Yokai Come to the Countryside Café

Chapter 30: Ascension (2)

I got used to this after doing it a few times.

The sequence of contacting the Elder and the Director and heading out to manage the incident flowed naturally without a hitch.

Of course, that didn’t mean my frustration was resolved.

“Why are yokai always like this?”

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“I’ve received wads of cash, Divine Tree Leaves, and now even a Dragon Pearl. The cost and return don’t match up.”

“You brat! You gave out one cup of cheap coffee and ended up getting divine relics that some people search for their entire lives, even sacrificing their sons and grandsons and still never seeing. What more do you want?”

“Because of all this, I haven’t even been able to rest on the weekend and had to do extra work—three times, at that!”

This wasn’t a business I started to make money. No, I hadn’t even planned on running a business!

I simply gave a cup of coffee to a pitiful young man, and things spiraled into this.

Isn’t this too harsh a price for a good deed?

“Now you’re treating an old man like a criminal. What if Ria sees and learns from you?”

“She’ll learn eagerly!”

“No, I’m saying she shouldn’t learn! More importantly, why did you bring Ria along?”

“Ria is the one who received the Dragon Pearl, so she needs to return it. Anyway, don’t you feel the energy yet?”

“Hold on. You keep talking, so I can’t concentrate. Let me see... There! Over there!”

“Didn’t we already pass that road?”

“This time I’m certain.”

“Over there—it’s Imoogi Ajusshi!”

“Where?”

“That bench!”

As we turned the steering wheel in doubt and arrived at the clearing, just as Ria had said, Yongman was sitting on the bench.

We quickly parked nearby and ran over to him.

“What is this? Did you put a tracker on me or something?”

“Hmph, if I found you once, I can find you again.”

“We came to return this. Ria.”

“Here you go!”

“I don’t need it anymore. The ascension is off the table anyway.”

–Thud.

Ria tried to put the Dragon Pearl in Yongman’s hand, but it dropped weakly to the ground.

“Ajusshi…”

“I said I already gave it up! Stop bothering me! You can just use it to create some soul or whatever and live on!”

“None of us want that. Neither I nor the two guild members here.”

I picked up the Dragon Pearl from the ground and sat beside Yongman.

“You said yesterday in the kitchen that you wanted to be like me, right?”

“W-When did I say that?”

He never said it directly.

Only his eyes, shaking with lost direction, his flushed face, and the short hint of ‘I want to be like you’ remained.

From the context, I guessed that’s what he meant, and his flustered reaction confirmed it.

Even if he was clumsy and blunt, he was a young man with a pure heart.

Like a kid trying to imitate his older cousin’s speech and actions out of admiration.

“I couldn’t answer you back then because we were interrupted, but honestly, you’re not much different from me.”

“Huh?”

“You were waiting for the guild members who didn’t return, using your Dragon Pearls for that. And now you’ve even given the last one to Ria. If anyone should be asked why they go so far, I think it’s more fitting to ask you than me.”

“Click-click, well yeah. We all live by our own fate.”

“You’re a Guild Master! A Guild Master is supposed to help their members!”

“Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you should be doing all the good deeds, right?”

“It’s exactly because there’s no rule that it’s harder to do.”

I placed the Dragon Pearl on Yongman’s hand once more.

This time, it didn’t fall.

Jinseong’s calm voice carried a strange power—the power to dig up a long-forgotten past.

That day, Yongman had had a trivial quarrel with his guild members.

Whenever that happened, the Guild Master would always call.

He’d cheer him up with consolation and gentle persuasion.

“Seoru-hyung, how does someone become a Guild Master?”

(Why are you asking like you don’t know? Just go to the Guild Office and hit the create button.)

“No, not that. I mean how to actually run a guild like you.”

(Hmm, maybe you need to be a bit nosy? Help out newbies, check in when someone’s down, mediate when people fight... That kind of person becomes a Guild Master.)

“Then I guess it’s hard for me.”

(Of course. If our guild’s fight-loving Mir becomes the Guild Master, the guild would be chaos.)

“Ugh, I was being serious.”

(Sorry, sorry. I was just teasing because it’s fun.)

“I’m hanging up.”

(You can do it too, someday.)

“Didn’t you just say I can’t?”

(I mean for now. You're not a bad guy deep down. Once you get older and mature a bit, I’ll pass it on to you.)

“Really? When’s that?”

(Who knows. Maybe the server will shut down first.)

–Click.

(Hello? Hey, Mir, I was joking! Hello?)

And time passed.

【Due to prolonged inactivity of Guild Master Jin Seoru, the role of Guild Master has been transferred to zLordMirz.】

“I really got it.”

It was probably the moment he dreamed of, second only to ascension.

But Yongman didn’t feel happy.

–Guild Members: 1

Even the Guild Master who used to log in once every couple months to chat briefly hadn’t logged in for over 100 days, leaving only Yongman’s character in the guild.

“Seoru-hyung! You haven’t been on lately? Oh, okay. Well, if you’re busy, that’s fine. Take care.”

“You’re playing a different game with Begong? No, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

“You changed jobs? That must be tough.”

Every time he made a call, he heard different circumstances.

