Chapter 71
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: The Grapevine That Kept Its Promise
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“I think this is more than enough.”
Cheon Doun said, looking at the grapes in his bag.
“Kim Nari. Get ready to go home.”
“Can we take that man with us? He might die if we leave him like this.”
Kim Nari said, looking at the young Hunter. The thought of leaving someone in a hallucinatory state behind bothered her.
“I don't mind taking him. But he'll be a nuisance if he thrashes around, so knock him out.”
“Understood.”
Kim Nari approached the Hunter, about to strike his neck with the edge of her hand.
The Hunter, who had been dazed, thinking it was all a hallucination, freaked out and dodged Kim Nari's startlingly real attack.
A whoosh of air pressure and a cracking sound. Kim Nari pulled her hand, now embedded in a tree, and looked at the Hunter.
“Mister. Stay still. You shouldn't dodge.”
“W-What! I'll die if I don't! Are you trying to break my neck?”
“No. I controlled my strength. This much is necessary against an Awakened.”
“That might be true for a B-rank or higher Awakened! I'm still C-rank... W-Wait. Is this not a hallucination?”
The young man stared at Kim Nari with a bewildered expression. He touched the broken tree, his face a picture of disbelief.
“It's really broken... K-Kid. What's your name?”
“I am Kim Nari!”
“K-Kim Nari. Right. Hello. My name is I Baekho. And could you please lower your hand? It's scary. I'm not hallucinating.”
The young Hunter, I Baekho, spoke quickly.
The realization that this was reality cleared his head, and the words tumbled out.
“It's true. Whether you hallucinate from the grape scent depends on your constitution. I'm fine.”
“Really?”
“Y-Yes. I'm okay, so could you please let me come with you? I'll be sure to reward you handsomely.”
I Baekho also bowed his head to Cheon Doun.
“Please. I was being chased by a monster and lost my bag. I forgot and left my spare return stone in it, so... I can't get back.”
“Sounds like you've had a rough time. You can follow us if you want.”
“Th-Thank you!”
“But what's a C-rank Hunter doing out here alone? Did your teammates betray you?”
“No. Actually... I had a fight with my grandfather and came here on a whim.”
I Baekho said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
“My grandfather keeps trying to make me undergo succession training. We argued because I don't want to, and when I got home, I kept thinking about what he said.”
“What did he say?”
“He said if I could bring him a grapevine seed from the Demon World, he'd stop making me study to be the successor.”
Cheon Doun smiled. A grapevine seed was not something one could easily obtain.
Furthermore, one needed to be at least B-rank to operate solo inside a Gate.
Even then, it was a life-threatening endeavor, which was why most moved in teams.
For his grandfather to demand such a thing from I Baekho, a C-rank Hunter, was basically his way of telling him to just shut up and do as he was told.
“It's ridiculous, right? So I came over in a fit of anger. I was going to show him and bring back a seed... but this is how it turned out.”
I Baekho said with an awkward expression.
Kim Nari, who had been listening quietly, took a grape from her bag and held it out.
“Here. Take this. Give him the seeds from these.”
“Haha, I appreciate the thought, kid. But the seeds aren't in there.”
“They're not in here? Then where are they?”
In response to Kim Nari's question, Cheon Doun pointed up.
“The seeds grow at the very top of the tree. They're not in the fruit; they grow in a separate seedpod.”
“The top of the tree?”
Kim Nari looked up.
It was a colossal tree, reminiscent of the World Tree. Its top seemed to pierce the sky, and it was obvious that the density of demonic energy would increase the higher one climbed.
“Mister. This tree is too big. We should find a smaller one.”
“That won't work. Seeds don't grow on small trees. It has to be at least this large for a seedpod to form.”
Even if they did climb it, the chances of getting a seed were slim.
“Like Mandragora fruit, it only produces seeds at a specific time. If you don't know when that is, climbing it would be a waste of effort.”
“Oh... I see. You really are amazing, Mister. You know so much.”
Kim Nari's question made Cheon Doun smile.
“A lot is already known about these grapevines. They've been studied extensively since they bear edible fruit. And...”
Cheon Doun looked at the thick tree trunk. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“I planted this tree when I was young.”
