Unknown
Caller: Unknown
"I couldn't rightly say, my lady. In close to a thousand years I've laid eyes on plenty of yokai, but I've never felt anything like that one… The moment I saw it, every hair on my tail stood on end screaming that if I stayed put one second longer, I was a dead fox."
Seok-juk shuddered once more from ears to tail-tip and went on.
"The instant I crossed paths with it, I bolted — but no sooner had the thing snapped bring me that one than yokai came pouring out from every direction under heaven. It was the master of the unnatural horde swarming the Imperial Palace, my lady. The one all those yokai answer to."
"And everything after that, I suppose, is what I saw yesterday."
"Indeed. That many yokai — and not just any yokai, but ones each strong enough to rule an entire mountain and be done with it — all gathered and obeying a single yokai's command? I have never once seen the like, my lady."
Seok-juk added, dead serious now.
"Something dreadful is stirring in the Pyeong Imperial Palace. You would do well to be careful."
"I'm all the way over in Woon — it's you who need to be careful. Where are you right now?"
"The wild hills near Gang'an Fortress, my lady."
I spread out a map and gauged where Seok-juk must be.
"If you're heading to Woon, the fastest way is to reach a port and take a ship. In that case…"
"Ah, well, about that."
Seok-juk glanced back at Seol Deunghwa, slumbering without a care in the world against his flank, then turned his eyes to me again.
"It seems we'll need to stay in the Empire a while longer."
"In Pyeong? Why?"
The original plan had been for them to escape the Imperial Palace unharmed and come to Woon — to hide away, rest properly, mull over what came next, and then, once enough time had passed and 'Noble Consort Seol' had faded from the world's memory, to live however she pleased, safely, doing whatever her heart desired.
Seok-juk answered hesitantly.
"It appears the Madam has found something she wishes to do."
"That's good news, but… does it have to be done in Pyeong? It'll be dangerous if she runs into anyone who knew 'Noble Consort Seol.'"
"It is something that can only be done in Pyeong."
The great fox heaved a sigh, for all the world like a weary man.
"The Seol tribesfolk who survived as slaves were sold off to every corner of the Empire, you see."
"…!"
"She says nothing of it, but… she worries over the other Seol people constantly. She was the chieftain's daughter, after all. I'd say she feels the weight of it."
"So Seol Deunghwa wants to save the Seol survivors. Come to think of it, that's the most natural wish in the world."
Had her thirst for revenge against the Emperor not burned so fiercely, she might well have asked me to save her people instead, when I'd asked what I could do for her.
"I want to help the Madam and go about rescuing the Seol folk myself, my lady. But… does that count toward my guard duty?"
Seok-juk asked it ever so carefully, watching my face. I could guess exactly why he was hedging, so I answered readily.
"Of course it does. That's more than enough to earn you bonus points for good deeds. Don't worry — go and do it."
"…! Thank you, my lady! Thank you so very much!"
Seok-juk perked right up, ears flicking, and bobbed his head again and again.
"Be careful. Contact me the moment anything happens. And keep Seol Deunghwa safe."
"I shall serve with my very life!"
"Ah, and one more thing."
I turned Seok-juk's story over in my mind, then asked.
"That white-haired yokai you ran into — anything else you know about it? Anything odd about it at all?"
This was a creature so fearsome that Seok-juk, a fox yokai pushing a thousand years old, had panicked at the very sight of it — and yet no one knew what it was. That bothered me.
On top of that, this thing had seized a human Emperor's palace and was commanding other yokai like a standing army?
Is this the kind of thing I should tell Mom and Dad about? Or would they already know?
Those two knew everything under heaven and upon the earth — of course they'd know. Even so, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, just in case. At my question, Seok-juk's face screwed up in thought.
"Something odd, you say… Now that you mention it, just before it caught wind of me, that yokai was speaking with someone."
"About what?"
"Something along the lines of, 'Another country of Gimsatgats? How utterly sick of them I am.'… That was the feel of it, my lady. I can't vouch for the other words, but 'Gimsatgats' was strange enough that I remember it exactly."
"Gimsatgats?"
What did that mean?
Kim was the most common surname in Woon, so it sounded like a Woon man — but satgat was an odd thing to have in a name, and a name that came with a plural attached was stranger still. Was it not a name at all, but something like a nickname?
"I couldn't say, my lady. First I've ever heard the word."
"Mm. Still, it's an unusual phrase — it might turn out to be a lead. Thanks."
"Not at all! Then I shall be in touch from time to time!"
And with Seok-juk's deep, formal bow, the link between the fox orbs was severed.
By the time the sun had fully risen and morning was upon us, I had dressed in my training garb and was headed for the training grounds at Gyebang. It was for the breathing practice I did every morning.
This one isn't even that hard, and when it's done I feel refreshed and healthy. I like it.
