[Shall we try it a different way?]
The excited voice of Research Team Leader Shinsomi echoed through the room.
As the floor opened, the pot with a dandelion sprout was taken away, and instead, a pot with a blooming dandelion appeared.
[You said you’ve never touched a plant before, right?]
Nod, nod.
At some point, the PR team made pink gardening gloves a requirement. Because of the dangerous abilities of Zack and Mujae, even Hallakgoong wore gardening gloves.
[Then let’s try touching the plant with your bare hands this time.]
[But, this time, let’s think about ‘Contraction’.]
When Research Team Leader Shinsomi said this, Zack tilted his head, so she continued with an explanation.
[You said you made the ground a pit in the Northern Ice Hell, right?]
Nod, nod.
[Collapsing the ground—that’s ‘Contraction’. You make the ‘Mac’ flowing through the earth shrink back.]
Listening to her, Zack recalled that memory.
The cold so intense it numbed his senses, making his consciousness fade moment by moment.
Mujae’s scream as he sensed danger and barely held on alone.
Hallakgoong rushing headlong into danger as he slipped from Zack’s grasp.
At that moment, what was Zack thinking…
-Shiver…!
[Oh! It’s contracting, just as I thought!]
The instant Zack’s fingertips touched the dandelion, he felt a vibration, like with the seed before.
But unlike last time, the pulse was slowing down.
It seemed to drift away, and then…
Like falling into winter sleep, the leaves curled up.
As the feeling faded, Zack opened his eyes.
In front of him was a drooping, wilted dandelion.
[Amazing!]
The sound of Team Leader Shinsomi clapping in admiration for Zack’s ability rang out.
But Zack, a little shocked, couldn’t take his eyes off the dandelion pot.
Did I really do this?
At that moment, voices calling out to Zack rang out.
“Zack!!”
“Can we come in?!”
It was Zack and Mujae, who had come all the way to the lab’s experimental room to find Zack.
Hallakgoong, trying to act cool for no reason, gave an awkward greeting to the Shinsomis in the observation room.
“Young master!”
“Ahem. Hello.”
Separate from them, the excited Mujae ran straight to Zack.
Seeing his friend wagging his metaphorical tail, Zack felt his own tension melt away before he realized it.
“Zack! What were you doing? Doing something cool? Was it fun?”
‘Yeah.’
Every time he saw Mujae, he was always so bright.
“Ah~ You were doing a hologram scan. But that’s easy, you just have to stand still…”
‘What did you do before?’
“Hmm, I remember doing the Sins Measurement Device, Soul Purity Scan, and Previous Life Karmic Ring Test, I think?”
…Just the names of those tests made it feel like Mujae had been completely dissected. Zack instinctively felt that asking further would just make it worse, so he didn’t.
[Mujae~ There are still tests left for you. Please come into the observation room~]
“Oh, Zack, good luck!”
With short, quick steps, Mujae entered the observation room, and then Research Team Leader Shinsomi continued with her instructions.
[All right, let’s do the ‘Expansion’ test next…]
She explained the research she had been doing on Zack until now.
[Zack’s ability feels the energy flowing through living things like a ‘Mac’. But until now, you said you didn’t have a chance to feel that before you turned into a monster.]
[Did you have any particular thoughts when you touched the seed earlier?]
Still standing under the light of the hologram scan, Zack fell into thought.
Thanks to that, the green ring hovering above his head looked like his brainwaves.
He raised his hand toward the observation room.
‘Perfect Wheat.’
“Ah, that’s the assignment Zack got.”
“Assignment?”
It was a word Zack had once written for Mujae.
Foreign languages were still a weakness for Mujae, and this was the first English word he’d ever run through a translator.
“Zack said it was homework from his grandmother.”
“Perfect wheat. Zack’s grandmother is the Goddess of Agriculture.”
“Huh.”
From the silent Hallakgoong came a smooth English pronunciation. Mujae gave him an exasperated look.
“What’s with that look?”
“You’re good at foreign languages too? Seriously, you’re too much.”
“I was the one who handled Zack’s study abroad paperwork, you know?!”
While the PR team bantered, Research Team Leader Shinsomi scribbled ‘perfect wheat’ in her notes with great interest.
Amidst the chatter, Facilities Team Shinsomi picked up the mic.
[Then, Zack, how do you think of the feeling of perfection?]
Zack paused to think for a moment. Then he quickly began to sign.
‘Strong, sturdy, powerful…’
“…Muscles?!”
“What’s he saying now?!”
Mujae and Hallakgoong’s faces immediately twisted as they read Zack’s sign language.
But the Shinsomis burst into laughter, almost squealing.
“So cute~!”
“Huh? You think imagining a plant doing bodybuilding is cute??”
Hallakgoong was so baffled that he forgot to feel awkward as he protested.
But to the two Shinsomis, who were quite seasoned at Seocheon Flower Garden, Zack’s odd answer was just adorable.
“Plants with muscular beauty, that’s adorable!”
“So pure, too.”
“…Our Zack really is pure.”
Mujae, trying to understand, finally nodded.
After some time, Research Team Leader Shinsomi picked up the mic again.
Ahem, hmm. Zack?
She hadn’t managed to wipe away all her laughter, but it didn’t get in the way of her explanation.
Zack waited, a little bewildered, then looked up.
[Originally, we were going to do the ‘Expansion’ test.]
[But now, let’s do a more detailed test.]
Her voice dropped a notch.
Like a beast stalking prey, she became tense.
[To erase that ‘perfect’ image you just mentioned, focus on the image in front of you.]
As she spoke, a projector beam came on before Zack.
What appeared was a dandelion with several flowers in bloom.
[The dandelion in front of you probably has only one flower.]
[Now, imagine making it like the image you see—spreading it out, expanding it in many branches.]
