Chapter 104
As soon as I came out of Sanctuary, I headed straight back to Seoul.
Before leaving for the Muju Ant Cave, though, there was somewhere I needed to stop first.
Crystal Workshop.
Now that I had a leaf from the young World Tree, I wanted Su-jeong to make a new healing potion from it.
Since I was already stopping by, I also planned to ask whether she had any interest in moving into the Coincidence Who building.
Personally, I hoped she’d say yes.
It would cut down on travel time.
Wung, wung.
As I reached the edge of Gasan Digital Complex, my smartphone buzzed.
It rang several times, but not in any regular pattern.
It was clearly a message, not a call.
After parking in the lot beside Crystal Workshop, I checked my phone.
After a glimpse of Saessak, the message window popped up.
The sender was Ji Sang-wook.
[Hyungnim, did you hear the news?]
“What news now?”
I muttered to myself as I read on.
[There’ll be a banquet at the 63 Building in Yeouido on the night of the 15th.]
“As if I only heard about it.”
I’d been there when they decided to hold the banquet.
Standing beside Han Jin-hwan.
Facing the S-class hunters through a hologram.
[I was planning to go watch with a friend. Want to come too, hyungnim?]
“Go watch, huh....”
If I went, there probably wouldn’t be much to see beyond the hunters entering the building.
It’d be like watching celebrities arrive at an awards show on New Year’s Eve.
Still, I understood the urge to see it with your own eyes.
It wasn’t every day you got a chance to see S-class hunters who normally worked overseas.
And this wasn’t just one of them, but all of the S-class hunters at once, so of course he’d want to go watch.
The area in front of the banquet hall was probably going to be packed with people who had the exact same idea as Ji Sang-wook.
[Want to come with me, hyungnim?]
That final message caught my eye.
Come with him?
I was going there, all right.
But not just to watch, like Ji Sang-wook.
I’d be attending the banquet.
As Do-hee’s older brother, and as a guest friend of Tae-cheon.
Originally, I was supposed to attend as a presidential bodyguard, but the situation had changed.
That was thanks to Han Jin-hwan, who said it would look wrong for me to show up as a bodyguard when my younger sister and my friend were there as guests.
“…If it works out, I’ll see you there.”
Since it was confidential, I kept my answer vague.
Ji Sang-wook replied with, [Understood].
After checking the message, I closed the window.
Immediately, Growing the World Tree appeared, and Saessak and the elves came into view.
Those who had built the ranch were once again using Altera-Shonem to tend Saessak.
Thanks to that, the Manager’s Path quest had made progress.
The count, which had been in the two hundreds, had risen into the three hundreds.
I tapped the screen and got out of the car.
Saessak looked different now too from when I’d first brought him out of the ranch area in Gangwon Province.
Leaves had grown back where they’d fallen off.
The newly grown leaves gave off a faint glow.
They said the number of leaves wasn’t a measure of growth, and sure enough, there were no empty spots left.
Then maybe I could get more?
That thought flashed through my head.
[The young World Tree says it will give the manager more leaves if he wants them.]
[However, it advises that giving more leaves to the manager in its current state may slow its growth by that much.]
[It asks whether you still want to receive the leaves.]
[Receive the young World Tree leaves (YES/NO)]
“No, that’s fine.”
I chose NO right away.
It wasn’t that leaf count was a measure of growth, but it clearly still had some influence.
In that case, there was no reason to take them.
At the moment, the only use for the leaves was making potions.
For me, it was better to let Saessak grow faster than to have more potions.
The stronger Saessak grew, the stronger I became.
[The young tree supports the manager’s judgment.]
Saessak seemed to think the same way I did.
I tapped the screen and headed toward the workshop.
Then I pressed the bell beside the mint-colored front door.
Even if she were deeply focused, it was loud enough to grab her attention.
The bell was still clean, and it worked perfectly.
I’d thought, given who owned the place, it might be broken by now, but....
“Who is it... ah, Do-woon!”
“Hello.”
- At this hour? You’re here, so maybe....
“As you guessed, I came to have a potion made.”
- Oh! I’ll open right away!
A few seconds later, the mint-colored front door swung open.
When I stepped inside, I found the familiar sight waiting for me.
“....”
The workshop that had been clean was once again buried under all kinds of odds and ends.
How long had it been since she cleaned, and it was already back to this....
At this point, it almost felt intentional, like she was trying to make it dirty.
I had to admit it now.
I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who kept things neat either, but I still couldn’t compare to Hong Su-jeong.
As I walked down the corridor, now dirty all over again, Hong Su-jeong came hurrying toward me.
In her quick little steps, I could feel her bursting expectation.
“Do-woon!”
“Hell-o—”
“Welcome back! What did you bring today!”
Hong Su-jeong cut off my greeting and fired off her question the moment she reached me.
I could tell just how excited she was from the atmosphere she gave off.
Her eyebrows were lifted high, and her slightly parted lips told the same story.
Maybe that was why I actually felt a little apologetic.
Because what I’d brought was yet another world tree leaf.
“A leaf, I guess.”
“Just as I thought! I knew it!”
Unlike what I expected, she didn’t look disappointed.
Even though this was the third time I’d brought one, she still let out a cheer.
She seemed just happy to be able to work with it again, because she held out both palms toward me.
She wanted me to hand it over.
I took the leaf out of my inventory and passed it to her at once.
“Huh...?”
Hong Su-jeong looked at the leaf and froze.
It was clearly different from the ones she’d seen so far.
Conifers had become healing potions, and broadleaf trees had become mana potions.
Those leaves were huge.
