019 – Old Rookie Haildo and Shimmering Creatures #1
“I’ve fixed the heating and plumbing. The internet has been installed, and there’s waterproof paint on the roof…”
Seo Ye-rim explained various things in the spacious yard.
Overall, it was a story about repairing and renovating the well house.
Indeed, the building funded by Telos Corporation looked much better than when it was called a haunted house.
With the fresh paint on the fence and the outer wall, it looked like a new home, which was quite impressive.
“This Inoi, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen such a beautiful house…! It truly shines like a small castle… This Inoi is undoubtedly the first Nymph to live in such a pretty house…!”
Inoi rushed up to the roof and shouted while looking down at the yard. It seemed they felt quite good about moving from a cramped studio to this new house.
I, too, had felt so good when I moved to a new house as a child.
Checking where my room was, looking for the nearest convenience store or PC room.
I would also observe whether friends my age lived next door or not.
While I was lost in those thoughts, Seo Ye-rim added while looking into the well.
“Occasionally, staff will come to collect samples from the well. Please cooperate with them as much as possible. I’ll contact you directly whenever I think of anything else to say, so make sure to respond promptly. Got it?”
Maybe because she was the landlord, she had many particular points.
Is this the sorrow of renting a place?
“The compensation for sealing the anomalous fissure in the well will be deposited into your account soon, so keep that in mind.”
“That’s nice.”
Motivated to earn money, my desire surged.
I have to work hard to live in my own place.
“So, who is that person next to you?”
Seo Ye-rim asked.
It seemed she was curious about the old man who had been circling around us for a while.
“He’s the village chief around here.”
“Hello. I’m Park Lee-soo, a retired professor from A University. It’s been a while since I retired, but everyone just calls me Professor Park.”
The village chief was a very curious and meddlesome person.
It was no wonder he was interested in the renovations being done to a place known as a haunted house after being acquired by a large corporation.
Like someone who had asked me many questions, he showed curiosity toward Seo Ye-rim as well.
“Miss, you’re a celebrity, right? I feel like I’ve seen you many times on TV. Didn’t you endorse a water purifier?”
Unlike the disdain he had shown me when he first met me, he used honorifics with Seo Ye-rim. Maybe he felt he couldn’t approach someone who had the aura of a model and celebrity easily.
Soon Seo Ye-rim said something.
“Haildo, I’ll pay you, so at least get some moving rice cake. Don’t forget that while you’re staying here, you are the face of Telos.”
As she said this, she confidently pulled out two one-hundred-thousand won checks from her wallet.
With this money, one could buy rice cakes and still have enough to treat themselves.
While I was having such thoughts, Seo Ye-rim added.
“Use the remaining money to buy some clothes for Inoi. It always wears that shabby tracksuit. You know you have to take care of its food, clothing, and shelter since you’ve taken in a drifter, right?”
How annoying she was being with all this nagging.
The F-rank Awakened, who used to learn from me, had now become my boss completely. Life is truly full of mysteries.
Ding ding ding-.
At that moment, a phone call came in.
It wasn’t my phone.
Seo Ye-rim said, “Just a moment,” and answered the call, but suddenly her expression crumpled.
“A T-rank fissure? No, the T-rank fissure in Gyeonggi-do was supposed to be handled by Lee Joon-Hun. I had already contacted you to say I was taking the day off today… Ah. Ah, yes.”
It seemed someone had canceled their schedule, forcing her to work on a day off.
Seo Ye-rim was upset and muttered, “Geez.”
Thanks to that, the snow that had gently fallen and piled up in the yard last night melted away in an instant. Soon, Seo Ye-rim’s secretary and manager, Ahn Yeong-eun, rushed in wearing a black suit.
“Ye-rim! We just heard from the officer! This time in Yongin—”
“I know. Let’s go.”
“Right, I’ll drive!”
Seo Ye-rim got into the car driven by her secretary and manager, Ahn Yeong-eun, and sped off.
I hadn’t eavesdropped intentionally, but hearing the name of the S-rank Awakened Lee Joon-Hun in their conversation piqued my curiosity.
It seemed Lee Joon-Hun had flaked out?
Was it possibly related to what had happened when he met Yu Ara?
I fiddled with my phone.
When I checked my earlier message to Yu Ara, there hadn’t been a reply since I sent, “I got home safely. I hope everything is well, although I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Judging by the disappearance of the ‘1’ next to my message, she must have seen it.”
Did she just leave it on read?
Didn’t they say women spend all day on their phones? I recalled an incident where a D-rank woman who had been injured inside a fissure didn’t let go of her phone even while getting treated.
If I hadn’t received a reply from someone like that…
At that moment, a message flew in.
“2nd-year Yu Ara: Senior, I haven’t been able to contact you since the last incident because I’ve been so flustered! I’m so sorry!”
“……!”
I was startled.
Of course, I hadn’t expected a new message from the party itself while I was checking the previous message.
“2nd-year Yu Ara: Senior, the ‘1’ disappeared right away?”
“2nd-year Yu Ara: Were you perhaps looking at my chat window?”
“2nd-year Yu Ara: It seems we have a connection!”
“2nd-year Yu Ara: (A rabbit emoji celebrating)”
Indeed.
In the messaging app “TelTalk” created by Telos, the number ‘1’ remains until the recipient reads the message, so I felt inexplicably a bit embarrassed that it had just disappeared.
“No.”
“I was just about to send you a message saying I also moved recently.”
“2nd-year Yu Ara: Moved?”
