23 – 023 – Reuniting with old ties # 1
023 – Reuniting with old ties # 1
!
-Zuji… !
If I had to point out the pros and cons of living with a pet, there was this.
It is difficult to sleep late.
I woke up to the loud commotion.
When I checked the clock hanging on the wall with my sleepy eyes, it was 6 am. These days, my morning wake-up is always fixed at 6:00 am.
If I didn’t get up at this time, I couldn’t sleep at all because Kyeongkongi and Angangi were running around.
“I’m not a man with such an upright life.”
The beginning of the year where winter has not gone away.
The dawn that didn’t even come up was cold as expected.
Shut-.
When I opened the door of the house, Kyeongkong jumped out.
!
I also went outside in the early morning breeze wearing sweats and padding lightly.
I was thinking of going around the neighborhood lightly.
“Bachelor, you woke up early today! Are you going to do two laps today?”
“Could you look at the hole in the wall over there? That magical ant or something.”
Did you say that the older you get, the less sleep you get?
Dawn in this rural town started earlier than expected. As I walked around the neighborhood, I got acquainted with the faces of my grandparents and seemed to be well accepted as a member.
I gathered at the village hall and asked the grandparents who were doing gymnastics.
“Did anything go wrong last night?”
This is the village where the anomalous rift occurred.
Since there is a possibility that a crack will open again in the vicinity of a place where a crack once occurred, it was always necessary to be careful.
In response to my question, the elderly talked to each other and said.
“There are more squirrels that bark like dogs. He just showed up from behind my house. From what I saw, there are five of them!”
“I just went up and down the persimmon tree in front of my house and went around with great excitement! Hiya, you guys are bothering me because they bark so much. Would you calm down if I gave you peanuts?”
“Still, it’s good that you chased the bugs away. When spring comes, you can farm without spraying pesticides.”
Today’s Special.
There are many dog squirrels in the village.
There was no way for me to come to a conclusion right away whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
The elderly soon gave me bags of canned sweet potatoes or bananas they bought at the mart.
“Oinoi, bring it to me.”
“Take this too and eat it with the nymph!”
Oi Noi was popular with her grandmother and grandfather.
Is it because of the appearance that resembles a child? It may be my prejudice, but old people love to see children running around.
Anyway, thanks to that, I was able to solve my worries this morning in no time.
“Muhh, this oinoi… ! He wants to eat this sweet potato by roasting it… ! This Oinoi also learned ‘induction’, a spell of flame magic, from Kore Yerim… !”
Oinoi started a fuss in the morning saying he was eating sweet potatoes by turning the induction on and off.
Although induction is said to be safer than gas fire, I had to be lightly careful because it was also dangerous to be hot.
“Don’t play with fire.”
“I know… !”
I checked my phone now.
My daily routine is to check if there is any contact from last night.
Also, one of my pleasures was searching my name in the search box to see if anyone had talked about me.
For the past few days, if you search for 「Dog squirrel」, A lot of information pops up. Where do you get dog squirrels-what do you eat-things like that. People have already talked about squirrels for about two pages.
D-ring -.
「Two New Messages」
There was a call from somewhere last night.
One was a loan text and one was… It was a text message from the agency in charge of Awakened affairs.
「Recruitment of 4 people to dismantle C-class cracks in Gyeonggi-do. Bring your weapon in front of OO Station at 1:00 PM.”
“Oh!”
A C-class quest has been assigned to me!
It was the first C-level quest in my life.
From the C-class rift, only C-class or higher can enter.
“This is an opportunity. A chance to impress people!”
If you do well today, C-class requests will pour in in the future, you will be able to earn a lot of money, and there will be a possibility of being promoted with the magic you absorbed from the rift!
It was a perfect plan.
But I was also a little worried.
It wasn’t because of the crack, it was about the relationship between Seo Ye-rim and Yoo Ari.
“Neither of them have a single letter.”
Yuari gets into a taxi and leaves.
And after grilling meat for Oinoi, Seo Ye-rim left in his own car.
Whenever they both came to visit us, there was no contact between them last night.
