Chapter 3 - Entering Indigenous Society (1)

Chapter 3: Entering Indigenous Society (1)

‘What is this…’

The eventful situation was quickly identified. From their point of view, it was clear to them… too clear… all of sudden, a life-like creature descended from the sky and spread out their colossal wings and fell.

The Native Americans had animistic belief in the spiritual. Wouldn’t it seem like a great being beholding the power of the spirits appeared before them? 

Meanwhile, Kiwoo slowly twirled around to figure out where he could land. After finding the exact location, he expertly moved the parachute and landed on the ground. 

There was a look of considerable shock from the natives.

Kiwoo rose up and disconnected the parachute.

“Wow!”

“Great Spirit!”

“Wakan Tanka! Wakan Tanka!” 

The natives cheered. Kiwoo grinned and spread his arms wide in victory. When his foot stepped on the earthen soil, a strong sense of relief that he survived flooded him.

“I’m alive! I’m alive! Ha-ha-ha! I made it!’

Kiwoo’s self-muttering didn’t go unnoticed. The native peoples heard it—they couldn’t understand, but they heard it. Their cheers grew louder and they continued shouting. 

‘Won’t I become a cult leader if placed in this environment? No. I’ll become a teacher if it’ll allow mankind to survive. The problem is… how do I go about it properly?’

Kiwoo quickly came to a decision.

***

“Wait!”

A man in the crowd, the one with keen eyes, his name Vision, raised his hand. In large-scale hunting, his opinion and matters were absolute. His precise eyes helped them a lot when it came to hunting. Therefore, all the men participating in the hunt stopped walking and held their breaths.

“What is that?”

“What is it? What do you see?”

A fellow native questioned him from behind, but the keen-eyed man did not reply. He simply squinted his eyes and focused on the object he saw.

As he continued to stare into the sky, others looked toward the same direction as him. However, they saw nothing. They tilted their head in confusion.

Then… 

“Look!” Vision gasped. “It’s a human being… I think…”

“Human?”

Only then could the rest of the hunting group see a whitish form. But on behalf of them, one fellow native came forward and denied Vision’s words.

“That’s ridiculous. How is that a person? Man can’t fly.”

“That’s right. It’s a bird! Look at those big wings.”

“Shut up! Are you disrespecting my skill?” Vision berated them and flew into a rage. His deep vision was his pride and identity.

“Not really… but…”

“It’s a person,” Vision asserted with great conviction. 

Then there was silence in the hunting group, but that silence did not last long, because the figure flying in the sky came closer… and closer… and closer…

“Ah!”

“Oh mercy!”

“What you said is true!”

“Of course. My eyes can never deceive me!”

Just as Kiwoo confirmed the appearance of the natives, the natives, too, discovered his presence.

“A divine spirit!” At this time, Tree, the only son of the tribal chief, shouted loudly. He had no choice but to. The clothes he had never seen all his life, those massive wings on its back, and the being flying in the sky made him think of a sacred spirit.

In a flash, an energetic wave spread through the hunting group. No one had ever encountered a sacred spirit.

In their mind, no one would be able to do the feats they saw if they were not a sacred spirit.

“Wow…”

“Holy Spirit!”

“Oh, Holy Spirit…”

The group of men fell flat on their stomachs. It was the most polite greeting they could do. 

As the commotion reached its peak as soon as Kiwoo landed on the ground, he opened his arms and shouted a mouthful of words in Korean.

‘What is Wakan Tanka? Wakanda Forever? Is it something like that?’

He suddenly remembered the age-old classic superhero movie.

Unless someone had studied Native American history intensively, one would not understand their language.

The same was true for Kiwoo.

Knowledge of the natives in American land was limited. Therefore, Kiwoo has trouble understanding the language of the natives that kept shouting the word ‘Wakan Tanka’ from time to time.

Kiwoo thought that it was somehow related to their animistic belief.

‘I need to learn the language quickly.’