The Popular Guy's Invitation (1)
The Popular Guy's Invitation (1)
Although they had let the Jade Rabbit escape, they succeeded in exorcising the upper-level yokai assembly.
The lower assembly was directly killed by the exorcists' hands, but Asura wasn't inside when the barrier broke. It had vanished somewhere.
The exorcists wanted to celebrate their unexpected success in dealing with two yokai, but with the Yokai King revealing himself, they couldn't rejoice so easily.
The Yokai King. The root of all yokai and the origin of all evil.
Just his existence alone made yokai appear infinitely, plunging the world into chaos.
The problem was that there was no exorcist who could kill him.
"Damn it, where the hell did Mukmyeong go? If only that guy were here...!"
Mukmyeong was the Yokai King's one and only counterpoint.
The exorcists who knew of Mukmyeong's existence relied on him. Right after he vanished, the balance between exorcists and yokai shattered. Due to Mukmyeong's absence, the yokai began acting more boldly.
Mukmyeong had set off alone to subjugate the Yokai King and went missing.
He was probably murdered. The elderly high monk grieved bitterly.
"Urgh... Even without him, we'll have to manage somehow with the rest of us. Though it takes the form of a cute girl, the Yokai King is unmistakably evil. We absolutely cannot let it be!"
And then the high monk turned to look at Muk Seo-ah.
Muk Seo-ah had just woken up from a long sleep. She had lost consciousness.
She had suffered humiliation from the Yokai King, and the fragmented memory remained only of the Yokai King absorbing Asura's essence to grow stronger.
It was because Cheonaeyuseon had bundled up her memories.
"Are you feeling a bit better? As for what happened inside the barrier... No, I won't ask. Exorcisms come with all sorts of hardships. Everyone will understand. Dust yourself off and get up, lass."
Muk Seo-ah truly had no memory of being raped.
She didn't realize why the high monk was looking at her with such pity. Tilting her head, Muk Seo-ah got out of bed.
After thanking him for the care, she left the herbal medicine room.
Muk Seo-ah rode a carriage back to the brothel.
On the way in the carriage, she was swept up in an inexplicable thirst for revenge and hatred. For some reason, it felt like she had suffered tremendous humiliation because of the Yokai King.
"I don't know what it was. But next time we meet, I'll definitely kill it..."
She flinched. Suddenly, Muk Seo-ah's lower abdomen ached.
As if something thick had been shoved inside.
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Her to-do list remained the same. Directly chasing the Yokai King was next to impossible. Since yokai appeared wherever the Yokai King went, she could gradually approach it by carrying out exorcisms.
Back at the brothel, Muk Seo-ah took four days of rest.
And just as she was about to start taking requests again, an unusually large number of letters had arrived for her.
When she went down to the first floor, the receptionist brought a whole box full of letters.
"Letters for you, Exorcist Muk-nim. Is all this requests? Just how much money do exorcists rake in?"
Her food hadn't come out yet. Muk Seo-ah decided to sit at an empty table in the dining hall and open the letters one by one before eating.
She thought they were all exorcism requests, but they were all weird.
'Nice to meet you, Lady Muk. I fell for you charging bravely to the front lines during the Jade Rabbit exorcism. I'd love to have a drink together.'
'How about a meal sometime...'
'Would you join me on the next exorcism...'
'There's a cat yokai in my house. Could you come take a look?'
"What the hell is this?"
They were all letters from exorcists trying to get friendly. Muk Seo-ah lightly furrowed her brow.
Since when did exorcists care so much about networking? And most of them were lame suggestions like grabbing a drink.
Just looking at the senders' names, they were all male exorcists.
Anyone could see they were pickup lines from thirsty dudes, but Muk Seo-ah didn't realize it.
She didn't know the position of a woman receiving courtship from countless men. She had never been in that position.
She didn't realize that all those courtships and come-ons stemmed from lust, or that the male exorcists who had been at the Jade Rabbit exorcism had eyed her sexually.
Her memory of climaxing naked in front of a crowd had been completely wiped clean.
Muk Seo-ah kept tossing the lame letters aside until she found one that caught her eye.
'I'd like to meet the famous Exorcist Muk these days. I'll arrange a spot to share opinions and catch up, so it would be great if you brought a close friend along. I'll be waiting with two of my own companions.
Sender, Jang Cho-un.'
It was a plain invitation to meet, but what made this letter special was that it was from Jang Cho-un.
Jang Cho-un was famous among exorcists for his great influence.
Though his skills were mediocre as an exorcist, his reputation was stellar for always helping the weak.
