The Novel's Extra - Side Story 48 – Chae Nayun (3)

[Class Objective]

— Locate a mana vein.

A short and straightforward message popped up on my smartwatch when I set foot on the mountain.

I began hiking and braved through the overgrown forest.

The Yulak Mountain was a 2,750 meter tall mountain that appeared after the great mana explosion. The Daehyun Group currently owned it. It had an overgrown forest and lush vegetation due to the high concentration of mana.

Decreased oxygen levels from the denser mana in the air also made it more difficult to climb. Still, I didn’t find it that difficult. Probably because my stamina improved.

Whoosh!

The cool mountain breeze blew against my sweaty face and shook the leaves. The surroundings were tranquil and the sun pleasantly shone.

I stopped at a clearing to better appreciate nature’s beauty.

“Hooo…”

I took out a lunchbox from my rucksack. It was a modest meal of beef, doenjang-jjigae[1], and brown rice.

It looked modest, but tasted extremely delicious.

I enjoyed my lunch while thinking to myself, “There should be something around here…”

Munch… Munch…

A mountain with high mana density was bound to have monsters.

Munch… Munch…

I wondered what episode would occur today.

Munch… Munch…

Or would it just be another peaceful class?

Munch… Munch…

“Ah… That was good.”

I cleaned up after finishing my meal and began hiking again.

I walked around for twenty minutes when I spotted a familiar face ahead.

“Ah…”

This person was quite troublesome to deal with.

Chae Nayun carried a huge rucksack on her back and squatted on the floor. No, she was digging something with a hand plow.

I looked a bit further and saw two other familiar faces with her, Yi Jiyoon and Kim Jinsu.

I walked towards them since there was only one way up the mountain.

“Who’s there?!” Chae Nayun turned around when she sensed my presence, but she jumped in surprise when we made eye contact.

“W-What… W-When did you get here, K-Kim Hajin?”

Chae Nayun stuttered for some strange reason. Who the hell was K-Kim Hajin, seriously?

I simply shrugged and ignored her. I continued on my way, but Chae Nayun awkwardly squirmed and aimed her hand plow at me.

“T-This is our territory,” she awkwardly said.

“Territory?”

“Y-Yeah. Also, I was just digging for medicinal herbs. I wasn’t doing anything else…”

“I didn’t say anything…”

Dirt covered her face like a mole. No, she looked more like a puppy digging through dirt now that I took a closer look. I stole a glance at the pit she was digging and noticed something that looked like a plant.

“Nayun is right. This is our territory,” Yi Jiyoon said as she intently glared at me. It felt like lasers would shoot out of her eyes.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you guys say…” I replied and tried to sound as disinterested as possible. I couldn’t really be bothered by what they were doing.

However, Chae Nayun suddenly ran up and grabbed my sleeve.

“Wait.”

She looked at the ground and acted all shy.

“Well… still… You helped me out last time, so… I can let you in if you want…”

Well, this was unexpected.

Yi Jiyoon flinched at Chae Nayun’s words and said to me, “Alright, we’ll let you in!”

“Are you a parrot?” I asked.

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing. Just forget about it. Also, you don’t have to.”

I refused their offer and Chae Nayun awkwardly scratched her neck.

I planned on walking away, but the plant that Chae Nayun dug up suddenly bothered me.

I pointed at the plant in her hand and asked, “Hey, what are you planning to do with that?”

“Huh? Oh, this one?” she replied with a bright smile and lifted the entire sack of plants she had dug. Then she asked, “Do you want some of these medicinal herbs? We have more over there.”

“…?”

What was wrong with this girl all of a sudden? She diligently dug all these plants judging from her dirty face, but offered to give them all to me? Did she even know what those herbs were?

I bitterly smiled and declined, “No, I’m alright.”

“Huh? Why? You can take these. I can just dig more whenever I want,” Chae Nayun said as she pushed the plants towards me more aggressively this time.

Nudge… Nudge…

She pressed the medicinal herbs against my shoulder.

Nudge… Nudge…

“Hey… It’s not what you think… Those plants are… You should probably just throw them away…”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Chae Nayun tilted her head in confusion.

