Chapter 70
The tail-copter spun wildly.
Meeting another Haetae besides me made my heart pound.
I stamped my feet and barked excitedly, and the bookstore owner chuckled heartily.
“This new recruit is full of energy!”
He then knelt on one knee to meet my gaze.
“Let’s see… let me check again to make sure I’m not mistaken.”
Up close, the man had a gentle, soft impression that contrasted with his cheerful tone.
White hair, round black eyes—and the moment I saw the bamboo stick in his mouth, I could tell what race he belonged to.
Great Hero Cat (Daewoongmyo) race.
In his past life, he was a bear race called the Giant Panda.
Moreover, the more I looked at him, the more I felt a solid, clear aura, like a piece of rock. The man seemed to feel the same and gave a refreshing grin.
“Ah! Round and solid, just like our comrade.”
“Mang-mang!”
“Tough coming here, huh? Let’s go inside. The Full Moon Bookstore closes on the night of the full moon every month. If other customers see it open, it’ll be a hassle.”
“Mung!”
Excuse me!
I slipped through the doorway that the bookstore owner opened for me.
Inside, the bookstore seemed peaceful at first glance.
The smell of paper and ink, a little floating dust, neatly arranged books—it looked like an ordinary used bookstore.
“Kkuung.”
But on closer inspection, all kinds of spells were smeared everywhere.
Good heavens. How many of these are there? I gawked at the security and defensive spells comparable to a royal palace.
“Oh, you can recognize them? You’ve already learned some magic.”
The bookstore owner closed the door and locked it.
With a click, the bamboo energy activated the spell circles.
Click. Click. Rumble. Multiple spells engaged in perfect coordination, turning the small bookstore into an impregnable fortress.
“The spells here are so incredible that visiting magic users just assume they were laid by relatives or ancestors,” he said.
Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? The spells were too brilliant to be believable. I looked at him skeptically, and he chuckled.
“People who study magic thoroughly rarely come to a shabby shop like this. They just assume it’s normal and move on.”
The Haetae gathering place, which I thought would be secretive, operated more loosely than I imagined.
It felt strange, but seeing the carefully laid security spells made me nod in approval.
After taking a rough look around, I leapt up.
“Mang!”
“Take the books!” The bookstore owner understood my gesture perfectly and quickly untied the bundle of books from my body.
“All ten are here. Correct, you found them properly.”
He checked each one and smiled widely. His soft face looked unusually cute for his tall stature.
But what he said next was far from cute.
“The truth is, I haven’t had this bookstore for long. My predecessor passed away suddenly, so I didn’t have time to hone my spell skills enough to create these sheets. That’s why the distribution was delayed.”
Ah. That explained everything.
The sudden difficulty in finding the Camellia Flower books.
The fact that they only became plentiful by the end of last year!
“All thanks to you, the bookstore owner, right in front of me!”
Days of hard work flashed through my mind, and my body trembled.
I’d never been this furious and flustered without facing a villain.
“Is that supposed to be bragging?”
“Ugh.”
At that moment, a staff flew in and struck the bookstore owner’s backside.
I widened my eyes at the silently appearing grandmother. She, too, was a Haetae, with stylishly twisted black and white hair.
And she was a very strong Haetae.
I couldn’t quite describe it, but she radiated a solid, rock-like strength.
“I told you to hone your magic sooner! And you! Too slow!”
“A-Ah! I said I’m sorry! Ah!”
“Even if your predecessor hadn’t chosen you as a successor!”
Regardless, it felt so satisfying.
I wagged my tail and barked, wishing she would hit the bookstore owner a bit more.
“One more hit, just one more! One more!”
“This little guy is blocking the staff?”
“Then just keep getting hit?”
“If the staff doesn’t work, there are hands and feet.”
“Ugh! The badger’s taking on the panda!”
And my wish was fulfilled.
I smiled widely, feeling as relieved as if I had taken a digestive pill.
Once the situation calmed down, the grandmother put away her staff.
The bookstore owner patted the areas he was hit, sniffled a bit, but didn’t seem seriously hurt. Apparently, bear races are generally tough, and he was no exception.
“Let’s go to the tea room. We usually hold meetings there.”