He even refused payment for requests entirely.
He didn't take requests from high-ranking officials, handling only the pleas of the poor and powerless for free.
Even Mukmyeong acknowledged Jang Cho-un's reputation and trustworthiness.
Back when Muk Seo-ah was Mukmyeong, she had long heard of his fame. The volunteer of this era, a true virtuous man.
Plus, he was known for being handsome, making him popular among female exorcists.
In short, he was like the idol of the exorcist world, perfect inside and out.
'This guy's trustworthy. With his recognition among exorcists, building connections would be good.'
As the popular guy in the exorcist world, Jang Cho-un might know people who could help track the Yokai King.
Also, while connections were optional for Muk Seo-ah, for average mid-to-low-level exorcists, a single meeting with Jang Cho-un was worth a fortune.
With a bit of hope, Muk Seo-ah asked around if anyone wanted to go with her.
Muk Seo-ah didn't know many exorcists. The letter said to bring a close friend, but she didn't have many.
The first person she thought of was Cheong-ui Gongja. Thinking of him made the space between her legs tingle for some reason.
But Cheong-ui Gongja had left the brothel for another request.
The exorcists remaining at the brothel were Osaekja and Taeju Doryeong.
"Jang Cho-un? I'm in!"
Osaekja answered with a bright smile. In the time since they'd last met, her accessories had multiplied even more.
Gaudy five-colored sleeves and rings on all five fingers. Long earrings sparkled too. With her flashy golden blonde hair, she still looked like a glamorous beauty men would hesitate to approach.
The cheerful Osaekja was expected to go, naturally.
That left Taeju Doryeong. Muk Seo-ah went to find him.
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"You can never win with physical ability alone. Yokai are always stronger than humans."
Whenever he had time, Taeju Doryeong taught Yu Bok-hyang.
Yu Bok-hyang was just a mere mortal, but she had a record of killing a tiger yokai.
Taeju Doryeong saw potential in that. And he saw his own past.
"I wasn't born an exorcist either. I was a mortal, but I paid the price and contracted with Taeju-gwi. If you learn from me, you'll be able to exorcise on your own strength."
Yu Bok-hyang's eyes always burned with vengeance, and though she was a slender girl, her spirit was tough.
She eagerly absorbed every lesson. Teaching her brought Taeju Doryeong both fun and fulfillment.
Taeju Doryeong looked completely like a little kid. His actual age was just barely adult, on the young side.
Yu Bok-hyang was a petite woman too, so the two standing together made an adorable picture.
"You said you saw threads while fighting the tiger yokai."
Taeju Doryeong said.
Yu Bok-hyang nodded.
"Those threads are qi. All yokai know how to handle qi. If you can't sense and manipulate qi, you can never beat a yokai."
Taeju Doryeong reached out into the air. It was their usual training. He was about to spar with Yu Bok-hyang.
The bushes rustled—basrak—and out came a woman with large breasts and white hair.
"Exorcist Muk?"
"Whew, why are you all the way out here? Taeju Doryeong, did Jang Cho-un send an invitation? You interested?"
He knew of Jang Cho-un. The handsome exorcist guy who was supposedly a total sweetheart, like a male gisaeng.
Taeju Doryeong felt a sudden aversion for some reason. Just as he was about to refuse.
Suddenly, Taeju-gwi whispered.
'Why? I hate gatherings of popular types...'
Taeju Doryeong had contracted with Taeju-gwi at the price of "physical growth." Taeju-gwi never lied.
Though Taeju-gwi was a yokai and thus an untrustworthy evil being, annoyingly, he was always smarter than Taeju Doryeong.
This feels ominous. Like I really shouldn't go.
But after hesitating, Taeju Doryeong answered.
"I'll go."
It wasn't just because of Taeju-gwi's advice. It was an invitation to Muk Seo-ah. Meaning, Muk Seo-ah would be there too.
Taeju Doryeong unconsciously glanced at Muk Seo-ah's face and body. When their eyes met, he hurriedly looked away.
She'd gotten even prettier.
For some reason, heat rose to Taeju Doryeong's face, and he covered his cheek with his sleeve.
It was hard to tear his gaze from Muk Seo-ah, but hard to stare at her too.
Muk Seo-ah wasn't doing anything, but just looking at her gave Taeju Doryeong a weird, lewd feeling. Like a sticky, lascivious aura was wafting off her mistily.
'Shut your mouth, Taeju-gwi. I don't have those kinds of dirty thoughts.'
Taeju Doryeong's dick was fully erect, but since it was small, it didn't show through his pants.