The Owner of the Nail (1)
The doorbell rang. Ding-dong~!
“……”
Ding-dong~!
“……”
Ding-dong~!
“Ugh…”
Who the hell is ringing the bell at the crack of dawn? I tried to ignore it, figuring they’d give up, but when it rang again I had no choice but to kick off the blanket and get up. If someone was this persistent, it was either something incredibly important… or the person was completely insane.
“Who is it…?”
Our intercom didn’t have a camera, so I couldn’t see who was standing outside. The voice that answered was surprisingly bright and clear, a woman’s voice.
“Se-hwan, it’s me.”
“…Jang San?”
The person who had shown up at the crack of dawn was none other than Jang San. I opened the door anyway, and sure enough, she was standing right there.
“Did I come too early?”
“…Yeah, it’s early. It’s only six o’clock.”
“Sorry. But I figured if I waited until you left for school, we wouldn’t have time to talk properly.”
The weekend I’d spent with Baek Seol-hwa and my mother had flown by, and I was back to fulfilling my duties as a student. That meant it had been a few days since I last saw Jang San. Over the weekend, Seol-hwa and I had handled everything ourselves, and even on Monday she’d told me she was fine and suggested we take a break from purifying spirits. So there hadn’t really been any reason to meet up.
Then what did she want to talk about?
Feeling a little puzzled, I noticed how neat and tidy Jang San looked. In contrast, I had just rolled out of bed and was a total mess.
“…Come in first. I’ll go wash up. Sit wherever you want.”
“Thanks, Se-hwan.”
I let her inside, washed my face, and even shampooed my hair before coming back out. It felt weird to sit in front of someone who looked so put-together without even having washed my hair.
“All done?”
“Yeah.”
I roughly dried my hair with a towel and sat down across from Jang San, who was sitting politely with her hands in her lap. The moment I saw her silky, snow-white hair, I immediately regretted not brushing mine. …Well, I was already sitting down. Might as well ask what she came for.
“So what’s so important that you wanted to talk first thing in the morning?”
“Um, Se-hwan. Did you check the gallery yesterday?”
The Ghost Gallery?
“No. I was busy with homework.”
“Then do you want to look at it now? I think we need to see it before I explain.”
Had something happened in the gallery? I turned on my phone and logged into the Ghost Gallery. The newly posted threads didn’t look particularly special. Jang San then told me,
“Want to check the concept post?”
“Concept post?”
“A fixed-nick user wrote a sniper thread.”
Huh?
“…Is it about me?”
“Huh? No. If it was, the head admin would’ve already taken it down. They said any more mentions of that incident are banned, remember?”
“Oh.”
So it wasn’t that. Thank goodness.
“Hurry up and read it.”
“Okay.”
When I clicked on the concept post tab, several threads appeared. I immediately spotted exactly what Jang San had been talking about. There was one post that stood out in particular.
“…This one, right?”
“That’s it.”
The title of the post read: Sniping a Sub-Admin.
Sub-admin sniping. In any gallery, a post like that was bound to become a hot topic. Sub-admins were users who had been granted partial authority by the head admin—‘Head Admin’—to help manage the gallery. If one of the people running the gallery was getting sniped, it naturally made people curious what kind of incident had occurred. That’s why sub-admin sniping threads tended to spark discussion even outside the Ghost Gallery, at least for a little while.
I clicked on the thread right away and started reading.
[Title: Sniping a Sub-Admin]
[Author: HeavenlyDemonArts*]
[To be precise, I’m only sniping one person. The sub-admin I’m targeting is ‘Vivy’.]
Vivy?
“There was a sub-admin like that? First time I’ve seen the name.”
“There are four sub-admins in the Ghost Gallery: ‘GoldenPiggyBank’, ‘Vivy’, ‘ThreeWheeledBike’, and ‘TortoiseAndHare’.”
I’d only ever seen GoldenPiggyBank before.
“What kind of yokai is this sub-admin?”
“It’s written in English, but if you read it in Korean it’s ‘Bibi,’ right? Bibi is another word for ‘Yeongno’.”
“Ah.”
So it was that simple. Yeongno was a type of Korean yokai. Apart from having no arms or legs, it looked remarkably similar to a dragon. Because of that, in Korea where dragons were considered sacred, it was sometimes treated as a sacred spiritual beast. There were even legends that Yeongno ate corrupt officials and yangban aristocrats, which made the common people view it even more favorably. In reality, however, it was definitely closer to a yokai than a sacred beast. Its appetite was enormous—it would devour anything, living or inanimate.
