"Shush, Baeka. We need to concentrate," the girl said to the white lapdog in a quiet voice as she read the tattered book for the hundredth time, making sure she has read and understood every line.
It was weird, she thought. She couldn’t remember killing a cat as part of the ritual last night, but it states here clearly that she has to boil one alive. Oh, well. Mr. Lee will have to miss Honey.
Her skin began to crawl as the water rose in agitation. She soon felt like a dressed chicken waiting to be stewed in front of the large boiling cauldron. Maybe it was the cold wind. Maybe it was Baeka's continuous barking. Or maybe it was something else.
The neighborhood's dogs soon joined Baeka in a chorus of howls as she started to read from the old hag's book.
"I summon thee, Prince of Darkness.
Reveal your majesty to your lowly servant.
I offer thee humble presents
Salt, water, fire, blood and this creature's breath of life"
With eyes closed upon reciting the last word, she hesitatingly dropped the yellow tabby into the cauldron and it screeched for its life under the heavy earthen lid. She then pricked her left ring finger with a pin, and let a few drops mix with the hideous broth.
"And we wait," she exhaled.
And so she waited as the puppy's barks became muffled yelps. She cuddled it in her arms as the temperature began to rise.
A few minutes later and nothing. Impatiently, she read the book again, worried that she has done the ritual wrong. Except for knocking over a few candles and pots, she believed that she has done a pretty good job. Now where was this Prince of Darkness?
Just when she was about to give up, something happened.
There was smoke. Smoke so thin and light, it could have been morning fog lost in midnight. Then the smoke began to take shape inside the circle. The small orb grew and took the form of a man; tall, lean with eyes that pierce through the darkness of the night.
The girl gasped in mid terror and excitement. This was it. Finally.
She will have her revenge.
But before we go any further, I think that it would be wise if we go back three weeks earlier from this moment.
Yes, three weeks.
Three weeks ago, I was in Thailand watching this show that features acts of great contortions. It was artful really. It was very, how would you put it? Oh, stimulating. I'm afraid I can not disclose the details for it would ruin the shock value and perhaps turn off some of you who are prudes by nature. But anyway, that has nothing to do with our story.
Our story begins three weeks prior to the ritual, in a milk tea house, downtown Seoul. You remember that girl who was cuddling a shihtzu? Yes, her.
Her name is Choi Sooyoung. She was an aspiring theater actress in her early twenties. Her looks was not that bad at all. Tall, well proportioned, long ash brown hair, chocolate colored eyes, beauty queen smile, and very prominent cheekbones. Nothing special, really. She did have a peculiar character though. She also had an above average fashion sense, loves to play this blue ukulele and her hair smells like cigarettes and roses. But I guess all hipster girls are like that. But I must tell you that she doesn’t respond well to being called a hipster.
She was under this scholarship grant in one of the most prestigious universities in Seoul. But as of three weeks ago, she was on the verge of losing it. She was failing her math class. Which is ridiculous, in my opinion. Really, why would you need math to be an actress? You get an agent and an accountant for trivial things like that.
Anyway, where was I? Milk tea house, right. She was in the milk tea house because her class was cancelled that fateful day. The professor was having stomach trouble due to the chimichangas he ate the night before. I love chimichangas, very nice Mexican food. I sometimes go to Mexico, get myself some chimichangas and watch luchadors.
That day, she was wearing a mustard yellow dress with grey baby collars with red pumps and grey stockings while puffing on her beloved Marlboro Blacks. Very picturesque and out of place, sitting on one of the comfortable couches. She texted her photogeek friends if they'd like to hang out but only one responded. That was Siwon.
CheonGuk University Photography Club is interesting a topic for me. It’s a huge club actually. The membership tallies to hundreds. But when I say the photogeeks, I am usually referring to only a handful of people.