Granted… with my being a hopeless klutz — no sense of my body, no dexterity to speak of — every other lesson had ended in ruin, and this was the one thing I'd actually succeeded at. I'd even been praised for having a good feel for qi. So yes, maybe I wanted to keep at it a little.
Ansi trailed behind me carrying water and a towel, grumbling the whole way.
"You collapsed in the middle of your breathing practice, Your Highness, and the very moment you awoke, off you go to breathing practice again. This Ansi cannot make sense of it."
"Me collapsing had nothing to do with the breathing practice. That was my body's doing."
"This Ansi nearly dropped dead of fright when Your Highness fell, kyak! Every human present was shocked speechless as well — if Your Highness performs that same training again, will they not all drop dead trying to stop you, I ask?"
"Oh, come now. Didn't I talk my way around it? Seol clan growing pains, I said."
I laughed off Ansi's fretting and asked about the thing I'd momentarily forgotten.
"Come to think of it, I don't see Gwangcheol-i anywhere. Where'd he go?"
"He said he would go meet the dokkaebi, so I saw him off."
"Hm? The dokkaebi?"
Dokkaebi were peculiar beings, hovering somewhere between yokai and divine spirits. They were born when the qi of nature settled into long-aged objects — spirits of a sort — but they were utterly hopeless when it came to pranks, wagers, and games, so every now and then they caused trouble on par with the worst of yokai.
"Why would he go meet the dokkaebi?"
"Having witnessed Your Highness's collapse, he declared that the dokkaebi possessed something that would aid you, and that he would fetch it."
"…What?"
Dokkaebi were clever with their hands and did produce wondrous things, it was true — but to them it was all a form of play and mischief. You could no more commission one like a master craftsman than you could commission a child. Nine times out of ten, what you got back was something that only looked the part, with a toy or a jump-scare hidden inside it, utterly useless for real work.
And Gwangcheol-i had gone to borrow something from those dokkaebi?
No — hold on a moment.
"Ansi, do you know why Gwangcheol-i set that fire in the lower realm, back when he got himself into trouble?"
"That was because he stole dokkaebi liquor and drank it, and fire came out of his mouth, and so… kyak!"
Too late, Ansi realized exactly what she had just permitted, and shot straight up off the ground.
I heaved a long sigh. "When did he leave?"
"Three days ago, Your Highness…"
"If he's not back within the week, you'll go catch him yourself."
"That wretched imugi! The moment he returns, I shall snap his leg-stumps clean off and pluck out his whiskers and bind him hand and foot with them, I shall!"
"Hmm… he really might bring back something useful, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt for now."
By the time I'd soothed Ansi — who was grinding her teeth audibly — we had arrived at the training grounds.
"…!"
Sa Young-joon, who had arrived ahead of me, took one look at my face, came running up with a gravely serious expression, and bowed his head deep.
"I was a fool, I say."
"Hm?"
"Health is the most important thing there is and must be guarded with care at all times, I say. Her Highness the Crown Princess was right to fret over your body. Since Your Highness isn't the least bit healthy, she ought to worry all the more, I say!"
"…No, I am healthy. You're the one who could stand to worry a little less."
"Fool though I may be, I don't believe a person who coughs up blood and drops to the ground calling herself healthy, I say."
"That wasn't illness or anything — I told you, it was just growing pains."
"What are growing pains?"
"When your legs ache because you're getting tall."
"…? Are you tall, then? You're still teeny-tiny as ever, I say."
"It was a figure of speech! Not that I literally grew from growing pains. And I did grow! I'm still growing! Go ask His Highness the Crown Prince if you don't believe me!"
"His Highness, you say?"
Sa Young-joon's pupils trembled like the earth in an earthquake. The foolish little swordsman swallowed drily and murmured.
"His Highness is terrifying."
"Hm?"
"He was never the least bit frightening before, but he's frightening now. Truly, truly terrifying. Though… since he's so frightening, he does look rather more dashing for it, I say."
"Why would the Crown Prince be frightening?"
"His Highness is…"
"Young-joon."
The Crown Prince, who had entered the training grounds at some point, called out to him.
"Am I scary?"
"Y-your Highness."
The voice asking the question was gentle — but the smile curving his lips as he asked it was drawn just sharply enough that he did, in fact, look a little frightening.
I can see exactly why Sa Young-joon is so on edge.
The Crown Prince wore that fake smile to keep the Eodukseoni's power in check. As long as he was smiling, the darkness couldn't easily run wild. But it seemed a side effect had taken root somewhere along the way.
I knew better than anyone how desperately he had struggled to suppress that darkness, and how far he had come since — to the point where he could hold ordinary conversations with people like this. So hearing it now stung a little.
The Crown Prince smiles so that no one else gets hurt… and this is what they call him.