Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Three Heads Together (3)
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Until Yi Agum arrived, the three artists did not leave the quarry.
Seoran and Damcheong had nothing to do from the start.
Even the writing teacher Ho Hye-mun was idle these days.
It was winter break.
The ultimate goal was to create a colossal puppet.
No one stopped any ideas that came up.
The development process went far too smoothly.
Three boatmen rowed the oars vigorously.
They hit a realistic wall: a shortage of high-grade materials.
Damcheong made a reasonable point.
“But we have too few materials right now. Regardless of how huge a puppet we plan to make, shouldn’t we secure materials first? At this rate, we’ll run out of steam after barely finishing one head.”
Seoran, who had recently attained enlightenment, half-opened her eyes and asked.
“Damcheong, why worry about such things? If good materials are lacking, we can just use lesser ones... Stones from this quarry would suffice.”
“Gasp!”
The startled Damcheong gulped hard.
The boat carrying three boatmen began advancing forward.
While the group rolled rocks and gathered them in one place, Ho Hye-mun asked.
“But the size of these stones isn’t very satisfactory. For a colossal puppet, don’t we need much larger boulders? Should we just carve one small mountain instead?”
Seoran shook her head firmly.
“That’s meaningless greed as well... If the rocks are small, we can create protrusions and indentations to assemble them. Like brick walls.”
Ho Hye-mun, who had achieved enlightenment from a single sermon, cried out.
“I was foolish!”
The boat cleaved through the raging currents with vigor.
Having gathered a certain amount of stones, the group decided to test-make a head first.
According to Seoran’s blueprint, processed stone blocks were stacked higher than a person’s height.
Now, just assembly remained to complete the head.
While assembling the grotesquely shaped rocks this way and that, Damcheong voiced a doubt.
“But aren’t we using any adhesive? Even if they fit perfectly, relying solely on interlocking joints seems problematic. A strong impact would surely shatter the joints, leading to chain disassembly.”
Strong adhesives were extremely expensive.
Their drastically cut development budget couldn’t handle it.
But one could pursue aesthetics without money.
One would just become somewhat unhinged.
Ryu Seoran, who had abandoned common sense, did not stop.
“My colossal puppet needs no adhesive.”
The foolish dragon, not yet reached the realm of the absurd, questioned once more.
“But durability...”
“Shh!”
Seoran’s index finger pressed gently against Damcheong’s lips.
“Worrying about something as trivial as durability. It’s so unlike you to keep thinking like a mortal, Damcheong. It’s important, so remember this well.”
To the intently focused Damcheong and Ho Hye-mun, Seoran said.
“Armor to protect the body suits only lowly mortals who fear arrows. For a true powerhouse, defensive measures assuming hits are unnecessary!”
Ho Hye-mun’s eyes widened.
“No way!”
“Exactly. Worried about lacking durability? If you’re confident you won’t get hit in the first place, there’s no need to worry. We can do it—I can!”
An absolute barehanded evasion declaration.
Ho Hye-mun’s face flushed red.
And suddenly, her eloquence flowed.
“That resolute will to never rely on external aids—I’ve heard it well! It’s the dignity granted only to ascetics who silently tread the thorny path! My eyes didn’t deceive me! With your infinite love for puppet arts, Senior Ryu, we can reach the truth!”
Damcheong was slightly swayed by the fervent reaction of the puppet arts enthusiast pursuing the impossible.
“On second thought, we don’t need adhesive after all!”
The three laughed ha-ha-ho-ho and continued assembling.
The boat had already reached land, yet no one stopped rowing.
Countless issues arose during development.
First, the head, torso, and both arms were completed.
Below the navel, they attached the main propulsion unit, and on both hands, auxiliary propulsion units.
Photon cannons were mounted in both eyes.
A test flight revealed insufficient thrust.
“The speed is a bit slow to dodge all attacks.”
“Then let’s attach more arms.”
Ho Hye-mun actively agreed.
“Six fists at once! A total war god!”
With auxiliary propulsion tripled, top speed increased dramatically.
But the photon beam accuracy plummeted.
Due to the vast gap between the head’s rotation speed for aiming and the puppet’s movement speed.
But Ho Hye-mun insisted there was no ready solution.
“At present, this speed is the best. Rotate any faster, and the materials won’t hold. The head would detach immediately.”
Rotation speed couldn’t be changed.
The solution was simple then.
