The next day, after seeing off the Hyeon siblings who had visited since dawn, I closed the doors to the Tea House. Of course, I didn’t intend to keep them closed for long. I planned to shut down for just half the morning.
“Noran.”
“Yup! I’ll be back!”
“Be careful. Don’t run. You’ll get hurt if you fall.”
“Got it!”
Having fully recovered her energy after a deep sleep last night, Noran opened the door and left for the Spirit Realm. I had made a request to her earlier this morning as we were coming to work together.
Just then, the door opened and Siwoo walked in.
“Noran is heading to the Spirit Realm early today? Did something good happen?”
“In a way, you could call it a good thing. I asked her for a favor.”
“A favor? What kind?”
“I asked her to bring two friends: the Spirit of the River and the Spirit of the Cloud. But… why are you looking at me like that?”
At my words, Siwoo stared at me as if she were looking at something fascinating, then spoke with a beaming smile.
“It’s just that I think this is the first time you’ve looked for a Spirit, President.”
“What are you talking about? I looked for Na Yue, too.”
“Well, yes, but Yue was a special case, wasn’t she? She ran away and was hiding, so you were asking to find her.”
“…Is that how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”
Siwoo smiled and stepped closer. The faint scent of rain immediately wafted from her.
“I suppose Yue has finally made up her mind.”
“You figured it out?”
“Yes. Right there!”
Siwoo opened the lower pantry. There sat the Moon Fragment, the Night Fragment, and the fragments of the Sun, River, and Cloud. Siwoo picked up the River and Cloud fragments among them and spoke.
“I can feel this power. It’s because the energy of these two is close to mine.”
Siwoo touched the two fragments preciouslly.
“Whether it’s a river, a cloud, or rain… in the end, it all comes from water.”
They shared the same origin. I could see that Siwoo felt a close connection to those two spirits.
“Then… is it like they’re your siblings?”
“Hmm, by human standards, I suppose so. They aren’t sisters, they’re brothers. But I don’t get to see them often. They’re busy. Especially the Cloud Spirit. He flows all over the world.”
Siwoo’s eyes sparkled as she spoke. She seemed excited at the thought of seeing spirits who were like her siblings for the first time in a long while. And if they were her brothers, that meant they were male spirits. I had assumed all spirits took on a female form, but between Ludric and these two, it seemed there were quite a few male spirits as well.
“Then you’ll be seeing them for the first time in a while.”
“That’s right.”
As Siwoo was trying to steady her fluttering heart, the door to the Tea House opened.
*Ting.*
The bell chimed through the Tea House, and Noran stepped inside first with a majestic expression. Two people followed behind her.
A man with hair the color of water, similar to Siwoo, had a pale complexion around his eyes. The term ‘fragile beauty’ seemed perfectly suited to him; he looked like the type who would naturally trigger one’s protective instincts.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Peuang, the Spirit of the River. And…”
Mr. Peuang looked at the middle-school-aged kid standing next to him. The boy, who had incredibly wild hair, glared at me with sharp eyes. Or was he just looking at me and his eyes were naturally fierce?
[Unsu]
Unsu.
“Unsu, you must show some manners.”
“Peuang, I don’t like that human.”
So he really was glaring at me.
Healing Powder of light shimmered and rose from Mr. Unsu’s body, which was brimming with irritation. That powder collided in midair, creating a small dark cloud.
“I heard he harassed Yue because he’s just a human. Why should we look at a guy like that favorably?”
“He didn’t harass her. He was trying to help us.”
“Who said we needed that kind of help?”
“Unsu.”
“And because that human made the yellow brat so strong, it was harder for us. Peuang, are you really going to take that human’s side despite that!?”
He said it was harder for them. If the two spirits were like siblings to Siwoo, then those words weren’t wrong. Siwoo had also mentioned that things were difficult because Noran had become so strong.
As I remained quiet out of a sense of guilt, Mr. Unsu added more momentum to his words.
“Fine, even if I’m being generous, I can understand it being hard because the yellow brat got stronger. It’s the balance and logic of the world that when one spirit gets stronger, someone else gets weaker. My becoming weaker is probably just a natural result. But this guy is messing with that logic as he pleases. He’s breaking the rules!”
Small bolts of lightning crackled from the dark cloud that had formed behind Mr. Unsu. They were very small, but being struck by them would likely be more than just ‘tingly.’
Fortunately, before any trouble could break out, Mr. Unsu was immediately suppressed.
“Unsu! You can’t do that!”
At Noran’s shout, the cloud Mr. Unsu had created dispersed and vanished. Seeing that, Mr. Unsu scowled and turned his head.
“…Isn’t that brat a bit too strong?”
“Hmph! I got strong so I wouldn’t be bullied by someone like Unsu! And I’m your older sister! Don’t talk to me so informally!”
“You talk informally to everyone, too. Besides, you only got strong because you got help from that human.”
“Now, now. That’s enough.”
“Everyone, please calm down.”
Peuang and Siwoo stepped between the two, who looked ready to start grabbing each other’s hair at any moment. Siwoo picked up Noran, while Mr. Peuang took Unsu into his arms.
“Noran, you shouldn’t fight, right?”
“He started it first! He was picking on the Mister!”
“No, he’s just doing that because he’s worried.”
“Hmph…”
Siwoo managed to calm Noran down.
“Unsu, you aren’t going to ignore Yue’s words, are you?”
“…I’m not ignoring them.”
“Then, be good. Don’t fight.”
Mr. Peuang managed to calm Unsu down. It was a relief that there were two mature spirits present.
Once the commotion had subsided to some extent, I guided the two spirits to a table. Normally I would guide guests to the bar, but today, I specially led them to a seat by the window.
As I set down a glass of water for each of them, Mr. Peuang apologized once more.
“I am sorry for the disturbance. We came here after hearing from Yue.”
“Since you’ve already heard from Yue, I won’t need to give a long explanation.”
While the two spirits took a sip of water, I brought out the tea. Since I knew they were coming, I had prepared it in advance. For these two spirits, the aging process was more important than the actual brewing, so I had made it beforehand.
“This is ‘Flow River’ for Mr. Peuang. And this is ‘Flow’ for Mr. Unsu.”
The two teas possessed blue and light colors that perfectly matched the two spirits. Looking at the two of them staring at the tea, I spoke to Siwoo.
“Siwoo.”
“Yes.”
“Could you bring me that thing from earlier?”
“Oh, yes.”
Siwoo understood exactly what I meant even though I hadn’t specified it. The fragments of the two spirits that had been placed in the pantry. Siwoo brought them over and placed them in my hand.
The two spirits recognized immediately what they were.
“The fragments!”
“How do you, a human, have these?”
“Didn’t you hear from Yue?”
“…All we heard was to go and see for ourselves. We don’t know anything about how things are proceeding.”
“Is that so?”
That was typical of Yue’s personality. Perhaps it was a test for me. How mischievous of her.
‘She’s telling me to convince them on my own.’
If it was a test, I just had to pass it.
“Yue and I are searching for a way to restore the balance of the Spirit Realm together. And this is a part of that. It’s about returning the power of you two that Yue was holding onto.”
“…Our power.”
The two spirits stared blankly at the fragments in my hand. I couldn’t perfectly understand the energy contained within them. However, I could understand that they were the same as the essence of the two spirits.
“Watch.”
I didn’t break the two fragments but placed them directly into the teacups. I had intentionally left room in the cups so the tea wouldn’t overflow. The two fragments in the cups melted away like cotton candy dissolving in water. Once this process was finished, the color of the tea became more saturated than before.
“With this, it’s complete. Please try it.”
At my words, the two spirits slowly picked up their teacups. One sip. After carefully taking a sip, they rolled the tea around in their mouths. Then, they swallowed. Having savored the taste of the tea, they slowly exhaled.
The first one to speak was Mr. Peuang.
“……So this is the tea from the Sunny House I’ve heard so much about.”
“Is it to your liking?”
