Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

Chapter 1Chapter 1

White snow fell in thick, heavy flakes.

Christmas carols echoed through the streets, and young couples passed him by, arm in arm, laughing and smiling.

Today was Christmas Eve, a day when everyone—especially lovers—was supposed to be happy.

“Haa, dammit.”

Kim Joo-hwan pulled the lapels of his coat tight and lowered his head. His nearly two-meter-tall frame hunched awkwardly.

He let himself be swept into the crowd like a piece of driftwood in a tide.

Amidst the sea of happy faces, Joo-hwan stood out, a head or two taller than everyone else, looking utterly miserable.

He lowered his head further, like an ostrich burying its face in its wings. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, walking forward to avoid seeing the joy of others.

After walking for a long time, he reached his usual subway station. There, something caught his eye that hadn’t been there the day before: a splash of red.

A man dressed as Santa was kneeling on the ground near the entrance.

It wasn’t that Joo-hwan wanted to see him. It was just that, since he was staring at the ground, the man naturally entered his field of vision. A piece of paper with crooked handwriting lay on Santa’s lap.

[Please tell Santa your wish.]

Santa’s red suit was stained with dirt. As Joo-hwan passed by, Santa held up the paper with trembling hands. He thrust the sign forward, nearly brushing Joo-hwan’s leg, making the words visible. Amidst the bustle of the crowd, a loud gurgle erupted from Santa’s stomach.

‘That was quite a sound.’

Joo-hwan, who had intended to keep walking, stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the station. A sigh escaped him.

On a day when everyone else was happy, here were two miserable people, though their miseries were of a different sort.

Santa and himself.

Between a man who lost his parents at a young age and an old Santa begging alone on a day like this, who was more unfortunate?

Normally, he wouldn’t have spared a second glance, but today was Christmas Eve—the anniversary of the day his parents died in an accident.

Thinking of it as an offering to his parents, Joo-hwan turned around and stood before Santa. His white breath drifted into the air like smoke before scattering.

He reached into the plastic bag he was carrying and pulled out five triangular kimbap—the ones he’d bought to eat with drinks tonight—and placed them in front of Santa. There were still five left in the bag. It was a bit—no, quite—short, but it couldn’t be helped.

He also pulled a ten-thousand won bill out of his wallet and set it down.

As he was pressing the bill down with the kimbap, Santa suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Kind soul! I wish to repay you! Please, tell me your wish.”

“….”

“I beg of you. The Santa industry is currently in decline because there are no customers. We cannot survive without human wishes. Please, consider it a good deed on a fine Christmas and tell me your wish.”

“….”

Joo-hwan had thought the man was simply begging in a Santa suit. Apparently not. He seemed a bit mentally unstable.

Joo-hwan grabbed Santa’s wrist with the hand holding the plastic bag to pull away, but the man didn’t budge.

“!”

Though he didn’t show it, Joo-hwan was startled. Not only was he tall, but he was also built. He was strong. To put it mildly, he was strong enough to knock over an average person with a single finger.

Furthermore, he had been quite rough in high school. He was an ordinary office worker now, but back then, he hadn’t hesitated to jump into a fight even if he ran into gangsters.

He had once fought off several gangsters alone, so his strength and fighting skills were far superior to most. For him to be unable to move an inch was a first.

Maybe this Santa was a very dangerous person. Joo-hwan instinctively took a step back. His gut screamed at him, flashing red lights in warning.

But Santa didn’t let go. Instead, he grabbed Joo-hwan’s other hand as well and spoke with even more intensity.

“Kind soul! Please, a wish… tell me your wish. I came here to grant your wishes. I cannot return to Santa Village unless I hear a wish. I beg of you.”

Santa’s eyes were bloodshot. He was definitely crazy. Joo-hwan desperately wanted to get away from him.

“If I tell you a wish, will you let go?”

When he spoke without thinking, Santa’s eyes sparkled, and he nodded fervently. The white beard and red hat bobbed up and down frantically before his eyes.

