Chapter 2 :

Chapter 2

 

A broad plateau stretched across the heart of the Ulta Mountain Range.

 

At the warm tail end of spring, fresh green maple trees rose along the ridges, while royal azaleas and bush clover bloomed sparsely across the low hills.

 

Yet the peach blossoms unquestionably stood out among them all.

 

The colonies of spring flowers covering the mountain range seemed to whisper their verdure as if showing off.

 

Even the newly sprouted shoots joined them.

 

It was truly a spring mountain landscape worthy of being called breathtaking.

 

But that description applied only this far.

 

Following the ridge upward eventually brought one to such level ground that it was easy to forget this was a mountain range, and its entrance was blocked by a sacred rope and a sign.

 

“Spirit-Guarding Temple. Land Forbidden to Humans. Turn Back Without Fail.”

 

It was a temple guarded by spirits, and therefore a land forbidden to humans.

 

Anyone who ignored that grim warning, crossed the sacred rope, and took a single step forward would find the scenery completely transformed.

 

The verdant spring mountain vanished without a trace, replaced by streams as red as blood, rotting sacred ropes that radiated an ominous air, withered trees, a desolate wind, and dead leaves swirling through the air.

 

True to its name as a temple guarded by spirits, this was sacred ground inhabited by the Dokkaebi—those known as the Spirit kin.

 

“Quite a view, isn’t it?”

 

Mong Ryeon grinned as she stepped into Spirit-Guarding Temple.

 

“How does it feel to set foot in the territory of the Spirit kin?”

 

“It feels eerie.”

 

“How boring.”

 

“It’s fascinating too. Why is this place like this?”

 

“With so many beings constantly emitting demonic energy, the surrounding environment naturally can’t withstand it. Once you leave, you won’t be able to come back in with your own strength, so don’t cross the sacred rope.”

 

“I’ll remember that.”

 

During their journey there, Mong Ryeon had revealed to Yise that she was the Chief of the Spirit kin and the person in overall charge of Spirit-Guarding Temple.

 

Faced with an identity he could never have imagined, Yise considered the matter with a blank expression.

 

She had promised to let him hunt and kill demons, yet wasn’t she herself a type of demon?

 

Was this really all right?

 

“I know what you’re thinking, but Spirit kin aren’t ordinary demons. We’re only classified as demons because we’re born with the ability to manipulate demonic energy. Besides, we’re humanity’s strongest allies. Just think of us as a somewhat unusual race.”

 

As though scoffing at his doubts, Mong Ryeon dismissed the matter outright.

 

Yise silently nodded.

 

After walking across the muddy ground for a short while, they reached a gate bearing the name Chumun, and it opened before them.

 

Creeeak.

 

The interior came into view with the groaning of its hinges.

 

The gazes of the Spirit kin within, each bearing horns upon their heads, immediately turned toward them.

 

At first, their faces showed delight at seeing Mong Ryeon, but the moment they noticed Yise beside her, their eyes swiftly turned red.

 

The sight of countless pairs of eyes turning red simultaneously was so grotesque that Yise’s heart sank for an instant.

 

“A human?”

 

“He’s human...”

 

Mong Ryeon shouted as though issuing a proclamation.

 

“He’s our new family member!”

 

That alone was enough to dispel their wariness.

 

Their razor-sharp gazes vanished without a trace, and time, which had seemed to stop, immediately began flowing again.

 

Yise walked behind Mong Ryeon.

 

Most of the Spirit kin gradually lost interest in him, but the younger ones—especially the boys—continued watching him with gazes filled with vigilance and curiosity.

 

Mong Ryeon added a warning for Yise.

 

“You’re at the age when you’ll grow up fighting one another, but don’t cause any excessively serious trouble.”

 

“I understand that I am dependent upon your hospitality.”

 

“That doesn’t mean you should constantly worry about what everyone else thinks. It will probably take them some time to accept you, but I’m telling you to endure it. Since I’ve already decided to take you in... you’re practically family now.”

 

“I’ll remember that.”

 

Hearing Yise’s mature answer, Mong Ryeon clicked her tongue once again.

 

He was strangely, excessively mature.

 

It was enough to make her wonder whether he was an immortal sage wearing a child’s skin or someone living his second life.

 

“What am I even thinking...?”

 

While Mong Ryeon dismissed her frivolous thoughts, Yise committed the layout of Spirit-Guarding Temple to memory.

