Ebrugh Report 16: The Waters That Hated

## Ebrugh Report 16

The bay where Gipeun supposedly once was located.

### Performers

Haru Choi; Joon-Ho Choi; Eun Choi; Deiji; Jia; Joo; Hyeon; Hoon; Ji-Yeun; Jaemin; Hyun; Hang-Su; Haeng-Un; Ayeum; Young-Soo; Kwan; Yi-Jeun;Haru's mother; Seok; Hoomin; Jinsung;

### Location

Gipeun, North Korea

In this Ebrugh Report, an old Korean woman tries to tell her daughter about her past and what destroyed their hometown.

## Report 16

### Rumoured Origin

*The following letter is part of the last will and testament left behind by an elderly Korean woman for her estranged daughter. It was returned unread by the young woman to her notary. The reason was the apparently deep contempt the young woman held for her mother. According to her statements, she had suffered her whole life under the strictness and coldness of the old woman and eventually cut off all contact after one last, heated argument. Against the daughter's wishes, the notary retained the document in case the young woman would one day change her mind and want to read her mother's final words, and so the letter survived. In the end, I managed to obtain a copy. I have, of course, changed all the names to protect the anonymity of the young woman from South Korea, to whom these words are addressed.*

### Main Report

My dearest Joon-Ho,

When you read these lines, I will have passed away and will hopefully be reborn, cleansed of the darkness within me. First and foremost, I need to say this: I have always loved you. Please believe me when I say that I have always given everything within my power to ensure that you grow up safe and secure, becoming a capable woman who will hopefully never lack anything.

I know you will disagree. I have always been a very strict mother, perhaps too harsh with you, but nothing was ever more important to me than teaching you principles, integrity, and morality. It was not only because I wanted to be a proper mother, but also because I didn't want you to burden yourself with the same mistakes and actions that I carry. The things I am writing down here are words and thoughts I couldn't tell you in person, my dear Joon-Ho, because I am too ashamed. I know there is nothing but bitterness in your heart when thinking of me, but I have always loved you. You were always the highest, the most important thing in my life, even if you probably don't believe me.

I know you hate me. You hate me for the strictness with which I raised you, for the coldness I often displayed. But please believe me that all I wanted was for you to live with care and never forget what is right. That's why I hope the following words will help you understand why I am the way I am, what I experienced, and what horrors I shielded you from. What I endured so that you lacked nothing, neither food nor education.

I know you have terrible nightmares, to this day. Of screams and fear and violence and death. Nightmares that you can't explain, but for which... there is an explanation. I always denied it because I wanted to protect you from the past, but I believe you have a right to know. I unfortunately can't tell you in person – partly because you don't want to see again, and partly because... I am too cowardly for it. I am so ashamed and hate myself too much for what I did... But Joon-Ho, I beg you, at least read these words and... forgive me if you can. I want to tell you where you come from. I want to tell you about the scars I carry on my soul. So much in my life has left deep wounds in me, some of which still fester and stole from me the warmth I would have liked to offer you.

My dear Joon-Ho, you often used to ask me about the small town where you were born. About your father – your biological father. About how we had lived and why I took you away from there. I never answered those questions. I always brushed you off and told you it was none of your business. That the past should be left alone because it was unimportant. That's what I always told you. But, Joon-Ho, that was a lie. One of the most foolish and terrible lies I've ever told, for the greater good: I only wanted to shield you, shield you from the truth, but now I believe it was a mistake. That my lies have caused you only harm…

You were born in a small town in North Korea near the southern border, which they called "Gipeun." That name won't mean anything to you and the town no longer exists...

At first glance, there didn't seem to be much wrong with Gipeun, but as you well know, appearances can often be deceiving. All those little run-down wooden houses, erected on the stormy east coast of North Korea, looked weathered and desolate. They carried within them many unpleasant, terrible, and bitter stories - as one would expect from that region. But there were also other, older stories. Stories told only by the elderly. Words spoken with reverence and fear, half-forgotten, used during sparse fireside evenings or stormy days to scare children. To warn them not to play too recklessly and far from home, or to be obedient and follow the instructions of the security personnel. But... every time I heard those stories from my grandparents, who had in turn heard them from their grandparents, a feeling would well up inside me. A feeling that was not just pure fear, not just pure dread of the things that were supposedly out there, but something else. It was as if something in me moved when I heard those words. As if an ancient premonition or memory stirred.

The old folks often spoke of the hills and mountains that surrounded the town, interrupted only on the east side by the Yellow Sea. They talked about the rocky slopes on which Gipeun was built and the stony peaks that bleakly rose into the sky, adorned with trees. They told of primeval horrors that had once haunted this area, of strange, slimy carcasses resembling large maggots, washed ashore and bloated after stormy nights on the beach. Amidst seaweed and driftwood, these repulsive, foul-smelling bodies appeared disintegrated, yet it was also said that twitching sometimes still ran through their slippery bodies, and mournful, dull howling emanated from their misshapen mouths. Other stories told of the slopes themselves and the eerie caves and crevices that led into the depths of the earth like deep wounds, unfathomable and foreign. They spoke of people disappearing near those holes in the ground, of children being taken and lost...

As time went on, this fear must have subsided at least for some, as they began to build mines, dig deep shafts into the hard ground, and erect drilling rigs in search of oil and wealth. However, even these drilling rigs were surrounded by disturbing reports. Those always seemed less like ghost stories to me and more like real events, as they were not as ancient and fragemented and were still being told by some of the old workers even at the time when you were born. Of course, those old men only shared them after indulging in a few bottles of soju or other cheap alcohol, but if you were careful, you could coax them out of them. Most of the time, it was just cautious words, but sometimes a tale that gave me an almost instant shiver and a sense of unease. Some  of the reports from the workers bore a little too much resemblance to the stories my grandparents told me, to prevent me from running too far away or misbehaving and neglecting my assigned community work in the mornings.

One evening, I was confronted with such a story that contained a bit too much reality, but it didn't come from my grandmother; it came from a co-worker of my father. It was the man who owned the boat on which my old man toiled until his death. My father – your grandfather – worked on a fishing trawler, sometimes for an entire week. He always came home late and first greeted the rice wine before paying any attention to me or my mother. I can still see that foul-smelling man sitting on his rotting wooden chair, his arms dangling, his mouth half open, his mind intoxicated. His acrid stench is etched into my thoughts. But I must admit that such moments were still better than the ones when he lost himself in anger and disgust towards himself and everyone else. The moments when it was better to follow his requests.

My dear Joon-Ho, I remember that evening vividly, even though I was very young at the time, maybe eight. It's all still there, even now, as I am an old woman, and more than sixty years have passed. I still dream of that evening and of the legend that I unwittingly heard...

I often find myself reminiscing, thinking back to the rushing streams from the clouds that pelted against the wooden shutters, while I sat in the corner of a small, barren room in a shabby wooden house on a sack of rice, gazing at my father, who lay with his head on the wooden table. He still had the bottle in his hand, his unshaven cheeks rested on the wood, and saliva dribbled from his open, foul-smelling mouth. On another chair sat Young-Soo, another old drunkard, but still partially conscious. I couldn't stand the bitter old man, hated going to his rundown, stinking, leaky abode with my father, and watching them pass out in drunken slumber as they downed what little money we had. My father insisted on taking me with him, wanted to spend more time with me, he said, and my mother had only dared to oppose him once.

