Ch.211211 – The Raccoon Dog and the Winding Little Devil’s Nayuta 3

# 211 – The Raccoon and the Curly Little Devil’s Nayuta #3

Under the sky of Gaeryong City, there wasn’t a single cloud to be found—just a pure blue expanse. It was so intensely blue that it felt like a clear, transparent ocean was rippling above my head.

“No fine dust, no yellow dust. Another beautiful day. So, is business good?”

I visited Yang Juhui’s hair salon.

Tsk—Yang Juhui clicked her tongue.

“I haven’t even opened yet, what business are you talking about? Can’t you see I’m hanging wallpaper? Good timing though. Hold that wallpaper over there!”

Yang Juhui was doing the interior design of her shop herself. Whether she had always been interested in moving furniture and applying wallpaper, her skills were quite impressive.

Under the blue summer sky, watching the shop take shape as everything progressed smoothly made me feel excited and amused in many ways.

—Meow.

Baekseol the cat sat in the middle of the shop.

Originally, it was Dahui’s cat, but somehow Yang Juhui ended up taking care of it. Maybe because it kept following Yang Juhui around, so she ended up adopting it?

“Hello, Baekseol!”

When Yu Dahui’s younger sister, Yu Nayu, hugged the fluffy white cat Baekseol, it struggled as if annoyed and quickly fled into the storage room connected to the shop.

Looking toward the storage room where the cat had hidden, I could see it was piled with various items and looked quite dusty.

There were quite a few cobwebs as well.

“What about that storage room? Not finished cleaning it yet?”

“…There’s a spider in there.”

Yang Juhui mumbled, pausing her wallpapering.

There’s what?

“A spider! In there! A big spider!”

So she couldn’t touch the storage area because there was a big spider inside. It seemed Yang Juhui was still afraid of spiders. People can change easily in some ways, yet remain unchanged in others.

“Hard to believe the pride of Juam Middle School, Juam Juhui, is afraid of spiders.”

“Hey! I told you not to call me that!”

“Then how about Juak Kwak Juhui?”

“Yaak!”

Yang Juhui came over and smacked my side with her hand. It was loud but didn’t really hurt. Of course, I had to pretend it was extremely painful.

“Owww!”

Only after I pretended to be in pain and acted apologetic did Yang Juhui finally seem to calm down, letting out a “hmph” through her nose. These little pranks were the secret to maintaining our relationship.

“If you’re going to call me something, call me Daram Juhui.”

“Daram Juhui…? Daram Juhui… Squirrel?”

Yang Juhui looked more like a large cat than a squirrel. While I was lost in thought, little Yu Nayu, who had chased after Baekseol into the storage room, burst through the door shouting.

“Oppa, look at this! I caught a spider! A spider! It’s a huge spider!”

—Grrrr, grrrrr, rarrrr, woof woof!

“What the…!?”

I was genuinely startled.

What kind of spider makes dog noises? It was barking loudly like an enraged pit bull. Its color was even more vibrant than cherry blossoms—a bright pink that created quite a tense atmosphere.

Well, poisonous mushrooms are usually colorful, right? Like they’re warning, “I’m poisonous, don’t eat me.” Wasps, venomous spiders, poisonous snakes—they all warn others with their vibrant appearances.

This pink spider must surely be venomous too.

Now I understood why Yang Juhui was so scared!

While I was also getting a bit frightened, Nayu shouted:

“I’m going to take it home and raise it! I have to show it to unnie! You like that, don’t you?”

—Grrrr! Rarrrr! Woof woof! Garrrr! Grrrr!

“Um… it clearly doesn’t look happy. Shouldn’t you put it down?”

“No way! It’s happy to meet me.”

The spider looked angry about being captured when it had been minding its own business, but Nayu seemed to think this palm-sized pink spider liked her.

“Ahh! Get that thing away! Get it away!”

Of course, Yang Juhui screamed in terror, interrupting her wallpapering. Seeing her reaction, Nayu seemed to seize the opportunity for revenge, extending the spider toward Yang Juhui and chasing her.

“This is revenge for calling Nayu a little kid…!”

“Kyaaak!”

Crash! Yang Juhui tripped while trying to escape. The pink spider in Nayu’s hand lunged at the fallen Yang Juhui.

The spider climbed to the top of Yang Juhui’s head and waved its two front legs from side to side. It looked like it was dancing.

—Woof woof…!

“Ah! Looks like Kengkengi likes Yang Juhui unnie more than me! First you took Baekseol from me, and now you’re taking my new friend Kengkengi too! That’s mean!”

Nayu seemed upset that the pink spider she had caught appeared to prefer Yang Juhui. Yang Juhui had always been popular with animals.

Maybe she was better suited to be a zookeeper than a hair designer.

“Ah! This spider is a wolf spider…! It’s commonly found in Pandemonium, which you could call the homeland of us imps…! It’s known to be friendly to humans and has a gentle temperament…!”

Whoosh! Curly Gublnoi burst into the shop and picked up the spider that was wiggling its front legs on Yang Juhui’s head, looking extremely pleased.

