A Broken Wine Bowl

                                      written by Tae-young Hwang

    
   It was the last pitch-dark night of the lunar month in fall.
  I belonged to Nocturnal Travel, a gang who specialized in grave-robbing.
  It was not until I had washed a mountain of his lousy clothes and done many chores for my boss, Weasel, for almost four months that I was regularly appointed a member. That day two contrasting feelings, exultation and fright, got entangled in the bottom of my heart.
   On the first day of my participation in wrongdoing, Weasel summoned all of his five men,and then he lectured us,
  "Boys, you take no pride in your present jobs whatsoever. As you know, when I was a sophomore in the department of archeology, I temporarily absented myself from the renowned 'B' University, and then organized Nocturnal Travel. We must excavate a great deal of remains that have been long buried deep under the ground,and bring them to light. I believe it may be safely said that that is a very patriotic work, isn't it? Treasures in the ground would decay. We must prevent them from doing so."
   We were all half in doubt about whether he had truly attended the college, and yet he was a competent boss in the matter of mining by stealth.
   He cleared his throat and resumed,
  "We're gonna dig the old Acorn Grave at two o'clock sharp tonight. As fas as I know......
  If I use difficult archeological terms, I am unlikely to make myself understood, therefore...... Putting it plainly, the large grave is the Silla Queen, Chinsung's own. Since it's a chill,windy night, the guards won't keep watch over the tomb so far from their quarters. And so, before everything else, go to sleep right now."
   Directly his speech was over, we came back to our lodgings.
   After I turned and tossed for a long time, I shock Taesick out of his sleep.
  He was an expert in the matter of illegal excavations.
   I stammered, with great fear like a novice before ran into the unknown world,
   "Taesick, my first excavation is making me shiver with fear. You're also frightened of digging a strange tomb in the dead of the night, aren't you?"
   "Oh, come on,you're such a fraidy-cat! It's a thrilling and exciting adventure."
   The night wind howled.
   Despite early autumn, the night wind was blowing ferociously. I could hear some mountain animals howling once in a while in the blackness. In spite of myself I lost my pluck. An ice-chilling wind cut its way through the woods, swirling around the black trees, and slapping me hard in the face. Branches of the sooty trees were screaming. My feet and cheek didn't seem to belong to me. It occurred to me that I might die of heart failure under the present conditions.
   Weasel led the van of the line and I followed at the very end of it.
  Taesick stood just in front of me. Every one advanced silently, putting his head deep into his breast.
  Whenever I took a step forward, I could find my streching leg disppear without a trace into the dark. Fingers of fright frequently stuck my chest.
  At a distance the sound of the black branches gazing garments, cut through the darkness and stuck me in the ears. All of a sudden my hair stood on end. I became possessed with the hallucination that the branches of the near trees swaying in the wind seemed to be the hands of apparitions who were beckoning to me to come on.
  At a distance, the wind brought the sound of rolling stones which get incautiously kicked by someone, and the sound broke the nocturnal stillness. All at once, a great shilver fell on me and penetrated all parts of my body. Abruptly, I was nearly suffocated.
  When I got my breath back, I was out of my senses.
   I called Taesick walking right ahead of me in a low and trembling voice.
   "Taesick......"
   The word escaped my lips in a strange tone. He made no reply.
  Perhaps he couldn't hear me owing to the turbulent wind.
  I abruptly shouted out again.
   "Taesick!"
   In an instant, it was followed by an echo which broke the nocturnal silence.
   Taesickkkkkkkkkk!
   The roar disturbed my mind once more.
   The clash of two obtuse stones was heard from the head of the column.
  Weasel glared at me in anger for a while and whispered something out to me, holding the stones in both hands.
  There was a violent anger in his eyes. Though I have the eyes of a cat, even if I don't,I could feel that. I escaped his gaze and dropped my head. The oppressive silence hung on for a minute.
  Before long the line moved forward again. Inky darkness gulped my fellows down one after another. Trembling with fear, I swallowed my saliva,too. Perhaps we walked more than twenty minutes. The sound of a branch being broken across his knees with a snap was heard from the van of the row.
  The signal indicated that we should gather quickly around our boss. We encircled him.
   Weasel sank his voice and spoke like a voice from the world of the dead,
   " ......Be quiet. You can see two trees over there.
  The black thing behind them is our objective,Queen Chinsung's tomb.
  By the way, I caught a glimpse of something moving there. Hey, Youngsoo, go scooting there right now."
   Youngsoo made a stealthy approach to the queen's grave. After several minutes, all of a sudden he screamed, "Ouch!" and rolled down.
   Not only I but also Weasel, and everybody else threw his eyes upon Youngsoo all together. My heart began to palpitate quick with surprise at the shriek.
  After a while we could hear an owl hoot from the direction of the grave.
   "Damm him! Perhaps he stumbled over a stone and tumbled down.
  He says to us that there is nobody and so we can go there at ease.
  C'mon, let's go!"
   Weasel said that with a grin. We all drew near and stuck fast to the tomb.
  I arrived there,pushed by Taesick. It was literally pitch-dark night. It was the most suitable time for illegal excavations,though.
   After we looked round, we began to dig up the tomb, two guys keeping watch.
  My hands digging the ground quivered intensely. My trembling heart pressed me into a tiny mouse.
  It was so dark that none, even at a distance, could see the tunnel which we were digging through the tomb, I believe.
   It was not long before we finished tunneling through the tomb.
   Weasel, Youngsoo, Taesick and I went through the tunnel into the inside of the grave.
   On the way to the interior of the tomb, Taesick patted me on the shoulder as if he told me not to quiver excessively.
   The inside of the tomb was dark, indeed. Of a sudden Taesick flashed a beam of an electric torch on one side of the interior, and then he turned off the light quickly.
  After a while he shed light again on the other side and in a minute he turned it off.
  Such action repeated itself several times. Simultaneously with the action the inside became bright and dark repeatedly. He seemed to be afraid lest even a dim light,at night, should be able to seen in the distance.
   We glanced over the inside. There were some relics in order inside.
   Weasel whistled to us to carry the remains outside.I was consternated by his shrill whistle.
  No sooner had I fumbled about trying to lift up a bronze-like vase in the dark than it was broken in pieces like glassware. The crash made my hair stand on end. The pitch dark within the tomb also seemed to be startled at the crash.
   "Even an illegal miner ought to graduate from the department of archeology owing to the kind of you,goddammt! When you touch the old object in the way, it will surely be smashed to pieces, therefore, first of all you have to dust it off and then lift it up with hands gripping soft rags."
   Weasel uttered in a low and infuriated voice.
  Every member of Nocturnal Travel carried the old things outside one by one in the way our boss had taught us.
  While the others transfered the relics outside five times I did it once only and heaved a long breath. The long breath carried my deep terror.
   The last thing left was a huge coffin. There is no one crazy enough to steal a coffin in the world. The reason is that it is too heavy to carry and moreover can't be sold,and, apart from anything else, it puts people in an ill humor.
  However, we had had a number of such cases as priceless remains were in its safekeeping with a corpse in a coffin.
   "Throw light on this."
   Taesick flashed a beam of the electric torch on the coffin for a very short time and turned it off.
   The terrifying darkness swallowed everything down again.
  I became terrified out of my senses again. I couldn't prevent my legs from trembling like aspen leaves.
   Taesick who was shining the light at intervals beside me took on an agonized look,saying that he had never tried his hand in that kind of job.
   "Don't be afraid! Because a long time has passed, perhaps the corps has fallen into decay and vanished, therefore, priceless remains only must have been left untouched in the coffin."
   The sound of groping for the coffin in the dark was heard.
   The fumbling sound abruptly ceased. I was fully tensed. Even darkness seemed to give ear to Weasel's side.
  At this very moment someone's coughing pricked the darkness. It made me my blood run cold.
  Knowing, before long, that it belonged to Youngsoo, I could calm down a little, however,I could not still help trembling.
   There was a perfect stillness and coldness for a while within the grave.
   All of a sudden, the sound that rusty hardware attached to the coffin was broken was heard and it was followed by the sound of Weasel laboriously opening the lid.
  Every member of Nocturnal Travel concentrating his attention on it at a distance nearly uttered a shriek of terror, surprised at the sound.
   Suddenly Taesick flashed a dim beam of the electric torch on Weasel and the coffin. The round light shook extremely.
   At this time,turning deadly pale with terror, Weasel shouted,
   "Ggggggggghost......"
   After that,he drew back and plumped down. The coffin shook a little.
  Queen Chinsung with disheveled hair leaped out of the coffin and dashed forward through the tunnel.
  Taesick was so startled that he dropped the light.
  The electric torch struck the black ground and its glass and bulb were smashed to pieces.
   The interior of the tomb got pitch-dark again. In a few minutes, the shrieks of two guys who kept watch outside the grave, looking after some relics carried from the tomb, surprised the darkness.
  Almost at the same time as the scream, another shriek was heard.
  For a while we were so terrified that we stood stiff with our mouths side open.
  Weasel repeated the word "ghost" only,absent-minded completely.
   After a while every member of Nocturnal Travel began to rush toward the tunnel the minute that he could move his paralyzed legs again. We clashed against each other, fell over and were trampled. That was pandemonium,indeed.

