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There were many ropes and pieces of cloth of different colors tied to the spirit tree. A lady was throwing knives and dancing around it gracefully. Beneath the tree’s shade, the dancing accompanied by the banging of gongs mesmerized the crowd. It was the dance of the shaman.
The tree was about 500 years old. It was big enough that even ten people would have difficulty wrapping their arms around the expanse of its trunk.
“I don’t even know why the city employees come for the shaman ritual.” Choo-ja jutted her chin out in the direction of the people in suits who stuck out of the crowd like thorns.
The Mi Hospital’s director came in while casually holding a fan in his hands. Lee-yeon looked up from under her straw hat to acknowledge him.
“Are you feeling better sir?” Lee-yeon asked him.
“The landslide didn’t affect us as much as it could have,” he said. “You’re the one who had to deal with most of it, Director So. I was just lucky. Is your hospital also here to see the ritual?”
Lee-yeon scanned Choo-ja and Kwon Chae-woo’s faces. Kwon Chae-woo’s presence soothed Lee-yeon so, when she spoke, she sounded confident. “I just came here to check in before the tournament,” she said.
“By the way, I wanted to talk to you.” He wiped the sweat off his forehead and smiled at Lee-yeon. She felt uneasy.
“I was told by my employees when we went for drinks a few weeks ago that they would feel unlucky if they had to face Spruce Tree Hospital,” he continued. “We just laughed it off then, but it seems like it’s become true. This spirit tree issue is quite annoying.” He was still nonchalantly fanning himself.
He looked at her in the eye, “Director So, by any chance, did you do anything to the higher-ups to rub them off the wrong way?” He finally asked Lee-yeon.
“Sorry?”
“I mean, first you climb a 30-meter tree, then you deal with a landslide, and now the spirit tree? Isn’t it a little strange?” The Mi Hospital director smiled at her innocently.
“Director So, think long and hard,” He sounded sincere and concerned. “Treating the spirit tree might not be the answer.”
“Pardon?” Lee-yeon chucked nervously at the Mi Hospital’s director’s question.
She remembered the details of the tournament. The goal was to treat the dying spirit tree and the person with the best plan for the course of action to be taken would be given the chance to attempt it. But treating the tree was never the problem.
“Is it because of the horror stories that you tell me this?” Lee-yeon pressed.
The director shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m more scared of money and ghosts.”
The dance of the shaman before them reached its peak and ended. Even as the people were leaving, Lee-yeon couldn’t take her eyes off of her small binoculars. She was looking around the place and checking the status of the tree. She was checking off the branches and the places that needed to be treated in her head. But the more she checked, the less confident she became.
An old man tapped Lee-yeon’s shoes with his cane.
“Oh, hello, sir,” she greeted him nervously.
“I assume you’re also a tree doctor or whatever,” he said. He looked at her with aggressive eyes. “Humans can’t fix God. Don’t be foolish. Get lost!”
“Sir, this tree is seriously being mishandled,” Lee-yeon told him. “It needs surgery.”
But as soon as Lee-yeon spoke, the old man’s nostrils flared in anger. “What? Surgery?”
People were staring at them now as they passed by.
“No!” the old man continued. “Never! Do you know what kind of tree this is?”
“In my eyes, it’s a serious patient,” Lee-yeon told him.
“How dare you?”
Lee-yeon covered her ears as the man started yelling.
“That is a great tree that has saved countless townspeople,” he told her. “Records say that, during the war, they put a huge drum on that little tree and they hit it with all their might. Everyone evacuated after hearing the sound and the only thing that survived in this town was that tree! The tree was only 10 years old. It had to carry a drum that was bigger than its size and it had to handle the sound of the drums, that’s why it grew up curved like that!”
“Yes, it seems like it has a herniated disc as well,” Lee-yeon said.
“What?” the old man demanded.
Lee-yeon just stared at him. Then, she thought of something. “If that tree is as precious as you say it is, then why does it have so much moss and dirt? Have you ever brushed it or washed it with water?”
The old man flinched. “Why would that matter! You’re saying that we should be bathing this tree?” he growled. “If you touch that tree and cut it in any way, we’ll show you what happens to those that mess with it!” The old man tapped his cane angrily and walked away.
Choo-ja complained about the old man, but Lee-yeon just smiled.
“I think I know,” she said.
“Know what?” Choo-ja asked.
But Lee-yeon ignored her and asked, “Where’s Chae-woo?”
Lee-yeon went on her tiptoes and looked around. The man who usually couldn’t stay away from her was suddenly nowhere to be found. As Lee-yeon started to bite her nails anxiously, her eyes met the shaman’s who had just finished the ritual.
The way the shaman was dressed made him look like he was from another time and that frightened her. She tried to look away quickly but felt the man was still staring at her.
“Lee-yeon, aren’t you hot?”