A New Substance
Yeonhee’s gaze fixed uneasily on the coffee cup atop the table. The faint clink of porcelain against wood echoed through the room like a lingering tremor. She was one of the strongest hunters in the country, ranked within the top fifty even when counting the earliest awakeners. How extraordinary that truly was remained difficult to grasp. Yet when she briefly concentrated and released her mana, Yeonhee felt as drained as if she had just finished a boss raid.
Even while Yeonhee sank under the weight of that pressure, Kang Yeonsu’s eyes never left me. I doubted she would stare so intently even at an alien. Hmm…
What are you thinking so hard about?
Thud——!!
Unable to watch Yeonhee suffer any longer, I slammed my fist down on the table. The impact snapped Kang Yeonsu’s focus back into place. Yeonhee flinched so hard her head jerked upward before dropping again.
“Skeleton, you…”
That’s enough…
Kang Yeonsu hadn’t meant to exert pressure, but whether intentional or not, the effect was the same for those on the receiving end.
Once Yeonsu locks onto something, she completely forgets to mind her surroundings…
I was relatively unaffected, but Yeonhee pressed a fist to her mouth, desperately swallowing the nausea rising in her throat.
“…You’re quite something. Daring to slam the table right in front of me. Even that ‘Witch’ wouldn’t have done such a thing. And you’re just a summoned beast… Well, I like it. You’re growing on me.”
As she spoke, her expression gradually returned to its usual cheerful self. She clapped me on the shoulder with hearty laughter. Only then did she notice Yeonhee’s distress and flail about in apology. This must be what people meant by “giving medicine after the poison.”
Her mana really is something else…
I grumbled inwardly at Kang Yeonsu, yet being near her stirred something warm and soft in a corner of my heart.
“It’s late. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Oh… We can just take a taxi…”
“You won’t say that once you’ve ridden in my car.”
A thread of mana slipped from her hand like smoke, vanishing outside. She was probably summoning her personal chauffeur. After the call, she placed her hand on my smooth skull.
“Listen, bonehead. Take good care of Yeonhee. Work hard enough to break your bones, got it? Wait, you don’t have anything but bones, so even a little damage probably counts as hard work, huh? Breaking your bones… Puhaha— That’s hilarious.”
What is she even saying? I don’t see what’s so funny…
Despite her incomprehensible joke, my gaze kept drifting toward Kang Yeonsu beyond her sunglasses. In an entire lifetime, how many people had I spoken with for more than an hour? Not as many as one might think. In that sense, Kang Yeonsu held considerable weight in my life. We had fought side by side only once, yet she was someone I could call a comrade without embarrassment.
Once my position as the guild’s guide solidified, opportunities to talk with her increased. Her pushy personality helped us grow close in a short time. We bonded over work at first, but everyday conversations gradually took over. Though she was a few years older, we spoke casually and often went out for drinks after work. So it was impossible for me to feel nothing upon seeing her again after dying so miserably—even after being trapped in the Dark Space for so long.
“Why do you always come back beaten to a pulp? It’s annoying as hell. If you’re a guide, just guide. Don’t go sticking your neck out and making enemies.”
“Hey, want to grab some conger eel and drinks after this? Don’t want to? Too bad, I’m dragging you anyway!”
“Who beat you up this time?! Tell me! I’m going crazy trying to figure it out!!”
“No, really, Yeonhee’s softer and kinder than she looks. Hang out with her more. Look after her when I’m not around.”
Her straightforward eyes and lively voice pulled fragments of Kang Yeonsu from the pages of memories I could never have opened on my own.
……
A faint emotion I hadn’t noticed when we first met seeped into my heart. A subtle longing and gray melancholy fell like gentle rain upon my parched, cracked soul. Something from another dimension—unmeasurable by the status window—knitted the shattered pieces of glass back together, however clumsily. Pity, sorrow, anger, and wistfulness for the human I once was filled me to the brim.
But—
Haa———
With a soundless sigh, the trait messages kept appearing.
- Trait [Composure] level has increased!
- Trait [Composure] level has increased!
Composure
- Never loses composure in any situation.
- +52% resistance to mental status ailments
……
Thanks to the trait working overtime to keep me from drowning in an emotional waterfall, its level had risen by two—something that had never happened before. It was definitely an emotion I had never felt in this life. Yet even that small joy was denied to me; my heart sank heavily. It felt as though the entire sequence of events was warning me not to approach human feelings. Who said I wanted to become human? Ridiculous.
In the end, Kang Yeonsu drove us all the way home. Just as she had boasted, the car’s interior was as luxurious as a five-star hotel. We rode in uncomfortable silence the whole way, terrified our filthy clothes might stain the seats. And it seemed she really had missed Yeonhee—she kept turning back to wave even after we got out.
After parting with Kang Yeonsu and returning home, I silently focused on crafting Skeleton Bombs while Yeonhee showered and ate.
