22
“Raw material? Heavy? What does that mean?”
“I meant the lump of karma itself is large.”
“......?”
How should he put it?
If he had to give form to Kang Cheol-jin’s karma, it was like a massive block of ice.
Large, solid, and heavy ice whose inside could be seen through.
But that ice was not perfectly transparent.
As was the case with most ice, frozen cracks could be seen clearly near the root.
Fine, countless cracks.
Some of those cracks were even mixed with impurities that could be seen as bad.
However, he did not particularly try to hide them.
That was why the impression of ice came to mind.
“You do not try to hide your karma. Even if you are not good, it seems you try to live transparently?”
“......!”
Kang Cheol-jin’s eyes shook for the first time.
They were words he had pursued while living. Words he had always heard throughout his life, and yet why did his eyes suddenly feel as if they were about to redden?
At that moment, a discordant sound came from beside him.
“...Are you not staring too hard at our brother’s face?”
It was one of the four men who had come with him.
Ki Ja-hyeon stared at that man, then soon looked back at Kang Cheol-jin and continued speaking.
“Will you be moving in? If so, you pass.”
“Haha. Is it all right to decide that so easily? If it is because of my reputation, I will not feel very pleased.”
“You simply passed my standards.”
Soon, the necklace of acceptance was held out.
Kang Cheol-jin stared at it, then took a step back with a small smile.
“I am happy, but I do not intend to move in.”
In truth, he could not move in even if he wanted to.
Kang Cheol-jin was A+ Grade.
Even so, the reason he lived in Area 3 was because of his close bond with Family.
The reality was that even a mana concentration of 600 was tight for him if he wanted to go hunting regularly.
No matter how much he wanted to move into Forest-Access Druid Village, a mana concentration of 200 could not sustain his current life.
“Hmm? Then why did you come?”
“Even aside from mana concentration, this seems like an extremely special place. I wanted to confirm who made a place like this.”
“...Hmph. What is so interesting about an ability that makes playgrounds....”
A mutter that most F Grades would not even hear.
But it reached Kang Cheol-jin’s ears clearly.
Because of that, he glanced sharply at the younger brother who had grumbled.
Perhaps the words had slipped out without him realizing, because the younger brother shut his mouth and looked elsewhere.
The problem, however, was that Ki Ja-hyeon was not an ordinary F Grade either.
“Did the people behind you all come to sightsee me too?”
“That is not the case. Everyone except me is hoping to move in here.”
“They all look extraordinary.”
“From this side, B, C+, C+, and B-. But they are fellows who need some recuperation.”
At those words, Ki Ja-hyeon examined the four people one by one.
Under Ki Ja-hyeon’s piercing gaze, all of them looked somewhat uncomfortable.
The last one tried to meet Ki Ja-hyeon’s eyes to the end, but eventually turned his gaze elsewhere. He was the one who had muttered just now.
Then, perhaps displeased with his own behavior, he clenched his teeth.
“They do not look sick on the outside.”
“They are sick on the inside. I am sending them here to recuperate. Can you accept my younger siblings?”
Their outsides were fine. But their insides were wrecked.
They were people who would be unable to hunt for a while.
Out of combat strength.
In another guild, they would all have been expelled, but befitting the guild name Family, Kang Cheol-jin was not someone who easily abandoned his family.
Ki Ja-hyeon also nodded and placed necklaces of acceptance on them.
“You pass.”
“You pass.”
“You pass.”
“What is with these necklaces...? How childish.”
The last man, who had grumbled like that, lowered his head so it would be easier to hang the necklace on him.
However, Ki Ja-hyeon did not put the necklace on him. He did not even look at him.
Instead, he only looked at Kang Cheol-jin.
“Everyone except this person may move in.”
“...What? Why me?”
At those words, Kang Cheol-jin let out a deep sigh.
His painful finger, Kim Mok-hyeon.
The kid was kind.
It was just that his true nature did not show because he was always prickly.
“If you heard what he said earlier, I will apologize in his place. Even if he looks like that, once you get to know him, he is deep inside....”
