060 – War of the Nymphs and Princesses #2
Seo Ye-rim was slightly annoyed.
Today was her day off.
A day to relax.
But from early in the morning, she received an urgent message from the government, and she had to rush to Seoul.
“I promised Illinois that we’d make apple pie with Nymph sister Inoi today…! Suddenly changing the schedule…! That’s so nymph-hating…!”
Indeed.
Today, Illinois had to meet Inoi.
Seo Ye-rim was also planning to meet Haildo.
She had to drive Illinois to Inoi.
Also, she wanted to bring up the B Rank evaluation, but because of the urgent message she received this morning, her various plans got tangled up.
Arriving at the emergency response headquarters with a slightly annoyed heart.
There was someone who made Seo Ye-rim frown.
It was a woman with a name tag saying VVIP, dressed in aloha-pattern attire that you’d expect to see in warm southern vacation spots.
Seeing her firmly wearing sandals, Seo Ye-rim said.
“Cha Yura, what are you doing here? When did you come to Korea? Weren’t you in Hawaii? You said you’d be there for a few more months?”
“I came because I got an urgent call from Dad yesterday. Since you can’t fill in for Lee Joon-Hun alone, I, who was enjoying a sabbatical, had to be dragged in.”
Cha Yura, one of the three S Rank Awakened in Korea.
She also gave Seo Ye-rim a pointed look from top to bottom.
“Seo Ye-rim, seeing your dumb face, it’s no wonder Korea is a mess… I mean, an ant mess.”
“You’re really making a cold joke, aren’t you? What’s with that outfit? Why not just take it all off? You have nothing worth seeing anyway. Do you pay middle school rates when you fly? You look like a middle schooler!”
Seo Ye-rim chuckled at Cha Yura’s flat figure.
Cha Yura, not backing down, shouted back.
“Is there even a middle school fare for planes? Are you stupid?”
“Really? I didn’t know. I just fly on private jets.”
“Hmph!”
Cha Yura huffed, but a strange atmosphere flowed between the two.
The Ice Princess Cha Yura.
The Fire Witch Seo Ye-rim.
The two women were beings that could never mix.
Originally, Seo Ye-rim’s rival was Yu Ara, but now that Yu Ara had retired from active duty, the representative of the next generation of Awakened, Cha Yura, had become Seo Ye-rim’s rival.
Fire and ice.
Veteran and super rookie.
This contrasting image was indeed cleaner.
Soon, a middle-aged man, neatly pulling his hair back and wearing a suit, appeared.
“Well then, as the Prime Minister, I’ll start this meeting. Since this is urgent, let’s skip the formalities and get straight to the point. Here’s the current damage situation.”
Swish.
On the screen installed on the wide room’s wall, a map of the peninsula spread out.
“These bizarre ants have begun to emerge nationwide at the same time. Unlike any ants reported in academia, they have invaded homes and begun driving out cockroaches, rats, and stray cats—.”
Large ants, the size of a palm.
They were terrifying black-shelled ants.
They quickly invaded Korea’s ecosystem.
“If they drove away cockroaches and rats, aren’t they beneficial animals?”
“But they’re invading homes and stealing all the sugars like sugar and honey!”
Indeed.
The problem with these ants wasn’t just that they drove away pests.
They demanded sugar from humans, causing significant damage to many households.
“This is the damage cost so far. And this is the total expected damage amount.”
A staggering astronomical figure appeared on the screen.
Seo Ye-rim thought.
‘Is this how much damage is caused just because all the sugar disappears from Korea?’
Indeed, there was a reason why the S Ranks were gathered.
‘They even needed to call Cha Yura. I don’t like it, but.’
Swish.
At that moment, Cha Yura raised her hand.
“Sir, so what do you want us to do? What did Dad say?”
“His Excellency has ordered a swift investigation into this matter. The two S Rank Awakened here need to identify the cause and the focal point of the problem….”
“I can handle it alone! Hoho.”
Swish.
Cha Yura stood up as if there was nothing more to hear and left her seat.
Now, only Seo Ye-rim remained as the S Rank Awakened.
—Permanent employee.
—Permanent employee.
Seo Ye-rim looked at the ants on the monitor, pondering something.
With their bizarre cry and dazzling shells.
While they bore no resemblance, they reminded her of the ants that someone was breeding.
“Those guys are honey ants…! They are very friendly and nymph-friendly, but when their numbers increase, their intimidating desire for conquest surges…! That’s dangerous…!”
Illinois was pretending to know.
Honey ants.
Indeed, those were the same kind of ants Haildo raised!
# # #
“I have a feeling that Seo Ye-rim just sent me a text.”
I was walking through a dark cave.
Why am I in a cave, you ask?
I was curious about that too.
I followed the invitation that the honey ants gave me—to be precise, I followed the stone they handed me to a sinkhole that opened up in my backyard.
What I didn’t expect was that the tunnel was wide and spacious.
How deep could this tunnel be?
No signal.
—Mushroom, mushroom.
Suddenly, something appeared before me.
It was a creature reaching my ankles, and it looked bizarrely like a mushroom.
“It’s a unicorn mushroom…! It’s characterized by having a horn like a unicorn…! It’s a mushroom employed as a worker by honey ants…!”
Honey ants were said to train and employ many animals using their honey and turn them into slaves.
The unicorn mushroom was one of those.
“What a fascinating ecosystem.”
But—
By now, the ants’ movement must have caused chaos nationwide.
