Chapter 150
Translator: uly
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Half-Yokai Singer Yuina (1)
Tap, tap, tap.
The thick raindrops pattering against the glass window echoed through the quiet interior of the shop.
Jang Chaewon, who had been sitting at her desk staring at her laptop, let out a yawn and stretched her arms.
“Yawn.”
It was already the third day.
No Divine Requests, no ordinary construction jobs, no dungeon material gathering commissions—nothing but idle days stretching on.
Jang Chaewon sat at her desk browsing online shopping malls, while the Heavenly Demon sat at the reception table quietly reading a book.
With no real work at the shop, Go Eunjin hadn’t come in, and Kim Chanwon was out handling external site jobs.
It was already 6 p.m.
Glancing at the clock, Jang Chaewon yawned again and stretched fully.
“At least that’s a relief.”
“What do you mean?”
“Eunjin, I mean. Good thing we hired her on a flexible schedule where we only call her in when there’s work. If we’d made her come in every day, how would we show her this mess?”
“I see.”
The Heavenly Demon at the reception table gave a perfunctory reply without even lifting his eyes from his book.
Jang Chaewon narrowed her eyes as she watched him.
The Heavenly Demon was a full-time employee at Bokbok Interiors.
But he was obsessed only with Divine Requests and reading, utterly indifferent to the shop’s operations.
“Is this someone else’s business? Heavenly Demon, you should take some responsibility for the shop too.”
“This seat is taking the situation quite seriously.”
“Just talk?”
“Heavens no. Look.”
The Heavenly Demon held out the book he was holding with a serious expression.
Printed boldly on the cover were the words [Life Is All About the Big Score!].
“What’s that?”
“It’s a secret technique for making money through something called stocks. According to Kim, it can make a fortune.”
“Stocks? Do you even know what those are? They’re gambling, pure gambling.”
“Life itself is a gamble… or so it says here.”
“That’s the kind of line you spout right before you crash and burn.”
Even as she said it, seeing him so earnestly absorbed in the book stirred a subtle sense of expectation in Jang Chaewon’s mind.
If he dove into books like this every day, maybe he could make predictions that rivaled stock experts?
“You’re really going to try stocks? Got any seed money?”
“Practice comes later. Accumulating knowledge is what matters first.”
“How long are you going to keep accumulating?”
“Until I’ve reached a level surpassed by no one.”
“And when’s that?”
The Heavenly Demon stroked his chin with a gravely serious face.
“Even this seat does not know.”
“If you don’t, who does?”
“Reaching a certain realm is something you only know after you’ve arrived. You can’t describe the view from the peak without climbing it first.”
There was some profound, subtle truth in the Heavenly Demon’s words.
Only then did Jang Chaewon realize one fact.
The Heavenly Demon who read and reread interior design books. In terms of knowledge alone, he had already surpassed expert level.
Yet he read on tirelessly every day.
Ultimately, the level of knowledge he spoke of must be the pinnacle of the industry—no, a level that would bring fame across generations.
“Ah, this won’t do. Pass.”
Whether Jang Chaewon was disappointed or not, the Heavenly Demon fixed his serious gaze back on the book.
With a sigh, she turned her eyes to the laptop again.
This time, she clicked the mouse to open a video-sharing platform site.
As various videos tailored to user preferences popped up, she moved the mouse again—then froze.
“Ahh.”
She couldn’t tear her eyes from one thumbnail.
“Now that I think about it, she hasn’t been in touch much lately.”
The thumbnail her cursor hovered over showed a dazzlingly beautiful woman dancing.
It was a music show video of Yuina, the most popular solo female idol.
“Well, she must be insanely busy. She’s still churning out dramas these days.”
Click.
Clicking the video revealed Yuina singing with a fresh expression, beaming brightly.
Staring at the monitor, Jang Chaewon suddenly glanced up at the hazy sky beyond the window.
“It was raining like this that day too.”
Her gaze wasn’t on the shop scenery but on three years ago, on a day when the rain had fallen in a steady drizzle.
* * *
An interior worksite in a commercial complex.
Spirit Trees were helping each other diligently with the carpentry work. Slowly but steadily, and meticulously.
Jang Chaewon surveyed the site with a satisfied expression and stepped outside.
Drip, drip, drip.
As soon as she exited the building, a downpour began from the overcast sky.
“Somehow, my heart feels chilly.”
With the autumn chill in the air and rain falling besides, she pulled her coat collar up.
She didn’t feel the cold much, but for some reason, her heart felt empty today.
“This year, I’ve got to escape single life for sure.”
