Translator: Nox
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: At the Right Time
What am I even doing right now?
Nam Ki-seok crouched on a boulder, thinking.
A large rock positioned in the middle of the waterfall basin. Nam Ki-seok crouched on it, struggling desperately not to fall into the water.
“This… this kind of training is a first for me… Ugh!”
Nam Ki-seok looked at the droplet-shaped stone in his hand.
Currently, he was washing a luminous stone in the stream. The problem was its weight.
“S-So heavy! What the hell is this?!”
It was only about 50 centimeters big. While heavy for a regular person, an Awakened should be able to lift it easily with one hand.
He had to.
“Hyung-nim! What is this?! Why is it so heavy?! It’s like a block of iron!”
Despite complaining, Nam Ki-seok kept busy washing the luminous stone.
Crouching on the bumpy rock to scrub it, even maintaining balance made his entire body tremble.
To make things worse, the luminous stone was shaped like a water droplet. Its center of gravity was off, so if he slipped up even slightly, he could fall in.
“It’s not that the stone is heavy. It’s the demonic energy radiating from it that’s weakening your arms. Rotate your mana and push the energy out.”
“R-Really? Ugh!”
“Don’t rely on brute force. Use your mana hole. Balance yourself. Focus on your core muscles. Tense every muscle all the way to your fingertips.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Watch your fingers. The fish might bite them off.”
“Gah!”
If it weren’t for Cheon Dowoon’s warning, Nam Ki-seok might have had his hand bitten off by a leaping fish.
Startled, Nam Ki-seok jumped up with the stone in hand. He dodged the fish, but his back arched and he nearly toppled backward.
“Haaa!”
If he fell in the water, he’d die. That fear squeezed out strength he didn’t even know he had.
Still holding the heavy luminous stone, Nam Ki-seok maintained a grotesque, half-bent-back pose.
“Ajusshi, look. Uncle’s shaking.”
“He really is.”
“His face is funny. His lips are curling up. You can see all his gums.”
“He’d be great on a comedy show.”
Stop making me laugh. If I lose focus, I’ll die! Nam Ki-seok swallowed the urge to shout.
One wrong move and he’d fall right into the basin.
“I said rotate your mana. Focus on your back muscles. Tighten your thighs. Now, stand up on three. One, two…”
“HRAAAHH!”
Nam Ki-seok let out a strange yell as he stood.
Sweat poured from his entire body. His thigh muscles felt like they were tearing apart. He barely held it together by reinforcing them with mana.
‘Is… is this it?!’
Nam Ki-seok’s face lit up with realization.
To an Awakened, mana was the energy to activate abilities. Even further, it was a purifier to cleanse demonic energy within the body.
Now, he felt like he could see something beyond that.
‘A-Amazing. If I just follow Hyung-nim’s words, I’ll get strong even in my sleep!’
Nam Ki-seok looked at the luminous stone in his hands.
He didn’t know how Cheon Dowoon had obtained such a precious item. Just thinking that Dowoon had fetched it for his training filled him with emotion.
‘You have to suppress the demonic energy radiating from it. There’s no time to let your mana hole rest. This is an incredible training tool!’
Unaware that he was cleaning a rock meant for a ceiling light, Nam Ki-seok was moved.
‘Now that I think about it, this droplet shape is perfect for training.’
He had to engage every muscle in his body to maintain balance. Holding the stone with one hand and scooping water with the other required full-body coordination to avoid falling.
Nam Ki-seok crouched again and resumed cleaning the luminous stone. Having grasped the technique, his posture was more stable than before.
“All done!”
He finally finished cleaning the luminous stone. Maybe because he’d completed his first training, he felt he could control his body more precisely.
Balancing an uneven weight had improved his sense of stability.
‘To think I got this much out of such a short session… Did Hyung-nim grow strong through training like this too?’
Blissfully unaware that this wasn’t the case, Nam Ki-seok was impressed.
“Hyung-nim! I’ve finally cleaned this… Whoa!”
