Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
⟨Chapter 4⟩
“Here, I’m really done now.”
Baek Ran closed the book with a tap. Although his brown eyes were smiling, there was a very clear meaning in them to get out. There was no way to oppose them.
Yu Dan wobbly stood up and left the study. Somehow, he had a dark feeling as if his feet were sinking down, while he descended to the first floor.
At some point, they bit into the cake.
“When they look pretty, they taste bad. This cake looks like it tastes disgusting.”
“No! It’s delicious! Really delicious! Quickly, try it!”
At the boy’s pestering, the girl hesitantly dipped her finger in the corner and quickly licked it with her tongue. Her adorable face blushed red in the instant.
“How could it be! It’s truly delicious! But now there are only four pieces left! I’m in great sorrow!”
“There are four pieces! So each of us can eat one more piece!”
“It’s enough for me.”
The dokkaebi waved his hand.
“Left one piece. He says that He hates sugar, but occasionally He tastes a bit with an expression as if He’s deeply pondering over something.”
“He may be wondering how the hell we eat something like this.”
The snake lady said coldly. While at it, she was moving her fork very diligently, and then discovered Yu Dan late and froze.
“Don’t worry about me and eat a lot.”
Yu Dan passed them in quick steps to leave.
“Wait a moment!”
The boy twin anxiously got in front of him.
“Can’t do! You bought such delicious cake, but we won’t return the courtesy and send You away just like that? Please, at least let us serve you tea.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Please…”
“Strange kid. You fear me, so why are you like this? Do you like abusing yourself?”
“No! Not at all! I’m just a clerk that wants to be polite with guests! If we send You out without even treating You to tea, I won’t be able to sleep comfortably for the next hundred days…”
“That’s too much!”
“That’s right. So, please…”
As the way forward was blocked by such sincere eyes, it couldn’t be helped. Yu Dan sloppily sat down on the chair near.
“Thank You. You made the right choice.”
The boy happily brought the kettle. The girl, who was far away before and watched the scene, sneaked closer to sit down beside him, while examining him.
“Alas, the introductions are late. I’m Chaeu (Colorful Rain). As you saw, I’m a child-shaped ginseng. My twin over here is Chaeseol (Colorful Snow) noona. She is a kind noona, though she has a bit pessimistic personality. Over there, the serpent is Heuk-yo (Black Light) nunim[1]. She is scary, but She has a delicate and warm heart. The Person who manages this shop all alone is dokkaebi, but if you just call him uncle Do-ssi (Pot-ssi[2])…”
“What are you calling me?!”
Do-ssi responded angrily.
“Okay, then what did He say about that? I’m talking about that eye.”
“Heavenly Eye… that’s what he said.”
“What?”
Everyone was startled.
“I thought that it has to be a cursed eye, for sure!”
“We thought so too!”
“That’s amazing! It’s truly something like this, huh!”
Everyone shouted in excitement. No, actually, Yu Dan was unenthusiastic.
“Well, do you want to take it if it’s so good?”
“I would want to if it was possible.”
Heuk-yo mumbled.
“How something like this came to such a punk? Isn’t it a pity? If it came to me, I would be able to become a great help to our Cheonho-nim.”
They stared at Yu Dan’s eye, as if it was crazy pitiful.
“What are you talking about? About that fox yokai at the upper floor? He didn’t look like he needs anyone’s help.”
“Not at all.”
Chaeu shook his head.
“He dealt with wicked things since ancient times. As such, because rumors spread, those things hide thoroughly from Him, moreover, since the world became much murkier, He said He couldn’t see and hear them so well as in the past.”
“Okay? I see and hear them well, even like this. Well, if you save my life, I can help catch some to repay a favor.”
“No. No.”
Chaeu waved his hand with a smile.
“Nunim said something useless. What young master said is correct. He won’t accept anyone’s help. Because that is Cheon-ho’s pride.”
“Thinking about it, what ‘Cheon-ho’ stands for? Is ‘cheon’ for sky?”
“It its.”
Heuk-yo responded bluntly.
“He is a noble being, that you can’t even dare to mention with your mouth. Different from a trash like nine-tail fox and the likes. So how about quiting that impolite attitude a bit?” [3]
“Isn’t he a fox yokai, anyhow?”
When he didn’t even pretend to listen, Heuk-ho’s eyes turned sharp.
“Did you somehow obtained such an eye, but see nothing of this world? So why beg so pathetically for help when you have such a great eye? But you’re helped by such an ignorant yokai!”
“Sister, calm down.”
Dokkaebi spoke.
“Isn’t human nature originally like this? They put aside thinking about all kinds of incidents, and when they find themselves in a predicament, they don’t know shame and come beg for help, right? To the yokai they despise and prosecute so much. It wasn’t a day or two we watched humans, right?”