But why was this thing suddenly being sniped?
I kept reading the post.
As everyone knows, the rule in the Ghost Gallery is that verified ‘fixed-nickname’ yokai are not allowed to eat each other. Violators are permanently banned from the gallery that same day. This is listed in the notice posted by Head Admin. It’s the bare minimum of order Head Admin established so the gallery doesn’t turn into a slaughterhouse of mutual predation.
However, I recently discovered circumstances suggesting that this bastard Vivy has eaten a fixed-nick user. Since I’m writing a sniper thread, I’m confident, but I’ve hidden the fixed-nick’s username in case it causes them any harm. (Evidence Photo 1)
First, here’s a screenshot of Vivy talking with the fixed-nick. You can see that they were arranging to meet. This in itself isn’t a big problem. Plenty of people in the Ghost Gallery cooperate with each other, and it’s not against the rules.
There was a screenshot of Vivy exchanging comments with someone. It didn’t look anything like the tense first meeting I’d had with Seol-hwa. The conversation seemed perfectly calm. There was nothing that suggested bad blood or any kind of problem.
The problem comes when you look at this fixed-nick’s activity history. Their gallery log is private so I couldn’t see it, but I checked their posting history to get a rough idea of when they were active. (Evidence Photo 2)
As you can see, they weren’t extremely active, but they used to show up in the gallery pretty regularly. At least until March 17th. After that, their posts suddenly stopped. Now look at the date in the first screenshot when Vivy was talking to this user. March 16th. Just one day earlier.
Within a single day, the fixed-nick completely vanished, while Vivy—who appears to have met them—has continued to post normally. And yet, despite being active, they have never once mentioned what happened when they met that user. It’s almost like they’re deliberately avoiding the topic.
As everyone knows, Vivy is the yokai Yeongno. And what is the defining trait of a Yeongno? An insatiable appetite. It’s not just ‘good’—sometimes they can’t even control the urge. There are stories of them waking up to find they’ve devoured everything around them.
That’s why I’m convinced Vivy ate this fixed-nick. The timing of the user’s disappearance matches the day they were supposed to meet Vivy, and afterward Vivy has continued posting normally while carefully avoiding any mention of them. Even if it wasn’t intentional, if they broke the gallery rules, shouldn’t they step down from their sub-admin position and be permanently banned?
If my guess is wrong, all Vivy has to do is tell us where that fixed-nick went. After all, it’s confirmed they met. Go ahead and post proof—like a screenshot of them still chatting privately—if you want to explain yourself.
After finishing the post, the first thing that came to mind was a question about the rules.
“By the way, there was a rule like that in the gallery?”
“If they didn’t set a rule like that, a lot of fixed-nicks would start eating any yokai weaker than themselves.”
“But does it actually work? Honestly, aren’t there tons of yokai who’d just think ‘it’s only a gallery ban’ and ignore it?”
“It’s more effective than you’d think. The Ghost Gallery has become far too important in the yokai community.”
So it actually serves a purpose.
“Then you think this post is true? That’s why you showed it to me.”
I wondered if she wanted me to take care of the troublemaker who was stirring up chaos in the gallery. But when I thought about it… even though that existence had mostly been forgotten, Jang San was still a powerful sacred spiritual beast. Was there really a reason for her to ask me for something like this? She could have handled it herself.
Just as that question crossed my mind, Jang San shook her head slightly.
“No. It’s the opposite, Se-hwan.”
“Huh?”
“The truth is… I’m somewhat acquainted with Vivy.”
“Oh, really?”
Well, that made sense. Jang San had been active in the Ghost Gallery with a fixed-nick for a long time. It wasn’t strange for her to have connections.
“She is absolutely not the type to eat anyone.”
What?
“But you said her true form is a Yeongno? Then it’s not exactly impossible, is it?”
“She is a Yeongno now, but she wasn’t originally.”
…She wasn’t originally?
The moment I heard those words, the first thing that came to mind was the way Jang San had looked when she first came to me. The sacred spiritual beast Jang San, forgotten by humans and instead burdened with the urban legend of ‘Jangsanbeom.’ The sight of her reduced to nothing more than a lowly cryptid because of that rumor.
Jang San bit her lower lip gently. Then she suddenly reached out, grabbed my hand tightly, and spoke with an expression I had never seen before.
“I’m begging you, Se-hwan.”