Even suggesting playing again felt difficult.

For Yongman, who had lived withdrawn from the world for nearly a thousand years, that place was everything.

And now, it vanished like a mirage—along with all the precious connections.

‘No, they haven’t disappeared. Everything’s the same.’

It really was the same.

The talkative guild member who always chattered.

The older guild member who couldn’t understand even after many explanations and had to be spoon-fed everything.

The guild member who often posted cheeky chat messages.

And then...

‘There’s even a brawling chicken who picks fights everywhere.’

Only one thing had changed,

That brawling chicken had become the Guild Master.

‘It doesn’t matter if I’m alone again. If I just stay where I belong, the guild members will come back.’

Yongman nodded slightly, as if he had made up his mind, and stood up.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“Huh?”

–Fwaaaah.

As Yongman brought the Dragon Pearl to Ria’s chest, it shimmered with red energy and disappeared into her body.

Ria lost consciousness and collapsed on the spot.

It happened so fast that neither Jinseong nor the Gumiho had time to stop him.

“What are you doing!”

“Don’t worry. She’s just sleeping. Huh, but her soul really did settle in there.”

“Our guild’s famous for its solid support for newbies. I’m the Guild Master—how could I just sit around when the youngest is unwell?”

“That applies to me too.”

“W-What’s with you all of a sudden?”

Jinseong dragged Yongman and stuffed him into his car.

“You can drive, right?”

“Well, yeah, but aren’t you going to explain? What’s going on?”

“It’s the last way to reach the Heavenly Realm.”

Explanation seemed unnecessary.

Jinseong threw a Divine Tree Leaf straight at Yongman’s face and shut the driver’s door.

“Go. Just think of it as taking a quick spin around the block.”

“This is insane. I just drive like this? I’m going then?”

“There’s no god who decides who can go to the Heavenly Realm. Just remember that.”

Though skeptical, Yongman had already heard about traveling to the Heavenly Realm and had no choice but to do as he was told.

–Vroooom.

The car cautiously moving forward gradually transformed into the shape of a massive dragon.

A dragon holding a Dragon Pearl in its mouth, glowing even brighter and more brilliantly than before.

“Huh? Ajusshi, over there, that’s an Imoo—”

–Mmph.

I quickly covered Ria’s mouth as she awoke.

“It’s a dragon.”

“It really is.”

We almost witnessed the legend of a being who failed to ascend as a dragon because he was called an Imoogi.

Only after the car carrying Yongman vanished safely into the clouds did we finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“He really went, huh.”

“Click-click, after all that ruckus, he actually ascended. That rascal will owe you a lifetime of gratitude even in the Heavenly Realm. You sent someone up there who didn’t even have a Dragon Pearl.”

“No. He achieved enlightenment and rose up on his own, didn’t he? All I did was serve him a meal. There was originally one Dragon Pearl for ascending to the Heavenly Realm, so the conditions were met from the start…”

“What is it?”

“The Dragon Pearl is still here.”

“What?”

It wasn’t a mistake.

Right where Yongman had taken off, a softly glowing pink orb was still lying there.

“Then what was he holding so dearly when he went up to the sky?”

The answer came to me absurdly easily.

I just hadn’t expected he’d go up while clutching that instead of the Dragon Pearl.

Will he be able to adapt well to the Heavenly Realm?

Yongman opened his eyes on a hill where nameless wild grass reached up to his knees.

“So this is... the Heavenly Realm…”

Overwhelmed with emotion, Yongman stood still on the hill for a long time.

‘I really ascended. I wasn’t a loser destined to remain an Imoogi!’

“I did iiiiiit!”

The cry that had built up for over a thousand years echoed across the endless mountains and rivers.

Was the shout too loud?

Before he knew it, people in shabby clothes carrying hoes and sickles were gathering toward the hill where Yongman stood.

“Are you a junior?”

“Pardon?”

“I thought the last junior who came and left in a flash would be the last, but here we are.”

“Divine beasts haven’t been coming to the Heavenly Realm much lately, so it’s truly nice to see you. Heh heh.”

‘What the heck are these guys?’

Meeting them in the Heavenly Realm, one would assume they were gods or enlightened hermits, but Yongman sensed none of that from the people in front of him.

They were all in tattered clothes smeared with mud, carrying farming tools—nothing remotely divine.

He almost assumed they were servants there to do chores in the Heavenly Realm, but thankfully, the faint aura they exuded revealed that they were anything but ordinary.

And then, those extraordinary beings groped their bodies and made an utterly unexpected remark.

“Your frame looks too weak for plowing, huh?”

“Ah, you can build up your frame! Just plow the fields for about a hundred years, and you’ll be sturdy.”

‘Plowing? For a hundred years? Something’s definitely wrong here.’

Panicked, Yongman turned on his phone.

【You are outside the service area.】

【Mobile network unavailable.】

“What?”

The Heavenly Realm—a place reached by souls who have attained enlightenment.

The standard for enlightenment was vague, but it was clear that one must abandon attachments and regrets to arrive.

Yongman realized too late that his true attachment and regret wasn’t the Dragon Pearl, but the phone in his hand—or more precisely, the world inside the phone.

“Noooooooo!”