A K-pop Idol 79.1

Park Hara's Story...

"I don't believe you, Heechul-oppa!" the little girl said, laughing so hard that she was almost breathless. "You're trying to fool me!"

"I would never do that to my little sister!" Park Heechul said, smiling. "And you shouldn't doubt me!"

"But you're telling me that a wizard gave you this hat!" the girl said trying to sound incredulous, but at the same time she was clearly eager to hear more about that. 

"This is the true! Don't you see this feather on the top of the hat?" 

"So…?" 

"This feather is from one of the giant birds that the wizards use to descend from the heaven to the Hallasan Mountain." 

"Ah! You're trying to fool me again!” the girl exclaimed, laughing even harder.

“No, I’m not. And I'm going to tell you exactly how everything happened, Park Hara” her brother said, with a solemn voice… 

Park Hara was just six years old by the time. She lived with her parents and her brother in a small village on Jeju Island, in the far south of Korea. Her brother was almost ten years older than she was, but still the two were very close. Their parents worked a lot, so Park Heechul took care of the little girl almost the whole time. He wasn't upset about that, though. He really loved Park Hara, and liked the way she treated him, almost as if he were her hero. 

The village in which they lived was near the Hallasan Mountain, a beautiful place which was the highest mountain in South Korea. It was very sunny and green during the summer, and covered with snow during the winter. The mountain was a shield volcano and on its top there was a crater lake called Baengnokdam, which meant "White Deer Lake". 

There were many legends about the mountain, including one that said that heavenly beings, or wizards, descended from the heaven to play with a white deer which supposedly lived on the shores of the lake. It was exactly those wizards that Heechul was telling his sister that he had met…

The boy was very meticulous about the story he was creating, even saying what the magicians' garments were like, and what they talked about. The boy had been able to go up the mountain with his friends on the previous weekend, when his mother had had her first day off after many weeks. 

He didn't tell those stories out of malice. What happened was that their family had a very tough reality, with very little money, and he used to create those fantasies to brighten Park Hara’s life. With her childhood innocence, and her devotion for her older brother, the little girl was starting to believe in Heechul's words, and was loving what she was hearing. 

"So, did the wizards let you play with the white deer with them?" 

"Yes, we did a lot of stuff together! One of them liked me so much that he even gave me his hat, as you can see.” 

“Wow!”

 “But it wasn't all…”

"What you mean?" 

"They also have a plant, you know... A very powerful plant…”

"Oh, I've heard about it!" Park Hara said, excited. She was even jumping now. 

"And you know what this plant does, right? It can make people immortal! One of the wizards told me that he's over five thousand years old!" 

"And they really gave you the plant?" 

"Yes, I ate a lot of that!" 

"What did it taste like?" 

"Terrible!” he made a sick face and Park Hara laughed. “But at least I'm immortal now!" 

"Wow, That’s great! But why didn’t you bring some for me? Why? Why?" she asked, pouting. 

"It doesn't work like that. The plant only works at the top of the mountain! And you know that mom and dad won’t allow me to take you there since you’re so young. But if you keep being a good girl, I'll go there together when you're a little older, okay?”

“Do you promise?”

"Of course!" 

"Oh, you're the best Heechul-oppa! I love you!" she said, hugging him. 

“I think you’re saying that just because you want the magic plant!”

“W-what? That’s not true!”

“I know, silly! I’m just teasing you. You really are a good girl, aren’t you?”