Changes

Nam Mu's eyes grew big. “Do you believe me now?” Li Jie looked at Nam Mu. Nam Mu could only nod. Words wouldn’t describe what he was seeing and feeling right now. What he and Li Jie saw was real magic, there was no doubt about it. Nam Mu looked at his ‘new’ room. If it was not magic Nam Mu didn’t know how he could describe the changes. The room now had a large poster bed covered in ferns and flowers, the whole wall opposite the bed was now a big closet and near the vine curtains was an elegant table with four chairs. There was even a glow lamp on the table, giving off a soft glow. The number of plants had decreased but the room still retained the feeling of being inside a forest. “Li Jie looked around giving his approval. “Enjoy your room. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned and left Nam Mu to explore his new room.

Nam Mu walked inside and stood in front of the bed for at least five minutes. This would be the first time in his whole life that he would be sleeping in a bed. He slowly leaned down and felt the sheets. “This is truly magical.” Nam Mu whispered to himself. The green sheets felt like silk but they were actually made out of vines. He lifted the sheet up and took a sharp breath. It felt like he was holding nothing. “This is really amazing.” He put the sheet back down and started to undress. He took off the outer clothes before groaning. He had forgotten to bring his new clothes with him. He was sure that Mule had bought him some sleeping garments. Nam Mu contemplated going back to Jin’s office but it was really too late. He also didn’t want to just ‘barge’ into Jin’s office while he was away. He decided to just sleep in his inner clothes. It felt unnatural climbing into the bed. He was used to sleeping on the floor and the bed was hard enough for him to have the same feeling but instead of being cold. He felt like he was lying next to a warm fire. It didn’t take five minutes for Nam Mu to fall asleep.

While Nam Mu and Li Jie slept like newborn babies. Jin had found his way to Jie’s sister’s, Jian’s house. “I know you’ve warned them but I don’t trust them one bit.” Jin mumbled while looking at the peaceful house. Ping had told him that he had threatened his wife and sons about Nam Mu but Jin was sure that they would break their word. He had sent Ping a message telling him about what he was planning to do now. The message also contained instructions on how not to be affected by the talismans. Jin reached in his inner pockets and took out four pieces of rice paper. In his other hand a brush materialised. On each paper he wrote a different word. ‘Forget’ ‘Nam’ ‘True’ and ‘Human’.

After completing the spell each person who crossed the threshold and who knew Nam will forget his real identity. Ping would be the only one who would remember that Nam and Nam Mu were the same person. He bent down and put the pieces of papers on the ground before securing them with jade balls, the size of a large coin. He made four intricate hand movements before walking around the house. He walked around the house five times. After the first round the papers started to smoke. After that they started to burn and after the fifth round nothing was left except for the jade balls. Jin had created four talismans. Jin smiled before scratching his head. “Everything is done… But why do I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

Jin thought hard but he couldn’t think of anything. He looked at the house one more time before leaving. He took a few steps before stopping. He walked back and looked at the door closely. “Found you!” A big smile appeared on his face. In the corner of the door was a small green coin the size of baby pink. He said a few incarnations and the coin turned from green to red back to green again. He turned to see the outline of the four papers lighten up. The coin was a protector against spells. Jin had nearly forgotten to ‘deactivate’ the coin but now he was sure it would work. He took one last look before leaving.

The next morning Nam Mu was awoken by the growling of his stomach. His eyes flew open. He looked around before sitting up in amazement. After a few seconds he recalled everything that had happened yesterday. He looked around the room again. He was amazed by the sight around him. In the sunlight, the room now had a light green glow to it and the feeling of being in a forest was more noticeable. The sweet smell of food made his stomach growled again. Nam Mu slowly got out of bed and got dressed. When he opened the door, he saw Li Jie also leave his room. “Good Morning! Did you sleep well?” Nam Mu nodded. “How about you?” Li Jie smiled. “I passed out the moment I put my head down. Do you smell that?! Let’s see what’s for breakfast!!” When they reached the kitchen they saw the bent back of an old lady standing in front of the stove. When they entered the kitchen, she turned to reveal a gentle face with wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. “Breakfast is already done. Hurry up before it becomes cold.” “T… Thank you…Granny...”

Nam Mu smiled before bowing. Li Jie looked uncomfortably towards Nam Mu before giving Jo Wang Sin a nod. “Young masters can call me Jo Wang Sin.” She smiled at the two boys. “I hope you like what I made.” The boys walked to the table laden with food. Li Jie and Nam Mu mouths started to water when they saw the food on the table. There were meat patties, ribs, pickled vegetables, fish, soup and rice. They both didn’t know if they would be able to finish it all. “Granny, this is too much for us.” Nam Mu looked shocked. “It’s not a problem. Just enjoy the food. Let me know if you need more.” They both sat down.

