The moment I read the consecutive messages, my head instinctively whipped toward the forest’s edge.
Near the boundary where the forest was starting to darken, a bluish light caught my eye, staring at me.
I don’t know how I recognized a floating light as a gaze, but I felt it clearly.
That blue light was watching me right now.
“……..”
It was strange.
Maybe because I’d encountered odd beings a few times since arriving here, I didn’t feel any fear this time either.
So, like before, I gave a small bow toward the bluish light and took off the cap.
As I untied the string and removed the cap from my head, color flooded back into the black-and-white world.
The mix of verdant hues and autumnal tones in the natural landscape, though familiar, felt vividly fresh.
Hayul, startled by my sudden reappearance, approached with Bamtol in his arms, asking if I was okay and saying he wanted to try the cap too.
I placed the cap on Hayul’s head, but as the description stated, it didn’t make him invisible.
The Kang siblings noted that while the binding was a drawback, it seemed like a pretty useful item and gave a decent reaction.
Supporting Bamtol’s bottom as he climbed back onto my shoulder, I looked toward the forest’s edge again.
Unlike when I wore the cap, the light was gone, leaving only the dim forest and trees.
“Shall we move on, then?”
“Sounds good! Hyung, let me carry the bow.”
Excited about learning archery, Hayul eagerly grabbed the bow and quiver.
Before moving, I tried to store the Dokkebi Cap in my inventory, but Bamtol wouldn’t let me.
He seemed to like the cap, clutching it tightly, so I decided to let him hold it for now.
“Bamtol-ah, you can’t lose that. Hold it tight, okay?”
“Kyaang~!”
We moved away from the Guardian’s territory and practiced archery using a large tree as a target.
Hayul was definitely a quick learner.
Even though I had some experience shooting at an archery café a couple of times a month, Hayul was a complete beginner, yet his stance, lack of hand tremors—everything was near perfect.
“Our Hayul learns so fast. You’re the best. So cool.”
“Really? Am I doing well?”
“Yup, the best.”
“Do-jin, do you think I’m learning well too?”
“…Well, better than I expected.”
They say praise makes even whales dance, and Hayul, beaming at my and Kang Do-jin’s compliments, looked every bit the happy kid.
Kang Do-hee, returning with retrieved arrows, didn’t hold back her praise either.
“You’re doing way better than I thought. Not every Korean shoots a bow well, you know. Is this really your first time?”
“It is! I wanted to do well, and I’m glad it turned out that way!”
Watching Hayul answer with a bright smile, I felt full, even though it was probably time to get hungry.
Of course, I was the only one feeling that way. After some archery practice, Hayul plopped down beside me, saying he was hungry.
“I need to eat the potatoes Grandma gave us.”
“Let’s eat, digest a bit, and then think about scouting.”
“Sounds good.”
“Kya.”
We huddled on a large, flat boulder, pulling out potatoes and water from our inventories to eat.
I also took out a sweet potato I’d stored a few days ago. Sniffing it, it seemed, as expected, perfectly preserved, just as it was when I put it in.
“What’s with the sweet potato?”
“Oh, this. I stored it on the first day. It’s been in the inventory a while, but it hasn’t spoiled.”
Hearing this, Kang Do-jin, who’d finished one potato and started on another, nodded and replied.
“They usually don’t spoil… I mean, in games. That’s how it works in game inventories, you know.”
Adding “in games” made it sound suspicious, but Hayul didn’t seem to care, breaking a potato to share with Bamtol.
Hayul, in a way, seemed to let Kang Do-jin’s grumbling go in one ear and out the other.
Is that why he’s so good at staying calm? My brother’s really impressive.
The Kang siblings declined my offer to share the sweet potato, and Hayul politely refused too, so I put it back in my inventory.
‘Now that I know food doesn’t spoil in the inventory, I should save it for later.’
Bamtol, hugging the Dokkebi Cap, ate the potato Hayul offered but stayed glued to me.
Maybe he was worried about the water ghost, or perhaps there was another reason, but seeing him stick so close warmed my heart.
We didn’t talk much while eating, but the atmosphere was pleasant.
Maybe because we’d been together since arriving here, I felt much more at ease with the Kang siblings than at first.
After finishing our food, we moved quickly.
Kang Do-hee led the way, with Bamtol occasionally signaling to avoid certain paths, acting as a guide.
While walking a considerable distance, I recalled that it had only been about three years since monsters started appearing in this world and scanned my surroundings.
Even accounting for neglect, the paved mountain road I’d biked to the elder’s house was in terrible shape, and the overgrown vegetation looked at least a decade old.
I’m no botanist, but the entire landscape felt like a civilization that collapsed far longer ago.
Maybe the elder and Jubi-yeong, living in isolation, miscalculated the time, but I quickly dismissed that theory.
Even if they got it wrong, it wouldn’t be off by years.
‘Still, it looks like it’s been at least three years.’
The moss covering fallen trees, rampant weeds and reeds, and abandoned cars or ruins peeking through dense grass all suggested as much.
Even just seeing tree roots or vines overtaking remnants of civilization in this rural area made it feel like this state had persisted for a long time.
“…Can things really change this much in just three years? For trees and grass to cover everything like that?”
