The Nail's Owner (4)
“So who the hell did you actually meet?”
At Jang San’s question, Ha Ye-ryeong let out a small sigh. It was as if just thinking about that time made her sigh automatically.
“…Honestly, that guy had been suspicious for a while.”
“Suspicious?”
“Yeah. How should I put it… his way of speaking didn’t feel like someone who actually lived on the Korean Peninsula. It was kind of… like he was from the neighborhood next door.”
…The story carried an oddly familiar ring to it.
“So I started watching him more closely. No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t seem like he was from around here.”
It sounded exactly like the routine people used in various online communities when they were trying to catch entities that had crossed over from the mainland.
When she heard that, Jang San’s eyes widened in shock.
“Those things have come down here?”
“Probably. The land up north has already fallen into their hands. Now they’re setting their sights on this place too.”
What were they even talking about? I glanced at Baek Seol-hwa and saw she looked just as confused, so I asked on behalf of everyone.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah… remember the story I told you last time? About how I ended up falling so low that I became the Jangsan Tiger, and why I came all the way down to Busan.”
“…Yeah, I remember. You said you were pushed out, right?”
“That’s right. The yokai that crossed over from beyond the Yalu River took advantage of my weakened state, drove me out, and took over that territory.”
So when she said they had crossed over…
“That high-rank nickname was a Chinese yokai?”
“Exactly. You’re right, exorcist.”
Ha Ye-ryeong nodded, confirming my words.
“The Ghost Gallery can only be used by yokai native to the Korean Peninsula. The founder set it up that way from the beginning, restricting access to only those users.”
“The founder of that gallery was the one who made it?”
“Huh? Really? I didn’t know that either.”
Baek Seol-hwa looked like she was hearing it for the first time too. Now it made sense. That was why the founder could act like such a tyrant and never step down… because he had built the place himself, he had no reason to leave.
Ha Ye-ryeong nodded as if to confirm the information she had just given us was true, then continued.
“Yes. So a Chinese yokai creating a high-rank account and logging into the gallery was obviously strange. That’s why I decided to investigate it myself.”
“And that’s why you set up a meeting to see them in person?”
“That’s right.”
Then the story that the gallery user Cheonma Divine Art had sniped was true after all—they really had met face to face. And the reason Ha Ye-ryeong had looked so terrible the first time we saw her was…
“So you ate that guy?”
“…I’ll explain everything. To cut to the conclusion, yes, I did eat him.”
Ha Ye-ryeong admitted it without hesitation. At this point, it seemed inevitable that she would have to step down from her moderator position. Not that that was the important thing right now.
“But I had no choice. I was… lured in by him.”
“Lured in?”
“You mean he led you into eating him on purpose?”
Ha Ye-ryeong nodded.
“Then he really was a Chinese yokai? That means there’s a problem with the gallery’s access system.”
“…Sigh. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that. Technically, he was originally from the Korean Peninsula.”
No way…
“Then why did you think he wasn’t a Korean yokai?”
“The ones who were originally from here went up north, then came back down again. That’s why his speech sounded so strange.”
“…Ah.”
…Even among yokai, there were apparently ethnic Koreans living in China types.
“Anyway… I met with him and confirmed what was going on. Since his origin was indeed the Korean Peninsula, there was no problem in principle… so I was planning to just ask a few questions and send him on his way.”
Ha Ye-ryeong’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“But that’s when the real problem started.”
March 17th.
⟨ Vivy’s Record ⟩
From the gallery, Ye-ryeong had been carefully observing the high-rank user ‘MeguMegu’ and finally met her in person. Having been unable to guess the user’s identity from the nickname alone, Ye-ryeong was a little surprised when she saw her.
‘A gumiho?’
Her appearance was identical to that of a fox yokai—a gumiho. Since Ye-ryeong had gone into the meeting assuming the other party wasn’t from the Korean Peninsula, the revelation was even more shocking.
“You’re Vivy?”
“…You’re MeguMegu? I didn’t expect you to be a gumiho yokai.”
“Ah, I’m not a gumiho. I’m a different kind of fox yokai called a ‘maegu.’ Not every fox is a gumiho, you know. Ignorant folks just lump us all together though.”
“A maegu…?”
