The person known as Team Leader of Black Tortoise Team 1.
It was also this Elder, who, through the window of this clubroom-like waiting area, had played a ‘dokkaebi trick’ for the agents and sent us into the Twinkle Twinkle Ocean Palace in the forms of children.
‘They can’t possibly be human.’
So I expected that we would probably visit the Elder by performing some magical ritual through the window in the waiting room.
But things didn’t go that way.
“Alright, let’s go carefully.”
“It’s not that far, maybe about forty minutes?”
Maybe I should just be grateful it wasn’t by bicycle.
The three agents used, of all things, an ordinary means of transportation, and crossed the city of Seoul toward our destination.
A white building in a quiet area.
A convalescent hospital.
From the way the staff were all kind and there seemed to be many visitors, it looked like a very well-managed place…
The agents, as if familiar, entered the main entrance without hesitation.
“We’re here to visit Park Hongrim.”
“Ah! Right this way…”
Going up to the fifth floor, there was a sunlit single room.
There, lying on a bed bathed in the warm glow of sunset from the window, was an elderly person with a peaceful face.
If she had her eyes open, I would have thought of her to be an intelligent and kind person.
“Grapes-ie. Let’s say hello. This is our Elder.”
On the table, there was a picture frame filled with messages written on rolling paper.
Just like in Black Tortoise Team 1’s waiting room.
– Hongrim-unnie, love you so so much
– Leaving a message as your beloved disciple who tracked down and rescued the master of Andong soju for the sake of solidarity with our soju-loving Team Leader
– Our great leader, our Team Leader
Just then, a student entered the room in a hurry and was startled to see us.
“Hey, Yeji-ya. Good to see you. Have you been well?”
“Oh, you know, about the same as always. Now, let’s see how our Madam is doing…”
The high school student who seemed to be her granddaughter checked her grandmother’s temperature by touching her forehead and then looked up with a smile.
“She must be in a good mood.”
“She does look well.”
“Haha. Oh, Uncle Jaekwan, have you been well?”
The granddaughter and the two agents seemed to know each other, exchanging words naturally, then introduced me.
“This is our new recruit.”
“Ah… Nice to meet you.”
This was no time to be flustered. I hurriedly bowed my head in greeting, and the student also bowed deeply in return.
“…Please take good care of my grandmother.”
For some reason, my chest felt tight.
“I should be the one saying that… I’ve received so much help from the Team Leader.”
The granddaughter took a deep breath, as if holding back tears, and then smiled brightly.
“Then, I’ll step out so you can greet her.”
“Alright. Thank you.”
The hospital room door closed, and silence settled in.
Agent Choi looked at her unconscious Team Leader and gently reached out to straighten her hair.
Still, the Elder did not move.
“There… was an accident.”
“As you know, Grapes, with supernatural disasters, even the slightest mistake can lead to someone dying in the most absurd way, right?”
Agent Choi’s voice grew a bit softer.
“They say the last supernatural disaster our Team Leader entered was a real labyrinth, mysterious and bizarre, just all sorts of strange things happened…”
He took a deep breath.
“Her upper body was almost blown away.”
“Especially her head… I heard nearly half of it was gone.”
I instinctively checked the Elder lying on the bed.
…She looked perfectly intact.
“Yeah. But she looks fine now, doesn’t she?”
Agent Choi couldn’t continue, and like me, just quietly looked at the bed.
…Agent Bronze slowly opened his mouth.
“Team Leader passed the dokkaebi trial and received her own personalized dokkaebi flame lantern.”
I instinctively looked down at my right arm.
More precisely, at the dokkaebi flame that had replaced it.
– You must want a custom version made, right? That requires a full consecration ritual, which you can’t get with this temporary issue. You’d have to pass a dokkaebi’s trials, too… Goodness, it’s powerful but no easy task.
“So, right now, from the Team Leader’s head down to her upper body… more than half has been replaced by a dokkaebi flame.”
“They say the reason she can’t wake up is that the dokkaebi flame is already using too much mystical power, so it can’t withstand the causal interference of directly manifesting in reality…”
I looked at the elderly woman peacefully sleeping on the bed.
…Most likely, forever asleep.
“…That’s how our Team Leader became the ‘Elder’.”
No longer just a human, but a supernatural being. A dokkaebi Elder.
Agent Choi, who’d been staring at the bed alongside me, finally managed to lift his head.
He wore a gentle smile.
“But we know she’s always watching over us! In dreams and fantasies.”
“Let’s greet her, then. …Elder! We came to offer our thanks, and to introduce our new recruit as well.”
Agent Choi patted me on the shoulder.
“See? I told you this one would do well. He really did a great job. I’m sure you’ve already seen it yourself.”
At this point, I couldn’t say I had no intention of joining this team.
I wondered for a second if Agent Choi had planned even this, but looking at his soft smile, that didn’t seem to be the case.
With Agent Bronze’s guidance, I stepped up right to the bedside.
And I bowed deeply and respectfully.
“I’m the new recruit who just joined.”
Everyone else in the hospital room had vanished without me noticing.
And instead of sunset, a brilliant full moon shone into the room from the window.