Lumi (1)
“……!”
Good heavens.
What in the world was that?
“A monster bird…?”
“That doesn’t look like a monster so much as… something sacred.”
Everyone stood dumbstruck by Pungjo’s sheer majesty.
How far is he planning to go…
Baek Yeon-ho, in particular, was left utterly speechless. That guy had just carved his way through a blade-edged gale, vanished somewhere into it, stopped the wind itself, and come back with a bird that belonged in the pages of myth? This was nowhere near the realm of common sense.
“As you can see, this is a friend who’ll help us get around from now on. Got lucky.”
“Lucky…”
A hollow laugh burst from Baek Yeon-ho’s lips. Explaining that with luck? Was that even allowed?
Taat!
Hyun Si-woon touched down lightly on the ground and waved a hand. At once—
—Kkirururu…!
The massive Pungjo lowered its head, dropping its guard.
“We’ll ride this over toward Taebaek Mountain.”
“R-ride this?”
Jang Cha-yul echoed him in disbelief. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the bird’s enormous back and the dizzying drop below. Size-wise it looked more than big enough for six, but safety was another matter entirely.
“What if we fall?”
Hwang Dae-un couldn’t hide his unease either. The idea of hurtling through the sky at high speed on a bird’s back with no railings and no seatbelts was terrifying on its own. He even had a mild fear of heights—couldn’t ride the amusement-park rides.
Hyun Si-woon gave a short laugh.
“Relax. You’ll be fine.”
Back when he’d been playing Tower of Despair, he’d ridden around with his alts without any trouble. These people would manage just fine.
But—
F-fine, my ass!
Hwang Dae-un screamed inwardly. His pupils kept quivering.
Shit… I can’t exactly whine about being scared here either. Too embarrassing.
Cold sweat beaded on the palms of the man known as Hwang Dae-un the Bear-tank when Baek Do-hee raised a hand.
“Question, though.”
“Yeah?”
“The reason there weren’t any monsters near Chiak Mountain… that was because of this bird, right?”
“Right.”
Hyun Si-woon nodded.
“Then isn’t moving it a bad idea? If we take it away, the people at Eden Camp could be in danger.”
“That’s true too. So we’re going to make this trip as fast as possible. Just check out what that blue light pillar is and come straight back here.”
He’d considered going alone, then decided against it. If a fight broke out, fighting with the team would still be easier than going solo. Besides, this was going to be their regular ride from now on—they needed practice on Pungjo anyway.
“Everybody up.”
Hyun Si-woon patted the bird’s back, urging them on.
“Plant your feet between the feathers and it’ll feel a lot more stable than you think.”
Kang Si-a was the first to find her courage. Without a moment’s hesitation she stepped onto the wing and climbed onto the broad back. The feathers weren’t slippery at all; they gripped her boots like a plush carpet.
Baek Yeon-ho and Jang Cha-yul followed, and last of all Hwang Dae-un and Baek Do-hee helped each other up with careful steps. Hwang Dae-un practically crawled on all fours.
Once everyone was settled, Hyun Si-woon laid a hand on the horn-like projection rising from Pungjo’s head. Instantly a wave of the bird’s clear, pure feelings flooded into his mind.
—Master. Warm. Good. Fly? Where? Excited!
The horn wasn’t just a handle. It was a kind of communion organ that let him exchange will and emotion directly with Pungjo.
Hyun Si-woon poured his own intent back through it.
Fly east.
Fwoooosh!
Pungjo’s vast wings slammed against the earth and it surged upward. For a split second the members’ bodies floated free of gravity before settling again onto the back.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
The loudest scream by far came from Hwang Dae-un. It was loud enough to shake all of Chiak Mountain. But Pungjo had already taken off.
—Kkirurururu!
The ground dropped away from their view in an instant. A vertiginous landscape unrolled beneath their feet while wind pressure battered their entire bodies. Yet the terror lasted only a moment. They quickly realized Hyun Si-woon had been right.
Pungjo’s back was astonishingly steady—like riding a gigantic cradle.
From Seoul to Wonju was roughly eighty kilometers. It had taken them a full eight days on foot—detouring ruined cities, climbing rugged mountain trails, and fighting the monsters that kept appearing.
From Wonju to Taebaek Mountain? He’d figured another two weeks at least.
But Pungjo’s flight left human common sense far behind.
“Whoa…”
Jang Cha-yul let out a breath of pure wonder as she watched the landscape streak past beneath them. The rugged ridges of Chiak Mountain, where they had been standing only minutes earlier, already looked like a distant speck.
“This is insane. How is this even a real speed?”
Baek Yeon-ho shouted over the wind so he wouldn’t be drowned out. Every blink seemed to rewrite the scenery entirely—an overwhelming rush of velocity.
Maybe ten minutes passed.
—Kkiruk!
Pungjo slowed and gave a low call. The signal that they were almost there.
“That way!”
Baek Do-hee ignored the fierce wind slapping her cheeks, gripping a map tightly in one hand while she matched the terrain below.
“Past that reservoir ahead, then the mountain range. That should be Taebaek. The blue light was coming from beyond those peaks… Let’s head for the highest summit!”
“Okay.”
Hyun Si-woon stroked the horn and Pungjo banked cleanly toward the exact spot. It sliced through the open air, then finally folded its vast wings and settled onto a broad clearing near the summit.
Kuuung!
The moment they landed they spotted a stone stele. The characters Taebaek Mountain were carved into it—so this really was the peak.
“Uweeeehk!”
The second Hwang Dae-un slid off the bird’s back he staggered over to a nearby rock and started dry-heaving. His face had gone paper-white.
