046 – Awakened of the Skyscraper #1
“Kkungkkungi─, Kkungkkungi─, Kkungkkung, Kkungkkung─, Kkungkkungi─, Kkungkkungi─, Kkungkkung, Kkungkkung─.”
Inoi wandered through the rice fields as the sun rose, singing a very strange song.
Are they feeling good?
“Inoi, is something good happening?”
“Hmm, the master of the house says not to be surprised when you hear this…! This Inoi just cleared stage 2 with only 100 won…! No nymph could ever pass a ruin filled with mummies with just 100 won…!”
Stage 2 with 100 won, huh.
It seemed they had gotten better since they had been playing the arcade machine all day yesterday.
Swoosh-.
I walked through the neighborhood with Inoi, retrieving the wooden traps I had set up.
For reference, the wooden traps were made by intertwining branches, designed to fall when the branches were disturbed, capturing animals.
Yet there wasn’t a single beast caught in the traps.
I clicked my tongue in frustration when someone watching me said:
“Do you really think squirrels would get caught like that? They’re very clever. Look, they’re up there in the tree, watching us.”
He was a young man about my age.
Is he awakened?
He must be one of the challengers who came to capture squirrels. The ‘Squirrel Distribution License’ hanging around his neck was proof of that.
Professor Park, the village chief, gives one of those to any guest arriving in the village.
Without that, you can’t catch squirrels.
Anyway.
Just like the prospective squirrel trainer said, the squirrels were perched in the trees, looking down at us. In their hands, they held almonds that resembled the ones I had placed generously in the traps.
“Failed, it seems.”
I had been trying to catch Kkungkkungi, after all.
I couldn’t see Kkungkkungi on the drone I had set up either.
━Kkungkkung…!
Suddenly, something rushed in from afar, scampered up my leg, and sat on my shoulder. It was Kkungkkungi.
The prospective squirrel trainer was soon shocked.
“That one! It’s quite big; isn’t it the top squirrel Kkungkkungi? Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing it in person! Are you perhaps the Kkungkkungi trainer, Haildo?”
“Yes. I am that Haildo.”
In the past few days, more and more people have been recognizing Kkungkkungi and me.
It must be because we’ve been mentioned in posts on the Awakened social network?
Thanks to a recent post titled “My Encounter with Kkungkkungi and Haildo” receiving the most recommendations, I seemed to be gaining some fame as a squirrel authority.
Of course, I knew better than anyone that this fame was temporary.
But it was hard not to feel happy about receiving attention.
I said seriously to help the junior.
“To catch squirrels, you need patience. In fact, we’re not catching squirrels; the squirrels are the ones catching us. It’s a selection process.”
“Is that so? I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I saw on the internet that squirrels like people who wear hats. What do you think about that?”
“Every squirrel is different, but I’m not sure if they like people more just because they’re wearing hats. If they have a preference, they seem to like almonds over peanuts. And it appears they prefer children to adults.”
The children who came to play with their parents adopted more squirrels than the awakened who came to make them their partners.
Even I, the nation’s top authority on squirrelry, couldn’t comprehend why.
# # #
━Kkungkkung…!
Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a knocking sound at the door.
Of course, it wasn’t a real knock; it was the sound of an animal’s cry.
Swoosh-.
I was fiddling with my computer, so I got up and opened the window.
Kkungkkungi.
It seemed he was wandering near our house.
“It appeared at 10 PM. It often shows up at night. Is it a nocturnal animal?”
━Kkungkkung…!
The Kkungkkungi that had been asleep also stirred on the cushion.
It seemed ready to leap outside at any moment to challenge a rival.
━Szz-.
Only the Emperor of Honey Ants, Ahn Ahn, remained relaxed as usual.
Swoosh-.
I went out to the yard and poured a bunch of the beloved almonds into the food bowl for the squirrels. Then I placed a piece of yellow candy that Lee Jin-A had given me on top.
Thud-.
After placing the bowl on the ground, I quietly moved back and extended my internal magic in all directions. It was a technique I had used recently in the rift.
