Word of a Miracle

There were two ways a Tower merchant sold their wares.

They could claim a spot in the Free Market, all fifteen floors of it, and gather a loyal clientele. Or they could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exercise a summoned merchant's right, roam the Tower from end to end, and sell door to door.

Today's quota was one hundred and fifty cucumbers — the biggest number six-year-old Elia had ever faced in her life.

That was why she chose the wandering merchant's road. Hunting players down across many places sold more than sitting in one spot and waiting. She was certain that was what she had heard.

"Why isn't anyone buying...?"

Elia pouted, lips pushed out in a sulk. The book and reality were not the same thing. According to the book, plenty of players sat around waiting for wandering merchants.

Whoooooosh—

Players? Please. Across the barren plain, nothing but a blameless tumble of hay went rolling in the wind.

"That's weird..."

In truth, the information was half right and half wrong. Just as the book said, there were quite a few places inside the Tower where players huddled together.

Namely, the Burning Fields, where expensive items dropped. Efficient hunting grounds always drew a crowd.

But the locations of those Burning Fields were ultra-premium intelligence, the kind you learned only after paying a steep membership fee to join the Merchant Association. A book worth a mere half-coin did not include them. And so Elia was wearing out her little feet on the Tower's lower floors for nothing.

"Mmm..."

She was toddling along on those short legs when it happened.

"Huh? Is that a monster?"

"No. That's not a monster... looks like a wandering merchant?"

"What? A wandering merchant, out in a place like this?"

A fledgling guild that had only just begun climbing the Tower — Advance — had crossed her path.

"You're really a wandering merchant?"

"Wild. Running into a merchant all the way out here."

"Hehe, cute little thing. Whatcha selling?"

The hunters of Advance took an interest in the tiny elf merchant who had popped up out of nowhere. At the same time, Elia's shoulders shot proudly upward.

"Ahem! A merchant I am, indeed. Now then, you will buy my items this inst—"

She had been about to seal the command with every ounce of a princess's dignity, and snapped her mouth shut just in time. Minhyuk's promise had come back to her.

This body was an elven princess, yes. But she was also a very cool merchant.

"Please... buy an item."

Elia mumbled it, shrinking in on herself.

"Cucumbers? Hold on, these effects are insane."

"It says agility goes up when you eat one...?"

"What? The stat goes up permanently?"

"Has an item like this ever existed?"

The male hunters rounded their mouths as they looked the item over, but they did not reach for their wallets so easily.

Agility up by 0.01. The effect was astonishing enough, yet the number itself left something to be desired. Spending two whole coins on it felt hard to justify.

The women reacted differently.

"Soothes skin inflammation? Regeneration? Jackpot! This is a total skincare essential!"

"I've been so stressed — a pimple popped up on my nose."

"Oh my god! I have to buy this!"

Climb the Tower long enough and you were bound to get hurt. Monsters did not care whether they struck a face, an arm, a leg, or a waist; they attacked without discrimination. Treatment was quick. Scars lingered a long time. And so, over and over, fortunes had been shattered paying for expensive scar treatment.

Set against those terrifying hospital bills, this special cucumber cost a mere two coins. A little pricey for a cucumber, maybe — but more than worth splurging on.

"Two coins each, right?"

"Mm-hm. That's right."

"Here's twenty coins. Ten, please."

"Twenty for me! I just sent you forty coins."

"Me too, me too!"

"Hehe, I'm going home later and doing a cucumber face mask."

The deserted island's cucumbers ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠began to sell like wildfire. From the very first stop, she had hit the right customers dead-on.

And even the most saintly of men are swayed by the crowd.

"Hsss— maybe I'll buy one too."

"My wife's been suffering from adult acne lately..."

The men who had been hesitating joined the line.

"Just three, please."

"Five for me."

"Mm. Here you go."

Buoyed by that thunderous demand, she set a record on her very first deal: one hundred and forty-four cucumbers sold.

"Hehe, sell six more and this batch is a sellout too!"

With her subspace backpack noticeably roomier, Elia headed for the Free Market on light feet. A mere six cucumbers? She was confident those would sell even if she just sat still.

Around the same time, on the first floor of the Free Market.

Today, maybe...

A woman walked the market with her robe pulled low. Afraid someone might glimpse her face, she kept tugging the hood and glancing around — suspicious at a glance, and then some.

"......"

Her name was Cha Seoyun. Once, she had been an elite hunter who climbed as high as the sixtieth floor of the Tower, and she was fairly well known besides. As for what set her apart—

Haa... I-I'm scared... They're not looking at me, are they...?

A severe aversion to other people. She had not always feared their eyes. A particular cold beauty had won her plenty of popularity, and on the strength of it she had even filmed advertisements for a major corporation, rising to stardom overnight.

