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Shh, you can't talk here.
Shared under Share alike with credit via 파이오니어 (Pioneer)
"Hey, do you know where this wind is blowing from?"
A girl strolling through the forest was stopped by a boy with a question. He was so strikingly beautiful that a smile escaped her lips unbidden, and she answered as if spellbound.
"Probably from the southeast."
[Probably from the southeast.]
"Where do you come from?"
[Where do you come from?]
While admiring the boy's face and talking, the girl suddenly noticed something strange. She was hearing her own voice twice. She wondered if someone was mimicking her, but the boy before her only smiled gently at her answers. Enchanted by the boy's peculiar light-green hair, the girl dismissed the issue. The forest was thick with trees, so an echo wasn't that unusual.
"We came from where the wind blows."
We? But there was only one boy. Ah, his companions must be nearby.
"Where are your companions?"
[Where are your companions?]
To her question, the boy didn't answer — he simply smiled with his eyes, lifting only the corners of his mouth in a gentle grin. It was a sly smile, as if he knew her heart would flutter.
"If you don't mind, could I touch your hair?"
[If you don't mind, could I touch your hair?]
The boy nodded, and the girl approached and felt the soft texture of his hair with her hands. When their eyes met, he flashed that bashful smile again. Heat rising to her face, the girl fanned herself vigorously with her hand. It occurred to her that the boy's pupils were shaped differently from a human's. The leaf-shaped pupils made her think he looked like a fairy — a tree spirit made manifest.
After playing with the boy in the forest for a long while, the girl saw the sun sinking through the gaps in the trees and headed home. Before she left, the boy made one request.
"Keep it a secret that you saw me here."
He really must be a fairy. A handsome face and a secret — he had everything a girl on the cusp of adolescence needed to fall in love. On the way home, she couldn't stop smiling, his face surfacing in her thoughts unbidden.
Even during the modest family dinner, the girl couldn't hold back her giggles. In the stew bowl with nothing but vegetables floating in it, his face kept appearing.
"Hey, why do you keep laughing? Hurry up and eat."
"Oh, what do you know, oppa! Mind your own business."
"Hmph, fine. If you're not eating, I'm having yours."
The girl shot her brother a sideways glance for eyeing her stew, then shoveled the bland stew into her mouth. Thinking of the boy's face while eating almost made it taste good.
Even as she fell asleep, his face shimmered before her eyes. A light-green first love, discovered in the verdant forest.
From that day on, the girl ran to the forest the moment she woke up. Through their conversations, she learned that his name was Haba and that he loved the wind. She figured that was why, when they first met, he said he came from where the wind blows.
Several days passed — after seven sunrises and sunsets, family dinnertime came again. That day too, the girl had spent a long time playing in the forest. But that night, she suddenly realized she could barely speak. She had to try several times before she could manage a single word. Her brother, noticing something was off, asked what was wrong.
"...ppa, my voice... won't come out......"
"What have you been doing lately to end up like this? Did you catch a cold or something?"
It was clearly different from a cold — her throat didn't hurt, and this wasn't just hoarseness. But unable to properly explain what was happening, the girl could only feel frustrated.
"Well, colds have all sorts of symptoms. Tomorrow when you wake up, instead of running off to the forest, go see the pharmacy grandpa. Just go to sleep already."
Don't go to the forest? But she had to play with Haba! She had planned to give him flowers tomorrow — the thought of not seeing him was maddening. But since her brother told her to visit the pharmacy, she couldn't just ignore it. She resolved to wake up early, make a quick stop at the forest, then go to the pharmacy in the morning.
The next day, as planned, the girl woke at the crack of dawn and headed for the forest. Her mission: tell him she couldn't come for a while because of her cold, and place the pretty white wildflowers into his delicate hands. Not wanting to show him her voiceless state, she tried again and again to make sounds on the way to the forest. Maybe this way she could manage at least one word.
He was at their usual spot today too. Still that handsome face. The girl approached and tried to speak.
"...ba! I'm here......!"
[...ba! I'm here......!]
But a hand clamping over her mouth from behind prevented her from finishing. Startled, she turned to find that the person covering her mouth was her brother. He was tensed against Haba, gripping his sister tightly to keep her from going any closer. Haba smiled at the sight.
"So you know what I am."
To his question, the brother said nothing. He kept glancing between the creature and his sister — clearly wanting to say so much but forcing himself to stay silent. As if speaking even a single word in front of it would be fatal. But what Haba said next stunned the brother — because the voice coming from its mouth was identical to his sister's.
"Haha, your sister is already too late. That was her last word just now."
"What do you mean......!"
The girl had already had too many conversations with Haba. Her brother had rushed in to stop her, but the creature had already devoured every last bit of her voice.
"Where do you come from?"
"If you don't mind, could I touch your hair?"
"Where are your companions?"
"Kyahaha! Haha!"
Laughing grotesquely and parroting the sister's voice and words, the creature was clearly not the forest fairy the girl had believed in. It was a monster that lured humans with its beautiful appearance and enchanting voice, then devoured their voices. As the creature laughed powerfully in the girl's voice, a sudden violent wind erupted through the forest. The wind was so fierce they could barely open their eyes. The brother clutched his sister tight, bracing against it so they wouldn't be blown away. When the wind died down, the light-green-haired boy was nowhere to be seen. In the end, the girl returned to her family with her brother, never recovering her voice.