“I hope the two of you get along well.”
With that thought in mind, I prepared to go through the rift.
“Oinoi, you have to take good care of the house. If the staff come from Telos to investigate the well, open the door. If you’re bored, turn on the TV and watch it.”
“Muhh, the owner of the house is not to worry… ! This cucumber-noi has to grow a quince tree without any time to get bored… ! It will grow into a very large tree… !”
It seems so.
# # #
“C-Class Haildo by any chance?”
Many people come and go in front of the station, but it was easy to recognize the awakened ones. Their equipment is made of helmets and special leather materials, so they look like futuristic soldiers.
From noble mtl dot com
So did I.
I’m wearing something like a rider suit with a lot of technical heat shields attached under my coat, but every time I wear it, my hips and thighs tighten and it’s uncomfortable.
Anyway.
“Everyone is here.”
One o’clock, the meeting time.
I hurried as much as I could to arrive 10 minutes ago, but it seems I was the last.
Everyone comes out early.
Shut-.
I took a light look at people’s appearances without being rude.
Three people except me.
Seeing that the suits worn by two females and one male were worn out, they looked like veterans in Class C except for me.
Am I the only C-class crack beginner?
A woman carrying a case as large as a human body on her back clapped her hands.
“Let’s start by introducing each other. My name is Jo Jang-hee, the team leader. The number of subjugation of C-class rifts is about 60. I work for Martians, a company that dispatches Awoken people.”
A woman with her hair in a ponytail explained herself. Was it around twenty-five?
It was the first name I heard.
Probably an Awakener from the 5th generation or higher.
Janghee Cho-.
When she was thinking stupidly to herself that it is a name that seems to be promoted a lot in group assignments, she immediately opened her mouth to the woman who dyed her long hair yellow.
“Lee Jin-ah.”
It was a short explanation.
The leader said, “Is there more? Her nickname or something,” She asked, but she replied briefly, “No,” A woman who identified herself as Lee Jin-ah.
She felt more of a nuisance than a shame.
It is common for Awakeners who have awakened since adolescence to have strange personalities.
Now the burly man wearing glasses opened his mouth.
“My name is Seol Seol-hun. The armament used is a 67 caliber rifle equipped with super-vibration bullets. In the 37th C-class rift subjugation, I was mainly in charge of the long-distance arc—”
It was a man who talked about this and that as if he had been waiting. The woman who was like Iljin doesn’t talk much and this man talks a lot.
The fact that such a diverse group of people gather in one place is the fun of rift subjugation.
Now people’s eyes are on me.
I was a bit ashamed and regretful that I had to ‘introduce’ myself. If I were a celebrity like Seo Ye-rim or Yu-A-Ri, everyone would know me without having to introduce who I am.
I used to be such a celebrity too.
However, at this point, he is definitely aware of it and quits.
That I’m not very famous.
Of course, it was enough if I became famous in the future.
“My name is Haildo. I was promoted to C grade a while ago. Since this is my first C-class rift request, I’ll follow along and learn.”
In my greeting, everyone added a chooimsae like hoo-na heh-.
The team leader, Cho Jang-hee, responded the most.
“I saw Ildo’s information. You really came up to C grade this time. Congratulations.”
Soon, Hun also corrected his glasses and took the word.
“Compared to D-class rifts, one thing to pay more attention to in C-class rifts is that there are times when the surrounding environment changes from moment to moment. There are many pitfalls. It was when I served as an alternative in Gangwon-do and subdued a C-class crack….”
Everyone is interested.
In a world where there are many people who are blunt about other people’s affairs, beginners sometimes became annoying, but fortunately they were good people.
Of course, there were people who were picky.
“How long will you be introducing it? Let’s leave now.”
From the moment we met the yellow-haired Iljin girl, she frowned as if she didn’t like something.
Her story was also true, so we headed for the rift in a van driven by Seol Seol-hun.
The crack was located in a mountain near Gapyeong, Gyeonggi-do, and it was difficult to climb up with the equipment because it was quite deep and high.
Anyway, the crack arrived like that.
