Little Pink Starfish

While comfortably snuggling in the warm arms and enjoying the slyly delicate touch, Arang began his fortune telling.
He slowly shook a brass seven-star bell, making a chiming sound, while scattering gold-colored coins across the table.
The coins spread all over.
Only one stood upright briefly, then with a clink, it fell over.

“The goblins were captured by a hunter.”

“What?”

At the unexpected answer, Ibi, surprised, released his shapeshift and shot up from his seat.
Since he canceled the transformation too suddenly, he almost fell backward, but Arang caught his waist.
Arang’s divination wasn’t over yet.

“There are several beings searching for the goblins…
Among them is the Mangryang King.”

Naturally recalling the past, Ibi’s face paled.
In the past too, goblins had been hunted by hunters.
To be exact, they were kidnapped to threaten the Mangryang King.
A human who wanted to enjoy the King’s wealth and blessings had taken goblins hostage.
Of course, Igok had been furious, and the human who angered the King met a bad end.
Since then, Igok came to despise humans.

“A hunter… what kind of hunter?”

“I can see vaguely.
A man cloaked entirely in black cloth, lurking in the shadows and watching prey…
Red ropes binding the goblins…”

Hearing that, Ibi suddenly thought of the hunter who had come to the fan signing event days ago.
Shaking his head in denial, he waited, but Arang’s reading ended there.
Saying it was too hard to see further, Arang lowered the bell.

“They’re trying to threaten Igok-nim again, huh.”

Since there was no profit in capturing goblins themselves, the real target must be the Mangryang King.
Arang patted Ibi’s shoulder, as if to tell him not to worry too much.
Ibi sighed.
Still, Arang’s words were very helpful.

“Thanks for telling me.
I’ll tell the kids not to go outside for a while.”

Goblins were too easily fooled, so he would have to tighten the watch carefully.
He would also need to reinforce the security at Dobi Entertainment…

Just as he was about to leave in a hurry after saying goodbye, Arang called out.

“Ibi.”

Stopping mid-way while putting on his shoes, Ibi turned his head.
Arang had come close at some point and smiled.
His mouth curved up, and his eyes gently slanted.

As Ibi tilted his head in confusion, Arang whispered in a breezy voice:

“…You’ll meet your Scholar again very soon.”

Jingle, the bell in his hand let out a strange cry.

---

🍬

Igok returned only after two more days.
In the end, he hadn’t been able to find the two missing goblins.
When they informed him that a hunter had taken them, Igok’s atmosphere became so chilling that the goblins left in the building shrank in fear.

Ibi scolded the goblins firmly, telling them not to go outside no matter what,
and reinforced the building’s security.
After hurriedly dealing with urgent matters, he let himself relax into deep thought.

‘Scholar…’

When Ibi first became a goblin, the first human he ever met was the “Scholar.”
Just like a newborn bird imprints on the first being it sees, Ibi considered the Scholar precious.
Even after 500 years, he could not forget the times he joyfully spent with the Scholar.

To Ibi, the Scholar was a perfect human in every way.
He possessed profound wisdom, had noble manners and speech, and was full of compassion.
With an insight that seemed beyond this world, he helped others so much that all the villagers respected him.

A few days before he was murdered, the Scholar had promised Ibi:
No matter what bad things happen, they would meet again someday, and if Ibi waited, the Scholar would find him.

Now thinking back, the Scholar must have foreseen his own death and had kindly soothed Ibi in advance.
For the 500 years since, Ibi had lived mingling with all sorts of supernatural beings, waiting earnestly for the Scholar’s return.
And now, that wish was finally about to come true.

‘Who could the Scholar be?’

Whenever Ibi met someone new, he sharpened all his senses, wondering if they might be the Scholar.
He was so cautious not to leave a bad impression that he acted twice as kindly and warmly as usual,
to the point that people often seemed enchanted by him.
One time, someone was so charmed by Ibi that their very soul almost floated out—
causing Sowol to glare sharply at him.

“Ibi, if you keep enchanting humans like this, maybe you should cancel your schedule for a while.”

“Sorry…”

Only after being scolded did Ibi rein in his overflowing friendliness.

