Chapter 125: Jung Hayeon's Worries
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 125: Jung Hayeon's Worries
“I’ve brought you a meal.”
She looked expectant. The truth was, Jung Hayeon had been with me since the Tutorial, just like Mev. In fact, one could argue that she had endured even more hardship. It was only natural that she saw me as a source of comfort.
I looked at Jung Hayeon and spoke immediately.
“Let’s eat together.”
“Ah… Yes!”
Her face instantly brightened. I casually picked at the monster meat and fruits I usually ate, and Jung Hayeon, who had no need for such food, sidled up next to me and began to eat the meal she had brought.
But strangely, her gaze was fixed on the new long spear I had acquired. Being a plant, she seemed interested in a spear made from a branch of the World Tree. When I gave her a slightly questioning look, she spoke again.
“Ah! It’s just… it feels familiar.”
“I see.”
“It’s a new one I just bought. Speaking of which, how many points have you saved up?”
“The last time I checked, I think I had around 580,000.”
As expected, Jung Hayeon had also accumulated a fair number of points. As the clan’s only magician, she had many duties, and it seemed her efforts had paid off. Yet, she herself seemed a little worried about something. Now that I thought about it, she could have evolved like Mev but appeared to be postponing it. Her class didn’t seem to have changed, nor had her appearance.
She was still deliberating, it seemed. I had a rough idea of what was on her mind, but I didn’t ask first. Instead, I spoke to her.
It wasn’t that we hadn’t talked until now, but our conversations had always been strictly professional. Jung Hayeon was more reserved around me than even Mev or Baek Ahyeon. In truth, unlike Mev or Baek Ahyeon, who I felt a strange need to look after, Jung Hayeon was a sanctuary for me as well. After all her long devotion, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be a little more comfortable with her.
“How have you been lately?”
“Ah… Yes! I’m doing well.”
“Mev and the goblins are treating me well… and now we have humans like Yoora in the clan. That woman, Baek Ahyeon, is also staying with the clan, so I’ve been able to talk with her a little. She said she wanted to learn the Green Skin language and is studying with Yoora. Hehe…”
The moment I asked, the words came pouring out of her. She had clearly wanted to talk.
“You have no idea how cute the little ones are. They remind me of my younger siblings back on Earth…”
It almost felt like a conversation between an ordinary couple. Jung Hayeon smiled as she spoke, and I smiled back at her. We talked about many other things. From what it was like here to, interestingly enough, stories of her life on Earth.
I heard all sorts of things—from the fact that she’d never had a boyfriend to stories about her smart, studious younger sister, and how she had lived an ordinary life in her hometown of Jeonju. The conversation continued long after we had finished our meal. The atmosphere seemed to have become a little more relaxed.
I spoke to Jung Hayeon once more.
“If you have any worries, I hope you’ll tell me anytime.”
As soon as I said it, she began to fidget. It felt like she wanted to say something but had been keeping it bottled up inside. But, as if she had made up her mind, she slowly began to speak.
“Well… the… the truth is…”
“The truth is, I’m not unhappy with my current body, but…”
It was definitely about her evolution. A case similar to my own. An Alraune felt even more distant from a human than an Orc or a Demon. Though she was quiet in front of me, the moments when she couldn’t suppress her killing intent or control herself must have been a source of stress for the once-human Jung Hayeon.
As a human, Jung Hayeon must have been the very definition of ordinary. For her to now be a monster who lost control at the sight of blood—it would be stranger if she didn’t feel anxious.
Her next evolution would likely be another Alraune or a similar species. While she couldn’t go back to being human, she probably harbored a desire to change into a Demon, whose body structure was at least similar, or some other species I hadn’t yet seen.
Finding myself in a similar position, I felt an urge to offer advice. I beat her to the punch while she was still hesitating and spoke first.
“It’s natural to feel anxious. You must feel a little different from when you were human. I’m the same. It’s hard to suppress the rising urge to fight and the killing intent. The same goes for lust. But I believe you can overcome it. No, it would be better to say it’s not about overcoming it, but about accepting it naturally.”
“Ah…”
It was a rather serious topic, one I had also pondered quite a bit. Within our tribe, this was a story that only Jung Hayeon and I could truly understand. Standing on the border between human and Green Skin, it was inevitable that we would have such thoughts.
As I spoke, my own thoughts began to deepen.
“And.”
“Ah… th-that’s not it.”
Jung Hayeon’s face was bright red as she bowed her head.
“Wh-what I’m worried about isn’t that… I-I was wondering if… if you preferred a human or a fairy’s body!” she shouted, her voice rising in embarrassment at the end.
I was relieved she wasn’t having an identity crisis, but for some reason, I felt my own face flush with embarrassment. It felt like I’d been needlessly meddlesome.
