Unnecessary Enchantment
© 1952

Mabeobism is an ancient way of life, the introduction read, an ancient way which, although once helpful, is no longer necessary as we begin the modernization of the Korean Empire.

마법 Mabeobism: a Brief History

At the rise of Yi Seong-gye - the Great Joseon - Mabeob elders were among his closest advisors.

Yet, these pacifist people of the ancient right directly opposed the execution of dethroned King U and his son, King Chang.

The previous kings' execution, however, by unrivaled royal decree, was necessary for the health and survival of the Joseon's new dynasty.

Upon ascending the throne in 1392 a.d., Yi Seong-gye took the royal name of King Taejo.

King Taejo, in light of their previous opposition, desired to depose his Mabeon advisors from their righteous office.

Alas, when the king attempted to employ his divine right, a great storm broke from the heavens, destroying the new foundations of King Taejo's Gyeongbuk Palace.

This was taken as divine sign, and the Mabeob advisors were reinstated with full authority.

Throughout various Japanese invasions, however, the Mabeons would only dare help as aids: keeping the harvest bountiful and soliders healthy. Mabeon men themselves refused to fight for this noble and necessary cause.

Finally, the Japanese were successful in their occupation of the Korean Empire in the year 1894 a.d.

Perhaps if the Mabeon elders had allowed for a rescission of their pacifist policies, the Royal Korean army would have overpowered the Japanese forces.

Nevertheless, all great tragedies have two sides.

Since Mabeobian policy makes no regards for new enlightened thought, true aristocrats of our great empire discerned that Mabeobism is unnecessary - possibly even harmful - to the development of a modern society.

These elites understood that it is the duty of citizens to work as one. One, not under a white flag, but under the banner of free market. It is your duty, dear reader, to work united for the betterment of capital gain.

This was the introduction.

- • -

The day after reading that introduction, Jongho's new phone arrived.

He placed the book on a shelf.

Even though Jongho may have preferred to feel the soft pages, and smell the hint of dust, and rest his eyes on the natural white, there was just something a little more... more, about his phone screen.

But as the days progressed, so did his path to nightmares.

Jongho stayed indoors.

He and Wooyoung passed entrance exams and were set to start university in the upcoming semester.

Jongho fell asleep late, and woke up to an alarm.

He scrolled on his phone in bed.

Sometimes, he forgot to drink water.

But he always remembered to eat. Perhaps he ate too much.

Jongho's phone, even though he was practically constantly on it, piled up with missed notifications.

The irritability increased, and increased...

and increased.

Jongho looks at himself in the mirror. He has just been sharp with Mama again.

This morning, he didn't save the last slice of bread for Eunmin.

When Wooyoung asked why, Jongho wished to bite his head off.

I have become the creature of my nightmares.

Not person: creature.

Everything I despise, I have become, he realizes. The greatest fears of my dreams have manifested to a waking horror.

Most of the time, when Jongho is irritated, he apologizes, but not this time; not recently.

Everything I despise, I have become.

Slowly, it happened.

Day by day, thought by thought, action by action. So slowly, he didn't realize anything was changing-didn't realize until now.

So Jongho decides he is done. No more trying, no more doing, just, no more. If he doesn't try, if he has no standards, no goals, no purpose, he cannot fail.

D-6

Laying in bed, Jongho tries to think. But none of the voices in his head are his own.

He hears lyrics on replay, the weekly headlines and lines from that last drama he watched.

Light seeps into his and Wooyoung's room from the polluted streets. A few months back, Eomma had bought them black out curtains specifically designed for light pollution, but Wooyoung said he preferred a natural night-light.

Woohyeon informed him that street lamps are not natural.

But now, Wooyoung is asleep, so Jongho quietly pulls those black curtains shut, and the room is truly immersed in darkness.

Yet, this does not quiet Jongho's mind.

So many words sound in his head, and none of them are his own.

D-5

Wooyoung is out with San, so Jongho has the room to himself.

Putting on headphones, he decides to get some cleaning done without his slob of a brother around. (Jongho is just glad he'll have a new roommate in university.)

As Jongho dusts, a book falls from the shelf. He picks it up in annoyance, but relaxes, hesitantly, upon seeing the dusty cover: Unnecessary Enchantment. He'd still only finished the introduction.

Jongho pulls his headphones down around his neck, and flips open to a random page. That faint murky smell, those soft pages, that natural white-it calms him.

He looks up at a knock on his door. "Jong-ah? It's Mama, can I come in?"

And she is, of course, permitted.

At first Jongho is nervous when she notices the Mabeobian book on his lap. He thinks up some excuse for it.

But before Jongho has time to speak, Wheein starts instead.

She has a soft smile of reminiscence on her face, one Jongho finds curious, as it is so rare.

"When I was eighteen, I fell in love for the first time," she began. "His name was Hyungsik."

Jongho doesn't exactly know where this is going, it's rather out of the blue, but he listens nonetheless.

"Do you know what that name means? To strive for justice. Hyungsik certainly had that desire, but the task seemed insurmountable to him." Wheein sighed. "He suffered because he couldn't, or didn't know how to, help alleviate injustice."

