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Kwon Chae-woo arrived late to the scene and pushed his way forward, past all those who shouted and shook their fists. At once, he found the face that was now dark as ash from dust and moss.
Lee-yeon, who had wrapped rope around her waist and ascended the tree, was positioned as precariously as if she were standing on a guillotine. What was shaking, however, was not her, but the chainsaw.
She picked up the roaring saw and excitedly cut off a dead branch. She seemed not at all like a doctor, but rather some sort of destroyer of the environment. Kwon Chae-woo furtively raised the corners of his mouth into a smile as he watched his wife boldly perform her surgery.
Crack, thud. Crack, thud.
Each branch that fell to the ground elicited more groans from the crowd.
“Ahhhh!”
The elderly all either sunk down to the ground or shouted, “Why doesn’t anyone stop that woman?!” Kwon Chae-woo’s hands twitched as he wished to snap the necks of those who criticized her.
“I found the rectum!”
It wasn’t long before Lee-yeon’s booming voice reached Choo-ja.
She located the rotten hole only to find it already teeming with insects. To put it in terms of the human body, a hole in the spine decayed, and the infection had spread so wildly that the damage was irreversible.
Lee-yeon briefly held her breath and turned her head away from the spreading stench. As she slowly sorted through the decay and dead branches, the skin and excrement of the insects piled up high.
Kwon Chae-woo couldn’t take his eyes off Lee-yeon as she immersed herself in her work.
“
.”
Her tightly shut lips were resolute, and the look in her eyes was unusually serious, almost savage. It was his first time seeing her in such a state. His Adam’s apple nervously bobbed up and down. Suddenly, the sun shone down and pierced his field of vision. Chae-woo squinted one eye and stared at her, swallowing up her image.
“Lee-yeon.”
He wanted to brush aside the damp bangs stuck to her forehead, to wrap her knee that was being swept by the tree.
At that time, he happened to lock eyes with someone in the crowd—a conspicuous yet familiar appearance. A shaman who had once performed a ritual there was staring at Kwon Chae-woo, as if he were searching for something. He narrowed his forehead in a rude and blatant manner, returning the gaze of the shaman, who continued to watch Chae-woo closely.
“
.”
“
.”
From somewhat of a distance, the shaman murmured something soundlessly. Oddly, rather than dismissing it as a stranger’s insignificant mumble, he found himself able to read his lips precisely.
‘When the moon is full, the dog wails.’
The shaman tore the corners of his mouth upward and beamed. Though his mouth was bizarrely turned up, her eyebrows dropped sharply. It seemed as if she were mocking Chae-woo—pitying him, laughing at him.
Simultaneously, Chae-woo’s head throbbed as if being struck repeatedly by a series of blunt weapons. The protesting and drumming of the people around him aggravated the splitting headache all the more.
‘What’s happening?!’
Kwon Chae-woo bit down hard on his tongue until he tasted blood, enduring all the pain.
As if the ground that he stood on had overturned, his face violently contorted, and his eyes burned with life.
He looked up again in search of the shaman, but he had disappeared without a trace.
The sacred tree’s appearance was changing with every second. The grand and mysterious tree that had once stood there existed no longer.
‘You’ll be back. Tonight.’
Kwon Chae-woo distinctly heard the shaman’s last words—a furtive whisper, like a butterfly’s wings.
Something was definitely changing.
* * *
“Choo-ja, good work.”
The long five-hour operation finally came to a close.
After injecting the IV, Lee-yeon let out a long exhale. As soon as the tension released from her body, her limbs trembled.
The people were transfixed by the sacred tree’s new appearance, now scrawny as a telephone pole. Some cried, and others stomped their feet and lunged at Lee-yeon in anger.
Kwon Chae-woo pushed them away with ease and stood proudly by Lee-yeon’s side. When such a tall, strong man had a cold look in his eyes, people hesitated pushing any further.
“Huh? Chae-woo, how did you get here?”
She stared wide-eyed at the man who had appeared unannounced. Delight filled his eyes and his lips parted in a smile. Chae-woo’s throat suddenly stung. Needless to say, it was a moment he wished to be engraved in his memory forever. As he placed a cheek on top of Lee-yeon’s head, she pushed his large body away.
“I got a lot of moss on me. It’ll get all over you!”