Narrow the rotation angle.
“Let’s attach multiple heads.”
Damcheong, the one and only non-human, exclaimed in admiration.
“Three heads? It really looks strong!”
Three heads pressed their napes together.
A perfect equilateral triangle, blind spots completely eliminated.
Firepower from simultaneous blasts tripled as well.
The boat, swimming on dry land in another sense.
Superhuman rowing had brought it to a mountaintop.
Only possible with three boatmen.
Thus, the three-headed six-armed colossal puppet was born.
A manually operated puppet with all automation excluded.
Naturally, operation was horrendously difficult.
The operation manual alone exceeded ten volumes.
Under normal circumstances, development would halt here.
But Ryu Seoran was a transcendent genius single spirit root holder beyond mortals.
Three heads rotating left and right independently.
Six eyeballs moving up, down, left, right separately.
Six arms that tangled at joints even in simple motions.
Her heaven-touching genius ultimately succeeded in control.
The puppet flew through the sky, spewing seven rays of light.
It was like beholding a colossal manta ray kite.
Yi Agum, witnessing that majestic sight upon arriving at the quarry, naturally let out an exclamation.
“Are you all in your right minds?”
A truly common-sense reaction.
*****
Yi Agum looked up at the three-headed six-armed colossal puppet and asked.
“What the hell is this?”
Seoran said confidently.
“It’s the three-headed six-armed colossal puppet, our masterpiece.”
Seeing her smug expression made Yi Agum want to smack her.
“Why is there nothing below the waist? Still unfinished?”
“Why need legs when it flies?”
The supposedly three-headed six-armed thing without a lower body had landed on the ground using four arms as legs.
“Why so many arms and heads?”
“That’s the aesthetic.”
Seoran turned back, and the advisors agreed.
“Right, look at those sharply defined arm muscles.”
“Three heads at least triple the strength.”
Yi Agum began to regret a little.
She should have just rested in her room on this hard-earned holiday.
The trio of artists explained the new product to Yi Agum.
“What form can be defined as human? Cast aside outdated common sense, Agum. Feel the philosophy in this surreal sculpture of three heads and six arms?”
Ryu Seoran, who had cast aside common sense and more.
“Look at those intricate muscle depictions. And the extraordinary neck muscles. This overwhelming power and thrill from the mere tripling of body parts—isn’t it truly moving?”
Ho Hye-mun, entranced by the grotesque bodily beauty, dazed.
“Heads, three... heads three... three heads...”
Damcheong, apparently receiving strange signals again, with horns flashing.
Yi Agum was just as confused.
A sculpture like a Hungry Ghost clumsily mimicking a human.
The uncanny valley from overly detailed depiction.
Even the stones pieced together varied in color.
To Yi Agum, it felt like a patchwork monster sewn from corpses.
Of course, Seoran would claim it was an efficient modular design for repairs and upgrades.
To the dazed Yi Agum, Seoran asked.
“How’s the close-up appreciation of this masterpiece?”
Yi Agum turned to look at Seoran.
A face swollen with anticipation, brimming with certainty.
Only one choice.
“I don’t know much about art, but it looks cool.”
“Which parts exactly...”
Yi Agum hurriedly changed the subject.
“Sister, what’s that hole?”
Seoran glanced at the densely packed holes in the torso and said.
“Those are observation ports. A clone inside observes the outside through them, and I share that vision.”
To demonstrate, Seoran created a clone.
Then, brown eyes appeared beyond the observation ports.
Seoran’s remotely generated clone in the cramped space.
The observer’s sharp gaze scanned all directions.
The advanced spell sharing vision between puppet and master required reaching the advanced puppet arts section.
But Seoran found studying that far tedious.
So she used the clone workaround.
“See? No blind spots now.”
Countless observation ports held clones staring blankly at Yi Agum.
“Impressive...”
Sarcasm, of course.
*****
A few days later.
The three-headed six-armed colossal puppet neared final completion.
Only the last phase remained.
Namely, installing the miniaturization function for portability.
Inspired by Geum Gyo-wol’s polearm weapon or the brush-orb tool from Geum Jung-pae.
Seoran’s grand vision: transform the colossal puppet into an orb for carrying.
Thus, Seoran sought a sealing technique expert.
The artifact craftsman said.
“That might be a bit difficult.”
“Eh...”
An unforeseen obstacle.
The wingless boat plummeted from a steep mountaintop.