The Festival
"Choco, we're here."
A voice called to her, gently shaking her shoulder, and she opened her eyes. Choco blinked against the slow rock of the carriage, then stretched, working the stiffness from her limbs.
The moment she moved, the meditation she'd been holding broke, and a system window chimed.
Mental Focus has been released.
As a reward for the Chan Meditation skill, the Fox Bead's spiritual power has increased by 10.
Due to the Gumiho's Successor title effect, the reward has increased by 10%.
No stat increase, huh.
Choco clicked her tongue and swept the notifications aside. She'd only used the skill for the length of a carriage ride — hoping for a stat gain was greedy, and she knew it. Still, a disappointment was a disappointment. On the bright side, she'd discovered that Chan Meditation kept her from getting motion sick. At least she wouldn't have to suffer through future trips.
She was still stretching her arms and legs when she realized the world outside was louder than usual.
"Why is this place so noisy?"
"There's some kind of festival going on. Today's the last day, apparently."
"A festival? I don't recall Nateera having anything of the sort..."
Choco was still turning it over when Ho-jin, chin propped on his hand as he gazed out the window, spoke up.
"The official name is the Mirni Festival. It's named after the first miner who ever swung a pickaxe in these parts. Every year around this time, they hold a three-day celebration to bless the miners' well-being and pray that the mines never run dry."
"My, quite the walking encyclopedia. Did you study up beforehand?"
"I happen to know a great many things."
"How dull."
Choco huffed through her nose as Ho-jin fielded her sarcasm without missing a beat. Se-jin shook her head at the two of them — they'd barely been awake five minutes and were already at each other's throats.
"Ho-jin, that's enough. Do you really want to bicker with someone that much younger than you?"
"Ugh..."
"And that goes for you too, Choco. Ho-jin is the elder here, whatever else. Show a little respect."
"That is a bit..."
To be fair, Choco's appearance put her at around Yeon's age, if not younger. From an outsider's perspective, watching her talk down to Ho-jin — who looked nearly a generation older — was bound to raise eyebrows.
But I'm the older brother here.
She'd ended up in this body, fine — but showing him deference? Choco stared at Se-jin with a sullen look. Se-jin didn't budge.
"Understood?"
"...Very well."
Choco turned her head and muttered it under her breath. She really needed to grow this body already. While she sat there stewing, Yeon, who'd been watching her carefully, leaned in and whispered against her ear.
"Se-jin is just looking out for us because she knows our situation. We know who you really are, but to everyone else it would look strange..."
"I know. I am not offended, so fret not."
"Really? That's a relief..."
Yeon's small sigh of relief drew a sigh of Choco's own. She truly needed to grow up, and soon. She couldn't keep being treated like a child forever. A brief silence settled over the group, and in that time the carriage rolled into the station.
They watched the carriage drop off its passengers and rumble away toward its next stop. Ho-jin spoke up.
"By the way, Choco — did you know?"
"Know what now?"
"That we've all agreed to go see the festival together."
"What? All of us, see the festival?"
Choco, who'd been sitting with her arms folded in a sulk, snapped her eyes open as if this were the first she'd heard of it. Which, to be fair, it was. The conversation had happened just before they reached Nateera, and Choco had only come out of her meditation as they pulled into the station. During Chan Meditation, no outside sound reached her at all — she had no way of knowing what they'd discussed.
She shot a look at Yeon, who grinned sheepishly.
"Today's the last day of the festival, so I wanted to look around a little. Is that okay?"
"I have no objection, but... with these fellows?"
"Yeah! Se-jin was the one who suggested it, actually."
So they cooked this up while I was meditating. Choco let out a breath and spoke in a voice of reluctant surrender.
"...Very well. Let us go see this festival of yours."
"Yay!"
"So, where do you intend to start?"
"The plaza, I suppose. There's bound to be plenty to see."
The station sat on the outskirts of the city. Even with a festival underway, the only sounds that reached them here were the distant murmur of celebration, the rumble of wagon wheels, and the snorting of horses. At Ho-jin's suggestion, the group set off toward the plaza at the city's heart.
The dark, quiet streets changed color with every step they took toward the festival's center. And when they finally arrived at the plaza, Choco's mouth fell open as she took it all in.
Ropes stretched across the open air, hung with countless mana lamps glowing with magical light. Those same ropes ran from building to building, so thick with lanterns that the night looked like broad daylight.
"Wow, it's so bright..."
"No wonder we could see it from so far away."
Yeon and Ho-jin were marveling at the lights, but that wasn't what had stunned Choco.
"There are a great many people..."
Beneath the daylight-bright glow, a sea of humanity surged and swelled. Nateera wasn't just the City of Mines — it was a major transit hub as well, so a crowd this size shouldn't have been surprising. But seeing it with her own eyes brought a thought unbidden: when was the last time she had stood in a throng like this?
