NOVEL NEXT 129. Song of Blessing (1)
“Strange, strange!”
“Suspicious, suspicious!”
A mouse and a bird, each with a tiny horn on its head no bigger than a fingertip, chattered away. The two animals blocking the vermilion gate had bright red handkerchiefs neatly tied around their necks.
“Please step aside. We have business inside.”
Despite my repeated requests, the two were too busy discussing among themselves to pay us any attention. They might be important NPCs, so we couldn’t treat them carelessly. What a bother.
I sighed, gazing beyond the vermilion gate.
‘We don’t have any other options, but this is becoming troublesome.’
◆◇◆◇◆
As we approached Yeomra’s domain, the cranes set us down. Then, as if their role was complete, they flew off together towards some unknown destination.
“Vermilion gates are usually installed to protect places considered sacred,” Han Cha-hyun explained.
Hearing this, I suggested to our group that we shouldn’t hastily pass through the gate. Though my Explorer’s Eye detected nothing, it was better to err on the side of caution.
‘Who knows if there might be some kind of protective mechanism?’
However, my suggestion soon proved impossible to follow.
“There was nothing on this side.”
“Gaho-ssi, how was it on your end?”
“Likewise, just an empty field. It’s strange. Weren’t we told we’d see an opulent tiled house over a hundred rooms large once we entered the domain?”
We walked for quite some time across the wide fields surrounding the vermilion gate, but literally found nothing. Even the flowers that had been blooming everywhere else were nowhere to be seen here.
That wasn’t the only unsettling thing. Squinting one eye, I turned around to see the bright red vermilion gate. No matter how fast we ran, that gate showed no signs of getting farther away.
It seems that gate is the culprit, doesn’t it?
“The hint is so blatant, it’s unsettling.”
However, we couldn’t afford to waste any more time. Reluctantly, we returned to where the vermilion gate stood.
Fortunately, we had someone whose only redeeming quality was his sturdiness. I lightly pounded Yun Su-ho’s back with my fist.
“Yun Su-ho, you go in first.”
“I was planning to do that even without you telling me.”
Yun Su-ho glanced at me before trudging through the vermilion gate.
At that moment, the wooden statuettes perched atop the gate pillars suddenly dropped to the ground. Painted the same color as the gate, these figurines were in the shape of a horned bird and mouse.
As I alternately looked at the statuettes and Yun Su-ho, he raised both hands as if proclaiming his innocence.
“I saw that too, you know.”
“Let’s just ignore this and move on.”
“…Is that really okay?”
Yun Su-ho nodded nonchalantly and took another step forward. I suppose this level of recklessness doesn’t even register for him. Clicking my tongue, I was about to stop him when the statuettes blocked my path.
‘Wait a minute. How can statuettes move?’
Before I could gather my thoughts, the bird and mouse bellowed at us.
“You there! How ill-mannered!”
“Hey! You know nothing of etiquette!”
The statuettes, which had been circling our feet menacingly, did a couple of somersaults and transformed into full-fledged animal forms. Then they burst into innocent laughter.
“Kyahaha, surprised, aren’t you? Human?”
“Ahahah, wasn’t that fun? Human?”
I was surprised, but it wasn’t fun. However, thinking that an honest answer wouldn’t do me any good, I kept my mouth shut. The bird and mouse bustled about, urging me to respond.
Yun Su-ho wasn’t one to stand by and watch this spectacle.
“Step aside, Yun Gaho. I’ll take care of this.”
“Stop right there. You’re the one who needs to step aside.”
If only the world could see this guy acting like this. I stopped Yun Su-ho as he hastily tried to pull the animals away from me. What was he thinking, trying to harm them when we had no other leads?
“Yes, let’s observe for a bit, as Gaho-ssi suggested.”
With Han Cha-hyun chiming in, Yun Su-ho reluctantly backed off. If the animals had shown even a hint of threat, he wouldn’t have been so easily persuaded.
Unaware that they had narrowly avoided a deadly crisis, the animals remained consistently cheerful. Though it might be premature to judge, they didn’t seem to have any intention of harming us at the moment.
‘Is it because they resemble goblins? For some reason, I don’t feel any sense of danger.’
If that’s the case, I wonder if they think similarly to Sori. Well, there’s no harm in greeting them politely. With a mix of doubt and hope, I opened my mouth.
“Hello, esteemed gatekeepers.”
“He greeted us, he greeted!”
“Called us gatekeepers, gatekeepers!”
The response was more explosive than I expected. I had added the “gatekeeper” part as an afterthought, but it seemed to be correct. Then, the two animals adjusted the red cloth tied around their necks and suddenly began introducing themselves.
“I am the bird who hears daytime words! Day Bird!”
“I am the mouse who hears nighttime words! Night Mouse!”
Quite helpfully, the two animals rattled off information we hadn’t even asked for.
Day Bird with keen eyes and Night Mouse with sharp ears were on strict guard duty at the entrance, following Yeomra’s orders. Hearing this, their behavior began to make more sense.
‘Their positioning is quite strategic.’
Once I noticed it, it couldn’t have been more obvious. Though they seemed to be frolicking about mindlessly, these animals were meticulously keeping us separated from the gate. Their strong determination not to let us pass without permission was evident.
“First time, this smell!”
“First time, this appearance!”
And so began their debate about our identity. Neither we, nor our companions, nor even Day Bird and Night Mouse themselves had expected it to drag on this long.
