Dancing with a 구미호 Gumiho

Epilouge {End}

Many people believe in some form of fate. Like a red string connecting one person to their destined soulmate. A force that puts two predestined individuals together.

Our protagonists never believed in that nor fathom that fate would bring the two of them together.

However, their beliefs changed when they met each other; a creature you only hear about from children's stories; a gumiho and a young woman who resembled the Gumiho's first love.

There was once a myth, a legend, told as a scary bedtime story to young children to keep them behaving obediently. It was a story as old as time. It began with a fox spirit, a fox who had lived for thousands of years and that longed to be human. For living for thousands of years, he turned into a gumiho.

It was said that this gumiho could change its' shape, it's form and appearance to anything that it desired. One time, it transformed into a beautiful woman that stole the hearts of every man that saw her. As it lured the men, the gumiho feasted upon their flesh. It ripped out their hearts and liver straight from their bodies.

After a while, all the villagers grew scared and frightened of the creature. Though they were scared and wary, this allowed these villagers to keep up their guard. They grew suspicious of everyone around them. This made it quite difficult for the gumiho to feed. However, that never stopped the creature. This made the creature adapt. It started taking the forms of men, then children, and then the elderly, even animals. It took the form of anything that it could lay its' eyes on. Anything to feed.

However, the gumiho's attitude changed when it met a young woman.

This is where our heroine's story started. Four hundred years ago.

The young woman was Amari's great + grandmother named Kali. Many times, Amari was told numerously that not only does she resemble so much like her, she also had the same personality as her. It was like Kali was still alive to this day.

Kali was a poor African girl who had to give her child away and was looked at like she was foreign from the rest of the villagers, even though she was born there. It was because she had dark, ebony skin and thick, curly hair. She didn't look like everyone else. South Korea was and still is a homogenous country, so of course, she was going to be getting odd looks and get treated differently.

Kali had a terminally ill mother and younger brother who wasn't old enough to take care himself, so she had to take care of everyone. It was a hard time for her. She didn't have a job, so she got food the only way she knew how, she stole it. She was very good at it, almost like a pro. Nobody ever caught her, though she did make a lot of enemies with the street vendors.

Even though Kali seemed like a confident young woman, she, like other girls her age, had insecurities with her looks. She constantly felt out of place. She knew and noticed that she did look different from the other girls around her. She was constantly told from the other villagers how ugly she was. They would spout so many insults and negativity and racism her way.

When she felt the lowest she ever had, that was when the gumiho appeared. It had transformed into a young man her age. He was searching for another prey to feast upon and happen to spot her. However, he couldn't eat Kali. For some reason, the gumiho was intrigued by her. He didn't know why. Instead of eating her, the gumiho followed Kali around, observing her daily life and her family. He realized that she was the main caregiver of this entire family. He couldn't really eat her. Someone would notice her gone missing, so he stayed and watched over her. Wherever she went, the gumiho went.

One night, Kali had gone out for some fresh air. She went to her usual spot; a grassy hill, overlooking a river with a tall tree filled with Hibiscus Syriacus that would later be called the Korean Rose. She would just sit there, underneath the tree and watch the river, lost in thought. You would think a young woman wouldn't have much to think about, but she did. Kali was so lost in thought that she didn't notice a group of men coming up from behind her. They assaulted poor Kali; kicked her, punched her, smacked her with blunt objects, screamed obscenities at her, spat on her. She was a bloody and bruised mess when they were done with her. However, the gumiho was watching her the whole time from behind another tree.

It grew furious at what those village men were doing to her. It lost control and transformed into its' usual, normal, gumiho form and attacked those men. Amari's great grandmother Kali had to watch in shock as the gumiho ripped those men to shreds, tore out their hearts and livers and feasted upon the delicacy.

When the gumiho was done eating, his face covered with blood, anger and rage in his golden eyes, surrounded my dead men with huge holes in their bodies, the two stared at one another. Kali wasn't afraid, she too was intrigued by the creature. That was when their love story began. Unfortunately, their love story ended tragically, when a hunter who sought out the gumiho and his bead and killed Kali.

"How does this story involve you, mommy?" asked a young girl about five years old.

Well, four centuries later, I come in with a destiny and a fate I couldn't avoid. I was to marry the gumiho and be his sworn protector and lover. Inside me was a bead that belonged to the gumiho and it gave me extraordinary powers. I had to fight off the hunter from four hundred years ago, gangsters, an abusive ex, greedy and lustful businessmen, my past, and so much more. All to make me into the woman I am now.

"Did the gumiho ever have a name?" asked a young boy about the same age as the girl.

"Yes, Kali gave the gumiho the name Deok Su Hyun".

"Whatever happened to the gumiho?" asked the young girl.

"He found what he was looking for, so he was able to live happily for the rest of his life" came in a handsome Korean man also named Su Hyun. He placed a hand on Amari's shoulders and smiled at his children.

"Such a cool story!" yelled the boy as he snuggled underneath his covers in his bed.

"Yeah! Mom has the best stories!" yelled the girl as she did the same thing.

Amari and Su Hyun smiled at one another and tucked their children into bed.

"Now sleep!" Amari said sternly.

The two kissed their kids' goodnight, before turning off the lights and closing their door.

"You ever going to tell them that that story was real?" Su Hyun asked.

Amari shook her head. "They don't need to know". "The Gumiho life is in our past now".

Su Hyun smiled at his wife and kissed her lips sweetly, making Amari smile into the kiss and kiss him back.