I stepped out to the vegetable garden behind the orphanage.
The garden was nearly five pyeong in size, but there weren’t many weeds.
The lettuce, perilla leaves, and other crops were growing well.
Someone was clearly taking care of it.
Since I hadn’t known the garden was in this state, it probably wasn’t the aunt.
It must be one of the two nuns who’s been tending it.
[The World Tree Sapling says the children were adorable.]
While I was pulling weeds, Sprout sent me a message.
The children were adorable, huh…
I recalled dinner just a moment ago.
In the orphanage’s dining hall, both the nuns and the children stared at me.
It wasn’t the cold gaze from yesterday, but rather, their eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Either way, it was burdensome just the same, so I could barely get through dinner.
Before I could even take in the children’s cuteness, I escaped to the back of the orphanage and started pulling weeds.
But,
“Hm, why is this going so well?”
The weeds came out easily, roots and all.
It was as if I’d subconsciously used a gentle touch.
I rubbed my chin, still squatting, and looked around.
Uprooted weeds were scattered all about.
Back in the event dungeon, it hadn’t come out this smoothly.
It seems the event adjusted the difficulty so that the weeds wouldn’t come out so easily.
Otherwise, the difference wouldn’t be this drastic.
“Uh, did Mother Superior ask you to do this?”
I turned toward the voice.
A nun in a black habit was approaching.
She was the one the aunt had introduced in front of the orphanage yesterday.
Her name was, if I recall…
“…….”
“I’m Jung Cecilia.”
Standing in front of me, she smiled softly.
She’d realized I hadn’t remembered her name.
Her smile was as gentle as her demeanor.
I lowered my head and apologized quietly.
“Sorry. I’m Baek Do-un.”
“It’s alright.”
She then looked down at the weeds scattered across the ground.
“If Mother Superior asked you to do this, you don’t have to. This is actually my job.”
Just as I thought, there was someone managing the garden.
This nun in front of me must be the one in charge.
I brushed the dirt from my hands and reached out to pull more weeds.
“It’s fine. I want to do it.”
“Really?”
She tidied her habit and squatted down.
Then, just like me, she began gathering the weeds I’d left scattered about.
I’d only thought about pulling them, never considered cleaning up. How foolish.
As I looked over to thank her,
“……?”
Before I knew it, she had finished gathering the weeds and was staring at me.
She sat squatting, her hands resting on her knees, her chin on her hands.
Unlike earlier, when her smile was simply gentle, there was now a playful glint in her expression.
“Oppa, you don’t remember me, do you?”
“…Huh? What did you say?”
Oppa? Why am I oppa?
I tilted my head in confusion.
Aside from Do-hee, was there anyone else who would call me oppa?
These days, Woo Chae-yeon had started calling me oppa, so I guess there was one more…
Jung Cecilia gestured toward the orphanage.
“I’m from this orphanage too.”
“You’re from Ark Orphanage?”
“Yes.”
I tried to recall.
Of course, nothing came to mind.
While living at the orphanage, my attention was only on Do-hee, Tae-chun, and the aunt.
I’d never cared about the other kids.
No matter how hard I tried to remember, nothing surfaced.
“Well… uh, sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
Jung Cecilia shook her head.
She must have expected I wouldn’t remember.
That made me feel even worse.
“I thought as much. Oppa, you only ever hung out with Do-hee and Tae-chun oppa, right?”
“Those two… Oh, of course, you’d know them. They were popular even back then…”
Do-hee and Tae-chun were different from me.
They always took good care of the other kids at the orphanage.
When they became some of the oldest, they played the roles of big brother and big sister admirably.
In contrast, I had no interest in anyone except those two.
In fact, I saw the other kids as nuisances who annoyed them and even disliked them.
It’s no wonder people like Han Jae-im, who spent those days with us, dislike me.
Likewise, it made sense that the early members of Baekuncheon Guild didn’t like me.
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have liked someone like me, either.
“But I always liked oppa the most.”
“…Hiccup?”
Her unexpected confession made me hiccup.
And that wasn’t all that popped up.
[The Sapling watches with a pounding heart!]
Sprout sent another message, full of curiosity.
I ignored it and stared only at Jung Cecilia.
She was still gazing at me intently.
“You liked me? Not Tae-chun?”
“Yes. I wanted to be part of that circle too.”
“…?”
That circle?
I had no idea what she meant.
Just then, my smartphone rang.
It was a call from Kim Jae-sik.
[The Sapling wishes the oblivious smartphone would disappear!]
What are you talking about?
If I got rid of this, you’d disappear too, you fool.
I tore my gaze from the smartphone and looked back at Jung Cecilia.
She was now standing, her hands clasped behind her back.
With a mischievous smile, she looked down at me.
“I’ll get going now, so answer your call.”
“Uh, huh?”
Jung Cecilia left the garden, leaving me bewildered.
Watching her retreating figure, I felt a strange sense of relief emanating from her.
On the other hand, my mind was tangled in confusion, the present moment and old memories all mixed together.
“…….”
Thinking about it any longer wasn’t going to resolve this turmoil.
So I decided to do what I do best.
Calmly, I confronted the issue and took the next action.
“Hey, Jae-sik. What’s up?”
That’s right.
I ran away.
I woke up at dawn and slipped quietly out of the orphanage.