Maybe he let his guard down from joy. Nam Ki-seok stepped on a mossy patch and slipped.
SPLASH. The luminous stone he dropped plunged into the basin. He nearly fell in himself, but something yanked his body upright.
Like a puppet on invisible strings, Nam Ki-seok was pulled to his feet.
“Focus.”
“H-Hyung-nim? Was that your ability just now?”
Nam Ki-seok was stunned, as if his body had been manipulated like a marionette.
He’d never seen anything like it. Looking amazed, he turned to Cheon Dowoon, who pointed to the water.
“What are you doing? The stone fell.”
“Huh?”
“Go get it.”
“M-Me?”
Nam Ki-seok looked panicked as he glanced into the water. It had to be over five meters deep. He could see aquatic monsters swimming leisurely inside.
Was Cheon Dowoon really telling him to go in there?
“H-Hyung-nim, um… I’m sorry, but could you maybe help me with this one?”
“No. I’m busy.”
Nam Ki-seok looked over at him. Cheon Dowoon was sitting by the stream, holding a long stick.
A slender rod he’d whittled himself, with a string trailing deep into the water.
‘You’re just fishing!’
No matter how you looked at it, he was just a leisurely vagabond.
Nam Ki-seok turned to Kim Nari sitting nearby.
‘Nari, you’re my only hope. Help me out here!’
As if she read his mind, Kim Nari met his gaze, put down her fishing rod, and stood up.
‘I knew you wouldn’t abandon your uncle!’
Nam Ki-seok beamed. Kim Nari also smiled brightly.
“I’m fishing too!”
She proudly declared before sitting right back down. What was the point of standing up? Nam Ki-seok swallowed his urge to ask.
Cheon Dowoon tossed him a piece of advice.
“If you don’t fall in helplessly like earlier, you can totally retrieve it.”
“Huh?”
"Wrap your body in mana for protection. Try to use your mana like you're wearing armor."
Nam Ki-seok was speechless.
Who else but hyung-nim could do something like that? That was his first thought—but then his expression shifted.
'No, wait. Maybe entering the water is part of the training too.'
Nam Ki-seok sat on the rock like a meditative ascetic, closing his eyes and beginning to circulate his mana hole.
'Like putting on armor... Make the mana solid... yeah right, as if that’s gonna work!'
He glanced toward Cheon Do-un. The two sitting beneath the cool waterfall in the shade of the trees looked like they were having a lovely time chatting while fishing.
'So jealous. I like fishing too.'
How nice would it be to sit there and fish. To earn that, he had to get through this training.
Gritting his teeth, Nam Ki-seok focused and spun his mana hole.
* * *
Even as the sun set, Nam Ki-seok hadn’t managed to jump into the water.
In the end, it was Kim Nari who retrieved the luminous stone that had fallen into the pond.
"I'm sorry, hyung-nim. I really wanted to do well..."
"It's fine. Nobody gets it right the first time. Just stay here and keep practicing mana control."
"Yes, sir!"
"Even if diving is too hard, you should at least be able to put your hand in the water."
"Understood!"
So it was about being able to manipulate mana even from the fingertips? Nam Ki-seok nodded seriously.
Cheon Do-un looked satisfied with that eager face.
'Once he can put his hands in water, I can have him do the dishes.'
And maybe even laundry. Cheon Do-un smiled as he picked up the clean luminous stone.
"Alright, I’ve got something else to do, so you stay here and keep practicing putting your hands in the water."
"Yes!"
Nam Ki-seok responded loudly. This year, he would definitely earn that A-Class Hunter license.
Internally, the A-Class cleaning expert Nam Ki-seok clenched his resolve.
* * *
Back at home, Cheon Do-un sliced the luminous stone into flat slabs.
"Should I make them about 10 centimeters? If I split it into six, I think I can stick them on the ceiling."
The flat, thin slabs were light enough to be attached overhead.
He smeared green spider silk on one side and used a pole to press each piece against the ceiling—one light complete.
He attached three on each side. The whole house lit up.