             ** Epilogue **

   On account of the night's shock,I surmise, Weasel quitted his business right then and returned to Seoul.
  According to what I hear around town, he entered "B" University again.
   After our competent boss disappeared, we were obliged to break up Nocturnal Travel.
   One day when one month passed from that day, I ran across my old schoolfellow in a lousy tavern.
  Having a long chat with him, under the influence of liquor, in spite of myself, I told my schoolmate about the surprising happening in Kyungjoo.
  When I nealy finished my story, my old schoolfellow gulping liquor turned pale and abruptly dropped a wine bowl from his hand.
  Wine streamed down the table.
   Putting a side dish for wine into my mouth with chopsticks, amazed at his unexpected action, I asked,
   "Eh, what's the matter with you?"
   "Fortuity is a very mysterious thing. That night my illegal excavation band too went mining by stealth. We were four. Three men escaped stealthily and I entered the coffin rapidly,surprised at the unanticipated monent. Suddenly everything became quiet. I doubled up, trembling excessively."
   After the bum gulped down a bowlful of Makulie(Korean traditional wine)and belched, he resumed,
  "Suddenly, to my great surprise,somebody opened the cover of the coffin. Can you imagine how consternated I was then? I sprang to my feet and escaped. When I went out of the tomb, two bastards screamed. I also shrieked, amazed at their screams. I nearly fell down. I thought them patrolmen then but I found them crooks like me now, Heo Heo Heo."
   All of a sudden,I dropped the wine bowl from my hand, becoming sober completely.