<CHAPTER 8>

The sensation I had identified as divine power hadn’t been my imagination.

The strange energy surrounding the woman before me was unmistakably similar in nature to the divine power I possessed.

No… it’s closer to the pure energy of nature itself.

Until now, I had refined nature’s energy into divine power, then returned that divine power back to nature, completing the cycle that brought prosperity.

But the energy radiating from Ms. Jina felt different.

It was closer to the intermediate state—nature’s energy in the very process of transforming into divine power.

“Interesting.”

I never expected to encounter someone besides myself who possessed this kind of power.

Just what exactly is she?

One thing, however, was certain.

“Yip! Yip!”

Dubu, nestled in my arms, was reacting to that energy with unusual excitement.

“I thought something seemed odd when I saw Dubu…”

“I told you, it’s Arin, not Dubu!”

“Right. Let’s go with that.”

More than anything else, she seemed genuinely offended that I kept calling her child “Dubu.”

And because I remained so completely unfazed, she looked even more flustered.

“They even have the same vibe.”

“Of course they do! She’s my child!”

“Their scent is similar too… though yours is stronger. Is that the scent of a fox?”

“My scent?!”

Jina recoiled in alarm.

She was so shaken that even the mysterious aura surrounding us rippled noticeably.

“What are you, some kind of nine-tailed fox from old folktales?”

“Ah…!”

Bingo?

“Can I take it that revealing your true identity means you don’t feel the need to hide it from me?”

She had clearly intended to keep it secret at first.

If she had only encountered my sister or my nieces and nephews, she probably never would have shown this side of herself.

Meeting me must have forced her plans to change.

If beings like her really existed, shouldn’t people have known already?

At the very least, there should have been strange rumors.

Ghost stories passed around rural villages.

Legends of mountain spirits.

Yet our village had nothing of the sort.

It was simply an ordinary countryside village.

“I only came to find my child. If I could repay you for helping her, I planned to do that and leave.”

Jina reached out and gently took Arin from my arms.

Arin happily burrowed into her mother’s embrace, wagging her tail furiously.

Watching her daughter, joy and complicated emotions flickered across Jina’s face.

“How…?”

Carefully stroking Arin’s head, she looked up at me.

“How did you make my child develop spiritual power?”

“…I just fed her so many cucumbers that she nearly burst.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. Tell me the truth. This is important to me… no, to all of us.”

I wasn’t joking.

I reached into the plastic bag I’d brought from home.

It was the cucumber I had intended as a farewell gift for Arin, infused with divine power.

The moment Jina saw it, her eyes widened, and she immediately snatched it from my hand.

“How does a cucumber… contain spiritual power?”

She was so shocked that a large, fluffy fox tail sprang out behind her.

…So she really does have a tail?

But there’s only one.

“T-Tell me! Why does this cucumber contain spiritual power?!”

Despite her desperate question, I merely shrugged.

“Trade secret.”

We weren’t close enough for me to reveal something like that.

“Ghk…!”

My smug response made her tail stand straight up.

But only for a moment.

Soon it drooped limply, and the spiritual energy surrounding us rapidly faded away.

As she staggered unsteadily, I instinctively caught her.

“Are you alright?”

Her complexion had visibly worsened.

She was clearly pushing herself far beyond her limits.

“Haa… haa…”

She steadied her breathing before speaking again.

“This is important. If it truly isn’t some secret you can’t tell me, please… tell me. Why my child gained spiritual power. Why that cucumber contains spiritual power. I have to know… how you did it.”

Her expression was full of desperate sincerity.

Seeing that softened my resolve.

After all, I’d spent my whole life dealing with nothing but my rough-and-tumble older sister.

I had always been weak against expressions like this.

“Well… judging by your situation, I suppose I can tell you.”

“Really?!”

Her face lit up instantly.

Even her tail began wagging like Arin’s had before she ate the cucumber.

“On one condition. We exchange secrets.”

“What?”

