Fox yokai are classified as Yeongmul, but if they accumulate virtue and cultivate themselves, their fur eventually turns a dazzling silver. At that point, they become divine beasts known as Silver Foxes. Divine beasts are a category that surpasses even divine spirits, and only a handful existed in the world.
The Four Directional Guardians of the Heaven-and-Earth Seas—Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger—and the Twelve Divine Generals directly under them. These beings were divine beasts.
“Then show me a video or something. Seeing them move might feel different.”
So fascinated that he forgot basic fan etiquette, Dojin ended up making a request he shouldn’t have. The divine spirit immediately brought out a laptop and began lining up carefully curated videos. As Dojin watched music videos, broadcast stages, and variety show clips, he asked,
“Do the other members know his true identity?”
“Of course not. This short-haired, handsome member right here was raised in a devout household. If he found out Yoha’s true nature, he’d faint on the spot.”
“No, wait a second.”
Dojin turned to Iri, looking incredulous.
“Is it really okay to hide your identity and blend in among humans like this?”
Iri smiled faintly.
“As long as there’s no intention to bewitch or harm humans, it doesn’t violate the rules. It was quite common in the past.”
“Don’t tell me there were fox yokai among older-generation idols too?”
“I don’t know about idols, but Jingak Guksa, Seosan Daesa…. Back then, it was mostly monks.”
Iri’s idea of ‘back then’ was far more ancient than Dojin had imagined.
“Lee Seokjin is just a human, right?”
“Yeah.”
Dojin felt a bit relieved. The divine spirit kept urging him to watch more videos, but just as his excitement had flared easily, his curiosity and fascination also cooled quickly.
“If the disguise is this perfect, how did you know he was a fox yokai?”
“Actually, we didn’t know at first either. As usual, we were all gathered playing janggi when the Butterfly Immortal passed word through a retainer that a fox yokai had appeared on a recent idol survival program.”
“That person really is something else….”
“We happened to be bored at the time. As all mountain divine spirits are, you see. And hearing that a fox yokai with the potential to become a divine beast was mingling among humans piqued our curiosity. If that fox yokai had intentions of bewitching humans, wouldn’t it be our duty to stop it? So… we all started watching the broadcast together.”
“…….”
“You’ve never watched an idol survival program, have you, Immortal? It was my first time as well. Ah…. Truly, they worked so incredibly hard….”
At some point, the divine spirit was no longer speaking to Dojin, but to Iri.
The reason Iri hadn’t returned directly to the rental shop and allowed himself to be detained was because he had sensed that the Deokyusan divine spirit was troubled by something. Now, the Immortal understood exactly what that worry was.
“At first, it was just curiosity….”
Everyone starts with those words.
“Look, Immortal.”
The divine spirit held out a photocard in front of Iri.
“This child’s name is Chiho. He played soccer when he was young and now serves as the main dancer. His dancing is extremely powerful. This one is Mason. He lives a disciplined life and goes to bed at nine every night, and he can speak no fewer than five languages.”
“…….”
“This is Seungheon—he sings unbelievably well. I almost thought he was a Jeojo (oak bird) in disguise. And this one is named Darta, a rapper with a thrilling low-to-mid range voice that doesn’t match his appearance.”
Despite talking about what he loved, the Deokyusan divine spirit’s voice was filled with sorrow, his eyes gazing as if at some distant, unreachable place.
His curiosity about the fox yokai had expanded into affection for the other human children as well.
Beings who would live lives far too short compared to the divine spirit’s own before departing.
Lives that vanish in the blink of an eye.
Lives that could end suddenly, without warning.
“I constantly think about the day these children will die. Immortal, you’re familiar with the ancient legend of the Primordial Immortals, aren’t you? In those legends, humans were described as ‘dew on a spider’s web.’ Dew that forms briefly at dawn, then disappears.”
Dojin knew of the Primordial Immortals as well. Though the Deokyusan divine spirit called it a legend, they weren’t legends at all—they were real beings.
Existences who were born of themselves and became Immortals before humanity ever blossomed into intelligence. Among them was Immortal Iri himself, one of the most advanced Heaven-and-Earth divine spirits, a being born without roots—the reason he bore the epithet, ‘the Last Primordial Immortal’.