“He is not someone I particularly want to get to know.”
Was it because of what he had said earlier?
That was right. His first impression had been truly unpleasant.
However, Ki Ja-hyeon was not someone who went this far over such personal matters.
Unable to endure it, Ki Ja-hyeon covered his nose.
“...He truly reeks.”
Would blood left in a cool place for about two months smell like this?
The unknown, well-shaped piece of shit he had rejected earlier would smell far more fragrant.
He could not help asking out of curiosity.
“You. Did you kill someone?”
......!
The air in the room cooled.
And then,
“What the fuck is this son of a bitch babbling about!”
Honestly, if one did not get angry in this situation, one would not be human.
Kim Mok-hyeon tried to stand up and throw a punch at Ki Ja-hyeon immediately.
Jeong Gi-tae’s expression turned aghast.
His reaction was half a step too late!
At this rate, his employer would be hit, but....
Grab!
A thick hand stopped it.
With a mechanical whine, the torque in that grip rose.
“Stop.”
“G-Grrgh, but that bastard...!”
“Stop. For now.”
Kang Cheol-jin’s mechanical arm ended the situation.
The eyes with which Kang Cheol-jin looked at Ki Ja-hyeon again were not gentle either.
“You are being far too rude to my younger brother. Spouting groundless nonsense?”
“If there is a basis, would it still be rude or nonsense?”
“......”
“As I said, the rest of you pass. Once the move-in date is sent to you, you may pay and move in.”
“...I doubt that will happen.”
What more was there to say here?
His Family had been insulted, so everything was over.
Like that, Kang Cheol-jin stormed out with the others.
Ki Ja-hyeon himself was calm, but Jeong Gi-tae beside him could not be calm.
“I-Is this really all right?”
“Is there any reason it would not be?”
“They may retaliate....”
“Hmmm.”
Ki Ja-hyeon scratched his head.
Yes, thinking about it, retaliation might come.
He seemed like someone with more than enough power to do that.
However,
“I do not think he will.”
“Is that so?”
“...Probably?”
“......”
“D-Did I go too far?”
“......”
But Ki Ja-hyeon, who had seen his karma, could say with confidence.
He was not that kind of person.
‘...Probably?’
The screening continued afterward.
There were still many rejections, and many people put on hold.
Only a handful passed.
Even by the end, fewer than thirty people had passed.
It was roughly one in ten.
“Is this really all right? It seems you will not be able to fill all 100 slots.”
“If I include the people on hold out of necessity, it should fill up somewhat, right?”
“Even if you include everyone on hold....”
He glanced at the list.
Twenty-eight accepted, thirty-one on hold.
“Even adding them all together, it does not reach sixty?”
“Come on, I cannot accept every person on hold. Probably...hmm. Around ten will be removed, will they not?”
“...Then there will only be fifty people. Is that all right?”
Of course, he was in a position where he only had to guard.
But it was also true that he was worried.
That worry was heavily influenced by his guilt over being hired as a guard and yet failing to stop even a single punch.
Whether he knew Jeong Gi-tae’s worry or not, his employer, Ki Ja-hyeon, remained calm.
Rather, he smiled and said this.
“If you are that worried, why not fill one spot yourself?”
“......Pardon?”
“Only if you like it, of course.”
Then he held out a necklace of acceptance!
“Uh...?”
Jeong Gi-tae had no choice but to leave work with a bewildered expression until the very end.
.
.
.
After returning home like that, Ki Ja-hyeon mulled over what Jeong Gi-tae had said.
– ...Then there will only be fifty people. Is that all right?
“Hmmm.”
Of course, it would be nice to have many people in his village and earn money.
If he had made the notice only for money, he certainly could have accepted many more.
He might have filled all 100 spots with a softhearted attitude, thinking, Would this person not be good enough? Could I not accept this person as a neighbor?
But Ki Ja-hyeon did not compromise.
“Money is good if I can earn a lot of it, but....”
This was not something he was doing purely for money.
As for money, well....
“If I stamp out elixirs and sell them, it multiplies, does it not?”
