Hack-Ptooey Skeleton (1)
After Jeong Si-woo headed home, having come out to hear the full story of yesterday's DIY taxi-demolition incident, Dohyeon sat in his modest workshop with his head in his hands.
"Hmmmgh. What on earth am I supposed to do about this..."
He had run headlong into a difficulty while crafting the kitchen knives he meant to give as gifts — to Lim Seonwoo, who had sworn brotherhood with him, and Song Seogyeong, the honorary sister-in-law who had come along with the arrangement.
Shaping a presentable exterior was no trouble at all. He took the celebrated knives of the market as his references, worked their design philosophies into something of his own devising, and — ta-da! — the forms came together beautifully. With the talent for making that he had only discovered after acquiring Advanced Jade Bone Processing, the whole thing came easily.
The sticking point was the material itself.
Ordinary kitchen knives dull in time, no matter how fine the steel they are forged from. The user can re-edge the blade on a whetstone, tuning it to their own hand — the same product becomes a different tool with every different owner.
Dohyeon, however, had a second option to weigh. These knives were meant for ordinary civilian use, but anything produced through Advanced Jade Bone Processing was, in practical terms, an item. Made hard enough, the edge would surely never fail under anything like normal use.
So the question he was wrestling with was this: should he soften the material so the future owners could fit the edge to their own hands and habits on a whetstone, or craft blades that would never need sharpening at all, good for a lifetime?
"Even if I make it so the edge can't chip, won't it still go blunt someday? Whatever a skill makes... Come to think of it, weren't there people on the community boards asking about weapon maintenance? I think there were."
After a long struggle, Dohyeon reached a conclusion. The two people who would actually use these knives were ordinary home cooks, not chefs. His jade bone knives would dull eventually, yes — but he judged they would serve without complaint for a very long while before then. And if the maintenance cycle really ran that long, he could simply tend to them himself when the time came.
And so Dohyeon finished two kitchen knives of unremarkable length and thickness, along with two small paring knives — just right for trimming fruit.
The sun had slipped away and the evening had turned cool. The words came from Assistant Manager Lim Seonwoo, faithfully tipping back his drink as ever.
"Wow— today was a genuinely amazing experience. I was thinking, so this is what celebrity life feels like."
"Famous? Since when? Oh— did people recognize Soran and the elephant carriage?"
Seonwoo nodded. "Apparently it turned into a huge issue while we were sleeping. It all happened in the middle of the road, so plenty of people caught it on camera. And the reactions seemed pretty positive?"
Song Seogyeong nodded, as though something had just come to mind. "Someone from the Jeju Management Bureau dropped by this afternoon. Said they'd be doing a bit of media management and wanted to hear the circumstances first."
Seonwoo leaned forward, startled. "Wait, so those reactions were orchestrated? The people who asked to take photos with us were put up to it?"
Dohyeon held back a laugh. "Haha. People asked you for photos?"
"Uh— no, that's the thing. We told them we weren't even Climbers, just acquaintances, and they still went crazy wanting pictures. I snapped a few in the confusion anyway. Kekeke. Felt pretty surreal."
Song Seogyeong, smiling all the same, offered her take. "Still, I don't think it quite counts as opinion manipulation? The comments stuck to the facts. So really, it isn't manipulation."
"Oh, really? Then it's not manipulation. Just a public statement of position. Something along those lines."
"Compared to what the Management Bureau normally gets up to, it genuinely is nothing."
The words of a serving Management Bureau employee sharpened both men's attention.
"What is it they do, that you'd say that?"
"I'm with the Climbing Support Team, so it's only things I've overheard here and there... Actually, no. I really shouldn't be talking about this."
"Ah— come on. You can't just dangle it like that—"
Seonwoo grabbed Seogyeong by the shoulders and shook her.
"Ueeeek— I'm getting dizzy. Stop! I truly can't talk about this one! It's classified, I'm telling you—"
Seonwoo knew only too well that once Seogyeong got like this, nothing on earth would pry her mouth open. He let out a long, deflating sigh and gave up.
"Hey. Dohyeon, we're cooked. When Seogyeong goes like this, she will never talk."
"Oh..."
Dohyeon could only marvel at the sight of Seogyeong keeping secrets even from the boyfriend to whom she had promised her future.
"Professional integrity..."
Tap tap tap tap!
It was Goldie, rapping on the front door.
Ever since Iro and Gob 2 had taken over attending to Dohyeon, even Goldie had gained the freedom to bound around outside like this, away from his master's side.
Click—
Gob 2 opened the front door.
Padapadak! Padapadak!
Goldie shot across the room to Dohyeon in a single dash, spun in giddy circles, nuzzled at his legs, and tugged at his pant leg.
"Looks like something's happened?"
The couple fixed their eyes on Goldie too.
"Uh. The barn? Is something wrong with Bokdol and Boksun?"
Roughly catching the meaning of the message, Dohyeon shot to his feet.
"Hyung. Something's happened to the alpaca couple. We knew their time was near, but..."
"Let's go!"
Seonwoo and Seogyeong had grown attached to the animals themselves after playing with the alpaca family down by the stream. All three hurried to the barn without a moment's delay.
Click! Ssssss—
The band of three people and three skeletons, Dohyeon at the front, filed into the barn where the alpaca family lived.
Ung— Ung— Uuung—
Rushing in, Dohyeon saw the couple Bokdol and Boksun lying flat on the ground, and the three siblings — Ilpaca, Ipaca, and Sampaca — crying out in alarm.
"Bokdol! Boksun!"
Startled, Dohyeon hurried to the collapsed alpaca couple.
