Chapter 52
Crackle, crackle—
“Should we wake Noah up soon?”
“Then I’ll… Oh, Noah.”
Roused from my light sleep by the surrounding noise, I groggily got up from the mat.
The sun had already set completely, darkening everything around, and a small campfire was lit in front of the camper van.
Of course, a large bird was roasting to a golden brown over it.
“We were just about to wake you. Dinner is ready.”
“Yes. Um… What’s this?”
With a face somewhat relieved of fatigue, I got up and muttered in surprise, looking at the camper van.
“The van looks really clean now?”
The badly dented back was now shining like new.
“Yeah. I borrowed a bit of divine power. It’s from a very skillful god.”
Choi Yu lifted his chin proudly.
“I see. You really are…”
As I swallowed the rest of my words, he impatiently urged.
“What? Why do you stop mid-sentence!”
Then Yu, who never hesitated to speak her mind, calmly finished my sentence with a serene face.
“Really a ‘noisy one’.”
“Yes. Since you two have the same name and it’s confusing, we can call him that from now on. ‘Choi Kkang-kang.'”
*It’s a mimetic word for striking with a hammer, and also, he’s noisy.
“What? Why is she Yu and I’m Kkang-kang! Huh?”
At that moment, Baek Yi-heon, who was by the campfire, called us in a calm tone.
“The meat is cooked. Let’s come and have dinner.”
“Sounds good.”
“Yes!”
“No, listen to me…”
“Wow, there’s soup too.”
“Yes. I made it in the camper van’s kitchen.”
“Listen… Me too! Give me some soup too!”
And that’s how Choi Yu’s nickname became ‘Kkang-kang.’
“Wow, it’s delicious!”
“Next time, I’m thinking of making a stew with the leftover meat and potatoes.”
“Hyung-nim, you’re good at cooking too… Isn’t it okay to have some flaws when you’re that handsome?”
“Ah, is that why Choi Kkang has more flaws than Baek Yi-heon-ssi?”
“…Nunim, really. Are you doing this on purpose?”
As it was at the foot of the mountain, a rather chilly wind blew when night fell.
However, the large campfire was warm, and the warmth of the people sitting around it was cozy.
Chewing on the well-cooked meat, I suddenly thought about Yu’s words, ‘With more people, there’s no loneliness.’
“Noah. Don’t just eat meat, have some soup too. Vegetable intake is important.”
“…Okay.”
I don’t know why he’s so obsessive about what people eat.
At Baek Yi-heon’s immediate nagging, I started to focus on eating again.
The night passes.
And so, the journey of this odd combination begins:
Two combat-type awakened ones.
A child with barrier abilities.
A healer and a noisy one.
And one person who’s half-awakened.
💎
07. Valley of the Nine Dragons
Choi Kkang, sitting cross-legged in the passenger seat and watching outside, exclaimed in admiration.
Outside the camper van protected by Sehun’s barrier, our combat personnel, Baek Yi-heon, and Yu, were fighting monsters.
On the way to Gangwon Province.
When we had to pass through a populated area due to a blocked mountain road, monsters inevitably poured out.
The original residents of the village were either evacuated or had already met with disaster, as they were nowhere to be seen.
In the distance, Baek Yi-heon swung the dragon’s fang, which was surrounded by blue mana.
A giant iguana-like monster was cleanly split in two.
“That Hyung-nim fights as cleanly as he looks.”
On the other hand, Yu was rampaging as if berserk, with a third eye on her forehead.
“That Nunim looks like she has a grudge against the monsters or something. …I better behave well. Yes.”
Unlike Choi Kkang, who was muttering to himself, I watched Yu with a somewhat worried expression.
She was in the process of practicing to maintain her rationality even when facing monsters.
Every time monsters appeared, she would go berserk, and she couldn’t calm down unless she annihilated all the monsters.
Even with the ability to use a god’s mighty power, that was too big of a handicap.
‘Of course, it doesn’t seem to be going well…’
Where did her usual gentle and calm demeanor go?
I sighed as I watched Yu rampaging like a war demon.
It was also a problem that after expending her power like that and losing her third eye, she would collapse from exhaustion.
‘If this happens every time monsters appear, it’ll never end. I really need to make a barrier stone.’
Barrier stone.
It’s an item made using magic stones that prevents monsters from detecting human bio-energy.
Magic stones are mediums used by evil gods to manifest monsters on earth, containing pure energy called mana.
Although created by evil gods, just as energy itself has no good or evil, the same applies to magic stones.
You can see this from how I use them to channel celestial god’s power.
However, that’s a special case where I directly channel divine power.
Since it’s not earthly energy, humans need a special refining method to utilize magic stones.
‘Of course, I know the refining method for magic stones.’
It’s a scene that appears quite often in the original work.
The refining method is surprisingly simple, but it requires specific conditions.
There are quite a few places in the Korean peninsula that meet these conditions, but if we want to stop by on the way from Busan to Ganghwa Island…
‘Right. That place in Jirisan Mountain.’
Crack.
Boom!
“…It’s over.”
Just as I finished my decision, the battle outside the camper van also ended.
The blue eye that had been splitting Yu’s forehead horizontally slowly disappeared.
The place where the two had rampaged was now filled with dropped items and magic stones.
“They sometimes drop things like that? I hope there’s something useful this time.”
Choi Kkang, who was interested in items and tools, quickly jumped out of the passenger seat.
“Noah. I’ve collected everything.”
On the other hand, Baek Yi-heon, not interested in items, came into the car with an armful of magic stones.
“Ah…”
Why does his look, eyes shining as he looks at me, feel just like a dog waiting for praise?
“Th-thank you. Wow. There’s so many.”
When I awkwardly exclaimed, a hint of satisfaction appeared on his stoic face.
Yu, who followed, lay down on the makeshift sofa with a tired face.
Choi Kkang also returned to the camper van, grumbling that there was ‘nothing useful’.
“We slow down every time we pass through populated areas. …So, I was thinking.”
I suddenly said to the gathered group.
Since I was the driver, I also decided the destination and route.
“I’m thinking of taking the road through Jirisan Mountain.”
I calmly added.
“We should encounter fewer monsters if we stick to mountain roads.”
The group nodded without any suspicion.
“Sounds good.”
“Do as you like, Noona!”
“Sure. I can’t drive so I don’t know the roads well.”
…Good.
“Then I’m going to speed up, so hold on tight everyone.”
I pulled the gear and stepped on the accelerator.
💎
Indeed, as we moved towards the foothills of Jirisan, monster encounters decreased.
“Why are those creatures so desperate to eat humans?”
Choi Kkang grumbled, sitting on the sofa in the back compartment he had personally modified.
“…I wonder.”
Muttering softly, I opened the driver’s seat window to let the warm breeze into the car.
The mountain, welcoming early summer, was bursting with greenery.
Seeing the mountain as green as ever, regardless of whether the world was ending or not, brought a sense of peace somewhere in my heart.
‘…Haahh. But how do I get these people to ‘that place’?’
Should I mention the Intrachankoonta god or whatever again?
As I was pondering this.
“It would be good to stock up on water and food from the mountain.”
Baek Yi-heon, who was in the back compartment, quietly suggested.
At those words, I secretly cheered inside.
‘I was just wondering how to get them to the mountain, it’s helpful that he mentioned it first.’
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