As she opened her umbrella and headed to the parking lot where her van was parked, something bothersome caught her eye at the edge of her vision.
“Hm?”
Looking toward the alley across the way, she saw schoolboys in uniforms surrounding one person in a circle.
Peering closely at the shadow in the center, it was a girl in a worn jumper and cap.
“Those punks?”
It was obvious at a glance: delinquent students cornering and threatening or harassing a poor girl.
Jang Chaewon rolled up her sleeves and marched toward the alley, fuming.
“Can’t you give me your number?”
“No, marry me.”
“I fell for you at first sight. I love you so much.”
For lines from thugs, they sounded desperately pathetic and sleazy.
Jang Chaewon wrinkled her nose and approached the boys from behind.
“Hey, what do you punks think you’re doing?”
The boys glanced at her dismissively and waved her off.
“Mind your own business, lady.”
“What?”
“Go on your way. Shoo.”
The boys ignored Jang Chaewon entirely and kept harassing the girl.
“Oh, come on, these little shits…”
At their arrogant attitude, a thick vein bulged on Jang Chaewon’s forehead.
“Acting like gangsters in broad daylight and so damn cocky. This big sis is scary, you know?”
Revealing her scarlet gums, Jang Chaewon strode forward, and the boys frowned.
“What the hell. This lady.”
“Lady? Who’re you calling lady, you clueless brats?”
“Wow, look at her huffing. Not a lady—a gorilla.”
One of the boys snickered, and Jang Chaewon’s brows crumpled like crumpled tissue paper down to her ears.
“Oh man, should I tidy up some horsehair coffins today? Wanna smell incense from a nice warm spot?”
With her eyes rolled back and fangs bared, Jang Chaewon advanced, and the boys recoiled.
“W-what the hell, lady?”
“Or how about I yank all your teeth so you slurp porridge for life? Huh?”
As Jang Chaewon cracked her knuckles with white-eyed fury, the boys bolted in panic.
“If I catch you in my sight again, you’re done! Got it?”
Yelling after the fleeing boys, Jang Chaewon turned to the trembling girl behind her.
“You okay?”
Approaching carefully, she asked, and the girl lifted her deeply bowed head.
Her cap-shadowed translucent skin and long, clear eyes slowly came into view.
‘Wow.’
Jang Chaewon let out an involuntary gasp.
The girl’s face was pristine and transparent, like sculpted from frozen snowflakes.
Especially those mysterious eyes that seemed to hold all the world’s light… enough to make even women swoon.
Only then did Jang Chaewon understand the boys’ behavior.
‘She’s too pretty.’
An appearance so stunning it was impossible not to approach. Their method was all wrong, though.
“Thank you.”
The girl bowed to Jang Chaewon.
Her features showed no trace of gloom, yet her eyes and aura felt somehow low and shadowed.
“Don’t walk these back alleys alone.”
Smiling, Jang Chaewon waved and turned to go.
But something felt off. Looking back, the girl still stood in the alley between buildings, getting drenched.
“Something wrong?”
The girl stared down at the ground, her eyes downcast.
She clearly had some story.
“You’ll catch a cold in this weather.”
“Yeah.”
She answered, but didn’t move.
She looked like a stray cat with nowhere to go, stuck in the alley.
‘She’s a runaway.’
Jang Chaewon instantly grasped the situation and examined the girl.
Her face was pale from hardship, her eyes listless. Clearly, she hadn’t been eating properly.
“Hey, have you eaten?”
“Huh?”
Jang Chaewon approached with a bright smile.
“I haven’t had lunch yet… didn’t feel like eating alone.”
At a nearby diner in the commercial area.
On the table, a bowl of blood sausage soup thick with chunks steamed white.
Jang Chaewon handed chopsticks to the stiff-faced girl.
“Eat up.”
The girl, who had been staring entranced at the soup with her head bowed, cautiously took the chopsticks.
“I’ll dig in.”
“Yeah.”
Jang Chaewon smiled and picked up her spoon.
Fuu, fuu, slurp.
In the empty diner past lunchtime, only the sounds of their meal echoed softly.
The girl finished her bowl first in a flash and hesitantly spoke.
“Um.”
“Yeah?”
“Sorry, but… could you let me stay just one night?”
Jang Chaewon, chewing her soup, stared at the girl.
“Would you let a stranger whose name you don’t know stay over?”
“…I’m sorry.”
The embarrassed girl bowed, and Jang Chaewon grinned.
“So, what’s your name?”
The girl’s name was Yuina, nineteen years old.
Jang Chaewon brought Yuina home but didn’t pry about where she lived or why she’d run away.