Then, one day, out of nowhere, the thing that shattered her life so wretchedly arrived: a rare, incurable disease in which the mana inside the body grew contaminated — Mana Core Erosion Syndrome.

A rare illness whose cause no one had ever found. The symptoms? Hideous as a curse.

The face melted like a monster's. The eyes warped. The shape of the nose vanished. Red blotches smothered the skin. Cha Seoyun's face was no exception.

The charming beauty the public had loved was, in a single instant, turned into a horrific monster.

Tragically, there was no cure. The medical world had given up long ago.

A curse that fell on her overnight.

After that, Cha Seoyun vanished without a trace. Face hidden beneath a robe, she dragged through each ruined day like a shut-in, because the eyes of people looking at her felt like knives.

She had even joined a strange religion. That was the only reason she had come trembling out into the world at all.

P-please...

The church leader had said a divine revelation capable of saving her from this curse would be waiting in the Free Market. It was the only thing she had left to believe in, the only thing she could lean on.

She was walking with her gaze half-lowered when—

"......?"

A rather puzzling sight caught her eye.

"Cucumbers for sale."

Some child was playing merchant, seated at a stall as tall as she was. And not just any child — an elf, with pointed ears. Unlike the other shops, which sold potions and equipment, she had nothing but six lonely cucumbers set out on the counter.

"......Huh?"

In that instant, Cha Seoyun's pupils shook.

Step. Step.

As if possessed, she walked to Elia's stall. She could not believe it. No — she wanted to believe it, but her mind would not accept it. Maybe she had already given up. She blinked again and again, checking. It felt as though reality itself were being denied. Within that dazed blankness, a quiet shiver rose through her.

"Th-this... i-is it real?"

"Mm? What is?"

"The effects written here... this cucumber's effects... y-you're saying this is real."

"Of course. Our boss doesn't lie. He's a good person."

"Ah..."

All at once the strength left Cha Seoyun's legs, and she sank down where she stood. Her frail body trembled.

If I just have this cucumber...

Her skin would regenerate. Her ruined face could recover. She would not have to fear people's eyes anymore.

I don't know how strong the effect really is...

At the very least, she could be better than she was now. Maybe she could even live an ordinary life again.

Th-this isn't the time...

Cha Seoyun barely managed to push herself up and asked.

"How much... for one cucumber?"

"Two coins."

Her entire fortune, worn down to nothing, came to eight coins.

"Th-then four, please."

"Can't you buy two more? Then I'd be all done."

"Eight coins is all I have..."

"Okaaay."

"Thank you. Thank you so much...!"

Cha Seoyun gathered the four cucumbers she had been handed and hurried out of the Free Market.

I-I have to go tell them. Fast...

Her religion, the Love Church. People pointed at it and called it a cult, true enough. But it was a warm place that cared, with love, for patients suffering from Mana Core Erosion Syndrome. In other words, there were many there whose faces and lives had been destroyed by the same rare, incurable disease — people just like her.

She had to let them know as soon as she could.

That the church leader's words had been right. That there really had been a divine revelation. That with these cucumbers, they might be able to live ordinary lives again, the way they once had.

Tadat—!

Cha Seoyun ran with everything she had.

Cucumbers from the far-off top floor of the Tower. This was the moment word of that special deserted-island delicacy began, little by little, to reach the world.

"Alright. About time I watered the crops."

The happy, healing life went on upon the deserted island. Farming hour had come around again.

Slosh—!

Minhyuk drew water for the fields. He did not, however, stop by the little stream deep in the jungle. All he did was scoop water with a wooden basket he had made himself, out of the colossal-leaf water baskets. It was the brand-new, Minhyuk-style water supply system he had just put together.

"Ahh— now this is efficiency."

Until now he had carried water in nothing but leaves. Filthy heavy, impossible to balance, nothing but those colossal leaves. Every time he needed water, he had to swallow the risk and go deep into the jungle.

Now? No more tedious trips back and forth. Ten colossal-leaf water tanks, set out ahead of time on the sandy beach. Scoop what was in them with the wooden basket, and that was the end of it.

So this is the end of hardship and the start of happiness.

Grinning, Minhyuk watered the cucumber and potato patch.

Trickle, trickle—

"Heh heh, good kids. I live for the sight of you."

First, the cucumbers, shooting up lush by the day and keeping him supplied with food, experience, and coins. You could call them the island's star product. There had, of course, been a time when Minhyuk hated cucumbers with a passion.

Well... love-hate relationships have a way of growing fonder.

What mattered was now. Anyway.

Next.

Trickle, trickle—

"Just grow up healthy. Lush, if you can manage it. I'm expecting big things from you."

