065 – Native Nymphs Hate Invasive Species! # 4
The Fairy—a luxury cruise ship owned by the Elves.
Every worker aboard that ship, regardless of age or gender, was required to wear a white mask and gloves.
It was a little inconvenient—but for Yu Ari, it worked in her favor.
Which made sneaking in so much easier.
A glamorous party was in full swing aboard the Fairy. It was common knowledge that the great figures of industry and finance came to these events, sprinkling sponsorships and throwing around absurd sums of money.
But what lay hidden behind that glittering mask was a rather startling reality.
The Elves are conducting illegal lobbying activities, right? Today we absolutely have to catch the moment Freyja—their leader—meets with the opposition representative.
For years now, the Elves had begun wielding enormous influence over Korea's political and business circles.
Part of the reason was the sharp rise in multicultural households—Korean families married into Elven bloodlines—but beneath the surface, Yu Ari had already learned through intelligence channels that all sorts of suspicious, esoteric dealings were taking place.
Team Patriot, the President's direct black-ops special unit, had used its considerable skills to infiltrate the ship of the fairies without a hitch.
Yu Ari herself had slipped aboard disguised as a bartender managing the wine.
They say Freyja is an Elf who rarely shows her face. I can't miss a single move she makes.
That was the mindset she'd infiltrated with—right up until an utterly unexpected face appeared and startled her out of her skin.
Keongkeongi the Dog-Squirrel, Kwangkwangi the Ghost Spider, and Angangi the Honey Ant had lined up like a Bremen Town band and started performing their bizarre little tricks!
That's Senior Haildo, isn't it? Senior Haildo got invited to the Fairy's sponsor gala?
Yu Ari watched, entranced, as Ha Ildo took the stage to show off his act. There was something surprisingly magnificent about watching a man hone his skills from the very bottom and earn recognition for it.
Senior Haildo's already famous enough to be invited to a place like this! It must be because of the comment campaign I've been running so diligently!
About once a day, Yu Ari planted a post about the Awakened Ha Ildo on the recommendation boards, the concept galleries, and the best-of lists—all to boost his fame.
This level of behind-the-scenes support is just the baseline. Though I suppose even without it, Senior Haildo would shine like a star anyway!
And yet a faint melancholy crept into her heart.
If he's here, it means he got an invitation. He never offered to bring me as his partner!
Had Ha Ildo invited her along, infiltrating the Fairy might have gone even more smoothly. But from the look of it, he'd invited Lee Jina instead of Yu Ari—and she couldn't figure out why, which left her feeling oddly unsettled.
Did I not toot my own horn enough?
There were quite a few things Yu Ari was doing for Ha Ildo's sake. All of them unfolded quietly in the shadows, and Ha Ildo would never learn of any of it. Yu Ari had no desire to brag about it either.
But—every once in a while, it still stung a little.
This must be exactly how the Little Mermaid felt—rescuing her prince, only to have all the credit stolen by another woman.
The Little Mermaid.
Yu Ari thought she resembled the mermaid all too well: someone who couldn't voice her pride out loud.
That was the very moment it happened.
Hm? Those two—.
As she walked along the turf-covered corridor, a slender Elf came into view. She wore her hair as voluminous as a rose in bloom, and the skin-tight evening dress clung to her in a way that was devastatingly seductive.
Her entire look matched, point for point, the one Yu Ari had been told to watch for today: Freyja, leader of the Elves!
Did she just come out of her quarters? And the person beside her? An opposition contact? Or the head of some rising cult?
Yu Ari was trying to get a look at the man meeting with Freyja when she nearly dropped her tray.
The man trailing behind Freyja—
It was Ha Ildo, with Keongkeongi the Dog-Squirrel perched on his shoulder!
The Elves are definitely making a move on my Senior!
Freyja.
She was apparently the spiritual pillar of the entire Elven people.
To put it in perspective... something like Gandhi for the old Indians?
No—with a religious dimension added, maybe the Dalai Lama?
What was certain was that Freyja was a magnificently wealthy woman. Word was that even this ship was, in fact, her personal property.
"You actually live here?"
