002 – Nymph Inoi #2
Near University路 (Daehak-ro).
A room with a monthly rent of 35 and a deposit of 3 million Won.
When you open the door and enter, a narrow kitchen with a sink faces the entrance, and there’s a sliding door dividing the space.
Drurrrk—
When you slide that door open, a studio apartment reveals itself, tightly packed with a bed, a desk, and a refrigerator.
“This is my cheerful home.”
Waaaahhh—
The nearly empty refrigerator welcomed me by letting out a loud noise, seemingly aware of my arrival.
The room was also quite cold, as if someone had left the window open.
Checking the thermometer, it read 13°C.
“13°C inside? Come on, seriously…”
It seemed the boiler system was broken.
Should I tell the landlady about the broken boiler? But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If my calculations were right, I hadn’t paid rent for three months now.
“I need warmth…!”
At that moment, the little one who had been timidly following behind me entered the room and seemed extraordinarily delighted. Despite the broken boiler, this “nymph,” who had been shivering barefoot in the cold outside, probably found even this temperature warm.
“I couldn’t just leave her out there, so I brought her in…”
Should I report her to the police?
After the fissure opened, “Drifters” or “Wanderers” frequently began to appear in 21st-century Earth. Elves, dwarves—these were creatures that seemed like they could only exist in stories, known collectively as “Beings” (or “Ain”).
When they first appeared, newspapers and news outlets went wild with the stories, but with their existence now part of daily life, there are established laws and policies regarding Ain. If you discover an Ain, the system is to report it to the police, and the government takes care of the rest. In Korea, that would involve agencies like the National Intelligence Service conducting investigations, providing shelter, and so forth.
Although I’d been in the business for ten years, this was my first time encountering an Ain, so I was honestly quite surprised.
“…I suppose I’ll have to report her to the police then.”
Just as I muttered this awkwardly to myself, Inoi with her honey-colored hair shuddered violently as if a cat had been stung by a bee’s sting.
“Kyaaa! I don’t want the police! They tried to capture this Inoi before! If hunters catch Inoi, it’ll be dangerous!”
What does she mean by that?
Every time this one opened her mouth, it seemed to shake the common sense I had built up so far. I finally understood—when someone says their vision goes blurry, this is what they mean.
“Do you even know what the police are?”
I asked. Inoi then gave me a surprisingly serious expression and spoke.
“This Inoi… was strolling through the forest with my nymph sisters when suddenly everything flashed bright, and I found myself in a strange place!”
I realized she was about to say something important, so I quickly turned on the recorder on my phone. Seeing Seo Ye-rim’s newly saved phone number pop up made my stomach twist, but I managed to ignore it.
“This Inoi… was originally a nymph who hibernates during the winter. But when I suddenly arrived in this cold world, I was freezing and starving!”
“So?”
“So, I just ate the food that was lying around on the streets. Then, people got angry and called those people called ‘police’!”
Indeed.
It seemed Inoi had started eating goods displayed on the streets without paying, which is a common occurrence among drifters. Regardless of what kind of shop it was, calling the police would’ve been the best option for the owner. But it seems there was some kind of struggle when Inoi met the police.
“Inoi… I was trying to get back to the forest, so I ran around everywhere! But no matter where I ran, I couldn’t find it.”
Inoi said she’d been hiding in quiet places, dodging people under the neon lights of the city. She was rummaging through recycling trash bags when she met me. Having heard the entire story, I suddenly felt a pang of sympathy.
“At least take a shower first.”
True to her nature, the nymph was quite dirty from rummaging through trash bags. After shoving her into the bathroom-cum-lavatory, I slumped into a chair and turned on my computer.
Whirrrr—
The old computer began its noisy whirring, and as the screen finally appeared, I opened the internet and searched for “nymph.”
“The Nymph (Greek: Νύμφη) is a fairy-like spirit or minor goddess appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. They live in nature—streams, forests, valleys, caves, mountains, and ponds. The word, in Greek, also means ‘young lady,’ ‘bride.'”
“Greek and Roman mythology, huh.”
Greek and Roman mythology—I knew about it. Hardly anyone of my age hadn’t read an educational comic book about Greek mythology at least once. However, the memories were too old to recall much detail, so I carefully read the text on the monitor.
“Goddess? Young lady? Bride?”
Not a single word seemed to match Nymph Inoi.
So, I knocked on the bathroom door and asked her.
“Hey, are you really a nymph?”
I waited for a while for her answer, but the bathroom was silent.
Too silent.
“Did she faint?”
I got scared.
Being in a warm place after being in the cold could sometimes cause someone to lose consciousness because of sudden blood circulation. If Inoi were to suddenly fall ill and her life were endangered, it would undoubtedly fall on me, her first discoverer and temporary guardian, to take responsibility.
“Hey!”
Creak—
I opened the bathroom door, and there she was standing there, motionless, just as I’d left her. Inoi looked at me and said:
“It’s a bit small, but it’s a nice room! This Inoi wasn’t sleeping because I didn’t feel tired!”
