Last night, the Leader summoned Heukje and ordered him to enter Jaegyeom's dream and find out what the boy had discussed with Seok Juryeon.
In response, Heukje went to the boy's house, merged with the shadows of a large tree planted in the yard, and extended into the shadow of a branch near the window of the room where the boy was. There, he quietly watched over the room, waiting for the boy to fall asleep.
However, for some reason, the boy tossed and turned all night and couldn't fall asleep. Since dreams can only occur during sleep, this situation was extremely frustrating for Heukje.
As dawn approached and Heukje was considering whether to withdraw, the boy finally drifted into a light sleep.
Seizing the opportunity, Heukje quickly entered the boy's consciousness. However, because the sleep was so shallow, the dream was highly unstable, making it difficult for Heukje to manipulate it directly. So he changed his plans and planted a "seed" in the boy's consciousness.
This seed was connected to Heukje's consciousness, so if the boy were to dream again, Heukje could become part of the dream through the seed. Although this method was less effective at controlling the dream compared to directly entering it, it was sufficient for holding a brief conversation.
No matter how wary a person might be, the barriers they erect tend to crumble in dreams, leading them to divulge their secrets without much probing.
A few hours later, as the boy finally began dreaming during what seemed to be a nap, Heukje became part of the dream as planned and met the boy.
He then reported to the Leader what he had found out from the boy's dream.
"It seems the Naryecheong commissioner is taking an interest in him."
The Leader, who had been rolling a hazelnut in his hand, paused and looked at the spirit.
"He said that Seok Juryeon mentioned he would soon be summoned by someone from above. It seems the two of them might have an opportunity to meet in the near future."
Leader fell silent, lost in thought. He leaned back in his chair, arms loosely crossed, staring at the table without moving a muscle.
"..."
After a deep exhale, he rubbed his eyebrow and asked, "And? Was there anything else?"
Heukje hesitated for a moment before speaking quietly.
"In the dream... he asked, 'Is this a dream?'"
"...What?"
The Leader's eyes widened slightly, and the hand fiddling with the zipper of his jersey at his chin froze. He uncrossed his legs and abruptly straightened up.
"Really?"
He asked again, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Yes... It was the first time a human had realized they were dreaming, so l was quite shocked. As a result, my control weakened considerably, and he began to act on his own will, taking over the dream. So.. Eventually, the dream started to break apart."
As Heukje lowered his gaze and calmly spoke, the Leader immediately lowered his voice and asked, "So? Did you get caught?"
"No, I wasn't caught."
Relieved, the Leader let his head drop.
Just before he could be discovered, something outside interrupted, causing the boy to wake up, abruptly ending the dream. It was a fortunate turn of events. Had no one woke him up, the boy might have realized that the dream was not an ordinary one.
"Good. That's a relief."
The Leader seemed somewhat reassured by the fact that they hadn't been discovered. But he must still have been quite shaken, as, with a complicated expression, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"And also..."
At that moment, Heukje hesitated as if he had something more to say. The Leader looked at him, signaling him to continue. However, he just lowered his gaze, looking reluctant.
'Also... that guy tried to kiss you!'
Heukje, who was rarely startled, had been so shocked that he almost lost control of the connection to consciousness.
When he had become part of the dream, Heukje realized he had taken on the Leader's appearance. Up until that point, he hadn't been alarmed. Pretending to be the Leader or mimicking him wasn't particularly difficult. Since it was the boy's dream, Heukje simply mirrored the version of the Leader that existed in the boy's
consciousness. The Leader in the dream was a reconstruction based on the boy's real-life experiences with him, and the boy accepted Heukje as the Leader without suspicion.
Thus, Heukje was able to extract the boy's secrets without incident.
However, Heukje soon sensed something was wrong. That realization came right after he had completed Leader's orders. After finishing what he went there to do, he had intended to lull the boy into a deeper sleep and immerse him in a dream within a dream before successfully exiting the dream himself.
"Your hair looks better down."
But the boy, instead of falling deeper into sleep, continued chatting with Heukje. At first, when the boy asked if it was a dream, Heukje was merely impressed by the boy's perceptiveness. But then he realized that the boy was starting to take control of the dream. The words the boy spoke, in particular, were ones he had never said to the Leader in real life. The unfamiliarity of the situation made Heukje uncertain how to react, and he began to feel increasingly unsettled.