I have always spared you such circumstances, my dear Joon-Ho, and I hope you can see that when you look back on your own late youth. That's why I never wanted you to drink alcohol and forbade it to your friends when they were at our place...

So, on that night, I was alone with the old drunks, anxiously huddled on that sack of rice in a corner of the room. It didn't smell as bad of sweat and stale air as the rest of the room, but the wood in that corner had darkened and become stained. Rainwater dripped through leaks in the roof, and I struggled to stay dry. After a while, during which I didn't even dare to move, the gaze of old Young-Soo slowly shifted away from his bottle and toward me. My father was just muttering in his sleep and oblivious.

In Young-Soo's eyes, there was confusion and a haze, along with distant pain. I knew the man had lost his son early on, and his wife had taken her own life afterward. That had been enough to turn him into a wreck forever, and my father probably only visited him because he worked with him on the boat and felt he owed the old man for providing him with a job.

"Hey... Hey! Kid! What's wrong? Don't like my house? You look like a spoiled brat sitting there like you're too good for my home!" slurred Young-Soo.

He burped and wiped some saliva from the corners of his mouth while his hazy eyes continued to fixate on me.

"No, it's nice, I just find it a bit... I'm often scared in the evenings, especially in the rain," I stammered.

I couldn't make him angry; I had learned that from my father. I knew the old man couldn't stand children since the death of his boy, especially when intoxicated. Another reason I was uncomfortable around him. Young-Soo's breath wafted toward my nose, drowning out the smell of rancid wood as he spoke in my direction.

"Ah, I see... So you're afraid... Afraid of a little rain? Afraid of an old house that creaks like there's something in the wood waiting to come out and take you?"

He let out a dirty, guffawing laugh and reached for the bottle again.

"You know...there's so much that can kill you...and that wants to kill you to boot. So many things. My little Kwan. My wife... well, she judged herself. Do you know how she did it? How she killed herself?"

"No, no, but I don't want to know either. I'm scared, please, I'll be quiet too...," I begged.

The old man plunged another gulp of soju down his throat. I was afraid he would get up and hurt me. And I also didn't want to hear what Young-Soo had to say about his wife.

“Are you afraid...? Yes... I'm sure she was afraid that night too... Do you know what it's like to lose someone you wanted to spend eternity with? What it's like to burn and bury your child? No, because you're just a stupid brat... My wife, my dear wife... my dear Ye-Jin... she had cried again, she often did, at least I think... I wasn't there, you see, I was at sea... A whole cursed week because nothing had gotten lost in the nets, and a horrible storm had dragged our boat away from shore... That cursed night, can you imagine it, you brat? It had rained more than now, much more! So much that the sea had swallowed the beach and shattered the wooden jetties. We had been lucky, my crew and I. Some of the other boats never came back, the men and boys drowned, dying miserably with salt in their lungs, taken by the icy depths. Have you ever been on a barge? Did your father ever take you out there?"

Young-Soo quieted down and seemed lost in another time, slumping a little.

"No, never. He doesn't allow me...", I said quietly.

Briefly, Young-Soo nodded, then continued with a hard, dark expression.

"That's good. Your father is doing it right, not letting his child go out to the sea. It is deep and greedy and never satisfied. Many have lost their sons. Many. Many lost their parents too... Goddamn it... Well, we got back, back to the harbor. I walked home, exhausted and with not a dry stitch of clothing left on my body. My muscles ached. We had caught a fair bit; it would fetch us a little money, get us by. We had to get by! I went into my house... INTO THIS HOUSE!"

Tears streamed from his eyes, and his face became a mask of agony. He trembled all over and continued to scrutinize me. My father slept beside him, not stirring in the slightest. I backed away from Young-Soo as far as I could, pressing myself against the wall. It was the first time in my life that I felt true fear coursing through my body, but unfortunately, it was far from the last.

"I went into this very room... exhausted.... Just wanted to hug my wife, wanted to get some food, a little something to drink... Girl, she was lying there in the corner, right where you're sitting now. Had slit her own throat with a kitchen knife. The blood was everywhere, dried and dark. Never got it back out of the wood, no matter how hard I tried. Can you still smell her blood? I can. Every night it's like she's still here, like I can hear her gurgling, hear the blood gushing from her throat. She's become a Gosa, yes, I'm sure of it! Do you know what a Gosa is? Did your father tell you? Did he tell you what happens in this town when you take your own life?"

I didn't want to listen to him. I wanted to leave, wanted to run for the door, but it was raining outside and that horrible man would have stopped me for sure. I could see it in his eyes, he was just waiting for me to do something he didn't like. Joon-Ho, I hope you never experienced such a situation. I never allowed you to hear ghost stories when you were little because I knew how bad they could be. I knew about your nightmares. What the old man told me was scary and disturbed me, probably forever. I had shaken my head and he had started to grin. There was sadistic joy in his eyes.

"A Gosa is the crippled remnant of a person who took their own life. My wife... her grief, her anger, her hatred of the world... They survived. My Ye-Jin, what has become of her? What has become of her...? She visits me at night... Yes, she visits me and whispers in my ear what she was thinking before she plunged the knife into her flesh. She has become a Gosa... An evil Gosa... Do you understand?"

I couldn't think straight, it was all so horrible. The image of a bleeding woman with a once beautiful face, looking in my direction, distorted with hatred, cursing, gurgling, appeared in my mind's eye.

"No, no, it can't be, there's no such thing, that's what mom said, and dad too..."

I had clutched my legs and buried my face in my hands, clenching my eyelids as tears ran down my cheeks and I tasted them salty in my mouth.

"YOU STUPID GIRL! Don't you know what kind of place this is? THIS TOWN? THESE MOUNTAINS? DON'T YOU KNOW? Oh, in other cities, yes, ghosts are just fairy tales. They're not real there. But in some places... In some places, emotions and ideas grow into something new, something else, and start haunting people. This here is one of those places. This town. Just beware! JUST BEWARE!"

I heard him get up and come in my direction.

No. No, this couldn't be. What would he do? His stench was unbearable now, and I squeezed my eyes even more tightly shut. I prepared for a blow, to be shaken by him. I heard the creaking of the wooden floor as his heavy steps drew closer. I heard his wheezing breath, which sounded a bit irregular and exhausted, but also angry, full of suppressed rage.

I was almost driven insane by fear. Then... I heard a clatter beside me.

"DAMN, where's the other bottle?"

I opened my eyes and peeked through my fingers, seeing his weathered face close by and his gaze darting hectically between the bottles on the shelf next to me, searching for more soju he could gulp down. Finally, he found it and pulled it from the shelf, somewhat clumsily, and two other bottles were torn from the cabinet and shattered loudly on the floor.

"DAMN! Shit… SHIT!," Young-Soo yelled and briefly glanced at me.

"Pick that up, clean it up! COME ON, OR SHALL I TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS, YOU LITTLE BRAT?"

