The Fog Horn (Angae Godong) - Chapter 3

Nuri’s first job as lighthouse keeper was to sweep and polish the lighthouse. The lighthouse, which had not been used for a long time, was in a state of disrepair from the inside out.

The lighthouse was not that tall, it was about six meters high. Nuri put oil in the lantern to make it light, and turned on the lantern. Even the entrance was filled with oil stains, and Nuri struggled with it for half a day.

The staircase was made of flimsy wooden planks and was tightly wrapped with ropes. Nuri struggled up the stairs and gave up after several attempts.

That was because there were many things to clean below without having to go upstairs. He gathered the straws to one side and set off to work, cleaning off the dirt inside.

In the afternoon, Ko Cheol Woong brought in a sturdy ladder. It was wooden and very dull, but much better than the one before.

“To do this, since morning I swept and cleaned out so fucking hard with Sungjin hyung.”

“Thank you. It looks really strong.”

“I didn’t do it for your own good. It’s all for the good of the village. Keep your eyes open and look at me. Do you understand?”

Nuri nodded his head. The tips of Cheol Woong’s ears were red, but Nuri thought he was only habitually red and nothing more.

After getting the ladder, Cheol Woong looked around several times to make sure no one else was around, then hurried away. Nuri was so used to seeing him like this that he didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

Anyways, thanks to Ko Cheol Woong bringing a ladder, Nuri was able to climb to the top of the lighthouse. He wiped the black dusty lantern and also cleaned every corner of the window. The yellow rag had turned into black.

After eating the mugwort [1] rice cakes that he brought as snacks with him, Nuri headed to the seashore at the bottom of the rocky mountain. To wash the rag at least temporarily. He could have gone to the tap in the village, but his legs were too numb to do so.

Nuri dipped the rag roughly in the sea water and began to shake it. He picked up a stone that was rolling by and gave it a good smack, and the dirt on the rag came out little by little.

Nuri smacked the rag hard enough to make a hole in it and rinsed it in seawater repeatedly.

Perhaps he had a scratch on his hand earlier, as his hand stung when he put his hand in the seawater, but this was unusual for those living on the island.

As Nuri put his hand in water to rinse the rag one last time, he felt a strong tug. He lost his balance and almost fell into the sea, but thanks to holding on to the rock next to him, his nose only touched the surface of the sea.

He could see someone’s face through the churning seawater, but like a dream, it was blurred again by a torrent of water droplets.

Nuri was unable to speak and blink in that position. Just as in a dream, one of the droplets reached out and touched his nose. The moment it hit the surface and burst, a black-haired man filled Nuri’s vision.

“Gasp!”

His eyes were clear green, and his nose was sharp, like a Westerner. His face was wavy along the waves, but it didn’t hide his beautiful appearance. His jet-black hair sparkled gently in the water.

Nuri stared at him mesmerized. The man was staring at him too.

“Aah, aah!”

As Nuri’s grip on the rock loosened and he was about to fall into the sea, a strong force pushed him back. Nuri sat down, covered in sea water and floundered. It was as if the sea had pushed him away.

Nuri sat there dumbfounded, then came to his senses and scrambled out. He looked ridiculous with his mangled legs, but he couldn’t help it. He was so scared, his heart was racing with fear.

He couldn’t move his body and stood still, the sea fog began to rise ever so slightly above the sea surface. As if by magic, a mirage of sea fog rose hazy only around the lighthouse, and slowly cleared.

Nuri moved back, pushing his hips back as if he was stepping back. The fog glowed colourfully, like a rainbow. If there was really such a thing as an aurora borealis [2] , he thought, it would be this scene in front of him. Terrified, Nuri threw away the rag, and ran fast.

His clothes were soaked through. He huddled inside the lighthouse and exhaled.

‘What was that? Was it a water demon? But was there ever a water demon that was so beautiful? No, was it beautiful because it was a water demon?’

Nuri pressed down on his thumping heart. He reflexively searched in his sleeves for something to steady himself.

“Nothing?”

It wasn’t there. The driftwood, which had never been lost, disappeared.

He wore a long-sleeved undershirt in the summer, partly because of the scorching sun, but also to carry around driftwood. It was easy to lose it if he put it in his pocket. But, if he wore a shirt and buttoned it up, and wore a single rubber band around his wrist, the driftwood wouldn’t fall out.

The button and rubber band were still there, but the driftwood was missing. It was the only treasure he had left.

“You water demon. You stole it….”

This was what it seemed like to eat the liver of a flea. Nuri let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his wet hair. He was glad that he wasn’t dead.

He cleared his rough breath. There were still many things in the lighthouse that needed to be cleaned.

Nuri pushed himself up slowly. He couldn’t tell anyone that he had seen a water demon. No one would believe him, and even if they did, they wouldn’t help him.

Nuri was born here, but he will always be an outsider forever. A Stranger. Someone who doesn’t belong. The name was like a mark on him that would never go away.

1. Mugwort, referred to as ssuk (쑥) in Korean, is widely used in Korean cuisine as well as in traditional medicine (hanyak). In spring, which is the harvesting season, the young leaves of mugwort are used to prepare savory dishes such as jeon (Korean-style pancakes), ssuk kimchi, (쑥김치), ssukguk (쑥국, soup made with ssuk
2. An aurora, also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions