Chapter 56: Fluffy yellow cuties

"What a strong and good... morning."

Go Nam-tae stretched his whole body, opened the door, and blinked his eyes blankly for a moment.

It was a morning where he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Chirp, chirp, chirp!

A creature he had never seen before was wandering around the yard.

Whereas before, fluffy yellow cuties were scurrying around the yard, this time, there were more of them and they were larger.

Go Nam-tae asked the leaf fluttering in front of his eyes.

"Heung-bok, did the eggs hatch?"

'Yes, Boss. I improved the meat quality and increased their size a bit. I tried to remove all the feathers too, but that didn't go very well. I will definitely do it properly next time.'

"No, this is just right! This is fine as it is!"

Go Nam-tae waved his hands in a hurry.

He had been momentarily speechless at the appearance of the new chicks.

The feathers that barely covered their bodies were short and sparse, revealing pink skin even in the slightest breeze.

In terms of size alone, they were already the size of fully grown chickens.

'Boss, then should I do the same for the ones I hatch next time?'

"No. You don't need to hatch anymore. I think it will be enough if these guys grow and increase on their own."

The fact that Heung-bok took this much time meant that it cost a lot of energy.

'Young Karda.'

Heung-bok still had a lot more growing to do.

At a time when he needed to grow much more, this request was enough for once.

Even so, Heung-bok wanted to do everything he could.

'There are still many fertilized eggs.'

"It's okay. You can eat all the remaining eggs yourself. Ask for more if there is something good later."

'...Thank you, Boss!'

Heung-bok was satisfied so innocently.

As he patted the guy, a bizarre scene was unfolding in the yard.

Small chicks were driving the newly hatched, large chicks into one spot.

If they just grew a little more, they would be no different from sheepdogs herding cattle.

No, if a newborn was that size...

"How big will they get when they're fully grown?"

[They are expected to grow to about the size of an ostrich from Earth.]

"..."

[Since they are designed to only eat fallen grains, you can raise them in the rice paddies and fields.]

"That's true. They look like they'd be good at catching mud snails."

At those words, Haeul's family members were startled and glared at the chicks.

Sensing sudden hostility, the chicks scrambled to dig into the ground and bury their heads.

The sight of them burying only their heads and sticking their backsides up into the sky looked like roasted whole chickens set upright.

Go Nam-tae reassured Haeul's family.

"Don't worry. I'm going to take them to the riverside. Mud snails have started living there too, right?"

Only then did the eyes of the little ones turn sparkling, and they personally pulled out the chicks that had buried their heads.

'Then I will take them to the riverside.'

Heung-bok wrapped each of the bewildered chicks in his vines and picked them up.

"Yes, please, Heung-bok."

The chicks left riding Heung-bok's vines.

I wonder if I'll see them again as boiled chicken or roasted chicken.

The moment they were out of Go Nam-tae's sight, the root passage swallowed the chicks again.

*

-Brother, they said they've placed them in all three locations. Just as you said, they put them in the Goblin Mall Tower and the center of the Forest of Silence. And although they've settled in over here, I'll move them again if they don't open.

"Thank you!"

Go Nam-tae immediately opened the mirror.

Since quite a few items containing his energy had already moved over, it was difficult to use them all as coordinates.

Even then, the only ones who had them were Kim Gu-bok's family and Park Seong-yeon, but it was still too many to use as reference coordinates.

However, a new feature had recently appeared.

[You can fix coordinates to designated items.]

Thanks to that, he could immediately know the coordinates of the places he wanted.

Naturally, the first place he opened was his old home.

"Ugh..."

A groan escaped his lips on its own.

Several times more than when he first opened the round door to Park Seong-yeon's house.

[Just tear the door open.]

[You are pushing yourself too hard.]

"I'm al... right."

Danhong wiped the cold sweat dripping from his forehead, not knowing what to do.

Go Nam-tae did not give up and continued to open the door.

This was also a kind of test for himself.

'Just a little more!'

Kuurrung!

The door opened with a feeling that something that had been tightly blocked was blown open.

The mana bar that was falling uncontrollably stopped, flickering between yellow and orange.

-You did it! You did it! You worked so hard!

The Sasin-su wiped the remaining sweat off his body, and Danhong fanned him diligently.

"Brother, are you okay?"

Park Seong-yeon looked worried, as if the very sight of him opening the door looked strenuous.

=I'm okay. Don't worry.

Go Nam-tae hadn't insisted on a round door just because it looked pretty.

A door opened this way was not caught in the cracks unless he was conscious of it.

Ever since he opened the round door, Kim Gu-bok's family had also been feeling more at ease.

Considering the countless hunters who would be coming and going here in the future, it was the right choice to open this door even if it was a bit difficult.

"Brother, we're going to set up our guild headquarters nearby. Please don't worry about using this place in the future."

=Thank you.

"Oh, what are you talking about! My uncle says to thank you once again, saying it's all thanks to you. Oh, my aunt's brother too!"

Park Seong-yeon winked and disappeared.

Thump.

Go Nam-tae sat on a vine chair made by Heung-bok and slowly began to admire the scenery outside.

The hometown was no longer a hometown.

The entire terrain had been overturned by being swept away by the mana field.

Even so, Go Nam-tae could recognize it at once.

The Labyrinth was there, in the very spot where his original home used to be.

And the place where his father's grave had been was swept away by a landslide, leaving no trace behind.

[Boss...!]

"Yeah. I know. That father's grave isn't in there."

Go Nam-tae closed his eyes, opened them, and repeated it to himself.

'He must be somewhere inside the Labyrinth.'

He would find him, no matter what. And as his father wished, he would send him to be by his mother's side.