Following his guidance deeper into the store, we found a side door. Inside was a cozy space with stacks of books.
The badger grandmother laid three soft cushions while the bookstore owner brewed tea. I settled onto the round cushion prepared for me and wagged my tail.
“Now, let’s each introduce ourselves!”
The lively bookstore owner introduced himself first.
“Hello sir! In my past life, I was Hugo Brown from New York, USA. My current name is Gongjun. As you can see, I’m a panda.”
“Bonjour. I was French in my past life, named Mathilda, but now I live as Maheera. I’m a badger.”
Hearing them introduce both their past and current lives made me feel strange.
Was I the only one who could understand this well?
Faint memories from my past life, which I couldn’t even tell my family, swirled in my mind.
I took a deep breath, transformed into human form, and spoke.
“Hello!”
My mouth stretched into a wide smile.
“I’m from Korea, and I don’t remember my past life name well. In this life, I live as Hyun Hyeon, part of the canine race, and I’m sixteen years old!”
It was certain.
My face was filled with pure joy.
For the first time, I felt like I could fully introduce myself to this world.
The two Haetae stared at me, momentarily dumbfounded.
“Whoa. Even with their appearance buffs, Haetae can’t compare—this young lady is over the top. Thought she had horns or something.”
“That’s just the inherited beauty from her current-life parents. Wait, if she’s Hyun, isn’t that the Hyun family of Seolgok-do?”
“Yes!”
The bookstore owner, Gongjun, shouted in surprise when he heard I was the direct granddaughter of the head of the Hyun family, one of the five great families.
“How can a Haetae be born in a noble family—ugh!”
And again, Maheera hit him.
As noted in the Camellia Flower books, Haetae are usually born into modest households. Being born into a wealthy family like me is extremely rare.
“Perhaps it’s easier to do good deeds if you’re born where help is needed,” she speculated.
It made sense.
I asked more questions, curious about what Gongjun meant by “appearance buff.”
“It’s like a kind of camouflage.”
The first year is critical for a Haetae.
They frequently change appearance, which can expose their identity, and even if unnoticed, an unusual child might be abandoned.
But Haetae have a secret trick to survive even under harsh conditions.
“Cuteness is their strategy.”
This is the appearance buff.
Haetae are born cute and pretty in both animal and human forms. A cute baby triggers adults’ protective instincts, which improves survival odds.
“Does that mean I’m small too?”
No wonder I felt odd before.
What kind of family am I from? All large dogs! No wonder I’m small—it must be because I’m a Haetae!
“That’s not it.”
Maheera lightly denied my guess.
“Look at the panda. Size doesn’t matter. Just the face looks a little cuter, and the fur becomes glossy and pretty.”
“So me being small…”
“Your size is just natural, inherited from your ancestors.”
A long-standing question was solved, but the shock was bigger.
I wasn’t small because I was a Haetae or because of a flaw. I was simply born a small dog, inheriting a tiny ancestor from the Hyun family!
A bitter reality.
“You’re curious, young lady. It would have been livelier if other comrades were here.”
“Are there other Haetae?”
“There are normally three in the capital. Two are currently assigned elsewhere. These days, there’s too much going on, so we’re short-handed.”
“I’m from Gamseok-do.”
Haetae are born in proportion to population density.
The capital has the most people, so three or so Haetae are born there. Gamseok-do, which interacts frequently with the capital, currently has two Haetae.
Elsewhere, usually only one per province.
“I guessed there’d be Haetae in Seolgok-do… but to think it was the direct granddaughter of the Odae family, the Hyun household.”
“The lamp burns low under the table,” Maheera said.
“That’s why you arrived sooner than we expected.”
“Sooner?”
“If you don’t live in the capital, it’s hard to find this place before reaching adulthood.”
True.
If not for the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration, I wouldn’t have moved from my family’s estate to the capital.
“This gathering place was made to give new recruits information and exchange info from each region.”
“Ohhh.”
“We usually start with information exchange, but today, since a new recruit has arrived! I’ll teach you everything about Haetae in an accelerated way!”
“Waaah!”
I clapped enthusiastically at Gongjun’s announcement.
Finally, I could learn everything I had been curious about regarding Haetae!
