episode_0065

“…A late-night snack?”

“Yes. This is very precious and delicious… I’m not sure if it works, but it’s very good for your body. If it’s okay, wouldn’t you like to eat it together?”

Jin Hua-ryeong looked at the door blankly at the unexpected mention of a late-night snack, but then smiled lightly.

A late-night snack. Isn’t it too simple a subject to try to lure out Geomhwa and Geombong, one of the Three Flowers of the Jungwon?

‘A fascinating person.’

To be honest, I think we already know that he is not a retired expert who has returned to anti-Roh.

No matter how much skill he possesses, he shows techniques that seem strange and unreasonable, but when you look at his behavior when dealing with people, at least you don’t get the feeling that he’s an old veteran. No, rather, it gives off the feel of a young, budding expert.

‘curious.’

At first I misunderstood him as a ghost, then as a half-turned-robot, but now all I know is that he is a military man a little older than me.

What kind of life has he lived that he was able to defeat Ghost Chang? How was it possible to establish a sect in Hwaeumhyeon?

and…

‘What kind of late-night snack are you having at this late hour?’ .’

He says he has two lovers, but why is he more ignorant of women than himself, who has never met a man in his life?

‘No, at least if you ask me to go to a guest house down there with you, I will reluctantly go along…’ !’

Even at the Yongbong branch meeting held the year before last, there were countless men who played tricks on Jinhwaryeong. Among them, of course, there were countless attempts to suggest that the two of them drink together at night.

But among them, there was no one who tempted me to have a late-night snack. And there was a high probability that when Hyunseong asked for a late-night snack, he was really talking about having a late-night snack.

Over the past month, this is someone who has been good to you but has never looked or done anything that crosses the line.

Jinhwaryeong was happy about that, but at the same time, he was a little disappointed.

‘ha… , what am I thinking.’

Jinhwa-ryeong dressed up as he thought about himself, laughing but sighing at the same time.

“Yes, the current small cooperative. please wait for a moment. I’ll be out soon.”

* * *

“So, where is this?”

I, who was trying to give her an elixir under the pretext of having a late-night snack, was led by the spirit of evolution and headed towards a deep valley somewhere in the volcano at night.

When I tried to ask a question, she looked at me with a slightly cold look in her eyes, so I just kept my mouth shut and followed her. It was the kind of look Sarah and Helena gave me very occasionally, so I stopped without realizing it.

“…Because the moon was bright. Now I have been brought to a place that only I know about. It seems like a good place to have a late night snack.”

After hearing those words, I looked again at the scenery of the mountain I had been climbing so frantically.

“Oh… I see. It’s a very charming place.”

The mountains at night were too dark to absorb light, but the moonlight clearly illuminated the peak we were standing on, casting the landscape below in a dark silver color.

Although I’ve been very busy these days and haven’t had a chance to visit the volcano much, it was a mysterious sight that made me think that the view from here would probably be the most beautiful during the night.

“This is a place where my late teacher often brought me when I was young. Every time I had a hard time, he held me as a child, brought me here, and always said something.”

“What did you say?”

“It’s no big deal. Just like a Taoist monk, he recited words from the Tao Te Ching.”

She looked at the sky with longing eyes and muttered something.

Inbeopji, Jibeopcheon, Cheonbeopdo, Dobeopnature. (People’s Law: Earth, Earth’s Law, Heaven’s Law, Heaven’s Law, Tao’s Law Self.)

“People imitate the laws of the earth, the earth imitates the laws of the sky, heaven imitates the laws of the Tao, and the Tao itself imitates the laws of nature. It is said that living a life that follows the laws of nature is important. Yes. At that time, it just seemed like nagging, so I honestly didn’t want to hear it, hehe.”

She giggles, covers her mouth, laughs, and continues talking again.

“Before he passed away, Master told me to remember this verse if there is someone I want to bring here someday. Especially when the full moon hangs high in the sky. Today is that day. Thanks to the current cooperative, I unexpectedly kept the promise I made to my teacher.”

After speaking, we were silent for a moment.

In a somewhat solemn atmosphere, I unconsciously sent a small greeting to a person named Maehwageomseon whose face I had never seen.

For a moment,

Wow!

Jinhwaryeong clapped his hands and changed the atmosphere.

“Now! No more talking about the past! I walked up the mountain in the dark at night and got hungry. Now, please bring out the late-night snack that I prepared. Anyway, I’m starting to feel hungry. I showed you this wonderful place, but you wouldn’t leave me alone if I brought something tasteless?”

I was a little uneasy inside at the rare sight of an evolved spirit making jokes.

‘Should I really have brought food…? ? Oh my… . There are only modern items in the inventory. What if it gets spicy after eating it? What if I give you the elixir for no reason? ‘Not something to eat?’

Isn’t it a little strange to hear this and hand over the elixir? Would it have been better to just hand it over in a businesslike manner? Don’t make jokes or anything like that? My mind becomes confused.

However, seeing the expectant look in Jinhwaryeong’s eyes, I had no choice but to take out the wooden box that I had kept in my inventory.

“…Huh? Well, didn’t you just pull that wooden box out of the air? Well, now there is something even more surprising about their martial arts… More than that, why did they suddenly become so… ?”

She was puzzled as she looked at the wooden box, but was soon unable to hide her expression of surprise at the energy emanating from the wooden box.

“…W, elixir? Current small cooperative. I’m asking just in case, but what’s inside is an elixir… !”

“That’s right. Well, it’s not a big deal. I just jokingly called it a late-night snack. I’m sorry I didn’t bring any late-night snacks, haha… .”

I was half sincerely sorry. The only things in my inventory right now are spicy foods… Can the Evolutionary Spirit eat it? Wouldn’t it be better not to eat it?

