Chapter 237
He dug for about six hours a day, conserving his strength, and spent the rest of the time resting and tending to his body. He emptied his mind of desires and avoided greed. Without frantically clawing at the earth like before, he conserved his energy and found peace without impatience.
The Buddha and Jesus had been within him all along, it seemed. A slight change in approach had brought him tranquility. Though he went to bed with blue balls every night. He didn't throw a fit like he used to. It would happen again someday. Han Yaseong decided to enjoy each day, treating it as cultivation practice.
But he couldn't bear to leave Yadong playing around alone, so he always brought the beast along to work. So far, they'd dug a pit ten meters wide, twenty meters deep. From this, he could guess the spaceship's shape—it resembled a whale or submarine, just like those three had sketched.
They were now at the upper side of its flank. That's why they could dig downward. The rest of it was the hull itself; no digging there. As time passed, Han Yaseong instinctively sensed the target drawing near. He couldn't explain why, but his body seemed pulled toward it.
Was it the gold bar's influence? The spaceship's entrance felt like it was calling him. Chosen one, come forth! Something like that. Han Yaseong's heart raced with anticipation, making the digging all the more enjoyable. He occasionally went hunting, savoring meat from various beasts. There were days he stayed cautious after spotting monster birds in the distance.
The monster birds lived toward the distant mountains, it seemed, and came from that direction often. The range probably teemed with fierce predators and carnivores. He longed to visit someday. The trees there looked nearly a kilometer tall. Like an ancient primordial forest—he wanted to see it firsthand.
And the other massive creatures too. But to do that, he had to find the spaceship's entrance and unravel the gold bar's secret. Two months later, Han Yaseong finally located it.
“This is it! Hell yeah!”
It happened after digging another twenty meters deeper. A massive door-like structure from where those three lived emerged from the spaceship. As expected of an entrance, it was enormous. He'd noticed strange patterns appearing and wondered about them; turns out he'd been excavating the soil over this giant door all along.
The spot Yadong had pawed at was right on the spaceship's door. He'd been digging at the door without realizing it. It was so huge he'd overlooked it entirely.
“Yadong, you rascal—this whole thing is the door.”
Yadong growled as if to say he hadn't known either. Probably saw it as a kid. Makes sense he wouldn't recognize it then. Han Yaseong let out a sigh of relief anyway. All that shoveling and pickaxing hadn't been for nothing. He just regretted taking so long to notice.
If he'd known from the start it was a door, he'd have dug relentlessly. Truth be told, the uncertainty of when—or if—he'd find it had led to some slacking. But realizing it now was a stroke of luck. He might've given up otherwise. An ordinary person would've quit without a clue.
Fortunately, he'd seen the massive door underground at the sentinels' place firsthand, so he recognized this one.
“Now I just need to check the bottom part.”
Like that other door, this one probably had an entrance at the base. It had to, for giants to pass through. If not, they'd be in trouble. But he felt sure it did. Those three had pointed right to this door, after all. Yadong might've remembered it from childhood and pawed it out.
“Once we find that door, we can go in, right?”
Yadong growled affirmatively. Seemed like he'd gone in and out himself.
With hope in sight, Han Yaseong stripped off his shirt and resolved even to pull all-nighters.
“Another thirty meters or so, I bet. Damn giants—why make everything so huge?”
The door alone spanned fifty to a hundred meters. The ship must be kilometers long. Maybe city-sized. As big as Seoul, even. A spaceship had to be that massive to roam vast space for decades, centuries, millennia. Earth's puny rockets couldn't handle space travel. You'd need at least an aircraft carrier for a solar system jaunt.
If the giants traversed light-years, they'd sail in city-scale motherships, no doubt. And here he was, unearthing its door.
“I'm the owner of this spaceship now.”
He'd name it Yaham, cycling through his Yaja motif. Han Yaseong swung his pickax, tunneling downward along the door's base. Two months later, rations depleted and tools broken, the lower entrance finally appeared.
His heart pounded at the sight. Or rather, something in his chest did—even before spotting it. Maybe the gold bar had melted into his heart. That would explain the throbbing.
Han Yaseong glanced at Yadong while admiring the intricate patterns, akin to those on the sentinels' door.
“Can you open this?”
Yadong growled and sat before it, raising a paw in concentration. Memory fuzzy, he pawed about like gripping a steering wheel. Han Yaseong waited behind. With hardship over and bliss ahead, his mind felt light. Nearly two years to find the giants' door—pure pride swelled within.
Like creaming inside a beautiful woman's pussy. His body and soul brimmed with that climactic joy.
Suddenly Yadong growled and pressed his paw to the patterns, tracing them like a code. Light bloomed brilliantly around it. Just like at the sentinels' underground door. Han Yaseong's excitement surged. Yadong was really opening it.
Moments later—whoosh—a massive transparent door materialized. About five meters wide, ten high, glowing like a portal. Yadong growled, eyes wide with thrill. He'd opened it instinctively and seemed shocked himself. He hesitated, backing away instead of entering first.
Han Yaseong felt joy tinged with unease, stepping back too. Entering someone else's house was scary, after all. What if biometric locks triggered security weapons, melting him? Unregistered genes could mean instant death, like in novels or movies. He couldn't just waltz in.
“Yadong, is it safe in there?”
Growl—he didn't know for sure. Yadong seemed genuinely afraid. Like after that monster bird incident, staring at the glowing portal with wary eyes. Probably remembered scary giants inside. That trauma kept him from rushing in.
“Yadong, will we die if we go in?”
Growl—no, not die. He'd never died there.
“Then let's go.”
As long as they didn't die. Minor injuries were fine. He was prepared to lose an arm. As long as he lived to fuck women, any risk was worth it.
“Let's do this.”
Still, he couldn't go first. He pushed Yadong ahead. The beast knew the place, after all. Yadong growled but went. Han Yaseong promised pork hocks later—they had a deal.
Yadong approached the glowing door tensely. Whoosh—his body vanished inside. Definitely portal-like. Han Yaseong swallowed hard, steeled himself, and slowly stepped toward the light.
Inside was pitch black. So dark nothing was visible, like eyes squeezed shut. He groped forward, arms swinging blindly. A growl echoed, and he sensed Yadong moving in the void.
“Yadong? You can see?”
Growl—tap on the leg. Yadong could see fine. Made sense; he'd navigated dark underground spots before. Darkness was no stranger. Han Yaseong regretted entering without a flashlight. He'd assumed a spaceship would have lights on or activatable. But it was inert, swallowed in inky blackness everywhere. He might even lose his way.