After a few seconds of hesitation, they both grabbed their chopsticks and started to eat. “Try this!” Li Jie put a patty on Nam Mu’s plate. Jo Wang Sin was watching the boys eat with gusto. After they had eaten their fill, Jo Wang Sin started to clean up the table. Nam Mu jumped up. “Granny, I’ll help you!” Jo Wang Sin just smiled. “No need. Just go to master Jin. I’m sure he’s waiting for you.” Nam Mu shook his head, grabbing the plates. “I’m sure you were in the kitchen for hours. I would feel guilty the whole day.” Jo Wang Sin beamed. “That is very nice of you.” Li Jie felt awkward. “I… I’ll help too.” Li Jie stood up and helped the others. Together they cleaned the table and washed the dishes. “Young masters, thank you very much for helping me. I’ll make you even better dishes tomorrow.” Nam Mu bowed before leaving. Li Jie sighed but bowed too.

“You are making me do things I’ve never done before.” Li Jie looked at Nam Mu while walking. “I’m just used to doing these things. There are a lot of things that I can change but there are more things that I don’t want to change. Helping ‘servants’ in their work is one thing that I don’t want to change. I know how hard it is to take care of other people. You don’t have to follow my lead in those things.” Li Jie looked annoyed. “If I don’t do it, other people will talk bad about me. You don’t know it yet but just you wait.” Nam Mu started to laugh. “If you say so.” They saw Mule standing in front of the guild hall. “Boys. Did you sleep well?” They both nodded.

“Our rooms are really nice. They are really magical! Our beds and everything just appeared.” Mule was looking at them with big eyes. “Really. That is amazing. I can’t wait to see it but that has to wait until we meet master Jin.” They entered the guild and walked to Jin’s office. Mule knocked three times but there was no answer. Mule slowly opened the door. “Master Jin?” There was still no answer. He poked his head around the corner and saw that the room was empty. He turned back to the boys. “Let’s come back later. There is nobody.” Nam Mu stopped Mule from leaving. “I think the clothes you bought are still inside.” Mule looked peeved.

“Sorry. You’re right. I’ll grab them really fast.” Mule ran inside and a few minutes later he came back with his arms full with clothes. “I found a note from Master Jin. He wants you to keep on studying. Let’s go to the Willow pavilion. You can show me your room.” Together they walked back to the house. When they entered nobody was there. “My room first.” Li Jie smiled. They showed Mule both their rooms. Mule was all Uhs and Ahs. “I’m jealous of you guys. You get to sleep in these nice rooms. But let’s go study.” Li Jie had expected that Mule would be more baffled about their rooms but he was too calm about everything. Li Jie wanted to question Mule about it but he and Nam Mu had already walked towards the living room.

“I’ll teach you the nummers now. The number system is complex, but with a little practice, you can learn it. There are two different categories of numbers: Goryeo numbers and Sino-Goryeo numbers. The two categories can cause some confusion, so let’s look at the differences between them, so you can learn how to count. Sino refers to actual Goryeo words that originated in China or were influenced by Chinese words. About 60 percent of the vocabulary is Sino.The native Goryeo number system is used for general counting, like when you’re counting out loud, up to 99. It’s also used to count people, hours, things, ages, and more. Sino numbers are used for things like dates, money, minutes, addresses and numbers above 100. '' Li Jie wrote down the numbers 1 to 10 in .”These are Goryeo numbers; 하나 (hana) 둘 (dhul), 셋 (sehtt), 넷 (nehtt), 다섯 (daseot), 여섯 (yeoseot), 일곱 (ilgop), 여덟 (yuhdeol), 아홉 (ahhop), 열 (yeol). And these are the Sin numbers;일 (il), 이 (e), 삼 (sam), 사 (sa), 오 (o), 육 (yuk), 칠 (chil), 팔 (pal), 구 (gu), 십 (ship).”

This time Nam Mu and Mule both had deep frowns on their faces. “Don’t worry. We’ll be taking it slow. Let’s say you want to buy two apples. Since the number two is below 99, you will use the Goryeo number system. The counter word for most inanimate objects is 개 (gae). The word “apple” is 사과 (sagwa), so two apples would be 사과 두 개 (sagwa du gae).” Mule groaned. “This is too difficult.” Nam Mu nodded. “I don’t know if I can get the hang of this.” Li Jie laughed. “It’s confusing at the beginning but after a will it will become easier.” The look on Mule and Nam Mu said that they didn’t believe a word he said.

The next four hours Li Jie spent teaching Nam Mu and Mule the numbers and a few Goryeo words. Mule grabbed his head and moaned. “My head hurts.” “But Mule, you don’t need to learn this!” “I know, but if Nam Mu is going to go around the town. I’ll have to act like his translator.” Li Jie started to laugh again. “But I’ll be with you guys.” Mule still looked unhappy. “Let’s call it a day. I’m sure master Jin is back again. We can see what he wants us to do.”