Ha Ildo Appears on TV with the Nymphs! #1
"This so-called soy sauce chicken is so delicious, it is…! It is chicken that makes one's mood very high, it is…!"
Illinoi devoured the chicken with abandon.
Oinoi was just as delighted. "It is far too delicious…! It has been an awfully long time since Oinoi got to eat a midnight snack this late at night…!"
My little sister Ha Irae inhaled chicken, tteokbokki, and pizza without so much as pausing for breath.
Just watching her made my face scrunch up on its own.
"Irae. Eating like that late at night will make you fat. And it's past your curfew—what exactly are you planning to do about that?"
"What was that? It's not like you bought it for me. Yerim-unnie bought this, remember? Because she said she was sorry! And I'm sleeping over here tonight anyway, so curfews and whatever don't matter to me, la-la-la~. Bleh bleh~."
Ha Irae stuck her tongue out at me with a great big bweeeh.
She had apparently decided to spend the night in our spare room.
For all I knew, she'd come all the way to our house with exactly that plan in mind from the start.
"Anyway, oppa. Can't you put that parasitic thing back inside your body? Last time you had it, you didn't say a word about my curfew and even bought me chicken. Those were the good old days."
Swish—.
At the tip of Ha Irae's finger sat a glass jar, and inside it, the parasite.
They called it Malice, didn't they?
The mere thought that something like that had once been living inside my body made my skin crawl.
"So that's why you sent me nothing but one-word replies, Ha Ildo. This strange little creature was behind it all. That goes for the way you snapped at me back then, too."
Seo Yerim lifted the glass jar.
Watching her narrow her eyes, I felt a jolt of pure panic.
"Hey! Careful with that!"
"What, are you actually worried about me right now?"
She looked genuinely touched.
"Well, yeah. How could I not be?"
"……!"
Just imagine that horrifying parasite coming into contact with Seo Yerim. If she suddenly went berserk and started screaming "I will burn this city down!" while setting fire to everything in sight, who on earth could possibly stop her, and by what means?
A truly terrifying thought.
An Earth already sweltering from global warming, blazing away even hotter than before!
"Fine, fine. If you're that worried, I'll put it down."
Thud—.
Seo Yerim, apparently understanding me perfectly, set the jar down gently on the floor.
Tomorrow, no doubt, the government experts would come to take custody of it.
"Whoa, that owl is huge. It's got actual tiger stripes. A Tiger Owl. Whoa."
It was late by then, and my little sister Ha Irae stood in the yard, gaping in open admiration at Kalinoi, who had landed there.
But Kalinoi was an intensely independent and aloof owl; whether she found Ha Irae tiresome or not, she gave one great whump of her wings and flew off to the rooftop.
━Hoo, hoo…!
"What a standoffish owl."
━Keong-keong…!
Next, Ha Irae turned her attention to Keongkeongi.
Keongkeongi, never one to be shy with strangers, scrambled up her leg, circled around her shoulders, and generally made himself at home.
Swish—.
"Oppa, look at this! A dog-squirrel scarf!"
Ha Irae draped Keongkeongi around her neck like a stole.
The fluffy warmth must have felt too good for words, because she shuddered all over and let out a bizarre shriek—"Hwiiiieeet—!"
"He's so cute! You have so many animals, oppa. Can't you give me just one? Especially Angangi—send him to me for real! I'd have him organize my desk and everything!"
"No."
"Then Oinoi!"
"Also no."
My little sister had been coveting the animals and Oinoi with naked ambition.
She wanted to take them home and raise them herself, obviously.
Then Seo Yerim spoke up.
"Irae, sweetie. Illinoi you're welcome to take."
"Really? Illinoi! Wanna come with me? I'll brush your hair every single day!"
Brimming with expectation, Ha Irae rubbed her palms together eagerly.
A moment later, Illinoi—who had been demolishing the chicken beside her—sprang to her feet and declared:
"Mmhehe, if you wish to take Illinoi home, you must guarantee a daily pocket allowance of 100,000 won as a basic income, it is…!"
"Huh? A hundred grand a day?"
"Furthermore, Illinoi does not ride in anything but an electric vehicle whose ride quality is exceedingly nymph-friendly, it is…!"
Illinoi was a nymph with an extremely aggressive consumer streak—a creature of pure capitalism.
What if the first nymph I'd ever met had been Illinoi instead of the modest, unassuming Oinoi?
I would have gone bankrupt paying her allowance, no question about it!
Tap, tap-tap-tap—.
Seo Yerim, who had been typing on her phone, looked up.
"Since we're on the subject—Illinoi, stay at Ha Ildo's place for a few days. I'm about to get swamped. There's an S-rank conference coming up, so I have to head to London soon."
The S-rank conference.
