Chapter 111

There was a large mirror mounted in the room.

But it wasn’t just any mirror.

It reflected my face, yes, but from the next room, it was a window looking into this one.

A magic mirror that could only be seen through from one side.

In other words, I’d ended up in the kind of interrogation room I’d only ever seen in TV shows and movies.

It was oddly exciting, like I’d become a character in a film myself.

“Why, exactly, did you do that?”

A man asked me that question.

[Choi Ki-woo, Team Leader of Hunter Management Team 4 at the Hunter Association]

He was one of the Association people who had come all the way to my house to see me.

He’d sold me the exclusive rights to the ant nest, and he’d even come by the hospital to visit me.

He’d shown up while I was unconscious, so we’d never really had a proper conversation.

“Hmm….”

I repeated his question in my head.

Why had I done it?

That was a hard question to answer.

More precisely, it was hard to answer while looking at Choi Ki-woo.

I’d have to tell him about my skill.

If he were someone I could trust, that would be fine, but….

I couldn’t be sure of that, so I exercised my right to remain silent.

Choi Ki-woo stared at my silence and let out a sigh.

“So you plan to keep refusing to answer? The one who’s going to have a hard time the more this drags on is you, Do-woon.”

Really? Would I actually be the one having a hard time?

It didn’t seem likely.

I’d been brought to the interrogation room because of a misunderstanding, but I hadn’t committed some serious crime.

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, I could walk out of here right away.

When someone I could trust showed up, I planned to tell them what had happened just now.

Someone like Choi Hee-seok, or Han Jin-hwan.

“Do-woon.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think we’re wasting time like this? We know you weren’t trying to do anything suspicious.”

“Well….”

“So let’s keep it simple, all right? Just tell me why you did it. Then I’ll let you go right away.”

“……”

It wasn’t exactly a broken record, but Choi Ki-woo asked me again why I’d done it.

I had no intention of telling him, so I shrugged.

That was when the man who had been dealing with me in such a calm, composed manner finally showed some emotion.

That emotion was—

—frustration.

Bang!

Choi Ki-woo slammed the desk and called out to me harshly.

“Do-woon!”

Maybe because he’d let his feelings show?

The others who weren’t in this room showed their feelings too.

Saessak had sensed the emotions of the people watching through the magic mirror.

“Do you know how busy your senior is with tomorrow’s event?”

“I do.”

How could I not?

I’d felt exactly how busy he was from our phone call alone.

But there was nothing I could do about it.

He was the only person in the Association I could trust.

“If you know that, then why are you asking me to call him over?”

“Because that’s the only way I’ll talk.”

“No, you can just tell me! Why on earth did you bury trash in the ground?”

Why had I buried trash in the ground?

Well….

I didn’t answer and instead thought back to the time I’d buried the trash.

＊＊＊

To clear the quest, I’d tipped over an iron trash can.

Garbage poured out of the large bin, big enough for a person to fit inside with room to spare.

Unfortunately, compared to the size of the can, there wasn’t all that much inside.

People passing by wrinkled their noses at the sight.

“What’s wrong with that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guy?”

“Don’t look, he seems insane.”

“Shouldn’t someone call the police?”

“Forget it. You’ll just get dragged into a mess if you do.”

They tossed out comments like that too.

I ignored them—or at least half ignored them—and used Arca to dig into the ground.

I buried the trash in the freshly dug pit, then covered it back up with dirt and bricks.

While I was doing that, the people who’d been talking about me left one by one.

They must’ve decided I wasn’t normal and gotten out of there.

“...Works for me.”

Thanks to that, I was able to use Altera-Shonem quietly without drawing anyone’s attention.

I gathered mana in both hands and pressed them to the ground.

The earth sank, and mana surged up in response.

The mana flew straight into the smartphone in my pants pocket.

By emptying out one entire trash can, I’d added thirty-three uses.

Seventy-one remained.

I was really getting close now.

