There is an old Korean story on the internet that couldn’t be found anymore. A youtuber named 코비엣TV came across this old post years ago and shared what he remembered to the best of his memories.
This all happened around the 80s or 90s. My high school friends and I were making plans for Summer break. We debated whether to go to the beach, or the well-known creek, and we ended up settling on going to a deserted valley where not many people come. We planned on eating grilled meat, play in the water, and drink alcohol to our heart’s content. Since we needed to bring everything like the tents and the grills, we divided the things that we needed to bring and agreed on meeting at the bus terminal at the start of Summer break.
After a week had past, Summer break had finally come around and we all got together at the bus terminal with all our equipment. We ended up waiting for quite some time because the buses that go between the cities and the countryside didn’t run as often. When we got on to ride the bus, it was just the three of us, the bus driver, and an old lady that was carrying her newborn. Normally, I wouldn’t remember who’s on the bus with me because it’s always packed, but because it was just my friends and the two strangers, we were all able to recall who was on the bus.
My friends and I remember that the bus ride to the valley was very bumpy and the bus shook a lot, but the baby in the lady’s arms seemed unbothered by it, and continued to sleep. When we finally got to our stop, the lady and us split ways and she headed off into her own direction.
During this time (80s or 90s), there weren’t any GPS or smartphones, so we had to look at the local map and find our direction that way. We also asked the elderly locals who occasionally passed by on the side of the road for the direction of where the valley we were looking for was at. We went pretty deep into the mountains and we were finally able to make our way to our isolated camping ground. When we got there, we set up our tents, put down our mats, and played in the water there for some time.
After some time had passed, we got hungry so we decided to grill some pork and drink it with some soju. It wasn’t too hard obtaining alcohol as a minor, especially in the countryside, so we easily purchased some and drank it alongside our grilled meat.
We were eating, drinking, and just talking for a bit, but then from afar, I saw that same old lady from the bus, walking. She was pretty far away so we couldn’t tell if she was walking towards us or away from us. We kept our eyes on her, and she slowly got closer and closer towards us. The only reason why we remembered her was because she was one of the only people on the bus with us, and she was carrying her newborn.
She made her way to us and asked, “Hi students, I’m sorry but could I have a glass of soju?”
We had no reason to say no to her so we politely said yes and poured her a glass. After 1 or two drinks, the lady started to burst into tears, and we didn’t really understand what was happening and why she was suddenly crying.
Through her tears, she asked us, “students, I’m sorry but, could you do me a favor?
We weren’t sure what to do but we wanted to console her and said yes, what is it?
The woman then raised the newborn in her arms and asked us, “Then would you be able to bury my newborn with me?
Bewildered, we took a step back, trying to process the situation. It turned out that the newborn that appeared to be asleep in the lady’s arm in the bus ride, wasn’t asleep but was already deceased. She had been walking with a dead baby in her arms the whole time. Upon this, my friends and I had chills running down our spines, but we also felt sympathy for the mother that lost her child, so we decided to help her the best we can.
We followed the woman down a dirt path and came across a huge tree. The lady requested that we dig a hole right in front of the tree. Because we didn’t have any shovels or tools, we just grabbed rocks nearby and started to dig a small hole together. After digging a big enough hole for a little baby to fit, the lady came and gently placed her dead baby inside the hole. She also made sure to put an envelope filled with cash alongside the baby, and placed small pieces of candy on top of her baby’s corpse.
She burst into tears again, and said to her baby to use the cash to buy sweets, to not starve and be happy in the afterlife, and things like that.
As we were trying to leave, the lady stopped us and tried to hand us some money, saying she would feel bad if she didn’t give this to us for all the trouble she caused. My friend kept telling her that it was fine but she kept insisting so we ended up taking the money, and we made our way back.
Even though we were here for a fun summer vacation, after that whole ordeal, we didn’t really feel comfortable having fun and playing anymore. The whole mood was down, so we just sat together and had more drinks and ate some of the leftover pork from before.
Being young teenagers, after a few bottles of soju, we were already feeling pretty tipsy. My friend, Shiwoo, who seemed to have drunk a little too much, said to me and my other friend, Habin, “Hey, did you see the envelope full of money that was buried on top of the baby from before?”
My friend Habin replied back, “hey man, stop saying crazy stuff like that.”
But Shiwoo kept on trying to persuade me and Habin, “Dude, think about it. Did you see the size of that envelope? That lady from before handed us a hundred bucks. I bet there’s at least a thousand dollars in that envelope.”
I told Shiwoo, “Hey c’mon man.. Even if that’s the case, You’re not suggesting that we go back to get that money are you?”
Shiwoo replied, “Guys, realistically, do you really think that the baby will be able to spend all that money just because it’s buried with it?”
As my other friend Habin continued to have a few more drinks, he slowly started to get persuaded by Shiwoo’s words.
So we made a bad decision.
We decided to go back to where the baby was buried, dig up the baby, and quickly just take the envelope that was buried there.
It was getting dark, So while we were a little drunk, we took a lantern and tried to make our way back down to where the baby was buried. Because the place where the baby was buried wasn’t very far, and there was a huge tree there, it wasn’t that hard to locate that specific area.
When we arrived in front of the huge tree, we split up the responsibilities that each of us would have. Habin would be the lookout, while me and Shiwoo will dig the hole and find the envelope.
As we were busy digging the hole, sweat was getting in my eyes but I kept going, trying to not make a sound. What appeared to be about five minutes of digging, we were almost done, when my friend Habin that was on lookout suddenly freaked out and just make a run for it while letting out a scream.
Shiwoo and I were shocked at what just happened and started to make a run for it too, without knowing what was going on.
He ran so fast that we couldn’t stop him and was only able to chase after him. As we were chasing him, I noticed that he was still freaking out even though he appeared to be breathless from all the running.
We continued to run, chasing after my friend for so long that I couldn’t even keep track of how much time had passed.
My friend barely halted once we arrived in front of a supermarket.
In front of the supermarket, Shiwoo and I yelled at Habin, demanding him to tell us about what had happened, while trying to catch our breaths and wipe away our sweat.
Habin turned towards us, full of tears, sweat, and a runny nose, and said to us, “Listen to me carefully. While you guys were out there in front of the huge tree, digging that hole, I happened to glance towards the sky. But on top of those tree branches, the lady from the bus was looking down at us.”
As soon as I heard this, I had no words.
We were able to get away from where the baby was buried, but we didn’t have the courage to go back to the valley to gather our stuff. The friend that was our lookout told me that he cannot go back down there again and tried to persuade us to go back there tomorrow morning. Luckily, the supermarket we were at was brightly lit and next to the supermarket was a flyer that advertised available rooms for the night. We asked one of the workers for a room and while we were about to pay, we realized that our wallets were in the campsite where all our stuff was.
I remembered about the money we received from the lady after helping her bury her baby so I asked my friend where that money was. My friend said it was in his pocket and as he reached in his pocket for the money, The only thing in his pockets were pieces of leaves.