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Chapter 1

Act 1: The Land of Dokkaebi

“Does any of that even make sense? Vegin spirits might be known as one of the weaker spirits, but even those miserable things can drop a grown man dead if you’re not careful. And you’re telling me a ten-year-old mounted a demon’s head on the gateposts? I don’t care if these people are starved for entertainment, but lies have to be believable.”

“What? You think I’m pulling your legs? If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself! It’s a half-day’s run from here, so what’s stopping you?”

Jang Sam looked ready to drag the man out the door, but the man just grumbled and knocked back another swig of his drink.

Jang Sam might be known as loud-mouthed but he wasn’t a liar. That much the man knew.

“Hah… It’s damn near impossible to believe. So what’s the kid actually doing right now?”

“Nobody is helping him, so he’s practically starving to death. Looks like the kid has given up on living, too, as he’s refusing to eat or drink. He just sits by the grave like a statue—”

“Where is this place?”

Startled by the sudden interruption, Jang Sam looked up to size up the newcomer.

Standing before them was a striking woman whose age was impossible to pin down. She was exuding both youthful charm and mature femininity.

And it wasn’t just her age that was mysterious.

Her skin tone was otherworldly, her ears long and pointed, her limbs almost inhumanly graceful. She’s the kind of person whose origins and species you’d tilt your head trying to figure out.

She was both alien and captivating.

Registering her striking looks, Jang Sam cleared his throat and quickly answered her with his smoothest voice.

“Aegul County, Subu Village. Just head northeast from here and follow the trail markers. It’s take about half a day on foot.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“If there’s anything else you’d like to know—”

“This is for the snacks.”

She flicked a single coin across the table and rose from her seat.

For Mong Ryeon, following the rumor was nothing more than a whim.

She happened to be patrolling the territory under her jurisdiction when she heard about this intriguing story.

Without wasting any time, she headed straight for Subu Village where a boy was said to have conducted a funeral.

The village itself was quiet and peaceful.

It was an ordinary farming hamlet where years of uninterrupted peace would not seem out of place, yet neither would its sudden devastation by a rampaging demon.

But in this seemingly nondescript village, there was a severed demon head hung from its gate.

‘A Snail-Headed Scholar.’

A creature that looked like a snail’s head grafted onto a human body. It had a particular taste for human heads and would pluck them clean off and discard the rest of the corpse.

Among the demons and spirits, it was frequently hunted and considered low-tier.

But that assessment only applies to seasoned demon hunters.

For a child of about ten, even a room full of them stood no chance against one.

And yet, that very same Snail-Headed Scholar now hung from the gate with nothing left but its own head.

“Hey, what do you think you’re looking at?”

As she stood inspecting the severed head, three burly men walked up to her.

“Are you from this village?”

“We are. And who might you be?”

“I heard there was a child here who killed a demon.”

“Tsk, another tourist. Don’t waste your breath. Lady, turn around and go home.”

“I was told the child was going hungry. And instead of looking after him, you’re out here looting the dead.”

Mong Ryeon already noticed the valuables in their hands and bite-mark wounds on their necks.

“That thing is no child. It’s a monster. And these are belongings it has no right to.”

Mong Ryeon didn’t bother with another word. She had seen enough.

“What a funny thing to say. The only monsters I’m looking at right here.”

“You’ve got some nerve, woman. We’ve been trying to be nice, but it looks like you need to be taught a lesson—”

She snapped her fingers, and the men’s bodies instantly began to bloat like overinflated balloons.

Pop.

With a sound like a firecracker bursting, the gate swung wide open.

The bell on the gatepost rattled.

Inside, she could see a clumsily made grave mound and a modest headstone. And sitting before it was a gaunt boy.

There was nothing eerie about him, none of the ominous presence the rumors had exaggerated about.

He was just a normal kid with clear eyes.

Yet, his face and body were covered in bruises. Those were most likely the work of the looters she had just dealt with.

With a wave of her hand, Mong Ryeon healed the boy’s wounds.

The boy’s eyes went wide as saucers at the sight.

Then she set a bamboo tube down in front of him. Steam curled gently from the rice porridge inside.

“My name is Mong Ryeon.”

Only then did the boy finally turn his head to look at her.

“There’s no will to live in him.”

Her first impression of the boy was that of someone who had already resigned himself to death and was simply waiting for the day to arrive.

And who could blame him?

He’d lost his whole family overnight and had been cast out by the very people whom he had saved from that demon. They even went as far as robbing him blind and branding him a monster.

It’s hard to imagine what was left to live for.

“Your name?”

“Y-Yise (이세).”

“I was told you were ten.”

“Ahn, don’t look at me like that. You’re too young to have no sense of humor. One Who Moves the World. What a fine name you have there. Now, I have a few questions. Eat while you answer.”

Yise calmly picked up the wooden spoon.

Despite the food being placed before him, he didn’t reach for the food until she said he could.

It was proof that he was a well-mannered child who had been raised with proper manners.

