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The Black Dragon was awake.
Seon Mi gasped in pain, her hands desperately trying to stem the blood gushing from her abdomen. The stab wound hurt. It hurt so much. She was in so much pain. But she had to keep going. She had to fulfill her duty as Sam Jang. She had to... so the world would be ok again. So that Han Joo would get to cry on his daughters wedding. So Son Oh Gong wouldn’t risk his life for her.
She stared at the raging dragon as it rushed towards her, roaring and steaming. A gentle smile was on her lips despite the tears in her eyes. This was her duty. This was her summon. She would fulfill it as she was supposed to. She may have lived a difficult life but she'd save others from a similar fate if she could.
Ready to contain the dragon in her body, she tried to stand up straighter as the evil being in front of her tried to pass through the doors to the human world.
The next second she was pushed out of the way. She fell to her knees, her legs giving way without any strength to keep her up any longer. She clutched her stomach. (Why did it have to hurt so much ?)
Son Oh Gong.
Her Guardian was in front of her, sword outstretched as he faced off the dragon, daring it to try and come through the gates. Her noble idiot of a lover. Seon Mi should have known that not even all the gods in heaven could keep him from coming to her rescue. He just loved her that much, to the point where he was willing to risk his life and die for her. The Great Sage, Son Oh Gong, who was selfish and arrogant and wouldn't think twice about saving anyone but himself was now willing to give up his life for hers. Her, who just months ago, he was among those who wanted to take her life. Seon Mi couldn’t say she didn’t feel relief in knowing someone loved her. Someone loved the human Jin Seon Mi. All her life she didn’t expect anyone to care whether she died or lived unless she was useful to them. Even among her newfound friends she knew they only cared so much as she could help them in one way or the other. But Son Oh Gong cared. He loved her more than anyone else had even bothered to try since her grandmother gad died.
But this wasn’t his duty. It was Sam Jang’s. Sam Jang had to contain the dragon and die for the evil to be destroyed completely. The evil could be stalled but not stopped.
Seon Mi watched in horror as the dragon tried to desperately break through the magic barrier Son Oh Gong was erecting. The sword he was using was aflame, blood pouring from his mouth. This was straining him. Fighting a dragon was tough but a black dragon which had consumed the evil energy of thousands of spirits which were stagnant and left to fester for a few weeks was much worse. Her Guardian was beaten and bruised and he hadn’t even come in contact with the dragon yet. His breathing was labored as he slashed the sword in complex arcs through the air, shooting out a column of flame each time to add to the layer creating the barrier.
‘This isn’t his job’, was the only thing Seon Mi could think as she watched. 'I can't let him die for me.'
Removing one of her hands from her abdomen, (it hurt, it hurt, it hurt so bad !), she raised it to shakily aim towards the Great Sage. Her energy was drained from her wound but her powers would still work. Using the pain she felt as a channel, she forced her magical energy to assist Son Oh Gong. Her power gave him the added strength he needed to keep going. He was barely standing at this point and Seon Mi knew he couldn’t hold out much longer. She also knew that wouldn't keep him from trying until he was dead. With a shaky breath and an agonized groan she stood up.
Beads of sweat were trickling down the Great Sage’s forehead as he tried to keep the dragon at bay. However the black serpent like creature was getting impatient. With a vigor stronger than before, the dragon rammed itself into the invisible wall Son Oh Gong was trying to keep up. It was only Seon Mi’s added magic kept it from breaking.
Another hit, another, and another. The barrier had cracks in it and Son Oh Gong could feel his arms growing heavy. The wall wavered. His feet were being pushed against the stone floor, the dark energy forcing him away. But Son Oh Gong was desperate to save his beloved. His Jin Seon Mi. The owner of his heart. He couldn’t see her die. He couldn’t spend a day without her in this world. With an enraged yell he once again tried to create an arc of fire to add another layer to the shield but the dragon was waiting for this opportunity.
As the Great Sage’s arm swiped through the air, the barrier flickered and the black dragon took its chance. It crashed into the invisible force field, shattering it completely. Even Sam Jang's powers couldn’t stop it this time. It gave an angry roar and charged through the gate between earth and it’s confinement.
Son Oh Gong didn’t have a chance to react. At that very moment, Jin Seon Mi pushed him away fearing he would get hurt. The black dragon tore through the gate and straight into her chest. An agonized scream ripped through her throat as she writhed. She fell to the ground, extreme pain consuming her as the amalgamated evil was contained inside her body and tortured her kind soul.
