Ch.215215 – Dancing with the Devil 4

# 215 – Dancing with the Devil # 4

The devil residing in the red temple had fluffy fur and a long tail.

Its appearance resembled a squirrel as large as a truck.

Why a giant squirrel of all things?

Was it simply because it’s a common animal in the mountains? Or was it to easily tempt humans? The devil’s thoughts remained incomprehensible.

With such long fur, even if you cut its hair every day, it would keep growing back.

It must be shedding season.

Anyway, that wasn’t what mattered.

“I’ll give you back your name. The Junko you’re looking for doesn’t exist in this world. That means you don’t need to wander this world anymore. You can be free now.”

[That woman deceived me. She took my name and used my power as she pleased. She never intended to return my name from the beginning. Never!]

The devil squirrel had its fur standing on end.

Though it looked cute, I couldn’t let my guard down.

I knew well how dangerous a devil could become when it revealed its malice.

Had the conversation reached a dead end?

Mentioning Junko’s name seemed to have touched a nerve. This creature hated her, believing she had deceived it and stolen its name.

“You want to fight me? You’ll regret it.”

[Die!]

The long, massive squirrel tail rushed toward me.

Would it hurt like being hit by a mace if that tail touched me, or would it be soft and fluffy like a large cloud?

It might have been interesting to test it, but since I disliked pain, I decided to slightly twist time.

The principle was simple: just cut out the part of the timeline where “the devil attacked me.”

It was like video editing.

I had to spend 1 point for this edit, but well, it was better than getting hurt.

[What? I’m sure I swung my tail! Something’s wrong!]

Whoosh-!

The squirrel swung its huge tail at the ground. It was an obvious move, so I easily avoided it, but I was shocked to see the ground cave in as if excavated by a power shovel.

Oh, shit, if I’d been hit, it wouldn’t have just ended with pain.

“It’s useless. Try again and the result will be the same.”

[You’re clearly not an ordinary human. What exactly are you?]

“I’m human. An ordinary one.”

[…..]

The giant squirrel devil seemed to realize that our fight wouldn’t determine a winner. It finally curled up into a ball and snorted in disdain, as if everything had become bothersome.

“Hey! What’s happening now?”

“Yeongwon!”

Splash, splash-.

Yang Juhui and Yu Dahui climbed out of the pond. Their clothes were soaking wet, but they approached me as if they didn’t care.

Soon, Yang Juhui was shocked.

“Whoa, what is that! There’s a squirrel as big as a wild boar!”

“…It’s cute!”

“Despite how it looks, it’s a devil. You could say it’s a devil guarding this temple. Since a devil from foreign lands has taken residence in this temple, the local ghosts and spirits around here have been acting up.”

“So that squirrel was the 9 o’clock visitor.”

This worked out well.

With Yang Juhui here, returning the name to the devil would be easier.

Devils are beings bound by contracts. And sometimes those contracts flow through blood. A child is like an extension of oneself. So a child’s child is also an extension.

In other words, Yang Juhui would certainly be able to return the name of the devil that Junko had bound.

I whispered the devil’s name into Yang Juhui’s ear, and she burst into laughter as if the whisper tickled her ear.

“Puhaha! What kind of name is that! It’s funny! But I guess it suits a squirrel!”

“What? What’s the name? Tell me too!”

As Dahui whined and Juhui burst out laughing, the squirrel devil, which had been curled up, slightly raised its head.

Its eyes gazed at the laughing Yang Juhui.

What feelings were contained in that gaze?

Was it hatred, or sympathy and longing for a fellow loner?

“I’ll give you back your name. Murmur. Murmur Murnoi.”

Yang Juhui spoke the devil’s name.

In that moment, the giant squirrel’s fur stood on end, and the flowers blooming in the temple became even more vividly red, enveloping everything in the crimson light of summer.

# # #

When we came to our senses, we were standing in a flower field full of red blossoms.

And in the middle of that flower field stood a slender woman with red flowers in her hair.

However, she had a long tail, making her appear non-human.

She was the devil Murmur Murnoi.

54th among the 72 devils.

Though it sounds grand, she was similar to the minor devil Gublgubul Gublnoi.

Perhaps minor devils like Gublnoi evolve into devils like her through some process.

[I dislike humans.]

Murmur said.

[They deceived me. They deceived me and imprisoned me here, and some deceived me and stole my name. Such creatures who can’t even live for 100 years.]

Murmur hated humans.

Was it because she was a devil?

[Creatures who can’t even live for 100 years. Yet how brilliant and beautiful their short lives are. How foolish I am to unwittingly reach out to their stupid, foolish lives.]

Murmur grasped the blooming flowers around her with her palm.

She spoke.

[Time, answer me. Was I wrong to have my gaze stolen by flowers that will wither in a brief moment? Am I a foolish being for having my heart stolen by that momentary smile, even knowing it has an end?]

Murmur is a devil. But it seemed she could no longer deny human existence. Perhaps she had her heart stolen by their intensity, regrets, and joys—all lived in a time infinitely brief compared to eternal life.

Was it that day of hide-and-seek, that smile, that changed Murmur?

It seemed Murmur had continued her hide-and-seek, searching for smiles from humans.

“Foolish… is it?”

I could understand her feelings well.

Human life, compared to infinite and eternal time, is but a blink of an eye.

It was like a flower that blooms for one night and fades away, a fleeting dream of spring.

