“I don’t know,” — he rubbed his face with both of his hands, looking at his feet — “I feel agonized… scared… something happened yesterday but… I don’t remember… my mind won’t let me remember.”

The elder monk smiled widely at him and said, “I will help you, come with me.” the elder monk led the way to a quieter room which was on the other side of the temple. It was semi-empty with few pillows on the ground. The elder monk told Iksoon to sit and relax while he prepared some tea for them to drink.

The elder monk moved inside the room. He grabbed a small table from the right corner in front of him, then put two cups and a teapot on it. He sat down across from Iksoon, who kept looking at his hands, trying again to remember.

Iksoon didn’t seem to notice that the elder monk finished making the tea till he looked up and saw him smiling at him while slightly nudging the cup toward him.

Iksoon thanked him politely and took a small sip of the tea; it was warm and delicious. He put his cup on the table and kept both of his hands around it. “I am worried about Donggun’s health… but… something else is scaring me… I don’t remember what it was or even why I forgot.”

The elder monk nodded his head. He moved one of his hands further and held one of Iksoon’s hands. “Open your heart… all memories engraved inside man’s heart.” Iksoon looked at his hand and then at the elder monk’s smiling face. He closed his eyes, hoping he could remember anything.

Whispers broke the quietness of the room; extremely low and almost unheard whispers came out of Iksoon’s slightly opened mouth. The elder monk watched him intensely. His smile was long gone, with every word crawling through Iksoon’s mouth. His eyes widened; he couldn’t believe Iksoon would say such things.

It was a surreal moment, which passed slowly, shaking the elder monk to his core. Iksoon wasn’t aware of what he was saying, his body was frozen in its place and the words seemed foreign to his peaceful nature. He stopped vaguely and opened his eyes. He looked at his hand, then at the elder monk who seemed pale and stricken with agitation.

“What happened?” Eyeing the elder monk who seemed frozen. Iksoon frowned. He waved his hand right across the monk’s face. He blinked several times before moving his head and smiling back at Iksoon.

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“Donggun will be fine… actually, his sickness reminded me of an old friend,” the elder monk said. “The mystery traveler monk.”

“Traveler monk… I remember his story. The elders told us about him years ago. He was real?”

“Of course, he was.” the elder monk smiled again and continued, “he traveled the world to reach the truth… I will give you something to calm your curiosity.” the elder monk told Iksoon to wait for him.

He went to another room for a couple of minutes and came back holding a group of old papers covered with black leather and gave it to him. “He wrote those papers; it will help you understand what is happening to your friend.”

Before Iksoon replied; the elder monk left and walked away. Iksoon eyed the papers again and stood up. As he was walking back to the garden of the temple, the student whom he sent to Donggun’s place came back and told him that Donggun’s health wasn’t getting any better. He looked at the papers in his hands and sighed.

The morning of Daeboreum.

From early morning, Iksoon had sent his student again to Donggun’s place while he was reading the papers for the fifth time. The student came back, anxiously running and out of breath. He stood in front of Iksoon, who eyed his nervous body and said, “What happened?!” Iksoon’s voice was extremely loud and caught everyone’s attention in the temple.

“He’s gone!” the student said, terrified.

“DEAD!!” Iksoon felt his heart drop.

“Maybe… I don’t know! I went to his place, and everyone was outside talking, but suddenly a scream came from his room… we went running to him and he was gone! He disappeared!” Iksoon gripped the papers, looking completely terrified.

Hanseong, The Kingdom of Joseon, the early morning of Chuseok, 1774.

The famous temple sounded peaceful, with students’ laughter and people talking and praying. In the backyard garden, a group of young students was sitting quietly while Iksoon was teaching them. Walking back and forth with frowned face and stern voice, and the youthful faces focused on his words.

Iksoon method of teaching was more of a discussion. He asked them questions and when they answered wrong; he corrected them. They repeated his answer a couple of times before Iksoon headed to the new question.

As the young kids were repeating suddenly, they stopped, and a followed united gasp escaped their parted mouths.

Iksoon wasn’t looking when they stopped, yet their scared scream startled him, making him jump slightly. “WHAT?!” he asked one of the screaming students. The young boy pointed at something behind Iksoon. He turned around to find Donggun standing in the middle of the temple, looking scared and tired. His clothes soaked in his heavy sweat and his face was pale, as if he were gasping for air. He looked around, then looked directly at Iksoon.

“Iksoon,” he said and gasped harder. Donggun walked two steps toward Iksoon, right before losing consciousness. Iksoon ran to him; he held Donggun’s head and screamed for the other monks for help. The rest of the monks came running toward them while Iksoon looked back at Donggun’s trembling body, terrified.