Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Director - 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The village's guards number only two: Delion and Koon.
It would be convenient for both them and us filming to shoot the two of them together in one place.
Their main duties are similar, so we wanted to film them together if possible, but unfortunately, we hit the realistic limit of their shift times.
Thanks to that, we had to explain the situation twice.
First, we went to find Delion.
From late night onward, it was Delion's turn to guard in front of the forest.
"Earthbound Spirit? What brings you here at this hour...?"
"Mind sparing a moment?"
I explained the filming to the visibly puzzled Delion.
"Uh... sure, that's fine. But is there anything worth showing about me?"
"No need for anything special. Just be yourself as usual."
"Understood."
A guard's duties can be roughly divided into two areas.
The first is holding position at the entrance to the damp forest.
"......"
"......"
"Don't you have anything to say...?"
Delion is currently performing the first duty.
Standing silently without a word.
This is his usual self.
"Do I have to keep talking in front of this thing?"
"If it's too hard, just pretend a replacement who needs handover has arrived."
"Hmm, there's not really anything to teach..."
Unlike running into Koon every day at the forest entrance, I don't see Delion often.
The last time we talked was in front of the clinic when a novice adventurer caused a ruckus, so I couldn't even call it frequent meetings.
His day-night cycle is completely reversed, so it's unavoidable.
Even adventurer encounters during peak season are mostly during Koon's shifts, while Delion has learned only to spend time in the quiet night.
"You just stand like this continuously. That's it. The hunting grounds are off-limits at this hour anyway."
"Until when...?"
"Until sunrise."
It was a two-shift reality.
Half the time Koon guards the entrance, the other half Delion does.
In the future, a 12-hour wait.
Excluding a human-like 7 hours of sleep leaves just over 5 hours of personal time.
"Don't you get tired?"
"It's better than you'd think. We don't have to stand without a second's break, and we step away briefly to eat."
When adventurers come to the forest one by one with slime requests, there are procedures like ID checks and guidance, but even that's not daily routine.
Usually, they just hold position, preparing for emergencies like kids wandering in out of curiosity.
They're also the first responders if something happens inside the forest.
"I sleep during the day and work at night, so I'm fine, but aren't you two tired?"
"We're good. We have the stamina to last a day."
"You must be confident in your endurance."
The dark sky makes it hard to capture scenes properly on camera, but Delion only has nights available for filming anyway.
We had no choice but to pull an all-nighter once.
"What's the other duty you mentioned?"
"Running out when something happens. Like last time."
The second is handling emergencies.
As the name implies, the moment an unexpected accident hits the village, guards must move first.
"Whether it's a monster appearing, adventurers fighting, or even a situation we can't grasp, guards have to act first."
This is regardless of shift time—even off-duty, they have to rush out.
With only two guards in the village, if one is resting, the other handles it alone.
Ultimately, whenever an emergency arises, both guards rushing to the scene is best.
"Thanks to that, we gave up personal time and ran around exhausted. We caught two slashed-up adventurers, but then the guild master shows up, takes one, and asks to release the other. I mean, what the hell."
"......"
"Oh, is this not for the video?"
"I'll edit out anything unusable, so don't worry."
Is he talking about when Amelia brought out Phria?
Thinking about it, Delion still doesn't know Sua is staying on the first floor.
With opposite active hours, they haven't crossed paths yet, but if timings align someday...
Judging by Delion's tone, he's not exactly friendly.
Best to hope they keep missing each other.
"That's all?"
"Yeah, pretty much. That's everything I do."
"Should we hope for a big incident? To get more footage of emergency response."
"Don't even joke about that. Last time I thought I'd die of exhaustion."
Compared to starting filming in such poor conditions, the actual recording was the shortest so far.
Honestly, I'm not even sure if the director will use Delion's footage.
There was just nothing to salvage.
"Looks like we'll cover guard duties more thoroughly with Koon."
"I think so too. Day shifts have more stories anyway, so Koon—ah."
Delion suddenly cut himself off.
"Damn. I forgot..."
he muttered lowly.
"What's wrong?"
"No, nothing. Anyway, is there more I need to do?"
"Nah, this should wrap it up. Koon will fill in any gaps, so no worries."
The conversation flowed naturally, as if nothing happened.
"If you're done, wouldn't it be better to sleep now?"
"We came planning to stay up, but it ended early, so now we have time to sleep."
"Nothing's more important for health than securing sleep. Head in."
Everything he said was right.
Filming at night is tiring for the director and me.
No more footage to shoot is also true.
Lying in bed at the inn and sleeping sounds great.
"It's too dark to see anything. What's the point of staying? Go on."
But isn't this a bit too abrupt?
The moment Koon came up, it felt like he was rushing us out.
As Delion's shoot wrapped up hurriedly, the director belatedly grabbed the camera again.
"No, we need a proper ending. I wanted closing remarks from everyone."
"Oh, right. Felt like something was missing."
"Delion, any final words?"
"Huh? Final words, you say...?"
Delion kept glancing toward the forest depths.
As if something was in there.
"Do I have to?"
"Anything short is fine."
"Ah, it's already too la—."
Soon after, we discovered why Delion was rushing us.
"Delion. Thanks for waiting...?"
"Damn it."
We came face-to-face with Koon emerging from the forest, covered head to toe in dirt.
"E-Earthbound Spirit? Why are you here?"
"Why were you in the forest?"
We both stared in stunned silence.
Both of us should be under the covers asleep by now, yet here we stood plainly.
"Delion? What's going on?"
"Sorry, Koon. Completely forgot. It's about time you got back."
Above all, Koon looked like he'd rolled on the ground several times.
His arms were caked in dirt, looking quite grimy.
Next was supposed to be Koon's shoot anyway, so since we'd run into him, we explained the filming and scheduled it in advance.
Koon nodded readily upon hearing the video's purpose.
More important was explaining why I was at the forest entrance rather than why he was in the forest.
"You're not an idiot, right?"
"What?"
"Just checking if you believed that story hook, line, and sinker."
Koon said that lately, suspicious changes had occurred inside the forest, so he'd gone on a patrol to check.
That alone wasn't nearly enough to explain the dirt clinging to his body.
"The guards exchanged glances dozens of times. They're obviously hiding something."
"Could be something just between them."
"Someone who works 12 hours a day going on patrol off-shift? That's a rushed excuse."
I don't think they have bad intentions.
It might just be something they don't want to tell me personally.
Even knowing it was a hasty excuse, that's why I didn't overreact.
"Why does this small village have so many complicated secrets?"
"Everyone has at least one secret they don't want to share with the world."
I haven't told Koon about my regression either, so I had no grounds to press him on hiding something.
Besides, ongoing changes in the village were real.
"Didn't you learn anything from getting hit by me? Secrets are all weaknesses."
"No idea what your angle is, but you're in the same boat."
"You demanded it, but long-term, this filming benefits me too."
"Don't forget—you still owe me two more."
Seo Ji-woo failed to keep a straight face and headed to the next room.
There were still tons of people to film.
To make tomorrow, we needed to sleep soon.
⋮
The sound of a door opening came.
Not my room—probably the one next door.
Left side, or maybe right.
Or both.