Mixed Blood (2)
At Jang San’s words, not only I but also Baek Seol-hwa froze in shock, unable to say a single thing.
“……You’re saying something that isn’t human got mixed in?”
“You heard my story last time, right? Surprisingly, humans often live close to yokai and even cooperate with them. Not all of them are like exorcists who only hunt yokai.”
I already knew that. After all, Jang San had been eating dead people, hadn’t she? That incident had taught me that some yokai formed close relationships with humans.
“I don’t know why they did it, but it looks like the hospital used something that wasn’t human… something from a yokai?”
“Wait, hold on. Even if I give you a hundred concessions and accept that, does it even make sense?”
“What do you mean?”
“How could a human body accept a yokai’s organ?”
“Se-hwan, that’s obviously possible.”
“What? What do you mean it’s obviously possible….”
When I asked in confusion, it wasn’t Jang San who answered, but Baek Seol-hwa beside me.
“Because half-yokai can exist.”
……Ah.
Jang San tilted her head slightly and asked,
“What exactly did they transplant into you back then? Where was the surgery done?”
“……I don’t really remember that part.”
When I came to, the surgery was already over and I was at home, not in the hospital. The wounds were from an exorcism process, so I couldn’t show them to normal people. That’s why I never checked into a hospital and just stayed home like I was hospitalized. They had told me which area they transplanted into, but it was such a terrible memory I wanted to forget, and I’d been out of it at the time so I only half-listened.
“Kidney and… pancreas, stomach, part of the large and small intestines… I don’t know. I can’t remember exactly.”
“……That’s way more than I imagined. How are you even still alive?”
……That’s what I’d like to know. I really almost died back then. Even the doctor said surviving was a miracle. My parents’ shikigami, those spiritual beasts, must have done something… anyway, the point is I barely made it.
“If we go to that hospital, we might be able to find out.”
“Or, Yoo Se-hwan, your parents must have handled the paperwork for the surgery, right? If you ask them…”
……That option didn’t appeal to me at all.
Ever since I ran out the moment I became an adult, I hadn’t seen them once in five years. I hadn’t contacted them either. They had reached out, but I deliberately ignored it. If I contacted them, they would definitely try to persuade me to keep doing exorcisms. So I cut off all conversation entirely.
But now they wanted me to contact my parents and ask? That was asking too much. So far, there hadn’t been any problems living like this. Having a yokai’s organ inside me was unpleasant, but if there wouldn’t be any issues going forward, I’d rather just forget about it and move on….
“……Is there any problem with that organ being in my body?”
“No, it probably won’t cause any. Judging by how little yoki I sense from you, Se-hwan… it seems only an extremely small portion of the transplanted organs came from a yokai. That amount shouldn’t be enough to turn you into a yokai. For now, the influence itself should be minimal.”
“For now?”
Why did she have to add those two words? Feeling uneasy, I asked, and Jang San spoke a bit more carefully.
“……Because I’m not sure what will happen if yoki keeps accumulating. I can’t say for certain about that part.”
“So you’re saying I need to stop yoki from building up?”
“That would be best. You know how yokai accumulate yoki, right?”
“By absorbing a lot of spiritual energy.”
The spiritual energy they absorb builds up and turns into yoki. Just like how the leftover nutrients after we eat a lot of food turn into fat.
“Exactly. So to prevent yoki from accumulating, you need to expel the spiritual energy inside your body, Se-hwan.”
“……Expel spiritual energy?”
“It would work if someone periodically absorbs it from you.”
As Jang San said that, she glanced somewhere. And funnily enough, I had the exact same thought and subtly looked to the side.
“……Huh?”
The gumiho who was slow but had sharp senses looked back and forth between me and Jang San, then shouted with a face full of horror.
“Y-you want me to absorb his spiritual energy?!?!”
“Yeah.”
It was definitely a viable method. Baek Seol-hwa needed spiritual energy right now, and I needed to get rid of mine…….
“……Wait a second.”
“Why?”
“If she absorbs my spiritual energy, I’ll get tired every time, won’t I?”
“A little, but isn’t it fine if you think of it as preventing a potential danger?”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
“I hate chronic fatigue, though.”
“You won’t need to do it that often.”
“Well, that’s a relief, I guess……”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion. When there weren’t any spirits to help cross over, Baek Seol-hwa wouldn’t have to starve from lack of spiritual energy either. I was just about to accept it with a shrug when someone beside me absolutely refused to.
“N-no way!! How could I do something like that with him?!”
