21. Installation of a Pavilion
Thanks to Director Kim Juhee’s consideration, work within the company was swiftly organized.
Moreover, Yu Hanna was Han’s successor or rather a junior in the same position.
There was some overlap in their work, and they both worked at a good pace.
Thanks to her taking charge of most tasks, Han found some relief afterward.
He only had to show up briefly to handle exclusive tasks, making it his daily routine.
Hence, today, he was getting ready to leave around lunchtime after finishing work early.
“Take care, senior!”
“Well then, I’ll be off. Han Na.”
Today, instead of working, Han left the office behind and set off running to greet Yoo Hanna.
“Sigh.”
Han looked up at the sky.
The sky, as clear as it was in broad daylight, seemed unbelievably blue.
It was unbelievable.
Leaving work early like this, almost felt like going back to the day when summer vacation began at school.
Suddenly, the ice cream that parents used to buy came to mind.
“Should I get some ice cream?”
There was still plenty of time.
Turning on the phone, Han briefly checked the situation at home.
Checking beyond the refrigerator, it seemed like the elves weren’t up to anything special.
The sun was warm, the weather was sunny.
Thinking about sitting leisurely on a peaceful park bench with ice cream, Han let out a yawn.
At that moment, a passing child and mother caught Han’s eye.
The child, noticing Han eating ice cream, said something to the mother.
“Mom, I want ice cream too. Something cold.”
“I’ll buy you some on the way.”
Han enjoyed this leisurely time, sitting relaxed.
hahahaha.
The smile of a victor came to mind.
It was an early departure from work.
Today, he was invincible.
There were still at least five hours until sunset, so there was plenty of time.
Whichever way you looked at it, today he was one of the most relaxed people on Earth.
Contentedly enjoying ice cream and passing time.
Crack!
Suddenly, with a loud flapping sound, something flew onto the power line.
At the sound, Han’s eyes widened.
“Oh. Do such birds exist in Korea?”
It was a bird that seemed a bit flashy.
Its colors were a mix of green and red, like a parrot.
The color combination that wouldn’t typically be found in Korea, seemed to be filled with the surrounding aura, even lingering in the faint light.
The creature made quite peculiar sounds for a bird, looking down at Han from the power line.
“Caw caw!”
“…But why does its cry sound like that?”
But that was just the beginning.
From Noble mtl dot com
This time, sparrows flew in one after another and perched on the power line.
One by one, they kept adding up.
And then, another one flew in.
Chirp chirp!
In no time, the sky above Han was filled with the sound of birds chirping.
“Mom! Look over there! There are so many birds!”
“What, what’s going on? Is there an earthquake happening?”
“…?”
It wasn’t just one or two.
Later on, the power line was completely covered with birds, chirping incessantly, reaching a point where it became ear-piercing.
So many of them gathered that the power line seemed to sag.
“…What is this?”
As it reached that point, even the most clueless Han couldn’t help but notice that something was amiss.
Animals were gathering.
And they were gathering around him.
Even their gaze was solely fixed on him.
Not just the birds.
Suddenly, stray cats from the neighborhood and dogs out for a walk appeared as well.
They stopped in their tracks and started watching Han intently.
“Am I imagining things…?”
A shiver ran down his spine.
Feeling the oddity, Han stood up from his seat.
As he quietly moved to the empty bench next to him, birds, cats, dogs – they all flocked and followed suit, moving towards his direction.
“……”
Then he understood.
This wasn’t a figment of his imagination.
“What on earth is happening?”
Some people, perhaps sensing the wonder, were taking out their cameras and filming.
The clicking sound started to fill the air.
“Why are all the animals only around that person?”
“What’s going on? Is he some kind of druid?”
Alarmed by the sight, Han quickly got up from his seat and walked away in the direction of his home as if fleeing.
He didn’t mind being caught on camera.
It was a feeling he had experienced intensely before.
Click. Thud.
Opening the front door and stepping inside, Han finally felt a sense of freedom.
“Phew. Home.”
He let out a long sigh.
Stretching his arms wide, he closed his eyes and savored this feeling.
Han was a typical homebody.
In no time, carried away by this cozy feeling, Han dashed towards the fridge, opened it briskly, and leaned in.
There, the tranquil scenery of Irina and the planet Frey unfolded.
***
In recent days, many changes found their way to the central square.
Plants were slowly starting to grow.
The area touched by the power of the World Tree had expanded even more than before.
Consistently expanding the territory, before they knew it, a vast green land had spread out to nearly half of the square.
Of course, that wasn’t the only change.
