Friends (4)
Unforgettable Memories
📍 Objective: Create unforgettable memories with your spirits.
🎁 Reward: Growth of the spirit user. Growth of the spirit.
After buying the new quest from the Spirit Shop, we climbed into Jang Gilsan's car. The driver took the wheel, Jang Gilsan's secretary rode shotgun, and the three of us—Aqua, Mandu, and I—settled cozily in the back seat.
"So, where are we headed?"
"To grab some food."
"Outside the resort?"
"Nah. A restaurant inside the resort."
"Then why take the car?"
"Indoors, no problem. But outside, even on resort grounds, reporters swarm the place."
The guild harmony event was a big deal, apparently drawing crowds of journalists eager for a scoop.
Jang Gilsan glanced at me and added, "I'm covering the meal—like entertaining a business client. No need to feel burdened. It won't cost much."
I didn't like mooching off Jang Gilsan. Friends should be equals, I figured.
"Got it. Thanks."
But this time, I accepted his kindness without protest. Couldn't reject it in front of his staff.
[Ah! The sea!]
Aqua suddenly popped up from my lap and scampered do-do-do across Jang Gilsan's leg to peer out the window at the sparkling ocean bathed in sunlight.
[Truly beautiful!]
While Aqua was lost in the view, Jang Gilsan stared at her in shock, leaning back deep into his seat like someone surprised by a stray cat suddenly curling up on his lap.
He looked at me with wide eyes, as if asking, What do I do?
I just smiled, signaling to enjoy it. This is how you get close.
Jang Gilsan relaxed a bit and watched her cautiously. Slowly, a smile tugged at his lips.
His gaze fixed on his leg, where her tiny feet pressed down.
You know the feeling, right?
The unique soft, springy texture of a water spirit's body, her weight gently pressing into his leg. If she had bones, it might hurt, but she didn't—just pure, pleasant sensation. And with her excitement over the sea, she was kneading his leg like dough, heel up and down.
Heart-melting stuff.
A full smile now lit Jang Gilsan's face. He looked utterly smitten.
Totally conquered.
Cautiously, he reached out toward her head. I grabbed his hand and redirected it to her back.
Aqua hates casual head pats.
Plus, I didn't like anyone else touching her head either.
His hand gently stroked her back.
[Hm?]
Aqua glanced at him in mild surprise, then smiled happily and turned back to the window.
After petting her for a good while, Jang Gilsan turned to me with a completely disarmed expression.
"Now I get why you brag about your Spirit Affinity so much."
"Spirits are the greatest gift from the gate incident."
"Yeah. Looks like it."
Grinning, he happily continued attending to Aqua.
A short drive later, we arrived at "Rivergang Steak House," perched on a cliff in the resort.
[Hm? Aren't those sylphs?]
As we got out and headed to the entrance, Aqua looked up at the sign. Three sylphs were perched there.
Sylphs were translucent white wind spirits.
[Hey? It's Lady Aqua!]
[Hi, Lady Aqua!]
[You here to sneak a sniff of wine too?]
The sylphs giggled among themselves and flitted around above Aqua's head.
[Why are sylphs here?]
As Jang Gilsan went inside to check the reservation, I answered her.
"They sell wine here."
[Wine?]
"A booze with a great aroma."
[Aha!]
Aqua chuckled knowingly. Sylphs had a notorious reputation as mischievous imps—free as the wind, but just as prankish. They loved sniffing scents, and anything they sniffed lost its aroma, whether perfume or wine, since they manipulated air.
When gates first opened and the Spirit Realm connected, the wine industry nearly collapsed.
Only after spirit barrier tech was invented to block them did it recover.
[I don't get why they'd drink booze!]
Among spirits, only sylphs liked alcohol.
Reservation confirmed, we were ushered into the restaurant. The sylphs tried sneaking after us but hit the sylph barrier.
[Ack!]
[Boo! Spirits have the right to go where they please!]
[Restaurants must guarantee spirit mobility rights!]
Ignoring the commotion, we followed the host to a luxurious private room.