It was Baek Seol-hwa. No matter what, this was something that would benefit everyone. Wasn’t she being too obvious about hating it?
“I heard just holding hands would be enough.”
“I-I can’t even do that!”
What couldn’t she… surely she wasn’t acting like this because she was embarrassed, right?
“Hey, just think of it as eating a meal and you’ll be fine.”
And that “surely” turned out to be exactly right. Baek Seol-hwa shook her head furiously, her face bright red.
“I-I can’t! I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t!! Absolutely, absolutely not——!!”
It was the first time I learned a person’s head could spin that fast. It wasn’t even a shaman’s spinning top… her long hair whipped around like it might slap someone, so I stepped back a little to keep my distance. It looked like it would hurt if it hit me.
“……But didn’t you take it without permission while I was sleeping last time?”
“That was when I had no choice…!”
“What exactly is the problem? Isn’t this a win-win? You get the spiritual energy you need, and Se-hwan prevents a potential danger. It’s good for both of you, and there’s nothing inconvenient for you, Baek Seol-hwa, right? The one who gets tired is Se-hwan.”
When Jang San spoke as if she genuinely couldn’t understand, Baek Seol-hwa could only chew on her lip without being able to refute her.
“Are you rejecting it for no reason?”
“I-I have a reason!!”
“Ah~ so it’s that embarrassment thing again? Well, last time you did struggle a lot just to hold sleeping Se-hwan’s hand, didn’t you?”
……Did she?
“Why are you saying that?!”
“But aren’t you being too coy? Honestly, holding hands should be totally doable. It’s not like I told you to have sex with Se-hwan or anything……”
“Kyaaaak! What is she even saying?!”
Baek Seol-hwa hurriedly covered Jang San’s mouth with her hand, and Jang San glared fiercely at her while making muffled “mmpf mmpf” noises, clearly demanding to be let go. It looked like some kind of comedy skit.
“Hey, Baek Seol-hwa.”
“……What?”
“If you’re that embarrassed, just do it while I’m asleep.”
“While you’re asleep?”
“It’s not like you have to do it every day. You said it only needs to happen occasionally. So just sleep over at our house sometimes. Once I fall asleep, you can absorb it then.”
Baek Seol-hwa still looked a bit embarrassed, but she seemed to understand that I had made a reasonably logical suggestion. …At least she wasn’t throwing a fit like before.
“Yeah, let’s do it like Se-hwan said.”
Jang San, who had brushed Baek Seol-hwa’s hand away at some point, spoke up.
“But Se-hwan, are you okay with this? She’s still a gumiho, you know?”
“A gumiho who gets so embarrassed she can’t even hold someone’s hand? Nothing will happen even if we let her in the house.”
“……It feels weird, like you’re insulting me.”
“Then can you act like a normal gumiho?”
When I asked, Baek Seol-hwa flinched in surprise, then hung her head and shook it slightly.
“……No.”
“Then we’ll do it the way we just discussed.”
“O-okay……”
Baek Seol-hwa’s tail swished gently from side to side. Her embarrassed feelings were still showing clearly through her tail. The way her emotions showed so directly through her tail was somehow…….
“……She really is like a dog.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
……But foxes are part of the dog family, aren’t they?
“So where are we going today?”
It was the weekend. Time to do that sweet part-time job that paid 200,000 won a day. The reason Baek Seol-hwa had come looking for me was for that very job….
“I posted on the gallery, but there was no response.”
“So you came out even though there’s nowhere to go?”
“We still have to at least pound the pavement!”
A yokai who personally goes around helping spirits cross over by pounding the pavement. I never thought I’d live to see a gumiho like this… five years ago, me would never have imagined it.
“……But why are you tagging along, Jang San?”
“I can help too, can’t I?”
“Well, that’s true……”
It was, but.
“What’s in it for you?”
Up until last time, she could say she was following us out of gratitude for my help, but this time was different. There was no reason for Jang San to help us.
“If you’re worried I won’t trust you, there’s no need……”
“I’m not worried about that. Se-hwan trusts you.”
“……Then why?”
“Just because.”
Jang San smiled brightly and said,
“Anyway, we’re going around doing good deeds. As a spiritual beast, how could I not help?”
“So you think it’s admirable that we’re going around doing good things?”
“Pretty much,”
It felt like a mountain god who helps people when they do good deeds. Since she was a tiger spiritual beast living in the mountains, she wasn’t all that different from a mountain god…?
“So have you thought about where we’re going? Even if we’re pounding the pavement, we need a destination.”
