The Guild Master was summoned to a tree that had suddenly grown.

He looked up at the tree, its grey, steel-like trunk stirring a mysterious frown on his face.

“A fortifier?”

“Yes, it seems Gyeoul managed to grow it.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a fortifier borne from a tree.”

His gaze shifted to me, and I could only feel bewildered, since I hadn’t grown the tree myself.

What was I supposed to say to the Master?

After some thought, I decided to ask about what I was curious about first.

“Um, what exactly is a fortifier…?”

“It’s a fruit that temporarily enhances equipment. Let me just check something.”

Yeoreum responded to my question by plucking one of the fruits.

It looked as hard as steel, but a new fruit began to grow instantly once it was plucked.

It seemed it would fully regrow in about ten minutes.

“Do fruits usually regrow this quickly?”

“No, normally they wither once picked and don’t regrow like this. That’s why it’s so rare…”

Yeoreum drew her sword and rubbed the plucked fruit against the blade.

Shhh-

The fruit, as hard as steel, melted and adhered to the blade’s surface.

Yeoreum examined the sword from different angles, clearly satisfied.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

She tapped the side of the blade with her fingernail.

Though I couldn’t be sure, it seemed the sword had become sharper and harder than before.

“How does it look?”

“It’s impressive. With this, I could easily cut through steel.”

Nearby, there were dented pots stacked next to the tent.

Yeoreum walked over to the pots and tapped one with the blade.

I expected a light metallic clang, but astonishingly, the pot split in half as easily as slicing through tofu.

In total, two pots were split.

“My pots…”

“I’m sorry… I just meant to nick the top, but it cut deeper than I expected.”

Her apology was sincere.

For her sake, I decided to act as though it wasn’t a big deal.

“It’s okay. We can always get more pots.”

“I’ll buy new ones, it was my mistake.”

“No, really, it’s fine.”

I wasn’t so lacking in conscience to replace a merely dented pot with a new one.

Though I was sad to lose usable pots, I decided to just write them off as a loss.

“Okay. I’m really sorry…”

As Yeoreum scratched her cheek, the Master approached, holding a fortifier plucked at some point.

“So, how much are you selling the fortifier for?”

“I don’t know… it’s not my tree, so I think we should ask Levinas.”

“It belongs to Levinas?”

The Master turned to look at Levinas.

At everyone’s gaze, Levinas’s ears perked up.

“Levinas, what do you want to do with the tree?”

“I don’t know! Let King decide!”

“Is it alright if I decide?”

“Yes! It’s King’s tree!”

Levinas nodded, fine with the decision.

After a brief contemplation, I reached a conclusion.

I decided to distribute the fortifier freely to everyone.

The seeds had been a gift, and it was Levinas who had nurtured them until the fruits formed by themselves.

I had no intention of profiting from something that I had gained without any effort.

“There’s no need for money. Take as much as you need.”

I offered the freshly picked fortifier to the Master.

Without accepting the fortifier, the Master asked,

“Why don’t you want money for it?”

“I received it for free as well, so let’s just share it among ourselves.”

“Hmm…”

The Master stroked his chin, then finally took the fortifier I offered.

My tail wagged lightly as he accepted my suggestion.

“You know, you could make money from this and no one would object.”

“It’s fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Reassured by my firm resolve, the Master silently placed his hand on my head.

He patted my head as one might soothe a child, and somehow, it didn’t upset me.

In fact, it felt so good that my tail began to wag faster.

“Thank you.”

I was astonished to receive gratitude from the Master.

Embarrassed and uplifted, I absentmindedly scratched the back of my neck.

—

—

“Let’s distribute the fortifiers to the guild members.”

Following Yeoreum’s suggestion, Gyeoul and the children took the fortifiers and left.

As they left, Yeoreum and Kang Jinho watched them go, and when they were out of sight, began to talk.

“I never thought I’d say this, but that child is truly like an angel.”

“Yes, Gyeoul enjoys being generous.”

She wanted to share the items she got for free with everyone.

Yeoreum wanted to suggest she sell them instead and make some money, but knowing Gyeoul’s kind heart, she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

‘Not taking money was probably the best decision…’

It would be wrong to corrupt a child’s generous spirit.

For now, not taking money was definitely the best choice.

‘Selling them secretly and depositing the money into Gyeoul’s account wouldn’t be right, would it?’

