episode_0009

“Usher. Usher.”

“Haaahm, Velka?”

Had he dozed off? He opened his eyes to the sweet voice calling his name, and Velka in her crimson dress was looking down at him. Judging by the soft sensation behind his head, the girl must have offered him her lap.

“It’s time to go back now.”

Hearing Velka’s words, he noticed shards of the setting sun scattered between the zelkova trees behind her.

“Ah, when did I fall asleep.”

It was always like this when he was with Velka, but the time he spent with her always felt too short, no matter how long it was. Ever since he learned about sex, it somehow felt even shorter, but he couldn’t help it because he liked the girl’s reactions whenever that happened. He still felt a sticky but warm afterglow where his thing was, and he rubbed his face against her lower stomach, begging her, but the girl refused him firmly.

“Not now.”

“I wanted to stay longer.”

He felt depressed that he had fallen asleep while he was with Velka.

“You should have woken me up.”

“But Usher looked tired.”

Come to think of it, he had been working hard today to prepare to leave the village. Helping the woodcutters carry a full load of kindling for the festival had made him more tired than usual. He hadn’t felt it at all when he was with Velka, and he hadn’t even realized he was falling asleep.

“Don’t overdo it.”

Usher couldn’t help but smile at Velka’s worried nagging. What would she do if he asked her to leave this place with him? Usher was filled with the urge to ask her right now, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Yes, he had already made all the plans to leave together, but he hadn’t even mentioned it to Velka. He was still keeping the words to himself, afraid that the girl would say she wanted to stay here and wouldn’t leave with him.

“Then I’ll go now.”

“Okay.”

Usher couldn’t bring himself to say the words again today and had no choice but to turn away. It was at that moment.

“Usher.”

The moment he turned around at Velka’s call, something soft and moist touched his lips.

“I like you.”

Usher could only stare at the girl blankly. After that, Usher came to his senses and found himself standing in front of his house. He must have walked home on his own two feet, but he had no detailed memory of how he got there. He felt like he was bewitched. But it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was the first time Velka had told him she liked him first. His secret friend must be very shy. Usher opened the door to his house, resolving to tell Velka that he wanted to leave this place together next time. But the person inside was not a welcome guest.

“You’re back?”

“…Uncle Mac?”

Mac and that idiot were occupying his room. Usher felt his good mood from being with Velka plummet in an instant, and he wondered why he was in his house. Mac continued, as if he had noticed his question.

“It seems like the time to return her is getting a little late, so I came by.”

Usher soon realized that the cause was the girl and became annoyed. He had told her several times to go back, but she hadn’t, and now she had even brought in Mac, whom he hated to see. He glared at the idiot in anger, but she only avoided his gaze and said nothing. She probably didn’t realize that her behavior made him even more angry.

“More importantly, you know that the Maskapir is starting the day after tomorrow, right?”

“It’s every year.”

Usher couldn’t understand why he was asking such a thing. It was a festival that anyone in this village would know. It would be weirder not to know about the festival that was held around this time every year. But Usher didn’t really know what the festival was about. And neither would the other kids. That’s because you can’t participate in the festival unless you’re an adult. He knew that it only took place at night, when the sun had completely set, that a large fire was lit, and that it lasted for about a week, but there was no way for kids like Usher to know more than that.

“But why are you telling me that?”

“Because you can participate this year, too.”

“Really?! Really?!”

Among the children, there were many rumors about what the Maskapir festival was. Some said it was a festival for monsters, others said it was for offering sacrifices. Many of the children had asked their older siblings, who knew what to do at the festival, but no one had ever told them. They always repeated the same thing, saying it was a rule and that they should experience it for themselves.

“You’re an adult now, so you have to follow the rules of the festival, okay?”

Mac’s story began with the origins of the Maskapir in this village. The place where the village was located was originally part of a large forest. For this reason, all sides except for one road that served as the village’s path were made up of wide forests, and the distance to other villages was so far that outsiders rarely visited. So why was a village established in such a place? That’s an old story. This forest had existed for a very long time, so long that no one could even guess when it began, and countless animals and plants had settled within its embrace, never allowing humans to enter.

Woodcutters came to this forest, where they only cut down the necessary trees from the outskirts. As always, they wanted to cut down trees from the outskirts, and they thought they would be able to cut down the trees smoothly that day as well. If only someone hadn’t shouted urgently about what they had found. “Wolves!” they said. Hearing the sound, they tried to run away, abandoning the trees they were cutting down, let alone the axes and carts they had brought, but they had already seen the wolves blocking the path out of the forest. It was as if they had predicted their actions and blocked the path, and only then did they realize that they had fallen into a trap of the wolves.

