003 – Nymph Inoi # 3
Once upon a time, before the world split open.
There were celebrities on TV who struggled with malicious comments.
The prescription given to them by their counselor was simple.
It was to not look at the bad comments.
But that’s the thing about the human heart.
If someone is talking about me somewhere, I can’t help but feel the urge to listen to what they are saying.
With that sentiment, I clicked on the post that read, “I saw D Rank Hunter Haildo today lol.”
Click-.
After a brief loading time, a rather short post appeared before my eyes.
“I saw D Rank Hunter Haildo today lol (3)”
“10 years in, and still a D rank lol. Can’t even gather cores, getting roasted haha. A complete has-been, don’t you think it’s about time to retire?”
“……”
I didn’t expect to find anything good in those words.
But actually confirming it made me feel a bit dizzy.
I thought I had grown used to seeing such posts five years ago, but it seemed not to be the case. Since it looked like the post was written by someone who was at the scene when I messed up gathering a core today.
Calmly, I checked the comments.
Anonymous: “Who is Haildo? Is he famous?”
└ Original poster: “Don’t you know Haildo? The first D rank Hunter? The first to awaken mana and became a D rank.”
└ “How the hell would I know? Do you know who was the first person to eat a hamburger?”
“……”
Well, sure.
That’s exactly how I felt now.
Someone who was once famous.
Now, if my name were mentioned by someone, it would only be a laughingstock.
Still, curiously, it felt slightly good that there were still some people who hadn’t forgotten me. Though I say this now, I honestly had liked getting attention to some extent.
Of course, being noticed for negative reasons was honestly sad.
Just a has-been slowly forgotten by people.
Should I just accept that life?
“Wait a second.”
At that moment, I looked over at Nymph Inoi, who was sleeping soundly on the bed.
Perhaps the first nymph to arrive in this world, Inoi.
It was only natural for me, the original discoverer, to get attention when handing this creature over to the institution.
Thinking that made my feelings quite complicated.
But I didn’t really have many options.
“Where am I supposed to sleep?”
On a night when the boiler was broken.
I roughly laid down the remaining blankets on the floor and closed my eyes.
But when I woke up thirsty, it was morning.
“Why is the time passing so quickly?”
“It’s morning…!”
Nymph Inoi exclaimed cheerfully.
Perhaps because I had slept in a warm blanket, I felt better than yesterday. I entertained the thought that maybe all of this was a dream—but it wasn’t.
This seemed to be an undeniable reality.
“Hold on.”
As I thought about having cereal I had saved for breakfast, I headed towards the kitchen at the front door when I noticed red shoes placed in the entrance.
They were shoes worth over ten million won.
“…Shit…”
The thought that I would have to compensate for this spun my head around.
I was in a situation where the boiler was broken, and I was sleeping on a cold floor.
If I had a lifeline, it would only be this Nymph Inoi.
“Still, I think this could be used for something…”
I mused.
I looked at the shoes that had been soiled with the essence of the “Bashikir Queen Bee.”
The essence of the “Bashikir Queen Bee” was not particularly toxic or harmful to the human body, but it was notorious for being hard to wash off once it got on something.
Because of those properties, it was said to be used to mark something that shouldn’t be easily erased, like self-defense paintballs or something.
“If only this wasn’t soiled, I could probably sell it secondhand.”
S Rank Awakened Seo Ye-rim.
It was a treasured item used by a beauty whom even I, who was scared of her, would recognize as beautiful, so I could probably sell it for a pretty high price.
Maybe I could even sell it for more than the original cost with a premium attached.
Splash-.
After pouring milk over my cereal, I handed a bowl to Nymph Inoi.
Afterward, I hesitated, thinking, ‘Can she even eat this? Is there anything she might not like…?’ but Inoi eagerly dug into the cereal.
“It’s delicious…! The taste of this grain…! I can feel the warmth of Demeter, the goddess of grain…! Master of the house, this is a good meal…!”
Inoi was surprisingly polite.
After thanking me several times, she shouted,
“Then this Inoi, having eaten, will help the master of the house…! I am a helper nymph who was also responsible for cleaning the temple…! I will clean the house…!”
Wababat-.
Nymph Inoi darted around my cramped living space.
Claiming to clean, she sprayed water from the showerhead everywhere. It was a bewildering cleaning method.
Thanks to that, everything from my blankets to the bed and furniture got soaked.
I was in total panic.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
She froze when I shouted loudly.
Looking at me, she confidently said, “I cleaned…!” It seemed she didn’t even realize what she had done wrong.
It was a common occurrence for drifters adapting and living in this world.
I had laughed, thinking it was foolish when I saw the story of an elf shooting arrows at the tiger on TV.
But now, being the person experiencing it myself, I couldn’t laugh at all.
“From now on, ask me before doing anything.”