"Interesting. Just one luminous stone changed the atmosphere."
"Right? I think this is what people mean by 'lighting effect.'"
The soft glow inside gave a cozy feel.
"Ajusshi, there’s still a lot of luminous stone left. What are you going to do with the rest?"
"I’ve got a plan."
Cheon Do-un walked into the yard with the remaining stones.
"I’ll use them when I build a fence."
"A fence?"
"Yeah. I’m going to start properly decorating the area. I’ll stick a stone at each end of the fence. At night, the lighting will look really nice."
He surveyed the area around the house, gauging the distance.
Since the fence wasn’t meant to keep out monsters, it didn’t have to be high.
He envisioned a picturesque, knee-high fence like a cozy country home.
'Since I’ll be expanding the house later anyway, better make the fence perimeter wide.'
He’d have to clear more trees and expand the lot. A mental image of his future home,
complete with fence, passed through Cheon Do-un’s mind.
* * *
On the third day after Nam Ki-seok joined, early morning before sunrise, Kim Nari stirred from her sleeping bag.
'Ajusshi and Uncle are asleep. This is my chance.'
With a triumphant smile, she tiptoed out of the house.
- She seems to go out every dawn. Where is she going?
She thought everyone was asleep—but Guu, behind Cheon Do-un's sleeping bag, opened his eyes.
"I'm curious too. I’ve let it go so far for her privacy, but now I’m starting to worry. Is something going on?"
Cheon Do-un also opened his eyes. They were practically wild animals—small noises were enough to wake them.
He and Guu quietly followed after Kim Nari, keeping their distance.
Her destination: the waterfall stream.
Peeking from the bushes, what they saw was a silver android.
A sleek, metallic body. Kim Nari had returned to her original form and was doing laundry.
"All done."
She snapped her shirt clean.
"Now it’s clean. I was taught to wear clean clothes."
She stuck the shirt to her body and raised her core temperature. As steam rose and the shirt dried, she smiled contentedly.
The reason she snuck out every morning was to wash her only set of clothes.
"This way I can wear it right away. I’m the laundry master. Hmph hmph~"
She hummed as her shoulders swayed—then froze. A sound nearby startled her.
A small monster had walked past Cheon Do-un’s feet.
Kim Nari saw Cheon Do-un and froze in fear. Her hands trembled as she clutched her shirt.
'Still not planning to reveal her identity, huh?'
Cheon Do-un decided to play dumb.
"A monster I haven’t seen before. Does it live around here?"
He acted like he was reading from a script. But he was giving her an out, and Kim Nari bolted into the bushes.
To sell the misunderstanding, she even ran on all fours like a wild animal.
Bad acting met bad acting. Guu, who watched it all, let out a sigh.
- And you’re buying that?
"She’s younger than she looks."
Cheon Do-un guessed she was around five years old—maybe even younger.
She was like some unknown creature with no life experience, but filled with random knowledge.
"Just pretend you don’t know until she decides to tell us."
- Got it. If she’s hiding it that hard, there must be a reason.
Soon after, a human-shaped Kim Nari emerged from the bushes. She raised a hand awkwardly when she saw Cheon Do-un.
"Ajusshi! What a coincidence. What brings you here?"
"Out for a walk. You?"
"I-I’m also out for a morning walk. I take them often."
It sounded like she was reading from a textbook. Cheon Do-un glanced at her clothes.
A dull-colored adult T-shirt—one of the items he salvaged from the snowy mountain.
She was still wearing the same shirt from when they first met.
She had tied a vine around the waist to make it into a dress, mimicking Cheon Do-un’s style.
She had survived with only that one shirt. Even with care, the harsh environment had left it frayed and worn.
'Maybe building that fence isn’t the priority. Have I been too thoughtless?'
Cheon Do-un had never felt discomfort in his primitive clothing.
Because of that, he hadn’t paid attention until now.
"Kim Nari, is there anything you need?"
"Something I need?"
"Yeah. For example... clothes."
