Is Tengu the Mastermind?!
Is Tengu the mastermind behind all this?!
“What Sinia said isn’t a lie.”
Hariti lifted her foot from the top of Sinia’s head as she spoke.
After Sinia woke up, we grilled her about everything.
Why she’d pretended to be Hariti’s daughter, how she’d learned about the child between Hariti and me, and so on.
But we didn’t get any clear answers.
She dodged every question with things like:
“I don’t know… my memories are all hazy.”
“I definitely remember, but my head starts hurting the moment I try to think about it…”
Mary Jane got genuinely angry and started raising her voice, pressing Sinia harder. Which made sense—I was feeling pretty betrayed and upset myself.
The one who stopped the furious Mary Jane, though, was Hariti.
“Don’t push her too hard. Even when I read Sinia’s memories, there were parts that looked foggy, like they were shrouded in mist. It seems someone fragmented or jumbled her memories using hypnosis along with it.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Still, it looks like they left some memories untouched. Let’s ask about those.”
Easy for her to say. How were we supposed to ask about memories we didn’t even know were untouched?
Man, even with Hariti helping us, this wasn’t easy at all.
“So, Sinia. You said you don’t really remember why you pretended to be our daughter, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you don’t know who told you about it either, right?”
“Sorry…”
“You really are from Jipangu, yes?”
“Yes! That part I remember clearly!! There are tons of Oni in Jipangu. I lived with them.”
“Then who is the leader of those Oni?”
“The leader of the Oni…? Oh! The Oni don’t have a leader. They’re too busy fighting and beating each other up all the time.”
“How do they even manage to live together in a village nyang? If they’re fighting every day, who mediates nyang?”
Mary Jane threw the question in somewhat indifferently during the conversation.
Who would’ve thought that single remark would become the key to unraveling everything.
“That’s why we usually ask Tengu for help. Tengu has a pretty nasty temper, but that’s exactly why the Oni snap to attention and follow her decisions.”
“Wait, what did you just say? Tengu?”
Hariti, who had been quietly listening to our exchange, suddenly cut in.
Tengu? That Japanese yokai.
I’d always assumed Tengu and Oni were basically the same thing, but apparently not.
“Tengu has come up in discussions among the gods before. Not only in Jipangu, but she’s stirred up all sorts of trouble by associating with other ill-natured Monmusu in the area. Several gods have requested that she be watched.”
Whoa. So she was a nationally notorious troublemaker Monmusu.
“The most recent time her activities became a meeting topic was… I believe it was related to the Succubi.”
“S-Succubi?”
Mary Jane and I both widened our eyes and shouted at the same time.
No way. It was all connected?
Come to think of it, she did mention forming alliances with other “ill-natured” Monmusu. So it wasn’t strange at all that the Succubi were involved.
“Yes. At that time as well, it seems the Succubi groups were attempting to kidnap men from Lowland, lock them in human ranches, and treat them like livestock. It ultimately failed, of course.”
“The Succubi were kidnapping Lowland men?”
“The plan was for the Succubi to charm Lowlanders and bring them to Highland, where Tengu would have the Oni monitor and control them.”
I nodded.
It really was an idiotic plan.
I could adapt to Highland because I was a half-Highlander, half-Lowlander. Normal Lowlanders wouldn’t last long here…
“But Lowlanders can’t stay in Highland for very long, right? It’s weird that they’d plan something like this without knowing even that basic fact.”
“That’s not the case. They intended to build the ranch in Lowland.”
“What?!”
I’d naturally assumed they’d set up their base in the other world of Highland…
But they’d told me Monmusu couldn’t stay in Lowland for long either. When Mary Jane had “kidnapped” me before, she’d hurried because of that very issue.
“If it were merely a problem among Monmusu, it wouldn’t have made it onto the agenda for the gods’ meeting. There were speculations that some god must have been involved. With a god’s protection, Monmusu gain the power to operate in Lowland for extended periods.”
I found myself newly impressed by Mary Jane’s courage in coming to get me without any divine protection.
I’d thought she was just the type to yell “Taehun, wake up nyang!!” but she was actually pretty brave, huh?
“Then who was the god backing Tengu and the Succubi?”
Hariti closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.
Yeah, of course it couldn’t be that simple.
“For now, all we can do is watch how events unfold. By the way, Taehun. Haven’t you forgotten something?”
