Ten Invisible Hands
This was completely insane.
Grasping the flow of things invisible to the eye.
It meant I could now sense, as vividly as if I were seeing it, every current there was — mana and energies of like nature, perhaps even the life-giving auras that living beings gave off.
Exactly what I needed, training as I was to artificially forge my 2nd Circle.
Sure enough, I could already see the currents of mana emanating from Grandfather Choi and Jang Woo-jin, who stood in the garden at that very moment.
The shape of the mana arrayed in precise patterns across the soil came through just as clearly.
A shiver ran down my whole body.
How much more would I be able to perceive if I raised the carrot's grade even higher?
I gathered up the carrots I'd just harvested and piled them near the back gate of the house. Clearing them all in one go would take real muscle, and sunlight glittered down onto the heap of carrots. If I said they looked like potential itself, shimmering and bright — was that going too far?
Sorting through the fruits of my labor, I realized just how many there were.
"Secretary Jang, can we actually eat all of this?"
"Hmm... First, I believe we'd need to shop for ingredients to go with them."
Each carrot was fairly substantial on its own, so piled up like that, they were sheer enormity incarnate. We might nibble and nibble until we were sick of them and end up throwing some away.
"How about we all share them together, then?"
"All of us?"
"Yes. Ji-on, what if your family joined us at your place?"
"Oh..."
It was a good idea. A chance for Mother and Father, even Grandfather, to experience the carrots' effects firsthand.
"Sounds great!"
"Then I'd better go scout out the groceries first."
Jang Woo-jin rose from his seat and disappeared inside the house. A short while later, he reappeared in clean clothes free of any soil, waving as he said he was off to the agricultural co-op.
The co-op, huh.
Come to think of it, Mother had probably finished her own shopping by now as well. Well, if the two of them ran into each other, they'd sort out the logistics between them.
I shrugged my shoulders and went back to sorting carrots.
"Oh my, Secretary Jang!"
The Songgye Han-Gae-Ro Mart — cool with air conditioning, its high ceilings gleaming with amber light. There, browsing the aisles, Kim Mi-suk, mother of Seo Ji-on, greeted Jang Woo-jin like an old friend.
Jang Woo-jin, who had been examining onions, turned at the sound of her voice, recognized Kim Mi-suk, and bowed his head.
"It's good to see you, Ji-on's mother."
"Well, of all the places to run into each other."
The two of them had already spoken at length on the phone before. Ever since Jang Woo-jin had driven Ji-on home, they'd been properly acquainted. They hadn't exchanged a great many words, but as people in the business of looking after someone else, they got along famously.
"Out grocery shopping, are we? And Secretary Jang doing the grocery shopping of all things. Hoho!"
"Haha..."
If there was anything that didn't mesh, it would be her sense of humor — which happened to align perfectly with Honorary Chairman Choi Tae-seok's. Jang Woo-jin laughed along with effort, worried that Kim Mi-suk might feel awkward otherwise. Thanks to all that diligent practice around Chairman Choi, his laughter was nearly indistinguishable from the genuine article.
"Ah, Ji-on is still at the Chairman's residence. We harvested carrots today, you see."
"Carrots?"
"Yes, enormous ones. I was planning to ask whether you might care to join us for dinner, if it's no trouble."
"Hmm..."
It was a sudden proposal, but Kim Mi-suk's deliberation didn't last long. Seems fine to me. It was also a chance to see what sort of people Ji-on was spending his time with.
Kim Mi-suk answered with a beaming smile.
"Why don't you come eat at our place instead? I should have extended the invitation first — I'm sorry I didn't."
Just as Jang Woo-jin was about to accept, someone strode purposefully into the space between them.
"Madam! Good to see you here!"
It was Park Byung-gyu, head of the Songgye Nonghyup. He was clearly trying for a bright, upbeat tone, but the weariness beneath it was unmistakable. Naturally so — work had been grinding him down for weeks. He'd been battered by calls after calls in his office until he'd escaped for a brief walk-cum-store-inspection, never expecting to run into Ji-on's mother here.
Delighted at the reunion, Kim Mi-suk clapped her hands, grinning.
"Perfect timing. Branch Head, why don't you join us for dinner too?"
"I'm sorry — dinner?"
"We were just talking about everyone having dinner together at our house."
He'd originally come out for a light grocery run, but at this point, the plan had changed: he would deploy every cooking skill he had, polished or otherwise. Kim Mi-suk's eyes sparkled.
"That's settled! Come for dinner!"
There was something in that intense gaze that suggested refusing right now would be a catastrophic mistake. Park Byung-gyu briefly visualized the mountain of official documents stacked on his desk, then let out a sheepish chuckle and nodded.
"W-well then, I suppose I shall?"
"Around 7:30 would be perfect. Does that work for you?"
Listening to Kim Mi-suk and Park Byung-gyu arrange things, Jang Woo-jin felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine. A sensation of a tremendous opportunity slipping through his fingers. He had the distinct feeling that he needed to wedge himself into this conversation and seize control of it — now.
Jang Woo-jin cut in urgently.
"Then we'll arrive on time as well."
"See you all this evening!"
Meanwhile, Park Byung-gyu, oblivious to all of this, wept inwardly. The gates of hell have opened. No matter what, everything had to be dealt with before 7 o'clock tonight.
"I just remembered some urgent business, so if you'll excuse me—"
"And I should finish my shopping. With a group this size, I'll need to help with the cooking, after all."
"Oh, you needn't do that. Hoho. Well then, perhaps I'll impose on you a little, Secretary Jang."
