Because technology had advanced, pet-specific shower devices were abundant, but many people believed “You can’t entrust your precious pet to a machine” or “The bond through skin-to-skin contact is important.”

I was one of them.

“Hwangho, she said she wants the divine beast’s hands to bathe her. Instead of buying that, buy some tasty food.”

“I know. But you never know, right? Heukho, I bought some tasty food too, so don’t save it, eat it well.”

Though Hwangho bought various things, before the bath he picked up a slicker brush for brushing.

I planned to do everything by hand from start to finish.

I chose the temperature, shampoo, towels, moisturizer, everything.

‘Olmu is so small, light, and soft—what if she melts?’

When her cotton-ball-like fur got wet, the angel looked even smaller.

I carefully washed her, fearing she might dissolve and disappear.

They said a gentle massage during a bath is good—where would Olmu like that?

Would the white tiger know?

Leaning against the wall, watching, I glanced back at the white tiger, but he just smiled, uninterested in coaching.

“You were quiet, just as you thought.”

Enough, just answer me.

Answer.

After repeating the same word a hundred times over a few seconds, the white tiger’s mouth curled into a wider grin.

“She’d like whatever you do for her.”

Woof!

Olmu seemed to agree.

But then our angel stopped answering and sneezed softly when some bubbles got in her mouth.

Despite sneezing and probably feeling uncomfortable, she looked up at me with a smiling face—so amazingly adorable.

Ah, Olmu really is an angel.

Both her answer and her current form were truly angelic.

This lovely scene needs to be recorded—are the descendants filming well?

“Hyung, don’t worry. We’re filming well.”

“I’ll send it to oppa later!”

“Thanks.”

Eun Jaeho’s photography skills were improving daily—I had high hopes.

Now that Eun Seoho was holding the lights, even cooler footage would come out.

“Let’s brag to Eunha later!”

“Right. No matter {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} how close Eunha is to Yi-shin hyung, she’s never seen anyone bathed, right?”

“Besides, we’re spending the Chuseok holiday together. Of course she’ll be jealous.”

Well, maybe Eunho would envy me more than the descendants.

Having grandchildren and an angel right by my side.

“The kids don’t know, but the divine beast and I...”

The white tiger rambled something, but I was thinking about Eunho, who wasn’t here.

If Eunho were here, the descendants would love it.

As a friend, or as their grandfather.

Knowing how wise and kind Eunho is, it was sad he wasn’t here with those devoted kids.

“You had a hard time, thanks for your effort.”

Woof!

After carefully drying Olmu’s fur with a dryer and thanking her, Olmu responded.

It can’t be easy for such a tiny body to be soaked with water and bubbles, yet Olmu was smart, kind, and even brave.

I got quite wet washing Olmu, so I washed myself separately and changed clothes.

The guest room wardrobe held nothing but hanbok outfits—all different designs.

These must be the Chuseok outfits Hwang Jiho mentioned.

‘Should I start wearing them today? Since we’re making Chuseok food together, light clothes would be best.’

But if I’m working, wouldn’t a T-shirt be better?

I thought that, but none of the usual clothes were visible.

Even my spare school uniform was gone—I could feel the determination to dress me only in hanbok.

After some thought, considering I was a guest, I decided to just wear whatever was given.

When I went out to the living room, Eunho’s descendants were visibly delighted.

“Yi-shin hyung, we picked these out!”

“Look! We’re all wearing the same design!”

What I had chosen was a casual hanbok with silver thread embroidery of tiger patterns on the shoulders and back.

The tie part of the jeogori (jacket) was the simplest design, with no extra decorations like belts or pendants, so I picked it.

I thought it was practical and easy to move in, but the wise and kind kids must have chosen well.

“It’s a pity I’m not wearing the hanbok I chose myself, but I should at least wear the apron I picked. Now, the ingredients are prepped, let’s get started.”

Hwang Jiho held out an apron decorated with several tigers.

Looking at the tiger types, it seemed all the tigers living in this mansion were drawn on it.

Last year, we didn’t prepare food together, but since more people have been staying at the Tiger Mansion this year, it was not a bad choice.

It meant making memories by preparing together for the holiday, though considering taste and quality, it was a bit risky.

“Unsa, what do we do? The dough burst!”

“Heukho, I’ll fix those rice cakes. Instead, put pine needles at the bottom of the steamer.”

“Okay, I will!”

“Making tiger-shaped rice cakes is hard...”

“Ah, after messing around a bit, it looks like a rabbit shape—should we just steam it like this?”

“Hwangho will get mad, so let’s hide them in the corner to steam.”

Heukho and Eunho’s descendants displayed disastrously bad cooking skills.

Unsa, who had little energy and couldn’t sit long, worked much faster and crafted detailed rice cakes.

It was clear the descendants did not inherit Eunho’s skillful fingers.

Their tiger-shaped rice cakes failed and ended up looking more like wild enemies from the mountain than rabbits.

They’d likely look even more so after steaming.

But honestly, I wasn’t in a position to worry about others.

‘Half of them look okay, half don’t.’

I heard making rice cakes with beans was easy, but the beans kept falling out as I shaped the dough.

Every time I thought I fixed the shape, cracks showed, making me sigh.

