Episode 2 - The Strange Flowerpot (2)
“Oh...”
The woman who had suddenly migrated into my flowerpot—I had no idea exactly what she was. I knew she was an elf, but that was it. Why she'd come here, how she'd arrived, her name... all that remained a mystery. But judging by her movements now, she seemed like a seasoned warrior well-versed in battle. Dodging enemy attacks and launching her own without a shred of hesitation, her body flowed with precision. Metal was metal, even if shrunken. The iron pipe she gripped and swung snapped the ant's legs in an instant, crushed its jaws, then shattered its head and body armor, spraying fluids everywhere.
I'd been holding my breath, watching intently, and only then did I let out a sigh of relief. For some reason, I'd been rooting for her from the start. It confused me. She was just a stranger I hadn't exchanged a single word with.
“Can't you communicate with me at all? Useless...”
I muttered into the air and waved my hand experimentally, but the mysterious text that had guided me through the essentials wasn't omnipotent. For a moment, I considered writing her a note, but common sense told me she wouldn't know Hangul anyway. In the end, all I could do was express my goodwill and intentions in other ways.
What the...?
But as I started to stand to send her materials for building a shelter, I sat back down, watching her next actions. She now stood before the ant she'd just hunted, doing something.
“-- ----.”
Her eyes closed, she opened her mouth and spoke—though I couldn't hear it, her lips moved clearly. One hand on her chest, the other over the ant's corpse.
I had no clue what it was for; I just stared blankly.
“What the...”
About a minute later, faint blue light seeped from the ant's body. My eyes widened. Whatever it was, she guided it into her hand and absorbed it into herself. That was it. Then she dug a hole nearby, buried the corpse, and without catching her breath, resumed building her shelter.
What if I don't use the scale adjustment?
Stepping out from the veranda into the living room, I scanned my surroundings. A plain one-room villa. But it was my cherished home, where I'd lived for over three years now. I looked around first. Maybe this ordinary twenty-something newbie office worker's room had something useful—like these toothpicks.
Holding a toothpick, I reconsidered. Items I sent her could be scaled down, letting her wield the pipe as a weapon. But what if I skipped the scaling? Sending things at normal size might be more efficient for certain stuff.
“Let's just try it.”
With a smirk, I grabbed the toothpick and returned to the flowerpot. She was still struggling with her ramshackle shelter. Using rotten twigs and withered moss, she'd somehow fashioned pillars and a roof, but it looked flimsy. Even the filthy field tent from my army days seemed sturdier.
Transfer initiated.
This time, the toothpick vanished from my hand with a whoosh. But differently—no scaling. I'd snapped it in half, and the two wooden sticks dropped straight into the pot at full size.
“---!”
From her view, two massive logs as thick as her torso had plummeted from the sky. She staggered in shock, landing on her butt, then hurriedly looked up. Cautiously, she rose and touched the toothpicks.
Had she figured out my intent? She glanced skyward again, her expression subtly changed. It seemed she'd finally realized the one sending her these gifts wasn't the bonsai tree itself.
The moment I saw that face, I bolted up, grabbed my jacket, and rushed out the door. Just giving her raw materials was pointless. Like the pipe for the bare-handed fighter, I needed to send processed tools too.
“Can I borrow something like a hand axe?”
“B-Borrowing might be tricky, but could I buy one? I'll pay full price for a new one.”
I'd gone to the villa's top floor, to landlord Mr. Jang Mansu's place. The old man I'd known since my college days looked stunned when I showed up out of the blue asking to urgently buy tools like a hand axe.
“Money's no issue. I've got tools to spare anyway. But what the heck are you planning to do?”
“I'll pay whatever I can. Thank you.”
As expected from a woodworking and bonsai hobbyist, he had most tools at home: saws, shovels, hand axes, pruning shears, and more. I stuffed them in a bag and brought them home, heading straight to the veranda. My handkerchief caught my eye too.
Transfer initiated.
I dumped them all into the pot, scaled down this time so she could use them. But the handkerchief—cut to a quarter and unscaled—remained full size.
“Use that for it.”
I spoke to her, though she couldn't hear, as she gawked blankly at the fallen items.
She greeted me.
Soon, fumbling awkwardly with the hand axe in her tiny hands, she got to work. And seeing that, my breath caught.
She stood, bowed politely—toward the real sky, not the tree. Back to the bonsai, facing upward, toward my invisible face.
For the first time, we'd communicated. About four hours after the nameless elf first appeared in my pot, as evening fell.
Does she need fire?
By now, night had fully fallen. Instead of gaming or wasting time on random videos, I braved the cold on the veranda, watching the pot. Something else might need helping.
She was handy. With the tools, she chopped and cut the toothpicks and handkerchief into a proper tent. Now, squatting before it, she fiddled with something. A blonde elf starting a fire like in a nature documentary—surreal.
I considered sending a lighter, but she'd never figure it out. Still, she was skilled; soon a small flame grew into a campfire.
She'd cut the handkerchief into a blanket, wrapped herself, and warmed by the fire, nibbling the apple I'd sent. I'd tried sending it unscaled and chopped for efficiency, but this bizarre system forced scaling on food.
“Seed?”
Then I saw her carefully saving the apple seeds. Planning to plant them for an apple tree? In what lifetime?
...What the hell am I even doing?
Late into the night, she banked the embers and entered her hut, leaving the pot empty. Snapping back to reality, I rubbed my face. I'd mostly just watched, but it felt dreamlike. Without proof, no one would believe this absurd tale. But my phone—scaled up max—held clear videos and photos as evidence. Proof that a fantasy race, an elf, lived and breathed.
“Ha.”
Back in my room, I couldn't sleep, clueless what to do. I wasn't into nature docs usually, but the elf drew me in just by existing. Logically, I should report this freak occurrence in my pot, but deep down, I wanted to keep it secret, mine alone.
Plenty of time.
My decision: observe a bit longer. Tossing and turning, I barely slept, waking at dawn's early light.
Rain Invocation
📍 Target: World Tree
🎁 Effect: Summon rain
Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I headed to the veranda. Already awake, she knelt neatly on the ground, hands clasped, praying toward the bonsai.
Rain? Water?
And astonishingly, the prayer's content reached me too.