‘I guess we’re the first players to visit this place.’
Well, it’s not a place one would come to unless it was for something like a hidden quest. Even we didn’t know we’d be coming to a place like this until a few days ago.
They seemed to recognize that we were players, probably due to the system. But the two animals just couldn’t come to a conclusion. This was because Yeomra’s entry regulations made no mention of players.
“Gaho-ssi, it’s about time we…”
“Yes, we should wrap this up. We’ve wasted too much time. Since I started this conversation, I’ll finish it too.”
“Go ahead. Oh, and let me know if you need any help.”
While their dedication to their job was quite adorable, Han Cha-hyun was right—it was time to bring this to an end. Judging by how Yun Su-ho had his arms crossed, his patience seemed to be wearing thin as well.
If I just called out to them, they’d probably ignore me like before. In times like these, actions spoke louder than words.
“Well then, we’ll be on our way.”
I took a big step towards the vermilion gate, deliberately stepping over Day Bird and Night Mouse. The two animals jumped in surprise and grabbed my ankles.
“Follow the rules, you rascal!”
“Obey the law, you naked ape!”
“Is there a problem with us just going on our way? Don’t mind us, please continue your discussion.”
The animals yapped that they couldn’t let unidentified individuals pass through. This was all going as expected. Now that I had their full attention, this was practically over.
“As I mentioned, we have urgent business. It’s frustrating to see you quibbling over a problem with an obvious answer. Surely you’re not actually clueless?”
Probed like this, Day Bird and Night Mouse stammered, unable to answer. They must feel awkward admitting ignorance, being gatekeepers and all. Smiling slightly, I offered them a way out.
“Day Bird-nim, Night Mouse-nim. You saw what we rode here on, didn’t you?”
“Day Bird saw, white bird!”
“Night Mouse saw too, flap flap!”
“Yes, that’s right. We came riding white cranes. Didn’t those cranes look familiar?”
The gatekeepers answered in unison, as if rehearsed.
“You’ve come on the flower keeper’s errand!”
The bird and mouse, jumping to their own conclusions, let their imaginations run wild. They concluded that Sa Mok-yeong must have fallen ill from tending the flower garden alone. I fed them some partial truths to support their assumption.
“The flower keeper’s proxy told us that there’s something we need to find beyond this gate. May we pass through?”
After a moment’s consideration, the two animals reached a decision.
“If it’s the flower keeper’s business, Yeomra-nim would surely approve!”
“Thank you for granting us permission.”
When I offered a perfunctory word of thanks, the bird and mouse were overjoyed. Apparently, I was only the second person to ever say such a thing to them. Somehow, I felt a twinge of pity.
Eventually, the bird and mouse untied the red cloth around their necks. As they shook the overlapped handkerchiefs in the air, a book with a bright red cover appeared.
The Register of Life and Death. The book, with only two characters on its cover, was completely blank inside.
“Come on, write your name!”
“Hurry, write in order!”
Is this some kind of guest book? As I was about to casually write my name, Han Cha-hyun approached me. Silently pushing me back, he was the first to write in the register.
[Yun Cha-hyun]
I tilted my head, looking at the neatly written characters. He must have deliberately written it incorrectly, right? Quickly catching on to my confusion, Han Cha-hyun whispered softly.
“They say names and words hold power. Well, it seems it was a futile attempt.”
The character for ‘Yun’ in the register wriggled and then spontaneously corrected itself to ‘Han’. Seeing this, the bird and mouse stuck out their tongues, as if mocking our shallow trick.
“How foolish. You can’t lie in front of the register!”
“How cunning. You can’t use deception before the register!”
◆◇◆◇◆
“They were kind-hearted humans!”
“They were generous humans!”
Day Bird and Night Mouse, who had somehow returned to their perches on the pillars, shouted in an extremely excited tone. Both had their cheeks stuffed full of something they were munching on.
‘It’s not much as a token of gratitude, but would you like to try some?’
It was food given by the smallest of the three humans they had just met. The two animals had eagerly accepted it, since it came from a friend who resembled them.
Greatly moved by their first taste of buckwheat jelly, the gatekeepers were in an unprecedentedly good mood. So much so that they answered the humans’ question about whether they had seen anyone else, despite it being against regulations.
‘We saw a strange child! Said they were looking for something.’
‘We saw a kind child! Said they would give names.’
The humans, who had been hesitating to write their names, immediately scrawled them in the register upon hearing this and disappeared beyond the vermilion gate.
What could have been so urgent? The small curiosity quickly faded away. Curiosity was an emotion not permitted to these two animals. As long as they performed their duties according to the regulations, all was well.
But moments later, the two animals realized something had gone terribly wrong. Just before returning to their statuette forms, the gatekeepers suddenly froze while making their final check of the register.
“One, two, three…?”
“Three, two, one…?”
No matter how many times they recounted, the number remained unchanged.
“What do we do, we’re missing a name!”
“This is terrible, we missed one!”
The two animals, greatly alarmed, leaped from their spots. Then, clutching each other’s hands and wings, they began to tremble violently.
Yeomra never forgave mistakes made by his subordinates. Especially not for these two, who had been cast out to the village outskirts for being useless. The bird and mouse exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.
“This never happened!”
“We know nothing about this!”
Surely nothing bad will happen, right? They were kind humans after all. With this comforting thought, the two animals closed their eyes. Soon, the vermilion gate fell silent.
As it always had been, and as it always would be.