However, a day passed, then two, then three, and no one who seemed like the Scholar appeared.
Thinking back, “soon” was a vague term.
Fortune-telling was always so ambiguous that only when the situation arrived could you fully understand its meaning.

Ibi kept up his active acting career with patience.
Wondering if maybe he had already missed someone without recognizing them,
he managed his connections carefully and met people enthusiastically.

Then one day—

“Sunbae-nim, did you hear?”

“Hm? Hear what?”

They had finished filming a variety show and were chatting when a cute junior actor flapped his hands and whispered.

“Do you know who the next special guest is?”

“Hmm, no idea.”

“It’s Kim Eunjoon!
The producer has wanted to invite him for a long time, and now that his movie filming just wrapped up, he agreed!”

Kim Eunjoon was a fairly famous movie actor.
Seeing the junior’s blushing excitement, Ibi happily played along in surprise.
While casually glancing around, he spotted something suspicious.

‘That person…?’

It was the hunter who had come to the fan signing event!

‘A man wrapped in black cloth lurking from the shadows, hunting prey… red ropes…’

Remembering Arang’s divination, Ibi’s face slightly stiffened.
The two goblins were still missing.

He glanced at Dongjitdal and Sowol.
They were arguing about something, not noticing anything.

If Dongjitdal realized a hunter was nearby, he would surely drag Ibi away immediately.
Ibi couldn’t waste this opportunity.

He made excuses to his companions, saying he was stepping out for a smoke, and quietly left.

Since he was too conspicuous in his actor form,
Ibi transformed into a small bird in a secluded spot.
He fluttered up and perched on a power line, watching the hunter carefully.

Today again, the hunter wore dark, gloomy clothes.
Though he wasn’t wearing a mask, the black hoodie made him look sinister.
Even so, people didn’t seem to mind—
surely he was using some kind of spell.

The hunter stood still for a while, surveying the set,
then started to move.
Ibi eagerly flew after him.

He thought the hunter would get in a car—but no, he just walked briskly.
Thanks to his long legs, he moved pretty fast.

‘Does he not even drive?’

For Ibi, it was better that way.
If he had to chase a car, he would’ve needed to cling under it for hours while being smothered by exhaust fumes—not pleasant.

On the way, the hunter stopped by a convenience store.
Perched on a wire, Ibi watched as other birds gathered near him.
Their chirping and tilting heads were so cute.

Naturally, Ibi blended in among them.
Whenever he transformed into an animal, creatures of the same kind showed great affection toward him.

While grooming the feathers of the nearby birds with his beak,
he watched the hunter come out holding a white convenience store bag.

The hunter sat at an outdoor bench, pulling out soda and some bread.
Rather than savoring the taste, he roughly stuffed the food into his mouth,
then moved again.

Leaving the chirping birds behind, Ibi took off and followed.

This time, the hunter entered a shady alley and a pawnshop.
From his backpack, he pulled out some old objects.
Ibi stared closely—
but they weren’t the two missing goblins.

Though the items seemed ordinary,
the pawnshop owner started sweating heavily while appraising them,
and soon handed over bundles of cash.

‘Those aren’t ordinary objects.’

Of course—anything the hunter touched was bound to be extraordinary.
Ibi cautiously kept his distance while tailing him.

The hunter stayed busy.
After the pawnshop, he bought three cell phones from a phone shop,
visited a private house,
and bought a load of stuff from a junk shop.

‘How did he end up becoming a hunter at such a young age?’

Rarely feeling such deep curiosity toward someone,
Ibi recalled what he’d once heard:
Most hunters were older,
because usually, only survivors of yokai slaughter became hunters—
and yokai tended to crave the blood of children.

Finally, after moving around busily all day,
the hunter headed toward a secluded mountain area.

Having chased the hunter around all day,
Ibi’s wings were aching badly.
While fluttering from one tree to another,
small, panting sounds escaped his beak.

Even after 500 years of shapeshifting into birds,
he’d never flown for so long before.

‘Where exactly do wings ache on a human body?’

While thinking such nonsense,
he saw the hunter finally reach his destination:

—A grand traditional Korean house (hanok).