SJ | Chapter 1.2

Though dressed in a classic suit befitting his title, no one there thought of him as an ordinary company employee. Jang Taebeom was a man of violence, like a beast, and as his name suggested, he was as large as a mountain tiger.

Taebeom’s men untied the traitor from the chair and pushed him into the drum filled with burning logs. The man struggled to escape the intense heat, but he was trapped by the cement pouring into the drum.

“Please, save me! I don’t want to die!”

The man, screaming and thrashing, was eventually silenced, buried in cement. As the men in suits rolled the heavy drum to load it onto a yacht docked at the shore, Taebeom unexpectedly boarded the yacht.

The yacht, departing from Yeosu, sailed towards a deep, unreachable part of the sea. They were supposed to stop and drop the drum into the sea, but they couldn’t because they encountered a party cruise ship and had to keep going.

“We’ve come far enough. Stop the boat.”

Cheolmin told Sanggu, who was steering. But Taebeom ordered them to keep going. As if entering an unknown world, a thick sea fog enveloped them. Unable to see ahead, the captain didn’t notice the reef and crashed the yacht.

Standing on the deck, smoking a cigar, Taebeom lost his balance and fell into the dark sea. Though a good swimmer, he felt as if something was pulling his ankle, preventing him from surfacing.

The strong current felt like the recently killed Director Lee Hyuksoo had become a water ghost, dragging him down. As he ran out of breath, his body convulsed, and he saw visions. A mermaid with a white face and black hair floated gracefully underwater.

Captivated by its beauty, he lost consciousness, unaware that he was no longer breathing.

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

Jihee, who was at the beach with his grandma, saw someone fall into the sea and immediately jumped in. No matter how bad the sea weather was, it didn’t bother him. The sea always embraced him like a mother, and even fierce waves seemed to avoid him.

But for some reason, as he tried to swim towards the man, the waves kept pushing him back. Gasping for breath, Jihee swam with all his might. The man, caught in the strong current, was about to drown.

He was twice his size and unconscious, making it hard to handle his weight even in the water. Struggling, he finally managed to bring him ashore, feeling as if he’d saved a goblin rather than a person. Jihee had never seen such a tall and sturdy man on Gyoindo.

Regardless, saving him was the priority. Jihee climbed onto the man’s chest and pressed down, performing CPR. In his urgency, he even pressed his lips to his, breathing into him as he’d learned in school. The thought that this was his first kiss was quickly forgotten in his desperation to save a life.

“Hey, wake up.”

The goblin-like man slowly opened his eyes. They were cold and dark, like the winter sea hidden beneath clouds. Meeting those eyes, Jihee felt a pull, as if his feet were stuck in the mud. He shivered like a fish caught on a spear and backed away from him.

Fortunately, the man closed his eyes again. Unsure if he was dead or alive, he leaned in to listen to his chest when his grandma appeared and smacked his back.

“Why’d you bring such a wretched thing? Throw it back into the sea.”

“Grandma, that hurts.”

“Hurts? That’s nothing. Throw it back. It’s cursed!”

Jihee, pressured by his grandma to toss the man back into the sea, reluctantly carried him to a large rock known as Cicada Rock. He couldn’t bring himself to kill the man he’d just saved, even under his dementia-stricken grandma’s insistence.

“Help! Please help!”

Hoping his companions would notice, he picked up a stone and threw it towards the yacht. Thankfully, someone on the yacht seemed to notice and looked out to sea. Jihee then dove back into the water to return to the island.

Once ashore, his grandma pulled his sleeve and wiped Jihee’s face.

“You’ll catch a cold. Why’d you go into the sea in this weather?”

His grandma didn’t remember that Jihee had just saved someone.

“I’m not wet. I’m wearing the clothes you made.”

Jihee’s clothes were miraculously dry, thanks to the outfit his high shaman grandma had made. While other haenyeo wore rubber suits to dive, Jihee could dive in his regular clothes and come back with abalone, octopus, and clams.

“Get up, my child. Let’s go home.”

Jihee stood firmly on his feet. His grandma always taught him to get up quickly after coming from the sea, or his legs would stick together, making it impossible to walk.

His grandma, as if she hadn’t lost her sharpness, led the way back to their thatched house.

“Book a ferry to Yeosu. Let’s go to the mainland for the first time in a while.”

“The mainland? You always said you’d never go.”

“There’s a reason now.”

Back home, Jihee washed the salt off his body and changed into pajamas. He then shuffled in his slippers to the captain’s house, the only one operating ferries to the mainland from Gyoindo. The smell of boiling loach and bracken wafted from outside the low fence, making his stomach growl like thunder.

“Jihee, you’re here.”

“Uncle, I need to go to the mainland early tomorrow. Can you take me?”

“Not sure if the weather will allow it.”

“Grandma said we should go.”

“Then the weather will be fine. See you at 5 AM.”

The captain offered him a meal, but Jihee politely declined, swallowing his saliva.

