166 – Nymph and Greek-Roman Mythology #1
“Ah, damn it. My head feels like it’s going to explode.”
Lee Jin-A, who had woken up in the morning, frowned and uttered a curse. It seemed like her hangover was severe.
Maybe it was because of her furrowed brow or her fierce temper, but I felt an overwhelming urge to give her all the coins I had in my pocket.
“…But why the hell am I completely naked? Hey, Haildo. Did you strip me? You perverted bastard!”
Lee Jin-A glared at me, noticing that she was only in her underwear.
But this was a misunderstanding.
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who got undressed because you said it was hot!”
In a moment of anger, I scolded her loudly, but then I realized I may have shouted too much and quickly shut my mouth.
However, Lee Jin-A seemed unfazed, touching her forehead as if it were no big deal.
“I got undressed? Damn, I can’t remember. This is the first time I’ve blacked out. You kept feeding me, didn’t you? What were you planning after getting me drunk?”
“I told you not to drink, but you just kept gulping it down by yourself. Lee Jin-A, don’t drink more than a bottle of beer from now on. Who gets drunk and passes out after two bottles? Go take a shower and have some food.”
After taking a shower, Lee Jin-A came out wearing a robe and sat in front of a plate of bean sprout ramen.
Bean sprout ramen.
It looked like nothing special, but in reality, it was really nothing significant.
Still, well, it would be better than an empty stomach.
Anyway.
I realized that drunk Lee Jin-A was much more volatile and boiling like a furnace than I had expected.
“I can’t drink with you anymore.”
Yesterday, I’d experienced the powerful effects of “Arrow of Passion” firsthand.
What would have happened if the drunk Lee Jin-A hadn’t held back and just stripped down?
I felt a chill at the thought that I might have appeared on the morning news I was currently watching, with the headline “Awakened H assaulted drunk woman L—”
In today’s world, scandals like sexual harassment are deadly traps that can ruin a man’s life.
Even if it were revealed that there had been a misunderstanding or false accusations, the trust and image of men who had fallen from grace didn’t easily return.
In that sense, I really felt the truth behind Inoi’s statement: “The enemies of heroes are not the Hydra or the Nemean Lion, but beautiful women…!”
“What’s up, then who am I supposed to drink with now?”
Lee Jin-A sighed, finishing her ramen.
Suddenly, I thought about the trouble she might cause if she drank with someone else besides me.
It was almost 90 percent likely to happen.
“Then just drink with me.”
“What? Are you ordering me around now? Oh, really.”
Pop-.
Lee Jin-A stood up again and put me in a headlock, and this time I tried to resist but was helpless against her technique.
Her grip was incredibly strong, and whatever was hitting the back of my head was equally powerful.
“Ugh!”
I had felt it yesterday, but Lee Jin-A was far stronger than I expected and was basically experienced in violence and fighting, making it difficult for me to respond easily.
It’s no wonder she uses a gauntlet as a primary weapon!
Swish-.
Now, after changing into clean, washed, and dried clothes, Lee Jin-A looked at the calendar in my room.
Then she drew a circle with a red pen around a Friday about two weeks from now.
“Clear your schedule for that day. It’s the day I move my last bits of stuff. It’s moving day for me.”
“You’re moving your stuff?”
“I’m going to live on my own now. My mom and dad worry too much about me doing Awakened work if I stay home. And it’s been my dream to live on my own for a long time.”
Lee Jin-A is going to live on her own?
For some reason, I felt worried.
Maybe because she was the same age as my younger sister, I felt concerned.
“You’re not having lewd thoughts or anything, are you? The thoughts men have about women living alone are all too obvious. But wake up. I’ll be living with Coris, okay?”
“No, I wasn’t thinking anything like that.”
“Stop lying.”
“No, really.”
“Really? Are you going to bet it all? Are you going to film it?”
“I’m not doing that.”
“See!”
Lee Jin-A was quite defiant.
Just then, a red sports car smoothly glided into the village and parked in the yard.
Surprisingly, it was Illinois!
“Indeed, this Illinois car is quite special…! I think it would be nice to go for a drive with the Nymph sisters from now on…! Feeling very good…!”
“Thank you for the ride, Illinois…!”
“This Coris also had fun last night…! Next time, let’s beat that bad telekinetic Lee Joon-Hun and the muddy Nymph Morales…!”
The Nymphs, who had disappeared to watch the honey ants last night, had returned only in the morning.
I didn’t think anything would happen since I heard from Lee Joon-Hun, but—
Looking at Illinois, who had forcibly hijacked Lee Joon-Hun’s sports car and even named it “Illinois Car,” I felt a multitude of things I wanted to discuss.
“Why is the house’s owner looking at that Illinois with such eyes…? That Illinois violates the Nymph Sight Dislike Law that was negotiated with Lincoln from Springfield!”
Illinois said he was well acquainted with Lincoln, the U.S. president who lived in Illinois.
Of course, I had no way to confirm whether that was true or not.
# # #
“See you again next time…!”
Coris waved goodbye from Lee Jin-A’s old moving truck.
Vroom-.
The truck, filled with environmental pollution and exhaust fumes, left Primal Village.
Soon, Squirrel Beasts barked at the truck – Woof-woof-.
“She needs to change her car too.”
I knew well that Lee Jin-A had an attachment to that old truck.
But I heard that they’re starting to impose stricter regulations on exhaust fumes and greenhouse gases from cars because of rising carbon emissions lately.
“It’s hot. So hot.”
The world was certainly hot.
With September just around the corner, just standing still made sweat drip down my body.
Even though the fifth industrial revolution had started, the world was still trying various methods to solve abnormal temperatures.