As I slowly rose from the sack and knelt next to the shards, he grinned broadly and staggered back to his chair.

"You little cunt! See, good! You're learning to know your place, you little shit!," he muttered as I began to pick up the pieces of glass and throw them into an old dirty wooden bucket I had spotted under the alcohol shelf, always careful not to cut myself.

Young-Soo smiled again and continued to speak.

"Yes, this place... This place is old. Older than most. My family has been living here forever. For ages. Do you know what they say? That up in the hills, there are shafts and passages in the ground that lead too deep for a human to have made. Shafts finely carved into the walls, a long, long time ago. Shafts that partly lead into caves where, even during my childhood, some of the old folks still offered horrid gifts to foreign gods. Places where disturbed rituals were practiced, unnatural, wrong, and cruel. Nowadays, most have forgotten all about it, or at least they try to, but I remember the stories of my grandparents, which they, in turn, heard from their grandparents."

"Uncle, why are you telling me all this? Do you really believe in it? Please, I'm scared, please tell me you're making this up...!" I stammered.

Once again, something stirred inside me, a restlessness that had nothing to do with being helplessly exposed to the whims of an alcohol-addled, bitter old man on a stormy, rainy night. It was like with some of the stories I had heard from my grandmother, words that hinted at something ancient I should have known.

Young-Soo froze and stared at me.

"What did you say? Do you think I'm a liar? Do you think I'm lying about this? For fun?"

He spoke softly now, his voice no longer slurred but clear and sharp.

"I'm not lying! WHY WOULD I? I've seen them, those chambers in the mountain. When I helped to explore the passages! The Ministry ordered it, they wanted oil and coal… I had to! In those passages, deep, deep down, I saw those chambers. They are beneath the town, beneath the hills. It's different down there, it feels terrible... in its own way. I saw the wall drawings, disturbing reliefs, with thin, terrifying black lines burnt into the walls. I saw the idols, made of bronze, distorted images of us, once worshiped down there. You have no idea, you stupid girl! You have no idea what has been slumbering beneath us for all these years..."

He had risen and was creeping towards me. Like a cruel animal, this drunken old man, no longer in control of his senses, approached me. His thoughts seemed to be going everywhere.

"You little shit, why were you allowed to live while my Kwan died? Why are you sitting there now where he should be, my poor boy? MY POOR BOY! Why? WHY?"

He had reached me, grabbed my arm, and lifted me up. Then he threw me into the corner, where I landed on the sack with a groan, rolled down to the floor, and fell with my hand into one of the remaining glass panes, causing a sharp pain to shoot up my arm. Warm liquid flowed over my hand; I felt it, saw the thin red trickling.

"Ouch, OUCH, NO! PLEASE, DON’T! HELP!" I screamed, in a frenzy.

I tried to crawl further away from Young-Soo, my hand pressed against my chest. Slowly, I pushed myself against the wall behind me. His face was now just a hateful mask, grinning contemptuously at me.

"You filthy brat! How does your blood feel? Is it warm? You're such a disgusting little monster... Coming into MY HOUSE, insulting ME, and then defiling the memory of MY WIFE! When I'm done with you, you'll wish you were NEVER BORN!"

He roared some of the words, spoke others softly and almost whispering. In his drunken stupor, the dark sides of his soul, which he had probably repressed deep within himself over the past years, had taken over, and he surrendered completely to them. I felt the anger and hatred, the darkness he radiated. I heard only his panting and the rain pounding against the shutters and dripping into the room. And in the rain, next to his maniacal laughter, I heard a bitter, malevolent gurgling that seemed to emanate from the walls surrounding me. Disgust seized me, and dizziness clouded my senses. The loss of blood and panic made everything seem dull, distant, and fragmented. I only remember some parts, Joon-Ho, so I don't know what was true and what was delirium.

Just flashing images are left in my memory: A distorted, shadowy female figure with disheveled black hair, pale skin, and a blood-smeared throat, whose proportions were not quite right, staring down at me from large, hate-filled eyes as she emerged from the wall. Her angry, hostile gurgles and disjointed words wishing me a gruesome death and regarding me with a contempt I could never have dreamed of. My father, angrily attacking Young-Soo, pale-faced and with vomit at the corner of his mouth. My father, carrying me through the rain, always homeward, crying that he was sorry. That I had to forgive him. That he was a failure, a miserable nobody. That he despised everything, his job, this city, my mother, except for me. That he was sorry for everything. I remembered my mother, washing and bandaging my wound with a black eye, also crying. Then only the calm of the night. And peace in the darkness, when I finally fell into a dreamless sleep.

Do I seem as pathetic to you today as my father did to me back then, Joon-Ho? I hope not. I hope you don't despise me as much as I despised him...

That evening with old Young-Soo and my father and those terrible events... I still remember too much of it. My father's crying, which meant nothing to me, his words bouncing off me. Joon-Ho, I think he truly meant them, but I never forgave him. He died the following week while fishing in the storm with old Young-Soo and Ki-Soo, drowned like the dog he was. At least that's what they said. Who knows, maybe the argument caused deeper anger after all? Maybe Young-Soo despised my father just as much as me since I was alive and his son was dead? Maybe he took his change out there, where no one would see? All of that is possible, but I will never know. It is more likely my father died because of too much alcohol and a slippery deck. I never entered Young-Soo's dreadful hut again, but I still have his grimace and the womanly shape in front of my eyes, as if it had been yesterday...

My mother... your grandmother... never let me near Young-Soo again. All I know is that he went to sea less and less and sank deeper into alcohol. One day, they found him dead in his house, with his throat slit. The neighbors who discovered him, after the stench of his decaying corpse had overshadowed the smell of fish after a few days, talked about his contorted face, supposedly frozen in unspeakable panic. In my imagination, I picture how the Gosa, the deranged spirit of his wife, slowly drove him to madness with her gurgling, hateful words and eventually harvested him when he was ripe.

You see, my dear Joon-Ho, that I was confronted with things at a very early age that no child should experience. Things I wanted to protect you from. You see, our hometown carried a history that probably goes back further than one can imagine. I am now certain that there were many things in that place that would make anyone doubt their sanity, and I realize that soon, I will seem like a mad woman to you. You might think that I'm making something up to gain your sympathy, but that's not the case. I only want you to know the truth, which I have never told anyone else. My childhood, as I have hinted at several times now, was very difficult at times, and there were many things that traumatized me. Things like my father's behavior or that of old Young-Soo, but also things like the whispering of that terrible Gosa which I believed to have heard. But after I grew into a young woman, found a fine man in your father Eun, and eventually had a child... it got much worse. Much more terrible.

All the disturbing and unbelievable events that eventually drove me out of the country began at the end of an autumn with long, cold nights and storms churning the sea. The weight of those days crept into our home, and even the feeble fire in the fireplace couldn't ward it off completely. We often sat together in the living room, crowded around the small hearth, providing each other with additional warmth. Your father and I, my old mother, and... you, Joon-Ho, just a year old.

