Chapter 21: Home Sweet Home (1)
I drove diligently until the place I arrived at was a supermarket, more precisely the toy section of the supermarket.
Toy houses of every kind were piled high on the display shelves.
“Is this supposed to be a house?”
“Yes, isn’t it a lot like this?”
The official house for Ria was being built in the backyard.
I had heard that the frame was already up and the interior would be completed in a couple of months.
To be honest, even calling it a new house felt odd.
It would be more fitting to call it a ten-pyeong room connected to the café’s first-floor kitchen.
If I wanted a palace-like house built, of course Manager Baek would arrange it.
But since I was the one receiving, I couldn’t very well demand overt, specific options.
And decisively, Ria didn’t need that house.
Because she could freely shrink or expand her body size, the closet room she lived in was effectively a penthouse of several hundred pyeong in terms of space.
There was exactly one thing lacking: it was way too empty for a little girl to live in.
Even the furniture they made as a so‑called bed was nothing more than an upside‑down ramen box with a thickly layered blanket.
So after some thought, we decided to prepare a separate house for Ria.
One that was affordable yet quite decent and well‑built.
“If you look closely, you’re no different from that raccoon‑dog fellow.”
“Elder, that’s an insult.”
“Ha! You actually know it’s an insult! Which crazy person would use a toy to house a child….”
“Wow! It feels like a small village!”
“Do you want to get off and take a look?”
“Yes!”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, Elder, everything you say is correct.”
“Tsk, I guess I preached scripture to a cow again.”
After letting Ria off—as she had been enjoying the ride in the cart—
“Pick a house among these you’d like to live in. I’ll buy it for you as a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Yes, if you choose it, it becomes your house.”
“A gift….”
Ria pondered the word “gift” and soon nodded.
Like any little girl, her attention was fixated on the toy houses.
“If you look at it this way, it’s like children your age, right?”
“You haven’t given up yet?”
“Yes.”
“You say it has a self, but it’s not a human child.
No matter how much I examine it, it’s merely a stray spirit that has absorbed benevolent energy.”
“I already know, since you told me before.”
I knew too.
It was only a few days ago that I realized what strange sense of alienation I had felt from the moment Ria first entered the café.
When a human child is born, they learn the words “mom” and “dad” first, then after dozens or hundreds of efforts, they arduously learn speech and writing.
But Ria was different.
From the day she was born, she recognized the purpose of objects and the meanings of words accurately.
Yet as time passed, something felt off.
When she cried tears from spicy food pain, or laughed brightly, there was no emotion behind it.
She felt like a clumsy doll.
She merely imitated what children of her age did in such situations, because that is what seemed natural.
The Elder Gumiho had said that is the nature of the Spirit Tree’s offspring.
A special tree reaching the Heavenly Realm protects itself by transforming into a common appearance, like common oak trees scattered widely.
Right now, Ria’s behavior in the supermarket toy section was copying what a kind child among many children would do most frequently.
That seemed to be why Elder Gumiho had gradually stopped conversing much with Ria.
But I didn’t like that fact.
“Since I took her in as part of the household, I plan to do everything I can.”
“The phrase ‘honbaek’ (remaining soul) does not exist for nothing.
Do you know how many beings suffer after clinging to a soulless body?
Being possessed by a yokai is trivial in comparison.
Especially that child is so flawless that even I can be deceived.”
“I intend to think about such things later.
I’ve decided I won’t cling to regret anymore.”
“Tsk, I might have trained you if you were at least slow, but somehow you never miss a beat.”
“Sir! Fox‑Grandfather! Over here!”
While somewhat heavy topics were being exchanged, Ria—who had been choosing a house from afar—waved toward us.
It seemed she had finally made her decision after careful consideration.
“Fox‑Grandfather? Is that what you called him?”
“I couldn’t call him Elder like you do, since I’m more like this.”
“Hurry!”
“Ahem.”
The urgent call, though frantic, was also a signal for Elder Gumiho to quickly wipe the displeased look off his face.
After wiping his face up and down several times with his palm, we were finally able to approach Ria.
“I’ll take this one!”
“Good job choosing a large one.”
“Heheh.”
It wasn’t just a casual compliment—Ria had chosen a really big, expensive house.
It was almost cruel that such a high‑end toy was displayed in the supermarket where the whole family shopped.
It was probably a price that only Ria had successfully negotiated with tears after lying down in a place like this.
Unaware of that fact, Ria’s eyes sparkled as she busily explained the toy house.
“The bedroom has lights! And the room below even has a chair! A rocking chair like this! Right?”
“Yeah, then shall we buy this one?”
“Wait a minute.”
-Tap tap.
Ria, who had been standing a little away, tugged at Elder Gumiho’s sleeve.
“Hm? You mean me?”
“Fox‑Grandfather, do you like it?”
“It’s your house, why are you asking me?”
“Because Fox‑Grandfather doesn’t have a place to sleep either. You can sleep here with Raccoon. It even has three rooms!”
“Huh.”
“Is that why you chose the big house? Because the three of us have to sleep in it?”
Ria nodded vigorously.
I hadn’t even thought of that. I had simply assumed she picked the biggest one since she was choosing a toy.
“Look at her. Isn’t she admirable? And you’re still going to act coldly toward her?”
