By Zephyria 
Since the prophecy of the Ten Thousand Waves Flute was that ‘the imperial descendant Lee Yeo-jin shall father a son who will not be contaminated within three years,’ the firstborn daughter was ignored, and they waited for a second child to be a son. However, if Lee Yeo-jin and Nam Hyeon-woo had raised their son disguised as a daughter, the entire sequence of events would be explained.
Yi Yeong also instantly understood why Nam Hyeon-woo had gone mad. The Smiling Man was exceptionally skilled at contaminating the outside world; he must have intended to contaminate the child to make him escape his destiny. Had Yi Yeong known that the eldest grandson was destined to become a Sealed One, he might have sought such ruthless means as well.
Therefore, Jeil Heon’s words had to be a lie. If he were asking for help, he would have told the truth, and there was no way that Jeil Heon, once aware of the situation, would have simply let the child die.
Jeil Heon must have faked the child’s death to hide him safely.
[Since I cannot reveal what is in my heart, I understand if you do not trust me. However, whatever your plan may be, I shall not be a hindrance. Regardless of my life or death, use me as you will.]
[I do not know exactly what happened 600 years ago. There is a restriction preventing me from speaking of it to the outside. Thus, find a way to have an audience with the master of the Vengeful Spirits.]
Fidgeting with his small fingers, Yi Yeong pressed the enter key and smiled.
“Thank you for the long story, Head of Department Je.]”
* * *
After the aftermath of midterms ended, the assignment season returned. Even amidst this, what troubled him was not the assignments, but his beautiful boyfriend.
‘He seems to have a lot on his mind lately…’
Of course, Jeil Heon didn’t show any signs of having worries, let alone admit to them, but he couldn’t escape the sharp eyes of his cute younger boyfriend.
‘Could he have cheated in North Korea?!’
…Coming up to the department lounge, he was entertaining such absurd imaginations. Just as he was about to throw his bag on an empty sofa to claim it, the door to the lounge slammed open behind him, and the class president and a few students called out to him breathlessly.
“Hey, hey! Yoo Jiha! Were you acquainted with Dokheukri?”
“What? Dok-what? Are there people with the surname Dok in our country?”
“Dokheukri!”
“Oh, Dokheukri? The fox demon? The one we learned about last semester?”
“Not that one!”
The class president and her friends, looking incredibly frustrated, surrounded him and dragged him down. Before he knew it, he was in front of the college building.
And there,
“Excuse me, could I get a photo too…?”
“Is that silk? The color is truly exquisite.”
There was Mae-gu, leisurely fluttering a fan while surrounded by people. …Come to think of it, was that Insadong hanbok man’s Instagram account named Dokheukri?
“Ha, impressive. He has perfectly recreated the style popular in the late Joseon period, from the Okro to the Sejo era.”
“Look at that gat-string; it’s tied only with a paeyeong without a gyeonyoung and wrapped around a guyeongja to fix it on one side. It’s not easy for an ordinary person to go that far. Does he have a historical consultant?”
Beside him, he could even hear the admiring conversation of history professors. Well, it was natural since he had lived through that era himself… Just as he was hesitating and trying to stealthily step back, Mae-gu spotted him and raised a hand in greeting. Then, snapping his fan shut with a loud click, he spoke to the crowd.
「The person I have been waiting for has arrived, so you may all return now.」
As soon as those words were spoken, the attention of the people buzzing around Mae-gu vanished all at once. They scattered in their own directions as if the fact that they had been looking at Mae-gu until a moment ago was a lie.
Becoming even more terrified, Yoo Jiha clung to his bag. If he had known this would happen, he would have carried a Talisman. Though a common Talisman wouldn’t be enough to withstand him.
「This is already our third meeting, so what is there to be nervous about?」
“Th-third? Not second?”
Instead of answering, Mae-gu grabbed his own neck with both hands and twisted it. As his face spun around like a bottle cap, Jiha almost screamed and collapsed. Even at this point, the people around them continued to pass by nonchalantly. It seemed Mae-gu was still invisible to them.
But thanks to that, he could remember immediately. The Aberration who had performed the exact same stunt in front of him.
“Th-th-that fake Heavenly Treasure was… Mae-gu nim?!”
