Broken Days at Daeho Mountains

The air in the room thickened, incense smoke curling like restless serpents. Choi Sun sat across from them, her face half-shadowed by the flickering lamplight. Her eyes were covered but her aura was hollow as though she had lived too many lives inside one body.

Dal Mi had quieted, her small body slumped against Seo Yul's shoulder. Every now and then, her lashes fluttered, but sleep had finally taken her, leaving the room heavy with the sound of her steady breathing. Seo Yul held her with a care so instinctive it almost hurt him-like the simple weight of her reminded him of how easily she could slip away if they did nothing.

The woman before them-Choi Sun, pale and blindfolded, her white robes touched faintly with ash at the hem-sat cross-legged, her voice low but unshaking as she began her story.

"I will not hide from you. The spirit inside your daughter is no wandering soul, no accident of fate. It is mine."

Jang Uk stiffened. His hand, which had been resting on the hilt of his sword as if prepared for danger, tightened. "Yours?"

Cho Yeong's breath hitched, the sound sharp and incredulous. "You put this spirit in her?"

The shaman did not flinch, though the accusation cut through the room. "I had no choice," she said. "Years ago, when I was young... I was sold into marriage."

Her words fell like stones into still water, breaking the silence in ripples.

"My parents did not tell them of our lineage-that Choi women are of a shaman lineage and cannot hold happiness in marriage. They were blinded by wealth and my husband's family was blinded by the possibility of becoming a mage family through me. Six months after the marriage, my husband's family members began to fall ill. His father died, then his brothers. And so, I was blamed."

She let the memory settle, her tone almost detached, as though it was not her story.

"They cast me out, though I was three months with child. I wandered the villages, reading fortunes to survive, until my belly began to show. Then the people called me a fraud. A shaman cannot be with child, they said. I was beaten, starved, cursed at until my voice gave out. When the sickness of the world pressed too heavily, I had only my unborn child to cling to."

Seo Yul's arms shifted slightly, as though to shield Dal Mi from the words, though she slept soundly. Yi Na rubbed his arm to comfort him and looked down, her brows knitting, unwilling to meet the woman's face.

"On the roadside, near the market, I begged. And that was where I saw you." The blindfolded woman's head tilted toward Cho Yeong.

Cho Yeong startled, her lips parting.

"You dropped your purse, and I took it," Choi Sun admitted. "I was a thief that day, running from the hands that would strike me. In that purse was your magic-it clung to it like breath. And when I touched it, I read you."

Her blindfolded eyes turned downward. "You were with child. Strong. Whole. The kind of fortune I knew my son would never have."

Jang Uk took a step forward, his voice low and edged with warning. "What did you do?"

Her fingers tightened in her lap. "I tried to save him. My son. He was coming too early-too small, too frail. He would not live. I... I remembered an old curse, one in my family for generations: that a spirit could be carried forward, if tied to another. I thought, if I could place him in your womb, if I could keep him safe until I found you again, I could extract him before he harmed your child. It was my only gamble."

Cho Yeong's hands curled into fists. "You used me."

"I used you," the shaman agreed softly, her voice heavy with remorse. "But your child fought back. She would not give herself over. Instead, she pressed the sickness meant for her onto me. Blindness was her gift to me."

The words drew silence over the room. The only sound was Dal Mi's faint sigh against Seo Yul's chest.

Yi Na spoke at last, her tone hushed. "Then the spirit inside Dal Mi..."

"Is my son," Choi Sun finished. "A boy. Frail, yet seeking. That is why she pulls Yang from those around her. His spirit reaches for what it knows it lacks-strength, life, breath. He is not evil. He is only surviving."

Jang Uk's jaw tightened, his gaze flickering to his daughter and then back to the shaman. "And yet he endangers her."

The woman bowed her head. "Yes. That is why I will recall him. I wronged you, Lady Cho. I wronged your child. If you have come here for the ritual, I will perform it. I can draw him out."

Seo Yul finally spoke, his voice low, steady, but filled with the weight of unspoken worry. "And what happens to her, when you do?" His hand shifted gently against Dal Mi's back, as if reminding the others of the girl's presence.

For a long moment, Choi Sun did not answer. Then she whispered, "She may weaken. Or... she may be freed."

Cho Yeong stepped closer, her voice like iron. "And if we do nothing?"

"Then the boy's spirit will continue to fight for survival. One day, it may overwhelm hers. Or she may grow strong enough to cast him aside herself."

