Handsome Monk

NPCMonster

Handsome Monk
Hometown	Cheong-woon Valley
Current Residence	Cheong-woon Valley
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Affiliations	People of Cheong-woon Valley Hoyoung
Enemies	Monster Rat
Status	Alive
Name (Other Servers)
KoreaMS	미남 법사 (Handsome Monk; Minam beopsa)
TaiwanMS	美男法師 (Měinán fǎshī)
MapleSEA	Handsome Magistrate
Voice Actors
KoreaMS	Hosan Lee

The Handsome Monk is the head monk of the temple in Cheong-woon Valley. After Hoyoung accidentally unsealed Taotie and let loose the fiends contained inside him, the Monster Rat stole the Handsome Monk's face and identity in order to seize control of the temple and create an army of rat monsters.

Story

Losing Face

The Handsome Monk was a young monk of great piety and looks who became the head monk after his predecessor passed away. Due to his handsome features, the 'Handsome Monk' became the moniker by which he was known throughout Cheong-woon Valley. During his time as the head monk, the Handsome Monk threw out his nail clippings, despite his master's warnings about the legend of the king of rats, the Monster Rat, who could steal one's face by eating the clippings. Several days later, Hoyoung inadvertently unleashed the fiends inside Taotie after improperly attempting to seal him away. Because of this, the Flea Monster possessed the Monster Rat and strengthened his abilities with its power. When the Monster Rat ate the Handsome Monk's nail clippings, he was able to steal the Handsome Monk's face.

Without his face or powers, the Handsome Monk hid in the temple storeroom for several days until he recalled his master's words about how one could regain their face by forcing the Monster Rat to regurgitate their nail clippings. Because of this, he confronted the Monster Rat, though the Monster Rat - strengthened by the power being accumulated by the Flea Monster - easily defeated him, forcing him into exile as a beggar. Having lost his face, the people of Cheong-woon began noticing him wandering around aimlessly, causing them to mistakenly declare him a Faceless Monster.

Meeting Hoyoung

Over the next several months, the Handsome Monk learned that the Monster Rat was accumulating power by creating mojo dolls that he was distributing to the townspeople under the guise of claiming that they would ward off misfortune. Hoping to weaken him, the Handsome Monk began stealing the mojo dolls hung outside the townspeople's homes, causing them to believe that the Faceless Monster was stealing their possessions. In order to stop him, the Information Broker Bureau dispatched Hoyoung, who managed to trap the Handsome Monk in gourd vines. However, the Handsome Monk was able to escape, though some of the mojo dolls that he had stolen were accidentally left behind as he fled.

Soon after, Hoyoung - having failed to stop the Monster Rat - planned to leave Cheong-woon in order to find the other fiends, hoping to escape his responsibility to the townspeople and his friends. As he headed to the Information Broker Bureau in order to give an update on the case, he encountered a group of thugs beating up a poor beggar. As he approached them to put a stop to it, Taotie grew annoyed at Hoyoung getting sidetracked, with even Hoyoung himself wondering why he always felt the need to leap into such situations, even when they didn't concern him. Nevertheless, he defeated the thugs and forced them to retreat. As the beggar had fallen into a stupor, Hoyoung went to get mineral water from the Jar of Stagnant Water monsters. As he gave the water to the beggar, he was shocked to see that it was actually the Faceless Monster, who thanked Hoyoung and called him a great sage.

The Faceless Monster began to explain what had happened to him, revealing that his troubles had begun months ago, several days before a day of ill omen when the earth had pitched and heaved, and the waters had surged, which Hoyoung realized was the day when the fiends had been unleashed. The Faceless Monster explained that, against his master's instructions, he had thrown his nail clippings out, as he had seen no harm in it. He told Hoyoung that their town had a legend that the king of rats lurked in the shadows, waiting to eat nail clippings. Once it had done so, the one who had thrown them out would lose their face, and the Monster Rat would walk amongst the people, wearing the stolen face as his own. He revealed that he was the true Handsome Monk, but as he had lost his face and his powers, he had become a wanderer in a beggar's guise.

Before becoming a beggar, however, he had hidden himself in the temple storeroom for several days after having lost his face, which was when he had recalled his master's wisdom on the Monster Rat: that, should one make it regurgitate the nail clippings that it had eaten, they could reclaim their face. The Handsome Monk explained that he had confronted the Monster Rat, though it had become too strong for him to fight against. Realizing that it was because of the mojo dolls, the Handsome Monk had tried to get rid of them, which was when the townspeople had reported him to the Bureau as a thief. Just then, Taotie spoke to Hoyoung and explained that the Monster Rat posed little significance. He revealed that under ordinary circumstances, even if the Handsome Monk had lost most of his powers, he still would have been able to handle it on his own, which meant that the fact that he had lost suggested that the Monster Rat was getting help from someone or something else.