“Now there’s no separate mushroom field. And in addition, two more trees have grown.”
Around the World Tree.
In that vicinity, now, a few large mushrooms were growing in a row.
Comparing the dramatic change to the time when there was only one mushroom house, it was undeniably a remarkable transformation.
It was undoubtedly a steady growth.
At this rate, it seemed like the elves wouldn’t have any food problems for the time being.
“Well, for now, we’re eating tomatoes and apples.”
The World Tree had also grown a bit more than before.
Although the growth wasn’t very steep, compared to the beginning, it was an awe-inspiring momentum.
If it continued to grow like this, it might eventually grow as huge as the World Tree that some hunters claimed to have seen beyond the clouds, Han thought.
***
Irina and her two children held hands and prayed.
A faint blue light flowed from their bodies and enveloped the World Tree.
It was time for them to pass on the magical power they had gathered.
[The World Tree is expanding its territory.]
Simultaneously with the familiar message that emerged, once again, a change occurred in the World Tree.
The tree, shaped like broccoli, began to grow even larger than before, and along with it, the territory began expanding once more.
The white snow melted away, replaced by a growing green grassland.
Han marveled at the rapidly expanding territory of the World Tree in a split second.
“Praying together, the three of us, the growth is incomparable to before.”
Was it because three elves were infusing magic together?
The growth rate of the World Tree was explosively different from before.
“Wow, what’s that?”
In the midst of this, something caught Han’s eye.
A flower! A flower had bloomed.
Though there was only one, it was a new plant that had never been seen on this land before.
Perhaps it was a seed of a flower that had failed to grow in this area or had died long before the land froze.
And now, included in the expanded territory of the World Tree, it had grown rapidly.
A single yellow flower blooming in the vast central square.
Perhaps that was why it stood out distinctly even from a distance to Han.
It shimmered as if it were shining brightly like gold.
The elves also noticed this change.
“Wow! Irina, Yumina! Everyone, come here and look at this!”
“Why are you like that?”
At the boy Zion’s words, his younger sisters Yumina and Irina approached.
“Wow.”
“It’s pretty.”
The elves sat around a small flower.
As they brought their hands to the yellow petals, a faint blue light began to flow like mist from the shaking petals.
It seemed like this was no ordinary flower.
“What is that?”
Curious, Hane reflexively clicked on the flower.
Instantly, a system alert popped up in front of him.
Yellow Golden Flower
• A refreshing flower that purifies the surrounding air. Widely known as a raw material for folk medicine on the planet Frey. It possesses various effects depending on the refining process.
Roughly interpreting the meaning of those words, it was something like this.
“Ah, it’s like an herb.”
***
[Would you like to install a watchtower? It will cost 1,000pt.]
1,000pt.
It was the points required to install the watchtower.
Recovering 100pt per hour was not an insignificant demand.
However, Hane nodded without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Kwoong-!
A massive structure emerged on the ground with a heavy sound.
“Wow, what… is this?”
The sudden appearance of the watchtower startled the elves.
There was a reason why Hane spent a lot of points to summon the watchtower.
It was the most essential structure to summon.
The watchtower not only served to prevent enemies in advance but also had a fairly sturdy durability.
There was no better structure to use as a shelter in case of emergency.
This was a vast empty field, right in the middle of the square.
There were virtually no proper defense facilities.
Of course, now there was a wall built even taller than a person, but it was still uneasy to rely solely on that.
“No matter how much preparation is made for defense, it’s never enough.”
The appearance of monsters at any moment.
No one knew how severe their threat level would be.
It was a world where powerful monsters that the elves couldn’t handle might appear tomorrow or even right now.
So these were the aspects that Hane needed to take care of first.
“Wow. It’s really tall!”
Hane chuckled happily as he watched the elves climb up the ladder to the top of the watchtower.
It seems quite pleasing to see them taking their places already.
Irina, too, had leaned against the railing of the lookout before she knew it.
She kept scanning the square beyond, checking for safety.
Is it just the nature of elves to be like this?
Instinctively, it seemed she sensed that this place had excellent defenses.
Having watched the elves for a while, Han soon felt drowsiness creeping in and checked the time.
It had already passed 11 o’clock at night.
“Well, I should set the timer and get some rest.”
The timing was spot on.
There were things to do as soon as he got up, so it was best to get some sleep as soon as possible.
Lastly, Han observed the elves.
It seemed they were getting ready to settle down here, bringing leftover straw to the lookout and arranging it.
A faint smile played on his lips.
Feels like Frostpunk ngl lol