The Tiger Comes to Stay
I let out a low groan. “Ugh…”
My eyes opened with some effort. My mind felt utterly exhausted, but my body remembered the routine and forced them open anyway. My daily habits had woken me up on their own. My vision was still blurry, so I had to blink several times before anything came into focus. I kept my eyes half-lidded until the world finally sharpened again.
“…Huh?”
The moment my sight returned, something appeared right in front of me and filled my head with confusion. I couldn’t understand why it was there.
A tail?
A pure-white, fluffy tail covered in soft fur was swaying gently before my eyes.
“…Baek Seol-hwa?”
No matter how I looked at it, that was clearly a fox tail—Baek Seol-hwa’s tail. I spent a long moment trying to figure out why it was floating in front of my face when the tail suddenly vanished from view. In its place popped up a pretty face with perky fox ears.
“What the— If you’re awake, say something! I thought you were dead!”
“Why are you in my house again…?”
“This isn’t your house, dummy. And so what if I am here?!”
“What do you mean it’s not my— Wait, what?”
Not my house? Then where the hell was I…?
“It’s my house,” another voice said.
I turned my head slightly. There stood Jang San. She was wearing oven mitts and carrying what looked like a hot pot.
So I’d been brought to Jang San’s house while I was unconscious. And seeing that she looked completely fine…
“…Did I succeed?”
“I’ll start with thank you,” Jang San said. She set the pot down on a trivet on the side table, then gave me a small bow. “Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to return to my original self.”
“…I really don’t feel any yoki from you anymore.”
“That’s because you never gave up on me until the very end.”
I no longer sensed that unpleasant yoki from her. Instead, I felt only a sacred aura that strangely put me at ease. Jang San lifted the lid of the pot as she continued.
“Thanks to you, I don’t feel the urge to eat humans anymore. Those disgusting intrusive thoughts have disappeared too.”
“…So what’s that?”
“I made it because I thought it would help you recover. Your soul took quite a beating yesterday.”
Jang San slid the side table closer to me.
“It’s a nourishing porridge. You can talk while you eat, so take your time.”
“…Alright. Thanks.”
It looked pretty tasty, and I really was starving, so I scooped up a spoonful. It was good…
“But why did you bring me to your house? You know where I live.”
“It was already late at night, and more importantly…”
“Exactly! This girl is seriously hilarious, you know?” Baek Seol-hwa suddenly jumped into the conversation.
“What’s so funny?”
She pointed dramatically at Jang San. “She says she’s going to live with you from now on! That she’ll stay at your place!”
“…What?”
I’d wondered why she was making such a fuss, but apparently it was for a very good reason.
“Why would I live with you?”
“If I want to remain a yeong-mul, someone has to worship me as one. You already know that, right?”
“…And you’re telling me to do it?”
“There’s no one else who can do it but you, Se-hwan.”
…Se-hwan?
“You’re suddenly being awfully friendly.”
“We have to get along. We’ll be living together from now on, after all.”
Jang San looked at me with a gentle smile. Her stunning appearance made even that simple smile feel special, but I wasn’t stupid enough to let something like that sway me into a decision that could ruin my life.
“Don’t even think about it. I’m going back to my own house.”
The moment I shut her down, her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Then I’ll end up going through something similar again, and you won’t be able to perform the ritual every single time.”
“You just need someone to worship you as a yeong-mul. There’s no reason that person has to live in your house to do it.”
Jang San looked genuinely surprised. Her eyes widened as she stared at me.
“…You’d do that even if I don’t give you anything in return?”
“Give me what?”
“Well, if we lived together… I was planning to take care of all your food, clothing, and shelter. That much should at least balance the scales, right?”
……Really?
“Hey, Yoo Se-hwan. Why is your face like that?”
“…It’s nothing.”
I’d almost been tempted by the idea of not having to pay rent or utilities. But living with a non-human yeong-mul? That was ridiculous. Thanks to Baek Seol-hwa’s annoyingly sharp senses, I snapped out of it and looked back at Jang San.
