Chapter 3: The Calamity

"That mister, hm, Yein, he's interested in you, is he?" Chiwon inquired out of the blue, making Jinseong stop walking to give her friend a glare. It was early morning and the sun had not yet risen. They were off to gather plants from the woods and clearly, it was not such 'a good time to talk about nonsense'. "What? I'm just stating the obvious. He comes to the temple everyday to see you. He even gives a lot of donation just to woo you. Even the older shamans notice it."

"I don't know what you're talking about. He's just a nice person." Jinseong replied, forcing a frown but her cheeks had betrayed her as she felt it becoming warm. Thankfully, their surrounding was not illuminated enough for Chiwon to notice.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Chiwon said with a whine. "And have you seen the way he looks at you? There's just something different."

"There is-sn't. Y-You're imagining things." Jinseong tried to keep the nonchalant tone but her stammering gave out how flustered she was.

It had been sixteen days since she met Yein and he had been treating her really nicely. Like Chiwon said, he would go to the temple everyday and would donate generously. He would also accompany her whenever she would fetch drinking water, saying he had nothing better to do. It was not that Jinseong could not notice how special he was treating her but instead, she did not want to think about it. She knew little about him except that he was a traveller who was staying in their village for a while. 'What if he gets bored? Then, he'll just leave and I got my hopes up for nothing.'

"Why are you flustered then?" Her friend squinted her eyes at her. A cheeky grin then showed on her face. "Perhaps, do you have some affection for him?"

"Wh-Why? Does that matter?" Jinseong avoided Chiwon's gaze as she covered her flushing cheeks with her hand. 

"So, you do?" Chiwon asked, laughing and Jinseong responded with a hesitant nod. "You're more straightforward than I thought. Hmm, but since he seems like a good person, I'll give both of you my support. As your friend, I think you should go for it."

Jinseong took a deep breath, calming her flustered self down before replying. "I just like him a little. I don't even know the person that much. We can't be sure if he has other ulterior motives and we also don't know. What if he already has a family in another village and such? The innocent looking ones are usually the unpredictable ones so I can't just go for it." She let out a sigh at the thought. "Also, even if that's the case, he won't stay here for long. Even if he does, I still have no chance since he looks like someone from a noble family. Basically, what I'm saying is we can't be together no matter what."

"Geez, what a negative thinker" Chiwon sighed as she shook her head. "I'll pray that the heavens will be by your side so stop overthinking things. Following your heart is not bad once in a while." She had a reassuring smile on her face and Jinseong could not help but smile too.

"Well, still..." She chuckled softly. "Never mind. I'll trust you about this then."

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The morning ritual went smooth like usual, with the head shaman gracefully dancing and chanting, leading the crowd who came to pray for their safety, for grace and for thanking the heavens. It was already a month and a half since the 'beast' killed anyone so there were rumors that the creature had already met its end. Nonetheless, the head shaman insisted that they should continue their ritual until they were all certain that the beast was indeed already dead. Jinseong could not care less whether they would continue with their morning ceremony or not since either way, she would still have a lot of task in hand. What she was concerned about was the disappearance of the 'beast'. She doubted it. She just knew that that murderer was still alive but why he suddenly stopped hunting was beyond her.

"Those are some deep thoughts for such a fair morning." She was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar voice. She looked up to see Yein, who was staring at her with a soft smile on his lips. Her expression immediately softened, returning the smile. "What are you thinking about?" His voice was often gentle but this time, it was hoarse.

"It's nothing." The ceremony had already ended and she was idly standing outside the temple, contemplating various things when Yein approached her. "I guess I should be glad that the heavens finally heard our prayer..." She trailed off as she observed the pale color of the other's lips. She noticed it recently - Yein seemed sick but he would always brush it off. This time, however, he looked terrible and his voice sounded different too. "Is it just me or are you sick?"

"I'm not." The cough that followed his words did not help in making him believable.

"Seriously?" Jinseong frowned, crossing her arms across her chest. "Are you not eating well?"

"I am." He chuckled, rather dryly and Jinseong's expression got stiffer. "Are you mad? I'm not that sick. Even if I am, it's not contagious so rest assured, you won't get sick by being around me." The female rolled her eyes at his statement. 'This idiot can't even tell that someone's worried about him.'

