Chapter 76
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Sasa, Nom Nom, Dodagi's Leaf
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Nam Giseok walked over to Cheon Doun like a zombie.
His gaze was fixed on Dodagi, who sat in the palm of his hand.
"Hy-Hyungnim. C-Can I touch those leaves?"
"If Dodagi allows it."
Cheon Doun held Dodagi out to him. He already had a good idea of how this would turn out.
Hadn't Mr. Bak, the clothing store owner, made the same request and gotten smacked by its rootlets?
The outcome would likely be the same.
Still, he offered Dodagi because Nam Giseok and Dodagi were acquainted.
He held out a sliver of hope.
"Then, excuse me."
Nam Giseok cautiously reached out his hand. As the hand moved over its head, Dodagi's eyes flashed.
-Hmph!
How insolent. How dare you try to touch my leaves? Dodagi struck Nam Giseok's finger with a rootlet.
-Hmph, hmph!
One smack wasn't enough, so it hit him twice.
Faced with the flailing rootlets, Nam Giseok withdrew his hand with a disappointed look.
"I guess it's no use. It seems to only let you touch it, Hyungnim."
He had wanted to give a little tug to see if the leaves had really grown.
Noticing his desperate gaze, Cheon Doun looked at Manager Kim.
"You said the formula you used on Dodagi was an early version, right?"
"Yes."
"I think you mentioned you completed the formula earlier. Did you bring the finished product with you?"
Manager Kim smiled confidently.
"Of course. What I sprayed just now was what you might call a plant nutrient... something I discovered while researching Mandragora supplements. This is the version modified for human use."
Manager Kim took two spray bottles out of his bag.
"The blue bottle is a spray that revitalizes dead pores. The yellow one is a spray that promotes hair growth."
He also pulled a finger-sized ampoule from his pocket.
"In the growth promoter spray... this right here. Depending on how much of this ampoule you add, you can even specify the length of the hair you want to grow."
There was no need to wait months for it to reach the desired length.
Manager Kim had created a cure that could grant the wishes of balding people in a matter of seconds.
Hearing the explanation, Nam Giseok's face twisted into a complex expression, somewhere between laughing and crying.
The anguish and despair that had begun in his late teens. The effort, the giving up, the acceptance.
The time had come to break free from that whirlwind of complicated emotions.
"Manager Kim..."
Was this really happening? That man was a beacon of light. And Cheon Doun, who had connected him with such a person, was also a beacon of light.
He wanted to use the formula right away, but Nam Giseok hesitated.
He looked at Yu Jia, who was standing a short distance away.
It's human nature to want to show only your best side to someone you like.
He wanted to stand before Yu Jia with a full, long head of hair.
He didn't want her to see the awkward in-between stage, with his hair sprouting like grass.
"Um, Manager Kim."
"I understand. Let's go around to the back of the house."
Manager Kim whispered tactfully. Of course, the siblings and Cheon Doun could hear everything.
"This is interesting. Will his hair really grow?"
"It probably will. Manager Kim is competent. If he's that confident, it'll be a success."
While they were talking, quiet voices could be heard from behind the log cabin.
"I brought a mirror, too. Please hold it. I'll spray it for you."
"Is it okay if the formula touches other places besides my head? Like, will hair grow on my forehead or cheeks...?"
"You don't need to worry about that. How long would you like your hair?"
Manager Kim asked as he opened the ampoule.
*'Long hair, obviously.'*
*'It's got to be long hair.'*
Cheon Doun and Yu Beom thought.
"Long hair, please."
The expected answer drifted from behind the log cabin.
"Waist-length... no, is that too long? A length suitable for headbanging... maybe mid-back would be good."
"Mid-back. Got it."
Manager Kim injected the ampoule into the spray bottle.
Soon, the sound of spraying could be heard. Cheon Doun and Yu Beom listened intently, feeling like an audience.
"Oh... Ooh! It's growing! Manager Kim, it's growing! My, my scalp...! It's getting prickly."
Nam Giseok's excited voice rang out.
"Wow, it's already a buzz cut... no, more like a short cut... no, a bob...! My god, it's down to my shoulders! Manager Kim, look at this. Wow... this is the best! This formula is the best. You're a genius! This is definitely going to sell like hotcakes worldwide!"
Suppressed gasps of admiration burst out one after another.
So it was a success. Yu Beom and Cheon Doun looked disappointed.
His hair growing was something to celebrate. But they had been hoping for something a little more entertaining.
