Little Pink Starfish

“Arang!”

Ebi burst through the door and ran inside. He was so excited he ran a few steps with his shoes still on before realizing it. He hurried back to the entrance, took off his shoes neatly, and wiped the spots he stepped on with his socks.

“Little fox, come in.”

Arang, sitting at the table sipping tea, wagged his eight fox tails and smiled. A guest had probably just left—rice grains were scattered messily across the table. Ebi rushed in and jumped into Arang’s open arms.

“It’s the Scholar, right? I met the Scholar, didn’t I?”

Ebi asked again, his eyes shining like a child. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure Kim Eunjun was the Scholar reincarnated. His love for sweets, his refined behavior—he resembled him too much. Without needing any explanation, Arang smiled as if he understood exactly what Ebi meant.

“You didn’t recognize him right away, did you?”

Arang said as he swept the rice grains away with his hand. Ebi nodded and nodded. If it hadn’t been for that conversation with the AD, he would’ve just thought Kim Eunjun was a polite person and moved on.

“Still, your Scholar was reborn with his most important parts intact.”

“Yeah…”

Ebi leaned over Arang’s lap, overcome with emotion, and mumbled. Arang gently stroked his head, and a pair of triangle fox ears popped out. When Arang patted his bottom, a fluffy fox tail appeared and wagged.

“He was exactly the way I remembered.”

That smile, that voice, that way of speaking. The more he thought about it, the more old memories returned. He looked so much like the Scholar in Ebi’s memories. His appearance was slightly different, but the atmosphere was the same. Ebi couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed. If more time had passed, maybe he never would have remembered. Even if they had brushed sleeves, talked, and connected, he might never have realized it was him.

“Next time I see him, I’ll treat him well.”

Ebi fully turned into a little fox and climbed into Arang’s lap as he spoke. Arang held Ebi and stroked him with care. Old gumiho like Arang knew exactly where to pet a fox to make it melt.

As he enjoyed Arang’s touch, Ebi suddenly lifted his head.

“Oh right, last week I met a hunter…”

“A hunter who catches goblins?”

Arang pulled out a Chilseong bell from his robe sleeve. It jingled with each shake, making Ebi’s ears twitch. After shaking it a few times, Arang asked.

“Was it the one I told you about?”

“No, it wasn’t the one you meant.”

Arang held out his hand after shaking the bell three times. Ebi shoved his snout into his soft chest fur, dug around, and pulled out a gold ring. Arang shook his head. This time Ebi dug into his tail fur and brought out a gold necklace. Only then did Arang continue.

“To be exact, hunters. Plural.”

“Arang, that’s too expensive…”

Just adding one letter from hunter to hunters cost him two gold items already. Ebi lay on Arang’s lap and flicked his tail. Arang combed the ruffled fur with his hand like a broom and spoke.

“Heavenly soldiers aren’t cheap either.”

“Sowol’s not cheap either…”

Ebi glanced sideways at Sowol, sitting in a corner playing games as if not there. Sowol opened her eyes wide.

“Oh my, Ebi. Soeil and I are actually cheap. We’re giving you half off just because you’re under the Mangryang King.”

“Really?”

Half off and it’s still that expensive? Ebi wiggled his nose in disbelief.

Arang, who reads the flow of heaven and tells fortunes, and heavenly soldiers who clean up accidents in the human world, all accept gold as payment. Goblins who receive blessings from the heavens can create gold.

Gold, as such, was a very special substance. It held absolute value in both the human world and the heavens. Whether it was Joseon times or now, humans and yokai alike adored gold.

“Then which hunters exactly took the two missing goblins?”

Arang jingled the Chilseong bell again—jingle, jingle, jingle. Compared to asking about the Scholar, this question cost less. Any question about the Scholar was always the most expensive, no matter what.

Makes sense. The Scholar wasn’t just any human…

As Ebi spaced out, the bell stopped ringing. Arang held out his hand.