Zack fixed his gaze on the dandelion pot before him.
Without needing to be told, he took three deep breaths, closed his eyes, and stretched out his trembling hand.
Expansion.
Expanding.
This sensation—expand it in many directions!
-Crack….
-Crunch, crack….
The sound multiplied, like bones colliding.
“Uh?”
Mujae’s startled voice reached Zack’s ears.
At Zack’s fingertips, trying to endure with his eyes squeezed shut, a new sensation was spreading.
“Wow!”
“Zack!! Step back!”
At Hallakgoong’s shout, Zack’s eyes snapped open.
By then, the explosive growth of the dandelion hadn’t stopped.
Its stem thickened rapidly, shooting up like bamboo. The soft green stem darkened, gaining a tough skin and turning into ‘wood’.
-Bang!
The enormous stalk touched the ceiling. In no time, branches thick with leaves spread across the whole lab.
“Wowww…!”
And at the end of each one, dozens, hundreds of yellow flowers bloomed.
The laboratory filled with golden dandelions, as if it had become a magical forest in a fairy tale.
“Did I… do this?”
It was a tiny whisper, as soft as the rustle of blooming flowers.
After calming the feverish excitement in the lab, the PR team headed elsewhere.
Hallakgoong, arriving at Ggotgam Officer’s office, The Hall of Purity and Elegance, looked around.
After making sure there were no supervisors around that he didn’t want to run into, Hallakgoong quickly led the group inside.
Deep within The Hall of Purity and Elegance, a large magnolia tree guarded a side door.
Hallakgoong, familiar with the place, took out a small key and unlocked the door.
Mujae followed Hallakgoong, thinking,
‘Hallakgoong’s mother seems very different from Ggotgam Officer.’
Pale pink azaleas blooming in the flowerbed, white magnolias, and gardenias with their subtle fragrance.
Unlike the dazzling and unpredictable plants of Seocheon Flower Garden, these plants seemed plain and friendly.
Finally, the Ggotgam Officer couple’s residence, Hall of the Flower’s Heart (花心堂), came into view.
With a small wind chime hanging under the eaves ringing clear, Hall of the Flower’s Heart looked less like the home of a high lady and more like a place where a gentle girl would play in her socks.
“Mother, Goong is here.”
Climbing up the veranda, Hallakgoong carefully opened the door.
Amid the delicate fragrance tickling his nose, the silhouette of a woman under a silk blanket appeared beyond a silk screen in the middle of the room.
As Hallakgoong sat, Mujae and Zack sat down beside him.
Wongangam had a white face and picture-perfect eyebrows—just like their friend.
“I brought the friends I work with today, Mother.”
“Hello, we are Goong’s friends, Mujae and Zack.”
Just then, someone else entered the room.
Seyoung, who served Wongangam, opened the door and stopped in surprise, so Hallakgoong sensed someone and apologized first.
“Ah, sorry for coming in without saying anything.”
“Hello….”
An awkward greeting was exchanged.
With a faint smile, Hallakgoong explained.
“Seyoung is the one who’s followed me since the mortal world. Thanks to her, I was able to bring Mother here to the afterlife. I would’ve had a hard time alone.”
“I heard you took care of SNS management while we were on a business trip?”
Mujae belatedly gave his thanks.
“You organized all the lists and files. Have you done this before?”
“Seyoung is really detail-oriented. She’s better at announcements than we are, too.”
Zack quickly nodded from the side.
With all the praise and gratitude, Seyoung’s face turned red.
‘No, I just did what the Officer told me to do.’
“Come on~ My father doesn’t have that kind of sense. Obviously it was Seyoung who did it.”
Once again, Sara was getting roasted in her absence. But Seyoung, embarrassed, soon got up.
‘Well then, I’ll leave you to your conversation.’
As she bowed her head in farewell, Seyoung’s gaze lingered briefly on Mujae.
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing, never mind.”
A chill as faint as a snowflake. But Mujae, basking in spring, soon shrugged it off.
Hallakgoong, like he would when friends weren’t around, chatted away holding his mother’s hand.
“This business trip was a bit long, Mother. Father just extended it on his own…”
Zack, watching with interest, gestured.
‘You talk well with your mother.’
“Yeah, we’ve always been chatterboxes. It’s just the two of us, so we talk a lot. Don’t you?”
Shaking his head.
‘My mother hates me.’
The unexpected revelation made Hallakgoong and Mujae’s eyes widen. Come to think of it, Zack had only ever talked about his father. He spoke about this serious matter as casually as ever.
‘I haven’t lived with my mother since I was little. I had a nanny friend, so it wasn’t uncomfortable.’
“Then what about your grandmother…?”
‘I met her for the first time on my last birthday.’
Are gods always this distant? Not even Mujae, who didn’t know much about relationships with parents, grandmothers, or nannies, or even distant Western knowledge, could say. But Hallakgoong didn’t back down.
“That’s an awfully cool family. Were you independent since birth?”
Zack found Hallakgoong’s question amusing.
“Pretty much?”
“…If you ever go back to your hometown, try reaching out once.”
Hallakgoong’s gaze grew tender as he looked at his mother again.
“But she’s still your mother. She gave birth to you.”
‘I’ll do that.’
Zack’s signing moved delicately—like his heart.
‘You have such a warm mother. I’m jealous.’
“Me too.”
Mujae chimed in, giving Hallakgoong a wink.
“Nice, I got to meet my friend’s mother on leave.”
“…Yeah, I think I’ll rest tonight.”
Hallakgoong rubbed his eyes tiredly. A question mark popped up above Mujae’s head.
“You didn’t rest last night? You got up late today too.”
“…I’ll show you later.”
Hallakgoong let out a half-exasperated chuckle.
“I was editing the Northern Ice Hell documentary.”
“?!”