If someone told me they loved a flower that bloomed for just one night and would cherish that love forever, what answer should I give? I think I would answer like this:

“There’s no such thing as eternity. Even this universe has an end. I’m saying this, so it’s certain. In the end, whether short or long, everything has an end. So don’t worry too much. Just follow where your heart leads.”

[…..]

Murmur closed her mouth.

She moved her lips as if to answer, but then sighed.

[You’re trying to deceive me again with such words. There are countless stories of my kind being deceived by mischievous humans and making absurd contracts. I’ve experienced it myself.]

“Really?”

[Moreover, your words give me no resonance. Because you’re an ordinary human. Just. An ordinary human. I’m tired of humans like you now. I don’t want to be associated with humans anymore.]

Saying that, Murmur disappeared into the bushes where red flowers bloomed.

In her place remained only an old, worn Western porcelain doll.

When we came out of the pond and returned to reality, the world had already turned to morning.

Monk Sato was greatly surprised to see us soaking wet.

“You’re so drenched!”

“This belongs to you, Ms. Sato, right?”

“Sato was my maiden name, but more importantly… oh!”

When I held out the old porcelain doll, the monk’s face suddenly changed to that of a young girl.

Nostalgia and wonder were clearly visible in her expression.

“I thought I had lost it. Some said it was stolen. It was quite an expensive item. It was also the last gift my mother gave me before leaving me at the temple…”

The last gift from her mother?

Regardless of its price, it was a very meaningful item.

To have stolen such a thing. Murmur was indeed a devil. Perhaps because Murmur originated from the West, she felt nostalgic about the Western doll?

“Some women said Junko stole this doll. Looking back now, it was a ridiculous story, but the women believed it was true…”

“Why did the women slander our grandmother?”

“Well, Junko was beautiful and popular among men. I actually thought Junko might have taken it too. Because Junko seemed lonely.”

Monk Sato’s gaze drifted to the past.

“She always seemed lonely even when surrounded by many people. This doll strangely makes you feel better when you hug it when you’re lonely. If Junko was lonely, I thought the doll would help her, so I stopped looking for it. And now it has returned to my hands like this…”

Swish-.

Monk Sato held out the doll to us again.

“I don’t need it anymore. At my age, you learn to befriend loneliness. Thanks to you all, I’ve had a good time. Juhui, you’ve been a great comfort to me.”

“Me?”

“It’s amazing to me that Junko met a man she loved somewhere, started a family, had children, and those children got married and even had grandchildren.”

“……”

“Actually, I’ll only be running this temple until this year. I’ve promised to live with my children starting next year… So meeting you like this this year feels like some kind of fate.”

The monk gave us various mountain vegetables and honey she had collected herself, packed in glass jars. Thanks to that, our hands were heavy as we came down the mountain.

“We drove away the devil and got honey. And earned plenty of points catching small fry.”

The trip to Japan had been quite productive.

Soon, Yang Juhui said:

“But we still don’t know what kind of person our grandmother was. Stealing a devil’s name—she must have been quite fearless.”

Was Yang Juhui’s grandmother able to make a name for herself as a powerful shaman because she stole the devil Murmur’s name and wielded its power?

I asked Juhui:

“What was your grandmother like in your memory?”

“Just scary and strict. There were so many things she forbade. I only remember being scolded often. If I have a good memory… it might be from when I was very young, when I was beaten up by some girls.”

Yang Juhui said she fought a lot with girls when she was young. But she was outnumbered and ended up getting beaten one-sidedly. At that time, her grandmother came running and chased all the children away.

“Grandmother said that in the world of women, you shouldn’t show weakness. At the time, I just thought ‘I guess so,’ but thinking about it now, it must have been words born from experience.”

Perhaps that was when Yang Juhui became a brave woman.

Soon, Dahui, who had been quiet throughout this journey, chuckled.

“So, are we going to Disneyland?”

Does she want to go to Disneyland that badly?

Well, whatever, I thought, and turned the steering wheel.

Afterward, we also ate the gyukatsu Yang Juhui wanted to try and thoroughly enjoyed our overseas trip.

It was such an enjoyable trip that returning to daily life felt regrettable.

With all incidents well resolved, Yang Juhui, back at the shop, would occasionally look at the entrance door at 9 PM as if waiting for someone.

—Woof woof…!

At 9 PM, a small squirrel would scurry into the shop. It was a squirrel that barked like a dog. Yang Juhui would trim its fur nicely with pretty scissors.

“There, I’ve cut it nicely.”

—Woof woof…!

Then the squirrel would wag its tail left and right and pay with something it had picked up somewhere, like a pebble or an almond, before leaving. Watching this, Dahui clicked her tongue.

“Seeing how popular you are with animals, you’re like a Disney princess.”

Yang Juhui was still popular with animals.

“Ah-! This squirrel is a very cute dog-squirrel…! It’s called a dog-squirrel because it barks like a dog…! They used to live in abundance in Pandemonium, the homeland of imps…!”

So that squirrel is a dog-squirrel.

“This Gublnoi thinks it would be good to sell it as a set with the ‘Affectionate Porcelain Doll’ that I recently acquired…!”

Snap-!

“Hieek…! The squirrel bit this Gublnoi’s finger…! That dog-squirrel is not an ordinary dog-squirrel…! I can’t tell what it is…!”

Indeed. None of us knew the true identity of that dog-squirrel.

Perhaps it was a foolish being that deceived and was deceived by humans, told lies, and yet had its gaze stolen by humans.