Hoyoung asked if one of the fiends who had escaped from Taotie was fueling the Monster Rat with power. Taotie then told Hoyoung about the Flea Monster, which could split into multiples of itself, draining other creatures' life force and sharing the energy with its host. The Handsome Monk then asked if Hoyoung would help him defeat the Monster Rat, but Hoyoung told him that he still hadn't decided whether he was willing to put his life on the line. He then decided to play a game with the Handsome Monk in order to let fate decide his course of action. Hoyoung picked up a stone and shifted it around between his hands, telling the Handsome Monk to pick which hand held the stone. The Handsome Monk picked the left hand, which held nothing. Seeing the Handsome Monk's disappointment, Hoyoung told him that they would play another round. After twenty-nine rounds, the Handsome Monk finally won. Hoyoung realized that he had let the Handsome Monk win because if he were to have simply left without looking back, his conscience would have been heavy forever.

Defeating the Monster Rat

After formulating their plan, Hoyoung and the Handsome Monk went their separate ways in order to take their positions. At the temple entrance, Hoyoung and Taotie found a thick purple miasma hanging in the air. Hoyoung forced his way into the temple and defeated the rats that attacked him. Inside the sanctum, he confronted the Monster Rat, who explained that once the full moon had fully risen, Hoyoung and everyone else in the town would fall under the thrall of the rats. Hoyoung and the Monster Rat then engaged in battle. As the Monster Rat gained the upper hand, Hoyoung began to beg for mercy. The Monster Rat laughed and told him that it was too late for mercy, but as it launched its attack, Hoyoung revealed himself to be a clone, with his real self attacking from behind. He swiftly hit the Monster Rat's back, forcing it to regurgitate the Handsome Monk's nail clippings, which caused the Monster Rat to transform back into its true form.

Meanwhile in town, the investigators of the Bureau were fighting off the villagers who had transformed into rats, with a thick purple miasma covering the entirety of the town. Suddenly, the Handsome Monk appeared, and with his face and powers restored, he cast a spell to turn the rats back into people. Back in the temple, the Monster Rat lamented that its handsome form had been taken away. Without its stolen powers, Hoyoung easily managed to defeat the Monster Rat, after which he pried the Flea Monster off the Monster Rat, transforming it back into a regular sewer rat. The Flea Monster then turned into a spirit, which Taotie immediately consumed. Following the incident, the town slowly began to get back to normal over the next several days, with the townspeople mistakenly believing that the Handsome Monk had resolved the entire crisis by himself.

As Hoyoung prepared to leave Cheong-woon to search for the other fiends, he decided to say goodbye to the Handsome Monk and traveled to the temple, where he greeted the Handsome Monk and jokingly asked if he was really a rat. The Handsome Monk stammered that he was exercising great caution in disposing of his nail clippings, but Hoyoung laughed and told him that he had only been teasing. He then explained that he wanted to say goodbye, and to thank him for all his help. The Handsome Monk replied that it was he who was in Hoyoung's debt, and that he prayed for Hoyoung's well-being on his path. Hoyoung confessed that when his heart had been wavering, meeting the Handsome Monk had helped him realize that he already knew what he had wanted to do, deep down. He added that if he hadn't met him on the road, he might not have had the courage to follow through on it. The Handsome Monk explained that it was in Hoyoung's nature, as he had the spirit of a hero. The pair then said their goodbyes before Hoyoung headed off on his adventure.

NPC

Cheong-woon Valley

Sanctum (Fake)

Handsome Monk
Location	Sanctum

Some Back Alley (Real, Bamboo-Hatted Beggar)

Bamboo-Hatted Beggar
Location	Some Back Alley

Some Back Alley (Real, Faceless Monster)

Faceless Monster
Location	Some Back Alley

Temple Entrance (Real)

Handsome Monk
Location	Temple Entrance

Gallery

• 
  NPC Portrait of the fake Handsome Monk
• 
  NPC Portrait of the fake Handsome Monk
• 
  NPC Portrait of the fake Handsome Monk
• 
  NPC Portrait of the fake Handsome Monk
• 
  NPC Portrait of the fake Handsome Monk
• 
  NPC Portrait of the real Handsome Monk as the Faceless Monster
• 
  NPC Portrait of the real Handsome Monk

Trivia

• Some of Hoyoung's stories are based off Korean folk tales. The story of a rat eating fingernails and turning into a human is titled Rat Transformed Into a Man.