“It could help Wia kids with things like anorexia or loss of appetite.”
“But there are already a few curio of that type.”
“True…. The ‘Bronze Bowl’ doesn’t even need dragon saliva. It’s way easier to make, too.”
“Right. This one should be destroyed.”
When Iri lightly tapped the stick twice with his finger, the stick went poof and scattered into dust. Dojin put on a show of mourning.
Next were the five fragments.
“I’m pretty good at assembling things. Leave it to me.”
Dojin rolled up his sleeves and assembled the pieces.
When all the differently shaped fragments were fitted together, what emerged was—
“…….”
“…….”
A cylindrical object about 30 centimeters long, elongated, with rounded ends and too thick to be fully grasped in one hand.
For some reason, it was warm to the touch.
Dojin’s face turned bright red.
“T-those stone grandfather statues. Harubang, right? Harubang….”
“Those did originate from this, yes….”
When Iri tried to grasp the monstrosity with his pretty hand, Dojin let out a shrill scream and smacked it down with the edge of his hand.
The monstrosity shattered into pieces. As if that weren’t enough, Dojin went into a fit, stomping on it while screaming. Beneath the Jangsa’s feet, the curio vanished without a trace. There was no need for Iri to use Taoist arts at all.
“Why the hell does something like this even come into existence?! Why would a curio like this exist?! Putting something like this anywhere near Immortal’s beautiful hands—fuck, has Heaven-and-Earth completely lost its mind?! Who needs this? Why would anyone need it?! Even if someone did need it, it still has to pass through Immortal’s hands first—AAAH, you perverted Heaven-and-Earth! Immortal, stay far away! Don’t touch it! Damn it! Die already! Disappear!”
In truth, Iri himself had never encountered such a grotesque curio before, so inwardly he was more than a little startled. But his disciple seemed so deeply shaken that Iri instead became calm. The fact that Dojin was saying ‘Immortal’ instead of ‘Master’ made it clear—he’d lost his rationality from the shock.
Kkiwoong.
The Dark One trembled violently and hid itself inside Iri’s sleeve.
The enraged Jangsa continued huffing and puffing for quite some time even after the curio had completely vanished. Because of that, they couldn’t even touch the final curio—the white paper.
After stroking the trembling Dark One inside his sleeve for a while, Iri finally asked Dojin,
“Have you calmed down?”
“Yes.”
“Then while you’re up, could you go bring the lost child inside?”
“The lost child?”
“Ttanttori is hovering around out front.”
“Ah… okay.”
Still fuming, Dojin put on his shoes and went outside.
Iri folded the white paper neatly and placed it into his bag.
It was far too dangerous a curio to maintain…
But destroying it without ever using it even once also felt like a waste.
Should he give it to Dojin… or to someone who truly needed it?
He’d have to think about it.
***
Ttanttori was currently transformed into the appearance of a child about ten years old.
His wavy black hair reached his shoulders, with bangs long enough to cover his eyes. Judging by his face and limbs, he wasn’t skinny—if anything, he was plump. It seemed the neighboring Wia had taken good care of him in many ways.
“I-Immortal.”
“Hello.”
Given the contrast between his cute appearance and his heavy, resonant voice, most would’ve flinched—but Iri simply bent his knees gently and met Ttanttori’s gaze. Instead, Ttanttori flinched and took a step back, but Iri paid it no mind and reached out to brush his bangs aside.
“They’re golden.”
“…….”
The bright yellow eyes wavered.
“Where did you get those clothes?”
“I-I picked them up on the way, but I-I don’t like these clothes… I-I am a boy.”
The boy—wearing a pale pink dress—clenched his fists and declared this earnestly. A soft fullness formed beneath Iri’s eyes.
“So cute. Seriously.”
Just as he could no longer resist and was about to hug the child, a hand firmly grabbed his shoulder.
“Master, didn’t you say time was critical? We’re not waiting around for the Mountain Divine Spirit’s permission—let’s just feed him and start the molting already.”
The voice was thick with both jealousy and hostility. Sometimes, Iri truly couldn’t understand Dojin’s jealousy triggers. He got jealous over something as simple as patting a small creature’s back….
In any case, it was urgent, so they set the table first. Ttanttori, clearly raised with care by the neighbors, knew how to use both a spoon and chopsticks. He even ate the slightly spicy doribaengbaengyi well, though he kept getting sauce around his mouth. When Iri pulled out a tissue, Dojin snatched it away and wiped Ttanttori’s mouth himself. Jealousy had turned him into an oddly considerate person.
Kkiwoong…….
The Dark One kept climbing onto the bowls, seemingly wanting to eat as well. When Dojin flicked it lightly with a finger, it rolled off with a thump, only to climb back up again, kkiwoong-kkiwoong, heave-ho.
Smiling, Iri explained the Dark One’s way of eating.
“Dark One. Eat the shadow.”
Kkiwoong?
“Absorb the food’s shadow. Come on, try it.”
Iri picked up a piece of doribaengbaengyi with his chopsticks and dangled it in the air. The Dark One stared at the shadow beneath it, then slowly crawled into it. The shadow of the doribaengbaengyi vanished.
