The Enhancement Tree
The tree had grown suddenly, and the Guild Master was summoned. He looked up at the steel-gray trunk, his brow furrowing in a peculiar way.
"Enhancement fruits?"
"Yes. It looks like Gyeoul grew them somehow."
"I've never seen enhancement fruits growing on a tree before."
The Master's gaze turned toward me. Since it wasn't a tree I'd grown myself, I could only stand there feeling flustered. What on earth was I supposed to say to him? After a moment of hesitation, I decided to ask the question that had been bothering me first.
"Um, what exactly are enhancement fruits...?"
"They're fruits that strengthen equipment for a set period of time. Let me check one real quick."
Han Yeoreum answered and plucked one of the fruits. It looked as hard as steel, but the moment she picked it, a new fruit began growing in its place. At a rough guess, it would be fully grown in about ten minutes.
"Do fruits usually grow this fast?"
"No. Normally, once you harvest one, the tree withers. They don't grow this many, either. That's why they're so rare..."
Han Yeoreum drew the sword at her waist and rubbed the plucked fruit against the blade. Swish— The steel-like fruit melted and coated the sword's surface. She examined the blade from every angle and nodded with satisfaction.
"This is incredible..."
She tapped the side of the sword with her fingernail. I couldn't tell exactly how, but the blade felt noticeably harder and sharper than before.
"How is it?"
"Pretty good. At this level, it could slice through steel like nothing."
A stack of dented pots sat beside the tent. Han Yeoreum walked over and lightly tapped one with the edge of her blade. I expected a light metallic clang, but instead the pot split cleanly in half, as if cutting through tofu. The pot beneath it split as well—two pots in total.
"My pots..."
"S-sorry... I only meant to shave off a little from the top, but it went right through..."
She looked genuinely apologetic. For her sake, I decided to act like it was no big deal.
"It's fine. I can just go pick up more pots."
"This is my fault, so I'll buy you new ones."
"No, really, it's okay."
I wasn't shameless enough to trade a bunch of dented pots for brand-new ones. It was a shame to lose usable pots, but I decided to treat it as if I'd simply lost them.
"Yeah. I'm really sorry..."
The Master approached Han Yeoreum while she scratched her cheek. He was holding an enhancement fruit he'd apparently picked at some point.
"So, how much are you planning to sell these for?"
"Well... it's not my tree. I think I should ask Levinas first."
"These were Levinas's?"
The Master turned toward Levinas. Under everyone's gaze, her ears perked straight up.
"Levinas, what do you want to do with the tree?"
"Don't know! Gyeoul can decide!"
"Are you sure it's okay if I decide...?"
"Yeah! It's Gyeoul's tree!"
Levinas nodded, saying it was fine. After a brief moment of thought, I reached a conclusion. I would give the enhancement fruits away for free to everyone. The seeds had been a gift from the Gift-Giver. Levinas had grown them, and the fruits had appeared on their own. I had no intention of profiting from something obtained without any labor.
"I don't need money. Take as many as you need."
I held out the freshly picked enhancement fruit to the Master. He didn't take it right away. Instead, he asked,
"Why aren't you charging for them?"
"Because I got them for free too. Let's just share them with everyone."
"Hmm..."
The Master stroked his chin, then accepted the fruit I offered. His tail swayed gently, showing he accepted my proposal.
"Nobody would complain if you made money off these."
"It's fine."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes."
Seeing my unwavering resolve, the Master silently placed his hand on my head. He patted me like he would a child, and strangely, it didn't feel bad. In fact, I liked it so much that my tail started wagging faster.
"Thank you."
I couldn't believe I'd just received thanks from the Master. Embarrassed yet elated, I scratched the back of my neck for no reason.
When we distributed the enhancement fruits to the guild members, Han Yeoreum suggested that Gyeoul and the children take some and go out. Once the children were out of sight, Han Yeoreum and Kang Jin-ho began to talk.
"I never thought I'd be the one saying this, but that kid really is like an angel."
"Yes. Gyeoul loves sharing with others."
Since it was something obtained for free, Gyeoul wanted to share it with everyone. Han Yeoreum wanted to tell her to sell them instead of giving them away, but knowing Gyeoul's kind heart, she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
Was not charging anything really the best choice...?
Asking a child who wanted to give freely to charge money instead felt like a cruel thing to do. It would only taint the child's pure intentions with greed. For now, not accepting payment was probably the right call. Han Yeoreum chose the lesser of two evils.