Deep worry surged in Dohyeon's chest. It did so even though the whole reason he had built Hyung's Ranch and watched over its animals was to be there, waiting, when the creatures who shared his heart reached their natural end — and even though he knew perfectly well that once a flesh-and-blood life ran its ordinary course, he could raise it up again with his own power and begin a new life with no deadline attached.
Bokdol and Boksun had been such lovable things. Their fluffy fleece was adorable, and the care they lavished on their children was endearing. Alpacas were notorious for spitting foul-smelling saliva the moment anything displeased them, yet this couple had never once spat in front of Dohyeon.
"The kids are still so young..."
At his words, the lines between Seonwoo's and Seogyeong's brows deepened.
Ung...
Bokdol and Boksun exchanged one last farewell and closed their eyes on this life. To the eye they might simply have dozed off for a moment, resting in their exhaustion — but Dohyeon, who could see souls, felt it. Body and soul had come apart, ever so slightly but undeniably.
"Hyung. I have to bring them back. Right now."
"Of course you do. Don't worry — we'll stay out of your way."
Seonwoo and Seogyeong clasped hands and stepped back. Once he had confirmed it, Dohyeon reached out toward the alpaca couple who had ended their lives at the very same hour.
"Jade Bone Crafting."
With a soft shaaaaa, a torrent of mana poured out of him as he cast the skill, washing over Bokdol and Boksun. Everything but their bones — the fluffy fleece, the muscle, skin, and innards — crumbled to a fine handful of dust that drifted and gathered at his gesture.
Srrrrr—
The remains of Bokdol and Boksun stirred apart, each toward its own side, and were gathered into the glass bottles Iro held.
Press. Press.
Iro kept careful watch until the very last mote of dust had drifted inside, then pushed the corks down firm.
The two heaps of alpaca bone, still lying in the posture of sleep, turned jade before the eye.
Dohyeon's brow creased as he emptied his mana without restraint. This was the first time he had ever cast Jade Bone Crafting on two bodies at once. The unfamiliarity made it a struggle, but he wanted this doting couple reborn together — and to rise together.
They were the two kids who had roamed the streets of Jeju, starving, yet holding each other up and living well all the same.
Shaaa...
At last, both sets of bones became jade. The finished jade bones of Bokdol and Boksun looked almost transparent, as though a soft glow seeped outward from within.
Dohyeon took stock of the mana he had left and reached out once more.
"Raise Jade Bone. Your names are Boksun and Bokdol."
Ding!
The souls of Bokdol and Boksun have pledged unconditional loyalty to their summoner. They can now be raised without consuming the Domination stat.
The skulls rose first, then the long strings of neck vertebrae, the spines, the legs — all the way to the tails.
Clack-clack!
Bokdol and Boksun, back from the briefest of deaths, clattered their teeth with lively spirit.
Ung—!
The three alpaca siblings, who had watched their mother and father turn into skeletons, seemed to sense that the ordeal was over. They flung themselves into the arms of the freshly risen pair.
Dohyeon wiped the sweat from his brow and quietly withdrew.
"See you in the morning, Bokdol, Boksun."
Even as they nuzzled faces with the children, Bokdol and Boksun nodded to him.
Out in the night air behind Dohyeon, Seonwoo and Seogyeong finally released the breaths they'd been holding.
"Phew... that was breathtaking, in the strangest way."
"Tell me about it. It honestly felt like watching new undead being born."
Dohyeon smiled with quiet pride. "I'm worn out, so I'll turn in first. You two eat and drink as much as you like and get some proper rest. You're headed back to the mainland tomorrow, after all."
"Right. Thanks, Dohyeon. Thanks to you we ate well, had a blast, and even got a look at something incredible."
"Thank you, young master."
With a polite little bow, Dohyeon left Gob 2 in the couple's service and went off to his room.
The exhausted Dohyeon sank into sleep; Goldie kept watch at his side; Iro stored the glass bottles holding Bokdol and Boksun's remains away with meticulous care; and the two couples, considerate of their sleeping host, carried on in soft, drowsy murmurs. Gob 2, true to form, kept plying the human pair with drinking snacks in his usual wild abandon.
The next morning, Seonwoo and Seogyeong left Jeju Island, seen off by Soran hauling the elephant carriage.
In the space of a few days, the couple had become minor celebrities on Jeju. Strictly speaking, it was the elephant carriage that had made a name for itself, but either way the photos were online within hours, and people left comments of every description.
Ung—!
Seated at his workbench, Dohyeon was feeling somewhat at a loss. He had called Bokdol and Boksun out to the warehouse to craft them custom Cranial Organs — until then, the pair still occupied his mana — but the three alpaca siblings, gum stuck to their mom and dad, had come tagging along.
Huddled in one tight cluster, Ilpaca, Ipaca, and Sampaca craned their heads up and staged a protest, as if to declare, Ma— got a problem with that?
"Heh heh."
A snort of laughter burst out of him at the adorable trio, and Dohyeon petted the young alpacas to his heart's content — rubbing cheeks, smoothing heads, giving their rumps a friendly pat — then planted each one firmly beside their mother, Boksun.
"Boksun. Watch the little ones for me and make sure they don't get in my way. Your husband's comes first."
Clack-clack!
Boksun answered with stolid reliability, then bit down on the nape of Ilpaca's neck as he tried to bolt.
Dohyeon lifted one of the two Orc Shaman skulls he had prepared in advance and squared off with Bokdol.
"Hmm... something's stirring. I have a feeling an ordinary heart just won't suit you."
The craftsman's instinct that lived in Dohyeon flared to life.