Operation: Filling the Base (2)
Han Seohyun's cart, meanwhile...
What the hell. It was perfect! From the little necessities the base needed to everyday essentials I hadn't even realized were running low—not to mention furniture catalogs. And that wasn't all; he'd even gone through the catalogs and pre-marked everything I needed to buy.
All I had to do was pick the decent ones from the furniture he'd checked off and pay for them.
Compared to me, who'd gotten distracted and picked up nothing but junk...
"How the hell did you manage all this?"
Han Seohyun let out a sigh at my words.
"Jeez, Boss, your life skills are way too low!"
"Uh-huh."
Hey, I've lived pretty cushy up until now, you know? I'm no good at housework and all that.
Ray: Weren't you at the orphanage?
'Does being an orphanage kid mean I have to be good at housework?'
Ray: Still, you should've handled the basics yourself.
'Well, back at the orphanage, Hosan pretty much did everything for me, even his share...'
Ray: And the dorms?
'Shared a room with Hosan then too.'
Ray: After that?
'Seol Rokjin had me doing hits, but never any cleaning.'
Ray: Good lord. Hold up—hits? Did something weird just fly by there?
Yeah, I've actually had it pretty easy. Han Seohyun, on the other hand? Total prepared handyman. Years of housework had honed those skills!
Look at that—unlike Kim Jaeho, who was obsessed with useless dolls, everything in Han Seohyun's cart was practical gold.
Ray: Making that kid do all the chores for you! You trash heap!
'I tried to help at first. But he just got madder the more I touched stuff—what was I supposed to do?'
I remembered all the scoldings from Han Seohyun.
"Get outta here! Just stay in the corner!"
Anytime I'd try to pitch in, he'd shove me away like that. Hell, he'd even locked me in a room once because I was "in the way" while cleaning!
Ray: How much of a hindrance were you to make him do that?
Ray, who'd seen all my past screw-ups, subtly took Han Seohyun's side. For something living in my head, it sided against me an awful lot.
I checked out the furniture Han Seohyun had picked. Designs and prices were all spot-on—even buying everything as-is would've been fine. Damn, even his eye for goods was better than mine.
Bed, dresser, wardrobe for his room. Chair and desk too. Worried if we could haul it all, but yeah, all essential stuff.
Made me realize just how barren and ruined the base had been.
Somehow we'd survived months in that state.
Artifacts covered the basics, no issues there, but thriving in that empty hellhole without complaints? Impressive.
"Nothing else we need?"
"Nope."
I bought it all.
Ah, the chair I made? Decided to use it as decor instead of letting Han Seohyun have it. Honestly, it looked too crappy even for that, but it was still an artifact. Plus, it had human Kang Ishin's effort poured into it. No way I'd toss it.
Our funds were flush from the recent black market run, so today's haul barely made a dent.
Ray: Black market stuff makes this seem dirt cheap anyway.
'Gate-sourced goods are insanely pricey. Warps your sense of economy.'
Prices had risen, sure, but nothing like black market rates.
We crammed the furniture into the carts—mostly modular kits, so boxes everywhere.
Kim Jaeho handled most of the hauling. Wanted to call Han Seohyun's skeletons too, but didn't fancy getting dragged off by cops mid-shop, so held back.
Moved the stuff to a secluded spot with no foot traffic. Scoped the area.
Better no witnesses.
Once clear, Han Seohyun pulled his staff from his subspace.
"Staff fits in subspace too?"
At my surprised look, he explained.
"Subspace got bigger, so stuff like this works now."
Definitely feeling his growth as a necromancer. The skeletons from last time moved sharper too.
Even if tied to summons, handling subspace was a huge edge. We'd cleaned out that auction hassle-free thanks to it.
'Gotta test it again soon.'
As I watched him, the staff in his hand looked different from what I remembered.
The Evrika core, once yellow, was now pitch black.
"Got dirty?"
He scowled at my words.
"Like hell it did."
"Ahem. Kidding, kidding."
Back in Serena's Ice Palace, it was a vivid yellow. So this change was recent.
"When did it start?"
"Week ago? Checked it out at first—mana flow's fine. Just the color changed, no issues using it..."
He glanced at me warily.