“JIN SEON MI !”
Oh Gong could only scream her name in horror. He rushed to her writhing form on the ground. She was in so much pain and the blood wouldn’t stop flowing from her abdomen. She had fainted. Tears filled his eyes as he knew that even he couldn’t save her from death now.
But not here. This evil place wouldn’t be where his beloved would take her last breaths. Where death would take her away from him.
Gathering her in his arms, the Great Sage disappeared from the world’s eyes.
He brought her to the garden in Sureumdong. His home. Their home… or what would have been had fate not been so cruel. He cried softly as he wiped the blood streaking out of her mouth and down her chin.
“Jin Seon Mi,” his voice was cracked and hoarse. “Jin Seon Mi.”
She opened her eyes, the turmoil behind them showing the evil was consuming her. She was doing her best to keep it at bay.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and Son Oh Gong shook his head. She didn’t have to be sorry. There was nothing for her to be sorry for. He was the one who was sorry. He couldn’t protect her. Her, the one and only person he loved so deeply he hung stars in the sky for her. Her, the one person who made the Great Sage want to be better.
Seon Mi looked up to the sky. It was significantly lighter, the dark clouds covering it slowly disappearing. The evil had been contained, and was only needed to be destroyed now.
“You have to,” she whispered to him. “You have to destroy the evil. This is our fate.”
Son Oh Gong sobbed. No, he didn’t have to. He couldn’t. He refused to. He wouldn't kill her.
“You have always done everything I asked you to, always fulfilled my every wish. As much as I was sad that you didn’t love me without the Geum Gang Go, now I am relieved,” she lifted her blood coated hand to his cheek, a gentle smile across her lips and tears leaking from her eyes. “Now, when you are alone in the world, love won’t be there to make you sad.”
Tears of anguish fell from the once Great Sage’s eyes.
He couldn’t tell her he loved her for real. He had hoped to tell her as soon as he defeated the black dragon, if he survived. He planned to take off the binding bracelet and tell her just how much he truly loved her. He would tell her his real feelings, kiss her, express his adoration for her in every way he could as a promise that he was hers and she was his. But now he couldn’t tell her. Seeing his lover’s eyes, he saw the relief that shone in them. The delusion that he wouldn’t hurt after being left alone in this wretched world without her because of the Geum Gang Go was the last thing that was keeping her happy. It was her last wish.
Son Oh Gong nodded as he tried his best to contain his tears. He wanted her to die happy. If he couldn’t protect her, this was the last thing he could do.
Jin Seon Mi smiled gratefully. She had always been afraid she would die alone. Cursed, unloved and uncared for by anyone in the world. She expected that no one would be there for her in her last moments to tell her they loved her or mourn her after she was gone. Here, in Son Oh Gong’s arms, she felt safe. Someone loved her, was mourning her and cared for her. She wasn’t cursed and she had saved people. She hadn’t hurt the people she loved but had saved them instead.
“I love you,” she whispered for the last time as her hand went limp and fell from his cheek. Her breathing ceased and her heart stopped beating. The evil contained in her went stale and broke apart, never to enter the world.
“Jin Seon Mi,” Son Oh Gong’s voice hitched. His facade broke and he broke apart, realizing his beloved was no more. He held her tighter in his arms, sobs wracking through his body as an anguished yell of pain and desperation tore through his lungs.
She was dead. Jin Seon Mi was dead. The owner of his heart, the one person that made his life worth living was no longer in the world
He didn’t know how long he sat there, crying over her dead body. Son Oh Gong’s heart had shattered the moment his Jin Seon Mi had stopped breathing.
His beloved had took her last breath where they were supposed to be married. They were supposed to be happy together. He was to protect her from the evil, destroy it, ensure nothing would harm her and they would live happily for eternity.
Death, the one entity the Great Sage couldn’t beat. The one thing he had been so desperate to protect his Jin Seon Mi from was death. He knew she was human, but he was the Great Sage! Excellent at finding loop holes and cheating through the laws of heaven. Son Oh Gong would have erased Seon Mi’s name from the Book of Life and Death like he had done his own, would have stolen a peach of immortality for her so she could be with him forever. But death had stolen her anyway. Fate had taken his Jin Seon Mi away before he could stop it, and he was helpless to do anything.