Gipeun was not the place where one wanted to raise children, not a place where a family could live happily and carefree. But there was no other choice because inland was worse and more desolate, so the only option was to stay near the sea. The salty beaches and steep slopes where our town lay seemed rather bleak and dull. But when I stood at the top of the slopes and let my gaze sweep over the houses, a treacherous hint of doom always crept into my thoughts. You were too young, Joon-Ho, to be aware of the environment you were born into, but you were unusually restless, as if you felt the despair around you. But at home, there were mostly peaceful times because your father was of the opinion that a family of our social status had to stick together and couldn't afford to get lost in trivialities.

Therefore, your grandmother still took it upon herself to look after you for an hour or two in the evenings so that I could take a walk and relax, at least for a short time. Most of the time, during my evening strolls, I managed to forget the harshness of the world around me for a while. However, on the night I want to tell you about, it was different.

The sky outside the house was overcast and gloomy, but it wasn't raining that day. I walked away into the approaching night, hoping for a change of thoughts. I sadly regarded the wilting sunflowers that grew at the edge of our small vegetable garden and stepped through our narrow wooden garden gate, which was essentially just a few tied-together branches. My evening walk led me past the small, rundown, white-painted houses of our neighbors, which were essentially old wooden frameworks with mud walls built between them. I quickly walked along the narrow, sometimes foul-smelling path illuminated by weak fires and dim oil lamps behind veiled windows and by the late evening sun. The path wasn't paved but had been trampled into the ground by thousands of feet and had been further covered with some gravel by some of the children during some of their community work in the mornings. Brown tufts of grass also sprouted from the ground here and there, and dirty water trickled from some of the roofs because it had rained not long ago. The road ascended and led me higher and higher, with fewer houses and greater distances between. Slowly, the overgrown nature replaced the city, and eventually, I had reached the edge of our small town without knowing why I had walked this way. I don't remember exactly why I went so far, but many thoughts must have raced through my mind, making me lose track of time. I was probably worried, the worries I always had during my walks. Worries about our future, which seemed bleak. Worries about your father, as he hadn't returned from fishing yet, and the storm in the morning had been unusually strong. And worries about you, Joon-Ho, and whether you would ever have a better, somewhat carefree life. Despite the vegetation, the surroundings were bleak and barren, and in the distance, higher up on the hill, I could see the steel towers and halls erected to steal the earth's dark treasures. The mines and drilling rigs located uphill had caused more and more people from the surrounding areas to move to this town some years ago. Everyone wanted a secure job and perhaps a little wealth, wanting to get away from hard fieldwork or poorly paid craft businesses. It was ironic that almost all of them had now, as the sources seemed to dry up and they couldn't repay the debts they owed the government, condemned their descendants to those very jobs. Beyond these relics of the industry, denser, fuller trees and vegetation sprouted, indicating the beginning of pure nature. That's where my walk took me on that evening. I wanted to be in nature, I wanted to go where I had spent the only moments of peace and joy in my childhood and youth.

When I finally reached my destination, the sun had completely set, and my gaze swept over the city. I was on a small gravel plateau with some large stones shaped like chairs, and I could see the lights of the houses along the coast, like hundreds of fireflies perched there, enduring their sad existence. This little viewpoint, which me and my friends had always referred to as a viewing platform in my childhood days, was somewhat of a place of peace for me, a place where I could forget my daily life and reminisce about the beautiful days of my past.

I had always lived in the same small house nearby, a few streets down the hill, where the city ended at that time before the burgeoning greed for oil and natural resources allowed the buildings to sprawl further up the hill. My friends and I often played on that slope, frolicking around, building hideouts with straw and bushes, broken branches, and creeping vines – at least on Saturdays and Sundays when we had the time and weren't needed for household chores or community services. Those moments on the wooded hills that led to steep cliffs remain fond memories, and I often thought back to the days when I wasn't busy scrubbing pots, cooking, or doing laundry. Back to the days when I wasn't sent somewhere before sunrise to help the community clean railbeds, fill roads, or clean the beach. I would have preferred to go to school, but my parents didn't have enough money to bribe the teachers, so they gave up on education altogether and I had to teach myself all I know in my later years. I'm glad, Joon-Ho, that I spared you the same fate, even though you often resented me for forcing you to do homework and extra studies...

Standing on our viewing platform, I traveled back to the afternoons or evenings when I spent the time in this area with my friends Jia and Deiji, and sometimes the neighbor's boy, Hyeon. We would hunt for butterflies and grasshoppers, catch dragonflies, and collect all kinds of flowers. We would pick greens for the rabbits and sometimes even gather berries so our mothers could make jam.

I cherished my group of friends above all. Jia was a plump girl with coarse black curls and always had a smile on her face. Deiji was slender and not very tall – she only reached my shoulders – and often tied her long straight hair into a ponytail. Hyeon, a muscular, relatively good-looking boy, often helped out at the small shipyard where many fishing boats were maintained and sometimes even constructed, but he still somehow found time for us. The four of us had known each other since we could remember, as we lived in the same neighborhood, and our mothers often took turns looking after us.

As I stood there on that gravelly plateau, where we had sat so many times and stared into the distance, it was almost as if I could hear and see us, as we sat there first as little children and later as young adults, asking ourselves where the sea ended and how far the horizon was. I remembered how we cut through the thickets nearby, how we climbed the hills and the trees in hopes of getting a better view of the sea.

This enchanting area... we had thoroughly explored it and had ventured deeper into the wilderness each time, despite the stories we had heard again and again. Like old Young-Soo, the others had also experienced someone among the Elders who vividly spoke of things that sent shivers down one's spine and made hints that led one's thoughts down eerie paths. Over time, however, these stories turned into silly fairy tales for us, and we didn't pay much attention to them anymore. Even I had slowly started to forget and repress them, probably because of my experience with Young-Soo.

With a smile, I sat down on one of the stones that Hyeon had worked into a more or less comfortable seat for us with a lot of sweat. It's been a long time ago, Joon-Ho, but I remember how he wanted to impress us and had stolen a chisel and hammer from the shipyard to work on the old rocks. He worked hard, but in the end he turned them into stone seats that almost looked like thrones to me and I just loved them. The seating had since been weathered and eroded by time, and the once bright edges had faded. Nevertheless, I thought of Hyeon, who had sat right there and cursed while pounding on the rocks until we were satisfied, constantly looking over at us to see if we were watching him...

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

Hyeon, Jia, Deiji... I remembered us as we explored the area... How we paid no attention to the stories because we were young and foolish, in the end just stupid teenagers... How we enjoyed our weekends, which occasionally provided a brief respite from all the hard work...

I flinched painfully as I remembered how one day we ventured too far. How the stories caught up with us... The memories came back as I sat on the stones and my gaze was forced away from the bay and towards a half-hidden path, that led to the mountains. When I saw that little track, terrible memories suddenly washed over me. Down that path was the most horrid place I had ever been to in my childhood, more horrible even than Young-Soo’s stinking hut… But you have to know about it to understand some of the crimes I have committed… To see why things turned out the way they did in the end…

It was an early autumn day a long time ago, and I was already fourteen years old. We had set out together late in the afternoon to play on the hills and find new places to discover animals and explore hidden spots. The sun was still hot, scorching our skin, and the wind carried the salty scent of the sea up to us, refreshing us. We knew, of course, that it was not well-liked to linger so far up by the adults, so far from home, but we were at an age where we believed we could do anything and didn't have to follow any rules. We knew better, despite what we had been told.