Heukje fully grasped the shift in control when the boy started moving freely. The boy climbed on top of the Leader's body, and from that moment, the situation completely reversed. It became nearly impossible for Heukje to move even a finger, a situation that was humiliating for a dream demon like Heukje.
However, at that moment, he was too shocked to feel anger.
The boy had tried to kiss him. Startled, Heukje tried to resist, but it was as if his limbs were pinned down by a heavy stone, rendering him immobile.
He couldn't believe such a strange, monstrous person existed.
Heukje was utterly at a loss, anxiously considering the situation.
Judging by the context, it seemed the two had kissed before, which only added to his shock.
What on earth had happened between them, and could it be that Taehee-nim...
"Yes? And then what?"
"It's nothing."
After a long hesitation, Heukje swallowed his words. The Leader and Paehyeon exchanged puzzled glances. It was rare to see Heukje hold back like that. After observing the other for a moment, the Leader didn't press further and nodded.
Heukje bowed slightly and then turned to leave.
"A call from above, huh..."
After Heukje left, the Leader reflected on his report, tapping his fingers lightly on the table and stared blankly at the scenery outside the window with pensive eyes.
"..."
Then it occurred to him that the pavilion was unusually quiet today.
"And the other guys? Where did they all go?"
"They're probably gathered in the room at the end."
"Is that so?"
The Leader zipped up the jacket he was wearing all the way to his chin and stood up. Paehyeon followed closely behind like a shadow.
As he strode forward, the hem of his red cloak, which reached his knees, fluttered softly. The closer they got to the end of the corridor, the louder the murmuring voices of the spirits became.
The Leader didn't bother knocking; he swung the door open and stepped inside.
"Hello."
There were three spirits in the spacious room.
"Unnie!"
The first to rush to him was a spirit in the appearance of a child.
With a bob haircut that looked like an upside-down helmet and wearing a floral-patterned t-shirt, the spirit appeared to be about six or seven years old. Tiny freckles were scattered across her cheeks, and her front two teeth were missing, giving her a rather adorable appearance. On her back, she carried a Korean zither that was much larger than her own body, but it didn't seem heavy and was carrying it as if it were a light bag.
The first to rush to him was a spirit in the appearance of a child.
With a bob haircut that looked like an upside-down helmet and wearing a floral-patterned t-shirt, the spirit appeared to be about six or seven years old. Tiny freckles were scattered across her cheeks, and her front two teeth were missing, giving her a rather adorable appearance. On her back, she carried a Korean zither that was much larger than her own body, but it didn't seem heavy at all. She was carrying it as if it were a light bag.
The Leader saw the spirit running toward him, raised his eyebrows slightly, and spread his arms wide open. Yeonok, bouncing on the spot, leaped into Leader's embrace.
"Who do we have here? Our cute little Yeonok."
The Leader smiled warmly and effortlessly lifted Yeonok with one arm.
"Unnie! Yeonok has been waiting so long... Why did you come so late!"
Yeon-ok, as if scolding the Leader, lightly tapped his shoulder with her soft, small fists.
"Did you? I've been very busy."
"Unnie, Leader-nim Unnie."
"Hmm?"
"Did you miss Yeonok? Quickly, say you missed me."
Yeon-ok tightened her arms around Leader's neck, almost whining.
"Mhm, Leader-nim missed Yeonok very much."
Satisfied with the answer, Yeon-ok giggled and rubbed Leader's chin with her small hand. Although his face looked smooth due to a clean shave, the touch was slightly prickly. Yeonok liked this rough texture, and whenever she was in Leader's arms, she would often do this, rubbing his chin.
Leader treated Yeonok with affection, as if she were his much younger sibling.
"Unnie, l've improved a lot since last time!"
Yeonok quickly hopped out of his arms and began to unload the zither from her back. Plucking the strings with a cheerful expression, she looked up at the Leader.
"Come! Now, listen to Yeonok's performance."
Yeonok was readying herself to play the zither, grasping the string in her hand. The Leader, however, with an uninterested expression, fiddled with the end of his eyebrow before shaking his head.
"Hm... maybe later."
At that moment, Yeonok's hand, which was about to pluck the strings, faltered.
Ding...
A strange discordant sound came from the geomungo,
"..What?"
A pitiful dark cloud seemed to hover over Yeonok's face.