Han Nayeon works as a ghostwriter in Hermes Tower, a prestigious company that offers solutions to problems. Choi Junhyub is the man she meets the day she arrives late for work for the first time, the man she's attracted to but has never met before...
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Dokkaebi: goblins who possess extraordinary powers and use them to help or harm humans, formed by the spiritual possession of objects. Like Hermes Tower, illusion is their forte. Like Hermes Tower, loopholes in their solutions compel the people to come back. Like Hermes Tower, they are fearsome and awe-inspiring.
Ramiel checked the boxes. Not only that, he attained a human form after observing human society from an abandoned arcade, tired of being prisoner to a gacha ball as a keychain. Humans put him in that claustrophobic place. In this instance, humans, again, ensnared him.
Except now, gwishin, the departed spirits of humans, were also involved.
A smirk crossed his lips as he wrestled the blade out of his neck, limpid blood trickling onto the ground like a predator's drool. The wound patched itself up in seconds.
"Humans like you sully Seocheon," Ramiel said when Junhyub grabbed the sword. "Because you insult anything nonhuman, nature makes you fear us as revenge. I can smell your fear. You're unfazed in the face of death, but you think you can go against me?"
Thick fur enveloped Ramiel and his horns lengthened. His transformation sent the gwishin squealing. Taek-min furrowed his brows and clung onto Steffie's blouse. M and N distracted themselves with an impassioned kiss. Yook Chan met Junhyub's gaze with a coy smile. Nayeon stepped forward, her hand outstretched.
"I severed ties with Hermes Tower." She snatched the sword from Junhyub. "I don't need to disillusion or be disillusioned anymore. Eyes on me, dokkaebi."
"Did you all forget my name? It's Ramiel." Electricity crackled in his palms and shot across the crypt, charring the earth. "Once you three are dead, we'll be one happy family. We'll never leave this place. There's no place safer than here."
"And how's the crypt safe?" Yook Chan lunged at him. "You lied to us. We could've all been alive if you never killed us!"
"But you sought comfort." Ramiel flicked his gaze to the quiet gwishin. "Never mind him. I didn't think necromancy was really possible. But the three of you won't leave, yes? Steffie, there's nowhere else you'd be, not when you finally have Taek-min by your side. M and N, you can't possibly resurrect yourself into an ultra-conservative, heteronormative society, can you?" When they opened their mouths, he raised a hand and turned to the humans. "Look, I'm all healed up. You can't kill me easily. Nayeon, you've never held a sword, have you? You should depend on men like Junhyub instead. If it wasn't for him, you'd be dead."
Junhyub gritted his teeth. All these were Ramiel's true colours blossoming in full force, the underlying ugliness now seeping out of his being, the manipulative freak. He glanced at Nayeon, tilted his chin at the sword and wrung his neck so the pietersite necklace swung towards Taek-min. Nayeon nodded and fiddled with the sword.
