Translator: Nox
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Minerals of the Volcanic Zone
Scritch, scritch. Cheon Dowoon sat in front of the house, carving wood.
Using the hard wood Guu had told him about, the shape formed without breaking.
“Ah. The size is off. It won’t fit.”
He was going through trial and error, but it was clear the drawer was nearly complete.
Watching him, Guu tilted his head.
—I’ve been wondering for a while… What are you making?
“A drawer cabinet.”
—A piece of furniture for storing items, I see.
“Yeah. I’ve got a lot more stuff now, so I figured I needed one.”
Cheon Dowoon tried sliding in the newly carved drawer.
This time, it fit properly. It was a little tight, but with use, it would likely loosen up.
Once he inserted the final drawer, it was complete. As he smiled in satisfaction, a loud crash came from the nearby forest.
A tree cracked and broke as a person flew through the air and rolled across the ground.
“Cough, cough… What kind of little kid has that kind of monstrous strength…? Why was she just running away with that power?”
The dirt-covered man, Nam Ki-seok, coughed as he stood up. From beyond the bushes, Kim Nari came trotting out.
Compared to the haggard Nam Ki-seok, Kim Nari looked perfectly clean without a speck of dust on her.
“Please, just one successful hit…!”
Nam Ki-seok conjured a ball of flame in his hand. The flickering flame made Kim Nari flinch, but she no longer trembled in fear like before.
—The little one seems fine seeing fire now.
“They say kids learn fast. Compared to that, this guy’s still got a long way to go.”
Cheon Dowoon murmured, glancing at Nam Ki-seok.
Nam Ki-seok extended the flame into a spear-like shape. The spear embedded in the ground created a vortex, swallowing the area.
“The house will burn. Tone it down.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Cheon Dowoon’s words, Nam Ki-seok immediately narrowed the attack range.
The wide-spreading vortex shrank so much it felt pitifully small.
—He seems to handle his ability well.
“Yeah. If you train him properly, he could even make it to A+ Class.”
Nam Ki-seok froze. With creaky movement, he turned to look at Cheon Dowoon. His eyes were wide enough to pop out.
‘Did he just say… I could be A+ Class?’
Was what he heard true?
Everyone had told him to give up on advancing. That his growth had ended long ago, and trying harder would just be reckless.
That there was no potential. He’d heard those whispers drilled into his ears for six years.
Now, someone was contradicting that directly. Someone who had knocked him out with a single blow.
That tiny shred of hope filled Nam Ki-seok’s chest with emotion.
‘Maybe… just maybe, this year, I can pass the class advancement test!’
To do that, he had to seize the opportunity Cheon Dowoon gave him.
With a shout, Nam Ki-seok rushed toward Kim Nari, flame swirling in both hands.
He had spirit, but spirit alone didn’t change reality.
With a heavy thud, Nam Ki-seok was sent flying. When he came to, he was rolling on the ground.
“Ugh… Not done yet…!”
“That’s enough. You’re getting a nosebleed.”
“No, I can keep going!”
Wiping the blood from his nose with his forearm, Nam Ki-seok stood again—only for his vision to spin, and he collapsed.
“Huh…? What? I didn’t even get hit that hard…”
“It’s not because you got hit. How long have you been in the Demon Realm?”
“Today makes day nine… Oh!”
Nam Ki-seok’s face stiffened as he swiped at his nose again.
The oddly dark-tinged blood—a sign he was reaching the limit of what his body could handle in the Demon Realm.
“If it’s bad enough for a nosebleed, you had to know something was wrong. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well… haha, I thought I was just sore from getting hit by that kid.”
Nam Ki-seok scratched his bald head and laughed. His body was indeed covered in bruises.
“Uncle, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you a lot? I still have trouble controlling my strength.”
“Don’t be sorry! I asked for this. I should be the one thanking you for sparring with me.”
The two had become friendly quickly, smiling at each other and bumping forearms with a “cross!”
Anyone watching might really think they were an uncle and niece.
"Anyway. Go get some rest. You’ll die if you stay any longer."
Just like in the snowy mountains, Cheon Dowoon had no intention of purifying the demonic energy for him.
Nam Ki-seok’s goal was to improve his abilities. Circulating his mana core to purify the miasma was also a good form of training.
"How long do you think it’ll take you to recover?"
"Three or four days should be enough!"
"That’s fast."
Normally, it would take at least a week to cleanse the miasma accumulated inside the body.
But Nam Ki-seok said just three or four days.
It wasn’t bravado—it came from experience.
"Then off you go. Oh, we’re running low on ramen. I’ll grab some more. Do you need anything else?"
"Nothing comes to mind right now. Kim Nari, you?"
"Me neither."
"You heard her. Just pick up whatever seems right."
"Leave it to me, hyungnim!"
Nam Ki-seok answered energetically and shattered the return stone.
As the gate opened, he gave a deep bow to Cheon Dowoon and waved at Kim Nari and Guu.
He took one last look at the house Cheon Dowoon had built. The awe he felt when he first saw it still hadn’t worn off.
‘To build a house in the Demon Realm... Just how long can hyungnim survive here?’
Having someone like him as a mentor was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe this was what people called a fortuitous encounter.
Thankful for the luck he’d stumbled upon, Nam Ki-seok stepped into the gate.
* * *
As the gate closed, Guu looked curious.
—I’ve wondered for a while. That return stone... what kind of structure opens a gate like that?
"I don’t know either. Probably no regular person knows. The Hunter Association keeps the crafting method all to themselves."
To pass through a gate, you just had to picture your destination.
