“Hngh. All right, I get it, so loosen it a bit.”
“Hey, Hoban. Aren’t you going to answer?”
“Ah, all right! I get it! I won’t swear anymore! I swear it!”
“Tch. You’re scared of everything.”
Dojin untied the ropes. The Guests collapsed to the floor, slumping like spilled liquid. Iri wore a look that clearly said I knew it.
As expected, you can’t gently reason with them the way Jangmito does….
The Butterfly Immortal carefully skirted around Dojin and the Guests and approached Iri.
“What do you think happened? Could it be that a new Guest was born and is running around on its own?”
“Who knows…”
“What are you planning to do now? You can’t exactly collaborate with the Great Bandit.”
“That’s out of the question… I’ll have to look into it myself and handle it within my own authority.”
If Princess Chalma had been involved, he would’ve reported it to the King, but if the Great Bandit was at the top of the chain, it was right for Iri to resolve it himself.
“Hm. Should I drop by the rental shop for once? I’ll personally bestow a blessing on the oak tree. May it bloom abundantly and bear lots of fruit.”
“That would be a problem if it blooms and bears too much. Since you’ve already come down to the surface, go check on your territories and head back. I’ve got plenty to do too.”
“You’re seriously a work addict.”
Already seething from the Guests’ trash talk, Dojin snapped again at that remark, opening his mouth before Iri could stop him.
“That’s not something someone who dumped all the work on a known work addict should say, is it?”
The butterfly’s mouth fell open.
“Did a mere Jangsa just criticize me?”
“I was talking to myself. What—hit a nerve?”
“Iri! Your disciple’s lost his mind!”
“Both of you, be quiet. What kind of childish nonsense is this in front of customers?”
“Why both of us? Your disciple started it!”
“Grow up, Butterfly.”
“…!”
The Butterfly Immortal trembled, shaking with a look of utter betrayal. Dojin deliberately plastered himself to Iri’s side, shamelessly lifting his chin. As a result, only Jangmito suffered, having his long tail yanked hard by the indignant Butterfly.
***
After parting ways with the Butterfly Immortal and using the passage to return to the rental shop, the doorbell rang the moment they arrived. It was the raccoon gentleman, a regular customer. If they’d been even a little later, it would’ve turned into a reverse no-show.
“Immortal Iri, greetings. It’s been a long time.”
“It has. Come on in. Dojin, could you make some tea?”
“Yes, sir.”
The short, chubby raccoon gentleman waddled inside. Iri ushered him into the consultation room, closed the door, and stepped back out. The raccoon gentleman stared at the tray of snacks on the table—yakgwa, hangwa, chocolate cookies, and candies—then checked that the door was firmly shut. He grabbed a fistful and stuffed them into his belly pouch. After that, he glanced around. Fingers that were still unsatisfied twitched restlessly.
Watching through the window, Iri smiled. Dojin, approaching with a tea tray, tilted his head.
“Aren’t you going in?”
“Let’s give him a little time. I’ve got things to take care of too.”
“Things to take care of?”
Iri pulled out his phone and entered one of the many chat rooms in his messenger app. The chat was titled ‘Divine Spirits’, and there were five members total, including Iri.
“Oh. Looks like the divine spirits are finally going to work for once. They’ve had it way too easy thanks to meeting a good boss. You should really make them work hard. Why not just put them fully in charge of this case?”
“And that’s exactly why the Understanding One scolds you every time they see you.”
“That’s why I’m saying—drop a workload bomb on them so they won’t even have the energy to come scold me.”
Most residents of the True Mortal Realm have retinues. Immortals in particular may keep anywhere from as few as three to as many as a hundred and twenty-one. The Butterfly Immortal was very much the latter type.
On the other hand, there were those who kept not a single retainer—and Iri was one of them. Simply running the rental shop alone accumulated nearly infinite virtue, making the benefits of having retainers unnecessary.
Instead, Iri kept trusted aides to handle miscellaneous tasks.
They were collectively called ‘Iri’s divine spirits’, and there were four of them: the Apothecary, the Scholar, the Understanding One, and the Observer. All four resided in the Middle Realm—that is, the human realm.
Among them, Dojin had a relationship with the Understanding One akin to that of a nephew to an aunt or uncle. Just last month, during Lunar New Year, when everyone—including Immortal Iri—had gathered at Dojin’s family home, the Understanding One had come by as well and given Dojin and his younger sister Dohui Joseon-era currency as New Year’s money.
“Unfortunately, the one I’m assigning work to this time isn’t the Understanding One.”
“Oh? Then who?”
Iri’s fingers tapped rapidly.
[Apothecary]
A reply came instantly.
[Apothecary
Yes??]
[It seems a new type of plague has emerged. I need you to look into it.]
[Apothecary
A plague has broken out??????]
