133 – Murim Nymph # 3

Ever since I was little, I'd always been quick at picking things up.

Studying, gaming — whatever it was, I got the hang of it faster than everyone around me. I was reasonably clever, and I had a knack for shortcuts.

Third grade, elementary school.

By then I had settled into school perfectly, and the teachers doted on me.

And then—

Someone transferred in.

It might not seem like much now, but back then a transfer student was a major event in a child's life, and the whole class buzzed with excitement.

"This is So Sohee. I hope you'll all get along with her."

She was a girl who stood out like a little princess — a gleaming white dress, hair braided with unmistakable care. Her backpack, her pencil case, even her shoes were brand new, and everything about her shone.

"Sohee, would you like to introduce yourself?"

"……"

Whether out of shyness or something else, she said nothing at all.

"Her seat… Ildo, why don't you take the desk next to her? Juyoung, you move one row back and leave your spot open."

"Whaaat? No way, Teacher! I'm nearsighted! If I sit in the back I can't see the board!"

"Juyoung, you're the tallest. Tall kids sit in back — that's how it works. Ildo, you're the class president, so you're responsible for looking after Sohee now that she's transferred in. Got it? I'll be checking every day."

Yes — at the time, I was the class president.

Elected fair and square in the class president vote.

Mom even bought hamburgers for the whole class to celebrate me becoming president. That's the kind of kid I was.

Anyway. Recess.

The children, welcoming their very first transfer student, crowded around So Sohee and fired off question after question.

"Where did you live before?"

"Do you have a cat? A dog?"

Third graders are a curious and innocent breed.

Sohee just blushed, nodding at some questions and shaking her head at others.

And that was when it happened.

"Are you a mute? Why won't you talk?"

Someone asked it.

It was the prettiest girl in the class. Her name was Gong Juyoung. She was tall for her age and carried herself with an oddly grown-up air — among the whispered rumors, there was even talk that a fifth-grade boy from the track team had confessed to her.

Before Sohee arrived, Juyoung had been my desk partner. Sharp-tongued and aloof as she was, she'd sometimes slip me snacks like My Chu or sweet-and-sour candy when no one was looking.

Being her desk partner meant free snacks. It was a good deal, honestly.

Anyway.

Children can be as cruel as they are innocent.

"Are you a mute? Can't talk? You don't know Korean?"

Looking back on it now, it was obvious: Juyoung resented Sohee for getting her seat switched without her say-so. From that day on, branded by the unofficial queen of the classroom, Sohee began drifting into isolation, little by little—

So I, as class president, took extra care of her.

Come to think of it, that's probably when my easy rapport with the other girls in class started to sour.

Anyway.

Since we headed the same direction home, I walked Sohee home after school.

"This is your house, right? Eu-tteum Health Center?"

Our neighborhood hadn't been redeveloped yet, so plenty of poor families lived there. Sohee's house was a squat home with a weathered fence wall and a slate roof that stuck in my memory — but what really stunned me was her mother, Ms. Dang Yeong-yeong, who was shockingly young and beautiful.

She looked less like a mom and more like a big sister.

"You're Ildo, are you? Look after our Sohee for me. We only just got back to Korea, and Auntie's swamped with this and that. Aiya, so busy, so busy."

As she said this, the auntie set a clear glass jar out in the yard, filled it to the brim with soju, and stuffed it with things like snakes, centipedes, and hornet nests.

To a kid my age, it was honestly terrifying to watch.

"Here — allowance. Go buy yourselves something tasty and have fun. Ildo, was it? You've got a sharp little face on you. Take good care of our Sohee, okay?"

Shwik—

She pressed two thousand-won bills into my hand.

"Ooh, yes ma'am!"

Then I'd head straight for Alpha Stationery Store, take Sohee with me, and play twenty rounds of Mechanical Snail 3 or split a pack of greasy junk sausages between us.

I loved it.

Two thousand won.

For a third grader back then, that was serious money!

Twenty whole rounds of Mechanical Snail 3! Maybe I could even finally beat that impossible Stage 4 boss!

A few days passed like that.

Then the girls in class pulled me to the back of the classroom.

"Hey! Ha Ildo! Are you dating Sohee?"