Wolves have long been known as cunning animals; perhaps they had noticed that woodcutters were always taking wood from similar places and had been waiting for them. In the end, they had lost their way back, and what they chose to do was to go deeper into the forest. It was a dangerous gamble, but they thought it was better than being preyed upon by wolves on the spot, so they ran further and further in. Not everyone could live. One by one, they were hunted down by wolves and other wild animals, and in the end, only one woodcutter was left.

He had survived after running and running, but he couldn’t overcome the cold, loneliness, and even the fear of the night. Still, he had to survive, so he walked and walked and walked, not knowing where he was going. His body was heavy, and sharp stones kept tormenting his bare feet, as he had lost his shoes while running away, but he kept walking. The only fortunate thing was that the animals of the forest, who had become so weak, did not attack him. At the end of that walk, he heard the sound of water and ran in a hurry. His throat, which had been dry from not drinking water for days, felt even more parched when he heard the sound of water, and he finally discovered a valley, and he also discovered something he should not have discovered.

He would later say that it was a beautiful monster. The beautiful monster kindly treated the woodcutter who was left alone and tried to send him back, but he couldn’t return to the outside because of the beasts wandering around the outskirts of the forest. The woodcutter eventually gave up on going back, and soon became afraid of the beautiful monster and settled in a place where the beasts could not enter. After that, whenever people in similar situations came, he would save them or accept them, and as it grew in size, it became the village where Usher and the villagers now live.

Then one day, the woodcutter saw a zelkova tree that was particularly large and tall in this forest full of large trees, and asked the beautiful monster.

“What is that tree?”

“It is where this forest began, and my wedge.”

The beautiful monster answered his question like that and disappeared somewhere, and the woodcutter wandered through the forest for the rest of his life to meet the beautiful monster again, but he never appeared in front of the woodcutter again. The Maskapir was made to commemorate the beautiful monster, or so the story goes.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow! I found a good tree for the festival, and we need a lot of kindling.”

Mac finished his long story, left those words behind, and went back with the idiot. Usher pondered his story while thinking about the damn rules again. It was said to be the origin, so he didn’t know if it was really what happened, but the conversation between the woodcutter and the beautiful monster in the story kept bothering him. Not only the zelkova tree, but the beautiful monster… could it be?

“Let’s ask Velka directly tomorrow.”

Usher made up his mind and lay down to go to sleep. The next day, Usher was preparing to go into the forest early in the morning with the woodcutters. It was to cut down trees and find kindling for the festival, just like yesterday. Then there was some free time. He noticed that there were subtly more people than usual. It was just a small rural village anyway, and even if Usher lived a little far from the village, he knew the people who lived in the same village. However, among the subtly increased number of people, regardless of gender, there were definitely a few people he didn’t know.

“Why does it seem like there are more people here than I know in the village?”

“It’s not just seeming, it’s real.”

It was Kerner, who was preparing next to him, who answered his murmur.

“You know that there are villages that sell the trees we mine to other places instead, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

The adults said that there were other villages near the entrance of the forest. He had heard that they bought the trees we mined and sold them to other places. Usher thought it was a strange method, but he had heard that it was unavoidable because the village was located deep in the forest.

“I heard this recently. Instead of giving a high price for the trees, they select a few people from their village to participate in the Maskapir.”

“In a festival in this rural area?”

Usher made a strange face at his words. It was obvious even as he said this, but the village he lived in was a rural area where it was hard to find anyone, let alone visitors. But they were so eager to participate in a festival in these rural area that they made a deal to select a few people to participate? Now Usher was wondering what the Maskapir festival was all about. He had heard the origin and the general rules of the festival from Mac, but he had never participated in it himself, so he still didn’t know the details.

“I know, right?”

Kerner shrugged, agreeing with his thoughts. Soon, they heard that they were about to depart for the forest, so they put the stiff A-frames on their backs and headed for the forest. As they were walking along the rough forest path, following the woodcutters who didn’t know where they were going, Usher realized that they were going in a completely different direction than yesterday. It wasn’t an irregular feeling like yesterday, but they had a clear purpose and were going around the village to one place.

“Heehee, where are we going today?”

Robert said in a tired voice. It was still yesterday. There were many flat roads. The one they were going on was sloped, which made them use more energy. It would be much easier to climb if they just put down the A-frames they were carrying on their backs, but it was necessary for their work, so there was no choice. Frustration was building up as the woodcutters moved to distant places for a bunch of trees. Robert couldn’t stand it any longer and grabbed a nearby woodcutter to ask.

“Mister, what are we doing so far today?”

“We found a good tree.”

“A good tree?”

He didn’t know what a good tree meant. Anyway, he said that it was a tree that was good to use for the festival and that it would be especially lucrative to sell it outside, so Usher decided to follow them without saying anything.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“They’re giving us money.”

“When have you ever worked so hard?”