"This isn't about me." She took a deep breath, trying to gather her words but ended up giving up on it. "Forget it. Just come with me inside. I'll make you some food. You have nothing to do anyway." Instead of responding, he simply stared at her with a blank expression and at the moment, Jinseong could not tell what he was thinking -- not that she could ever guess what was inside his mind. There was a long pause before she continued, "You can just consider it ats a payment of some sort since you've been giving a lot of donations lately."

"There's no need to-" He spoke up but she ignored him and started to lead the way inside the temple, hoping that Yein would follow her. When it comes to being stubborn, no one could really beat her or at least, that's what she thought. He stumbled a bit and he grabbed her wrist, making her turn to look at him. She wanted to get mad, worried mad but how could she? Yein was staring at her intently.

"Wh-What?" She managed to stammer out, avoiding eye contact.

"I actually only came to say good bye. I was hoping that you could send me off with a smile, instead of such a solemn expression." Jinseong blinked, her body freezing at what she heard. 'Good bye? He's leaving?' She knew it would happen but it was happening sooner than she thought. While she was occupied in processing his words, he put out a jewelry from his pocket then extended out his hand to hand it to her. "When we saw each other at the market, you were looking at this and I thought I should give you a farewell gift."

"Thank you." It took a lot of effort to prevent herself from crying out there and clinging to him. 'I barely even know him. Just be cool.' She was so focused on trying to come up with positive thoughts that she forgot to force a smile. "I like it."

"Surely, you like it more than your face shows." Another dry chuckle. "I must get going now then..." Jinseong was not certain if it was Yein or her imagination but she heard him say "or I may change my mind". 

"Be safe. We will see each other again in the future, right?" She finally met his eyes, whose was gaze was still fixed at her. 

"I hope so." There was no sincerety in his tone. She just felt it. "Take care and good bye." Jinseong watched as he walked away but before he could get too far, he fell on the ground, unconscious. Jinseong gasped, sheer panic taking over her. 

"Help! Someone fainted!" She called out to the other shamans inside. Chiwon was quick to come out to help. It took them a couple of minutes to get Yein inside and drag him to their room.

"What happened?" Chiwon finally got the chance to ask once they have settled down. She took a seat next to Yein and across Jinseong, who was wiping the male's face with a damped cloth.

"He's sick." Jinseong answered after a few seconds as she placed the cloth on the male's forehead. Her gaze was fixed on his sleeping face. "He's been sick these past few days but no matter what I say, he just doesn't listen. I hope he's fine."

"I hope so too." Chiwon agreed, letting out a sigh. "Should I get him some porridge? We have some leftover from breakfast."

Jinseong only gave a nod as a response, her brain still occupied with everything that happened. 'Yein's sick but why am I relieved? He's about to leave. If he hasn't fainted, he would be gone by now. I really am a selfish person.' She took a deep breath and passed out a sigh. 'No, I should stop letting my thoughts wander in the wrong direction. He must get better no matter what. He wants to leave. He enjoys travelling so forcing him to stay here is just selfish.' She reached out to grab his hand - it was cold, the coldest hand that she ever held. There was an unconscious smile plastered on her face as she gave it a gentle squeeze. "Please get better soon. There are places that you want to go to. You can't be held back here."

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The day seemed shorter than the other days and nighttime came too soon. Yein was still in their room, sleeping. He woke up twice during the day and both times, he was barely conscious and he would not speak a word. They gave him porridge but he would throw it up right after eating. The relief that Jinseong felt was already gone and she was filled with worried since she felt like nothing could make Yein go better.

"Jinseong, Chiwon, I heard that there is a man staying in your quarters." The head shaman said during their dinner. She was strict with a lot of things so it made the two best friends nervous when she called them out. "Just squeeze yourself in any of the other rooms if there is enough space. I'll let you off this time since I also heard that he's really sick. Make sure to send him out tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am." Jinseong and Chiwon replied in unison.

"Who is he, by the way?" inquired another shaman. 

"Isn't he the man who always visits Jinseong? He's that feminine-looking guy, if I remember correctly", added another.

