Someone's Precious Treasure! # 6
The moment Xiaoxiao appeared, every nerve in Yu Ari's body was wound tight as a bowstring.
The Chinese are after Senior, just as I feared!
Her first thought was that she would have to face Xiaoxiao herself. But fighting an S-Ranker head-on would announce to the world that Yu Ari was an S-Ranker too — and worse, that she belonged to Patriot. If her cover were blown, the government could seize on Ildo's ties to the Patriot team and saddle him with 'missions' of its own making.
Senior belongs in the sunlight, shining like the sun. A black-ops agent? That's the last thing he should be! Senior deserves to be praised by everyone, to be loved and adored by everyone!
She hesitated — she hated the idea of Ildo having to do things no one would ever know or thank him for. But the thought of losing him to China was far worse.
So it has to be me after all—
Then Ildo woke Argos and set the giant against Xiaoxiao.
Yu Ari's scalp prickled so hard her hair nearly stood on end.
Any half-competent strategist could have come up with that plan if they'd sat down and thought it through calmly. But to reach the fastest possible decision at the most critical possible moment — that is genuine, breathtaking resolve!
Xiaoxiao, meanwhile, was hopelessly entangled with the giant. And even so, she refused to let go of her obsession with Ildo.
"…Ildo! You look at this candy and you feel nothing for me!? We once joined hands and— ugh! You blasted giant! Get off! Get off! Now is not the time to deal with you!"
━Kraaaaa!
"Huh? Why… why am I crying?"
Something was clearly wrong with Ildo. He hovered at the edge of retreat, feet as good as glued to the floor, unable to tear himself away.
Yu Ari assumed Xiaoxiao's scheme — or her poison — had gotten to him.
I have to get Senior out of here, right now!
Pop-!
She seized Ildo's arm and yanked.
"We're following your plan, Senior! Let's get out of here! Hurry! If we stay any longer, this all fails and somebody gets hurt! We have to go — now!"
Lee Jina shouted right behind her.
"That's our cue! Now! Go! Let's move, let's get out!"
Wham-.
With both women latching onto his arms and hauling with all their might, Ildo had no choice but to be dragged along, protests and all.
"Wait—. Just wait a second—."
Even so, he kept glancing back over his shoulder as if he'd left something precious behind — but while giant and S-Ranker collided in a storm of fury, the Binnari Rescue Team slipped through the gap and finally made it out of the tower.
They boarded the helicopter and retraced the route they'd come in by, punching their way out of the typhoon until at last they were soaring over the broad, open Pacific.
No one was hurt. The mission was a success. And everyone had bagged themselves a mountain of loot besides.
"Mweheheh! Now this Illinoi shall sell these stones and become a veeery rich nymph…! Kaiser Illinoi herself…! Completely Tony Montana…!"
"Is everyone okay? Senior, how are you feeling?"
Yu Ari went around checking everyone's spirits and condition, and aside from a few people still tingling faintly from the paralytic poison, everyone seemed to be in fine shape. In fact, they all looked better than fine.
"My mana feels like it's shot way up. Is it just me?"
Squeeze, squeeze-.
Lee Jina flexed her fist open and shut.
Lee Jeonghun fished a small Ring of Wisdom out of his pocket as well.
"My mana feels steadier too. Absorbing mana in the largest T-Rank Rift in existence — I think some of my old strength is coming back! My Third Hand has returned…!"
With a flick of telekinesis, Lee Jeonghun freed the Ring of Wisdom from his pocket. It meant his mana, which had been wobbling between B and A rank, had settled firmly at A.
Swish-.
Ildo rested a hand over his own heart. Was he feeling out his heartbeat, and the mana spreading through his body?
Before long, he spoke, like something was nagging at him.
"But… didn't Xiaoxiao try to say something to me at the end there? Maybe it's just my imagination… but it felt like she knew me pretty well. Like we'd known each other a long time…."
The man drifted off into memory. It was Ari who answered him.
"Senior, you're world-famous! 'Dog-Squirrel Ha Ildo' is one of the most popular topics on every country's forums! You've probably just read something online!"
"…I suppose so."
And with that, the helicopter touched down safely in Lee Jeonghun's basement.
By then it was evening. Lee Jeonghun was overflowing with gratitude toward Ildo.
"Ildo. Thank you. Thanks to you, I got Binnari back. Because of you. The self-destruct code is disarmed too! I honestly don't know how to thank you enough…!"
Born a third-generation chaebol heir, Lee Jeonghun had never once felt gratitude like this toward another person. His life had wanted for little. And the fact that Ildo had risked his neck for Binnari — a being most people would mistake for a mere AI drone — struck Lee Jeonghun as astonishing, deeply moving.
Ildo reached out and stroked the little mechanical dog-squirrel curled in Lee Jeonghun's palm.
"Binnari is an adorable squirrel. And she adores you, Lee Jeonghun. She's completely devoted. I can read dog-squirrels pretty well these days. So don't ever lose her again."
That was the end of it. He asked for nothing in return. He didn't so much as hint at a favor owed.
Ildo left, and Lee Jeonghun stayed behind with Binnari.
"Ildo… that guy…."
Click.
Then came the sound of a high heel on the floor. Black eyes glinted in the darkness.
"Ildo Senior is a kind and gentle person. Even if you'd told him from the very start that you wanted to rescue a mechanical dog-squirrel, he would have heard you out without a second thought."
Swish, pop-.
Before Lee Jeonghun could even summon a telekinetic shield, a scalpel flashed past his arm and buried itself in the marble wall.
Quiver-.
