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Chapter 198
“Hmm, all sorts of things happened.” “And one of those things is that person?” Kinain’s and Tiron’s gazes turned to the same spot at once. As if feeling their eyes on him, the boy with his face buried in a book lifted his head. The boy looked to be in his early teens, a beauty whose gender was hard to guess. Most striking of all, fragments of five-colored scales were attached to his forehead like ornaments. The boy’s eyes sparkled as he opened his mouth. “Kinain-nim! The stories of the human realm are so fascinating. It still takes me time to read human writing, but my hard studying has paid off. By the way, human-nim!” “Y-yes?” “May I take these books to the spirit realm? I’ll repay you well enough.” The boy held out a small cloth pouch to Tiron. It was full of pearls of many colors. “I know all about the human concept of currency. Here, this should be enough, no?” “More than enough — it’s excessive, spirit-nim. Take this back. I’ll just give you the books as a gift.” Tiron shook his head and handed the pouch back to the boy. At the word “gift,” the boy’s face lit up as if shining. “My word! A human giving me a gift! Look, Kinain-nim! A human gave me a gift!” “Yes, good for you.” “Hehe, everyone will envy me. I did well to follow Kinain-nim.” The boy, delighted, opened his gifted books and sank back into concentration. Tiron stared at Kinain, bewildered. “Are spirits all…… fond of humans like that?” “Haha.” Kinain just laughed it off. Until seven years ago, spirits hated humans. Even among the great spirits, three out of four hadn’t liked humans. But for some reason, at some point the number of spirits friendly to humans began to rise sharply, and now human culture is all the rage. This boy in particular — Miyeol, the Scale Clan spirit — is extremely interested in humans. He follows Kinain around so much that Asad openly grumbles about it. “Anyway, I’m glad you liked the story. Others said they liked that version better too. Jane especially liked it. Ah, Jane should have seen you.” Tiron clicked his tongue regretfully. Jane, officially Tiron’s adopted daughter, was now across the sea in the empire. The academy, which had closed during the monster crisis, started accepting students again last year, and Jane passed its notoriously difficult entrance exam as the top scorer and now lives in the dormitory. Her goal is to graduate and follow in her father’s footsteps as a doctor. Thanks to Tiron’s bragging, delivered with feigned nonchalance, Kinain learned even Jane’s midterm grades. Watching Tiron grin as he talked about his daughter, Kinain felt a strange feeling. “Hm? What’s with that face? The tea tastes bad?” “No, it’s just strange. When I last saw her, Jane was still a little child. And now she’s attending the academy.” “Seven years is longer than you think. Look, my hair’s started going white.” “You’re not that old yet, are you?” “My body’s not what it used to be either. I threw out my back the other day. You, on the other hand, look younger. Your impression’s changed quite a bit too. Because you got healthy?”
Kinain touched his cheek without thinking. When Tiron last saw him, he’d been nearly dying — no comparison to now. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. Kinain’s aging had stopped. Not only now, but never again would his hair go white or the ailments of old age touch him. He knew in his head that he’d become ageless and immortal, but he hardly felt it. Spirits live far longer than humans and age slowly, so in the spirit realm there’d been no chance to feel it. But from the moment he set foot in the human realm, he began to feel the dissonance. In seven years the human realm had changed greatly. The biggest reason: most of the monsters were gone. Having become a complete adult, Asad had dealt with the human realm’s monsters and healed the contaminated land. Where the demonic energy vanished, life began to sprout again, and humans built new homes atop the ruins. And the Hairak Kingdom had changed much as well. After Hasan died, his young son took the throne, but was soon driven out by revolutionaries. According to Tiron, people are divided into royalists and republicans, fighting at every turn. Troubled times in many ways. Talking over old times, night fell before they knew it. Time to go home. Chirp! Jjaekjjaegi, coming outside, returned to its giant tiger form. Tiron jumped back in surprise, then his face turned curious. “My word, it has wings?” Keuheung. Jjaekjjaegi spread its great wings proudly. The wings were what Asad had attached, meaning “serve Kinain well.” The magically made wings shone mysteriously even in the dark. Kinain, mounted on Jjaekjjaegi’s back, looked at Miyeol. “Kinain-nim, can’t I stay just a little longer? There are still many places I haven’t seen. No — you go back first! I’ll go when the Ruenamun returns in seven years.” “Miyeol, get on.” At Kinain’s firm words, Miyeol climbed on behind with a sulky face. Kinain gestured at Tiron. Tiron stroked Jjaekjjaegi’s head and asked. “When I go, when will I see you again? In seven years?” “Probably.” “Seven years is too long no matter how I think about it. A few more visits and I’ll be a grandfather. Can’t you ask the dragon to let you come more often?” “That’s right. Lord Asad grants Kinain-nim anything he wishes. Please ask him!” Kinain answered with only a smile. Of course Asad would do whatever he wanted. But he couldn’t do such a thing thoughtlessly, out of his own greed alone. Who knew what would happen when worlds long cut off were connected. ‘Still, I hope they connect someday. It may take a long time.’ After exchanging farewells with Tiron, Jjaekjjaegi took flight. Kinain gazed at the landscape spread beneath his feet. When he’d last seen it, this city had been dyed all gray. But now, though it was night, lights lit here and there made it shine like stars even in the dark. The moment they returned to the spirit realm, Kinain was pulled into a firm embrace. A low voice came from above his head. “I was about to go looking for you. I was worried.” Kinain laughed and hugged his back in return. “Not even a day has passed — what’s there to worry about.” “But…….” “Mi-nim, you can’t!” At the interruption, Asad frowned and shifted his gaze. Kinain soothed his irritation by taking Asad’s hand and turned toward the commotion. “No, I just left a book behind by mistake. I’ll just go get it and come right back.” “You can’t. The gate will close soon.” “Really, I can be quick?” “Mi-nim! You are the chief of the Scale Clan. You mustn’t leave your territory empty for so long on a whim.”
Biche, who’d been admonishing Mi, belatedly felt the gazes on him and turned around. He hurried over and bowed his head. “Forgive my late greeting. And thank you for indulging Mi-nim’s stubbornness.” “It’s nothing. I was going anyway. Biche, you have it hard too.” Biche sighed. “Mi-nim was only just born, so it can’t be helped. Though I do wish he’d be a bit more aware of his position.” “Hing, Biche is too cold.” “Mi-nim, you should speak like an adult.” Miyeol said nothing, lips pursed. After Biche and Miyeol left first, Asad muttered coldly. “With a chief like that, the day the Scale Clan goes extinct isn’t far off.” “Asad.” Asad flinched and quickly wrapped his arms around Kinain’s waist, whining. “……I hate how he keeps trying to stick to you. He knows you’re soft with children and deliberately acts younger.” “Hmm, I don’t think so. He really was only just born.” “You mustn’t judge spirits’ and humans’ growth rates as the same. Especially a great spirit.”
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