Chapter 16: The Folk Village

16th March 2024

Hong-ju

Yeon had mentioned a folk village in his first visit to 1938, when I asked about life in the future. We wanted to celebrate her recent successes with her rehabilitation as a family. It was Rose’s idea to make it educational for her niece, so our destination was the folk village.

The atmosphere of the village was nostalgic; it took me back to the early days of being a mountain god. I realised it was the first time Yun and Rose had seen an example of a traditional Joseon village in person. Moo-young and I stayed at the back watching the cuteness of Yun beaming between her parents, along with being close to her aunt.

I noticed Rose dropping back to match our walking pace, “let us know if you need to sit down.” She smiled at her response, and I didn’t realise Moo-young’s hand was getting close to mine until I felt a soft tap. Our eyes met for a second before he turned head laughing while moving his hand away from mine.

It had been five weeks since I had accepted Moo-young’s confession. We’d been making up for lost time with a few movie and dinner dates. I found out he loves the taste of chicken parma, when I had cooked dinner for one of the dates.

The history lesson began when we reached the first building, they were actively listening and asking the right questions. As we walked to each of the houses, the supernatural beings who worked in the village started to notice our group. It wasn’t everyday three former mountain gods, two nine tailed foxes and a half nine tailed fox visited the folk village.

Two hours later I noticed Rose’s walking turned into limping, and she slowed down to a snail’s pace. Without warning she headed to the closet bench “Ugh!”, her heavy breathing and the grimace on her face told me everything.

Yeon, Ji-ah walked towards us with Yun running to embrace her aunt in a big bear hug, “thanks Yun-a” she replied tiredly. “Give me a word or phrase to describe how your feet feel”, she took a deep breath to calm down “Grated cheese.”

Her words and body language confirmed my suspicion, “lunch and painkillers will help you feel more like yourself. Can I carry you on my back to give your feet a break?”, after a minute I heard {you may}. My right arm felt lighter, I looked to my left to see Moo-young holding on to my bag, so I nodded my thanks.

I gently picked her up, making sure to have one arm around her back and under her knees. The grimace disappeared from her face and her body relaxed into mine as we walked to a tearoom for lunch.

The tea house décor made me feel like I was back in the Joseon era and if our past had been different moo-young, Yeon and I could have hung out together. Yun squealed once she saw the desert section and Ji-ah had to remind her main dishes before sweets. We got Bulgogi, Korean Fried Chicken, Dumplings, Tteokbokki and Bibimbap to share for lunch.

Father and daughter got excited when the Korean cookies and cakes came out. I was taken back to the 1930’s when the Bingsu was placed on the table and the times I spent with Taluipa and the old man. Yun, Rose & I got fruit tea while everyone else got a coffee to finish the meal.

After lunch the history lesson continued with Rose remaining in my arms. An hour later she whispered into my ear, “I need the toilet” and we headed for the Accessible toilets. I felt her body tense up as her feet landed on the ground, so I sent her a tiny bit of calming energy. She slowly made her way inside and I waited outside.

Big Tuna

I activated the first marking with my power of projection and a weight was removed from my shoulders when she appeared within the evening primrose circle. My true personality and intellect didn’t come out much around others as my kind weren’t seen in a positive light. This was a chance to prove to the world that a cousin of the koala could be more than a simple soldier.

Lady Roseia hadn’t moved so I took the opportunity with two other soldiers helping me to chain her to the metal pallets. In the chance she got loose there was a circle of evening primrose stopping her from leaving, along with her need for an aid to help her walk. I injected the liquid form of her weakness into her body, the dose rendered her unconscious.

The dose was meant to keep her awake and paralysed, which shows I missed a piece of information in the research process.

I brushed off the dust from my long green trench coat, then made sure the perimeter was being watched by the other soldiers. As I looked around counting how many soldiers were under my temporary command and I realised most of the family’s soldiers were here.

Why were most of them here instead of with their captains? The other captains openly gossiped in front of me as they believed I wasn’t smart, so I overheard them talking about travel plans for them and above in the family. Could this be a red herring to keep the target’s adopted family from finding out the real plan?

I started to feel anxious due to the deviation from normal procedure of how operations are run. Poppy knew I was prone to excessive worrying and overthinking, so why did she support my temporary promotion to captain? A few breaths were needed to centre myself allowing my mask to fall back into place.

I went back to Lady Roseia to find two demons ready to cause her more pain, so I reminded them any marks can only be on her upper torso. The boss wanted her face and legs to remind unmarked, any wounds on her upper half would added to the torture experienced by her enemy. The room she was being held in was kept cold on purpose, it would be important in a future stage of the plan.

24 hours later Lady Roseia’s upper half was covered in little cuts, and I was amazed at how evening primrose in many forms was keeping her unconscious. If we had kept her paralysed but awake, the pain would have been excruciating. The other twelve demons were getting restless, with arguments breaking out among them.

I sighed in relief once I heard the slight sound of footsteps on the roof, so I sent the associate guarding her out with the others. There were a few moments of silence before screams rang out to my left and right. Bodies slammed into the walls and crates located in the warehouse.

In a moment of calm, I realised the demons attacking were three former mountain gods and also her adopted family. The three of them had divided our forces into smaller sections, which was a smart move. Ryu Hong-Ju was embracing the chaos by using soldiers as target practice and moving like a bird through the air. Cheon Moo-young was turning our demons into candles by setting them alight with fire.

Lord Lee Yeon’s sword skills were dispatching his section, but I noticed he became weaker as he got closer to where I was hiding with his sister. This told me they shared the same weakness.

Once there were only a few left, the two of them stood back to back to fight the tougher demons. One of the demons required Yeon to push off Moo-young’s back to cut them down because he could levitate. Five minutes later Moo-young and Lee Yeon had decapitated all the remaining demons. This was the sign to make my escape, so I left by a nearby side door silently.

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Chapter 15: The Snail bride’s Restaurant

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Chapter 17: Meeting New People