While Lee Jeonghun stared at the embedded scalpel, cold sweat running down his back, Yu Ari went on.
"But, Lee Jeonghun — if you ever put Senior in danger on a whim again—"
"……."
That was the end of the conversation. Lee Jeonghun could not manage so much as a single word until the sound of Yu Ari's footsteps had completely faded. He stood frozen like that for a good five minutes.
━Kung. Kung!
Binnari scampered up his leg like a runaway vine. Only then did the ice melt off Lee Jeonghun like spring frost.
"Binnari. I'm so glad you're safe."
━Kung. Kung!
He thought of Ha Ildo, who had saved her. And he turned over, once more, all the information he'd quietly investigated on his own.
Ildo — do you know? That none of this has ever been coincidence…? That you are a magnet drawing dangerous women to you…?
Lee Jeonghun decided to wish him luck. He resolved, firmly, that if the day ever came when Ildo faced a threat bigger than any typhoon and called for help, he too would move heaven and earth for him — just as Ildo had for Binnari.
"You're telling me the stones Kaiser Illinoi brought back are just… plain, hard rocks, and not mana-anything rocks…? What a nymph-phobic situation this is…! I am suing these disgusting pebbles for fraud…! Someone call lawyer, right now…!"
It turned out the stones Illinoi had crammed her bag full of were not mana hydrolite at all — just ordinary glittering rocks. Same went for the stones Lee Jina had pocketed.
"Guaaack…! The reign of Kaiser Illinoi has ended before it even lasted a single day…! This Illinoi is utterly finished…! Completely viva la vida…!"
Kaiser Illinoi was demoted to plain old Illinoi. Her dream of striking it rich and living like an empress had collapsed, I suppose.
Still, there had been a harvest.
Swish-.
I fished a single small stone out of my pocket.
"And this, apparently, is the mana hydrolite."
One rock I'd pocketed like a souvenir on a whim. That one alone had been genuine ore.
Pretty lucky break, honestly.
"Not enough to make my own gear, so I'll get equipment fitted for Keongkeongi and Kwangkwangi instead. Especially Kwangkwangi — she really earned it this trip. Might as well craft an accessory for Kalinoi while I'm at it."
My gear could wait. Outfitting my animal partners came first — because when my beast partners got stronger, I got stronger right along with them!
Oinoi, for her part, was carefully setting a clear glass jar on the sunlit windowsill, snickering mwehehe all the while.
"May the typhoon grow big and strong…! No nymph anywhere has ever raised a typhoon as a pet…! This Oinoi shall be the very first nymph to do so…!"
She seemed delighted at the prospect of raising a typhoon. Then she turned to me.
"Master of the house…! You seem veeery distracted, it seems to me…!"
"Ah — it's nothing. I was just wondering if the Chinese team's okay, that's all."
Xiaoxiao, locked in battle with the giant Argos, drifted through my mind.
Ari, who was checking on Keongkeongi beside me, spoke up.
"Those Chinese have no reason to reveal that they ran into us. It would earn China massive international criticism too. So there's nothing to worry about, Senior."
Even if Korea got kicked off the survey of the super-massive T-Rank Rift, the damage was minimal — Korea was, after all, a country where T-Rank Rifts opened all the time. But China would be throwing away a hard-won chance to survey a T-Rank Rift, so apparently there was no way the fact of our encounter would ever reach the world.
And yet—.
That wasn't what had been bothering me.
Xiaoxiao. She had clearly known who I was. That candy, too—. And the tears that had spilled without warning—!
All of it gnawed at me.
The weekend came, and I went down to my parents' house for the first time in a while.
Ha Irae flung the front door wide open.
"Oppa! Did you bring Oinoi? Keongkeongi? Kwangkwangi and Angangi! What about Gwang-gwangi? Oh wait, was it Myeong-i, not Gwang-gwangi? Kalinoi? Did you bring them all!? Hey guys, where are youuu!"
Apparently my little sister had been looking forward to seeing the nymphs and the animals more than her own brother.
But today I'd come down alone.
"Irae. Where's Mom?"
"She'll be back any minute!"
Just as Ha Irae said, Mom returned in no time. I stopped rummaging through my old room and asked her.
"Mom, do you know someone named Xiaoxiao?"
"Nope. Some Chinese restaurant? We never had one of those around here."
"Then what about a candy? A round candy. Anything ring a bell? The kind they used to sell at the stationery shop way back — a really old-fashioned candy. It looked like this."
Scribble scribble-.
I drew a picture in my sketchbook. A round, round candy.
"……!"
The moment she saw the drawing, my mother's whole body shuddered as if she'd taken a hammer blow. Then she glanced around the room, and spoke in a whisper so soft that only I could hear it.
"Ha Ildo. Do you… have your memories from back then come back?"
"Memories coming back? What are you talking about?"
"……."
Mom pressed her lips together and went into the inner room. She opened a drawer that had been locked fast, and from inside it drew out a worn, ancient pencil case.
A beige pencil case I didn't recognize. But scrawled across it in shaky, crooked letters was: 3-1, Ha Ildo. It was unmistakably my own childhood handwriting.
Ziiip-.
When I unzipped the pencil case, there was something tucked inside. A note.
☆ Birthday Party Invitation ★
You're already invited!
To So Sohee's birthday party!
"This is…."
It felt like so many things were flooding back at once. Memories lit up in my head like fireworks going off, and the days of third grade played out before my eyes.
─Look at that! Ha Ildo goes around holding hands with a girl!
─I heard Ha Ildo held hands with So Sohee!