“Nampo!”
“What?”
“We’re going to Nampo-dong.”
Nampo-dong. It was Busan’s second busiest commercial district after Seomyeon, which everyone called the city’s top downtown area. There were some decent landmarks like department stores and the Nampo Bookstore, but what Nampo was most famous for was its food. The night market at the Tin Can Market that those in the know visited was practically a feast of street food.
When she said we were going there, the first thought that came to mind was something else entirely.
“We’re not just going to eat, right?”
“N-no, of course not?……Though since we’re going all the way there, we might grab something to eat?”
……She was half right.
“The hotteok there must be good.”
Jang San beside me also looked completely focused on eating. There were so many delicious things there that I couldn’t exactly blame her, but….
“Still, eating isn’t the main goal. Finding someone who needs help comes first.”
“I know.”
“Yeah.”
We took the subway and arrived at Nampo, but right after that I started feeling a bit dumbfounded.
“Three seed hotteok, please!”
“The fish cakes look good too.”
“Really? Then give us some twisted oden too!”
……I was pretty sure they had said they understood earlier.
Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San were completely lost in buying snacks. Their hands were already full of food before I knew it. They could have just bought their own, but they kept buying this and that and even got some for me, so my hands were full too. I knew once people started snacking there was no end to it, but with two of them it was no joke how much ended up coming my way.
“Hey, Yoo Se-hwan, don’t you want anything?”
“……I already have a ton?”
“What have you been doing without eating any?”
My eating speed couldn’t keep up with their buying speed, so what was I supposed to do?
“Maybe buy a little slower……”
“Chicken skewers look good too.”
“I don’t eat meat.”
“What?”
Jang San, who had been about to buy chicken skewers, looked at Baek Seol-hwa with an expression of pure disbelief.
“How can a gumiho not eat meat?”
“You’re a tiger but you eat vegetables too.”
“No, that’s because I’m not an ordinary tiger, I’m a spiritual beast… and I actually eat way more meat? But you’re saying you don’t eat meat at all when you’re supposed to?”
“Meat smells fishy and tastes bad.”
“Meat smells fishy?”
Jang San looked like she couldn’t comprehend it. Honestly, I had never heard anyone say meat smelled fishy in my entire life. Unless they were eating it completely raw…….
“……Now that I think about it, you said that after eating raw meat, right?”
I think that’s what she said when I heard the story before. Nine hundred years ago… she said she tried it back then.
“Yeah.”
“Did you drain the blood first?”
“What do you mean, drain the blood?”
“……Of course it would smell fishy, you idiot.”
It would already smell fishy raw, but if you ate it with all the blood still in it, of course it would. It was ridiculous that a gumiho couldn’t eat raw meat because it smelled fishy… but one thing was clear.
After eating raw meat without draining the blood and finding it fishy, it seemed the concept that “all meat smells fishy” had taken root in her head.
“I’m not an idiot.”
……She kind of was, though.
“Three chicken skewers, please. With soy sauce seasoning.”
“Hey, why three?”
Because it looked like I needed to show her what real meat tasted like. Since we had already eaten so much that going to a proper meat restaurant felt awkward, I figured chicken skewers would do the trick.
I bought the skewers and handed one to Jang San.
“Thanks, Se-hwan.”
Then I looked at Baek Seol-hwa.
“Staring at me won’t make me give you any.”
“Just try one bite. Raw meat and cooked meat taste completely different. It doesn’t smell fishy and it’s seasoned, so it’s delicious.”
“……No thanks.”
“You’ll regret it.”
“I’m not eating it!”
“Suit yourself, then.”
Was I giving up already? Of course not. I was doing this on purpose right now.
“Guess I’ll have to eat them all myself.”
It might seem a bit childish, but this was the most effective way to stimulate a person’s curiosity.
“Mmm, that’s good. Thanks to you, I get to eat two whole skewers.”
By showing the nuance that I got to eat all the delicious food alone. By implying that because she wasn’t eating, I got to enjoy lots of tasty things. It was better to express the flavor as enthusiastically as possible. So that it would catch the other person’s interest. Just like how, when writing clickbait titles on the gallery, you appeal to people’s interest with a title that makes them want to read the post.
“It’s moderately sweet and has a great savory taste. Don’t you think?”
And then I proved through someone else’s mouth that what I was saying wasn’t a lie. That was exactly why I had given Jang San a skewer a moment ago.
“Yeah, it’s delicious. It tastes even better because Se-hwan bought it.”
