Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Home Sweet Home (2)

-Huff. Huff.

Only the gentle sound of steady breathing could be heard in Lia's little mansion after the grand housewarming party.

Late at night, when everyone had fallen asleep, the only one still awake was the nine-tailed fox, who had been made to stay beside Lia after she grabbed his hand.

The nine-tailed fox had been telling Lia the sort of old stories an elderly grandfather might tell a child her age until she fell asleep. Yet even though the moment of freedom had finally arrived, he could not quite bring himself to go to the bedroom assigned to him.

'She possesses neither life nor a soul. She is merely an accumulation of wandering thoughts gathered from the world. She cannot even be called a lowly creature.'

The harsh words he had spoken aloud filled his mind.

Just as his heart was growing cold, another voice echoed in his thoughts.

'Fox Grandpa doesn't have anywhere to sleep either. Sleep here with Raccoon. There are three whole rooms!'

'I think this room would be good for Fox Grandpa. It's close to the fireplace, and the window is big too!'

'Fox Grandpa...'

Even the larks singing at dawn could hardly be as noisy as this child.

Whenever she was not sleeping soundly as she was now, she chattered without pause. Sometimes she asked questions that required considerable contemplation, and when such questions grew tiresome, she would tactfully wander around the coffeehouse humming songs.

'Tsk, what a child.'

The nine-tailed fox disliked that maturity of Lia's.

This child, formed from the gathering of benevolent thoughts, had never once complained or thrown a tantrum.

Wanting to eat snacks, wanting to watch cartoons, or perhaps wanting to have a toy.

All those desires that might inconvenience other people were completely absent from her.

And that was precisely what made the nine-tailed fox uncomfortable.

'Must she spend her entire life like that? No. She is not even alive in the first place, so why am I worrying about it?'

Several times, the nine-tailed fox's brow furrowed, only to smooth out again as he shook his head.

"Good grief, I cannot tell whether it is I or that fellow who has been bewitched by a soulless body."

Muttering so quietly that his words were barely audible, the nine-tailed fox vanished in a flash and reappeared outside the coffeehouse.

"Are you leaving now?"

He had used his mystical arts because he feared the sound of opening and closing the door might wake the child sleeping soundly, yet Jinseong was the one who was awake.

"Are you up already?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Having so little need for sleep in the morning, just like an old man. Tsk! There is no need to see me off, so go back inside."

"I'll try to hurry things along a little."

"What are you talking about?"

"..."

Instead of answering, Jinseong quietly looked into the nine-tailed fox's eyes.

"Enough, you brat! First you have shamans running around doing your bidding, and now you try to drag the thoughts out of my heart whenever you get the chance. If you intend to spout nonsense, go back to sleep."

"Have a safe trip."

At Jinseong's farewell, the nine-tailed fox stopped just as he was about to turn away.

It was because he had suddenly realized that the place he would return to was not the basement of the National Intelligence Service, but this old coffeehouse.

"Very well. I'll be back."

___________

The office of the Director of the National Intelligence Service.

As the office occupied by the head of the country's most secretive organization, it ought to have been located somewhere discreet, but the reality was quite different.

There was a sweeping view from the entrance of the National Intelligence Service's main building all the way to the main road, furnishings that were luxurious without being excessive, and even the golf putting mat that seemed almost obligatory in offices like this.

With a prominent nameplate clearly identifying it as the Director's Office, the place was practically a symbol of just how peaceful the country had been.

It was a position where each successive administration merely needed to appoint someone with a reasonably unblemished reputation.

Due to the nature of the work, all its activities were classified, and the notoriety accumulated under previous administrations had long since made it the organization best suited to the saying, 'No news is good news.'

As a result, the office's occupant, National Intelligence Service Director Oh Taesu, had been enjoying a fairly smooth life until recently.

After all, regardless of what anyone said, a director-level position in a national institution was an honor not everyone could attain.

Unless the working-level staff caused a major incident or the government began throwing around the ominous phrase 'personnel reform,' he could live an almost leisurely life until retirement.

