Chapter 43

Following the quest indicator on the minimap, Jun-sang suddenly noticed a peculiar sound.

“Ugh! Go away! Go away!”

Instantly, Jun-sang felt a strange sense of déjà vu. And indeed. Arriving at the water’s edge, Jun-sang found something like a shimmering mayfly buzzing and fleeing from two iguana-headed monsters. Was this the source of the déjà vu? Jun-sang immediately rammed into the monsters from the side, who were preoccupied chasing the fairy.

“Screech?”

The monster, which had been flailing its spear and chasing the fairy, suddenly felt its surroundings darken and raised its head. At that moment, it saw something pitch-black, with gleaming red eyes, falling towards it. The monster recoiled in terror and tried to swing its spear, but by then, Jun-sang’s descending elbow had already exploded onto its crown.

CRACK!

As the monster’s head instantly shattered and it fell like a rotten tree, the monster next to it quickly took a preparatory stance to stab Jun-sang with its spear. But before the pulled-back spear could move forward, Jun-sang’s low kick broke the monster’s somewhat meager-looking leg with a crunching sound.

Screeech!

As the screaming monster fell, a pitch-black military boot immediately landed on its chest, and the heavy impact crushed its internal organs, which were protected by its ribs, instantly killing the monster.

“Phew…”

As Jun-sang turned his head after dispatching the monsters, the fairy, flapping its wings like a mayfly, returned and thanked him. “Thank you so much for saving me! I’m Ilmaren!”

“…”

Just as he suspected, she was a different fairy from Inia. Though very similar, she had transparent, sky-blue hair, distinctly different from Inia’s red hair. As he looked at her and recalled Inia, whom he had met during the forest purification quest, Ilmaren suddenly shrieked, pointing at Jun-sang’s forehead.

“Ah! That forehead! That mark on your forehead!”

“…”

Hearing Ilmaren’s words, Jun-sang instinctively touched his forehead. He somehow recalled the sensation of Inia’s lips touching him earlier.

“You’re the person Sister Inia talked about!”

“You know me?”

“Yes! The kind but aggressive person who found her staff!”

“…”

He involuntarily let out a chuckle at Inia’s description of him as “kind but aggressive.” Ilmaren, with her hands clasped together, spoke eagerly, her eyes sparkling. “Please help me! Please!”

Her acting cute to ask for a favor was also a spitting image of Inia. Could she be a fairy clone or something? Jun-sang quietly asked, recalling such silly thoughts. “Did you lose something too?”

“Huh! How did you know?”

“…”

Moreover, even the quest content was identical. He asked again, hoping the reward wouldn’t also be identical. “What did you lose?”

“My shoes!”

Immediately, a message arrived on his phone, indicating that the quest had been updated.

(Sub) Ilmaren’s Request.

• Ilmaren, the fairy of the swamp, lost her beautiful birthday gift shoes while being chased by monsters that suddenly appeared. Please find her shoes.

After confirming that the quest had properly arrived, Jun-sang immediately grabbed Ilmaren’s wings.

“Kyaaah! No, I don’t like rough handling!”

“…”

What was this tiny fairy saying? Jun-sang held Ilmaren’s wings and let the Crimson Wolf sniff her scent.

“Kya-hahaha… It’s just like Sister Inia said! Kya-hahahaha!”

“…”

He didn’t know what Inia had spread about him among the fairies, but instead of being scared, Ilmaren was busy giggling even as a large wolf sniffed her scent right in front of her. Feeling somehow too lazy to think deeply about it, Jun-sang immediately gave a command once the Crimson Wolf had finished sniffing.

“Find it!”

As the Crimson Wolf began sniffing around, shaking its head in the air, Ilmaren quickly climbed onto Jun-sang’s shoulder, clutching his clothes, and said, “Okay, ready! Run whenever you want!”

“…”

As Jun-sang turned his head and stared intently, Ilmaren flinched at his gaze and spoke again in a barely audible voice. Then Ilmaren covered her cheeks with both hands, acting cute, and said, “I, I wanted to ride on your shoulder too… Can’t I?”

But before Jun-sang could react, the Crimson Wolf, having finally found Ilmaren’s trail, began running in one direction. As Jun-sang ran after it, Ilmaren, who had just been acting cute, burst into giggles again.

“Kya-hahahahaha! Woo-hoo!”

It almost made him suspect that she had asked for the favor not for her shoes, but simply because she wanted to ride on his shoulder from the beginning.

Anyway,

Due to the swampy terrain, the Crimson Wolf struggled a bit but easily found Ilmaren’s shoes. As he picked up the small shoe dropped on a leaf and handed it to her, Ilmaren expressed her thanks with a slightly wistful expression.

“Thank you…”

(Sub) Ilmaren’s Request.

• Ilmaren, the fairy of the swamp, lost her beautiful birthday gift shoes while being chased by monsters that suddenly appeared. Please find her shoes.
• Status: Complete!
• Reward: Ilmaren’s Special Gift.
• Please receive this reward directly from Ilmaren.

As Jun-sang looked at the message on his phone, something small and moist touched his right cheek. Ilmaren had gently approached and kissed him, and as expected, a message appeared again.

‘Fairy’s Kiss’ has been imprinted.

• A kiss filled with a fairy’s goodwill bestows good fortune upon you. This is a type of imprint and will never disappear. ‘Fairy’s Kiss’ appeals to other fairies that you are a friend of the fairies.