Jang Gilsan promptly called a server and ordered the two-person course with bottled water.
A place where even one bottle of water costs a fortune.
Not ordinary water, of course—sourced from a lake formed by melting eternal snows in the Alps.
[Hm-hm~.]
Aqua, settled on the table, was even humming. She liked the upscale vibe.
Out of consideration for Jang Gilsan, who lacked Spirit Affinity, she'd manifested a solid body. In return, he'd secured this private room away from prying eyes. Cozy and quiet, just us three.
Then, a sylph appeared outside the window—one of the earlier trio. Spotting us, it shouted somewhere, and the other two joined it.
The three plastered themselves to the glass, gazing at Aqua with pleading eyes—foreheads pressed, hands clasped, the works. A cunning appeal straight to the heartstrings.
[......Ugh.]
Aqua groaned. They were begging her to buy them wine.
She stubbornly looked away. Their sparkling eyes assaulted her profile.
Finally, she surrendered.
[Gilsan, was it? Sorry, but could you get one bottle of that 'wine' for the sylphs outside?]
"No trouble at all."
He called the server and ordered a bottle for the sylphs outside.
"......For the sylphs outside, sir?"
The server, who'd been sneaking glances at Aqua, looked baffled. Unmanifested sylphs were invisible, and this was surely a first.
"Just leave an open bottle in the garden outside the window."
Once I explained, the server nodded.
"Understood."
Soon, a staffer placed the wine outside. The sylphs dove in gleefully, taking turns sniffing like kids at a kaleidoscope, then danced in delight. One even blew a finger-heart our way.
I chuckled.
"Where do they learn stuff like that?"
"What? Let me see too."
Jang Gilsan couldn't spot the sylphs without Spirit Affinity. I described it.
"A sylph just sent a thank-you finger-heart."
"......A finger-heart?"
He laughed in disbelief, peering out. Even invisible, it was absurd enough.
The sylph that met his gaze now made a big heart overhead with both arms.
"Now it's sending you a giant one. Knows who bought the wine, I guess."
"Fun bunch."
Jang Gilsan chuckled. Aqua smiled faintly at their satisfaction too.
Appetizer bread with butter and the Alps water arrived. The white-gloved server poured three glasses and left.
[Ooo!]
I slid a glass to Aqua, who snatched it eagerly.
[Such pure water!]
She lifted the nearly face-sized glass to the light, marveling. As a water spirit, she saw qualities invisible to us.
[Come! Let's toast!]
She thrust her glass toward us. Sharp memory for what she'd learned—clever girl.
Jang Gilsan chuckled but played along. The glasses clinked softly.
[Hee-hee-hee!]
Sipping amid her bright laughter, my skepticism—that all water tastes the same, Alps or not—shattered with the first gulp.
The flavor really is different.
Unlike tap or purified water back home, this had distinct taste and aroma, challenging the "tasteless" notion.
A crisp freshness with a faint mineral tang.
Unfamiliar to my Korean palate, but Aqua loved it. After a sip, she smacked her lips analytically.
[Ooh! Water can taste like this!]
She tried tilting the glass again, gave up, and cradled the bowl instead, chugging straight from it. Glug, glug. As it angled higher, her head tilted back, lower lip cutely puffed.
She drained it with a satisfied exhale.
[Phew! Delicious!]
"......Downing mineral water like a shot."
While Jang Gilsan gaped, I refilled her glass.
"Good, right?"
[First time for water like this!]
Thrilled by the novelty.
[Water from mountaintops, you said?]
"Precisely, melted snow from the peaks."
[Snow?]
Aqua tilted her head.
[Ah, that stuff that falls from the sky in winter? I've heard of it!]
The Spirit Realm stayed warm year-round—no snow. Probably why this was new to her.
I smiled. "Right. White snowflakes falling like petals."
[O! Like petals?]
Imagining it, her eyes drifted far away.
[Like petals......!]
They began to sparkle. Seeing her filled with wonder and anticipation, an unstoppable smile bloomed on my face.
Still summer, but I already couldn't wait for the day I'd show her her first snow.