The Leader remained silent for a while after listening quietly to the cat spirit's story. After a moment of silence, Leader suddenly glanced at his left wrist. He slowly fiddled with the watch on his wrist, muttering to himself.
Sisi, you're right. Hometown is on my side....
Yoon Taehee knew what this was. It was the feeling of a favorable wind blowing without fail the moment the sails were unfurled. He had experienced such moments several times in his life, and each time he felt a chilling sensation that made him shudder.
If the key to immortality was with the mermaid, there was a high possibility that the clue to solving immortality was also with the mermaid. Perhaps the mermaid knew how to break the curse. In the current situation, the mermaid was the only one they could rely on.
Yoon Taehee immediately left the pavilion and headed to Naryecheong.
Upon arriving at the main office, he first began to search for Shin Jihye's personal information. After a few searches, he easily found Shin Jihye's social media account.
If she had a personal social media, tracking her movements would be a piece of cake.
If mermaids really existed, he had guessed they might be hiding near the coast or in remote, uninhabited areas in modern times. However, Yoon Taehee's guess was completely off the mark.
The legendary mermaid's main area of activity was in the heart of Seoul; Gangnam.
Shin Jihye on social media appeared very cheerful and confident, surrounded by people. However, there was nothing particularly unusual. He could easily find out that she had worked as a model until her early 20s and quit a few years ago.
After roughly grasping her personal information, Yoon Taehee took a vacation and began tracking Shin Jihye's whereabouts. Since she was said to seduce a new person once a week, Yoon Taehee anticipated that if he could meet her in person, the rest wouldn't be difficult.
And his prediction hit the mark.
"Want to play with me? You're quite handsome, you know?"
Yoon Taehee caught Shin Jihye's eye at once and became a 'date partner' named prey.
Disguised as prey and flying directly into the spider's web, Yoon Taehee calmly waited for the right moment.
He judged that an opportunity would surely come if he stayed with Shin Jihye for a week. Yoon Taehee closely observed Shin Jihye's movements for several days.
He needed to catch solid evidence so she couldn't escape.
And so, Yoon Taehee spent time with Shin Jihye, suffering the agony of squeezing his insides day after day. He felt like he was going crazy at the thought of wasting time eating meals with Shin Jihye, going for drives, drinking tea, and taking her home.
However, Yoon Taehee turned off all other contacts and focused solely on Shin Jihye.
These fleeting moments now were for the sake of spending all future moments with Jaegyeom.
As time passed, it was the third day. Shin Jihye, who had worn short bottoms consistently for three days, appeared wearing a long skirt that covered her feet.
The moment he saw her in the long skirt, Yoon Taehee could be certain.
That evil person must eat gallbladder regularly once a week to maintain human legs, and scales grow on the legs as time passes.'
There was no doubt that a change had finally occurred in her legs. He wanted to check her feet right away if he could. Decisive evidence was right before his eyes.
However, Yoon Taehee coolly considered the possibilities. It would be premature to expose her identity right now. She might have covered up in advance, anticipating the growth of scales, even if there were no changes yet.
So let's wait just one more day, just one more day.
It was when he thought this. An uninvited guest arrived at the bar. The identity of the uninvited guest was none other than Jaegyeom. From the moment he saw Jaegyeom's face, his heart started pounding like a madman.
How are you here....
However, Yoon Taehee was currently in a state of being enchanted by Shin Jihye. Or more precisely, he was in a state of quietly acting as if he were enchanted. It wasn't a situation where he could pretend to know Jaegyeom or explain. If he acted recklessly according to his own will, he might arouse suspicion and be exposed. He could lose the mermaid right in front of him in vain.
'No, I've never seen him before.'
So Yoon Taehee pretended not to know Jaegyeom. No, Yoon Taehee was so desperate that he had no choice but to do so. He hoped Jaegyeom would leave this place before things went wrong. However, for some reason, Jaegyeom not only didn't leave but rather squeezed in and sat down among the people, drinking alcohol.
With Jaegyeom's appearance, Yoon Taehee faced several critical moments. Each time, Yoon Taehee anxiously composed himself. However, in the end, as always, due to jaegyeom appearing as a variable and messing up the situation, Yoon Taehee was helplessly swayed, and finally, the plan went awry.
"A legendary mermaid disguised behind a cat spirit.
I've been desperately looking for you."
It was a stroke of luck that a few scales had grown on Shin Jihye's feet at that point. The play of deceiving and being deceived was over. Shin Jihye, finally realizing she had been tricked, gritted her teeth and said,
"What exactly are you trying to do with me now?"
"Talk."
"What?"
"Not as mermaid and human, but as Shin Jihye and Yoon Taehee."
"So what do you want to hear?"