That was, until Director Baek Mahyeon brought in a classified document comparable to a nuclear bomb and opened it before his eyes.

"Is all of this true?"

"Yes, Director."

"Who knows about it?"

"As before, it is R-class classified information. At present, the only people who know all the details are you, the Deputy Director, and the ten members of our team."

-Rustle. Rustle.

National Intelligence Service Director Oh Taesu nervously flipped through the thin file, wetting the corners of its pages generously with saliva.

'Why do they keep bringing me things like this during my term, of all times? Damn it, this is driving me crazy.'

This was information he had no need to know. No, it would have been better not to know.

He only had two years left in his term anyway. Once he retired, received his plaque of appreciation, and left, everything would literally become someone else's problem.

Despite his wishes, however, another ticking time bomb had landed in the Director's Office.

-Click.

"Phew. Continue."

He took a deep drag from a cigarette, something he never smoked indoors for fear of attracting criticism, and his throbbing head seemed to clear slightly.

"So, that tree?"

"The documents refer to it as the Divine Tree."

"Right. So you're telling me that not only did he win over the two monsters we were managing, he even created that Divine Tree."

"That's correct."

"Oh, my aching head."

Strictly speaking, they were not managing them.

Both the nine-tailed fox and the raccoon dog possessed enough power to overthrow an entire country. Claiming that they were under anyone's control would have been outrageously arrogant.

But the document submitted this time described a matter so serious that even such distinctions seemed trivial.

"Isn't Director Baek exaggerating this whole thing just to improve his performance record? It doesn't make sense. None of it does."

"The file contains only information that can be cross-verified through the testimony of team members and supporting evidence."

"No, you're telling me an ordinary young man was working a perfectly normal job, then suddenly opened a coffeehouse where a Divine Tree grew, and monsters and shamans started coming as customers? And on top of that, he's close friends with those customers? You expect me to believe this? What do you think, Deputy Director Choi?"

"I've only just received the report myself..."

The middle-aged man addressed as Deputy Director Choi trailed off. The sight of him repeatedly wiping cold sweat away with a handkerchief made him look even more pitiful than the Director himself.

"And these shamans aren't just ordinary charlatans either. This Haedong Divine Maiden is a shaman whom politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties visit with bags of money every election. If this gets out, do you think only one or two politicians will rush straight to that coffeehouse? Ah, but that's not the problem right now."

If he made every possible concession, he could set the shamans aside.

They were human, at least.

The greater problem was the monsters with whom he was supposedly so close and the Divine Tree that had taken human form.

If the contents of the file were true, there was no doubt that the young man named Kim Jinseong was currently the most dangerous person in South Korea.

"Director Baek."

"Yes, Director."

"Let's be honest with each other. Just how serious is it?"

It was an indirect question.

What he really meant was: Just how far beyond your control is this situation that you've brought this bomb here twice because you don't want to die alone?

"This is my personal opinion, so I did not include it separately in the documents, but the two divine beasts already regard Kim Jinseong as more than a friend. The shamans are not following him merely because he owns the Divine Tree, either. And... yesterday, he also requested access to R-class classified information. This report is part of the approval process for disclosing that information."

"You do realize that the approval chain for this goes all the way up to the Blue House, don't you?"

"He is the only person who has visited the Celestial Realm. Compared to the information we could obtain from Kim Jinseong, the information we would provide him is of significantly less value."

A heavy silence followed Baek Mahyeon's firm answer.

"E-Even so, since we're paying him money, couldn't we say we've brought him over to our side? I don't think refusing would cause much trouble. Wouldn't it be a disaster if the higher-ups took issue with this?"

"Deputy Director Choi, if you had that much influence, would you be satisfied with thirty million won a month? You could squeeze tens of billions out of the shamans alone. What on earth were you listening to earlier? How frustrating!"

"I'm sorry..."

