chapter 35
“Sharp and clean teeth have come back?”
“And she brought her kid too!”
Despite how impatient I felt, we couldn’t go straight to Aunt Hyesuh’s house. Because of that earlier cry, all the relatives and neighbors came running once they realized my mother was here.
Everyone greeted her warmly, saying it had been so long, and then greeted my father too.
“Where’s your kid…?”
Then, when they saw me, they froze in surprise.
I wondered if I looked scruffy, so I glanced down at myself.
Since we were climbing a cold mountain, I wore leather shoes, loose cotton pants just in case, and a skirt that wouldn’t get in the way.
The vest was a leather one my mom embroidered for me. I even wore a hat trimmed with rabbit fur—surely I didn’t look that shabby?
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I tugged at my vest, when someone spoke up.
“So Sharp-and-Clean-Teeth has such a pretty daughter?”
“She’s tiny but delicate.”
“How can she look so soft and round, like a polished pebble? You never see such round features among us Wolf Clan folks.”
“We’re all more angular.”
“And sharper.”
People—whether relatives or neighbors, I couldn’t tell—squatted around me, murmuring admiringly. Then Mom smacked them all across the back.
“Say that again?”
“Ah, that sting! You really are back!”
I’d noticed it earlier—people here didn’t stand on formality.
They were all as good-looking and striking as Mom, but their behavior wasn’t much different from the noisy Hyeon family back home.
While I was watching them, Dad, who’d been smiling fondly from behind, picked me up. Then, hilariously, all the wolf-folk who had been crouched down sprang up like bamboo shoots.
“Now that I see her up close, she’s the spitting image of her father. No wonder she looks shar—”
“Yeryeom.”
“Ah, right. No wonder I didn’t sense much of Yeryeom in her.”
“No, look at her lips. Don’t they resemble Yeryeom’s? Even her front paws are identical!”
Dad proudly boasted about me, saying that my prettiness came from Mom.
Playing along, I turned into a puppy.
Everyone, please take a look at my front paws! Aren’t they adorable, like little white socks? I definitely take after my mother!
But instead of that, everyone reacted to something else.
“She’s so small! And so cute!”
The biggest woman among them shouted in a booming voice, half-crying as she covered her mouth. Yup. Definitely like our family.
“Ah, she’s right. Those front paws do look like Yeryeom’s.”
As soon as that loud aunt said it, even more people gathered around noisily.
Thanks to years of experience, I knew what to do in such situations—better to just greet them quickly and escape.
Alright. I perked up my ears and opened my eyes wide.
My tail wagged, and I gave my brightest smile.
“Woof!”
Hello!
My greeting made the wolf-folk collapse helplessly.
***
Everyone tried to turn into wolves to put my head in their mouths out of affection, so I quickly escaped. I needed to stay clean if I was going to meet Aunt Hyesuh and my baby cousin.
After finally finishing our greetings, we set off to meet Aunt Hyesuh.
We’d even brought lots of gifts. The first to greet us when we arrived was my uncle.
“Welcome! I’ve heard so much about you!”
From letters, I already knew Uncle’s name, but seeing him in person was a surprise.
He was said to be of the Wolf Clan, yet his hair shimmered gold in the sunlight. His facial features also felt subtly foreign—perhaps deeper-set eyes?
“Do I look a bit unfamiliar?”
He caught my curious gaze and smiled.
“I’m not from Hulguk—I’m from Yuguk.”
Ah. So that’s why he looked different—Aunt Hyesuh had married a foreigner.
Even though different countries used the same language and writing in this world, I’d thought foreigners would be harder to tell apart. But the slight difference in appearance was enough.
“My name’s Radali. You can call me Uncle Radali.”
He had once been a merchant who came to trade with the Ashen Tribe and fell in love with Aunt Hyesuh at first sight.
He pursued her, and after a long courtship, not only did he succeed in marrying her, but they even had an adorable daughter together—he looked like the happiest man alive.
“What did you like about Aunt so much?”
I asked, and he answered immediately, almost as if he’d been waiting for the question.
“I knew the moment I saw her. She was as grand and beautiful as the morning over the snowy mountains.”
“Right away?”
“Of course.”
The cold wind tousled his golden hair.
Through the loose strands, his clear crimson eyes caught the light. And at that moment, I understood why Aunt Hyesuh had chosen him.
“No merchant fails to recognize a precious gem.”
There was conviction in those eyes—an unshakable certainty that he would love Aunt forever.
“Oh, right.”
The heat in his crimson gaze vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by his usual gentle face as he suddenly dropped a bomb on us.