Jongho looks at his hands folded on his lap and listens intently. It has been a while since he's had a good conversation with either parent.

"Hyungsik became distressed, and the distress ate all his energy. Soon he was left lifeless. The lifelessness led to sloth, and irritation, and just... an overall feeling of failure."

Here, Jongho looks up.

"He had been taught what we all are: that it is our purpose to work for capital and monetary gain, blah, blah. That we always have to do something; we can't merely exist. But, Jongho-ya, there are some people in this world who... well, I suppose that just doesn't work for."

She takes the book in her hands, opening it to the back cover.

Hidden between the final pages is a flower with such vibrancy as Jongho has never seen.

"This flower," Mama explains, "is from a community."

"Like, a Mabeobian community?"

She nods in response.

"It is from the community Hyungsik entered in the south."

"That sounds like a cult."

Wheein laughs at his pessimism. "Many people have said so. But, from my understanding, people can come and go as they wish."

Jongho takes the delicate flower in his fingers and twirls it in the waning sunlight. He didn't know this color existed in nature.

"I got this flower when I went to visit him. It was beautiful, the community, but so beautiful I couldn't live easily there. It was too different from what I'd known. Everything..." She sighs. "It just wasn't my pace. It was too different."

Mama tucks the flower into her son's hair.

"But maybe it'd be okay for you, Jong-ah, because I know... I see that you're dying here. And-" Tears well in Wheein's eyes as she sucks in a breath. "Maybe you would like to take a break, just for a little bit. An escape."

D-4

Today, Jongho is in turmoil.

D-3

Today, Jongho realizes that maybe it's not such a big deal, just like one of those mythical camping trips of ages past.

That mindset lasts for all of three hours.

Once Woohyeon is home from school, Jongho sits her down to talk.

Her dull eyes stare back at him.

When he tells her the idea, Woohyeon's eyes light up in excitement. But they become deep and sad once she realizes that his absence from their world would mean his absence from her world, too.

They part without a descision.

Yet when Jongho draws tears from Kyungmin, and Wooyoung has to come rescue their little brother, Jongho's mind is made up.

D-2

Today is a rare day where San is not attached to his boyfriend at the hip.

And Jongho takes his opportunity.

"Wooyoung-ah?" He finds his brother playing video games. Jongho taps his shoulder to get his twin's attention through the headphones. He wants to ask his opinion. Would it be okay if Jongho goes away, just for a little?

Wooyoung shrugs him off with a yelp as he dies, leaving Jongho to cringe at the bloody carnage.

"What's up?" Wooyoung pulls his headphones down around his neck.

"I'm thinking..."

Wooyoung begins setting up for another game.

"Woo, can you listen please?"

Selecting his character, Wooyoung laughs as he responds, "I am listening. Just tell me what's up?"

"Ugh, Wooyoung!"

"Ya, ya, fineee," Wooyoung sets the controller down and faces Jongho. "I'm really listening."

But now, Jongho can't seem to speak.

D-1

Next week is Jongho's first day of university.

If he leaves for the community tomorrow, he'll have a chance to check out the place, and if it's not right, he can just come home and attend uni as planned.

He'll leave in the morning, before he has a chance to be bogged down by the day.

That night, right after the littles are in bed, he quietly slips into their room.

"Good night, Eunmin. I wanted to tell you I'm leaving for a little bit tomorrow." He hugs her and she returns it sleepily. "I lov-..." But Jongho can't seem to finish the words.

Going to Kyungmin's bed next, he tucks the blankets snugly around his little brother. "Hyung?"

"Hush," he whispers. "Good night, I'm going away for a little bit. Kyungmin, I love- ugh," Jongho rolls his eyes; he feels unworthy to say those three words. But, "I love you," he pushes out.

"Oppa~" comes a little voice. "Come snuggle."

And Jongho's heart sinks at his next words: "I can't tonight, Eun-ah. But I love you."

D-Day

He didn't sleep much that night.

So he leaves early, as the sun just begins to rise, and heads for the forest.

- • -

A woman approached Jongho, handing him a small pamphlet with a smile.

Take Back Our Land

It read.

Call your National Assembly representative today!
Revoke the Mabeobian Land Agreement to make our forests safe again.

The superstitions of bygone ages are a burden to the modern education and employment of our children.

Bring these uneducated Mabeobians into the enlightened age!

Jongho adds the pamphlet to the next pile of trash he finds.

A few minutes later, he almost steps on a sleeping bag. Which would've been fine, if there wasn't a person inside.

He leaves one of his snack bars by the sleeping bag's head.

Now, Jongho stands at the entrance to the forest, at one of the sections which isn't restricted.

There's no trail, he realizes. Of course there isn't.

Yet step after step, he leaves the city behind.

Slowly, the sun lowers, along with Jongho's phone battery. Every hour so far, he's opened his compass app and yes, still heads dead east.

If I hit the ocean, he reasons in slight panic, then I'll know I've gone too far.

But as night falls and landmarks remain to be seen, he thinks that this, possibly, could've been a bad idea.

