Chapter 77
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Short Vacation
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Chirp chirp chirp chirp—
The mountain birds announcing morning.
Sniff sniff—
And amid that, a strange sound.
Snort oink sniff snort slurp.
"Mm…."
A bizarre noise echoed by the head of Su-hyeon, who was deep in sound sleep.
Sniff—
She tried to ignore it and drift back to sleep, but the sound came again.
"Ugh…."
What the heck is that noise….
Something warm and moist blew….
A ticklish sensation on her crown forced Su-hyeon to open her eyes.
And she blinked at the lump of flesh right in front of her nose.
Two holes, coarse and sturdy-looking fur.
It wriggled endlessly like some soft-bodied creature, blowing out moist gusts.
A wild boar's snout.
An enormously huge one, at that.
Oink oink.
"Gyaack!!"
Su-hyeon's sleep vanished in an instant as she flailed about and slipped off the wooden platform.
"Gasp…!"
They had all fallen asleep together on the platform last night.
But recalling that too late wouldn't help now.
At least it'll be a bruise…!
Su-hyeon squeezed her eyes shut as the ground rushed closer.
"……Huh?"
But when no crash came no matter how long she waited, she cracked her eyes open.
Wriggle wriggle.
A plant stem sprouting from the earth.
The stem of some nameless plant had stretched out long, wrapping around Su-hyeon's waist and holding her up.
"Ugh, be more careful, will you? I can't take my eyes off you for a second…."
"Grandma…."
Su-hyeon let out a sigh of relief at the timely arrival of her sturdy family member.
Grandma approached slowly from the back yard, and the plant stem set Su-hyeon upright, placing her back on the platform.
Then, once more, a house-sized wild boar appeared right before Su-hyeon's eyes.
"Uh… but Grandma…?"
Was she just going to leave it like this…?
Su-hyeon stammered and pointed ahead, but Grandma casually strode up and—
"Why'd you go blowing air in a kid's ear while she's sleeping peacefully and scare her?"
—thwacked the broad nose mercilessly twice.
Thud—thud—
"Uh…."
That had to hurt.
Grrrrumble grrr….
The wild boar shook its head side to side and trudged off outside with a sullen look.
"Wh-why is there a wild boar at our house…."
Su-hyeon was flustered by how utterly natural it all seemed, but Grandma answered with a nonchalant expression.
"I scattered the leftovers from that feast you kids made yesterday, so it must've come for that. There was so much I couldn't deal with it all, so I spread some out for the birds and deer too."
"Ah…."
Looks like the backyard had hosted a mountain beast party all night long.
"Good morning, Su-hyeon and Ok-rye."
"Morning, Brüel."
It had only been a day, but they met Brüel again.
The reason? To head out and play.
Staying home for four whole days—honestly, there wasn't much to do around here.
Mom had pushed herself pretty hard waking up yesterday, so she'd gone back into tree mode to rest today.
Grandma couldn't just leave Mom like that and go off somewhere, so naturally, there was only one option left.
"Hey, you. Come here a sec."
"Yes, Ok-rye."
Grandma crossed her arms with a displeased look and called over Brüel.
The way she crooked her finger didn't bode well.
"Is it true that weird creep bumped into Su-hyeon?"
"……."
Brüel couldn't say a word.
Not because she was scrambling for excuses or to dodge blame, but because she was trying to figure out who this "weird creep" referred to.
"Why're you so quiet?"
"Sorry. I was just trying to figure out who you meant by 'creep.'"
"Hah, so you've got more than one suspect in mind?"
"…Sorry, but yes."
"…Spill every last detail, then."
Oh no….
Su-hyeon had forgotten that Grandma had been gearing up to chew out the elves since yesterday.
She'd been nothing but excited about heading out to play, but now with Grandma's sudden lecture kicking off, Su-hyeon fidgeted restlessly.
"This the result of you strutting around so confidently? All you're good for is scrapping?"
"Sorry. I'll become a more elite agent…."
"Got someone younger and better than you? That's not what I heard."
"……No."
"You lied to me?"
"No, sorry."
"You think I wanna hear 'sorry' right now?"
"No. I'll do better."
"Words ain't gonna cut it!"
"Gr-Grandmaaa…."
Su-hyeon, unable to stand it any longer, grabbed Grandma's arm.
"Let go. Can't you see I'm in the middle of something important?"
"Brüel didn't do it on purpose, and if anything, it was my carelessness, so can't we just drop it? I don't wanna see you mad anymore…."
The aegyo offensive she'd picked up eating pancakes with Mom yesterday!
Grandma's body froze at the voice brimming with cuteness.
Brüel's eyebrow twitched.
"…Fine."
"Yay!"
It worked!
Melting even the gruff Grandma.
This appearance really was way too overpowered.