The conifer one had been as long as I was tall, and the broadleaf one had been about the size of a parasol like the ones you often saw in front of convenience stores.
But the leaf I’d just taken from my inventory wasn’t that big.
It was only a little larger than my palm.
“It’s small....?”
As she asked that, she stared at me in a daze.
It was still bigger than the palm of an adult man.
If it had been an ordinary tree leaf, calling it small wouldn’t have made much sense.
I said nothing and just shrugged.
That only made Saessak bristle before I did.
[The young tree says it doesn’t like being called small and will sulk.]
[It also demands that the manager use his Warm Touch right away.]
Adorable....
I snorted and tapped the smartphone screen.
Inside the display, the young tree accepted mana, scattering a soft glow.
Hong Su-jeong nodded.
“Well, even if it’s small, a World Tree leaf is still a World Tree leaf.”
“That’s what I think too.”
Hong Su-jeong began her appraisal.
As always, she shook the leaf and sniffed at it.
Then she frowned, as if something felt off, and tilted her head.
“Hmm....?”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just....”
She trailed off and continued the appraisal.
She waved the five leaves like a fan and inhaled the scent rising from them.
Before long, she finished and smiled brightly.
“The quality is better than I expected.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. I was worried because they’re small. But....”
“But?”
“That was needless worry! Even if they’re small, they’re still World Tree leaves. Amazing!”
“So?”
“These are more than enough to make high-grade potions! The yield will be smaller, since the leaves are small, but still.”
That made sense.
These leaves were only a little bigger than my palm.
Even with five of them, they were so small compared to the leaves that had seemed as wide as opened parasols that it was almost embarrassing to compare them.
It was only natural that the potion yield would be much lower too.
[The young tree reports that, for some reason today, it dislikes the human woman in front of it.]
...The important thing was that she could make a high-grade potion out of them.
Besides, the leaves would grow larger as Saessak grew.
With time, the amount I could turn into potions would naturally increase too.
“But.”
Hong Su-jeong drew my attention.
When I looked at her, she went on.
“Its properties are different from the last batch.”
“Properties, you say....?”
“This one’s a broadleaf tree, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’s broadleaf by any reasonable standard.”
“The ones you brought last time recovered more mana than stamina. But this one restores more stamina.”
Hong Su-jeong said that while waving the leaves back and forth.
Five palm-sized leaves moved to and fro.
For the previous World Tree leaves, the ones that restored more stamina were the conifers, not the broadleaf trees.
If Saessak’s leaves worked the same way....
“...That’s a good thing, right?”
“It’s a fantastic thing! The government asked me to make another potion too. Especially healing potions.”
“Still the same situation?”
“No, it’s worse.”
“Worse?”
A situation where even A-rank hunters couldn’t get healing or mana potions was already bad enough.
How could it possibly be worse than that?
“Now other potions aren’t circulating properly either.”
“Other than healing and mana potions?”
“Yes. Strength buff potions, agility buff potions, defense buff potions, even the materials needed for anti-miasma masks for gates.”
...Huh. It could get worse.
I couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.
Hong Su-jeong continued, “The government and the Association are trying to get their hands on them, but... it’ll probably be hard.”
“Why?”
“Because now it’s not just our country. The other countries in Asia are all in the same mess.”
“Ah.... Hm. How does that even happen?”
“I don’t really know that much, either....”
“Hmm....”
I thought about it for a moment, but nothing came to mind.
If Hong Su-jeong, the potion maker and the expert in this world’s side of things, didn’t know, then there was no way I would.
“...Then I’d like to ask you to make a healing potion.”
I decided to change the subject.
There was no point wasting time thinking about things I couldn’t understand.
She nodded.
Her gaze shifted to the five leaves in her hands.
“Hmm, I’m looking forward to what kind of flavor these will have.”
“True....”
These weren’t leaves from the old World Tree, but from Saessak.
Given how different their properties were, the taste was bound to be different too.
“The government wanted the next potion to have a flavor that people wouldn’t be so divided on. We didn’t want to avoid the natural taste of World Tree leaves, but....”
“If they’re asking, it’s probably best to do it. The mint-chocolate one was a bit much....”
“...I also think the soylent-soap flavor crossed the line.”
As she said that, she looked at me.
For some reason, it felt like sparks were flying between our eyes as we stared each other down.
“Oh, right. Are you thinking of moving the workshop?”
“Huh? Move?”
“I’ve become the owner of a twenty-one-story building.”
“Wow! Seriously?”
“Yes. Jae-i’s Blacksmith is going to move there too.”
That was originally to protect her, but I’d better explain that later.
Yu Jae-i might be the one to say it herself anyway.
“Oh, then if I move there too, that means Jae-i and I would be neighbors!”
“I suppose so.”
“I’m in, totally in! When should I move?”
“Well, safety has to be guaranteed first....”
For that, I’d have to ask Do-hee to set up a barrier spell first.
Do-hee had her own things going on too, so I’d bring it up when her current job was over.
“I think it’d be best to do it sometime a little after the middle of this month.”
“Got it! I should tell Jae-i too, hehe.”
Hong Su-jeong pulled her smartphone out of her pocket.
The orange case stood out sharply.
Ah.
Before she got completely lost in talking to Yu Jae-i, there was something I needed to ask.
“I have one more favor.”
“Another favor?”
“Could I take some trash with me?”
“Huh? Trash?”
She tilted her head, clearly not understanding what I meant.
I smiled faintly and looked around.
Her workshop was littered with trash, even though it had only been a few days since she cleaned.
The kind of trash that looked perfect for Altera-Shonem.