The Tiger's Song [7]
"Hold on — are you saying Ms. Lee Ji-sun is the fake?"
"That Ms. Lee Seon-ja lady is in the nursing home?"
At the shocking truth Kim Han-soo had just laid bare, Momo and Min-seo cried out in confusion — then turned and looked at each other.
"Huh? It was Ji-sun, right?"
"No, wasn't it Seon-ja?"
"Huh? No, no, my mom's name is Lee Seon. Just Seon — a one-syllable given name."
"What!?"
"What on earth are you talking about!?"
"No, I'm the one who wants to ask that!"
Unable to make sense of the situation, the three of them all turned to me at once.
"Ieol scrambles age, Gulgak scrambles gender, and Yukhon scrambles names."
Even looking back on it now, I myself had kept mixing up Lee Seon-ja and Lee Ji-sun.
But here's the problem: Ieol and Gulgak were Chang-gwi who got confused because they themselves couldn't tell things apart — so why did Yukhon make us the ones who got confused?
I had a pretty good idea.
The Protocol — a technique for fine-tuning the fine details of a sorcery. She had used it to take the way Yukhon's own targets got their names tangled and twist it back onto us.
And twisting a sorcery like that isn't something an anomaly can do. Only a genuine psychic has the power.
In other words…
"The Chang-gwi's true master was never the San-gun here. It was the Tiger Mask."
Everything probably began the day the Tiger Mask first came to Bukhansan — the same day Lee Seon had that dream. (And like the tip-off report, the dream story itself was almost certainly true.)
The Tiger Mask's original goal was simply to attach a Chang-gwi to the San-gun. Either she meant to bind a Chang-gwi to a high-ranking god and grow its power that way, or she meant to control the San-gun through it.
The problem was that it hadn't worked.
And I could guess why. San-gun's memories as I'd seen them through the Method of Resonance, and the origin story Lee Seon had told me. Put those two together, and the San-gun's true identity is nothing like a tiger.
But that's a story for another time, so I'll set it aside.
Instead of using the San-gun to strengthen or control the Chang-gwi, the Tiger Mask had propped the San-gun up as a figurehead — a front man to dodge pursuit — while she hunted people and fed them to the Chang-gwi to fatten its power. And all the while, the Tiger Mask would be lying low at Hofungdang itself.
"A family that has served the San-gun for generations — she must have figured there'd be clues about the San-gun there. The problem was…"
"…I was there."
"Correct."
So the Tiger Mask changed her plan yet again: she would pull Kim Han-soo into the human hunt she was running out of Bukhansan.
"If Gulgak beguiles the spouse, and Ieol eliminates any danger that might befall the tiger in advance — then what role is left for the last one, Yukhon?"
"…It calls out the names of everyone it knows and offers them up as prey."
"Also correct."
Yukhon was the Chang-gwi of Chang-gwi — the most dangerous of the three. And the Tiger Mask had attached that Yukhon to Kim Han-soo.
"An ordinary person might know a few dozen people. A salesman, or anyone in a people-heavy line of work, maybe a few hundred. No matter what, you never break a thousand. But we're different."
I looked at Momo and Kim Han-soo as I said it.
"We're broadcasters, remember?"
"Ah…! Don't tell me the definition of 'someone you know'—!?"
"Viewers count as people you know, too."
Truthfully, I'd found it strange from the very beginning. Me, and Park Su-dal. How exactly had a Chang-gwi come to attach itself to the two of us?
"What's strange about that?"
"Neither I nor Mr. Park Su-dal has any record of ever going to Bukhansan."
"Ah… yeah, that is weird!"
Unlike the people in the tip-off reports, neither Park Su-dal nor I had ever set foot on that mountain. And yet a Chang-gwi had attached itself to us — thinking back on it now, that was blatantly unnatural.
But if my deduction was right, and the very first person the Chang-gwi attached to was Kim Han-soo, then it explains itself.
"I'm your friend, Kim Han-soo. And Park Su-dal — that guy was probably one of your viewers."