Ebi dug through his tail fur again. Nothing came out, so he shook his tail hard. A few gold flecks popped out like sand grains. Ebi picked them up and placed them on Arang’s palm. Arang shook his head with a pitiful expression.

Ebi quickly pressed his little snout against Arang’s palm and let out a cute panting noise. As a gumiho, Arang was weak to fox behavior.

He gently brushed the tip of Ebi’s soft ear with his finger and narrowed his eyes. When Ebi stuck out the tip of his pink tongue and licked, Arang groaned and clutched his chest like he was in pain.

“That’s really cute… but no.”

“How much more do I need?”

“This much.”

He cupped his hands to show the amount. Ebi’s ears drooped.

Goblins usually had lots of gold, but Ebi gave it all to Arang as soon as he made it, so he didn’t have much saved. And whenever the goblins caused big trouble, the king would take Ebi’s gold too to make up for it.

“Maybe ask the Mangryang King for an allowance.”

Sowol said in a pitying tone. Since it wasn’t about the Scholar but about the missing goblins, the king would gladly give gold. The problem was, the goblins had already caused an incident this month, so the king was likely low on gold too. In fact, they had messed up again just yesterday while Ebi was away.

Arang, stroking Ebi’s droopy fox ears to lift them, thought for a moment. Then, as the ears drooped again, he said,

“Or… want to pay in another way?”

“What kind of way?”

At that, Sowol glanced at Arang but went back to her game. Seemed like it wasn’t a big deal. Ebi pressed on. Arang pushed the tiny gold flakes back into Ebi’s tail and replied.

“There’s a silver Buddha at Gamun Mountain. Bring it back. It doesn’t need to be in perfect condition.”

“Silver Buddha? What’s that?”

“A Buddha statue made of silver…”

Arang placed Ebi on the table, stood up, and disappeared into the study, his five tails swaying. He came back holding an old book. Flipping through the pages, he showed Ebi a passage.

白衣僧七人
夜看白衣僧跳山
晝看銀佛立竹林

Ebi read the strange Buddha drawing and Chinese characters, then looked at Arang for help. He was an old goblin but terrible with Chinese characters. He could now read and write Korean pretty well, but Chinese was still hard.

Most goblins, not just Ebi, were illiterate. Their kind was born to play and loaf. Arang kindly explained.

“This silver Buddha becomes seven monks at night and seven statues during the day. They usually live in bamboo forests. Just bring them back. Silver instead of gold. They’re not aggressive, and they don’t bleed. So it’s safe.”

“Got it. So I just need to collect seven silver statues from the bamboo forest in Gamun Mountain.”

Ebi’s words made Arang smile in a strange way. As if saying it wouldn’t be so easy.

“They’re not scary, but still, be careful, my cute little fox.”

As Ebi left, Arang walked him to the door with a worried face. Ebi didn’t think it was a big deal. If it didn’t work out, he could just steal gold from other goblins and give it to Arang.

Ebi returned right away to Dobi Entertainment and told his manager to clear his schedule. Who knew what awful thing the missing goblins might be going through. While at it, he asked about something he was curious about.

“Do I have anything to film next month?”

“Let me see… Next month… three commercials, one variety show, and one historical drama. It’s a 16-episode one.”

“Is the Scholar—no, I mean, is Kim Eunjun also in that?”

Since Ebi usually didn’t care who was in the cast—he liked everyone—his manager looked surprised.

“Oh, yes! How did you know? His casting was just finalized.”

“I see. So we’ll be shooting a historical drama together.”

Ebi smiled so brightly in joy that his manager went dazed for a moment. Sowol came up and smacked the back of his head a few times before he snapped out of it and shook his head. Sowol glared behind him, and Ebi looked away awkwardly.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s, it’s fine. You didn’t do it on purpose… and even if you did, that’s fine too…”

Still half-spellbound by Ebi, the manager smiled blankly. Ebi felt really sorry and handed him the gold flakes he had meant to give to Arang earlier. He figured… he might need a new manager soon.