(December 1992)
"Ajahn... what are you doing?" a tiny hand reached out, weakly tugging on the edge of the head monk's robe. He turned to see a sleepy faced girl who was still rubbing her eyes with the other hand. As her vision recovered, the first thing that captivated her eyes is the scene that was painted behind the monk, "Whoa! The Moon! It's so red!" she gasped in awe.
The monk let out a soft chuckle as he cradled her in his arms, so she has a better view of it, "Yong-ah, you're not supposed to be up this late."
"Ahem! It's 2 in the morning, it's early." She corrected wittedly.
"Right. It's early and you should be in bed, otherwise-"
"The monster will come and eat me. I know, I know. You've said it like a million times." She cut off the monk's words while rolling her eyes, "But Ajahn you're here too, in fact all by yourself. What if the monsters come out and eat you? What were you doing anyway?"
The monk carefully set her down and ruffled her hair gently as she stood still looking at him intently. He then diverted his attention gazing towards the Total Lunar Eclipse while replying, "Nightmare."
"Ajahn, did you wake up because of a nightmare?" Yong asked, which he nodded in reply, still not saying anything more, so she continued to pester, "Ajahn, why is there a Red Moon in the sky?"
The monk then replied, "When the earth is between the moon and the sun, lunar eclipse happened, that's why we see Red Moon." Yong pretended to understand by nodding and enquires further, "What nightmare did you dream of? Monster?"
"Yong-ah... tell me. What do you think is the scariest thing in the world?"
She shut her eyes tightly, evident that she thought it through before her eyes lit up and answered enthusiastically, "I know! When Tteok Tokki ran out of tteokbokki!" her answer immediately reduced all the tension of the world as the monk let out a roar of laughter to a point where he had tears in his eyes. She puffed up her cheeks to show her frustration when he took it lightly, but he only responded by pinching them to subside it.
"Then Ajahn, why don't you tell me what is the scariest in the world? Beast? Demon? Ghost?"
After he wiped his joyful tears away, he took a deep breath before answering, "human."
"Human?... So, you dreamt of human?"
"I dreamt the same dream for the past few decades – Red Moon and a baby. Something tells me that it is a premonition, a prophecy that something horrible will happen... And that baby is the key to save the universe."
"So, you're out here all by yourself waiting for the baby? Ajahn, we're thousands of feet high up in the mountain in Jeju, where would a baby-"
*Uwaaah... uwaaah...*
As though her words casted blessing, wails of an infant could be heard in a distant, even though it's subtle. Their eyes widened and as soon as their eyes met, it's a cue for both Ajahn and Yong to make a dash towards the sound. They arrived at the entrance where the cries get clearer as they approach.
Ajahn pulled the heavy wooden door open, true enough, there lies a baby in a wooden weave basket. There is no one else, not even a note. He bent down and carefully cradled the baby in his arm, and the cries subsided almost instantly.
"I want to see! Ajahn, let me see the baby too!" Yong exclaimed excitedly. He slowly squat to let Yong have a better look, "Ajahn, is the baby a boy or a girl?"
"A beautiful baby girl." He replied with a smile.
"Does she have a name?"
He briefly looked around her and under the blanket that would give them a hint but didn't find anything, so he answered, "not yet." He pondered for a while before looking into the baby's eyes and said, "Today is a lunar eclipse, I shall name you after the water-moon Avalokiteshvara, Gwaneum." The baby gave the head monk a few seconds to indulge his satisfaction of naming before releasing an ear-piercing cry of frustration.
He panicked and rocked the baby in his arms in attempt to calm her down, while Yong is still thinking of a name, they witness a shooting star flashing before their eyes and that's when it occurred to Yong.
"I know! Byul!" she exclaimed, and the baby responded with a laugh that could make any hearts melt at the sight of it, "There's one star, one moon, let's name you... MoonByul!"
