Eun Seonmyeong felt anger rising inside and pushed Shim Iyul’s forehead with his index finger.
“You eat in moderation. And what do you mean Ban Hanseong is a kid? He’s eaten up twenty-eight years.”
“That much is still a kid. I’m 238 years old.”
“By that logic, I’d be a kid in your eyes too.”
“You’re…”
“I’m what?”
“You’re… not a kid anymore. We did… you know. Since ancient times, they say you become an adult after doing that. I made you an adult, so you should respect me.”
Shim Iyul, who had glanced at Han Seolju, whispered in a lowered voice. Right now, Han Seolju was standing like a guardian deity, watching Shim Iyul with eyes that said, ‘If you show even a sign of messing around, you’re dead.’ When looking at Han Seolju, it felt like looking at a bear with extreme vigilance.
‘The hunter was like that too.’
Not long ago, Eun Seonmyeong would look like he’d kill him if Shim Iyul even breathed too loudly. Always pulling out his gun to aim at him, threatening to kill him. Compared to then, they’d made a lot of progress. Suddenly feeling proud, when he stroked Eun Seonmyeong’s back of the head, the response “Are you crazy?” came back.
“Hey, respect.”
“Talking nonsense about respect. And I told you not to touch me randomly, didn’t I?”
“So petty, what’s wrong with touching a little…”
“Because of you, I’m already in a constant state of heat standby, do you want to make me in heat 24/7?”
“H-how is that because of me?”
Shim Iyul protested while slyly removing his hand from Eun Seonmyeong’s back of the head. He’d forgotten the warning from earlier in the car to only touch him where he could take responsibility. Strangely, with Eun Seonmyeong, his body seemed to move before his head. Should he say instinct preceded reason?
‘I’m not usually such an emotional and instinctive fox.’
It was strange.
“Because you made me this way.”
“Wh-what are you saying?”
“You keep stimulating me while giving off sexy pheromones, so my mind keeps getting messy.”
Actually, what he was sensing from Shim Iyul now wasn’t a strong enough smell to call pheromones. It was just his usual body scent. But even so, whenever he caught a whiff of Shim Iyul’s body scent, his body reacted sensitively. It wasn’t just the body scent. The same went for when their hands touched.
“When did you complain it was disgusting?”
“Anyway.”
“Then let’s do it like this.”
Shim Iyul grumbled with his earlobes slightly flushed while making a stroking motion in the air about 3cm away from Eun Seonmyeong’s back of the head. Then Eun Seonmyeong laughed shortly as if absurd.
Even though it was natural for him, a Fire Fox, to enchant humans, perhaps because the other person was a hunter, he felt strangely embarrassed. But it’s winter, so why am I hot? They even said it’s the strongest cold wave. Thinking his cheeks felt hot, Shim Iyul leaned his body slightly toward Eun Seonmyeong and sniffed. Come to think of it, at some point Eun Seonmyeong’s hunter smell didn’t bother him that much anymore. Rather, it seemed to give him a sense of relief and a warmth that heated his stomach.
A sense of relief. Shim Iyul shook his head. He’d had an absurd thought. For a yosu to feel relief from a hunter. Of course, hugging him to sleep felt unpleasantly warm, but that had nothing to do with relief. It was just because Eun Seonmyeong’s body temperature was high.
“What’s your average body temperature?”
“It would be around 36.5 degrees.”
Eun Seonmyeong looked at him as if to say ‘Why are you asking such a thing?’ but still answered obediently.
“I think it’s about 38 degrees though?”
“I don’t have a fever.”
“The meat seems to be done.”
Just then, Han Seolju intervened bluntly between the two. Shim Iyul stood up and hurriedly opened the drawer to find it thoroughly cooked. Shim Iyul took out the pork belly and put it on a plate, then put in new meat.
“I think it’s overcooked. Try it.”
Shim Iyul, who had picked up another piece of meat with tongs, held it to Eun Seonmyeong’s mouth.
“You say it’s overcooked but tell me to try it, what kind of mischief is this?”
Eun Seonmyeong shook his head as if absurd, but still put the pork belly Shim Iyul told him to eat into his mouth and chewed. It was hard.
“How is it?”
“My jaw feels like it’ll fall off. It’s hard.”
“Right? As expected, it’s better not to eat this.”
Shim Iyul threw away the meat on the plate and came back. Eun Seonmyeong narrowed his eyes and looked at Shim Iyul with displeasure, dumbfounded.
“My jaw is delicate, so I can’t chew hard things.”
Shim Iyul grinned brightly while meeting Eun Seonmyeong’s absurd gaze.
“Am I a test rat? Is my jaw made of iron?”
Eun Seonmyeong grabbed Shim Iyul’s jaw, shook it lightly, and let go. He wanted to get more angry because it was absurd, but his smiling face was pretty so he’d let it… Eun Seonmyeong clicked his tongue. These days, if he let his guard down even a little, strange thoughts burrowed into his head, which was troublesome. Thinking a smiling face is pretty. What’s he going to do thinking a yosu is pretty? Earlier, didn’t he think the gluttonous appearance was cute? He was resolving to pull himself together when someone knocked on the gate.
“I’ll go check.”
Han Seolju opened the gate.
“Excuse me, does someone with red hair live here?”
“Yes, but…”
“Someone sent this.”
What the man standing outside the gate held out was a flower basket. He handed the flower basket to Han Seolju, bowed his head, and left.
“What is it?”
“Flowers came for the fox.”
“Me?”
