My Lime Golden Apple Tree # 2
A letter.
It had been a long time since a woman had written to me — not since I'd been drafted into a month of training camp for my alternative service, cracking down on rifts. Back then, it was my little sister and my mom who'd sent them.
This time, it was Yu Ari.
Wondering what she could have written alongside the package, I read her words slowly.
Senior, were you surprised to get a package out of nowhere? You finally made C-Rank, and it feels like I haven't done anything for you at all. So this is my congratulatory gift.
Well, what do you know.
I'd been puzzling over the package, but it turned out to be a congratulatory present. And in that instant, my conscience started to prick at me. I'd never once given Yu Ari so much as a token gift when she reached C-Rank, or even B-Rank. Then again, I'd never been the type to dote on people in the first place.
"I, Oinoi, wish to tear open this so-called package…!"
Oinoi showed interest in the box. Apparently Yu Ari's fearsome reputation didn't extend to her mail.
"Go ahead. Tear it open."
"Nymph Secret Technique: Frantic Package Unwrapping…!"
Zzit, zzizit—.
Oinoi shredded the tape on the square parcel. So that was a Nymph Secret Technique, huh — from what I'd heard, the nymphs' secret techniques were supposed to be some kind of special skills.
And now that I thought about it—
It seemed like they just slapped the name "Nymph Secret Technique" on absolutely any old action. But why not? Making an issue out of something makes it an issue; deciding something is special really does make it special. Maybe that's all a secret technique ever was. Truthfully, the awakener skills I was trying to develop had a bit of that quality too.
I was still mulling it over when Oinoi finished unwrapping the parcel.
"Ahh! I, Oinoi…! I was certain something delicious would be inside, and I am deeply disappointed…! It is paper…! Paper cannot be eaten…!"
Just as she said, the box held nothing but paper and some strange kit — like a miniature science set. Inside it was yet another letter from Yu Ari.
It's a self-examination and diagnostic kit. You'll be able to analyze things on your own — your aptitude, the most efficient direction for your abilities to develop. I'd love to do it for you myself, but I've got a busy stretch coming up!
I see.
I examined the papers. There was a litmus-like strip for measuring the amount of mana in one's body, and on a strange little beaker and dropper, the words Aptitude Test were written.
In other words, it was a device for measuring whether my C-Rank mana control leaned toward the manipulation type — like telekinesis or pyrokinesis — or the enhancement type, which fortified physical abilities.
Shk—.
Following the kit's instructions, I pricked my finger with the needle, squeezed a drop into the beaker, and mixed it with the mana solution. Then I gave it a good shake, sucked it up with the dropper, and let a single drop fall onto the paper.
Ssssssss—.
The paper began to spread with a strange pattern, and soon a blue light shimmered across the results panel.
"Manipulation type. Really? That's a surprise."
The manipulation type — the classification for awakeners like Lee Jeonghun with his telekinesis or Seo Yerim with her pyrokinesis, who bent mana itself to produce extraordinary phenomena. I'd heard that manipulation abilities were notoriously finicky to manifest, too.
"Huh. And here I figured I'd be an enhancement type."
I liked moving my body, after all. I'd assumed I was the kind of awakener who reinforced his physique and translated that into explosive combat power. But no. Apparently there was a side of me far more delicate than I'd given myself credit for.
"I, Oinoi, also wish to take this test…!"
"Yeah? Well, there's plenty of paper. Here, give me your finger. I have to prick it with the needle."
Now I was curious about a nymph's aptitude, too. The otherworldly elves all seemed to carry natural awakener talent — were they all superb warriors? Was it the same for nymphs? I wanted to find out.
"Hieeehk…! I, Oinoi, have suddenly decided I do not want to…!"
But the prospect of being stabbed with a needle was too much, and Oinoi darted away into the other room with a fwip.
Well, the test could wait.
━Keong-keong…!
Just then, Keong-keong-i returned. His fur was an absolute wreck — no wounds, but you could tell from the state of him just how fierce and glorious that battle had been.
━Kwang-kwang…!
A great wailing cry rang out from outside the house again. Picturing a hulking, enormous dog-squirrel in my head, I named the loser's opponent "Kwang-kwang-i."
