Vacation Begins
Thick fog clung to the deep forest like a veil, weaving spider webs between the towering trees where sunlight should have pierced.
The ground, where even the sun failed to reach, was slick with damp mud and rotten leaves. The stench was just as heavy, making one’s breath catch.
No creature dared step inside. Only the spiders scurried about, their legs clicking in protest.
*Thud!*
A single leg snapped as the tip of a dagger sank into flesh.
When the brother and comrade fell, the spiders scanned their surroundings with eight glowing eyes.
In that moment, another leg snapped. No, it didn’t stop there. The eyes of the forest wanderers closed one by one, leaving the lone survivor.
There was no loneliness in his death.
The only one left alive had lost his light forever.
“…This makes six groups so far?”
Choi Yeon counted the spiders he had hunted in the mist and stepped out. Each group usually held eight, so he had taken forty-eight in total just now.
Next, Choi Yeon checked the surroundings for signs of life and began to process the corpses.
Truth be told, the Yangji Dungeon had a deconstruction center, so there was no need to handle them himself. They would be taken care of automatically once brought in. This was all for him, after all.
Removing the useless head section would reduce the body count, wouldn’t it?
Just that much more spider bodies would fill his magic bag to the brim.
When he placed the processed corpses inside, only a little space remained—enough for perhaps one or two more.
He decided not to fill it completely. Time spent looking for groups was a waste, and the energy spent hunting was even worse.
“Oh! Yeon! You’re here?”
As he left the dungeon and entered the deconstruction center, Park Choong-jae, the manager, greeted him right away.
The spider corpses formed a towering pile, but thanks to the wide-open windows letting in fresh air and sunlight, the stench was not quite as overwhelming as it might have been.
Perhaps it was the dungeon’s gloomy atmosphere?
The deconstruction center was bright and cool.
“Here you go. Thank you for your help today as well.”
“Leave it to me.”
Park Choong-jae grinned confidently and pulled the spider corpses from his magic bag.
He stacked the headless ones neatly and muttered to himself.
“Ugh, look at how neat this cross-section is. What was it called, yang… yang…”
“Yang Dae-geun?”
“That’s right. That was the name. Anyway…! Compared to that guy, these are so neat. This is how it should be for deconstruction to even be enjoyable.”
“…That’s harsh, Manager.”
“Huh? I was complimenting you. What’s the issue?”
“How can you compare me to that man?”
Choi Yeon let his shoulders droop, looking disappointed.
Light-hearted teasing brought smiles from Park Choong-jae and the staff.
After that, the manager turned serious and began the deconstruction of the spider.
The blade sliced open the abdomen and carved out the glands. Eight legs were twisted at the joints and torn away. The useless carapace and organs were dumped straight into the waste bin beside them.
It had barely been a minute.
Only one gland and eight legs lay neatly arranged on the workbench.
“The staff here have become much faster, haven’t they?”
“Of course. I’ve been training those guys nonstop.”
“You’re amazing.”
“Actually, part of it is thanks to Yeon here.”
“Huh?”
“You hand it over too clean! We don’t really have anything else to do. Are you telling us to work or not?”
“Ah. Then next time I’ll bring them a bit more roughly handled.”
“Done. Stop with the useless talk.”
*Bang!*
As if to scold him for the nonsense, the manager smacked Choi Yeon’s back. Then he suddenly realized something.
It wasn’t the Dongdae uniform.
“Now that I think about it… Yeon, what are you wearing today?”
“Yeah. It’s the first day of my vacation.”
“Huh? You’re hunting monsters during vacation? Shouldn’t you be on a date with your girlfriend?”
“…I can’t hunt during work hours. This is a personal income activity according to regulations.”
There was no girlfriend to go on a date with… but Choi Yeon suppressed the urge to grumble and explained his situation.
Even so, the manager didn’t seem convinced.
“Isn’t this for making wire from the glands?”
“Yes.”
“That wire is for work use.”
“Right.”
“Then why is it a personal income activity? It’s preparation work.”
“Well… since it’s not official equipment…”
“You’ve got to be kidding. What kind of ridiculous regulations are there?”
The manager crossed his arms, his thick forearms looking even thicker with the complaint.
