Shim Iyul ignored Eun Seonmyeong’s exasperated stare and continued looking around the room. The talismans stuck on the somewhat faded but clean wallpaper were an eyesore.
“Take those off right now.”
Shim Iyul’s fingertip trembled with disgust as he pointed at the talismans. Aside from the newly placed ones at the front gate, the old ones had lost some effectiveness, but even so, he had no intention of living in a room openly covered with talismans.
Eun Seonmyeong sighed and glanced at Han Seolju, who was glaring at Shim Iyul with eyes that said, ‘Try anything weird and I’ll kill you.’ The glance meant to remove the talismans. Han Seolju, who had somehow brought along a wooden sword and held it up threateningly, stretched out his arm and tore off the talismans.
Shim Iyul nodded satisfactorily and raised his finger to point outside.
“While you’re at it, why not take off the one on the gate too?”
If that wasn’t removed, it would be quite bothersome to enter and leave this house. He’d have to come in with the Hunter every time or have someone open it from inside. At Shim Iyul’s request, Eun Seonmyeong laughed silently. It was clearly a scoff.
“Say something that makes sense. If I take that off, all sorts of riffraff will come and go. Are you planning to turn my house into a gathering place for wicked things?”
The talisman on the gate served as a gatekeeper of sorts. Without a gatekeeper to protect the house, who knows what miscellaneous things might wander in and out.
“That doesn’t seem like something a Hunter would say when just two days ago he left a talisman that had almost lost its potency.”
Anyone listening would think you’re such a diligent Hunter protecting your house.
“I didn’t expect any yokai would have the guts to cross a Hunter’s threshold. Thanks for reminding me of the need to put up new talismans, though.”
“If you’re grateful, take it off. Or write me a pass.”
“Before I wallpaper the entire house with talismans, shut your mouth, will you?”
The little ghost who had carefully climbed onto the wooden veranda and was peeking into the room made a “Hiiik” sound. He seemed frightened by the threat to wallpaper everything with talismans. But Eun Seonmyeong’s threat didn’t work on Shim Iyul. Shim Iyul tilted his chin and retorted dismissively.
“Go ahead. I’ll just ignore you when you’re suffering from the curse anyway.”
Shim Iyul watched as Eun Seonmyeong ground his teeth and said, “Fine, I’ll write you a pass,” then spun around and left.
A smile spread across Shim Iyul’s face, which had been secretly tense with belated worry that the sulking Hunter might cancel their alliance.
“Fox-nim, are you going to live here now?”
The little one who had entered the room only after Eun Seonmyeong left asked happily.
“Only temporarily.”
Only until the day the White Fox comes looking for Eun Seonmyeong. After avenging his mother’s grudge, he’d part ways with the Hunter forever. Perhaps after parting, they might even fight to kill each other.
Anyway, that was for later. What needed to be done right now was shopping.
***
Shim Iyul rushed to the department store and carefully selected a bed. After much deliberation—lying on it, pressing it, touching it—he chose one that was appropriately soft while elastically supporting the back. He also purchased bedding and pillows as light as down feathers.
His mood doubled when they said it could be delivered today. After giving them Eun Seonmyeong’s address, Shim Iyul moved to a Japanese restaurant and ordered special sushi. Then he savored each piece of sushi with the glances of humans as a side dish.
‘Still delicious.’
It was his first visit in about three years, and the taste hadn’t changed. The fatty tuna, salmon, and raw shrimp were all delicious. The herring had no fishy taste at all. Shim Iyul, who had closed his eyes in blissful intoxication, let out a small sigh. Now only two pieces remained.
Shim Iyul looked down at the sea urchin and amberjack sushi he’d saved with deep regret.
‘Which should I eat first?’
He was seriously contemplating what to eat last when—
“Did you hear Seo Junhee committed suicide?”
A woman at the table next to Shim Iyul, who had been looking at her phone throughout the meal, said to her friend across from her.
“What? Really?”
“Whoa, it’s true.”
“They say she hanged herself in the bathroom.”
