027 – When Returning to a Hometown That Has Changed a Lot #1
It has been about two weeks since Lee Joon-Hun was attacked.
“Seo Ye-rim: Haildo, just stay put for a while. I won’t be able to go there for a few days. Our corporation is in chaos because of Osa. If someone comes and asks you about this and that, just say you don’t know. Got it?”
I wasn’t exactly obedient to Seo Ye-rim’s words, but I had spent these two weeks quietly without causing any trouble. The only notable event was that I had received a couple of requests for C-class rifts, and I handled them smoothly.
“Jo Jang Hee: Everyone worked hard! We have good synergy. Let’s meet again! How about our next request on Friday? Sounds good, right? Hehehe.”
“Seol Myeong Hun: Sounds good.”
“Lee Jin-A: Yup.”
I had also gained a group chat with C-class Awakened. It was from the party members I had teamed up with when we defeated the Nidhogg King lizard in the last rift, and I handled the two rifts this time alongside them.
“Jo Jang Hee: By the way, I heard that Squirrel Beasts have been spotted in the area where Da-eun lives? Can I go catch one?”
“Jo Jang Hee: (rabbits cheering emoji)”
The rumor that many Squirrel Beasts lived in the area where I resided was indeed true.
I wasn’t sure if the Telos employees who had come to obtain the well data from my yard spread it or if it was the grandkids of the local Elders spreading the word.
Thanks to that, an increasing number of people started visiting the area, which had seldom seen young visitors before.
The Squirrel Beast had become a topic in the Awakened SNS, referred to as ‘Primordial Village.’
I wondered if it was troublesome for the town, but surprisingly, the Elders enjoyed the increased foot traffic.
“Kids, do you want to catch a Squirrel Beast? I am Professor Park, the village chief. I’ll give you peanuts, which Squirrel Beasts love, so go look around well. It’s important to keep an eye on the bushes.”
The village chief was giving peanuts and nuts to kids who came with their parents to see the Squirrel Beasts.
The children roamed the fields and rice paddies looking for Squirrel Beasts, and in fact, a few Squirrel Beasts left the village with people each day!
“Title: My Encounter with a D-class Hunter Squirrel Beast”
“Content: I wandered around the Squirrel Village for about three days, but the Squirrel Beasts were on guard and hard to see, lol. When I got close to the village chief’s house, one came up and took me home, hehe.”
└ Is that a Squirrel Beast? So cute! Can it fight like a weapon too?
└ I heard that to accept mana, a Squirrel Beast has to have a high intimacy level.
└ I’m trying to get close by petting it every day and taking it for walks!
Everyone is eager to raise Squirrel Beasts.
I also often commented anonymously as if I knew nothing.
“Every Squirrel Beast is different, but from what I heard from the Elders, to get close to a Squirrel Beast, you have to wake up early every morning to groom its fur, hehe. I’m doing that every day.”
└ Do you have a Squirrel Beast too? So jealous!
└ Post a picture.
Although the interest wasn’t in Haildo but rather in Squirrel Beasts… it felt nice to be getting attention online like this!
Anyway.
Before I knew it, the weather had warmed up, signaling spring.
Inoi looked happily at the sprouting seedling of the golden apple tree that had grown up to her knees.
“On this warm spring day…! Flowers are blooming and the Nymphs are waking from their winter slumber…! The Nymphs who were surely hibernating will surely come to find this Inoi…!”
Inoi’s dream was to find other Nymphs that might be living in this world. I thought Inoi was the first Nymph to fall into this world.
Inoi firmly believed there were other Nymphs out there and I planned to respect that dream without shattering it.
“If I grow this golden apple tree big enough for it to bear fruit… the Nymphs will surely come drawn to its scent…! This Inoi will diligently grow the tree…!”
Inoi also said she was nurturing the golden apple—marmelo—to meet the Nymphs.
I hoped it would work out.
Suddenly, I became curious.
“What will you do when you meet the Nymph sisters?”
“Hmm, this Inoi also wants to create a chat room for Nymphs like the head of the house…! A Nymph group chat for the Nymph sisters…! This Inoi’s dream…!”
What a wonderful dream it was.
I too reaffirmed my dream of reaching higher places.
“Because of that Lee Joon-Hun, I was almost in big trouble in various ways.”
It was a moment that sent chills down my spine even thinking back on it.
If it hadn’t been for Kkungkkungi or Ahn Ahn’s help, it would have been really dangerous.
Inoi chimed in.
“This Inoi also regrets that she should have hit him with two more strikes in ‘Nymph Beat, Beat It’…! Even now, I want to go find him and hit him…!”
I rolled my fists and opened my phone while looking at the angry Inoi.
When I turned on the internet, a massive headline caught my attention.
“S-class Awakened’s Reality? Third-generation conglomerate, positive response in both categories!”
