I shouldn't have unnecessarily made someone already impatient even more anxious.
There's a reason someone who could live without breaking the law resorts to violent methods.
Jurim cleanly admitted that trying to drag Cheon Gyuri and Ham Honggi to their deaths after entering the RP dungeon had been a bad move. Blinded by revenge, he had forgotten about the cute randomness of RP dungeons.
Even so, progress always came hand in hand with acknowledgment.
For now, he would have to settle for taking revenge after getting out of the RP dungeon, which meant he had to clear it as quickly as possible.
No matter how everything was tangled up, some strawberry-something candy errand was his number one priority.
Jurim looked out the window with a bored expression and spoke.
“Conductor, do you have kids?”
“Yes! I have five. They're young and weak children who can't survive without me.”
“Really? Must be nice. My kid is the type who would do just fine without me.”
“Ah…….”
“He’s a genius, you see.”
“Aah……!”
“I’m jealous, Conductor.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
The conductor apologized, though he couldn't understand why he was apologizing.
After all, the one who had been bragging about his child being a genius was the other man.
“I have a question, since you have five kids.”
“Yes, yes. Ask me anything.”
“How did you get them to call you Dad?”
Jurim was curious.
Was becoming a family, becoming a father, really that special? Was that why his mood was so twisted up like this? What the hell was so great about that…….
“Huh? Well…… I taught them. When they were learning to speak, I taught them to say ‘Dad’…….”
“What if that doesn't work? What if they can already speak, know the word ‘Dad,’ but don't call you that because they don't think of you as their father?”
The conductor pondered his answer. What could he say that wouldn't go against that scoundrel's mood?
“Well, it’s a bloodline, so they say there’s a pull to the blood.”
People generally tended to like fated things, connections that couldn’t be refused.
“Aah, blood ties…….”
Jurim, drawing out the end of his words, stared at the conductor. Cigarette smoke billowed up with a whoosh.
“That’s a bad answer.”
It was a minefield in every direction. That fucking wolf bastard.
What was truly bad was his own situation of having to move with that fucking wolf bastard for four whole days.
*
Meanwhile, time flowed leisurely at the squirrel farm.
Day 8.
Weather: Clear.
The oak tree had grown as big as Gru.
But the acorns had not yet formed.
Uncle Sabu is good at cooking.
Brother Serhi is bad at it.
Uncle Sabu gags when he eats something bad.
Gru drew a picture of Siwon vomiting, and next to it, she drew Serhi’s face spewing fire.
Day 9.
Weather: Cloudy.
Mood: Good.
I wish the acorns would grow quickly. So I gave it energizing syrup, and the oak tree shot upward.
Way too much……. I wonder why?
Today I packed my bags. Uncle Sabu said the acorns would open soon, so we should prepare to leave in advance.
Brother Serhi returned Cheche’s peach. Cheche secretly cried in the bathroom. Gru went and patted her shoulder.
I wonder what the Guild Leader is doing?
Gru drew Jurim’s face. Next to him, a flying squirrel stood holding Jurim’s hand.
Day 10.
Weather: Clear.
Mood: Good.
The oak tree was…….
[Oak of Purification]
[Status: Luxuriant]
[Extremely Comfortable]
[Lifespan: 10/40]
‘Luxuriant!’
Just as written in the information window, bountiful acorns hung from the oak tree.
Its lifespan had also increased by 10 days compared to the trees they had seen before.
‘Amazing!’
Siwon and Serhi’s group stood in a row with Gru in the middle and raised their heads.
“Yellow Gru, didn’t you say this oak tree doesn’t grow that big?”
Serhi, who had said it wouldn't grow past this height, pointed below his own waist.
“Oops, it got bigger.”
“Is that all?”
“Ungh.”
Deflated, Gru nodded her head slightly. The trees they had seen last time really hadn’t grown past that…….
‘Gru didn’t know it would grow like this either.’
