Young-hee and the Pullocho by Mark James Russell Read Free Book Online

this place almost hurt to look at, but increasingly Young-hee found it beautiful. Through a break in the woods, she made out a big, grassy hill and, further away, the purple points of mountains. It was hard to explain or understand—leaves looked like leaves, sky like sky, but everything familiar was also strange.
    Reflexively she reached into her pocket for her cell phone to photograph the huge trees, but they were too big for the frame. She tried a selfie with a giant pine cone. But when she checked, the images were jumbles of unintelligible pixels. She checked for messages or emails. Nothing.
    With soft, deep buzzing a dragonfly rose from behind a tree. Brightly colored as a peacock’s tail, it was a bigger than real-world dragonflies and had more wings. Young-hee held out her hand, palm up, inviting it to land. After hesitating, it settled on her hand. Maybe she should try to pet it?
    â€œWhat do you think you’re doing?” came an angry voice behind her. Startled, she turned, but saw only forest. And two jangseung totem poles, like the ones at her apartment complex. “Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me,” said the voice, coming from the jangseung.
    â€œEr,” said Young-hee, tongue-tied. “I was playing with the dragonfly.”
    â€œDo you want to lose a finger?” asked the second jangseung. “Or, heavens forbid , your whole hand?”
    Young-hee was perplexed. It was just a cute little dragonfly. But as she turned to point at it, she saw its impossibly large mouth, open very wide and filled with long, sharp teeth.
    Before it could chomp, a branch from a nearby tree swung down and gently bonked the toothy not-so-dragonfly in the head with a giant pine cone. Young-hee jerked her hand away. “ Tsk ! None of that,” said the first jangseung. “You are free to eat what you will in the Jade Swamps and the Empty Forest, but not here. You know that.” Young-hee could have sworn she saw the creature nod. “Now, be gone.” The creature got back up on its six legs and took to the air.
    â€œThanks for your help,” said Young-hee, feeling terribly dumb. “That was really…” Young-hee trailed off as she realized she was talking to two totem poles “… nice.”
    She checked out the defenders of her fingers. They were definitely jangseung—wooden carvings about two meters tall, stuck in the ground. Unlike the ones by her apartment building, these were real wood, wonderfully intricate, their paint fresh and bright, and most lively. The first jangseung had black hair and a big red mouth, with almost fleshy lips—Young-hee guessed it was female. The second had a black hat and a scruffy beard, clearly male. But they were alive.
    â€œTell us,” said the female totem pole, “what manner of creature are you?”
    â€œCreature?” repeated Young-hee, taken aback. “Excuse me?”
    â€œNo, you may not be excused,” answered the male jangseung. “We are the guardians here and require an answer. What manner of creature are you?”
    â€œYou are not a fairy, obviously,” said the female. “Or a witch or an imp. And I’m fairly certain you are not a fox.”
    Fairies? , Young-hee wondered. Does Korea even have fairies? I thought they were a European thing. “You’re jangseung,” she said, stating the obvious and feeling dumb for it.
    â€œOf course we’re jangseung,” said the male. “What else would we be?”
    â€œMaybe she’s a golem,” said the female. “They’re not too bright.”
    â€œAre you a golem? The penalties for a golem crossing a jangseung’s territory unbidden are most severe. How did you get here?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” said Young-hee, truthfully. “I just got lost, walked up some stairs and came out over there.” She pointed across the clearing to the brown door in the tree root.
    â€œHuh, I