“I’ve taken an oath of silence too, so you can talk freely about Hyeon!”
Dad looked startled.
“They must’ve told you to take the oath without explaining anything… and you agreed?”
“Yes!”
Apparently, when Aunt Hyesuh proposed the silence-binding spell, she was already under one herself. That meant she couldn’t even tell him I was a haetae, and yet he’d accepted the spell anyway.
“She said she wouldn’t accept my proposal unless I took it!”
He laughed brightly as our whole family silently gaped in shock.
“Thanks to that, we got married quickly!”
Our silent screaming intensified.
***
After recovering from the shock of Aunt Hyesuh’s meticulousness, we remembered why we had come.
We dusted off, washed our hands, and prepared ourselves.
Then, entering the cozy, sweet-smelling main room, we saw a gray wolf curled up on the warm floor.
“Hyesuh.”
At Mom’s voice, the wolf raised her head, revealing two differently colored eyes—one yellow, one blue.
“Humph.”
Her ears flicked back slightly.
She seemed glad to see us, but didn’t move. Then a tiny face peeked out from her curled-up body.
“Oh!”
I couldn’t help but gasp.
A chubby little gray wolf pup poked its nose out, whining softly.
“Yip!”
“That’s your kid?”
“Yip! Yap! Whine! Whimper!”
Suddenly, the pup barked loudly, as if shouting, Let me go right now! Put me down!
“Haaah…”
Sure enough, Aunt sighed deeply, and as soon as she uncurled, the fluffy gray ball shot out and shook itself all over.
“Howoooo!”
Then it howled loudly and scampered around the room.
It couldn’t have been more than two months old, but it was already the size of my puppy form. I’d heard wolf pups grew fast, but it felt like they were built sturdier right from birth.
“Isn’t our baby adorable?”
Uncle looked ready to melt with happiness.
But, Uncle… your baby is literally leaping toward the door right now!
“Whoops! Strong legs, isn’t she? So healthy!”
He caught the pup mid-leap, clearly used to this routine.
Seeing that, Aunt Hyesuh relaxed, letting out a long sigh as she looked at the father and child with gentle eyes.
From that alone, you could tell this family was truly happy.
And that made me happy too.
***
Uncle went to put the baby to sleep. Dad followed, offering advice as an experienced parent. That left just Aunt Hyesuh, Mom, and me in the main room.
“Ah, it’s been ages since we’ve been like this.”
In human form again, Aunt Hyesuh stretched, looking utterly exhausted.
Mom began rubbing her back. Aunt chuckled softly.
“Tired?”
“Exhausted. I’ll have to think twice before having a second.”
Mom sat beside her and started braiding her messy gray hair. Wanting to help, I sat on the other side and grabbed a handful of her thick locks.
My fingers were short, but I could still braid hair.
As I wove, Aunt smiled in amusement and asked,
“I heard one of the haetae’s abilities is water affinity?”
“Yes.”
Straight to the point—so like her.
“Then you’ve come to the right place. This land is full of snow, water, and strong winds.”
“I’ve heard that the environment has a big effect.”
“It has to.”
Yawning lazily, Aunt rubbed her eyes.
“A shaman’s power fundamentally imitates nature. The art of controlling that wild energy is what became the discipline of oaths.”
She explained that sorcery was about mastering both one’s natural element and the restraint of it.
If you mastered one side, you were a novice shaman.
If you mastered both, a mid-level shaman.
And if you could handle any element freely, you became a high-level shaman.
“The gap between mid and high levels is massive,” she said.
“Wow…”
“The single biggest factor for a shaman’s power is talent. Effort is essential, of course, but talent leads.”
It was the first time I’d ever heard such a proper explanation of shamanism.
I listened, fascinated. When I finished braiding, Mom tied the end neatly with a string she pulled from somewhere.
“By the way, the greatest in this field is Baeksan.”
“Baeksan?”
“His son, Sobaeksan, is also a genius, but it’ll take him time to match his father’s experience.”
Baeksan was born among the tiger tribe, known for their mastery of sorcery, and was hailed as a once-in-a-generation genius who had even survived war. His power was said to be like a walking natural disaster.
“But even a shaman like that can’t awaken their power without the right environment.”
Aunt raised her hand, forming a small droplet of water on her fingertip.
It floated up, then fell softly into my palm.
Plop.
“Let’s see if I can awaken a little of my niece’s power.”
Suddenly, all sound vanished around me.
Every nerve in my body focused on the droplet resting in my palm.
Was it my imagination?
For a brief moment, I could’ve sworn the water moved—
just as I willed it to.