“Yes. It suits me very well.”
Mr. Peuang looked down at his tea. Flow River. This was the tea my Grandfather had created specifically for Mr. Peuang.
“I think I understand now why Noran, Naru, and Siwoo praised the Sunny First House so much.”
“….It’s strange.”
Mr. Unsu, sitting across from Mr. Peuang, looked like he was about to cry. Flow. This was also a tea my Grandfather had made for Mr. Unsu.
“I don’t know how you knew.”
In my Grandfather’s Recipe Book, there were teas written for these two spirits, even though he had never met them. It was as if he had known a day like today would come.
“….This is my first time drinking this. But, I feel a sense of nostalgia, as if I drank it a long time ago. How can this be?”
“You’ve never had it before?”
“There’s no way I could have.”
“Unsu. You have to speak kindly.”
“I know.”
Mr. Unsu pouted again, expressing his dissatisfaction. Mr. Peuang, who had silenced Unsu with a single word, continued.
“It’s only been about two years since we were born.”
“It’s been that short?”
“Yes. It’s quite different from how we look, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
I didn’t expect them to grow so quickly in just two years. It reminded me of Ludric, whom I met yesterday.
“We go through generation changes very quickly. Our given lifespan is essentially exhausted in ten years.”
“Isn’t that too short?”
“Rivers and clouds can disappear as quickly as they appear. It’s only natural that our flow is short.”
Flow. They were essentially carrying the characteristics of nature itself.
“If it were the previous generation of spirits, they would have met the President whom you call Grandfather, but we didn’t.”
“In a way, the tea the President gave them is the first Spirit’s tea these children have ever had,” Siwoo added an explanation.
“That’s an honor.”
If I had known, I would have put a bit more care into preparing the tea. Regardless of my thoughts, the two spirits seemed quite satisfied. As they emptied more of their tea, I added a few more words.
“These two teas will strengthen the spirit energy you both possess. And it will return the original power that Yue held.”
“The power Yue held…”
“I’ve heard the rumors, but is that really possible?”
To be honest, it wasn’t that I had zero anxiety. There was always a gap between theory and reality. Still.
“Yes, I’m confident.”
I expressed my confidence so that they wouldn’t feel uneasy. At my words, Mr. Peuang hesitated before asking one thing.
“If that happens… will we… be able to live longer?”
“Probably.”
Yue had said that because of her, the lifespans of the Night Spirit and other spirits had shortened. So, what if the spirits regained the power they were meant to have? I believed they would regain their original lifespan.
“That’s somewhat… awkward.”
“…Awkward?”
I didn’t expect that kind of reaction to the news of living longer. Mr. Peuang waved his hands and spoke hurriedly.
“Ah, I don’t mean I dislike it. It’s just that it’s something I’ve never even thought about. I can’t quite feel it yet, either.”
Well, I suppose so. Even I wouldn’t believe it if someone told me my lifespan would increase after drinking a cup of tea. I’d probably ask if it was some kind of pseudoscience.
Still, this was the truth. The power these two spirits held would gradually increase. And they would slowly find their original lifespan.
“You’ll need to stop by once in a while to drink the tea, even if it’s not frequent. That’s the only way you’ll fully regain your strength.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m not just saying this to Mr. Peuang. I’m saying it to Mr. Unsu as well.”
Mr. Unsu just stared at his tea without a word. Then, after draining the rest of his tea in one gulp, Mr. Unsu suddenly stood up and stomped over to me.
At his abrupt movement, Noran, who had been watching the situation, scurried over and stood by my side. She looked like she wouldn’t let it slide if Mr. Unsu tried to harm me.
“I’m not doing anything weird, okay?”
“Hmph, I don’t trust you.”
“What are you going to do if you don’t trust me?”
“You!”
Mr. Unsu, who had been growling at Noran, quickly turned his gaze and looked me straight in the eye. He opened and closed his mouth for a moment, contemplating something. When that contemplation ended, Mr. Unsu’s mouth opened.
“…Can I call you Brother?”
Those words were his way of opening the door to his heart.