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1.
Baek Saheon was born the fourth of four children.
By the time he came into the world, two of them were already gone. The eldest, Baek Ilheon, had been chosen as the Blessing of Jisan several years ago. The third, Baek Samheon, had wandered off as an infant and fallen into a big jar of alcohol.
To young Baek Saheon, neither of these stories felt all that relevant to himself. He only thought of his brothers when he played with the toys they had left behind. Since most of them were broken in some way, he’d think to himself, ‘Could've at least left something usable.’
Still, even broken toys were better than none. Having come home from school, Baek Saheon hurried through his daily chores—wiping the altar, setting up the water bowls, lighting incense—before heading to his room.
Baek Saheon had a fun time playing alone for quite some time, until suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine. He looked up at the clock. Late afternoon had come quicker than he’d realized.
Because his room also doubled as a storage space, adults often came and went. If the place wasn’t spotless when they did, he’d receive terrible scoldings. Baek Saheon quickly began tidying up.
He was tidying his sheets when he heard someone approach behind him.
“Saheon-ah!”
It was his older sister.
Baek Saheon turned around. His sister, dressed in her usual white dress, was peeking in through the five-colored cloth strips hanging over the doorway.
“Saheon-ah, want to eat dinner early today? I’ll cook.”
His sister made good ramyeon. Baek Saheon nodded.
“What’s this? Can’t we just eat ramyeon?”
“Have some patience. I’ll make it delicious.”
His sister said without looking up from her book.
Baek Saheon frowned. He’d expected a tasty bowl of ramyeon, only to find that she wanted to try some unfamiliar dish she’d found in a cookbook from the school library.
“Look, let’s eat something fancy for once. People in Seoul eat stuff like this all the time. They sell this in restaurants there.”
‘But I like ramyeon,’ he thought. Still, since the person doing the cooking had made up her mind, what choice did he have? As his sister took a handful of tomatoes from the fridge and started chopping, Baek Saheon sat at the table, squinting at the cookbook word by word.
“Pizza cheese? We don’t have that.”
“Regular cheese is fine. It all melts the same.”
“What’s an oven?”
“It’s the same as a microwave. We can use that.”
“…”
She was always like this—acting like she knew everything. Whatever Baek Saheon said to her, she always had an answer ready. He never won.
Before long, she had all the ingredients prepped. Ignoring his sulky expression, she slid the dish into the microwave, closed the door, set the time, and pressed start.
They both watched silently as the timer counted down.
“...Wanna play word chain?”
“I’m tired of that.”
Baek Saheon replied, still pouting. The room was once again filled with silence.
“The girls at school taught me to dance. Want to learn?”
“A dance?”
“Yeah, it's the new dance by VTIC.”
Their house didn’t have a TV. But his sister’s school was in a bigger town, and so she often heard stories about idol singers and dramas from her classmates.
“Watch this.”
With the microwave humming behind her, she started twirling and humming a tune Baek Saheon had never heard before. He watched her for a while, then said something that came from the very depths of his heart:
“You’re really bad at this.”
“What? No! That’s how it’s supposed to look!”
“No way. It looks so weird.”
“Hey, you—!”
Raging and swearing brings misfortune. So instead of yelling or hitting, she just shoved him. Baek Saheon shoved back.
“Wait, stop! It’s done! We have to eat it right away!”
When the microwave dinged, they ended their scuffle right away. As Baek Saheon watched, his sister carefully took the hot dish out with a towel.
The melted cheese looked convincing enough, and it smelled amazing. Hunger was catching up to him. Baek Saheon scooped up a big spoonful of tomato and cheese, and then carefully bit in.
“...!”
It was delicious.
Scorching—but delicious.
Before his sister could even rush him, he began eagerly blowing on his spoon and digging in.
“See? Told you it’d be good.”
His sister beamed, smugly.
…Having an older sister who knew everything, annoying as it was, could be kind of nice.
The tomato gratin was delicious, but too hot to devour quickly. Even after his sister had finished, Baek Saheon was still working through his bowl.