Lost in thought, I muttered a question to myself.
Kang Do-hee, walking ahead, glanced around and answered.
“Three years is plenty.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s a cliché, but nature is powerful.”
“……..”
“Especially in a place like this, where the weather shifts without seasons, it gets even harsher. You could say survival instincts get stronger. That’s why it’s lusher, richer.”
“I see.”
Listening to Kang Do-hee, it oddly felt like she was stating the truth, even though I knew not everyone speaks only facts.
After that, we walked toward our destination in silence, step after step.
For safety, Kang Do-hee stuck to established paths, avoiding the dark forest.
The sun peeked out intermittently, then dimmed, then shone again, repeating the cycle. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but I started feeling hungry.
But it wasn’t a good time to bring up being hungry.
From the moment I realized we’d been walking for a while, I’d been watching the map, and I noticed a few black dots not far from our group.
“I thought the boss would have some unique marker, but the dots don’t seem different.”
“Yeah, or maybe it’s still too far to show up on the map.”
“Kyaang. Kyaang.”
At that moment, Bamtol, who’d been quietly perched on my shoulder, reacted, looking somewhere.
Following Bamtol’s gaze, I saw a dim forest path.
“Bamtol, that direction?”
“Kyaang.”
“Does that guy feel close?”
Hearing Kang Do-hee’s question, Bamtol seemed to ponder, then let out a small grunt, clutching my hair. It looked nervous.
“Bamtol-ah, is that big monster right nearby?”
“Kyaang.”
I couldn’t fully understand Bamtol, but seeing him shake his head, it didn’t seem like it.
“If it’s not close, it might be much farther than we thought.”
Kang Do-hee muttered, staring at the dark forest in the direction Bamtol was looking.
The black dots on the map weren’t far—one about 30 meters from here, another roughly 50 meters beyond that.
Bamtol staring that way probably meant it was the boss monster’s territory or there was something to check in that direction…
“I’m not sure. We might need to see it ourselves. Should we go in?”
“Sounds good.”
“Whoa, Haje, what’s gotten into you? I thought you’d jump and say no way.”
Her teasing made me a bit embarrassed, but I couldn’t argue back.
After all, I’d been startled by every little thing so far… It was my own image, my own karma.
Even then, I checked on Hayul, who didn’t seem worried or tense.
He stared at the forest, glanced at Bamtol, looked back at the forest, then turned to me and said,
“Hyung, let’s go in. It’ll be fine. Bamtol’s calm, right?”
“Calm… is he?”
Bamtol looked tense to me.
But Hayul, without a hint of nerves, gave a gentle smile.
“Hayul’s brave. Unlike someone.”
“Ugh.”
Kang Do-hee was clearly enjoying teasing me.
I followed her as she took the lead. Holding second place—that was the most courage I could muster right now.
Kang Do-hee and Hayul each carried a bow, while Kang Do-jin held the long metal rod he often used.
I’d thought it was just a sharp metal rod until now, but looking closely, it resembled a spear engraved with incomprehensible script, like cursive Russian. The material didn’t seem like ordinary metal either.
“…….”
My gaze instinctively drifted to the wooden stick I gripped tightly.
A sturdy, sharp wooden stick, picked up here, had helped me take down a monster without breaking—impressive, but still just a wooden stick.
It’d be nice to have a proper weapon…
Shop.
I opened the shop again to check the item list.
The Dokkebi Cap I’d bought was now marked as sold out, grayed out and unbuyable, while the other items remained black-and-white, not even viewable.
‘Status window, give me more gold quests. Let me buy a weapon. Preferably a ranged one. I’m honestly not confident with melee yet.’
It was a cheeky request, but wasn’t I entitled to ask?
The status window, with its interface rigged to make me buy the cap, owed me some answers.
Of course, I was grateful, but what was I supposed to do with just invisibility right now…
Lost in mildly resentful thoughts, Kang Do-hee suddenly stopped, raising her right hand and clenching her fist.
‘Uh, Ms. Kang Do-hee, I’m not military-trained.’
The black dot on the map was about 5 meters ahead, but all I could see was dense grass and trees.
‘Do we need to climb a tree?’
The dot wasn’t moving, still somewhere in the grass ahead.
I wanted to climb up to get a better look, but we were too close.
Recklessly moving might provoke the monster, which could be trouble.
As the group paused, Kang Do-jin stepped forward slowly, picking up a fallen branch and showing it to Kang Do-hee.
She nodded instead of answering, pulling her bowstring, ready to shoot if needed.
Kang Do-jin tossed the branch toward the front.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
The bushes shook. But that was it. Nothing jumped out or attacked as we’d feared.
Noting the spot that moved, Kang Do-jin picked up a rock this time and threw it harder.
Then,
Whoosh—rustle, rustle—
The bushes shook more violently. From within, something huge and dark slowly began to rise.
It was so massive I first thought it was a bear like Gamja, but looking closely, it was a tall human.
No, more accurately, something that used to be human.
The shaggy, man-shaped figure didn’t charge or show aggression toward us.
That puzzled me, but thanks to Kang Do-hee’s sharp observation, I soon understood why.
“Someone tied it up here.”
Oh my God.
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