“Owner risk? Falling stock prices for not just Osa Pharmaceuticals but all affiliate companies—”
These past few days, there had been a lot of news about Lee Joon-Hun.
It seemed like someone was spreading Lee Joon-Hun’s wrongdoings far and wide as if they had been waiting for it, and as a result, it looked like Lee Joon-Hun had various trials ahead.
“There’s not a single story about our fight.”
It seemed that the story of Lee Joon-Hun fighting me and being carried off in an ambulance had been buried. I wondered if Osa Group had covered it up.
Clunk-.
I touched the beam saber handle attached to my waist, thinking back to that moment.
“I need to return it.”
Since it was too precious of an item, I hesitated to send it by parcel and instead kept it.
What should I do?
“Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn, keep an eye on the house and make sure people can’t get in.”
━Kkungkkungi…!
━Zzzii…!
# # #
“So many tall buildings… It’s like the high peaks of Olympus, where the gods reside…!”
Olympus is said to be a mountain where gods live.
I was curious about this ‘god’ that Inoi often mentioned, so I asked.
“Have you ever seen Mount Olympus?”
“Actually, this Inoi has never seen Mount Olympus…! Because… Olympus is a mountain where the gods live…! It’s a world completely different from little Nymph Inoi….”
Inoi drooped dejectedly.
It seemed that the gods Inoi spoke of were so grand and otherworldly that Inoi felt small in comparison.
High mountains of gods.
Little Nymphs living in a stream in the forest.
Indeed, they were on different levels.
“But if I were to see the peaks of Olympus, it must look like this…! A truly magnificent and beautiful city…!”
Inoi was very pleased as she looked at the scenery of Makcheon City, a new city that had emerged near Seoul since the era of rifts.
This city, Makcheon, had no height restrictions on buildings, so it was filled with towering skyscrapers erected by the world’s top corporations, just like its name suggested.
“I hear the average building is 100 floors. Isn’t it amazing? Korea is a fifth-generation revolutionary advanced country. That’s why global companies come to Makcheon and build skyscrapers here.”
“100 floors… This Inoi can’t even begin to imagine…!”
Thanks to the tall buildings, in order to prevent the ground from becoming dark due to the lack of sunlight, they added all sorts of neon lights and signs, making the city at night resemble a cyberpunk dystopia.
It seems many tourists come just to experience that atmosphere as well.
“Once upon a time, there was plenty of land and fields to play in. Really.”
Seeing such tall buildings rising over land that had become a burden and couldn’t be sold filled me with a sense of nostalgia, reminding me of the elementary school days when I attended school nearby.
Anyway.
The reason I came to this city that resembled a dystopia was simple.
Osa Group’s headquarters is located here.
“To be honest, I want to take it all for myself.”
The beam saber.
With that alone, it would be enough to cover the cost of the atrocities that Lee Joon-Hun inflicted upon me.
“…No, in fact, it exceeds that.”
So I couldn’t deceive my prickly conscience, and I sought to return the weapon to Osa Group. The building was incredibly tall, the likes of which I had never seen before.
“I feel like a total country bumpkin.”
“This Inoi wonders if the head of the house is also visiting the city of Makcheon for the first time…!”
“Well, it’s not my first time.”
I didn’t have much experience visiting Makcheon City.
This city was built about five years ago.
At that time, I was deep in a slump and was in a phase of digging a hole for myself.
Zziii-.
As I entered through the automatic doors and looked around the lobby of the headquarters, I saw a reception desk. I hesitated and approached the women working there.
“Um, I came to return a lost item. Here, it’s Lee Joon-Hun’s beam saber. You know Lee Joon-Hun? He’s the fourth son of Osa Group or something.”
They looked sharp and intelligent, and I felt unnecessarily nervous.
Because of the memory of being shaken down, I had developed the habit of shrinking a bit when facing women who seemed unusually intimidating.
Chatter-.
Feeling awkward, I looked around, and the building inside was spacious and bustling with people.
It was a moment that made me realize once again that Lee Joon-Hun was incredibly wealthy.
To my knowledge, Telos Group, which belonged to Seo Ye-rim’s family, also had its headquarters in this Makcheon City. Now I finally understood that everyone was from a different world.
I understood how Inoi felt small, comparing herself to the gods of Olympus.
“If it’s Lee Joon-Hun… Yes, sir. Please wait a moment,”
The receptionist got in touch with someone.
While I expected to receive a Hanwoo meat set in return for honestly returning the beam saber, men in black suits suddenly appeared in a group.
“Let’s go.”
They guided Inoi and me and we boarded the elevator.
The elevator rose without end.
Being with men in suits made me feel constrained.
I wondered if the feeling of being a grain of rice tightly rolled between seaweed in a kimbap was exactly how I felt right now.
“We’re going up into the sky…! This Inoi feels like she’s flying high in the sky like Zephyrus, the west wind…! It’s truly high…!”
