Chapter 83
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Flowing Time and What Remains
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Hunter?
Goo Jun-hyeok?
Camellia?
Unfortunately, Ok-rye had no idea who any of that was.
Brüel already knew, so she wasn't surprised. Even if she hadn't known, she probably wouldn't have shown much of a reaction anyway.
Jihyeon couldn't have cared less, and it wasn't like they could expect a reaction from the wild boar Honey.
That said, it wasn't as if there was zero normal reaction at all.
It came from the only modern person in the family, Su-hyeon.
Thanks to that, Jun-hyeok regained a bit of his confidence.
But the grandmother... well, what was he supposed to do about her?
Hunter? Wasn't that what the island nation folks—those from Britain—called huntsmen?
Ok-rye briefly recalled a few nymphs who enjoyed hunting, then glanced at Honey.
"Oink?"
A massive wild boar standing beside her youngest daughter.
The granddaughter of High Elf herself had even given it a name and grown fond of it before she knew it.
"This is private property, so even if you bring a permit, you can't take this one away."
"P-Pardon...?"
Whisper whisper.
"Lady Ok-rye. These days, it doesn't mean someone who hunts wild beasts. It's the folks who manage the gates."
"Oh?"
Brüel corrected her understanding, but Grandmother's gaze didn't change one bit.
Hmm.
To her, they just looked like poor sods who had skipped studying as kids and now suffered for it, scurrying around dealing with invasive beasts and patching up holes.
She didn't like the sight of them grinning so slyly, either.
"If you have something to say, spit it out quick and get going."
"Uh... um."
He'd even declared himself an S-rank hunter, but Grandmother's attitude remained ice-cold.
This is weird...? I'm an S-rank hunter...
The Goo Jun-hyeok that old raccoon shifters envy, that makes China tremble, that has America on edge, that Japan courts...?
"Hey, if you're gonna stop someone, at least say something. What do you think you're doing?"
Grandmother barked, and Jun-hyeok jumped in surprise.
"Ah, s-sorry, ma'am. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to offer Su-hyeon compensation for this incident... More importantly, now that I've figured out who this lady is, are you really okay just letting her go?"
Blink blink.
Even as she was pointed out, Brüel just stood there blankly.
Of course, she was holding back from interrupting since her superior Ok-rye was in the middle of talking, but Jun-hyeok had no way of knowing that. It made him feel like the weird one.
Come on, she seems to know the situation since she's with them, so why is no one fazed?
Grandmother flew into a rage at his words.
"Are you trying to blackmail us with someone's personal info right now? You insolent...!"
"Pardon? N-No, of course not...! I just thought it might be unsettling like this... So wouldn't it be more reassuring to draw up a formal contract with our guild? One of the programs our guild runs is sponsorship for promising talents, and Su-hyeon fits the bill perfectly..."
Jun-hyeok's intention was this:
In exchange for keeping the woman's identity secret, get a cooperation agreement signed, with Su-hyeon as witness. Then put Su-hyeon on a suitable official roster, provide massive support, and win favor with Su-hyeon and all of them...
Why do I feel like the bad guy here?
It was clearly a deal where he was giving generously, but something felt off.
"What, some kind of internet scam? It's suspicious that it just happens to fit our Su-hyeon perfectly!"
Down at the village head's place in the lower neighborhood, you could hear all the local gossip.
Apparently, old lady Park at the entrance got scammed on internet cable just last week.
"A scam? We're a guild that lives off our image. Our reputation is known worldwide. And putting Su-hyeon's name on it would just be nominal..."
"Hmm."
S-rank hunter Goo Jun-hyeok was groveling like a door-to-door salesman in front of Grandmother before he knew it.
"So, whenever Su-hyeon picks a convenient date, you're welcome to visit..."
"You should bring it here yourself—what, you think you can order around a kid half your size? What's the point of having long legs if they're useless? Should I snap 'em off so Su-hyeon can run circles around you? Our Su-hyeon used to go all the way to Seoul on her own just fine!"
"P-Please calm down, ma'am! But there's really nothing we can do about that."
"What's so impossible? If it can't be done, make it happen!"
"Aigoo, ma'am, that's not..."
"Not my foot—you big-talking...! You think I don't know you're just saying no because I look old!"
......
It was the perfect picture of a feisty old lady.
Tricky to deal with as an opponent, but a rock-solid ally on your side...
Hmm.
Brüel was feeling something entirely new.
From before puberty hit, she'd done the bare minimum training to fend off invading magic beasts, days blurring into nonstop battles.
Everyone was too busy keeping themselves alive to expect help or protection from others.
If anything, she often had to handle dozens of magic beasts on her own.
After barely escaping to Earth, she'd risen quickly thanks to systematic training and talent.
Now, barely out of her teens, she was already leading her comrades.
In other words, she had almost no memories of being protected by anyone in her life.
Sure, her parents had cared for her when she was very young, but those memories were long gone.
So this feeling of being shielded by her distant superior Ok-rye—it was a truly novel sensation.
Refreshing.
Brüel's usually expressionless lips curved into a smirk.
After chasing... no, sending Jun-hyeok on his way, and even sending Brüel back as well.
Su-hyeon returned home in a complicated mood.
The sight of a five-year-old-looking child sitting on the porch with a world-weary expression created an indescribable atmosphere.
Seeing it, her mother grabbed Su-hyeon's cheeks.
"Su-hyeon, what's wrong, huh? Why've you been so down since earlier?"
Mother, facing her directly, looked even more woebegone than Su-hyeon.
Grandmother, who had been tidying something in the yard, came over too.