“Then, winning a hundred million in the lotto…”

“Lie! I smell a lie! That won’t do. Tell me your real wish.”

“….”

How did he know it was a lie? Or would anyone have known? Joo-hwan tried to pull his hands away, but still, the man wouldn’t budge.

Santa peered into his face with an intense gaze. An inexplicable anxiety settled in Joo-hwan’s chest. A restless, nervous feeling swirled inside him.

For some reason, Santa’s eyes felt dangerous. At that moment, his true feelings slipped out involuntarily. It felt as if someone had forcibly reached into his mind and pulled the wish out.

“I want a wife as lovely as a rabbit and a daughter as cute as a mongoose.”

As soon as he said it, Santa grabbed his hands and shook them vigorously.

“Easy! That is an easy wish! Kind soul! Even if I have to stake everything belonging to me and my colleagues, I will make that wish come true. Ah, what a relief. That wish of yours has been fermenting for a long time. It is very suitable for us as well.”

Santa closed his eyes. He took a deep breath as if catching a scent. Santa’s nose came so close it almost touched Joo-hwan’s skin.

“Ah, the scent of a desperate longing. I can tell you are a soul that has lived in solitude for a long time. You have continued to live a similar life over and over. To meet such a soul… I am truly lucky today. Thank you, thank you.”

Santa’s nostrils flared.

“To change the trajectory of your lonely life, an ordinary person won’t do. If we aren’t careful, they’ll be dragged into your soul’s wake and end up in the same misery. But don’t worry. Santa can grant any wish. Your wish has been officially received.”

Santa snapped his eyes open. He stared into Joo-hwan’s eyes with his bloodshot gaze.

“I will arrange for a wife with a heart as pure as white snow and a beautiful daughter who truly respects and follows her father. Please, have a joyful and happy life.”

The Santa was clearly out of his mind. However, true to his word, he let go of Joo-hwan’s hands and laughed loudly with delight.

Joo-hwan turned away and practically ran. He needed to get away from this lunatic as fast as possible. Santa shouted behind him.

“Customer, be happy! I will pour all of Santa’s power into making your wish come true! All the Santas in Santa Village are rooting for you!”

The voice seemed to chase him down the stairs. It was a strange sensation.

Only after Joo-hwan had descended the stairs and boarded the train did he look at his wrists. The spots where Santa had grabbed him were red. It had been an incredible amount of force.

For some reason, he felt a chill of fear.

Since it was late at night, the platform was nearly empty. After a long wait, light approached from the dark tunnel. Joo-hwan boarded the empty train and headed for a corner.

Across from him sat a man and a woman who appeared to be a couple. They whispered to each other, laughing loudly at something. They looked like a happy couple. A small cake box sat next to the woman, as if boasting of their happiness.

Joo-hwan sat down and crossed his arms. The plastic bag on his lap rustled. There was still a long way to go until he reached home. He didn’t want to look at that couple. He decided to sleep until his stop and closed his eyes.

The broadcast announcing the next station echoed in his ears. Be happy.

Santa’s voice mingled with the couple’s laughter, echoing in his head.

I want to be happy.

Beneath his tightly closed eyelids, a tiny bit of moisture gathered.

There was a strange smell. A foul stench, like waste that had been left to rot for a long time. The smell was so intense that his head throbbed even in his sleep.

Joo-hwan jerked his head up as his body was violently jolted.

He was shaking so much he thought there might be an earthquake.

He must have been in a very deep sleep to only notice such heavy jolting now. Thinking there might have been an accident, his body tensed up.

“Uh… huh?”

But that wasn’t it. It wasn’t an accident, and he wasn’t even on a train. In fact, the subway wasn’t the issue at all. As soon as he opened his eyes, Joo-hwan’s jaw dropped at the sight before him.

‘Where on earth am I?’

He had definitely fallen asleep on an empty subway car, but for some reason, he was sitting cross-legged inside a cramped wagon packed with people. He was even stark naked. He didn’t even have a pair of underwear on.

“A-choo!”