……Was she saying she felt good because she got to take my money? Anyway, since the “it’s delicious” comment had come from someone other than me, it was about time for Baek Seol-hwa’s interest to be piqued.
“Let’s finish eating and go buy that. I want to get some cheese potato over there.”
But for some reason, Baek Seol-hwa’s reaction was lukewarm.
“Don’t you want to try just one bite?”
“Nope?”
“Nope? Why?”
“Why…? I told you I don’t like meat.”
That was just a fixed idea that came from eating raw meat without draining the blood…….
“Hurry up and eat. I’m going to buy that?”
It seemed breaking a thousand-year-old fixed idea wasn’t going to be easy. Baek Seol-hwa trotted off first to buy cheese potato.
As I stood there staring blankly at her back, Jang San, who was beside me tearing into the last piece of her skewer, said,
“Seriously, in all my years I’ve never seen a vegetarian gumiho before. Have you?”
“……I agree completely.”
“But Se-hwan. Are you really going to eat all of that by yourself?”
She was eyeing the perfectly good skewer still in my hand. Her gaze was so intense I was worried drool might actually drip from the corner of her mouth.
“……Here, you eat it.”
“Thank you~.”
……No doubt about it. She was definitely a tiger.
We had come out fairly early, but we spent the entire day in Nampo just eating until evening came and went. I wondered if I should have been looking for spirits, but there were so many people on the streets that seeing spirits on top of that would have just given me a headache.
“When are we actually going to do this?”
“Mmm?”
……She was still eating.
I had noticed it before, but both Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San were incredible big eaters. Given what they were, it made sense that they ate far more than normal people.
“I said when are we going to help a spirit cross over?”
“Mmm, mm, I’ve been looking since earlier. But there’s no one asking for help.”
“Then at least ask around.”
“I can’t just go around asking everyone. That would be rude.”
……It was pretty impressive that she was worried about being polite to spirits.
“So today’s a bust?”
“Hey, where do you think you’re getting 200,000 won for free? We have to keep looking.”
“I wasn’t the one not looking so I could get paid for nothing, you were the one not looking, wasn’t it…?”
“S-shut up! If you’re taking the money, then work for it!”
“……It’s kind of hard to see spirits here.”
I was about to touch my necklace out of necessity when Baek Seol-hwa suddenly turned her gaze somewhere. It wasn’t just her—Jang San beside her did the same.
“……What?”
“Ah, a spirit is approaching.”
At Jang San’s explanation, I let out a small sigh. Looked like my plan to get paid for doing nothing today had failed. Since I needed to hear what it had to say, I lightly touched my necklace. My vision shifted completely, and things that had been invisible before came into view.
“Hmm?”
The spirit that had approached Baek Seol-hwa was a fairly young woman. At most she looked around my age… I wondered what her story was.
“I think I heard you talking about helping spirits cross over earlier… is that right?”
“Ah, yes. Do you need our help?”
“Yes……”
She lowered her head slightly and said,
“I’d like you to help me find my child.”
“……Your child?”
“Yes… I had my child at a very young age. It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but I was still a minor at the time……”
……That was incredibly young.
“But the baby’s father died in a motorcycle accident, so I raised the child alone. Then I ended up…….”
“……I see.”
It was a very tragic story. Both parents had died in accidents, leaving the child all alone. Of course a mother would be worried about her child and have lingering attachments.
I was trying to understand when the young mother spirit added something else. When I heard the story all the way to the end, not only I but Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San as well couldn’t help but look at her with shocked expressions.
“……But I don’t think the reason I have lingering attachments is because I’m worried about the child I left behind alone.”
“Pardon?”
“At first I thought so too, but if I was worried about the child, wouldn’t I go looking for them? There’s nothing I can do, but……”
“Yes… that would make sense, right?”
“But I didn’t feel like doing that at all. Not even a little.”
It was impossible not to be shocked. Spirits are usually filled with the desire to resolve their own lingering attachments. The reason they wander this world is often not because they want to, but because they are forcibly bound by unresolved regrets.
The fact that she hadn’t even tried to go look meant that this young mother spirit’s lingering attachment wasn’t her child.
“So I never went to see them. If I had gone earlier, I would have known where they were, but now years have passed and their living situation has probably changed… and there’s no way for me to find them in this state.”
“……You left behind a lovely child all alone, and you didn’t even feel the urge to go see them?”
At Baek Seol-hwa’s question, the mother spirit added,
“Actually… I’m not even sure if I truly loved my child.”
A rather shocking statement.