123 – Nymph. World. War. # 2
Day three.
Every time I lay down to sleep, sat down to eat, or shuffled off to the bathroom, I found myself mired in the same worry.
"Should I just call her now?"
Namely, reaching out to Tsubaki.
When those bills came flying in one after another and the money started bleeding out of my account, I honestly couldn't put my phone down for a moment.
Had I really pulled off the single dumbest mistake of my entire life?
"If I called her now and asked to call it a draw, would she let it slide?"
Of course, I never actually dialed.
Still, for the past few days I'd been agonizing hard enough to pull out a few strands of hair—until Ilinoi swept the floor with a whoosh, whoosh of her broom.
"Ilinoi, what's gotten into you? You're cleaning?"
It had already been a week since Ilinoi had attached herself to our house as a freeloader.
Ilinoi loved eating, playing, and sleeping. Pretty much in that order.
Her only "productive activities," as far as I could tell, were producing carbon dioxide through her mouth and scattering trash—paper straws and the like—all over the floor. When I asked her how exactly any of that counted as productive, she'd answered like this:
"Does Master know how many jobs are made when Ilinoi throws garbage on the floor…?"
"Throwing away trash creates jobs?"
"Of course…! Ilinoi has followed the teachings of Adam Smith…! Ilinoi will teach you about the economy…! Open your ears and listen…!"
"Sure."
"When Ilinoi throws trash on the floor, the number of sanitation workers who pick it up will increase…! And a whole ministry to manage those sanitation workers will surely come into being…!"
It was a very convincing argument.
Never mind that Ang-ang-i ended up picking up all the trash anyway.
Anyway—when a nymph like that was sweeping the floor, I couldn't help but be startled in more ways than one.
"Ilinoi. What's with the broom?"
"Heh heh, a house master's hair is useful in all sorts of ways…! Hair this nymph-friendly makes all sorts of things possible…!"
I see.
She apparently planned to use my hair to make some kind of nymph talismans or something.
Anyway.
Ilinoi spoke.
"Japanese Tsubaki has already returned to Japan…! Waiting for a bus that won't come back no matter how much you regret it is about as foolish as searching for a nymph's tail…!"
Nymphs have no tails.
So searching for a nymph's tail is a fool's errand—or so goes the nymph proverb.
In other words, she was saying that pining over Tsubaki and regretting it made me an idiot.
"That's fair."
Honestly, I knew it too.
It's just that, as a human being, I couldn't help feeling a little wistful about it.
Fine, then! Time to push toward S-rank as hard as I possibly could!
And so—what exactly did I need to do right now to reach S-rank?
It went without saying.
Swish—
I turned on the internet and typed in the three characters of my name, "Ha Ildo."
Because the most urgent task on the road to S-rank was, naturally, searching my own name on the internet.
No results found
Nothing there.
Not a single word about me today.
Even "HousehusbandKeongkeongi" hadn't posted anything in days, it seemed.
"This is all because I haven't had any heroics lately. I make a big splash, build up fame, use that fame to get more calls, perform even bigger heroics—that's how you reach S-rank."
Tatatang, tatap, tatatang. Click.
With unwavering faith, I posted on the internet.
The comments poured in.
Publicizing myself like this felt wonderful, while at the same time sending a shiver of guilty thrill down my spine, as though I were up to no good.
Promoting myself through an anonymous mask no one could see through.
"Truly, the road of the S-rank awakener is long and treacherous."
Swish—
I picked up my phone.
Because a message had come in from Seo Yerim.
"Heh heh, the life of a commoner was funny…! Ilinoi shall now leave this house…! Do not forget Ilinoi, everyone—hasta la vista…!"
Vroom, vroom—
Waving her hand, Ilinoi climbed into Seo Yerim's electric car.
Oinoi waved back at her.
"Farewell, Ilinoi, this one says…! It was very fun, this one says…!"
Oinoi seemed genuinely sorry that Ilinoi, the nymph sister she'd spent the past few days with, was leaving.
