Lumi (3)
"Krrh, that's it! You brat! That's the way! A truly wise decision!"
Ha-wol threw up both hands in delight at the call to move Lumi, yet it had been the obvious next step all along.
Had she not said so herself? They had been forced to pour out mountains of TC, practically begging for a handful of items.
Someone might sneer that it was a dirty monopoly, but Hyun Si-woon was neither a philanthropist nor a saint.
I have no intention of sharing Lumi with people who don't even know she exists.
It would be the same as tossing a juicy slab of meat in front of a tiger's den. They might feel grateful at first. But as time passed, that gratitude would harden into an assumed right, and they would bare their teeth, demanding still more. In the end only a blood-soaked free-for-all would remain.
In a world where the balance of power had already collapsed, coexistence was nothing more than an illusion.
Where should I move her?
Hyun Si-woon sank into thought for a moment. Somewhere safe, hard for outsiders to reach, and a place they themselves could revisit whenever they wished.
The options were few. In truth the answer had been decided from the start.
Eden Camp.
Besides, Pungjo had to be returned to its original home on Chi-ak Mountain anyway. Only then would the local ecosystem—the "beast-free domain"—be preserved, and the camp residents kept safe.
More than anything else…
The memory of the warm table the residents had set out on the final day rose unbidden in his mind. Rough fare, yet filled with care. The simple scene of people looking after one another, laughing and chattering. In this ruined world it had been the only place that still smelled like people were actually living.
He wanted to preserve that place, if nowhere else. That reason alone was enough.
"Everyone, get ready. We're heading back to Chi-ak Mountain."
"Okay!"
"Understood, hyung-nim!"
The team moved as one. Hyun Si-woon turned his gaze back to Lumi's shop interface. Without hesitation he selected the category [Relocate Lumi].
"Move."
The moment Hyun Si-woon pressed the button, his remaining TC plummeted from 4,063 to 1,063.
Kkoo!
Lumi gave a satisfied cry and spat out a single glowing orb from within its pouch.
◈ Effect: Use the orb at the desired location and Lumi instantly relocates to those coordinates.
◈ Trait: Single-use only.
So that's how it works.
Hyun Si-woon closed his fist firmly around the orb. Every preparation was complete.
"Let's hurry."
Urgency edged his voice. The odds might be slim, but there was no guarantee another Climber would not arrive after seeing that blue pillar of light. Letting someone snatch this enormous treasure chest right out from under their noses would be pure idiocy.
Hyun Si-woon and his team climbed back onto Pungjo's back.
Kkirururu!
With a powerful beat of its wings, Pungjo soared once more into the sky.
Dawn broke.
As the ash-gray sky gradually brightened, a different kind of energy stirred through Eden Camp.
"Elder! The fence repairs are almost finished!"
"Do we have enough people for watering the fields?"
"Yes! The young ones are fighting over who gets to do it!"
The old man, now acting as temporary village chief, moved busily about. It was the result of staying up all night with several elders, hammering out plans for the camp's future.
Everything was different from the days when they had lived with bated breath under Ma Gang-il's tyranny. Fatigue still clung to every face, yet the light in their eyes had not died. The sense of responsibility and hope that they must build tomorrow with their own hands drove them forward.
The return of children's laughter was the greatest change of all. Children who once had lingered like shadows, reading the adults' moods, now gathered in the open yard and ran about with pure joy. Seo Yu-jin tightly held her older sister Seo Yu-na's hand and watched the scene with quiet contentment.
"We'll need to expand the farmland going forward. Crops that store well—potatoes, sweet potatoes—those will get us through the winter."
"We should increase the livestock too. Goat milk will be good nutrition for the children."
The meeting brimmed with hopeful plans for the future. Then a young man spoke carefully.
"But Chief… what should we do about the research director's office over there?"