These days I'm the rising blue chip of occult streaming, but the one-two of this scene was always Lee Ha-ram and Kim Han-soo. Kim Han-soo's ClapClap channel has a whole stack of videos that've cleared a million views. If Park Su-dal was one of those million, nothing about it is strange at all.
"…"
A complicated look crossed Kim Han-soo's face. He was probably feeling guilty that an innocent viewer and I had gotten dragged into this because of him.
"Grrrong…"
The San-gun patted Kim Han-soo's head to comfort him.
"But that plan collapsed halfway through — because the San-gun stepped in and saved Kim Han-soo."
"Grrrong!?"
The San-gun panicked at my pointing finger. He'd only protected a descendant of the family that had served him for so long.
I gave the San-gun a firm thumbs-up.
"You did great."
"Grrrong!"
Delighted, the San-gun puffed out his chest and beamed with pride.
"Th-thank you."
Hearing my words, Kim Han-soo offered his own belated thanks to the San-gun.
"Thanks to him, Kim Han-soo kept his life — and the Tiger Mask was forced to change plans yet again."
"Don't tell me…"
"Yes. She attached Yukhon to your mother, Lee Seon — the woman she learned about through you."
Unlike Kim Han-soo, who'd walked away from the family trade, Lee Seon had actually tried to receive the spirits and failed. The Tiger Mask must have figured a woman like that had a decent chance of knowing something about the San-gun. On top of that, Lee Seon's mind was already fraying from delirium — easy to puppet through a Chang-gwi. And above all, the title of head of Hofungdang was the perfect perch for finishing off people who resisted a Chang-gwi's bewitchment through sheer willpower.
Think about it. People bewitched by a Chang-gwi, gripped by the urge to climb Bukhansan, trembling in fear. Where else would their eyes land but on the famed shaman family that had worshipped the tiger god on that mountain for generations? Convinced Lee Seon had to know something, they'd come running to her, clutching at the only rope in sight.
Park Su-dal had been one such victim — he'd nearly fallen for the same trick.
Twisting the Chang-gwi's nature with the Protocol, covering her tracks so I wouldn't notice Lee Seon was the one bewitched… she's a serious professional.
She wasn't even in the same league as the dog, chicken, and pig masks — and a cut above even the rabbit mask, who'd been reasonably capable herself.
She won't be easy…
Just as that thought landed, Min-seo spoke up, her voice thick with dread.
"Um… doesn't that mean we're in big trouble?"
"How so?"
"W-well… you came here to exorcise the Bukhansan Maneating Tiger, right?"
"That's right."
"So… you have to catch the Tiger Mask, don't you?"
"That too, yes."
"But…"
Min-seo pointed at the selfie stick Momo was holding.
I looked into the camera streaming all of this and said, perfectly calm.
"Yep. I did it knowing that."
I gave Momo a look, asking her to zoom in.
"You're watching, aren't you?"
It was phrased as a question, but it was a statement of certainty. Of course she was watching. Come to think of it — how much must the Tiger Mask have been sweating when I first walked into Hofungdang? No, wait. Maybe she'd been delighted to find a heretic walking right in? Either way, it made no difference.
Having delivered my message to the Tiger Mask, I turned to the viewers.
"Did you enjoy Part 1 of the Bukhansan Maneating Tiger exorcism? We'll take a break here. For Part 2, I'll be back to deal with 'That Pathetic Chang-gwi Owner.'"
The moment the sign-off ended, Momo — quick as ever — cut the stream.
"…Will my mom be okay?"
"Probably. We're the ones holding two of her Chang-gwi, so she can't afford to act rashly."
"Th-then will the Tiger Mask actually be waiting at Hofungdang?"
"No. Not a chance."
We were dealing with a cult executive. Fair play was never on the table.
And of course…
I had no intention of fighting fair, either.