She made a face that screamed absolute disgust.

Like someone who had just discovered an uninvited cockroach inside their house.

Ouch. That hurts.

Even so, despite her reluctance, it seemed she’d already finished weighing the pros and cons.

“Fine. We each ask one question.”

“Sounds good. I don’t like pointless mind games, so you can go first.”

At my words, she smiled triumphantly, as though she’d already won.

She’s a lot more expressive than I expected.

“How did you make my child develop spiritual power?”

“Oh, that? She just kept eating these, digested them on her own, and somehow started producing spiritual power herself.”

“…You’re not joking? That’s really what happened?”

“Yes. I swear on my nieces and nephews.”

The moment I swore on them, she could no longer dismiss my words as lies.

Even so, doubt still lingered in her eyes.

“Then it’s my turn.”

Quietly, I took a bite of the cucumber.

The faint divine power contained within seeped into my body.

I deliberately let her witness every change without hiding anything.

If my guess was right, the woman before me would notice not only the changes in her child but even the slightest shift in my own body.

“What are you… really?”

Watching the process, Jina’s face turned pale with shock.

She stared at me silently for a long moment before taking a deep breath.

“A Spiritual Being.”

A Spiritual Being?

Tilting my head, I waited for her to continue.

She glanced toward Cheongwang Mountain before speaking again.

“And the guardian spirit… the master of this mountain.”

A guardian spirit.

Just like the ones that constantly appeared in old Korean folktales.

Though when people imagined a mountain spirit, they usually pictured a smiling old man with a long white beard.

The being standing before me, however…

“Please don’t ruin my childhood memories.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Don’t underestimate traditional folktales.

Mountain spirits being old grandfathers was a time-honored tradition.

An unchanging truth.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually imagining those folktale mountain spirits?!”

“Yes.”

“Ugh… You humans…”

Jina muttered irritably, sounding utterly fed up.

“Times change. People change. Everything around them changes. Yet somehow everyone insists mountain spirits have to stay old grandpas forever.”

“You have generations too?”

“Of course we do! These days we’re the New Generation! Haven’t you ever heard of Generation X?!”

…She must be really old.

The generation she mentioned had become ancient history long ago.

“Well… either way, I understand.”

“You really believe me? That I’m a Spiritual Being? A guardian spirit?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve already seen things most people never will and experienced more than enough.”

It was Jina who looked bewildered by my calm response.

After spending more than thirty years in another world, beings like spirits and mystical creatures hardly seemed extraordinary anymore.

Still…

I never expected this world to have beings like them too.

Thinking about it, my past self had been an ordinary human.

It was only natural that I’d never known.

“By the way, you seem to be overexerting yourself. Wouldn’t it be better to dispel this strange fog?”

“…You can see it?”

“It’s something that keeps other people from noticing us, isn’t it?”

Jina stared at me in utter disbelief, as if wondering how a human could possibly perceive it.

“Just what are you, really?”

“Does that count as your question?”

“No! This one doesn’t count!”

“Hmm. That’s unfortunate.”

Watching her frantically shake her head, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

“Now it’s my turn! That cucumber infused with spiritual power… did you grow it yourself? How?”

“Isn’t that two questions?”

“It’s one! Close enough! Don’t be so picky!”

She looked so desperate that I decided not to tease her any further.

Besides, there wasn’t much reason to keep it secret.

She’d already revealed the most important part of her identity.

I could at least return the favor.

Without another word, I crouched down and scooped up a handful of soil.

Then I buried the half-eaten cucumber and covered it with dirt.

“Hup…”

After taking a short breath, I released the tiniest thread of divine power into the buried spot.

A tiny sprout immediately poked through the soil.

But that was all.

It didn’t continue growing.

It bore no fruit.

Only a single sprout had emerged.

The little divine power I had left wasn’t enough to do any more.

Still, it was more than enough to answer her question.

Jina could only stare in stunned silence—

At me.

And at the tiny sprout.