Chapter 6

6. The Child in the Mirror

Seeing the gaunt-faced child made him feel terrible.

Young Yeonjeong lost interest in the mirror and began to play, turning around.

After playing alone for a while, he scratched his head.

He felt strange for some reason.

It was as if someone was watching him.

He had never felt this way before.

Unconsciously, Yeonjeong turned his gaze to the mirror behind him. Then he met the eyes of the child in the mirror.

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Yeonjeong raised his right hand and waved it vigorously.

Huh? What is it?

Something felt off, and the child in the mirror was also raising his right hand.

Shouldn't it be the same side, i.e., the left hand, since it's a mirror?

Suddenly, Yeonjeong felt a strange sensation. It didn't feel like this before.

'Why is the hand shape different?'

Suddenly, he felt a chill and goosebumps.

When he looked at the mirror again, the child had a strange smile on his lips and around his eyes.

Even though he himself wasn't smiling.

"Ah!"

Yeonjeong let out a scream and rolled backward.

From then on, the child in the mirror started to grin openly.

Yeonjeong screamed and pounded on the door.

"It's a ghost! Auntie! Mom! Dad! Save me!"

He was so scared that he even wet his pants.

Despite his clear cries, no one came to help.

"Please... save... me... Please... save... me..."

His voice became as small as the sound of an ant crawling.

Yeonjeong pounded on the tightly locked door with his palms until he was exhausted and fell asleep.

Clunk.

The next morning, Yeonjeong woke up to the sound of food being pushed through a hole.

What happened yesterday seemed like a dream.

Even though he thought it was a dream, Yeonjeong tried not to look at the mirror.

He was so scared that he didn't even go near the mirror.

However, in the small storage room, he couldn't avoid the mirror forever.

On the other hand, Yeonjeong was also curious.

Was what I saw real?

If so, how did the child who looks like me get inside the mirror?

What kind of world is inside the mirror?

Is it narrower or wider than the storage room?

One day, curiosity overcame his fear, and Yeonjeong cautiously approached the mirror.

Fortunately, the child was not visible yet.

Although he had steeled himself, Yeonjeong was suddenly terrified when he stood in front of the mirror. So, before the child appeared, he quickly flipped the mirror over.

On the back of the mirror was a picture of a beautiful fairy standing on clouds.

Although it didn't impress him before, now it seemed like she was really flying in the sky.

He preferred the fairy picture to the strange, gaunt child in the mirror.

Yeonjeong thought he would keep the mirror flipped over for a while.

However, that resolve didn't last long.

After about three days, he became curious about what the child in the mirror was doing.

In the storage room, the only things moving were the 'rats,' 'himself,' and 'the child in the mirror.'

As his curiosity grew uncontrollably, Yeonjeong slowly turned the mirror around.

The child's face appeared suddenly, as if waiting for him.

"Ah!"

Yeonjeong, startled, fell on his bottom.

The child in the mirror covered his mouth and chuckled.

"What... don't laugh..."

Yeonjeong protested in a weak voice.

Finding it amusing, the child grabbed his stomach and rolled around.

Angry, Yeonjeong vowed to ignore whatever the child did.

He hummed a tune and busily rummaged through the clutter.

On a scorching summer day when he was sweating profusely even while standing still.

The child in the mirror, who had been moving busily, suddenly stood up.

Yeonjeong pretended not to notice.

However, he subtly glanced at the child.

The child was holding a short stick and making strange movements.

'Huh?'

The movements looked familiar.

After some thought, he realized it was the movements his father taught his older brothers.

He was too young to learn and only watched his father teach his brothers.

Was it called 'Gucheonsebeop'?

The child in the mirror wielded the stick tirelessly all day.

Yeonjeong pretended to rummage through the clutter while secretly observing the child's movements.

Winter came again.

It seems that people eventually adapt to even the strangest things. Yeonjeong no longer feared the mirror.

He sat in front of the mirror all day, watching the child.

He also held a stick and imitated the child's movements.

Not to learn, but because he couldn't sit still in the cold.

When he moved like the child, a strange warmth rose from within his body.

Thanks to this, he didn't feel the cold, which was a good thing.

Yeonjeong, sweating profusely, followed the child, swinging the stick.

Repeating 'Gucheonsebeop' nine times took half a day.

The child in the mirror performed 'Gucheonsebeop' nine times in the morning and nine times in the afternoon.

Yeonjeong, who had nothing else to do, followed the child.

***

By the end of the third winter, Yeonjeong could perform 'Gucheonsebeop' just like the child.

The child, who had been glancing at Yeonjeong, stopped his movements with an unpleasant look.