“I understand…”
Inoi’s posture drooped as if she had been scolded.
Or rather, looking closely, she seemed disappointed that she couldn’t sprinkle any more water around!
“This Inoi likes water cleaning…! I wonder if it’s okay to sprinkle water on the blankets and bed…!”
“……”
She truly was a peculiar creature.
I obviously shook my head.
“No.”
“Then I wonder if I can sprinkle water on the shoe cabinet…!”
“No.”
“Then I wonder if I can clean the shoes soiled with the essence of Bashikir Queen Bee…!”
“Can’t… clean? Can you clean them?”
I asked.
In response, Inoi proudly puffed out her chest and said,
“This Inoi was also friends with the honeywater nymph Vitriol…! Honeywater nymphs are friends with Bashikir bees…! They taught me how to clean the excretions of bees…!”
“Oh!?”
# # #
We first walked through the city.
It was to find a large flower shop.
The reason for finding a flower shop was simple.
“To erase the essence of Bashikir Queen Bee, it needs to be cleaned with water washed from hyacinth flowers…!”
According to Inoi, we needed to obtain a flower called ‘hyacinth.’
I didn’t know if we could really clean the shoes, but if it worked out, it would be money over ten million won.
I had no reason not to invest a day.
With that sentiment, I searched online and was walking to a large flower shop when Inoi shivered while looking at posters of elf models hanging on the wall.
“There are so many mean long-eared elves…!”
Mean long-eared elves?
What on earth is that?
As I was curious, Nymph Inoi spoke.
“Nymphs were kind…! But then long-eared fairies appeared from distant lands, seducing people and tormenting nymphs…! Originally, the ancient fairies were nymphs…!”
It was a peculiar story.
But it was clear that Inoi hated elves. As far as I knew, the drifting elves had never spoken of nymphs.
Anyway.
With that thought, I was able to arrive at the flower shop.
It seemed to be a shop specializing in bouquets and flower arrangements for lovers, a far cry from my world.
In this winter, it turned out this was the only place close by that sold hyacinths.
Inoi exclaimed with awe.
“It’s amazing that flowers are blooming in this cold winter…!”
Inoi was wearing the padding I lent her like a long coat and had on the hood. Because she looked like an ordinary elementary school girl, the shop owner, who looked like she was around thirty, smiled brightly.
“Do you need any flowers?”
“Um… do you have hyacinths?”
“Oh, just a moment.”
Swoosh-.
Soon, the shop owner brought over a potted flower that was the size of her palm.
Upon seeing it, Nymph Inoi grinned with glee.
“Hyacinths are the flowers that transformed from Hyacinthus, a man who was the lover of Apollo…! In other words, they are flowers that blossomed at the end of love between men…!”
“Ew-.”
That was knowledge I didn’t particularly want to know.
The flower blossomed from the love between men.
It made me reluctant to accept the pot.
But I had to take it.
I had no choice.
It might help me clean off the queen bee’s essence, after all.
If all went well, I might be able to fix the boiler with the money from selling the shoes.
Also, I could accept the gear that hunters had to throw away because of the queen bee’s essence and clean it… or buy secondhand items and resell them…
“Hehe.”
I felt good thinking about ways to make money.
Swoosh-.
At that moment, when Inoi received the wrapped flower, she sniffed it and said.
“This hyacinth has a very nice fragrance…! And… if there’s flower oil, as I mentioned yesterday, it might also be able to lift the curse that has taken root in the master of the house…!”
“…Curse?”
Come to think of it, I remembered Inoi had tried to mention something about a curse before she fell asleep yesterday. A curse that had taken root in my body.
What on earth could that mean?
# # #
“Flower shop?”
Seo Ye-rim was receiving a report from her assistant and partner, C rank hunter Ahn Young-eun. She learned that D rank hunter Haildo, who had made her throw away her shoes yesterday, had stopped by a flower shop in the city.
“A flower shop that doesn’t suit him at all.”
Seo Ye-rim snorted.
While she was looking out of the office window, C rank hunter Young-eun casually asked while touching her short bob with her fingers.
“Is he buying flowers for a girl? The only reason a guy buys flowers is to give them to a girl.”
“Does Haildo have a girlfriend?”
“…I don’t know? Ye-rim, you really love flowers, don’t you? Maybe he’s planning to give them to you? Perhaps it’s to apologize for ruining your shoes.”
He’s trying to make up for ten million won shoes with flowers?
Ye-rim interpreted Young-eun’s story that way.
It felt a bit repulsive, but still, receiving an apology seems like a pleasant thing.
With that, Seo Ye-rim waited for the man in the office.
However, the D rank hunter didn’t come to Seo Ye-rim’s office even after lunch time passed and evening arrived.
Seo Ye-rim couldn’t shake off the thought in her head that “the only reason a guy buys flowers is to give them to a girl.”
