CHAPTER 1: Suzy's Goblin Gangrape
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Part 1
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Our human realm (이승) is securely separated from the monsters and dark deities that crawl and worm about the underworld (지하국). Except, that is, for certain special creatures able to cross the boundaries - like 차사. These creatures, whether they are human, dokkaebi, spirits or gods, are employed by the Ten Great Kings of the underworld as envoys between realms and gods to settle conflicts, send messages, and deliver gifts and tributes.
This is a story about how Bae Suzy, sweetheart of Korea, was drawn into this business and was, for a time, a 차사 for the Great Kings of Hades.
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Part 2: Bae Suji is invited to the Underworld by a messenger.
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A 차사 began appearing in Suji's dreams when she was fifteen. When Suji was sixteen the 차사 left strange and conspicuous items for her to discover in her room. She formally met the 차사, in the flesh, one November night. Suji was startled because she hadn't heard the door opening, and she was in the middle of a shameful private activity. The 차사 didn't seem to mind. Suji was naturally frightened and confused, and outpoured years of questions. The 차사 told Suji to prepare herself for an important message that would be delivered to her next month.
When the 차사 re-entered Suji's bedroom, a month later, it wore officious robes and held a long decorated spear. Suji was handed a scroll, but the script was foreign. She asked the 차사 to translate:
The 차사 explained that Suzy had been commanded, by one of the Great Kings, to deliver a gift to 염라.
"저요?"
"그래,"
[Me?] Suji asked,
[Yes,] said the 차사, [each century the Great Kings must perform a ritual gift offering to 염라님. My Lord's ritual requires that the gift be delivered by a beautiful human virgin. You have been chosen for this duty]
[Really?? Then I can go there? And I can see it all for myself?] our idol inquired.
[Just so. The delivery must be made within seven months] said the 차사, who then reached inside its robes for a pouch and handed it to Suji, saying [Ring this bell three times when you are ready to embark]. With that, the 차사 shrank into dust and disappeared.
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Part 3: Suji prepares to go to the Underworld.
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A week later, Suji was wearing a luxurious pink dress and had just returned from a hair and makeup stylist. She studied herself in the mirror as she put on her earrings. She was going to the land of gods and ... well, who knows what might happen or whom she may meet! She slipped into some magnificent slippers and saw that she was all set. She looked in the pouch and saw a silver necklace with a fat green jewel hanging from it with some sort of insignia carved into it. She took it out reverently. This, she assumed, must be the ritual gift... Next she took out the bell, and very carefully, with some doubt, jingled it three times.
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Part 4: Suji awakens in the Underworld
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She awoke laying on a grassy plain, with high forested mountains all around her.
[My dress!] she shrieked, hurrying onto her feet and checking for any dirt smudges or tears in the fabric. When she was satisfied she had been undamaged, she looked around.
[Where is this place?]
There were no buildings or roads or signs. How would she deliver the...
[Where is the pouch??] she cried. She looked at her feet, but the grass was high. She bent down with much hesitation and disgust, terrified of rushing into a worm or beetle... She pushed aside a few patches of the meadow around where she had been lying and found the pouch.
[Oh! I can't lose this!] She said, dusting it off. But she had no pockets or safe place to keep it.
She looked inside the pouch to check for the necklace. It was still there.
[Probably safer if I wear it...] She decided, and, with some reservation, put it on... She half expected the sky to split open and 염라 to come thundering down in fury... But the heavens were silent.
The pouch was empty. That's when she noticed she didn't have the bell. Did she drop it? She looked down... she hadn't found it in her search for the pouch...
[Ahhh... no! I'm not rummaging a second longer through the dirt in these clothes... It's bad enough wearing slippers in this stuff... 차사 will give me a new one. I am on a royal mission, after all - I'm sure they can spare a bell or two...]
And so she resolved to be on her way. But, to where? What direction? She decided to march up one of the nearby hills and look around... surely there was a palace or city around here somewhere... somebody there could organize a carriage to take her and her precious cargo on its royal task.