There was Kwon Yuri, the beautiful and dark girl with eating disorders and inferiority complex. Every man’s dream come true. She loved to eat a lot and then regurgitate it after like she is some human blending machine. Disgusting but pretty. She also happens to be Sooyoung’s roommate and best friend. She secretly fancies Kris, the Chinese exchange student who was having a secret affair with Nana. Lim Jinah or Nana, the single mom. Her baby’s father left her long before the baby was born but she’s done crying it out. With or without a baby, she was still selling to both sexes. Perfect example would be Hwang Miyoung, who is called Tiffany. Your average overprotected Christian girl who secretly also has the desire for Nana. I’d like to see that dream of hers happen one day.
And then the otaku guys: Lee Jinki, who believe it or not was Sooyoung’s ex. He wore oversized shirts with slacks and a backpack as if it would kill him to have just a hint of fashion sense in his mortal shell. To complement that, he was a clumsy guy who had the emotional quotient of a seven year old. He’s usually seen with Dong Youngbae, the resident gynophobe who would freeze if a pretty girl as much as lay a finger on his shoulder. There was also Jung Yunho, the rich kid who isn’t really that much involved in anything. I wonder why he is part of the photogeeks. And then there was Siwon.
Well, as for Siwon, I don't have much to say. I mean, he's not that interesting a character in my book if you know what I mean. He was, in Sooyoung's terms, a Jesus-freak. His tagline would be "When I became a Christian…" yadada, yadada. Clearly, he was someone that most people would like to avoid in fear of getting dragged to a prayer meeting. He was someone I’d never have wanted to meet in my whole existence, given the choice.
Sooyoung was waiting for Siwon while drinking milk tea with rock salt and cheese while playing with some cards. You see, Siwon promised to teach her some card tricks. The kind you would use to impress women in bars or entertain guests at a children’s parties. It wasn’t supposed to be a 'date date', more like a ‘we’re hanging out because no one else is available at this very moment’ kind of date. Siwon was running late but Sooyoung was the kind of girl who was fine with waiting.
After three hours, he finally arrives looking oh so… average, with his white shirt, blue jeans and a backpack. This is the part of the story where we begin to realize that Sooyoung's friends are mostly fashion sense challenged. Although that sounds awkward as a politically correct term, let us leave it at that until I find a more clever way to say that I would like to burn all their wardrobe along with their bodies in a distant star because hell does not want unfashionable rubbish in it's realms.
As promised he taught her some useless skills on cards and they had early supper, which if I may add was Sooyoung’s treat. They had japchae and ddokbboki. Not exactly my favorite Korean foods. Bulgogi and soju are always better. Back to the subject, their date. It meant nothing to her, really. They’ve been friends since time immemorial and she looked up to him as a brother. She confided her problems to him and as far as she was knew, he was interested in this girl named Jessica.
So you see, it took Sooyoung by surprise when Siwon held her hand that day and interlaced his fingers with hers. It really wasn’t like him. He wasn’t the type of guy who liked skinship with girls even if they were close friends. He didn’t say a word and neither did she. I would have, but of course I wasn’t there at that moment.
How it came about, you may ask. Well, as I have mentioned a while ago, Sooyoung was in the midst of losing her scholarship. Aside from that, her father’s Alzheimer’s is getting worse to the point that some days he doesn’t even recognize her anymore. She also lost her day job when the bakery closed. To cut it short, her life was a total wreck.
What has it got to do with her being a little too chummy with churchboy? She was seeking for guidance. I understand that it is human nature to look up to someone who seems to have their shit in order. That someone happened to be Siwon.
Siwon , as you may have guessed by now invited our damsel in distress to his church. Sooyoung, is an atheist she says. But really, she is more of an agnostic if you ask me. Atheists, they say that your God is a bunch of bollocks and if you don’t believe that, you are stupid. End of story. Agnostics on the other hand believe that they don’t know what to believe. So maybe the atheists are right about the others being stupid.
So Christian boy leads agnostic/atheist girl into their church. Sooyoung thought it wasn’t that bad except that Christian rock music was just plain corny. But overall you could say that Siwon’s romantic catechism worked on the poor lass. After their church service, they had dinner (which thankfully Sooyoung didn’t have to pay on her own again) and parted merrily with a hug.
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