World Tree

World Tree

The next day, we immediately headed to the research lab within the association.

When I was looking around, still amazed by it all as always.

Jeong Jae-hyun, with dark circles under his eyes, approached us and greeted.

“Ah, you’re here? Have you been well?”

Looking at his face, which had become the very embodiment of exhaustion, I felt tired just by seeing him.

I was worried that this might cause health problems.

Chae-a ran forward and fumbled in her pocket, handing him a candy.

“Eat this!”

Jeong Jae-hyun took the candy Chae-a gave him, looking surprised, then blinked and smiled awkwardly.

“Oh, uh? Thank you?”

“Yeah! This gives you strength when you’re tired…!”

“Well, sugar does give you energy.”

“Sugar…? That’s not it…! It’s candy!”

“Mmhmm.”

Listening to their conversation, I couldn’t help but smile.

As I watched Researcher Jeong Jae-hyun regaining his vitality the more he talked with Chae-a, I thought it was a relief.

He then collected himself and pointed to some snacks nearby, continuing.

“The other researchers and I bought snacks for you guys, so feel free to eat whatever you want. You can even take them all home when you leave if you’d like.”

At those words, I looked to the side and saw countless piles of various snacks.

‘They bought so much.’

I wondered if this wasn’t too much, but.

He looked apologetic for not being able to buy more and told us.

“I originally planned to buy some foreign snacks too. But I’ve been so busy lately, I just cleaned out the convenience store in front.”

Hearing that, Yuna slowly stepped forward and bowed her head in greeting.

“Thank you. Ha-eun will like it.”

“R-really? I’m glad she’ll like it.”

Yuna nodded, then grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me towards where the snacks were.

It seemed like she wanted me to choose snacks first.

I picked up something that caught my eye and said.

“I’ll eat this.”

“Okay.”

Yuna had a faint but clearly proud expression on her face.

Then, while picking up 4 of the same snacks I chose, she said.

“Should we give these to A-rin unnie, Chae-a unnie, and the person who gave them to us?”

She seemed to have forgotten Researcher Jung Jae-hyun’s name and skipped over it vaguely.

Anyway, her thoughtfulness in wanting to share with others was so lovely that I patted her head as a compliment.

“That’s good.”

Yuna seemed to enjoy having her head patted, as she wiggled her tail and perked up her ears to show her affection.

Then she snuggled up next to me, rubbing her cheek against mine, and said.

“Shall we go then?”

“Okay.”

Ha-eun couldn’t hold hands because she was carrying a lot of snacks, but she thought it felt similar to holding hands as they stuck close together and moved forward.

We wagged our tails vigorously as we moved forward.

* * *

In the conference room inside the laboratory.

There, Researcher Jung Jae-hyun told us what the request was with a rather serious expression.

“Well… there’s a device called a monster generation defense system. It’s a device that prevents monsters from being generated.”

“…?”

I was surprised that a more serious problem than I had expected came up.

But I judged that the fact that he was telling me this meant that my help was desperately needed, so I nodded vigorously.

‘Finally, I can be of help…!’

Of course, it might not be the case, but I decided to listen to the story until the end, my eyes shining.

Researcher Jung Jae-hyun smiled bitterly and said.

“Anyway, this device kept the city safe, but recently it stopped working… So, Ha-eun, I need your help. Can you help me?”

“…?”

At those words, I blinked blankly.

Well, I knew nothing about machines and couldn’t use magic properly yet.

So, feeling confused, I just stood there blankly, and Han A-rin answered instead.

“I’m not sure if it’s right to ask such a favor of a 3-year-old baby.”

It was a roundabout way of telling him not to talk nonsense.

Realizing his mistake, Researcher Jung Jae-hyun kept laughing awkwardly and then continued.

“Well… *sigh* You’re right, but there’s no one more suitable than Ha-eun…”

Han A-rin, judging it wasn’t worth listening to, stood up and made a gesture to take us out.

At Han A-rin’s action, Jung Jae-hyun spoke in an urgent voice.

“The defense mechanism includes a seedling of the World Tree, but recently it’s started to wither! I thought Ha-eun might know something, so I wanted to request her help. It’s a very safe task!”

At the mention of the World Tree, Han A-rin paused for a moment before turning around and asking again.

“World Tree? The World Tree is used in safety devices?”

“Yes, yes. It’s not exactly confidential, but it’s kept quiet externally, so you shouldn’t mention it anywhere.”

Even if it’s not confidential, is it okay to reveal such a secret so easily?

While I was tilting my head, wondering if it’s something everyone doesn’t know since even Han A-rin doesn’t know about it,

Researcher Jung Jae-hyun hurriedly explained why he urgently approached us.