The kitchen door slid open.
“What are you two doing?”
It was their great-grandfather. The siblings quickly bowed politely.
“Eating dinner? Did you bring dinner to your Maknae Uncle?”
“Oh! I’ll do it right after this!” she said, acting startled as if she had truly forgotten.
“You children shouldn't be eating before him. Keep your manners straight.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Hurry and go, Yiheon-ah.”
“Of course.”
As soon as Great-Grandfather left, Baek Saheon’s sister shot him a glare.
It was obvious what it meant: You ate too slow. Now we got caught!
If they’d finished faster and hidden somewhere, Great-Grandfather might’ve made some other cousin take the meal instead. But now that they’d been caught, there was no escaping it.
“Hey, Baek Saheon, you’re coming too,” she whispered.
Baek Saheon stared at her, cheeks puffed with tomato, looking utterly wronged. He told you to go, so why me?
“This is your fault!”
“...No, I was eating fast!”
“But not fast enough! Come on.”
Sigh. Baek Saheon nodded, scowling.
It was early evening when the two children left the house, carrying the bundle wrapped around a bowl of chicken porridge.
Truth be told, Baek Saheon didn’t hate running this errand for Maknae Uncle that much. It was a bit of a hassle, but it also meant staying out of sight of the elders for a while. His sister was the one who really disliked it.
They chatted idly about school and relatives as they walked to the far end of the village.
When they arrived, they easily spotted their uncle absorbed in his work. While Baek Saheon watched, his sister set the meal down and called out:
“Uncle, your dinner’s ready!”
Maknae Uncle raised his pale face toward the bowl. He was smiling faintly.
When Baek Saheon had been very small, this uncle had adored him. He used to pinch his cheeks, sometimes kiss them, even pretend to bite them—all without even giving him snacks or anything good. Baek Saheon had always considered him a rather irritating adult.
But that was before.
Because a month ago, Maknae Uncle had been chosen as the Blessing of Jisan.
Without a word, without even looking at the siblings, Maknae Uncle walked over with that unwavering faint smile and sat down before the bowl. He quietly lifted his spoon and began to eat.
Baek Saheon’s sister stood there, watching in silence.
The walk home felt strangely quiet.
Just as Baek Saheon was about to say something, his sister spoke first.
“Saheon-ah, are you scared?”
“...?”
“I mean, because of Maknae Uncle.”
Was he scared of their Maknae Uncle?
Not really. If anything, he’d disliked the old uncle—the one who’d teased him. Now, at least, he didn’t bother him anymore.
It was a weird question. He blinked.
“Why? Are you scared?”
“What? No, I’m fine.”
“You’re scared!”
“I said I’m not! Geez, receive some good fortune.”
She reached out and tugged his earlobe downward, hard. Their grandmother always did this, saying long ears brought good fortune—but his sister’s intention was clearly different.
“Ah, stop it!”
They started scuffling again.
When their house finally came into view in the distance, his sister spoke once more.
“Saheon-ah, don’t be scared.”
Hadn't he said he wasn't scared? Before he could protest again, she continued.
“We’ve already had so many people chosen from our family. That means you and I won’t be picked for a good while. The chances are really low.”
Baek Saheon looked up at her.
“There are so many families in Jisan, right? The probability of it happening again and again to ours is tiny. So for the next few years, we’ll be safe. You and I only need to go to the city before anything happens, and then live quietly there.”
It was only in that moment that, quite suddenly, Baek Saheon realized:
Someday, he’d grow up.
He’d finish elementary school, move up to middle school.
And someday, he’d be given his own chance to become the Blessing of Jisan.
And when that day comes…
“Don’t be scared,” his sister said again, her voice firm as ever.
“You and I will be fine. I promise.”
2.
The way to cook ramyeon was simpler than he thought.
Pour two cups of water into a pot and wait until it boils, then add the soup base and the noodles. After that, you had to wait for five minutes. To keep time, Baek Saheon’s sister would run the empty microwave for five minutes, so he did the same.