I was making the surrounding area my domain.
Swish-.
In that heightened state, I sensed something moving.
“Stop!”
I fired the net gun I had in my hand.
It was a 5 million won net gun that could temporarily restrain C-class demons.
Pishung, Wham-!
“Eek…! It’s a nymph-hating net…! Eek…!”
But upon closer inspection, the one caught in the net was Inoi.
Wasn’t Inoi crouching in the yard, thrashing around after being hit by the net gun?
“Oh no, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there!”
Since I wasn’t a detection device like Lee Jin-A or Yu Ara, I had many shortcomings in sensing a presence with magic.
As soon as I untangled the net, Inoi stood up and angrily shouted.
“It’s a nymph-hating net…! This net has captured many nymphs, so I should never let the end of it touch a nymph…!”
According to Inoi, many nymphs had been caught in the net.
What happened to those captured nymphs, that was unknown.
Anyway.
I pulled a 10,000 won bill from my pocket to apologize to Inoi, but their reaction was lukewarm.
“I prefer coins more…!”
It seemed Inoi preferred the 100 won coins that could be used in arcade machines over bills.
I took a 100 won coin from my pocket and handed it to Inoi, calming them down.
“Five coins… With this, I can get to stage 3…! But more than that, I’m curious what the master of the house has been doing…!”
“Me? I was trying to capture Kkungkkungi by giving it food.”
Swoosh-.
I glanced at the food bowl I had set up for Kkungkkungi.
But something amazing had happened.
Only the yellow candy that was placed on top of the mound of almonds in Kkungkkungi’s bowl had disappeared.
Did Kkungkkungi or Ahn Ahn eat it?
“Did you guys eat it?”
━Grr…
━Szz-!
It seemed they hadn’t eaten it.
Well, it’s not like these guys would randomly pick up food to eat. So who could have eaten the candy in the commotion?
“I came into my yard.”
There was only one way to find out.
I called Seo Ye-rim.
“Ye-rim, you have the CCTV footage of my yard, right? Can I check that? There’s something I want to see. The footage from 10 minutes ago.”
━You can check that on your computer, right? Just wait a moment; I’ll be there soon since I’m nearby.
That’s how it was at 11 PM.
Seo Ye-rim entered the yard with her secretary, Ahn Young-eun.
“Haildo, hello! Inoi, Kkungkkungi, hi! Look at Kkungkkungi! Doesn’t it seem to have grown bigger? It seems much larger than my palm now!”
Secretary Ahn Young-eun really liked squirrels.
Kkungkkungi, who was darting away.
As Secretary Ahn Young-eun chased after it, Seo Ye-rim asked:
“Want to see the CCTV? But aren’t you asking me for too much these days? I believe if someone comes, someone else has to go. That’s business.”
Thinking back, that was true.
I had been getting a lot of help from Seo Ye-rim lately.
While I was reflecting on that, Seo Ye-rim said.
“If you have nothing to do tomorrow, come to the Telos Corporation headquarters in Makcheon City. It’s not me, but the corporation needs something from you. Then I’ll teach you how to view the yard CCTV. You have a Telos home service ID, right?”
After signing up for various sites, I was able to check the CCTV circuit installed in my yard on the site Seo Ye-rim provided.
About 20 minutes earlier.
When I played the video, there was a clip showing the quick moment when the candy disappeared.
“Let’s watch it slower.”
Swoosh-.
I played the video as slowly as possible.
While I and Inoi were struggling with the net, a mysterious entity appeared, quickly grabbed the candy, and disappeared.
What was that?
While I was pondering this, Ahn Young-eun, who was also watching the monitor, tilted her head.
“It looks like an animal with many legs. Look at this. Doesn’t it look like legs? It was so fast it wasn’t properly recorded, but its shape is definitely like an octopus or something. What do you think, Ye-rim?”
“I don’t know. I’m tired. Young-eun, let’s go home now. Anyway, Haildo, don’t forget to come to the Telos headquarters by lunchtime tomorrow.”