"Answer us already!"

It was Gong Juyoung and her pack of followers.

Juyoung spoke up.

"Stop hanging out with her. You know my dad's a prosecutor, right? A prosecutor. That's a huge deal. He catches bad guys and everything. And he says Sohee's dad is under surveillance!"

"Surveillance?"

"They say he threw firebombs at tanks in a war overseas! That's why he can't live with his family — he lives all alone. Scary, right? He must have done something terrible."

I was ten years old at the time.

I didn't really understand what it meant to fight tanks with firebombs, but I understood perfectly well that Juyoung was trying to freeze Sohee out, and that freezing someone out was a bad thing.

"Anyway, Ha Ildo — stop playing with Sohee and I'll let you into our cat-showing club. The rules say no boys ever get in, but I can make a special exception for you. How about it? Pretty sweet, right?"

"No thanks. I like squirrels more than cats."

I flat-out refused.

I kept walking Sohee home and playing at the stationery store with her anyway, and each day, something new happened.

"Ildo… are you sure this is okay…?"

"I'm telling you, it's fine! These days even invitations need good bait to be competitive! The hook is everything! Everyone's going to flock here like clouds."

I had decided that Sohee's birthday party needed to be held in style.

I felt like Sohee deserved to have lots of friends around her.

On the day of the birthday itself, Ms. Dang Yeong-yeong, despite how thin the household budget was, ordered chicken and pizza, bought a game console the kids would like, and had it all hooked up to the TV.

And even then she kept worrying, "What if too many children come and the food runs out?"

Reading the invitation brought the old memories flooding back.

Just then, Oinoi — who had been snoring away in her sleep — jolted awake with a start.

"Aaah—! The aura of past recollections made this Oinoi doze off without meaning to…! This Oinoi must keep careful watch over the fluffy typhoon cloud…!"

Even in the late hours before dawn, Oinoi loved gazing at the typhoon cloud kept in its glass jar.

The cloud, fluffy as cotton candy, would occasionally go fluff-fluff and shudder all over. I had no idea what principle governed that, but it looked genuinely impressive.

"The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠west wind god Zephyrus is said to have ridden upon such typhoon clouds…! And Zeus, king of the gods, is said to have kept one as a pet…!"

"Really?"

"But no nymph apart from the gods themselves has ever managed to raise a typhoon cloud…! And this Oinoi shall be the first of them all…! This Oinoi is destined to become the Chief Nymph…!"

Chah—!

Oinoi puffed out her shoulders proudly, as if she were announcing a grand achievement.

Unlike Illinoi, who loved money, or Coris, who simply delighted in everything, Oinoi was the nymph who loved boasting and showing off above all else.

"And yet the herbs are running short, that is the trouble…! If things go on like this, summer will end and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the typhoon cloud may drift apart and scatter…! This Oinoi must secure the Typhoon Flower without delay…!"

The Typhoon Flower Oinoi had drawn in her sketchbook really did look like a typhoon — a flower spinning round and round in a spiral.

It resembled a kind of dandelion, and she said it could only rarely be found in the forests where nymphs lived.

An extremely precious flower, apparently.

"How rare are we talking?"

"As rare as a Ten-Thousand-Year Wild Ginseng or the Legendary Gutter Water, that is the truth of it…! And if the Typhoon Flower cannot be found, a Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng or the Legendary Gutter Water may serve as substitutes…!"

I'd actually heard of Ten-Thousand-Year Wild Ginseng before.

There was a rumor floating around, vague but persistent, that some awakener had eaten one and leapt straight from A-Rank to S-Rank.

But Legendary Gutter Water was a name I was hearing for the first time.

I didn't know much about it, but if Oinoi was after it, it had to be something truly magnificent!

"Legendary Gutter Water. What a fitting name for a living legend like me, Ha Ildo. Muhaha."

Anyway.

I looked at the plane ticket tucked inside the invitation.

It was for the newly opened airport in Shanghai, China.

"There's only one."

"This Oinoi wishes to visit the Rimbu Forest in Sichuan as well…! It is surely a forest where nymphs lived since long ago, so the Typhoon Flower must be there…!"