 

It was, in a sense, both an instinct and a habit.

 

Beyond Chumun stood an enormous main hall, with rows of tiled buildings frequented by Dokkaebi on either side.

 

In front of them were large and small open spaces that appeared to serve as training grounds.

 

Several buildings were also visible farther up the mountain path to the right, though he could not see any obvious entrance leading to them.

 

“Well, this is where we part for now. I need to resume my patrol. I’ll see you at dinner.”

 

“Chief.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What should I do until you return?”

 

“For now, eat well and get plenty of rest.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Not only today. From now on, keep eating well and growing properly. If you want to fight effectively, your arms and legs need to grow at least half their current length again. Restoring your nutrition is the most urgent concern. If you fail to grow properly at this age, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life while hunting demons.”

 

“...I’ll take that to heart.”

 

After tousling Yise’s hair, Mong Ryeon called to a young Spirit kin girl who stood at a distance, pretending not to glance in their direction.

 

“Gonga. Come over here.”

 

“Yes, Chief!”

 

The Spirit kin called Gonga practically sprang over to Mong Ryeon.

 

She was a mischievous-looking girl with round eyes and full lips.

 

Yise calmly fixed his tousled hair, quickly glanced at the girl who appeared to be around his age, and found his eyes meeting hers.

 

Gonga smiled brightly in greeting and blinked at him.

 

“Take this boy to the kitchen matron. Tell her I asked her to prepare something for him to eat, and arrange a place for him to stay.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Gonga answered energetically.

 

“She’s a cheerful child.”

 

After Mong Ryeon departed, Gonga examined Yise from head to toe with sparkling eyes before smiling with crescent-shaped eyes and asking him a question.

 

“Nice to meet you! I’m Gonga. What’s your name?”

 

“Yise.”

 

“Yise? That’s an unusual name!”

 

Was it?

 

When Yise did not answer, Gonga circled him as though inspecting him.

 

“How fascinating. You really don’t have horns.”

 

“That’s because I’m human.”

 

“Do humans normally have such small ears and yellowish skin?”

 

“More or less.”

 

“Ohhh.”

 

After fussing around him in fascination for quite some time, Gonga’s eyes sparkled again.

 

“Would you like me to show you around Spirit-Guarding Temple? Oh, are you hungry?”

 

Yise shook his head.

 

“I’m fine. For now.”

 

“Thank goodness!”

 

Gonga grabbed Yise’s hand and began dragging him from place to place.

 

“The building in the center is the Central Main Hall. You can think of it as the place where every important and minor affair concerning Spirit-Guarding Temple is handled. Most areas inside are subject to restrictions and prohibited hours, so don’t enter carelessly.”

 

She pointed out the enormous central building.

 

“The halls on either side are our living quarters. We have plenty of empty rooms, so you can choose whichever one you like.”

 

Then she indicated the halls flanking it.

 

“This is the training ground, and over here is the kitchen. Meals are served during the Hour of the Dragon (7 AM to 9 AM), the Hour of the Horse (11 AM to 1 PM), and the Hour of the Rooster (5 PM to 7 PM), so don’t be late! And don’t worry if you can’t tell the time. A bell rings at mealtimes. Normally, entering the kitchen outside mealtimes is forbidden, but... since the Chief made a special request for you, it should be fine!”

 

She continued through the facilities at the front of the grounds.

 

“If you follow the small path behind the temple and climb toward the hill, you’ll find the burial mounds of those who passed away, an altar commemorating them, and statues of all the previous Chiefs. That place is sacred ground, so you must never damage anything there. Oh, there’s also our secret base behind the main hall, but I’ll show you that later!”

 

After kindly explaining the temple’s layout, which Yise had been curious about, Gonga led him to the kitchen.

 

She knocked on the wooden door a couple of times.

 

The kitchen door opened, and an older-looking Spirit kin woman appeared.

 

“Auntie! This human is called Yise, and the Chief said you should prepare a meal for him!”

 

The kitchen matron widened her eyes in momentary surprise and studied Yise before smiling warmly.

 

“It seems the Chief has welcomed a new member into our family. It has been such a long time since I last saw a human! It’s nice to meet you, child. How old are you?”

 

“I turned ten this year.”

 

“My, how mature you are.”

 

“What? I’m twenty-two!”

 

The woman stroked the head of Gonga, who had puffed herself up with pretended importance, and continued.

