Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“What do you intend to do about the child’s name?”

In the middle of an elaborate explanation of the specific building design plans, the nine-tailed fox Elder abruptly brought up a new topic.

“She’ll need a name.”

“Tsk, were you planning to take her in as family without even giving her a name? How thoughtless.”

I had thought it was only natural that she did not have one. She had, in the literal sense, been born yesterday.

I had only just decided to take her in as family, so there had been no time to think up a name for her.

“Why don’t you give her a decent name? Considering how long you’ve lived, surely you know how to choose one that suits her fortune and destiny.”

“Hmph, there is no fate more troublesome than one that follows after a name. A name should simply sound good when called and heard. Let me see... How about Jeomrye? No, Okgyeong or Okbun would be good too. Of course! A woman’s name ought to have ‘Ok’ in it to sound graceful.”

Ah, I had forgotten for a moment.

The nine-tailed fox Elder only looked like he was in his twenties. Inside, he was a being who had lived for thousands of years.

Seeing the child on the verge of being saddled with a name as old-fashioned as scorched rice, I hurriedly racked my brain.

“How about Ria?”

“Ria? What a strange name to give a Joseon child.”

“She doesn’t look Korean anyway. She’s already unusual enough as it is. If she has a Korean name too, she’ll only get bombarded with pointless questions.”

“Jinseong is right, Elder. Her appearance alone will attract plenty of attention. Her name should at least be ordinary.”

“Damn it, if nothing else, I’m telling you it should have ‘Ok’ in it.”

“Ria. Her name is Ria.”

-Bang bang.

I clenched my fist like a judge’s gavel and struck the dining table, cutting off the controversy at the root.

At the negotiating table, the nine-tailed fox Elder had backed down one step and insisted only on keeping ‘Ok,’ but that had never been an area open to compromise in the first place.

“It’s about time for me to head to work. Please take care of the child—no, Ria.”

“Ri...a... Ria!”

“Yeah. That’s your name starting today.”

Ria seemed quite pleased with the name, moving her little mouth several times as she repeated it.

I playfully patted Ria on the head, then hurriedly grabbed my car keys.

“Have a good day.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, have a good day. Are your ears already failing despite being so young?”

“No. Then I’ll be going.”

“Have a good day!”

“It’s ‘Have a good day,’ you little brat.”

“Have a good day!”

I had gotten a house, and I had gotten a family.

And... when I stepped outside, I was warmly told to have a good day.

It had been a long time.

That indescribable feeling of knowing someone was waiting for me.

I finally felt like I understood, at least a little, why coworkers my age who constantly showed me pictures of sons and daughters I had never asked to see were so desperate to leave work exactly on time.

Right.

So this was what it felt like.

_____________

-Vroom.

“Wow, it’s fast like the wind!”

“Hmph, fast? It is such a piece of junk that I’m amazed it even moves. Oof, my whole body aches after all that commotion this morning. We have seen him off long enough, so let us go back inside.”

The nine-tailed fox and Baek Mahyeon brought Ria, who was waving toward Jinseong’s car disappearing in the distance, back inside the coffeehouse.

“You are working on that thing again?”

“Yes. These days, I hardly have time to sit in the office.”

No sooner had Director Baek Mahyeon sat down and pulled a laptop from his briefcase to begin typing busily than the nine-tailed fox threw out a reproachful question.

“I keep telling you to take it easy. I have told you many times that you are fated to work yourself to death.”

“You are saying frightening things again.”

“Be honest. You are only pretending to be that busy because you want to leave babysitting to this old man, aren’t you? No matter how I think about it, there is no way someone in a position like yours can truly be that busy. You probably just go around playing that golf or whatever it is.”

“I never cease to be amazed by your insight, Elder. If you are truly bored, why don’t you tell Ria some old stories?”

“Heh heh, struck on the cheek in Jongno and glaring at the Han River, are we? Fine. If it is old stories, I could recite them for three days and nights. Let me see... Hm?”

“What is it?”

“She was definitely sitting right here with us just a moment ago!”

The nine-tailed fox belatedly realized that Ria, who had been playing beside them by tossing around leaves that had not yet been swept away, had disappeared, and he shot to his feet with a shout.

The presence that should obviously have been there was nowhere to be seen.

“This is bad! Hurry and find her! Quickly!”

(Hmm, who are you looking for?)

“Ria disappeared! You get up too and...”

The two, who had answered without thinking and were about to rise, turned their gazes toward the direction the voice had come from.

It was the seat where Ria had been sitting.

More precisely, Ria was still there.

“What in the...”

“A-Are you all right?”

(I got sleepy, so I went to sleep!)

There was not the slightest falsehood in Ria’s answer as she slept under a fallen leaf like a blanket.

The problem was that her body had become small enough to use a leaf as a blanket.

She herself seemed completely unconcerned, but to the two people witnessing the scene, it was anything but ordinary.

“Call that Jinseong fellow.”

“I’m already doing so.”

Jinseong was the only person who could explain what was happening.

(Hello?)

“Give it here! Jinseong? Ria shrank! Is this all right?”

(Yes. It seems she can shrink and grow again of her own will. That’s how she got into the coffeehouse too. You don’t need to worry too much.)

“Why are you only telling us this now!”

(Since you took the Divine Tree turning into a child in stride, I assumed you already knew.)

“Yes, yes, you’re very clever, you brat!”

(Haha, you must have been quite startled.)

“You took ten years off my life.”

(Actually, I’m glad you called. I forgot to mention something. Please take care of registering Ria’s birth as well. Her name is Kim Ria, her age should be six, and yesterday’s date would be good for her birthday.)

“Ha! You intend to give her your surname too?”

(Well, there’s no reason I can’t. It would also be strange for people living in the same house to have different surnames. Then I’ll see you this evening.)