Watching Oinoi wave her hands round and round, Seo Yerim said, "You've really grown attached, huh. By the way, Ha Ildo—who's that weird old man over there?"
Where Seo Yerim's gaze landed stood Director Bang Saenghyeon of the Wild Animal Research Institute.
These days he went by "Dr. Bang" and apparently busied himself telling visitors to the village this and that about the animals.
"He's got his circumstances. Speaking of which, I figured you'd come straight for Ilinoi the moment you landed in Korea, but you're a little late? I guess the S-rank summit kept you busy?"
"You could say that. Oh, Ha Ildo. Do you know what this is?"
Swish—
Seo Yerim showed me something.
It was a photo taken on her phone—what looked like some kind of mural.
The feel of something painted in the deep prehistoric past.
"A mammoth, I see."
It was then that Dr. Bang approached and spoke. Seo Yerim flinched, startled, but I found myself drawn into the conversation.
"By mammoth, you mean the ancient elephant?"
"Yes, a painting of a mammoth. I'm fairly well versed in paleontology, you see. My original dream was to become a paleontologist. But where is this mural from? A dinosaur beside the mammoth—that looks like a raptor, doesn't it."
Weren't mammoths a species of elephant that lived in the long-distant past?
A mural with dinosaurs and mammoths painted side by side—it was strange, sure, but fascinating all the same.
"What you've just seen are the photos brought back by the Mark 2 unit provided courtesy of Telos Group. All of them were taken inside the structure within the storm."
Prince—Lee Jeonghun.
Drawing on his chaebol days, he wrapped up the presentation with practiced ease.
The lights came on in the darkened room, and the ministerial-level VIPs gasped in admiration one after another.
"A Mechanical Dog-Squirrel, you say? How adorable. Absolutely precious."
"At that quality, I think we could manage keeping one ourselves."
━Keong. Keong.
The sleek, future-forward sky-blue Mechanical Dog-Squirrel scampered back and forth across the table.
The sight had a way of thoroughly delighting the sentimental hearts of the aged officials.
"Telos Group's technology really is something. It feels like they've leveled up another step recently, doesn't it?"
"Their AI and robotics especially—they seem to have found their 'path' there."
While everyone sang its praises, former S-rank awakener Lee Jeonghun was quietly flustered.
"Um, Ministers. The point of interest right now isn't the Mechanical Dog-Squirrel but the photos. Of course, the fact that it punched through a treacherous mana storm to bring back images is a remarkable feat in itself, but—"
Swish—
Lee Jeonghun pointed his laser pointer at the image projected on the screen.
The resolution was poor—but this was a photograph taken inside the Tempest of Time and Space, the colossal T-rank rift.
"This enormous tower-shaped structure is estimated to span roughly a hundred kilometers in diameter, and within it dwell a variety of distinct ecologies."
A variety of ecologies.
At those words, Lee Jeonghun caught the scent of money.
Ten-odd years ago, rifts had been calamities—but now, at long last, rifts were 'money.'
The country that produced more rifts developed faster, and the country that opened bigger rifts developed bigger still.
The Tempest of Time and Space—the largest T-rank rift in existence.
The whole world had promised to cooperate and conquer it together—but behind closed doors, backroom maneuvers for each nation's benefit were in full swing, and Korea was no exception.
Using satellite imagery extracted from Japan, they had succeeded in pushing an unmanned drone into the Tempest—and had even confirmed the existence of a possible 'ecosystem' inside, where living things might actually be surviving.
"Before the S-rank alliance 'Argonaut' departs for the storm, there may be time for our Patriot team to explore it first. Right here—if you would just sign the operation proposal—"
And so Lee Jeonghun wrapped up another successful presentation today as well.
Shaaaah—
Only after running cold water in the bathroom and washing his face did Lee Jeonghun finally catch his breath.
He looked at his phone: over three hundred unread messages.
"Hey. Hurry up and get here."
Most of them were orders from his seniors.