It was a type of yokai Ye-ryeong had never heard of before. MeguMegu spoke as if that was to be expected.
“All of my kin crossed way up beyond the Yalu and Tumen rivers even before the Joseon Dynasty began. So it’s understandable that you wouldn’t know.”
“So you really are from the Korean Peninsula.”
“That’s correct. Was that why you called me here?”
“…Yes. I’m a moderator of the gallery. If there’s an error in the access system, I need to identify the problem immediately.”
“Ah, so that’s what it was. No problem. I completely understand. When you’re in a management position, there’s always a lot to worry about, right?”
On the surface, Ye-ryeong was treating her as if there were no issues at all. In reality, that wasn’t the case. Even if she was originally from the Korean Peninsula, the fact that a yokai who had gone to live in China had crossed back over and come all the way down south was suspicious.
“Then let me ask you one thing.”
Hiding her wariness, Ye-ryeong asked in a tone that suggested nothing more than simple curiosity.
“You were living over there—why did you come back here? You must have gotten used to it by now, so wouldn’t it be more comfortable to stay?”
“Ah, about that.”
MeguMegu seemed to ponder for a moment before staring straight at Ye-ryeong. Then, as if she had noticed the suspicion in Ye-ryeong’s eyes, she suddenly let out a small chuckle on her own.
“It seems our big brothers aren’t satisfied with just the north anymore?”
“……What?”
“Someone like you would probably be considered pretty strong even in this land, right? This place is the source of the Nakdong River, isn’t it? Then of course the energy would be strong.”
MeguMegu continued.
“So we’re going to prepare the ground in advance.”
“You think someone like you can touch me?”
Although she had fallen to the level of an imugi, thanks to her similarity to her original form, Ye-ryeong still possessed immense power. If she had been just a little stronger, she might have reached the rank of a great yokai.
“Wow, she’s pretty tough.”
“If you leave now, I’ll spare your life. Go back and tell them—there is no land for you to cross into.”
“My dear.”
MeguMegu smirked.
“Do you really think such threats will work on me?”
“…It seems you can’t understand the situation with words alone.”
Ye-ryeong manifested the spell she had used during her imugi days, channeling her yoki. When MeguMegu saw it, she let out an impressed sound and laughed cheerfully.
“Whoa, that’s seriously impressive. Good, good. That’s exactly what I wanted!”
Still smiling, MeguMegu said,
“That way, even when you go completely insane, you’ll rampage properly.”
“…What?”
“It’s already over. You shouldn’t have talked with me for so long!”
MeguMegu seemed to activate some kind of spell. Ye-ryeong naturally countered it with her own technique, but something felt wrong. Her mind suddenly went blank. It was as if her reason had flown away.
Since Ye-ryeong was far stronger than MeguMegu, the battle naturally ended in her victory. Yet even after winning, Ye-ryeong couldn’t regain her senses.
“Ah…”
It felt like her reason wasn’t returning. And indeed, her body began moving against her will. It was as if something was controlling her.
Ye-ryeong opened her jaws wide toward the fallen MeguMegu, who had been struck down by her spell. Even then, MeguMegu made no attempt to resist.
In the end, Ye-ryeong…
Crunch!
Swallowed MeguMegu in a single bite.
She had eaten her completely against her own will. She hadn’t even been hungry, and MeguMegu hadn’t looked appetizing at all.
And then a change occurred.
The moment she devoured the yokai, instead of regaining her reason, she couldn’t even form a single coherent thought anymore. Her consciousness was completely severed.
After that, Ye-ryeong had no memory at all.
“…And that’s how we ended up in this situation.”
When she finally came to her senses again, she had already been subdued by Se-hwan’s group and cleansed of the calamity.
After listening to Ye-ryeong’s story, San wore a grave expression.
“They’re coveting this land too?”
“It seems that way. San, you should be careful too. Since they did something like this to me, they might send someone after you as well.”
Se-hwan, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
“So before you ate her, it just felt like your consciousness had been stolen. But the moment you ate her, your reason was completely cut off.”
“That’s correct, exorcist.”
“Then she let herself be eaten on purpose. They’re trying to make powerful yokai and spiritual beasts like you go on rampages, causing chaos across the land. While the strong yokai are losing their minds, they’ll clean up the native yokai and turn this whole territory into their own.”