It was a gathering where S-rank awakeners from all over the world came together to discuss all manner of topics, exchange intelligence, and even compete against one another.
Apparently, depending on what happened in those meetings, the S-rank rankings printed in magazines and posted online would shift and change.
Unbelievably cool.
A conference attended by every S-rank in existence.
Just imagining it sent a thrill down my spine.
How wonderful would it be if I could be there too someday!
The next day.
Sunday morning.
Seo Yerim left with the dispatched government officials, carrying the glass jar with the parasite inside.
My little sister Ha Irae vanished along with Seo Yerim's electric car.
"Oppa! I'll be back next week! Oinoi! Bye-bye! Keongkeongi and Kwangkwangi and Gwanggwangi and Kalinoi too! Bye-bye! You all take care of yourselves! Don't forget my name! Stay well! Bye-bye!"
Ha Irae departed in a tremendous flurry of noise and fanfare.
With the uninvited guests gone, would our house finally return to its usual peace and quiet?
"……"
No. Not necessarily.
In fact, the trouble was only just beginning.
"Why is the Housemaster looking at Illinoi with those eyes…? Could it be that you are thinking of giving Illinoi an allowance of 100,000 won…?"
So we had agreed to look after Illinoi for about a week.
Oinoi, the ditch water nymph, was overjoyed at the prospect of living with Illinoi.
"Living together with nymph sisters is an immensely joyful thing…! It reminds Oinoi of the forest where Oinoi once dwelled long ago…!"
Swish—.
Oinoi put on a straw hat and picked up a small garden trowel.
"Illinoi…! Let us pull up the weeds that may have sprouted around the golden apple tree…! It is certain to be tremendous fun…!"
Nymphs were, all of them, spirits of nature.
They loved tending flowers, and they adored planting trees and pruning branches.
Oinoi loved her little vegetable garden so much that from morning until the sun sank low in the evening, she would be outside, digging in the dirt and pulling weeds.
"Mmhehe, Illinoi is going to play this brand-new game console, the Nymphtendo, it is…! Weed-pulling is not very fun, it is…!"
Illinoi, it seemed, was the exception.
Anyway.
And that is how I came to be taking care of Illinoi.
Even so, it was a leisurely Sunday morning.
I searched for Ha Ildo on social media, and it seemed no one had written anything about me since last night.
Which was, in many ways, a shame.
So I glanced around surreptitiously, then tapped away at my keyboard.
"Heh heh heh."
It was immensely entertaining.
That little rush of doing something you shouldn't be doing.
There was none of that omnipotent feeling I'd had when the parasite was pumping mana into my body—but an irresistible, strange thrill shot through my synapses like lightning all the same.
"This is honestly addictive."
Tap-tap-tap—.
Before long, the comments rolled in.
The comments came pouring in.
My mood soared.
How should I put it—like I'd taken one more step toward becoming the strongest S-rank awakener?
S-rank.
Just the name alone made my heart flutter.
I found myself wishing I could hurry up and become an S-rank awakener myself, so I could attend those conferences the way Seo Yerim did.
Right at that moment—
Ding-dong—.
Someone pressed our doorbell.
Curious who it could be, I went to answer, and found a fairly familiar face waiting.
"Tsubaki? What brings you here? Is something the matter?"
Standing at our front door was Tsubaki.
Swish—.
I opened the gate for her, and Tsubaki glanced around at the surroundings before stepping into the yard, letting out an admiring breath.
"What a cozy home. So this is the golden apple tree? You're Oinoi, right? Anyway, here—this is a gift. Japanese sweets. They're delicious. There's yokan, some senbei crackers, a bit of everything."
Swish—.
Tsubaki held out a beautifully wrapped box of confections.
Oinoi accepted it and was utterly delighted.
"These look tremendously delicious…! Illinoi…! Come out quickly and behold these wonderful sweets…! Let us share them together…!"
Oinoi dashed inside with a great clatter-bang.
Watching her go, Tsubaki gave a soft laugh. "Heh."
"The S-rank awakeners from Korea left for London for that conference, right? The Korean government requested cooperation from Japan—there could be a security vacuum, after all. So that's why I'm here. I speak decent Korean."
I see—.
Tsubaki wasn't officially S-rank.
So rather than attending the S-rank conference in London, she'd been dispatched to Korea instead.
"I have no plans to go back to Japan for a while, so I might be staying in Korea quite a long time. There aren't enough S-ranks here at the moment."
That much was true.
Compared to how often T-rank rifts opened here, Korea's supply of S-ranks was thin on the ground.
You'd need at least five to cover the whole country smoothly.
Korea currently had exactly two S-rank awakeners.
Frankly, that number couldn't handle every T-rank in the nation.
Then Tsubaki said, as if remembering something.
