‘Just now… Hayul calmed that wild boar, didn’t he?’
I don’t know how he did it, but the boar clearly understood Hayul’s words and seemed to prepare for its end.
I’d thought the same when he handled the stray dog before, but could Hayul have abilities like a druid or spirit caller, like Jubi-yeong?
“Hayul-ah, how did you do that just now?”
“Huh? What?”
Hearing my question, Hayul blinked his round eyes a few times. Then, scratching his cheek, he mumbled hesitantly.
“Well, it’s kind of like how I calmed the stray dog… I didn’t really *do* anything… I’m not sure myself.”
He looked embarrassed, and it didn’t seem like he was lying. He’d also said before that it wasn’t a special skill when I asked.
But still, with the stray dog and now this, he seemed so confident approaching enraged wild animals.
Kang Do-hee, overhearing our conversation, showed no reaction, her face blank. Kang Do-jin, as usual, looked at his brother with a smug expression.
‘Look at this guy’s face.’
Since Hayul said it wasn’t a skill, I didn’t press further. Instead, I stood side by side with him to listen to Kang Do-hee’s lecture.
Thanks to her, we learned that the vital spot for most four-legged mammals, including wild boars, is around the nape of the neck, and how to dispatch them quickly and painlessly.
We also picked up butchering knowledge, like how to remove entrails, separate fat, and cut between bones for clean slicing.
We both gagged a few times in the process… but impressively, Hayul didn’t vomit like I did when I first saw a fish being gutted.
‘My brother’s really something.’
With each of us carrying a chunk of meat, the group continued walking, keeping an eye on our surroundings.
After passing a cherry blossom tree stripped of its petals by the rain, we reached the forest’s edge.
At the boundary where the dark, dense forest began, we placed the meat on a large boulder. Soon after, a status window appeared.
[General Quest]
Gratitude of the Guest 1
Work with your party to gather food and show gratitude to the guardian who accepted you as a guest.
Obtain protein-rich food: 3/3 (Completed)
You have successfully completed the Gratitude of the Guest 1 quest.
Would you like to receive the quest success reward of 100 gold?
[Yes] [No]
‘Oh.’
100 gold acquired!
The special gold shop has been unlocked!
You can now use the shop!
With the copyright-worrying sound effect, the quest completion confirmation, item acquisition notifications, and other windows popped up one after another.
A new shop-shaped button appeared among the map, inventory, and other icons, blinking.
“Whoa…”
“Hyung, did you complete the quest? What’s the reward? Did you get the gold?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Hold on, the shop opened, so I need to check it out.”
“Kyaang!”
“Right, right, Bamtol-ah. Let’s go over there to look.”
I started walking slowly in the direction Bamtol, perched on my shoulder with its head resting on mine, pointed to.
Finding some flat boulders spaced out nearby, we decided to sit there and check the status window.
“Does everyone have the shop icon?”
“Not me.”
“I don’t either.”
“Hmm… I don’t see it either.”
“Maybe you need to acquire gold first. I’ll check what we can buy.”
The shop UI was simple.
It looked like the kind of shop design you’d find in a typical mobile game.
The item list showed a few things, but all except one were grayed out in black-and-white, unclickable.
‘Guess this is the only one available for now.’
Clicking the only item in color brought up its description window.
[Dokkebi Cap]
200 gold 100 gold
50% discount!*
A magical cap that makes the wearer’s body invisible.
The magic is bound to the buyer, so only the buyer can use it.
Caution:
Only the wearer’s appearance becomes invisible; sounds made by the wearer cannot be concealed.
An item that binds to the buyer upon purchase.
‘Hmm, it binds immediately and only I can use it… Is there anything else?’
Invisibility sounds like a good item, but I’d prefer something we could all use or a weapon to help with the boss monster.
Hoping there might be other items below, I scrolled down, but sadly, the Dokkebi Cap was the only item I could buy with 100 gold.
‘At least let me see the descriptions.’
Can’t I even read about the items I can’t buy?
Stingily, the names weren’t even shown—just vague images to guess from. There were a few potion-like images and some that looked like swords or armor.
The shop’s setup felt like it was pushing me to buy the Dokkebi Cap right now…
“Hmm…”
“Hyung, what’s there? Huh?”
“There’s only one thing I can buy. The rest are locked so I can’t even see them. It’s like they’re forcing me to buy this one.”
“Wow, that’s so cheap!”
Maybe the shop window heard Hayul’s blunt comment, because it seemed to tremble slightly, but the locked items didn’t turn to color or show descriptions.
“Haje, why don’t you hold off on spending the gold? Maybe wait until a quest comes up that lets you earn more gold.”
“Yeah, Hyung, there might be better stuff later.”
“Alright, should we do that?”
The Kang siblings, who seemed far more used to this kind of situation, made a good point, so I decided to follow their advice.
Just as I was about to close the status window, a new message frantically popped up.
[The ‘Dokkebi Cap’ is currently 50% off! Close the window, and the discount will vanish!]
“…Vanish?”
[Vanishes!]
