005 – Nymph Inoi # 5
I still vividly remember that day.
It had been quite some time since I started to feel ‘mana’ and became a D-class.
At that time, it was not referred to as D-class but as “additional Awakened.”
Anyway.
About ten Awakened, including myself as an additional Awakened, were hired by the government to handle a newly appeared anomalous rift halfway up a mountain near Chungcheongdo.
The inside of the anomalous rift resembled a large, ancient architectural style.
It was promised that we would take about two days to scan the interior with drones before entry.
We set up a temporary tent at the rift’s entrance to create a base and monitor the situation. It was agreed that the women would be in charge of taking pictures of the interior with the drones.
No, I don’t clearly remember the reason, but there were only four women inside the tent.
I had to go inside the tent to gather my equipment.
However, suddenly entering a room with only women made me feel a bit shy and awkward, so I cleared my throat at the entrance.
“Isn’t Hyun-soo really cool, the one participating this time? I heard he was a lawyer but changed his career to become an Awakened?”
“What? Ji-hyun, do you like Kim Hyun-soo?”
“What are you talking about! I don’t like him; I just think he’s cool!”
Hee hee, haha.
……
The women were discussing something quite bothersome inside. The Awakened were mostly in their late teens and early twenties.
It wasn’t unusual for people my age to talk about love.
‘The atmosphere has become even more uncomfortable to enter.’
I felt as if I was eavesdropping on a conversation I shouldn’t hear, but at the same time, I became slightly curious. Looking back now, I shouldn’t have listened.
“Ye-rim, what about you? Do you have someone you like?”
Seo Ye-rim.
I was slightly surprised when her name came up.
I vividly remember holding my breath, wondering if my heartbeat could be heard inside the tent.
At that time, Seo Ye-rim was a woman starting to become famous like a rookie entertainer.
She was beautiful and exceptionally talented among the promising individuals.
I had participated in the same missions as Seo Ye-rim about three times, and I recall admiring how beautiful she was every time I saw her.
When the guys gathered during breaks, we would sometimes talk about who was pretty or whose personality was nice.
Since men’s tastes and ideals vary, it was natural for their evaluations of women to differ, but everyone unanimously recognized Seo Ye-rim’s beauty.
“Ye-rim, I heard you rejected Lee Joon-Hun’s confession last time? Isn’t he kind of rich? If you rejected someone like that, you must have someone else you’re dating or someone you like, right?”
“What? Ye-rim rejected Lee Joon-Hun?! No way! Why am I only finding this out now?!”
The atmosphere inside the tent was getting more heated.
I began to feel guilty about eavesdropping on this conversation and contemplated leaving.
“I don’t have someone I like. But there is someone I dislike. Haildo.”
“Why? Haildo seems alright. He’s not bad looking and seems to have good abilities. I think his personality isn’t that bad either.”
“He just slacks off without putting in any effort. I don’t like that.”
“Aha, is that why you rejected a third-generation chaebol? Ye-rim, you must be quite picky. Totally picky Ye-rim.”
……
Is this how it feels if someone were to grab my heart with a cold hand?
I felt my chest grow cold, while my head felt hot.
That day, I learned a big lesson about not eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. The problem arose next.
“Jil-do! What are you doing over there? Aren’t you getting your equipment? We need to enter soon!”
Someone shouted loudly.
Thanks to that, a commotion arose inside the tent, and I became very embarrassed, unsure of what to do.
In that situation, I chose to act ‘as if I didn’t know anything and calmly walked into the tent.’ I went inside.
I gathered my equipment.
The women looked at me with very awkward and ambiguous expressions, but they put on faces pretending to be calm and said to me, “Jil-do oppa, we’ll be going into the rift soon, okay?” or “Be careful!”
I casually replied, “Got it,” and caught a glimpse of Seo Ye-rim’s expression. I was even more surprised than when I had been listening to the previous conversation in the tent.
“……!”
Seo Ye-rim was staring at me with a terrifying expression I had never seen before in my life.
It looked like she was angry, or about to burst into tears… Maybe because her face was small, her expressions were very vivid and diverse.
After that… we cleared the rift ‘harmoniously’ and parted ways.
Then what happened next is a story everyone knows.
Seo Ye-rim worked hard and became one of the three S-class Awakened in Korea.
I remained a forever D-class, with search results not even showing up.
We would probably never see each other’s faces again.
If I saw her face, it would only be me looking at Seo Ye-rim’s face on a screen.
That’s how it is between ordinary people and top celebrities.
How I was supposed to feel proud of the fact I was specifically cursed by Seo Ye-rim—was that a self-deprecating joke?
“…That Seo Ye-rim cursed me?”
It was strange.
There were so many parts I found hard to believe.
What even is a ‘curse’ in the first place?