“Huh?! What…”
Right then, Mary Jane suddenly shoved the baby she’d been holding—the one belonging to Hariti—into my arms.
“That child is yours too. Didn’t you say you’d give her a name?”
“Ah… right. That’s true. Haha.”
Damn. I’d already used the name I had in mind on Sinia…
Wait, then how about…?
“How about Onia?”
“Onia? Hmm. You gave the Oni a name derived from Yakshini, so for the Yakshini you’re giving a name derived from Oni? It seems you truly cherish both your daughter and Sinia. How touching. Very well, we shall raise her as Onia.”
Onia must have liked her new name, because she immediately broke into a bright smile.
Watching her, the four of us—including Sinia—managed to share a brief moment of laughter.
A little while later, Hariti returned to the realm of the gods.
With Hariti’s barrier in place, we could probably fend off any direct attacks from the Succubi.
But… what if something like what happened with Sinia occurred again? Some kind of scheme?
Would I be able to break through it so easily?
Honestly, I wasn’t confident.
Even though we got back to the ranch very late that night, I called for a full meeting of all the Monmusu.
I wanted to explain everything that had happened so far and discuss our plans moving forward, but…
There wasn’t anything concrete to plan yet.
Mary Jane actually knew quite a lot about Tengu. Since her ancestors had come from Jipangu, it made sense.
She told us Tengu had a lewd and eccentric personality, loved controlling others, and was more obsessed with male fluids than any other Monmusu. She also preferred making other Monmusu do her dirty work rather than doing it herself, so the fact that we’d finally uncovered her true involvement was a big deal.
“Then why did Tengu and the Succubi try to kidnap me? They were planning to build the semen ranch in Lowland anyway.”
“Maybe they needed a Lowlander who could go back and forth between the two worlds, nyang? Taehun, you can freely travel between Highland and Lowland without divine protection~ That ability alone makes you incredibly valuable, nyang.”
Every incident ultimately traced back to one cause.
Me. Lee Taehun.
My existence was shaking up their entire business.
Paradoxically, I was also the key man who could make their new venture a success.
It looked like I wouldn’t be able to live a peaceful, idyllic life in Highland after all.
Should I just run back to Lowland?
What about all the Monmusu here?
Besides, wouldn’t the Oni and Succubi just come all the way to Lowland to catch me?
I made up my mind. I would prosper the Monmusu ranch no matter what and defeat the Tengu-Succubus alliance.
“Taehun. How about forming an alliance with Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca? We met them not long ago, nyang.”
“Huh? That would be great, but… it won’t be easy. They’re former gods. If it’s something like Hariti making a barrier, maybe… but what other help could they offer?”
“No~ They’re former gods, so they might know who’s backing Tengu and the Succubi, nyang? Investigations are all about running around on your own two feet, nyang!!”
As she spoke, Mary Jane playfully patted her own jelly-like body with her palm.
“Yeah, you’ve got a point. Then tomorrow, as soon as the sun’s up, let’s go meet Quetzalcoatl and Poca.”
“W-wait a second, Master Taehun. Tomorrow is the day you promised to put your cock inside me.”
Just as my conversation with Mary Jane was ending, Jibsun-i jumped in.
Once she did, the other Monmusu all started raising their hands one after another.
“It was supposed to be my turn today!! I have shrine duty tomorrow, so can’t we do it tonight—?”
“I… still haven’t gotten pregnant… Taehun… give me your cock… give me your cum…”
“Taehun. But tomorrow you’re supposed to go to Catherine the spinner’s house for that part-time job, nyang…”
Ugh. This really wasn’t easy.
Since I had things to do tomorrow, I had no choice but to stay up all night having sex with as many Monmusu as possible today.
Frau, Jomnyeo, Beth, Mush, Papi…
Tomorrow, before we left, I’d have to do my second male-prostitute gig with Arachne Catherine first.
Living as the only man really wasn’t easy.
I gulped down the milk Mary Jane handed me.
“Mary Jane. You should come with us tomorrow too.”
“Thanks for saying that, but… I won’t be any help, nyang…”
“What are you talking about? I get so much help from you all the time… Don’t say stuff like that. Go to bed early. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”
I wish I’d paid more attention to the tone of Mary Jane’s voice right then…
Because the next day dawned without her.