Hyper Evolution with the Nymphs # 3

Kira Stone was absolutely thrilled.

She had just filmed a spectacular piece of footage — prime MeTube material, the kind that practically edited itself.

"Hyper Evolution! What a magnificent skill!"

Just thinking about editing and uploading the video already put her in a fantastic mood. Her subscriber count would balloon, her view counts would leap skyward, and all of it was practically guaranteed.

"I simply must upload this at once!"

Cute animals were an unbeatable card in any MeTuber's deck, and with the joker card known as 'Hyper Evolution' thrown in, her hand had become a royal flush.

"This is, quite literally, a Royal Straight Flush!"

And so, after turning on Ha Ildo's computer and opening the MeTube window, Kira's eyes were drawn to his search history.

"Oh, right — she did mention sharing the computer with me."

It seemed the strange fairy-nymph living together with Ha Ildo had searched her own name obsessively. Fairies, apparently, were just as curious as anyone about what popped up when they googled themselves.

To Kira, who had rarely interacted with other species over her awakener career, these small discoveries struck a quiet, charming chord. One of the best things about an awakener's life was that it handed you odd little experiences like this.

"How fun!"

Kira saved her footage to a USB drive and began loading up her editing files. That was when a certain folder on the D drive seized her gaze and refused to let go.

"Th-this is... the infamous 'adult videos' I've only heard whispers about? Surely that's what it says, written right there!"

Kira was deeply shaken.

Could it be that Ha Ildo — that upright, moral, Confucian gentleman of a man — was a hot-blooded male after all?

"Just a little look..."

Gulp.

She swallowed, slowly clicked the folder, and beheld the videos spilling out of it — and nearly jumped out of her skin. They were clips of every manner of animal frolicking this way and that.

"This isn't a folder of Adult Videos, it's a folder of Animal Videos...! Footage of the creatures that roam around Taecho Village...!"

Kira closed the file with a faint twinge of disappointment.

But then she stumbled upon a search history stuffed with entries like training videos, training manuals, and tips for raising your rank.

"This is..."

Looking at it, Kira found herself remembering her own past.

The days when she had been D-Rank. When she had struggled tooth and nail to climb to C-Rank, training desperately and posting videos — this man must have been consuming her content in exactly that same spirit back then.

"......"

Kira found herself quietly reflecting on the person she had become — someone who now uploaded nothing but sensational clickbait.

The truth was that she had worked hard and trained diligently as an awakener in order to practice noblesse oblige.

Back then there had also been that thrill of discovery — of absorbing new knowledge and new worlds through the rifts.

Re-watching the 'raccoon video', the first of her uploads to break a million views, Kira suddenly realized that her life as an S-Rank awakener had become far less fun than it used to be.

"If I'm not having fun, then naturally my videos aren't fun either. And falling subscriber counts are, in a way, only to be expected.... This is, quite literally, a slump..."

Clack-clack-clack-

But Kira was a professional MeTuber, and she swiftly finished her edit and got the upload done in record time.

Truly a sensational title.

It would be the thumbnail face of the video, so the letters had to be as flashy and rainbow-colored as possible.

And yet, somehow, Kira didn't feel happy about it. Didn't feel fun, even.

"......"

She logged into a secret MeTube account that no one in the world knew about.

Subscriber count: 300.

Her videos barely scraped 20 or 30 views each — and yet laughter was already bubbling out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of her. Hehehe-

No flashy BGM, no subtitles, no fancy editing of any kind — just clumsy, handheld phone footage of dog-squirrels, plain and simple.

There was footage of honey ants building a brick wall in their daily routine, and footage of tiger owls singing their songs with a soft hoo-hoo- call.

After the video 「I'm the Only SSS-Rank Dog-Squirrel Evolution!? First Reveal on Kira Land!」 went up, an avalanche of comments poured in overnight.

SNS was already buzzing about 'Hyper Evolution', and the reaction was overwhelmingly, monstrously positive.

"All that training was worth it after all!"

━Woof woof...!

Scritch-scratch-

Keongkeongi bounded around me like an overexcited puppy, tail wagging furiously.

He had probably sensed, through his Wild Sense, that people everywhere were talking about him.

And that had to feel wonderful.

━Woof woof...!

It seems dog-squirrels aren't called man's best friend for nothing.

Just as I was stroking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the hyped-up Keongkeongi to calm him down, Kira — who had spent the night in the spare room — emerged with a long, luxuriously lazy stretch, sauntered over to me, and her eyes were sparkling.

"Mister Ildo! The reaction is absolutely insane! At this rate, ten million views within the week is a done deal! Mister Ildo, congratulations on becoming a world-class star!"

