NTH 26

On the other hand, Gu Minho always called Jeha by the name ‘Chaewoo’. That was the name Jeha had when they first met.

“So, what’s your answer?”

At Jeha’s question, Gu Minho, who had been quietly watching Nana stroking the foxes on his lap in the courtyard, answered.

“As I said before, that kid’s energy is too weak right now. He probably doesn’t have much time left.”

“What? What do you mean… how much… is left?”

Feeling his heart rate gradually increasing, Jeha asked again, and Gu Minho spat out nonchalantly.

“A year at most, I’d say.”

Gu Minho was not a god.

When he manifested in his true form, he did have nine tails, but it was not as the tales humans had arbitrarily created claimed, where each of the nine tails held a life. He never entrusted his fox bead to others, nor did he ever seek to become human by eating the livers of a thousand people.

However, as a divine beast who had lived for so long, he could easily sense the energy from a human’s soul. Unfortunately for Nana, Gu Minho’s intuition was rarely wrong.

“Wait a minute, please look again, carefully. It’s strange for him to only have a year when he’s so young.”

At Jeha’s urgent voice, Gu Minho, who had picked up the teacup Hwon had brought, replied indifferently.

“If you’re going to doubt me, go home.”

“It’s not that…”

Jeha, unlike his usual self, was at a loss for words. He couldn’t figure out how to react to the sudden diagnosis of Nana’s terminal life.

“And that person with the sanpaku eyes? In my opinion, it seems to be that. A parasitic soul.”

At those words, Jeha, who had been unconsciously looking at Nana, whipped his head around. Frowning deeply, he spoke in a low voice.

“A parasitic soul?”

“I don’t know the exact details either, but I remember encountering a few of those bastards before. There’s a theory that when a non-human being holds a very old, strong desire to become human, it manifests as a parasitic soul. A soul that literally lives by parasitizing a host.”

“How does it find a host?”

“It would latch onto a weak, lonely, and unsupported soul with a fragile spirit. Do you think there are people possessed by ghosts who are full of yang energy like you? Things of the shadows always dig into the most vulnerable and weakest-looking humans.”

“Then is Nana’s strangely faint presence also because that parasitic soul thing has stolen a lot of his energy?”

“I don’t know the details to that extent. But it seems to make sense if you think of it that way.”

A parasitic soul. It was the first time Kwon Jeha, who had lived for so long, had ever heard of such a thing.

“If such a thing really exists, how can a parasitic soul become human?”

“They say the most certain way is to completely devour the host’s soul.”

“Then why doesn’t it eat it all at once and keep appearing in the next life?”

“Because it can’t, it probably waits until the soul it has taken as a host is reincarnated next time and eats it bit by bit. Eating a soul isn’t like what humans imagine, sucking it in and absorbing it in an instant.”

“Really? Why?”

“A parasitic soul is originally a trivial thing born without a physical body, so its power is extremely insignificant and weak. That’s why it gradually builds up its power by gnawing at the host little by little over a long period of time.”

“Then did Nana die early in every past life because his soul was eaten by that parasitic soul with the sanpaku eyes?”

“It could be because he was born with a short lifespan, but the fact that he hasn’t grown stronger like you despite being reincarnated for so long and is only reborn into the lowest class might really be because of the parasitic soul.”

Although it was still just groundless speculation, it was a hypothesis that fit together quite well. Jeha nodded his head.

“I see. Is there anything else you know about parasitic souls?”

“Well. I heard that once it targets a human soul, it sticks to it like a leech until it has eaten it all and doesn’t let go. I’ve also heard that the more of the soul it eats, the easier the resonance becomes.”

“What’s resonance?”

“To put it simply, they are drawn to each other. If you share a part of your soul with someone, wouldn’t it be easy to feel like you want to become one with them? That’s why they say the host always falls for the parasitic soul’s incarnation quickly, without any particular reason.”

“Hah…”

If that was true, it explained why the tenant farmer Choo-bok and the slave Soondeok, the leatherworker Meok-meok and the falconer Man-bong had held enough affection for their respective exploiters to sacrifice their lives. To the distressed Jeha, Gu Minho continued to speak.

“The parasitic soul tears away at the soul while physically copulating with the host. That’s why it will always linger around the host and try to become their lover. Does that guy Nana have someone like that now?”

