Seven years Later...
"Huff... huff... Y-you, why are you so strong?" Seongji gasped for breath.
"I just have a good master," I said with a grin, though I was breathing just as hard.
We both collapsed on the ground together, staring up at the bright sky.
"Hey Baki, why did you come to Cheonliang?" Seongji asked, still gazing upward.
I was shocked by the question. It was the first time Seongji had asked me something personal.
"I... I had a defect, as my mom would've liked to say. During an X-ray, the doctors found that my brain is folded in a way that seems to create a demonic face. So my mother brought me here for a cure." I paused. "What about you?"
Hearing my question, Seongji stiffened slightly before answering.
"I was abandoned. Left for dead on the shores of Cheonliang by my family."
He took a deep breath.
"There, I was found by a man called Jin Mujin."
A small smile formed on his face.
"He had a red paper with him. There was something written in Japanese on it. Since he couldn't read Japanese, I claimed I could, then feigned amnesia to stay with him. He agreed to keep me until I remembered. But now that I think back, maybe he knew I didn't know Japanese. Maybe he just couldn't leave a child like me alone in the forest, so he bought my lie. He taught me how to be self-sufficient and raised me for a time, helping me to trust other people again."
"So, where did he go?"
A bitter smile crossed his face.
"One day, he disappeared. Afterwards, I became a sacrifice for the Shaman's scams because of my polydactyly."
I could feel his sorrow. Memories of my mother flashed before my eyes. The love and respect he had for Jin Mujin was the same I had for my mother.
I suddenly got up and leaned over his face.
"Seongji, we will always be together! And one day we will overthrow the shaman and go search for Jin Mujin!"
Tears began to form in Seongji's eyes as he covered his face with his hands. But like a broken dam, his tears didn't stop. He suddenly grabbed my hand tightly and said, "Let's do that, Baki! Along the way, we'll save others like us!"
---
On Mount Cheonliang...
"Hey Jewoo, what if there really are monsters at Mount Cheonliang? What if one attacks us?" a fat boy asked his friend as he gasped for air.
"Shut up, Taebong! How could there be monsters on Mount Cheonliang? If there were, wouldn't the shaman have captured and imprisoned them?" Jewoo said in annoyance.
"Calm down, guys. Don't fight among yourselves," said a boy with glasses.
Taebong suddenly snapped back. "Why aren't you stopping Jewoo, Wooseok?"
Wooseok didn't reply to Taebong. Instead, he turned to another boy. "Hyungjae, is Jewoo really a fighter?"
The boy called Hyungjae nodded. "Yes, he's learning ssireum. But—"
Just as he was about to finish, Jewoo clasped his mouth shut. Then, before anyone else could say anything, he pointed toward a mountain cave.
There was a giant sitting on a large boulder near the cave. His body was tanned and he had dark red hair, which gave him an appearance that seemed similar to a monster. Especially his physique—it was so defined that it seemed unreal.
All the kids panicked at the sight of him.
Taebong slowly whispered, "Hey Jewoo, we've seen the monster. Let's leave now."
Jewoo, seemingly agreeing with Taebong's words, backed off. All four kids started to run, but suddenly, Jewoo crashed into something.
He fell on his butt and started rubbing his head. Suddenly he heard a gentle voice.
"Hey kid, are you okay?"
Jewoo looked up as he saw a giant hand coming toward him. Scared by the massive hand, he tried to dodge it. But instead of harming him, the hand pulled him upright.
Seeing the man's face, Jewoo was shocked. It wasn't a monster at all—it was a human. A beautiful one at that.
Suddenly Taebong, Wooseok, and Hyungjae, who had run further ahead, returned for Jewoo.
They saw that Jewoo was safe and that there was another man beside him.
Taebong stepped forward. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Jewoo replied.
Then, as if they had suddenly remembered that there was a monster nearby, Jewoo grabbed the unknown man's hand beside him and said urgently, "Hyung, there's a monster at the cave! We have to leave immediately!"
But hearing their words, the unknown man paused for while and then started to laugh. He laughed until tears formed in his eyes. Wiping them away, he said, "Kid, I am one of those monsters you're talking about."
Hearing his words, all four kids got scared.
Suddenly another voice came. The red-haired monster had appeared behind them.
"Hey Seongji, what's all this commotion?" he asked.
But seeing him, Seongji started to laugh again. The red-haired man's eyebrows started to twitch.
"You won't believe me, Baki! These kids literally thought you were a monster. Not only that, they were trying to escape this place with me."
Baki's face twitched as he looked at the kids in front of him. All of them seemed scared. Annoyed, he said to Seongji, "Quit laughing, would ya?"
Then he looked at the kids. "I'm not a monster, and neither is this laughing bastard here. We live in that cave."
Hearing his words, the kids calmed down a little, though they were still quite scared.
Taebong came forward. "So you really aren't some kind of monster?"
Hearing his question, Baki's already tanned face became darker. "Didn't I just say I'm not a monster? And why are you only asking me if I'm a monster? Can't you ask that bastard over there too?" Baki angrily pointed at Seongji.
Hearing his question, Taebong stammered and looked at both Baki and Seongji's faces twice before saying, "B-but that hyung is so beautiful... how could he be a monster?"
Hearing Taebong's words, Seongji started to laugh again.
"Hahaha, I can assure you that this guy here isn't a monster," Seongji said to the kids as he pointed at Baki.
The kids finally seemed to believe that Baki wasn't a monster. Seeing the situation, Seongji asked them, "So, what are you kids doing on the mountain?"
Jewoo, who seemed to be the leader of the group, said, "We heard that there were monsters on the mountain. So we came to check."
Taebong suddenly interrupted with a grin. "Yes, Jewoo has been learning ssireum. So he wanted to test his moves on the monsters on the mountain."
This time, Baki looked at the kids, then at Seongji, and then he started to laugh.
"Hahaha! Kids, do you know who that guy is?" Baki laughed as he pointed at Seongji. "He's the best ssireum user I know. And you guys wanted to beat him? Hahaha! You're a hundred years too early."