Supernatural Investigation 101: Chronicles Of Nakashima Wakana

When Choi Minho returns home, he sees a woman in front of his house.

The woman is unconscious. She has a lingering scent of a fae.

However, his house is significantly far from the realm of fae. In fact, they can't even enter this mountain.

Someone must have left her here.

He can already hear Toru's and Sayuri's voices: both of them are fine.

After making sure that the woman has no magic, he takes her inside. 

"Whoa!" Sayuri exclaims when she sees the woman. She widens her eyes and asks loudly, "Are you cheating on my sister?"

Toru mimics Sayuri's expression. 

"Are you cheating on mamma?"

Choi Minho wonders if Sayuri is a good influence on his son.

"I found her in front of the house." Carrying the woman, he walks to the guest room. "I have no idea who she is."

Toru and Sayuri trail after him, keeping an eye on him lest he cheats on Wakana. 

He lays the woman down on the bed and covers her with a blanket. When he turns around, he finds Toru and Sayuri looking at him suspiciously.

Choi Minho rolls his eyes.

"What about my lemon cakes?" Toru eyes Choi Minho's empty hands with disappointment in his eyes. "I asked you to bring lemon cakes, and you brought a woman."

He sighs. His son is so talkative at a young age. It's not a bad thing, but his son makes strange remarks sometimes that he can't answer to.

"I will bring them tomorrow." Choi Minho rubs his son's head. Toru has a sweet tooth like Wakana. "What should we eat for dinner?"

Toru puffs his cheeks. "Lemon cakes."

"Tomorrow." Choi Minho picks him up. "Dad forgot. Dad is sorry."

Toru lets out a heavy sigh. "Dad is getting old."

"Toru is right." Sayuri laughs. "He is so old. Wakana won't recognize him after she returns."

Choi Minho makes a face. "She will recognize me."

Sayuri continues to laugh. 

"Let's eat Sashimi," Toru suggests solemnly. "I want to eat Sashimi."

And his son also has weird food demands. Choi Minho pinches his cheek."You cried when you ate Sashimi last time."

"I want to cry again," Toru replies. "I don't care if I see them dying, but I want to eat Sashimi."

Choi Minho shakes his head and laughs. Toru Choi-Nakashima has Wakana's gift, but the boy isn't afraid to eat meat like Wakana. If bad memories come, he would cry while chewing on the meat.

"We will have Sashimi then." 

***

The woman doesn't wake up in the morning either.

Choi Minho wonders if the woman is under some spell. In the end, he informs the Council about the woman. 

Staffs from the Council come and take the woman away. 

After she is gone, Toru decides that his father isn't cheating on his mother.

"Am I cleared of all suspicion?" Choi Minho asks his son as he rubs the corners of his son's swollen eyes. 

Toru has Wakana's eyes.

"I didn't get my lemon cakes," Toru complains. 

"I will get two boxes for you." Choi Minho pecks his son's cheek. "Stay with your aunt."

"She is still sleeping," Toru exhales in exasperation. Who will play with him if she keeps sleeping? "Why a.d.u.l.ts are so lazy?"

Choi Minho bursts into laughter. His son is a lot like Wakana when it comes to complaints.

While his father is getting ready for work, Toru walks out of the house to find his friend, Zu Zu. 

"Zu Zu!" Toru yells as he makes his way toward the tree where Zu Zu's nest is. "Come down! I am bored!"

Zu Zu, the eagle, looks down at the little boy with a look of distaste in his eyes. His main issue is that he doesn't like the name 'Zu Zu'.

"Why are you up there?" Toru glares at Zu Zu. "Do you still bully the sparrows?"

The sparrows are his food. Zu Zu huffs at him, "My name is not Zu Zu."

"If I call you Zu Zu, you are Zu Zu," Toru smirks at the eagle. It's not an ordinary eagle for sure. His cousin, Sung Se Joon, gave this eagle to him on his second birthday. His father doesn't allow this eagle inside the house. 

