“The payment should be appropriate. It can’t be too big, and it can’t be too small.”
“Payment?”
“This flower… it’s like a talisman that blocks curses and brings good fortune. In our world, it’s so precious you couldn’t obtain it even if you gave up every treasure and all the money you have.”
“Then shouldn’t I be the one paying?”
Even that wouldn’t be enough.
Blocking a curse was already something to be grateful for, but good fortune, too. This kind of thing…?
For someone like me, who’d grown up unlucky, even a tiny bit of good fortune was more than I deserved. Honestly, meeting a mountain spirit at all was ridiculous luck.
“For now, we’ll pay with this… and later, make a big walnut pie and bring it to them. They’ll love it.”
“I… will.”
We went back inside, behind the counter. Only then did I realize the hand he’d held felt hot.
What is wrong with me? Why does this feel weird for no reason…?
I rang up the cookies and drinks, then looked up at Lord Bihyeon while gripping the card tightly.
“Would you like an Iced Americano?”
“Yes. And cookies, too.”
I blinked at the request—then smiled.
“I actually hid some away because I was planning to give them to you anyway.”
“Why?”
He tilted his head slowly. It sounded like he meant, Why would you hide something you sell just to give it to me?
“It feels like the café’s getting more customers thanks to you, Lord Bihyeon. There’s a reason people ask handsome celebrities to promote things.”
“Mm… I don’t think that’s why.”
Lord Bihyeon took the card, laughing, and shrugged.
Not because of that?
Did he not know he was handsome?
Considering every customer here knew him, it felt pretty obvious he was insanely popular, too. I shook my head like unbelievable, thinking how unfair it was that someone could be that good-looking and still humble.
I pulled out the cookies I’d set aside and started brewing the coffee.
“You don’t think it’s because of this?”
When I turned around at that, Lord Bihyeon—who’d been thinking about something—smiled and pointed at my cookies.
“I do think it’s because of my cookies. But stuff like this spreads by word of mouth really slowly. So wouldn’t the bigger reason, right now, be you, Lord Bihyeon?”
At my words, he murmured, “Is that so…,” then nodded and smiled.
“What are you doing after you finish?”
“After I finish, I’m going home to rest. And in the afternoon, I’m going to run around to some part-time interviews.”
“Hm. Then let’s go home together.”
“…Excuse me? Together?”
That couldn’t mean go home together in that sense.
Lord Bihyeon took the cookies and drink, then smiled faintly. He lifted his wrist to check the time, then drank.
“I’m going to check what kind of curse is in your place. The payment you gave was too big.”
“…To the mountain spirit? I only gave them a string.”
“Wasn’t it something precious you gave up?”
I didn’t give the whole bookmark. I just gave the string attached to it….
Lord Bihyeon unwrapped the cookies, put one in his mouth, and crunched through it.
After watching me like my reaction was interesting, he wrapped the cookies again and tipped his chin.
“I’ll come back later.”
“Yes…. I’ll see you later.”
I’d almost been tempted to not go home again today, but if Lord Bihyeon was going to check for me, that was a relief.
I wasn’t sure whether I felt good about him checking the curse, or whether I was… looking forward to going home with him.
It was strange. How close were we, really…?
But compared to before, I had opened up a little, right?
I stared at the door blankly, then a small laugh slipped out. I touched the corner of my mouth for no reason.
*****
Ding-a-ling—
“Hansol, good wor— …Hk! Lord Bihyeon…!”
I’d been working like crazy, and somehow it was already time to clock out.
Lord Bihyeon, who’d been here since an hour before my shift ended, was sitting at a table sipping a drink when he met Boss Bbiik’s eyes as they came in.
“D-don’t tell me you have plans with Lord Bihyeon? He looks like he’s waiting for you….”
Boss Bbiik strode right over to me and whispered in a tiny voice.
“Yes. He said he’d check the curse at my place.”
“Lord Bihyeon? Helping a human?!” Boss Bbiik started to screech, then—gasped and clapped a hand over their mouth, glancing at Lord Bihyeon.
Blinking hard, Boss Bbiik shoved me into the staff room and told me to hurry and get ready. They looked so flustered they pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from their face themselves.
I went into the staff room, grabbed an empty shopping bag, gathered my things, and came back out. Then I pointed at the fridge.
“I set aside your pudding separately in the fridge. Eat it.”
“Uh, yeah. Th-thanks, thanks. Rest up and I’ll see you lat— …but what are you holding right now?”
“Sorry?”
“It feels… insanely holy and insanely clean and… anyway, I can feel something huge…?”
Ah. That “huge something” was probably the flower I’d put in the shopping bag.
I wasn’t sure if it was okay to say outright that I’d received it, so I awkwardly changed the subject.
“Uh, yeah… I’ll see you later. Oh, right—earlier, that son who said he wanted the part-time job came again. He told me he really wants to learn the cookies.”
“Uh… that guy, what’s gotten into him…? What do you think? Doesn’t he look too timid?”
Even while staring quietly at my shopping bag, Boss Bbiik nodded and asked with concern.
