Red Obsession

[From a web blog entry of a shaman] July 4th, Gangwon Province I want to live like one of those Seoul kids who drink ice Americano during lunch break, hang out with friends in bars and clubs, stay up all night to get into a prestigious university, to leave it with a degree, to find a job for one of that inhuman-like corporations, to afford a house in Gangnam where I will never be in, as I won't have any more time for life.  Still, to embrace this collage times when dreams are fresh, be one of those kids buying Gucci bags and Cartier rings in Lotte Mall, playing pretend with western lifestyle, while they are just trying to omit the fact, that they won't even eat dinner at home before the family's eldest male won’t come back. That behind closed doors they are still bowing their heads down to old rituals, Confucian codex, Joseon traditions and ancient shamanic superstitions, while all they want is to be a part of 2.0 young adults, even if it might bring humanity to a massive catastrophe anyway, so what? Raised up in Hell Jeseon I wish to be one of them, just for one day, not stuck here in all those nightmares, looking for you, a boy with sun-blonde hair. Are you even real, have you ever existed, or are you just a shadow of a spooky dream haunting me. There was no mountain in the south, filled with darkness, deeper and way more creeping than any other night, the valley seemed the gloomiest he has ever seen. Impatient, the horses stumbling into the dusty ground as if ready to run. “There are ghosts out on a night like that your highness." whispered Seoun-Ju, the oldest between the soldiers in his best men’s order, who had made that uneasy way here form the capital just to follow him. All because of a dream, a reoccurring one, one his leading fortune tellers couldn't analyze. An omen that will bring the kingdom war, a forewarning of failure, a sign that Silla will be burnt down by the neighboring empires, they had called it, yet he believed otherwise.  With hair as golden as the raising sun, a boy appeared in his dream to tell him to come to the first ever growing tea bush on the slope of the sacred Pak Mountain. There is no Pak Mountain - claimed the astronomers and wisdom seekers he had order to come to the place. Not in our land nor any known kingdom there is a mountain like that, repeated alchemists and shamans, yet there was a map imprinted in his mind, one he has seen in the boy's glowing hands. To save his land he needed to find Pak Mountain, or was the inner voice misleading him and his destiny was to dissolve in failure.  Refusing to give him the jade belt, that was a sign of good fortune, the main shaman called the crown prince’s mission suicidal, so prince Hyeong was furious, as he hasn't taken his best men for certain death, rather to find the bush that will being prosperity upon his land.  His eye met general Yunooh’s gaze. He hasn't come here to harm any of his best men. “The shadows are becoming longer, we need to find shelter in the village behind the valley your highness.” General Yunooh raised his voice. As sharp and shrill as non human sound could ever be, a cry rang the valley. All whispers went quiet. The prince’s horse moved up on the back hoof when he fell off his beloved Mehuamare’s back hitting the ground hard.  The back of the palfrey disappeared in the darkness when his men began to chase it back. “Don't split! Stay in formation!" he yelled taking his sword out when like a cloud of darkness floating towards them, a strange creature creeped out of the forest surrounding the soldiers like a poisonous scarf. “Your highnesses, here! Take my hand!” General Yunooh reached his arm out when more demon like forms rose up from the dust.  Fighting a lost battle against shadows, his men were trying to stand their ground when he took the hand of his beloved general jumping on his horse, both racing for a fight, preparing their swords. Whoever had led him here was a bad sorcerer, who had only taken a form of a boy so infinitely beautiful he couldn’t not bend to the desire to see him live, but there was no cursed Pak Mountain, no magical tea bush, no boy with golden hair. “Close the window.” Soft like spring, a voice filled his ear when he was watching a trembling glimmer of a candle in a golden lamp.  With walls so thin they seemed almost transparent, the house he had found himself into was like a tent inside a battleground, revealing horrifying shapes of monsters circling around it, while Prince Hyeong’s mind was still filled with horror and the smell of blood. “Your highness, you have to rest a bit before the next step of your journey. You must reach Pak Mountain before dawn." Whispered the same soft voice causing him to look up.  Dressed up in a long shaman robe with violet flower petals sill sticking to the skirt, with a face so smooth he could be mistakenly taken as a girl, although exhausted and scared now, with eyes as red as blood, a man was sitting on the floor right opposite to him. “We will not survive till down." He said with a low voice. “Right now just rest." The second voice belonged to a person Hyeong has only seen in a dream.  Walking out of the light, with hair bright like an extra sun and skin glowing like the candles that were flickering in front of all doors and windows in the house, a boy appeared. Like a luminous feather, that seemed so light it could become a cloud drifting through the sky, a silky fabric was covering his fragile figure. “There is no way to reach the mountain, the mountain isn’t even there." Whispered the man with red eyes. “We well not survive till dawn." Said Hyeong when the light of all candles dyed out like cut by a sudden wind, the house became dark at once. “Don't worry your highness.” The closeness caused some goose bumps to rush over his skin when the golden boy knelt at his side. "If you don't succeed today you have to try again in your next life...” Yuna opened her eyes to see a known ceiling, a known bedroom, the sweat was still sticking to her forehead when she sat up rubbing her face catching heavy breaths in. It's just a nightmare, said the tiny voice at the back of her head, but there was something way deeper whispering that the dream has been liked some memories woken up to life. She had no idea that 200 miles from her bedroom a boy her age has woken up from the same dream inside a cave.