"He is an affectionate person without much greed. The amount he requested from us was reasonable by ordinary standards at the time, and it was closer to a justification for continuing to operate the coffeehouse."

"So, in other words, he's not someone we can coax into doing what we want."

"That's correct."

-Thud.

The file lying open on the table closed with a dull sound.

"Then it's settled. I'll lift the restrictions, so give him everything he asks for. No, provide him with everything he requests. Make sure he understands we're helping him as much as possible in other areas too. You understand?"

"We are already overseeing the remodeling of his coffeehouse separately from the money we pay him every month."

"Good! Keep doing exactly that! I'll report to the Blue House separately, so let's keep him as happy as possible and hope we get through the next two years without incident. Just two years. I only need him to hold out until my retirement ceremony."

'Peace and comfort without incident.'

That was the virtue National Intelligence Service Director Oh Taesu valued above all others.

'Right. I should think positively. Positively. They're only folktales and absurd eyewitness accounts anyway. What could he possibly do just by looking at a little of that information?'

____________

A few days later,

The lobby of the National Intelligence Service, long past quitting time, was experiencing an unexpected state of war.

"Hurry! The VIP will be arriving soon! Where's the vehicle? What's the model and license plate number?"

(We haven't received that information yet.)

"Is that supposed to be an answer? What if he can't get through the entrance! Hurry up and find out! What about the CCTV?"

(We've turned all of it off.)

A man wearing a black suit was sweating profusely as he issued orders without pause through his in-ear radio.

'What the hell is all this chaos in the middle of the night? Damn it.'

Even considering that he worked in a specialized position, the sudden overtime, entirely unrelated to his actual duties, was making the man increasingly irritable.

"Section Chief! Pant, pant."

"What? Rookie, why are you coming over here?"

"You said you shouldn't be alone when you escort the guest. Good grief, I'm dying."

The young employee called Rookie stood beside the man, repeatedly struggling to catch his breath.

"Um, but Section Chief."

"What?"

"Have you ever met the VIP before?"

"Yeah."

"Is he really like an immortal sage who commands monsters?"

"Who said that?"

"Well, in that report..."

The young employee trailed off, worried that he might have said something inappropriate.

"Something like that."

"Pardon? Really?"

That was indeed what the Section Chief had witnessed while handling the Divine Tree incident.

Not only had Jinseong made the nine-tailed fox dig with a shovel, he had calmly dumped the remaining work on him and gone to the office.

It was something that would have been difficult to believe if he had not seen it with his own eyes.

And with a report claiming that Jinseong had even visited the Celestial Realm, it was difficult to dismiss the rookie's speculation as complete nonsense.

"Then..."

-Beep.

Just as the rookie was about to ask another question, the radio sounded.

(Section Chief, we've confirmed the vehicle's license plate number. The personnel at the entrance... Huh? Oh, they've entered! They're coming up now!)

"Those bastards. I told them to check things quickly. You've restricted access to the east wing and parking lot, right?"

(Yes. There's nobody here except our Team One.)

"Good."

As the sound of an engine and the light of headlights gradually approached, the man took a small traffic baton from inside his jacket.

And not long afterward, an ancient compact car stopped in front of the two men, looking so worn out that it was questionable whether its engine would start again once switched off.

"Where should I park?"

"How many times must I tell you that you can simply leave it anywhere along the roadside?"

"Elder, that would be terribly inconsiderate."

"How could it be inconsiderate when this is my house!"

"Aren't you a tenant?"

"Why, you insolent brat!"

"Y-You can go into the parking lot over there."

"Thank you."

At the man's stammered reply, Jinseong bowed politely before driving into the parking lot and disappearing.

"Section Chief, that was him just now, right?"

"Yeah."

"And the one beside him was the Elder Divine Beast."

"..."

A divine beast regarded humans, the supposed lords of all creation, as mere lowly creatures. Perhaps it was the shock of witnessing someone treat such a divine beast like an inconsiderate old man.

For quite some time, the two could only stare silently in the direction where the car had disappeared.