“Mm, he does seem timid, but it felt like he genuinely wants to learn.”
“…Hmmm. If you say so, I’ll think about it more.”
“Yes. I’ll get going!”
I smiled, waved, bowed, then left the café with Lord Bihyeon.
I walked slowly, trying to stay a step behind. Lord Bihyeon walked as usual, then abruptly stopped and turned to look at me. His eyes were drowsy in the morning light as he tilted his head, like he was asking, What?
“You’re uncomfortable.”
“Just walk next to me. How am I supposed to lead when I don’t know where your place is?”
“Oh. Right.”
When I thought about it, yeah.
I nodded and moved to his side.
Even when I was close, he didn’t say anything. Maybe I really was a little more comfortable now.
Maybe we’d actually gotten close.
Smiling to myself, I walked slowly with him toward home.
An old apartment building, reached after we went down the alley and crossed the intersection.
The elevator was broken, so we climbed up to the third floor the hard way. The moment we stopped in front of my door, Lord Bihyeon looked at it and made a small sound.
“Why is it so… did you actually hit someone in the back of the head or something?”
“…Excuse me? Who hit who? Me? I did?”
“Go in.”
Thud.
He tapped the door with his hand, smiling, and jerked his chin like he was telling me to open it already.
I entered the password and opened the door, then gestured politely for him to go in first.
“Was there anything like a talisman? Something that looked ominous?”
“There was. About two of them. I tore them off and threw them away, but….”
Lord Bihyeon didn’t refuse. He took off his shoes and stepped inside, checked the place like he was confirming whether there was a curse in the house, then turned back and pointed at a clumsy talisman stuck to the inside of the front door.
“What’s that?”
“Oh. I drew a talisman, kind of… from memory.”
I’d kept feeling weird eyes on me at home, so I’d copied what I remembered of the talisman and stuck it on the door.
I didn’t want to leave the paper Lord Bihyeon gave me lying around the house, so I’d drawn it as a temporary fix…
“It looks convincing… give me the flower the mountain spirit gave you, and the paper I gave you.”
“Here.”
Lord Bihyeon stepped closer to the front door, peeled off my talisman to inspect it, then smiled and shook it before holding his hand out.
I placed everything he asked for into his palm.
The paper, the flower—and even the clumsy talisman I’d drawn.
Then he held his hand out toward me again.
Tap.
This time, like it was natural, I put my hand in his.
“Tape… huh?”
He smiled, tilting his head, and I met his eyes—then went, “Ah,” turned around, and pulled tape from a drawer.
I handed it over, and he carefully taped the whole thing back onto the spot where my talisman had been.
Then he bit down hard on his own finger.
And with the blood that welled up, he drew something over my talisman.
Ugh—!
“…What are you doing?!”
I jumped up and grabbed the first-aid kit, but by the time I came back, he’d finished the talisman and was smiling, satisfied.
“Have you learned how to draw talismans?”
“No. I just… saw my aunt doing it, kind of….”
Mostly, she’d drawn talismans packed with curses—but every once in a while, she’d draw ones that removed curses, too.
But that wasn’t the point right now.
Talisman or not—his hand.
I grabbed his bleeding finger, wiped it with a wet tissue, then pulled out disinfectant first.
When I tried to pour it on—
—the cut vanished in an instant, and the blood that had been flowing scattered into the air.
…Huh?
I gripped the disinfectant hard, leaned in, and stared at where the wound had been.
Lord Bihyeon laughed low.
Right. That’s right.
This man wasn’t human.
I smiled awkwardly, then let out a breath, relieved.
Still…
Even if it healed, it bothered me. He’d bitten himself and bled because he was fixing my talisman.
“Are you seriously okay?”
When I stared at him suspiciously, he lifted his hand and showed me, clenching and unclenching it.
No blood. No wound.
Still.
“This doesn’t erase the curse. It blocks it. So be careful at all times.”
“…Is it impossible to erase it completely?”
“For ordinary humans, it’ll be impossible. It’s a curse that used even a corpse’s blood.”
A corpse?
At this point, the only person I could think of was my aunt.
I… might have to go back to that house at some point.
Why, though—why would she…
I let out a small sigh and stared blankly at my toes. Then something occurred to me and I jerked my head up.
“Then… Lord Bihyeon, you can erase it?”
“I’d like to, but… then the payment becomes too big.”
I see….
My energy drained out of me. I sighed softly and headed for the kitchen.
“Do you want something to drink? There are drinks in the fridge, and… ah, there’s coffee too.”
“No. I checked the curse, so I should go now.”
He shrugged, went to the entryway, put on his shoes, and touched the talisman and door like he was confirming something.
Then, like it was really done, he nodded and looked back at me.
“I’ll walk you down.”
“Why?”
“Well…”
Click—
The door opened, and beyond it, a palace I recognized came into view.
Whoa. So if there’s a door, it all connects.
That’s insane.
I leaned forward, peeking at it, and Lord Bihyeon gave a quiet snort of laughter.