[Apothecary
Huh???]
[Apothecary
I didn’t sense anything at all though..????]
[If you contact Jangmito from the Butterfly Immortal, he’ll know.]
[Apothecary
I don’t have Jangmito’s number..]
[Scholar
010-0000-0000 Save it already and keep it on hand.]
[Apothecary
lol]
[Apothecary
But a new plague… what kind of situation is this]
[Scholar
lololol]
[Scholar
Sounds like a pain lololol]
[Apothecary
ㅡㅡ]
[Apothecary
Isn’t there anything you can assign to the Scholar?]
[Not yet.]
[Scholar
lolololol]
[Apothecary
ㅡㅡ]
[Scholar
Look at the Understanding One reading all this and staying dead silent lololol]
[Apothecary
ㅡㅡlololol]
“What does the Apothecary divine spirit do? Do they make medicine, like the name suggests?”
“They do make medicine. And they possess an incredible ability to detect all illnesses that can be treated with ‘medicine’.”
“Then shouldn’t they have sensed this plague too?”
“If no cure has been developed yet, they can’t detect the disease either.”
“Ahh…”
“Let’s go in now.”
After assigning the task to the Apothecary divine spirit, Iri opened the consultation room door. The snack basket was completely empty, and the shameless raccoon gentleman feigned innocence, asking, “Don’t you have any snacks?” Iri barely managed to stop Dojin from hurling the teapot in fury as they began the day’s work.
4) Bokbaebari and the Grim Reaper
The rental shop sees many kinds of problem customers. No-show customers who reserve curios and never come to pick them up; unreasonable customers who throw tantrums demanding to rent items that aren’t available for rental; delinquent customers who don’t return items and ignore all contact attempts, and so on…
Iri had dealt with them so often that he’d grown used to it, and with his naturally even temperament, he handled their antics calmly no matter what. Lately, however, every time such a customer appeared, he found himself watching Dojin’s mood instead.
Rather than maturing after becoming an adult, Dojin had grown rougher in both speech and behavior, and quicker to anger. Back when he was a student, he hadn’t realized how many problem customers the rental shop had, nor that Iri’s days began and ended entirely with work. It was only after he started working at the shop in earnest that he learned all of this.
So far, Dojin had never thrown a punch at a customer—but you never knew. A Jangsa was usually laid-back and easygoing, but once their switch flipped, they charged forward without caring about consequences.
And Iri was also worried that Dojin seemed to be growing more and more hateful toward Wia. After all, Dojin was destined to become the King of the True Mortal Realm, the ruler of Wia. What would become of the world if its king despised or loathed his people?
For all these reasons, Iri was careful to keep Dojin from directly facing problem customers.
“It’s already been twenty days past the return date. The next customer’s been waiting forever. Bring it back, now.”
—I want to return it too, but things keep happening, what can I do? Every time I leave the house, there’s torrential rain, storms, hail…
“This is Korea. There hasn’t been torrential rain, storms, or hail anywhere.”
—I’m telling you, that’s how it is in my neighborhood. But Immortal, why are you whispering like that? Speak up a bit. I can barely hear you.
The reason Iri was whispering was for the sake of this customer’s life. While Dojin was occupied cleaning the ‘Paulownia Brazier’, Iri was handling calls from delinquent customers.
The ‘Paulownia Brazier’—the most frequently used divine item and the shop’s most valuable asset—was fully dismantled and thoroughly cleaned once a week. The process generated a tremendous amount of noise, making it difficult for even Dojin to hear anything on this side.
“Anyway, bring it back before this week’s over. If you don’t, I’ll personally bring our staff to your house.”
—Heh. By staff, do you mean that scary, violent human employee?
“Yeah. That sharp-eyed, handsome human employee. I said by this week.”
—Ah, all right. I’ll try…
The people of Wia are afraid of Dojin. They instinctively sense the pressure of a Jangsa—like a frog fearing a snake.
While worrying about Dojin’s violent tendencies, Iri also took advantage of them to handle delinquent customers. Just then, Dojin finished cleaning and came back inside. Iri quickly said, “Then I’ll see you that day. Goodbye,” and hung up.
“Master, I’m done cleaning. Please check.”
“Check what? If it’s you, I’m sure you did it properly.”
“Hehe.”
The terrifying human employee who could force even delinquent customers to promise returns grinned broadly as he sidled up next to Iri.
“Who were you on the phone with? Don’t tell me it was some bastard spouting nonsense about showing up out of the blue at this hour?”
“Please watch your language… you’ll lose virtue.”
“My virtue won’t go anywhere over something like ‘bastard’ anymore. I’m used to it now. You shouldn’t just coddle your virtue however you like either, Master—try swearing like me sometimes. You’ve gotta raise it tough if you want things to be easier later.”
“What on earth are you talking about…?”