But Jung Hayeon was probably more embarrassed than I was. I never would have imagined that was her concern. She couldn’t even lift her head, as if she found her own words absurd. A brief silence swept through the tent before she began to speak again in a fluster.
“W-well, it’s just that… you haven’t called for me much lately… and… and you seem to like small bodies like M-Mev or B-Baek Ahyeon… Unlike them, I’m so big…”
“Or maybe you don’t like my plant body…”
She looked desperate, her eyes welling up with tears.
“So I was thinking of… ch-changing… to a species you might like…”
I could understand her reasoning that I might dislike plants, but I was extremely curious where she had derived the new conclusion that I liked small bodies like Mev and Baek Ahyeon. Every time I spent the night with her, I had shown her with my entire body that she was closer to my type. I was bewildered that she could have such a ridiculous misunderstanding.
Especially since her large size was an advantage that Baek Ahyeon and Mev could never hope to match.
There had been a time when Jung Hayeon walked around the settlement with a brighter expression. That was when Baek Ahyeon was in the city and before Mev had evolved. Now that Mev had grown into a beautiful form and Baek Ahyeon was staying in the settlement, she must have felt insecure.
Her self-esteem seemed lower than I thought.
If I were to nod right now, she would surely start over as a Fairy and evolve into a Fairy Queen. It wasn’t that I wasn’t curious to see Jung Hayeon as a Fairy Queen, but the ideal type I had always pictured in my mind was Jung Hayeon herself. It was unthinkable for her to discard her current form.
Having organized my thoughts, I spoke immediately. This wasn’t just lip service, nor was it a lie to comfort her. It was my sincere feeling.
“There’s no need to change. I like you the most just the way you are now.”
Her eyes widened in an instant. She tried not to show it, but her mouth kept falling open, a sign that she was happier than I could have imagined.
“Y-yes! Th-thank you.”
Having found the answer she was looking for, Jung Hayeon immediately began to curl up. It looked like she was about to evolve right then and there. In truth, for a plant-based magician like her, choosing another species would be a definite disadvantage. Of course, if she evolved into a Fairy, she would maintain a certain affinity, but it would naturally be on a different level than a species like an Alraune or a Dryad.
“Ugh…”
Jung Hayeon writhed for a moment as if in pain. Like a tree spirit from mythology, her hair began to be covered in stems and leaves. The same happened to the flower petals covering her lower body. They grew larger, their color transforming into something incredibly beautiful.
It felt as though she was becoming more voluptuous overall, as if wanting to fulfill Mev’s dream for her. Her waist seemed to grow thinner, while her chest and hips grew larger.
A soft green light shimmered in her eyes, and a captivating fragrance filled the air.
When her evolution was complete, Jung Hayeon sent a glance my way. I couldn’t help but swallow a silent groan.
She was clearly an Alraune, but something about her aura was different. Noticing my curiosity, she smiled softly and spoke.
“I’m a Flower of the World Tree.”
First, she was a common type, then a Rafflesia, and now a Flower of the World Tree. In terms of species rank, she felt like she might even be superior to me. It wasn’t just her appearance; her entire presence was different. Her green skin had lightened slightly, but she was breathtakingly beautiful.
“You’re beautiful…”
I found myself staring blankly at her as the words escaped my lips. Jung Hayeon blushed. At that, small flower buds began to sprout from her hair of green stems, and soon, they burst into full bloom. It looked as if she had flowers tucked into her hair. Interestingly, Jung Hayeon had also received a crown.
It was, of course, different from the one Mev, the Fairy Queen, possessed. To be precise, the crown Jung Hayeon wore was a laurel wreath, one that looked as if it were woven from tree branches. But the faint light shimmering around it told me it was a decent item.
She was certainly further from human than before. But her beauty was such that I thought if a goddess of the forest existed, she would look just like Jung Hayeon. I didn’t know if she was pleased with her new appearance, but she was smiling brightly, clearly delighted with my reaction.
“Um…”
“Excuse me, but may I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Your name… I want to know your name.”
This was another unexpected question. She obviously wasn’t asking for my Green Skin name. Jung Hayeon already knew I was human.
She was asking for my human name.
I couldn’t know what she meant by it, of course. Perhaps she wanted to build a relationship on a human level, or maybe she wanted to become closer to me. Or perhaps she was simply curious. But whatever the reason, I saw no harm in telling her my name.
I nodded and spoke to her.
“It’s Kim Taesung.”
“That’s a wonderful name, Taesung-ssi.”
The face of Jung Hayeon before me was a flower more beautiful than any other. She drew a little closer and kissed me, and I pulled her into my arms.
And so, we greeted the next day together. It was the day the meeting of the three allied tribes would be held, and the day our raid training would begin in earnest. The break was over. It was time to get busy again.