032 – My Lime Golden Apple Tree #3
Living in the same neighborhood meant sharing a similar past in many ways.
For instance, it felt like this.
“Don’t you know the Uddam stationery store? There’s that gambling machine where you put in 100 won and play rock-paper-scissors. If you win, a card comes out, and you buy junk food with that card, remember?”
The stationery store that contained all my childhood memories.
I liked to think back and talk about it.
My entire elementary school life revolved around the Uddam stationery store.
However, recently, I haven’t had anyone to share those stories with.
But Lee Jin-A understood exactly where I was talking about.
“Wasn’t the card 100 won each? I think we bought sausages and hotteok with the cards and grilled them on the burner. Getting the sausage stuffed in between the hotteok.”
“Yeah! We called it a hamburger when we stuffed the sausage between two hotteok. I started that trend in our neighborhood. I see you’ve tried it too. You should know it’s thanks to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lee Jin-A and I had a moderate age gap.
But it wasn’t so much that we couldn’t share memories from the same generation.
It seemed Lee Jin-A didn’t dislike talking about these stories, as she spoke more than usual.
“I played the ‘machine snail’ a lot in front of the stationery store. You put in 100 won, and it went up to level 4.”
Machine snail.
It was a game I was familiar with.
And I realized that our memories were shared more than I thought.
“I think it was when I was in the 5th grade that the machine snail was at the stationery store. When I was playing games there, I doubt there was anyone I didn’t know among those kids.”
Could it be that Lee Jin-A and I met during our childhood?
I couldn’t recall anything specific.
With such a strong impression, I should have remembered her.
But well, childhood memories tend to blur with time like words written in the sand.
Anyway.
Today, I sat in the passenger seat, talking quite a bit about the neighborhood with Jin-A.
Sometimes, silence would creep in between us, but it was much better than sitting silently in the passenger seat.
“Haildo, didn’t your aunt hang a banner saying you were 2nd in the class when you were in elementary school? At the intersection in front of the mart. I was curious who you were every time I passed by since your name was right there.”
That was when I was in the 6th grade.
Looking back, I thought it would become a memory, but it still felt embarrassing; it seemed that no matter how much time passed, such embarrassing memories never got beautified.
A moment of silence returned.
Whenever this awkward silence came about, I always spoke first, so when I was thinking about what to say this time…
“The Uddam stationery store is still there.”
“Really?”
“The aunt and uncle have aged a lot, though.”
Is this for real?
The place that held all my childhood dreams.
Are you telling me the place that shared half of my elementary school life is still around?
I felt a wave of emotion wash over me.
“Let’s go there together. We have to go on a date anyway.”
Lee Jin-A’s proposal was shocking.
We have to go on a date.
What does that even mean? I felt a bit sluggish in my thinking, but as she effortlessly backed the car into the parking spot, she opened her mouth.
“My dad is sensitive about my sister’s boyfriend problems, so there’s a lot I need to do. We can just act like we’re dating, take some pictures, and show them.”
I thought I understood what she meant.
And it wasn’t a bad idea for me either.
My mom and dad have also been sending messages in our family group chat asking me, “Are you having a good date?”
If I send one or two pictures, it should quiet down for a while.
“Get out first and wait in line. I’ll finish parking and join you.”
“Okay.”
Following Jin-A’s instructions, I got out of the car.
In front of me were Awakened individuals waiting to explore a fixed rift. They examined me intently from top to bottom as I stepped out of the old truck, their faces lighting up in recognition.
Soon, a man asked me,
“Did you come alone? We came as a pair. Would you like to join us? This rift allows three people to enter.”
Beside the man stood a woman crossing her arms.
Her equipment was better compared to the man’s.
Could they be an Awakened couple?
I heard that couples often fight when working together in a rift.
In fact, I had seen many couples argue or break up inside rifts, ruining the party atmosphere and failing the mission, so I didn’t particularly like couples.
That’s the real reason.
“I do have a companion. Sorry, but I’ll have to decline your party offer. Here she comes.”