"Like if the hair only grew on the right side of his scalp. That would have been fun."
"That would be its own kind of unique, wouldn't it?"
"Or I was imagining the hair growing straight up into the sky. About three meters high?"
Cheon Doun laughed at Yu Beom's words. At that point, it would be beyond unique.
Just as they were exchanging silly remarks, the sounds of admiration from behind the house changed.
"W-Wait a minute. Manager Kim?"
Nam Giseok's panicked voice. Manager Kim could also be heard scrambling.
"It's not stopping... Huh? How long is it going to grow... M-Manager Kim."
"Th-This is strange. This... Huh? Uh oh?"
A dark shadow appeared from behind the log cabin.
It swelled at an explosive rate, as if multiplying, and burst out.
From behind the log cabin, which looked like it could spawn ghosts and aliens, a cascade of ebony hair poured out like a waterfall.
"Manager Kim! Wait... Mmph, where are you... Manager Kim?"
"Ugh, I'm buried in hair... Ahh, I'm being swept away...!"
With a loud commotion, Manager Kim, his lower body buried in hair, was pushed out from behind the house.
"Yes! This is it!"
Yu Beom clutched his stomach and sat down laughing. Cheon Doun also laughed, as if he hadn't expected this either.
His joke about hair shooting up three meters into the sky had manifested in its own way.
Not three meters, but what seemed like over 3,000 meters of hair endlessly poured out from behind the house.
"That's Manager Kim for you. The hair grows really well."
"I know, right? Grows so well."
They backed away to avoid the flood of hair in the yard. The hair loss treatment Manager Kim had made was effective.
Very effective.
* * *
I Baekho, grandson of the Hunter Association's Chairman.
Born in Gold City, he was raised delicately, like a young master. That didn't change even after he became a Hunter.
Thanks to his wide network of connections, top-tier teams always invited him on subjugations, so he'd never known hardship.
But now, here he was, covered in dirt and soaked in sweat, panting for breath.
*'N-No way... the test was actually just chopping down a tree.'*
He gritted his teeth, dragging a massive log behind him.
The guide, Guu, walked ahead of him. Kim Nari was beside him.
His prediction that the real test would be protecting the child was wrong.
There were no Monsters in this area that would attack them, not when they carried Cheon Doun's scent.
"H-Hey, kid. Are we almost there?"
"We're almost there, mister. If you're tired, I can carry it for you."
"No, it's fine. A kid like you shouldn't..."
No matter how tired he was, he couldn't let a seven or eight-year-old child do the work.
I Baekho worried needlessly as he dragged the log by himself.
After ten minutes of walking with his head down in exhaustion, he finally heard some welcome news.
"Mister, we're here. That's our house."
Hearing they had arrived, I Baekho snapped his head up.
He could finally rest. He smiled in relief, but that feeling vanished the moment he saw the house.
He was so shocked that he dropped the log he was carrying.
"Wh-What is that?"
A fluorescent green house covered in handprints. From behind the house, which looked like something an alien might pop out of, black hair was slithering out.
"Wh-What the... what...!"
Goosebumps erupted all over his body. The moment he stepped back, the hair surged forward at an explosive speed, as if multiplying.
"Aaargh!"
I Baekho's legs gave out, and he collapsed.
A hand suddenly shot out from the chest-high mass of hair. The hand pressed against the ground, and something began to crawl out.
Ah, he thought he'd seen something similar in a horror movie.
I Baekho thought as his eyes rolled back in his head. The last thing he saw before fainting was a ghost crawling on the ground, dragging its long hair.
"Ugh, my head's so heavy."
Having unintentionally knocked someone out, Nam Giseok emerged from his own hair. The pulling on his scalp made it impossible to stand up.
"Hy-Hyungnim. Please help me. Please cut this."
At Nam Giseok's request for help, Cheon Doun flicked a finger.
A thread shot from his fingertip and cut Nam Giseok's hair. He trimmed it to the length he had originally wanted, mid-back.
Someday he would realize his assumption about Yu Jia's preference was wrong and cut it short, but for now, Cheon Doun granted his wish for long hair.
"Thank you, Hyungnim."
Nam Giseok stood up, flipping his hair back.
The long, straight hair cascaded smoothly. It was so silky it could have been in a shampoo commercial.
Nam Giseok thrilled at the sensation.
It had really grown. This was his hair. The hair he had parted with over ten years ago.
