But Dojin found it frustrating too. Although he was technically a full-time employee, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Iri was practically working alone right now. As a trainee, Dojin could only handle miscellaneous organizing and run errands.
The reason was simple: Dojin still lacked power. Not physical strength, but the mysterious abilities referred to in countless legends as Tao power, divine power, and so on. In the world of Wia, that power was called ‘virtue’.
At present, Dojin’s virtue was absurdly insufficient, making it impossible for him to freely wield Taoist arts.
His plan was to focus entirely on his cultivation, accumulate enough virtue, and then start taking over Iri’s work once a new hire came in. That way, Iri would finally have a little time to rest.
My feelings for Master are this sincere—so why won’t he accept them? Unrequited love really is painful and exhausting.
A twenty-year-old in the middle of unrequited love inevitably feels like the most miserable person in the world. That was exactly Dojin.
“…….”
Iri continued his work, deliberately ignoring the aching, tender gaze boring into the back of his head.
***
Iri’s Curio Rental Shop had no concept of clocking out. Customers didn’t operate according to human schedules, and many curio-handling processes required moonlight or had to be performed at specific times of day.
When it hit 9 p.m., Iri tried to send Dojin home. Dojin insisted that he couldn’t possibly leave when things were this busy, volunteered for overtime, and—once again—successfully secured a place to sleep over.
The next day, the two of them prepared to receive a client from dawn. When the appointment time arrived, ding-dong—the bell rang. Dojin went out to greet Big-Eyed Big-Mouth.
“Hello. Please come in.”
“You are… the new… employee…….”
“That’s right. Please come inside first.”
Big-Eyed Big-Mouth was a Wia with a wide, white face, dot-like tiny eyes, and a disproportionately large mouth. It was only as tall as Dojin’s waist and had no arms or legs.
The broad face rolled along behind Dojin, thump-thump.
After seating Big-Eyed Big-Mouth in the neatly arranged consultation room, Dojin brought out tea for customers. Big-Eyed Big-Mouth shoved the entire teacup into its mouth and crunched it up, swallowing it whole. Dojin stared in horror.
“Hey, what are you doing?! You’re supposed to drink the tea, not eat the cup! Do you know how much each of these costs?!”
“You… you gave it to me, so I ate it… What is the problem…….”
“This is driving me insane. Haa. I’m the only one frustrated. Always me. This is exactly why I can’t accumulate virtue.”
As Dojin raised his voice, Big-Eyed Big-Mouth didn’t know what to do. Its white face gradually turned yellow.
Most of the rental shop’s customers couldn’t stand up to Dojin at all. His aura was simply too rough, too intense.
Knowing that yelling at a customer would only damage their reputation, Dojin left the consultation room. Just then, he ran into Iri as he was about to enter and flinched. Iri looked up at him with his usual clear, gentle expression.
“Dojin. What category does Big-Eyed Big-Mouth belong to?”
Dojin rolled his eyes around before answering.
“A yokai…?”
“…….”
“A monster…?”
“…….”
“If it’s neither a monster nor a yokai, then…….”
Wia that evolved from plants or animals passed through the monster stage before branching into either spiritual creatures or yokai. Beyond spiritual creatures were divine beasts or divine spirits; beyond yokai were Evil Gods. There was no way it was an Evil God, and divine beasts were exceedingly rare. Yet in Dojin’s judgment, that Wia didn’t possess enough virtue to be a divine spirit either. That left only one possibility.
“So it was a stray spirit. Since it didn’t originate from plants or animals but from an object, it absorbed the object.”
“That’s right.”
“…Should I go apologize?”
“If you want to.”
“…….”
Dojin thought, Is apologizing really necessary? Iri read his mind and smiled faintly.
“Next time, think once more before getting angry. You’re in a position where you need to accumulate virtue, so it’s best to avoid earning others’ resentment as much as possible.”
“Yessir,” Dojin replied.
While Iri went in to conduct the consultation, Dojin reflected very briefly—then immediately decided they needed to order more teacups.
By the time Dojin finished gathering the materials needed for the pseudo-ants’ food, Iri’s consultation with Big-Eyed Big-Mouth was over.
After seeing the client out, the two of them prepared to head out immediately, just as planned the day before.
“You’re going out dressed like that?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
Dojin sighed as he looked at the white everyday hanbok Iri was wearing.
“Master. You do know how cold the mountains are in March, right? Of course you do. If you know, then you should dress warmer—so what is this? Are you asking me to hug you or something?”
“How long do you think we’ll be staying outside?”
“Fine. I’ll take care of it. The whole world should know how careless Immortal Iri is.”