However, because they existed so long ago, many no longer even knew what Primordial Immortals were, treating them as mere legends—just as the Deokyusan divine spirit had done.
“As the legend says, humans disappear far too easily…. To prepare my heart, I tormented them in my mind with every possible accident and illness. In my head, they’ve already died over three hundred times. And yet, I still couldn’t grasp it. How immense this sense of loss would be, how enormous this grief would become…. I believe you and your disciple would agree.”
“…….”
Of course. Iri might be different, but Dojin empathized deeply.
His mother and father. Dohui.
Dojin had always imagined their deaths—rehearsing, as if in advance, the eternal farewell he would inevitably face someday…….
“Have you never loved a human before?”
When Dojin asked, the divine spirit replied bitterly.
“If I had experienced love and separation before, would that make this misery any less?”
Dojin fell silent. Even with experience, parting would still be parting, and sorrow would still be sorrow. No matter how many times he rehearsed it in his imagination, it would still hurt—Dojin already knew that.
But there was another reason behind the divine spirit’s grief, one Dojin hadn’t anticipated. The reason the divine spirit had stopped Immortal Iri wasn’t merely to lament short lifespans and sorrow. Lowering his gaze humbly before the Immortal, the divine spirit spoke.
“I do not have the confidence to watch them die.”
“…….”
“Meeting you before my heart became stained with greed must have been fate.”
What is this? What does he want my master to do?
Sensing the mood, Dojin held his tongue and quietly read the room instead, inching closer to Iri’s side. Aside from the Dark One, who was busy licking the shadow of moisture that had seeped from a teacup, everyone else was solemn.
“Immortal, I beg of you.”
“…Alright.”
After letting out a small sigh, Iri tapped the table lightly with his finger.
“That’s done.”
“Thank you.”
As the divine spirit bowed, Dojin couldn’t hold back any longer.
“What exactly did you agree to, what’s ‘done,’ and what are you thanking him for?”
The divine spirit smiled faintly.
“I can no longer create retainers.”
“Ah…!”
Only then did Dojin understand.
A divine spirit—one of the Wia who had reached the end of their path—could create retainers.
Retainers were beings who could live alongside their master for hundreds, even thousands of years, according to their will.
They could be eternally preserved in the most beautiful form the master desired.
Within the Deokyusan divine spirit, the desire to keep those idols as retainers had steadily grown. And right in the midst of his desperate struggle against that inner greed, he had encountered Immortal Iri—
One of the few beings capable of restricting his divine authority.
If he hadn’t met Iri now…? Those ordinary idols might have been forced into immortality under the divine spirit, made to watch others die, regardless of their own will…….
“Fuck….”
Dojin shuddered. He wanted to snap at him, but one glance from Iri sealed his mouth shut.
“Should I visit the other divine spirits too? Are the Sarang Mountain or Samsindaengi Mountain spirits wavering like you?”
“No. I alone was the one who lost my clarity. There’s no need for you to trouble yourself with the others.”
The divine spirit neatly gathered the photocards and carefully placed them into a square case covered in cute stickers.
“Because of that fox yokai, I’ve experienced all sorts of things……. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have troubled you like this.”
“Fox yokai are children who always try to live joyfully.”
“That joy is far too heavy for me.”
“That weight, too, is part of joy.”
Iri finished the now-cold tea.
“You look far more alive now than the last time I saw you. Don’t waste time on thoughts so dark you’d never return—enjoy this moment. The farewell you’ll someday face won’t be as purely sorrowful as you imagine.”
“Yes…….”
The divine spirit bowed his head and answered softly.
Master definitely knows I’ve been worrying about my family. So that advice was meant for me too.
Would the farewell he’d one day face truly not be only sorrowful? He couldn’t imagine it yet, but Dojin etched Iri’s words firmly into his mind.
When the conversation ended, Iri rose from his seat.
“We’ll be going now. We’ve left the rental shop unattended for too long. When Ttanttori comes out tomorrow, guide him well.”
“Leave it to me.”
With his business concluded, the divine spirit didn’t stop them again. Following Iri, Dojin stood, cast one last glance at the room where Ttanttori was, then at the table overflowing with brilliantly colored goods… and finally turned away, leaving behind the divine spirit’s slumped shoulders.