Nam Giseok looked back at Manager Kim.
Manager Kim was stuck in the hair, which came up to his chest.
*'Don't worry about me. Go for it. Fighting!'*
Manager Kim gave him a thumbs-up.
He needed to revise the formula for the hair loss treatment, but that could wait.
For now, he would just cheer on the young man's love.
Nam Giseok swallowed nervously and looked at Yu Jia. All eyes were on them. Yu Jia stared back at Nam Giseok.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat softly and walked toward Yu Jia.
He walked. And walked. And walked right past her.
Unable to bring himself to speak, Nam Giseok swept past Yu Jia, his long, straight hair swishing haughtily.
Leaving only a faint scent of shampoo in his wake, he disappeared beyond the bushes.
It was the result of being too nervous.
*'What is he doing!'*
Yu Beom, who had been watching, squatted down and laughed silently.
Cheon Doun covered his face with his hands as if he couldn't bear to watch. His shoulders were trembling slightly.
Nam Giseok, age 27. An entertaining guy to watch. The two of them looked toward where Nam Giseok had disappeared, their faces filled with satisfaction.
*'Ah, today was fun, too.'*
After laughing for a while, they looked at Yu Jia.
Mixed with Monster cells, they didn't understand the emotion of love.
They didn't understand the emotion, but they understood the situation.
At this point, even the most oblivious person would have realized Nam Giseok had feelings for her.
Yu Jia stared at the spot where Nam Giseok had vanished. Her expression was hidden by her bone helmet.
*'I wonder what she's thinking.'*
He was curious, but it would be rude to ask.
Cheon Doun shifted his thoughts and looked down at Dodagi in his hand.
"It's a good thing the early version of the formula didn't make the leaves grow like that."
-Hmph?
"You're already finding this heavy as it is."
Cheon Doun stroked the leaves of Dodagi, which now resembled an afro.
With a crisp sound, a leaf fluttered down.
Cheon Doun caught it in mid-air and examined the area around Dodagi's head.
There was nothing unusual where the leaf had fallen off.
-Hmph, hmph.
As if it tickled, Dodagi scratched the spot with a rootlet.
Crisp. Another leaf next to it fell off. Cheon Doun caught that one too and smiled.
At this rate, it seemed it would be back to normal within three days.
*'Let's see. It'd be a waste to throw them away...'*
Cheon Doun looked at the leaves in his hand, then walked over to the vegetable patch.
He placed one of the leaves in the mouth of the sleeping Sasa.
-Peep...
Munch, munch. Sasa mumbled in its sleep, chewing on what was in its mouth.
Even as it ate the Mandragora leaf it had so desperately craved, the sleeping Sasa didn't notice.
"Eating well."
Cheon Doun placed the remaining leaf in Sasa's mouth as well.
-Pee, peep...!
Ah, I must be having a happy dream. Sasa chewed diligently, dreaming it was eating something delicious.
Having eaten two Mandragora leaves in reality, Sasa slept soundly with a full, content look on its face.
*'The leaves contain a fair amount of mana. It should help it recover from the fatigue of molting.'*
Cheon Doun stood up and looked around the yard.
Half the yard was covered in hair. Manager Kim was flailing within it, as if swimming.
"I should probably take this hair and donate it."
Manager Kim said, panting, after finally escaping.
"It seems it was premature to sell it. It's a good thing we were outdoors. If this had happened indoors, someone could have been buried and suffocated."
"Yeah. You should adjust that part accordingly. Anyway... why is that guy sleeping over there?"
Cheon Doun looked at I Baekho, who had fainted in a corner of the yard.
"This mister suddenly collapsed when he got to the house. I guess he was tired."
Kim Nari answered, hovering around I Baekho. Had chopping the tree been that hard?
Cheon Doun lifted I Baekho effortlessly. He laid him down on the pile of hair next to the log cabin.
The hair sank down, acting as a mattress.
"Mister. Why are you putting him there?"
"You'll get sick sleeping on the cold ground. The weather's gotten quite chilly."
"Oh. We have to keep him warm."
Kim Nari thought for a moment, then pulled some of the surrounding hair and covered I Baekho with it.
"This should keep him warm."
"You're right. He'll sleep soundly."
He looks tired, so let's leave him be until he wakes up. Cheon Doun turned away from I Baekho.
"Ugh... ughh..."
Buried in the hair, I Baekho groaned as if having a nightmare.
No one paid his groans any mind.