In those days, the hills were still covered with thick deciduous trees and entwined trunks, full of dense bushes, as winter was still far away. Large, ridged rock walls frequently interrupted the lush greenery, and nearby, the ground suddenly dropped steeply into the cold sea, which continuously crashed against the cliffs. It wasn't just the four of us there on that day because the twin sisters Ayeum and Joo had also joined us. The two were never seen apart and always wore the same clothes, differing only in various patches and holes, always had the same hairstyles – shoulder-length straight cuts – and always wore somewhat arrogant expressions.

They had probably come only because of Hyeon, as the two had been trying to get closer to him for some time: with his job at the shipyard, he would probably earn an income that wouldn't require worrying about food every day, and he was straightforward and mostly honest, making him an even better catch. Plus, he was muscular and all in all very handsome. I knew that Deiji had also taken an interest in him for the same reasons, so things sometimes got a bit uncomfortable between the three of them. I myself did not like to ponder on those things, as they reminded me of the monotonous life I would have once I got married. So, I preferred to focus on looking for dragonflies in the grass and searching for colorful flowers that I could bring home to decorate our living space.

On that early autumn day that was pushing its way back into my memory, we sat on the hewn stones and watched as the twins struggled up the dirty path to our viewing platform, their faces red and sweat on their foreheads.

"So, there you are! We thought we'd run into you here again…," Ayeum said.

I could only distinguish her from her sister by the long scar over her eye, which she had acquired when trying to mediate a fight between her parents.

"Are you looking for dragonflies again? I hope we find some. I like the blue ones," Joo added dreamily.

Jia straightened up a bit and studied the two. We all noticed that the sisters were looking at Hyeon for suspiciously long, with playful smiles.

"Maybe. Actually, we wanted to explore the cliffs near the coast. Over there," Hyeon said cheerfully, pointing to a narrow path, partially hidden behind dense bushes, which wound its way higher up the mountain and towards the sea.

"Would you like to join us?" Deiji asked politely, though her expression appeared far from pleased.

Naturally, the two agreed. So, they soon sat down next to us on the dirty ground and joined into our discussions about how far from the town we should venture and how long we could stay away from home. It was Saturday, and we didn't have to get up early the next day, but we also didn't want to risk being caught by the autumn darkness.

"We need to start heading back in about three hours, I would say. Otherwise, we won't be able to see our hand in front of our eyes when we go back," I said as we began to argue about how long the outing should last.

"Three hours? Are you serious? That's not nearly enough! We'd have to turn around shortly after reaching new territory. We might as well not do it, then!" grumbled Deiji.

"We just need to walk fast. We can do it!" Hyeon was confident and nodded in agreement with me.

"Yes, great idea, Hyeon, we can do it!" Ayeum also agreed.

"I don't know. I don't have that kind of stamina..." Jia interjected a bit sadly.

"We'll wait for you, don't worry! But we need to head out soon, or it will really be too late. I'm sure we'll find some beautiful flowers there. My mother always says she saw the most beautiful ones in her childhood up on the hills near some rock slabs! I would love to see them!" I urged.

Hyeon stood up and nodded at me again with enthusiasm.

"So it is settled, then! Let's go! Don't fall asleep! We will find those flowers!" he said decisively and walked briskly toward the cliffs, casually kicking some stones aside, which rolled down the slope and disappeared into the thicket.

We hurriedly stood up as well and followed him as quickly as we could. The path was covered with rubble, and we had to step over small streams to make progress. I could already smell a strong scent of salt after a short time, and I felt light and buoyant as I looked for flowers on the walls next to me that I could pick. You probably didn't think I was like that, did you, Joon-Ho? You wouldn't have thought that I was also once just a young teenager who ventured away from home to pick flowers, right? The memories of that day make me realize how much I've changed over the years. Back then, I was so excited that we had quickly reached the cliffs and were able to continue on a broad, natural stone path high above the surf, always looking for exciting discoveries. Today, there's only the coldness inside me, coldness that has hurt you too many times...

"Hey, Hyeon, isn't this a bit dangerous? If we slip and fall... No one would even find us. The current here leads away from the city towards the open sea, I think..." Jia cried out, groaning and anxiously looking down beside us.

"No, this is quite safe. You'd have to fall three times your length to go over the edge. Don't worry..." Hyeon said, but he still stopped and waited for the rest to make sure everyone was far enough away from the cliff.

We had finally arrived at a small hollow that opened up to a hidden, overgrown spot. It was a small plateau where unusually lush green shrubbery grew, and it smelled wonderfully sweet. Some purple flowers peeked their heads out here and there from thick moss and underbrush. They weren't the flowers my mother had mentioned, but they were still incredibly beautiful. We all stood there for a few minutes, marveling at the little spot we had discovered hidden high above the sea.

"This is a dream! I am in a dream!" Ayeum exclaimed, grinning broadly.

"Yes, truly wonderful! I couldn't have imagined finding something like this here," admitted Joo, lost in thought and smiling.

"Let's take some of them with us, like we planned! They'll surely look good next to the sunflowers near the stream. Then we'll have something to look forward to when we fetch water," Deiji suggested.

I nodded, and Hyeon joined in. Ayeum and Joo had already entered the plateau and were slowly walking across the moss-covered ground towards the overgrown rock walls. Hyeon and I followed close together behind them, then came Deiji, and finally, a hesitant Jia. I enjoyed the scent which the flowers wafted into my nose more and more. The others seemed to be ecstatically happy as well. Even Ayeum, who could be moody at times, kept a smile on her face. Joo had finally gotten so close to the flowers that she could start picking them.

"I wonder if dragonflies live in here too. How is it? Can that be? Or do they only lay their eggs in water? I think...-"

Suddenly, the ground gave way under Joo. She had stepped on a small shrub to reach one of the purple flowers, but it seemed that the overgrown greenery had sprouted from a hidden hole, concealing it. Joo flailed her arms as she plunged into the depths and let out a piercing, chilling scream before disappearing.

Not even a second after she had vanished from our sight, we heard a gruesome, muffled noise and an ear-piercing wail. The sound sent a shiver down my spine and stunned me like a punch to the face. It didn't even sound like a human but more like a dying animal. Joon-Ho, I had never heard such a sound before! Not even when our dreadful neighbor slaughtered his rabbit when we were walking by and the animal squealed like hell as it bled out... Joo's scream cut straight through my thoughts and numbed everything.

For a moment, time stood still, and no one moved, shocked and frozen in fear. Then, Ayeum rushed forward, stumbled, and fell to the ground, letting out a faint moan. However, she immediately got back up, stumbled again, and finally crawled the last few steps to the hole her sister had disappeared into. As if she was possessed, she began tearing away the old undergrowth to clear the view downward.

"NO! JOO! JOO, WHERE ARE YOU? WE'RE COMING! WAIT FOR US, WE'LL GET YOU OUT!" she screamed madly into the abyss, but all that came back was a mocking echo.