「You may call me Hyung comfortably.」
Hyung my foot—how on earth did he break through the Management Bureau’s barrier…! Seeing Yoo Jiha trembling, unable to scream or run, Mae-gu gave a thin smile.
「I would like to talk more, but I shall postpone it until the safety doll has grown accustomed to me. In anticipation of that day, I shall give you a small gift, so please accept it without hesitation.」
As Mae-gu lightly waved his fan, Jiha felt the bead of his necklace grow momentarily hot. He blinked once, and when he opened his eyes, Mae-gu had already vanished, and the short encounter with Mae-gu was erased from his mind.
‘I was going to rest in the lounge, why did I come down?’
Yoo Jiha scratched his head and went back up to the lounge. A few hours later, while heading home, he bought a lottery ticket on an unknown impulse. And a few days passed.
“Gah! Mister! Mister!”
The moment he confirmed he had won third prize in the lottery, the erased memory of his meeting with Mae-gu returned. Jeil Heon, who barely managed to understand the situation after calming down Yoo Jiha—who was pouring out words in a chaotic mess of shock, surprise, fuss, and excitement—narrowed his brows.
“How much is the prize money?”
“1.49 million won after taxes!”
“Hmm, it’s better to spend that money quickly. Because ‘something’ might come attached to the money.”
“Gasp.”
“If possible, buy something expensive like a computer or a phone so you can spend it all at once… If you’re short on funds, I’ll chip in, so think about it.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Since Yoo Jiha was genuinely shocked, Jeil Heon swallowed the suspicion that ‘perhaps spending the money itself is Mae-gu’s intention.’
He had come into some windfall, but it wasn’t easy to squander it all at once. He had spent his entire first paycheck on gifts for his family, he didn’t have anything he particularly wanted or needed right now, and he didn’t know what was expensive enough… After much deliberation, Yoo Jiha called Jeil Heon.
“Mister, do you have any plans this weekend?”
Jeil Heon, who had just stepped out of the bathroom, bumped his damp forehead against Jiha’s.
“My schedule is decided by our Jiha.”
Wow, whose mouth did those beautiful words come out of? Yoo Jiha gave a peck to the lips that spoke such pretty words and laid out his 1.49 million won ‘flex’ plan.
“Then let’s go on a two-day, one-night ‘hocance’ in Jeju Island!”
“Hocance?”
“It’s a combination of hotel and vacance. You can think of it as eating, playing, and resting at a hotel. I’ll fully treat you to a hocance. You’ve seemed to have a lot on your mind lately, so it’ll be a good change of pace.”
With 1.49 million won deposited in his account, Yoo Jiha’s nose was held high. A loose smile played on the lips of Jeil Heon as he gazed down at him.
“I didn’t think you’d spend that money on me. What do we do at a hocance?”
“Since I have plenty of money, I’m going to book all the facilities and get my money’s worth! As soon as we check in, we have to go down to the lounge and eat desserts. We’ll hang out in the lounge and wait it out until dinner, and if the garden is nice, we have to take photos there. I’m going to a very expensive hotel, so we’ll play a round of screen golf and then soak in the sauna. That’s the first day’s schedule.”
“Oh.”
“On the second day, we’ll play in the pool early in the morning when there are fewer people, and then destroy the breakfast buffet. After that, we’ll spend some time at the gym and then check out.”
“Is this a boot camp?”
“Something like that.”
Though he had never been on a hocance, Yoo Jiha nodded seriously as if he were a seasoned expert. Now that a concrete plan to flex the 1.49 million won was in place, he began searching for hotels in Jeju. The concept of ‘cost-effectiveness’ did not exist in his dictionary. Unconditionally expensive and high-end!
And he was devastated within five minutes. Obviously, there were no hotels available for reservation this coming weekend…
“Which hotel were you trying to book?”
“This one. I heard the ocean view is amazing…”
“Hmm, hold on. I’m not entirely sure, but I think I’m a VIP member.”
Jeil Heon, who seemed to be on the phone with one of his siblings, eventually handed over the phone connected to the hotel’s VIP concierge.
General reservations are currently closed, but we can assign a Priority Room for our VIP guest. Shall I assist you with the reservation?
“…!”
Yoo Jiha shivered at the taste of power.