Moving away from the light, the surroundings rapidly darkened.
The wind felt cold against her skin.
The night air of Joseon, perhaps akin to the moon’s chill, was piercingly cold and fierce.
‘Why am I enduring such a predicament in a foreign land?’
Yuihime Nanaho, the dancer, pondered this.
Why was she facing such a situation?
There were likely many reasons.
Before that, she first recalled why she had come to Joseon.
‘To gain political advantage and spread my family’s name far and wide.’
In Joseon, grotesque beings were currently emerging, preying on people.
While such incidents weren’t unheard of in Japan, their severity in Joseon was extreme.
Having experienced it firsthand, she now understood.
She understood why a nation like Joseon would extend an appeal to a mere ‘family.’
The dancer who followed the will of the gods, calming spirits with her dances, and her family’s prestige were steadily rising in their homeland.
After all, the Yuihime family had monopolized all trade and cultural advantages flowing from the distant land of Joseon.
Believing it was all her own doing, she worked even more diligently to accomplish her tasks.
Yet, ultimately, it was all for the family.
Working for the family, in the end, felt futile.
With no one to truly confide in, she grew lonely, and her heart was weakening.
Ultimately, the dancer was but a human, possessing a human heart and mind.
Whether special or not.
Her mouth was covered by a foul hand, and she was being carried further and further away from the soldiers meant to protect her.
In this situation, as she drifted further from the light, as hope itself seemed to scatter before her eyes…
“…! ….!!”
Tears of terror were an inevitable response.
Within her family, she was treated as a noble being.
She had grown up without a single friend, constantly showered with obsequious deference by her family.
Fear began to settle into her once arrogant heart, and the delusion of death enveloped her.
She had never imagined enduring such a fate.
Kidnapped, her mouth muffled by a stinking hand, squeezed so tightly against someone’s side that her ribs groaned.
And by a monster with whom she couldn’t even communicate.
Having always eaten better and received more elevated treatment than others,
it seemed only natural to remove anything she disliked and keep what she desired close.
“…! H-hiccup.”
She had simply taken it for granted.
Her family had lived that way too, after all.
‘That’s…’
Something resembling a black shadow was drawing nearer.
Its speed was tremendous, like a hawk swooping down from a glide.
And with every few blinks of her eyes,
Gradually.
Its form.
Grew clearer.
‘…!!!’
– That man, he’s dreadful, so send him far away.
While tracking a grotesque group that created monsters, she had arrived in this village.
There, she encountered a man with a horribly tragic (TL Note: 흉참 (hyung-cham) refers to a fate that is both unlucky and tragic, often implying a violent or gruesome end) destiny.
He was a man from whom hellfire seemed to spread just by being near him.
A being so deeply shrouded in death, one might wonder if he was a revenant risen from the underworld.
He was even the man who had hurled terrible curses at her.
He was someone who had left no good impression, someone she never wished to see again.
And that man…
“Hmph!”
*Swoosh!*
He snatched her, then cleaved off the head of the running monster with a long sword.
“…!!”
In that instant, he reached out a hand towards her, suspended in mid-air.
“Kya…!”
To catch her splendidly…!
“Oh dear!”
He missed.
……Or did he?
*Splosh!*
With the momentum, she was flung into a wet rice paddy ditch.
Her face was completely covered in muddy water, and struggling to open her eyes, she repeatedly wiped around them with her sleeve.
Her body ached.
“Heh! Seriously, if my arm had been just one meter longer, I would’ve caught you.”
The man on the path above the rice paddy ditch spoke with a hint of regret.
His tone was genuinely aggrieved.
It had seemed as if he was just within reach, yet it felt as though he had deliberately pulled his hand back.
“Are you alright?”
If asked if she was alright, she would likely reply no.
This was, after all, the worst experience of her life.
“Hwaaang…!”
Nevertheless, having been saved by this hope,
she finally burst into the tears she had been holding back.
****
Even though she was dirty from the muddy water,
her black hair, clear eyes, and haughty face could not be obscured.
Even the slight tear streaks made her look like a child actor.
A child actor, moreover, who would receive a bonus just for their looks.
It was the first time such a small child held my hand so tightly.
Pretty women and children had always disliked me.
“Do you really need to hold my hand so tightly?”
Seeing her sniffle and nod with the expression of a small child,
I felt compelled to hold her hand tightly, despite having almost no affection for her.
“Well… she must be around thirteen… so it’s understandable she’d be scared.”
“Th-thirteen… Yes…! That’s right. I was scared.”
She nodded, then offered an awkward smile.
Our conversation clearly hadn’t opened up yet.
The small warmth transmitted to my palm felt a bit awkward too.
It had been ages since I’d held anyone’s hand like this.