Thud.
Having finished parking, Jin-A got out of the truck and began unloading the gear from the truck bed.
Perhaps intimidated by her aura, the couple said, “I see,” and quickly turned their heads away.
“Let’s not make eye contact, okay, Oppa?”
“I think that would be best.”
Having a strong older sister type like this must make life easier.
Should I try frowning a bit too?
“What’s with that expression? Are you trying to intimidate me?”
“……”
Maybe I shouldn’t.
After all, people must smile to have good fortune.
Soon, Jin-A looked at something like an electronic display board nearby and said,
“We get 10 minutes of exploration time for each team, so it’ll take about an hour until our turn. We should find one more team member during that time.”
In this fixed rift in Sejong City, the entry limit was three people.
But we were two.
It was common to find party members on the spot, so as I scanned the surroundings, someone cautiously approached me.
“Are you looking for a party member? I came alone…”
It was a woman’s voice that was somewhat shy yet warm and kind.
When I turned to look at her face, I was taken aback.
“What? Isn’t that Ari?”
“Oh? Senior?”
She was Yu Ara.
My junior whom I hadn’t seen much lately because she had been busy.
Soon, Yu Ara clapped her hands excitedly.
“Senior! What are the chances of running into you here? Is this what you call a coincidence? Really nice to see you! I rushed over and don’t really know anyone here.”
She raised her palm to me.
I guess she was asking for a high five.
Clap, clap.
I responded enthusiastically, feeling like part of the world now.
What are the odds of meeting here?
Korea really is a small country.
“Ari, weren’t you off the field?”
“Fixed rifts are safe. Plus, I need the Sunstone that only comes from this fixed rift in Sejong City for the thesis I’m working on.”
“Oh, really? What’s the thesis about?”
I asked purely out of curiosity.
I had never seen someone writing a thesis before.
Yu Ara stopped, smiling, and rolled her eyes for about two seconds.
“It’s not a mainstream thesis, so you might find it unfamiliar. It’s called ‘A Brief Study on the Entropy Coefficient Measurement of Fixed Rifts’ Effects on Female Mitochondria and Hemoglobin Production.’”
That was indeed a rather unfamiliar title.
I was just impressed that someone who came from being an Awakened is using such specialized terminology.
I had no idea what “entropy” meant, though.
I guess I’m just not the scholarly type.
Soon, Yu Ara’s big eyes turned to Jin-A.
“Excuse me, but who is this person? I’ve been curious since earlier.”
Jin-A certainly had a distinctive appearance that raised questions from others. I felt it was my turn to introduce our friend.
“This is Lee Jin-A. She’s in the same C rank as me and my rift partner. Jin-A, this is my junior, Yu Ara. She used to be somewhat famous. Do you recognize her?”
“I do. I’ve seen her on TV before, although it was quite a while ago. I wondered why I hadn’t seen her for a while, and it turns out she’s been working as a health official.”
Jin-A seemed to have a pretty good memory.
I slightly sensed that she would remember the stationery store or my banner but didn’t expect her to know about Yu Ara being famous before.
Well, it made sense since Yu Ara was connected to Seo Ye-rim and Yang Gang-gu.
Anyway.
A three-person party had been successfully formed.
# # #
“Ari, it’s been a while since you were on the field, hasn’t it? Are you going to be okay?”
“Senior, even if I look like this, I’ve made it up to B rank! Aren’t you going into a fixed rift for the first time? You’re not scared, are you?”
We made small talk as we prepared to enter the rift.
I felt quite nervous and excited about entering a fixed rift for the first time.
—Bark bark…!
—Scratching…!
Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn seemed to be fired up as well.
I wasn’t sure if they would be useful, though.
“Alright, let’s move in.”
Jin-A, an active C rank with ample experience in fixed rifts, took the lead and gave orders. We each grabbed our gear and entered the rift, soon facing a fascinating sight.
“It’s a real ruin, huh?”