Min-seo had already said it, hadn't she? I came here today to exorcise the Bukhansan Maneating Tiger. Broadcasting the whole truth had been the first stepping stone toward trapping the Tiger Mask. And for that, two preparations were needed. One, I could handle alone.
But not the second. That one required Kim Han-soo's help.
"Kim Han-soo."
"Uh, yeah?"
"Any interest in receiving your god's descent?"
"What!?"
Kim Han-soo practically jumped out of his skin.
"Wh-where's that coming from all of a sudden!? And besides, I don't have any spiritual power or whatever it's called—"
Kim Han-soo had studied meditation with Lee Ha-ram once. But with nothing to show for it, he'd given up quickly.
However…
"You have it now."
"Wh-what?"
"Spiritual power."
Kim Han-soo is the tenth-generation successor of Hofungdang, the house that serves the San-gun. For a man like him, what awakened spiritual power was never breathing techniques or meditation.
Meeting his own god.
And ironically, that condition had been fulfilled — courtesy of the Tiger Mask.
"How else do you think you escaped the Tiger Mask and made it all the way here, when you couldn't even remember a thing?"
I looked at the San-gun. Yes — this kid had descended into Kim Han-soo's body and fled here with him.
"So, what'll it be? Your choice."
"…"
"Grrrong…"
Kim Han-soo bowed his head, torn. Then he looked up at the San-gun who had saved him. At last, as if he'd made up his mind, he raised his head.
"I…"
Lee Seon watched the end of Master Kim's stream with dead, unblinking eyes.
No — to be precise, it wasn't Lee Seon watching. It was the Chang-gwi Yukhon. Or rather, Jeong-in, Divine General of Jeong-myung-gyo, the one pulling Yukhon's strings.
Tch. Insolent little wretch.
Jeong-in was sipping coffee at a café in Oi-dong, far removed from Hofungdang — and of course, without the Tiger Mask, the kind of thing that drew eyes.
Among the Divine Generals, Jeong-in ranked within the top three in ability, and she held the qualification to challenge for a Dharma Protector seat. The reason she had appeared on Bukhansan in the first place was the "training" required for that Dharma Protector contest. And just as Master Kim had deduced, her original purpose had been to bind a Chang-gwi to the mountain's San-gun and dominate it. For whatever reason, the Chang-gwi had failed to take hold of the San-gun, and domination had slipped through her fingers.
Her every move since then had matched Master Kim's deductions exactly. She'd gone to Hofungdang to investigate why the Chang-gwi hadn't attached — and run into Kim Han-soo, returning to his hometown after so long. She'd tried to leverage his career as a broadcaster for her "training," only to be thwarted by the San-gun. Making the best of a bad hand, she'd followed Kim Han-soo's connections to his mother Lee Seon, hospitalized in a nursing facility, and tried to use her instead. And the very moment she was mid-way through "guiding" that foolish beast of a human — the one resisting the Chang-gwi's bewitchment — Master Kim had appeared.
"Tch!"
Jeong-in clicked her tongue at the fact that the woman had read her every movement and every line of thinking. Then she forced herself to coolly assess her situation and her options.
Should I try threatening her with Lee Seon?
Jeong-in shook her head. That woman didn't look like the type it would work on. Above all, Kim Han-soo was on her side. If Jeong-in grabbed Lee Seon and fled to use her as a hostage, the bond between parent and child could be turned against her — she'd be hunted down through a dozen different sorceries.
Then what — just cut her losses and leave Oi-dong?
I don't like it.
Master Kim had threatened her with the Chang-gwi, but frankly, remaking a Chang-gwi wasn't all that difficult. It stung to throw away everything she'd cultivated, and re-raising them from scratch would be an annoying grind — but that was the extent of it.
But doing that would make her a runaway, wouldn't it?
Me? Fleeing from that?
For a woman as proud as Jeong-in, it would be humiliation itself. But going head-to-head was no better — Master Kim was a formidable professional. Possibly a match for the Dharma Protectors themselves.
And above all…
Hard to put into words, but something about her reminds me of the Leader…
No, no, no! The instant that blasphemous thought surfaced, Jeong-in shook her head violently to shake it loose.