During those five minutes, he took some green onions from the fridge, cut them up with scissors, and tossed them into the pot. He stirred the noodles with long chopsticks, lifting them up several times to make them chewy. When five minutes were up, he turned off the heat. The ramyeon was done.
Baek Saheon looked down at the finished bowl of ramyeon with some relief.
‘It’s easier than I thought.’
It hadn't been long since he had first started cooking ramyeon by himself, but he’d done rather well. He could now prepare dinner all by himself.
While he was eating, the kitchen’s sliding door rattled open. It was one of the elders. Baek Saheon hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of noodles and bowed his head.
“So, Saheon-ah, did you get a meal to your sister?”
…Ah.
Ever since his sister had drawn the golden stick at the festival and been taken away by the village elders, Baek Saheon hadn’t seen her again.
Not that he wanted to.
He bit his lip.
He resented her.
His sister who swore she’d never be chosen first, his sister who promised they’d go live together in the city once they grew up — she’d broken her promise and left him behind.
So no, he didn’t want to see her.
But he couldn’t disobey Great-Grandfather. So Baek Saheon picked up the cloth bundle containing the chicken porridge and set out on the road.
“Noona.”
Even when he called her, she didn’t turn around. Baek Saheon set the bundle down and walked up to her, lightly tapping her back.
Only then did she turn. Her pale face held an unfocused, vague smile. It looked strange on her. Baek Saheon swallowed hard.
“Noona, eat.”
She didn’t move.
What now? Baek Saheon poked her arm, again and again, until her unfocused eyes finally lifted toward him.
At last, she stood up.
“The food’s right there. Go eat.”
But instead of moving to eat, she just continued to smile faintly at him. Then she lifted a hand toward his face—
and tugged down at his earlobe.
Startled, Baek Saheon reflexively shoved her away with both hands, the way he always had when she teased him.
She didn’t resist. She simply toppled backward and sat down on the floor.
“...Noona?”
His heart was pounding.
Was the real her still in there somewhere?
That strange smile, that eerie calm—was it just the same as the polite words she used in front of the elders? When no one was watching, would she turn back into her old self?
Maybe she hadn’t abandoned him after all?
“Noona, there’s no one here now.”
Baek Saheon whispered urgently.
“What are you going to do now? What should I do?”
She turned her head dully, then suddenly looked toward the corner of the room. Rising to her feet, she began to walk in that direction—
toward where Baek Saheon had set the bundle down.
Still with a faint smile on her face, she began to untie the cloth.
The rush of excitement inside him cooled down.
Even so, Baek Saheon couldn’t just give up. He stepped closer to her, speaking again as she lifted the bowl of porridge.
“Noona, what are you going to do now? Aren't you going to Seoul?”
She silently spooned up the porridge, saying nothing.
“Are you going to stay here for real?”
Baek Saheon said, frustrated.
“Just keep staying here, helping them with the festival…”
As his eyes wandered around the room, they landed on what she had been working on.
A thick rope. One end of it was tied into a loop. Like a…
Baek Saheon realized.
The thing his sister was making…
It was the rope to hang herself.
Baek Saheon instinctively stepped backwards from the rope.
His chest felt hollow.
His sister was still eating peacefully with a faint smile on her face. As he watched her, he felt a deep terror rise within him, terror as he had never known before. The terror of death.
With trembling footsteps he walked out of the room.
His sister hadn't been able to escape.
Even she couldn’t get away.
He could never end up like that.
He had to leave this village. He had to.
He had to avoid becoming like that by any means necessary.
No matter what it took.
3.
Finally a college student, Baek Saheon began his life in the city.
His goshiwon room was old and cramped. The landlord warned him that the walls were thin, so he should keep quiet and take phone calls outside whenever possible. Baek Saheon smiled and nodded. It wasn’t a problem — he didn’t have anyone to call anyway, and it wasn't like he wasn’t used to living quietly, watchful of others’ moods.
That had been in late February, the start of the semester. Now it was late April.
