TOMDB 02

Chapter: 02

For a moment, a chill ran down my spine.

Instinctively, I leaned my upper body back from the top of the stairs and asked,

“W-What do you mean? I can’t see anything.”

“Hm. Really?”

Baek Eun-ho narrowed his eyes, staring at me as though he could see straight through me.

A brief but suffocating standoff.

After a moment, he slowly started walking down the stairs as if he’d lost interest.

“Phew…”

The long breath had barely escaped my lips when—

Whoosh!

That tiger’s tail swept right past my face.

“…!!”

My heart nearly stopped.

Startled, I missed my footing on the stairs.

My body tilted backward as I lost my balance, my arms flailing helplessly through the air.

Thud!

Just as dizziness overwhelmed me, a firm hand grabbed my wrist.

Baek Eun-ho strode forward, caught me, and helped me safely down the rest of the stairs.

Then he shot me a cold look.

“So you can see it after all.”

“…”

I wasn’t thick-skinned enough to keep lying after being caught.

Embarrassed, I looked away and brushed his hand off.

His grayish-blue eyes narrowed once more.

“And yesterday, while you were treating my father, you saw it too. The golden energy… spiritual energy. And the black energy—corrupted energy.”

My breath caught.

How did this man know that?

It felt like something far beyond my understanding was happening.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted defensively,

“No! I really don’t know anything!”

Then something completely unexpected happened.

Baek Eun-ho’s intimidating confidence collapsed in an instant.

He lowered his head deeply and spoke in a low, desperate voice, as if he’d never been arrogant at all.

“You’re the only one who can completely heal my father. Please… help him.”

At that moment, I no longer saw a wealthy executive or the heir to a conglomerate.

I saw only a son desperately begging for his father’s life.

But at the same time…

The moment I accepted this request, I had a feeling my peaceful everyday life would be turned completely upside down.

Perhaps noticing the hesitation on my face, he quickly continued.

“That black energy is called corrupted energy. Ordinary human doctors can’t sense it, much less treat it.”

“But yesterday it disappeared after I used acupuncture. Doesn’t that mean he’s fine now?”

“So… you really did see it.”

“Ugh…”

As I let out a small groan, he looked straight at me again.

“Doctor Go Yeon-hee, I’m formally asking you to take over my father’s treatment. I’m not the kind of person who begs anyone.”

“Look… everything you’re saying sounds completely insane to me, and I don’t want to get involved.”

I shoved him in the back with all my strength.

“My clinic is about to open. Please leave.”

Yet he didn’t move an inch.

“Go Yeon-hee. You’re a doctor of Korean medicine, aren’t you?”

“…Yes?”

“So you’re going to become the kind of doctor who turns their back on a patient?”

“…!”

That single sentence struck me at my deepest core.

I simply couldn’t ignore someone who was suffering.

It was as natural to me as a crow collecting shiny things or a moth being drawn to a flame.

Fidgeting with my necklace, I cautiously asked,

“…How is your father… I mean, Chairman Baek’s condition?”

“Thanks to you, he’s out of immediate danger. But human doctors can’t cure him completely. If you don’t treat him, another blood vessel could become blocked at any time. And if that happens… he may never wake up again.”

“This corrupted energy… how did he end up with it?”

Baek Eun-ho parted his lips before slowly shaking his head.

“That… I’ll tell you after you’ve made your decision and contacted me at this number.”

He pulled out a business card and placed it in my hand.

This time, he really did turn around and leave the clinic.

Soon afterward, the security guards lined up in the courtyard withdrew in perfect order.

Just moments ago the place had been in complete chaos, but now it was as quiet as if nothing had happened.

Baekho Group
Executive Director Baek Eun-ho
Mobile: 010-XXXX-XXXX

I stared blankly at the words on the business card.

The gold lettering gleaming against the white paper was the only proof that this hadn’t all been a dream.

At exactly nine in the morning, I opened the clinic as I always did.

But my mind was somewhere else entirely.

The ticking of the wall clock.