"If it's your fault, you get the scolding."
"Ah? Aaaahhh!"
It didn't work!
Her cheeks stretched way up from the hard pinch.
"Wandering off god-knows-where and causing total chaos in just a month! Huh? Little pinecone thinks the world's not scary! Just like your mom!"
"G-Graandmaaa!!"
For a moment, Su-hyeon felt like she was floating in the air—or maybe it was just her imagination.
"Master, here's the full weekly report and the current status on domestic gate management."
Ye-rin set the tablet down in front of Jun-hyeok's new desk.
"Oh, thanks for the hard work. Appreciate it."
"No big deal."
It wasn't just the desk that had changed.
The space they were in now wasn't the spacious, flashy office with a full view of Seoul—it was a comparatively ordinary one.
It was the temporary office they'd been using while repairs were underway after some unexpected guest had smashed the desk and floor the other day.
Of course, it was still neat enough for a team leader's space, but with only the essentials moved over, it felt even more cramped.
Jun-hyeok skimmed the tablet quickly, then raised a question at one part.
"Huh, a gate that's been passed over? That's rare."
When a gate appeared, the Association would investigate it beforehand and comprehensively evaluate guilds' capabilities and resources before issuing subjugation requests.
The guild that took the job got priority management rights over the gate, which translated to hefty economic gains.
So guilds pushed hard to bid like an auction.
In the end, it was up to the guilds to agree, so a rejection like this was rare and pretty much meaningless.
"Seems like it's because of the location and gate type."
"Oh? Ahh."
Sure enough. Tucked deep in Jiri Mountain.
"Hard to even access, so subjugation itself is tough, and the rugged terrain makes it hard to bring in heavy equipment too."
"Yeah, hauling all that in would mean carving up the mountain, and then the costs would exceed the benefits."
After the hassle of subjugation and shelling out for management, if poor access kept other hunters away and no ores turned up, it'd be a net loss.
Jun-hyeok kept scanning the data, muttering to himself.
"Total mana volume's decent enough…. But the density (MD) is pretty high. Scale's small, though?"
"Yes. We'd have to open it to know for sure, but they say it's small enough that only a few people can squeeze in and out."
"No wonder it got passed over."
Small-scale gates made it hard for large groups to enter at once.
That naturally constrained formations and made the subjugation process a pain.
For places like this, small elite teams sweeping it fast was most efficient.
But guilds with that kind of leeway saw zero merit in it.
As Jun-hyeok stared intently at the new gate info, Ye-rin spoke up.
"If it's bothering you, should I send the new recruits we just got? Good chance for them to gain experience, and it'd help our image too."
"…Nah."
The system for subjugation and management rights favored those who already had power.
While guilds like theirs could cherry-pick world-class gates, others struggled just to meet legally mandated quotas, let alone turn a profit.
In those cases, unpopular gates like this got dumped on them, and they were expected to throw bodies at it or whatever to get it done.
This gate would end up force-assigned to nearby guilds failing their quotas if left alone.
"Have us take it for now. I'll head over myself."
"You'll go personally, Master?"
Why…?
Ye-rin blinked in confusion for a moment before shaking her head.
At least he bothered telling her where he was going this time.
"Just wait a sec, and I'll prep some escorts."
"No no, it's fine. I'll go alone. It's near my old hometown anyway."
Jun-hyeok grabbed his jacket and headed out.
A free vacation, basically.
A few hours later, he stood before his alma mater.
More precisely, at the base of the low hill he had to pass every day on the way to school.
The gate would open tomorrow morning.
Plan was to crash, then head up bright and early.
Gates didn't cause immediate issues upon opening, so no need to rush, but better safe than sorry.
"Man, back in the day I thought this hill was gonna kill me."
Jun-hyeok muttered up at the slope.
Typical school near mountains—every morning was a hike from hell.
Over ten years later, the steep hill looked like a gentle incline now.
Wonder why it felt so brutal then.
Walking up the old school route lost in memories, Jun-hyeok noticed something off.
"…Someone maintaining it or what?"
He'd figured the long-abandoned school would be a full-on forest path by now, but it almost looked like a trail had been cleared.
Passing through the school gate with mild curiosity, Jun-hyeok found himself momentarily entranced.
Pale purple flower clusters cascading like a waterfall.
Wisteria blooming profusely over the concrete stands looked like a shower of blossoms.
"……."
Jun-hyeok held his breath for a moment.
He'd imagined ivy-overgrown ruins at best.
And beneath it, a small figure sat.
Sunlight filtering through the wisteria vines softly illuminated light green hair. Like a scene from a fairy tale.
Su-hyeon, gazing up at the flower mass, slowly turned her head.
Their eyes met.
"Eek."
Then, like she'd bitten into a lemon, she scrunched up her face.