As expected, children and I just don’t mix.
“Sigh… let’s go.”
I reluctantly brushed the tangled hair from her head and held her hand tightly.
And we walked.
Back the way I had come.
I gave up on carrying her and running, as her clothes were too dirty.
‘Should I have not bothered holding her hand?’
To clear my thoughts, I decided to just walk and listen to her story.
“So, your mom and dad both genuinely had no interest in ‘you,’ is that it?”
She spoke of her worries and the pain she harbored.
Even as I listened, I found myself sympathizing.
Everyone has a persona.
I had my own too.
A mask created for social living.
In Nanaho’s case, it took the form of the ‘Sun-Moon Priestess.’
She rarely spoke and supposedly learned to treat others coldly, following her parents’ words.
People, they said, crave money when expectations are placed upon them, and covet positions when money is bestowed.
Well, it sounds true, but why teach that to a child?
The kid is more philosophical than I am.
“You’re at an age where you should just be drawing and playing outside.”
“Siyon…”
To the child who called Siyoung ‘Siyon,’ as if even pronouncing his name was a struggle,
‘Did they teach her how to catch ghosts and then send her on an automatic hunt in a foreign country?’
What a messed-up family that is.
“Well… I’m not really in a position to say anything, but if you don’t want to be a priestess or a dancer, tell me later.”
Meaning, if living as a dancer was hard, he’d help relieve her stress.
“I’ll play with you sometimes.”
My Japanese speaking isn’t great, but my listening is good.
I’m confident in listening to anything.
“Really…?”
‘Are kids already worrying about their identity?’
‘Just playing and laughing, that’s their true self.’
“Don’t you want to?”
I’m willing to play sometimes.
Assuming I get paid hourly.
‘Your family is rich, right?’
“Siyon… Yes! I’d love that!!”
Unaware of my sordid, self-serving thoughts, she merely smiled, gazing at me with sparkling eyes.
“Hold my hand reasonably tight.”
Nanaho didn’t ask anything further.
Instead, she just held my hand tightly and grinned broadly.
She probably thought she had found a reliable person who understood her.
More importantly, I needed to look ahead.
‘Damn it, those suit-wearers… I remembered reading about them somewhere.’
The Management Bureau.
If there were lunatics who wore suits, it seemed they were the only ones.
I’d heard they were defunct, so some bizarre phenomenon must have occurred.
But they didn’t quite match the image in my head.
Don’t those Management Bureau bastards usually consist of middle-aged men?
I was thinking of Men in Black.
Still, even if they showed up, they probably wouldn’t be a major threat.
I just needed to kill one tiger and move on to the next ghost story.
‘What kind of shitty trouble could those bastards cause just by showing up?’
In terms of combat power, they were utterly pathetic.
Their whip-like extending arms were a slight variable.
But even that ceased to be a threat as I leveled up.
Anyway, imagining the maximum threat now was pointless without any information.
I didn’t even know what those bastards were doing.
Later, I’d either beat up Kozmo or go to the full moon ball to dig for information.
If I had time, I’d check the gallery.
My level was already 6.
‘It probably wouldn’t matter even if more of those bastards showed up.’
The only potential problem was if they used others as meat shields, which could be a bit tricky.
Even more so if combined with long-range attacks from behind.
‘They wouldn’t interfere when I’m hunting the tiger, would they?’
Wolyeong and the Tiger Hunters—there was only one reason to be with them.
To call in more Tiger Hunters from the main camp.
How could he catch a tiger alone?
Wolyeong had also stated that his reason for coming here was not for the dancer, but because of the tiger attacks.
Our objectives perfectly aligned.
‘To catch a tiger in that mountain…’
The mountain seemed to weep.
Eerie sounds seemed to emanate from it.
Perhaps it was because his face had hardened in momentary thought,
that Nanaho playfully tugged his arm and spoke.
“Siyocchi. Carry me on your back.”
With a soft pronunciation, she seemed to have given him a nickname.
‘It’s probably her way of showing familiarity, I guess.’
“Don’t you have legs?”
I responded with a joke.
Wasn’t it a similar joke to how my mom always used to say, ‘Don’t you have hands? Don’t you have feet?’
‘…I barely have any memories of talking to kids, so I might have said the wrong thing.’
Still, seeing her laugh, she must have found it amusing.
“Ehh~ Don’t be like that.”
“No, you’re dirty.”
“Siyocchi! Then let’s wash together!”
‘Is she trying to get someone killed in prison?’
“I’ll get arrested.”
When she asked why he’d get arrested, I explained it to her in the most roundabout way possible.
‘Me, dropped into the Joseon era, giving a basic s*x education lesson to a Japanese shrine maiden.’