"Ohh, the man who's courting our Jinseong"

"He's not courting me." Jinseong spoke rather timidly, recalling her conversation with Yein earlier. "We're just friends and that's it."

"You can't be certain of that. We don't know what will happen in the future", said another shaman with a hum.

"There's no future." Jinseong forced a smile despite the negative thoughts. "He's leaving as soon as he's well. He's a traveller and he has better places to be. I'm sorry but can we please drop this conversation? I feel bad for him since he's sick while we're talking behind his back."

"Well then," Chiwon, who was as surprised as the other shaman at Jinseong's statement, spoke up and shifted the conversation away from the sick person.

'Finally, some peace and quiet.' While the others were chatting, Jinseong's attention was solely focus on her meal. She wanted to finish dinner as soon as possible to check up on Yein. 'He hasn't eaten since this morning. What kind of sickness does he have? I heard there's a good doctor in the other village. I've never been there but I should accompany him if he's still not better. What if he lose consciousness again?' Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream, followed by a thud from outside. All eyes turned to the door but all were frozen in their seats. This dinner would not end as peacefully as she thought. For a few seconds, there was only silence except for the heavy nervous breathings by the women inside the room.

"I'll check what's going on." The head shaman uttered out as she gathered all her courage to stand up and go outside.

"I-I'll go with you." Another shaman said in almost a whisper, hurriedly following the head shaman who was already outside the door. The rest were silent, unsure of what was happening but everyone knew something was wrong. There was a scream - it was the scream of the head shaman. Then, there was another, the scream of the shaman who followed her. This time, everyone rose up from their seats, hurrying towards the door.

"Soldiers! There are soldiers!" Screamed another shaman, throwing everyone in disarray. Everyone rushed outside in panic. Jinseong was standing behind the door, frozen in her place as she watched outside. There were soldiers with horses passing by outside the temple and there are a few soldiers rushing towards the temple. She had never seen them upclose before - metallic protective armors, swords, heavy boots, bows. Everything was so unfamiliar. 

"Jinseong! Let's go!" It was Chiwon who grabbed Jinseong's hand and pulled her outside of the temple, running away towards the back, where she hoped the enemy had still not seen. "I don't know what's going on but those soldiers are going to kill everyone. I won't let them kill you." Her voice was shaky and despite it being dark, her best friend could tell that she was crying.

"We won't die here." She replied in monotone despite the attempt to sound reassuring. Her mind was blank. It seemed to have stop functioning the moment her eyes saw the soldiers outside. She felt Chiwon gently squeezed her hand and she squeezed her's back. A moment later, they were already behind the temple. Both girls were panting, already tired from the short run.

"We just have to climb the wall and esca-- ahh!" Chiwon's sentence was interrupted by her own scream when a couple of soldiers jumped from the wall. The two best friends took a step back. Chiwon let go of Jinseong's hand, to spread out her arms and cover for her. "Jinseong, please run away. I'll try to distract them." Her voice was shaking as she whispered to her friend.

"Are you crazy?" Jinseong snapped out of her trance to grab Chiwon's hands again. They could escape together. She was not sure how but they could do it if they tried. Unfortunately, it was too late. An arrow came flying and hit Chiwon on her chest. "Ch-Chiwon!" Her shaking hands found its way to Chiwon's bleeding chest.

"Man, how troublesome," Chiwon said in between sobs and grunt. "I told you to run away."

"Chiwon? Ch-Chiwon?" Jinseong felt her knees go weak and she fell, sitting on the ground with her best friend leaning towards her, already lifeless. She felt tears rushing out of her eyes and her heart sinking. "You can't die here. You still have to be the head shaman, remember? A-and I can't do all their errands by myself. Being the youngest is always hard. Wake up. Please. You're my only friend. Please."

Her vision was already blurry from the tears but when she looked up at the enemy, she could tell that an arrow was on its way to hit her. She was too devastated to move and she didn't even bother to. However, the arrow never landed on her for a familiar figure blocked it with his bare hand. A "familiar figure" would be much of an understatement. It was the figure of the murderer she would never forget. He shot her a glance, his eyes as gray as she remembered. The moonlight illuminated the creature's features, white hair, white complexion, wolf's ears, tails and claws - the beast was standing right before her eyes.