Red Obsession

1. Venom

"A dragon came falling from the sky, the whole world froze in horror and excitement. There was a red glittering ball in between its claws. The dragon landed above the stream of life setting the sphere into the moose gently then taking off disappearing in the wide sky. And so from the heavenly egg, brought to establish a new land, first Silla king was born..."

The door of the classroom banged when all students turned their heads and Cheon Hyejeong stopped her lecture.

Men in uniforms rushed inside causing a rumor.

"How can I help you?" Hyejeong stayed calm sending the men her best smile.

"Miss Cheon, we need you to come with us.” Said an officer.

"Is professor Cheon arrested?" Asked a girl that was sitting in the front.

"What can I help you with?" Repeated Hyejeong ignoring the comment.

"We need you to come with us.” The man became impatient.

"As you see I have a lecture to finish." Hyejeong pointed at her students who were now all watching her and the officers with great interest.

Even Park Jinseou who has been spending the semester napping through each class was widely awake. 

"Miss Cheon." The officer lowered his voice speaking right to her ear. "The daughter of Chebol Lee went missing last night during a party. The investigation showed that there are forces we have no powers or knowledge about in play. There are rumors of her and a male shaman breaking into the king's palace to rip off a part of the wall. There was a never seen painting of the battle of prince Hyeong under Pak Mountain found there. Chebol Lee is ready to give you the Forgotten Parchment Roll to help you with the investigation, he will also give you resources and soldiers. His daughter needs to be found immediately."

Hyejeong was listening to that quick words feeling her fingers getting numb. Was this the one in a lifetime opportunity to get her hands on the Forgotten Roll and find the missing puzzle to discover the secret behind prince Hyeong’s survival under Pak Mountain. No history explorer has had the chance so far. Non of the many scientists looking the land up and down for Pak Mountain has ever discovered anything. 

"The class is finished!" Hyejeong raised her voice walking to the desk collecting her papers quickly.

The students were sure she’s going to jail while she was here, chosen to discover the biggest secret of the dynasties ruling the country.

“How can I help you?” 

The face of the man who had turned her way was cautious, the glitter in his eyes reminded her of a serpent.

Like a mausoleum of dried skins and venoms, with shelves bending under the weight of jars filled with snakes’ bodies, the shop was one the shadiest places she has ever put her foot into. Wrinkled like an orange left on a tree until first frost, the man behind the counter was observing her, maybe thinking what such a fragile girl was doing here down Manhattan on a rainy spring day.

“Are you looking for anything specific?” He became impatient.

The cold rough metal surface of the bullets she had been carrying in her pocket became significant underneath her fingertips. For three years she has been working more like a detective than a historian, cancelling lectures a lot, telling the head of university she’s going to Jeju to take care of her suffering mother, while she was traveling from country to country to complete a mysterious puzzle and find the last piece today.

“I’d like a piece of venom, one I can use these with.” Hyejeong turned to the counter placing the four bullets she had brought on it.

The man’s eyes widened, he was standing there frozen watching the rusty metal pieces, his hands trembling.

“There are better venoms than one produced in 1908.”

“It’s not about the day of production, it’s about the weight of the wound cut open with it.”

“Do you expect to fire to something that is out of that world?” Asked the man.

“You never know what you might need.” Hyejeong felt goose bumps appearing on her skin.

Too analytical, her mind was far from believing in any unusual forces and things, it was only the historian’s obsession to collect objects with great value to the fate of her country, as they have changed the direction of history.

Glancing left and right suspiciously even though there were only them and the dead snakes here, the man left through a tiny door coming back a few minutes later.

“Use it wisely.” He whispered placing an old revolver on the counter.

“I will.” She took four bundles of bank notes out of her pocket then hid the revolver and the bullets leaving the shop quickly.

Waving with little golden hands, statues of kittens were watching her form a jewelry store window on the other side of the street.

In front of it, a man with one leg was sitting on the pavement. There were some objects spread out on a carpet he had put on the concrete, so to calm down Hyejeong approached his antique exhibition crouching and rambling through a box with rusty coins.

“How much is this?” She asked raising one.

“I can give you ten coins for two dollars.” Said the man with a trembling, cracking voice, he has definitely stayed out here in the rain for too long.

“This here was carved in France in 1332, a really rare one, you can sell it for a decent price.” She threw a coin towards him. “The mirror was definitely brought here from England when the fourth division of Puritan ships reached the East Coast, a pity that it cracked.” Hyejeong was still rambling through the things to get rid of the numbness in her fingertips.

“Brenda! Stand here I want to take a photo!”

Two girls taking photos on the street caused a cold shiver to reach her ankles when she just turned to investigate them. The one called Brenda was way younger and not in a fraction as pretty as the girl with the same name she never wished to remember. 

Rainy like today, an autumn evening became so vivid - a small barbecue place in Itaewon, the group of history students meeting a year after graduation for a dinner and some beer, talking about their failures and achievements, who had married, who had broken up, who has got a job, who has started a family. Like a black rose growing lonely between a tulip field, Dongwoo has come late. Nothing has changed, although a year had passed, he was still that guy with a face like an icon, messy dark hair, eyes a little blurry, always not really sober, a lather jacket, a way too unbuttoned shirt, jeans so tight his perfect hips could only draw more attention, yes, and the usual smoking hot girl like from a magazine cover clinging to his side. First it had been an actress Cha Yooku, then during university days a sexy French exchange student Elouise, now an American bikini model Brenda. Was she still his flame, or has he changed her for another freaking miss universe? Hyejeong closed her fist throwing the coins into the box, getting up when a silver pin caught her eyes. The way the dim daylight was reflecting in it’s surface pointed to a suspicion that it could have been carved out in early Silla era, even before the Three Kingdoms‘ times.

“What’s that?” Hyejeong reached for it investigating it from all sides.

“I don’t know. Will you give me two dollars for it.” Asked the man, he began to cough terribly.

“Here!” Hyejeong threw the coins his way when he grabbed them hiding in his torn jacket quickly.

“What is that image on it?” She asked seeing a shape of a hill and leaves.

“Pak Mountain.” Said the man.

Pak Mountain has never existed, has never been anything than one of the oldest legends, but now when the daughter of Chebol Lee disappeared the memory of that rainy day in New York became so vivid. Hyejeong had an appointment with the billionaire and one of the highest military leaders General Min this evening, but time seemed crawling, so with her class disturbed and canceled she was spending the midday at home, sitting in the spacious kitchen over a coffee cup, watching her cat Nun chasing his violet ball along the floor. 

“You will stay with the neighbors for the night.” She said but he never seemed to care.

Drawing her in, the adventure was knocking to her door and this afternoon was a small breather before facing a storm, but she wished nothing more than for it to pass quicker as her mind was coming back to the memory of the one she never ever wished to remember.