Leaving the warm, cheerful laughter behind them, the three of all hurtled off toward their separate destinations.
I'll serve a feast that'll leave every single one of them gasping in awe!
If I contact the Chairman and coordinate everyone's movements, time is going to be awfully tight.
Official documents before 7 — documents, and then the last of the documents...!!
Each powered by a thought entirely their own.
"You're saying we have to leave right now?"
"Boo, we haven't even finished pulling all the carrots! Where do you think you're going!"
Grandfather shouted, cutting in before Jang Woo-jin even had a chance to answer. And true to his word, at least ten carrot roots still remained in the ground. Jang Woo-jin murmured, glancing at the watch on his wrist.
"We'd need to depart by six o'clock at the latest to have time to prepare the meal..."
That left a scant thirty minutes.
"Nobody is going anywhere until every one of these is out of the ground."
At the sight of Grandfather Choi laying down the law, Jang Woo-jin looked at me as if to say, do something about this.
What exactly am I supposed to do about it?
"Ji-on's mother has rolled up her sleeves, promising to cook a wonderful meal at her house," Jang Woo-jin murmured.
Yikes. Fine. He'd won. Nothing for it, then.
"Grandfather."
"Hmm?"
"I'll pull all of these in thirty minutes, so go inside and get ready."
"You mean to do it all by yourself?"
Those beanpole fingers of his, pulling all of this? Grandfather Choi narrowed his eyes and stared down at my hands.
I laughed it off and shooed them toward the house. While they went inside to prepare, I planned to use magic and harvest the carrots myself. Then thirty minutes would be nothing — it wouldn't even take five.
The only trouble was that too many spectators could make things complicated. The risk of the mana flow tangling, or of my concentration being interrupted, was real.
"Ahem. Then we'll leave it to you, Ji-on."
Jang Woo-jin stepped up beside me and took Chairman Choi Tae-seok by the arm.
Thud—
The door connecting the back yard to the garden swung shut.
I stood with my back to it and drew a long breath. Once my breathing had settled, I approached the field.
The field is already under a spell.
The magic I'd cast earlier to help the father-and-son pair, Choi Tae-seok and Chairman Choi Jin-hyuk, with their harvesting. Thanks to Flowing Ground, the soil was soft and yielding. All it would take now was an upward pull on those carrots, and the harvest would be easy.
Besides, thanks to the Invisible Eye I'd just acquired, I could even see the mana clustered around each carrot. If I used those mana clusters, I might be able to pull every single carrot out of the ground simultaneously.
Gravity, as it's called. Such a force existed among mana as well — the phenomenon of lesser mana being drawn toward mana that had condensed slightly denser. In other words, locating the carrots beneath the soil would be no trouble at all.
I extended my hand and condensed mana. One by one, translucent hands of mana took shape in the air, modeled exactly on my own. They held a crisp, definite form while their flow remained perfectly smooth — proof that I'd built them with a stable structure that wouldn't crumble easily.
Aer Manus.
Invisible hands. Yet unmistakably real — a spell with genuine physical force.
I added a second hand, then a third, gradually multiplying them. Finally, I produced ten.
As if following a plan made in advance, the hands shot out in an instant toward the carrots each was assigned. A breeze stirred, making the air above the garden tremble for a moment. When I dropped my hand downward, the hands in the air bored into the ground.
Once buried in the soil, they promptly seized the carrots. Thanks to the properties of mana I'd considered beforehand, there was no chance of the hands getting lost down there. Apply force, and pull. The hands of mana moved in perfect sync with my own gestures.
The mounds of soil heaved — and then—
Sshwoop—
"...Done!"
Success on the first try. Ten carrots rose at the same speed, to the same height. The carrots floated in midair for a moment, then, following my movements, arranged themselves one by one in front of me.
A warm breeze drifted past. Sweat-damp hair clung to my forehead.
"Whew—"
To think pulling ten carrots from a tiny backyard garden could leave me this winded. Creating Mana Land and actually casting spells were apparently two very different animals. Good grief.
I'd better head inside, get ready myself, and head home. So what was on the menu tonight?
"Welcome, everyone!"
We arrived at the house. I opened the gate and reached the front door to find Mother greeting our guests with a bright smile.
"I didn't expect you quite so soon. Dinner's still being prepared, you see..."
Behind me, Jang Woo-jin headed for the kitchen carrying a carrot thicker than his own forearm. Mother followed him in and asked, "What is this?"
"Carrots grown by Ji-on and our Chairman. Enormous, aren't they?"
"They really are — just look at the size of them...!"
The two marveled over the carrot together. Listening to their oddly charged exchange, I turned my head and scanned the house.
"Where are Dad and Grandpa?"
"Still out in the field, the pair of them. I was going to call them in once the food was ready."
"We do have guests, though. Wouldn't it be fine to just tell them to come in now?"
"In that case, Ji-on, be a dear and go fetch them?"
Just as I stepped outside, Grandfather Choi came out after me.
"It's awfully hot out, though."
It had indeed been scorching these past few days — a punishing heat wave. There was no telling whether Grandfather Choi could hold up in this weather.
"I can't very well help myself — I'm dying to see whether the greenhouse got installed properly."
"Fine, but if you get too hot halfway there, you turn right back around."
"Yes, yes, I hear you. Let's go."
The distance wasn't far. But the scenery along the way was rich with variety. Quiet — and that was exactly what made it restful. Grandfather Choi strolled along, savoring the leisure of it. I didn't bother making small talk.
Before long, Grandpa and Dad came into view. I waved toward them.
"Dad! Grandpa! Come on inside — dinner's nearly ready!"