Room? Sleep?
For a moment, I realized we had misunderstood each other. The nymph seemed to have mistaken the purpose of the bathroom. With no other choice, I stepped inside and turned on the showerhead.
Shoooowwwww—
It was ice cold water.
“Ughh, shi—!”
Had the hot water system of the boiler also broken down? With all this chaos, the thought of taking a bath seemed abandoned. Around this time, Inoi suddenly looked surprised and extremely delighted.
“Water is coming out! This Inoi has never seen such a remarkable thing before! It’s like a small waterfall, amazing!”
She stepped directly into the cold shower and began splashing around like a mackerel parched under the sun, finally encountering water.
“Strange expression, huh?”
“Mwhehe, to provide such wonderful water is certainly the mark of a kind person! May the blessings of the benevolent goddesses be with us!”
“…”
# # #
Shooooooowwwww—
Anyway, the icy water shooting out of the shower seemed like a blessing after a drought to Inoi. For over thirty minutes now, she was still bathing in the cold water without even taking off her clothes.
“Water bill… I guess the government will cover it, right?”
Though I had many thoughts racing through my mind, I eventually left the bathroom and sat back in front of the computer.
Click.
I operated the mouse and accessed the social media site exclusive to Awakeneds. One could only register after certification as an Awakened, and currently, there are about 500,000 registered users in Korea. Despite the need for authentication, posts are completely anonymous, making it an information-rich site.
– “I saw the S-Rank Seo Ye-rim around OO Station today *Certification”
– “S-Rank is really crazy, they say he broke through D-Rank in just five minutes alone.”
– “I just got promoted to D-Rank yesterday. Apparently, you can earn around three million Won a month? MTCH?”
There were many intriguing posts, but instead of clicking on them, I clicked the search bar.
As I was about to type in ‘nymph,’ my hand paused momentarily.
“…”
“Haildo”
“D-Rank Haildo”
“AILDO”
“Amaitdo”
My previous search history appeared.
Out of habit, I clicked my name, “Haildo,” to search for posts.
My heart pounded and my vision blurred as the results quickly came up.
“No search results.”
“…Well, that’s to be expected.”
Half-relieved, half-disappointed.
I refocused and typed in ‘nymph.’
“No search results.”
This time I tried ‘elf.’
– “I’m about to marry a 23-year-old elf girl; giving certification.”
– “Is this elf really 23 or 233? Dog thief scumbag, I really wanna beat you up ㅋㅋ”
– “You’ll just have kids with your elf and escape to Elvenguard, see ya.”
– “Aren’t drifters unable to return to their original world?”
There were plenty of posts related to elves, but searching for nymphs brought up nothing.
Could it be…
“Nymphs are the first?”
Drifters appearing in this world were already fairly common. They even appeared on TV and YouTube, making them somewhat familiar. However, after checking thoroughly, the word ‘nymph’ didn’t pop up at all.
With that thought, the feeling of entanglement in a troublesome situation, coupled with a slight rise in body temperature, began to creep in.
“Reward money…do they give it?”
Money was something I needed.
Back when I was the first D-Rank Hunter, I had made a lot of money and foolishly indulged myself, thinking the glory would last forever.
Nowadays, D-Rank hunters are as common as freelance workers earning about three million Won per month.
Squeak—
At that moment, the door opened.
Inoi, dripping with cold water, appeared.
“I feel energized!”
“Do you want a towel?”
I handed her a long shower towel I had bought long ago but never really used. Inoi marveled at its softness, saying “Woah! Such soft fabric!” before gently drying herself. Of course, her tattered T-shirt was still soaking wet.
“I’ll give you some clothes.”
I had plenty of spare clothes.
I handed her an old tracksuit.
“This Inoi is so grateful! The owner of this house is truly kind! The nymphs never forget a favor, and this Inoi will definitely repay your kindness!”
Click.
While the nymph happily changed into the clothes, I averted my gaze and turned up the heat on the underblanket of the bed.
By the time Inoi had changed and crawled into the bed heated by the underblanket, she exclaimed, “Ah! What is this?!” Her guard dropped like a melting snowman.
“It’s so warm. This is like… like… the fireplace I once encountered on Hestia’s hill… Inoi… house owner… curse…”
With that, Inoi drifted off to sleep. The loud snoring indicated just how exhausted she was.
“…She cursed me before falling asleep?”
The thought crossed my mind as Inoi mentioned a curse before sleeping, which somewhat unnerved me. I was tempted to wake her and ask, but decided against it.
Instead, I decided to further research online. Now that I was her temporary guardian, I wanted to know how I should handle this situation. I was also curious about possible rewards.
“Haildo”
“D-Rank Haildo”
“AILDO”
“Amaitdo”
The recurring search list popped up.
Once again, I clicked my own name at the top and pressed Enter. A brief loading screen appeared before nothing came up—
“Today I saw D-Rank Hunter Haildo, lol.”
My heart raced, and my limbs trembled. Despite knowing I shouldn’t, I couldn’t help but press on the post like I was under some kind of spell.