“Good. Let’s go hunt down another trash can—ah.”

Before I went looking for another one, there was something I had to deal with.

Seo Ji-hyeok and Choi Ki-jeong’s little gift.

I couldn’t exactly keep walking around with this snake-man in tow.

“And I can’t just drain his energy here, either….”

If I did that in a place like this, who knew what kind of misunderstanding I’d invite.

I couldn’t bring him with me, and I couldn’t take his energy either….

“Hmm. The best thing would be to stash him somewhere, but….”

The problem was that there wasn’t anywhere to stash him in this paid parking lot.

My car was in the Association’s underground garage right now.

Even at night, getting to the underground garage without drawing attention would be difficult.

This was right in front of the Hunter Association, after all.

Hunters had no real sense of day and night, no sense of time to speak of; even at late hours, they wandered around in front of the Association.

I didn’t need to look far.

Wasn’t I doing exactly that right now?

“What should I do….”

Muttering to myself, I looked down at the snake-man.

He still hadn’t come to.

Limp and sprawled out like that, he looked just like trash….

“...Huh?”

I turned away from him.

The trash can in front of me caught my eye.

An iron trash can, shining silver.

It was broad around the middle.

Long across the width too.

Almost as if it were made to fit a person inside with room to spare.

“That’s it…!”

I immediately put the idea that had flashed through my head into action.

I picked up the snake-man and stuffed him into the trash can.

He slipped in perfectly.

It was almost as if the can had been custom-built for him.

As expected. Trash belonged in a trash can.

“Good. Perfect.”

After a brief self-congratulation, I set off to find another trash can.

Like a hyena prowling the mountain foothills in search of prey, I wandered the night.

How many trash cans had I found, how many holes had I dug, how many times had I used Altera-Shonem…?

Before I knew it, I’d made my way into a back alley where no light reached.

There were no trash cans there, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but there was plenty of garbage lying around.

I buried cigarette butts and crushed cans in the ground, then used the skill.

That was when a message window appeared before my eyes.

“Finally…!”

It was the message I’d been waiting for all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this time.

I’d completed every condition for using Altera-Shonem.

That meant all the conditions for the Caretaker’s Path quest had also been fulfilled.

I claimed the quest reward right away.

The former World Tree sap was transferred to my mailbox at once.

A New! marker appeared over the mailbox icon on the screen.

“Sap, huh….”

Sap had the property of storing up to 50,000 mana from the World Tree.

It was thanks to that that Arca could unleash mana blades.

There was no doubt it was a good material item.

But still.

“Now that I think about it, sap is a bit much….”

I wasn’t about to make a second Arca, so did I really need sap?

Drinking it didn’t feel right either.

Especially since I was already sitting on 2.6 million mana.

Even if it added another 50,000, I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled.

Of course, better than nothing.

Better than nothing, but….

“A bit of a mixed blessing, isn’t it….”

It wasn’t terribly useful, but it was too good to just throw away.

Maybe the best thing would be to sell it for a fair price.

Thinking that, I opened my mailbox.

The moment I did, orange-colored sap came into view.

“Huh?”

Orange?

That was strange.

The sap used to make Arca hadn’t been orange.

I remembered it rolling out in a stream at Jae-i’s Blacksmith before getting stopped by the POS terminal.

It had definitely been green back then.

“……”

I tapped Saessak on the screen and fell into thought.

This had happened before.

With the former World Tree’s leaves.

Broadleaf and conifer.

There had been two kinds.

They were both leaves from the former World Tree, but their properties were different.

When turned into potions, broadleaf leaves restored more mana, while conifer leaves restored more health.

Saessak’s leaves were the opposite, but….

Maybe the sap was the same.

It might not have the property of storing the World Tree’s mana at all, but something else entirely.

If so, I’d better take it to Hong Su-jeong first and get a sense of it from her.

“Hm? Do-woon?”

Just as I’d decided to go get a feeling for it, someone called out to me.