The potatoes, the most promising prospects among the crops. In sports, some players were called eternal prospects and faded without ever shining, but his potatoes were different. Recently, leaves had sprouted from the stems.

Pop!

Very cutely.

"Hsss..."

Minhyuk swallowed hard against the drool that threatened to spill. Was it that even the seed leaves made him think of baked potatoes, steam curling off them? They made him want to eat them far too soon.

Once I can mass-produce them... I'll eat two a day.

Lost in the happy daydream, he finished the watering before he knew it.

He was walking off to deal with the leftover water when he caught his own reflection in one of the colossal-leaf tanks. The corner of his mouth rose on its own.

"Whoa... I actually look pretty decent now."

Maybe it was eating nothing but cucumbers and potatoes. The extra fat had melted clean off him. A gloss ran over his skin.

"Maybe I've even gotten a little handsome?"

Baseless confidence, of course. Still, he could not deny that he looked better than before. And greed had taken hold of him. Since he was stranded on a deserted island anyway, he wanted to remake himself from the bones out.

"Maybe I should start working out."

Back when he worked at the company, the job had hounded him so hard he barely had time to sleep, let alone exercise. He had not even had the energy to build a body in the first place. Now it was different.

He had time to spare, and perhaps because he was sleeping well and eating well, vitality brimmed through his whole body. On top of that, building stamina and strength would only make island life easier in all sorts of ways.

"I don't want to do bodyweight exercises, though..."

After a brief think, Minhyuk grabbed his carving knife and headed for the Safe Zone on the jungle side.

"Hup—!"

Then he took hold of one of the hefty logs he had stacked neatly in a corner and settled comfortably on the ground.

Didn't want bodyweight work? Then he would just make the equipment.

"First, let's try a light dumbbell."

Pumping iron after so long... no. Pumping wood. Anyway. He planned to start light, with his arms.

Minhyuk went straight into Craft.

Swish— swish—

First he used the pebbles lying around to sketch an H onto the wood.

Scritch— scritch—

Then, with the carving knife, he began slowly cutting the wood away.

Scritch— scritch—

He shaped the handle to a comfortable grip, and made the plates on either end hexagonal, the way you often saw them at the gym. They were the part that carried the weight, so he trimmed both sides with care so the balance would not break—

A pretty convincing wooden dumbbell. Maybe because he had used thick log wood? For wood, it had real heft. This would definitely make for a good workout.

And then...

Message windows rose one after another.

"See? Knew I could count on it."

Special energy had stuck to it again. So the wooden hoe and the fire-starting board had gained no effect because he had used twigs. That much was confirmed.

Anyway, what was the effect this time...

Hmm.

Muscle growth, recovery, and fat burn. He made up his mind. From now on, tools would be made from logs and nothing else.

"Alright. Let's get a workout in."

Minhyuk tested the wooden dumbbell at once. A light stretch first. Right arm to start.

One, two, three, four...

"Ooh, that's a good burn."

The more he raised and lowered the dumbbell, the more a taut pump rose through his right arm — a feeling of muscle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠splitting clean. He repeated the same on the other side.

One, two, three, four again.

Fifteen reps, four sets each. After working both arms, he struck a posing stance he had seen on social media.

Bulge—!

"...Huh?"

Muscle had risen in a soft swell along his once-slender arm. Next to a bodybuilder it was still pitiful, but it was decently thick all the same.

"......Kkrung?"

Kkureung, as if startled, opened his eyes wide and stared a hole through Minhyuk's arm. Minhyuk touched the new muscle on his own arm and marveled.

Oho. At this rate...

This. He was going to have a great body in no time, wasn't he?

"Kids, Daddy's home."

Dobong District, Seoul. Park Seonggu, a C-rank guild hunter, had finished a long raid and come home for the first time in a while, both hands full of the fried chicken his children loved.

"......"

What greeted him was not the children's cheers, but a silence sunk deep through the house.

"...Kids? Daddy's home..."

He stepped carefully inside, and the first thing his eyes found was his wife.

"H-honey..."

She was looking at him with a face on the verge of tears. Park Seonggu asked in a rush.

"What? Did something happen? What's wrong?"

"I-it's..."

That was when.

Creeeak—

Since the accident, when boiling oil had covered her face, the youngest's door had never once opened on its own. Now it did.

"S-Seoa..."

At the same time, the bag of chicken in Park Seonggu's hands fell to the floor. It could not have gone any other way.

His youngest daughter, who had lost her smile to mottled burn scars, was beaming at him with the pretty face that had lived only in memory — as if the accident that day had never happened at all.

"Daddy!"

Swallowing the emotion surging up in him, Park Seonggu crossed the distance in a single stride and swept Seoa into his arms.

A miracle had happened.