Three days later.
!
Seocheon Flower Garden Special Announcement
Hello, Flower Keepers!
Thank you for your enthusiastic interest in the Seocheon Flower Garden’s department introduction videos.
However, with the Education Team as the last, we have decided to take a short break from the department introduction videos…
The reason is—
A special Seocheon Flower Garden x Collaboration has been confirmed! (Fwoosh)
The hint is… a place that’s really, really hot?!
The Promotion Team’s muscular challenge from the delicate(?) Seocheon Flower Garden!
Look forward to seeing what kind of encounter it will be!
SeocheonFlowerGarden #Collaboration #BoilingHell #IronBachelor
As soon as the announcement was uploaded, comments poured in.
@flowerkeeper99: Our Flower Garden is finally doing a collaboration?!
@living_my_best_worstlife: Ah, I really liked the department introduction videosᅲ
@fox_tail: Promotion Team… were they really that delicate…?
Gatdok Channel, which had grown rapidly, now boasted over 200,000 subscribers.
Some were thrilled that our channel was finally doing a collaboration with another channel, while others regretted the interruption of the department introduction videos.
@reaperkim: Iron Bachelor? ㅋㅋㅋ It’s Boiling Hell, right? ㅋㅋㅋ
@8dragons_housemate: ???A collaboration with a 500,000-subscriber channel??? That’s huge.
Some commenters guessed the collaboration partner right away, just from a small hint. Every comment was filled with interest and affection—just reading the comments on the announcement made Mujae feel full.
“Great response~”
But there was someone who had been wearing a long face ever since the collaboration was decided. Hallakgoong, plagued by all sorts of worries, tried to prepare for everything, but he, too, had never been to another Hell.
“They say the basic temperature in Boiling Hell is over 800 degrees. Zack and I may have divine bodies, but you, Mujae…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine~”
“No, hey! Don’t just brush it off… Zack!”
His meticulous worrying made him look just like a parent fussing over a child going to school for the first time. This time, Hallakgoong spotted Zack.
“Zack! Double-check that you’ve packed all the filming equipment. If you forget even one thing, it’ll melt in the heat…”
But Zack was just as unfazed by his worries as Mujae. Zack was just as excited.
‘The Facilities Team wrapped all the cameras in insulation packages. It’s fine.’
“…But Zack, what’s that?”
A suspiciously large suitcase, even bigger than the one packed with Zack’s filming gear. Whatever was inside, Zack looked like a startled rabbit.
“What’s in there that it’s so big?”
Shake, shake. Zack repeated the same hand gesture with an artificial smile.
‘Nothing special, it’s fine! It’s fine!’
“What needs to be fine? You’re not carrying anything dangerous, are you?”
Shake, shake. It was the shadiest smile Zack had ever worn. As if to say everything was fine, Zack blocked Hallakgoong from approaching the suitcase. Mujae laughed and soothed Hallakgoong.
“He says it’s fine~ The last department intro video’s being uploaded today, the announcement’s up, we’ve got the insulation suits from the Facilities Team.”
In response to Mujae, Zack held up an insulation suit. The shimmering silver full-body suit looked heavy, but Zack lifted it as if it weighed nothing. Hallakgoong shook his head in disbelief.
“You expect me to wear a 15kg suit? And you just lift three at once like it’s nothing. I’m lost for words! Take them all, then.”
Shake, shake. Zack, eyes round, shook his head.
‘I’m not wearing it, I’ll only take two.’
“Huh? Why not? Are you crazy?”
Hallakgoong freaked out, but Zack just shook his head again.
‘I don’t need to wear it. I never wore it back home either.’
“You think this place is the same as your hometown?!”
‘Pretty similar.’
“…Ugh, whatever!! Do as you want!”
In the end, Hallakgoong surrendered. And at last, the Promotion Team’s first business trip was upon them.
“Feels like we’re heading for a space expedition in the Heavenly Realm, not just Boiling Hell.”
Gathered at the west gate of Seocheon Flower Garden for the long journey, Sara looked pleased as she laughed at Mujae and Hallakgoong, both suited up in insulation suits. But Hallakgoong couldn’t stop grumbling inside the heavy suit.
“Why do we have to wear these from the very start? It’s already heavy as hell, what do they want, for us to get crushed and die on the way?!”
“Calm down, son.”
“Are we going to take a commemorative photo or something? Gonna hang it up later with a caption like all cheesy?!”
“…That’s exactly the plan.”
Caught out, Sara cleared her throat. This time, Mujae, who had grown pretty close with Hallakgoong, tried a whisper.
“We’re riding ~~ today, that’s why!”
“What?”
But there’s no way two people in 15kg suits could whisper.
“That! That thing we’re riding today!!”
“What are we riding?!”
The two created a scene straight out of a variety show. Mujae was pointing at the “Horse Saddles” laid out in front of the gate. Three horse saddles were neatly placed on the ground. Seeing this, Sara asked Zack,
“Aren’t you putting it on?”
