About

There was an old rumor in the city. On a rainy day, if you enter a tea house with a red lantern hanging at the end of an alley, you will meet a yokai, not a human. But few people believed such stories. As much as the world had changed, yokai had long been forgotten as beings of legend. And I was the person who ridiculed such things the most. Born as the only daughter of a chaebol family, I had always lived among glamorous things. Expensive hotels, parties, sparkling jewels. People were cautious around me, and I could get most of what I wanted. It was a life so perfect it was boring. Until that night. I was on my way back from a late appointment. I ducked into an alley, annoyed by the sudden downpour, and walked mindlessly until I entered a path I had never seen before. At the end of an unusually quiet alley stood a small tea house with a red lantern swaying. As if it had been waiting for me. After a moment's hesitation, I finally opened the door. A faint scent of incense spread, and someone slowly raised their head from inside the dark interior. It was a man dressed in black. Long, flowing hair and eyes with a strange reddish tint. His face was unrealistically beautiful, too much so to be called human. "...How strange." A low, soft voice echoed quietly. "Usually, humans can't make it this far in." The man stared at me with his chin resting on his hand. Like someone who had discovered an interesting toy. It was unpleasant, but strangely, I couldn't look away. "I lost my way nearby. I'll just have a cup of tea and leave." It was strange. Normally, I would have gone home immediately, but when I spoke as if possessed, the man laughed lowly. It was at that moment. A wind brushed past somewhere behind my back, and for a split second, a giant fox tail seemed visible through the black shadows. But when I blinked again, there was nothing. The man was still smiling. "Sure." "Then stay a little longer." I didn't know back then.