Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Our House's Monster (2)
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The shocking revelation that Leo was a monster had me grilling him all day long.
Even knowing I wouldn't get any answers, I bombarded him with questions and tormented the poor guy until the next day, when I finally pulled myself together and headed into work.
Leo, who had suffered through the night, bit my finger in rage before sheepishly licking the spot he'd bitten.
When I arrived at the temporary Team 10 office, sure enough, Team Leader Park was already prepared with the briefing materials.
Figuring there was another rescue mission today, I hurried to my seat and got ready to focus.
But before the briefing could even start, the office door burst open, and Han Sora came rushing in, out of breath.
I wondered why she, who should have been in the support team's office, was here—but that thought was fleeting. Panting heavily, she rushed over to Team Leader Park and spoke urgently.
"Team Leader! I just got word—the two targets we were supposed to rescue today have already been saved!"
At her words, Team Leader Park looked utterly baffled, muttering "What do you mean..." as he began talking with Han Sora.
My attention, though, was drawn not to their conversation, but to the briefing papers in Team Leader Park's hand.
They had photos and brief personal details of the rescue targets.
And I recognized those faces.
"Uh..."
They were the two hackers from a few days ago, locked up in that prison-like basement under the café when we wiped out Dongto's impersonator organization.
Talk about connections.
A personal matter I'd handled on my own had now come down as an official White Tiger mission... and gotten canceled.
I let out a hollow chuckle, accepting this bizarre coincidence that no longer surprised me.
At least it meant I could relax at the office today.
Team Leader Park glanced back and forth between me, Han Sora, and the briefing papers, his face twisting into a strange expression for a good while before he finally spoke in an awkward tone.
"Uh... you all heard that, right? Today's mission... it's already been resolved. Good work, everyone. Just... take it easy for now."
With that, he hurried out of the office with Han Sora, still looking perplexed.
The rest of the team members exchanged bewildered glances for a moment before scattering to find things to do with this sudden free time.
I seized the opportunity and approached Bora.
She was in the middle of some personal maintenance when I came over and asked what was up. I made my request.
"If it's not too much trouble, could you teach me the next step of talisman arts...?"
Bora looked at me with slightly widened eyes in surprise, then broke into a wide grin, impressed.
"Wow, you really have a talent for this. To already be able to launch talismans properly... that's pretty quick progress."
"No, it's not exactly proper..."
Her praise made me feel a bit burdened.
Truth be told, they weren't flying that well.
I played it cool and headed to the training room with her.
Unlike Dongto's ridiculously spacious single training hall, the floor with White Tiger's training rooms had a bunch of them in various sizes, neatly divided by purpose.
I easily spotted other exploration team members passing in the hallways too.
Dongto hardly ever had teams using the training rooms.
Since talisman practice didn't require much space, we borrowed an empty small one and went inside.
"Alright, show me what you've got. Let's see how much you've improved."
"Don't expect too..."
With Bora watching me intently, arms crossed and eyes full of anticipation—an incredibly nerve-wracking situation—I pulled out a single talisman.
I took a deep breath, channeled my energy as I'd been taught, and tossed it.
The talisman began to flutter through the air.
Flutter, flutter...
It wobbled unsteadily after leaving my hand.
It nearly plummeted to the floor several times but somehow held on, making it all the way across the training room.
Finally, as if running out of steam, it slapped against the wall and stuck.
I watched it barely cling to the wall, then sneaked a peek at Bora's reaction.
She'd observed the entire flight, thought for a moment, then nodded.
"...Good. That's enough to move on to the next step."
"Whew..."
Only then did I exhale the breath I'd been holding and pat my chest in relief.
I'd passed, at least.
Before diving into the real talisman arts lesson, Bora hesitated, glancing at me.
Then, as if making up her mind, she suddenly—and somewhat out of nowhere—revealed her age.
"...I'm twenty-two."
Twenty-two. An enviable age.
I was twenty-six myself—still young enough to hear it anywhere—but hearing twenty-two just felt fresh and youthful.
For a split second, I misunderstood why she'd brought it up.
Was she bragging about being young?
"...Why bring up your age all of a sudden?"
"Huh? Oh, no, it's..."
She glanced at my face, blushed, and ran a hand through her hair.
"We've known each other for a while now, we're on the same team, and I'm even teaching you talisman arts... I figured it was about time to drop the formalities."
Ah, that was it.
I nodded in agreement.