I sighed after reading the notification above the plants that Chae Nayun had been calling medicinal herbs.

“Those are poisonous plants.”

“Huh? What? Poison?” Chae Nayun pursed her lips and I inwardly snickered.

She was trying to set up a Pharmacy Club, which seemed out of character. However, this was indeed the Chae Nayun I knew.

“Yeah, so throw them away.”

“No… that can’t be… How is this a poisonous plant? Yi Jiyoon said these were medicinal herbs. Don’t you know what yumun herbs are? Look, they look exactly like yumun herbs! Do you want me to show you the almanac?” Chae Nayun innocently retorted.

“Ah, those look like yumun herbs, but…”

“No way, I think you’re mistaken. How could these be poisonous plants?” Chae Nayun grumbled and I couldn’t even finish my sentence before she sniffed the poisonous plant.

When she sniffed it…

Fart!

The poisonous plant farted a cloud of gas directly at her face and pushed her back quite a distance.

“Uwaaaaagh!”

“That’s actually a poisonous plant that spews toxic gas on par with biological weapons.”

“Ah! What the hell is this?! Ack! I’m dying! AAAACK!”

Chae Nayun plopped to the ground.

The poisonous plant that Chae Nayun dug up was called a gas root plant. It spewed toxic gas equivalent to or more potent than those used in gas chambers[2]. There was no way she would be fine after taking it straight in the face.

Haaa… Haaa…

Chae Nayun squirmed on the ground with her face covered in snot and tears. She looked like someone lamenting the loss of her country and loved ones. No, even someone like that wouldn’t cry like how she was right now.

Yi Jiyoon looked at me visibly shaken by what happened.

“Ehem…” I faked a cough and couldn’t do anything about the situation.

I decided to ignore the trio and continue hiking up the mountain. No, I tried to ignore them, but…

“Aaaack!”

The sound that kept coming from behind me was quite difficult to ignore.

“Aaaack!”

It was hard to tell if someone was crying or screaming their lungs out. Was that how pterodactyls sounded?

“Aaaack! Kyaaaahk!”

I decided to walk faster and get farther away since the screaming unnerved me.

***

Thirty minutes later…

“Heuk! Shame… Sniff… Heuk! The shame! Ughh!” Chae Nayun cried as snot and tears covered her face.

There was undoubtedly a huge difference in her body before and after she regressed. Something like a poisonous plant would have never posed a threat before. She never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would one day end up covered in tears and snot because of some poisonous plant passing gas on her face. Her hands and feet uncontrollably shook and her insides churned. She felt like puking.

“Blueerrghhh!”

“Are you alright, Nayun?” Yi Jiyoon carefully asked.

Chae Nayun turned and threw a handful of dirt at her.

“Kyahk!”

Yi Jiyoon was the one who said the poisonous plant was an extremely rare yumun herb. She shrieked and ran away.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Chae Nayun asked while glaring at the sly culprit.

“N-No… not at all! I… I didn’t know!” Yi Jiyoon shouted.

“Hey, stop lying. Ah, forget about it. Just go away. I’m going to be moving alone from now on,” Chae Nayun got up and said.

She ended up showing an unsightly side of herself to Kim Hajin because of Yi Jiyoon.

Splash!

She washed her face and hands before hiking up the mountain again.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Chae Nayun angrily stomped up the mountain while Yi Jiyoon and the others cautiously followed her.

She reached the peak in no time after angrily stomping away. Only then did she bitterly smile.

Right… this was a class. I should’ve looked for a mana vein on my way up, but I completely forgot…

A large boulder caught her eye. The big and odd rock formation stuck out from the cliff.

Chae Nayun narrowed her eyes and her curiosity got the better of her. She jumped towards the rock.

“Oh…”

She could see the entire mountain from a bird’s eye view after landing on top of the boulder. She felt as if her nose could touch the sky and clouds from this height. The overgrown forest lay beneath her.

“The view is amazing from here,” Chae Nayun muttered as she plopped down on the large boulder and enjoyed the sun slowly setting.

One of the events that bothered her popped up in her mind.