Se-hwan continued.
“Is that what this is about?”
“It seems so. You catch on quickly, exorcist.”
Seol-hwa took the story extremely seriously.
“Then what do we do? We can’t just sit back and wait!”
“Since I’ve regained my senses, I’m going to tell the founder about this. He should be able to come up with a solution.”
“The Steel King?”
Se-hwan found it hard to believe that guy could do anything about this situation. It didn’t seem like something an ordinary person could easily resolve.
‘…But is this really something I need to worry about that much?’
When he thought about it, it wasn’t. Whether Chinese yokai or Korean yokai came, the ones that harmed humans were essentially the same. From Se-hwan’s perspective as a human, it wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with too deeply.
What did bother him was that both Seol-hwa and San could be put in danger. Since they were also Korean yokai, they would be thorns in the side of those trying to devour this land.
For now, since Ye-ryeong said she would speak with the founder—the Steel King—and that a solution would come from it, he decided to trust her. The Steel King must have something up his sleeve for her to be so confident.
“Then Ye-ryeong, about you having to step down from being a moderator…”
“Since I did eat her, I’ll have to step down according to the rules.”
“So it really comes to that.”
“It’s fine, San. It was just a moderator position anyway. I… I really thought I had lost my mind for good and that it was over.”
The sharp look in Ye-ryeong’s eyes softened.
“Thanks to all of you, I was able to return to my original self. I’m truly grateful. I won’t forget your help.”
“It was only natural for us to help.”
“Speaking of which.”
“Yes?”
Se-hwan asked carefully.
“How about moving your habitat?”
“…What?”
“From what I’ve gathered around here, you’ve already been branded as a terrifying yokai. It’s a story that’s been passed down through generations, so it can’t be uprooted easily. If you stay here in this situation, you’ll end up falling back into becoming an imugi again.”
Se-hwan continued.
“If you just change your habitat, that problem would be solved. You wouldn’t have to worry about degenerating into an imugi anymore, and you could live as a proper imugi. Of course, you might not find a place with as much spiritual energy as Hwangji Pond, but…”
“…So that’s what you’re suggesting.”
Ye-ryeong closed her eyes slightly.
“If I stay here, I’ll keep degenerating into an imugi, and the next time I lose my mind, it’ll be even worse?”
“…You’ve already lost your mind once even though it wasn’t by your own will, so the next time will likely be much more severe. There’s no avoiding it.”
“Then… even if I stay here, I won’t be able to become a dragon.”
“…Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.”
Not every imugi could become a dragon, of course. More than a lack of training, there were cases like Ye-ryeong’s where unavoidable circumstances prevented them from ever reaching that goal.
“If I’m not going to become a dragon anyway, then I should at least prevent myself from degenerating into a yokai by moving my habitat, shouldn’t I?”
Of course, that would mean Ye-ryeong could never become a dragon for the rest of her life. For an imugi to become a dragon, it had to spend a thousand years training in the place where it was born. Moving its habitat was an act of denying its own roots, and doing so meant it could never ascend.
But even if she stayed here, Ye-ryeong would never become a dragon anyway. She would simply fall back into becoming an imugi. And once she did, she wouldn’t be able to train anymore, returning to square one.
Se-hwan glanced at San, speaking on behalf of her friend’s position.
“Your friend would want you to keep living instead of giving up.”
“…Becoming a dragon is the wish of every imugi, exorcist. It is the very purpose of our lives.”
Ye-ryeong narrowed her eyes.
“If my fate is such that no matter what I do, I can never become a dragon, then is there any reason left for me to keep living?”
“Ye-ryeong…”
When San called her name in a sorrowful voice, Ye-ryeong spoke with a hint of apology.
“I’m sorry for talking about life and death after you went through all the trouble to save me. But for us imugi, whether we can become dragons or not is the same as whether we live or die.”
“…Aren’t there many imugi who never become dragons?”
Ye-ryeong didn’t deny Se-hwan’s question.
“That’s true. Some live their entire lives as imugi, and some even mutate into completely different yokai. But their original goal was still to become dragons. Once they realize they can’t, they simply replace that dream with something else.”
“You’re saying you can’t do that?”
“I wonder.”
