Kang Dohee and I followed Gamja out to the backyard.
As we stepped through the backyard gate, we saw fields of wild grass stretching endlessly, just like around the front yard. Unlike the front yard, though, the weeds in the back were so tall they reached my chest.
After walking for about a minute, a small stream came into view. The water was shallow enough to cross by stepping on the large stones sticking out here and there.
Beyond the stream, the grass grew even taller. Some reached up to my neck.
While walking through the overgrown field, a massive tree covered in blooming pink petals came into view. It was undoubtedly the royal cherry tree the elder mentioned.
‘Wait, is it spring right now?’
The air was chilly, and the trees looked like they were starting to shed their leaves, showing more dryness than greenery, so I had assumed it was fall. But could it actually be spring?
Come to think of it, there were sunflowers and cosmos in the front yard earlier.
Cosmos bloom year-round in my world due to the climate crisis, but cherry blossoms still only bloom in spring.
“Noona, what season do you think it is here?”
“I thought it was fall, but looking at how the vegetation is all over the place, maybe not.”
…Put more mildly, the vegetation here is a mess with no seasonal consistency. That seemed like the perfect description for this environment.
Until now, everything had been so chaotic I hadn’t noticed, but now that I paid attention, it was clear that the plants didn’t follow any unified seasonal pattern.
Even the weeds varied. Some looked freshly sprouted and green like spring, while others were yellowing or dry and brittle like they were dying off.
“According to the elder, the weather here is totally erratic. It’s mostly cool throughout the year, but sometimes there’s a sudden heatwave like in midsummer.
Then, within a few days, the temperature can drop sharply, and it might even snow heavily. And if some snow piles up, it can rain for several days like it’s the rainy season.”
“That’s seriously messed up.”
“Yeah. The rain doesn’t fall normally either, so we should be prepared.”
Ah, that must be why the elder had the second-floor ceiling repaired first. Hopefully, the kids do a good job with it. They’ll be okay, right?
Kang Dohee continued in a low voice, sharing everything the elder had told her about the environment here.
Even with just those fragments of information, it felt like the seasons changed every 2–3 weeks.
It could be summer one moment and then suddenly start snowing. Hail could fall, followed by extreme heat, and then days of torrential rain like a monsoon.
Such a harsh climate.
Is this world perhaps a glimpse of what ours might become if destroyed by climate change?
The thought filled me with vague dread.
‘If I ever go back, I should definitely participate more in environmental campaigns.’
I used to donate a small amount monthly to environmental organizations to ease my guilt over using disposable products, but still…
“Guwok.”
At that moment, Gamja suddenly stopped and raised his right hand—no, his front right paw—and made a fist.
Upon seeing this signal (?), Kang Dohee and I also stopped in place.
‘There’s nothing on the map, though.’
The black dots were still far away and sparsely scattered. Judging by how no creatures had come near the house these past few days, the elder’s house must be on good land.
Could it be because of the mountain spirit?
If that’s the case, then whatever Gamja is wary of must be an animal or a person.
As I finished that thought and focused ahead, the bushes beyond where Gamja stood began to rustle.
“Haje, be careful.”
“Got it!”
Kang Dohee and I instinctively nocked arrows onto our bows.
Rustle – crackle –
“Guuhrrrk. Grrroaaarrrk.”
Gamja growled, unlike usual, clearly on alert.
Then—
“Kweeeek!”
“Guooorrrrk!”
“Kwek, kweeek!”
“Guok! Guooorrrg!”
Boars!
What should we do? Do we catch them? Can we even catch them?
The vegetation was so thick we couldn’t see the boars.
Even if we shot arrows at the shaking bushes, there was no guarantee we’d hit anything.
And provoking wild animals like this could be dangerous.
I glanced sideways at Kang Dohee. She was also watching ahead but didn’t look like she intended to shoot.
The boar noises grew louder, and it was clear there wasn’t just one.
I could hear multiple smaller cries along with the big one.
“Sounds like piglets.”
I came to the same conclusion. Unlike the loud adult boar, the other cries were softer and sounded weak—scared, even.
Gamja raised his paw and began furiously thrashing through the grass while roaring, “Kuuoorr!”
Then, the boars—though we still couldn’t see them—let out panicked cries and bolted in the opposite direction.
We only guessed their movement based on the rustling weeds.
“Phew…”
Hearing the boars and piglets retreating, we lowered our bows.
Gamja, who had puffed up and roared moments ago, returned to his usual self and resumed leading the way.
I followed behind our reliable Gamja, scanning the surroundings.
‘There’s more sunflowers over there. Is that corn?’
Far away, I spotted another cluster of sunflowers. Next to them seemed to be corn—probably—and a patch of plants I couldn’t identify.
We had already passed the massive cherry tree, and all around us were plants that didn’t match the season, and now, unlike the bright blue morning sky, the afternoon sky had turned strangely red.
Even in this jumbled and chaotic world, new life continued to emerge.
★★★
Find Protein-Rich Food: 0/3
‘This is getting ridiculous.’
Following Gamja, Kang Dohee and I gathered enough wild greens to fill two baskets.
Dohee said the edible mushrooms we found were rich in protein, too.
We even caught a pheasant—my first time seeing one in real life. It looked pretty meaty.
We also gathered as many sunflower seeds as we could.
And yet… the quest status still hadn’t budged.
‘Come on, status screen. Isn’t this a bit much?’
No matter how much I tried to argue with it, nothing changed.
How strict are the standards supposed to be?
What do we need to bring back to get even one count?
‘Still, good thing we filled up two baskets.’
Dohee warned that once everything was washed and blanched, it would probably only fill one pot, but I still felt proud.