He sneezed violently from the bitter cold. His skin was covered in goosebumps like a plucked chicken. The wind felt like it was slicing through his flesh. He began to shiver uncontrollably. He felt like he might freeze to death before he could even figure out what was happening.

Joo-hwan hugged himself with both arms and curled up. Beneath his buttocks, it felt sticky, damp, and cold.

When he checked the floor, he saw puddles of mixed waste everywhere. Half of the filth was frozen, while the other half was still a viscous slush.

Parts of the wooden floor were black with rot. If he kept sitting there, his skin might freeze and stick to the rotting wood. Joo-hwan awkwardly lifted his hips.

Looking around, the first thing he saw were iron bars. If he stood up straight, his head would likely hit the ceiling. The wagon was enclosed on all sides by wooden bars.

‘What is this?’

The wagon, which looked to be about three pyeong in size, was filled with men wearing shackles on their feet.

The men’s beards and shaggy hair were matted with grease, looking as if they hadn’t been cut or washed in a lifetime. Everyone’s clothes were filthy and reeked of rot. The entire wagon was filled with a stench that felt like it could rot one’s nose.

There were dark red stains all over the men’s clothes. Could that be human blood? A sudden surge of fear hit him.

Who were these people? They were clearly prisoners, but why was he among them? Looking around, Joo-hwan instinctively caught his breath.

‘This is…’

There wasn’t a single Asian person. They were all Westerners.

Unlike modern clothing, their clothes were simple, like tunics, looking as if they had just stepped out of a medieval movie. Some were even draped in animal skins.

Every single one of them had dead eyes.

“….”

People like this didn’t exist on modern Earth. If this were a movie set, that would be one thing, but this definitely wasn’t that.

He looked up through the bars of the wagon. Nowhere was there any asphalt. There were no cars, no apartments. Only a desolate wilderness and bare trees stripped by the cold wind were visible.

There were several more wagons similar to the one he was in, lined up in front and behind.

The other wagons were also filled with men who looked like prisoners. Though it was hard to see clearly, there seemed to be carts filled with goods in addition to the ones carrying people.

Near the rattling wagons forming the procession, about a dozen soldiers carrying spears were walking.

The sounds of the soldiers talking drifted through the open bars.

It was a language he had never heard before. It wasn’t English, German, or French.

’No way.’

He pulled himself up and looked around once more. As expected, there was nothing familiar. He was in a strange place, among strange people. It seemed he had come to the distant medieval past, or perhaps another world entirely.

“….”

The voice of the Santa shouting for him to be happy lingered strangely in his ears. Surely it couldn’t be because of that Santa, could it?

Maybe this was a dream as vivid as reality. If it was a dream, he wanted to wake up quickly. Regardless, it was too cold.

His fingers felt as if they were made of glass. He had no sensation in them. He tried rubbing his skin to generate some heat, but he couldn’t get warm.

His skin was so frozen that it actually hurt. At this rate, he really would die. Desperation took hold of him.

Joo-hwan looked at a man sitting a short distance away.

The man, sitting one person over, was hunched forward and didn’t move an inch.

The man’s half-closed eyelids were covered in white frost. He was barefoot, his shoes long gone. The man’s feet looked as hard as a mannequin’s.

The man hadn’t moved at all for a while.

‘Is he dead?’

Joo-hwan swallowed hard. Stripping a dead person of their clothes was something he never would have dreamed of doing until now.

But when faced with a crisis, human ethics and reason can vanish in an instant. Overwhelmed by the cold, hunger, and the sense that he might die, his hands moved on their own.

He was dead anyway. A living person needed the clothes more than he did. That thought suppressed his guilt.

He forced the shirt off the dead man’s stiff body. The fabric was frozen hard from the cold. Crackle, crackle. Joo-hwan rubbed the man’s clothes to break the ice and soften them before wrapping them around his own body.

Stripping the pants was even more of a struggle. By the time he managed to take the clothes while being tossed around in the rattling wagon, he was completely exhausted.