“You okay?”
Jang Cha-yul patted his back. Hwang Dae-un shook his head hard.
“Motion sickness. Just plain motion sickness.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
While they dealt with that, Hyun Si-woon surveyed the surroundings. Elevation 1,567 meters. Low alpine shrubs and rough boulders mixed together the way they always did at high altitude, and far off the endless ridgelines of the mountain range painted a majestic vista.
“That’s Cheonjedan over there.”
Baek Do-hee pointed from beside him. A round altar of stacked natural stone stood where her finger indicated.
“Still looks exactly like the old photos.”
“For now.”
Hyun Si-woon gathered the members.
“No need to burn energy searching right this second. We’ll wait until dawn. When the light appears, then we move.”
“Where do we set up camp?”
Baek Yeon-ho asked. Hyun Si-woon jerked his chin toward a weathered military building in the distance.
“There. It’ll cut the wind, and if anything happens it’s the best defensive spot around.”
“Okay.”
The rest of the team nodded without argument.
On the way they ran into a single rank-8 monster—an animal-human hybrid that looked like a wolf mixed with a man.
Puhwak!
Hyun Si-woon cut it down with almost casual ease. It collapsed, spitting out a small amount of TC.
Kwaduk!
Pungjo ate it with gusto. Not the corpse itself—the core, the pure source of energy sealed inside.
The members moved on and settled into the building. No survivors.
“We might get busy from dawn, so let’s turn in early tonight.”
Watch rotations stayed the same as always: two-hour shifts, two people each.
Dawn arrived. In the hour when the cold air felt like it was cutting skin, Kang Si-a confirmed the light pillar.
“Everyone, wake up. It’s risen.”
Her voice carried a mix of tightly reined excitement and awe.
Hyun Si-woon sat up at once. The others stirred one by one at the sound of movement. Where Kang Si-a’s fingertip pointed—far to the east, beyond another mountain peak—a quiet, mystical blue light pillar had torn through the night’s curtain and was soaring into the sky.
It was far clearer and far larger than the one they’d seen on the outskirts of Seoul. Like a divine bridge linking heaven and earth.
“Whoa…”
“What even is that?”
Soft gasps escaped the members.
Hyun Si-woon climbed onto Pungjo’s back without a word.
“We go now.”
Nothing more needed saying. Everyone mounted the divine beast in perfect order. The massive sacred bird slid forward on soundless wingbeats, heading straight for the blue light.
The light pillar turned out to be closer than expected. On the summit of another peak of the Taebaek range, before a silent mountain lake, the light was pouring out.
—Kkoo.
The source was… a living creature.
Sparkling blue fur, long pointed ears, and a soft glow at the tip of its tail—a cute little thing about the size of a fennec fox.
“……What is that?”
—Kkoo?
The small life-form spotted the giant Pungjo looking down at it and the strangers on its back. It tilted its head with eyes full of pure curiosity.
Hyun Si-woon jumped down from Pungjo’s back and walked slowly toward the creature.
“Hey there.”
He held out a hand. The little one sniffed it carefully, then dropped its guard and licked the back of his hand.
In that instant a system message bloomed before Hyun Si-woon’s eyes.
You have encountered the Wandering Merchant, ‘Lumi’!
Lumi likes TC.
You can purchase various information and items from Lumi!
“……!”
Hyun Si-woon’s pupils shook hard.
Something like this exists?
He had climbed all the way to the 30th floor of the Tower of Despair and never once laid eyes on a creature like this!
—Heh-heh-heh, heh-heh-heh-heh!
That was when Ha-wol started laughing. Not her usual sternness or cold sneer. This was genuine, almost manic delight—laughter she could barely contain.
What?
While Hyun Si-woon was still puzzled, Ha-wol’s voice exploded.
—Kwahahahat! You finally found it, you brat! This lady knew about that desert fox the whole time and the rules had her itching so badly she nearly died!
You knew?
—Of course I did! That thing is the greatest opportunity any climber can obtain. In every world, the climbers who discovered Lumi first and claimed it almost always ended up climbing the Tower and becoming Rankers.
Her voice was thick with unconcealed excitement.
—The rules forbade this lady from telling you first… but now that you’ve found it yourself, she can speak! Kwahaha! Excellent, excellent! You truly are the kind of bastard who succeeds no matter what you try! Calling a divine beast, finding Lumi… Come on! Talk to the little thing and open the shop already! This lady is dying to know what goods it has!
Beneath the thrill in Ha-wol’s voice lay a deep undercurrent of old regret. Back when she herself had been a climber, she had never found Lumi.
—Barely a hundred of them appear in an entire world. The sharp-eyed ones snapped them all up. In this lady’s climbing days… she had to bring massive piles of TC to the ones who already owned a Lumi just to beg for a few scraps of items. Hoo… the humiliation!
She shuddered. Even she, who had been called the Sword God, had been forced to lower her head before the wealth and information monopoly of those who held Lumi. Using the exclusive knowledge and items they bought from Lumi, those climbers had pulled far ahead of everyone else. How much blood had Ha-wol coughed up trying to close that gap?
—But you are different. From the very start—a divine beast and a dimensional merchant! Even the Tower Lord himself never enjoyed luxuries like these during his climb!
“…….”
Hyun Si-woon’s eyes gleamed.
Only a hundred Lumi? He’d have to keep the overseas—other servers—in mind as well.
Coming here was the right call after all.
“Lumi.”
Hyun Si-woon called the little creature’s name softly.
“Show me everything you’re selling.”