Every gaze turned toward the tallest, sturdiest building in the camp—the one Ma Gang-il had once claimed for himself. Electricity was stable there, and the facilities were the best of all. Someone suggested turning it into a new meeting room; another proposed making it the chief's office. The old man shook his head firmly.
"No. Leave it empty."
"Sir? But…"
"That room is not ours. It belongs to the heroes who brought us liberation."
Strength entered the old man's voice.
"We do not know when they will return, but we must always keep it ready so they can rest comfortably when they do. Have someone clean it until not a speck of dust remains, and if anything is needed, fill it with the best we have."
The image of the young leader from the day before—Hyun Si-woon—flashed through the old man's mind. Even at that age he had read the entire situation and never once wavered before the hostage crisis, those cool eyes of his. He had drawn a clear line and insisted he was no savior, yet his actions had ultimately brought the camp a change no different from salvation itself.
Age must be showing me things clearly.
The old man felt it in his bones. That youth was more than simply a strong Climber; he was an extraordinary figure who might yet alter the very current of this ruined world.
"Heh-heh."
Hands clasped behind his back, the old man stretched and looked up at the sky.
"Huh?"
A black speck was visible far in the distance. At first he thought it was only a bird. Yet the speck swelled at a speed that defied common sense.
"Wh-what in the world is that?"
At the old man's mutter, the gazes of the residents working nearby also lifted one by one toward the heavens. The black speck was no longer a speck. Vast wings that radiated overwhelming majesty, a gracefully extended neck and tail, mysterious feathers glittering blue-green in the sunlight—it was a gigantic bird that hardly seemed to belong to this world.
"A-a beast?!"
"It's a beast! A beast!!"
"Emergency! Hide!"
"…Didn't they say no beasts appear around here?"
Faces drained white. The lively atmosphere of moments ago vanished, replaced by instinctive terror. They had only just escaped the tyrant Ma Gang-il, and now a calamity of the skies—something they dared not even dream of opposing—was descending upon them.
Just as chaos was about to erupt, a child who had been fleeing in panic cried out.
"P-people! There are people up there!"
At the tip of the child's pointing finger, familiar silhouettes appeared astride the back of the rapidly diving giant bird.
Thud.
The enormous Pungjo landed softly in the center of the open ground without raising a single puff of dust. The first to leap down from its back was the young leader who, only a day earlier, had brought them liberation.
The residents froze, staring blankly at the unreal sight before their eyes. Was this even possible? Beasts were humanity's enemies—absolute calamities that treated people as prey and destroyed civilization. Yet the scene before them now denied that law entirely.
A person… and not just any person, but the very hero who had saved them yesterday… was riding that sky-covering giant beast as casually as if it were a private car.
This was not the level of taming a fierce predator into a hunting dog. It was more like a man summoning a typhoon simply to water his fields—a spectacle from a dimension beyond comprehension.
"H-heh-heh-heh."
"Heh-heh-heh…"
Fear faded from the residents' eyes, replaced by awe. That man was a savior! No—perhaps he was a god?
"…So you have returned already."
The old man was the first to recover his senses and step forward. Surprise and genuine delight both colored his face.
"I never expected you so soon… Welcome, truly welcome."
Hyun Si-woon offered the elder a light bow and a smile.
"Have you been well, Elder?"
"Of course I have. I even had the place cleaned from top to bottom, knowing you might come. We set aside six houses as well, including the research director's office."
"Oh my, thank you."
Yet gratitude could wait; something more important demanded attention first. He needed a place to install Lumi.
"Elder, does this research facility happen to have a large basement completely sealed off from the outside?"
"A basement?"
The old man tilted his head.
The old man said there was something similar and led the way.
"It's an abandoned spot, so it will be rather shabby to use… Will that be all right?"
"Yes. As long as it's a basement, it will do."
"This is the place."
They arrived at a side building on the farthest outskirts of the camp, a little apart from the main research wing.
"Seems it used to be the institute's warehouse. It goes down three underground floors, but the power supply and drainage were already completely ruined long before Ma Gang-il arrived… so we just sealed it off. Everything useful inside has been cleared out, so feel free to use it as you like."