“I’ll eat with Grandma.”

“You’re a good kid. I’ll pack some for you and the high shaman.”

Jihee, delighted with the pot of bracken soup, headed home. Somehow, his grandma knew and had already set the table on the porch, patting down a bowl of rice with a scoop.

Many on Gyoindo still lived in traditional houses, not tearing down their thatched roofs. Every one to three years, they replaced the old reeds with new ones, and it was an annual event for the village men to gather and repair each other’s roofs.

Compared to modern buildings, the paper-covered doors were easily breakable, but everyone on Gyoindo knew each other, and there was nowhere to run if you did something wrong, so no one bore grudges.

Jihee preferred the safe, albeit inconvenient and outdated, Gyoindo over the modern, convenient mainland.

“Did you thank Uncle Yeongmin?”

“No.”

“Make sure to be polite next time. People say you’re spoiled because I raised you. And when you return the pot, tell Hanseok, who’s flying to the mainland, to come home. If he flies, he’ll never see his family again. He’s destined to die abroad.”

“Okay.”

Jihee mixed rice into the bracken soup and shoveled it into his mouth. As he ate until his cheeks were full, his grandma barely touched her food.

“Grandma, what’s wrong? Should I catch some fish?”

To them, fish always meant seafood. Jihee had never bought fish from a market; he couldn’t understand paying for something he could just catch from the sea.

“No, it’s fine.”

Jihee hurriedly finished his soup and coaxed his grandma to eat. He cleaned the empty pot and returned it to the captain’s house. The captain thanked him and gave him a bag full of fresh mackerel from his aquarium.

Always hungry, Jihee’s mouth watered at the sight of the mackerel flopping in the bag. He loved oily bluefish the most. Planning to share with his grandma, he decided to eat just one himself.

Like a child eating street food, he tore into the mackerel with his hands on the way home. His school friends never understood his taste, but he didn’t see the difference between eating sashimi at a restaurant and eating a whole fish. Whether you slice bread or eat it whole, it’s the same thing.

Back home, his grandma anxiously asked where he’d been.

“Prince, I’ve been looking for you. You must leave before the evil spirit comes.”

“Grandma, try this. Uncle Yeongmin gave it to me.”

His grandma grabbed the mackerel with both hands and began eating it. Jihee’s eyes widened at his grandma’s behavior, who always insisted on cooking fish. It seemed his grandma, like Jihee, preferred raw fish but had cooked it due to societal norms.

Jihee, full from the feast, lay down and quickly fell asleep, snoring softly. Waking up to his 4:30 AM alarm, he found his grandma already dressed, as if she’d been somewhere.

“Child, are you up? Let’s go to the mainland.”

His grandma handed him a backpack. Jihee slung it over his shoulder and left the thatched house with his grandma. At the dock, the captain yawned and waved at them. Jihee tried to help his grandma onto the boat, but she insisted he board first.

Without thinking, Jihee got on the boat, and the captain suddenly set off. Even though his grandma hadn’t boarded, the boat moved forward.

“Uncle, Grandma’s not on board.”

“The high shaman said to take you alone.”

“What? I don’t know anyone on the mainland.”

“I don’t know. If the high shaman says so, it must be done.”

Jihee considered jumping into the sea to return to the island, but the captain scolded him to listen to his grandma. As they passed Cicada Rock, he remembered the goblin-like man he’d saved.

Fortunately, the man was no longer on the rock, likely rescued by his companions.

“Why does Grandma want to send me to the mainland?”

Jihee pouted and rested his chin on his hand, grumbling. Just then, a different yacht, not the one from last night, passed their boat. A chill ran down his spine, and he felt an ominous sense, wondering if he had inherited some spiritual sense from his high shaman grandma.

“Uncle, turn the boat around.”

“I can’t.”

“Uncle, please. Turn the boat around. I need to go with Grandma.”

“I can’t, Jihee. The high shaman insisted you must go to the mainland today.”

Jihee tried to calm himself, wondering why he felt so uneasy when he wasn’t a shaman. But the anxiety and fear brought tears to his eyes. He should have gone with Grandma…

Upon reaching the mainland, Jihee immediately asked the captain to return to the island. He said the high shaman wanted him to buy him a delicious pizza, suggesting they eat breakfast first. Jihee didn’t like modern foods like pizza or chicken; they tasted strange to him.

“Uncle, let’s count it as if I ate pizza. Please, let’s go back.”

“No, the high shaman strictly said not to take you back today. I’m going to nap, so you should rest too.”

The captain lay down on the bed in the captain’s cabin. Jihee, unable to do anything on the boat, eventually disembarked. The sleeping captain couldn’t stop him.

At the ferry ticket office, he inquired about a boat back to Gyoindo, but there were no ferries until 3 PM due to the island’s low traffic. Jihee knew the village captain ferried people to the mainland, but he asked out of frustration, receiving the expected answer.