The faint scent of medicinal herbs filling the clinic.

The chirping of sparrows outside.

Everything was exactly the same as usual.

Only my thoughts refused to settle.

At least no patients had come by ten o’clock.

In my current state, I wasn’t confident I could properly treat anyone.

“Oh, goodness… what on earth is happening…?”

Pressing my fingers against my temple, I mentally reviewed everything that had happened.

There was no way the heir to Baekho Group had a hobby of wearing an animal costume…

And even if he did, why would he show it to me?

Or was this some elaborate scam?

But what could a company like Baekho Group possibly gain by scamming a neighborhood doctor like me?

I’m just an ordinary person.

And what was that strange message talking about a quest?

The translucent window that had appeared before my eyes.

No matter how hard I tried now, it refused to appear again.

Does it only show up at important moments?

None of it made any sense.

As I sat absentmindedly in the consultation room—

Tap.

A light sound came from the desk.

Alfred gracefully jumped onto it.

His white fur shimmered in the sunlight, and his mismatched golden and blue eyes slowly examined me.

[Yeon-hee. Are you finally ready to talk?]

I let out a hollow laugh.

“Wow… a talking cat doesn’t even surprise me anymore.”

[That’s fortunate. The man who was just here is no ordinary human. He is one of the Twelve Zodiac Divine Beasts—the Tiger.]

“The Twelve Zodiac…? You mean like that old cartoon? Ddolgi, Ttaengi, Hochi, Saechomi… Rat, Ox, Tiger…”

As I absentmindedly recited the opening song from the cartoon I had watched as a child, Alfred’s nose twitched in mild annoyance.

[What in the world is that? Anyway, you know the legend of the Twelve Zodiac, don’t you? The story where the Jade Emperor gathered the animals to choose twelve guardians to protect the world.]

“Oh, right. The race where their places were decided by the order they arrived on New Year’s morning.”

[Correct. The twelve animals chosen in that race became divine beasts, each establishing a clan and receiving a power to protect the world. That power is spiritual energy. Warm, golden energy like the sun. Opposite it is corrupted energy—a sinister force as black as polluted water.]

Oddly enough, the more he explained, the more my head hurt.

“I can’t believe the Twelve Zodiac actually exist…”

[Why are you so surprised? Goblins and nine-tailed foxes exist as well. Though compared to divine beasts, they’re beings of a much lower rank.]

“What?”

I muttered to myself in disbelief, only to hear something even more outrageous.

Rubbing my temples harder, I asked,

“Fine. Let’s say I believe you. Then why can I see all this? I’ve never even seen a ghost before. I’m just a normal person.”

Alfred quietly gazed into my eyes.

[Yeon-hee. You are not an ordinary human. Your father was human… but your mother was a divine beast.]

“…What? My mother?”

My eyes widened.

The hand pressing against my temple froze.

My father had died when I was very young.

He and my mother had met while studying Korean medicine and married, becoming a husband-and-wife team of traditional doctors.

After his death, my mother raised me alone while protecting Baekmyodang.

Then, the year I turned seventeen…

She changed.

She stopped smiling whenever she looked at me.

Even when our eyes met, she’d quickly look away.

She spoke less and less.

One day she suddenly said,

“Yeon-hee… you’ll be able to live on your own now, won’t you?”

“Mom… where’s this coming from?”

“I’ve done enough as your mother. I want to live comfortably now.”

I convinced myself it had only been a cruel joke.

Or perhaps she had simply been tired that day.

But during the Chuseok holiday that same year…

She suddenly packed her things and left without saying a word.

Later…

She came back to me as a cold corpse.

Mom… what is all this? You left me all alone… and you were hiding a secret like this?

Jingle—

Just as I furrowed my brow in confusion, the bell above the clinic door rang.

A familiar voice followed.

“Oh dear… my back…”

It was Grandma Jeom-sun, one of my regular patients.

Since I had no employees, I handled everything myself—from reception to treatment to cleaning.

“Alfred, we’ll talk later!”