The diverse ecology inside the rift was so famous that it didn’t need further explanation.
And among that ecology, there were not only natural environments but also artificial structures.
The rift in Sejong City felt very much like a “temple” built by someone. There were murals and stone walls that were calm and aesthetically pleasing.
Soon, an informed Yu Ara began to explain.
“According to the elves, this is called the Temple of Baldur. It was a temple dedicated to the god of light, Baldur, and it seems it became a rift over time.”
The Temple of Baldur, huh.
I glanced at a nearby rock.
When I picked it up, I felt a warm energy emanating from it.
“Is this the Sunstone?”
“Yes, that’s right. All the stones lying around here hold solar power. You can take as many as you want; they reset every 10 minutes anyway. Just be sure to manage your time.”
A rift resets every 10 minutes.
I had heard about it but was experiencing it for the first time.
“So, after 10 minutes, everything resets, regardless of how many stones we take? From nothing to something? Is that possible? That’s really fascinating.”
“Exactly. It’s a resource-generating rift every 10 minutes, which is why it’s maintained with restricted access and called a fixed rift. The fifth industrial revolution is due to rifts like this—”
Yu Ara was my junior.
I was supposed to be the one providing information, but now it had reversed.
While I was proud of her, I also felt a pang of regret and embarrassment for the time I had stagnated.
At that moment, Jin-A asked, “I heard you stepped back from the field, but you seem to know quite a lot. Most current members don’t know this much. Your equipment looks pretty advanced too—”
Just as Jin-A began to say something, she took a stance.
Drawing her sword from her waist and taking on a fierce expression.
Suddenly, at the far end of the corridor, terrible screams echoed as scorpions emerged.
This was my chance to show off a bit.
“Those must be ‘Assassin Scorpions.’”
Each one was about 50 cm long and 30 cm tall.
Their exoskeletons were sturdy, and the venom in their tails could paralyze even a healthy cow in 10 minutes.
They looked terrifying at a glance, but they had the same intelligence as ordinary scorpions, so I had heard that if we had C rank weapons, we could handle them without issue.
At that moment, Yu Ara began to catch her breath with a sigh.
Her shoulders shook slightly, and her hands trembled, bringing back memories.
There was a time when Yu Ara would often become scared during sparring or real combat, unable to demonstrate even half of her usual skills.
Since she had made it to B rank, I thought she had overcome that habit.
Was she nervous after returning to the field after so long?
“Yu Ara, stand behind me.”
“…I’m sorry, Senior.”
“Let’s talk about it later.”
Whoosh—.
I infused C rank mana into my lightsaber.
The bright lightsaber glowed like a fluorescent light.
Its dazzling brilliance caused Jin-A to flinch slightly.
“Isn’t that an expensive weapon?”
“Yeah, that’s why it’s been my dream to wield it in actual combat. I’ve cut logs many times, but this will be my first time cutting a living creature. Kkungkkungi, this time you better stay put.”
—Bark bark…!
An upgraded version of a weapon used by S rank Lee Joon-Hun.
Just the thought of wielding it in actual combat had my body itching with excitement.
It was itching so much, it felt like ants were crawling on my back!
—Scratch, scratch—.
No, wait, it turns out that Ahn Ahn was actually crawling on my back!
Pop—.
Hele landed from my shoulder to the floor, standing between the scorpions and us, raising his front legs up and down.
—Scratch, scratch—!
At that moment, the scorpions that had been charging at us came to an abrupt halt.
And then they began to chatter among themselves.
—Scratch?
—Scratch scratch?
—Ziz.
What’s going on?
What’s happening right now?
I wasn’t sure, but I could tell that the insects and arthropods were somehow “communicating” in their respective languages!
—Scratch!
—Scratch scratch!
En masse, the scorpions scurried away to some direction.
Watching them leave, the honey ant emperor Ahn Ahn waved his front legs from side to side at me.
—Scratch…!
“I might sound crazy, but I think Ahn Ahn is telling us to follow those scorpions.”