I clicked my tongue as I looked around the quarters aboard the lavish cruise ship. Freyja had never established formal residence in Korea—she simply kept rooms aboard this 'Fairy' and lived there instead.
The room I'd been invited into had a crimson carpet rolling out luxuriously across the floor, and was adorned with pianos and cellos of unknowable value. It was already about three times the size of the Well House I lived in.
"So—have you given any thought to my proposal?"
Freyja gave a soft, hoho laugh. The proposal in question went like this:
"You said you wanted to buy Keongkeongi for five billion won. Are you serious?"
"I am. A stud I purchased recently went for about that much. For that darling Ratatoskr, I'd consider it well worth the price."
I'd heard that prices for prized studs were astronomical. Hundreds of millions as the bare minimum, apparently?
But this was the first time I'd learned Keongkeongi was that extraordinary, so I was flustered in more ways than one.
━Keong-keong...!
Keongkeongi was now perched on the palm or shoulder of Madam Freyja—Madam seemed the right honorific, since she had to be far older than me—scampering this way and that.
Keongkeongi was famously good with people, but the list of strangers he warmed up to this fast basically ended at Lee Jina and the nymphs.
Come to think of it, maybe Elves, like nymphs, were nature-loving fairies with an unusually strong affinity for animals.
Even so—.
There was only one answer I could give.
"Keongkeongi is not for sale."
"Was the price insufficient?"
"No. It's not about the money."
Keongkeongi was already my friend and family. You don't sell family for cash.
I was stunned by the sheer size of the number she'd put on him—.
But only stunned.
Keongkeongi, huh.
So you were an absurdly expensive, precious little guy all along.
And here I'd just been tossing you out on the dirt yard to fend for yourself... more or less.
Before long, Freyja gave a soft laugh. Hoho.
"This is a first. In all my time in this strange land, I have never once encountered something that money cannot buy. Mr. Ha Ildo—seeing you now, my interest in you is growing as well. What, I wonder, would it take to persuade you?"
Hers was a voice like warm, clinging honey.
The kind of voice that made you feel persuaded before she'd even started.
I gathered my wits.
"I suspect you can't."
"I see. Then how about this instead? If that adorable Ratatoskr of yours ever has offspring, might you entrust one of them to me...?"
She wanted a puppy?
That was a tale as old as time. Your dog's having a litter? I'll take one!
Except—.
"Keongkeongi doesn't show much interest in, well, romance. I can't promise anything."
As befitting the Prime Dog-Squirrel, Keongkeongi was fairly popular with the females.
Let him loose in the yard and four or five female dog-squirrels would come chasing after him at once!
But Keongkeongi was far more interested in romping around, hunting, and brawling with Kwangkwangi.
Oblivious to the female heart, would you call it?
Or did he know and simply not care?
An utterly heartless male. A true alpha dog-squirrel.
Perhaps that very aloofness was the secret to his popularity.
Before long, Freyja let out a soft sigh. Phew.
"So the Ratatoskr population is suffering from a low birth rate as well."
Whatever angle I came at it from, I could tell Freyja was genuinely fond of Keongkeongi.
But why him, of all creatures?
Taecho Village was crawling with dog-squirrels. She could catch any she liked and save her five billion won. A win-win.
"You seem to be thinking—why Keongkeongi, of all of them?"
Is this for real?
She's reading my thoughts?
Just as I flinched in surprise, she continued.
"I possess a small talent for reading the hearts of others. Keongkeongi is a friend who may yet become a Ratatoskr in the truest sense. To us Elves, the Ratatoskr is a symbol of spring."
"Ah-hah."
I had no idea what she meant, but I nodded along anyway to smooth over the embarrassment of having my inner thoughts exposed.
Fortunately, Freyja kindly explained.
"Our homeland was robbed of its spring. We wandered from place to place, waiting for the spring day that would come again, until we settled here. None of us shows it on our faces—but every one of us aches for the spring of home."
"I see."
"Ratatoskr waking from winter hibernation and scurrying about with such vigor—that is the very emblem of a spring day. I wished to give hope back to my people. And I thought he might make a fine match for my own Ratatoskr as well."
"Your Ratatoskr, Madam?"