“You planted it, Mister?”
“Yes. That's why I've done some additional research on it myself.”
Cheon Doun recalled the circumstances that led him to plant the tree.
He was seventeen years old. As usual, he was undergoing a check-up in the research lab.
The researchers had Cheon Doun sit down while they discussed his chart.
*“The cells we implanted this time were Mandragora cells, right?”*
*“That's correct.”*
*“I don't quite get it. Why implant those cells? Even for a monster, it's one that mostly just sleeps underground.”*
*“It was the Director's order. Mandragoras have an excellent ability to refine mana. They're even called living mana reservoirs. He was probably aiming for that kind of effect.”*
At the young researcher's words, another made a strange face.
*“Isn't Number 17 already a walking mana reservoir as it is?”*
*“Well... Yes. That's true.”*
*“Seems like a pointless exercise.”*
*“To be honest, I think so too. But what power do we have? We do what we're told by our superiors.”*
As the researchers' conversation dragged on, Cheon Doun grew bored.
He left his seat and wandered around the lab, stopping in front of a table.
On it lay a flat seed the size of a human fist.
*“Misters. What's this?”*
When Cheon Doun asked, the researchers looked at the seed.
*“It's a grape seed. You've learned about the Demon World's grapes, haven't you?”*
*“I have. What are you going to use it for?”*
The researcher shrugged.
*“We're not. I just put it there to be thrown out. We went through a lot of trouble to acquire it, but our investigation showed it's nothing special. It doesn't contain mana like a Mandragora, nor does it have any particular properties.”*
*“That's right. It's just hard to get. Otherwise, it's no different from the seeds scattered all over our world.”*
Hearing this, Cheon Doun picked up the seed.
*“Then I'll take it.”*
*“I don't see why not. But what are you going to do with it?”*
*“What else do you do with a seed but plant it? I'm good to go now, right?”*
Cheon Doun left the lab with the seed. The researcher who saw him let out a dry laugh.
*“He's going to plant it? Does he plan on growing it to eat the grapes? I guess he has a childish side to him after all.”*
*“Or maybe he has another motive? We are talking about Number 17.”*
A moment of silence fell. The researcher who had called Cheon Doun childish groaned softly.
Now that he thought about it, the idea that he took it for some other purpose sounded more plausible.
*“The... the research on the seed is already complete. It's just an ordinary seed. It's not poisonous or anything, so what could he possibly do with it?”*
*“R-Right?”*
The two looked at each other and nodded. Nevertheless, they couldn't shake a strange sense of unease.
Why on earth did he take the seed? Could there be some secret they didn't know about?
They scratched their heads, feeling needlessly unsettled.
***
Back in his room, Cheon Doun placed the seed on his desk.
He looked at the seed and tilted his head.
*“I thought it was just my imagination, but it's not. I feel a resonance. Is it because of the implanted Mandragora cells?”*
A resonance between plant-type monsters.
Cheon Doun could feel the life huddled inside the seed.
This was no ordinary seed. A life lay dormant within its hard, armor-like shell.
*“Hey. Come on out.”*
Cheon Doun tapped the seed with his finger.
*“Don't pretend to be asleep. I know you're awake.”*
He tapped it again, but there was still no response. Unfazed, Cheon Doun continued to speak to it.
*“I seem to have a strong connection with plant-type monsters. I met a walking plant about two years ago.”*
Cheon Doun pulled up a chair and sat down as he spoke.
*“I couldn't save it back then.”*
His voice grew a little quieter.
Cheon Doun wasn't the type to dwell on the past and get depressed. He didn't do regrets.
And yet, there was one exception. He felt an indescribable regret for the root he had met two years ago.
*“I couldn't save it then, but this time is different. This is fate, too, so I'll save you.”*
Perhaps it sensed the sincerity in Cheon Doun's words.
The seed quivered slightly. It split in half like a clamshell, a gap opening between the two sides.
What emerged from within was a shriveled leaf, not yet dry.
The leaf that had peeked out shivered as if the outside air were cold, then quickly retreated inside.
*“Is it still too young to come out?”*
Or perhaps the air of this world didn't suit it. Cheon Doun picked up the tightly shut seed.