“I’m suspicious of the guy who’s the CEO of a cash loan company or a loan shark. It doesn’t seem like they’re that close yet. But there’s one thing I can’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“Before, I would have a dream of a past life every day I ran into Nana. But when I made Nana work at my house and started seeing him every day, I stopped having the dreams.”

“Oh.”

“Is this because there are no more past life connections to be reminded of through dreams? Something is strange. The fact that I knew nothing about it at all, as if it had been carved out of my memory, until I saw it in a dream, is a bit unsettling too.”

Upon hearing those words, Gu Minho’s expression changed. A strange energy, which could be called either demonic or sensual, lingered on his face.

“Why, do you want to remember all of your connections with that kid so badly?”

“I’m not sure. I get worried and anxious when I don’t know where he is or can’t contact him. I also worry about whether he’ll get into trouble somewhere, or if he’s starving. I wonder if it’s the kind of feeling a father has for his young child.”

“I doubt that’s it. The very fact that a calculating person like you brought that kid all the way here is proof that you’ve already given him your heart. Are you really clueless, or are you pretending not to know even though you do?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Really? If it’s really not, can I eat him now? I’m curious about what a human with a parasitic soul attached would taste like. He looks pale and soft, so he might be quite delicious.”

Jeha’s expression hardened frighteningly.

“Don’t joke around.”

“Hmph. How boring, acting all noble. You were much more fun back when you were a reckless fool who was true to your instincts.”

When Jeha didn’t reply to those words, Gu Minho glanced at him and pouted.

“If you want to have those past life dreams so much, you should increase the intensity of the stimulus.”

“What are you suddenly talking about? You’re not a scientist.”

“At first, just running into him on the street or having a brief conversation might have been enough to awaken your subconscious. But as you met several times and spent more time together, that level of stimulus would no longer be enough to awaken the memories deep in your abyss.”

“Then what should I do?”

“You need to give your brain a shock strong enough for an electric current to flow through it. Hold hands, hug, kiss, and then, well, have some fun?”

“Hah…”

Compared to Jeha’s troubled expression, Gu Minho’s reaction was simply one of amusement.

“Be sure to call and let me know when you have another dream. Well, I could just peek into it whenever I want, but I’m trying my best to be polite as an old friend, you should know that.”

Jeha only let out a heavy sigh instead of an answer.

*

“Il-beon-i burrowed into my arms, but Sam-beon-i tried to scratch Il-beon-i. So I held Sam-beon-i in my right arm and Il-beon-i in my left arm, but then Sa-beon-i climbed onto my stomach and…”

Jeha had been listening to Nana’s fox stories for over thirty minutes since leaving Gu Minho’s residence. Nana continued his story, having arbitrarily named the seven fox cubs from ‘Il-beon-i’ to ‘Chil-beon-i’.

“They all looked the same to me, how can you tell all seven of them apart?”

When Jeha, who was driving, asked, Nana replied with a serious face.

“What are you talking about. If you look closely, they each have distinct personalities. Il-beon-i is the smallest of the kids, I-beon-i has the perkiest ears, Sam-beon-i has the biggest eyes, Sa-beon-i has black paws…”

“So who were the two that followed you to the end?”

“Il-beon-i and Sam-beon-i. I really wanted to bring them with me if I could.”

Nana looked down at his fingertips with a sullen expression.

When they were leaving Gu Minho’s house, all the fox cubs they had played with followed Nana out. Two of them didn’t go back even when Jeha and Nana passed by the stone lantern with the toad, and kept whining.

If they went beyond that place, they would leave the barrier Gu Minho had set up and could easily be discovered by ordinary people, so Hwon, who had come out to see them off, had to forcibly take the two away.

“By the way, your friend, that shaman Mr.’s house.”

“Yes.”

“What happens if someone who doesn’t know about the toad doorbell goes there?”

“The house is not visible, and it only looks like a fog-covered forest like when we first went there. If Gu Minho doesn’t open the entrance, you’ll just keep going around in circles in the same place no matter how much you walk.”

“I see. I got the feeling that the foxes followed him but were also a little scared of him.”

To the red foxes, Gu Minho was almost like a god, so Jeha thought that Nana’s feeling was probably right.

“Still, seeing that the kids’ fur was glossy and they looked healthy, it seems your friend is taking good care of them.”

“I suppose so.”