The soldiers of the military unit who arrived first confirmed our identity and gave a light salute.
Chuck-.
The captain gave them a light salute and headed to the coordinates where the rift opened. There was a shimmering reddish oval, a color that looked rather ominous.
Soon Seol Seol-hoon spoke next to me.
“The entrance to the Class C rift is red like that.”
I know that much.
It’s just that it’s been a while since I’ve seen it in person. At the time, my body couldn’t stand the distortion and entropy rise of the C-class crack.
It will be different now.
“Okay, 1:54 PM. Team leader Jo Jang-hee and three others. Entering the Gapyeong C-111 Rift.”
Teacher-.
People who enter in turn, starting with the team leader.
I also held my breath and pushed myself into the crack.
At that moment, I felt my stomach turn over.
As always, it felt like riding a ride.
Seol Seol-hoon said to me, who was slightly exhausted beyond the entrance.
“C-class cracks have about 1.2 Times higher magic density than D-class cracks, so sometimes it’s hard to breathe. Do you have any trouble breathing or moving your body?”
The words of high magic density seemed to be true.
My body felt tingly every time I breathed.
It wasn’t uncomfortable, so I took about five even breaths and it got better. Looking around, I saw a landscape that looked like a summer valley. The sound of flowing water was heard.
If Oinoi saw this place, “It must be nymph-friendly valley water… !”
“Come on! Everyone unpack now and start working!”
Clap, snap, squeak-.
Now, according to the team leader’s story, the people took out their weapons from their respective cases.
The team leader and Il Jin-nyeo each pulled out a technical blade coated in silver, and Seol Seol-hun pulled out a long and thick firearm that could shoot and kill even an elephant.
Seol Seol-hoon said, perhaps feeling my gaze.
“Win’s great rift hunting rifle. The rifle itself is expensive, but the bullets cost more. It uses magic water and specially made bullets. It’s 20,000 won per foot.”
“20,000 Won per foot?”
One bullet per bullet. One chicken.
If it was me, I would have been too lazy to shoot.
Crunches-.
At that time, the case I was carrying on my back swayed from side to side.
“Wait. I’ll take it out now.”
I unlocked and opened the case.
Then, as if I had waited, a squirrel jumped onto my shoulder.
Seeing this, the team leader, Cho Jang-hee, was greatly impressed.
“Wow, is that a real squirrel? I was wondering if it was written as a squirrel on the weapon used. Is the squirrel posting on the awakened social media about Ildo?”
Dog squirrel is more famous than me.
I nodded.
“Maybe.”
It was time for me to explain more.
Pass-.
Whoop, whoop-!
Something heavy, large, and powerful appeared shaking the bush.
Its true identity was a lizard the size of a bear, and it was powerful enough to be called a dinosaur. Its greenish-brown hide looked very thick, and its hooked claws easily shattered as it scratched through trees.
ㅁ Serb, Serb-. Svt-.
“It’s King Nidhogg Lizard! Never get bitten! Because there are bacteria in your mouth! And since weapons with less than C-class destructive power cannot even scratch leather, we must fire at once!”
Crunches-!
I heard Seol Seol-hoon shouting and reloading his rifle.
Soon, the leader and Iljin-nyeo are also tense as they point their swords at each other.
Just then a kink bounced between them like a brown bullet.
!
It was a skill that matched me the last few days.
The name of the technology is—.
“Go, Kkongkong! Squirrel Dive!”
Daram G Dive.
It was a technique in which a dog squirrel, possessing magical power, jumped in at an intense speed and attacked the opponent.
– Kleureung… !
Paaang-!
Dog Squirrel Kyeongkeongi’s 「Squirrel Dive」 Hit a large lizard like a bear.
– Serb, Svar, Sval….
The large lizard, like a bear, received a very big shock and was pushed back about 3 meters, turned over on its stomach, and opened its eyes white.
It was desperate.
Everyone seemed at a loss for words at this sight.
Even I did!
The first to speak was Seol Seol-hoon, who spoke the most.
“God… It’s awesome…. Nidhogg King Lizard, a C-rank mid-level monster, in one shot… !?”