"Everything you know about mermaids."
Yoon Taehee paused for a moment and looked around at the chaotic surroundings.
"But it's a bit awkward to talk here, so if you don't mind, l'd like to move to a different location. It would be inconvenient for both of us if there are listening ears, so shall we go to my house to talk?"
"Why should I? What if I don't want to talk?"
Shin Jihye glared fiercely at Yoon Taehee.
"Unfortunately, that's not an option."
Yoon Taehee replied, slowly raising the corners of his mouth.
"You have two choices right now."
Yoon Taehee said, slamming the fan in his hand on the floor.
"Will you go to gwijae Yoon Taehee's house, or to exorcist Yoon Taehee's house?"
"..."
Exorcist? At that moment, Shin Jihye's eyes shook violently.
"Information about mermaids is very rare even in Naryecheong. If I were exorcist Yoon Taehee who encountered a spirit, I would go back to Naryecheong and say this: I was looking for a cat spirit who eats human organs, but when I caught it, it turned out to be a legendary mermaid..."
"..."
"But if I'm gwijae Yoon Taehee who approached knowing from the beginning that you're a mermaid using a cat spirit as a front, I wouldn't say that."
Yoon Taehee was a person who would not hesitate to use any means necessary for his original purpose, and could become as vile and cunning as he wanted if he set his mind to it. He knew how to secure a very
advantageous position for himself with his excellent situational judgment.
Shin Jihye's face hardened coldly.
"Ha, you piece of trash... Are you threatening me now?"
"Well, if you think about it, you threatened first."
"What? What do you mean?"
Yoon Taehee stroked his chin and told the story about
'Kim Jjangdol.
"Kim Jjangdol...!!"
Shin Jihye, finally understanding the situation, burst into anger.
"Does he think he's all that just because he's cute? Do you know how much I adored him!"
Shin Jihye, who had been indignant alone, bit her lip hard and glared at Yoon Taehee.
"So, you're going to use that as leverage to exploit me?"
"No, I'm just saying you're lucky."
"What?"
"You should be grateful you ran into me. If it were another exorcist, they would have handed you over to Naryecheong or used you as a research subject. But I have no such intention."
Yoon Taehee raised his eyebrow as he folded the fan he had slammed on the ground.
"Grateful? This is ridiculous. You deliberately approached to catch me, and now you're saying be grateful?"
"Yes, it's true that I deliberately approached to catch you. But you're the one who did something worth catching in the first place. Because you ate people's gallbladders."
"The gallbladder is dispensable anyway. People live well without it, and these days they even remove it if it hurts, so is that such a big crime?"
"Well... I think so too. The gallbladder isn't a very important organ. But it's still causing harm, so if we're talking about right and wrong, you're in the wrong."
At that, Shin Jihye glared at Yoon Taehee with her eyes wide open.
"Anyway, the important thing is this. Since you disguised it as the work of a cat spirit, you would have been caught by Naryecheong eventually, even if it wasn't me."
Shin Jihye, seemingly at a loss for words, pressed her lips tightly.
"..."
Yoon Taehee continued with an expressionless face.
"If you're in a situation where you need to eat gallbladders regularly to hide your identity, you shouldn't have left it to the cat spirit, but should have hidden completely in civilization. Like finding an organ trafficking broker, or a quack surgeon to be a dedicated supplier to siphon off gallbladders... That would be much more efficient in terms of time and effort."
"..."
"Whether it's a broker or a quack, I can introduce you if you want."
"..."
The alternative Yoon Taehee suggested was very realistic and considerably unethical. It wasn't about judging right and wrong, but pointing out why she handled things that way. Shin Jihye, who was advised to commit an even more certain illegal act, looked dumbfounded.
"You really are insane."
"You're just too complacent."
Finally, Shin Jihye bowed her head deeply and shouted.
"So what exactly do you want me to do?!"
"I told you. Let's move to a different location and have a calm 'conversation'."
"..."
"If you can't decide right away, I'll give you time to think it over carefully."
After finishing his words, Yoon Taehee turned to Jaegyeom, who was sitting on the sofa. Jaegyeom had fallen asleep lying sideways on the sofa, drunk.
"Jaegyeom." He tried to shake him awake, but the intoxicated Jaegyeom didn't respond. At that, Yoon Taehee pressed his lips to his forehead and gently bit it. He lightly nibbled once with his front teeth, not painfully.
Yoon Taehee picked up Jaegyeom like a child. Then he slightly rolled up his wrist sleeve to check the time, and looked down at Shin Jihye with emotionless eyes.
"So, have you decided?"
The time Yoon Taehee gave Shin Jihye was at most about 1 minute.
"..."
And that's how Shin Jihye ended up coming to Highfellis Building B, Room 1402.