The aunt seemed to want to see me off, so I left to avoid that.
The first place I headed was the Crystal Workshop.
Yu Jae-yi had messaged me that both types of potions were finished.
Because of that, I’d arranged for Jae-sik to meet me in front of the workshop today.
“Huh?”
It had been a while since I’d come, and several things had changed.
First, the rusty door had been freshly painted.
Thanks to that, what used to be an unsightly, rusted door now looked brand new.
There was also a new doorbell.
[Please ring the bell! -Proprietor Baek]
That message was written on an A4 sheet taped to the door.
When I pressed the video doorbell, the bell rang inside.
The sound was loud enough that I could hear the ding-dong clearly.
Soon, Hong Soo-jung’s voice came through the speaker.
- Finally! You’re finally here! Do you know how long I’ve waited?
“Haha, it’s been a while.”
There was a beep, and the door opened automatically.
Even the door opens by itself now.
Had a week really been that long?
A lot had changed at the Crystal Workshop.
Not just the door—inside, too, things were different.
Books, tools, and all kinds of clutter that used to be stacked up everywhere were now neatly organized.
The hallway, once so narrow I had to walk carefully, now felt spacious.
“Did something happen?”
“I finished a commission, and as payment, I asked them to clean up here.”
“…Did the client not have any money?”
“Huh? No, it was a wealthy guild.”
Then why take cleaning instead of cash?
The guild that commissioned the job was just as odd.
They could have just paid, but instead, they cleaned up the place?
I opened my mouth to ask, but Hong Soo-jung turned her head sharply.
“You said you’d be right back, but do you know how worried I was after you collapsed like that?”
“Ah…”
“When you said you were going to throw that, I had no idea what you were talking about.”
That?
Ah, she meant the pine cone.
She must have seen me shoot the pine cone up into the sky.
“Pine cone.”
I took the pine cone out of my inventory.
She must have brought up the pine cone because she wanted to see it.
Sure enough, as soon as I showed it, Hong Soo-jung squealed, “Kya!” and hugged it tightly.
She even rubbed it against her cheek.
She seemed to have some sort of technique for it.
Even with its rough surface, it didn’t leave a scratch on her cheek.
“You’ve finally returned to my arms!”
“Haha…”
I could only laugh in embarrassment.
How can she be so unconcerned about what people think?
When it comes to ignoring others’ gazes, she’s even bolder than I am.
I was curious about the finished potions, but since I felt bad for worrying her, I let her be for a moment.
It didn’t take long.
About thirty seconds passed before she collected herself.
“Right, you came for the potions. This way, please.”
Guided by Hong Soo-jung, I went to the cold storage.
Inside, at a cool temperature, potions of various types were neatly organized.
Healing potions, mana potions, buff potions, detox potions, and more.
I enjoyed the coolness as I waited, and soon she brought over two ice boxes from the healing potion and mana potion sections.
On the lids were labels: ‘Baek Do-un, Healing Potion (High Grade)’ and ‘Baek Do-un, Mana Potion (High Grade).’
Clearly marked to distinguish them from the others.
A high-grade potion could even reattach a severed limb, as long as the missing part was still present.
There was also a ‘KFDA Quality Certification’ placed beside them.
“Can I open it?”
“Of course, they’re yours.”
I opened the ice box right away.
Unzipping it, I found neatly arranged glass bottles.
Inside each bottle was a clear liquid with a small pine needle.
A pine needle?
“There are 50 bottles of each. As you saw, the effect is high-grade potion level. Oh, the pine needle is just jelly. Think of it as a sort of trademark? I tried putting one in for fun.”
“It’s cute and looks nice.”
“As for the taste… I kept it exactly as you described.”
Her expression soured as she spoke about the taste.
She must really hate that flavor.
Next, I opened the ice box with the mana potions.
Inside, bottles of blue-green liquid were neatly arranged.
One bottle at the top was set aside.
It was only about a quarter the size of the other bottles.
“What’s this?”
“I set it aside so you could sample it.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“The cap—”
She was about to explain something, but my hand was faster.
When I opened the bottle, something attached to the lid fell inside with a plop.
It must have been stuck to the inside of the cap.
It was instantly submerged in the green liquid, so I couldn’t tell what it was exactly.
I only remembered it was brown and oval-shaped.
It reminded me of the pine needle inside the healing potion.
“That thing that just fell—is it a trademark too? Like the pine needle in the healing potion?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Maybe it’s her creativity as a potion maker?
To think up a trademark like that is impressive.
If it were me, I probably wouldn’t have thought of something like that.
“By the way, is it just mine?”
“I made sure to taste them myself before making the final batch.”
“Ah, of course. I’ll give it a try, then.”
“Yes!”
With her enthusiastic reply, I turned my attention to the mana potion.
Maybe because it was blue-green in color, but at a glance, it looked more like poison than a potion.
It was an understandable mistake for people to make.
But that didn’t really matter.
As long as it restored mana, who cared about the color?
I drank the contents of the small glass bottle in one gulp.
“…Oh.”
The mana potion tasted cool and refreshing, like mint.
It was a different freshness than the sol x noon flavor.
But…
In the middle of the characteristic minty taste, there was a hint of sweetness.
That familiar, gentle sweetness was something I knew all too well.
Brown, oval-shaped…
That’s right.
The mana potion I just drank tasted like mint chocolate.