MB Ch 7 part 2

PR by lavenderblues

“Ran!”

In the end, she went to the edge of the Magenta Forest and called out Ran’s name.

“Ran!”

She tried calling again, but all she got in response was an echo. There was no other sound.

Bari anxiously looked around. As she expected, once she left the house, she was surrounded by a thick fog. Surrounding Mount Dongdae, the forest’s red trees sprouting from the ground twisted and tangled together like veins. Bari cautiously stepped forward. If she made one wrong move, her whole body could easily be skewered and pierced by the trees.

The deeper she entered the forest, the colder the air became around her. Mist puffed out of her lips before scattering in the air. 

Just where had he gone?

“Ran, I brought your favorite sweets.”

Bari thought she saw Ran and held out the basket she was holding.

“Come out now. Don’t you miss me?”

I miss you… Bari closed her mouth before those words could escape. She looked around once more. The only thing moving within the knotted thorns was the fog. She couldn’t see anything else.

He must be really angry with me.

Bari pouted and lowered her head in disappointment. Maybe she should have explained everything to Ran. But at the time, she was not in the right state of mind to do so. She hadn’t known what a wedding entailed. She never realized how explicit things could be with a man…

“Huu.”

She sighed and turned around. However, due to a moment’s carelessness, she ended up stepping on a sharp thorn.

“Agh!”

As the thorn pierced her foot, Bari screamed and crouched in pain. Because she was holding the basket of sweets, she couldn’t regain her balance and began to fall forward. However, instead of a faceful of thorns, someone grabbed her hips.

“Bari!”

Startled, Bari barely managed to regain her balance and looked back. Her lips parted. It was Ran. No, it was Ran, but it didn’t look like him.

“Ran?”

Bari tried calling his name in shock. The boy was holding her to his chest. More accurately, the handsome boy looked to be about fifteen years old. He was a blue-eyed, blue-haired goblin. 

“Are you really Ran?”

Ran didn’t answer her. He merely picked her up and jumped up. They left the Magenta Forest. Blood continued to flow from Bari’s foot. Bari held onto his neck and began to think.

What happened?

Why did the kid suddenly grow so big?!

His bones were still thin, and he still had a lean figure, but Ran had definitely grown. Bari was so shocked by this transformation, and she stared at his face in disbelief.

This punk! Isn’t he too handsome?

Even when he was young, he was so pretty that it was difficult to tell if he was a boy or a girl. Now that he grew up, she could see that he had a shockingly handsome face. His milky skin was as sleek as porcelain, and his mysterious blue eyes were aquamarine.

My goodness. Unbelievable.

She wasn’t in the right state of mind to think about her injury. When they finally arrived home, Ran carefully placed her on a chair in the garden.

“Ran.”

When she called his name, Ran lifted his head and looked at her. It was truly the first time she’d seen such a handsome face as this. It was fascinating, but it was also a bit worrying.

“What happened to you?”

Ran looked at her face for a moment before lowering his head. His blue hair slipped down his face. It looked beautiful in the dusky darkness.

“It was time. That’s all.”

His voice had also become lower.

“Time?”

“Yeah. Time for me to grow.”

Ran carefully pulled out the long thorn from Bari’s foot.

“Ugh!”

Bari frowned as she looked at her foot. Blood flowed out of the wound as if it had been pierced by a knife. Ran ripped his clothes and wound it around her injury.

“Thanks.”

But Ran did not reply to her. Why is he so gloomy? She wanted him to speak, but his stiff face made her think twice. Bari decided to try and get him to open up.

“I’m glad you grew up.”

She grabbed his hand as she said this. The boy’s cheeks grew red. He was so grown up! She recalled the first time she’d met Ran in the Magenta Forest. He was a young boy covered in dirt, trembling in front of the red monster…

Alarmed, Bari had run towards him like crazy. She grabbed his hand, and they ran away. She remembered it like it was yesterday.. Ever since then, Ran followed Bari everywhere. She thought of him as her little brother, and he brought great comfort into her life. She depended on him a lot.

“Ran. What happened?”

She held Ran’s hand and asked gently. He did not open his mouth. However, he truly looked quite bewitching. She felt that if she continued to stare at him, she’d be drawn in. She never imagined he’d grow up to become such a handsome kid…

“Run away, Bari.”

Suddenly, Ran looked her dead in the eye.

“What?”