Selling them in secret and depositing the money into Gyeoul's account wouldn't work either, would it?
After agonizing over it for a long time, Han Yeoreum ultimately decided against it. If Gyeoul found out the truth, she would be disappointed. In their relationship, trust mattered more than anything. Even if Gyeoul's impoverished life looked pitiful, Han Yeoreum refused to betray that trust. That was the conclusion she reached.
The Yeomyeong Guild had dormitories prepared for its staff. Each room was meant for one person, but could be used like a private room if desired.
"Excuse me..."
Knock knock— Someone knocked on Kwon Arin's door. Right beside her, Levinas knocked as well.
"Strongest-ever Kwon Arin!"
Thump thump thump thump— Levinas pounded the door rapidly with both hands like a rabbit digging a burrow. She kept knocking without pause until the door finally opened, revealing Kwon Arin.
"What's going on?"
"We came to give you this."
I handed her an enhancement fruit. Recognizing what it was, Kwon Arin's eyes widened.
"Why are you giving this to me? These are really expensive, aren't they?"
"From now on, they're free. The guild said we can take as many as we need."
"R-really...?"
Kwon Arin accepted the fruit with both hands, treating it like something precious. Taking advantage of the moment, Levinas dashed straight into the room.
"It's a house!"
After taking off her shoes, Levinas began running around the room. Startled, Kwon Arin hurried after her.
"Ah, no...!"
Levinas flinched at the loud voice, shrinking back. She fidgeted with her clasped hands and glanced nervously at Kwon Arin.
"S-sorry..."
"No, I wasn't trying to scold you. It's because of the stream."
"Stream?"
"Yeah. A game stream. I can't show my face."
She was worried about her face being exposed. But we had already appeared on the famous Han Yeoreum's social media. There was no reason to worry about it now.
"It's okay if our faces show."
"R-really?"
"Yes. By the way, have you streamed before?"
Kwon Arin gave an awkward smile at my question. I could tell she was feeling shy.
"No, this is my first time. Someone at the arcade suggested I try streaming last time."
"Ah..."
Kwon Arin's gaming skills were quite good, so streaming seemed like it could work out well for her.
"If you're okay with showing your face, want to play a game together?"
"A game?"
"Yeah. It's called Undercook—a four-player cooking game."
A four-player game. With me, Levinas, Saebyeok, and Kwon Arin, the numbers matched perfectly. There was no reason for me to refuse when the children needed someone to play with.
"Sounds good."
I nodded and stepped into Kwon Arin's room. Her stream already had four viewers.
"...There aren't many viewers, are there?"
"It's my first day, so four is actually a lot."
"I-is that so?"
Blushing, Kwon Arin handed us the game controllers. My character was a cat holding a gathering net.
I have to gather ingredients myself, huh?
The game's first goal was learning to distinguish what could and couldn't be eaten. Perhaps because it was made for children, the difficulty was low. I wandered through the mountains with my net. A dragonfly flew right in front of me, so I snatched it up immediately. Dragonflies were edible. Grasshoppers and earthworms were edible too. Almost everything visible on the map could be eaten.
There's nothing you can't eat?
Had they set it to the lowest difficulty for the kids? Thanks to that, I was able to gather plenty of ingredients. I also collected vegetables like grasshoppers, snakes, foxtail grass, and clover.
── Cooking Time! ──
After some time, the gathering phase ended and we gathered in the restaurant. It was time to share what everyone had caught, but Kwon Arin's expression looked strangely flustered.
"Gyeoul."
"Yes?"
"You're only supposed to bring things that can be eaten."
"Yes. Everything I brought is edible."
Was there food here that couldn't be eaten? I tilted my head in confusion.
"You ate grasshoppers...?"
"Yes. I really did eat them when I was hungry."
"You didn't have anything to eat...?"
"No... I didn't have any money..."
I couldn't earn money, so I couldn't eat properly either. As an adult, it was embarrassing.
"No, it's normal that you can't earn money, but why didn't anyone help you when you were hungry?"
"Why would anyone help me...?"
"Why wouldn't they help you?"
"Because there's no reason to help me...?"
"No, what...?"
Kwon Arin's gaze was strange. It was the look of someone who thought I was saying something ridiculous. I could only return a similar look. I had no idea what she was trying to say.