It seemed to say, 'How dare you imitate me?'

Yeonjeong glared at the child, thinking, 'So what? What are you going to do about it?'

The child, who had been blowing his nose in the mirror, changed his movements.

From then on, he started a completely different set of movements from 'Gucheonsebeop.'

His confident expression seemed to say, 'You can't imitate this, can you?'

Yeonjeong's face contorted.

Indeed, it looked much more difficult than 'Gucheonsebeop.'

Yeonjeong, staring intently, tried to mimic the child's movements.

However, he soon became disoriented.

The child in the mirror laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

Yeonjeong's face turned red, but he gritted his teeth and moved his body again.

The child in the mirror, as soon as Yeonjeong got used to the new movements, provocatively switched to another set.

The new set also had nine movements, like 'Gucheonsebeop.'

It took Yeonjeong two more winters to be able to mimic the nine movements.

By then, the child in the mirror had become a young boy.

***

In the spring, the young boy in the mirror discarded the stick.

He took out a book from a pile reflected in the mirror and started reading.

Yeonjeong found the same book in the storage room.

Since the scenery in the mirror was the same as inside the storage room, it wasn't too difficult.

The title on the book cover was 'Xiaoxue' (Elementary Learning).

It was the very book he studied with his brothers until he was six.

He had lost it when he was forced to study the Analects of Confucius, but it seemed to be here.

Yeonjeong, out of habit, imitated the young boy in the mirror.

The boy, after reading 'Xiaoxue,' sat cross-legged and only breathed.

Then he opened 'Xiaoxue' again and touched various parts of his body.

Yeonjeong tilted his head.

He had read 'Xiaoxue' several times but had never heard of such a practice.

However, the boy, tapping his head and laughing, sat cross-legged again.

This went on for months.

Yeonjeong, imitating the boy, threw the 'Xiaoxue' he held in his hand.

He didn't have such content in his 'Xiaoxue.'

One day, the young boy in the mirror sat still, not opening his eyes all day.

The 'Xiaoxue' he had discarded was still in the same place.

This confirmed that the mirror was reflecting the storage room.

Except for the different actions, the young boy in the mirror was no different from himself.

It was a ghostly situation, but he could clearly tell from his five years of experience.

Sometimes he wondered.

What he saw in the mirror might be his imagination.

This thought became more and more solid over time.

Naturally, his fear and caution towards the young boy in the mirror gradually disappeared.

Who would be afraid of their own imagination!

***

In the summer, the young boy in the mirror picked up the 'Xiaoxue' he hadn't read for a while.

He opened it to the middle, checked something, and then closed his eyes.

He remained motionless, just like before.

Yeonjeong, squatting in front of the mirror, looked at the boy.

This must be an illusion created by my desire to be like my father. He couldn't think of anything else.

Suddenly, he noticed the 'Xiaoxue' on the boy's knees.

Everything else seemed like his imagination, but this 'Xiaoxue' was incomprehensible.

He had never seen his father read a book and react like that.

What was written in that 'Xiaoxue'?

Why did the boy nod while touching his body?

Yeonjeong wanted to see the 'Xiaoxue' on the boy's knees.

He thought he could see the characters if he got closer.

Based on his experience, the boy would sit like that all day.

Yeonjeong cautiously approached.

He leaned in to see the 'Xiaoxue' on the boy's knees.

The consequences of his carelessness were terrifying.

Suddenly, the boy's hand shot out of the mirror and grabbed Yeonjeong's hair.

"Ah!"

A scream of terror burst from Yeonjeong's mouth.

Being grabbed by a ghost in the mirror!

The boy in the mirror was not a figment of his imagination.

The boy pulled Yeonjeong with terrifying strength.

"Ah! Let go!"

Yeonjeong screamed and struggled but was eventually sucked into the mirror.

Strangely, as Yeonjeong entered, the boy's body emerged from the mirror.

In just a breath, their positions were switched.

"Ha ha ha!"

The boy, now outside the mirror, laughed loudly and jumped around the storage room.

Yeonjeong pounded on the mirror frantically.

Bang bang bang.

However, the bronze mirror did not break.

Yeonjeong looked around in a daze. The scenery inside the storage room, which he had seen through the mirror, was now around him. He was inside the mirror world.

Standing in the mirror world, Yeonjeong stared blankly ahead.

The boy, who looked exactly like him, was happily tearing into and eating a flower bun he had saved.

"That... that's mine."

Yeonjeong mustered the strength to speak, but the boy ignored him.

"It's mine..."

However, after finishing the flower bun, the boy patted his stomach and laughed, his face full of mischief and without a care in the world.