"Come to think of it, Korea's A-ranks are gathering soon, aren't they? Well, Korean A-ranks are on average more experienced and stronger than other countries' A-ranks, so everyone on our side is keeping a close eye on it."
"Is that so?"
So while the world's S-ranks gathered abroad, Korea's A-ranks were holding their own domestic assembly.
I pictured their faces, one by one.
Quite an impressive roster, all told.
"Oh, and by the way, Ha Ildo. There was something like this in your mailbox."
Swish—.
Tsubaki handed me something.
A luxuriously dark envelope, adorned as if embroidered in threads of gold, its flap sealed shut the old-fashioned way with a red wax stamp.
The seal bore the letter "A."
Startled—and trembling with anticipation—I broke the seal and read the letter.
Awakener Ha Ildo,
You are hereby cordially invited to attend the forthcoming gathering of Korea's A-rank awakeners.
KWA-BOOM—!
Light flashed in time with a deafening roar.
Crash.
A man collapsed to the ground, scorched black.
From his body oozed something black and slime-like.
"You thought boosting yourself with this thing would let you beat me? So—where'd you get it? Ki Sanghyeon of Ohsa Group's Response Team B. This parasite. Where. Did. You. Get. It."
"Hiii…! M-m-m-monster…!"
Ki Sanghyeon was gripped by sheer horror, every hair on his head standing on end.
This woman had felled him in a single blow—him, a man who had reached A-rank by empowering his mana with Malice.
"Y-y-y-you freak of a woman! Hiii! Hiiii…!"
He panicked and bolted.
The woman clicked her tongue—tch—watching his back as he fled.
"Pathetic little worm. Let me tell you something. What I hate most in this world are sneaks like you—cheaters who resort to cowardly, filthy tricks. And what I hate more than anything is a human who exploits animals. Who uses them, and torments them."
FLASH—.
Light crackled again, and Ki Sanghyeon—once a B-rank awakener—crashed to the ground trailing black smoke.
Just as the stench of burnt flesh hit the nose, someone appeared, fanning the air.
"Phew, that reeks! Juryeon, haven't you got the output cranked a bit too high? You did leave him alive, right? Don't kill him. We need to find out where he got this Malice."
It was her secretary, Oh Eunhee.
"He's completely torn to shreds. Let's secure the parasite first and… Whoa, look at the size of this thing. It's the size of a thumbnail. This is the biggest one we've ever found, isn't it? And Ki Sanghyeon managed to swallow something this big and keep his sanity? Juryeon! Look at this! It's the largest Malice from our entire collection!"
Oh Eunhee turned to her boss and friend, the A-rank awakener Han Juryeon—
But Han Juryeon merely tapped at her phone, utterly unbothered.
"Don't care. Scum like that."
"Still completely indifferent to everything going on in the world, huh? Well, even you should show a little interest in this. It's an invitation! And they say Ha Ildo is coming this time. Ha Ildo of the dog-squirrels."
Han Juryeon, a top-ranked A-ranker, accepted the invitation with a scowl.
Ha Ildo.
The famous man who'd climbed from D-rank to B-rank at record-breaking speed.
Word was that his breakthrough to A-rank wasn't far off either.
KRAKOOM—!
The letter in Han Juryeon's hand crumbled to ash with a thunderclap. Not that she cared—her eyes stayed glued to her phone.
Han Juryeon's photo gallery.
Scrolling through the countless pictures of adorable dog-squirrels, honey ants, ghost spiders, and tiger owls stored inside, Han Juryeon steeled her resolve.
Top A-ranker, "Liberation's Han Juryeon."
She was a woman who loved animals.
The illegal natural monuments and wildlife she'd personally returned to the wild numbered well over a hundred.
And now her eyes were fixed intently on the photographs of the animals Ha Ildo kept.
"Making slaves of animals and exploiting them. That unnatural growth rate too—there's no doubt he's committing some horrific kind of cheating. When I meet him, I'm going to dig into every last corner of it."
The A-rank conference was coming up soon.
Unknown to the public, it was a gathering where the A-ranks' petty turf wars and bullying made things especially brutal for newcomers.
The thought of meeting Ha Ildo had begun to excite Han Juryeon.
"They say the media will be out in full force at this conference, with cameras and everything. Good. Right in front of them all, I'll expose Ha Ildo for what he is—someone who exploits animals and forces them to fight."
Han Juryeon was pleased in every possible way.
Soon, her secretary Oh Eunhee frowned and spoke up.
"Huh? Says here Ha Ildo turned down the conference invitation."
"What?"
It made no sense.
Could he have caught wind of all the A-ranks sharpening their knives for him?
Han Juryeon, ever the same, searched for Ha Ildo on the internet—
"…What is this."