Just what could have happened to him?

Mong Ryeon felt her curiosity growing.

“The demon at the gate, did you kill it?”

“Yes.”

“How did you do it?”

“I researched the demon and devised the plan to kill it.”

Hearing him say that was like listening to a kid claim he passed the imperial exams just by reading textbooks without any tutoring.

His deadpan face when he said that made Mong Ryeon chuckle.

“That’s a remarkably original method. Tell me a bit more about where did you get your information and how?”

“I bought it from a scholar, Scholar Wi.”

“Elaborate, please.”

Yise put his spoon down and paused to gather his thoughts before looking up and meeting her eyes.

He could tell this mysterious woman in front of him didn’t look like someone who would be satisfied with a short answer.

“When the attack happened, I was hiding inside a wardrobe. I’d thrown a tantrum and hidden myself in there because my siblings got both eggs and I didn’t get any.”

He said it with a grimace, like he was being made to talk about something he’d rather have buried. But he didn’t stop.

His breathing hitched. A slight tremble shook his voice, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.

“I endured that hell and committed what it looked like to memory. Once it left, I noted which direction it was heading.”

“Why?”

“Because I needed to get revenge.”

He answered without hesitation as if it were the obvious thing to do.

Mong Ryeon gave a small nod for him to continue.

“I gathered whatever looked valuable from the house and went to the home of Scholar Wi to trade them all for information about the demon.”

“Why not keep it for yourself? For your future?”

“It was just the impulse of a ten-year-old.”

“And if he’d sold you lies?”

“He was the one who found me when I was abandoned and arranged for me to be taken in here.”

“Go on. What happened next?”

Yise stirred the porridge slowly.

“I heard that the demon is weak against salt. So I cut some bamboo and filled it bamboo salt. I then spent day and night combing the area where the demon had disappeared. When it came out to hunt me, I pretended to be terrified. Just as it was about to swallow me whole, I shoved a sharpened bamboo stake straight into its open mouth. Then I hacked off its head with a hatchet while it was still thrashing.”

“…”

Born a hunter.

Mong Ryeon felt just interest but a thrill of excitement toward the boy before her.

In over three hundred years of hunting demons, she had never seen a talent like this.

But unlike his rising anticipation, the boy’s memory of that moment was drenched entirely in regret.

“The last thing I ever said to the parents who raised me… was accusing them of treating me differently because I wasn’t their real son. That is my deepest regret.”

“You are just a kid. You had every reason to feel that way. It wasn’t your fault.”

“My mother gave her own flesh and blood, thin rice gruel, but she saved her breast milk for me, a child without a drop of her blood.”

“…”

“I am a beast who does not deserve to live.”

“-They would be glad you’re alive.”

“…”

“Your mother was happy to nurse you. Your father was proud to raise you. And as for me, I’m glad I found you.”

She smiled as gently as she could manage and held out her hand.

“Will you come with me?”

But this was a boy who had already lost his reason to live.

Yise simply looked at her with dull eyes.

“And why should I do that?”

“You still have revenge to carry out.”

“I already had my revenge.”

“No. That was a demon that killed your family. Which means you won’t be done until you’ve wiped out every last one of their kind. Besides, the Snail-Headed Scholar is a passive creature by nature. It doesn’t go out of its way to attack humans in their homes.”

“This means there is another culprit behind this,” the sharp-minded boy caught what she was suggesting.

She was giving him a reason to keep breathing when he had nothing left.

If life had no other meaning, then become a demon of vengeance against the demons.

“I’ll keep you safe and fed until you’re grown, and I’ll give you the power to exact your revenge.”

“Is there something you want from me?”

“Grow up strong, and become a hunter who kills more demons than anyone else.”

Yise turned it over in his mind and rose.

“That doesn’t sound to bad.”

Up close, he looked so small and fragile that it was hard to believe he’d faced down a giant monster.

“What should I call you?”

“Whatever you like. You could call me Big Sis.”

“May I ask how old are you?”

“No. You little brat.”

Faced with his deadpan stare, Mong Ryeon felt a sudden prickle of embarrassment and cleared her throat.

“—Call me Chief.”

“Yes, Chief.”

They stepped through the gate.

Stepping outside the gate, they encountered the sight of the three burly men with nothing but their heads.

Yise stared at the sight and tilted his head. “Those men…?”

“You’re the one who bit their necks, right?”

“Yes. They were looting the belongings of the deceased.”

“Good. I finished the job. They were worse than demons.”

Yise looked at her without a word for a moment.

An otherworldly complexion. Long ears. And ashen gray skin.

He knew from the start that she was no alien to be called human, and the sight of the bandits-turned-mince-meat deepened that impression even further.

“Chief.”

“Yes.”

“What exactly are you the chief of?”

Mong Ryeon flashed a devastatingly gorgeous smile and leaned in with a whisper.

“Dokkaebi.”

That was the day a human boy joined the land of the Dokkaebi.