“2nd-year Yu Ara: We should have a housewarming! I’m so sorry for not being able to pay when I said I’d treat you last time, so this time I’ll buy the meat myself, hehe.”
A housewarming.
I had never done anything like it in my life, so the word felt quite unfamiliar.
Apparently, popular socialites invite friends over for a housewarming when they move.
I recalled seeing celebrities in reality shows living luxuriously alone.
Although I was also one of those living alone, watching celebrities popping bottles while I drank flat cola from a used bottle made me feel envious, so I didn’t look anymore.
“I can be like that now too.”
# # #
“Muhuhuhu, I’ve planted the marmelo seeds well in the garden…! I will water them, and soon the tree will grow, and there will definitely be marmelo fruits…!”
Inoi had planted the seeds, which Grepnoy had been protecting, well in the yard of the well house.
In that moment, thoughts about suitable soil, environment, and climate for nurturing the seeds appeared in my mind, making me wonder if they would grow well—only to realize that Inoi was confidently puffing its broad chest forward.
“This Inoi is a nature-friendly Nymph…! I know better than anyone how to tend to and nurture trees…! This land is sure to be suitable for marmelo to grow well…!”
Thinking about it, that made sense.
Nymphs are also a type of fairy like Elves.
Considering that Elves who have naturalized in Korea are excellent in horticulture, the similar type of Nymphs would also surely be good at growing vegetables, flowers, and trees.
What a pointless worry.
“Marmelo looks like an apple, but its plant shines with a yellow hue…! It even has the nickname golden apple…! The taste… is very lacking, but… either way, it’s good for the body…!”
Golden apple.
That name caught my ear.
I couldn’t wait for them to grow.
Of course, what needed to grow now wasn’t just apples.
My skills had to grow rapidly as well.
“Kkungkkungi, come here.”
I called Kkungkkungi, who was running around in the garden chasing bugs. As soon as I called, Kkungkkungi growled in response.
Squirrel Beasts were more independent than I expected.
They weren’t meant to be tamed at all, to begin with.
Kkungkkungi was like that too.
“I’ll give you peanuts.”
Swish-.
I took out expensive macadamia nuts from my pocket.
Then Kkungkkungi scampered up onto my palm and took the peanut.
“Kkungkkung…!”
“Good, good.”
Swish swish-.
I stroked Kkungkkungi’s fur with my palm.
Its brown fur sparkled even more brightly through the mana my hand emitted for a moment.
“Kkungkkungi, go!”
“Kkungkkung…!”
The Squirrel hopped off from my palm and quickly shot out.
It collided into a small rock in the yard and smashed it into pieces.
“Wow, that’s powerful!”
I thought this might be similar in power to the ‘Railgun’ that C-rank Awakened use.
Having watched countless test videos on C-rank Awakened weapon performances, I could tell.
I always dreamed that one day, when I became C-rank, I’d buy such weapons.
“With this level of power, I should be able to contract C-rank fissures…”
How much is the compensation for hunting a C-rank fissure again?
As far as I could remember, starting from C-rank, there was an additional zero added.
I opened my phone to search, and I found talk of making one million won in a single fissure hunt.
“On average, it takes about three days for a C-rank subjugation. If I work nonstop for a month, that would be around ten cases… That means the amount I could earn in a month would be approximately…”
One thousand per month.
That was an incredible sum.
That means an annual salary of over one hundred million won.
I felt a tingle on my back already.
“Inoi, do you want to go to the city with me? I’m going to buy rice cakes to share with the neighbors and some clothes for you too.”
“This Inoi is focused on growing the marmelo seeds…! While in focus, I have to concentrate on only one thing…. The owner of the house should go alone…!”
What did ‘focused’ mean?
I saw Inoi spinning around in the yard where the seeds had been planted. It looked like it was dancing.
“Ahn Ahn, you stay with Inoi.”
-Jeez.
That must mean it understood.
I went to the city, bought rice cakes, and with the leftover money, I bought Inoi new tracksuits. A yellow outfit reminiscent of Bruce Lee’s attire would suit Inoi’s honey-colored hair well.
With my shopping bags full, I headed to a public institution.
It was to submit the documents that showed I received C-rank certification and to receive job offers accordingly. This was the main reason I came to the city.
“Are you Haildo?”
A woman in her early thirties wearing glasses looked at me apathetically.
She flipped through the documents I had filled out and asked.
“About the equipment list you mentioned. You need to enter the exact product names. Sometimes people write down nicknames like ‘Excalibur’ for the high-frequency blades.”
Ah, I had seen that too.
People write down weapon names whimsically on their documents.
“You have to write the exact names for your request to be accepted.”
That made sense.
To form a fissure cleanup team, the team leaders need to know the correct power of their personnel based on the equipment they use and the skills they possess.
It’s a loss to write fake names or strange descriptions.
I had a considerable amount of experience and knowledge as a team leader, so I could confidently say that.
“I wrote everything down truthfully.”
“…Is the name of your weapon actually ‘Squirrel Beast’? Which company made it? Is it a bladed weapon or a firearm?”
“Kkungkkungi, come out for a second.”
Swish-.
Kkungkkungi, who had been quietly sitting in my pocket, scampered up and stood on the table.
-Kkungkkung…!
“What is this? You brought an animal indoors…!?”
The apathetic look on the official’s face grew even more irritated.
I wondered if this was how instructors reacted when they found out a recruit had secretly brought in their pet hamster to boot camp.
I spoke confidently and assertively.
“Actually, I will show you. The rear experimental area is available, right?”
