186 – The Nymphs See an Imp for the First Time! #2
“I wanted to make a dedicated card for Ildo, but will you really not regret it? Such opportunities don’t come often.”
The Egyptian priest Teto. She and her younger sibling Ankh were seemingly ready to return to their homeland, proud of their golden desert. They offered to create a card called “Legend – Haildo” for me as a token of gratitude, but after serious consideration, I decided to decline.
“It’s certainly an enticing offer, but dedicated cards are for the winners of the dual tournaments. I will participate in next year’s official tournament and earn one fairly.”
Creating a dedicated card through shortcuts might only lead to ridicule. Priest Teto smiled brightly at my aspirations.
“I’m looking forward to next year. Also, if you come to Egypt again, be sure to find me. And Ankh, if you have something to say to Ildo, say it now.”
The problem child of Egypt, Ankh Sekhmet. After losing to me in a duel, she seemed hesitant but finally pulled something from between her cleavage and presented it to me.
It was a dual stone card.
“Level 1: Void Pocket
Effect: Can store items.
Attack/Defense 0/0”
What kind of card is this? When I felt puzzled, Ankh demonstrated by pulling a handkerchief out of the pocket. She then placed it against the card and infused it with magic, and something amazing happened.
Swish-.
Ankh’s handkerchief vanished into the card!
“Could it be that it’s a real Void Pocket…!?”
The “Void Pocket” was one of the abilities possessed by the chosen Awakened. It was a skill that allowed one to store and retrieve items as though it was an inventory in a game. In Korea, even among skilled individuals like Seo Ye-rim and Han Ju-ryeon, very few possessed such a technique.
“The storage limit is about 100 kg. By performing a special ritual with whispering coins, I can increase it by 10 kg at a time. Here’s my contact info. If you ever need to expand your storage, get in touch…”
Ankh, whose face was healthy and sun-kissed, seemed particularly flustered, as if she had finally made a decision.
“I’d love to meet occasionally and duel together! But of course, we’ll only fight with regular cards then! If it’s regular cards, I’ll be strong! I won’t lose next time! Take the handkerchief!”
She seemed extremely frustrated about having lost to my counterfeit card. The Egyptian sisters boarded the plane with such sentiments.
“The priests say farewell…! Someday, I also want to visit that thing called a pyramid…!”
“This supreme duelist Coris doesn’t particularly like hot deserts, but I think it would be nice to visit Egypt…!”
“Muhuh, hasta la vista!”
The Nymphs seemed very reluctant to part ways with Teto. In the world where they lived, there were many temples, and the priests and priestesses emanated a similar vibe to Teto. The leisurely, gentle, yet mysterious atmosphere must have inspired the Nymphs.
“Are you happy? You look quite giddy.”
Lee Jin-A looked at me. It seemed she noticed my mouth curling up slightly. I reluctantly admitted it.
“Of course I’m happy. I now have this ‘Void Pocket.’ When it’s a hassle to carry equipment, I can just store it in this card, right? It’s easy to pull out too!”
With this, I felt that all the effort I put into the dual tournament was worthwhile. Soon, Lee Jin-A opened her thin eyes.
“Well, it will definitely be helpful. I’m moving soon, so it might be convenient to put my moving supplies in that Void Pocket.”
That’s right. Moving. In just a few days, Jin-A said she would be living alone.
# # #
Padahdadat-.
Padahdadadadat-!
Blink, blink-.
Clack, clack-.
“Stop right there…! I want to pet that Barbalt once…! A Squirrel Beast with a fluffy tail…! Let’s get along as comrades with tails…!”
—Grrr…
I had been sleeping soundly when I awoke to a lot of noise in the living room. Stepping out of my room to investigate, I found Imp Barbalt chasing Kkungkkungi around the living room.
“Ugh, what time is it…?”
3 AM. It was the time when people should be asleep. However, Barbalt had finally caught Kkungkkungi.
“I got you…! A very imp-friendly, fluffy Squirrel Beast…! I’ve never seen such a cute Squirrel Beast before…!”