*“I have a subjugation scheduled for tomorrow, so I'll be entering a Gate. I won't be with a team, so I'll be free to move around. I'll plant you in the ground when I get there. Just hold on for one more day.”*
Cheon Doun infused the seed with mana before putting it in his subjugation bag.
The next day, he changed into his issued combat suit and entered the Gate.
*‘They said grapevines grow mostly in forest areas.’*
The place he connected the Gate to was not the mission site, but a forest area.
When he took the seed from his bag, the leaf poked its head out from the crack. Unlike the previous night, it didn't immediately retreat, instead savoring the surrounding air.
*Ah, this is home. I've returned home.*
The seed, sensing this through the mana in the air, trembled its leaf finely.
It should have taken root and grown long ago.
But it couldn't after being brought to the research institute, and had no choice but to suppress its growth inside the seed.
It held on for as long as it could. Just as it was about to give up, thinking it couldn't endure any longer, Cheon Doun appeared.
A fellow plant-type monster was moving it.
How long had he walked? The leaf of the seed he was holding pointed downward.
It was as if it were saying it wanted to go into the ground.
*“You like it here?”*
Cheon Doun checked that the ground was even, then dug a hole with his hands.
As he placed the seed inside, the shriveled leaf unfurled as if regenerating at high speed.
The roots coiled inside the seed shot into the ground with explosive speed.
The growth it had suppressed for years began all at once.
By the time Cheon Doun had buried the seed and stepped back, the tree had already grown to over three meters.
The rapid growth only stopped after it reached five meters.
*“What incredible life force. How did you hide this from the researchers?”*
Instead of an answer, a branch bent and stopped in front of Cheon Doun. At its tip, fruit began to form as if in a sudden growth spurt.
*“Grapes.”*
It was the first fruit the young grapevine had ever produced. Grapes made by squeezing out its strength, even though it wasn't the season for bearing fruit.
As a result, each grape was as small as a fingernail.
*“...Are these for me?”*
He couldn't simply smile, because something similar had happened before.
When Cheon Doun held out his hand, the bunch of grapes fell into his palm.
Cheon Doun looked at the ripened red grapes. As expected, he couldn't bring himself to smile.
*“There was another plant that gave me its fruit like this before.”*
The small, humming root flashed through his mind.
*“It made fruit and gave it to me, just like you. So you're the same. Is this a characteristic of plant-type monsters?”*
There was no reply. Cheon Doun looked at the tree, then smiled.
He couldn't save it back then, but he had today. A tree with such strong life force would never have its roots pulled up, even in a storm.
Let's be satisfied with that.
Cheon Doun plucked a grape and put it in his mouth.
*“Thanks for the food. Live a long life. Live longer than me.”*
The leaves rustled as if in reply.
It could have just been the wind. But to Cheon Doun, it looked as though the tree was answering him.
He left the forest area and headed for the mission site. He paused while eating the grapes in his hand one by one.
Soon, only a single grape was left on the small bunch.
The last remaining grape rolled in his palm.
A red morsel, small as a fingernail. Cheon Doun stared at it intently.
*“It would have been nice if I could have saved you, too.”*
Cheon Doun muttered quietly and started walking again.
He didn't eat the last grape, keeping it in his hand.
***
That was sixty-two years ago.
In the decades since, the grapevine had continued to grow. It grew so massive it could be mistaken for the World Tree.
*You kept your promise and lived,* Cheon Doun thought to himself.
Since he had already died once and come back, the tree had also kept his wish for it to outlive him.
*What a commendable tree.* Cheon Doun smiled.
-Huuung!
Cheon Doun was broken from his reverie by a tapping sensation on his waist.
Looking down, he saw Dodagi peeking out from the waist pouch.
Dodagi was drumming on Cheon Doun's waist with its fine roots.
-Huung, huung!
*Giant helper. Why do you look so down?*
Pat, pat, pat. The fine roots moved quickly.
Dodagi gave Cheon Doun's waist the best massage it could.
“Ugh, it's out again! What in the world is that root? It's hitting a person!”
I Baekho, who was standing nearby, backed away and shouted upon seeing Dodagi.