It had felt a bit awkward still using polite speech.
"I'm twenty-six. Feel free to call me casually now, Bora."
"Yeah... B-Bro... Oppa..."
"..."
Bora called me "Oppa" awkwardly, and dropping the formalities felt surprisingly natural for me.
The problem came after.
With her clearly so tense right in front of me, I started feeling awkward too.
Anyway, with the formalities out of the way, we moved on to the next step of talisman arts.
"N-Now, next is inscribing characters on the talisman. That's what makes it a real talisman..."
It was right then.
A small yellow exclamation mark [!] appeared above Bora's head, and a system message popped up in front of my eyes.
A subquest had appeared.
It was a quest to properly complete a real talisman.
"This brush is important."
Bora said that as she showed me a brush, just like when she'd given me the yellow talisman paper before.
It didn't look like an ordinary brush.
It was pure white, but when Bora gripped it, the tip instantly turned black as if soaked in ink, dripping droplets.
"Now that you can channel energy into launching talismans, you should be able to use this brush naturally too. Put energy into it, and ink flows out like this. Write the prescribed characters on the talisman with this, and it stores that energy."
And that made it a real talisman.
With those words, Bora demonstrated by skillfully drawing something on a sheet of talisman paper.
"This wasn't that helpful for me, but it might be pretty useful for you, Oppa."
She flicked the completed talisman toward the wall.
It flew fast and sharp—impossible to believe it was mere paper—and thunked deeply into the training room wall.
Like a dagger.
"This talisman art makes the talisman as hard as a sword."
For a second, I thought it'd be better to just carry real daggers or throwing knives.
Reading my expression, Bora added an explanation.
"Of course, a real dagger might be stronger, but since this is infused with energy, it works on monsters like the ones we've faced that are immune to physical attacks. Plus, before you throw it, it's just paper—so it's safe. No risk of stabbing yourself if you carry it in your pocket."
She even shared a story about how she'd once gotten hurt by a sword she'd tucked into her clothes during her exorcist days.
That was an unexpected downside.
Hearing it, talismans did sound better.
...Wait, she's only twenty-two now, so when did she start her exorcist work?
Curious, I asked, and Bora readily answered.
"Around... eighteen, I guess?"
She'd been fighting monsters even before she was an adult.
I nodded at her explanation and looked down at the white brush in my hand.
Following her instructions, I gripped it and tried concentrating my energy at the tip.
Nothing happened at first, but after a few tries, the tip finally took on a faint black sheen.
It wasn't soaking wet and dripping like hers, but I managed to get black droplets beading like dew.
"Oh, it's working?"
I let out a small exclamation of wonder, but the real issue came next.
Looking at the talisman she'd drawn as an example, I had no confidence in copying it.
The complex geometric patterns mixed with flowing hanja characters looked less like a drawing and more like an intricate magic circle.
How the hell was I supposed to replicate that?
Seeing my troubled face, Bora smiled sympathetically.
"Don't aim for perfection—just slowly trace each line, and you'll get the hang of it soon. It's all practice in the end."
Looked like I had more homework.
I wrapped up the day's training after getting a sample talisman and a few practice sheets from her.
Back home, after dinner and confirming that Leo and Daeho had settled in and dozed off, I cautiously spread out the talisman paper and brush on the living room table.
I tried drawing along the sample slowly, focusing on each line as Bora had said, but the result was a crooked scribble. No surprise—it wouldn't happen overnight.
As I wrestled with the talismans and kept practicing, I suddenly remembered my promise to Choi Ye-rim.
She'd said she wanted to see a monster as soon as possible.
I couldn't take her on a White Tiger mission right now... but there might be another way.
I glanced at the two feline monsters sprawled out, sleeping soundly.
Then I picked up my phone and sent Choi Ye-rim a short text.
[I should be able to show you a monster soon. Let me know when you're ready.]
In my mind, I pictured Daeho the tiger glowing with light and Leo manipulating shadows.
If I loaded them up with delicious beef and sweet-talked them, maybe they'd show their monster forms for a bit in front of Choi Ye-rim.
"...How does he sleep like that?"
Daeho had his mouth wide open, tongue and the roof of his mouth fully visible.
"...Daeho, you alive?"
"...Woof?"
"Scared me."
He lifted his head briefly at my call, looked around, then went right back to sleep.
The way he was splayed out so comfortably, I thought he was dead.
Worrying me for nothing.
I chuckled and gripped the brush again.