“Wait, what other abilities does she...”

-Beep. Beep. Beep.

“He hung up, Elder.”

“I know! No, does that fellow have any sense at all? I’m going to die before my time just trying to babysit once.”

“Elder, you still have not told even one old story.”

“That is exactly my point. I was just about to start when this happened... Wait!”

“What is it now? I’m starting to get tired too.”

“Now that I think about it, that fellow knew all along and still happily accepted when you offered to build a new structure for him.”

“So it would seem.”

The nine-tailed fox had worried about where Ria would live in front of Jinseong.

But if he had known she could become small enough to sleep beneath a leaf, it was a concern he never would have had in the first place.

Remembering how Jinseong had deliberately said nothing and even acted apologetic, the nine-tailed fox rubbed his forehead and frowned as though utterly fed up.

“I asked, and you said you would do it, so there is not even anyone to blame. Tsk. Honestly, that fellow always watches the ritual and then eats the rice cakes. Did you see that? That is what you call being born under a lucky star.”

“Jinseong hardly has a peaceful day himself, does he? There was the Divine Tree matter too, and without Jinseong there would have been more than one troublesome situation. If you consider it compensation, it’s actually rather cheap.”

“Ah, that may be true, but have we not suffered quite a bit ourselves? I only find him irritating, that is all. Irritating. And of course, at times like this, that raccoon dog is nowhere to be seen.”

“I... think it may actually be better that he isn’t here.”

“Yes, true. Thinking about it, the one who keeps making things worse is that raccoon dog.”

It had been the raccoon dog who gave Jinseong the Divine Tree leaf, causing a Divine Tree to grow in front of the coffeehouse, and the raccoon dog who knocked that Divine Tree over, causing its energy to settle into the land.

If one had to name the root cause of everything, the raccoon dog was the only candidate.

However, since he himself had been the one to send that raccoon dog to the coffeehouse in the first place, the nine-tailed fox had refrained from pressing the issue.

“But that raccoon dog has hardly shown himself lately. He is not up to something again, is he?”

“Surely not. He is, after all, a monster entrusted with guarding the Divine Tree.”

Whether the raccoon dog was visible or absent, their anxiety remained the same.

_____________

At the same time, in the military zone on Mount Gyeryong.

Normally, no one except the soldiers guarding the area would come or go, but today presented a very different sight.

There was no proper parking lot, so the luxury sedans everyone had arrived in were parked haphazardly along the mountainside, while the people wandering around nearby were all dressed in brilliantly colored striped hanbok.

Among them, one particularly conspicuous shaman, whose gat was densely decorated with peacock feathers, hurried toward the checkpoint.

“Here, my entry pass! I can go now, right?”

“Shaman Haedong Divine Maiden. Identity confirmed. You may pass.”

After passing the soldiers and climbing the mountain path for quite some time, the shaman finally arrived at a clearing where similarly dressed shamans had gathered.

At the center of the clearing sat the raccoon dog, its head raised proudly with a triumphant expression.

“Pant, pant, I’m late.”

“Mountain God, the Haedong Divine Maiden has arrived, so everyone is now present.”

“Ahem! Then we are starting!”

-Rustle.

At the words that everyone had gathered, the raccoon dog unfolded a sheet of hanji.

“This person is the coffeehouse owner!”

On the hanji was a ridiculous portrait drawn crookedly with a brush.

“Is that person the guardian deity of the other Divine Tree you spoke of, Mountain God?”

“He’s not a guardian deity. He’s the coffeehouse owner. The coffeehouse owner is incredible! The sweet drink the coffeehouse owner makes can keep you awake for three whole days, and his food tastes so good you can’t help but dance!”

Apparently remembering Jinseong’s pork cutlet even as he spoke, the raccoon dog kept smacking its lips.

“Oh, right! And the coffeehouse owner has been to the Celestial Realm too!”

“Y-You mean he has visited the Celestial Realm?”

“That’s right! He even talked with Old Woman Mago!”

‘He is too pure to tell lies. To think there could be someone who visited the Celestial Realm, a place one can only reach after attaining enlightenment and then reaching the end of one’s life! Could he truly be the reincarnation of an immortal?’

Because they each served their own gods, these people also possessed a vague understanding of the workings of Heaven.

Yet even the gods who briefly descended by borrowing their bodies were beings who dared not look directly at the Mountain God, the raccoon dog.

Thus, every word of the testimony(?) spoken by such a Mountain God was overwhelmingly shocking.

“He’s really amazing! But I’m also worried.”

“Mountain God, what is troubling you?”

“The coffeehouse owner has no divine power. Bad ones might hurt him. So I’m going to protect him! But I have to protect the Divine Tree here too, so I’m worried.”

“You mean such an exalted person is in danger?”

“There’s also a monster protecting him and he has a ring, so he’s not in immediate danger, but I’m still worried.”

“Then allow us to step forward and assist that noble person with what little strength we possess.”

“Ooooooh! That’s a good idea! If everyone protects him together, it’ll work!”

And so, without Jinseong knowing anything about it, he was gradually becoming both an object of reverence to the shamans and a noble being who absolutely had to be protected.

It was something nobody except the raccoon dog and the shamans wanted, but unfortunately, there was no one there to tell them the truth.

The monster guarding Jinseong was a nine-tailed fox possessing divine power comparable to the raccoon dog’s, and the ring was a divine-stone ring gifted by Old Woman Mago, meaning wicked beings could not dare approach him.

Yet without knowing any of this, they began leaving one after another, each filled with firm determination.

The luxury sedans carrying Korea’s most renowned shamans were, naturally, heading toward a shabby coffeehouse on the outskirts of Namyangju that had narrowly escaped redevelopment.