The sun didn't make an appearance throughout the day, and the clouds continued to gather densely in the sky. It hadn't rained enough to create puddles, and I kept thinking about the people down by the shore who had likely done everything they could to catch a few drops. In the afternoon, I knelt in our garden, trying to find and remove the small plants that were trying to steal the good soil from our cabbages. You were not far away, wrapped in blankets and lying in a basket. I wanted to play with you, but we needed the cabbage. Some of the passersby reported fights down at the docks, brawls and even some spilled blood.

"That bastard snuck in here and tainted the water! Just because they have nothing themselves in their rat-infested land!" spat someone as they passed by.

Others carried filled buckets. Presumably, they had started carrying water from the mountain streams down to the houses below. However, there weren't enough people to even come close to supplying the people and gardens near the harbor... I quickly brushed these terrible thoughts away. Guilt plagued me. I hated myself because I hadn't objected to our adventure back when we were young. Would Joo still be with us?

"Hello, my flower," a voice said from behind me.

I jumped and looked up.

Finally! Your father had returned! Eun stood there at the garden gate, his face dirty, and his hair tousled from the wind and weather, still wrapped in his coat that he usually wore at sea. His boots were dripping, and he looked tired and sad, but when he spotted you in your basket, he beamed.

I miss him so much, Joon-Ho! I wish you could have met him...

I quickly ran to him and hugged him. I could feel his warmth, but he flinched slightly when I wrapped my arms around him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked cautiously.

"It... It was a tough and long journey. We lost Seok..."

He now trembled and looked at me intensely.

"What? How?"

"I... Let me tell you inside. Not here. The people seem so... I don't know. When we docked, they swarmed us like vultures, asking questions. Whether we came from the South. Whether we had someone on board we had picked up somewhere. Whether we had been away for so long because we had in reality not gone fishing but smuggled food away. Nonsense. The people were hostile, as hostile as I've never seen anyone before. They tried to take our catch from us, said it didn't belong to us, and cursed us as filthy traitors. Madness! The port authorities helped us. I think we were almost attacked. After everything... Well. The catch is unloaded, and the ship is in the harbor. The others said they want to go home too, but I think they're going somewhere to have a drink together. I can't blame them..."

He flinched again.

"Is everything all right? What's going on?"

Wordlessly, he stepped back and rolled up his sleeve. A dirty cloth was wrapped around his upper arm, a makeshift bandage that seemed to cover a wound.

"But... what? What happened? You're injured! How, what? What happened? Please, tell me!"

"Inside."

His voice now sounded determined, and I got the feeling that it would be better to go inside with you two. I took you in my arms and headed toward the door when I noticed a group of children walking up the street, looking at us with a dark, hostile faces. I quickly got inside the house. When I locked the door behind Eun, he looked at me with a furrowed brow.

"I think we both have a lot to tell each other some things, don't we?"

I nodded slowly and began to heat up some soup for him while he looked after you.

"We were... gone for too long. I know that. But out there... we saw things, experienced things that you probably won't believe. But I'll tell you anyway."

He started speaking slowly, almost hesitating, but as I nodded to encourage him, he continued more steadily.

"When we set out, no one expected what would await us. The sea was calm, the weather mild. Everything indicated that we would have a peaceful voyage. The only concern on our minds was whether we would catch enough fish... As usual, we set a course northeast, away from the mainland, towards the center of the East Sea. We even were lucky with the wind, so we could hoist the sails and make progress without the auxiliary motor. Everyone was eager. Seok and I took care of preparing the nets and made sure everything was in order. Hoonmin was at the helm on the bridge, steering the Haenim out to sea. Jisoo helped with navigation, and Jinsung scrubbed the deck. The boy has potential, but everyone starts small, as you know. So, it was really just like any other time... The sun was soon on the horizon, and we had left the mainland far behind. The night brought many stars, a clear sky, and sparkling shooting stars, and I thought of both of you as I looked up there. I wished that things would get better soon. That we would make a big catch and get through the winter well... But there was also doubt within me, the creeping certainty that it would never really get better..."

"It's enough for us that you're here... You know that..."

"Yes, and I'm infinitely glad about that... I'm glad I have you... You two are everything to me and those thoughts always drive me onwards... The next two days were similar - good weather, but the fish remained absent. We ventured further and further out, but no matter how many times we cast our nets, nothing. Absolutely nothing. No seabream, no squid, no herring. Just algae and trash. With time, we became increasingly disheartened...