Shim Iyul stretched his neck and looked indifferently at the basket in Han Seolju’s hands. It must have been sent by some foolish human who fell for his beautiful appearance. Receiving courtship from humans was such a common occurrence that he wasn’t particularly moved.
“Bring it here.”
Han Seolju roughly set down the flower basket in front of Shim Iyul with a thud. Various flowers were neatly and nicely arranged in the fairly large basket.
“Who sent it?”
Eun Seonmyeong roughly rummaged through the basket, but there wasn’t even a card. Petals fell like rain from Eun Seonmyeong’s rough touch.
“Throw it away.”
Eun Seonmyeong, who had trampled the petals that fell on the floor with his foot, told Han Seolju.
“Why are you telling me to throw away or not throw away what came for me?”
“This is my house. No flowers in my house. Absolutely not.”
“W-wait…”
“Throw it away right now.”
Eun Seonmyeong handed the flower basket back to Han Seolju with a cold attitude. Shim Iyul, who had been trying to examine the flowers closely, pouted. It wasn’t that the flowers were precious. He just wanted to take a closer look at the pure white flower that had been placed in the center of the flower basket.
“The shaman is exactly right. You hunter have a strong dictator tendency.”
“I am a dictator, so don’t go around enchanting just anyone, okay? Making flower baskets come to the house like this.”
“Even if I try not to enchant them, humans enchant themselves, so what can I do?”
“At least cover your face when you go out.”
Who on earth did he enchant this time to have flowers delivered to the house? His mood was indescribably foul. It’s not like he could lock him up in the house either. What if he put a collar around the Fire Fox’s neck, he was thinking when Ban Hanseong ran out from the sarangchae.
“Gaju! I found it! I was so hungry I died searching with all my might! Look here.”
Eun Seonmyeong looked at the laptop. A family photo consisting of parents and siblings appeared.
“Is the father the descendant of the Hyeon Family?”
Eun Seonmyeong’s gaze scanned the father in the photo.
“It’s the mother’s side. Of the siblings, the younger brother was reported dead more than ten years ago, and the mother, who was the descendant of the Hyeon Family, also died three years ago. The father and daughter seem to be running a woodcraft shop in Samcheong-dong, shall we go? This is the address.”
Ban Hanseong showed the name and address of the Hyeon Family descendant. The name of the Hyeon Family descendant was Hyeon Gyeonghwa, her husband was Kang Jintae, and their daughter was Kang Sowon.
“We should go.”
Eun Seonmyeong answered perfunctorily with his gaze fixed on the photo. Especially on the daughter, Kang Sowon.
‘Where have I seen that face?’
Kang Sowon looked strangely familiar.
“Then have a good trip.”
Ban Hanseong, who waved his hand without sincerity with an attitude that his work was now done, opened the drawer and smacked his lips.
“If we cook it for just 2 more minutes it’ll be perfect… Wait.”
Ban Hanseong, who had been pushing the drawer back in as if he’d drool, tilted his head and turned around. Then he approached the laptop and stared intently at the family photo from earlier.
“What’s wrong?”
“This son here. Doesn’t he look familiar?”
Earlier he’d passed over it perfunctorily because he was hungry, but suddenly the thought ‘Where have I seen that face?’ occurred to him. At Ban Hanseong’s words, Eun Seonmyeong also looked at the laptop again.
“This bastard…”
Looking at it for a while, he could tell who it was.
“That’s right! It’s the ghost that was attached to Lee Seonghun!”
The son smiling brightly in the family photo was that gentle-looking ghost who had been attached to Lee Seonghun in the past. The one who had been bullied to death by Lee Seonghun. Eun Seonmyeong let out a hollow laugh. To think this bastard was a descendant of the Hyeon Family.
The inside of the woodcraft shop run by Hyeon Gyeonghwa’s husband and daughter was quiet. As they entered, a bell rang with a ding-a-ling, and soon a man wearing an apron came out. It was Kang Jintae. According to Ban Hanseong’s investigation, Kang Jintae should be sixty this year, but his completely white hair and face full of deep wrinkles made him look at least seventy. It seemed he’d suffered mentally from losing his son and wife first.
“Welcome.”
Even his greeting voice lacked energy.
“Are you Kang Jintae-ssi?”
“Yes, but who are you?”
Kang Jintae looked over Eun Seonmyeong and Shim Iyul.
“I’m called Eun Seonmyeong.”
“Eun Seonmyeong… the Eun Family…”
Though the surname Eun was rare but not completely absent, Kang Jintae immediately thought of the Eun Family at Eun Seonmyeong’s name.
“You know of me.”
“I heard my wife’s family was an exorcist family in the past. I know because I heard it from my wife. She said it was the only exorcist family that didn’t close… But why has someone from the Eun Family come looking for me?”
“Can I meet your daughter?”
“Why do you want to see our Sowon?”
Wariness appeared in Kang Jintae’s brow. Instead of answering, Eun Seonmyeong asked again, “Can I meet her?” An exorcist’s spiritual energy is passed down through blood. Since Hyeon Gyeonghwa was dead, the only descendant of the Hyeon Family who could handle goljinchung was Kang Sowon.
“Our Sowon… went missing.”
Kang Jintae answered with difficulty, distorting his face. His daughter and only remaining family member, Kang Sowon, had suddenly disappeared last year. After losing his son twelve years ago and even his wife, who had lost her mind, dying three years ago, even his daughter, who had been living like someone who had lost all emotions, vanished like smoke.
He’d made inquiries everywhere, but finding his daughter was a distant prospect. The family of four had disappeared one by one, and now Kang Jintae was the only person left guarding the house.