He’d put it off for as long as he could, but with the festival season approaching, there was no more delaying it.
He had to go home.
The village was in the middle of festival preparations.
The elders scolded him for coming down so late.
“It’s exam period.”
“I told you to come last month too. Why didn’t you?”
“I was busy keeping up with schoolwork.”
“Saheon-ah, school’s important, sure, but there are things more important than that. Our Jisan village—”
It’d go on like that. At least once the conversation reached this point, he could get by by repeatedly saying “Yes,” “You’re right,” and so on.
The longer the nagging went on, the more precious his tiny room in Seoul felt.
It might be narrow, smelly, and have a shared shower, but at least it was somewhere outside the village.
Truth to be told, there was another, more important reason why he valued his room.
The goshiwon was a space that may allow him to be no longer judged to be a villager, but an outsider.
Of course, the chances of freeing himself from the festival and the “truth” of the village through such a flimsy method were slim.
There were already villagers who lived outside, there was even a man in his fifties working as a sixth-grade government official in Seoul — yet every one of them still returned faithfully to the village once every month or two.
Even so, it was Baek Saheon’s belief that he needed to keep having a space in Seoul.
Since there was no proven route that guaranteed survival, he had to seriously consider every possible method that may even slightly help his chances.
That was what it meant to be desperate.
“Everyone, take a break~”
A massive soup cauldron arrived in the village square, where preparations were in full swing. The elders each scooped out a bowl of soup. Baek Saheon filled one for himself and sat among them, quietly eating.
From somewhere far away, a familiar sound of music drifted over.
The pungmulnori troupe.
His sister was coming.
Baek Saheon looked at his sister.
She was now part of the troupe, playing music and dancing with her whole body.
These weren’t the clumsy moves she used to make as a child—now, her motions were precise. Every gesture was sharp and perfectly timed to the beat.
There had been a time when he couldn't even look at her properly because just seeing her like that made him feel like throwing up.
Now he was used to it enough to keep eating as he watched.
While living in Seoul, Baek Saheon often thought about his sister.
About that reckless promise.
She probably hadn’t planned to run away blindly. Because she must have seen people who lived outside but still returned regularly to the village.
He hadn’t known as a little kid, but every festival season, flyers from a government agency called the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau were placed all around the village. He’d learned that only after becoming a teenager and starting to help with the festival himself. His sister must have known it too.
She must have also known that sometimes, during the festival, outsiders disappeared from the village — with someone’s help.
Maybe his sister planned to go to Seoul to seek help from the agency’s headquarters.
But when she herself was chosen, the Disaster Management Bureau hadn't been able to save her.
There needed to be another way.
A way that didn’t depend on something so unreliable as someone else's help.
When the day’s work ended, everyone went their separate ways. Baek Saheon walked home with Eldest Uncle.
After Great-Grandfather passed away, Eldest Uncle had taken over as the one who gave orders in the family. The official cause of death was “natural causes.” He’d died in his sleep, they said.
When Baek Saheon first heard the news, he’d thought — how wasteful.
“This was your room, right? You can sleep here.”
His uncle slid the door open as he spoke.
Baek Saheon looked around the room. In just a few months, it seemed the adults had begun using it as a proper storage space, filling the corners of the room with clutter. But there was still enough room to sleep.
In fact, compared to his goshiwon, it felt almost luxurious. He could spread out a blanket, stretch his legs all the way, and lie down comfortably—
“Saheon-ah, how is it? Much better than that goshiwon, right?”
His uncle smiled warmly.
“Feels good to be home, doesn’t it?”
Bile rose in the back of his throat.
Baek Saheon steadied his breath and quietly replied,
“Yes.”
4.
There was a good reason people always spoke so highly of big corporations. Their employee benefits were truly on another level — they even provided company housing!
When Baek Saheon first lay down on the soft bed of his new company dorm, the unfamiliar comfort kept him awake for a long time.
Of course, these days, he slept soundly every night.
Another advantage of working for a big corporation was the salary.
The regular deposits that appeared in his account every month felt almost unreal.