Up until now, curses to me were just superstitions mentioned by shamans. They were materials that only appeared in horror movies.
But in a world where the unknown energy ‘mana’ is real, it wouldn’t be strange for a ‘curse,’ which I once dismissed as imagination and fantasy, to actually exist.
I was curious in many ways, but Inoi was curled up comfortably in a warm blanket and asleep.
“Muhuhu… Mentenoia… It is I, Inoi, who has come to meet you…”
Snore-snore.
That snoring sounds quite loud.
# # #
Monday morning.
I headed to the agency with Inoi.
National Intelligence Service: NIS
When I first became the first mana Awakened, I had frequented this building, but now, after several years, this place felt like a distant castle to me.
Even though I had done nothing wrong, my heart would still flinch.
Of course, I wasn’t visiting the main building, but rather an institution like a district office built in cities based on a population of 500,000.
After the emergence of the rift, the government established such institutions in cities or important areas to respond quickly, keeping the Awakened on standby.
It dealt with the matters of drifters and wanderers that occurred around the clock.
Ding-dong.
I took a waiting ticket and sat down with Inoi.
Inoi looked around and, after inspecting the clean marble floor, the neat building exterior, and the faces of the working women, chuckled “Muhuhu.”
“The building is clean and the working people are pretty, it’s almost like a temple…! I’m curious about what kind of deity is worshipped here…!”
Deity.
Inoi often talked about goddesses or gods. They weren’t the absolute singular deities modern people often think of but rather deities from Greco-Roman mythology.
According to Inoi, there are real beings somewhere in the world called ‘gods’…
Well, as a D-class Awakened, it shouldn’t be something I need to worry about.
Ding-dong.
“Waiting number 52.”
52.
Is it my turn?
I took Inoi to the counter.
Then I handed over the ‘drifter report’ that I had prepared in advance.
The woman, who had been looking at the documents with a tired expression since Monday morning, frowned slightly over her glasses and looked at me and Inoi.
“So, you’re saying it’s a Nymph?”
“That’s right…! Inoi is a Nymph of the creek water…!”
The expression of the woman, who had been cold towards work and life, changed quite a bit. The woman muttered “C-cute.” as she looked at Inoi, who was taking off her hood.
Swish.
The woman stood up from her chair.
“Please wait a moment.”
About five minutes later.
People who appeared from somewhere tried to take Inoi away.
Inoi seemed frightened by the suddenly appearing people in black suits and let out a strange scream, “Hike…!”
She looked very pitiful, like a puppy being dragged away by a dog catcher.
“This, they are definitely trying to hunt Inoi…! House owner…! Please show some pity and help me…! Hike…!”
The people in suits, who could be called ‘agents,’ seemed flustered. They exchanged awkward expressions and looked at me as if asking for help.
In the end, I also headed toward NIS’s main building with Inoi.
As far as I know, it should involve drawing some blood for tests, asking some simple questions, and… it won’t take more than a few days, right?
Finally arriving at the main building.
I watched as Inoi had her blood drawn at the medical facility set up in the facility.
Drip-drip.
Red blood flowed into the syringe for a moment.
A medical staff member wearing a white mask spoke to me.
“You may return home with Inoi now.”
……
Already finished?
Didn’t any tests take even an hour?
Is it okay for it to be over this quickly?
As I hesitated, the doctor removed his mask and said.
“Well, regarding the support fund, it will be deposited into the account number you filled out in the report. Also, soon, immigration officials will come to your home and ask you various questions.”
“Is that so?”
“Recently, holding people for long periods and asking questions at institutions has been said to violate human rights—it’s been quite loud. If the guardianship obligation makes you uncomfortable, we can dispatch someone in charge.”
Does that mean I would be separated from Inoi? To be honest, I’m just now starting to clear my head, but surviving on my own was already tough enough.
Inoi was a rather burdensome existence, like a sudden lump that had appeared.
“House owner…!”
Inoi looked at me, seemingly quite flustered.
I shook my head.
“I’ll take care of it.”
I still had many questions for Inoi.
Soon Inoi raised her hand sharply.
“I’m relieved…! If I, Inoi, were abandoned by the house owner, I would have to rummage through ‘trash bags’ while shivering in the cold…!”
Even if I were to abandon her, she wouldn’t have to rummage through trash bags anymore.
Anyway.
In this way, the reporting of Inoi’s discovery ended quite simply.
However, today, I felt that I might not know how long Inoi would stay with me. Maybe she would be assigned to a professional institution.
Then, it would be better to quickly deal with the tasks I could handle before that.
I was really scared and trembling, but I opened my phone, found the contact labeled ‘Seo Ye-rim,’ and wrote a text message.
“I have something I want to talk to you about regarding shoes. I hope we can meet and discuss it.”
Hair.
I’ll get Seo Ye-rim’s hair as fast as I can!
