Cursed Bunny: Stories

The narrator’s family specializes in the creation of cursed fetishes. They share the story of a cursed lamp shaped like a bunny, which they heard from their grandfather. The grandfather cautions that, according to family tradition, a “cursed fetish” must be pretty, must not be a handmade item, and must never be made for personal use.

The grandfather had a friend whose family owned a successful regional distillery. The friend’s family is described as having been humble and kind to others. The friend studied engineering in college to improve the productivity of the distillery. Though his ambitions were initially frustrated by national food policy, he endeavored to work around the government’s stipulations. The distillery enjoyed success but failed to foresee the need for powerful connections and illicit arrangements in the post-Korean War era.

A larger company looking to enter the market leveraged their political connections to undermine the distillery’s reputation while advertising their own drinks as the populist choice. It became impossible for the friend to compete, so, facing mounting debts, he died by suicide, plunging his family into grief and exile. The larger company bought the distillery and discarded the friend’s production methods to maximize the sale of cheap liquor.

The narrator’s grandfather laments the tragedy of his friend, though the narrator acknowledges that these kinds of situations are precisely why their family remains in business. Following his friend’s death, the narrator’s grandfather used his connections to deliver the bunny lamp to the CEO of the larger company, presenting it as a gift from a subcontractor. The busy CEO ignored the lamp, allowing it to be moved to the company warehouse. That night, the bunny lamp came to life, eating whatever paper it could find. This went on for several nights until the bunny exhausted the paper archives of the company, at which point it moved on to nibbling at wood.

The warehouse guard was bewildered when he spotted not one, but three rabbits during his shift. The guard dismissed what he saw, which allowed the rabbits to hop into the crates to be shipped out from the warehouse. The rabbit infestation spread to the company’s headquarters, branches, and retailers, destroying their papers. Everyone affected assumed that it was a rat problem, even after someone pointed out that the droppings left behind looked like those of rabbits, not rats.

Rumors soon spread of the company’s infestation. The company tried to save their reputation by intimidating their workers and hosting a public relations event to demonstrate that their factories and warehouse were sanitized. During the event, the CEO’s grandson found the bunny lamp and asked if he could bring it home. The CEO, too drunk to notice what his grandson was talking about, permitted it. The infestation of the warehouse ceased, though all the bunnies that had spread to the other branches and offices remained where they were.

The CEO’s grandson became obsessed with the bunny lamp. Sometime later, he showed erratic behavior at school, forgetting his homework and lashing out at teachers. One day, he had apparently forgotten his way home and was found with soiled clothes. The boy was examined by doctors, who could not determine what was wrong. He soon stopped recognizing his family and lost control of his motor functions, though he remained obsessed with the lamp. The boy would dream of the bunny eating away his brain, which coincided with the progressive degradation of his neurological functions until he eventually died.

The CEO lost his government contacts, leading to a tax audit of the company. Without any documentation of their finances, the company was hit with hefty duties and fines. The CEO tried to recover his backup documents to save the company, but they too were eaten away. Eventually, the CEO’s son, who had become obsessed with the bunny lamp as a form of grief, broke several bones while getting up from bed. The CEO only visited his son in the hospital after his company declared bankruptcy. The CEO’s son became restless, claiming that he could see bunnies on his hospital bed. This caused him to break several more bones, an occurrence that would happen several times and prevent him from fully recovering.

The grandfather concludes the story at the narrator’s insistence, revealing that everyone died, thus ending the CEO’s family line. The narrator explains that the rules around the creation of cursed fetishes are meant to serve as cautionary tales. In their grandfather’s case, soon after he cursed the CEO and his family, he disappeared and was buried in an unknown location. The grandfather eventually returned to the narrator as a ghost to share his story, though the narrator is unsure if this is his curse or his blessing.

Over the many years that have passed since their grandfather’s death, the narrator has considered asking him how he died and where he is buried. The narrator worries, however, that their grandfather will stop appearing if they find out the answer. The narrator concludes that while business is good, they have to be careful to continue their family line and avoid the fate of their grandfather.