Chapter 30
We came up to the Seoul house for a family meeting.
I’d left the ant nest matter to Han Jae-im, and after swapping contact information, Jae-sik and I had gone our separate ways.
The family meeting started the moment we got home.
The topic was whether it was really all right for Baek Do-woon to skip returning to Baekwooncheon and just keep living as a solo hunter.
To convince Do-hee and Tae-cheon, I told them the truth: that a World Tree had started growing inside my smartphone.
And that, as an achievement reward, I’d gotten the Fruit of the Previous World Tree and eaten it.
After hearing that, the two of them just shook their heads.
“Hoo. So you’ve finally lost it.”
“We should probably get him to a psychiatric hospital now.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
“I’ll look one up right away.”
“……”
Was I crazy?
I had expected a reaction like that.
Have you finally gone crazy?
I hadn’t expected that sort of reaction.
Judging by the way they were talking, maybe they’d always thought I’d go insane someday?
Those two were shameless beyond belief.
With a sigh, I pulled out my smartphone and showed them the World Tree.
A picture was worth a thousand words. No matter how much I explained, it would be faster to just show them.
Tae-cheon leaned over the phone.
“This is that smartphone game you were playing. Well, I guess the tree really did grow.”
“Right. That’s the World Tree.”
“……”
He looked at me like he still couldn’t believe a word of it.
Fair enough. It was hard to believe.
But it had actually happened.
Do-hee, who was sitting beside Tae-cheon, stared at the World Tree sprout growing inside the phone.
“Oh my, how adorable.”
Hearing her call the sprout adorable made me oddly pleased.
What was this, some kind of proud-parent feeling?
“Huh? My mana...”
Do-hee tapped the screen, then snatched her finger back in surprise.
She’d probably been startled because her mana had shifted into the smartphone.
The sprout was just as startled. A message window popped up.
The World Tree sprout sends its admiration to the owner of such pure light mana.
“Light mana...?”
“How did you know that, Oppa?”
“Ah, well-”
“No way, you sensed my mana?”
I tried to explain that the sprout had told me so, but Do-hee had no intention of listening to my answer.
“To sense the nature of my mana... impressive.” She muttered to herself and fell into thought.
Fine. I’d leave her to it.
If she thought I was impressive, that would help with the convincing anyway.
When I tapped the smartphone screen with my index finger, Do-hee tossed out another question.
“So you’re transmitting mana to the sprout right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah! So this really is the World Tree?”
“I’m telling you it is. There’s your proof.”
I tapped the screen a few times harder.
The mana was transferred to the sprout inside the phone.
Tae-cheon slowly nodded.
“The World Tree... then why on earth did it grow inside a smartphone?”
“I have no idea.”
Come to think of it, I’d never really thought about why.
Why had this game, the one where you actually grew a real World Tree, been listed among smartphone games in the first place?
I’d even gone looking for the game company once, planning to ask what kind of cursed trash game they had made.
But I hadn’t found a single relevant clue.
All I’d been able to confirm was the name left on the app: PG Corporation.
What did PG stand for?
That was the only question left behind.
“Well, the topic isn’t the World Tree, so let’s think about it later.”
“Ah, right. True.”
“...I’m against it. I’m for Oppa hunting again. But why leave the guild? You can just stay with us.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“What I told Tae-cheon too is that I have no intention of partying up with you again-”
“We’re not talking about partying up. Solo hunter? Fine. Go ahead and do that. Who’s against it? Only, do it as Baek Do-woon of Baekwooncheon.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Then why not?”
If I stayed active in Baekwooncheon, there was no way Do-hee and Tae-cheon would just leave me alone.
They’d throw themselves into getting me the best support possible, whether that meant weapons or items or anything else they could think of.
Because I was their only brother and their friend, and I mattered too much to them.
And because they were still trying to wash out the debt they felt in their hearts.
Those two had a lingering sense of guilt toward me for the day, two years ago, when I had stayed behind and fought alone so that they could escape.
A brother had risked his life to save his sister, and a friend had done the same to save another friend.
How could I accept their full support while they still felt indebted to me for that?
I hadn’t done it with any hidden scheme in mind.
It would just be unbearably uncomfortable.
More than that, growing that way wasn’t what I wanted.
I wanted to stand beside those two with my own strength.
“You both grew without my help, so I want to do the same-”
“What are you talking about? Without your help? Do you know how much you did for us?”
“That’s right. If it weren’t for Oppa, we wouldn’t have become A-class hunters in just two years!”
“Don’t even think like that!”
Hmm.
Without me, they wouldn’t have become A-class hunters?
I appreciated the sentiment, but...
They were only seeing me kindly because I was their brother and their friend.
Over those two years, I really hadn’t done much at all.
I’d managed the demolition guys and grown the World Tree.
That was it.
“You call that a lot? Then why do people call me a parachute hire and a freeloader?”
That was the problem.
The public evaluation in the real world was the exact opposite.
It wasn’t as if people were calling me a parachute hire and a freeloader for nothing.
The party members of those two didn’t like me either.
And since they’d come from the same orphanage, they knew full well just how brazen and tactless I’d been back then.
Very well...
“Ignore the nonsense people who don’t know anything spout off about!”