Burp—.
The Dark One flopped over and patted its distended belly.
“It eats one thing and it’s full? Seriously.”
“If it keeps eating, its capacity will grow. Someday it might even swallow this entire house.”
“…Yeah, we shouldn’t overfeed it.”
Dojin shuddered in disgust.
The Deokyusan Divine Spirit arrived only when the meal was nearly finished.
Since the homeowner merely rang the doorbell and didn’t enter, they went outside—and found a student with round glasses and a bob haircut kneeling as if guilty of high treason. Thankfully, there was no one else around.
“I sincerely apologize for leaving the mountain unattended. I swear this will never happen again…!”
“Nothing happened, so there’s no need to apologize. Where did you go?”
“I don’t usually leave my post, but today there were unavoidable circumstances…. Shaman’s third album title-track comeback stage…. Then right after the pre-recording, a mini fan meeting…. Ah—no, never mind. These are all excuses. I deeply regret failing to fulfill my duties. However, in truth, this month the Gaya Mountain Divine Spirit was in charge of the Summer Gate—ah, I’m sorry.”
The divine spirit looked exactly like someone who had just returned from a blissful fan event. In his shopping bags were light sticks and banners, five cute plush dolls, five photocard necklaces around his neck, and a name badge decorated with pretty stickers—five of them.
“For a divine spirit who has to live a long life, developing hobbies is a good thing. You did well. Stand up.”
“Immortal…….”
The divine spirit sniffled as he stood up—then flinched upon seeing the large, big-eyed man standing beside Iri.
“W-who is that? He looks like a bodyguard.”
“That’s Dojin. My disciple. Dojin, say hello.”
“Hello. I’m Kim Dojin.”
“Ah…. That King candidate…. Hello….”
The divine spirit greeted him awkwardly. Iri turned slightly.
“And this is Ttanttori.”
“I’m Ttanttori… and I’m a boy!”
Ttanttori shouted proudly.
“Ahhh, baby Yung really are something else….”
The divine spirit collapsed to his knees. Ttanttori was just too cute. At that moment, the Dark One poked its head out of Iri’s sleeve with a kkiwoong?
“AAAAAA—my goodness, where on earth did this little stray spirit come from….”
Clutching his chest, the divine spirit squealed about how cute it was.
At that moment, the keyword ‘pathetic’ was firmly added to Dojin’s internal image of Mountain Divine Spirits.
With everyone gathered, all that remained was Ttanttori’s molting.
The Deokyusan Divine Spirit gladly offered up a room for shedding the husk. Molting required safety, making a divine spirit’s home the perfect location. The rental shop was also safe, but… in a different sense, it was the most dangerous place of all. You never knew what deranged customers might do when they got excited.
From the ‘Mouth Door’, Dojin took out a ‘Silver Glass Bottle’. ‘The Silver Glass Bottle’—a curio capable of storing light or darkness—held sunlight captured at the clearest moment of the sky. While the divine spirit carefully sealed the room’s windows, Dojin hung the bottle from the center of the ceiling, and Iri sprinkled white salt around the room, drawing a large circle.
“Good thing we stored so much sunlight. One bottle should be perfect.”
“Good thing I didn’t organize my bag, right?”
“Let’s not rationalize like that. Tomorrow, you are organizing the inside.”
“…….”
“No answer?”
“I’ll really do it tomorrow. For real…….”
Meanwhile, not knowing what else to do, Ttanttori trailed closely behind Iri. Seeing this, Iri said,
“Get on the bed. And you can release your human transformation now.”
“Got it!”
Ttanttori’s face lit up as he immediately changed form.
The young Yung was shaped like a sparrow—except that its body took up a full third of the bed, and two long, white eyebrow-feathers nearly a meter in length extended from its forehead.
After molting, it would grow taller but slimmer. It would take on a sleek, streamlined form like a pheasant. But the current young Yung was nothing more than a sparrow with a comically swollen belly.
A rather large sparrow.
“So cute….”
The divine spirit voiced exactly what Iri was thinking as he diligently prepared for the adorable young Yung’s molting.
“Have you ever seen another Yung before?”
“I-I saw them when I was little…….”
“Your parents?”
Ttanttori nodded.
“I-I had a mom and a dad too… but one day, my dad went out to look for food and never came back. Mom went to look for him, and she didn’t come back either. Mom told me not to move, so I stayed there for a long time, but th-the mushroom hyung said I’d die if I stayed like that, so he dragged me out…….”
“Mushroom hyung?”
“Mushroom hyung and the noona.”
Ttanttori described what the mushroom looked like. Small, with eight legs and two arms, a mushroom-shaped torso, and a small green leaf sprouting from the top of its head.
“That sounds like an Eum-beoseot-i.”
Eum-beoseot-i were small Wia that mainly lived in parking lots, a species that formed colonies.
Dojin pointed to the front pocket of his shirt—more precisely, to the Dark One sleeping soundly inside.
“Aren’t they about this big?”
“Yeah. Tiny.”
“So creatures that’d go flying if a claw brushed them raised something dozens of times bigger than themselves like a child….”
