A/N:
Forgive me for the delay. And thanks for all the warm comments on my other story 'River flows in you'.
I had to split this chapter into few parts as for being too long. This part focus more on the setting but the next part would have more Scenes dealing with YJ and GE ;)
If in case you have forgotten the story here's a summary. It's not brief though, and you are free to skip it if you remember the story.
The story so far...
Ga Eul is an orphaned girl, had lost her mother at birth and her father was killed in an accident. She was taken in(though reluctantly) by her paternal aunt and was raised by her.
Ever since her father's funeral, a ghost, looking alike her father would come to meet her at 3.00am. Five year old Ga Eul, without having any knowledge about the consequences, invites the creature 'further inside', thus giving it the permission to possess her.
Twelve years pass as Ga Eul lives with the demonic creature, of whom she learns the name as Baekga. Being possessed by him makes her able to hear the mournings of dead, and sometimes even spot them. But, the possession, brings her numerous misfortunes as well, such as her economical down fall and her aunts death. Even Geum Jandi and her family were afraid of the misfortune she might bring and were hesitant to take her in.
Baekga, the demon, turns out to be more annoying than scary, peeking into her every private emotion and teasing her about them. She does everything she could do, in order to get rid of him, yet, them all, ends up being useless. The demon, though now regrets its decision of possesing someone as 'stupid' as her, suggests her to find her soulmate and exchange him with him. As for his suggestions, Ga Eul was found yelling to no one for most of the times.
While visiting Shinhwa school, in order to meet Jandi, Ga Eul meets So Yi Jeong—one of the members of the Shinhwa's infamous F4. Unlike the rest of the F4, Yi Jeong could see Baekga and finds himself staring at Ga Eul.
And the demon announces, 'Chajaesseo.'(found you...), as he is the soulmate they were searching for.
As it turns out, Yi Jeong could see ghosts from a very young age, and wishes to conduct a research about them. He visits the porridge shop and invites Ga Eul to join him as a colleague. The Master at the porridge shop who turns out to be an enthusiastic on the subject, joins them as well, and together the trio move in to Yi Jeong's apartment.
They continue working on their research while giving a helping hand to people who have such issues with ghosts (they call them–cases. One of such, was told in the first chapter), in the meantime, they attend school and conduct their day to day activities.
During one of their cases Ga Eul was emotionally battered too much that it had let another, more cruel demon inside her body. The other demon, was known as her other self. And during another case, in which a powerful demon trapped inside a Samgakdo( korean traditional sword) stirs her 'other self' up which resulted in her attacking Yi Jeong.
The attack wasn't that physically harmful. But, ever since the day he was attacked Yi Jeong starts having disturbing visions of a fiercely spinning potter's wheel, and piercing scent of peach blossoms.
Meanwhile, Ga Eul was asked out for a date, which doesn't end well. She returns home to find Yi Jeong with another two dates, who mistakes her for a maid. Ga Eul, emotionally broken as ever, loses the control over demons, and allows herself to be possessed by her other self who seduces the drunken Yi Jeong.
Ga Eul wakes up the next morning in Yi Jeong's room, on his bed. Yi Jeong desperately tries to apologise for what happened between them, but Ga Eul refuses. An exhausted Yi Jeong return to the pantry to calm himself down from his racing heart.
And that was when Master, who had been on leave for a week, makes a call. He asks them to come to Andong as soon as possible, and tells that it is an emergency.
Chapter eight: The whispering forest
Part I
Andong...
The heart of Korean tradition and charm...
But, in Yi Jeong's perspective, 'Andong' was all about endless paddy fields, thatched houses and bumpy rides.
Not a thing to be excited about.
And if the unpaved roads (with the help of the annoying downpour), applying a thick coat of mud on his beloved lotus, wasn't enough a torment, there was a Chu Ga Eul seated beside him, silently glaring at him now and then.
Strangely though, he felt he deserved it.