“…As an exorcist, if there’s a chance you might degenerate into a yokai again, I have a duty to take measures to prevent the damage that would cause. But if you continue living as a spiritual beast imugi like this, then that duty disappears.”
Ye-ryeong looked at Se-hwan for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and began thinking deeply.
After a while, she spoke in a low voice.
“A human went through so much trouble to save me. If I become a spiritual beast, wouldn’t it be wrong not to repay that human?”
“…If you say you’ll move your habitat and live on, I’ll serve you as a spiritual beast. Just like I do with Jang San.”
“No wonder you seemed to have returned to normal. So San was helped by you too.”
Ye-ryeong’s gaze turned considerably more positive. She seemed very pleased to learn that he had helped not only her but her close friend as well.
“But you don’t have to serve me. Serving two spiritual beasts at once would weaken San’s power.”
“Spiritual beasts need faith, don’t they?”
“That’s true, but I’m an imugi. People already perceive imugi as spiritual beasts, right? So as long as bad rumors don’t spread, there won’t be any problem.”
“Ah.”
Se-hwan nodded as if he understood.
Ye-ryeong let out a small sigh.
“Giving up on becoming a dragon… isn’t as easy to accept as it sounds. Still…”
Ye-ryeong looked at San, Seol-hwa, and Se-hwan, the corners of her eyes softening slightly.
“Since you all saved me, I should repay that kindness. It seems you want me to live as a spiritual beast without degenerating into a yokai, so…”
Ye-ryeong’s massive, long body was enveloped in spiritual energy. The light was so blinding that Se-hwan and Seol-hwa couldn’t even keep their eyes open properly.
“I will live up to those expectations. That seems like the way to repay your kindness.”
A soft sound of footsteps touching the ground could be heard.
Long black hair settled down with a gentle rustle.
Her reddish-brown eyes, tinged with crimson, held a strikingly Eastern yet vividly beautiful charm.
Se-hwan was slightly surprised. Ye-ryeong’s human form was a beauty who didn’t lose out to Seol-hwa or San standing beside her, though her impression was a little different from theirs.
When he stared blankly, Seol-hwa, who was next to him, narrowed her eyes at the sight.
“You’re going to bore a hole through her.”
“…What? I was just looking because it’s fascinating.”
“Hmph, is that so?”
Se-hwan looked puzzled, having no idea why Seol-hwa was acting like that.
Ye-ryeong smiled briefly at the two of them before asking San,
“San, do you have a place where I can stay?”
“For now, come live with me. I have a house in Busan that I prepared to live among humans.”
“That doesn’t sound bad. But I occasionally need to enter ponds or lakes. Is there a suitable place for that?”
When Ye-ryeong asked, Se-hwan answered,
“Would a reservoir work?”
“That would be fine. Since I’m not trying to become a dragon anymore, I just need to spend a little time in the water.”
“Then there are plenty of those around.”
When Se-hwan told her not to worry, Ye-ryeong gave a light chuckle and said,
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a human so actively willing to help us. If we’re talking about exorcists… you might be the first one I’ve ever seen.”
“You don’t have to find it that surprising. I’m not all that different from other exorcists. If you had eaten people, I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help.”
“Hehe, I should praise my past self then. I’ve never eaten a human in my life.”
Even after turning into a yokai, the spiritual energy supplied by Hwangji Pond itself had been so abundant that she never needed to eat humans. That was also why she hadn’t harmed the people who visited Hwangji Park even after losing her mind.
In many ways, it could be said that she had been lucky to have such a good place to live.
Ye-ryeong gazed at Hwangji Pond, which had once been her stronghold, for a long time. Whether it was because she still had lingering attachments or because she was saying her final goodbye, she stared at the pond for quite a while before slowly opening her mouth.
“Yeah, I’m good now.”
Se-hwan looked around at Seol-hwa, San, and Ye-ryeong before speaking.
“Shall we head back now?”
“Let’s do that, Se-hwan.”
“I’m hungry. Can we get something to eat before we go?”
“What did you even do to be hungry?”
“I was so tense the whole time that now I’m starving.”
“…You really are a glutton.”
By the time they arrived in Busan, it was already dark. Ha Ye-ryeong decided to go with Jang San, while Se-hwan and Baek Seol-hwa, who lived in the same neighborhood, went together.