Coincidentally, the baby's laugh sounded, "HeeHee," to which the head monk confirmed, "Okay, from today, you shall be named Moon Byul Yi." Byulyi had a satisfactory smile as she returned back to her peaceful sleep in Ajahn's arm. He looked relieved at her blissful state and reaches out the other hand for Yong to hold, "Shall we head back now, Yong?"
(Present Day – 2022)
"...Yong."
"...geant Yong..."
"SERGEANT KIM! YONG! SUN!"
I jolted up from my seat, surveying my surrounding in a hurry – glaring eyes from my supervisors, mocking eyes from my juniors.
"Does a billion-dollar case sound like a lullaby to you, sergeant?" said the unimpressed Commander Cha Seung-Won who is briefing a case behind the podium, to which I replied, "No, sir. I'm sorry." While bowing profusely.
After briefly clearing his throat, he resumed his reprimand, dismissing the fact that I am about to be humiliated in front of everyone, "I heard you're appointed sergeant recently, do you think I couldn't demote you?"
"Now, now. Don't be too harsh on our heroine. After all, she had successfully closed a 10-year-old cold case. The same case that you couldn't resolve even after you are appointed Commander. Plus, she's been working tirelessly over weeks of sleepless nights." Of course, there is also my uncle Jae-Wook who would always defend me in this kind of situation.
"You can't be soft on her just because she's your family member, Superintendent Kim. If I let her off with leniency like this, what would other people say about me? Commander who is afraid to reprimand just because she's the niece of his superior."
Uncle Jae simply shrugged his shoulder as if to say, 'Do I look like I care?'. The petty Commander Cha doesn't seem like he's willing to let this slide and the case briefing is not making any progress at all.
Fortunately, Lieutenant Hae-In, everyone's favourite sunbaenim stood up to control the situation with attempt to subdue Commander Cha's temper, "I'm sorry, Commander. I'll make sure she receives proper discipline later." said Hae-In sunbae with a bow, "I'm certain everyone here agrees you're the best Commander who uphold fairness and justice... I'd like to believe you are willing to look past this matter, since It'll be a shame to waste such talent on issuing parking ticket or patrol the peaceful streets... We need her here."
Commander Cha looked around the room and I was relieved to see many supporters surround me by nodding in agreement of his speech. He heaved a sigh of resignation, a good indication that his anger was subsided, "Fine... Since you couldn't care less about this case enough to doze off, why don't you take this case, sergeant? Solve this case and I'd turn a blind eye on what happened earlier." The Commander may seem to "offer" me, but we all know too well it's clearly a do-or-die situation.
Without much hesitation I agreed, "Thank you, sir! You won't regret this." I took a seat with a huge exhale from all that breath that I've been holding in. Hae-In sunbae took a seat next to me and pat me on the shoulder with a charming smile, equally relieved that I get to keep my position.
Commander Cha finally moved forward with the briefing, while Hae-In sunbae patiently walked me through by whispering to me on what I've missed. Flipping through the pages, I was astonished at the overview of this case – it's not as simple as it sounds.
As I arrive at the page with details on the suspect, I cut off the unamused Commander's briefing again by springing back up from my seat, "Commander, I can't take on this case."
He slammed the file loudly while raising one of his eyebrows, "What now? Why the hell not?"
"Because it's a conflict-" I tried to complete my sentence, but he wouldn't stand down.
"Oi... Kim Yong Sun, do you honestly think you can pick and choose whatever case you like? Where do you think you are? Fish market?" and there goes his short-tempered speech. There is just no stopping his bullet-train speech when he gets angry, "Actually, on a second thought, save your explanation. I'm doing what you did to me earlier – I couldn't care less! As the commander, I command you to take on this case, are we clear, sergeant?"
I bit my lower lips briefly before I gave him a firm reply, "Sir! YES, SIR!" I stared at the case file that has the picture of the suspect and clenched my fist, thinking to myself, 'Damn it! This is clearly a conflict of interest, why does it have to be you?! Moon Byul Yi!'
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(End of Phase One)
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