With that money, Baek Saheon bought groceries, daily necessities — and various other things.
The first big thing he bought was a comfortable suit and shoes — an important initial investment for surviving darknesses.
The next important purchase was an item.
Some fool in the new employee group chat was selling an item she had bought with points for cash.
‘You can’t buy points with money — is she out of her mind, turning them into cash like that?’
Thinking that someone with such poor judgment wouldn’t last long anyway, Baek Saheon sent her a private message.
That’s how he acquired the item — an eraser that could be used as a small bomb.
It was single-use, but quite handy, and he made good use of it.
Once, he woke up early to eat a quick breakfast before work, only to find the kitchen and living room reeking of blood.
Irritation welled up from deep in his chest.
‘Kim Soleum, that psychopath…!
Honestly, he didn’t care what his psychopathic roommate did in his personal time, as long as it didn’t involve him. He didn't want to know; it was safer that way.
But filling the living room with the stench of blood, isn't that just too much?
Baek Saheon ate his toast with a scowl, silently cursing his roommate, until he suddenly realized something.
He had money now.
He had legitimate rights to this space.
He could change the situation.
That evening, after work, Baek Saheon went straight to a department store and bought air fresheners and a luxury reed diffuser set.
From then on, the living room always smelled of lavender.
One day, while browsing online for household goods, an ad at the bottom of the screen caught Baek Saheon's eye. It was a neatly designed single-person sofa.
It looked familiar somehow.
Frowning slightly, he stared at the screen, until suddenly he gasped, “Ah!”
It was the sofa he had seen from a magazine his sister had once secretly taken from the school library when they were young. She had said that when she grew up and got rich, she’d live in a house with a sofa like that.
Baek Saheon became curious about its price. He clicked on the ad.
It wasn’t cheap, but compared to the balance in his bank account now, it was easily affordable.
That's right. He had money now. He had his own space. He could do lots of things.
Without thinking any further, Baek Saheon clicked the Purchase button.
Nearly a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
“Aren’t you the kid from the Baek family? Still haven't gotten rid of that eye infection?”
Baek Saheon sighed inwardly. How many times had he come back since getting the injury? How did this person not know? Did he live under a rock?
“Ah, I told you before, he’s the one who got himself damaged up in Seoul.”
“What, so that eye is gone?”
“Yes, sir. I got into a car accident on my way to work. I was hit with glass shards.”
At his explanation, the elder clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“You should’ve been more careful.”
“Right, Saheon-ah. You have to take good care of your body.”
To an outsider, it might have sounded like simple concern, but Baek Saheon knew what those words really meant:
‘You never know when you might draw the golden stick. You should keep your body pure and whole for that moment.’
Yeah, right.
As if I’ll ever let that happen.
Face expressionless, Baek Saheon gave a vague nod.
“I’ll be careful.”
“Good. Don’t get hurt again. Now go finish moving the supplies.”
“Yes, sir.”
With his lunch bowl in hand, Baek Saheon sat a little apart from the elders and began to eat.
By now, he had a concrete plan.
A plan that might let him survive — even if he were to draw the golden stick tomorrow.
It was possible that drawing the golden stick itself could become his way to guarantee long-term survival.
He went over each step of the plan in his mind, one by one.
Gradually, the distant sound of pungmulnori drums reached his ears.
Baek Saheon thought of his sister.
Suddenly, with no real reason, an image of her sitting on his single-seater sofa in his apartment popped into his head.
It was a comfortable piece of furniture, well worth the price in his opinion. She would’ve liked it, he thought, chewing slowly.
Soon the pungmulnori troupe came into view. Out of habit, he scanned their faces, looking for her.
Then his eyes met hers.
She was staring straight at him, her eyes wide open.
In that instant, Baek Saheon realized —
This was the first time she was seeing his injured eye.
He froze, spoon in midair, as he stared back at his sister.
He wanted to cry out loud, to tell her everything:
It’s not a wound from a car accident.
I made it happen myself, Noona. I survived because I made that decision.