Too wrapped up in his grief, he didn’t notice the old woman who walked towards him down Sureumdong's garden path, dressed casually in fashionable skirt and coat.
The moment he noticed her, Son Oh Gong’s eyes turned blood red. He clutched Seon Mi’s body closer to him.
“How did you get here !” He snarled at the woman. No one could enter Sureumdong without his permission. It was his sanctuary, his personal space.
“Most beings can not cross your barriers, Great Sage, fortunately I am not one of them.”
“You’re a peddler !” Son Oh Gong’s eyes turned darker. “How did you get in here ? Why did you come here ? My Jin Seon Mi is dead ! What more do you want from her ?”
“Her fate was to die.”
“Her fate could have been different. The all powerful immortals in heaven could have destroyed the evil. YOU DID NOT NEED TO INVOLVE A HUMAN ! You gave her a miserable life and a pitiful death and now have no remorse for it.” The Great Sage's fury was unpalatable. Because this was what Heaven did, hide behind others and let others take the fall. They had locked him up for centuries just for helping the humans they had scared and now they had forced one to fight for them. His human. His Jin Seon Mi.
“For a matter pertaining to the human world, only a human could have destroyed the dragon,” the peddler replied calmly, indifferently as if she hadn't been just as responsible for Seon Mi's death.
“You killed her,” Son Oh Gong spat venomously. He set his lover down and stood in front of her body, protecting her even in death. “And I will make you all pay for her sacrifice !”
“What will you do, Great Sage ?” The woman asked calmly.
Son Oh Gong’s lips curled into a wicked grin.
“What I did best,” he whispered. “I will burn this world and the heavens and make you suffer for what you did to my bride.”
“Will you ? Or are these empty words,” the peddler raised an eyebrow. For most heavenly deities, Son Oh Gong speaking of destroying worlds was a dangerous threat. This old lady was unperturbed.
“She is no longer alive,” Son Oh Gong answered. “There is no reason for me to care to not burn this world to ashes.”
“Yet you won’t,” the peddler replied with conviction. “Because she wouldn’t have wanted this.”
Son Oh Gong exhaled. This woman was seeing through him. She was a peddler deity without much power. How did she enter Sureumdong ? How did she know so much about their fate. Why was she here ? How was she seeing through him so easily ?
“Who are you,” the Great Sage growled.
“Me ?” The grandmother asked. “I'm the one who wrote your fate, Great Sage.”
Son Oh Gong’s eyes, again turned a deep red. He flashed back to the time Seon Mi had told him they had a lovers fate. Soulmates. She had looked so happy, so hopeful. Now she was lying dead behind him, her hopes having been futile, the bell she had understood to mean eternal love meant death. In the end the Great Sage had indeed been the one to kill her, in a way, because he couldn’t protect her.
“Leave,” Son Oh Gong’s hands went aflame. “If you want to survive then leave.”
“And if you want to see your love back, then take off the Geum Gang Go, Great Sage.”
Son Oh Gong didn’t stop advancing but he hesitated. The peddler stood her ground.
“A test of will is what I gave you. Jin Seon Mi gave up her life to save you, not becuase she was Sam Jang but becuase she loves you and she wanted the world to be good again for the people she cares for.”
The words were another stab to his heart. Seon Mi had been too kind despite how harsh the world had been to her.
“You all knew what would happen and sat by while she went to fight a being she had little hope to beat. A being even you all are terrified of," Son Oh Gong yelled.
“She was never supposed to kill it, Great Sage. You weakened it as was your role, and she contained it as hers. She completed the summons the heavens made her duty.”
“Her duty was to die.” Son Oh Gong chuckled darkly. “By hiding like cowards and stopping me from going to her until it was too late, you let her deal with a dark creature you all fear all alone. Don’t show such arrogance when you are all lesser than her.”
“Take of the Geum Gang Go, Son Oh Gong.”
“I don’t want to, why should I ? How much will you give me ? Even If you gave me everything in this world, I will never take it off.” He didn’t trust her and he had no reason to. She was a peddler in cahoots with the heavens after all.
“It is your last connection to her. If you want her back, then take it off. Only you have the power to do so now.”
The Great Sage looked at the woman for a long while. He looked at Jin Seon Mi’s body behind him through his peripheral vision. If he squinted he could pretend she was just asleep. That there was no blood on her hands and on her clothes. He gripped the Geum Gang Go on his wrist.
“Never.”
He looked the old lady in the eye. “You all will regret this.”
He disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The old peddler just sighed. She had certainly chosen the right couple but the groom wouldn’t rest until he had his bride back.
Son Oh Gong arrived in heaven, blood streaks on his face and eyes filled with a raging fire. The devil himself didn’t look as fearsome as the Great Sage, Equal to the Heavens when he appeared out on the platform that held the throne. The man sitting upon it was visibly shaken at his sudden appearance. He tried to greet the fearsome monkey king amiably yet Son Oh Gong ignored his pathetic stutters.
“Great Sage, long time no see,” the King gave a weak smile, trying to placate the furious deity in front of him.
As Son Oh Gong stood in front of heaven’s king and his court, his eyes swept the sky palace. His enraged all seeing eyes pierced through the souls of all the entities present, instilling within them a cold terror. His suffering had been an amusement to them for over five hundred years. They had finally taken this game of theirs too far. Son Oh Gong was a monkey, who better to play a game with such uncertain rules ?
“It will be the last time you see me again,” he declared quietly with his standard mischievous smile. His eyes didn't reflect the upturn of his mouth. “All of you… will die today.”
“Ya, Son Oh Gong, don’t get yourself kicked out again right as we have let you finally come back,” a foolish warrior spoke up from the court.
Oh Gong merely chuckled. Without turning to the deity who spoke, he held up is hand in the direction of the voice and clenched it into a fist. Oh Gong’s golden fired eyes remained locked with those of the terrified King’s as the sound of choked coughs filled the air. When Son Oh Gong finally let the deity go, blood was spilling out of its mouth.
“Kicked out ?” His mouth curled for a second before any facade of a smile dropped. “Where will there be left to kick me out from, when heaven no longer exists ?”
The King rose in horror, ready to protest but the Great Sage’s hands were already aflame. Son Oh Gong looked manic as he walked towards the throne ready to set it ablaze.
The King couldn’t speak as he was blasted away from the volatile Monkey King who only grinned hatefully as he touched his flaming hand to the throne.
“You took my beloved away from me,” he stated calmly, almost as if he were playing a game. The very game heaven started and thought they would finish with no consequences. "You sat with your hands folded as you let a human suffer an awful life and a pitiful death. You, with your heavenly claims of power and strength, yet not even remorseful or ashamed of having let her be a sacrifice to save you all and discarding her right after. You made her a pawn.“
Son Oh Gong’s looked at the terrified audience of deities who wouldn’t dare challenge him now. He touched his hand to the pillars behind the court which became columns of fire.
"I, the Great Sage, Son Oh Gong, Equal to Heaven, will make sure you end up just as pathetic and meet a miserable end like you prepared for my Jin Seon Mi !”
Son Oh Gong smiled in dark amusement as he turned to the King.
“Didn’t I warn you the sacrifice would come from your end ?”
The deities of heaven were helpless as the Great Sage concentrated his energy into a fire ball of mass destruction. One throw would be enough to burn all of heaven to ashes.
For Sam Jang’s sake, The Great Sage burned down an entire world.
For Jin Seon Mi’s sake, Son Oh Gong would burn down the heavens.
There was no more Jin Seon Mi who made him want to be good anymore. They had killed her and so would suffer his wrath.
He got ready to throw.
“Son Oh Gong !”
The cry of his name that rang out was urgent and worried yet caring... calming.
The deity in question stopped short, breath hitching and flames extinguished as his right hand slowly raised up to clutch his chest, above his heart as a pang of violent pain hit.
“Son Oh Gong !”
Jin Seon Mi.
The Great Sage turned around instantly, only to see his beloved, who had died in his arms less than an hour ago. She no longer had a wound in her abdomen and her cuts and bruises were healed. She had tears in her eyes as she called to him. Tears of concern and love.
"Son Oh Gong !" She called him a third time, seeing he had frozen, unable to believe his eyes.
The Great Sage walked slowly over to meet her. His feet were heavy and his eyes no longer fiery but broken. His disbelief was palpable, wondering if she was just a figment of his imagination and heartbreak or a trick from the heavens to make him stop before he killed them all.
She was now standing in front of him, as beautiful as always. He reached for her, gently raising his hand to touch her cheek, confirming she was real. The soul was hers. The energy was hers. She was alive. Son Oh Gong’s lips quivered, a question on the tip of his tongue as the disbelief in his eyes slowly faded.