I narrowed my eyes, inspecting the core.
"Hm."
Seems it'd converted all of Evrika's mana to black magic. Fine if it worked. I took the staff from him for a closer look.
Not just looks—the name and description had changed too.
◈ Heated at ultra-high temperatures to purge impurities.
◈ Once held Evrika's mana, but influenced by the user's power, it now channels black magic.
Like the core, the staff's name had changed to Black Cloud Staff.
Black clouds, huh. Should've been black sand, but recalling how his sand moved, it fit—swirling like storm clouds.
System logging the change meant it was legit.
Evrika's mana inside was fully subjugated to Han Seohyun. Rare for an artifact to resonate and evolve with its user like this.
"Is it broken?"
He asked anxiously as I stared.
"Nah. Means it's yours now—for real."
Infused with black magic, useless to anyone without it.
"Won't that make it hard to sell later?"
I stared at his dumbfounded face.
"It's yours. Why sell it?"
"Huh? B-but it's expensive."
"It's yours until I get you something better—or even after, unless you wanna ditch it."
I handed the staff back.
"Not just 'cause I gave it to you. It chose to attune to your mana. So quit that talk. If I were the staff, I'd be offended."
"It's just an artifact—what's it gonna do, get sulky?"
Well, this world had sulky artifacts, but I swallowed that. Patted his back instead.
Han Seohyun gripped the staff tight, touched it to the ground, closed his eyes. Core and his mana resonated.
Sand trickled out, forming a massive whale shape.
We hurriedly tossed our purchases into its mouth.
"Quick, before anyone sees!"
Not the coolest, but witnesses would be bad. We stuffed everything in panting. Whale closed its mouth once loaded.
"Think it'll actually fly?"
I eyed it dubiously. Han Seohyun's eyes sparkled.
"Practiced with house stuff. Should work."
No choice but to trust.
Me, Han Seohyun, and Kim Jaeho climbed onto the whale's back. Chairs formed as we did.
Comfy seats, sure, but could this really get us home?
He snickered at my unease.
"No need to tense up. I'll catch you if you fall."
"The hell? Don't let me fall!"
Never thought I'd ride a sand whale through the night sky.
Ray: You've ridden a sand eagle before.
'That was combat—no choice. Didn't expect this as transport.'
I swallowed hard. With a gesture from Han Seohyun, the black whale slowly lifted off. Cool night breeze brushed my cheeks—no, this was freezing.
"F-fuckin' freezing!"
February deep winter—we should've known. Shivering on the whale's back. Han Seohyun belatedly made a sand roof, but wind still leaked through.
We arrived at base half-frozen.
"N-next time, shop on a warmer day."
After all that hell, I assembled the furniture—well, mostly Han Seohyun did. I just nagged from behind.
The base, now filled with our hard-won furnishings.
Haunted House / B+ grade
Residence · Multi-Family Home
Owned by Kang Ishin
A multi-family home built from mud-and-mana-stone bricks.
Shoddy finishing dropped its grade, but proper furnishings boosted residential functionality.
Nucleus: Crimson mana stone—permanently active stealth, concealment, confusion.
Exempt for registered residents.
Highly durable; self-repairs via mana stone if 60%+ intact.
Plumbing and electricity installed.
5 bedrooms / 1 kitchen / 1 living room / 3 bathrooms.
Like mocking my past struggles, the grade went up. Furniture alone got it to B+, not A.
Still called my finishing "shoddy" though!
Infuriating.
Ray: You're probably the only one fighting the system worldwide.
"Feels like it's mocking me."
Especially my handiwork. I wanted to make it good! Who chooses to suck?
Truly unjust.
Base-filling mostly done now.
Headed to the workshop.
Time to check that Butcher's sword I'd stashed. I'd peeked at its demonic energy with Ray's help in spare moments—it was stubborn, took time.
But with Lie at 3 strokes open, I had a feel for it.
Just as I started unseal and inspect—
Han Seohyun opened the workshop door.
"Boss. That friend you told me to watch for?"
I blinked.
"Friend? Who?"
No way he meant Yuseonje—we weren't friends.
But his next words wiped the leisure from my face.
"Jeong Hosan."
Jeong Hosan.
My face hardened at the name.