The rest of us still just stood there, frozen, but after a short while, Hyeon broke free from his shock and ran toward Ayeum, pulling her away from the hole and holding her with an iron grip.

"Stop it! AYEUM! She's... she's gone!"

"JOO! JOO! ANSWER US!"

"Ayeum, you're going to kill yourself too, stop it! STOP IT!"

For a brief moment, it seemed like Hyeon wouldn't be able to hold Ayeum, who was flailing and screaming wildly, but then he abruptly turned her around and threw her down to the ground, where he finally sat on top of her to keep her under control.

"What were we even doing here... What were we even doing here... WHAT WERE WE EVEN DOING HERE?"

Jia sat near some bushes, staring into emptiness, trembling, her face ashen. She repeated the same words, occasionally shaking her head in disbelief. Deiji had rushed to Hyeon and eventually helped him keep Ayeum in check, who was about to plunge into the abyss as well. I, on the other hand, saw everything through fog, unable to believe what had happened. The icy wind blew across my face, and the scent of sweet peace still wafted into my nose.

"Let me go... Please... Let me go... I want to be with her... Joo..." Ayeum whimpered now, her limbs slackened, and she began to cry pitifully.

"Let me go... Please... I have to check on her, please..."

I couldn't believe it. I felt trapped in a dreadful nightmare, along with my friends. I wanted to wake up. Then, a faint, distant voice startled us.

"Aye… um? Hyeon… Are you... are you there? Are you still there? Help..."

The voice came from the hole.

Joo was alive!

As the words reached her ears, Ayeum began to thrash and struggle once more. Hyeon hadn't expected it, or perhaps he was just too shocked to hear Joo's voice, but he was thrown to the side and slammed backward onto the moss-covered ground.

Ayeum hesitated only for a moment and crossed the few steps that separated her from the dark opening in the ground. I'm sure she contemplated jumping down, but I think the little reason that was still left in her prevailed... and I was grateful for that! She knelt down and peered down with squinted eyes while calling out for her sister. I snapped out of my stupor and ran to her as well, while Deiji tended to the trembling Jia, while Hyeon lay moaning and semi-conscious on the cold ground not far away. He had probably hit his head on one of the stones.

As I knelt next to Ayeum, close to that now gaping hole, I felt uneasy. I could see several meters down, but then the tunnel curved away, blocking all sight. A musty smell reached my nose from below, and the air felt even colder. It was madness to attempt to descend down that hole; we wouldn't get back up without a rope. Just as I was about to suggest that we get some equipment to rescue Joo, her voice echoed up once more.

"Ayeum... I'm... I can't see much. Everything hurts, hurts so badly... Please help me..."

"Where are you? Joo, where are you? What happened to you? How badly are you hurt? Please, answer me, can you still move?" Ayeum shouted down.

"Can you see anything? Are you bleeding?" I added fearfully.

We had to determine how serious it was. And we had to keep her mind occupied.

"I'll get help!"

Deiji had suddenly appeared next to us.

"I'll get someone; we need to get her out of there! Right now! It will be night soon!"

Without waiting for our response, she went back to Jia, pulled her up, and led her away silently but quickly. I briefly considered joining them, but Hyeon was still lying nearby, groaning and holding the back of his head, and I was horrified to see something red seeping between his fingers.

I couldn't leave him alone… couldn't leave Ayeum alone.

And not Joo either.

"Can you see anything? How are you? Where are you injured?" I shouted again into the depths.

"I... there are only sharp shards here, a pile of dark shards, I've cut myself all over, I'm bleeding... I'm bleeding, I think, but it doesn't really hurt... At least, not the cuts. They're just very wet and somewhat slimy... But my body... Everything feels shattered. Oh, heaven, my bones... heaven... PLEASE HELP ME!"

"What do you see? What do you hear? Describe it to us!" Ayeum screamed, and for a moment, I thought she was about to jump down after all.

But instead, she turned to me.

"We need to calm her down. We need to distract her; she must stay awake! That's what my father always says. He's had to witness accidents before and told me... both of us... about them. It's important that she stays awake... Please, help me... Please, Haru…"

Tears welled up in her brown eyes. I swallowed, nodded, and called out to Joo again. This time, it took longer to get a response, and the words sounded weaker, more exhausted. Fear gripped my heart as I heard her faint gargling voice.

"I can hear the sea. Beams of light fall through some cracks in the wall... higher up... I think they lead to the sea. I can't see much, just small parts of the... cave... There are flowers here too, between the shards... They're very beautiful... so beautiful... so red... they're so beautifully purple. So many leaves. They're like a carpet, they look like velvet... So beautiful... It's beautiful here… I'm sweating... I'm sweating so much... I'm getting tired..."

"Stay awake! YOU MUST STAY AWAKE! PLEASE!"

More and more restlessness seized Ayeum, and her fingers clenched so tightly on the edge of the hole that her knuckles turned white.

"I'm getting sleepy... Perhaps I should try…  Who... Who is calling me? Who are you? WHO IS THERE?"

"Joo, it's me, Ayeum! Your sister! Please stay with us, tell me about earlier! Tell me about our garden! About the sunflowers by the stream!"

Tears dripped into the abyss. Both of us began to sob. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to get away. But I also wanted to save her. Joos's voice faintly drifted to our ears once more, this time more indistinct, as if she had water in her throat.

"Ayeum... I remember. I remember you... We were together, always together... Ayeum... I remember, but only faintly... So long ago..."

Silence. Only the distant sounds of the sea, the whistling wind, and the rustling of the shrubs. Suddenly, it felt as if a cool hand gripped my neck, like a lump of ice running down my back. A squelching noise was faintly sounding in the distance. But it grew louder.

It was coming from the hole! This couldn't be! Joo must have noticed it too, as she began to scream, just like her sister had before.

"There... there is something... in the darkness... it's coming... It's coming, I hear it..."

I heard Joo, from afar, crawling, sliding over the wet ground, panicking and out of her mind.

"I hear it… see it ... OH GOD! WHAT ARE YOU? Help... HELP! I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE! I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE! WHERE... WHERE AM I...? OH, GOD, WHAT ARE YOU! HELP ME, HEL..."

She started to shriek inhumanly before something silenced her, something that was now with her. I was relieved that I couldn't see it. I just heard its dull, squelching noise and watery gurgling.

Then... nothing.

We never heard a sound from Joo ever again.

But after a few moments, the squelching noise reached my ears again. It... grew louder. Approached.

Something was coming towards us from beyond the darkness beneath us.

In a daze, I stared into the blackness, only noticing that the putrid stench was getting stronger. Something grabbed my arm, pulled me up, along with Ayeum, and I almost fainted from fear.

Had it caught us?

"RUN," Hyeon yelled, dragging us away.

I don't remember much about the following minutes. I think that's for the best. We ran through the forest, just the three of us. I'm still surprised that Ayeum fled with us and didn't stay there. But a part of her remained in that cave under the mountain, a part that had been with her since birth… When we reached our viewing platform, we collapsed onto the stone seats. I checked Hyeon's wound and tended to him, while Ayeum stared into emptiness with lifeless eyes.