“Its pink color makes it very rare…! Even this Gublnoi has never seen a pink wolf spider before…, selling this spider would surely earn lots of ‘mysterious coins’…!”

—Woof woof…!

So it was a mysterious wolf spider. An unidentified creature. A type of “UMA”? It seemed similar to my Giganoto.

Just then, Nayu cried out in distress:

“No! Kengkengi is not for sale! It’s Nayu’s friend! Kengkengi, bark if you want to be sold, and make a ‘hiong’ sound if you don’t want to be sold!”

“Muhuhu, wolf spiders can only bark or growl… It certainly cannot make a ‘hiong’ sound…!”

—Hiong…!

The wolf spider made a strange sound.

This newly encountered pink wolf spider was named Kengkengi.

# # #

Yang Juhui, who had fainted because of the pink spider Kengkengi, woke up about 10 minutes later. She was greatly surprised to see Gublnoi sitting next to me, drinking yogurt through a straw.

“That creature…! I saw it at the shop before…!?”

“So you two do know each other.”

Only Yang Juhui, whose curiosity rivaled that of a cat, had peeked inside the shop while we were conquering the Nightmare Corridor. Thinking that things would progress faster if they already knew each other, I decided to get straight to the point.

“I was hoping you could provide some space in the storage room where Kengkengi was hiding for Gublnoi to use. Could you let him open a shop there to earn coins?”

“What?”

“Just as I explained. If Gublnoi opens a shop, I think I might be able to use the shop function in my status window again. Remember? After I made that wish when I was complete, I broke down again.”

I had once been a complete Eternal Clock. Perhaps due to the recoil from rewriting time with cosmic power, I broke down again after making just one wish.

『Name: Ha Yeongwon Lv.14

Trait: ◀ Click to open

Quirk:

Funds: 143 Points

Description: You have lost countless glories and have become stretched out like a broken clock. It will take much time and care to fix. Nevertheless, you don’t worry. Because you’ve met wonderful connections and companions.』

『Shop ◀ Under repair』

『Clinic ◀ Under repair』

『Training Ground ◀ Under repair』

『Mercenary Corps ◀ Under repair』

Most functions were under repair.

If Gublnoi opened a shop here, wouldn’t my shop function reopen too?

Then it would be easier to collect points, and I would have points left over for enhancements to fix my broken clock.

“Hmm…. He looks suspicious.”

Yang Juhui stared at Gublnoi for a while.

Honestly, he was suspicious.

He was a “little devil” after all. Ghosts, demons, and urban legends had given us so much trouble and trials. It was natural for Yang Juhui to be wary of Gublnoi.

“Well, fine. That space was going to be storage anyway.”

“Really?”

That was easier than expected. Of course, I brought Gublnoi here because I thought Yang Juhui would coolly give permission without overthinking things.

“Just so you know, there are lots of mice in that storage room. Maybe because there’s a restaurant behind this street, there are lots of mice and cockroaches.”

“Muhuhu, that is no problem at all for this Gublnoi…! With this wolf spider Kengkengi, mice and insects won’t dare come near the shop…!”

—Woof woof…!

And so, Gublnoi decided to open a shop and live in the small storage space connected to Yang Juhui’s hair salon. It seemed like it wasn’t a bad arrangement for Yang Juhui either.

“With this Gublnoi nearby, the efficiency and effectiveness of perms will surely increase…! It’s because this Gublnoi is a curly imp…! Good at making things curly…!”

I’m not sure, but apparently having Gublnoi nearby makes perms turn out better. Whether it’s true or not, I hoped it would be a good connection for Yang Juhui who had opened a hair salon.

“Gublnoi! I’m glad you weren’t exterminated!”

“It’s thanks to Nayu…!”

Nayu and Gublnoi hugged each other and rubbed cheeks happily. They seemed to have become so close that they were sad to part ways.

Although the method seemed a bit haphazard, could we consider this another problem solved? Regardless of the process, if the direction and result are good, then it’s OK.

“Well then, Gublnoi! Work hard!”

“I’ll earn lots of mysterious coins today to prepare for the upcoming ‘Imp Day’…!”

“I’m busy!”

After Yang Juhui’s hair salon opened, she became overwhelmed with the flood of customers. Perhaps because Gublnoi had settled in the storage room, she became known as the “Perm Master.”

—Hiong…!

“It’s a spider but it’s cute!”

“It’s pink!”

The pink spider Kengkengi was also popular with customers. It had a gentle personality, was friendly to people, and seemed to understand human speech.

For some reason, Kengkengi handled payments and money calculations. Apparently, wolf spiders have excellent financial sense and are quick with money calculations.

“All wolf spiders are symbols of good fortune…! There’s a saying that households that keep wolf spiders all become wealthy…!”

Well, that’s what they say.

And so, our summer passed peacefully.

The sky remained blue, and children’s summer vacation was in full swing when—

Yang Juhui contacted me.

“A strange customer came in?”

“A strange customer?”