I looked up and saw a man staring at me.

He looked familiar… or at least, he seemed to.

“Ah!”

He was definitely someone from the Hunter Association.

The one who had come to my house because of the ant nest dungeon.

I couldn’t remember what team he was with, but I did remember he was at the team-leader level.

His name was something like….

“Team Leader Choi Ki-woo?”

“Oh, that’s right. You remember me?”

Choi Ki-woo widened his eyes a little and walked over.

He seemed to have thought I wouldn’t remember him.

Honestly, that would’ve been the correct assumption.

I wasn’t smart enough to remember someone’s face after seeing it just once.

The reason I remembered him was that he’d come to visit me at the hospital once.

I’d gone, Choi Ki-woo? Who’s that...? Ah, that guy! and his face had stuck with me after that.

If he hadn’t come to visit, I probably wouldn’t have remembered him.

“I remember. What are you doing here?”

“Me? I’d like to ask you the same thing. What brings you to a back alley like this, Do-woon?”

I’d just cleared the Former World Tree quest and received the reward.

I didn’t say that, and instead just waved the smartphone in my left hand.

He knew I was obsessed with a smartphone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠game.

That should be explanation enough.

“Ah.”

As I expected, he nodded.

Then he asked again, “What about Team Leader Choi Ki-woo? What brings you this far out?”

“Well….”

Choi Ki-woo scratched the bridge of his nose.

He kept glancing around too.

Careful. Hesitant.

Looks like he’d come here on some Association business after all.

“We got a report that there was a suspicious man wandering around near the Association.”

“Huh? A suspicious man?”

“Yes. And we’re already drowning in work as it is… you know about the thing happening in two days, right?”

“Ah, yes. I do.”

Was there really anyone in Korea who didn’t know about that right now?

Every channel on TV had been talking about it.

Choi Ki-woo let out a long sigh, then muttered in a voice thick with annoyance.

“We’re already crazy busy because of that, and now some idiot has to go and make things even more of a pain….”

“That sounds rough.”

“So, have you seen anyone suspicious by any chance?”

“Someone suspicious….”

I’d been wandering around near the Association too, looking for trash.

But I hadn’t seen anyone suspicious enough to report.

Just couples sneaking around where no one could see them, and men exchanging items while constantly looking over their shoulders.

“No, I haven’t seen anyone.”

“Haa… I see.”

“Did they give you any other description?”

“Description?”

“Yeah. He might’ve passed by you without you noticing.”

“Ah, they said he was a man with his hair tied back.”

Huh? Hair tied back?

Suddenly, I felt a bad premonition….

“And that he’d been flipping over trash cans and burying trash in the ground.”

“……”

...That’s me.

“They also said he was muttering some kind of strange curse. The Association is now considering the possibility that he may be a terrorist.”

Curse? Terrorist?

Oh, damn. I’d really gone and earned a nasty misunderstanding.

“Um… about that guy.”

“Have you seen him?”

“I think….”

“You think?”

“It might be… me.”

“Ah, you think it was you. Huh? Wait, what did you just say?”

Choi Ki-woo tilted his head.

His eyebrows shot up, and his eyes went round.

He almost looked innocent.

“What...? You’re saying Do-woon here was rummaging through trash cans and burying the trash in the ground?”

“...Yes.”

I covered my face with both hands.

I’d meant to rub my face with my palms, but once I’d covered it, I was too embarrassed to lift my hands again.

I could feel my face burning through my hands.

“And casting some strange curse on the trash he buried.”

“That wasn’t a curse. It was magic, but….”

“So you’re telling me you’re that terrorist.”

“No! I absolutely wasn’t planning any terrorism….”

As I answered, I slipped one hand away.

I wanted to see what kind of face he was making.

He was frowning with his eyes squeezed shut, one hand pressed to his forehead as if he’d developed a headache.

“……For now, come with me.”

“Yep.”

This was so humiliating I could die, seriously….