 

“Humans age twice as quickly as Dokkaebi. So, if you think about it that way, Gonga is effectively one year older than Yise.”

 

“I’m still his big sister!”

 

“You must be happy to have a new little brother. Take good care of him.”

 

“I will.”

 

Gonga smiled brightly, bowed her head, and withdrew.

 

A short while later, an extravagant meal was placed before Yise.

 

There were so many side dishes that he wondered whether the table legs might collapse beneath their weight.

 

“Isn’t this... too much?”

 

“Child, you are far too thin for a ten-year-old. You need to eat plenty while you’re still growing.”

 

“But I—”

 

He was merely a guest living at their expense.

 

Worse still, he was a human belonging to an entirely different race and had nothing upon which he could rely.

 

He might have been invited, but it would not be strange for them to drive him out at any moment if he disappointed Chief Mong Ryeon.

 

“Now, now. Once a child enters Spirit-Guarding Temple, I will never allow that child to waste away as long as I still draw breath. The food is getting cold, so hurry and eat.”

 

“...Thank you.”

 

Despite everything, the woman before him was kind.

 

Yise slowly scooped up a spoonful of rich broth and put it into his mouth.

 

It was warm.

 

The warm broth passed down his throat, heated his stomach, and spread its warmth throughout his body.

 

Suddenly, he remembered what had happened that morning.

 

There was a reason he had followed Mong Ryeon, the Chief of the Spirit kin, without the slightest caution.

 

It was simply...

 

Because the porridge inside the bamboo container she had given him was warm.

 

It was a warmth that had heated his dying body while the villagers looked coldly away from him.

 

That warmth had drawn him here.

 

It was just like the heart of the Spirit kin woman sitting before him and watching him with a smile.

 

Yise continued moving his spoon until he had eaten every last dish, stopping only when his stomach was close to bursting.

 

***

 

Of course, he did not receive only a warm welcome.

 

“Hey, human!”

 

Yise looked at the Spirit kin boys who had blocked his path while he was slowly choosing a room.

 

They were boys around his age who appeared one or two years older than him.

 

They were probably the children included in the “our” when Gonga had mentioned “our secret base.”

 

Yise calmly turned toward them and waited for them to continue.

 

In situations like this, it was better to determine the other party’s intentions before speaking rashly.

 

“You’re only a human, yet you dared to set foot in Spirit-Guarding Temple. Have you lost your mind?”

 

“And you even held a Spirit kin’s hand? How impudent.”

 

“You won’t come to your senses until we teach you a lesson.”

 

Children revealed hostility more readily than one might expect.

 

And the cause was usually simple.

 

“They’re jealous.”

 

It seemed the girl named Gonga, who had treated him kindly, played the role of a rather popular princess here.

 

These boys were displeased that she had shown him such favor.

 

“Are you mute? Say something.”

 

Judging by the way they had rolled up their sleeves, they intended to intimidate him.

 

After briefly considering how best to handle the situation, Yise slowly bowed his head.

 

He could feel the piercing gazes directed at the top of his head gradually turning bewildered.

 

Bowing was easy.

 

Even if they were merely young Spirit kin boys, there was no need to make unnecessary enemies.

 

This was the land where he would have to live under another’s protection.

 

“I apologize for intruding upon the territory of the Spirit kin despite being a mere human. Shameless though it may be, I ask that you allow me to depend upon you for a while. My family was massacred by a demon, leaving me with nowhere else to go, so I followed Chief Mong Ryeon here.”

 

“What? N-No...”

 

“Why would you put it that strongly...? Humans really say things so harshly...”

 

Yise lightly raised his head.

 

They were children who had never learned how to respond when someone acted contrary to their expectations, leaving them flustered and unsure what to do.

 

“Wait, this isn’t how it was supposed to— Hey, what do we do now?”

 

“I look forward to getting along with you.”

 

Just then, a clear and powerful voice rang out from a distance.

 

“Ilchwi! Wiljang! Gwaegeol! Why are you bullying our new family member? I’m telling the Chief!”

 

Gonga had appeared without warning and begun scolding the three Spirit kin boys.

 

After the boys had spent some time squirming under her reprimands, they finally left.

 

Gonga then apologized with a sympathetic expression.

 

“I’m sorry, Yise. They aren’t bad children... They’re just acting a little mean because humans are unfamiliar to them. I’ll make sure they don’t do it again.”

 

“It’s all right. But what brings you here?”

 

“The Chief has returned. She’s looking for you.”