She grabbed my hand and pumped it up and down furiously.

A world-class star —

What a magnificent ring that has to it.

Would the day come when I walked down a foreign street and strangers stopped me going, "Oh, aren't you Ha Ildo?" and begged for autographs?

Lee Jina, however, was frowning.

"Hey, Kira. You said I wouldn't be in it. What is this? I'm in the video."

Jina had apparently seen through the fact that she made an appearance somewhere in the footage.

It was the scene where Keongkeongi underwent Hyper Evolution — and caught on camera in that very moment was Lee Jina going, "Th-that is—", a breathless gasp of awe. The clip had even been designated the video's Most Replayed Scene.

The comment section was full of talk about Lee Jina as well.

Jina had her share of airheaded moments, but from the outside she was a strikingly sharp-featured beauty, so it was only natural that all eyes would lock onto her.

"Pignoi this Oinoi's precious piggy bank has appeared in the video as well, it has...! And the Typhoon Cloud this Oinoi so proudly boasted of has appeared too, it has...! This Oinoi has now become the most famous nymph in all the world, it seems...!"

Heh-

Oinoi stood with her chest puffed out, unbearably proud of herself.

She had gotten roughly twenty seconds in the ten-minute video.

"The back of this Coris's head appears here as well, you see...! If I had known this would happen, I should have asked Junior Kore Jina to brush my hair a little prettier beforehand, I suppose...!"

Coris got about thirty seconds of screen time — and for some reason, every second of it was the back of her head.

By any measure, a very strange MeTube debut.

So how were people reacting?

Compared to elves, nymphs were a race that remained relatively obscure to the public.

But the reaction to Oinoi's appearance in a video by a major MeTuber like Kira was fairly warm, and everyone seemed to find her utterly fascinating.

Still—

I couldn't help feeling a little wistful about it all.

Kira's video, contrary to my expectations, had leaned far too hard into the sensational. But Kira had only been doing her job, and doing it well, so I decided to keep that small disappointment to myself.

Besides, I had found a wonderful video of my own the night before.

It surfaced through the algorithm and I clicked it without thinking — and it turned out to be an unexpected jackpot.

No captions. Not a single line of dialogue.

It didn't even have the usual background music, but the sight of dog-squirrels and all sorts of other animals coming out to receive their food was profoundly peaceful — so soothing that watching it made you yawn.

Quite a few foreigners made their way to Taecho Village these days, and it seemed one of them had filmed this and posted it.

As I was watching it, Kira spoke up beside me.

"That video...?"

"Ah, it's from another MeTube channel. I just thought — wow, they film animals beautifully. There's one of them meeting raccoons, and one with foxes too. I wonder what country they're from?"

"Oh! England has as many foxes as Korea has stray cats, you know. I'd wager that person is English. Their channel name is literally 「BritishLass」, after all?"

Kira somehow sounded proud of it.

So the culture of taking pride in one's countrymen existed for the Englishwoman Kira as well.

People really are all the same.

"Mister Ildo. I'll be off now, then. Just remember one thing — hard work never betrays you. I do hope I'll get to meet you at the London Clock Tower someday."

The London Clock Tower was a venue often used for summits between S-Rank awakeners.

Kira's parting words meant: I hope you make it to S-Rank.

Being cheered on felt pretty good, honestly.

"Ildo, if you ever want to debut on MeTube, just say the word."

Climbing into her white sedan, Kira held out a business card to me.

She apparently intended to fold me into her 「Kira Land」 as something like a regular member — a deeply tempting offer, I'll admit.

But—

Thinking it over honestly, I wasn't talented enough to juggle a MeTuber career alongside an awakener's life.

Right now, I wanted to devote myself entirely to being an awakener.

There was no sense in ruining everything by greedily chasing two rabbits at once.

"Why must you leave so soon! This Oinoi finds it dreadfully regrettable, she does...! There are still so many things she wished to show you...! She wanted to introduce you to Sojang, the one she released back into nature...!"

Oinoi seemed genuinely sorry to part with Kira, even after just a day together.

She was a nymph brimming with affection, and one who loved showing off this and that, so saying goodbye clearly pained her.

"Let's meet again someday, we must...!"

"This Coris doesn't know what any of it means, but it was fun, she says...!"

Vroom-

As Oinoi and Coris waved their hands furiously, Kira's car rolled out of Taecho Village.

The dog-squirrels barked madly after the departing vehicle, and the whole scene was as peaceful as ever.

"She's like a whirlwind, that one."

It was only once she was gone that I realized just how loud and overwhelming Kira's presence had been.

Then Jina nudged me in the ribs. Thump-

"Not bad. How on earth did you win over Kira of all people?"