"Thank you."
Creeeak!
The rusted iron door opened and a musty reek of mold and dust billowed out. Flashlight beams cut through the darkness, revealing a broad space draped in spiderwebs. The first basement floor was a cavernous hall that easily looked over six hundred square meters. Old lab benches and shattered glassware littered the corners.
Perfect.
Performance did not matter. All he needed was a space completely cut off from the sky.
"Elder."
Hyun Si-woon turned to the old man.
"Would it be all right if we used this entire building?"
"The entire thing? Heh-heh, of course. It's been abandoned anyway—if you make use of it, we'd be the grateful ones. Need anything, just say the word."
Hyun Si-woon expressed his thanks courteously, then walked to the exact center of the hall and carefully drew the glowing orb from his coat.
Lumi's Spatial Coordinate Orb.
He set the orb on the floor. Soft light bloomed from it; the sphere melted away and inscribed a small blue pattern upon the concrete.
Kkoo-ung.
Space wavered ever so slightly, and then the small, cute fennec fox Lumi appeared. She was not awake. Her tail flicked lazily as she snored on.
Looks like the shop only activates around four in the morning.
The same hour they had first witnessed the pillar of light. It seemed to remain active for only about an hour from that time.
After installing Lumi, Hyun Si-woon sought out the old man again and revealed the secret of the camp's safety.
"Elder, I've discovered why beasts never approached this camp."
"Is that true?"
"Yes. It's thanks to that bird."
"…!"
"The divine beast Pungjo. The energy it radiates acts as a kind of barrier, so ordinary beasts are too terrified even to come near."
"Hoh! S-so that was it!"
Shock and admiration bloomed together on the old man's face. A divine beast. The knowledge that a being one only ever heard of in legends had essentially been their guardian spirit sent a shiver racing over his whole body. Yet thick regret soon clouded his expression.
"If you take that divine beast and leave… won't our camp become defenseless once more?"
Disappointment and anxiety were plain in his voice.
"You're right. But—"
Hyun Si-woon smiled gently.
"We plan to stay here for a while."
"…What did you say?"
The old man's eyes flew wide. He asked again several times, certain he had misheard.
"You mean… you will remain here?"
"Yes. We intend to make this place a temporary base for our climbing party. That means Pungjo will naturally stay as well. In other words, the camp will continue to be safe."
"Hoh! Hoh-hoh! What good fortune is this!"
The old man slapped his knee without thinking. It felt exactly like a farmer who had finally met rain after long drought. More than simply receiving a guarantee of safety, the fact that a divine beast and its master would become their neighbors filled him with emotion he could barely contain.
"Thank you, truly thank you, young man! This old fellow doesn't know what to do with himself… Ah, don't worry about daily life here! You are the benefactors of this camp. So that such benefactors can focus solely on fighting this harsh world, we residents must lend our strength. Cooking, preparing beds, cleaning, even laundry! Leave every last one of those trivial chores to us."
The old man's offer was sincere. The earnest desire to repay them by the best means within his power shone through.
"If you're willing to go that far, we have no reason to refuse. We'll gratefully accept, Elder."
He made no empty protests. Maintaining the team's morale and condition was directly tied to combat strength. If they could be freed from unnecessary household labor and concentrate wholly on training and hunting, nothing could be more efficient. The old man's goodwill was not mere convenience—it was the finest possible support for maximizing the climbing party's power.
All right. Now…
Hyun Si-woon's eyes grew still and deep. The time for serious training had come again. They would need to head out to the nearby cities, hunt, and earn TC as well.
Time to clean out the monthly shop and the daily shop.
And after that?
He would soon have to start drilling them in preparation for the fourth floor.
Also…
On the fourth floor…
There was a spear. A spear of the same kind as the Formless Sword and Ha-wol! He would have to prepare himself to claim it.