He simply wanted to prevent evil people from entering his territory and growing healthier and stronger in real time thanks to him.
He felt that way emotionally,
“and I am a little concerned about the Spirit Tree too.”
That was right.
He was a little concerned about the Spirit Tree too.
The newly grown little one.
He wanted there to be as few evil people as possible within that creature’s domain.
One might call it superstition.
There was certainly no proven effect or anything.
Back in his druid days, there had been no System, so he had been forced to judge and handle everything purely by sensation.
It was a kind of superstition, like saying that writing someone’s name in red would kill them, or that sleeping with a knife by one’s pillow was bad.
Something insufficiently proven. Superstition, in every sense.
However, Ki Ja-hyeon wanted to raise this small and precious Spirit Tree even a little better.
In any case, that was why he was choosing people so strictly like this....
“It is a little sad.”
That was right. He was sad.
What made him sad was,
“To think there are so few neighbors to live with.”
Thinking about it, it could not be helped.
They said generosity came from a full granary. Was this not a world where life was harsh for everyone?
In a place like this, how many people could live while keeping their convictions?
But Ki Ja-hyeon’s honest wish was also to be with only those few people.
“Those who passed sure are blessed. Ohohoho!”
All the declared territory could reveal was mana concentration.
They had passed, and they would learn as they lived there.
“I hope they will thank me later for benefiting from me. Heh heh!”
***
[You have been finally accepted for move-in to Forest-Access Druid Village!]
“Huh? He said I was on hold.”
So she had passed?
The woman gave a small laugh and shrugged.
She felt good about being accepted, of course, but she would not be moving in here.
To explain the reason for that, she called her superior.
“Yes, Section Chief. Unfortunately, except for one out of the six, everyone was rejected.”
The report continued like that.
She actually felt relieved.
‘Just what is this place for the higher-ups to pay so much attention to it...?’
She had been told to move in, but since the majority of the six people, including herself, had been rejected, this project would probably collapse.
“The final accepted person? That would be me. I do not know the reason, but that is what happened.”
For the same reason, it was a meaningless additional report.
However, apparently, it had only been meaningless to her.
“...Pardon? You want me to move in? Me? Why? No...no, that is not it. It is not that I dislike it... Yes, yes. That is right. I need it. P-Please allow me to handle it. Yes. Uh...yes. I will move there according to the date. What I need? Hmm... I-I cannot think of anything right now. May I submit it in a report?”
She thought it was a great relief that this report was not a face-to-face one-on-one meeting.
Because she would not have been able to manage her expression.
She hung up the phone,
“Haa....”
and a sigh escaped naturally.
“To be demoted from a prime Area 4 dormitory to this place....”
To her, who thirsted for promotion, this was no different from exile.
But obeying when told to obey was the life of an office worker.
It had already been five years since she had joined a leading major corporation.
This was the first time the brakes were applied to her, who had been rising without pause.
“...Ha. Just what business value do the higher-ups see here...?”
Out of habit, she lit a cigarette.
They said that the more one smoked it, the more one suffered from addiction, but nothing was better than this for immediately washing away stress.
“I need to quit....”
A lump rose in her throat.
She felt wronged.
They had asked if she needed anything?
“I should ask them to change my car.”
And into,
a very, very good one at that.
***
Kang Cheol-jin left Forest-Access Druid Village like that.
A situation where he endured losses for the sake of Family was not unfamiliar to him at all.
Whenever something like this happened, he had always done the same.
Because Family came first.
Because of that, no matter what loss he suffered or what threat approached, he had always been able to feel refreshed.
Besides, this incident was not even much of a loss.
If anything, would it not be Ki Ja-hyeon who suffered the loss?
After all, had he not made an enemy of a big shot like him?
And yet,
‘What is this uneasy feeling?’
– If there is a basis, would it still be rude or nonsense?
The eyes of that man named Ki Ja-hyeon as he finished those final words remained lodged in his mind and would not be forgotten.
At this point, he had no choice but to look back.
At the reason Family had been injured,
and the reason only one person in particular had avoided that major accident....
‘...I will have to look into it.’