Before parting ways with the two, Se-hwan said to Ha Ye-ryeong,
“Busan is pretty livable in its own way.”
“I knew it was a very big city in my head, but seeing it in person is incredibly fascinating. There are so many people.”
That was especially true since they were at Busan Station.
“Oh, what are you going to do about the gallery?”
“I’m planning to tell the truth—that I ate that person. Of course, until I talk to the founder, I won’t mention that Chinese yokai are crossing over.”
“Smart decision.”
After finishing his conversation with Ha Ye-ryeong, Se-hwan looked at Jang San. He didn’t have anything particular to say, but it seemed like she had something she wanted to tell him.
And sure enough, when he looked at her, Jang San opened her mouth as if she had been waiting.
“Se-hwan, thank you so much for today.”
“You don’t have to thank me that much.”
“How can I not be grateful? I’ve been thinking about how to repay this favor, and the only thing that came to mind was something you like, Se-hwan.”
Jang San turned on her phone screen and began typing something. A moment later, his phone rang with notification sounds. Five times in a row.
“What? What did you sen…d?”
Se-hwan’s eyes widened. Baek Seol-hwa, who had glanced at the screen from the side, also looked at him in shock before turning to Jang San.
“Are you crazy? This… this much money…”
It was understandable. What Jang San had sent was money. The KakaoPay notifications showing that two million won had arrived appeared five times in total. She had sent the full daily limit of ten million won.
His eyes shook violently. Even he couldn’t maintain his composure. Ten million won might not be a big deal to some people, but for someone living off monthly rent and living expenses like him, it was an enormous sum.
“Hey, you…”
“Honestly, I still feel like this isn’t enough, but the transfer limit got in the way. Next time, I’ll buy you something delicious to make up for the rest, Se-hwan.”
“……”
Jang San smiled brightly.
“It’s not a lot of money to me, so please don’t feel burdened. To me, the fact that you saved my friend is hundreds of times more valuable than a few bucks like this.”
A few bucks…? He had felt it when he went to her house last time and saw that huge coffee machine, but it seemed Jang San was even richer than Baek Seol-hwa.
“Thank you so much, Se-hwan. I really mean it.”
“……”
Honestly, he wanted to just accept it. There was no reason to refuse when she was offering, and it meant his actions had been that meaningful to her.
But.
“…Se-hwan?”
He pressed the decline button on every single transfer. Then he told Jang San,
“It’s too much.”
“It’s fine, I have way more money than you think…”
“That’s not the issue. Regardless of how rich you are, objectively speaking, this is a huge amount of money. When relationships built on friendship start exchanging sums like this as payment, the relationship inevitably changes. I don’t like that.”
“……Huh?”
Jang San stared at him with wide eyes.
“Why.”
“You just said our relationship is built on friendship…”
“Then were we complete strangers? Did you think I’d help some beast I had no connection with?”
“……”
Suddenly, Baek Seol-hwa butted in.
“Hey, what about me? Why did you accept money from me?!”
“You’re the one I have to keep working for regularly. I was originally helping you for free, but you told me to quit my part-time job, so this is the replacement. It’s a different situation.”
“Aren’t we in a friendship-based relationship too?”
“Aren’t we more like a relationship tied by bad karma?”
“What?!”
“…N-no, I was just joking. You’re similar too, Baek Seol-hwa.”
That was true. It wasn’t purely out of a sense of responsibility that he helped her. He knew she was a good yokai, and after building a certain level of friendship with her, he worked hard to help. When he thought about how dangerous it sometimes got, he probably deserved more than twenty thousand won a day.
Baek Seol-hwa looked at him with wide eyes. Her blue eyes were filled with pure, clear emotion.
“Then are we friends?”
“…Well, that’s not entirely wrong, is it?”
“…Why are you answering in such a roundabout way? It’s either yes or no. What’s with the double negative?”
No, the moment he tried to agree, it felt strangely embarrassing…
“Baek Seol-hwa, read the room~ Se-hwan is feeling shy.”
“Ah, was that it?”
“…It’s not.”
Baek Seol-hwa and Jang San teased him as if they had caught him properly, and Ha Ye-ryeong also laughed lightly, seemingly amused by their relationship.
……Yeah, well.
Becoming friends with yokai isn’t so bad after all.