It was truly a bizarre experience.
“Did you understand?”
“Then what if we get married?”
Ah, the lesson failed.
“Do you even know what marriage is? You little b… Ahem, kid.”
“Little b? Hmmm? What’s that?”
Her innocent smile as she asked that scratched at my conscience a little.
‘The innocence of a child.’
‘If I misspoke even a single word, I’d have no excuse if the soldiers who brought her here cut off my head.’
I decided to swallow the curses that habitually sprang to my lips.
As we talked, asking and answering various things, signs of human presence and sources of light approached from a distance.
“Looks like they’re coming.”
“Ah…”
‘Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.’ (TL Note: A common Korean idiom, literally ‘If you speak of a tiger, it will come,’ similar to the English ‘Speak of the devil.’)
The soldiers who had been running with me when I started earlier seemed to have finally arrived.
“Siyocchi… that…”
Nanaho stammered, saying she shouldn’t be seen with a Joseon person.
I was momentarily dumbfounded, but then the thought ‘Right, she’s just a kid’ occurred to me.
If a family is strict, they often set many rules when sending a child away.
Like ‘Don’t follow strangers~’.
I decided to understand.
“I’m leaving.”
Nanaho raised her hand high and waved goodbye to me.
I raised one corner of my mouth in response, then slipped into the darkness for a moment.
Just in case those monsters had brainwashing abilities and had brainwashed all those soldiers.
With the thought that if I protected her once, I should protect her to the end, I held my breath.
The armored man, who had quite effectively fought against the suit-wearers earlier, rushed to her first and knelt.
“Young Lady! Are you alright?”
‘He speaks Japanese well.’
‘Hmm, if I concentrated, I could probably interpret everything.’
It felt like I could just return to the village.
If it weren’t for the voice I heard the next moment.
“To dare to be distracted while I was left behind. I shall overlook it this once.”
‘What the hell?’
Hearing her cold tone, I was so dumbfounded that my concentration sharpened instantly.
‘Where did the voice of the child who was just now acting cute go?’
“We shall engrave it upon our bones, ensuring such an incident never recurs!!”
Watching the soldiers all kneel in unison, begging for forgiveness, I was momentarily speechless.
‘Where did that childlike demeanor from earlier go, and why is she acting like this?’
“Engrave it not just on your bones, but on your very souls.”
“Understood!!”
Intrigued, I held my breath in the darkness and listened.
“Oh, and by the way. Until I give further instructions, my age from now on is thirteen.”
“Weren’t you twenty-three? Why suddenly change your age…?”
‘Did I mishear?’
‘Twenty what…?’
“Mahoru. Are you questioning my words?”
“…! My apologies! Young Lady!”
The man named Mahoru received a scolding.
Hmm, my brain felt full, so listening further became difficult.
‘……. I should just go.’
I suddenly yearned for Wolyeong, who was probably resting in the village, and Byeongson, who might have been gasping for breath after running for so long.
Because I felt a shiver run down my spine.
‘Wolyeong, he wouldn’t have died, would he?’
****
“…Can that man handle that?”
“In my 30 years of experience, he seems to be the most monstrous bastard after that dog-like doppelganger.”
“Did they create him for nothing…? He was already a monster.”
*Gr-graaaaaaaah-!*
“Tsk, just do as the higher-ups say. We’ll just wake up in another body anyway, won’t we? Don’t be scared.”
“They say new bodies are almost out of stock now.”
“What? Dammit… If I were getting paid, maybe. This is just pure volunteer work.”
*Kuaaaaaaaaah-!*
On the mountainside, where screams echoed,
two men in suits conversed, unlit cigarettes dangling from their lips.
“He seems to be killing almost all of them.”
“To kill twenty regular employees in just ten minutes… Hmm…”
“He’d get at least an A-rank, I’d say.”
“…… The higher-ups must have a plan.”
“Ah, I think it’s our turn.”
“Gah, spit! Already our turn?”
They activated a radio.
Then, quietly dusting off their suits, they shook hands.
“The dummies did well, didn’t they?”
“Who knows. They’re just dolls that can’t even speak.”
The middle-aged man spoke with a tired tone.
The younger one, with a slightly fearful voice,
“For the Management Bureau.”
“For the Bureau.”
And behind them, something white flew in like the wind,
crushing the bodies of the two men.
*Crunch, crackle…!*
Just as chewing sounds echoed,
– *Trill-ling~ Hello~~*
– *Let’s improve our basic Korean conversation skills~ Now, repeat after me!*
From the radio they had left behind, a language lesson played.
For a moment, only wet breathing could be heard.
“Ah, H-hello…yo?”
And then a white beast, larger than a boulder,
began to twitch its mouth and utter a voice.
A human voice.
