Old Hong’s screeching was ear-splitting. Eventually, he calmed down and coughed until he vomited blood.

I knew this would happen again so I shouted, “All of you, close your eyes! Don’t look at those shadows and keep chewing soybeans!”

Then, I stuffed a handful of soybeans in my mouth. The others immediately followed suit.

When everyone lowered the shotguns and filled their mouths with soybeans, I saw a shadow over my head. It moved through the branches of the big trees, then it jumped down and mingled with the crowd before I could get a better view.

“All of you, be careful!” I said, “You, and you. Yeah, the five of you, come here.”

The suspicious shadow had landed close to that group of five; I wanted to make sure it hadn’t possessed one of them.

The group of five wasn’t cooperative. I was worried about any looming dangers, so I didn’t think twice and fired a shot at the muddy soil near their feet. They were clearly shaken as they finally walked toward me.

“Drop your guns,” I ordered.

They did as they were told, discarding their guns and shakily...