Chapter 77
Chapter 77
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Hello, World!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, world!
It had already been several years since Seoran left for the Eastern Continent.
The slow excavation work was nearly complete.
Even the tower buried deep underground had been revealed to the world.
Tower's lowest floor, the room right next to the teleportation chamber.
Two guards on duty were playing Go.
The position overwhelmingly favored White by a wide margin.
The cultivator holding Black said,
"Can't you give me just one stone handicap?"
The cultivator holding White agreed.
"Sure."
But nothing changed.
The gap had opened from the early game.
The outcome had been decided long ago.
In the end, the Black player surrendered.
"I lost. One more game?"
"Alright, how many stones this time?"
"If you give me one more, I think I can win."
Six Black stones were placed on the Go board.
This made it their fifteenth game.
The Black player was already deep in thought.
At that moment, the teleportation chamber door opened, and Seoran appeared.
"Hello."
The Go players gasped in shock.
"No way, Investigator Ryu!"
"We heard you were in seclusion!"
Ryu Seoran makes her entrance.
The guards reported this to the leadership immediately.
An escort team was dispatched right away.
Seoran returned in secret with them.
In the emergency leadership meeting, Seoran began explaining everything that had happened.
Her solo adventure wandering the Eastern Continent.
The Poison-Eyed Dragon blocking the sea route.
Restoring the teleportation array after searching the Great Forest.
The abbreviated heroic tale came to an end.
The meeting of two different worlds was truly a monumental event.
The leadership's concerns only deepened.
It wasn't something to take lightly; they needed time.
One of the leaders said to Seoran,
"Investigator Ryu, go rest for now. We can't keep someone who's suffered in a foreign land for years like this. Shake off your travel fatigue first, then submit a detailed report."
Seoran headed to her residence first.
It had been years.
*****
What welcomed Seoran home was Damcheong.
"Seoran, you're finally back!"
"Damcheong-nim, I missed you!"
The two embraced tightly, sharing their warmth.
After the emotional reunion, they toured the house.
Seoran's residence had changed a lot.
First, the pond in the central courtyard had been expanded.
In the middle of the pond swarming with silkfish carp stood a quaint pavilion.
It seemed to reflect Damcheong's tastes.
The two chatted sweetly in the pavilion.
"So, what exactly happened?"
"What do you mean? Don't be too surprised. Ahem."
Seoran cleared her throat and spoke.
"First off, I stepped on the teleportation array and flew to the Eastern Continent. A truly unfortunate accident. Who could have predicted that a functioning teleportation array still existed beneath those rundown ruins..."
"Ooh..."
Damcheong's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Energized by the enthusiastic listener's reaction, Seoran got excited too.
So she embellished the truth just a little.
"An unfamiliar jungle, and yokai howling from all directions! Ah, was the landscape of hell something like this? With the teleportation array broken, I had lost my way back. So, only forward! Yes, I bravely plunged into the unknown land! Right into the yokai!"
"Wh-what kind of yokai!"
Seoran paused briefly to heighten the tension, then whispered lowly.
"The yokai's identity—they were monkey yokai. There were more of them than all the leaves in the Great Forest combined. They charged right at me. To survive, I had to fight endlessly! But even after three days, the attacks didn't stop."
Damcheong asked with a worried expression.
"So, what happened?"
Seoran struck a Giant Slaughter Law stance and continued.
"I had no choice but to engage in bloody combat. Fierce exchanges of blows, life and death hanging by a single breath! It was hell on earth! But I survived in the end! Even the leader of the monkey horde fell to my merciless fist and foot techniques."
"The leader of the monkey yokai—sounds incredibly strong just hearing about it!"
"Yes, the opponent was a fearsome monster. I overcame the brink of death several times before slaying the enemy. Heh, the bloody battle from that day is still vivid in my mind."
Seoran's chatter continued afterward.
The Eastern Continent that unfolded after escaping the Great Forest.
Enlightenment activities in Taibon Valley.
The alliance of greedy massive sects.
Beautiful memories with the Five Elements Treefolk.
Lost Soso and the deep-sea giant family.
The mad Poison-Eyed Dragon blocking the sea route.
Returning to the Great Forest.
The tale of exterminating the evil monkey yokai.
The true nature of the great rift.
The astonishing feat of saving the Eastern Continent's cultivation world.
Coolly repelling the Four Evils who attacked together.