Perhaps he shouldn't have approved Master's leave in the first place. Or at the least, should have retreated to one of his other apartments (he had nine in Seoul) the moment he woke up–just the way he always did, to ditch all those previous dates he had.
But he couldn't.
For some reason he just... couldn't.
Yi Jeong let out a sigh, tired by many thoughts. At the moment, the only thing he was able to do was cursing Master, every single once their tires splashed in to a muddy puddle.
It had been quite some time since they had turned out from the main road. But, in addition to his long list of problems, there seemed no end to that road, growing thinner and thinner, barely keeping up with the width of his car.
Yi Jeong hesitated a bit. "We took the right turn, didn't we?" he bended towards the steering wheel, staring at the road ahead of them. He was wondering what would have happened if another vehicle would appear from the other side of the bend. Either one of them would have to reverse all the way down hill.
" Are you sure it was to the left, he told us to turn?" He took the gut to ask for the second time.
No response. Again.
Ever since that morning, he was given the silence treatment, and he wasn't annoyed, not a bit, until now.
"Aish!.." he sighed, and took out his phone.
The number you have dialled is currently switched off or_
"Aish!" he threw the phone back to the dashboard.
Again, Silence... in which he felt a sunburn forming on his right cheek.
Reluctantly though, he turned towards the girl.
"Will you just_ stop staring at me like that?!" He said.
"Don't tell me that we are lost." She blankly replied.
"I don't think_"
"Does he pick up?"
"No?!"
"Do you know these roads?"
"... No."
Ga Eul sighed, and turned away, back to her window.
Yi Jeong supposed they were... lost. But none of them dared to spell it out. Instead, they just stared at the endless road(him) or whatever greenery lied in front their eyes. All in all, avoiding each other's eye contact.
He switched off the engine, allowing the pitter-patter to take over the silence.
And waited.
In each minute passed, the air around him grew heavier, and more uncomfortable to breath. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere with a girl who most certainly hated him. And not to mention she had a demon sealed inside her body. (He already had enough to worry about.)
...
As soon as the rain turned into a mere drizzle, his seat belt unclasped.
"I think I'd better go out and take a look... To see whether if there's someone who knows about these roads... or at least... a nearby farmhouse..." He (at last) was able to jump out of his car, and gave her one last look. " Wait here until I get back."
Her hiss trapped inside, as the door slammed shut.
...
...
...
Ga Eul waited for him to disappear around the bend, to discard his orders. After all, she deserved a breath of fresh air as well. No wonder Yi Jeong felt the same way—Ga Eul knew that when she first stepped into a muddy puddle—or else, he won't be bothered enough to get dirt on his designer pair of shoes.
It was one of those rural forgotten paths, fogged with creepiness, spiralling around the mountain chain, with a steep slope cutting it narrow to its left and an over grown forest standing at its right. An old spiky fence, discontinued by the broken wires here and there, marked its borders.
She wondered why Master's little sister (that friendly little unnie)would have chosen to live in such an eerie place.
Or perhaps it was just the weather.
Ughuhmhmm...
Ga Eul flinched at the sound.
"Baekga? Are you there?" she called out, only for her voice to be swallowed up by the silence the moment after.
"Gurae..." she mumbled. " I commanded you to sleep." And sighed as the silence grew.
Ughuhmhmm ...
There came it again.
She looked around. And to her relief, she found an owl, staring at her with it's big round eyes, seated on the fence, near an old metal plate with partly scratched letters saying 'Do not enter'.
She gave the unholy creature an offensive look, who then flapped his wings and flew away to a darker part of the woods.
Silence...
That was all there was left, if not for the distant humming of the crickets and an occasional cry of a rusted metal plate rubbing against its own rusted old fence.
Crickets?...
Ga Eul looked up. The blue and white skies were long gone, and even the red hues were turning into more sombre shades. The dusk was nearing. And...