It was the kind of crowd you'd see walking downtown on a weekend, sure. But after everything that had happened, Choco could count on one hand the number of times she'd gone outside. Even in the game, she'd only been forced to jostle through crowds for the first few years. Once she'd been able to hunt entirely on her own, she rarely crossed paths with anyone besides a handful of acquaintances. Unless a boss raid or a main quest had forced people together, she had been alone — right up until recently.
To be thrown so suddenly into a crowd this vast left her head spinning.
"Wow! Look, they're doing some kind of circus over there!"
Even as Choco pressed a hand to her temple, Yeon's eyes sparkled as she took in the surroundings. She'd been frail since childhood; places like amusement parks had never been more than a dream. A space like this was entirely new to her. She'd traveled, yes, but only for things like forest bathing that were supposed to be good for her health. She'd never seen a spectacle this vivid, this loud.
A performer painted up like a dragon took something into his mouth and sprayed it at the torch in his hand. A roaring wall of flame shot forward — and someone was blocking it with a shield.
Yeon, who'd been so drawn to the performer that she hadn't noticed the other man, spotted him a beat late and startled. But a voice rang out before she could react.
A man stood atop a crate, calling out to the gathered crowd in a theatrical cadence. Yeon tilted her head. Something about it felt mixed-up. If this was a stage, the dragon-painted man and the one playing the hero ought to have been delivering the lines themselves, carrying the story forward. Instead, the narrative was coming from someone offstage entirely.
"They're storytellers."
"Storytellers?"
Yeon turned to find Ho-jin, who'd appeared at her side at some point.
"Think of storytellers as a kind of theater troupe. The difference is that the performers on stage don't tell the story — a narrator offstage does."
"Why split it that way?"
"That would be the developers' call, I suppose."
While they talked, the tale was already racing toward its climax. The hero who had blocked the breath drew his sword at last and charged the dragon. It wasn't a straight blade like the arming swords Yeon and Se-jin used — it was a curved saber.
"A hero who slew a dragon with a curved blade. That's probably the tale of Kazan, the one they call the Hero of the Nezir Kingdom."
"The Nezir Kingdom — that's the desert kingdom, right?"
"It's the place you'd typically associate with curved swords, yes. Wait — where are Cute and Choco?"
"Huh? Didn't they come with us?"
"I thought so too, but... Yeon took off running so suddenly I didn't even have time to look around."
Yeon paled as she realized her mistake.
"I'm sorry..."
"I wasn't looking for an apology, so don't worry about it. More importantly, where did those two go..."
Ho-jin scratched his head, muttering. Meanwhile, Choco sat on a bench a little ways from the plaza, gazing up at the sky.
No matter how brightly you lit the ground, you could never fully drive the night from the world. Turn your eyes just a little from the earth and the darkness was still there, waiting. But that darkness was a comfort to Choco. She sat in silence, looking up, until Se-jin, seated beside her, spoke.
"Feeling any better?"
"...I am, thanks to you."
It had been Se-jin who'd brought her here when the crush of people left her dizzy and staggering. Yeon and Ho-jin had vanished at some point, so there hadn't been anyone else — but Choco thanked her without reservation.
"That's good. Oh — want some of this?"
Se-jin took a sip from a wooden cup of some drink she'd apparently bought at some point. Choco stared at it, incredulous.
"You cannot even taste it, can you?"
Just as she felt no pain when struck, she felt no flavor when she ate. That was how the limiters worked. And yet Se-jin was drinking from the cup as if she could taste every drop.
Se-jin shrugged.
"I can't taste it, but I can still feel the texture. Want to try?"
"Hmm..."
Choco hesitated. For Se-jin, this was a game — of course she couldn't taste anything. But for Choco, the game had become reality. She felt pain. She felt fatigue if she moved too much. So wouldn't she be able to taste things too?
She took the offered cup and peered inside. The liquid was orange — it looked like it ought to taste like oranges. Choco glanced at Se-jin, then carefully brought it to her lips.
"───!"
The sourness hit so hard her scalp prickled. She squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered from head to toe.
Se-jin tilted her head.
"That bad?"
"Just what, ngh, did you buy...?"
"Just whatever caught my eye."
Well. She couldn't taste anything, so of course she wouldn't have been picky — unless she'd been trying to prank her, which Se-jin would never do. She'd simply grabbed something at random, and it had happened to be viciously sour.
Choco trembled for a long moment, then said in a small, shaking voice,
"This is undrinkable garbage...!"
And with that, she hurled the wooden cup skyward with all her strength.
The cup sailed away, scattering its sour contents as it went. Se-jin murmured, sounding faintly disappointed.
"Ah, if you weren't going to drink it, you could've given it back."
Choco paid her no mind. She used a fox art to draw up water and rinse her mouth, and it took several rounds before the sourness was finally gone.
She hadn't even done anything, and she was already exhausted. Choco sighed and sank back onto the bench.