Restoring the teleportation array and returning to the Western Continent.
The grand epic of several years finally concluded.
Then, Geum Yeongyeong returned from her outing.
Seoran told the Eastern Continent adventure story once more.
The three chatted until late into the night.
The next morning after a good sleep, Ho Hye-mun visited.
It was summer vacation, so no writing studio duties.
Seoran told the Eastern Continent adventure story again.
She had repeated it three times already, but it wasn't tiring at all.
After lunch, Yi Agum visited too.
Seoran skillfully loosened her throat and entered the room.
Then she was startled.
Yi Agum had somehow become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"No way, Agum! What's going on!"
"Oh, this? It just happened."
Last year around this time, the Triple Spirit Root holder Yi Agum succeeded in Foundation Establishment at the young age of twenty-five.
The average age for Triple Spirit Root holders to achieve Foundation Establishment was around fifty, so it was truly miraculous.
Of course, it wasn't because Yi Agum was some once-in-a-millennium prodigy.
There were three main factors behind Yi Agum's realm advancement.
The first was an abundance of spirit stones.
Ten years ago, there had been a human horse race betting on the preliminary round results of the friendship tournament.
To avoid hurting her big sister's feelings, Yi Agum had bet one spirit stone on Seoran.
But Seoran placed sixth in the preliminaries.
In the end, Yi Agum received a whole box of spirit stones.
She had diligently used them for cultivation since then, but nearly half the box still remained.
The second factor was the pills meant for Seoran that she ate instead.
Even when Seoran was lost to heart demons and refused pills, or when she stepped on the teleportation array and vanished, claiming seclusion.
It was Yi Agum who had to take the pills prepared daily for Seoran.
Single Spirit Root holders like Seoran develop increasing resistance to pill efficacy as their realm rises.
In the end, for pills to work properly in Seoran's body, they couldn't be of ordinary strength.
Yi Agum's body absorbed the effects excessively well.
The third factor was Damcheong's incense burner dharma treasure.
The mystical smoke it emitted daily was equivalent to about this much in a steam room.
It was too wasteful to discard just because Seoran was gone.
In the end, unable to resist Damcheong's insistence, Yi Agum wrapped herself in a single towel and steadily inhaled the white smoke.
And this was a treasure made by an immortal, no less.
The incense burner's profound effects vigorously pulled Yi Agum's soul to a higher dimension.
The purpose of steam cultivation is to refine body and mind.
Spirit stones, pills, and the dharma treasure combined their power for Yi Agum.
Even in the immortal realm, such luxury was hard to come by.
And so, Yi Agum became a Foundation Establishment cultivator almost against her will.
After hearing the full explanation, Seoran asked,
"So, you've chosen your attribute too?"
Yi Agum replied,
"I cultivated a fire attribute technique."
"Right, you trained in pill refining too, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I'm a proper pill refiner now."
"Wow..."
Seoran trailed off with an exclamation.
Seeing her after so long, she seemed more mature and unfamiliar.
Instead of the speechless Seoran, Yi Agum spoke up.
"Unnie hasn't changed a bit."
"Well, my appearance has been the same since Foundation Establishment."
Yi Agum shook her head.
"Not appearance—your personality."
"My personality?"
Yi Agum said in a slightly teary voice,
"Yeah, you must have been so lonely and tough all alone in an unfamiliar place... but Unnie is still so bright... still so..."
Yi Agum finally shed tears.
The flustered Seoran comforted her taller little sister.
"Agum, why are you crying... don't cry..."
"Unnie..."
Yi Agum bent down and hugged Seoran.
Seoran silently patted her little sister's back.
Just like in their younger days.
A moment later, once calmed, Yi Agum stopped crying.
"Unnie, anyway, I'm just glad you came back safe. I really missed you. You know how much I like you, right?"
Seoran smiled brightly and replied,
"Yeah, I know, I know. I missed you a ton too, Agum."
Yi Agum wiped her eyes with her sleeve and asked playfully,
"Really? How much?"
"As much as the sky is high and the earth is wide?"
Yi Agum burst into laughter at the clichéd phrase.
"Haha, what kind of answer is that?"
Seoran blankly gazed at Yi Agum's smile.
She had grown taller and much more mature, but traces of her childhood remained.
It was so cute that Seoran ended up laughing too.
Now it finally felt real that she was home.