Chapter 23: The Companion Dokkaebi’s Revenge

Han Tae-yi.

Tae-yi’s grandmother had been a shaman. And not a very reputable one, either.

She was the sort of shaman who barely managed to keep her severed spiritual connection alive by creating something known as a yeommae.

The sin of such an act was passed down through generations as karmic retribution, and that karma eventually fell upon Tae-yi, her grandson.

The grandson who had received the greatest share of his grandmother’s love.

His grandmother had taken children who had little time left to live, turned them into spirits in exchange for extending the lives of wealthy families’ children, and lived in comfort on the money she earned from it.

Tae-yi, who had grown up enjoying that wealth, inherited the entirety of the karma for her deeds.

He had lived an easy life, blessed with overflowing money and a handsome face, until he turned twenty.

In the year Tae-yi became an adult, his grandmother died, and the spirits of the children she had killed swarmed around him.

From that day onward, Tae-yi gained the ability to see every kind of stray spirit.

If he had merely gained eyes that could see such spirits, perhaps he might have overcome it with the naturally wicked personality he had been born with.

But his future had once seemed so brilliant that the word radiant suited it perfectly. Now, however, everything he attempted went wrong, and the past several years had been nothing short of a nightmare for Tae-yi.

‘So it really exists…’

Tae-yi first came to possess Banji, the one he called his companion dokkaebi, on the day his grandmother appeared in his dream.

She told him that if he went to the seonang tree halfway up Bukhansan, there would be various objects beneath it, and that if he took one of them, he would no longer be able to see ghosts.

That was all it took for Tae-yi to head straight to Bukhansan.

There, beneath the seonang tree, he stole a smooth jade ring.

He had told Lee Young and Sa-hae that he had discovered it while praying, but Tae-yi was a man who had never prayed even once in his entire life.

From the day he descended the mountain with that jade ring tucked safely against his chest, Tae-yi stopped seeing ghosts.

Perhaps it was only natural.

After all, he was carrying a dokkaebi stronger than ordinary stray spirits in his arms.

The Okbanji dokkaebi was the very dokkaebi from the old folktale, the one that took the form of a ring during the day and returned to the form of a jade ring at night.

She had not been born long enough to possess the tremendous power of the Taebaeksan Dokkaebi, but she was still a dokkaebi, and therefore more than capable of driving away ordinary spirits.

When night fell and Okbanji appeared in human form, Tae-yi smiled brightly.

A living talisman.

That was how Tae-yi regarded the Okbanji dokkaebi.

Fooled by Tae-yi’s smooth, handsome face, his innocent-sounding voice, and the strange way he behaved that tugged at one’s maternal instincts, Okbanji stayed by his side for three whole years, living for his sake.

‘What nonsense are you talking about?’

‘…Huh?’

‘You’re just my companion dokkaebi. A living talisman.’

‘…’

At first, Tae-yi had also treated Okbanji with considerable care and kindness.

He had to. Otherwise, Banji might leave him.

But that didn’t last long.

As he gradually became a famous actor thanks to Okbanji’s power, stopped seeing ghosts, and began living comfortably, it was only natural that he started treating her carelessly.

Tae-yi had never been the kind of person who treasured what he possessed in the first place.

And on the exact day Okbanji had spent one thousand days by Tae-yi’s side, she stopped transforming into a human even after night fell.

“You have no choice but to come back to me. You’re mine.”

Tae-yi had muttered those words to himself.

Then he heard that there was a human whose fate was to grant yokai their wishes, and he went looking for Lee Young.

The moment Tae-yi saw Lee Young, he knew.

If he could have Lee Young, perhaps he could become even more successful than he had been while possessing Okbanji. Perhaps he could live without ever seeing ghosts again.

At some point, his grandmother had told him about a human who received blessings by granting yokai their wishes.

Tae-yi recognized through sheer animal instinct that this human was Lee Young.

“If I can’t find Okbanji, I’ll have you instead.”

Tae-yi decided that if Lee Young couldn’t find Okbanji, he would take Lee Young for himself.

He would keep Lee Young by his side even if he had to kill the glowing Bulgasal yokai beside her to do it.

****

“What a mess.”

Sa-hae entered the bookstore and looked around at the wreckage.

If that damn ureong bastard hadn’t held him back, he would have arrived much earlier.

“Are you okay?”

Sa-hae already knew Lee Young would be fine.

He had left such a strong mark on her that the moment Han Tae-yi tried to touch her, the mark would have become a barrier and protected her.

Knowing that, Sa-hae had come slowly instead of throwing away the ureong bastard who had been clinging to him and holding him back.

