Lady Misan and Chung-A
Lady Misan and Cheong-ah, having fled from the northern port of Wonsan, finally arrived in Gyeongseong—the name for Seoul during the Japanese colonial period. It took them nearly a month to arrive, as they had to travel in secrecy, trekking through mountain paths buried under heavy snow.
In this world, many things exist that cannot be explained by logic. There also exist people capable of making those illogical things happen.
Cheong-ah was a child abandoned by her mother at the age of five, after being claimed by a spirit—a phenomenon known as Shin-naerim (divine possession). From the very day her mother sold her to a Baksu-mudang (a male shaman) at that tender age, Cheong-ah suffered horrific sexual violence and abuse. Yet, she remained unnervingly calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
Though she was only thirteen, no trace of a typical young girl remained in her; she had matured far too early. This stoic composure—the look of a child who had completely surrendered to a cruel fate—pained Lady Misan’s heart more than any tears would have. In the land of Joseon during the 1930s, there were no child protection laws, no gender equality, and no concept of human rights. For housemaids, slaves, orphans, and unwanted females, life was, at best, only slightly better than that of an animal.
"Since a spirit has possessed you, go live with the shaman," Cheong-ah’s mother had said. The woman who sold her child was someone who had already given birth to seven daughters. Driven by an obsession to produce a son, she had already sold four of her girls as kitchen maids to Japanese officials and was currently pregnant with her eighth child.
Finding herself utterly unable to feed another mouth, she sold Cheong-ah—whose gaze and speech were already extraordinary—to the shaman. Cheong-ah had begged, "Mother, please do not send me away. I will do everything you tell me and I won't eat much. I am sorry. I was so hungry yesterday that I took a spoonful of Father’s rice. I didn't mean to. Please forgive me."
The mother's decision had become final when she discovered that Cheong-ah had, as if by magic, found a bowl of barley rice hidden away for the father. In a fit of irrational rage, she decided the girl had to go. Though the five-year-old had wailed and clung to the doorframe, she realized then that her destiny was fixed. Even as she became a sexual plaything for the shaman, she accepted it as the lot she was born with.
In the meantime, a supernatural wisdom began to emerge within her. Cheong-ah’s gaze seemed to pierce through the human soul into another dimension. Her voice carried a frequency that seemed to vibrate within the listener's very brain. She knew the secrets of mountain herbs and minerals, and she spoke to animals in monologues no human could understand. She caught rabbits with mysterious incantations and brought down birds from the sky with a strange, guttural sound from deep within her belly.
During their month-long journey, Lady Misan found herself relying on the girl more and more. Upon entering the city, they were at a loss for how to survive, until Cheong-ah spoke.
"I heard from my older sisters that there is a Kisaeng Union here. If one has talent, they provide room and board."
(Note: Kisaeng were female artists and entertainers, similar to Japanese Geisha, highly trained in fine arts, though often living in precarious social positions.) "I will meet the owner of the Gwonbeon (the kisaeng school and agency) and win them over," Cheong-ah added.
"That is not a place just anyone can enter," Lady Misan cautioned. "A kisaeng in Gyeongseong must be a peerless beauty, a master of dance and song, and literate as well."
But as she looked at Cheong-ah, she realized the girl had a magnetism that was impossible to forget. Furthermore, her shamanic training made her a natural at song and dance, and her time in a noble household had made her remarkably cultured.
"I will trade two rabbits I caught for some fabric," Cheong-ah said. "Can you make me a splendid outfit today?"
Lady Misan, a skilled midwife who also made clothes for newborns, nodded. "With thread and a needle, I can do it in three hours. But the weather is so cold... my hands are frozen stiff."
The January wind whistled through the streets. Cheong-ah reached up, took a tile from a nearby roof, and began to chant a spell: "Bina-bina, Suri-suri."
Suddenly, the roof tile became warm. "Hold this," Cheong-ah said. Lady Misan stared at her, warming her hands on the stone. "You truly are a specter!"
Cheong-ah smiled enchantingly. "I have already transcended the physical world. How do you think we survived a month in the mountains? I heated the rocks around us like an Ondol (the traditional Korean underfloor heating system). On the night my mother abandoned me, the shaman made me sleep in a freezing room. That night, the power to create heat descended upon me."
Cheong-ah returned from the market with fine silk. Lady Misan sat on the road, warming her hands on the magic tile, and sewed the garment. When Cheong-ah put it on, she possessed a charisma that defied description.
"You look like a noble lady," Lady Misan whispered. "Clothes really are wings."
"Today is my fourteenth birthday," Cheong-ah said, handing Lady Misan some arrowroot for hunger. "I will find us a place to stay. I will never forget this gift." She then disappeared toward the Kisaeng Union.
As Lady Misan ate, she thought of the Asura King. In Buddhist cosmology, the Six Realms of Rebirth (Yukdo-yunhoe) consist of Heaven, Humans, Asuras (demigods of war/chaos), Animals, Hungry Ghosts, and Hell. It is said that when a human endures suffering that no mortal should be able to bear, the Asura King opens a gate and grants that person a chaotic, supernatural power—a form of dark magic.
Cheong-ah’s life had been a series of hells: the abandonment at five, the years of abuse, and the betrayal of those she trusted. Lady Misan believed the Asura King had reached out to give the girl this power to survive.
As dusk fell, Cheong-ah returned. Beside her was a young Japanese Police Sergeant, smiling and holding her hand.
"This gentleman is introducing us to the owner of the Yangju Gwonbeon," Cheong-ah said in fluent Japanese, acting coquettishly. "It is all thanks to Heaven that I met such a wonderful man! Isn't that right, Ishimaru?"
Lady Misan thought to herself: 'Heaven sent? No, the Asura King is protecting her.'
Cheong-ah whispered into the Sergeant’s ear. His face flushed red, and he kissed her on the head. In this way, they entered the world of the Gyeongseong kisaeng. The owner of the agency welcomed her like an old friend. Whatever Cheong-ah had done during those few hours, she had completely bewitched the souls of the men in charge.
From that day on, Cheong-ah lived as a kisaeng, and Lady Misan lived as her personal maid.