Are You the King?
Na Wangrang had declared that he would become king. Having humbly accepted his fate, the very first thing he had to do was this.
Clean the house.
He set to rights the garden three walking disasters had wrecked at his friend's place, cleared the backyard, and put the disordered rooms back in order. The tearful labor of five people leveled that construction site of a garden into an even plain, and not a single weed remained out back. The living room gleamed. The hallway was as slick as a sheet of ice.
"Hoo."
Na Wangrang shut off the shower. He took up a towel, shook the water from his hair, dried himself, and dropped the wet towel into the hamper. In the clothes basket lay the outfit he had arrived in, washed clean. Somehow, in the time it had taken him to bathe, even the ground-in grime had vanished.
"......Did Chuyeon do this?"
Laundry that thorough — he had definitely used his power.
Na Wangrang dried his hair with a blow-dryer and sniffed. Protein and fat drifted on the air. A wry smile tugged at his mouth as he stepped out into the living room, and sure enough, just as the smell had promised, delivery food was piled in heaps. Jokbal — braised pig's trotters — pizza, fried chicken, hamburgers, and more. Diet-wreckers, laid out in force.
"Wangrang. Perfect timing. Come sit. You worked yourself half to death today, so eat like you mean it."
"You didn't have to spend the money. I could've cooked with whatever's in the fridge."
"Hey, this is a day worth celebrating. Today, of all days, a king was born."
Dan Chuyeon wore a mischievous grin — the crinkled eye-smile of a brat who had spotted something to tease.
"Come, come, Your Highness. Don't just stand there. Take the seat of honor."
"Give me a break."
At Dan Chuyeon's insistence, Na Wangrang reluctantly sat in the chair they had set out.
"The star of the show is here, so let's eat! I thought I'd lose my mind waiting."
Dan Chuyeon cracked the cap on a cola and declared the meal begun.
The werewolf trio sat at Na Wangrang's side and waited on him. Jokbal and slices of pizza came flying without end, and he caught and ate every one. Dan Miryong and Sword, swept into the gathering before they quite knew how, ate in silence. Dan Miryong — whom Na Wangrang would normally have been the one to look after — took what Sword set before him.
"......"
"......"
The two men's awkward gazes crossed.
And in the middle of that lively meal, Peril's pocket buzzed. Still tearing into jokbal, he shifted to a corner and checked his phone.
Thud.
A piece of jokbal rolled to the floor at his feet.
"We're fucked."
Three hollow beats. The gloom packed into them drew every eye.
"Peril, what's wrong? Why do you look like that?"
Sharl came over, worried, and Peril handed her the phone. Sharl's eyes rolled back.
"Ah. Uh. Ah."
Like everyone else who had witnessed the phantom thief next door for what he truly was, Sharl shook with terror. The mood went cold.
"What's going on......?"
Na Wangrang asked it carefully. Trembling, Peril barely managed to speak.
"The elder...... says he has arrived. Just now."
Na Wangrang thought back over the scraps of werewolf society he had picked up between bouts of cleaning.
"An elder — that's the highest person among the werewolves, isn't it?"
"Yes...... Great warriors who have led the werewolves in the king's stead."
"Didn't you say he was supposed to come anyway? That you'd bought time somehow, because of me......"
"That is true, but...... the one who has come now is not a man common sense can reach."
"D-don't tell me it's that old fossil......?"
Yamaga's face went white.
"It is."
Peril held up the phone so everyone could see.
A two-line message, kindly written in Korean. Sweat beaded across Yamaga's brow.
"Your Majesty."
Peril's eyes took on the look of a warrior staking his life.
"It seems Heaven means to lay a trial upon Your Majesty already."
"What kind of person is he?"
"To put it in a word."
An old fossil.
And not just any.
"A senile old fossil."
"......Mind if I see the phone?"
Na Wangrang took it and sent a message.
"Your Majesty?!"
Disaster. Peril clutched the back of his neck.
"We have to meet him anyway, don't we? Since it's come to this, let's just get it over with."
"But Your Majesty, that man......"
"I know what you're worried about. But somehow—"
Ding.
"I don't think he's a bad person."
A single meteor split the heart of the city. The streak weaving nimbly from building to building was the blue wildflower of the plain — Deulkkot — only just arrived in Korea. He was sprinting in a straight line from Incheon International Airport all the way to Seoul.
You have arrived at your destination.
A gate, shut fast. Before it, Deulkkot put himself in order. He drew a handkerchief from his breast and wiped his sweat, scrubbed the dirty places on his clothes with a wet wipe, and did not forget to spray cologne until the smell of sweat was gone.
Ding-dong.
Deulkkot pressed the bell with care.
"E-E-Elder, y-you've come?"
The instant the bell rang, Peril, Sharl, and Yamaga threw the gate open.
"Lead the way."
"Yes, sir!"
The elder jerked his chin, and the three bowed their heads and guided him in. The front door stood wide, as if to welcome him. Deulkkot removed his shoes with reverence and stepped inside — and there, in the living room, were Na Wangrang and Dan Chuyeon.
"Ah, hello."