He stared at the Labyrinth again and said.

"Toto, you said a boss over Level 70 opened this Labyrinth, right?"

[Yes, seeing it in person makes it even more certain.]

"Then that means I have to catch that guy... What happens to the Labyrinth if I don't?"

[Unless a hunter goes to the last floor, the Labyrinth will not close.]

[However, if you delay the conquest, an effect similar to when a new Labyrinth is left alone will occur.]

"I know that. It means it goes boom and explodes, right?"

[That is correct. At that moment, a Level 10 Erosion Zone is created.]

There was no such thing as a win-win relationship between the Labyrinth and humans.

Kill or be killed, it was only one of the two.

That was the reason why Park Ki-beom was facing public criticism for repeatedly failing to conquer the 52nd floor.

He would suggest that another team just try, but there was no other place with that capability yet besides the Saeron Guild.

That very Saeron Guild was currently being divided.

In the midst of that, a new Labyrinth had appeared, and Park Ki-beom was paying attention to this side.

"By the way, I heard that if you enter a new Labyrinth, you start over from the 1st floor, so doesn't that take too long?"

[Not necessarily. Because a hunter's floor experience is shared.]

[In the case of Park Ki-beom, he would be able to challenge from the 52nd floor immediately.]

[However, if he does so, he must give up the resources and experience points between floors 1 and 51.]

"Ah! So that's why they said to start over from the beginning."

But there was no time for that right now.

It was a situation where one didn't know when the 17th Labyrinth that Park Ki-beom was challenging would explode.

He had to conquer it as soon as possible.

Since the Labyrinths of a country were connected, one could prevent an explosion by conquering it in a different Labyrinth.

However, he didn't know if Park Ki-beom was aware of this fact.

"...I'll have to support them as much as possible."

It seemed like Ji Yul-geon and the Seonghwa Knight Order would be joining in, so he thought he would need to increase the supplies.

[You can expand the farmland and plant more crops.]

[5 types of fruit tree seeds have become seed-ready.]

[5 types of bulbous plants and 13 types of flowers have become seed-ready.]

"...Yeah, that's what a farmer is supposed to do."

Go Nam-tae struggled to get up.

Danhong followed closely behind, chattering away.

-Boss, you said that to work, one must have a full stomach!

He had said that. Go Nam-tae.

-So let's eat rice cakes first! I like red bean siru-tteok.

'I want tofu!'

'I want pancakes.'

'I want mud snail soybean paste soup.'

-Let's leave out the cheonggukjang.

Go Nam-tae snatched up the loudest fire fairy and placed her on his head.

With a small shriek, she started crying out from on top of his head.

-Yippee, let's play 'The Granny Who Makes Red Bean Porridge and the Tiger' while eating red bean siru-tteok!

Go Nam-tae sighed and thought.

'I need to pick out more fairy tale lists...'

The person who started it has to take responsibility, what else can he do?

'Heungbu and Nolbu, The Rabbit and the Tiger, The Story of the Sea King, Sun and Moon, Cinderella...'

As he recited the list, Go Nam-tae did not know.

That it was a million times 'per' story.

Perhaps it might even be ten million times.

In particular, there was one thing Go Nam-tae had overlooked.

His kin, especially Danhong, had an extremely, extremely... long infancy.

...You'll only know once you've gone through it.

*

Splish, splash.

Grr-grr-grr.

Large rocks were falling onto the broken breakwater.

The waves crashing against the reef were violently striking the port.

In reality, almost no traces of the port remained, making it a place difficult to believe ships once came and went.

There were those crossing over to such a place.

"Welcome, Barkan!"

A beautiful woman standing in front of it in advance reached out to the one who had crossed over first.

Instead of taking the woman's hand, the man grabbed the woman's slim waist.

Eek!

A small shriek rang out, but it was far from a feeling of rejection.

After a brief, intense greeting, those who had crossed the rough sea all stepped onto the land.

"I have prepared a place for you to stay, so I will take you there. My father is waiting."

"Wait. On the way, I want to prepare a gift for my father-in-law. Choose the most crowded and busy place."

"We could rest a little first."

"No, now is just perfect."

"Oh, my."

Park Ha-na replied as she leaned her body subtly against the man, pretending to be shy.

"If it's on the way..., there is something called the Goblin Mall. I hear the daily foot traffic is around 250,000, how about that?"

"That should be enough to be worth it. Good, let's go with that."

For a moment, a red light flashed in the man's eyes.

The fourteen other people also called his team were the same.

Something similar passed through Park Ha-na's pupils as well.

The Goblin Mall was a place where the lights never went out 365 days a year.

Even though a group with tattoos of fierce beasts drawn on their black clothes had entered, no one looked back.

No matter how often hunters came and went, it was a place where one could have looked at least once, yet no one gave them a glance.

The place they stopped was in the middle of the market.

According to Park Ha-na's research, this was the place with the most frequent foot traffic of people.

"Good, very good!"

Barkan burst into a mad laugh and slammed his greatsword down.

The heavy sword dug into the concrete floor like it was tofu.

Only where the blade was stuck remained thin; there were no other traces.

He knelt down just like that and muttered in a low voice.

"Δ☾♆⊗∑∴♢!! Ω†☥♯⊕☽∞! ∂♢☾∑⊗♆!!!"

An ominous red mana permeated through the sword blade into the ground.

From the moment they entered the market, stuck the sword in the middle of the market, performed a suspicious ritual, and left...

Not once did anyone look at them.

A little later,

Black mist began to crawl out and spread from the place where the sword was stuck.

People walked over it without knowing anything.

...At that moment, something was wriggling on top of the Goblin Mall Tower.