Each Their Own Suspicions

Woo Sung-woo felt uneasy. It was like chewing gum someone else had already spat out. He couldn't quite put his finger on what, precisely, bothered him — but he was certain that something about Shin Jo-woon's words stank.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing grandiose."

Woo Sung-woo only stared back at him with a guarded face and no answer, and Shin Jo-woon smiled faintly, murmuring to himself.

"Hard to answer, huh. So you two aren't close after all."

Even as he said it, his gaze sank deep again and again, studying Woo Sung-woo. As if weighing something. But carefully. Deliberately.

Woo Sung-woo decided he didn't need to humor that attitude, and turned sharply on his heel.

Shin Jo-woon made no move to stop him as he walked away. The question he'd asked was something he could put to the man himself, after all.

In the meantime, Rembrary had gone off in search of the tiger-headed youkai, walking quite a distance before belatedly realizing that Shin Jo-woon wasn't following. He doubled back to collect him and unleashed a barrage of scolding.

"Shin Jo-woon, we need to get going?"

When Rembrary berated him, Shin Jo-woon waved both hands and said, "Sorry, sorry," with a laugh as he emerged from the alley.

"So where exactly are we going?"

"I have no idea."

Either way, nothing would be settled until they found the tiger-headed youkai.

"...I do think living with a plan and living without one each have their own flavor."

"Do they?"

"But shouldn't you at least know which direction you're walking?"

Rembrary was a plan-everything type himself, so he conceded the point, nodding as though he understood what Shin Jo-woon was getting at.

As if that's what he meant. Shin Jo-woon found it dubious, but he dutifully trailed after Rembrary anyway, quietly noting the landmarks around them.

Some twenty minutes of that passed before Rembrary finally picked up a trail of youkai residue drifting in the air. He couldn't be certain the trail belonged to the tiger youkai, but he followed it regardless.

There he is.

After walking a long stretch, the trainee he'd been searching for finally appeared. The tiger youkai itself was nowhere to be seen here, but traces of its passing remained.

The trainee sat slumped on a swing in the playground of a small apartment complex, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his head hanging low. Every time his legs swayed slightly, the swing's rusted chains let out an unpleasant creak of old metal.

Just as I thought. He's turning into a youkai.

Rembrary took in the trainee's condition at a glance and clicked his tongue. The man kept his forehead pressed to the swing's rope, twitching his legs, and there wasn't a scrap of strength left anywhere in his body.

Rembrary approached slowly. The trainee, who hadn't once looked behind him, turned his head only when Rembrary had drawn fairly near.

"Woo Yeon-woo?"

So he knew Woo Yeon-woo. The trainee recognized Rembrary's face the instant he saw it. It was Rembrary who failed to recognize his.

Ah, blast it, Rembrary lamented inwardly. I should have asked the members what his name was earlier. He'd heard the news calling him "Kim so-and-so," but beyond that, he had nothing.

Still, that wasn't the important thing right now. Rembrary needed to use his Divine Power on Trainee Kim immediately.

He couldn't say whether Divine Power would restore the emotions the man had lost — but at the very least, it could stop him from becoming a youkai here and now.

But... Rembrary stole a glance at Shin Jo-woon. Come to think of it, Shin Jo-woon had the 'Eyes' too.

An ordinary person would never know whether the youkai-fication in front of them stopped or not. But Shin Jo-woon was different, wasn't he? If the trainee's transformation simply halted, Shin Jo-woon might find it suspicious.

Sensing Rembrary's dilemma, Shin Jo-woon asked with a grin.

"What, about to do something I shouldn't see? Want me to close my eyes?"

Trainee Kim, who had been glancing back and forth between Shin Jo-woon and Rembrary, suddenly screwed his face up ugly.

"Hey, Woo Yeon-woo. Did you... did you come to turn me in?"

"So it's Kim."

"What?"

"Have you had a brush session lately?"

"What did you say?"

"A brush session. Have you done anything with a brush recently?"

The trainee frowned and tilted his head away.

There it is. Rembrary was certain now. If it weren't true, the man would have simply demanded, "What are you talking about?" — not stared at him like that.

The trainee slowly rose from the swing. He clearly couldn't make sense of whatever nonsense Rembrary was spouting, but he seemed to have decided that running came first. He took two stumbling steps backward.

Rembrary immediately thumped Shin Jo-woon on the back with his request.

"Catch him."

"Me?"

"Now."

Urged on like that, Shin Jo-woon sprang forward almost on reflex. The fleeing trainee kicked up his pace and broke into a run as well.

But a person mid-way through youkai-fication, while still in their right mind, had exactly the same strength and speed as anyone else. The trainee, considerably calmed by his conversation with Rembrary, was caught by Shin Jo-woon before he could make it out of the playground.

"Well, I've got him."

Shin Jo-woon set the trainee down near Rembrary and shot him an exasperated look.

"Seriously — what exactly are you planning to do?"

Rather than explain, Rembrary said a very natural "Good work," and bonked the trainee squarely on the head.

"?"

"Ah — hey!"

The trainee protested, but Rembrary simply thumped his head a few more times in succession, then went and sat on the seesaw, arms crossed.

"You can think about what to do with him now."

"You ran over here without a single thought?"

"The child must be saved, after all."

"...Weren't you the one bragging about living with a plan? That was less than ten minutes ago."

Rembrary the Salted Anchovy could not fathom the High Priest's intentions. Arms still crossed, Rembrary praised his own sly and magnificent ingenuity inwardly.

