“Whoa.”
The world changed as they moved through the twist. Sunsook looked around and opened the window. Cold, fresh air filled the truck, waking them up. It was refreshing.
‘Maybe the air itself is different.’
Joonbum speculated that air had some differences, otherwise it wouldn’t be this different.
“Joonbum! Mother!”
Doral ran toward them on sight. The women who were working also waved their hands.
“Doral, unload!”
“Ugh, not again?!”
Doral sighed at the sight of the five trailers connected to the truck, but he did not refuse to do it. He sighed and pulled up his sleeves.
“Doral, I’m sorry. I’ll prepare a delicious lunch for you later.”
“Haha, don’t you worry about me.”
Doral grinned at Sunsook. Some of the Ainos women also came to them, beaming at the fully-packed trailers.
“Joonbum, welcome!”
“Joonbum, welcome back!”
“Nice to meet you!”
“Hello.”
The women smiled at Joonbum and walked up to his mother. They seemed to be excited to see the trailers full of stuff. Joonbum shifted his gaze toward Mayze, whom he found to be so charming despite her face full of speckles. She looked like some actress Joonbum had seen in a movie.
“Beautiful.”
“Huh? Beautiful? What is?” Doral asked, puzzled at Joonbum’s words. He turned around to see what Joonbum was gazing at.
“Oh, yeah. The sunrise sure is beautiful.”
Joonbum came back to his senses at Doral’s words.
“Oh- um, yeah. The sunrise is beautiful.”
‘That was close.’
Joonbum blushed while Doral grew curious at sight of the unusual item on the trailer.
“Joonbum, what is this?”
“A rifle!”
“Oh, the weapon you used?”
“Yes, but stronger. Doral, you want to try it?”
“No!”
“Yeah, I might have… what?”
Joonbum gawked Doral, surprised. He was about to take it out, not expecting to be refused.
“Your weapon is strong, but what if you cannot use it anymore? Your weapon needs ammo. What happens when we don’t have any more ammo? We cannot make it here.”
Doral carefully explained his reasoning by adding gestures. Joonbum roughly understood what he was saying.
‘That’s true.’
Firearms were powerful weapons, but they came with flaws.
“Take one just in case. It will be a powerful tool to use during emergencies. I’ll train you to use it to its full potential, but you don’t need to use it if you don’t want to.”
Joonbum offered his explanation while using all possible gestures. Doral nodded.
“Big sister, what is this? Ohhh.”
“What is it?”
“Wow, I didn’t know this was possible…”
The women were surprised at the mixers, air fryers, and so forth. His mother beamed at their reactions.
“I’ll teach you how to use it. Joonbum, let’s move the food first.”
“Yeah.”
Joonbum and Doral moved all the food and started stacking them inside the cooler and the refrigerator. The women also started moving the kitchenware.
“Did you just see that?”
“Huh?”
“See what?”
Agelie and Vegit looked at their younger sister Hessrah as she spoke out. Mayze, the youngest, also looked at her when Hessrah turned to her.
“What?”
“Didn’t you notice? Joonbum was looking at you as if he fell in love!”
Agelie and Vegit’s eyes widened. Mayze seemed confused at first, but she soon blushed.
“No! No way!”
“Why not?”
Mayze could not reply to the question and Agelie and Vegit started teasing her also.
“Wow, our youngest sister has finally found someone.”
“Spring has come to our sister… but it’s fall now. Hehe.”
They glanced where Joonbum was working.
“It seems like they’re having fun and we’re having one hell of a time.”
“Right.”
Joonbum nodded at Doral’s words. They were moving things nonstop. The newly-built storage was being filled with supplies.
‘I need more beddings, a sewing tool, some clothes… I need more supplies to build more storage too.’
Joonbum thought about the supplies he needed next. As the number of people increased, there was a demand for more things.
“Joonbum, let’s eat breakfast.”
He moved to the table with Doral and found various bread types with butter, jam, eggs, strawberries, tomatoes, and fruit juice that was made with the mixer.
“Wow, amazing.”
“Doral, look. This was made with the mixer.”
“This is called jam. It’s very sweet. It’s nothing like the ones we make ourselves.”
“This is called butter. It goes well with the bread.”
“Sister, look at these fruits! They’re beautiful and delicious too!”
The five of Ainos members talked excitedly and Joonbum smiled at the sight.
‘It’s better to have a lot of people.’
Only Joonbum and his mother were left after his father left them. Life was hard and gloomy all the time. He tried to act energetically to hide the gloominess, but it was hard. He did not express it, but he actually hated it. Currently, this was something he longed for.
‘It’s good.’
He took a bite out of the toast.
*
[Wow! So cute!]
[I wish she was my daughter.]
[Goddess. They’re goddesses!]
[Goddesses have descended upon Earth. It’s coming to an end.]
[Wow, she’s so pretty even when she’s frowning.]
[Can you marry me please.]
[Go away, you pervert. Stop mumbling nonsense to the divine being.]
The video had a strong impact despite its short length. More contract and advertisement offers bombarded him. They were offers to get into contact with the Ainos people.
It was even to the point where some of the main broadcast companies started contacting him.
‘I have so much money now.’
After a few more days of contracts, two hundred million won was deposited into Joonbum’s bank account. He kept on shopping with his mother and they moved the items onto the trailer.
He also made another purchase from Taesoo. Unlike the first deal they made, he seemed to be more confident this time. Taesoo even claimed that he could provide any firearms upon request as if he was now a weapons dealer.
It took him three full days to unload everything he purchased at the fortress. He started practicing shooting the assault rifle and sniper rifle when he had some spare time. He only needed to sleep for about three hours, so he had more time on his hands than ever before.
After three more days of practice, seventy Ainos warriors gathered at the fortress. It seemed like the hunt was going to be bigger in scale this time.
-There’s more this time!-
-We’re going to the southern swamp. It’s dangerous and there’s low visibility. There are more dangerous monsters there too, so we need more people.-
Doral explained the details. Joonbum prepared his firearms and followed the warriors to leave for the hunt.
‘It’s so humid.’
They moved south all day. When they walked across a small mountain, the atmosphere changed. There was a thick fog that could be seen from the top of the hill.
“Wow.”
Joonbum gasped at the sight of fog that expanded so far that he could not see the end of it. He also realized his fortress was located in a highly elevated area. The small mountain he always saw from the fortress was not small. It was very tall now that he could see it in close proximity.
They had to walk down for a long time, so they rested periodically.
‘It’s so humid.’
The air was extremely humid and it was also stuffy with the heat. The trees were so dense that it hid almost all the sunlight. The blocked sunlight allowed for moss to grow at the bottom of tree trunks and there were rotting leaves all around the place. Moreover, there were all kinds of weird bugs hiding as they walked past.
“Wow, it’s so cold!”
“Ice water. So refreshing.”
“Cold water in this heat?”
“I hate coming here but this…”
Many moaned in astonishment as they drank a cup of ice cold water. They were overjoyed to drink such cold water with the current temperature.
‘It’s always best to have cold things when it’s hot. I wonder what kind of face they will make if they see an air conditioner?’ Joonbum imagined as the warriors started to walk again. They kept on walking, each with a bag full of stuff on their backs. It was a harsh trail.
As the sun started setting, Howen shouted, “We’re spending the night here. Be on guard in your groups.”