The Kwang-Oh Incident…

The merciless slaughter was masterminded by the association and Kim Sukho, the current president at that time. Almost a hundred innocent civilians died that day and it stayed on Chae Nayun’s mind ever since she found out about it.

“Haaa…”

A long sigh escaped from her.

Could she say the incident had nothing to do with her if Kim Hajin found out about it? Or would he say she had nothing to do with what happened once he learned the truth behind that incident?

“Why did Grandpa do something like that…”

She could ask all the questions she wanted, but couldn’t do anything about it.

The Kim Hajin from before she regressed knew about the Kwang-Oh Incident, but he didn’t despise her over what happened. He even went as far as to say that he didn’t harbor any ill feelings towards her because of it.

But was that because of his guilt from killing Chae Jinyoon? Or was there another reason?

Chae Nayun rummaged through her pockets while lying on the boulder. She instinctively craved a smoke, but it was just out of pure habit. A hero’s body didn’t suffer withdrawals from not smoking.

“Sigh…”

The sky turned dark and the stars appeared one by one. Chae Nayun sighed and began counting the stars.

She counted thirty-seven stars when she felt someone’s presence behind her. A familiar scent tickled her nose and she turned towards that person.

“You came?”

“Yeah, just now.” Kim Suho smirked and sat beside her.

Chae Nayun asked him, “Did you find a mana vein?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I found one.”

“Tell me where it is on the way down.”

“Come on. That’s cheating.”

“What’s cheating? Sounds rich coming from you.”

“Haha…” Kim Suho awkwardly laughed.

Chae Nayun puffed her cheeks like balloons in response.

Kim Suho stared at the stars in the night sky and said, “I asked Kim Hajin.”

Whiik!

Chae Nayun immediately looked at Kim Suho and asked, “What did you say?”

“The club.”

“…”

“I didn’t say much. I just asked if he was…”

“Hey! You crazy little fucker! Why were you the one who asked him?!”

Puk!

Chae Nayun smacked Kim Suho’s shoulder. It was quite a powerful blow.

Kim Suho dumbfoundedly stared at her while massaging his shoulder.

“Ah… Damn it! I was going to carefully ask him!”

“That hurts… Hey, Kim Hajin told me he was kind of interested, so…”

“Hey, what kind of nonsense is… Huh? What? Are you serious?!” Chae Nayun shouted in surprise.

Kim Suho nodded while rubbing his bruised shoulder, “Yeah… I kind of discussed it with him.”

Honestly, Chae Nayun had no idea what Kim Hajin was thinking at this point in time. Sure, that thing happened in Paris, but she wasn’t sure if he sincerely liked her or not.

She had no way to check how he really felt about her.

Chae Nayun had no choice but to muster her courage and ask, “What… What did he say?”

However, Kim Suho shook his head and replied, “Ah, that’s a secret.”

Chae Nayun dumbfoundedly stared at Kim Suho for a while as the urge to push him off the boulder welled up inside her.

Seriously, what was he doing right now? It was only customary for someone to either finish speaking or just shut up if they didn’t plan to.

Chae Nayun couldn’t help but wonder, Is this guy some sort of sociopath?

***

The sky grew dark quite early by seven in the evening. However, it remained bright for me thanks to my superior vision.

I spotted Yoo Yeonha lighting a campfire in the dark. She was discussing something with her minions.

— They said the class might last more than a day, so it doesn’t really matter if we’re late or not. What matters right now is locating a mana vein.

Yoo Yeonha said without a change in her expression, but the atmosphere around the campfire had turned sullen.

It seemed the minions under Yoo Yeonha would be replaced after tonight.

— Let’s rest up for a bit before searching again.

— Yes…

The minions looked pitiful even though it wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t find a mana vein.

I smirked and walked towards them.

“…?”

Yoo Yeonha looked at me without saying a word, but her eyes seemed to be saying, Why is he coming here?

The five minions also dumbly blinked at me.

I didn’t pay them any mind since the goal of this class was to locate a mana vein. They were on top of a mana vein right now.

“What do you want?” Yoo Yeonha asked after observing me for a while.