The only condition was that it had to be an outdoor location. As long as it was an open area, a gate could be opened to it.
Listening to Cheon Dowoon’s explanation, Guu tilted his head.
—Then what if that guy betrays you? Nam Ki-seok knows this place’s location. If he brings other hunters, your hideout could be raided.
Wasn’t this exposing the house’s location too carelessly? Seeing Guu’s concern, Cheon Dowoon smiled.
"It’s fine. I’ll just stomp them."
The simple and clear answer made Guu chuckle. He figured that if it was Cheon Dowoon,
he’d probably laugh while stomping on whoever came.
Wouldn’t Kim Nari then drag the unconscious hunters to hang over the waterfall?
While Guu was lost in that thought, Cheon Dowoon brought the finished drawer cabinet into the house.
After neatly putting away the stacked dishes and clothes, the place looked much cleaner.
"Now it finally looks like a place someone could live in."
Cheon Dowoon looked around and smiled. A sleeping bag on the floor and a single drawer cabinet.
That was all there was, but he looked very satisfied.
"Now that we’ve got some furniture, maybe it’s time to do a little interior decorating. Kim Nari, what do you think we should add?"
"Me? Um... A window. I think it’d be nice if wind could come in through the house."
Kim Nari answered after a moment of hesitation. Compared to before, she seemed much more confident in expressing her opinions.
"A window, huh? Now that you mention it, the ventilation is pretty bad."
Cheon Dowoon glanced around the house. Since he had built the walls with wood haphazardly, everything except the door was blocked off.
Thanks to that, no light came in, making the interior pitch-black. But he hadn’t really felt inconvenienced by it.
Kim Nari’s vision switched to night vision in dark places.
As a monster, Guu could see clearly in this level of darkness. The same went for Cheon Dowoon.
But ventilation was a different story.
"Yeah, this way the place will just get moldy. Alright, let’s make a window."
Width: one meter. Height: seventy centimeters.
He figured it’d be nice to have two windows facing each other so wind could pass through.
Cheon Dowoon raised a finger and flicked it.
Tzzzzt. A thread from his fingertip carved along both walls.
When he pushed on the cracked wall, a rectangular section slid out. Just like that, a window appeared in an instant.
With windows on both sides of the wall, the crosswind began to flow, circulating the air.
"Wow, mister! It’s so breezy!"
—Definitely better than before. Feels much fresher.
Both of them looked pleased with the cool air now flowing through.
Cheon Dowoon also felt refreshed. It might become a problem if it rained, but that could be solved by attaching an awning above the window.
"With the window, it’s brighter inside too. It’s nice, but... something still feels missing. What is it...?"
He glanced around the house. Now that light was coming in, the inside was slightly brighter.
But that somehow made it more bothersome.
Not completely dark, but not very bright either.
That subtle in-between lighting somehow irritated the nerves. As Cheon Dowoon looked around, a realization dawned on him.
"I need to put up fluorescent lights."
"Fluorescent lights? Mister, they have those in the Demon Realm?"
"Not exactly the same, but there’s something similar. There’s a type of stone that glows in the dark—it’s called a luminous stone. If I grab a few and stick them on the ceiling, it’ll light up the place."
It would brighten the room and even add a decorative touch—two birds with one stone.
At Cheon Dowoon’s words, Guu looked a bit flustered.
—Do you even know where to find luminous stones?
"Of course. They’re in the volcanic zone. Near places with flowing lava, right? Isn’t that where they are?"
He spoke so casually that Guu was left speechless. Having read the memories of hunters,
Guu knew exactly what the volcanic zone meant to people.
The Top 3 Most Avoided Places in the Demon Realm:
Highlands, Volcanic Zone, and Cavern Zone.
All of them were perilous areas where demonic energy condensed in high density.
The highlands were, as the name implied, elevated regions. The snow-covered mountain where Cheon Dowoon had harvested mandragora was one of them.
As long as you didn’t ascend too high, the highlands were the least dangerous of the three.
But the volcanic zone was different.
—In the volcanic zone, even getting close exposes you to volcanic ash and toxic gases carried by the wind. Just breathing in that area is enough to kill a person.
“I know.”
—The danger radius changes depending on the wind’s strength. And yet you're still going?
Cheon Dowoon smiled knowingly, understanding what Guu was worried about.
“It’s fine. I’ve been there a few times before.”
Guu was secretly surprised by the statement.
No one emerged unscathed from the volcanic zone. Not even an A-Class Awakened could guarantee survival.
A shift in wind direction could unknowingly push someone into a danger zone, and countless hunters had died with their lungs ruined by volcanic ash particles.
Yet Cheon Dowoon’s expression, as he declared he was going, was light-hearted—like someone preparing for a picnic.
“Well, I’m off then.”
—You say that so casually… Someone might think it’s just the neighborhood next door.
“It is next door, technically. We’re in the forest zone. Just beyond that is the volcanic zone. If you look at it that way, it's right next door, isn’t it?”
Guu chuckled again at the playful remark. It wasn’t technically wrong, but it wasn’t something a normal person would say either.
He looked at Cheon Dowoon with a face full of wonder. A lingering question circled in his mind—one he’d had for a while.
He looked human, but the aura he gave off was that of a monster. What exactly was Cheon Dowoon?
Guu had considered the possibility that he was a chimera hunter—but had internally dismissed the thought.
Chimeras infused with monsters always had grotesquely altered appearances.
Looking at Cheon Dowoon, Guu couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
—What exactly are you? How are you so perfectly fine in the Demon Realm?