As if contagious, everyone started looking at their phones and murmuring. Shim Iyul, who had decided to eat the amberjack sushi first after much thought, also became curious and took out his phone to open the internet. As a fox, there was no need to know about the human world, but it was fine to look while chewing the amberjack sushi.
There was no need to type the name in the search box. The number one real-time search was “Actress Seo Junhee Suicide.” Shim Iyul naturally didn’t know her well, but judging by the humans’ reactions, she seemed to be quite a famous actress.
“I know someone who works at a broadcasting station? So I heard that Seo Junhee was dating some second or third-generation chaebol and got dumped.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. That’s what I heard. She blew up with the drama she was in at the beginning of this year. Before that, nobody knew who she was.”
“Right.”
“As soon as she got famous, she unilaterally notified her agency about contract termination and there was all this talk about lawsuits and stuff. Apparently, all of it was because she was planning to retire from acting and marry her chaebol boyfriend. But she got dumped by her lover and had to pay her agency for breach of contract, so she went broke.”
The two women at the next table whispered with lowered voices, but to Shim Iyul, whose hearing was much sharper than humans, it was perfectly audible. Shim Iyul stared at the photo in the article he’d clicked.
“She’ll become a vengeful ghost.”
A dark aura was hovering around the face in the photo. It meant her soul hadn’t departed for the afterlife. A soul that should depart for the afterlife the moment breathing stops was still remaining in this world, which meant that a strong grudge and obsession remained in this woman named Seo Junhee. From the conversation of the women at the next table, it was likely a grudge, so she would soon become a vengeful ghost.
‘Not my concern though.’
The human world was overflowing with vengeful ghosts. One more vengeful ghost made no difference.
Shim Iyul, who had dismissed his interest, drank a sip of water and picked up the last sea urchin sushi. As soon as he put it in his mouth, the sea urchin generously piled on the rice melted smoothly on his tongue.
After finishing his satisfying meal, he left the department store.
He took a taxi near Eun Seonmyeong’s house and wandered around the neighborhood. Since he’d be living here temporarily, he strolled around leisurely like an idler, both to see what was around and to digest what he’d eaten. When he was thinking ‘I’m a bit thirsty,’ he discovered a suitable café.
<The House Where You Are>
As he entered, a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties greeted him brightly.
“Welcome.”
Shim Iyul nodded halfheartedly and looked around the café. It was a small café with three tables, and there wasn’t a trace of filth or wicked energy. It was clean like a sterile room. Unless protected by a deity, places where many humans come and go inevitably have at least a little dirty or wicked energy, but this was unexpected. Wondering if perhaps there was a deity being worshipped, he thoroughly scanned the interior, but there wasn’t.
“Is something wrong?”
“By any chance, do you worship Seongjushin here…”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. I mean, no. One Einspänner, please.”
He didn’t feel any energy, but he’d started to ask just in case, then stopped. If the café worshipped Seongjushin, it would have revealed itself and scolded him the moment Shim Iyul entered. Asking what a yokai thought it was doing stepping foot here.
‘I got chased out a lot and fought often in the past.’
Shim Iyul traced back distant memories. While it was hard to find houses that worshipped Seongjushin now, there had been many in the past. Every house worshipped Seongju. So he often fought with Seongju trying to protect their territory, and sometimes got chased away. And it wasn’t just Seongju. He also often fought with Joowangshin who protected the kitchen or Dangsu.
Since the act of worshipping deities was dismissed as superstition or past evils, now you had to go to the countryside to meet deities protecting humans, so it was better now than in the past for Shim Iyul to move around freely.
“Please wait a moment.”
The café owner smiled kindly and soon began making the Einspänner that Shim Iyul ordered. As he sat carelessly in an empty chair and looked at the menu meaninglessly, he seemed to hear in his ears the hallucination “Strawberry, strawberry flavor. Strawberry flavor is good.”
“One strawberry shake too.”