I hurriedly collected myself and rushed out of the consultation room.

I was about to greet her with a smile—

Gasp.

I nearly cried out.

A mass of black energy clung around Grandma Jeom-sun’s waist.

The pale bluish energy inside her body had become blocked and refused to circulate.

Why am I seeing strange things again?!

Suppressing my shock, I calmly guided her into the treatment room.

Then I performed acupuncture as usual.

The moment I inserted the needles…

The Cat’s Eye Stone necklace around my neck began glowing softly.

The light flowed through the acupuncture needles.

The black energy vanished.

The pale blue energy began circulating smoothly once again.

What… is this…?

By the time the treatment ended, exhaustion washed over me as if I’d just run a marathon.

Dragging my feet back to the consultation room, I found Alfred licking one of his paws.

He looked up at me.

“I think something’s happened to me. This time I didn’t see golden light… I saw white light.”

[Your spiritual eyes have awakened. You’ve awakened the power of healing and purification. That old woman possessed no spiritual energy, so her life force appeared white.]

“What now…? Ugh. Fine. Let’s finish what we were talking about.”

I collapsed into my chair.

“So… what kind of divine beast was my mother?”

[She wasn’t one of the Twelve.]

What?

As my eyes widened again, Alfred continued.

[Do you remember the cat from the legend? The one deceived by the rat and prevented from becoming one of the Twelve Zodiac? Your mother belonged to the Thirteenth Divine Beast—the Cat Clan. More specifically, she was the only daughter of the Cat Clan’s family head. I am a descendant of the butler family that has served that household for generations.]

“The Thirteenth Divine Beast…?”

[Marriage between divine beasts and humans was originally forbidden. But your mother severed ties with her clan and chose your father instead. I followed the mistress I had served since childhood and left the Cat Clan as well.]

Suddenly, a memory of my mother surfaced.

“Oh… is that why she named you Alfred? Because you’re a butler?”

I’d once asked her why a cat living in a traditional Korean medicine clinic had such an English name.

She had smiled and said it was taken from Batman’s butler.

Now the name finally made sense.

“But why was Chairman Baek infected with corrupted energy?”

[Even I don’t know that. You’ll have to ask Baek Eun-ho, heir to the Tiger Clan.]

“…Am I really the only one who can cure him?”

I swallowed hard and clenched my fists on my lap.

[Spiritual energy is a sacred power bestowed by the Jade Emperor. Once it is damaged, there is normally no way to restore it, and a divine beast eventually perishes. Only the Cat Clan was granted the power to purify and heal it.]

It was a gift from the Jade Emperor, who pitied the cat that had been tricked by the rat.

After licking his paw, Alfred added,

I slowly nodded.

“I see… so that’s why Mom always said my mother’s family had been doctors for generations.”

[More accurately, the daughters of the direct bloodline have always been healers. The Cat Clan’s power is inherited only by girls. Your gift of healing and purification came from your mother.]

Chairman Baek’s face came to mind.

A stroke has a high chance of recurring within the first forty-eight to seventy-two hours.

If a second attack came and human doctors couldn’t stop it…

He could either die or spend the rest of his life paralyzed.

I bit my lip.

Memories flooded back of living happily with my mother, only to suddenly be left alone in Baekmyodang while I was still in high school.

To be honest… I never want to relive those days.

When I was suddenly left alone in the world at seventeen, I had been terrified.

I had resented my mother for disappearing so suddenly.

I had also resented my maternal relatives for cutting off all contact and abandoning me.

Even so, I somehow managed to get into Korean medical school.

Buried under student loans, I survived by tutoring students in every spare moment until I finally graduated.

I had only just finished paying off all my debts.

I was finally about to enjoy a peaceful life.

If I say yes… I’m sure it’ll bring nothing but trouble…

But…

Baek Eun-ho’s words still pierced my heart like a needle.

Are you really going to turn your back on a patient?

“…Sigh.”

Yeah.

A patient’s life comes before my own comfort.

In the end, I pulled the business card from my pocket…

…and dialed the number.