It didn't take long for the men from the town, whom Deiji had alerted, to arrive to safe Joo from the cave. Her father and grandfather were among them, too. At first, they were livid, but when we recounted what had happened, they grew uncomfortably quiet. They didn't deem us crazy, didn't scream at us anymore, and demanded to know what had occurred in more and more detail. When we finished, they just looked at us with deep sadness in their eyes. In their gazes now lay the certainty that Joo was dead. And something else was in there – a distant fear of what we had heard down in the mountain and what had torn Joo away from us in the end.

Ayeum couldn't believe they weren't going to search for Joo. She screamed at her father, but her grandfather grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look directly into his old eyes.

"You foolish, stupid kids! What have you done? You can count yourselves lucky that you're still breathing. That you're still who you are! Don't you know what lurks here in the hills down in the caves? Haven't you listened to what I told you? You stupid, stupid children! Do you seriously believe the old stories are just fairy tales?"

Ayeum had started crying again, and tears were running down my cheeks as well. She did not even seem to hear him.

"We have to go back; we have to get her... What am I going to do without her? She was always there, always with me. Since the beginning... What am I going to do without her? How can I live without her...?"

"Old stories? What are you talking about? You don't seriously believe we encountered a Mulgda? Joo is dead, and you give us that shit?"

The words had come from Hyeon, who had spat on the ground beside him. He got up and walked towards Joos's grandfather.

"Those are just tales to warn us about foolishness like this. About gaps in the mountain or slippery cliffs. But there are no monsters anywhere. Don't treat us like children; we're not kids anymore. We can still go back and get her..."

Joo’s father, his expression marked by deep grief and suppressed anger, stepped up to him and slapped him across the face. I screamed, and Ayeum screamed too.

The men surrounding us, who had looked bewildered and shocked until now, erupted into wild chatter. But Hoon, one of Ayeum's father's coworkers, who had joined group to help him save his daughter, thundered through the air, silencing everyone.

"QUIET! BE QUIET! This, right here, is a moment you should never forget! Remember Joo! Remember her and remember what took her in the end! Foolishness and recklessness led her to fall into that hole, but in the end, it was something else that ripped her away from us! You're allowed to be angry; you're allowed to grieve! I grieve too! My heart is torn apart when I think about what a wonderful girl Joo was, the joy she brought us. My soul burns with anger at this injustice."

Joo’s father also spoke to us now, and his gaze often wandered to Hyeon, lying on the ground.

"Children, if the circumstances were different, I'd be filled with hatred for you because you were so foolish and arrogant, venturing into places where you had no business to be! Places you had been warned about!"

He looked into my eyes, and I almost threw up from guilt.

"I'm angry and sad. But I also know that something like this happens every few generations. It happens to remind us that something endures in the mountains. Deep within the rocks. That the past is still here, resting beneath the hills, and occasionally, it sends its nightmares up to us..."

The twins' grandfather nodded bitterly, and Hoon added with a shudder:

"When I was little, something similar happened. Back then, someone was also lost. It happens every few generations and reminds us: This place... something is here! Listen to the stories people tell! And pass them on, so they're not forgotten..."

With these words, which still echo in my ears, they turned and silently walked back to the town below. After some time, we followed them and didn't look back. The loss of Joo spread like wildfire, and a new story has been told to the children in Gipeun before bedtime since then.

In the following years, as oil drilling rigs were erected and mine shafts were dug into the rocks, men also disappeared in the tunnels from time to time, but that was mostly dismissed as an accident. They couldn't afford to stop working and return to hunger. I never ventured further into nature than our viewing platform again. Despite the experiences, I could remember Joo there, whenever I wanted. So that I didn't forget her.

You're probably wondering why I told you in such detail about that experience, probably thinking I'm crazy. Oh, Joon-Ho, maybe I am. But I had to tell you. I had to tell you what I heard deep down in that hole, had to tell you what happened to me in old Young-soo's house. Both events were improtant and taught me something: There was a lot of truth in the old stories told in Gipeun. Stories of Gosa, the remnants of people who took their own lives, of Mulgda, the creatures in the tunnels. And of the Whisperers in the Night. You've probably never heard of these things, at least not from me. I've always kept you away from fairy tales and legends, forbade you to read them. You've always hated me for that, for not allowing you to read anything exciting, even though you wanted to... My dear Joon-Ho, I was just afraid of what might be true in those stories you wanted to see.

I hope you understand that, especially after what I'm about to tell you. About your father, what happened to Gipeun, and how I managed to bring you to South Korea to see you grow up safely and without hunger. I'm sorry for going off on a tangent, Joon-Ho, but I want to tell you everything that might be important to understand it all... To understand me…

Nearly twenty years had passed since Joos death, and there I was, sitting on our viewing platform, lost in the past and focused on that little trail that had led us to terror. With sadness, my gaze wandered in the direction of the hidden plateau, the flowers, and... Joo's remains, if they hadn't been digested long ago. I also thought of Jia, the chubby little Jia who had grown into a beautiful but sickly woman that had died far too young during the miscarriage of her daughter. I thought of Hyeon and Deiji, who had gotten married and lived down near the sea, and of Ayeum, who still remained in her old house with her father and was decaying more and more on the inside due to her loss. Finally, I managed to tear myself away completely from my thoughts and looked back at Gipeun and the adjacent sea.

The bay that bordered our hometown was vast and entirely surrounded by rocky, mountainous hills, all at least as large as the one on which our viewing platform was located at. Beyond the land, the ocean lurked greedily, giving me dizzy vibes just looking at it. Dirty and foamy, it lay there that evening, seemingly digesting all the waste and ignorance of the people, waiting for careless sailors to drag into its gurgling depths. Pale lights shimmered on the black surface of the sea, reminding me of all the men who ventured out there daily on their small boats to defy the sea and bring us fish so that hunger wouldn't completely overwhelm us. The city itself was not brightly lit; there was no real electricity, and only in the city center could one find a few small lanterns cutting through the night.

My gaze wandered to our neighborhood. I thought of you, Joon-Ho, sleeping next to my mother, and how much I loved you. How much I hoped you could grow up in a different place than this stinking, rotten part of the country. I finally decided to go back home and began to make my way down the mountain, leaving the viewing platform behind. My path led me past the desolate slopes, back to the town and down the hills.

Perhaps I should have gone straight home, immediately back to you, but something inside me prompted me to take a detour through the harbor. To breathe the sea breeze up close one more time. Besides, I often went to the sea and looked out when your father was away overnight, out there between the waves. I missed him a most when he worked out there for days – toiling for us.

Soon, I walked past houses that were built from dilapidated wood and old clay, some roofed with straw, some protected by bricks, huddled in the night, the small plots surrounded by fences. On my way to the harbor, I passed by gardens that had been planted everywhere to at least secure some food for the upcoming winter. Dim oil lamps shone from some of the houses into the night, and I could hear the families inside, laughing or more often arguing, and occasionally, something being thrown against a wall and shattering loudly. Once again, I was reminded of what a hellish place all of this was around me. I liked the people, the community, but the place itself... the circumstances were numbing and threatened to desensitize me even back then. You know I was very emotionless towards you, Joon-Ho, never really ready for a joke and always withdrawn. I think one of the reasons is that Gipeun's bleakness rubbed off on me. I'm sorry that I couldn't show you what you mean to me and how much I love you, but you will never understand me, because you didn't experience what the city did to me. What the city did to everyone... And what invaded into the houses and the people. It began on that evening, I'm sure of it.