Then he realized something else.
“Huh? Wait a second. So you’ve been taking vacation every time you’ve come here before?”
“No, that’s not true.”
“That’s right. Secretly sneaking in on non-working weekends—”
“I only go on weekends when I’m not supposed to be at work.”
“…”
Why?
The manager was left speechless.
He understood the rules just as little as Choi Yeon did. It seemed like a decent explanation from Kim Jaesang, the Dongdae Chief, but it didn’t quite land.
Principles, laws, the whole nine yards…
“I was planning to do the same this time, but when I checked, the wire was almost gone.”
“So you came during vacation?”
“Yeah.”
“Aigoo… You’re so dedicated, yet they won’t give you the materials…”
The manager clicked his tongue in sympathy. He had decided he would go complain to the Dongdae Chief on a day with little work.
If the neighborhood hunter didn’t protect his own community, who would?
Different from happy spending, he couldn’t be much help.
The city might not think so, but the district office and city hall certainly did.
“Take a break and have a coffee. It’ll be about forty minutes.”
“Okay, I understand.”
Choi Yeon followed the manager’s instructions and mixed up the coffee mix. Taking a short walk to the cafe and watching the staff work would be nice too.
Watching people sweat and labor was profoundly beautiful, not some cheap thought.
Only Choi Yeon sipped the coffee leisurely.
Among the workers, the one lazing about was priceless—except for his own impure, restless thoughts.
Time slipped by unnoticed as he watched. Before him, bottles of special solution stacked neatly.
These were bottles of spider gland solution. They prevented the rapid loss of mana.
Then the spider legs were placed beside them.
“Legs are fine—just a few.”
“Too many?”
“Yes. If I take all of them, I won’t be able to eat or discard them.”
Better to have them processed here.
Since he was going to the livestock market next, he could sell them directly, but that would take effort too.
Choi Yeon didn’t want to create more work. He would finish up and head to Byeokondang for some bread before going home.
That was his plan for the day.
“Tell Song Manager I said hi.”
“Okay, sure.”
Having secured all the glands, Choi Yeon left the deconstruction center and headed toward Mokcheok Livestock Market.
The market he reached after a leisurely walk was bathed in midday sunlight between roofless alleys.
Hanging stalls displayed pork mixed with red beef and white fat. Game with a bluish tint exhaled cold steam on ice like it was smoking.
The livestock market wasn’t just meat. Dried herbs, pottery bowls, toys, and even monster-hunting tools were mixed in between.
Choi Yeon slipped into a narrow alley.
The sound of a knife chopping a cutting board, scales clinking, bargaining between shopkeepers and customers faded behind him.
The scent of meat, oil, and dusty dried goods followed.
Quietly alone, Choi Yeon arrived in front of a wooden building at the end of the alley.
The building, lit by soft golden light, bore a sign in elegant brush script.
Mokcheok Mana Fiber Workshop.
The glass window at the entrance was etched with faded spider webs, and a small spider charm dangled from the brass door handle.
*Creak…*
Inside the narrow, cozy shop, various fibers and skeins of thread greeted him.
From the corner of the workshop, an old sewing machine hummed faintly and greeted him.
“Welcome! Yeon-ah?”
An elderly man with graying hair smiled and stood up. A half-worn cloth hung over the slightly hunched shoulders of the old man.
“Hello, Uncle Song.”
“You’re faster this time?”
“I had a lot of work with the wire.”
“Oh dear. That means your efforts are greater than ever.”
“Aha ha,” Choi Yeon laughed and agreed.
Looking back, his efforts had never been small.
The Dongdae Chief had probably felt the same, which was why he had easily approved the vacation.
“You’re coming from Yangji Dungeon, right?”
“Yeah. Manager said to pass on his regards.”
“Regards? We drank soju together in a keg last time too.”
The manager’s tone was gruff, yet a smile bloomed on Song’s face.
Was the warm memory from three days ago the time with Manager Park Choong-jae, or the time drinking soju from the keg…
Choi Yeon was not entirely sure as he took the spider glands from his bag.
“…Hmm. Exactly forty-eight again today.”