If I manage this well, I might be featured on the news as “The Hero Who Defeated the Ants, Haildo!”
Then I would become famous overnight!
“Hehe.”
Just as I was laughing to myself.
Inoi said.
“My master, Inoi, once mentioned that he was invited to the ant kingdom in the past…! He told me it’s full of treasures since the ant kingdom is close to the underworld…!”
“Really?”
Treasures, huh—
Indeed, the stone that the ants gave me wasn’t an ordinary rock, but a shining gem.
I didn’t know what kind of gemstone it was, but it seemed like it would become quite beautiful if processed.
As I was thinking this way and walking for a while.
—Permanent employee, employee—
—Provide, provide—
A wide plaza appeared.
There were brightly shining stones on the underground ground, and in front of them, countless soldier ants were lined up, receiving orders from silver knight ants.
And at their center—
Woooooo—
There was a crack!
A blue crack!
Zuum—
Zuum—
And ants were continuously emerging from beyond that crack!
“The fact that the contents of the crack are coming out means we’ve already reached the ‘terminal’ stage?”
Cracks commonly go through four stages.
Initial.
The time when the crack suddenly appears.
If you’re nearby, you’ll get swept away.
Intermediate.
The time when it stabilizes.
Most cracks destroyed by Awakened belong here.
Most fixed cracks belong here too.
Late.
It’s the moment when the crack emits an unstable wave strongly.
If the crack isn’t dealt with at this time, it can become ‘terminal’ and spew its contents outside.
That meant the monsters inside the crack would emerge.
“This seems to be an older crack than expected. How could we even assess that a crack would form deep under the ground like this?”
“It’s certain that there’s an ant kingdom in there…!”
An ant kingdom.
Is there such a thing beyond that crack?
Then Kkungkkungi must be inside it.
“We need to rescue Kkungkkungi.”
Kkungkkungi was my friend.
A spider glowing in RGB colors.
I entered the ant kingdom to rescue him.
Since I had an invitation, there was no rejection towards us.
Thus, the place I entered.
It was a remarkable castle or palace.
Not an ant palace, but a real palace.
The castle walls were visible, and there were statues and even a large wooden horse.
“It’s a horse made of wood.”
It was a large horse.
It looked like a structure made of wooden planks, but it was very beautifully made.
“Ah! That’s the Trojan Horse…! My master once told me that…! That enormous wooden horse brought down an even greater nation…!”
“That’s called the Trojan Horse?”
I also knew the story of the Trojan Horse.
I couldn’t possibly not know it.
To find a crack like that in such a location—what could this place be?
—Aorong.
At that moment, a strange sound was heard.
It sounded as if clear golden beads were rolling on a tray.
Turning my head, an intriguing existence was visible.
It was sparkling like black obsidian.
The size was about the size of my palm.
It even had wings.
If you were to carve a raw black gemstone into a winged ant or bee, would it turn out like this?
—Aorong~.
“Ah! That’s the Empress Ant…! This is the first time I’ve seen such a large honey ant since Ahn Ahn…! It’s extraordinarily beautifully shaped…! Its color is very pretty…!”
Inoi shouted.
The Empress Ant crawled out from under the collapsed stone wall along with the knight ants.
—Aorong~.
It was an incredibly intriguing and resplendent cry.
Didn’t all honey ants chirp?
—Grr—
Kkungkkungi, who had been clinging tightly to my shoulder, was growling.
Soon, Ahn Ahn, who had consistently clung to my shoulder, stepped forward in front of the Empress Ant.
Very brave.
—Zzzi…
Ahn Ahn moved its front legs side to side, as if saying something. What could it be?
Soon, the ants clicked their mandibles, making a wonderful sound. It sounded like the rustling of trees blown by the wind in a forest and also like waves crashing.
I didn’t know what it was, but there must be something to do.
“You’re the Empress Ant, right? Ahn Ahn’s sister? Or older sister? I don’t know which, but will you let the ants back off a bit? And I hope you can return Kkungkkungi, who you’ve captured.”
Honey ants, while scary when they gather, were said to be kind-hearted ants.
You could tell that by looking at Ahn Ahn.
They are smart enough to understand my intentions.
—Aorong~.
Indeed.
# # #
“Haildo! You’re not answering my calls again!”
Seo Ye-rim was angry.
Because Haildo wasn’t picking up the phone.
“Haildo never picks up the phone right away! If he’s going to be like this, what’s the point of carrying a cell phone around!”
Seo Ye-rim, slightly angry, had arrived at Haildo’s house now.
She noticed that Haildo wasn’t home.
“Ah! Core Ye-rim is looking at the housemaster’s background…! There’s a very big hole decorated in the backyard…!”
Sometimes she said ‘background’ and sometimes ‘backyard’—Seo Ye-rim still hadn’t adapted to Illinois’ way of speaking.
She probably wouldn’t adapt even if a lifetime passed.
But Illinois’ words were true.
There was indeed a very big hole in the backyard.
“It seems like he went in here.”
Thud thud thud thud thud—
At that moment, something loud flew through the sky.
It was a helicopter, which landed in the rice field.
“Cha Yura, you’re really advertising that a celebrity is coming.”
“I’m coming here this quietly, aren’t I? More than that, this seems to be the main culprit.”
Cha Yura and Seo Ye-rim stood in the same pit.
As they both thought they didn’t want to lose to each other—
Ding ding—
Cha Yura answered the phone.
“Yes, sir. What’s going on? What? The ants are going back underground? All of them?”