After all, we’d secured food to eat.
The real issue was that overly tempting 100 gold reward.
“Noona, should we head back for today?”
“Yeah. Gamja, let’s go home. Not sure if it’s getting dark because of the sky or because it’s actually late.”
The sky had turned even redder than before, and the clouds made everything seem dim.
Looking farther out, the sky was filled with dark clouds. The red glow was gone, and it looked like a heavy storm was coming.
We thought we should head back, but then Gamja started walking toward the path leading to the mountain instead of the house.
“Gamja?”
“Guong.”
Gamja let out a small whimper as if telling us to follow, glancing back at us. Kang Do-hee and I began walking after it.
The sky continued to darken, and we saw a flock of crows flying into the forest.
When we first arrived here, it was eerily quiet with not a single animal in sight. But now that we had seen birds and even a wild boar, some of that anxiety had faded — just a little, though.
As we kept walking, it became clear we had come quite a distance. The place where Gamja stopped seemed to be the edge of the mountain, right at the boundary where the real forest began.
Standing at that boundary, Gamja paused and stared ahead for a moment. Then it turned toward Kang Do-hee and reached out a front paw.
“Gueork.”
“What?”
“Gueok.”
Gamja extended its paw further, staring at the pheasant in Kang Do-hee’s hand — as if asking for it.
Without much hesitation, Kang Do-hee handed the pheasant over.
Gamja took the pheasant with both paws, turned again, and walked to a large, flat rock near the forest’s edge. It placed the pheasant on the rock.
And at that moment, a quest window we hadn’t called for popped up in our view, blinking.
Obtain protein-rich food: 1/3
“Huh?”
“Haje, what is it?”
“The quest just progressed.”
“Now?”
“Yeah. Just now.”
But that was it.
Only the number “1” had been counted. We tried placing mushrooms and a whole basket of wild herbs on the big rock, just like the Gamja did — but the number didn’t change.
“Looks like only meat counts.”
“Seems so. Gamja, are we just supposed to leave it here?”
“Gueok.”
Gamja, as if its job was done, turned and took the lead. The three of us began walking back the way we came.
As we stepped on the rustling grass and moved a little further from the forest’s edge, a faint sound came from behind.
It was so soft that we wouldn’t have noticed it without straining our ears. We turned around, but aside from Kang Do-hee walking close beside me, there was nothing.
The forest boundary was now steeped in darkness — so much so that it hardly looked like the same place we had just been moments ago.
Maybe it was just the wind… or a small animal?
But with Gamja and Kang Do-hee around, I didn’t feel scared. With one in front and one behind, I felt secure.
Now that we knew how to progress the quest, my heart — and steps — felt lighter.
As we followed Gamja again, a pale blue window suddenly appeared in front of us, and soft white letters glowed faintly.
[The guardian will remember this deed.]
“….!!”
Seeing the floating sentence in front of me, I immediately pulled up the quest window.
[General Quest]
Return the Kindness of the Host 1
Work with your party members to gather food and repay the host who accepted you as guests.
Protein-rich food: 1/3
Reward upon success: 100 gold
Penalty upon failure: None
Time limit: None
‘The host.’
It’s not a commonly used word, but judging by the term, I had assumed it referred to the elderly homeowner who took us in as guests.
But now I realized:
“I misunderstood the quest itself.”
I turned to look behind me again, and as our eyes met, Kang Do-hee stopped and turned her head in the same direction.
Looking at the darkened forest edge — it should’ve been terrifying. But strangely, it wasn’t scary at all.
“Why?”
“I’ll explain when we get back. I think it’s better if we talk about this in private.”
“Okay.”
As Kang Do-hee casually started walking again, I bowed slightly toward the darkness enveloping the forest’s edge.
Then I quickly ran and slipped in between Gamja and Kang Do-hee.
★★★
“No way! If it’s there, then it really is the mountain spirit’s domain!”
“So the ‘host’ mentioned in the quest wasn’t the elder — it was the mountain spirit.”
As soon as we got home, I gathered everyone and shared what I had learned about the quest.
The elder, upon hearing my story, nodded in understanding.
“It was an offering, then. That makes sense. The mountain spirit wouldn’t eat canned food, of course.”
I wondered if maybe the mountain spirit had never tried canned food before — and might eat it if we set some out.
But I quickly dismissed the thought.
I already had a pretty good idea how to complete the remaining two steps.
“We need to offer meat. I already tried putting entire baskets of herbs out — didn’t work.”
“If I’d known this, we shouldn’t have burned those things…”
Kang Do-hee muttered something, but I pretended not to hear and smiled gently.
So… we burned them… Ha… ha ha ha…
While I was trying to keep my expression in check, Ju Bi-yeong looked somewhere between me and Gamja and smiled brightly.
“Oh! So Barami went along and helped, huh? As expected, Barami is the best! Great job — you’re amazing!”
It seemed her spirit friend had given Gamja a heads-up about what to do.
Ju Bi-yeong couldn’t stop praising Barami.
I couldn’t see the spirit myself, but maybe it had a personality that enjoyed compliments?
In any case, the important thing was that we now knew how to progress the quest. I really was grateful.
Feeling a little awkward, but genuinely sincere, I turned toward where Ju Bi-yeong’s eyes had lingered and offered my thanks.
“Thank you, Barami. You were a huge help.”
I felt a bit silly talking to thin air, but I smiled as casually as I could.
And then—just for a moment—
“….!!”
I felt like someone had spoken to me.
There was no sound, but…
I clearly felt a warm energy, like sunlight, gently brush past my ear.
Shrinking my shoulders slightly, I smiled.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.