I was honestly a little shocked. Jang San had always been calm no matter what happened, the kind of person whose face never lost its relaxed smile. Even when she had asked me to erase the calamity of ‘Jangsanbeom’ that had been attached to her, she had been the same.
“Please help me.”
But right now she was nothing like that. Her eyes were trembling violently, raw urgency clear on her face, and her expression was filled with desperate longing.
“Just like you saved me… please save my friend too.”
I stared at her.
“So you’re saying that even though Vivy has fallen and become a Yeongno now, she was originally a sacred spiritual beast?”
“That’s right.”
A sacred spiritual beast that had fallen and become a Yeongno… the only possibility was an Imugi. There weren’t really any other snake-type sacred spiritual beasts in Korea. Most things related to snakes ended up as yokai rather than sacred beasts.
“How did an Imugi fall all the way to becoming a Yeongno? Usually when they fall, they become a Gangcheol or an Isimi.”
Gangcheol was the worst possible fallen form of an Imugi, while Isimi was what an Imugi became when it failed to ascend into a dragon. Either way, both were a step above a Yeongno in the hierarchy of yokai.
“Is it similar to what happened to you?”
“…You noticed. Yes, it’s similar to how I became Jangsanbeom.”
“So fewer people worshipped her as a sacred beast, and because of the malicious rumors, she ended up bearing the calamity known as ‘Yeongno’.”
“Yes. Of course, a Yeongno isn’t considered such a terrible yokai that it counts as a full-blown calamity, but it must still feel unfair. A Yeongno is a man-eating yokai, after all. It devours anything and everything in sight.”
That was true. While there were some Imugi that ate humans, most of them mainly ate aquatic creatures and pheasants. So for a sacred spiritual beast Imugi to be treated as a man-eating yokai… it couldn’t have felt entirely fair.
“I suspect the rumors started because she already had a big appetite. Since Yeongno are considered a type of Imugi and look so similar, people probably saw an Imugi with a huge appetite and started calling it a Yeongno.”
It seemed like a plausible theory. To people who fished in rivers or ponds in the past, an Imugi with an enormous appetite wouldn’t have been a welcome sight.
“Still, there was no proper way to remove a calamity that had already taken hold, so she continued living like that. Just like me. But that’s not the case anymore.”
Jang San gazed at me intently.
“We found a way.”
“……”
“Thanks to you, I was able to regain my original form. I’m grateful now, and I’ll continue to be grateful in the future. Last time you turned me down, but if there’s anything you want from me, I’m willing to do anything. So…”
Jang San pleaded in a desperate voice.
“Please save that child too.”
“…You two must be really close.”
“…She was the first friend I made after I came down from the mountain.”
“So it hasn’t been that long, then.”
She was asking me to help a friend. I did want to help. I knew better than anyone how precious a close friend could be.
“But even if we remove the calamity attached to her, you know it won’t really help explain that sniper post, right? If she already ate someone, there’s nothing we can do.”
“I know that, but… the fact that a post like that went up means her condition has gotten that bad. That’s why I thought we needed to remove the calamity as soon as possible.”
“Alright.”
“…Huh?”
When I saw Jang San’s eyes widen into perfect circles, I realized for the first time that she could make an expression like that. She was always smiling leisurely with those unreadable eyes.
Seeing her like this, she’s definitely not always scheming.
Seeing this unexpected side of her made the image I had of Jang San shift just a little.
“You’re… really okay with it?”
“Yeah. But if that Imugi has already harmed a person…”
I glanced toward the desk drawer. The top compartment was packed with talismans I had brought from home.
“I won’t be able to just leave it alone. If I do, things will only get worse.”
“…Yeah, I know. If she’s already in a serious state, then doing that… would be the right thing for her.”
“Then we’re good. Still, I can’t promise I’ll be able to do it. I’ll have to see her condition first.”
“Of course. Just the fact that you’re willing to help is already…”
Jang San lowered her head slightly.
“Thank you. You really are a grateful human being. I will definitely repay this kindness.”
“I don’t really want…”
“Last time I saw that you seemed to have some trouble dealing with your sexual desires. Would helping with that be okay?”
“……What?”
What did I just hear…?
“When I searched your room because of the yoki last time, there were quite a few suspicious tissues in the trash can… wasn’t that inconvenient?”
…….
“Jang San, you—”
“Yeah? Have you decided? What should I do for you?”
“From now on, don’t come into my room.”
“……Ah?”