“I can just treat you like the yeong-mul you are. There’s no special ritual or extra stuff I have to do.”
“That’s true, but…”
“It’s not like I’m doing it for any kind of reward.”
Of course I wouldn’t turn one down if offered, but I wasn’t doing this with expectations like that in mind. Besides, I’d only helped this time because it seemed like I’d be the one in big trouble if I didn’t.
“I have no complaints. I’m going home.”
“…That’s amazing. Really.”
“What is?”
“Both you and Baek Seol-hwa. Even if she’s doing it to gather spiritual energy, you keep helping her resolve the grudges of the strange ones without asking for anything in return.”
I actually get paid a small wage, thank you very much.
“Huh?”
Now that I thought about it, Baek Seol-hwa looked surprisingly fine. The mention of spiritual energy reminded me. She’d definitely collapsed from a lack of it yesterday…
“Why do you look perfectly fine?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Weren’t you exhausted yesterday because you ran out of spiritual energy? Why are you okay now?”
“Ah, that…”
Baek Seol-hwa suddenly went quiet. Sensing something off, I glanced at Jang San. She was just smiling silently. I wasn’t particularly sharp, but I wasn’t dense either.
A yeong-mul’s spiritual energy is poison to a yokai. So there was no way Jang San had shared any with her. If it wasn’t Jang San, then the only person here who could give her spiritual energy was…
I reached out and lightly bonked her on the head.
“Ow!”
“Who said you could just take my spiritual energy, you damn yokai?”
“I-I didn’t have a choice!! I was completely out! But I only took a tiny bit, I swear!”
“How did you take it?”
“……I just held your hand for a second.”
“……Sigh.”
My hand, which hadn’t even held my future girlfriend’s yet, had been touched by some random yokai…
“No wonder I felt so damn tired…”
Even if my soul had been injured, I should’ve only felt pain in my neck. The full-body exhaustion suddenly made sense. Jang San, who had been quietly smiling the whole time, asked me,
“Do you have to go to school today?”
“…Yeah. I have afternoon classes, and I have a part-time shift in the evening too.”
“Want me to cover your shift today?”
“What?”
Jang San continued, “I want to repay you, but there isn’t much I can do. I figured I could at least handle something like that.”
“How are you supposed to work at a café?”
There were several things to learn. It wasn’t the kind of job you could just step into. You had to know how to operate the machines to make drinks. But her answer was unexpected.
“I know how.”
“…You know how?”
“Yeah. See over there?”
Jang San pointed toward the kitchen. There sat something very familiar.
“…Why is that here?”
It was a semi-automatic espresso machine—the kind you’d only find in cafés. And it looked like an expensive model. That thing had to cost at least three million won…
“I like brewing my own coffee.”
…Is she rich too?
Now that I looked around, the house was quite large. This seemed to be the living room, but I could see two or three more doors. The open-plan kitchen and living room were surprisingly spacious.
…It feels like yokai live better than humans in this world.
Even with a machine, coffee only tastes good if the person brewing it knows what they’re doing. Which meant Jang San was fully capable of making proper coffee.
“…Never mind. I appreciate the thought.”
I’d been tempted for a second, but it was too much no matter how I thought about it. A café didn’t just serve espresso and americanos. There were smoothies, ades, and a dozen other things. She’d have to learn how to use all the equipment too. Teaching her like a new part-timer would be way too much work.
“Then I’ll help. I can’t take over completely, but I can at least assist.”
“What?”
“M-Me too! I’ll help with cleaning and stuff!”
The very person responsible for my exhaustion volunteered as well. I understood they wanted to help, but…
“Help with what? It’s not my café. And if both of you work, the owner would have to pay you wages. There’s no way he’d agree to that. I appreciate the thought, but that’s enough.”
He’d probably have to pay triple wages. There was no chance the boss would allow it. That’s what I’d thought at the time.
