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chapter 06
The goblins quickly filled the empty dishes newly set on the table with appetizing side dishes.
All Da-om could do was clean the spoons neatly. Even though they shone so brightly her face reflected in them, she kept on wiping.
Meanwhile, the goblins prepared a separate tray for dessert, placing thick Daebong persimmons on it and neatly arranging freshly fried seaweed crisps and slices of sweet bean jelly.
If she didn’t hurry and learn the recipes, Da-om would become a human worth less than kindling here. Thinking that made her chest flare with determination.
Just then, she felt a sharp presence, like a strike at her temples. Before she could even turn her head, a man appeared before the table—a slim man with long hair roughly tied up and pinned with a hair stick.
“Oh ho, I’ve timed this perfectly.”
As he spoke, he picked up one of the seaweed crisps from the dessert tray and popped it into his mouth.
“Lord Onta?”
Bihyung’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him. The man crunched another crisp and waved a hand in greeting.
“Fix me a table as well. I haven’t had lunch yet.”
He spoke affably, then flashed a grin at Da-om.
Da-om instantly realized he wasn’t human. The sharp, ringing divine power she felt from him was as strong as that of the Mountain Lord himself.
Was that why he recognized at once that she was a retainer? His request for a meal had sounded so natural that she thought so as she took out another set of utensils.
But she was wrong.
“Come to think of it, wasn’t a new retainer supposed to arrive today? A woman, they said?”
At Onta’s words, Bihyung’s face instantly went pale.
“L–Lord Onta…”
“How long will she last this time, I wonder? That Sani fellow seems hell-bent on kicking her out before the year ends. He’s all excited about spending New Year’s at the Celestial Palace.”
“L–Lord Onta…”
The Celestial Palace was the realm of the gods, where heavenly beings like the Mountain Lord, Baekho, lived together.
As the guardian deity of Hodamguk, the Mountain Lord could not go to the Celestial Palace unless he relinquished his post. If the guardian deity’s seat became vacant, the country would shake at its roots and eventually face ruin.
A sense of foreboding stopped Da-om’s hand mid-wipe. She stared hard at Onta, but he went on muttering, oblivious to her gaze.
“To quit being a guardian deity, you have to get rid of your retainer first. That last one held on really stubbornly. He didn’t die, did he? Well, no one’s dead yet, so the royal family probably panicked and sent another retainer.”
“Lord Onta!”
“Why keep calling me? You’ll wear out my name.”
Laughing heartily, Onta’s eyes finally landed on Da-om. He tilted his head and asked,
“But what kind of goblin is this, with such a powerful aura…?”
The next instant he recoiled in shock, darting to Bihyung’s side. He didn’t even bother covering his gaping mouth as he glanced nervously at Bihyung.
“The new retainer? A woman?”
“Yes…”
Bihyung rubbed his forehead as if everything were ruined.
“Why’s she wearing goblin clothes and confusing everyone?”
“They’re not originally goblin clothes.”
Clearly Onta had mistaken her for one of Bihyung’s goblins. Muttering about “those clothes,” he rubbed his forehead just like Bihyung.
After a moment he smoothed his expression and extended a hand to Da-om with a polished smile, as if nothing had happened.
“I’m Onta. How do you do, new retainer?”
But Da-om could not act as if nothing had happened. The words she’d just heard were too shocking for her to greet him properly.
“This is Lord Onta, the Haetae god,” Bihyung murmured, adding a quiet explanation when she only stared at the outstretched hand.
“Well now, this is awkward,” Onta said, waving his hand before her blank face. With a sigh, he scratched the back of his neck with the hand she hadn’t shaken.
“Could you pretend you didn’t hear any of that? If Sani finds out, he’ll tear my head off.”
“But what you just said…”
Da-om managed to start a question, but at that moment a bell rang—the bell for the midday meal.
“Then I’ll trust you!”
Onta shot out of the kitchen like an arrow.
The goblins refilled the seaweed crisps he’d eaten and then vanished without a signal, leaving behind only kindling and straw.
“First, we must serve the table. The Mountain Lord is sensitive about mealtimes,” Bihyung said. He acted as if nothing had happened, but his face was stiff with tension, as if afraid Da-om might start asking questions.
He floated the hot pot brazier in the air, holding a meal tray in one hand and a dessert tray in the other.
Da-om had a mountain of questions but followed him, carrying Onta’s tray.
“See? The food’s here already.”
Sitting on his cushion and chattering, Onta gave Da-om an awkward smile.
Bihyung set the brazier in the center first, then placed the meal and dessert trays before the Mountain Lord. Da-om did the same for Onta.
For a fleeting moment their eyes met—Onta’s gaze was pleading.
“Why’d you prepare food for this fool?”
The Mountain Lord gave Da-om a flat look. Having just woken from sleep, he seemed especially dour.
“Fool, you say? Isn’t that a better word for you, always losing at our long games?”
At those words the Mountain Lord gripped his chopsticks hard.
“How about another round today?”
Onta chuckled, provoking him.
The broth in the hot pot began to bubble. Bihyung handed Da-om a deep ladle and motioned toward the Mountain Lord’s tray.
There was an empty brass bowl on the tray—a sign, apparently, to ladle out the stew.
But Da-om, her mind elsewhere, didn’t catch the signal.
“What are you doing?”
Seeing her scoop the stew into the salted-fish dish, the Mountain Lord raised an eyebrow.
“Are you defying me?”
Da-om, still holding the ladle, stared at him blankly. Onta’s words wouldn’t leave her head.
The Mountain Lord wanted to return to the Celestial Palace. To do so he had to quit being guardian deity, and the only way was to have no retainer.
“So you tormented your retainers all this time for that…?”
He had driven and scolded them to the brink of death so that no one would volunteer to serve. Just like before Da-om had been appointed as retainer.
This time he must have thought it was truly the end. He couldn’t have expected them to send a woman as retainer.
“What?”
The Mountain Lord blinked, then suddenly turned his gaze on Onta, as if realizing something.
Onta turned his eyes away, dodging the sharp stare.
Bihyung bit his lip and edged closer to the doorway, ready to bolt if need be.
“I see.”
The Mountain Lord suddenly leaned back with a languid smile. He set down his chopsticks and instead picked up one of the Daebong persimmons from the dessert tray, reclining deeply on his cushion as he looked at Da-om.
“So, you know everything now?”
Though no wind blew in the hall, his white hair slowly fluttered across his eyes.
Da-om knew it was the divine power of the white tiger god naturally emanating from him. Through the shimmering strands, his yellow eyes stared straight at her.
“Since you already know, I’ll give you a choice.”
He showed no intention of hiding his wish to return to the Celestial Palace. He seemed to have chosen to confront it head-on.
“Either resign from being my retainer yourself from today and free me early, or stay on knowing you’ll be tormented to the brink of death.”
