Meeting the Mountain God

Sweeping the floor with large, fidgeting movements, Jeha’s hand moved at the vibration coming from his waist.

He took out his phone from his pocket to check, and saw a message from Lawyer Hyun.

“Boss!”

Horang, who had been lounging around, raised his head.

“Lawyer Hyun contacted me again. About that customer who was looking for the Sanshin Shrine.”

“Tell him to get lost.”

“Well, it seems a bit complicated to reply like that right away.”

“Why?”

Jeha straightened his body and stood up.

The dragon-patterned shirt with wrinkled pleats on his back shone brightly under the light.

“The person looking for the Sanshin Shrine, I don’t know exactly who he is, but he’s a human who seems like the ‘guest’ we saw from England.”

Horang’s nose wrinkled at several keywords.

He knew he would see him soon, but it was faster than he thought.

He wasn’t very happy even though it was a face he was destined to see anyway, since he had set foot on this land.

Jeha’s expression wasn’t very good either.

He thought it was strange from the beginning that there was a person who was persistently looking for the Sanshin Shrine, but it was even scarier that it was that person he saw at the airport.

“Should I just tell him to get lost?”

He wished he could, but Horang paused to think before giving an answer.

He was bothered by the fact that the existence he encountered at the airport was the same person who had been constantly looking for the Sanshin Shrine.

Why is that person looking for me?

Is he trying to stay longer instead of just staying briefly and leaving?

He didn’t know what the answer was, but it was clear that it was going to be a hassle.

Horang mumbled, burying his face in his front paws.

“…Tell him to come for now.”

Jeha’s eyes widened.

“Are you going to take the job?”

Horang’s ears perked up above his head.

“…I have a feeling that it will be more annoying if I chase him away.

And I think I’ll have to see him at least one more time even if I refuse.”

Didn’t that contact come six months ago?

Jeha recalled the reservation messages that had been steadily coming in through Lawyer Hyun, and wore a bitter smile.

“I guess so. Still, wouldn’t it be a bit much to see him here?”

Horang let out a hollow laugh.

“Why? Are you scared?”

Jeha quickly waved both hands.

“It’s not that I’m scared, it’s just, well, unpleasant. It smelled very old, you know? It’s better to stay away from things like that.”

Living in this world for a long time was as good as saying that he had that much power.

“Are you in a position to say that?”

The 600-year-old ghost rolled his eyes.

“No, I’m just 600 years old at best. And I survived that long, thin and long. And Boss, you saw it at the airport that day.

How they were all screaming and running away as soon as he set foot on the ground.

I wanted to do that too. If it wasn’t for you, I would have gritted my teeth, not made eye contact, and ran away right away.”

The secret to living a long life in the human world, even as a ghost, was to know the places to get involved and the places not to get involved, and to avoid the existences that should not be faced.

Jeha, who harbored the strange wish to step on this earth for a long time even after death, since he had died young in his lifetime, wore a shallow smile.

“In that sense, Boss. How about having a meaningful meeting with the customer outside? There are many cafes and restaurants with a good atmosphere nearby.”

Horang snorted and lifted his legs to roll in the opposite direction.

“Why bother? I don’t want to go out.”

“Yes. I guess not.”

Jeha sighed deeply and picked up his phone. He made a firm decision as he looked at the short message Lawyer Hyun had sent.

“I’ll make an appointment.”

Lawyer Hyun checked the message that came back in a few minutes.

-Tell him to get lost.

-He said to get lost.

-Um…Should I just clear what’s in front of the door for you? If I die, I’ll go to the house or the underworld anyway.

Below the rejection he had sent back, not wanting to lose one of his few living acquaintances who was annoying but useful, the most recent message came in.

-Tell me the office address.

His eyebrows twitched.

He’s going to see me in person?

He recalled the two at the real estate office and blinked and swallowed roughly. The client across the table opened his mouth.

“Is it a rejection again this time?”

Kang Hae-soo, who had been acting rashly for days without knowing his life was in danger, waited for an answer with an anxious look on his face next to him.

“…No.”

Lawyer Hyun regained his composure and continued.

“He says he will visit in person.”

He reached out and brought the pen and notepad rolling on the table to the front.

“I’ll tell you the address.”

He wrote down the exact location of the ‘entrance’ he knew.

He turned the memo over and handed it out, and the black-haired secretary, who had been sitting quietly, took it.

Lawyer Hyun looked at the office address that had entered the hands of the suspicious human and opened his mouth.

“He only receives ‘guests’ there, so it’s best to be careful when you visit. It’s a place where it’s easy to get lost.”

Lawyer Hyun added a kind guide, since real estate customers were also customers to him.

“Can we go right now?”

Kang Hae-soo, who had confirmed that the location he had been told was not that far, said.

Lawyer Hyun nodded as if he could do as he pleased.

“Do whatever you want.”

The memo Lawyer Hyun had given was handed over to Kang Hae-soo as a matter of course.

Lawyer Hyun brushed his protruding hair with his hand as he watched the backs of the customers leaving the office.

His eyes narrowed.

They were guests who aroused his curiosity about what they were, but he didn’t care as long as he had taken the job.

Instead of paying attention to the work that had already started, he called in the existence that had run away as soon as the guest visited.

“Si-young, Hyun Si-young.”

At his call, a faint face appeared through the gaps in the dolls.

A cloudy mass with a small shape walked carefully and stood in front of Lawyer Hyun, avoiding the sofa where the guest had been sitting until just now.

The child ghost, still wearing a terrified expression, took the doll that was tucked under Lawyer Hyun’s arm.

The ghost pursed its lips, but no sound was heard. Lawyer Hyun smiled quietly and reached out his hand to the ghost.