"Yi Jeong Sunbae... Eodissanayo?" Even though she was yet to forgive him for doing the unthinkable, the silence was growing unbearably heavy and Ga Eul was starting to panic. Unknowingly, her feet had started heading towards the direction where Yi Jeong had gone.
There was a strange chill in the wind, tickling her neck each time it went howling by her ears pulling her towards the forest.
Ga Eul flinched. Again.
...THERE THEY GO! GET THEM!..
The voices came from the forest.
And suddenly, her ears cleared to those sounds— horses neighing and galloping, soundly crushing the dried leaves and twigs under their feet. And men, dressed in ancient robes, riding on their backs.
It was Andong after all, no wonder they were dressed in ancient robes.
But...Men!
Her eyes widened. Those men could tell them the way back to the main road.
"Ahjushshi!" she called out. She was just about to crawl under the fence when a powerful arm grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the road.
"Didn't I tell you to wait in the car?!" An annoyed Yi Jeong cried out.
Ga Eul shook her head. "There were some Ahjushshis..." She pointed at the forest. But her voice trailed off when she saw none. And it was silent.
Again.
They both kept staring at the forest for some moments there. But no, there was nothing.
Ga Eul looked back at Yi Jeong, who was perplexed as much as her, and then at their entangled hands.
"Ughm." She cleared her throat and jerked back her hand.
Yi Jeong looked away, casually dismissing a glare.
The pathway has already disappeared under thickening fog. The mountains were no longer massive lumps of greenery but gloomy giants fallen fast asleep.
" I suppose we must get back to the car." Yi Jeong awaked his voice. "The night is growing colder..."
With that, he took the lead towards the car.
"Aren't we... supposed find a place to stay?... What if Master won't pick up again?" Ga Eul asked, breaking her long silence.
"There's only one way to find out... if he would pick up or not..." Yi Jeong replied. He took back his phone and dialled again.
And again.
And... again.
"Aish!" He slammed his hand on the hood. "Just why?! Agh! That little devil!" And let out a curse.
Ga Eul embraced herself. Fear had begun coiling around her heart. "Eoththokkae..?(How...?) W-what are we going to do now?..." Her voice trembled.
Yi Jeong sighed, sparing a glance at her fragile figure. The road was too narrow to have a u-turn, and almost swallowed by the mist, to reverse all the way back to the main road.
He sighed again.
Only if they could find a place to stay until the morning...
...
"You! Who's there?!" An elderly voice came from the forest.
Ga Eul skipped a heart beat, and so did Yi Jeong.
"Who's there?" the voice came again. Yi Jeong and Ga Eul shared a look. Yes, both of them could hear that.
"Aigoo.. those meddling poachers!... do you really think these woods are somewhere to play around?!" A figure emerged from the trees. It was a frail old man, probably in his late seventies, taking steady steps towards the fence. A quivering hand draped around a wooden stick, taller than his own height, assisted him. And a fully loaded jige, hung on his back, bending him even lower than his age.
Yi Jeong pointed the flashlight at the stranger. He didn't move, not a single gesture to cover his eyes from the blinding light.
His eyes... clouded. Blind—Yi Jeong figured out.
"Who are you?!" The old man yelled again.
"Anyeongsaeyo, Hurabeujji! ..." Ga Eul called out in her sweetest tone. "We ... have... kind of...lost our way, would hurabeujji know a way back to the main road?"
Yi Jeong spared a glance at the misty lane. "Or at least a place to stay for the night?" He added.
"There's a rest house... a few miles into the forest..." The old man replied. "I could show the way if you would want..." He added.
"But isn't it forbidden to enter the forest?" Ga Eul asked. But the old man was already heading back to the forest.
Ga Eul and Yi Jeong exchanged a quizzical look, before finally deciding to follow the 'hurabeujji' (what other choice did they have?)
Yi Jeong lifted the wire, they both crawled under the fence and entered the forest.
-to be continued.
Jige- Korean traditional back pack, made from wooden rods and is used by farmers.