Deulkkot stopped dead, frozen in the very posture of entering. His gaze locked onto Na Wangrang.
"........."
Five minutes passed, and he did not move. The trio had no idea what to do with the situation. Na Wangrang waited. No — the truth was that the man was too much a stranger, and the words would not come.
"Are you the king?"
At the end of that long wait, Deulkkot opened his mouth.
"Yes. It may be difficult for you to accept, but I am the king."
Na Wangrang admitted it readily.
"I see."
Deulkkot fell silent again. The silence did not last. Tears poured from his eyes like a waterfall.
Gush— gush— gush!
"Khrrrgh—!"
In an instant he had made a spring of tears. He dropped to his knees and drove his head to the floor.
Bang!
The bellow burst out of him as if he had boiled and swallowed ten trains. Everyone clapped hands over their ears and staggered.
"Aaah! S-sir! You don't have to bow your head! Please, get up!"
Na Wangrang hurried toward him in a fluster. With every step he took, Deulkkot wept harder.
"Waaaah—! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! To think you would call a worthless man like me sir! Deulkkot could die this moment and have no regret!"
"No, I'm telling you to get up! The floor's turning into a flood! We just cleaned this morning!"
"Khk. Kh. I-I'm sorry...... Wait. Cleaned......?"
At Na Wangrang's shout, Deulkkot, halfway to his feet, froze on his knees. The strange turn — sobbing, then stopping cold — left Na Wangrang at a loss.
"Your Majesty. Did you, by any chance, clean this floor yourself?"
"Huh? Y-yes...... I'm this house's housekeeper......"
Na Wangrang blurted the first thing that came to mind. Deulkkot's head creaked around.
"Housekeeper?"
The trio flinched and edged backward.
"If my ears have not failed me, I believe I just heard that Your Majesty is doing a housekeeper's work."
"Heh heh heh."
"Peril. What is the meaning of this? His Majesty, a housekeeper...... Should the housekeepers not be the three of you?"
"Th-there are deep circumstances......"
"Circumstances? What circumstances. The circumstance of your heads coming off?"
Shaaaa.
A breeze stirred. Its source was Deulkkot. He painted the steppe. The plain spread, and the works of human hands turned into the works of nature.
"I came in haste, and I have not heard the details, but......"
Deulkkot lifted his foot. Blue wildflowers bloomed.
"To make the king do a servant's labor. I will bury that sin in blood."
The foot came down. Death flooded the trio's minds.
"Stop."
A hand caught his shoulder.
"I did it because I wanted to. The three of them did nothing wrong."
Na Wangrang hauled the trembling corner of his mouth up into a grin.
"And this isn't my house. It's my friend's. Would you please not wreck it again?"
Deulkkot looked. The lips still fumbled like a coward's — and yet the pupils had settled, ice-cold, shining gold. The eyes of the Wolf King.
They were only eyes. Even so, a pressure Deulkkot could not resist bore down on him. The faint flame of disbelief went out.
He is the king. This one, truly. King of a people.
The plain sank into dusk. Deulkkot drew his foot back, and the trio kept their lives. The crisis had ended without disaster, and Na Wangrang pressed a hand to his chest.
"You must be tired from the long road. Please, sit here."
He shaped a good-natured smile and seated Deulkkot.
"I showed you an unsightly display. I apologize."
"It's all right. But please be careful next time."
"I shall take it to heart."
Whew.
Na Wangrang sent Dan Chuyeon a look of relief. Dan Chuyeon raised a thumb.
"But did you say this house belongs to your friend?"
"Yes? That's right. This kid is my friend."
"Hello. I'm Dan Chuyeon."
"Heh heh heh."
Deulkkot turned a warm gaze on Dan Chuyeon. Dan Chuyeon's head tilted.
"Your Majesty, what is your relationship with this person?"
"......We're best friends. Why?"
Na Wangrang felt an unease he could not name. The man had the face of a friendly grandfather, and yet there was no predicting what he would do. The sobbing, and then the sudden severity. The genuine intent to kill. And now what was he about to—
"Best friends, heh heh. Your Majesty, there is no need to hide it."
"......Hide what?"
"Is this person not the beloved upon whom you have set your heart?"
"......What?"
Beloved?
"Yes. Then it all makes sense. Housekeeping in the home of your beloved...... Heh heh heh. What a harmonious union."
"........."
Na Wangrang's mind went blank before a current of thought he could not follow. Dan Chuyeon, recast in a breath as a gay man, covered his eyes with his palm.
This old man. No two ways about it. He seems to be looking at Na Wangrang as a woman......
"Ordinarily I would have examined genealogy and household down to the finest detail, but this is the king's choice, and so I shall support it. Do not worry over the other elders' opposition. I will persuade them."
Watching Deulkkot spread his wings on a flight of fancy that beggared belief, Na Wangrang had a thought. Truly — and it was a thought he absolutely should not have been having — this was not senility. The man was simply a goddamn idiot.
Whether or not Deulkkot had any sense of that thought, he was already laying out plans for children and grandchildren in meticulous detail.
Na Wangrang's fist bawled.