“It’s all because of those exorcist novels, manhwas and the like. The humans always make the mistake first, and then they confidently ask for help as if it’s some kind of office, the pushovers, who sacrifice their bodies without any price and say it’s alright as they survived, are feasted upon, isn’t that right? Shouldn’t they owe something because they have abilities?”
“Right! It’s exactly like in the novel I read! He is called an exorcist, but doesn’t make a living by digging, yet I never once saw him give a proper thanks worthy of compensation!” [4]
What the hell were they saying? Do they want a compensation?
He was about to rummage for his wallet, but Chaeu said:
“Please don’t bother. What uncle and noona said is correct, but they’re like this because of their strong feelings from reading the exorcist novels. How much do they underline them as if competing with each other? And they are happy when a guest comes to seek help. It’s just regretful that our Cheonho-nim always uses his power in vain…”
“In vain? So helping me is in vain?”
“No, it’s absolutely not what I meant. It was just a remark.”
Chaeu quickly changed his words.
“Anyhow, please don’t bother too much, and enjoy the conversation and tea. Because being captured by such a terrible supernatural thing is a very rare experience. That’s right. How about thinking it as a kind of blessing of happiness?”
“What blessing?! How on earth can you think about it as a blessing?”
“Why not? Because You became a Receiver of Misfortune once, You will realize how happy ordinary life is. How good is that?”
This ginseng yokai seemed to sincerely believe it. Even if optimistic, wasn’t it too optimistic?
On the other hand, the noona twin, even when pessimistic, she was too pessimistic. When Yu Dan picked up a tea cup, she continued to mumble with a face full of anxiety.
“He will spill it. He will spill it. He will spill it for sure.”
No way. He wasn’t a child. While thinking like this, the moment when he was about to bring the tea cup to his lips, his eyes met with the face of the dragon inside the tea cup.
“Heuk!”
The tea cup slipped from his hands. He barely grasped it before an incident occurred.
“What is that? What kind of tea is this? It’s tea, right?”
“It’s yongseol-gamro tea[5]. Please don’t throw it onto the floor because it’s precious.”
Chaeu spoke earnestly. Yu Dan stared down at the tea cup with a terrified face. He witnessed scenes the strange heads in cups several times before, even at home, but it was the first dragon head. How was he supposed to drink it?
“Look at that. It’s an expression as if he is to eat a bug. He will never drink it. The expansive tea infused with my dongsaeong heart will have to go into the trashcan. Then every time I will see a dragon head in the tea cup, I’ll be sad. I’ll be sad five times a day for the rest of my life.”
Chaeseol at his side was mumbling as if casting a curse. Those twins truly held grudges for long. Both of them were extreme, but the noona was much more extreme. Yu Dan truly hated to be shaken by anyone, but the girl’s pitiful voice was truly difficult to ignore, so he tightly closed his eyes and took a sip.
Chaeseol’s face instantly brightened.
“No. It’s not good. You surely are going to throw up soon. However, I’m very happy. It’s before you throw up, but even so, I’m happy so it’s fine, right?”
Her big sparkling eyes were very cute. It suddenly occurred to Yu Dan that she was truly pretty. Even if they met not in such a situation, but on an ordinary road, he might have looked for a while.
Heuk-yo, who was wiping the tea set on the side, was also like this. Her face was so amazingly beautiful you didn’t dare to approach. And it wasn’t only that. Even though she was holding a mere dish cloth, he felt a cool energy from her, like when she pulled out the treasure sword a moment ago. He didn’t think she would see the beauty with such an atmosphere in the future.
Because everyone was yokai.
Suddenly, his mind turned dark at the overwhelming feeling of unreality.
Chaeu poured tea again.
“You said that Your father-nim was in China? You’re still attending highschool but live alone, that’s amazing.”
“What is so amazing about it? I lived alone since middle school.”
“Then are you personally preparing yourself meals, washing dishes and doing laundry? Do you vacuum every day?”
“No. Am I some kind of housewife to you? There is a service person to help with that. They come during a day, do all of that and go.”
“Is that so? It’s like a housework helper? I don’t know much, but a house without people living in it must not feel very welcoming. You must have a lot of hardships. Would You like me to give you one of the Ureonggaksi[6]?”
It was a speech of real concern and sympathy, but what was even more surprising was that those words didn’t seem to be even in a bit a joke. It seemed that if he just said a word, they would really give him an Ureonggaksi.
Yu Dan’s head swayed.
Did he get drunk when drinking tea?
As there were no people passing by, even outside the window, the mood was even more subtle. He only passed though one door, but the world was different. Did those people even know about it?
Without his knowledge, he drank all the tea they kept pouring him.
While receiving a friendly farewell from the child-ginseng yokai, Yu Dan left the Banwoldang with a feeling as if he was drunk.
***
The apartment he lived in was empty.
Even when considered that he wasn’t a person who liked to cramp the house with furniture, it was too desolate.
His maternal cousin, who was surprised by the extremity of it, looked around with an absurd face and even said:
— You should buy some books to at least put here.