The oak tree had grown so tall that it reached above the head of Jin Siwon, the tallest among the group.
Its branches stretched out wide, and the leaves were so thick that stepping into the farm blocked out all the sunlight.
‘Why did it grow like that?’
Gru rolled her eyes. Could it be because of the syrup?
“Squeak, squeak, squeak! Chomp, chomp!” (It must be thanks to the flying squirrel! It’s a bumper crop of acorns!)
From behind, Cheche made an excuse on her behalf.
“Bumper crop?”
“I’m glad it’s a good situation.”
“……?”
Gru and Siwon replied, but Serhi alone couldn’t understand squirrel language and furrowed his brow.
“Then let’s look for the special acorns for now.”
“Acorns!”
Chanting “acorns,” Gru raised her clenched fist.
“They all just look like regular acorns, though.”
“Right.”
“Acorns!”
Raising her clenched fist again, Gru chanted “acorns.”
Siwon urgently asked Cheche,
“Cheche, aren’t there any acorns that shine golden or look special?”
“Squeak?”
Cheche tilted her head as if hearing it for the first time in her life.
Then, this time, Serhi—who had understood instinctively—asked,
“Jenya, is our farming ruined?”
“Mhm.”
“Are the acorns ruined?!”
Faced with the gazes and questions flooding toward him, Siwon closed his mouth with a troubled expression.
They needed special acorns to purify the contaminated zone. But no matter how much they looked at them, the acorns hanging on the tree were just ordinary acorns…….
With a chagrined expression, Siwon muttered seriously,
“As expected, I should have bought the farmer’s essential item from the raccoon merchant back then…….”
“Hah! It’s ’cause there was no Royal Jelly……?”
Serhi pressed his forehead at the sight of the two. You still have lingering feelings for that raccoon?!
“Ah, this is frustrating. I told you that thing is a fucking scam?!”
“…….”
Siwon rebuked him silently with a fearsome face.
“Supreme.”
After Gru corrected the word, Serhi spoke again.
“A s-supreme scam?!”
“Hmph.”
Supreme was okay? Wasn’t the pronunciation similar? Serhi was a bit confused.
“For now, let’s divide into sections and search for special acorns.”
“Nyes!”
“Haah.”
At Jin Siwon’s suggestion, Gru stretched out her hand, and Serhi let out a long sigh.
Gru immediately rummaged inside her bag.
‘Special supreme acorns…….’
Soon, Gru pulled out a magnifying glass with a mustache attached.
‘Maybe I’ll see something with this!’
“Where am I goin’?”
As she asked while wearing the magnifying glass with a mustache under the lens, Siwon covered his mouth.
“Let’s have cute Gru go to the center. If you feel mana or see a tree that looks special, tell me.”
“Okey!”
Gru smiled brightly and trotted toward the center that Siwon pointed to.
Siwon took the left section, and Serhi took the right.
‘I don’t feel any mana, though.’
Then can I detect it with the magnifying glass?
We really didn’t fail, right?
It was then that Gru searched up and down with an anxious heart.
‘Light?’
Gru raised her head, following the afterimage of the light. The light flickered at the top of the tree.
‘It’s high!’
It was a place Gru couldn’t reach even by hopping up and down.
She tried jumping and even tried climbing the trunk like a squirrel, but all of it failed.
The oak tree rustled its leaves as if mocking Gru’s sorry state. The leaves rustled, imitating something like laughter.
When Gru brought up the oak tree’s information window, this is what was written:
[Oak of Purification]
[Status: Luxuriant]
[Looking down on you…….]
[Lifespan: 10/40]
‘How rude!’
The enraged Gru trembled her shoulders.
‘I need help!’
Swish, swish—she turned her head and looked around from side to side, then peeked beyond the tree trunk to where Serhi was.
Serhi squatted with a sullen face, holding acorns in both hands and narrowing his eyes as if he were a chick sexer.
“Brother.”
“Yeah, I’m working hard without slacking off.”