Shim Iyul, who had tried to escape the hallucination by tilting his head this way and that, eventually gave up and ordered a strawberry shake as well. A wandering spirit had really latched on properly. He needed to nag the Hunter to quickly find the mother and send the ghost away, it was bothersome.
“Here’s your Einspänner and strawberry shake. Shall I put them in a carrier?”
“That’s okay.”
Shim Iyul left the café holding the shake in his left hand and the Einspänner in his right. He drank the Einspänner on the way to Eun Seonmyeong’s house and it was delicious. The cream, which could be called the essence of Einspänner, was thick yet sweet, exactly Shim Iyul’s taste.
“I should come here often.”
As he arrived at Eun Seonmyeong’s house while sipping the Einspänner, he saw delivery workers just carrying the bed inside. Shim Iyul ran over as if flying and entered through the wide-open gate. Then he guided the workers saying “This way!”
“Strawberry shake!”
He didn’t forget to hand the shake to the little ghost whose eyes lit up recognizing the strawberry shake.
“Installation complete.”
The two delivery workers quickly finished installing the bed and left.
“So you really bought a bed.”
Eun Seonmyeong spoke sarcastically toward Shim Iyul, who was sitting next to the little ghost on the mattress, bouncing his bottom.
“I’m in a good mood right now, so could you get lost? Though we’ve formed an alliance, I’d prefer to see your face only when absolutely necessary.”
Shim Iyul, who had been admiring the mattress’s elasticity while self-praising ‘I chose well indeed. Human goods are worth what you pay for them,’ waved his hand at Eun Seonmyeong. Meaning to remove the unpleasant Hunter’s face quickly. He’d found a café selling Einspänner to his liking and bought a good bed so he was in a good mood, but the Hunter was as annoying as a red pepper flake that fell into white kimchi.
Eun Seonmyeong’s eyes narrowed. He thought about breaking the wrist of this fox brat swatting the air as if shooing away a fly, and threw down the pass he’d written in advance.
“Here’s the pass.”
A pass was like an invitation. Permission to enter this house. The little ghost ran over pitter-patter and picked up the pass to bring it to Shim Iyul.
“Fox-nim! It’s the pass!”
Shim Iyul roughly folded the pass and crumpled it into his pocket. Then he looked up at Eun Seonmyeong.
“Your business is done, right? Call me when you’re suffering from the curse.”
Shim Iyul waved his hand again.
“I have somewhere to go.”
“Where?”
“I need to go to the human you bewitched.”
Eun Seonmyeong’s face crumpled. He’d planned to wait the full ten days, but Seo Hyeonjeong had been calling every twenty minutes being bothersome, so it couldn’t be helped. Apparently the condition had suddenly worsened. He wanted to just turn off his phone, but it was impossible since commission calls might come. In the end, Eun Seonmyeong abandoned the idea of tormenting her more and decided to just finish Seonjin’s commission today.
“How bothersome.”
Shim Iyul grumbled and got up. It was annoying, but it was promised. The little ghost who followed behind Shim Iyul and Eun Seonmyeong heading outside bowed from inside the door saying “Have a safe trip.”
“Yeah.”
Shim Iyul answered despite being annoyed, and Eun Seonmyeong just barely nodded his head.
***
“Get in.”
The two rode in Eun Seonmyeong’s Porsche.
“Is this an expensive car?”
“…”
“You must have quite a bit of money? I heard the Eun family’s fortunes had declined, was that not true?”
“Shut up a bit. Are you always this talkative?”
“Are you always this rude?”
“My rudeness is doing just fine, so don’t interfere and just open the window. It smells.”
“What smell?”
“The foul smell of a yokai.”
…It was a slightly different smell than that. It was foul, but gave off a somewhat subtle feeling. Eun Seonmyeong frowned and rolled down the driver’s side window all the way. Seeing this, Shim Iyul snorted and made a show of brushing off his left shoulder with his right hand to fan away the smell.
Blue veins rose on the back of Eun Seonmyeong’s hand gripping the steering wheel. While he was berating himself that forming an alliance with that crazy fox was indeed a mistake, they arrived in front of the Seonjin estate.