Even paper straws, which the Nymphs disliked, were part of those efforts.
They say the maximum T-class rift “Spacetime Typhoon” was also opened due to the Pacific’s abnormal temperatures.
When I turned on the TV, I could hear experts discussing abnormal temperatures from various places.
“Today, we have Elf weather expert Elfrique. Elfrique. There’s a forecast that this autumn might be the hottest yet. What do you think?”
“Our Elf world was the same. After a sweltering summer, an endless winter came. An eternal ice age occurred. We called it Pimblebert.”
The Elf world had fallen due to abnormal temperatures.
Inoi, who was watching the TV, also said.
“Now that I think about it, our Nymph world also began to get incredibly cold as if a terrifying winter had come…! I thought Persephone had been kidnapped again…!”
The world where Inoi lived.
It was said that a strange abnormal temperature had come there too.
The forests, mountains, and fields were getting colder, and many Nymphs were falling into hibernation.
“This Inoi is a Nymph born in summer…! To escape the cold, I found a rift while heading to a warm place…!”
Solar activity.
A warming planet.
Complex factors and rifts seemed to be deeply related.
Of course, it was a difficult topic for someone like me, who wasn’t a scientist or a Ph.D.
Whatever it was, I would have to do my best in my place.
“So, Inoi, you said you went to see the ants last night, but how did you end up at Lee Joon-Hun’s secret base? Did you take a taxi?”
“There were various complicated circumstances that I need to explain…! But to explain that, we need to recall the past…! ‘Nymph Chatter, Nymph Gossip’…!”
Chatter-chatter, anemone-.
Inoi quickly explained the situation.
“So last night, while watching the honey ants, I found a mysterious ant house, and while chasing it, I ended up at Lee Joon-Hun’s secret base?”
“That’s right…!”
Crossing neighborhoods while just checking out an ant house is doable for the playful and erratic Nymphs.
“The house’s owner said we should go see it…! It’s truly a mysterious ant house…!”
If Inoi was that amazed, just how mysterious was that ant house?
Preparing to leave for Greece, I went outside to catch some breeze, and I saw ants bustling around in the rice fields as harvest season approached in autumn.
They were honey ants.
Caw-George…!
Caw-Gyuji…!
In Primal Village, you could easily find honey ants helping the elders with farming work and earning sugar as their wage.
Since they cultivated rice and fruits in a completely eco-friendly method without pesticides, there seemed to be quite a demand, and even now, reservations were fully booked before harvest.
“What’s so amazing about this?”
It looked like an ordinary scene.
Inoi took me to a particular field where there were indeed some incredible ants.
The ants had made mosaic art of my name “Haildo” with small stones.
“What’s this? The ants have written my name?”
Has the name of the living legend Haildo spread even to the world of honey ants?
Inoi said.
“These are called ‘Rover Ants,’ a type of honey ant…! They live separately from the colony, making them quite rare to see…! This Inoi only saw them for the first time yesterday…! They are also called ‘Merchant Ants’…!”
Rover ants.
Ants who wander around and exchange items for rewards.
There are emperors, knights, workers, and merchants; it seems the world of honey ants is not much different from humans!
The mysterious types of ants spoke to me.
Caw-George…!
I had no idea what they meant.
But I wanted to understand what the ants, who wrote my name in the field, were trying to say.
“I wish I could talk to animals too. Well, I guess they’re asking for sugar.”
Just like I used to give sugar cubes to Ahn Ahn, I took a square sugar cube out of my pocket and gave it to the ants, and they scurried away, seemingly pleased, each carrying a sugar cube.
So it really was about asking for sugar.
After about a minute later, the rover ants, who had scattered, reappeared with something for me.
It was a sparkling amber jewel.
Caw-George…!
It was roughly the size of my thumbnail.
Inside was a single ant, hardened like a fossil, which was quite fascinating.
Inoi was awed upon seeing it.
“That is called ‘Ant Amber’…! It’s said that once processed into a ring, you can understand the language of insects…! This Inoi also saw it for the first time…!”
“Oh, really? Did they understand what I said about wanting to talk to animals?”
Caw-George…!
I accepted the gem from the rover merchant ants.
Then, the merchant ants vanished again.
“I have a feeling I will meet these guys again in the future.”
There were some incredible events to experience in the weekday afternoon just before leaving for Greece.
# # #
The island of Chios in Greece.
When the warm sunlight shined down, the beach glistened like gold.
However, because of rumors that a typhoon might come, the current beach was deserted.
Hiiiiihoooo-.
Rumble rumble-!
Caw-…!
A being that had awakened to the sound of thunder made its way ashore and landed on the quiet beach.
Splash-!
Caw-Zuzuzu….
The creature had a terrifying exoskeleton and a black body with six legs.
Yet, it stood upright like a human, and the first person to discover it, fisherman Pelasos, was greatly bewildered.
“What’s that? What is it!? What’s going on!?”
That being was the Chimera Ant, sealed long ago in the depths of Chios when the rebellion of the monster Typhon was quelled by the gods and heroes.
It was a servant to the fearsome god Typhon and was said to be the “ultimate perfect being” that could survive in any environment.
Of course, a simple fisherman like Pelasos had no way of knowing such a thing.
“W-What the hell is that! A bug the size of a person just came out of the ocean! Hiiiii!”
Fisherman Pelasos sprayed his insect repellent, which he always carried to keep away the sea mosquitoes, at the large bug.
The spray had “Made in China” written on it.
Chiiick-.
The standing bug made a cawing noise and appeared to groan before retreating back into the sea.
Splash-!
Summer had arrived.