Kkungkkungi, caught at a time when it should have been sleeping, cried out angrily.
Grrr—!
Soon, it dashed away from Barbalt’s grasp and hid under the sofa. Seeing this, Imp Barbalt drooped its tail in disappointment.
“I missed it…”
But Imp Barbalt quickly regained its composure and pressed the On/Off switch on the living room wall, turning the lights off and on.
“Look at this…! I, Barbalt, have finally mastered the power of fire…! If I keep at it, maybe I can evolve into a Hellfire Imp…!”
For someone unaccustomed to the 21st century, it was quite familiar. When Oi-noi first encountered the latest technology of the 21st century, it had said, “This Oi-noi has fully grasped the power of water!” while spraying water everywhere with the showerhead.
Imp Barbalt kept flicking the induction stove’s flame on and off. I said to Barbalt.
“You shouldn’t handle fire carelessly. It may not seem dangerous at all, but it can actually be perilous.”
“An invisible flame…! To think you keep a formless flame called induction at home, how admirable the owner of this house is…! Truly, it is the reincarnation of the Demon Lord Baal…!”
It was amusing. I’m not a Demon Lord, Haildo isn’t that kind of being either, yet it seemed Barbalt regarded me as quite an impressive entity. Maybe that’s why Barbalt was very cooperative to me, but it was a bit too noisy at 3 AM.
“Am I going to have to go help on my own?”
Jin-A’s belongings were more than I had expected. I had also reached out to Seo Ye-rim and Yu Ara to see if maybe they could help with Jin-A’s moving, but everyone turned me down.
For some reason, both of them weren’t feeling well and said they needed to rest at home for a few days.
“Did they catch a cold?”
Seo Ye-rim and Yu Ara are both healthy and strong women. I wondered what could be so wrong with them that they needed to rest at home for several days? And both of them were sick at the same time.
They didn’t seem like they were lying to me.
Anyways.
That morning, I encountered an unexpected person.
“Kkungkkungi, Kkungkkungi, Meow, Kalilnoi, hello! Ahn Ahn too!”
Halae, wearing gardening gloves, appeared at our house driving Jin-A’s truck.
What on earth was going on here?
Jin-A said, “Halae has come to help me move today.”
“We’re going to eat Jajangmyeon after moving! Jin-A said she’d treat me!”
Halae laughed heartily. Halae and Jin-A were childhood friends who were the same age and kept in touch with each other.
“Oh! What’s that?”
Soon Halae discovered Barbalt, the imp with a tail, and showed great interest.
“Oppa! What is that! Where did you find it? A tail-bearing Nymph! It’s so cute!”
“That’s not a Nymph, it’s an Imp…! Rather, it’s a remarkably excellent princess…! Princesses with high princess levels are perfect targets to be kidnapped by the Demon Lord!”
“A princess? Oppa, did you hear that? It just called me a princess! Do I look like a princess to you?”
It was quite a surreal experience. My younger sister Halae seemed to have taken a liking to Imp Barbalt, and Barbalt appeared to like my sister Halae as well.
Anyways.
With those feelings, we headed toward Jin-A’s new house. The house was fairly close to the Primal Village, located along the road in the central area between Makcheon City and the Primal Village. The area was somewhat quiet since it was near a mountain.
“Oh, it’s bigger and wider than I expected?”
The house Jin-A bought had a yard, two stories, and a good view.
“Wow, it must have been expensive, right? It doesn’t seem that old either.”
Knowing how difficult it was to find a house, I recognized that Jin-A had gone to great lengths to buy it.
Not just renting, but owning a home with two stories from the start? There was grass in the garden too!
Soon, with an air of pride, Jin-A said,
“Isn’t it amazing? I bought it for 100 million won. I scraped together everything I had, even the money I earned working as an Awakened. I’m completely broke now.”
100 million!
It was a huge sum! How many chickens could you buy with that?
But it was surprising that you could buy such a house for 100 million won in the capital region.