The truth was, Rembrary had already been channeling Divine Power into the man's head with every one of those bonks. Four times in total. At this dosage, the youkai-fication would advance no further. What's more, a swift inspection during the bonking had shown that the transformation hadn't progressed all that far yet anyway.

"First of all..."

"First of all what?"

"One moment."

Now that the youkai-fication had been halted, Rembrary judged it safe to leave Shin Jo-woon alone with the trainee for a bit — so this time, phone in hand, he stepped away from the two of them.

He glared balefully back at Shin Jo-woon the whole way, wary that he might follow, then put distance between them and made his calls — first to Daeju, then to Sa Gam-jae.

Daeju didn't answer, but Sa Gam-jae picked up this time.

When Rembrary briefly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Emotion-Clearing Brush and the trainee, Sa Gam-jae considered for a moment before answering.

Rembrary said he understood and hung up, then tried Daeju once more. But Daeju still wasn't picking up, so Rembrary pocketed his phone and walked back to where Shin Jo-woon waited.

Shin Jo-woon was on the phone with someone himself; the moment he saw Rembrary return, he said, "Let's talk later," hung up, and asked.

"Your errand? All done?"

Rembrary pointed a finger in the direction of the police station.

"I think we can hand him back."

As Shin Jo-woon gripped the trainee's arm to do just that, Trainee Kim blurted out in a panic.

"Yeon-woo! Let go! Please — we were at least a little friendly, weren't we?"

The trainee twisted in his grip.

"Have you seen the brush?"

Instead of being swept along by the man's plea, Rembrary asked his own question.

"If I tell you, will you let me go?"

The trainee asked, eyes bright with hope. Then, before Rembrary could even answer, he hurried on.

"I borrowed it for a little while. And then the person who lent it to me took it back."

"Who lent it to you?"

"Just let go of me first. Let me go and I'll write down who's behind it and send it to your company. I'll disguise it as a fan letter."

Rembrary pointed at the police station once more.

"I'll let you go once we're over there."

"You said you'd let me go if I talked!"

"I never said any such thing."

After walking the trainee back to the police station, Shin Jo-woon took Rembrary to the restaurant he'd promised earlier — the one famous for its king prawn butter grill.

Rembrary ate the savory, sweet king prawns one by one, and nearly wept with gratitude.

"This is delicious."

"Want me to order more?"

"And a cider too."

Shin Jo-woon watched Rembrary happily working through the butter-grilled prawns for a while, then asked.

"By the way — you handing the culprit back to the police was a surprise."

"You'll order more? What's surprising about it?"

"I'll order more. I honestly thought you were going to rescue the guy."

"He's alive, isn't he? That counts as a rescue too."

At the very least, he'd stopped Nakru from getting its hooks in the man.

Nakru could well come looking again — but they'd been the ones to notice the youkai-fication in the first place, without a shred of information about the brush. They'd certainly be able to tell that he'd become a perfectly normal person again.

He'd never intended to spring the man from the police station in the first place. The crimes had been committed while his emotions were gone, so there was certainly room for leniency toward the trainee — but that didn't erase the fact that he had killed a man. And losing his emotions didn't make the killing any less the trainee's own choice.

Rembrary popped another king prawn into his mouth and stole a glance at Shin Jo-woon. The man had watched everything, start to finish — he might well find something strange.

But Shin Jo-woon asked no pointed questions. What a relief, Rembrary thought, and applied himself wholeheartedly to the prawns.

Shin Jo-woon dropped him off in front of the dormitory, and Rembrary gave a polite little bow before heading inside.

Shin Jo-woon watched from the car until Rembrary made it in safely, then started the engine and thought.

The Pig Elder is clearly Nakru. The Piglet is absolutely not Nakru. But he's also absolutely not an ordinary piglet.

When Woo Yeon-woo had gone bonk-bonk-bonk-bonk on the culprit's forehead, the faint aura of the youkai that had clung to the man had vanished entirely. Shin Jo-woon had watched that moment with perfect clarity. Since Woo Yeon-woo himself seemed convinced he'd simply been very clever, Shin Jo-woon had played along and pretended not to notice.

Shin Jo-woon's fingers drummed across the steering wheel at a steady rhythm. An old habit that surfaced whenever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he gripped the wheel and sank deep into thought.

The fact that he even gives off a youkai's aura means he's no particularly strong one. But the way he casually shook off that ghost before, and now this — that kid is definitely no ordinary human either.

A ringtone echoed through the car. When Shin Jo-woon answered, his secretary urgently asked where he'd gone.

"Getting some fresh air."

He said he'd be right there, pressed the end-call button, and pushed the car a little faster.

Meanwhile, Rembrary returned to the dormitory feeling thoroughly pleased with himself, drew a bath, and soaked.

He had no idea that Shin Jo-woon was curious about what he'd done. He had no idea that Woo Sung-woo was telling the Nakru team leader, "My little brother truly, absolutely does not fit in with your people. His whole ideology is different. And he's far too soft-hearted for this." Oblivious to all of it, Rembrary thought about Daeju.

Daeju had finally gotten in touch after Rembrary returned to the dormitory. According to him, he'd arrived at the police station, heard that the culprit had fled, and turned back. With their timings crossed, it was a plausible story, so Rembrary said he understood and hung up.

But the more he turned it over afterward, the more suspicious it became.

Someone who could have smuggled the 'brush' out during the gathering... hadn't there been one more candidate all along? Daeju himself.