Chapter 9

The situation was so chaotic my brain couldn’t function properly.

I felt dizzy and disoriented, going blank for a moment…

But soon I regained my composure and decided to sort things out.

“So… A girl who looks about 5 years old came to my room suddenly at 1 AM from the third floor window?”

Ack! So this must be a dream then!

As an adult, there was no way I could accept such an absurd scenario…

So I lazily tried to lie back down and go to sleep…

“Joahae! Does the contractor like me too?”

But I couldn’t sleep with the little girl hugging me like this.

Realizing that, I briefly considered looking away and pretending to ignore it… but I knew that wouldn’t solve anything.

Gathering what little presence of mind I had left, I spoke calmly.

“Who are you…?”

The pink-haired girl started pinching my cheeks happily in response to my question.

“…Spirit!”

“Spirit?”

From what I know, a spirit refers to those small, cute fantasy creatures… like moths. Or something.

Anyway! The important thing was whether this child was really a spirit and why she had come to find me.

To confirm this, I asked her a few questions.

“Are you really a spirit?”

“Yup!”

“I see…”

Was the flow of questioning…

Wrong?

Yeah.

Let’s do better.

Even though it felt strange, there was no way for me to judge if this child was truly a spirit… so there wasn’t much else I could do.

I stroked my head while watching the girl giggling and decided to introduce myself first.

“It’s Yu Haeun… Nice to meet you.”

“Waaa Haeun’s name is pretty! I like it!”

“No no, tell me your name.”

“Yup? Mine?”

In response to my question, the self-proclaimed spirit looked confused before smiling brightly and telling me…

“…Spirit!”

Could her name be Spirit?

I still didn’t know for sure…

Just then, the spirit pulled out a bundle from her arms and said…

“I brought a gift for the contractor!”

With that, she started taking various items out of the bundle and lining them up in front of me…

“This is the cutest rock in the world! And this is my favorite red stone, and this is the worm sister I played with earlier!”

“Jirungjirung.”

Wait… Did that worm just say “jirungjirung”?

Looking at the wriggling worm on the floor, it wagged its tail like waving a hand and said…

“Leungjirungji.”

“……?”

Hmm… Uh… Yeah.

Still in shock, I watched as the worm finished its business and wiggled off somewhere.

“Sister went bye bye~”

Watching the spirit waving her hand, I chuckled softly…

Then she handed me what she called a “red stone.”

Giving me her most treasured possession because she liked the contractor so much…

Holding the red stone – or rather, correcting myself, a soda bottle cap – I was thoroughly confused…

Seeing her worried she might be rejected, I couldn’t bring myself to turn her down and smiled warmly to thank her.

“Thank you.”

“Yup!”

When I expressed gratitude, she finally smiled brightly and nodded before hugging me again and giggling.

I stroked her hair while bringing up the unanswered question from earlier…

“Really now, is your name Spirit?”

At this, the spirit shook her head quickly and explained…

“Nope! Spirit refers to spirits like me!”

It was hard to understand exactly what she meant…

‘This probably means her species is Spirit.’

Thinking this made some sense, I asked again…

“Then what’s your name?”

“Yup. Don’t know.”

Perhaps spirits value unity over individuality, not giving personal names but just being called Spirit in general…

Though all of this was just speculation and might not be true…

Calling her just Spirit without a name seemed kind of sad, so I decided to give her one.

“Would you like me to give you a name?”

At this, her eyes sparkled even brighter than before as she clung to me even more tightly.

Thinking how her hair color resembled rapeseed flowers, I was going to call her Chae-hwa… but it came out slurred as Chae-a instead.

I was about to correct myself, thinking Chae-a sounded better anyway, when…

The spirit nodded enthusiastically, clearly liking the name Chae-a very much.

“Then from now on, I’ll call you Chae-a.”

“Yup. Like!”

Having a cute younger sister felt fun.

Deciding to continue the rest in the morning since it was late, I yawned widely…

*

When I came to, it was morning.

Judging by the counselor teacher already here, it was around 10 AM.

I shook Chae-a sleeping under the blanket awake, deciding to get her permission first…

Carrying – or rather dragging – the reluctant Chae-a who was bigger than me, I approached the teacher to explain the situation…

“Teacher, last night a spirit named Chae-a came. So I’m taking care of her for now, what should I do?”