Then she decided.
I'll watch a little longer, then decide.
That woman would turn her stream back on soon enough. She'd judge by what she did next, and that would be that.
And one hour later, Master Kim's stream went live again.
The viewer count blew past three hundred thousand in an instant. No — word had apparently spread in the meantime, because the number only kept climbing from there.
Irritated by the chat fawning over Master Kim, Jeong-in hid the chat window and studied the stream closely. Master Kim and her party had come down from Bukhansan and were now standing in front of Hofungdang.
Jeong-in scrutinized Master Kim on her screen.
It's really her.
She'd half suspected they might have planted a body double on camera as bait. But the Master Kim on screen was the real thing — no disguised impostor conjured by sorcery. For a specialist in using Chang-gwi to deceive and beguile others, Jeong-in could trust her eye on exactly this kind of thing.
"Let's head in first."
"Yes."
"Mom…"
Master Kim's party entered Hofungdang. But the Chang-gwi were long gone — inside, there was only Lee Seon, sprawled unconscious on the floor.
"Mom!"
"Call 119!"
"Right!"
Jeong-in watched the party scramble around in a panic, sneering the whole time. Kim Han-soo cradling his unconscious mother and shaking her. Tskukumo Momo dialing emergency services. Yu Min-seo fluttering uselessly in circles. And…
"…"
Master Kim, staring down at Lee Seon without a word.
So proud of yourself a minute ago — how the tables turn. Face it, Master Kim. You will never find me.
Because the masked figure they were all hunting for was, in truth, a woman. Even the male Tiger Mask they knew was nothing but a fake — a puppet Jeong-in had controlled through Yukhon. Borrowing Lee Seon's body to tell that dream story in the first place had been purely to plant the false image of a man.
And so, while Jeong-in sneered at Master Kim through the stream, a man sidled up beside her.
"Um… excuse me?"
She flinched — then froze outright when she got a look at his face.
Master Kim!? No… no, it isn't.
The man's presence and looks were strikingly similar to Master Kim's, but he was someone else. Jeong-in hastily smothered the power she'd begun to raise.
Kim the Exorcist — one of the streamers who came sniffing around Master Kim… not bad at all.
Jeong-in ran her tongue over her crimson lips. He wasn't on the level of Master Kim or ClapClap, but Kim the Exorcist was a streamer of considerable size. If she bewitched him with Yukhon, she could recover everything she'd lost with Ieol and Gulgak in no time.
With a way to recoup her losses now in hand, she'd chosen the efficient option over the risky one. Erasing all trace of her surprise, Jeong-in put on her most alluring smile and asked,
"Can I help you?"
"Ah, well — the thing is, I find you extremely attractive, so I was wondering if I could get your number…"
"Oh my, really? Ah, this has never happened to me before, I don't know what to do with myself…"
Jeong-in stalled for a moment with the practiced poise of a popular woman. And then…
"Mm, just handing over my number feels a bit rushed… would you like to spend a little time together first?"
"T-time together!?"
"Of course. You can't decide whether to give someone your number until you know a little about who they are, can you?"
"Ah — yes, yes! Of course you do. Absolutely!"
Kim the Exorcist beamed a gormless grin and repeated the word know to himself like a mantra.
"Mm, and just chatting in a café sounds dull… shall we go for a little walk?"
"Yes! Yes, let's!"
Jeong-in smiled to herself as she rose — her plan was to lure the man somewhere with no eyes on them and attach a Chang-gwi to him.
Which was exactly why she failed to notice two things.
First: that Kim the Exorcist, who had come here to hit on her, should have been roaming Oi-dong on a stream, hunting for clues about the Bukhansan Maneating Tiger ahead of his collab with Master Kim.
And second…
"…"
That the instant Jeong-in took the lead, the eyes of Kim the Exorcist — which had been gleaming with fierce desire only moments before — had gone cold and glinting, like a blade in the dark.