“Anyway, since it’s a national disaster situation, we’ve gathered all related people and thoroughly investigated and experimented, but we haven’t found even a glimmer of hope. So I thought maybe if we ask Ha-eun and Chae-a, something might work out.”

Listening to him, it seems like they’re in a situation where they need to resolve this quickly but have no answers, so they’re asking me as a last resort.

Han A-rin seemed to understand the situation roughly, but not wanting us to get involved in such a heavy matter, she firmly refused, waving her hand.

“No matter what, I don’t think it’s right to entrust such a task to a 3-year-old child.”

“That’s… true. But it’s a safe task, just taking a quick look and…”

Researcher Jung Jae-hyun scratched his head, seemingly conflicted, then sighed and said,

“I think A-rin is right. I’m sorry, kids. I shouldn’t have said such things in my haste…”

“I’ll do it!”

“Huh?”

“I wanna do it.”

From what I’ve heard, it seems like I just need to take a look at this World Tree seedling thing and share my impressions.

‘They probably asked out of desperation, grasping at straws since they can’t do anything else.’

Realizing that they didn’t have high expectations, I decided to go with a light heart.

* * *

“The World Tree is a sacred tree known as the source of life. Due to some incident in the past, it burned down, and currently only seeds or saplings remain, with the main body gone.”

Researcher Jung Jae-hyun continued to briefly explain about the World Tree while heading to their destination.

Not really understanding what he was saying, I was blankly staring at the ceiling when.

Chae-a, who was next to me, smiled brightly and said to me.

“This place feels nice…!”

Hearing this, a fantasy setting I had seen somewhere before flashed through my mind.

‘Surely, spirits were said to like the World Tree.’

Of course, since it’s not the same universe, I’m not sure if this applies to Chae-a as well.

But seeing her so happy, flapping her hands, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.

As I was thinking how fortunate it was that Chae-a was happy and chuckling to myself, Researcher Jung Jae-hyun pointed to a tree sapling in the distance and said.

“That’s the World Tree sapling. Would you like to go closer and tell me what you feel?”

Hearing this, I nodded, then held Chae-a and Yuna’s hands tightly as we approached the sapling.

As we got closer, we could see the sapling drooping weakly.

It seemed well-maintained, so I was wondering why it looked so weak when.

Chae-a, with a very gloomy expression, said to me.

“The little sprout seems lonely…!”

At the word ‘lonely’, I tilted my head in confusion.

After all, it was the first time I’d heard that a tree could feel loneliness.

‘But Chae-a wouldn’t lie.’

Deciding to believe her, I crouched down to look at the World Tree.

Ha-eun’s fluffy friend suddenly popped out of her embrace and chirped ‘Pii’ while bouncing up and down.

“Piii!” (I can help!)

At the mention of being able to help, our three pairs of eyes converged.

When asked how it could help, we heard it confidently say that it could strengthen the World Tree.

‘Wow, it can even strengthen the World Tree. Fluffy is amazing.’

As I was thinking about how its abilities seem to be getting stronger and stroking its head.

Fluffy chirped happily and then asked for our help.

“Pik!” (But you need to help too!)

When we asked what kind of help, this time Chae-a, who was standing next to us, spoke with a serious expression.

“Yes. Chae-a knows. We need to dance like this.”

?!

I blinked in confusion at the mention of dancing.

But Chae-a continued with a serious expression.

“Then the sprout will regain its strength…! Because if we dance together, it won’t be lonely…!”

“…?”

As I was thinking that I really didn’t understand, feeling perplexed.

Yuna nodded with determination and stood up abruptly, saying.

“Then let’s dance together. Yuna will do her best.”

“Yes!”

Since everyone else was willing to do it, I couldn’t be the only one not participating, so I suppressed my embarrassment.

Standing between Chae-a and Yuna, I said.

“Shall we dance?” (Shall we dance?)

We three nodded and started dancing, more like rhythmic movements than actual dancing.

“The kids are dancing!”

“Oh? What’s this? They’re so cute.”

“But why are they dancing?”

Voices could be heard from somewhere.

As those voices grew louder, our embarrassment intensified.

But thinking we couldn’t stop now, we continued dancing together.

“It’s done!”

With Chae-a’s voice, the World Tree suddenly regained its vitality.

Thinking it was amazing how such a simple act solved the problem, I smiled broadly, and then Somteoli injected blue mana into the World Tree with a beep.

Somteoli’s enhancement, which I had seen several times before.

Hoping it would work well, I watched anxiously.

The World Tree grew a bit larger than before and successfully sprouted new leaves.