Of course, advertising costs vary wildly, but the bigger the company, the more astronomically the price rises. Yet corporations keep pumping out ads nonstop. Why? Because the profit gained from the promotional effect far outweighs the investment cost.
If you’re wondering why I’m suddenly talking about this, it’s because I wanted to say that just like those companies invest in advertising, our boss had no reason not to invest triple wages.
“…Welcome.”
“Welcome~! This is Café Idea!”
The café I worked at, Idea, was packed today. And it was packed with men. For a café whose pretty interior usually attracted mostly female customers, this was an extremely rare sight.
The moment Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San—who had stubbornly insisted on helping—explained the situation, the boss immediately grabbed both their hands. He welcomed them with open arms, saying they’d come at the perfect time.
When I first came here looking for a job, he hadn’t reacted like that at all. And then he started praising me, but there are some compliments that feel weird even when you hear them.
“Thanks to Se-hwan, we got some beautiful part-timers! This is great~! You’ve got more skills than I thought. I see you in a new light, Se-hwan!”
It was the first time in my life I’d ever been praised for my connections. And those connections were with yokai, no less. Was I supposed to be happy about that? Or maybe I should be sad. It basically meant there wasn’t much else about me worth praising…
“Why is your face like that?”
“…It’s nothing.”
“Stop spacing out and hurry up with those ades.”
…Yeah. They came here to help me, after all. I couldn’t exactly think badly of them. Even if I wasn’t sure whether their help actually mattered now that there were even more customers.
“Order ready!”
Jang San was steadily brewing coffee without pause, while I was busy manning the POS and whipping up sub drinks and shaved ice. Meanwhile, Baek Seol-hwa was greeting customers at the counter.
Customers were definitely leaving, yet the number of people inside the café showed no sign of decreasing. Thanks to that, the total ringing up on the register was skyrocketing.
…I’ve never seen numbers like this on our café’s POS before.
In every way, the boss’s investment was proving to be a massive success. Still, once evening passed and it approached nine at night, we finally got a short breather. The three of us collapsed into chairs, completely drained.
“I’m so tired…”
“Brewing coffee that many times really is hard work.”
“Isn’t this café doing way too well…?”
…Do you still not know who’s responsible for that?
Jang San let out a small laugh. “Idiots.”
“Why are you calling us idiots all of a sudden?”
…I kind of agreed with her. I hoped the customer flow would slow down a bit before our shift ended at ten, but that was wishful thinking. Where was this café located? Right next to a university campus. It was about time the drunk students who’d finished their first round of drinks started flooding in for coffee as a mid-drinking dessert. This was usually when our café made most of its sales, and it was officially peak hour.
Just as I was feeling grateful for the short break, the café door chimed.
“Welcome.”
“Welcome to Café Idea~!”
We greeted the customers and quickly got up to prepare for the new orders. Then I tilted my head in confusion.
“Jeong Se-a?”
“Se-hwan~!”
“Se-hwan? Isn’t that the friend Se-a always talks about?”
“It’s him~!”
There stood Jeong Se-a, completely wasted, along with her group of friends. They must have started drinking early; every single one of them was a mess.
“Huh…?”
Jeong Se-a, who had greeted me cheerfully, froze when she saw Baek Seol-hwa standing beside me. She was probably wondering why she was here—especially since she wasn’t a customer but was wearing the uniform and standing behind the counter.
“Whoaaa, unnies, you’re both so pretty~!”
One of Jeong Se-a’s friends staggered over to the counter and gasped in admiration at Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San. Guess they really were beautiful even to other girls.
“Thank you so much.”
Seeing Baek Seol-hwa giggle happily at the compliment made me feel strangely annoyed. I don’t think I’d ever received praise like that in my entire life.
“Are you new part-timers? If there were unnies this pretty working here, the news would’ve spread across campus immediately.”
“We’re just helping out for today.”
“Ah, so it’s only temporary.”
