SJ | Chapter 2.2

Taebeom thought he was like a sow finding truffles. He was in full heat and hungry.

Gyoindo, lined with thatched houses with low stone walls, felt like a time travel scene. If it were a historical drama set, it would be understandable, but it was surprising such a backward place existed in Korea.

Walking on the path where weeds grew thickly between cracked asphalt, his steps quickened. He felt the scent of the white mouse growing stronger. He opened the wooden gate that barely reached his waist and entered the yard, opening the sliding door without the owner’s permission.

Though the outside was a thatched house, the inside was quite modern. He ran into the living room with yellow flooring, shoes on.

“Uncle, please save me. I’m scared, please save me.”

“Stay still. If you just give me a child, I’ll buy you a house and give you a boat.”

“No, Uncle! Go away!”

The sound from the bedroom was shocking. An uncle was about to rape his niece. Taebeom drew the sword from its scabbard and beheaded the man on top of the white mouse.

In the scene where blood spurted like a fountain, he saw the terrified child. His mouth watered, and his pants felt heavy. Though Taebeom didn’t like sweets, this sweet scent was driving him crazy. Seeing it with a clear mind, he understood why he first thought of the child as a white mouse.

White and small. The shock was so great the child fainted.

He told his subordinate to take care of the blood-soaked child. Sanggu picked up the child with one hand and slung him over his shoulder. The rest of the subordinates scattered oil around the house and set it on fire. Being a thatched house, it quickly caught fire and burned fiercely.

Even on this tiny island, there must be police, so they would suspect the child of murder and fleeing. Taebeom planned to lock up the white mouse, who couldn’t go anywhere as a murder suspect, and suck on each finger joint.

He felt no guilt for ruining a person’s life. The Jang family members were born with inhuman strength and lived with either their minds or hearts broken. Taebeom was no different, just another Jang family member.

Bringing the fainted white mouse onto the yacht felt as reassuring as having a safe full of money and gold. He chuckled, thinking the white mouse had turned into a red mouse, soaked in blood.

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

As they were about to arrive in Yeosu, the child who had fainted opened their eyes. The white mouse, scared by the big men, looked at Taebeom with wide eyes. Finding the leader right away, how clever.

“Wh-where am I?”

“Yeosu.”

“Did you save me? Thank you. But why are you taking me to the mainland?”

Listening to the polite and clear voice, I felt good. I wanted to pat their head, but since they looked a mess, I decided to take them home to clean up first.

Taebeom, pretending to be a nice guy, answered with a sly smile.

“To protect you. You’re a suspect in a murder case.”

“What? Me? I didn’t kill anyone… Uncle, you killed Yeongmin Samchun.”

“Me? Do you have proof I did?”

At Taebeom’s shameless question, the naive island child looked up at him with a round mouth, unsure of how to respond.

“Your uncle tried to assault you, and he died at your house. Naturally, you’re a prime suspect in the murder case.”

Jihee didn’t fall for the strange logic of the handsome man. He thought that if he testified at the police station that the man was the murderer, his innocence would be easily proven.

“Do you think the police will believe you if you testify?”

“Gasp!”

Jihee swallowed hard, shocked that his thoughts were guessed.

Seeing the child’s thoughts written all over their face, Taebeom dangled a rotten rope as if it were golden.

“Listen carefully. If you come with me, you can live without any worries. Of course, you’ll have to stay at home since you’re a murder suspect, but after about a year, the police won’t look for you anymore. So, stay with me, go out little by little, okay?”

“I… I didn’t commit murder.”

Unable to accept the sudden situation, Jihee started to cry. He needed to find his missing grandmother, but if he became a fugitive like this, he might never find her. He needed the police’s help to find her, but the situation was so frustrating, maddening, and annoying. The captain must have been possessed by a very bad spirit since he wasn’t even drinking during the day.

“Yeah, I know. But the world will never believe you. Who would listen to a young, poor kid like you?”

“I’m not a kid. I’m an adult.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Taebeom looked at the white mouse who stood up to prove how mature he was. He seemed small when crouched, but his head reached Taebeom’s chest, so he must be about 170 cm tall.

Even though it was the average height for an adult man, he still seemed cute and small to Taebeom, probably because Taebeom was so tall and big.

“But how did you know to come and save me? I saved you from drowning recently. Did you come to repay the favor?”

