[Tale] The Odd-Eyed One Who Transcends Time and Space <Chapter 1>

The ancients often said that creatures with two different coloured eyes – so-called 'odd-eyed' cats – possessed a mysterious ability to see through both this world and the next, or the past and present simultaneously.

Dali, the cat belonging to the elderly Mr Park Cheonji, who lived in an old hanok in Seoul's Bukchon neighbourhood, was precisely such a creature.

With one eye the colour of ripe pumpkin and the other a deep, ocean-like blue, Dali was renowned throughout the neighbourhood as a beautiful cat.

Yet, Mr Park occasionally found the creature unsettling. He would fix his gaze on empty space, as if conversing with someone, and softly meow.

This peculiar occurrence began on an exceptionally stormy summer night.
Outside the window, lightning flashed as if tearing the world apart, and thunder shook the rafters of the old hanok.

Old Mr Park was already fast asleep, but the sensitive Dali, overcome with unease, tapped his tail against the floor and paced the living room.

Dali's gaze lingered on the corner of the room, where stood the enormous mother-of-pearl cabinet Old Mr Park had acquired for a song from a junk dealer just days before. Even in the darkness, the cabinet's inlay patterns emitted an eerily luminous glow.

Rumble, crash!
It was the moment another tremendous clap of thunder echoed. The tightly shut doors of the lacquered chest creaked open of their own accord, emitting a spine-chilling sound.

From the pitch-black darkness within the chest, a single moth suddenly emerged, fluttering its wings as it emitted a faint, bluish phosphorescence.

Dali's instinct, usually unmatched in curiosity, stirred. That shimmering thing must be caught! Dali crept closer, raising her front paws high.

'Thwack!' As she struck down, the moth darted deep into the cabinet as if mocking her.
Dali's body, losing its balance, was sucked into the cabinet's dark opening.

"Yaaow!" A sharp cry erupted, but it was soon drowned out by the roar of wind and a deafening ringing in her ears. Dali plummeted into an endless vortex of light and darkness.

"Achoo!"
A pungent, unfamiliar odour made Dali sneeze as she opened her eyes. A pungent smell of dusty earth mingled with the acrid stench of horse manure.

Instead of the plush living room carpet, damp, uneven earth pressed against her soles.
Dali looked around in bewilderment. This wasn't Old Man Park's house. No, it wasn't anywhere in Seoul she recognised.

A bustling marketplace where thatched cottages and tiled houses stood haphazardly. Men with topknots and women in hanbok, figures she'd only seen in historical dramas, hurried to and fro.

Instead of cars, large carts pulled by oxen clattered past. The noise assaulting her ears was unfamiliar and vibrant.

'What on earth? Where am I?'
Dali was bewildered. The sensation of mud beneath his paws felt far too real for a dream. Had he somehow stumbled into the drama Old Man Park used to watch?

Terrified, Dali bristled his fur and searched for cover. Then it happened. A thunderous bark echoed from a nearby alley corner.

"Woof! Woof!"
Immediately, a shaggy monster burst out. It was a huge Japsal dog, its fur so thick and matted you couldn't even see where its eyes were. Instinctively, Dali hissed and assumed a defensive stance.

'Go away! I'm a tasteless cat!'
But the enormous dog seemed to find Dali's threat laughable. Wagging its tail like a propeller, it approached and flopped down flat.

Then it thrust its large nose forward and began sniffing. It was a simple creature, despite its size.
At that moment, a strange voice echoed in Dali's mind. It wasn't a sound heard through the ears, but more like a feeling transmitted through the heart.

'Huh? Where did you come from, you little rice cake? I've never seen a creature with such mismatched eye colours in the streets of Hanyang before? You look just like a will-o'-the-wisp. Hehe.'

Dali's eyes widened in surprise. This furry creature could actually talk! The lad said his name was 'Gom-i'. Gom-i's cheerful demeanour made Dali relax his guard a little.

After all, he was the first being in this strange world with whom Dali could communicate.

But suddenly, Gom-i's attitude changed completely. He began barking furiously at the crumbling wall of a nearby abandoned house.

"Woof woof woof! Grrr..."
To Dali, it was just empty air. Only the old, weathered earthen wall stood bleakly.

'What's wrong? There's nothing there. Are you daft?'
Dali absentmindedly looked towards where Gom-i was barking. At that moment, Dali's odd eyes fluttered violently and her vision twisted strangely. A bluish, chilling aura overlaid the colours of the world she usually saw.

'Eh...?'
Dali gasped. Upon the wall where there had been nothing moments before, a faint, translucent figure sat. A woman in mourning clothes, her hair loose, was silently weeping, shoulders heaving. It wasn't... human.

'Can you see her too? That ghostly woman on the wall.'
Gomi stopped barking and sent Dali a mental message, looking at her.

'She sits there every day, wailing like a fool. It's bloody noisy. None of the others can see her, but you can!'

The old saying that Sapsal dogs chase away ghosts was true. Gom was a dog who could see spirits. And astonishingly, Dali, the odd-eyed cat from the future, was seeing the same thing.

Dali and Gom-i stared at each other in astonishment. Behind them, the woman by the wall continued to weep pitifully.

Suddenly dropped into the unfamiliar heart of Joseon-era Hanyang, Dali found himself entangled with a ghost-seeing Sapsal dog.

Before him lay a strange and perilous adventure, utterly unlike the comfortable life he had known until now.

continue...