The Nymphs and the Shadow of Ha Ildo # 1
It had been a bizarre summer vacation, complete with a strange tournament and ninjas crashing the party.
There had been plenty of noise and chaos from every direction, but all in all, things wrapped up on a good note.
"Ugh, once we get back to Korea, we'll have to plow through the backlog of T-Rank Rifts without a moment's rest, won't we? I hate it so much. I just want to live on this island forever."
Cha Yura stretched with a long, luxurious yawn aboard the private jet.
At her groaning, Seo Yerim fired back without hesitation.
"If we don't do it, who will? Sure, it's a thankless, exhausting, unfair job that nobody will ever appreciate — but that's exactly why it has to be us. We're S-ranks."
Seo Yerim took tremendous pride in being an S-rank awakener.
I suppose that's something I should learn from.
Then Illinoi turned to her.
"Truly amazorling, it is…! In that spirit, do not forget to re-raise this Illinoi's daily allowance to 100,000 won, it is…! And you must also apologize and pay compensation for pinching this Illinoi's cheek, it is…!"
"Ugh, fine, fine. That's enough already. I was wrong. I'm sorry. Happy now? Huh?"
"Of course…! This Illinoi is a nymph with a heart as wide as the American continent…! I shall forgif you a hundred times over, it is…!"
It seemed Illinoi and Seo Yerim had made a proper reconciliation too.
All things considered, that was a good thing.
Anyway.
With that, we wrapped up our time on Telos Land and boarded the private jet for the journey home.
Lee Jina gaped in wonder at the red carpet laid out inside the plane.
"Never thought I'd get to ride in something like this again in my lifetime. Ha Ildo, did you see this? All the drinks stocked in the fridge. Booze and everything. Are we allowed to have some?"
I was curious myself.
They wouldn't charge us extra for drinking them, right?
Well, the nymphs were already rummaging through the fridge, helping themselves to whatever they could grab.
Then Oinoi suddenly flew into a rage.
"Oinoi cannot fathom why the Telos corporation would swap out the straw of this Capri Sun for a paper one, it is…! The paper straw cannot pierce the drink, it is…!"
"This Coris also declares that plastic straws are superior, it is!"
Oinoi and Coris were evidently not pleased with the paper straws.
Truthfully, stabbing a paper straw through Capri Sun's thick foil packaging is no easy feat.
Soon An Yeongeun, Seo Yerim's secretary, gave a soft chuckle.
"There's been so much talk about environmental protection lately, hasn't there? A company like ours is trying to lead by example and spread some good influence. Protecting nature — what's wrong with that?"
"Why do you fail to understand that protecting us nymphs IS environmental protection, it is…? This paper straw is an affront to nymphkind itself, it is…! Nothing short of nature-hating, it is…!"
Nymphs were fairies of nature.
You could fairly say they were nature itself.
So did that make a paper straw — something nature's own fairies despised — an anti-nature object? A straw meant to protect the environment was instead damaging and tormenting it!
"Even if this Illinoi were to hurl trash all over the ground, it would not be pollution, it is…! Because nymphs such as this Illinoi are nature itself, it is…!"
It sounded absurd, but the more I turned it over in my head, the more sense it made.
And then something sparked in my brain.
"Makes sense... I guess that's why they call you Illinoi."
I said it lightly.
Yu Ari, seated beside me on the plane, burst out laughing.
"Ahaha! Senior, you're too funny!"
Yu Ari laughed with her signature odd little "ahaha" sound.
My chest swelled with pride.
Honestly, even by my own standards, that was a pretty good joke.
Seo Yerim, however, looked positively scandalized.
"...I'm genuinely getting angry. So what exactly is in that bag? Doesn't it get uncomfortable? You've been clutching it like that this whole time."
Seo Yerim seemed curious about the bag Ki Seung-jae had handed to me as a "gift."
It bothered me too — the fact that Ki Seung-jae had been so confident about whatever was inside.
With this, I could beat you.
I was sure it was just bravado, and yet it somehow didn't feel entirely like bravado.
"A password that even Telos's security team couldn't crack. Where on earth would I go to get it unlocked?"
It was definitely something expensive, which put me in a good mood in its own way.
Lee Jina, who had been sitting in the seat ahead of me combing Coris's hair, spoke up.
"I know someone who's really good at that kind of hacking. Might be worth handing it over to them."
"Yeah?"
"Funny thing — they've actually been saying they want to meet you."
"Me?"
Anyone Lee Jina knew would probably be underworld gangsters.
Why would someone like that want to meet me?
Lee Jina added an explanation.
"Apparently they discovered some strange creature. And supposedly it reacts intensely to human mana and emotions. You're the expert when it comes to dog-squirrels and all sorts of otherworldly beings, Ha Ildo."
It was an intriguing story, in more ways than one.
A creature that responded to mana and emotions, of all things.
What kind of otherworldly being would it look like?
I hoped it would have some cute quality to it, like Keongkeongi, Kwang-kwangi, or Ang-ang-i.
Or maybe it would be enormous, like Kalinoi?
Swish.
Before long, Lee Jina held out her phone to me.