“Exactly the amount that fits in the bag.”
“Huhuhu, is that all?”
“Huh?”
“Even skilled artisans make mistakes.”
With ambiguous words, Song accepted the glands and went inside.
He would check the quality and calculate how many hours the processing would take.
While he was gone, Choi Yeon read the process for processing spider glands, written kindly on the wall.
[The raw silk extracted from the glands is a mix of spider fluid, mucus, and microscopic tissue fragments!]
[So it must be washed clean!]
The cute handwriting was clearly the granddaughter’s. Wasn’t it rumored that she had been scolded for not promoting the special cleaning solution she made?
[…It takes from several hours to several days…]
[After that, the threads are stretched to a uniform thickness. Our workshop uses special heating furnaces that maintain a constant temperature and mana density so the elasticity and strength don’t drop!]
The special heating furnace for purification and reinforcement was another part that had earned the granddaughter’s scolding.
The next step—twisting multiple threads together—was the same.
[The work requiring the touch of an ‘artisan’ can adjust strength and elasticity through twisting direction and spacing—please consult us!]
There was more!
Feeling the urge to say something, Choi Yeon read the final mana hardening step.
[This balancing technology maintains a firm surface and flexible interior. Special effects can be added as needed—please inform us in advance!]
There, special effects meant granting poison, stickiness, and conductivity.
He had tried the first two effects himself. It was convenient. If the price weren’t a bit high, he would have used them every time.
The final conductivity effect couldn’t be used because he had no electricity.
Should I try an electric shock device on the wire? He had considered it, but it had only been a passing thought. Choi Yeon wouldn’t have survived long anyway, and he had no idea when to use it.
It was better to use poison adeptly.
“Yeon-ah. Calculation’s done.”
By the time he finished reading all four steps, Song returned and told him the time.
“About four hours should do it.”
“Wow. Faster than I thought?”
“Thanks to Chung-jae. His clean deconstruction means the washing doesn’t take long.”
“Ah…”
“Special processing on today’s wire rolls?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…”
Song crossed his arms. He looked a little regretful, a little troubled.
Why was that? Usually he didn’t say much about special processing. Curious now.
The old man hesitated and continued.
“There’s a new dungeon in Goyang-dong, Dong-gu, at Kkot-san Mountain. A C-rank general dungeon…”
“Kkot-san Dungeon?”
He had heard of it, or maybe not. Since the place was unfamiliar, like always, Choi Yeon went with the latter.
The world beyond the east was different. He knew nothing. Even the dungeons he checked for trainees were only E-rank or lower.
“I haven’t heard of it. It appeared a week ago. Anyway, a herb called Eunseolcho was found there?”
“Eunseolcho.”
“Yes.”
“I heard it can extract fibers with excellent mana conductivity.”
“Really? It should sell for a good price.”
“Not yet. It’s just a common herb, actually. No one’s particularly interested.”
“Ah…”
Choi Yeon nodded.
When a dungeon appeared, the biggest interest from locals was always the boss monster. Rewards were usually the best.
The dungeon’s resources were popular too, but perhaps the rank held it back. What could a C-rank herb possibly be?
Even with strong mana conductivity, it probably wasn’t that amazing.
“Bring me some of that Eunseolcho.”
“Hmm…”
“Instead, I won’t charge you for the wire today. Special processing using the Eunseolcho is free too.”
Choi Yeon fell into thought.
He wanted wire with good mana conductivity.
But today was a rest day.
He had already entered and left Yangji Dungeon. Going to another one now was a bit…
“Okay, fine. I’ll give you a mask too!”
“…A mask?”
“Yeah, the mask. Our new product—though it’s in tiny amount, it blocks dungeon poison. You can wash and reuse it.”
“Dungeon poison… How do you wash it?”
“We sell cleaning solution.”
“…”
…If his granddaughter saw this, she would be delighted.
Watching the artisan connect another product as he pretended to give the mask away, Choi Yeon was genuinely impressed.
“…Okay.”
Choi Yeon agreed to the request.
It wasn’t just the mask. As a hunter, he couldn’t miss the chance to upgrade his equipment.
He was curious too.
What would mana-conductivity wire actually be like?