The choice hung there, heavy as lead. Uk's hand brushed Cho Yeong's, and she gripped his fingers as though anchoring herself. Seo Yul, silent still, bowed his head over Dal Mi, unable to let go. Yi Na folded her arms, her eyes troubled but unwavering as she said what they were all thinking:

"Either path puts her life at risk."

The room filled with their silence once more, and outside the mountain wind howled against the old wooden walls.

After some time, Seo Yul looked up and whispered, "Let's return to Jeongjingak with the shaman. I believe this is the choice Master Lee was referring to the other day."

*********************

The return to Jeongjingak was shorter and carried a silence heavy as stone. Choi Sun, led gently by Seo Yul's steady hand, walked with a composure that unsettled the disciples. She was blind, and yet her presence did not waver; she seemed to know every uneven patch of the ground beneath her feet. When Master Lee saw her, his sharp eyes softened.

"A woman born on a yin month, on a yin day, at a yin hour..." His voice trailed into a sigh. "It is no coincidence you stand here now."

That night, Yi Na slipped quietly into Choi Sun's quarters with a tray of warm food. The others avoided her, whispering about curses and punishment, but Yi Na could not.

"You should eat," Yi Na said softly, setting the tray down.

Choi Sun smiled faintly, her unseeing gaze turned toward the sound of her voice. "You are the only one here who does not despise me."

"I understand you and them, but hatred doesn't fill a stomach" Yi Na replied.

A silence stretched between them, filled only by the soft rustle of night air through the paper windows. As Yi Na rose to leave, Choi Sun's voice stopped her.

"Wait," she said. "I... I have nothing to give in exchange for your kindness. Please, let me read your fortune."

Yi Na hesitated. "You cannot see-"

"Sight is not the only way to perceive," Choi Sun murmured. She reached for Yi Na's hand, her fingers brushing gently against her wrist and then her palm, as though feeling the threads of fate woven into her pulse. Her expression grew solemn.

"You have walked a lonely road," Choi Sun said softly. "Carrying a burden in silence, never asking to be seen but choosing your own destiny. Difficult but admirable. Now that peace and rest is close at hand, do not waver. What you seek, what you long for, is closer than you think."

Yi Na blinked, startled. "What do you mean?"

Choi Sun's lips curved in a faint, knowing smile. "Your gift will arrive soon."

Yi Na's breath caught, as if the words stirred something she had not yet admitted even to herself. She pressed her lips together, too moved to reply, and slipped out quietly, her steps heavier than before.

Before dawn broke, the ritual began. The air within Jeongjingak thickened with incense and chants. Master Lee oversaw the arrangement, his voice calm but firm as he guided each step in reverse of the dark rite once performed at Wolho Fortress.

Dal Mi lay at the center, her body still, as if caught between this world and another. Candles flickered, their flames bending toward the circle drawn around her, her blood already dropped on the compass. Choi Sun, veiled in white, stepped forward with steady grace, led only by the firm grip of Seo Yul, stopping before the compass.

As the final incantations rose, Choi Sun knelt by Dal Mi's side. The chamber trembled, a low hum filling the air as the spirit resisted. Then, with a voice clear and unwavering, Choi Sun summoned it into herself.

Her body convulsed once, then stilled. She drew in a breath that sounded both sharp and relieved - and then it left her for the last time. The light of the compass relic and the candles went out in unison.

Silence fell.

Yi Na's hand flew to her mouth. Seo Yul turned his face away, jaw clenched. Even Jang Uk and Cho Yeong, Dal Mi's parents, who were once offended by Choi Sun's influence, bowed their heads in grief.

Master Lee closed his eyes. "Despite all our efforts... the balance demanded a price. And she... chose to bear it." His voice was quiet, almost reverent, as though he had already understood why Choi Sun had volunteered.

Days passed in a hush; Dal Mi had not woken up since the ritual. Master Lee had said not to worry but even his eyes betrayed his words. When Dal Mi finally stirred, her lashes fluttering open, Jang Uk, Cho Yeong, Seo Yul and Yi Na rushed to her side. Relief broke across their faces - until Dal Mi's voice trembled in confusion.

"Why... why is it so dark?"

She turned her head, eyes wide but unseeing.

The room grew still. The cruel irony settled on them all at once - that Choi Sun, who had walked her the past five years blind, had given her last breath so Dal Mi might live... only for Dal Mi to open her eyes into the same darkness.

A/N: Yes, I did 🥹 Don't hate me. Leave your comments, they encourage me. As always, Live and Love 💕💕💕