It was correct, but he had no interest in books for a long time now, so he just ignored it. Anyhow, what kind of harmonious atmosphere could be there when his father comes here?
Yu Dan sat alone in that desolate atmosphere.
A lot of happened that day, so he tried to organize it, but instead of organizing, his face gradually started to twist.
Of course, the fox warned him. He said that the jeung will come to life and not only that, it will also commit actions he will hate to see.
He imagined that it will be a trivial trouble at best. Running around the living room, chewing on the wallpaper or stealing his food to eat it.
However, the jeung’s actions were different from what he imagined. He wanted to turn away, but wasn’t he told not to do that? Wasn’t he ordered to watch it closely? As he endured and endured, he finally reached the limits of his patience.
“Stop it!”
The straw doll was startled and looked at him.
But it was only for a moment. It started to throw all kind of things into the corner of the room again. He really couldn’t bear it.
He didn’t expect that ‘actions he will hate to see’ meant that. He realized why the fox insisted that he must make sure not to turn his eyes away.
The jeung was mimicking him. Every action was exactly the same, it gave him the creeps. Even now, it was throwing things at the cramped swarm of black shapes in the corner of the living, trying to drive them out. It was something he did often. He didn’t realize it before, but looking now, he truly looked like a fool.
“Don’t do that!”
The jeung didn’t listen.
It kept throwing things for a while, but when the black shapes didn’t flee, it quietly approached them. As if thinking that as it’s very bored, it should at least take a look at it, it rested its chin on its hands and started to quietly observe them. It was also something he did often.
It didn’t have a face, but it had a mouth, and that part of it was widening and shrinking a bit. It seemed to be saying something to the black shapes.
Was he like this?
He couldn’t be even more foolish than that. Yu Dan abruptly stood up, grabbed the jeung by the neck and threw it inside the pin box.
“Go to sleep!”
After being thrown a towel, the jeung completely covered itself with it. Though he was dumbfounded, it was also exactly the same as Yu Dan. If his hands or feet stuck out from under the blanket, strange beings would stick to them or tickle them, so he formed a habit of thoroughly covering himself up as a defense mechanism. From an outsider’s perspective, it couldn’t be anything but silly.
“Huu…”
Twenty minutes felt like ten hours. He was about to merely take a seat again and think when he felt as if something was sneaking behind his back.
He looked back, and the box at some point collapsed. The rustling sound was coming from the bedroom.
As he sprinted there, the jeung was going through the trash can. Yu Dan realized straight away what it was doing. Enraged, he smacked the jeung’s back of the head and snatched it straight away.
“Don’t look for nails!”
But he had done well.
He remembered the fox’s warning to make sure not to let it eat any part of his body, and after coming home, he emptied all trash cans. If he didn’t do that, there may have been some incident already.
“What the hell is that?”
He stared at the jeung wriggling in his hands.
How something made out of straw could feel more alive than it really was. He couldn’t let go of the thought that this jeung itself was one of the yokai.
In the end, he gave up, and put the jeung under the pillow, crushed it with his head and tried to sleep. In the end, the misfortune didn’t appear for the whole night. The day shined without a wink of sleep for him.
“Sleepy…”
Yu Dan rubbed his bloodshot eyes as he poured himself milk.
At his side, the jeung put bread in the toaster. And it didn’t set the timer while it was momentarily preoccupied by a transparent head quickly sliding down from the ceiling.
“Hey, what are you…”
The toast was burned in the instant. As if the jeung lost the appetite, it threw the bread away. Very like him.
Did he really have to drag it to the school?
He knew the answer. He had to bring it.
Yu Dan sunk to the ground again as he sighed. And then a good idea what should he do suddenly occurred to him.
“Yeah! That’s it!”
*~*~*
[1] nunim — a bit older version of noona, a bit more polite.
[2] Pot-ssi — ‘ssi’ is here as an honorific.
[3] “He is a noble being, that you can’t even dare to mention with your mouth…” — Heuk-ho almost always uses a polite tone, but she switched to a casual/rude tone here.
[4] “Right! It’s exactly like in the novel I read!…” — Do-ssi’s sentence.
[5] yongseol-gamro tea — This is a word play, I’m not sure if I got everything correctly. ‘Yong’ means dragon. No sure what seol would mean here, but perhaps New Lunar Year. But ‘yongseol’ is a medicine that induces vomit. Gamro tea is a sweet tea offered in front of Buddha.
[6] Ureonggaksi — a folk tale about a water snail and a farmer. The farmer once helped a snail, and the snail in return cooked him meals and cleaned the house. When the farmer discovered it and confronted the snail about it, she said she was the Sea Dragon King’s daughter, who was turned into a snail as a punishment, but as the farmer helped her, she decided to help him. They fell in love and married. Metaphorically, it means a ‘secret help’.
Translator’s note: I love the trope of supernatural beings consuming media about themselves and roasting the MCs.
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