Chapter 7 - Strange Flowerpot (7)
“Seung-hyun, your tastes are really unique. Worm documentary today?”
“Th-this just popped up suddenly.”
“Anyway, take care of the rest. You know most of the video team has to head out today, right?”
“Of course.”
During lunch, the team leader who had sidled up again peeked at my monitor before grabbing his coat and asking me to handle the remaining work. Today was the day most team members had to go on external assignments, leaving me—the one stuck with editing—to stay in the office alone. With things like this, there was no reason to stick around the office, so I started organizing my work files in advance, planning to slip home once they left.
Mealworms... but they're too big.
Once the files were sorted, the internet tab I'd been browsing reappeared. What I was searching for was info on bugs—specifically, bugs to drop into the flowerpot. The elf, she hunted bugs. She hunted them to gain something from them, using it to grow herself and the World Tree. That's why she wanted prey herself. To fulfill that, I'd caught and dropped in a mosquito, but in that other world inside the pot, just like here, the mosquito had evolved into a mana beast—a ferocious enemy threatening her. It had definitely been weak and feeble, even with its wings removed by me, but in the pot world, none of that mattered. So I had to select prey accounting for all that.
The mealworm larvae I was looking at now were weak, pushover bugs used as feed everywhere, but they were too big compared to her mm-scale size, and who knew how they'd mutate? Off the list. Ants seemed the most promising. There were many types, but dropping them in one by one might be manageable.
Ants are everywhere, right?
Ants were sold online in breeding kits, but no need to spend money. So that afternoon, right after clocking out, I dropped my stuff at home and headed back out to catch ants.
“Huh.”
But as I caught a few ants and put them in a paper cup, I spotted a delivery guy carrying a hefty-looking package heading up toward my place.
“Ha, am I really crazy?”
After receiving the package, I opened it and couldn't hold back a sigh. I'd agonized for days over buying things for myself, often giving up in the end. But this black compound bow in front of me? I'd hesitated for just a few hours despite the tens of thousands of won price tag and bought it right away—something I'd never even shot as a toy. It showed how serious I was about the elf in the flowerpot.
It was the item I'd decided to buy after feeling that gut punch when she was chased out by the mana beast ant that had occupied part of her so-called dungeon in the pot. I stared at it for a moment, steadied myself, and stood up. I planned to send the whole case—bow and arrows set—to her.
Inside the pot, she was doing her usual routine: sorting supplies, crafting necessities, tending the bonsai. She was especially focused on dragging around wood bigger than herself to erect a wooden palisade. Right now, she was struggling to set up a toothpick—firmly buried at the base—with a rope she'd made herself, flailing her limbs to haul it upright. Like how ants could exert strength beyond their size, she wasn't weak either. Gritting her teeth and pulling the rope, the toothpick chunk—what was a thick log to her—slowly rose. She then shoveled dirt into the gaps, filling them meticulously. Already, nearly half the pot had this earthen rampart built that way.
“You could take a break.”
I gave a wry smile and held out the massive bow case toward the pot—massive compared to it, anyway. Of course, with scale adjustment as it fell into the pot world, the compound bow case shrank dramatically en route.
“---”
I couldn't hear what she said, but wiping sweat and catching her breath, she spotted the case dropping from the sky, eyes widening as she ran over. I was used to it by now, but it was still the reaction I'd hoped for. Realizing I was doing all this just to see her happy like that, I let out a hollow chuckle.
Gratitude and Blessing
Rushing over, she dug the case out of the soft soil, fiddled with it until she popped the lid, then blankly lifted the unfamiliar object inside—realizing it was a bow. Elf and modern compound bow was an odd combo, but a bow was a bow. She fumbled with it awkwardly at first, then smiled, holding it up to gaze at the sky.
She'd refused some things I'd given her before, unable to bring herself to use them, so I'd worried, but thankfully not this time. Instead, she offered a prayer of thanks to me. And right after, holding the bow, she picked up a steel arrow—not one of her toothpick ones. Wondering if she knew how to use it, I watched as she examined it a few times, then swiftly nocked it, drew the string, and loosed it at the palisade she'd built.
Surprised?
I couldn't even see the bluish-glowing arrow fly. All that remained was her with hair whipping around, eyes wide in shock, staring incredulously at the arrow in her hand. Looked like she wouldn't refuse my gift after all.
Time for a real test, then. While she inspected the bow curiously, I grabbed one of the prepared ants with tweezers and dropped it into the pot.
Mana Beast Transformation in Progress
As expected, the ant I dropped in underwent mana beast transformation, becoming a monster. Sharp spines, massively enlarged jaws. Smaller than the dungeon mana beast ants and a small house ant species in reality, but in that world, it was monster-sized, matching her.
She can win this.
If even I, the spectator, was confident, she must be even more so. She glared at the ant charging from the sky, jaws agape toward her—no hesitation, no panic. She leaped forward with the compound bow.
“As expected.”
A faint smile escaped me. My idea to gift her a new weapon, sacrificing my wallet, hadn't been wrong. Charging straight at the ant with the bow in hand, she kicked off the ground just before collision, flipping into the air and aiming the bow mid-flip at the ant. Targeting not the ant's hard-shelled head or chest but its softer belly, her arrow—glowing bluish again—flew true, bursting the ant's gut and killing it instantly.
She landed lightly, then retrieved the arrow from the fallen corpse. She looked as satisfied as I was, smiling broadly. Maybe she really could take down that monster in the gloomy cave. With her food, clothing, and shelter stabilized, repeating hunts like this might let her do it for real.
Due to the World Tree's growth, the ant cave in the underground world vibrates.
“...What?”
But at that moment, as if saying it was too soon to relax, a phrase floated in the air, dizzying my mind.
What nonsense is this all of a sudden?
Leaving her still oblivious and basking in the thrill of the hunt, I hurriedly shifted my gaze.
“This is...”
And sighed upon seeing it. The monster that had been hiding in its lair doing nothing until moments ago was now poking its head out and crawling into the open.
I had no idea why. Sure, there was that message about the World Tree's growth affecting the ant cave, but what connection did those two even have?
But the enemies didn't hesitate. Led by a mana beast ant slightly larger than the others, a swarm of ants traversed the pot straight toward her—no, toward the bonsai.
“Danger!”
My heart sank, chills running down my spine. I had to warn her fast. She was still burying the hunted ant's corpse, unaware. Shouting wouldn't work, and I couldn't reach in. Flustered, my eyes landed on the Post-it notes by the chair. In a panic, I scribbled a crude drawing: massive monster ants approaching her.
Would she get it? I tossed it into the pot. She caught it as it fell over her head and checked it out.
Good.
And she understood my intent. Pale-faced, she slung the bow on her back and rushed to her rampart. From her view, the march of those giant monsters was visible. Alone against them, defending the bonsai—the World Tree—she clenched her fists with trembling hands. Whether she saw it as inevitable or not, her movements showed no hesitation as she sprang into action.