"Win her over? I didn't do anything."

"Kira buys a bag of my calming candies every single time she comes to Korea. This time she didn't buy a single one. I think she finally found some peace of mind. You can tell just by looking, can't you?"

Come to think of it, she had said Kira and Jina went way back as buyer and seller.

I found it hard to believe that someone so bright and cheerful had shadows deep enough to depend on Jina's candy.

"Like I said, I really don't think I did anything. Maybe it's just that the dog-squirrels are cute? The village grounds are nice, you know. Honey ants and tiger owls roaming all over the place."

For an animal lover, Taecho Village was the ultimate resort destination. She'd only stayed one night, but those soft, fluffy animals had surely worked their magic on her.

While I was mulling that over, Jina pulled something out of her pocket.

A plastic bag stuffed full of candies.

"Don't need these anymore. Want them?"

"No, I don't need them either."

"Oh?"

Jina gave a short laugh at my answer, then flung the bag of candies into a nearby trash can. Whoosh-

"'Don't need them', huh. You're probably the only person alive who can say that to me. But who knows — you might need them sooner than you think. You know the A-Ranks have marked you and me, right? Blacklisting us from their parties."

I had sensed it vaguely myself.

Just yesterday, we'd tried to raid a rift to show Kira 'Hyper Evolution', and every single A-Rank party leader had flat-out rejected our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠participation.

That was why we'd ended up heading for the gangs' unregistered rifts instead.

"People really are pathetic, huh. Shunning, of all things. We're not schoolkids. Just so you know — you and I are basically stuck hunting solo from now on. Party play's off the table."

Tsk- Jina clicked her tongue and scrubbed the toe of her sneaker back and forth against the dirt.

I'd heard vague rumors about shunning among A-Ranks, but I'd never imagined I'd be the target, so I felt rather dazed by it all.

How should I put it — the very fact that I had climbed all the way to A-Rank still felt surreal to me.

"Well, they say shunning and hazing are basically an A-Rank's rite of passage. But you're not even A-Rank yet, Jina. Why are you getting marked?"

"No idea. Maybe I should just go beat the hell out of all of them."

Jina's expression darkened.

Knowing her delinquent past, I honestly believed she might do it, and I felt a flicker of genuine fear.

"Kidding. Just kidding. Do I look like the kind of person who beats people up, shakes them down for money, films it, and uses it for blackmail? I'm not that kind of girl."

"......"

"Answer me."

"Answer."

Grrr-

Jina's face twisted into a scowl.

Bzzt-bzzt-

Just then, my phone rang.

"Ah. Is it really that late already?"

As I read the message and rubbed my chin, Jina — who had been growling at my side — shot my phone a sharp glance.

Then she asked me:

"What the hell is that about? You have to become Ari's husband?"

"It's exactly what it says. I'm to be her husband, and the two of us are off on a honeymoon to a beautiful island together."

Whoosh-

Ari appeared in the yard of the Well House, dressed in her white lab coat.

Oinoi, upon seeing her as always, went "Hiiiek...!" in alarm, then quickly relaxed with an "Now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that I look closely, it's Junior Kore Ari, it is...! This Oinoi mistook her for a nymph-phobic hunter, she did...!"

Oinoi had been terrified of Ari at first, but the more she saw of her, the more accustomed she gradually became.

"A honeymoon on an island?"

Jina looked at me quizzically.

I decided to give her the short version.

"It's an infiltration mission. Ari asked me to play the role of her husband. She says we have to go to that island and investigate this and that."

"Since when does a public health doctor do infiltration missions?"

Jina seemed to find a great many things about this impossible to understand.

Ari flinched and trembled slightly. "That is—"

But Ari was a civil servant, and civil servants, by their very nature, end up saddled with all sorts of duties.

I turned to Ari.

"How about we bring Jina along to the island too? If it's an infiltration mission, having someone who can manipulate people's minds — someone like Jina — makes things go far more smoothly, doesn't it?"

"...Wonderful! That's our Senior for you! But Jina, will you be all right? We're heading to the island as we speak. It's called 「Hell Island」. An A-Rank awakener, Ma Wangjun, rules over it personally."

"Ma Wangjun..."

Jina's expression turned dead serious in an instant.

Seizing the moment while the mood had settled, I asked Ari my question.

"It's true, then — there really are nymphs trapped on that island? I know you'd never lie to me, Ari, but a nymph held captive there? That's... surprising."

"Shh-. That's still top-class classified—"

Ari glanced around nervously and clamped her palm over my mouth.

Her palm was warmer and softer than I'd expected — and it tasted faintly of salt.