Harmonious Love

The Harmony of Yin and Yang Is Not as It Seems PART1(7)

“That’s it.”

Finally, a toy ball emerged from the thoroughly dug-up soil.

The ball, with its surface torn in places, seemed to be a toy that a dog had happily played with when it was alive. Faded writing that looked like a scribble saying “Ttol-i’s ♥” could be seen along the round sphere.

Then you must be Ttol-i.

When Mo Yeon glanced at it without speaking, the dog jumped even more excitedly. As if it wanted to go somewhere with that ball.

‘You can’t take this with you anyway, silly.’

His hands had gotten dirty from digging so enthusiastically. After carefully placing the ball at his feet, he dusted off his hands. He also brushed off the dirt on the ball.

After a moment’s hesitation, he gently rolled the ball. The dog ran towards it and kept trying to bite it.

So it must have played with its owner here with the ball, and then it was buried, and for some reason, they couldn’t find it again.

Huh?

At that moment, Mo Yeon couldn’t help but be startled when he discovered a bench he hadn’t noticed before.

He must have been really engrossed in digging the ground.

He hadn’t even noticed someone entering the park that had been empty. A man who looked about his age was sitting blankly on the bench.

The man wasn’t doing anything, just staring vacantly into space.

He had suddenly stopped visiting a place where he used to spend a lot of time. Back then, when he was playing happily with his pet, he didn’t know that the place he loved most could become the place that hurt him the most.

Nevertheless, for some reason, he wanted to come here today. Had he found the courage to face the sorrow he had been avoiding? It seemed to mean that the wound was beginning to heal somewhat.

Suddenly feeling a gaze from somewhere, the man’s head moved. Far away, a pale, cold face was squatting down, staring at him intently.

Geez, that scared me.

He, who hadn’t noticed Mo Yeon’s presence at all, was startled. Clutching his surprised heart, the man’s gaze, which had been looking at Mo Yeon quizzically, slowly moved to the ball sitting in front of Mo Yeon.

Watching the man’s eyes gradually widen as if they were about to pop out, Mo Yeon bit his lip.

…Ah, he didn’t mean to go this far.

“Can I take a look at that for a moment? Where did you find it?”

Asking this, the man quickly ran over. Mo Yeon glanced at the dog’s reaction. As expected, upon seeing its owner, it wagged its bottom frantically. It put the ball between its front paws, raised its bottom high, and wagged its tail wildly. Mo Yeon felt as if the previously dark figure now looked a bit more like a dog.

And finally, the man who approached couldn’t see the dog and quickly picked up the ball.

“This belongs to the dog I used to raise, his name was Ttol-i. I thought I had lost it when I went home without finding it, but how on earth did this happen…!”

The place Mo Yeon had dug up was where the man had hidden the ball himself. He used to play by hiding toys and then finding them like a treasure hunt, but one day he had enthusiastically hidden the ball by digging in the ground and then completely forgot about this one when he went home. He didn’t know that would be their last treasure hunt game.

“I just felt like there was something in the ground.”

“Ah…”

The man who had silently lowered his head didn’t raise it again for a long time. Mo Yeon quietly moved his steps.

Before leaving the park, putting back on the bag he had set down, Mo Yeon turned around and looked at the man and the dog.

He would never see that dog again now. Not being able to bring the ball must have kept the dog from moving on.

Having done something he usually wouldn’t do, Mo Yeon felt strange. And it was 5 minutes before his major class was to start.

Gasp!

Just as he started walking, thinking he was going to be late, luckily an empty taxi caught his eye. Mo Yeon quickly got into the back seat of the taxi. The chill that made the back of his neck stiffen came next.

“…To Korea University, please.”

It took a moment to state the destination. The driver looked at Mo Yeon curiously before starting to drive.

Mo Yeon, with his head bowed low, looked out the window with a face that seemed about to cry.

The entire back seat was soaked in blood. More precisely, a ghost covered in blood was sitting right next to Mo Yeon.

Mo Yeon anxiously observed the driver’s expression. The driver reflected in the rearview mirror seemed unaware of what was happening in his car, but his complexion was noticeably pale. To others, he would probably just look exhausted.

Without realizing it, Mo Yeon’s hands on his knees were gripping his pants tightly enough to wrinkle them. And then something dropped onto his arm with a plop.

Staring at the bloodstain that had fallen on his dark shirt, Mo Yeon belatedly realized that it wasn’t from what had soaked the entire seat, but blood flowing from his own nose.

From that moment on, as if it were a signal flare, a large amount of blood began to fall.

Mo Yeon took off his already dirty shirt to cover his nose. He thought the nosebleeds had become less frequent lately, but even the way the blood was flowing now seemed unusual.

In an extreme state of tension and with blood flowing, he felt dizzy as cold sweat ran down his body.

‘What kind of day is this? Why is this happening?’

Mo Yeon caught himself thinking this and realized his mistake. He had completely forgotten that this was his original life. There was nothing unusual about it; this was how he had always lived.

Trying not to draw the ghost’s attention as much as possible, Mo Yeon tried his best not to be agitated even as the despair he had momentarily forgotten threatened to return.

He kept his fingers on his knees moving slightly and continued to stare out the window. Cold sweat ran in his palm. The seat was soaked with enough blood to completely wet Mo Yeon’s pants. Now he couldn’t even tell if this was blood he had shed or invisible blood.

At the same time, he remembered a voice he had once heard saying that if he didn’t forcibly fill himself with yang energy, he wouldn’t be able to live long. It was something he had heard from a shaman his desperate mother had taken him to, even boarding a ship to find her.

“The noble tiger has given birth to something strange. What to do about this.”

The old blind woman’s cloudy pupils stared intently at the mother and child, as if certain of what she was seeing. The mother’s expression of shock as she spoke with the old woman remained more vivid than any memory from the island.

His mother didn’t relay the content to Mo Yeon, who was just a child then. But now, Mo Yeon seemed to vaguely know the content that his much younger mother had heard and buried.

To clear his mind that was starting to fade, Mo Yeon opened his tightly shut eyes. At that moment.

“…!”

Rustle.

Fingers passed in front of his eyes. The ghost was waving its hand in front of him.

He felt his hair standing on end. Goosebumps covered his entire body. However, Mo Yeon slowly closed and opened his eyes, staring at the time on his phone screen. He could still attend the class even if he was late. He just prayed for the taxi to take him to school quickly.

The ghost’s suspicion persistently tormented Mo Yeon. When it thrust its face right up to his nose, he swallowed a scream inside.

The traces of Tae Young-won that had remained for the past few days seemed to have completely disappeared now. He could be certain of that now.

As if that wasn’t enough, having been with the dog’s spirit earlier seemed to have intensified the yin energy as much as possible.

Carefully removing the hand covering his nose, he found that the nosebleed had stopped. He lowered his hand holding the dirty shirt in dejection.

It felt like facing the reality he had tried hard to ignore and bury during the short taxi ride.

Since the last time, Tae Young-won no longer spoke to Mo Yeon even when they encountered each other.

“Back then, you stopped sunbae too.”

“…”

“I know everything.”

He had hit him once and pointed out things that might hurt his pride, so this was a natural result. He occasionally felt gazes looking at him both at school and at the officetel, but nothing more than that. It would continue to be that way.

Originally, they had no points of contact, so things had perfectly returned to how they were. Mo Yeon thought it was probably for the best.

Nevertheless, how fickle human desire can be; facing this terrible moment, he naturally thought of Tae Young-won first.

After convincing himself he didn’t need it, what a state this was. He could even taste blood on his tightly bitten lip. Mo Yeon was trying his hardest not to cry.