[50% discount vanishes!]
[No discount next time!]
[Purchase now recommended!]
[Strongly recommended!]
“……”
“Haje, what’s with that face?”
“Hyung, what’s wrong? Huh?”
“No, it’s just the status window…”
After clearing away the flurry of pop-up status windows, the purchase button started blinking aggressively.
I narrowed my eyes, watching the suddenly flashy button. It felt like it was getting bigger, and the status window itself was subtly creeping closer to my face.
“It says if I don’t buy now, the 50% discount will end, and it’ll cost 200 gold later…”
“That’s basically strong-arming you into buying, isn’t it? The status window’s too much!”
As Hayul huffed indignantly, the purchase button seemed to tremble slightly.
Still, it held firm, making it clear it really wanted me to buy this thing…
“Ugh, fine, I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it. Let’s just get it. There’s probably a reason it’s pushing this hard.”
“It’s 50% off, so just buy it.”
“Yeah, with all this scheming, there’s gotta be something to it.”
When I pressed the purchase button, a small cap dropped onto my hand.
As the group gathered around to look, Bamtol, curious, grabbed my hair and leaned forward, grunting.
“What’s that?”
“It’s called a Dokkebi Cap. It’s an item bound to me.”
“True. With invisibility magic and binding, only you can use it, Haje.”
“Hyung, try it on!”
“Should I? Bamtol-ah, come down for a sec.”
I carefully lifted Bamtol, who was sprawled on my head, and handed him to Hayul.
The moment I put on the small Dokkebi Cap and tied the string, the group and I gasped in unison.
“Gasp! Hyung! You’re really invisible!!”
“Whoa, it’s transparent.”
“Kyaang!”
“Seeing the footprints on the ground, you’ll need to move carefully even with this. It says it doesn’t hide sounds either… Haje? Haje?”
As everyone chimed in, I couldn’t respond right away.
The instant I put on the cap, my vision flipped entirely.
It was as if all colors vanished, leaving a world of pure black and white.
The only things in color were Hayul, Bamtol, and the Kang siblings—not the people themselves, but the light surrounding them, each a different hue.
In short, the people were black and white, but the light enveloping them varied.
Hayul was wrapped in a soft, cotton-candy-like pale yellow light, and Bamtol in a pearly white glow.
And the Kang siblings…
‘Pitch black…’
It wasn’t light but a dark, rippling energy encasing them.
It looked like black smoke rising from their bodies or black flames flickering fiercely.
One thing was certain: it was nothing like the gentle glow around Hayul or Bamtol.
Then, as if she could see me, Kang Do-hee locked eyes with me and asked in a calm voice.
“Haje, you okay?”
“…!! Oh, y-yeah, I’m fine. This is… uh, kinda weird. The world looks black and white when I wear it.”
“Really? Anything else?”
“Uh…”
How do I say this? That Hayul and Bamtol don’t have it, but you two are wrapped in a dark energy?
“No, there doesn’t seem to be anything else…”
It felt like I shouldn’t mention it. For some reason, it seemed better to keep quiet.
Trailing off vaguely, I checked for anything else, when suddenly something swept through the air.
“Gasp!?”
“Hyung!? What’s wrong!?”
“No, just now, something in the air…”
For a moment, something fluttered across the sky. I thought I might’ve misseen, but no.
A presence, flitting through the air, was moving farther away.
It looked like a translucent curtain fluttering or an aurora streaking by quickly.
Watching it, unsure what it was, I realized its nature when another translucent veil brushed past me.
“The wind… I can see it?”
“The wind? You can see the wind blowing right now?”
“I think so. And…”
It wasn’t just the wind. Unknown specks of light were scattered in the air, faintly glowing.
They were so dim I wouldn’t have noticed them otherwise, making it hard to guess what they were.
Unlike the wind, they didn’t move or blow; they just flickered faintly in the air, fading as if about to vanish, then sparkling again.
“There’s some kind of light I can’t identify. It doesn’t move, just… like someone sprinkled glitter thinly in the sky.”
It was a clumsy explanation, limited by my descriptive skills, but Hayul smiled brightly, finding it fascinating.
“That sounds so pretty!”
“…….”
Pretty?
Honestly, it was hard to call it pretty.
If what I was seeing was a painting, it’d look like someone accidentally scattered a bit of glitter in the air.
‘It feels like it’ll all blow away soon.’
Maybe because the light was so faint, it seemed like a few more gusts would sweep those sparkles away.
Perhaps that’s why, staring at the dim light that seemed ready to disappear, I felt a pang of sadness.
Shifting my gaze back to the Kang siblings, I saw the dark energy still flickering around them. If I’d met them without knowing them, I might’ve mistaken them for grim reapers or something scarier.
‘But I’m not scared at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown fond of them already?’
It didn’t feel dangerous.
If anything, seeing them like this just made me think, ‘Yup, these siblings are extraordinary.’
I was about to take off the cap and reappear when two bluish windows popped up in succession.
[The Guardian will remember this deed.]
[The Guardian will remember you.]