“…”

The content was identical to the one with Inia, word for word, but Jun-sang somehow felt that this Fairy’s Kiss was like a kind of “Well Done!” stamp. Could it be that if he collected a few kisses, a wish would come true, or something like that? Jun-sang once again drifted into such silly thoughts, then realized the presence of Ilmaren, who had already settled back on his shoulder.

“…”

As he silently stared, Ilmaren again cupped her cheeks with both hands, acting cute, and said, “You’re going to get rid of the monsters now, right? I know where their leader is, so I’ll guide you.”

“…”

“Ah, is that not okay?” she asked again, sighing deeply, as if thinking, “Ah, so it’s going to be like this.” Her expression suggested she would burst into tears if he said no. If acting cute didn’t work, was tears the next step? Jun-sang ultimately let out another chuckle at this cunning fairy’s demeanor. Indeed, even with the minimap, getting guidance was faster than meticulously searching the wide swamp himself, so it wasn’t a bad deal for Jun-sang.

“Guide me.”

“Hooray! Oops!”

As Jun-sang gave his permission, Ilmaren raised her hands and shouted, then lost her balance and tumbled forward. He quickly reached out and caught her, but because of her bad falling posture, her dress flipped up.

“Ugh… ow…”

Ilmaren, who had apparently bumped her head, frowned, then realized her dress was flipped up, exposing her underwear. She subtly pulled her dress down and asked Jun-sang, “Did you, did you see?”

“…”

But Jun-sang quietly raised his palm and put her back on his shoulder.

“You saw,” she muttered.

It was a small kindness, but it was unimaginable from his previous gruff demeanor, so Ilmaren thought this kindness was compensation for him seeing her underwear. Of course, Jun-sang didn’t care whether he saw a tiny fairy’s underwear or not, and putting her back on his shoulder was also done without any particular thought.

Whether Ilmaren was mistaken or not, Jun-sang spoke again. “Guide me.”

At his gruff words, Ilmaren pouted and grumbled, then pointed in one direction and said, “That way.” Jun-sang began running at full speed in the direction Ilmaren indicated.

However, as Jun-sang ran, he encountered another group of monsters in the muddy waters.

“Hmm…”

Jun-sang first sent the wolves back. Then he took out a cabinet from his inventory and donned the electric shocker set stored inside.

“Wow! What’s that?”

“…”

As he pulled out a cabinet from thin air and took out strange, never-before-seen items from within, Ilmaren again became excited and began chattering. But Jun-sang silently put on rubber chest waders like those used in fish farms, strapped a battery to his back, and held metal rods in both hands. When he was ready, Jun-sang told Ilmaren, “It’s dangerous, so stay here.”

“What?”

“If you don’t want to die, do as I say.”

“…”

Ilmaren wanted to whine and refuse, but Jun-sang’s tone was too serious, so she had no choice but to obey.

Once ready, Jun-sang slowly approached the water’s edge. Then, the iguana-headed monsters gathered at the water’s edge finally spotted Jun-sang and charged with hideous screeches. Some splashed as they rushed, while others crept or swam in the shallow water. Jun-sang calmly waited for them to get closer… When they were at a certain distance, he submerged the metal rods in the water and pressed the switch.

Then.

CRACKLE!

Violent sparks flashed, and a strong ozone smell spread everywhere. Simultaneously, the monsters charging towards Jun-sang began to tremble violently and fall into the water with splashes.

“Wow…”

Jun-sang checked that there were no other moving monsters nearby, then called the wolves to drag the monsters’ bodies onto land. He then wiped the equipment dry and stored it back in the cabinet.

“W-what was that just now… exactly…”

“…”

Ilmaren asked with a somewhat disgusted expression, but Jun-sang silently put the cabinet back into his inventory before speaking.

“Get on.”

Ilmaren, as told, settled onto Jun-sang’s shoulder. Jun-sang opened the heads of the unconscious monsters and collected Seeds.

“Ugh…”

Ilmaren’s face turned pale again at the brutal sight, yet it was strange that she stubbornly refused to get off Jun-sang’s shoulder. After tidying up, Jun-sang collected the monsters’ short spears and stored them before moving in the direction Ilmaren indicated.

As Jun-sang moved like this…

He casually checked the minimap and discovered an exclamation mark surrounded by a circular border.

“…”

Since it was different from the usual quest indicators he had seen so far, Jun-sang stopped heading towards the boss and turned his steps in that direction. It was like a small island rising in the swamp, and the quest indicator pointed to the back of a rock rising on it.

Approaching with his wolves, Jun-sang discovered a boy shivering, hidden in a crevice of the rock. The boy, holding a rather sharp-looking short sword, belatedly noticed Jun-sang and quickly thrust his sword forward, shouting, “Wh-who are you!”

“…”

Jun-sang easily recognized this child as Jesse’s son, Dian. Although he had somehow managed to hide here, it seemed he had been surrounded by the monsters earlier and was trapped. Jun-sang took out a new cabinet from his inventory and pulled out a sturdy rope from inside.

“Wh-who are you?!”

Dian was startled by the sudden appearance of a steel box-like object from thin air and again thrust his short sword forward in a threatening gesture. But in an instant, Jun-sang’s hand grabbed his wrist, and he couldn’t withstand the pain from the grip, dropping the sword.

Jun-sang immediately tied his hands, then called the Dire Wolf, put Dian on its back, and said, “If you don’t want to die, hold on tight.”

“Eh? Wh-what…”

But Jun-sang gave the Dire Wolf a command without further explanation.

“Drop him off at the village and come back.”

As Jun-sang’s command was given, the Dire Wolf immediately turned and galloped towards the village like a gust of wind.