Even though Robert grumbled, Usher kept walking. The higher the price of the trees they sold, the more iron coins he could earn. There was also a place to rest, so it was a good deal if he suffered a little. That meant he could leave this village with Velka that much sooner. Nevertheless, just as he was getting a little tired.

“We’re here!”

Someone shouted in front of them, leading the woodcutters. Following the voice, they climbed the hill, and Usher sat down on the ground, catching his breath. I heard there was a place to rest. Sure enough, if you compared it to the trees, the grass was much shorter. However, Usher soon felt a sense of déjà vu and felt a chill. From the feel of the grass he was sitting on to the fragrance that was somehow different from the other trees, hadn’t he felt it somewhere before? The moment he realized that, he jumped up from his seat. Because this was his and the girl’s secret place.

He wanted to think it was a misunderstanding. It had to be a misunderstanding. But the familiar zelkova tree in front of him was telling him that it wasn’t a misunderstanding. Everything was the same to say that it was just a different tree of the same kind. The base of the zelkova tree, which was bent enough for people to walk up, the small space where you could sit inside, the huge size, and even the fragrance. What Mac had said yesterday about a good tree and what the woodcutter had said today about finding a good tree flashed through his mind.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Robert and Kerner were surprised and called out to him, but Usher didn’t have time to pay attention to them. He approached Mac, who was in front of him, measuring the huge zelkova tree.

“Uncle.”

“Oh, Usher, what’s wrong?”

“Is that… tree the good tree you were talking about?”

Usher asked, even though he was already sure in his heart. He was hoping it wasn’t, but his expectations were shattered by Mac’s words.

“Yes, I found it. What do you think? We can make a fortune with that much.”

At those words, Usher couldn’t stand it any longer and ran at him. Mac hadn’t expected him to suddenly run at him, and he panicked and fell over. But that was only for a moment. The adults who saw Usher running at Mac approached him and grabbed him, and he was soon subdued.

“Why is he suddenly like this?”

“I don’t know! Just grab him!”

Usher, who couldn’t contain his anger, was panting, but Mac, who was getting up, rubbed his bruised cheek with an expression that he couldn’t understand why he was angry.

“Why are you doing this?”

“You’re the one who’s weird! Why does it have to be that tree?!”

Yeah, it was Mac, not Usher, who was weird. He was also one of the adults who were talking about the rules, so why didn’t he know?

“That zelkova tree is obviously the tree from the story you told!”

It was even weirder that he didn’t know. If he was an adult who talked so much about the rules, if he was the one who explained what the Maskapir festival was for, how could he not know what that tree meant? Then Mac made an expression as if he understood, but said as if he was bored.

“You’re saying the same thing as the village chief.”

If the village chief said the same thing as him, he thought there was a possibility that he could persuade them.

“But there’s no rule that says you can’t cut down that tree, is there?”

“What…did you say?”

That was definitely true. There was definitely no rule among the village’s rules that said you couldn’t cut down any tree.

“You’re young, so you don’t know, but it’s just a story that’s been passed down anyway.”

“That’s right. It’s just a tree.”

“It seems to be a rare tree in this forest, and if it’s that big, everyone in this village can make a fortune.”

Even the other adults seemed to agree with Mac, so Usher was helpless. In the end, Usher had to return to the village alone because the adults thought he couldn’t work. But he couldn’t just go back to the village as the adults told him to. He was glaring at the woodcutters at the border between the forest and the lawn where they couldn’t see him well, so soon he saw them swarming the zelkova tree like ants and chopping it down with axes.

“Damn it!”

Usher stopped searching the forest, gnashing his teeth at the reality that he could only watch. This was definitely his and the girl’s secret place. He couldn’t possibly return to the village alone, thinking that the shy and sensitive girl, like a rabbit, would be surprised by the people and would be hiding and trembling. But he had been searching the area for a few hours, but there was no sign of the girl. Then he remembered the passage he used to come here. He thought it was unlikely, but he hurried down to the passage, thinking that she might be there.

“Velka!!”

He was able to find the girl in front of the passage. But her condition was strange.

“Uuuugh, Usher.”

Velka seemed to realize he was there and barely called his name in a breathless voice as she panted heavily. The girl was out of strength and was leaning her back against the wall where the passage was, barely supporting herself, and she was holding her chest with one hand and was sweating profusely. Usher, who had never seen the girl sick or in pain since he had met her, sensed that it was because the woodcutters were felling the zelkova tree and tried to go back to stop them, but the girl grabbed his sleeve.

“Velka?”

“Don’t go.”

Velka, who grabbed his sleeve, seemed to be giving more strength than ever before, but the strength felt there was so weak that it seemed like it would easily fall off even if he gave a little strength. Usher wanted to go stop the woodcutters right away, but he couldn’t leave the girl’s side, afraid that if he shook off her hand, he might never see Velka again.