Perhaps it would've been better to slowly fade into despair... snapping at his parents, punching the wall, staring into Woohyeon's dull eyes... than to to die alone in the woods.

Maybe he should've stayed.

Maybe he should've never left.

Maybe he should just fall asleep.

The next morning, nothing has changed. Jongho wakes wishing to be dead from the emptiness of his reoccurring nightmares. He reaches for his phone and realizes, to his growing horror, it was not plugged in last night.

The earth is damp as he sits, and Jongho has no idea why.

Standing, his clothes cling to him. Did he sweat during the nightmare? But he never has before.

He's also never spent the night outside before, so maybe that has something to do with it.

He has ten snack bars left, two bottles of water, some bandaids, clothes, three apples, Unnecessary Enchantment, a toothbrush, and a slowly dying phone with no charger.

For now, he still walks dead east.

Jongho treks slowly through the rugged and unfamiliar terrain. In late afternoon, he stops for a drink and to check his compass.

But pulling out a dead phone, this is the last straw for the exhausted boy. In a moment of pure irritation and distress, he swears, throwing both phone and water to the ground.

Inhaling a shaky breath, his whole body from forehead and shoulders to clenched fists and toes is trembling with the power of his tense muscles.

This is fucking hard.

What did I think, I'd just have a nice dandy walk over to the community and nothing bad would ever happen again?

Hah. Stupid.

I should've just stayed where I was comfortable. In this moment of hardship, Jongho seems to forget how much more he dreaded the suffering of an uncontrollable and trapped mind.

Trying to breathe, Jongho looks down to find that the remains of his water bottle have bled to the forest floor; he breaks down with gut wrenching screams.

But he can't cry.

Jongho hasn't cried for a long while.

Eventually, he convinces himself to keep walking, that if he's going to die, this exact spot in the forest is not where he'll take his last breath.

Hours later, Jongho pants heavily as his dry lips are moistened only with his own blood.

His tongue clings to the roof of his mouth with a stick Jongho didn't know was natural during dehydration.

A simple thirst for water is something Jongho has never before experienced.

As the sun sets, all Jongho cares about is water. Nothing else is in his mind: no care for food, or a bed, or shower, or any sort of luxury comfort. Just: water

Finally, he stumbles upon a small puddle and immediately starts to scoop up the water into his eager mouth.

Satisfied: this is it, Jongho says as he sinks to the forest floor.

I'm done.

Jongho lays on his backpack, curled up as tight as can be. He tastes the dirty water and blood on his lips.

I fucking tried, I fucking failed, I'm fucking done.

I give up.

No more trying.

I can die happy now.

Or, at least, I can die... Just let me die.

Again, Jongho sleeps.

He lives through the night.

So, again, he wakes.

With his phone dead and water scarce, Jongho decides to head for the mountains - those to the east - and hopefully find a spring or river.

His bowel movements are a little...off, today, so is his head and limbs, but Jongho tells himself this is simply what happens when one spends too much time outside.

The increasing fatigue is blamed on overexertion; the rashes on his skin, from sleeping in the dirt.

In mid-afternoon, Jongho's hopes are rewarded as he hears the sound of babbling water.

Rushing into the stream, Jongho's fatigue is momentarily overwhelmed by the excitement at finding water. Yet gulp after gulp, he becomes sleepier... and sleepier...

Climbing back to dry land, Jongho thinks his forearms and face have become far itchier than they were a few hours ago.

But he's too tired to care.

The sun is so nice here, he thinks, and the dirt so soft.

(It's really not; the sun and dirt are average, but anything is better when one longs after it.)

The next morning Jongho wakes, without remembering how he fell asleep, to a slightly less damp body, but still, the dirt clings to him.

The sun already hangs high in the sky.

By now, rashes have appeared on his forearms. Jongho notices his neck, too, seems bumpy, though he doesn't have a mirror.

As Jongho starts to move, he feels something hot and slimy coating his backside and thighs, and once the smell hits him... disgusted is an understatement.

This is really it.

I actually give up this time. Okay?! GAH.

I'm done. I MEAN IT.

And he actually does mean it.

Fatigue, once more, washes over him as he gives into the sun's lulling warmth.

Halfway between sleep and consciousness, Jongho dreams he is a child being carried by Eomma. She brings her son to the changing table.

"How long do you think he's been out here?" She asks Mama.

"A few days at least. I don't know how we only found him now, poor kid... Ya! Min! Stop making faces and just wipe him up."

Eomma gently removes his clothes and warm water splashes over Jongho's backside.

No longer on a changing table, Jongho dreams Eomma is bathing him.

"Hyung, come touch him or he's like, gonna die. He's pale and red at the same time. Oh, wait, he's kind of awake now I think!" Hyejin calls to Mama as she continues to bathe.

"Well then cover him or we're going to have issues if he realizes you took his pants off."

So Eomma brings a soft blanket to cover her child, and Jongho's fatigue takes over again.

•

7-6-22 3k words.

A/N: guysssss stuff is happeninggg🤩 who found him? we're gonna have a fun next few chapters. I love this chap tho