Hwang Jiho was mixing prickly pear, gardenia, purple sweet potato, black sesame, mugwort, and making colorful and tasty rice cakes like works of art, making me compare to my own.

‘Maybe I should just leave it to Hwang Jiho or use the money earned from conquering another world to buy rice cakes from Daltojjitteok.’

While glaring at my own rice cakes, the white tiger teased me.

“Your failures are precious too, so keep making them.”

At first, it sounded like consolation, but his tone and expression clearly meant to tease.

If there had been even a slight problem with that rice cake, I would have said something, but in front of the white tiger there was a pile of perfectly shaped white rice cakes.

The white tiger was annoyingly quick and perfectly skilled.

I never saw him cook, so how could he be so good? 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

He must never want to lose in any physical task.

If I were that good at cooking, I could make treats for our angel—too bad.

“The divine beast would want to eat your rice cakes too.”

“Don’t try to dump leftovers on Olmu.”

“Baekho, stop reading minds and talking nonsense. Jo Yi-shin, I’ll personally teach you how to make rice cakes. Come here.”

After Hwang Jiho’s cooking class, my success rate improved somewhat.

Around midday, Jeokho’s family spending quality time and Cheongho and his disciples who went to the orphanage also came.

Both greeted me before Hwang Jiho, the Ho clan leader, which was quite embarrassing.

Even Hwang Jiho treated it as natural.

“Since Euni is taking precious time to spend the holiday with us, it’s only proper to greet her first.”

There was no way that was proper.

After thousands of years of being greeted first, I was getting tired and thought they were dumping that on me.

“Hwangho is right. Jo Yi-shin, among the hanbok in the wardrobe, there are ones that I, Ungnyeo, and our son Jeho picked together. Please be sure to wear them before the holiday ends.”

“You have good posture, so I made hanbok that accentuate your figure. Black suits you best, but don’t forget red harmonizes well with your pale skin and black hair.”

There was also a very thin red hanbok in the wardrobe—it must have been picked by the family.

Or rather, it would be right to say it was made by the family centered around Ungnyeo.

The silk fragrance pouch was extremely delicate, and if it was Ungnyeo’s work, that made sense.

Having spent plenty of time with family, Kim Shinrok, who looked healthier than usual, added,

“Yi-shin, I picked the fragrance.”

Since the hundred-day celebration, Kim Shinrok had been exposing her left eye and speaking more comfortably, though shyly.

Considering Kim Shinrok’s taste, the red hanbok was a bit too flashy.

By contrast, the fragrance pouch held soft scents of fig and red geranium.

While I was thanking her, I heard Cheongho’s voice.

“Jeokho’s family picked that design? Everyone added their color? Then mine will stand out too.”

“I just picked black! It’s not that I wanted to add my color, but it really suits her... honestly...”

“Cheongho nuna, what Yi-shin is wearing now is what we picked. There’s silver thread embroidery on the shoulders and back!”

Were all the hanbok in the wardrobe picked by the tigers?

It seemed it wasn’t just Hwang Jiho blowing money alone, but they all contributed.

Looking at Hwang Jiho, he gazed at Cheongho like he envied her—the descendants called her sister, nuna, which he seemed jealous of.

After greetings, we prepared leftover holiday food together, but Hwang Jiho forbade me, Heukho, and the descendants from touching the fire.

Judging by the disastrous rice cake skills, we certainly couldn’t be trusted to fry pancakes or grill meat skewers.

So the cooking underachievers stacked the fried pancakes to move them or matched the colors and skewered pre-cut meat for the role.

‘It’s still a long time before night, but I’m sleepy.’

After enjoying high-quality japchae kimbap and vegetable pancakes, made with leftover ingredients, I watched Heukho and the descendants play with blocks and felt my eyes closing.

Olmu, who took a walk with me after the meal, was dozing in my arms.

Thanks to the bath or because she was truly an angel, Olmu in my arms felt warm and cozy.

‘Since coming to this world, I don’t think I’ve ever taken a nap...’

My thoughts slowed, and old memories came.

Though I rarely napped before, during holidays I used to nap with my siblings during free time.

I don’t remember covering myself with anything, but whenever I woke up, there was always a blanket sun-dried tightly over my sibling.

But now I must not sleep.

There are no siblings to nap with, no parents to cover me with a blanket, and I have nightmares.

When I tried forcing my eyes open, the white tiger whispered,

“You may sleep.”

I didn’t know when he had gotten so close.

He was close enough to carry me the moment I closed my eyes.

“As long as I’m awake, you can sleep anytime.”

What is he saying?

Thinking of Maeng Hyo-don, still suffering from nightmares because of me, I wanted to argue but my thoughts slowed.

Unbelievably, I felt very reassured by those words.

In the end, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

After moving Jo Yi-shin to the bed, Baekho stared at him beyond the dream.

As soon as Baekho saw Jo Yi-shin, he burst into laughter.

Dream-Jo Yi-shin was still an adult, dressed in hanbok.

Though the mix-and-match hanbok gifts from the Ho clan looked messy, somehow they suited Jo Yi-shin very well.

Reading all of Baekho’s feelings, Jo Yi-shin blushed and said,

[Go away.]

Dream-Jo Yi-shin was as prickly and sensitive as always.