We were almost relieved when a slightly stronger wind started blowing on the fifth day. The Haemin swayed, and we made our way through increasingly foamy waves. Restlessness gripped the sea more and more, and dark clouds began to gather. The spray splashed onto the deck, and we had to put on our rain gear, or we would have been soaked from head to toe. Eventually, the sky on the horizon turned pitch black. A mighty storm was brewing. When we saw the clouds, we decided to turn back. It wasn't worth being torn apart by breakers. So, we began the journey home..."

"But something got in the way..."

"Yes. The current became unusually strong towards evening and dragged us toward the storm. We had to reel in the sails and nets and try to steer against it with the motor. Everyone worked at full throttle. As distant flashes flickered through the pitch-black clouds on the horizon, a growing fear crept over us. The darkness of the sky and the approaching night felt like impending, watery death. My breath quickened, and I exchanged worried glances with the others. 'This will be a big storm! We can't escape! The motor doesn't have enough power!' I shouted, my voice almost drowned out by the roaring wind. Hoomin and Jisoo nodded, their eyes reflecting the same concern, their faces radiating fear of what was to come. You know, we've experienced many storms before! We've faced the fury of nature before, but... this felt different, more like a premonition. It was as if something out there intended to kill us, to make us atone for unknown sins. With desperate haste, we began to reel in the last net, every muscle fighting against the storm's onslaught. Everyone pitched in, even Jinsung, who looked like he was about to throw up, but the boy held on. Everyone suffered injuries..."

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He gestured to his bandaged arm and clenched his teeth.

"The rain soon whipped at us, and the waves, monstrous and vengeful, grew higher with each passing minute. The Haenim groaned and shuddered, as if begging the sea for mercy, and she was tossed around more and more. Our net finally came on board, filled to the brim with a bountiful catch - a cruel twist of fate because it meant we were burdened and thus even more vulnerable..."

"Fish in such weather? How can that be? I thought fish dive deeper when a storm approaches?"

"I don't know. It wasn't the only thing that troubled us. The fish... they weren't ordinary fish. They were all completely covered with pulsating ulcers and pock-like growths. You could barely tell they were fish... once. Yellow pus ran onto the deck, and a rancid smell of decay, biting vinegar, and rot flooded over us, but the rain washed it all back into the depths."

I looked at him in shock. What had been out there, beneath the waves? In the depths of the ocean? And... was it still there, now?

"It was a complete mess. This... catch... played a cruel trick on all of us. I thought I heard biting, nasty voices in the carcasses, but it was over as quickly as it had begun. Seok covered his ears, and Jinsung couldn't take it anymore and vomited over the railing. But we didn't have time to wonder. The first lightning soon split the sky right above us, illuminating the turmoil surrounding us. Eventually, we had shoveled most of the dead fish overboard when the sea reared up, and larger and larger waves rose around us. Thunder kept crashing through the air, mocking our defiance.

'We need to find shelter!' Jisoo shouted, his distorted voice barely audible over the wind and rain. But where could we find refuge in this desolation? Desperation tugged at me as I wrestled with the motor, trying to give the Haenim at least some maneuverability back. Every wave we shot over, like a nutshell, felt like a titan threatening to swallow us. More and more fear gripped me, but I couldn't let the sea win..."

"How did you get out of it? How...?"

He shuddered suddenly.

"It was... suddenly silent."

"Silent?"

"The rain whipped at our faces, we couldn't see anything, we were carried over a big wave, and then... Nothing..."

"Nothing?"

"Before us was just a calm sea. No storm. No waves. But the stench, it intensified a thousandfold..."

"I don't understand. Darling, how can that be?"

"I don't know. I just... don't know. Behind us, we still saw a dense curtain of rain, saw the liquid mountains raging... but we ourselves were sailing on a water surface smoother than I had ever seen..."

"So, it was a calm? Were you in the eye of the storm? You all were really lucky!"

"No. It wasn't the eye... At least not as you know it. When I say it was a smooth sea surface, I mean just that. Not a single, tiny ripple. Not a bit of sea foam. No wind, not even a breeze..."

"But that's not possible..."