Fortunately, she took the wooden box I gave her and carefully opened it.

“This, this! Current small cooperative. Is this full and neat energy really Geumseonokrodan (金仙玉露丹)?”

“Yes, that’s right. The elixir was harder to find than I thought. So, I could only get so much of what I could get with money. I wanted to give you something better, haha.”

“What do you mean! Of course, elixirs are difficult to obtain!! There’s no way to sell the clan’s arcane elixir for money! This must be the best elixir you can get with money!”

I thought I could get an elixir if I had money, but it’s hard to find.

‘Who would have thought that unless you were a major figure or benefactor of a sect, you would not be able to obtain the elixir.’

I had Hwang Woong ask around here and there to find an elixir, but the summoning group Daehwandan I thought I had heard of somewhere was nonsense, and the Geumseonokrodan was the best thing I could get with money.

– Speaking of this elixir, it is a rare item that has the power of 10 years! In particular, it has the effect of improving skin, so there is a custom of giving it as a gift to couples who are about to get married. How hard I worked to get this… !

Aside from the unnecessary talk, they say it will increase your endurance by 10 years, so shouldn’t you get it somehow while you can get it with money?

I was lucky enough to get two, so I was able to gift one to Evolution Spirit.

“I can’t receive something this precious! I’ll give it back! How can I shamelessly tell the current small cooperative… !”

Please accept “. I already prepared one thing for myself to eat. There is no need for you to feel burdened.”

“How dare you do that! This elixir would be enough to cover 30% of the money our clan owes… !”

It’s definitely expensive. When I think about the things I did to establish a clan and bribe local officials, I thought it would be difficult to waste more money until I go back to modern times and get more money.

But despite this, my thoughts did not change at all.

“Price is not the problem. It is right for things to go to the people who need them. So don’t hesitate.”

“…Why?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you being so nice to me? . I have nothing to give you… .”

Jin Hua-ryeong’s hand holding the wooden box was shaking slightly, and water was slowly gathering in her eyes.

“…no one knows the volcano… No, it didn’t help me. Ten years. I lived like that for ten years. So, of course, I thought there would be no one left in the world who could help me. And that’s right. But why… Why do you keep helping me… !”

Now even the voice is filled with trembling and crying and rings in my ears.

Many thoughts are floating around in my head without being organized.

And before I could properly organize my thoughts,

Thump!

“…!”

“Hwaryeong.”

To Jinhwaryeong’s question, I answered by covering her hand holding the wooden box with my hand.

“When my parents passed away, I thought no one in the world would help me. And when I was betrayed by someone I thought was important, I thought I couldn’t trust anyone.”

“……”

“But that was my mistake.”

There are definitely a lot of bad people in the world. Like Heejin Kim, who uses and discards me, or like Sarah’s parents, who think of even their own children as a means to success.

But despite this, you can’t betray your expectations of people.

Sarah, who was raised in such an environment from a young age, my teacher who took me in and cared for me, and Helena, who was an orphan like me but had a mission as a hunter to save people.

For Jinhwaryeong, that precious relationship was only me this time.

Of course, it was a relationship that led to the quest of dimensional random chat, but now the spirit of evolution is a relationship with a separate meaning to me.

“Someone must have helped you for no reason. Like your teacher. And this time it was just me.”

“…Current small cooperative… .”

A moment of silence filled the space between us, and Jinhwaryeong’s small mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something.

Strangely enough, I had a hard time taking my eyes off it.

The moonlight hanging high in the sky shone on her pink hair, making her already mysterious appearance even more mysterious.

Without realizing it, I brought my face closer to her…

“Lord, master! “I’m the owner—!!”

… The moment I was about to do so, the sound of Ifrit screaming loudly at me rang in my eardrums.

… Uh, hey, Ifrit?

‘Ifrit. I’m sorry, but I hope you leave me alone for now… .’

“human! That’s not the problem!! “Look at the floor where you are standing!!”

‘…?’

Ifrit had a very strong tendency to complain whenever I did anything with the girls. But that didn’t happen in Undine’s case?

“Hyunseong! under! Below, quickly!”

｢Spirit power. Similarity. Strength. hour. limit. expectation. emergency!”

Even Shriel and the gnomes.

The fact that everyone is reacting like this means there is definitely something there.

“…Huh? Hyeon, Hyeon Sohyeop… ?”

“Sorry, Hwaryeong. Really sorry. wait for a sec… !”

After briefly apologizing to Hwaryeong, who was about to close her eyes, I quickly looked at where I was standing.

Only then could I make out a faint palm print, shining silver.

“master! Put your hand there! First, quickly!”

Following Ifrit’s instructions, I quickly stretched out my hand and placed my palm on the silver mark.

Couuu!!

Then, the energy of the spirit power I was using, which was completely different from internal energy, began to be sucked in there.

“Heup—?!”

“Tongue, current small cooperative!!”

Due to the sudden loss of a large amount of energy, I felt dizzy for a moment and found myself staggering around without realizing it.

Surprised, Jin Hua-ryeong supported me and gave me a worried look while also checking the silver palm print that I was touching.

“What is this? I’ve been here dozens or even hundreds of times, but this is the first time I’ve seen traces like this… ! How could I not have seen something shining like this…?!”

Before she could finish speaking, we heard the sound of rocks scraping against the ground behind us.

Kugugugugugung… !

Surprised, we looked back at the same time and could see that the rock that had been intact had cracked.

“Ma, that’s ridiculous! What on earth is this… !”

Between the cracked rocks, a staircase leading down appeared in the darkness with a faint light emanating from it.

We didn’t know what was happening, so we could only look at each other dumbfounded.