Queen Min, sought to bring modernization to Joseon.
During that time lived a gumiho. She chose to reside in a small town that climbed one of the craggy mountains scattered across the country. Though most gumiho lived a nomadic life, she’d fallen in love with her isolated village and the people in it. So she made it her permanent home.
She learned the name of every neighbor. She played with their children. She helped harvest crops.
She never chose her victims from the humans she lived among, for she’d learned to love them. Instead she traveled far each full moon to feed.
Queen Min embraced the progressive movement. She sought to open Joseon to new ideals, new technology, and new religions.
The gumiho saw hope in this movement. Perhaps, without the dark superstitions previously woven through gumiho myths, she could trust those she loved with her secrets. After all, those that told tales of the evils of her kind also told of the power of love.
And one day, she decided to tell the people her true identity.
She chose to tell the most respected elder first, hoping he would influence the town.
When he turned her away, the village did as well. They came to her home that night with sword and stone. They ripped her small hanok apart. But their blades did not kill her.
She fled, crazed from betrayal and pain. They hunted her, combing the mountains and fields for days before giving her up for dead and returning to their lives. The gumiho was alone and abandoned and broken. And the village went back to harvesting their crops and raising their children. Nothing changed for them after they chased her away, and seeing this, the gumiho’s rage consumed her heart.
The next full moon, she came back and visited every home. With a swipe of claw and rip of flesh, she pulled the liver from every villager.
The final hanok was the home of the elder who’d turned on her. As she tore at his front door, shamans emerged, cutting her down with their magic, ripping her soul from her body. And she was cast into the afterlife chased by her own bitterness.
18
THE FULL MOON brought with it a tension that pressed on Miyoung’s chest. One that came with anticipation and anxiety. She needed tonight to go well. She needed to find her balance again and she’d convinced herself she would when the bead was back in place.
She trotted down the stairs, not wanting to be late meeting Nara. But she came up short when she saw her mother in the foyer with a suitcase.
“You’re going somewhere? Tonight?” At the full moon?
“Yes, I have an important trip I can’t avoid any longer.”
“But I need . . .” Miyoung trailed off. She didn’t know what she wanted from Yena, only that she felt better when her mother was around. And tonight was so important.
“I’ll be away for a few days, a week at most,” Yena said.
“Why?” Miyoung asked before she could stop herself.
“Business.” Yena’s cold tone was proof that Miyoung had misstepped. Miyoung actually had no idea what her mother’s business was, only that Yena had lived long enough to make a lot of money and that Miyoung had never wanted for any material things. That was why, as a child, she’d wondered why her mother still needed to work at all. So one day, she asked Yena why she went away so often, and her mother had replied that she was looking for something. The vague answer was patented Yena. She never gave up anything she didn’t want to.
“You will behave while I’m gone.” It was more command than request.
“Of course.” Miyoung bowed low, staying that way until she heard the door shut behind her mother.
After she watched her mother’s cab pull away, Miyoung made her way into the forest. The path to her meeting place with Nara was narrow, the stairs made of worn stone that gave way to dirt and rock.
The moon felt fuller than full tonight, like an overfilled balloon ready to burst. Only, Miyoung was the one that might explode. Her skin itched like a thousand bugs crawled over her body. Her stomach turned somersaults, as if warning her that she was running perilously low on gi. She needed to finish the ceremony and feed. Once she fed she’d feel better.
She found Nara at the base of a gnarled tree that had lost all of its leaves to late fall. The moon peeked through the naked branches to cast twisted shadows on the