“Ah, when did I ever act coldly! I was just stating the facts. Ahem, so this is the one?”
Elder Gumiho, slightly embarrassed, loaded the toy into the cart himself and practically ran toward the checkout.
Despite the urgency in his steps, in one hand was the cart he normally wouldn’t even push, and in the other was Ria’s hand held tightly.
If it weren’t for his overly youthful appearance, they’d have looked exactly like a granddaughter and grandfather.
But the sweet image didn’t last long.
“Fox‑Grandfather, your room should be here. It’s close to the fireplace and the window is big! And Raccoon’s room is here! It’s a room without stairs, so he can move easily. Right?”
“That Raccoon fellow probably won’t be able to come in here.”
“Huh? Why not?”
Ria’s eyes grew wide at the unexpected response.
“That guy’s transformation skills are awful. He can’t even transform into a human, so look at the way he roams around, tsk tsk.”
“Then I don’t want this house.”
“Eh? You liked it so much, why the sudden change?”
“Raccoon doesn’t have a place to sleep…”
“That guy already has a home. A palace with more than a hundred rooms, so don’t worry. Now, let’s go pay.”
Despite Elder Gumiho’s urging, Ria couldn’t take a step. Her big eyes even began to well up with tears.
“That’s a lie. Ria knows everything. Raccoon is a beggar. He has no money in his pocket, just things like pebbles. There’s no way he has a house.”
“Well, that’s true… but he chooses to live that way, not because he’s poor.”
It was a sharp observation. If the Director himself had heard it, even he, with his usual solemn demeanor, might have cracked a smile.
“What are you grinning at back there? Come help calm her down!”
Just as I was enjoying myself quietly, the blame was shifted onto me.
“Then should we buy a house for Sani too?”
“But Raccoon can’t go into any of these houses.”
“There’s a house he can go into.”
“Really?”
“No matter how much of a marketplace this is, would there be such a big house?”
“There is.”
There is. I don’t know if Sani will like it though.
“We’re back!”
“Welcome back.”
After much trial and error, we returned home from shopping at around 9 p.m.
Greeting us as we entered with arms full of shopping bags was Sani, who had been guarding the café alone, painfully so.
“I thought my neck would stretch out from waiting!”
“Look! It’s a house!”
“Oooh! Let’s take it out quickly!”
The dollhouse, which I had been carrying on my back because Ria insisted on carrying it herself, was placed on the table.
It was a two‑story mansion large enough to fill the spacious café table, not much different from the image printed on the box.
“It looks even bigger now.”
“I thought it was just a house, but it even comes with various household items, tsk tsk.”
“There’s a fridge too!”
The other parts didn’t matter much. The most important thing was the quality of the bed.
No matter how grand the house is, if the bed is shoddy, it’s no better than just giving her a room.
And the bed inside Ria’s bedroom, as expected, did not exceed the level of a toy.
“Are you really going to let her sleep here?”
Noticing why I was fiddling with the bed for so long, Elder Gumiho asked.
“It’s okay because I can cover it with leaves.”
It’s not okay. A stepfather who sleeps comfortably while letting a child sleep in a poor toy bed doesn’t even appear in fairy tales.
I took out a small wooden box slightly bigger than my palm that I had hidden under the counter and handed it to Ria.
“This is a real gift.”
-Click.
Ria carefully opened the box, which had a luxurious gold-foil emblem engraved on it.
Inside was a splendid wooden bed that looked like it belonged in the bedroom of a European noble.
There were even two of them.
“Wow! It’s so fancy!”
“Oho, this actually looks like a bed. Where did you get it?”
“There’s a workshop that makes dollhouses, so I had it custom made.”
“The world is strange, so you can get even such odd things easily, tsk tsk.”
“Still, it took some courage. It’s a bit embarrassing for a man to order something like this.”
Even using the excuse that it was for a niece became meaningless once I started explaining the mattress details.
Luckily, the result of sacrificing my masculine dignity was satisfying.
Since they said making just one was difficult, I had unintentionally ordered a second bed—and its owner was immediately decided.
“Fox‑Grandfather, lie down too! It’s super soft!”
“Alright, alright. I’ll lie down once.”
The two of them had shrunk and entered their respective rooms, lying down in bed with blankets pulled up.
And someone was watching them enviously…
“Hmph, I want to go in too.”
“Oh right! We bought Raccoon’s house too!”
Ria, springing out of bed and returning to her normal form, shouted.
“Really?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Why didn’t you take it out then? I really want to see it!”
“That’s right! Let’s go get Raccoon’s house too!”
Seeing Sani that excited filled me with guilt.
Yeah, I’m not the bad guy. It’s that divine beast’s fault for being that old and still unable to perform proper transformation spells.
I kept repeating that to myself as I pulled another house out of the car trunk.
A dog house labeled for large dogs.
“This is my house?”
“Ria picked it! How is it? Pretty, right?”
“Ooooh… it’s nice…”
“Hurry up and go in!”
“I—I’m going in.”
Is there anything as cruel as a child’s innocent consideration?
Even as he suffered the humiliation of entering a dog house, Sani had to force a smile because of Ria’s eager eyes.
And so, in the hurriedly snapped photo on my phone were captured: Sani with a forced smile inside the dog house, Ria with a happy face, and Elder Gumiho watching them both with an inexplicably complicated expression.