"Keong-keong, did you win or lose against Kwang-kwang-i?"
Shk—.
I lifted the needle and pricked Keong-keong-i's body lightly.
━Kreurung…!
He bolted. Wondering if our affinity level had dipped just slightly, I mixed his blood into the solution and ran the test. This time, the results panel flooded a deep, vivid red.
Enhancement type.
"So Keong-keong-i's an enhancement type."
Well, made sense. Loading mana into his fur was, in a way, reinforcing the interior of his body. Anyway, thanks to Yu Ari I'd gotten a strange test out of the way in no time at all. Me, a manipulation type — genuinely unexpected. But now that I knew which direction to grow in, there'd be no losing my way.
Feeling grateful, I left Yu Ari a message on TelTalk.
"Ha Ildo sunbae just told me, 'Ari, thanks for the gift.' What should I reply? And when should I send it?"
A darkened room. Yu Ari flicked on the light and asked the question to no one in particular.
"You're a man too. What do you think would be the right thing to say?"
The man who'd followed her in flinched, a full-body shudder.
He was Lee Jeonghun, the S-Rank awakener who'd had the whole world buzzing these past few days. Warily watching Yu Ari's mood, he stole a glance around the room.
Her workshop. It looked like an operating theater, lined with row upon row of glass display cases — and inside them sat countless figures and dolls, every single one still sealed in its original packaging.
Why won't she even take them out of the box?
Lee Jeonghun was curious, but he decided not to ask. With people like Yu Ari, asking questions was a luxury.
Yu Ari began humming "heuheung—" at her phone, and Lee Jeonghun quietly took a seat and said what he'd come to say.
"I did everything you people told me to do."
"I know. More importantly, tell me how I should word my reply."
Yu Ari had no interest whatsoever in Lee Jeonghun. Her entire mind was consumed by one question — how to answer that message. Watching her, he felt a strange bewilderment.
"I'm one of your crew now, aren't I? So let me ask you something while I'm at it. Ha Ildo — is he one of your marks too? You planning to make him one of us?"
"No. I'm working here specifically so that no one marks Ha Ildo sunbae. I can't drag him into this filthy business. If he died without so much as a word of thanks, he'd just become a star in the sky."
"I've wondered about this for a while. Yu Ari — do you like Ha Ildo?"
"……"
Yu Ari didn't answer. Instead, she opened a drawer and picked up a doll — one that had become quite the worse for wear. A Barbie doll.
"You see, I wanted to play with dolls when I was little. But my family was dirt poor, so I never once owned one. So the moment I started earning money as an awakener, I bought them. Right away."
"……"
"But it turns out dolls break and get dirty a lot more easily than you'd think. That's how my favorite ended up like this. And that's when I understood. Ah — if you really love something, you mustn't lay a hand on it."
Shk—.
At her words, Lee Jeonghun looked at the display cases again. Suddenly he understood why the dolls and figures sat there, wrappers never torn open. And the question of the countless photographs of Ha Ildo pinned up behind the displays resolved itself too — though he had no idea when or where any of them could possibly have been taken.
"So you plan to leave them wrapped forever and just stare? Is that really enough for you?"
It was a question disguised as a jab: wouldn't it be better to actually let yourself feel something? At it, Yu Ari gave a short, dry laugh.
"If I touch them, they get dirty. Better that than ruined, at least. Although… when sunbae actually became C-Rank and came to find me, honestly, I was a little surprised. It felt like fate. So maybe I got greedy."
But as she'd just said, all of it had been greed. Yu Ari closed the message on her phone, telling herself that from now on she'd go back to the old way — leaving him behind the glass, satisfied just to watch.
Even sending a reply was greed, she thought — and it was at that moment Lee Jeonghun spoke.
"But let me ask you this, Yu Ari. What if someone tore the wrapping off the thing you cherished most? If I opened that display case and ripped a doll's packaging open — what would you do?"
"……"
"I, Oinoi…! Have been deceived all this time…! About this thing called Minesweeper…! I, Oinoi, believed it was a game where one wins by finding the mines…! But now it is clear that one must NOT step on them…!"