At this point there was nothing for it but to rearrange my schedule.

And scrounge up another ticket or two.

So the days passed, and morning came.

"Ha Ildo, I have to sail out into the Pacific soon, so can you look after Illinoi for me? I'd feel uneasy leaving her with anyone else — you're the perfect fit."

Seo Yerim, with barely a week left before joining the Argonaut mission — a world-ranker-level operation — had come to see me.

She needed someone to take Illinoi in and protect her while she was away.

So that's why she asked for me, huh.

"Why does Lady Yerim keep attempting to rent this Illinoi out to the House Master…? Pray cease this movement of attempting to abandon this Illinoi as one crosses over Snake's head, that is what this Illinoi declares…!"

Illinoi, it seemed, hated being apart from Seo Yerim.

Yerim really did treat Illinoi, her bonded nymph, extremely well.

"Illinoi, could you make a medicine that cures illness?"

Illinoi was the Medicine Nymph — potion-making was her specialty.

Mostly she brewed things that got you high on good vibes, but she made ordinary remedies too.

If she teamed up with Ari, who was an excellent doctor, couldn't they whip up something to cure Ms. Dang Yeong-yeong's illness?

So I showed her the blood sample I'd brought, and Illinoi scrunched up her face.

"What ees thees blood, that is what this Illinoi asks…! It is blood that has been struck by a deadly poison…! Deadly poison is the mortal enemy of this Illinoi, the Medicine Nymph…! Together we cannot be, that is what this Illinoi declares…!"

"I see."

I couldn't follow half of it, but I gathered it meant the illness would be hard to cure.

"So in the end we have to go to Shanghai. I have to leave my post soon too — I won't be able to keep Illinoi with me."

Hearing my story, Seo Yerim — who'd been tapping away at her phone — frowned.

"Why Shanghai?"

I figured showing her would be faster than explaining.

Shwik—

The moment I held out the letter written on red paper, embroidered in gold thread with a phoenix and a dragon, Yerim's frown melted away at once.

"Wait. Isn't this a Federation invitation?"

"That's right. You know about it?"

"The Federation gathers the next generation of awakeners, makes them duel each other, and awards a prize to the winner. It's called the Dragon-Phoenix ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Assembly, or the Grand Martial Tournament of All Under Heaven."

Typical Seo Yerim — as a member of a megacorp chaebol family, she knew everything and processed it all fast.

And of course, her intel network ran circles around mine.

"They don't usually invite foreigners. When they do, it's strictly to play the clown. The role is to lose to China's awakeners and proclaim the greatness of China and the greatness of its martial arts."

Long ago, Chinese martial arts had fallen into decline and been thoroughly crushed by twenty-first-century fighters.

But in the era of the 5th Industry, with China entering a new chapter, it seemed they'd taken to inviting the world's awakeners and having their own qi-practitioner awakeners defeat them — then running propaganda declaring "Chinese martial arts are supreme!"

In other words—

I'd been summoned to play the role of the one who loses to China's glorious martial arts.

"This is a trap, Ha Ildo. You know that much, right? The Dragon-Phoenix Assembly pulls over 78 percent viewership in China. You could end up humiliating yourself in front of every single Chinese citizen."

"I know. But walk in with your eyes open and a trap becomes a chess match. Besides— wait, how much viewership? Seventy-eight percent?!"

My head spun and my hands and feet trembled, for all sorts of reasons.

Wasn't this my — Ha Ildo's — one-shot ticket to global stardom?

The Fifth Wave of the Korean boom—

Would rise like a typhoon from my very own two hands!

While I was lost in that thought, Seo Yerim made a call to someone.

"Yeah, Yeongeun, it's me — Seo Yerim. Cancel my Argonaut schedule for next week. Yeah, I'm not participating. Cha Yura can handle it just fine on her own. Yeah. Right."

Click—

Yerim hung up.

Then she said:

"Illinoi, grab your passport. We're going to China too."

"Muhehe…! My mood ees berry good, that is what this Illinoi declares…! Word has reached this Illinoi's ears that there may be a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Nymph of Deadly Poison in China…! We shall go and administer a thorough beating, that is what this Illinoi declares…!"