Swoosh—
Something came flying toward Freyja's shoulder. It gleamed silver, with a webbed membrane between its limbs that made it look something like a flying squirrel.
━Keong-keong...!
And the little thing barked like a dog, too.
A flying squirrel that barks like a dog!
Before long, Freyja spoke.
"This is the Ratatoskr I have raised since before I left my homeland. Her name is Fey. Isn't she adorable? In the manner of the small-eared fairies, you might call her a winged squirrel."
Winged squirrel.
Now that's what I call a well-chosen name.
━Keong-keong...!
━Keong-keong...!
The two squirrels began chasing each other around playfully.
Keongkeongi, you rascal. Taken with that winged squirrel, are you?
"In any case—I understand exactly what you're telling me."
Freyja's story made a fair amount of sense now. To the Elves, a dog-squirrel like Keongkeongi was a symbol that called home to mind.
Frankly, if I had to live abroad for a very long time, I imagined I'd be over the moon the moment I stumbled across some proper kimchi too.
So Keongkeongi was her kimchi.
"Still, I fear I've made far too greedy a request of you, Mr. Ha Ildo. My apologies."
"Not at all. I'm the one who should apologize for refusing outright. But if Keongkeongi ever does have offspring, I'll talk it over with him properly."
I'd heard dog-squirrels have big litters.
There's no way I could handle them all on my own anyway.
Which meant—hey, Keongkeongi, how about a girlfriend?
From the looks of it, that silver winged squirrel had already caught your eye!
Before long, Freyja laughed softly. Hoho.
"You are a delightful man, Mr. Ha Ildo. I begin to understand why the short-eared fairies trust and follow you. I find myself wanting to place my faith in you as well. Which is why there is one thing I wish to say...."
Freyja opened her slender eyes and, glancing around, lowered her voice.
"There are suspicious people hiding aboard this ship. I don't know their purpose, and for now they are keeping quiet so as not to cause alarm—but might you be able to lend us your help, Mr. Ha Ildo?"
Suspicious people hiding on the ship?
Had unwanted guests infiltrated the vessel?
For a moment, I found myself recalling the woman in the plague-doctor mask and the humans with mechanical arms.
A villain crew.
It wouldn't be strange at all for those people to be hiding here.
And if trouble broke out on a ship floating in the middle of the sea?
One way or another, everyone aboard would be in very real danger.
"This Oinoi is ever so curious as to what happened...! Ever so curious as to whether the Dog-Squirrel Keongkeongi was sold...!"
"You should have demanded sixty billion won, it is said...! Let us now discuss what you would do with those sixty billion, it is said...! Those wicked long-eared fairies surely tried to discount you, it is said...!"
The nymphs were extremely interested in my meeting with the Elves. According to their theory, the dastardly Elves must have worked some kind of sorcery on me.
"Nothing happened. And I'm not selling Keongkeongi either."
"This Oinoi always believed in the master of the house...!"
Oinoi thrust her hand up with a flourish.
Before long, Illinoi gave a sly muhehe chuckle as well.
"As expected, family is something money cannot buy, it is said...! However—perhaps it could be shared for a brief moment, it is said.... Might I inquire as to the rental fee, I ask...?"
"No. It's not that either. Instead, if Keongkeongi ever has babies, I'm thinking I might offer one of them up for adoption. Dog-squirrels have litters and litters, don't they?"
"The little dog-squirrels run wild all over when spring comes, it is said...! A very adorable thing, it is.... But they all bark and bark until everything becomes terribly noisy, it is...!"
Dog-squirrels that took after Keongkeongi—.
Picturing a whole swarm of them scampering around the yard made me smile in spite of myself.
Anyway.
I was already fully aware that bad people had infiltrated this ship.
Should I tell Seo Yerim the truth?
No.
The Seo Yerim I knew was suited for one-woman-army subjugation-and-annihilation operations, but when it came to infiltration and reconnaissance work, her score was a big fat zero.
She can't control her emotions, and she gets made every time.
If we stirred the pot now for no reason, the problem would only grow.
For now, let me handle it myself.
Fortunately, I had a genius of infiltration and stakeouts on my side—Kwangkwangi the Ghost Spider!
━Hio-ong...!