Hmm…
By having my summons gather every corpse the people had missed in the wolf den, I secured enough materials for hundreds of bombs. Feeling gloomy anyway, I decided to make the most of it and settled on the floor.
Crack— Pop—
My Skeleton Bombs now assembled themselves almost automatically. Production speed had stopped improving at some point, but rising proficiency let me craft them while doing other things.
“Hup—”
After finishing her maintenance, Yeonhee came over as usual and leaned against my shoulder, her head sliding down. She quietly watched me make bombs while chatting about Arin and Eunyeong, the new additions to our group.
“Arin keeps drawing my eyes to her ears. I heard beastkin don’t like having their ears touched, but I really want to try once. They look so soft… Right?”
“Even when Eunyeong looks in the mirror, I can tell she’s still listening to us. In battle she watches her surroundings carefully and takes care of everyone.”
Fortunately, both of them seemed to have won Yeonhee over. Nothing in her stories sounded off. She wrapped up her chatter sooner than usual, then took my remaining hand and placed it on her head.
Press— Rub— Rub—
“Ugh… Ow ow ow…”
Normally I gave Yeonhee a massage after she ate and showered, around nine o’clock. This was the first time I was doing it past midnight. Maybe because it was so late, her voice sounded especially clear.
“Hnn—! Hnnngh…”
Her reactions to the massage were especially intense today. Since not many summons had died, I thought she wouldn’t be overworked, but I must have been wrong. Or perhaps Kang Yeonsu’s presence had taken a toll.
“There… Ilwol, a little harder… Hnn…”
At first, even light tapping made her curl her toes helplessly. Now her tolerance had risen enough that she kept asking for more pressure. If I increased the intensity too quickly, it would become unbearable later, so I was raising it bit by bit.
“Haa… That feels amazing… All my fatigue is melting away… Thanks for today, Ilwol—”
“Clack clack.”
“Hmm… The greatsword. We should be able to commission it tomorrow, right? I was thinking of taking it to the workshop that handled the Big Boar hide last time. They said we have to go in person to place the order. Honestly, what era are we living in?”
“Clack clack!!”
Can’t be helped.
“Well, what can you do? They’re the ones with the blacksmith trait.”
I had never seen Yeonhee mock anyone, but the blacksmiths must have really pushed her buttons. There were classes people called nobles. Unlike ordinary hunters who started with a single active skill, these individuals began with unique traits or skills, or followed a clear predetermined path. Enchanters, alchemists, blacksmiths, priests, druids, bards—those sorts. Among them, those with the [Blacksmith] trait received treatment so good it felt unfair. Not only were their numbers few, but there was no such thing as a “dud” outcome. It was said that simply following the set tech tree and working hard would guarantee reaching a certain level. Of course income varied wildly depending on effort, and talent mattered beyond the top one percent, but compared to other classes that risked their lives fighting monsters and testing luck and skill, it was in another league entirely.
Some even achieved a second awakening that massively boosted their stats when equipping gear they had crafted themselves. The Dwarf Guild was founded by such people. They poured the enormous wealth earned from blacksmithing back into growing stronger and earned the title of Korea’s top three guilds in less than ten years—a gathering of monsters.
So that’s why they’re so full of themselves, tsk…
One might wonder how blacksmiths who only handled Big Boar hides could be so arrogant, but they were notoriously clannish. If you offended even one, working as a hunter could become difficult. They would all band together.
If I had Jo Giman’s level of power, I would have fixed the blacksmiths’ attitudes first. Their solidarity is far too blatant.
“Mmm— What are you thinking about, Ilwol?”
“Clack.”
“Nothing, huh… You felt Yeonsu-unni’s power earlier too, right?”
Nod—
“It was incredible… No matter how hard I try, I probably won’t reach that level, will I?”
“Tap—”
The comparison target is a bit… Our combat styles are polar opposites. It’s hard to compare directly.
“I know. I’m a summoner after all. I’ll never fight one-on-one like Yeonsu-unni does. But… I was thinking maybe I could still make you all stronger.”
…What is she planning…?
She had been resting her head on my thigh. Looking up at me with sparkling eyes, she gave a meaningful smile, placed her hand on my outstretched leg, and began murmuring something.
Hm?!
She chanted an incantation I couldn’t understand, and a purple light burst from her palm. Soon a translucent something began to form between my knee and thigh. When she stopped chanting, I nearly fainted from shock.
…Don’t tell me this is?!
A substance resembling glass yet also like jelly had been layered over the hide that once filled the spaces between my bones.
“Hehe— Surprised? You’re surprised, right?! It’s still incomplete, but I couldn’t hold back anymore. I’m only showing it to you for now.”
Nod nod—
I nodded vigorously to show I understood, then touched the substance clinging to my body.
A new material personally manifested by Summoner Lee Yeonhee.
Possesses properties similar to a slime in defensive state.
Still incomplete; no functions have manifested yet.
······
While I felt a kind of awe toward Yeonhee for creating an entirely new substance that hadn’t existed before, her phone began to vibrate.