Seven in the morning. Oinoi, having grasped the true nature of Minesweeper, was raging up a storm. What on earth had she thought the game was until now?
She clenched both fists and trembled violently — the very picture, I thought, of how Caesar must have looked when the friend he trusted most betrayed him.
"And people have been telling Oinoi more lies as well…! I, Oinoi, heard that this Korean peninsula is shaped like a tiger, but this shape…."
Shk—.
Oinoi pointed a finger at the peninsula on the monitor.
"No matter how I look at it, it resembles an adorable rabbit…! I, Oinoi, prefer the cute and nymph-friendly rabbit to the frightening tiger, which is why…! I believe it was fortunate that I came to Korea…!"
"Is that so."
Listening to Oinoi chatter away first thing in the morning had me wide awake in no time. She was right, though — to me too, the peninsula looked like nothing so much as a rabbit. Why did everyone insist on calling it a tiger? Rabbits were cuter. Better, even. If we made character merchandise of the rabbit, we could probably boost national prestige while we were at it.
Musing on this, I set out early in the morning.
"Oinoi, today I'll go get that Sun Stone thing. With it, growing that apple tree will go a lot smoother, right?"
"Ahh, that is so…! As expected of the master of the house…! I, Oinoi, shall raise the golden apple tree splendidly and make certain you get to taste its fruit…!"
Golden apples. Every awakener raved about how good they were, after all. I was terribly excited for the tree to bear fruit — so excited that I planned to go hunt down a Sun Stone to hurry it along.
"Keong-keong, let's go."
━Keong-keong…!
━Zzji—.
"Ang-ang-i, you want to come along today too?"
The honey ant Ang-ang-i seemed to have every bit as much passion for tending the tree as Oinoi did. It had been a while since I'd brought him along to a rift, so it put me in a good mood as well.
"Alright then, let's head out."
Vroom—.
The moment I stepped out of the house, I found a car parked in the yard.
Dal-dal-dal-dal—.
A truck, idling like it was ready to peel off at any second. I felt genuinely taken aback.
"Lee Jina? What brings you here at the crack of dawn?"
"You said it, didn't you? Asked if anyone wanted to come to the Fixed Rift with you."
So I had. In the C-Rank group chat. My newly friendly C-Rank pal Seol Myeong-hoon had answered, "Unfortunately, I have plans tomorrow," and Jo Jang-hee had replied, "There's some family business I have to attend to…." Lee Jina had read the message and left it on read — not a single word back.
So I'd resigned myself to going alone, and now here she was at my door first thing in the morning, leaving me a bit dazed. Still, having a ride was more than welcome.
Lee Jina asked through her half-open window.
"We're headed to Sejong City, right?"
We were. The Fixed Rift I was heading to was, to be precise, located near Sejong City.
Thk.
I climbed into the passenger seat, and Lee Jina absentmindedly buckled her seatbelt. Then she asked:
"You ever been to a Fixed Rift before?"
"No."
"Do you at least know what one is?"
"A rift they deliberately leave open and keep under control instead of closing it. That's why it's called a Fixed Rift. Even I know that much."
Vrrrooom—.
The car pulled away. Just then, with a zzji—, the honey ant Ang-ang-i popped out of my pocket. Lee Jina's face promptly scrunched up.
"What the hell — you brought a bug in my car?"
"He's not a bug. He's Ang-ang-i the honey ant."
"Ang-ang…."
Lee Jina seemed on the verge of saying something, then shut her mouth. Not the chatty type, apparently. Was I really supposed to sit in the passenger seat all day while she acted bored and tedious the whole way? No — I decided that wouldn't do, and resolved to talk about absolutely anything.
"Oh, that reminds me. Seo Yerim said something yesterday. She said if I'm going to play her boyfriend, my past needs to be spotless."
"Never had a boyfriend," Lee Jina said instantly.
My question about her "past" had been about the kind that goes on your permanent school record, not that kind. And honestly, it caught me off guard. Judging purely by her looks, I'd have figured Lee Jina had cycled through four or five boyfriends back in her school days.
The sharp-featured types who were good at soccer, no less.
So much for stereotypes, I was thinking, when Lee Jina spoke.
"Watching my big sister swap out her man every day just made the whole thing look pathetic."