Jeong Se-a, who had been looking puzzled, finally seemed to understand and nodded. Normally she would’ve caught on right away, but the alcohol must have slowed her brain down.
“So you two know each other?”
“Yes.”
After hearing Baek Seol-hwa’s answer, her friend looked at me.
…Why are you looking at me like that?
Please don’t give me that ‘how does a guy like you know someone like her?’ look. It’s rude.
After staring at me for a moment, the friend turned slightly and muttered to the others behind her.
“Se-a’s got it rough, huh?”
“For real.”
“That’s not what I meant~!”
What kind of conversation was that? Jeong Se-a, who had been trying to stop her friends, looked at me with slightly dazed eyes before walking up to the counter.
“Ah, right. I need to order. Other customers might come in too.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll have a milk tea~.”
After ordering for her friends who had already sat down and for herself, Jeong Se-a stared at me intently. She must have been pretty drunk; I had no idea why she was standing here waiting for her drink instead of taking the pager and sitting down.
“I gave you the pager. Go wait at your table.”
“Se-hwan, am I working here on weekends?”
“Yeah, looks like you passed.”
“Mmm.”
I’d expected as much. There was no reason for Jeong Se-a not to get the job. She lived in a dorm close to the café, had a friendly personality, and her looks were a huge plus. She was the kind of part-timer any café owner would welcome with open arms.
Still, I should congratulate her.
“Congrats.”
“Hehe, thanks~.”
“Do a good job for me. Not that I need to tell you—you’ll be fine.”
“……Huh?”
For some reason, Jeong Se-a’s expression stiffened. Her face turned deathly pale, and she suddenly grabbed me in a panic.
“W-what do you mean? You’re also working weekends…?”
“The weekend slot opened up because I quit that shift. Didn’t you know?”
“……What?”
I had no idea why she was reacting like this, but Jeong Se-a was staring at me with an expression of total shock.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-no, it’s nothing! Ahaha, I see. I just thought we’d be working together, so I was a little disappointed~.”
“Oh, I guess so. Anyway, work hard.”
“…Yeah.”
“Here, take this. It’s ready.”
“Thanks……”
…Her shoulders looked a lot more slumped than before. Jeong Se-a stayed in that state the entire time she drank her coffee and left the café.
“Get home safe.”
“Yeah…”
After she left with her friends, I tried to figure out why she had suddenly become so depressed, but I couldn’t come up with any answer.
“…Why did she act like that all of a sudden?”
While I was wondering about it, Jang San spoke from beside me.
“You really aren’t that different from Baek Seol-hwa, are you?”
She was saying something I couldn’t just let slide.
“Hey, who are you comparing to who? Don’t cross the line.”
“What did I do?!”
After that, nothing else happened. Our café closed successfully amid its booming business. The boss, who returned thirty minutes before closing, saw the amount on the register and shed tears of joy. As a bonus, he gave the three of us extra money to buy something delicious.
“Jackpot.”
“That’s the happiest I’ve ever seen you look.”
“Want me to come again next time, Se-hwan?”
“…I’ll pass.”
He’d subtly asked if they could come again, but thankfully Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San politely declined, so it looked like we wouldn’t have another day as chaotic as this one.
“So where are we going now?”
“I need to check the post I wrote on the gallery earlier.”
I had no idea when I’d found the time to open the gallery in the middle of all that chaos.
“Oh, speaking of the gallery.”
“What?”
“Want me to write the post for you?”
I tilted my head at Jang San’s question. What was she offering to write?
“What post?”
“The one saying you’re not a suspicious person. The administrator took care of it, but there are still a lot of people who are doubtful.”
“Ah.”
That was true… If someone who posted there every day explained it, it would probably clear things up.
“If you do that, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Then…”
“Yeah?”
Jang San looked at me with a smile. Why was she suddenly smiling? It made me nervous for no reason…
“I want to go to your house.”
My anxiety had become reality.