Setting down her basket and sitting beside her, Grandmother asked,
"Little pup. Something on your mind?"
"Mom... Grandmother..."
Feeling her mother's gentle caress on her cheeks, Su-hyeon poured out her worries.
"Mom, Grandmother... I need to talk about something."
"Go on, let it all out nice and clear."
Su-hyeon carefully revealed the feelings she'd kept hidden from everyone that day.
Those who had once been classmates and friends.
A-young, now well over fifty and a professor, and Jun-hyeok, whose world had completely diverged from hers.
A-young was still professor and student now, at least, so they could talk somewhat and maintained a pretty amicable relationship.
But Jun-hyeok—a college kid with a striking appearance versus Korea's top-tier hunter.
There was no way their paths could cross.
It had been nagging at her a little before, but seeing Jun-hyeok today brought it back to the forefront.
To put it simply, she wanted to reach out to them again.
But it was just a single year of connection.
It might have felt like a long, long time in childhood, but now, as an adult, it was merely a fleeting tie from the past.
Maybe they saw it as something long over.
Maybe this one-sided closeness she felt was just because her sense of time was different.
Maybe they'd find her changed self strange and reject her.
Maybe greedily stirring things up would just confuse friends who were doing fine.
Su-hyeon stood between right and wrong, desire and fear.
"......"
"......"
After listening to Su-hyeon's story for no short time, the two showed contrasting expressions.
Of course, Mother always had that beaming smile, while Grandmother looked perpetually grumpy, so they were opposites anyway.
In the silence, Grandmother spoke first.
"What do you want to do?"
Did she want to reveal her identity and approach them again?
Or leave it as a beautiful memory and focus only on the new bonds she'd built now?
Not wanting to sway Su-hyeon's true feelings after hearing her own thoughts, she asked for Su-hyeon's first.
"......I don't know."
Confused and unable to settle on an answer for her emotions.
Grandmother glanced sideways, and her immature youngest daughter met her eyes with a grin.
...Yeah. I knew what her answer would be anyway.
Then I should give the practical take.
Grandmother spoke gravely.
"When this old lady was born, the world was far colder than now. Humans wore animal pelts to survive and carried stones around."
"Pardon...?"
Su-hyeon blinked at the sudden Stone Age tale.
"Do you know how long nymphs live?"
"No..."
Grandmother recited softly, like a song,
The chatty jackdaw lives nine generations of youths,
The deer enjoys four jackdaws' years,
The raven ages three deer.
Yet the phoenix outlives nine ravens,
Our nymphs of lovely tresses,
Daughters of spear-shielding Zeus, ten phoenixes.
"Ah?"
A riddle-like metaphor.
Su-hyeon looked puzzled.
"An old poet's verse. It metaphorically reveals nymph lifespans."
Su-hyeon rolled her eyes and asked,
"So... how long is that?"
"Interpretations vary. Some say over 300,000 years, or 9,720 times a human life, or even 21,870 times."
"Gasp."
Su-hyeon fidgeted with her fingers reflexively.
Not that ten fingers could compute it, but old habits.
Even just multiplying by a million is over 2.1 million years?
Watching her, Grandmother continued.
"Of course, it's metaphorical. Symbolizing the mystery of nature's incarnations, the nymphs."
"Aha."
Humans wouldn't know nymph lifespans anyway.
"In other words, it means that long. Even I, who's lived quite a while, have barely reached a tenth of my own grandmother—your great-great-grandmother."
"...We have a great-great-grandmother?"
"One of the first Meliae. She's passed now."
Grandmother corrected herself before the mountain trip story slipped out.
"Anyway, from what I've seen in my life, the bonds you're building now will one day vanish, be forgotten, leave no trace. But scars will remain."
Countless nymphs, Dryads included, had formed ties with humans.
And those ends were mostly tragic.
"...So, is there reason to cling to those bonds?"
"...I don't... know."
Still confused.
Would even these memories truly fade without a trace as time passed, as Grandmother said?
Was it because she still clung to human senses that she couldn't feel it yet?
Not just A-young and Jun-hyeok, but current ties like Ga-eun, Chan-seong, Ji-eun, Min-ji, Da-hye—would she forget them all too?
Just imagining it was sad.
"If you still want to, then do as you wish. Whatever wounds you take, we'll be together for a very long time."
"......"
As Grandmother finished, Su-hyeon bowed her head.
To sum up her opinion: opposed.
Practical advice from a future-looking perspective.
With Grandmother done, now Mother, smiling softly, spoke up.
"Mom doesn't have long-term human friends, so I can't fully relate, but if you're not sure, I think it's better to hold onto hope."
Mother had wandered the world for nearly eighty years, yet the only deep bond was with Su-hyeon's father, met here.
Even that lasted barely twenty before an accident took him.
"When I lost your dad, I was so heartbroken I could barely stand it. But if someone asked if I'd erase ever meeting him, I'd shake my head no. Even if the end was sad, the time together was pure happiness."
And that's how I met you.
Mother gently stroked the back of Su-hyeon's hand.
"Isn't it too wasteful to give up possible happiness out of fear of getting hurt?"
Mother, facing Su-hyeon alongside Grandmother, leaned in a little closer.
"You might not remember, Su-hyeon, but I still recall when you took your first steps."
Her eyes softly closed, as if reliving it.
"How proud I was, no matter how many times you fell and cried, always getting back up to come to me."
The hand stroking Su-hyeon's stopped, then gripped it firmly.
"It's okay to fall and cry. I'll hug you then, too."
Mother's gentle, teary eyes filled with Su-hyeon's face.