When I finally finished my walk to the sea, I paused for a moment to catch my breath.

I stood on the only small piece of coastline that was not rocky or lined with quay walls but still consisted of the old sand, that had been washed ashore a long time ago. Algae and dirty pieces of driftwood were scattered around me, covered in oily slime, and it smelled strongly of dead fish—the scent that the fishing boats brought with them after they had taken the sea's inhabitants, only to kill and eat them later. Fish, just like rice, grains, and cabbage, was one of the main food sources in Gipeun, but the fishing business always seemed dirtier and more disgusting to me than any harvest could ever be.

My eyes wandered over the water and the small waves that brought back garbage and waste from the depths of the sea to the shore, where it all lay like a warning, although no one seemed to care. And there, on the horizon, where the gray sky met the ugly greenish waves and their foam caps, bathed in the last rays of the evening sun, it seemed like there was an abyss, slowly unsettling my stomach. I had often stood there during my evening walks on that decrepit beach—or on one of the hills that ended in cliffs next to the city and seemed to fall into the sea—but today, looking at the vast water and the unseen depth below it made me feel even more uncomfortable than usual. Wasn't something moving over there among the foam caps? I could have sworn I spotted something, a massive body... but of course, I knew that whales weren't usually found so close to the coast, so I must have imagined it. It also seemed like I briefly heard a voice in the wind, softly whispering and murmuring from the unknown abyss of the sea, up to me. It made me think again: Was your father okay? Was everything all right? Had he been caught in yesterday's storm? I felt worse and worse, and a sudden fear made my breaths more erratic, so I eventually decided to go back to the city to get away from the water.

I hastily left the beach and headed home, taking a shortcut through the docks where workers and sailors were loading their catch and, in some cases, crews were loading goods onto some cargo boats. They recognized me in part and didn't bother me further, knew me because of your father and his great reputation. As I passed a large stack of wooden crates containing various goods, I suddenly could hear frightened curses. The cargo blocked my view, and a horribly biting odor, sulfurous and putrid, reached my nose, forcing me to hold my hand over my face to avoid retching. I had inhaled the fishery stench all my life and thought that no smell would ever get to me again.

But this unspeakable stench of evil...

What could it be?

Finally, I managed to tear myself away from the foul smell and focused on the panicked voices, which were still heatedly discussing something. Although they were quite loud, the wind had started blowing even stronger, and the rising roar of the sea mixed with the men's words.

"...not far off the coast... entire catch... dead, just dead... came home empty-handed..."

What were they talking about? What stank so horridly? I decided to sneak around the crates and get a clearer picture of the situation. Slowly, I leaned against the solid wood and began to circle the huge pile. Part of me was screaming at me to just go home, but what if there was news that also concerned your father? I just had to get closer! I could see that a small group of fishermen was standing near a small cutter moored at the quay. The tiny boat looked old and had probably lived through many storms and rough seas, as I could see brown rust spreading like a cancerous growth all over its metal. The men themselves were wearing raincoats and old rubber boots, as was customary for them, and their bushy, tousled beards made them appear wild and untamed.

I knew the cutter and its crew, but not well. Because my contemptible father had once been one of the fishermen who set sail daily, I harbored a certain aversion towards these people, even though I had married one of them. Joon-Ho, you must know, your father was something special, not as bad and deranged as these figures I saw there...

It didn't help that the gruesome stench was growing stronger. I continued to hold my hand on my face to protect my mouth and nose from the foul air, but it didn't help much. However, the conversation of the men was now more intelligible, and I could follow their discussion more closely.

"...and this reeking smell! Disgusting!" cursed one of them.

"*You* wanted to take it with you! If it had been up to me, we would have thrown it back into the depths! Such a thing doesn't belong here, not on land, not on the surface! It's a spawn of the deep sea, I tell you!" another one retorted bitterly.

The last one seemed disturbed and stuttered heavily.

"I-It's not from the deep sea, I think. I m-m-mean, it's not that deep here. Maybe a th-th-thousand meters? How could it have gotten here? With the ocean currents?"

"I don't know, damn it! It doesn't even look entirely like a... yeah, like a fish! Completely deformed! No wonder it's dead. Natural selection," the first one added.

"Th-thank goodness it's not alive anymore..."

"What should we do with it? Show it around? Who would want to see such an ugly, malformed... whatever it is? On the other hand, you know the stories of those things that used to wash up here in storms. Slimy, shapeless bodies... Perhaps we should show it around after all?"

"No! Of course not, that would only trigger panic and superstition. Those stories are just nonsense, but many still believe in them. I know *you* both do, you old fools! But this, it looks completely different from what they supposedly found from time to time..."

"So… what then? What should we do? We should burn it! That's probably the best solution!"

"Y-yes, let's burn it..."

"No, we should keep it..."

My attention was finally drawn to a misshapen bundle that had been placed not far from the men and was still dripping wet. However, I could also see a yellowish-brown thick liquid oozing from it and staining the pier. I didn't want to know what lay wrapped in the old tarp on the ground. But the foul stench undoubtedly came from whatever was hidden inside.

Suddenly, I saw the tarp move. At first, I thought it was just the wind, but then I could see a bluish, dimly glowing piece slowly emerging from the tarp. It looked like a deformed fin with small anemone-like growths and pustules feeding on it. Thank goodness I still had my hand pressed to my mouth, because it was the only way I could suppress my scream. For a moment, I stared in horror at the bundle, which was now slowly twitching, while the men, who were only a few steps away, started arguing.

"Hey, that's enough now, you moron! I'm telling you, we'll burn it!"

"Try to take it away with your puny hands, you stinking oaf! Let’s see how far you’ll get! I've had enough of your incompetence..."

"St-stop it, no one here will..."

I turned around and made my way as inconspicuously as possible away from the docks and the crates, away from the sailors and their musty, stinking thing they had foolishly pulled from the abyss. I didn't want to know how the situation would unfold, but the panicked, piercing scream and loud yelling behind me hastened my steps until I couldn't smell the stench and couldn't hear the roaring sea anymore.

*[Rest soon]*

## Characters

* Joon-Ho Choi
* Haru Choi
* Eun Choi
* Deiji
* Jia
* Joo
* Hyeon
* Hoon
* Ji-Yeun
* Jaemin
* Hyun
* Hang-Su
* Haeng-Un
* Ayeum
* Young-Soo
* Kwan
* Yi-Jeun
* Haru's mother
* Seok
* Hoomin
* Jinsung

## Entities & Objects

* The Waters That Hated
* Gosa
* Mulgda
* Whisperer in the Night
* Black liquid

## Trivia

* Parts of the things Haru tells about North Korea align with what others like Hyeonseo Lee and other defectors from there have reported.
* There still seems to be a small bay where Gipeun was located, about fifteen kilometers north of the eastern border between the Koreas.