Nod.
“Well, yeah.”
Sara just nodded and said nothing more. Only the real son, listening to this stoic father-and-son dialogue, was fuming.
“Father!!”
“What, you’re going to break my eardrums.”
“Why don’t you make him wear this too?! All day you’re only nagging me…!”
“Everyone, please board now.”
With dark sunglasses, the Security Team Shinsomi appeared at the gate. Even Hallakgoong almost clammed up at her disciplined presence. But the root of his protest was still unresolved.
“Board what, exactly?!”
“……It’s right in front of your eyes.”
Security Team Shinsomi pointed again at the horse saddles. Just as Hallakgoong was about to tear his hair out, Mujae and Hallakgoong quickly sat down on the saddles.
“…This?!”
A grown man sitting on nothing but a horse saddle on the ground—it was so ridiculous that Hallakgoong burst out laughing. Mujae even grabbed the reins.
“Zack, hold on tight. Otherwise, you’ll get motion sickness.”
Nod.
It finally dawned on Hallakgoong that this might actually be real… No way! He couldn’t see or feel a thing!
“Is this a hidden camera prank?”
“Stop talking nonsense and just sit down. We’re out of time.”
“Out of time for what??”
The Boiling Hell trip was to last three nights and four days. And their first meeting wasn’t for another two hours. Just as Hallakgoong’s shoulders filled with question marks, Sara’s thick hands landed on them.
And pressed down.
“?!”
“Just sit! Hold the reins too!”
Startled, Hallakgoong ended up sitting on the saddle. With a spring in her step, Sara handed Mujae the camera.
“Have a safe trip, Promotion Team—Seocheon Flower Garden’s seventeenth department.”
“Huh?”
The camera’s red light blinked. When did it start filming? Mujae recalled a question Sara had asked recently.
‘Sixteen? Isn’t it seventeen?’
Ah. The Promotion Team was a Seocheon Flower Garden department too.
Even this hectic, noisy moment was the true face of our Promotion Team.
Security Team Shinsomi announced their departure once again.
“Alright, everyone, grab your reins.”
…….
As Hallakgoong, with a highly suspicious expression, cautiously grabbed the reins—
“…?!”
They had arrived.
A scorching heat enveloped their bodies in an instant. A vast cave of black basalt, and glowing magma flowing across the floor. This was ‘Boiling Hell.’
“What the….”
Hallakgoong, stunned, couldn’t close his mouth as he looked around the cave. Mujae grumbled beside him.
“Man~ We crossed the river. We could’ve gone the other way.”
When Mujae brushed water off his suit, Zack quickly helped wipe him down too. The air was so hot that steam was rising from their clothes. Struggling to keep his wits, Hallakgoong managed to ask,
“A while ago, I saw something white when I grabbed the reins….”
“The colors were changing, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the river flowing beside Seocheon Flower Garden. You always cross it when you take these ‘Horse Saddles’.”
Mujae’s grumbling had a strangely familiar air. Only now did Hallakgoong remember Mujae’s past.
“Ah. You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
“Of course. At least dozens of times, probably.”
He had stood before the Hell’s Judgment Seat for hundreds of years. Dragged from hell to hell at the whims of the Heavenly Kings of the Underworld, with no idea where he was going.
Back then, he hadn’t even known it was Boiling Hell—but returning to a familiar place, Mujae felt deeply moved.
In a way, it was a triumphant return.
‘I’m the Promotional Officer of Seocheon Flower Garden now!’
Mujae was no longer just some anonymous departed soul.
He had a name Sara the Flower Keeper had given him, and a position, too.
“Are you from Seocheon Flower Garden?”
A deep, rolling voice made the Promotion Team all turn their heads.
It was the muscular hellkeeper they’d seen in Boiling Hell Channel videos.
With massive facial muscles, he flashed a friendly smile.
“Hello! I’m the External Cooperation Department Negotiator from Boiling Hell.”
While Mujae and Hallakgoong were still dazed, Zack quickly approached the Negotiator and bowed. Then, with great cheer, he started signing.
The Negotiator looked a bit flustered, but soon raised his hands and signed back.
“Hello?”
“Oh, you know sign language?”
“I only know the basics. Ah, you must be into fitness. I’m delighted.”
Zack nodded so hard he looked like a puppy wagging its tail.
Mujae nearly burst out laughing at the sight. The Negotiator guided them to a spot glowing between the rocks.
“Now, this way, please. Supreme King Cho-gang is waiting for you.”
“Supreme King Cho-gang in person…?!”
“Yes, he’s very interested in Seocheon Flower Garden’s channel.”
The Negotiator lightly pushed a rock wall aside like a door, revealing a corridor.
Past the corridor and into the lobby, someone was waiting.
He stood nearly three cheok tall, with red hair roughly tied back. He turned toward them.
“At last, you have arrived, honored guests of Seocheon Flower Garden.”
Supreme King Cho-gang welcomed the Promotion Team with poise.