Little Pink Starfish

The reason Ebi chose the fox form was because, unlike a field mouse or a bird, it allowed him relatively more freedom to move around. Ebi’s field mouse form was very cute, but there were people—frequently, no, quite often—who would scream just at the sight of a mouse silhouette. And a fox wandering around outside was seen very differently compared to a mouse wandering around.

He wandered the whole floor under the pretense of sniffing, searching for even the faintest trace of goblin energy somewhere. The fact that the children insisted on showing him around the house worked in his favor. Human children emitted so much cheerful energy when they were happy, and that made Ebi happy too, so he got plenty of affection. The kids chatted away while freely stroking his soft and cozy fur.

“What should we name him?”
“Since he looks like a puppy, let’s call him Puppy.”
“What kind of fox has a name like that!”

Other than about one or two hours of tutoring, the children spent the entire day playing freely. Considering modern trends of early education, Ebi had expected stricter discipline in a wealthy household, so this was unexpected. After pondering it for a while, Ebi reached a conclusion:

“Is it because they possess Igok-nim’s blessing…?”

With Igok’s blessing, any business they touched would succeed, and they’d never starve or struggle to survive. But at the same time, being cursed by the King of Mangryang meant their lives would never be smooth. Ebi saw the boy take multiple pills during mealtime. The girl occasionally wheezed with raspy breaths.

For now, since Igok’s energy was faint, it was only minor illnesses. But once they became adults, the curse from their parents would fully transfer to them. Then, more serious afflictions would appear. Not just illness—sudden deaths of loved ones, family breakdowns, or mental instability could all follow.

“They’ll also attract malevolent spirits easily and suffer from sleep paralysis…”

Feeling pity for the children, who didn’t yet know the fate awaiting them, Ebi gently licked the hand stroking him.

So, while playing with the kids all day, Ebi explored the entire house. And yet, the house was so large that there were still areas he hadn’t covered. This was just the main building—outside, there was a large garden and even a few annexes.

For dinner, they served more ground raw meat. It was high-quality meat that melted in the mouth. Ebi, a fan of yukhoe (Korean beef tartare), wagged his tail and devoured it cleanly.

The chairman returned while Ebi was sprawled out on the kids’ knees, acting cute.

Mun Chang-won, the current chairman of Mun-gyeong Enterprises, was the grandson of Mun Gyeong-seok, the company’s founder. He had inherited vast real estate and every business he touched turned into a major success. Mun-gyeong was ranked among the top 10 companies in Korea. However, it was also infamous for its tragic family history.

The founder Mun Gyeong-seok had a car accident at a young age that left him paralyzed from the waist down. To make things worse, his sexual function was impaired, so he repeatedly failed to have children. He ended up adopting his nephew. But later, he unexpectedly had a son. At that point, the nephew was already a grown adult, and after a brutal family feud, Mun Gyeong-seok finally managed to name his own son as the heir.

However, that son, Mun Gyeong-hoon, was notorious for his womanizing and had many children. In the end, he was killed in a fight between jealous lovers. Devastated by his son’s death, Mun Gyeong-seok passed away in grief.

Without an heir formally chosen, the company turned into a battlefield. Mun Chang-won, the second son of Gyeong-hoon, barely emerged victorious from the infighting among relatives and siblings to claim the chairman position at a young age. But his health was extremely poor, and he was destined to live the rest of his life suffering from illness. That was the curse of the King of Mangryang.

“Chairman, welcome home.”

The staff bowed politely to Mun Chang-won. Just like when Ebi saw him last at Jusaya-mong, his complexion was still pale. In fact, the dark circles under his eyes looked even worse today.

“Welcome back.”

Unlike with their mother, the children were timid with their father and greeted him quietly. Just as he was about to walk past with a “Mm,” Mun Chang-won spotted Ebi and paused. His eyebrows twitched.

“What’s this? Who let a furry animal into the house?”

“When we came home today, we found it hurt in front of the gate and brought it in.”

The boy shrank his shoulders as he explained. Mun Chang-won glared at Ebi. Maybe because he had the strongest energy from Igok, his charisma was overwhelming. Ebi curled up nervously. At a snap of his fingers, someone stepped out from behind Mun Chang-won—it was a hunter Ebi had seen before at Jusaya-mong.

“He even brought a hunter into the house?”

While Ebi was silently shocked, the hunter grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him. The hunter examined Ebi up and down with cold, professional movements.

“Well? Is it dangerous?”

“I sense nothing strange, sir.”

Ebi tucked his tail between his legs, wondering if he’d been exposed. Tense, he watched the hunter pull something from his pocket—surprisingly, it was a well-shaped red bean rice cake. The hunter expertly opened the baby fox’s mouth and pushed it in.

Ebi cautiously chewed. It wasn’t salty, and not very tasty either, so he stopped chewing halfway and quietly spat it out. He wanted Saeon’s sirutteok…

“So it’s not dangerous.”

“You said those things hate red beans, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ebi perked his ears. Those things probably referred to yokai. Spirits and monsters detested red beans—some weak ones even disappeared just by being touched by them. But goblins weren’t quite the same; they actually liked red beans. The only exception was mistaking red bean porridge for blood and running away.

“Huh, what’s this…?”

The hunter’s hands stopped as he examined Ebi. His fingers touched the red string tied to Ebi’s tail. He tried pulling and cutting it with scissors, but all attempts failed. The hunter broke into a sweat.

“What is it?”

“This red string tied in a knot… Don’t tell me, Yu Sa-eon?”

Ebi almost turned his head in shock. He recognized it just from the knot? Ebi’s eyes wavered. Was plum blossom knot his signature spell…?

“Yu Sa-eon? Who is that?”

Mun Chang-won asked sharply. Then his gaze shifted to the children. The kids, clueless, were on the verge of tears, worried their father would say they couldn’t keep the fox. Deciding it wasn’t appropriate to talk about yokai and hunters in front of children, Mun Chang-won nodded.

“Let’s talk inside.”

“Understood, sir.”

As the hunter walked away holding Ebi by the scruff, the kids cried out, “Aww…” but couldn’t protest because they feared their father. Tearfully, they watched their fox being taken away.

Dangling in the hunter’s grip, Ebi was carried into the study—a place he had wanted to explore earlier but couldn’t enter because it was locked. His eyes sparkled.

The hunter set him on the desk inside the study. Ebi boldly rolled onto his back and showed his belly. Both men’s eyes turned toward him.

“Doesn’t look very dangerous.”

“Sir, don’t be fooled by appearances.”

The hunter spoke seriously and pulled out a talisman from his coat. It was a yellow charm with a scary face drawn on it.

“This talisman forces any yokai to reveal their true form. Please step back just in case—the revealed entity might go wild.”

“No need. I’m not scared of this kind of thing.”

Ebi, a little nervous, watched as the hunter carefully flung the talisman. Unlike Saeon’s fast throws, this one fluttered like a butterfly and stuck right on Ebi’s front paw. Frozen, Ebi waited—but only his tail tingled a little. His disguise didn’t come undone.

The little fox growled with its tiny voice and chewed at the talisman stuck to his paw. Watching him for a moment, Mun Chang-won said:

“Just a baby fox after all.”

“I had doubts, but clearly, it’s not a yokai.”

“Anyway… who’s this Yu Sa-eon? Why was that name mentioned?”

As the baby fox limped over and offered a paw, Mun Chang-won casually peeled the talisman off. Caught up in Igok’s energy, Ebi found himself licking the chairman’s hand with effort before snapping back to his senses.

Sniffing with his black nose as if investigating, Ebi got close and began searching for traces of goblin energy.