Whoosh-.
Seo Ye-rim vanished with that remark.
Now, I was the only one left.
Continuing to rewind the CCTV, I still couldn’t uncover Kkungkkungi’s identity. But I felt like I knew where it was headed.
To the pile of firewood stacked in front of our yard.
“Is it inside here?”
━Grr…
Rustle-.
As I approached the pile of firewood, I heard something inside making a fuss. So this was where it nested.
The saying “the darkest place is under the lamp” is truly accurate.
━Grr…
“Okay, okay. I won’t bother you. Just take care. I don’t know what kind of animal you are, but you like almonds, right? That’s why you fight with Kkungkkungi every day.”
Swoosh-.
I placed a bowl filled with almonds near the pile of firewood and distanced myself. If I were to approach an animal that was wary of humans, it would only stress them out.
Regrettably, should I give up trying to tame Kkungkkungi?
Having a new animal partner might help strengthen my abilities.
# # #
━Kkungkkungi…!
While sleeping, someone knocked on the window of my room.
I jumped up and opened the window to find a strange creature the size of my palm burst into my room.
“Whoa, you startled me. What are you?”
━Kkungkkungi…!
It was an animal that laughed out loud in a Kkungkkungi style.
Its cries were quite loud, but its appearance was even more bizarre.
“A spider?”
It was a spider.
A palm-sized spider.
Its body was smooth like jelly, and its colors were extremely vibrant, almost like octopuses that can change their colors underwater at will.
“It’s a totally gaming spider!”
Isn’t this the kind of coloration you find in gaming mice or keyboards?
However, its appearance felt like a warning, and the large spider was somewhat frightening, causing me to tense up. What if it suddenly lunged at me?
Fortunately, this gaming spider did not pounce on me but climbed onto my desk, alternatingly waving its front legs.
It looked like it was either dancing or greeting me.
━Kkungkkungi…!
“Is that a hello?”
━Hioong…!
What in the world was “Hioong”?
I was taken aback by the unexpected sound when I heard a rumbling sound from the living room.
━Kkungkkungi…!
━Kkungkkungi…!
Soon, Kkungkkungi, who had raced over, chased the gaming spider, and seeing the two animals disappear into the yard left me feeling quite flustered.
The next morning, as I woke up.
“Indeed…! Now I see it must be a ghost spider…! Ghost spiders are a type of wolf spider that don’t spin webs…! They are extremely rare…!”
“Is that so?”
“They can freely change their body color to hide…! Their spun threads are very beautiful, and nymphs used to make clothes with them…!”
I see.
There are indeed all sorts of fascinating creatures. As I thought this, Inoi also spoke with a sense of wonder.
“Though they are relatively gentle in temperament, they are extremely wary of humans…! Even for nymphs, taming them is impossible, so it’s the first time I’ve heard of a ghost spider approaching first…!”
I also understood that their wariness of humans was strong. After all, up until now, no one in this village had ever seen Kkungkkungi properly.
Did it come to me last night because of the effect of the yellow candy that Lee Jin-A gave?
“Does that mean the Kkungkkungi living here is a ghost spider?”
Swoosh-.
As I left the yard to head to the Telos headquarters as promised to Seo Ye-rim, I took a quick glance at the pile of firewood.
While Kkungkkungi was nowhere to be seen, Inoi had retrieved a glowing spider web with a gaming theme from within the pile.
“Ahh…! I’ve acquired the web of the ghost spider…! If I have enough of this, I can make clothes…! Even in small amounts, it can be crafted into amulets like necklaces…!”
Whoosh-.
Inoi dashed inside the house to make a necklace amulet. I had intended to go with them to the Telos Corporation, but it seemed like they wanted to stay home today.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
I left Kkungkkungi and Inoi, who hadn’t returned home last night, and took only Ahn Ahn to head toward the city of Makcheon.
One of the top IT corporations in Korea.
What kind of request would they give me?