But now that he was looking closely at Lee Young’s face, he regretted not arriving sooner, even if it meant throwing that bastard straight out of the building.

“Cheon Lee Young.”

“He was a bad person.”

Lee Young, who had been putting the books back in order, looked up when she heard Sa-hae call her name and said that.

Sa-hae nodded as though he agreed.

“He was really strange.”

“I know.”

As he said he knew, Sa-hae effortlessly picked up the stacks of books Lee Young had gathered and began putting them back on the shelves.

“I told you that bastard was strange.”

“What kind of person is like that?”

“Are all humans supposed to be good?”

His voice was indifferent, but the concern contained within it was unmistakable.

He looked at her worriedly, as though afraid she might have been seriously hurt.

“You’re okay, right?”

“I’m okay. Tori charged at him, so I was safe.”

“Looks like it was worth keeping him around.”

For the first time, Sa-hae looked at Tori, who was sitting on the floor, with a rather proud expression.

He had known that the Gwitae bastard would cause trouble, but he was glad he had still kept Tori by Lee Young’s side.

“No, but why was that bastard so weird?”

“Because he’s greedy.”

Before Lee Young could finish speaking, a delicate woman’s voice came from the corner of the bookstore.

Both of them turned toward it.

“Huh?”

Standing in the corner where the voice had come from was a petite woman.

She was wearing an expensive designer dress, and her round face had a somewhat prim, coy quality to it.

‘Round and coy…?’

‘Do you know our Banji…?’

In an instant, Lee Young remembered her conversation with Tae-yi.

“Are you perhaps… Ms. Banji?”

At Lee Young’s cautious question, Banji nodded.

Then tears began to gather in her eyes.

“W-Wait, why are you crying? Why?!”

Startled, Lee Young hurried over to Okbanji.

Behind her, Sa-hae watched the scene and shook his head as though he already had a headache.

“What an idiot.”

“Mister!”

At Sa-hae’s sharp voice, which was clearly directed at her, even more tears welled up in Okbanji’s eyes.

Lee Young pulled Banji into her arms and gently patted her back.

“Why, why are you crying? Hm? Don’t cry…”

Without paying any attention to the fact that the being sobbing in her arms was a dokkaebi who took the form of a jade ring during the day and a human woman at night, Lee Young simply continued patting her.

Okbanji cried and cried in Lee Young’s arms for a long time.

Only after sobbing so hard that it seemed she would cry the whole world away did she finally raise her head and speak to Lee Young.

“P-Please take me home…”

“Ah.”

“And…”

“Yes, yes. Tell me anything.”

Lee Young spoke in a voice that sounded as though she would even pluck a star from the sky for her.

Okbanji wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Please… kill Han Tae-yi for me…!”

When a woman holds a grudge, even frost can fall in the middle of summer.

Why would a dokkaebi be any different?

Okbanji could not forgive Tae-yi.

For three whole years, he had deceived her, used her, prevented her from returning home, kept her from seeing her family, and then trampled her sincere feelings as though they were nothing more than garbage.

The reason Okbanji had suddenly appeared in that corner was entirely thanks to Tori.

When Tori pounced on Tae-yi and knocked him over, the jade ring had fallen out of his pocket.

If it hadn’t been for Tori, Okbanji would still be inside Tae-yi’s pocket even now.

Lee Young placed Tori on her lap and stroked him affectionately.

“Good boy, Tori.”

Tori wagged his tail vigorously, clearly pleased with the praise.

Watching Lee Young and Tori, Sa-hae turned his gaze back toward Okbanji.

Still dangling tears from the corners of her eyes, Okbanji glanced cautiously at Sa-hae.

Okbanji looked to be around fifty years old by yokai standards.

In the world of dokkaebi, however, that was practically the equivalent of having been born yesterday.

Young dokkaebi tended to trust humans too easily and were constantly getting themselves into trouble.

Just like the Okbanji standing before him now.

Sa-hae opened his mouth in an irritated voice, as though scolding her.

“Didn’t you hear that you’re not supposed to fall in love with humans?”

“…”

“The Taebaeksan Dokkaebi must have drilled that into you dokkaebi until you were sick of hearing it.”

“…”

At Sa-hae’s words, Okbanji lowered her head.

It was a somewhat amusing thing to say, but dokkaebi really shouldn’t fall in love with humans.

Things like Sa-hae, Sin, and Jade Rabbit could love humans, but there were limits to what they could do for the humans they loved.

Dokkaebi were different.

They were beings suspended somewhere between gods and yokai.

As they grew older, they could wield increasingly powerful abilities.

Even a young dokkaebi like Okbanji, who had been born only recently, possessed enough power to alter a human’s fate.

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