Inoi seemed delighted by the scenery visible through the transparent elevator window.
“No Nymph, for sure, has ever gone up to a building as high as this…! This Inoi feels like she’s riding on… this airplane—!”
The floor we were headed to was the 164th floor, just beneath the top of the Osa Group headquarters.
For a moment, I was dizzy from the vast height.
Ding-.
Soon, the cheerful sound of the elevator rang, and the doors opened.
Upon opening, a very spacious area spread out before us.
“There’s even a fountain in this high sky…! There are plenty of drinking fountains too…!”
Inoi dashed forward.
As I was surprised that there was indeed a fountain installed indoors, someone appeared among the paintings and craft items, for which I couldn’t even guess the price.
Clack, clack.
It was a neatly coiffed woman with amber hair wearing a white dress, and perhaps because of the location, she looked like an angel living in heaven.
“Haildo, right? My brother’s friend? Nice to meet you. I’m Lee An-na, Lee Joon-Hun’s younger sister. Do you like coffee? If you don’t like caffeine, tea?”
The name ‘An-na’ along with ‘coffee’ and ‘caffeine’ sounded exceptionally vivid.
Is she a foreigner?
Looking at her appearance, she seemed to have a blend of Korean and foreign blood.
“This Inoi asks for peppermint tea that reminds her of menthenoi…! A refreshing peppermint like the stream of summer…!”
“I’ll just have water.”
I received the water.
While pondering how much this crystal water cup might cost, An-na spoke.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from my brother. It was ages ago, but he said he was angry because there was a guy doing better than him. My brother has a bit of a jealous streak.”
“Ah…”
“He couldn’t stand to see someone doing better than him. Well, that’s how our family is. When the height restrictions in Makcheon were lifted, we were the first to build a building taller than the Dubai Building.”
What was she trying to say?
I looked at this third-generation conglomerate woman with some tension.
I couldn’t help but worry that Inoi might randomly wander around and break pottery or tear a painting.
Then An-na seemed to be overcome with emotion and spoke as if overwhelmed.
“But he would never do drugs. That’s why he could inherit the pharmaceutical company from our father. The things they are shouting about on TV are lies.”
“What does that mean…?”
“My brother went to find you after turning off the GPS, right? What happened then? I’d like you to share honestly. For some reason, my brother doesn’t want to talk about it at all.”
Did Lee Joon-Hun completely shut up about what happened that day?
If that’s the case, was it okay for me to talk about it now?
However, An-na started shedding tears, and seeing that made me feel very sorry and pitiful.
In the end, I recounted what I knew.
Chitchat.
Soon, after hearing the explanation, An-na raised her eyebrows.
“Ambulances came… two of them?”
“Yes. When I called, they said there was a confusion at the 119 center.”
“Two ambulances….”
As if something had occurred to her, An-na called over a young man who looked like her secretary and gave him a quiet instruction. Then, she gently wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Thank you for telling me. And I appreciate you bringing back the beam saber. Though it’s an old model and the output is low, my brother particularly liked this toy—.”
Wait a minute—
Are you saying Lee Joon-Hun’s beam saber is an old model?
If that’s the case, does that mean there are new models available?
When I was surprised, An-na looked even more shocked.
The third-generation conglomerate Lee An-na, shaking with surprise.
Soon she broke into a chuckle.
“This time, the military will be releasing a new model, but it’s just a prototype. Ah, we do have a prototype; should we let you try it out? For real-world data collection. Secretary Kim—.”
The man in a black suit very technically brought a case.
When the case opened, the sound of mechanisms activating echoed, revealing a beautifully designed silver handle inside.
“It’s a sword that charges based on the user’s mana. We lowered the production cost, but the performance is better. Explosion incidents have significantly decreased compared to the old model. The lifespan is also much longer!”
So, there were explosion incidents with the beam saber as well.
Anyway, I obtained the prototype beam saber, which embodied Osa Group’s technology.
Zwooong-.
As C-class mana filled it, the brilliant white light that emitted was magnificent. A weapon that becomes stronger depending on the user’s mana grade—how romantic!
“Well then, I’ll see you again sometime.”
Swish-.
Leaving behind the waving third-generation conglomerate, I descended the towering building like Olympus. I had fled quickly, fearing they would ask for the beam saber back.
Just how valuable of a weapon could this be?
As I basked in that happy thought, I headed towards a slum that had emerged next to the city of Makcheon.
Originally, it wasn’t a slum, but even in the daylight, the shadowy city alley and flickering neon lights, along with the heavy graffiti plastered on the walls, felt quite uncanny.
Walking through the surreal back alleys of this city, Inoi asked.
“Head of the house…! I wonder where you’re going now…!”
“To my mom and dad’s house. It’s nearby.”
How many years had it been since I returned to my hometown?
I already felt dizzy at the prospect ahead of me.