“Exactly! You’re the one who brought the demolition guys into our guild, so what do you mean you haven’t done anything-”
“Ah, seriously! Anyway! I’ve made up my mind to do it this way!”
Of course it was hard to persuade them when it was two against one.
Should I just say I’d go back to Baekwooncheon and then run off behind their backs?
If I bolted for South America, on the other side of the planet, I doubted even the two of them could chase me down that easily.
As I was thinking that, Tae-cheon suddenly let out a long sigh.
“...Do-hee, at this point there’s nothing we can do. You think Do-woon’s carrying the ‘woon’ in Baekwooncheon for no reason?”
“I know that. I do, but...”
What was that supposed to mean?
Suddenly, the two of them looked at each other.
Then they sighed and nodded.
By Tae-cheon’s logic, I did indeed handle the “woon” in Baekwooncheon.
But that was just because our names were taken from the guild name.
Baek Do-hee’s Baek.
Baek Do-woon’s Woon.
Lee Tae-cheon’s Cheon.
There wasn’t actually any deeper role attached to it.
And yet Do-hee abruptly said,
“Then do it alone.”
What? Why are you two suddenly reaching a conclusion on your own like that? It’s creepy.
I felt a little put out, but she’d given her permission, so I supposed that was that.
Do-hee pointed the tip of her staff at me.
Why was she suddenly aiming her staff at me?
“Want to try activating your shield?”
“It’s already on.”
“You’ve kept it active since then?”
“Yeah.”
“It really would block just about anything, then.”
As she spoke, white mana shot from Do-hee’s staff toward me.
I was startled by the sudden attack, but since I had the bark up, I stayed still.
Thunk!
“...Did that hurt?”
The white mana bonked my forehead.
It hurt like I’d been flicked hard on the brow.
Then a warm sensation spread through me, and the pain faded away.
Wait a second.
“That was healing.”
“Really? Why does healing hurt?”
How was it possible for healing to hurt?
No, more importantly, why on earth had Do-hee learned a technique for hurting people with healing in the first place?
...Was it because of me and Tae-cheon?
“You could get in serious trouble if you rely only on your shield, so be careful. There are countless ways to get around it and attack only you, Oppa.”
“Got it. Still, don’t worry. Even if the bark gets pierced-”
“I am worried! How could I not be worried? You’re the kind of person who’ll do anything if you set your mind to it!”
Tsk.
Given all the things I’d done so far, I had nothing to say.
And she wasn’t wrong that I’d do anything once I made up my mind.
For now, I should reassure her.
“You probably heard it from Tae-cheon, but I’m not going down from most wounds anymore. Even if my head gets smashed in-”
“Your head, smashed...?”
“Huh?”
Do-hee frowned and looked at me.
It was the reaction of someone hearing this for the first time.
When I turned to look at Tae-cheon, he was scowling and shaking his head.
Ah. I hadn’t told her about that day.
“You idiot, you told me to keep it a secret!”
“Oh? So Tae-cheon Oppa knew too?”
“......”
“The family meeting just ended.”
Do-hee glared at us with eyes colder than ice.
Hoo. If I suggested another family meeting now, she’d probably get terrifyingly angry, wouldn’t she?
Nothing for it.
I’d just have to accept her wrath this time.
“I’ll let you live.”
Please do...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
As soon as Thursday dawned, I headed to Jae-i's Blacksmith.
I wondered if I was going too early, but I wanted to see my gear as soon as possible.
The sign on the door still read, “Out on work, please help yourselves to the kitchenware.”
Had she seriously not been out even once since that day?
When I opened the door and went inside, Yu Jae-i was nowhere to be seen, just like that day.
But... I couldn’t feel anyone else there either.
I didn’t hear the sound of hammering from inside, not even once.
Thinking she might have worked through the night and fallen asleep, I carefully walked toward the workshop.
“Huh?”
Yu Jae-i wasn’t in the workshop either.
“Did she go out to buy eggs again?”
I muttered to myself and looked around.
Even if she wasn’t here, she would have made the equipment already, so I wanted to check those first.
In the middle of the workshop stood a giant sword, as tall as my shoulder.
The sword, made of wood, was a truly unusual greatsword.
It had a narrow, long leaf-like blade, and the hilt took up nearly half its length.
Patterns had been carved along the blade, and it looked as though they would activate once mana was infused into it.
Maybe those patterns had been engraved with the eyeballs of a Watcher.
As I approached, I noticed a memo slipped onto the hilt.
I hadn’t meant to read it, but my name, “Baek Do-woon,” written at the top, caught my eye.
She’d probably left it behind to say she had stepped out briefly for something.
When I checked, my guess turned out to be more or less right.
More or less.
To Baek Do-woon,
Crowd showed up again.
They said they’d tell me information about Dad if I followed them.
They even brought the hammer Dad used and showed it to me as proof.
Mm. It’s probably a trap. It definitely is...
Still, I’m going to follow them. There’s always that, you know? That tiny chance.
P.S. I’m not stupid enough to follow them without making any preparations first.
I’m requesting a job from Hunter Baek Do-woon.
If Yu Jae-i hasn’t returned to the blacksmith shop by midnight on the 27th, please come find her.
The reward for the request will be... maybe a lifetime pass to Jae-i's Blacksmith?
...You don’t touch family. You just don’t.