-black, and that I could do nothing about it.