When Zu Zu ignores him, Toru defends himself anxiously, "Se Joon said that I can call you anything."

"Call him Master," Zu Zu snarls at him. "Master is a master."

"For you!" Toru grimaces at the bird. "I don't like you. I will ask him to send you back and give me a hellhound who listens to me."

"I also don't like you!" Zu Zu turns his back to Toru. "Hmph!"

"Hmph!" Toru stomps his foot on the ground. This bird is ugly anyway.

Just then, a woman appears before him. The woman has long dark hair and beautiful lively dark eyes. She is wearing a white gown, carrying a small boy in her arms.

Toru blinks his eyes in a daze. "Mamma?"

He has only seen pictures of her. This is the first time that he is seeing her face to face.

"Toru?" His father's voice startles him. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad!" Toru grabs his father's large hand. "I saw Mamma!"

"What?" Choi Minho looks around. There is no sign of her. "Where did you see her?"

"Here." Toru points at the spot. "She was standing there just now and she was carrying another boy. Did Mamma pick up another son, Dad?"

Choi Minho stares at the spot. If Wakana was here, he would feel it, right? But he isn't sure about it. 

It's been four long years. He is waiting for her return. 

"I didn't see anyone though." Zu Zu utters suddenly, "I have been here for days."

"Liar," Toru shouts. "Mamma was here."

"There was no one here." The demonic eagle glowers at Toru. "You must have imagined it."

"I know what I saw." Toru crosses his arms. "I will recognize my mother. I am not an idiot like you."

"I am an eagle." The eagle bellows, "My eyes are better than yours."

Toru rolls his eyes and copies the eagle with a mocking voice, "I am an eagle. My eyes are better than yours."

"You!" Zu Zu cries in rage. "I am going to --"

He closes his beak when Choi Minho's sharp gaze falls on him.

"I am going to ignore you," Zu Zu adds hesitantly. 

"That's all you can do." Toru clicks his tongue. "Stupid bird!"

Choi Minho contemplates the possibility. He should have felt something if Wakana came here. Then again, he isn't so sure. Wakana should be a forbidden one now. Their bond won't work like before, though it's still there. 

Why didn't she come to see them if she was here?

He looks at the eagle. "Zu Zu, did you see who put that woman in front of the house?"

Toru snickers when he sees Zu Zu narrowing his eyes in annoyance. Even his father calls him Zu Zu. Now, can this eagle say that his name isn't Zu Zu?

"She appeared out of nowhere." Zu Zu says to Choi Minho, "One moment she wasn't there and the next, I saw her lying there."

Choi Minho knits his brows together. The woman is not a forbidden creature. How is she related to Wakana?

"Dad, Mamma is walking in that direction with another woman." Toru tugs his hand. "Should we let her leave?"

Then, he realizes that Toru is seeing a memory of the place. Choi Minho carries his son in his arms and tells him, "Toru, let's follow your mother."

Toru's eyes shine brightly. "Let's follow Mamma."

Choi Minho returns his son's smile. He has waited enough. It's time to find Wakana.

They follow Wakana's afterimage to the shores of the river of death until they reach the spot where the Goddess of Abyss left Wakana.

"The woman disappeared with the boy." Toru looks down at his mother's figure. She is poking the ground grudgingly. He points at her and says, "Mamma is there."

Choi Minho can't see anyone, but he knows that his son isn't lying because he can read his son's mind.

"There is a strange man here." Toru coils his arms around his father's neck and shudders. "He is scary."

"Don't be afraid." Choi Minho pats Toru's back. "I am here."

"Mamma took his hand!" Toru yells. "Is Mamma cheating on you?"

Choi Minho purses his lips together. Wakana won't do that to him, but why does his son act so dramatically? "What else do you see?"

"She is following him." Toru looks at the faceless man scornfully. "He doesn't even have a face."

Finally, Choi Minho knows what's going on.

Wakana is with the faceless men.