A video was playing — someone was pouring a black, sticky fluid onto a white lab mouse inside a glass case.
The black liquid quickly enveloped the mouse's body like searing hot tar, and after thrashing around for a while, the mouse died.
"It just died. What is that fluid?"
"Some kind of parasitic organism, apparently. I think they're calling it a 'symbiote.' Either way, it's not a lifeform or substance from our world. But here's the really shocking part."
Swish.
As the video kept playing, the mouse that had died under the black liquid rose to its feet.
Then it began darting around inside the glass jar — moving in a way that was clearly no longer the movement of a 'mouse.'
━Grrrung…!
At that very moment, Kwang-kwangi, the ghost spider perched quietly on my shoulder, let out a ferocious snarl.
And then it lunged — fwip! — straight at the phone in Lee Jina's hand.
Shwip!
"Aaah, that scared me! Kwang-kwangi, what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
Lee Jina dropped the phone onto the floor.
I was startled too.
I never expected that docile spider Kwang-kwangi to take the initiative and show hostility like this.
...….
Tsubaki sat in silence on the plane back to Japan.
Beside her, Reiko chattered away nonstop.
"So disappointing. If we'd just won that football match, we'd have gone to extra time and Japan would have taken it all. Then I could have snatched Ha Ildo away from them! And the dog-squirrels too!"
Reiko was lamenting her failure to take Ha Ildo and the dog-squirrels from Seo Yerim.
She would simply have to pin her hopes on next year —
"But still, Ha Ildo. The way he looked at me — it was pure love, I tell you. He's definitely fallen head over heels for my charms. Of course he has. I'm beautiful! You think so too, don't you, Tsubaki?"
...….
"I wonder what Korean men are into?"
And with that, they arrived in Japan.
Headquarters of the Kangekiren Alliance.
The Tokyo Main Keep.
A hopelessly antiquated, old-fashioned fortress built in the twenty-first century.
Stepping inside, Tsubaki knelt before the twenty-first century's samurai and ninja — radiating an air of genuinely austere menace — and finished her report to the Supreme Leader.
"That concludes everything that transpired."
"I see. So bringing the headquarters' branch to Japan ended in failure, then. Even with 'S. Ninja' and 'Mind Reader' deployed, you could not win. Failing to win is as good as defeat!"
Supreme Leader Yagami.
He was the man who, in practice, ruled present-day Japan.
His bearded face was ferociously ugly, and true to the name Garyu — "Rock Dragon" — his entire body was covered in dragon tattoos.
He asked Tsubaki:
"So then, Tsubaki. What of your betrothal? Between Reiko and Seo Yerim — which of the two women do you truly wish to take as your bride? You must push the engagement forward somehow, must you not?"
As he spoke, Yagami's face twisted horribly.
Yagami was not an awakener, yet his sheer presence alone made the cyborg samurai and ninjas of the twenty-first century tremble in fear.
But Tsubaki answered him without flinching.
"Supreme Leader. I will not be marrying Reiko or Seo Yerim. I am not a man. I adore pretty things, but I do not love women romantically. In truth, it has been that way for a long time."
"What? After raising you all these years like a son, you say this? You?"
Yagami's face flushed red like fire.
Then the people around them cried out.
"Y-young Master!"
"Young Master, compose yourself! Apologize to the Supreme Leader at once!"
They assumed Yagami was about to erupt in fury.
They assumed Tsubaki's declaration had to be retracted — but when Yagami bellowed "Silence!", the room fell dead quiet.
Throb.
A vein bulging on his forehead, Yagami spoke.
"Tsubaki. You're a woman. Why did you come to think that?"
"It was when I met Ha Ildo that I realized I was a woman. Ha Ildo — he made me a woman in the bathhouse that day. And he even said he would take 'responsibility' for it!"
"Ha Ildo…! That dog-squirrel Ha Ildo? That man made you a woman, Tsubaki—!?"
Yagami's face turned red enough to explode.
His fists clenched tight as stones, and his whole body trembled.
Yet Tsubaki was not overawed. She rose from her place and declared:
"Father! I am a woman, after all! No matter what you command, I cannot become engaged to women!"
"You… you dare say such things to me…."
Everyone thought the same thing.
Yagami was about to fly into a towering rage.
But contrary to everyone's expectations, Yagami was moved to tears inside.
My daughter has finally found her true gender identity! I raised her without a mother, growing up among hardened men — I always feared she'd turn out strange! I have no idea what could have happened, but—.
Yagami felt the sting of tears at the corners of his eyes.
Could it be related to that 'Ha Ildo' fellow Tsubaki mentioned?
"Tsubaki! Bring this Ha Ildo before me! I must see with my own eyes what manner of man he is! Until then, do not set foot on this land of Japan! Leave at once!"
Ha Ildo.
If it's that man, perhaps he can truly make my daughter a woman—.
That was what Yagami thought.
At last, I can face my late wife Fuyuki's face when I cross the Sanzu River! Tsubaki showing interest in a man — this is a first! I must not let this chance slip away!
But hearing this, everyone around him thought the exact same thing.
Supreme Leader Yagami.
He's seriously planning to kill Ha Ildo!