"No. And yet, that is how it was. The motor propelled us forward, slowly, away from the rain curtain behind us. It was as if we were driving over a muddy mirror. And in the distance, there seemed to be a green, pulsating glow that illuminated the ocean and made the night shimmer dimly. It was a dirty glow, and I felt sick just looking at it... Suddenly, everyone was talking, still marked by the shock and strain of the storm... Then...

'Ghost lights. They warned me about them. A long time ago.'

Although Seok had said it more to himself, we all fell silent when we heard it..."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. I had never heard of such things. But then again, I had repressed most of the old tales...

"Ghost lights? What are those supposed to be? Dead souls trying to lure others into the heart of the sea?"

I swallowed. Ghost lights... It sounded ridiculous, and yet after everything that had happened, I didn't feel like doubting anything.

"No, Haru. That wasn't it. I don't know for sure either. I'd never heard of them myself. My father used to spin a lot of sailor's yarn, but I'd never heard of lights like these. No idea what they were. But Seok believed he knew... He told us that there were warnings about them. Warnings from ancient times. That a glow in the sea and a whisper in the wind brought doom and great danger..."

Whispers! Whispering... again! What was the meaning of it? What did it signify? I knew it was nothing good, of course, but what exactly... what did it all mean?

To this day, I don't know.

Your father continued before I could finish my thoughts, and I just listened to his words, to his voice that I had missed so much...

"Seok told us - like he often told us things he had heard somewhere. He loved all these horror stories. He probably made up many himself, but a few, a few he probably heard from others. He said they were called ghost lights not because they were real lights, but because they were like the last flicker of dead spirits. A final glimmer of souls before they... Oh, I don't know. It was quite jumbled. But he also said they were an omen of death and destruction. To underscore it, a murmuring swelled in the air, growing louder and more malicious. Infinitely hostile..."

"That's awful! What did they say? Or do you not want to talk about it...?"

"We couldn't understand them; there were too many. But there was hatred in the wind. Hatred in the water. Disgust. I can't say exactly what... The glow... It got closer. The voices... They invaded our hearts. At least, that's how it felt. Seok... He suddenly screamed. Screamed and screamed... As if he were burning alive... Then he just threw himself overboard. Just like that. He went under like a stone, disappeared into the depths. The rest of us... we barely noticed it. There was so much evil in the air. Pulling at us. The glow grew brighter, brighter, and the voices louder and louder..."

"And then...?" I asked, full of concern but also horrifically intrigued.

"Nothing. I don't remember more. The next thing I recall is that I woke up, and we were adrift amid a light swell. The others were just regaining their senses too... It could have been a bad dream... if Seok hadn't disappeared..."

"My goodness... That sounds terrible..."

"Yes. Well... we decided to head back - obviously. Jisoo used the stars to navigate. We had gone very far out. But eventually, we made it back. We even had a good catch on the way back..."

His voice trailed off, and he looked at you, Joon-Ho, with all his love. You were sleeping soundly and peacefully. I think you sensed that he was back...

"I only made it through because I wanted to come back to you two, I think. I'm so glad you're all right..."

I hugged him as tightly as I could, pressed myself against his chest. It was good that he was back, despite the circumstances.

"But, enough about the sea... Darling, now please tell me what happened here! What is going on?"

And so, I told him. He listened, his face tense. He believed everything, and I was relieved.

"The water... it sounds like what was in those... fish was in the water as well. Do you really think it comes from the South? How could they cause such an event at sea? It's beyond human capability..."

"Yes, probably. I don't know either. But the water here, it's dangerous. We must be cautious. We mustn't drink anything offered to us. And we must protect Joon-Ho from it. I almost believe... that there's something out there that's been here for a long time, but has otherwise been asleep. Underground. All these stories, all these terrible myths... Someone once told me they were warnings, warnings about things and beings out there. Outside the town. But perhaps they're invading here now... Or were they always here? Eun, I... I'm desperate. What if something takes Joon-Ho? What if these Whisperers or the Mulgda or a Gosa or..."

"Hey. Everything will be fine, we'll make it. In case... In case we'll leave."

He hugged me again. It was good to finally feel safe, even though I knew he probably couldn't do anything about all the horrors that had come to our city. But at least we weren't alone anymore...

Then I flinched.

"Leave? Where to? Everything we have is here. It's worse in the south, and we can't even afford a shed in the north... And they are not better off there either!"

Eun remained silent for a while.

"We will find a place and a way," he said firmly.