SJ | Chapter 1.1

Between Yeosu and Jeju Island, there’s a cluster of islands. Among them, Gyoindo, surrounded like a folding screen by three islands, served as a natural fortress. It was once a place where General Yi Sunsin wiped out Japanese pirates and set up a naval base.

The strong Kuroshio Current¹ flows there, and in the past, it was as isolated as Tamna², a place of exile, with rare interactions with the mainland. This has led to a lingering atmosphere of distrust towards outsiders among the islanders.

While Jeju Island, formerly Tamna, has developed its tourism industry and sees many visitors, Gyoindo, inhabited only by fishermen, remains rarely visited.

Perhaps due to this uniqueness, Gyoindo still holds a strong belief in traditional folk religion even in the 21st century, and they believe in the existence of mermaids.

The elderly haenyeo often tell their grandchildren stories of how, in their youth, they received help from mermaids when they entered the sea.

Stories like how a mermaid helped when they were about to drown with seaweed tangled around their ankles, or if a mermaid came close and tossed stones, it meant the sea weather was turning bad, so they should quickly return to the island. There are even tales of mermaids blessing infertile couples with children.

Interestingly, they don’t call them mermaids. The people of Gyoindo, seeing the way they swim, thought they resembled white mice and started calling them that, which evolved into “Shinjikki” today. This suggests that while mermaids helped the islanders, they might have been looked down upon.

There’s also a counterargument that “Shinjikki” is a compound of “Shin³” + “jikkihada⁴“, meaning “a being pretending to be a god.”

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

On a clear night with a bright full moon, young women continuously crossed the threshold of a grand house in Pyeongchang-dong, where pine trees over three hundred years old grew with spiritual energy.

While the women bathed and dressed in white robes, the men hid in a room. The women braided their hair with red ribbons, resembling Chunhyang before her death.

Unlike the classic novel where Lee Mongryong returns to catch Byeon Sato after passing the state exam, the real Chunhyang was abandoned by Mongryong and took her own life.

This vengeful spirit, surprisingly, would visit when young women called and reveal what they wanted to know. Only women could summon Chunhyang, who became a handmaiden ghost out of hatred for Mongryong, and she wouldn’t appear if a man was present.

The women sat in a circle, holding hands and swaying side to side, dancing. In the center, Sulle, who would channel Chunhyang, was believed to know everything like a god and reveal secrets.

“Original Chunhyang, Namwon Chunhyang. Born on Buddha’s Birthday, come down gently. Come down slowly. Chunhyang was born on Buddha’s Birthday. Come down gently, miraculously, quickly.”

Sulle, with half-closed eyes, sang along softly. She took a sip of rice wine to cloud her mind, and the sweet scent filled the air. The room, lit by soft candlelight, cast shadows of the dancers on the walls and floor.

Creak.

Soyoung, playing a friend’s role in the Chunhyang game, flinched at the sound of a sliding door opening. But the paper door was tightly shut.

She felt uneasy about this strange scene without cameras or staff, wanting to finish quickly and go home.

Hoo… It felt like someone exhaled near Soyoung’s ear. She wanted to scream but feared ruining the film shoot, so she just trembled.

The candle lighting the room went out in the windless space. Swallowing hard, Soyoung looked at Sulle, who had her head bowed.

“I’m sixteen. My name is Chunhyang. Let’s dance and play.”

Sulle suddenly lifted her head and sang. The friends asked her:

“Is Chunhyang here?”

“Y-yes.”

“Chunhyang, Chunhyang, my friend Chunhyang. Answer my question.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Elder Jang Taeshin seems to be on his deathbed from old age, and he’s searching for a mermaid. Even if the whole world is turned upside down, no mermaid can be found, so I’m asking you. Tell me truthfully, where is the mermaid?”

An extra recited the memorized lines. Sulle giggled, swaying side to side.

“Looking into Jang Taeshin, there’s no greater villain in all of Joseon. He begged for a mermaid caught in his net, and when a pearl fell, his eyes turned. Stabbed with an iron skewer, one pearl! Cut the wrist, two pearls! But no matter how much he tortured, nothing came after three pearls.”

The women, thinking this was just a film shoot, were terrified by Sulle’s state with her eyes rolled back. Even trying to believe it was acting, the chilling sensation made it feel real.

“He regretted the dead mermaid, grilled and ate it, and what do you know? His wrinkled skin tightened, and his dead manhood stood. The mermaid’s flesh was sweeter than any fruit, and the blood more fragrant than any wine, unforgettable.”

Chunhyang jumped up, raised her hands to the sky, and danced. The aspiring actresses felt their minds blur, hearing drums and gongs from somewhere.

Now, the women danced with Chunhyang in the room.

“Ate every last one, built a palace bigger than a king’s with mermaid pearls. This man didn’t die, became a monster. Mermaid, mermaid. Hwooii~ Hwooii~ Run away. The fisherman is coming.”

The Chunhyang game shouldn’t exceed 10 minutes. If it did, both the channeling Sulle and all participants would be filled with evil spirits and go mad. But no one who hired them told them this.