(teacher, last night a spirit named Chae-a came. Since I’m taking care of her for now, what should I do?)

At this, the teacher said “Huh, what?” before noticing Chae-a clinging to me and jumping in surprise.

“Eh, eh? A spirit?”

“Yep. She says she’s a spirit. But I don’t really know if she’s really one.”

At this, the counselor teacher thought deeply for a moment before realizing something and told me…

“They say dragons are often chosen by spirits. Maybe this is the case with Haeun too?”

“Chosen?”

“Yeah, chosen. Usually spirits ask spirit masters for contracts, but in the case of dragons, the spirits come asking for contracts instead.”

So that’s why Chae-a came?

Considering she snuck into the third floor of the association building where many hunters stay…

There was no other explanation unless Chae-a was really a spirit, so I couldn’t help but nod.

‘Then what kind of spirit is Chae-a?’

Judging by her actions alone, I wasn’t sure yet…

Thinking maybe the teacher could identify what kind of spirit Chae-a was, I asked…

The teacher gave a positive response and stood up.

“Then I’ll check if there’s a spirit master in the association. Though they’re very rare, with the size of the association, there must be at least one or two.”

“Thank you.”

“Nah, if Haeun wants it, I have to help.”

Feeling the teacher patting my head, I wanted to share that affection with Chae-a…

So I vigorously patted Chae-a’s head who was still sleepy…

*

“Sorry Haeun, I didn’t expect all the spirit masters would be out on long-distance missions.”

I shook my head to show it was fine to the apologizing teacher.

After all, it wasn’t the teacher’s fault, just bad timing…

Realizing we lost the immediate way to identify Chae-a, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

Deciding to check Chae-a’s information later, I was about to turn around when…

“Contractor, let’s play! If you play with me, I’ll give you this!”

The awakened Chae-a held out a leaf she found and twinkled her eyes at me.

Unable to resist such an offer, I nodded, making Chae-a extremely happy as she repeatedly said she liked it.

Watching such Chae-a, I smiled gently when…

The teacher watching this scene suggested something.

“Right, Haeun. How about asking the person who taught you how to make a lair on the broadcast about Chae-a?”

You mean Suspicious Viewer?

Indeed, as the teacher said, Suspicious Viewer might know something…

Since there were no other options anyway, that seemed like the best course of action, so I took out my phone. Chae-a beside me curiously watched the phone.

‘Judging by her reaction, she seems unfamiliar with modern technology.’

Thinking about it, she did call the soda cap a “red stone” this morning…

She seemed completely unaware of modern knowledge.

Deciding to teach her one thing at a time while she watched carefully beside me, I pressed the broadcast start button…

[SeorinSeorin – Big sister is number one to come here!]

[MuchMoneySuspicious – Good morning.]

[GraduateStudentWanted – Thanks for turning on the broadcast.]

Familiar names appeared one by one in the chat.

Grateful that people came back to watch my broadcast, I bowed slightly before continuing.

“Hello… I turned on the broadcast because there’s something I want to ask…”

[MuchMoneySuspicious – What is it? I’ll answer anything within my knowledge.]

As expected, very reliable.

Bowing slightly again, I picked up Chae-a who was guarding the phone warily and said…

“I want to ask about Chae-a.”

[MuchMoneySuspicious – Oh. Did a spirit really come already?]

He immediately recognized it as a spirit, so he must know something.

Feeling anticipation build up, I nodded…

Suspicious Viewer then asked what I wanted to know specifically.

“Chae-a says she’s a spirit herself… but I don’t know what kind of spirit, so I’m asking for advice.”

(In my own words: Chae-a says she’s a spirit, but I don’t know what kind, so I’d like some opinions.)

Trying to ask politely…

Suspicious Viewer was silent for a moment before kindly responding…

[MuchMoneySuspicious – I wish I could answer right away, but this form of spirit is new to me as well, making it difficult to respond.]

Even Suspicious Viewer doesn’t know this spirit?

That means it’s probably not an ordinary spirit, which gave me quite a dilemma.

Wondering what to do, Suspicious Viewer posted another message…

[MuchMoneySuspicious – But don’t worry. Just because I don’t know doesn’t mean others don’t. I’ll send someone who’s extremely knowledgeable about spirits right away. It would be best to ask that person.]

That’s a relief.

Looking at Chae-a crouched nearby examining the floor, I sighed in relief…

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