Little Pink Starfish

Usually, hunters each had an alias.
That way, the beings being hunted could recognize and be cautious of them more easily.
Hunters also preferred using aliases so they wouldn’t have to reveal their real names.

Ibi pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and fiddled with it.
He carefully checked if it had any kind of magic or curse on it—but it was just a normal, fruit-flavored lollipop.

“Ibi, are you thinking about that hunter?”

“Did that hunter really come just because he’s my fan?”

Sowol tilted his head, and his bob cut swayed at chin length.
With a firm stance, he put his hands on his hips and looked down at Ibi with a proud, haughty gaze.

“Maybe yes, maybe no.
But no matter what, a hunter is always someone to be careful of.
Always stay alert.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ibi answered obediently.
As soon as the drama ended, goblins swarmed Ibi.
Since everyone had shapeshifted into whatever was comfortable, there was no distinction between age or gender—some had only one leg, or a different number of eyes, noses, or mouths in their human-like forms.

“Ibi, what happens next in the story? Did that male lead really die?”

“No way. That woman is waiting so desperately for her lover to come back!”

“But there are lots of humans who die without ever meeting the ones they wait for.”

“Ihong, you don’t get it. These days, dramas almost always end in happy endings.”

“What’s a ‘happy ending’?”

A young woman-shaped goblin in stylish clothes clucked her tongue at a small boy.
Behind the boy, a furry tail—likely from some beast—was swaying back and forth.

“You need to learn about new trends.
These days there’s a lot more fun stuff than just songs and dancing.
And don’t ask me now—I hate spoilers. Ask me during the day instead.”

“Spoil what? Ugh, modern words are too hard!
Anyway, so did he die or not?!”

While they chattered noisily about the drama, one of the little goblins suddenly dropped the remote and screamed.

“Ahhh! A human is bleeding!”

The moment he said that, Sowol and Dongjitdal jumped to cover Ibi’s eyes.
Screams erupted everywhere and goblins scattered in chaos.
Ibi crouched behind Sowol, eyes shut tight, trembling.

Suddenly, a big, familiar hand covered his face.
It was the king’s hand.
The Mangryang King had appeared amidst the goblins’ sudden panic.

Ibi quickly turned into a small field mouse and crawled into Igok’s large hand.
Hugging his long tail to his chest and holding his breath, he noticed everything went quiet.
Igok gently stroked Ibi’s head with his fingertip to calm him.

Most goblins get chills just hearing the word “human blood,”
but Igok stayed completely calm—no wonder he was the Mangryang King, Ibi thought in admiration.

Then, from a corner of the wide office, a reluctant voice spoke.

“Uh… it’s not blood… it’s just red ink…”

What? It wasn’t blood?
Ibi poked his mouse nose out between Igok’s fingers.
He twitched his whiskers, sniffing to make sure there was no blood smell.
Only then did he carefully reveal his black eyes and look around.

The scene was ridiculous.

Brooms, cracked porcelain bowls, teacups, wooden dolls—goblin forms lay scattered everywhere.
They’d gotten scared and reverted to their true forms.

A human staff member awkwardly raised one hand.
There was a red smear—but up close, it was clearly just ink.
Ibi, a bit embarrassed, crawled out from Igok’s hand and changed back to his normal form.

Seeing the goblins panic, the yokai who got scared with them sighed in relief.
In the middle of the mess, Soil closed his eyes and clicked his tongue as he walked to the window.
He opened it and looked down, then turned to Igok.

“Your Majesty Mangryang King. Sixteen humans have seen the goblin fire.”

“Sixteen already?”

Igok looked around and sighed.
As he rummaged through his sleeve, the goblins who had fled returned.
In their blue fireball forms, they peeked nervously from outside the window or door.
When they saw their king, they relaxed and came back inside.

Igok pulled out a lump of gold from his sleeve—way more than one would expect to come out of a sleeve.
Soil quickly took it and stuffed it inside his robe, then pulled out a fan.

“We’ve received the appropriate offering.”

His glowing eyes swept over the window view.
Mouth barely moving like a whistle, divine words flowed out.
He opened the fan with a loud “pop,”
and a burst of glowing, firefly-like lights flew out.
The pale lights blinked softly in rhythm with breathing and floated toward the humans whose memories needed to be erased.

Sowol peeked from behind and asked:

“Need help?”

“No, it’ll be done in about an hour.”

Sowol and Soil looked just like siblings.
They were heavenly soldiers (cheon-gun) sent from the heavens to keep peace on Earth.
The heavens stationed them everywhere to prevent non-human beings from messing with humans and to clean up after incidents.

This time, Soil—Igok’s watcher—had erased the humans’ memories in exchange for an offering.

Even though Ibi had seen it many times, that fan always amazed him.

A staff member, eyes wide, stomped nervously and apologized.

“Boss… I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“No need to apologize. It’s because these ones are such cowards.”

Igok frowned and glared at the goblin fires floating nearby.
The flames flinched, then started buzzing around, annoying him further.

“You troublesome things. Get out—now.”

The guilty goblins wilted under the king’s scolding and shuffled out the door.
Igok began picking up the goblins scattered on the floor.
Ibi quickly joined in, gathering a broom, a wooden board, an old antique ring, and other items.

Once goblins reverted to their base form out of shock,
they had to wait a long time to return—unless the king helped.

“Igok-nim, here.”

Ibi held out his arms full of goblins.
Igok took them and stuffed them back into his sleeve, then patted Ibi’s head.
Ibi smiled brightly.
The goblin king was especially fond of Ibi.

To Ibi, Igok was like a parent, brother, and family all in one.

Meanwhile, the staff member with red ink still on their hand approached nervously.

“Um… Goblin King, sir.”

“I said no need to apologize.”

“No, actually… since you’re here… could you stamp these documents?”

Igok frowned as the staff grabbed his sleeve.
Yes—Igok was also the CEO of Dobi Entertainment.

He hated bothersome things,
but once Ibi became an actor to play with humans,
he immediately founded a company for him.

As expected, a company created by a goblin king drew attention.
It started with just Ibiwon,
but soon a gumiho wanting to act,
a weasel wanting to make money off humans,
a little owl who wanted to become a singer…
They all joined, and the company somehow became hugely successful.

The company existed under the legal human identity “Igok,” with Igok as CEO.
So his approval stamp was needed for important paperwork.
It was a simple process—but still a form of “ruling,”
which allowed the building and land’s yokai to remain under his protection.

Even so, he found the simple act annoying and waved the staff off.

“My head hurts today.”

“Boss! Just ten—no, twenty minutes of your time, please!”

Despite Igok sending a bone-chilling, irritated look,
the staff didn’t flinch and clung to him.

With no choice, he took the papers and slowly walked off.
The navy hem of his robe fluttered with every step.

“You come along too.”

When Igok beckoned, Ibi quickly followed.
Unlike normal companies, the CEO’s office was on a low floor.
Igok sat down and stamped papers without even reading them.
Even with that kind of work ethic, the company ran smoothly—
thanks to being filled with goblins born with fortune and blessings.

“Ibi.”

“Yes, Igok-nim.”

“Have you met the Scholar?”

Ibi, who was organizing the documents, stopped and looked at Igok nervously.
Usually, Igok got annoyed anytime Ibi mentioned or seemed to miss the Scholar.

So Ibi had long avoided the topic in front of him.
But strangely, Igok brought it up first today.

“Not yet…”

“I see.”

Igok’s cold stare made Ibi shrink back.
This was exactly why he avoided mentioning the Scholar in front of Igok.

Igok didn’t like humans.
And the Scholar… had been human.