The child gradually regained his smile at the touch that stroked the air as if knowing it wouldn’t reach.

“Shall we eat some snacks?”

Lawyer Hyun opened the drawer next to the sofa to find the caramel that his younger sister had liked in her lifetime.

Samcheong-dong.

It was a neighborhood famous as a dating spot, which you could get to by passing through a tunnel below the house they were currently staying in.

As a tourist destination, the stores on the street were showing off their unique and cute accessories.

The address that Lawyer Hyun had told them was pointing to the residential area in the back alley.

As they entered the narrow alley, they could see cars parked here and there, and houses hugging the utility pole with their roofs touching each other. It was too quiet compared to the large street a few steps away.

“Are you sure this is the right place?”

Lee Seon looked into the alley several times.

Kang Hae-soo frowned.

“Yes. This is the right place.”

The address written on the memo was pointing to the inside of the alley between two two-story hanoks, which seemed to fit just one person passing by. It was an empty lot between the walls with nothing.

Lee Seon sighed. Kang Hae-soo scratched his forehead with his finger.

He was sure that his friend, who wasn’t one to say nonsense even though he was eccentric, was telling him to go this way, but he couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Should he go back and grab him by the collar again now? A hand suddenly came into view as he was deep in thought he should start the car or not.

“Give it to me.”

When he raised his head, Theodore flicked his wrist.

Lee Seon blinked and put the memo he had received from Kang Hae-soo on Theodore’s palm.

“It was a more friendly guide than I thought.”

He looked ahead with the memo in his hand.

Astonishment spread over Lee Seon and Kang Hae-soo’s expressions, who couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Just a moment ago, it was an empty alley with nothing.

It was definitely like that, but in a flash, the world in front of them was turned upside down.

A sign that was bright but not dazzling, shining at the entrance of the alley, told them that they had found their destination properly.

“Sanshinne Real Estate.”

Kang Hae-soo read the company name on the sign out loud with a sullen look.

“Sanshin?”

His head tilted in confusion.

A place with the name Sanshin appeared in front of his client who was looking for the Sanshin Shrine.

He felt a chill down his spine for some reason.

‘What kind of place did this guy introduce me to?’

Kang Hae-soo thought of his friend, who had made all sorts of faces and said harsh things every time he asked.

In the meantime, Theodore took a step towards the gate that was towering high at the end of the alley.

“Teddy!”

Lee Seon hurriedly reached out his hand and ran towards him, and darkness fell in an instant. Lee Seon froze as he checked the sign where the light had disappeared.

Lee Seon confirmed Theodore and the tip of his foot that he had stepped into the alley, and then stepped back.

Then, as if it had never been turned off, the sign shone with noble light and illuminated the ‘customer’s’ path.

“I’ll be waiting.”

“…I understand.”

Lee Seon answered, taking a deep breath.

Kang Hae-soo watched with a confused expression, then closed and opened his eyes tightly.

And Theodore’s figure disappeared from in front of them.

Kang Hae-soo ran into the alley.

As if what he had seen a moment ago was an illusion, there was only a wall connected to the mountainside to prevent the soil from collapsing between the houses and houses inside the alley.

He brushed off the cobwebs wrapped around his fingers and turned his body.

“Lee Seon Crosby. What exactly…”

Kang Hae-soo was about to ask what he was looking for that he had come all the way to Korea for, but he closed his lips tightly.

What was important now wasn’t that. He had to check his client’s safety since he had disappeared rather than something he couldn’t understand with his head.

“First, I’ll check if he’s okay on his own.”

He looked for Hyun Si-woo’s name at the top of the call list and called him right away.

The advice his friend had given him when he had taken on this job, that it would be better to just give up the request, lingered in his ears.

Theodore rubbed the corners of the square paper he was holding in his hand and walked inside.

When he stood in front of the gate, the tightly closed door opened quietly without a sound.

Even though no one came out to greet him.

Seeing that he could come inside, Theodore crossed the doorstep without hesitation.

A smile spread on his gray-tinged blue eyes.

Even though it was just one step, he realized that he had arrived in a completely different place from where he had been standing just now.

His gaze reached the house with a narrow but vibrant front yard that was nestled inside the wall.

There was only one hanok that seemed to have been torn down and rebuilt, leaving only the frame.

When he opened the dark black wooden door and went inside, a man who looked like he had been drawn with ink stood in the white space with plenty of blank space.

Theodore met the yellow eyes that were the only vivid color in the man covered in all monochrome.

The pupils, which were not human and were sharply condensed vertically, curved.

“Oh. You went a long way around when I was close by.”

At Theodore’s words, the existence he had encountered at the airport twisted the corners of his lips and wore a distorted smile.

“You should think it’s fortunate that you came all the way here, even if it was around. Most people can’t even come.”

Horang held the long pipe in his hand and put the mouthpiece in his mouth. A faint herbal scent rose and white smoke rose with the embers.

“So, what’s your business with me?”

Theodore’s lips curled up.

“You don’t ask who I am.”

Gray hair flowed down along the texture.

“Even if you’re wearing a shell well, why would I bother to confirm something that is too visible?”

Theodore smirked as if it was very interesting at those words.

“Theodore Gunther. That’s the name of this shell. You can call me Teddy. What about you?”

“I don’t think there will be a time to call me, so why bother?”

Horang refused coldly.

Teddy, I don’t know where he managed to attach such a bear-like name. It has nothing to do with the land.

Horang pointed to the sofa attached to the office wall with the end of his pipe.

“Sit down. I’ll give you time to drink a cup of tea.”

He stared at the guest with indifferent eyes.