After much deliberation, Yeoreum decided against it.

If Gyeoul found out, she would be disappointed.

In their relationship, trust was more important than anything.

Even if it meant Gyeoul lived in poverty, betraying her trust was not an option.

That was Yeoreum’s conclusion.

—

—

The Yeomyeong Guild had arranged dormitories for its staff.

These single-occupancy rooms could be used as private rooms if desired.

“Excuse me…”

Knock-knock-

I knocked on Kwon Arin’s dorm room door.

Next to me, Levinas also knocked.

“SupremeMasterKwonArin!”

Bang-bang-bang-bang-

She knocked rapidly with both hands, like a rabbit digging a burrow.

She continued without pause, and when the door opened, Kwon Arin appeared.

“What’s up?”

“I came to give you this.”

I handed a fortifier to Kwon Arin.

Realizing what it was, her eyes widened.

“Why are you giving this to me? This is really expensive, isn’t it?”

“From now on, it’s free. Just take as much as you need from the guild.”

“Is that so…?”

Kwon Arin, treating it like a precious item, carefully received the fortifier with both hands.

Seizing the moment, Levinas dashed into the dorm.

“Home sweet home!”

Levinas ran around the house, having kicked off her shoes.

Startled, Kwon Arin chased after her.

“Ah, no…!”

Startled by Kwon Arin’s loud voice, Levinas startled.

She fidgeted, gauging Kwon Arin’s reaction with her hands clasped together.

“I’m sorry…”

“No, I’m not scolding you. It’s because of the stream.”

“Stream?”

“Yeah. A gaming broadcast. We can’t show your faces.”

Was she worried about facial exposure?

We were already exposed on the famous Yeoreum’s SNS.

There was no reason to worry anymore.

“It’s fine if our faces show.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. But you stream?”

Kwon Arin responded with an awkward smile to my question.

I knew she was feeling shy.

“No, this is my first time. Someone suggested I try it at the arcade last time.”

“Oh…”

Given Kwon Arin’s gaming skills, it seemed she would do well if she streamed.

“If it’s okay to be on the stream, shall we play a game together?”

“A game?”

“Yes. It’s called Undercook[1], a game where four people cook together.”

A four-player game.

Me, Levinas, Saebyeok, and Kwon Arin—it was the perfect number.

I had no reason to refuse since it meant playing with the kids.

“Okay.”

I nodded and entered Kwon Arin’s dorm room.

She had a stream running with four viewers.

“Not many viewers, huh?”

“It’s my first day, so having four viewers is actually quite a lot.”

“Is that so?”

Blushing, Kwon Arin handed us the game controllers.

My character was a cat holding a net.

‘Do I need to forage the ingredients myself?’

Identifying non-edible items was the first objective of the game.

Since it was designed for kids, the difficulty was low.

I wandered through the forest with my net, quickly catching a dragonfly that flew by.

Dragonflies are edible, as are grasshoppers and worms.

Most of the items visible on the map were edible.

‘Is there anything here that’s not edible?’

Was the game set to the lowest difficulty for the children?

Thanks to that, I managed to gather a lot of ingredients, including grasshoppers, snakes, dog grass, and rabbit grass.

──

Cooking Time!

──

After the gathering session ended, we met up in the restaurant.

It was time to share what we had caught, but Kwon Arin seemed unusually embarrassed.

“Gyeoul.”

“Yes?”

“We’re only supposed to collect edible things.”

“Yes, everything I collected is edible.”

Is this inedible food?

Puzzled, I tilted my head.

“You ate grasshoppers…?”

“Yes. I really did eat them when I was very hungry.”

“There was nothing else to eat…?”

“Yes… I didn’t have any money…”

Not being able to afford proper meals was embarrassing as a working adult.

“No, it’s understandable that you’re not making money, but didn’t anyone help you when you were hungry?”

“Why would anyone help me…?”

“Why wouldn’t they help you?”

“There’s no reason to help…”

“What…?”

Kwon Arin’s expression was baffling.

It was as if she was questioning the absurdity of my statements.

I could only return a similar look to Kwon Arin, unable to understand what she was getting at.

—

[1. raei: in real life, it’s called overcooked! Heavy recommend!]

Bonus! 3 left after this. Thank ye smelts!

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