She mirrored his action, gently raising a palm to his bloody cheek. A gentle touch of love and reassurance.
“Son Oh Gong,” she whispered. A teary relieved smile decorating her mouth.
“Jin Seon Mi.”
Relief leaked from his eyes and Son Oh Gong sobbed as he crushed her into a tight, protective hug.
“Jin Seon Mi. Jin Seon Mi. Jin Seon Mi.”
He repeated her name like a mantra. Seon Mi cried softly with him, returning the hug. Son Oh Gong pulled away slightly, taking in her presence. '
'How are you back', he silently questioned, drinking in her appearance as if she would disappear.
“Becuase of me, Great Sage.”
Standing in front of them was the peddler woman. The couple broke from their embrace yet Son Oh Gong still held Seon Mi’s hand tightly in his own.
“Who are you ?”
“I am Sam Sin. Goddess of Birth and Family. It was I who created the Aeryeong and decide soulmates.” The peddler woman gave a wry smile. “Creating a pairing between a human and demon is risky, especially between Sam Jang and her Guardian. That is normally the Grim Reaper’s choice of couple. The risk is even more when it is the Great Sage's fate to be decided. However risky, I decided to give you the Aeryeong fate while Death still chose you for Saryeong.”
“Why ?” Seon Mi asked in awe.
“You had both the black and the red bell fates. I chose you and made you both Star Crossed Lovers. You defeated your Death fate and I have the power to ensure your Soulmate one.”
“You brought Jin Seon Mi back ?” Son Oh Gong’s face was a mask of disbelief. His eyes searched the peddler's for any sign of a trick or joke. He found none.
“Yes, Son Oh Gong. You both passed my test so I brought her back. The heavens will be none too pleased," Sam Sin wrinkled her nose in displeasure at the cowering deities of the court behind them, "but they cannot go against my word. Human, Jin Seon Mi is no longer. She is now a deity as her chosen fate proclaimed. The sacrifice of her life, not because she was Sam Jang, but because of her humanity and kindness required reward. My bell fates can not be undone as easily as Death's.”
Son Oh Gong looked to his startled lover in shock. A choking breath escaped his throat as the full fact set in. She was alive and she would remain with him. Seon Mi looked up at him with similar expression to his. She was a deity. She was no longer Sam Jang. She could remain with her Son Oh Gong forever without having to worry about leaving him behind alone. She would finally get to be happy forever.
The couple looked at the goddess across from them in silent gratitude.
“Use my gift well, Son Oh Gong, Jin Seon Mi,” Sam Sin smiled as she disappeared into smoke.
He brought her back to the lock bridge where she had hung a lock of their love. It was a small and insignificant object more a symbol of how fickle human relationships were than how strong. The bridge was full of locks of all kinds, large and small of all colours representing so many relationships, most of which had fizzled out and ended despite the promise of forever held in those forgotten locks. Yet for the newly reunited couple whom even death couldn’t separate, the promise of forever was indeed for eternity.
“Jin Seon Mi,” Oh Gong whispered looking his bride square in the eye. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I have something for you, that will make you very happy. A secret I’ve been keeping so you wouldn’t be sad if I died.”
She looked at him in anticipated curiosity.
Son Oh Gong held out his wrist. Seon Mi looked to the golden bracelet and then to him, surprised.
“It didn’t disappear after I died ? Does it still work ?”
Son Oh Gong just watched as her gentle hands reached up to take it off. She pulled and the bracelet glowed slightly but refused to come off.
“Why isn’t it coming off ?” Seon Mi looked confused as she let it go after a few tries.
Son Oh Gong held out his hand again and slid the Geum Gang Go off his wrist, himself. He held it up for her to see as it vanished leaving behind only a puff of smoke.
“Jin Seon Mi, ask me anything. Although you may not want to, Please... ask.”
Seon Mi looked to him without the slightest apprehension of his answer.
“Am I still pretty ?” She whispered, tears already filling her eyes.
“Yes. You’re pretty… because I love you,” He answered.
The Great Sage stepped forward and embraced his lover in a tight hug which she returned.
“They didn’t disappear. The feelings are real. What a relief,” Seon Mi cried on his shoulder. “I love you.”
Son Oh Gong responded by kissing her tenderly. All the love, desperation and fear in his heart finally released. When the kiss broke, he leaned his forehead against hers, not once breaking embrace with his precious Jin Seon Mi.
She was his, and he was hers now. For eternity.