Living isolated on the island, he seemed innocent and not like kids these days. Taebeom nodded to the white mouse treating him like a grateful magpie.

“Yeah, I’m helping to repay the favor. So you have to cooperate with me, okay?”

Jihee nodded obediently. He had indeed saved him from the captain, and he seemed like a good person since he kept saying he wanted to help. More than anything, he liked the handsome man who looked like someone from TV.

“If you get off the yacht looking like this, people will call the police. So, get in here quietly.”

Taebeom nudged a large travel suitcase with his foot. Jihee hesitated but put down his backpack.

“Take care of my backpack.”

“Don’t worry.”

Hugging his knees, he managed to fit into the travel suitcase. The sound of the zipper closing and the world went dark. Being dragged to an unknown place in a confined space felt like being kidnapped, but Jihee believed that the person he saved wouldn’t do anything bad. He was the man’s lifesaver!

After a long journey, the travel suitcase was loaded into a car. He wanted to be let out, but if they were taking a taxi, his bloody appearance shouldn’t be revealed, so he decided to endure. In the cramped, dark suitcase, he prayed to arrive at the man’s house quickly. His limbs were numb from being folded, and his rounded back ached.

Thinking he should sleep until they arrived, he counted to a hundred in his head, and if they hadn’t arrived, he counted another hundred. Eventually, he fell asleep.

When they arrived home, Taebeom opened the suitcase and chuckled at the sight of the sleeping white mouse. How could someone be so unguarded? That’s why he was easily tricked into crawling into the suitcase.

What if he had been a human trafficker?

“Hey, wake up.”

“…”

“Hey.”

Jihee frowned at being called “hey” and woke up. He understood his grandmother calling him that since she had for a long time, but he didn’t want to be called that by a man he hadn’t even introduced himself to.

“Sir, my name is Jihee. Shin Jihee. Not ‘hey.’”

“Shin Jihee. Pretty name. But what’s with calling me ‘sir’?”

“Sir is sir, what else would it be?”

Jihee thought the man, who didn’t even understand the word “sir,” seemed a bit lacking.

“My name is Jang Taebeom. So don’t call me ‘sir.’”

“Jang Taebeom. Taebeom-ah.”

It was a name that sounded like a great mountain or a scary tiger. Considering he was more handsome than actors in dramas and movies, his fate must be terribly fierce. His grandmother said that if you have a pretty face, your fate is tough. That’s why she told him never to leave the island.

“How old are you, Jihee?”

“Twenty.”

“Then, should you be calling someone twelve years older than you by name?”

Teaching him manners like a kindergarten teacher, Jihee pouted.

“You said you didn’t like ‘sir.’ Should I call you ‘abang’?”

“Abang? No, call me ‘oppa.’ It sounds similar.”

“Sir, you’re really strange and shameless. How can you ask me to call you ‘oppa’ like a girl? Hmph!”

Jihee, who had come out of the suitcase, looked around the place he had arrived at. The house with white wallpaper was as big and impressive as the art museum he saw on a school trip to Jeju Island. In the entrance, there was a huge piece of furniture, and when he opened it, shiny black leather shoes were inside. He wondered why there were so many shoes when people only have one pair of feet.

Closing the shoe cabinet, Jihee gasped at the huge painting at the end of the hallway leading to the living room. It was because the general from the six-panel folding screen used during the Shaman Yeonhwa’s ritual was there.

“Where did you get that painting?”

“Why? Do you want it? You have unique taste.”

“It’s not that… Are you a shaman?”

Taebeom laughed at Jihee’s strange behavior. It was unlike him to smile as if something terrible would happen if he did.

“It’s our family symbol. It means ‘one who carries lightning’ in Sanskrit, a protector of the dragon god with a human upper body and a snake lower body. I’m the executive director of Geumgang Construction, so if you don’t like ‘oppa,’ call me ‘executive director.’”

He never imagined the legend of Gyoindo would come true with the appearance of the general protecting the mermaid. No, thinking about it, didn’t Taebeom miraculously appear when the captain tried to assault him and save him? And now, he was hiding him in his house when he was in big trouble, so Taebeom must be the legendary general.

He never thought the legend of Gyoindo would come true. Then, was it true that his grandmother called him the prince of the mermaids? He was human and had no fins or gills, so it was hard to believe, but because of Taebeom’s existence, he had no choice but to believe it.