I was less than a foot away from her and squatted to dig the ground. I began shoveling dirt into a plastic bag.

“What are you doing? Why are you digging all of a sudden? This is my land,” Yoo Yeonha said.

“I didn’t see your name anywhere,” I nonchalantly replied.

“Ha? Hey, what do you think you are doing?” Yoo Yeonha stood and retorted.

She seemed quite alert and on guard against me.

“This is the center of the mana vein,” I replied with a shrug.

“What did you just say?” Yoo Yeonha frowned and looked around her surroundings.

She looked back at me with visible skepticism.

It probably only looked like a normal piece of land to them since this mana vein was located deep underground. I barely found it thanks to the system.

“This place is?” Yoo Yeonha asked and I nodded.

“Stop lying.”

“I already told you, so let me borrow this campfire. Alright?”

“What? You’re being a nuisance right now!”

Yoo Yeonha grumbled and glared at me with skepticism, but took out her shovel from her rucksack.

Her minions did the same. All of them began shoveling dirt into plastic bags while trying to look as skeptical as possible.

I didn’t care and took out everything I needed from my rucksack.

Pork kimchi stew, rice, egg omelets, ramyeon, etc.

Yoo Yeonha froze with her mouth wide open after seeing my food. She licked her lips a few times before sitting in front of the campfire and staring at my rations.

“Do you want some?” I asked.

“W-Who eats that stuff? I don’t eat those kinds of low quality food…” Yoo Yeonha turned her head away and haughtily replied.

“Suit yourself. Hey, what about you guys?” I asked the minions.

They all stole a glance at Yoo Yeonha before shaking their heads.

“Fine, more for me then,” I said with a shrug.

I began eating alone and started with the pork kimchi stew with the rice and egg omelet on the side. Then I put the ramyeon in the kimchi stew after finishing half of my rice.

“That looks horrible… You submerged the meat in water and turned it into rubber… Hey, why are you putting ramyeon in that? Is that egg? It looks like a chick laid it. It’s so small and looks so pale. That looks like a pig’s feet rather than the meat… Ah, maybe it’s a guinea pig’s feet?” Yoo Yeonha went on a tirade.

“It’s delicious,” I nonchalantly retorted.

“Who said I’m talking to you?”

“You kept criticizing my food.”

“Hmph!”

I ignored Yoo Yeonha hurling insults at my food and finished my meal.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and saw Yoo Yeonha glaring at me.

“I’m going now. Ah, I’ll leave the cleanup to you guys.”

“W-What?! Hey, have you gone insane? Ha! Look at this guy!”

“What? I found a mana vein for you guys.”

“Is this really a mana vein?” Yoo Yeonha asked with a hint of skepticism.

My face stiffened and I took out my gun from its holster.

“What are you doing?” Yoo Yeonha asked.

“Shh… Listen.”

A low vibration echoed in the silent forest.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

It came from quite a distance away, but was moving fast judging from how much louder it got.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

The vibrations grew stronger along with the sound.

“Looks like it’s a troll,” Yoo Yeonha said.

I nodded and replied, “I’ll take care of its eyes.”

“Then we’ll take care of the rest,” Yoo Yeonha added.

Her minions assembled beside her in their battle formation. They seemed to have practiced a few times and moved in sync.

Crash! Crash!

Dozens of trees fell in the distance and the troll finally appeared.

The mountain troll flashed a hideous smile at us. It was overjoyed with finding a large group of prey late at night.

I immediately pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

My bullets accurately dug into the mountain troll’s eyes. However, a chill that screamed danger went down my spine.

I instinctively activated bullet time and stretched out my hand.

A set of fangs shot out from the bushes towards Yoo Yeonha’s head. I managed to push her just in time and the fangs bit down on my arm instead.

I felt a sharp pain, but didn’t even groan as I immediately turned to identify the culprit.

A goblin had attacked us.

1. A staple Korean stew. More info here: ☜

2. The gas chamber reference here is NOT the one used by a certain European dictator in the past. The gas chamber here refers to a kind of training that all male Koreans serving national service (military) have to go through. They lock them in a room with faulty gas masks and they have to withstand the gas blown into the room. ☜