I survived. And I’ll keep being a survivor…
A second later, she turned her head away.
Baek Saheon sat there blankly, watching her movements.
It had just been a coincidence.
A random overlap of dance and expression had caused him to face her wide open eyes.
It didn't take long for him to start feeling like an idiot.
His sister was dead.
The moment she’d hung herself at the seonangdang — or perhaps before even that — she had died.
The thing dancing before him now was nothing more than an empty shell of what once was.
Hollowness filled his chest.
Even so, Baek Saheon kept watching her throughout the remainder of his meal.
It wasn't like there was anything else worth looking at in this village.
5.
Baek Saheon survived.
Having arrived back at the company dorm, Baek Saheon opened the door, holding his backpack in one hand.
The scent of lavender greeted him.
He stood there for a moment, bag still in hand, before stepping past the living room into his room. Then he placed the bag on the single-seater sofa.
Baek Saheon had eaten nothing but emergency rations all day. He was starving. Without even changing clothes, he went straight to the refrigerator.
He could have ordered delivery, but he knew exactly what he wanted to eat. And contrary to what his sister had told him, he hadn't found a single restaurant in Seoul that served a dish called “tomato gratin,” to say nothing of getting one delivered.
He diced some tomatoes, sprinkled pizza cheese on top, slid the dish into the built-in oven, and set the timer.
All he had to do now was wait.
Baek Saheon slumped into the chair at the kitchen table.
Baek Saheon startled awake at the sound of footsteps.
‘Kim Soleum? No, he can't possibly be coming back now...’
The sound had come from his room. He quickly turned his head.
His sister, clad in her white dress, was stepping out from his room.
Baek Saheon didn’t move.
He couldn't move. His body felt frozen. It was as if he was in paralysis.
His sister walked out of the room, cautiously looking around.
As Baek Saheon watched, she headed into the living room. She seemed impressed by the large TV set. Then she stroked a cushion on the sofa, poking it curiously with her finger.
Having seemingly noticed the reed diffuser nearby, she approached it and waved her hand through the air, taking in the scent.
After circling the living room, she slowly made her way into the kitchen—and began to move in a deliberate rhythm.
It took Baek Saheon a moment to realize that she was dancing.
It didn’t resemble the forceful movements of the pungmulnori troupe, nor was it like the childish attempt at imitating the synchronized idol choreography she’d once promised to teach him as a child.
It looked natural.
Free.
Like a drop of water sliding on a smooth surface, changing directions on a whim.
Baek Saheon watched in silence, until quite suddenly, he realized he could move.
When he stood up, his sister lightly stepped aside, as if making room for him.
With a graceful motion, she extended a hand toward him, as though asking a question.
Baek Saheon took her small hand.
He didn’t know how to dance—but right now, he felt like he could.
Baek Saheon danced with his sister.
She guided him as if teaching him, and he followed her lead, moving his body in tandem with hers.
At times they moved side by side. Other times he held her hand, occasionally spinning her around or lifting her into the air.
It felt like only a moment had passed—or maybe a very long time.
Suddenly, she stopped. Following her lead, Baek Saheon stopped as well.
Standing still, she seemed to look at him, before giving him a sharp shove.
Caught off guard, Baek Saheon stumbled back a step.
His sister grinned at that.
Then, with quick, birdlike steps, she left the kitchen and walked toward the front door.
Just as her small hand turned the doorknob of the front door—
Ding—
Baek Saheon startled awake at the sound of the oven’s beep.
He must have dozed off at the kitchen table.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he went to the oven.
When he opened the door, the smell of tomatoes and cheese filled the air.
Wearing oven mitts, he lifted the dish and set it on the table.
The tomato gratin was as warm and savory as ever.
Baek Saheon thought:
I’m out of the village.
It’s over.
It’s all over…
Even now, he couldn't quite believe it. He had no idea what to do next.
But sitting at the kitchen table, chewing a mouthful of warm tomato gratin, Baek Saheon thought he could tell one thing for certain.
He was—
He was home.