Lee Jeonghun was exhausted.
"My name isn't 'Hey.' It's Lee Jeonghun. Kang Cheolmin's always like this. Me, a third-generation chaebol with nothing to envy anyone for—why on earth—"
━Keong. Keong.
"......"
At his feet, a Mechanical Dog-Squirrel was circling round and round.
Lee Jeonghun's face scrunched up hard.
"Hey. You. Let me make one thing clear. I hate dog-squirrels."
Lee Jeonghun hated dog-squirrels.
Because he suffered from a vicious dog-squirrel allergy.
And every reason for the misery he was enduring right now could, without exaggeration, be traced back to a dog-squirrel—or at least, that was how Lee Jeonghun himself saw it.
━Keong. Keong.
"If Kang Cheolmin hadn't dumped you on me, I'd never be keeping you. Got it? So don't go liking me either. I can't stand anything that looks like a rat. Understood?"
━Keong. Keong.
Round and round—
The Mechanical Dog-Squirrel kept circling around Lee Jeonghun.
It looked tremendously excited, and utterly devoted to him.
"......"
Lee Jeonghun remembered a time long ago, when he'd begged and pleaded with his father to let him keep a hamster.
Everyone assumed he'd grown up lacking for nothing, a third-generation chaebol heir.
But that hamster had been the first gift his father—the same father who never once bought him a toy otherwise—had ever given him, after Lee Jeonghun took first place in his entire school.
"...And the moment my next exam score slipped to second in the school, it got taken away."
━Keong. Keong.
"......"
Lee Jeonghun glanced around.
The bathroom was empty.
"You wouldn't enjoy being called 'Hey' every single day either, would you."
━Keong. Keong.
The Mechanical Dog-Squirrel had no fur.
Lee Jeonghun gave it a name.
"How about Bitnari? Since you shine."
━Keong! Keong!
The Mechanical Dog-Squirrel barked as if delighted, then slid straight into Lee Jeonghun's inner pocket.
As if searching for some source of warmth.
Rustle, rustle—
Could it have been because of the Mechanical Dog-Squirrel rustling around in his pocket?
One corner of Lee Jeonghun's chest felt strangely ticklish.
It was a feeling he had long ago forgotten.
Ever since Ilinoi had left, my days passed in an idyllic rhythm of searching my own name in the search bar every single day.
I kept up with physical training in the gaps, brushed the animals' fur faithfully each day, and petted them well.
I even ran the occasional B-rank rift.
"Take this—Gate of Ha Ildo!"
━Keongkeong…!
━Zzji…!
"Ooh, a dog-squirrel and a honey ant bursting out of his pocket!"
Apparently the rumors that I'd been claimed by an A-rank awakener were true, because putting a party together wasn't easy—so I ended up running rifts with acquaintances: Seol Myeong-hoon, Jo Jang-hee, and Lee Jin-a.
"V! Draw their attention!"
━Keongkeong…!
B-rank Jo Jang-hee held the vanguard position with a massive shield.
She kept a dog-squirrel shaped like a long parrot—named V—and it was terribly cute.
While V drew the monsters' gazes this way and that, Seol Myeong-hoon finished them off with his long anti-materiel rifle. A beautifully coordinated tactic, and their timing was seamless.
"You two work really well together, don't you?"
I asked, and Jo Jang-hee, who was peeling an apple to feed V by the campfire, laughed her distinctive hang-hang-hang laugh.
"Did it look that way? We weren't trying to show off or anything, but—we're actually getting married next spring. Ha Ildo-ssi, you'll come, right? You too, Jin-a-ssi?"
Jo Jang-hee and Seol Myeong-hoon, getting married?
They said plenty of couples met in rifts and ended up marrying, but still.
That's wonderful for them—I was just thinking it when vrrrm—my phone rang.
A bizarre text.
No sender, no—it was a message with no information of any kind.
Some kind of trap, maybe—
And in the first place, who on earth was "Bitnari"?