“Run away.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t trust the god Mujang. He’s a really bad guy.”

“What are you saying?”

Bari felt as if all the blood had left her body. A strange chill crept up her spine. Bari laughed awkwardly.

“What are you talking about? He’s now my husband.”

“Husband?”

Ran asked as he bit his lips.

“He’s the god of the underworld. Why do you think a god would marry a mere human and let her give birth to his child?”

“Ran.”

She didn’t want to hear any more. She didn’t want to listen to what he was saying. It had been a long time since she’d last seen Ran. She didn’t want to talk about something like this.

“Enough.”

“You don’t know anything, Bari. You idiot!”

“Ran!”

She was so shocked, she couldn’t say anything else. Ran had always hated and was terrified of Mujang. However, it hadn’t been to this extent. He never cursed at Mujang like this, and he never spoke badly to Bari before.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Bari?”

Suddenly, they heard Mujang’s voice. Startled, Ran looked at Bari before turning into goblin fire.

“Come to the forest tomorrow, Bari. I’ll tell you everything.”

With those words, the ball of fire floated up into the air and left her.

“Ran!”

At the same time, Mujang came outside and called out to her.

“Bari?”

Bari stared out into the distance with a blank look on her face. She turned her head and gazed at Mujang.

“What’s wrong? Did Ran return?”

She didn’t know what to say in response. 

“Bari, why do you look like that?”

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

She was losing her mind.

“Don’t trust the god Mujang. He’s a really bad guy.”

Why did Ran say that?

“He’s the god of the underworld. Why do you think a god would marry a mere human and let her give birth to his child?”

And what did that mean?

Through the paper window, she could see the red myrtle trees. The red color reflected against the paper and made it look like it was stained with blood. It made Bari shiver. She stretched out her hand and tried plucking a flower from the branch. The flower immediately turned into dust and fell to the ground. All of this was an illusion, a lie. She didn’t like it.

Yes, why did he? Why did he want to marry her in the first place? He offered her the yaksu in exchange for giving birth to a child. Why did he need the child?

“What are you thinking about?”

When she heard his voice, Bari straightened up. Mujang approached her with a concerned look on his face. He placed a hand on her forehead.

“Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Bari laughed softly. He looked into her eyes and stroked her cheek.

There was no way this gentleness was a lie.

Even though there was dread inside her heart, Bari wanted to selfishly believe.

The afternoon passed by slowly. She no longer stayed in her own room. Instead, she stayed in Mujang’s room. All around the room, her things were strewn about. Mujang’s clothes and Bari’s clothes were hanging in the wardrobe. Her vanity table was placed on one side of the room. His scent and her scent mingled together in this space. They ate together and slept together. And once it grew dark, they entered the house. And likewise, he would enter her.

A blue haze glimmered in the night air. The sound of his strained groans and her voice merged together several times. How many times had his hand caressed her entrance? How many times had her lips surrounded his staff? How many times had they exploded together within the suffocating heat and ecstasy, their bodies trembling in the aftermath?

Wasn’t this her life now?

“Did you really want a child because you want an heir?”

Her question burst out at a strange time.

The body that was embracing her as it fed her pleasure suddenly stopped moving. Bari swept her sweat-drenched hair back and raised her head to look at Mujang.

“Why do you need a child?”

Mujang didn’t respond. The strange silence pressed down on Bari.

“Mujang-nim.”

“What did Ran tell you?”

His gaze was heavy as he asked.

“That’s not important, is it?”

“After you met Ran, you started acting strange. How is that not important?”

“Mujang-nim.”

“Why did you agree to have a child?”

“That’s…”

Haa, she wasn’t sure what was going on.

Bari pulled herself away from his embrace. The cold air that stuck to her skin made her feel dejected. She felt like she had been overlooking something very important until now, but she could not erase the truth. She had decided to sleep with Mujang in order to obtain the yaksu.

“At first, it was to receive the yaksu. But now…”

“It’s different now. The same goes for me.”

When she heard his response, Bari turned around and looked at Mujang. He had gotten up and was now putting on his clothes.

“At first, I had something in mind as well. But now, it’s different.”

“What did you have in mind and how is it different now?”

“……”

“Mujang-nim!”

However, he had already left the room. Bewildered, Bari covered her body with the blanket and ran out into the corridor. However, he had already disappeared. Her heart began to fill with dread. Bari clenched the blanket and bit her lips.