The paper door slid open, and men in black suits rushed in. They subdued Chunhyang, forcing her to her knees.

“Where is the mermaid now, Chunhyang?”

“I can’t say. I won’t tell.”

“Then you’ll have to be beaten until you speak the truth.”

The paper door shook with the woman’s loud screams. Sulle’s blood-soaked body fell helplessly to the floor. Chunhyang had already fled, leaving only Sulle in this world.

Desperate to live, she spoke the secret Chunhyang had revealed.

“An island… The last mermaid is on the southernmost island of our country.”

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

Listen carefully, child. You were meant to be the prince of the moon.

Long, long ago, in a time far away, the god created beings called “seonin⁵” as companions. But in crafting them with all the precious, valuable, and radiant things of the world, ugly, dirty, and dark things were left behind.

The god discarded these remnants in a cave, where they became an evil spirit, hating the creator who made them. Unaware of this, the seonin lived in the moon palace, growing until they could marry the god.

Once grown, the seonin married the god and bore children. As these children had more children, and their children had children, the discarded being grew, consuming darkness and eons, naming itself “akin⁶.”

The evil spirit, now strong enough to break the god’s seal, emerged from the cave to face the world. It felt a bloodthirsty urge for its other half, the seonin, and chased them to the moon.

The evil spirit brutally tore apart and devoured the seonin living on the moon. The seonin’s blood was sweeter than any wine, and their flesh more delicious than any fruit, so the evil spirit sought to consume them all.

Though the god claimed to have created something perfect, the seonin were only half, and their descendants, weakened by mixing blood, had no way to defeat the evil spirit.

Thus, the descendants of the seonin on the moon left to save the pregnant princess. The princess swam through space with seven maidservants, and after a hundred years, their legs turned into fish tails, and after another hundred years, gills grew on their necks.

The descendants of the seonin, upon reaching the blue planet, decided to live in the sea, an environment like space. Fishermen living near the coast saw them and, noticing their human-like upper bodies and fish-like lower bodies, began calling them mermaids (인어).

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

“Grandma, can I become a mermaid again?”

“Maybe, maybe not. The seonin, infused with god’s power, have mixed too much with humans, so now they’re born with arms and legs. But, child, I’m telling you this story to warn you about the evil spirit. It will seek you out to drink your sweet blood like wine and devour your flesh like fruit. And…”

Grandma placed her hand on twenty-year-old Shin Jihee’s belly.

“Mermaids cry pearl tears three times in their life. These pearls grant any wish, but you must use them like this: The first pearl to wish for a body that can conceive, the second to become a seonin again, and the third to restore the palace on the moon to become the bride of the god. Understand?”

If there really were pearls that granted wishes, Jihee wouldn’t want to make such wishes. The first pearl would be for his grandma’s health, the second to bring back his parents who died in an accident, and the third to have a big aquarium of his own, to keep fish fresh from the sea.

But grown-up Jihee knew mermaids were just fairy tales. He didn’t believe his grandma’s words but lied for his dementia-stricken grandmother’s sake.

“Yeah, I will.”

“Uh? Where am I? Prince, you must run! The evil spirit is chasing us. Hurry, hurry!”

Grandma, who had been telling old stories, pulled Jihee outside. Without proper shoes, Jihee was dragged along. Neighbors rushed over to stop the old woman.

“High shaman! Please go back inside. Why are you troubling Jihee?”

“Let go! We must run quickly. They’ll come for us.”

Grandma shook off the hardware store owner and dragged Jihee to the beach. She always forgot there was nowhere to run on an island surrounded by the sea.

Jihee decided to take a walk with his grandma by the sea since they were already there. But, true to the ever-changing sea weather, dark clouds suddenly gathered, and a strong wind blew. Jihee felt a chill, as if a ghost had just passed by.

The fishermen of Gyoindo, as if sensing something, had tied their boats at the dock. The high shaman, more accurate than the weather forecast, had advised them to do so that morning. Though she might have lost her sharpness now, her spiritual sense seemed intact.

Jihee’s grandma used to foresee the future, but after dementia, she insisted it was a mermaid’s ability. It was just nonsense to be ignored.

Even though no fishing boats had left, a ship was visible in the distance. As a white yacht approached Gyoindo, a thick sea fog enveloped the island, as if trying to hide itself.

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

In a dark warehouse, men in black suits gathered. Firewood crackled in a drum, sending sparks flying. The salty, fishy smell from the nearby sea wafted in.

A middle-aged man, blindfolded, was tied to a chair, pleading for his life.

“Please, Executive Director, forgive me just this once.”

The man he called out to was a handsome figure with neatly slicked-back hair. The bonfire illuminating the warehouse cast a vibrant glow on his sculpted face, like an actor from a black-and-white TV appearing in color.

The cigar that had been precariously perched on Jang Taebeom’s lips moved to his thick fingers. The glowing cigar burned the traitor’s hand before being tossed into the drum.

“Dunk him.”

His deep, commanding voice left no room for argument.

“Yes, Executive Director.”