She simply provided a cozy annex where Yuina could relax without worry and made sure she ate every meal.
-Runaway? Or some circumstance?
She could have asked, but Jang Chaewon said nothing.
The only thing she asked was her name.
Yuina, who’d said just one night, ended up staying at Jang Chaewon’s for six days.
Of course, she didn’t just freeload.
Yuina rose earlier than Jang Chaewon every day, cleaning inside and out, tending the garden.
She even cooked meals and snacks for Jang Chaewon, who usually survived on delivery food.
Jang Chaewon took a liking to her, treating her like a little sister and making her feel welcome to stay as long as she wanted.
One week into her stay, that evening.
After work and dinner, Jang Chaewon lay sprawled on the floor mat watching TV and laughing heartily.
The nanobot Nameless slumbered soundly in its charging station.
“Hahaha!”
Yuina sat on the sofa peeling fruit.
To an outsider, they’d seem like close sisters living together—perfectly natural.
“Sis.”
Yuina whispered suddenly as she peeled.
“But why don’t you ask?”
“Hm? Ask what?”
“Why I ran away, what happened, stuff like that.”
Jang Chaewon, eyes fixed on the TV, replied indifferently.
“Dunno.”
Truthfully, Yuina knew the answer. She hadn’t asked to let her stay comfortably.
But Jang Chaewon added something curious.
“Maybe I didn’t ask because I already guessed your situation.”
“Huh?”
“Yokai aren’t special anymore in today’s world.”
Turning from the TV, Jang Chaewon smiled.
“Lots of yokai live among humans.”
Yuina looked stunned, like she’d been struck on the back of the head.
She was a mutant with almost no yokai power. Even other yokai mistook her for human.
How had Jang Chaewon seen through her?
“How did you…”
“I thought you’d notice from the Spirit Trees in the garden. Guess not, since you have no power.”
Jang Chaewon grinned.
“This is a 9th Grade Territory shop.”
Territory.
Sacred land infused with the energies of sun and moon. A divine realm like the gods’ abodes.
Yuina had thought Jang Chaewon just a young Awakener running an interior shop.
Not the owner of a Territory shop.
“So you knew I was a yokai from the start?”
“No. First time I saw you, I didn’t. No power at all—just thought you were a pretty kid.”
“Then when…”
“After you started doing housework.”
Jang Chaewon scratched her head.
“You weren’t registered as staff, but you absorbed the Territory’s spiritual energy. Only high-grade yokai can do that.”
“I see.”
Yuina gave a hollow smile.
“I thought it was odd. No one’s that kind to a stranger kid for so long.”
“No, I’d have taken care of you regardless of yokai or not.”
Turning fully, Jang Chaewon said seriously.
“Now that it’s come to this, I’ll ask straight.”
“Okay.”
“Why would you, of the Moon Spirit Clan, run away? What’s missing?”
“You knew who I am too.”
Moon Spirit Clan.
Yokai descended from the moon spirit jar in ancient myths.
Famed for near-immortal lifespans and unmatched beauty among yokai.
“As you know, we Moon Spirits have long lives and unchanging looks. So we don’t mingle with humans.”
This wasn’t just Moon Spirits—all yokai faced it.
Their ageless faces made long-term jobs impossible.
“But I want to live with humans. They wouldn’t allow it… so I ran away.”
“I see. Moon Spirits are a bit insular. But don’t worry. Plenty of jobs let you mingle with humans without changing looks.”
Jang Chaewon waved it off casually, flashing a confident smile.
“As a high-grade yokai, you could apply for divine civil service. Not real gods, just entry-level with limited fields. But pass, and you get powers like the Earth Gods.”
“I’m not looking for a long-term job…”
“Oh, right. You want to mingle with humans?”
Clapping, Jang Chaewon beamed.
“Then get hired at a Territory shop like ours. Mingle, work, and over time, they’ll adjust your looks naturally. Lifetime job.”
“N-no. What I really want to do is…”
Snapping back from the memory, Jang Chaewon looked at her laptop screen again.
There, Yuina’s smile was close-upped, striking a cute ending pose after her song.
“She’s doing what she wanted after all.”
What Yuina wanted.
To be a celebrity—no, an all-around entertainer.
“I knew she’d make it.”
Yuina had natural beauty, talent in dance, song, and acting.
Innate gifts unlike those brutally trained from childhood in agencies.
“Is she doing okay?”
Lost in the thumbnail memory, Jang Chaewon heard a low voice beside her.
Snapping to, she looked up to see the Heavenly Demon watching her with concern.