Grumbling, Dojin brought out a thick coat—what people commonly called a long padded jacket. Iri felt that a long padded jacket in March, for an Immortal no less, was a bit excessive, but for the sake of his disciple’s peace of mind, he quietly put it on.
The vehicle they used was a tinted black van. Its original form wasn’t a car but a dragon horse—a magnificent steed with the head of a dragon. Every Immortal received one dragon horse. Iri had modified his to suit modern times, transforming it into a car.
Dojin sat in the driver’s seat, and Iri took the back seat.
[￣︶￣/]
The dragon horse greeted them through the navigation system. Dojin and Iri both said hello back.
Just as they opened the garage door and were about to leave, Dojin let out a sharp sigh.
“Ah, fuck. This is such a pain in the ass.”
“Dojin. Watch your language.”
“Sorry. But seriously, they’re way too persistent.”
In front of the garage door, the same person who’d been lurking around lately was standing there, waving both hands high in the air.
“They seem absolutely convinced that we’re the people from the video.”
Iri gazed calmly at the uninvited guest before speaking.
“Tell her to get in.”
“What?”
“Let her ride with us.”
“…We’re on our way to meet a mountain divine spirit.”
“I know.”
Iri looked at Dojin with his glossy black eyes. Faced with that clear, pure gaze, Dojin couldn’t resist any longer. He opened the door and got out. Then the woman climbed into the car with them. Dojin’s face remained grim the entire time, while the woman looked as cheerful as an excited child.
“H-hello….”
The woman, who’d been about to greet them confidently, froze when she saw the young man smiling gently. Iri’s handsome appearance was one thing, but his aura was so pure that it always made people hesitate. It was like catching sight of your bare face reflected in an impossibly clean mirror.
“Would you like to sit in the passenger seat instead?”
“Ah, yes!”
At Dojin’s sharp question, the woman who’d been sitting beside Iri quickly stood up and moved to the passenger seat. She was dressed much like the day before—in a thin cotton T-shirt and jeans. She looked neat enough on the outside, but to Dojin, she was nothing more than an occult otaku.
Just riding in the same car as the legendary “exorcism video” protagonists seemed to delight the occult otaku, who kept making strange noises like Huuuuh, Ehehe, and Uuuh.
“Hello. That was an exorcism video, right? It was, wasn’t it? I’m seriously honored…. I mean, when I searched it up, nothing like the Grand Earth Cosmic Truth Sect showed up. No fake cults or anything. I’m really glad I didn’t give up…….”
“What’s your name?”
“M-Min Jiyon.”
“Where do you live?”
“I live in…….”
Jiyon glanced at Iri. The first time you saw an Immortal, you flinched; the second time, you stole glances; by the third, you felt familiarity. That three-stage process usually took about five minutes—so Min Jiyon soon opened her heart to Iri.
“I live in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. I’m 28. I work full-time…. And I’m a member of ‘Saeboreum’!”
“Saeboreum?”
“An occult club! Only people who watched the exorcism video live can join. We were the ones who figured out that your filming location was an abandoned house in Jeonbuk. We also call ourselves the Saeboreumi Research Group. We’ve been to that Jeonbuk abandoned house over twenty times. We’ve even stayed the night there. And you know Lee Seokjin, right? Seokjin oppa is one of our members too…….”
Lee Seokjin was a famous film actor who hit ten million viewers the moment he appeared in anything. He had consistently presented himself as an occult maniac through countless media appearances. The celebrity who had reignited public attention by mentioning the exorcism video on a recent broadcast was none other than Lee Seokjin.
Listening to Jiyon ramble on, Iri smiled brightly and asked,
“Do you like ghosts?”
“Uh… a lot!”
Min Jiyon’s voice grew louder.
“I’ve liked them since I was young. I guess my energy’s strong, because I’ve never actually experienced anything strange myself, but I’ve studied exorcism extensively. I’ve read every exorcism-related book that exists, studied both Western and Eastern ghosts. I watched that exorcism video because I love ghosts so much—even though I thought it’d probably just be viral bait. And then that video changed my life. I really saw a real ghost. Something I’ve never seen anywhere else…….”
“That wasn’t exactly a ghost. And we don’t do exorcism work either.”
“That’s okay! It doesn’t have to be an exorcism. I just want to experience something strange and mysterious. My life is so boring……. I’m sick of the same daily routine repeating like a hamster wheel. I want to experience the kind of mystical things someone ordinary like me would never encounter. That video was the only mysterious thing in my life. Please—let me be with you.”
What she meant by wanting to be with them was simple: she wanted to directly experience those strange, mysterious events. People like this existed everywhere—humans who wanted to see ghosts, who longed to meet yokai.