100 million is a lot of money, yet isn’t it incredibly cheap for a house of this standard?
“Hey, you didn’t brainwash the seller with your ability, right?”
Just to be sure, I asked. Jin-A frowned.
“What are you talking about? I bought it legitimately. I was told it was an urgent listing for sale. I don’t know why though. But it has many rooms and a yard, and Coris likes it, so it’s good.”
“This Coris thinks it would be nice if a small swimming pool were installed…!”
It was a good house. We took the moving supplies and entered the house.
Soon Halae asked while looking around the spacious house.
“Hello! Is anybody there? Who’s here?”
Who would be in an empty house?
Halae, though my sister, was quite an oddball. It reminded me that Halae’s old nickname used to be “Crazy Monkey.”
“This house is strange…!”
Hesitant.
Barbalt raised its tail like an antenna.
While I thought of a delightful joke that Barbalt was shivering because it was Barbalt, Barbalt shrugged it off saying, “I think it’s just my imagination…!” and shook off its body.
Anyways, with those sentiments, we diligently moved the supplies.
“Huh, that was hard! My ankle hurts! While carrying the stuff up the stairs earlier, I twisted my ankle because I couldn’t see the stairs with all the stuff! It really hurts! I felt like someone pushed me from behind…!”
Thud.
Halae collapsed in the living room.
I frowned at my clumsy sister as always.
“Who pushed you? It must have been you being clumsy! Ugh, let me see. How much did you hurt yourself? If you get hurt, I’ll get scolded by mom, so be careful!”
Swoosh.
Halae’s ankle, still in socks, indeed appeared swollen.
When I gently pressed it, Halae screamed, “Aah!”
“This looks pretty swollen, doesn’t it?”
Soon, Oi-noi, who was decorating the Coris’s room along with Coris, saw her and said, “Iningyi’s turn has come…!” and called over a rainbow cloud Iningyi.
—Ingingyi.
Bringing the soft and cold Iningyi, Halae exclaimed, “Ah, it’s cold!” and shivered.
Immediately, the swelling diminished, and Halae was astonished.
“This is so amazing! What’s that cloud! So unfair! Oppa gets all the cute animals and Nymphs! Share some with me! Split it with me! Give it to me!”
“No way.”
Swoosh-.
I patted Halae’s head.
Then Halae made a strange sound, “Heeheehee…” and started trembling.
I decided to take a moment to rest and pulled out the book ‘Hero’s Path’ from the Void Pocket card.
“Training List – Expected reward upon completion of all tasks.”
“Reward – Endurance 1 NP”
“1/1 time petting Coris’s head”
“1/1 time massaging Coris’s legs”
“Please meditate to receive rewards and refresh the training list.”
“I see. I had a feeling this would be the case.”
Halae was being called Coris by the Nymphs.
When I treated Halae’s sprained ankle and petted her head, the ‘Hero’s Path’ quest was completed.
I pondered how to pet Seo Ye-rim’s head.
My younger sister was also Coris, so it was easy.
Halae is Coris. What exactly is Coris?
Anyways.
By organizing the belongings and ordering chicken, time slipped away, and soon it was 9 PM.
“Hey, it seems a bit late. Do you want to sleep over since it’s gotten this late?”
Jin-A asked.
The Nymphs joyously replied, “We’d love that…!” and Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn, and Kkungkkungi-like animals seemed delighted to run around the spacious house and yard.
Eventually, we decided to sleep over in the two-story house.
There were plenty of extra rooms.
Blink.
Flash.
While I laid on the floor of an empty room, simply spreading out a blanket to sleep, the lights in my room turned on.
How long had I been asleep?
The dazzling light told me it was 3 AM.
“Barbalt, are you messing around with the lights again at night?”
The mischievous little Imp seemed to enjoy playing pranks.
The door to my room was firmly shut, and I couldn’t see Barbalt.
“What’s going on?”
That was the beginning of the ‘strange occurrences’ on the first night.
