Maintenance (4)
"I'm home."
As I opened the front door and stepped inside, I immediately heard my grandfather's voice coming from the master bedroom.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
"Jaehyun?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
When I entered the master bedroom, I saw my grandmother lying peacefully on the stone bed with her eyes closed, as usual, and my grandfather sitting silently beside her, caring for her.
"Where's Mom?"
Just then-
"Son~? Is that you, son?"
I heard my mother's voice coming from the kitchen.
Grandpa added an explanation.
"She's cooking right now. Haven't eaten yet, right?"
"No."
"Then let's eat together later."
"Yes, Grandpa."
I walked over to the bed.
On top of my grandmother's blanket, a fairy was curled up and dozing.
When I lightly poked it, it looked up at me with drowsy eyes, then stretched its body with a big yawn.
Then it spread its wings and flew up, fluttering in circles around me.
"Yeah. I'm happy to see you too."
The fairy was currently level 13.
Considering that Kkami had already surpassed level 20, its growth was relatively slow.
Still, once it reached level 10, it had boosted the natural recovery rate of all citizens within the domain by 900%.
Thanks to the fairy's presence, minor injuries could be healed almost instantly just by entering the area.
When I brought my hand close to the fairy resting on my shoulder, it hugged my hand with its tiny arms and rubbed its cheek against the back of it.
After playing with the fairy for a bit, I checked on my grandmother's condition.
"How's Grandma doing?"
"Same as usual."
Thanks to Grandpa infusing her with green life energy and Mom's devoted care, Grandma was able to maintain her health.
But it wasn't perfect.
'She seems to have lost a bit of weight...'
No matter how amazing Grandpa's abilities were, she hadn't been able to consume proper nutrients for months now.
There was no way she could be fine.
'What exactly is the problem?'
At first, seeing Grandma open her eyes through the fairy's power gave me hope.
Even if it was brief, I believed that if the fairy kept leveling up, she would eventually fully awaken.
But at the current pace, waiting for the fairy to grow might take too long.
'Her body might reach its limit before then.'
I couldn't let that happen.
I had to come up with a solution.
Just then, Grandpa approached Grandma and used his power.
Wooooong-
As the green life energy flowed from Grandpa's hand and seeped into Grandma's body-
'That power...?'
I had thought it was just one of his many abilities, but looking closely, it felt different.
That power had a similar essence to the dark aura I possessed, or the red energy vampires used.
And then-
Ziiiing-
A strange sensation I hadn't noticed before suddenly became clear as I began to sense the energy more precisely.
'Hmm.'
Out of habit, I activated the Eye of the Absolute and began observing the green energy being absorbed into Grandma's body.
Then I could finally identify what I had only vaguely sensed with the naked
eye.
Ziiiing-
The green energy seeped into Grandma's body and gradually faded.
No more precisely, it was being absorbed by some kind of force already residing inside her.
That force was ravenously devouring the green energy Grandpa was emitting. Only what little remained after being consumed managed to stay in
Grandma's body to support her life force.
The identity of the thing devouring Grandpa's power was-
"Transparent energy?"
Only then did I realize that a transparent energy was welling up from within Grandma's body.
I sensed it instinctively.
'It's because of this.'
It was clear that Grandma couldn't open her eyes because of that power.
'If only I could do something about that power...'
The area where the transparent energy was most concentrated was around Grandma's head.
The moment I reached my hand toward it—
Flash-!
"!!"
The transparent energy that touched my hand flared up and spread out as if in a fit.
And then-
A completely different scene unfolded before my eyes.
An endless blue sky.
A vast forest densely packed with trees, and in the center, a colossal tree.
Even the majestic mountains adorning the horizon in vibrant colors.
Fwoosh-
As I removed my hand from the transparent energy, I was able to return to reality.
"Huff, huff!"
"Jaehyun! What's wrong?"
Grandpa, startled by my sudden reaction, gently patted my back.
When a green light emanating from Grandpa's body wrapped around me, a warm sensation calmed my breathing quickly.
"Sss. Haa. I'm okay."
"What happened?"
"...I'm not really sure myself."
But one thing was certain: what I just saw had something to do with that transparent energy residing in Grandma's body.
And then it happened.
Fwoosh-
Black flames erupted, aiming to burn away the transparent energy around Grandma's head.
Because that energy had dared to act hostile toward me within my domain.
But I consciously stopped it.
'If I recklessly burn that energy, Grandma won't survive.'
I could burn it away if I wanted to.
This was my domain, and the transparent energy dwelling in Grandma's body was cornered with nowhere to run.
But that energy had been parasitizing Grandma's body even before I built this separate space, and it had created its own small domain within her head.
In the process of burning away that parasitic energy, Grandma would inevitably be harmed.
If I wasn't careful, I could end up burning down the entire house just to catch a flea.
'I need to find another way.'
There had to be a way to drive out that energy while protecting Grandma.
"Grandpa. When are you going to wake Grandma up?"
"Why?"
"There's something I want to ask her."
"To your grandma?"
"Yes."
"We'll wake her up after we've eaten, when the whole family is gathered."
The fairy could only wake Grandma up once every three days.
Even then, she could only stay awake for about 10 minutes at a time.
That's why they waited until the whole family was present and ready to talk before waking her.
"She's going to be so happy. Last time she woke up, she kept asking where you were. You know that?"
"I heard from Dad."
Just then, Mom's voice rang out from the kitchen.
"Dad! Jaehyun! Time to eat!"
A lovingly prepared meal was waiting on the kitchen table.
Doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew), various side dishes, braised mackerel, and grilled rockfish filled the table, making my mouth water.
Grandpa sat at the head of the table and joked:
"You grilled that fancy akkamochi just 'cause our precious boy came home, huh?"
"You like it too, Dad. And it's not even that expensive at the shop."
Since fishing from boats was no longer possible, everything from mackerel and pollock to tuna had been registered and sold through the marketplace.
Thanks to product standardization, you could buy top-quality fish as long as you had the money. The rockfish on the table now was enormous.
Mom said it wasn't expensive, but something this big surely cost a pretty
penny.
But money wasn't a concern.
"Where's Kim?"
"He went to work. He'll be back soon."
That's because Dad earned an incredible amount every day.
Due to the "Bloodline" title, the monsters Dad hunted were all credited entirely
to him, and the money he made from monster hunting was always in the hundreds of millions.
Since the income was so massive, the money spent on food was nothing more than pocket change.
"Things have probably gotten even better these days."
After subduing Jinjo and incorporating most of Busan into my territory, I now had to travel quite a distance to go hunting.
Because of that, I had set things up so I could travel freely to the Ulsan outpost through Namdaemun.
Due to the nature of Namdaemun needing to be installed on a transparent barrier, I had no choice but to make Jeonpo Station-right in front of my apartment-into the outpost. But that kind of investment didn't feel wasteful at
all.
What's more, establishing an outpost within the territory came at half the cost, and it didn't even require a vassal with a [Knight]-level title to activate it, making operations much easier.
Beep beep beep-beedle-deedle-deep~!
Just then, the front door opened, and Dad walked in.
"Mmm~ smells delicious. Must be grilled rockfish, huh?"
The rockfish Mom had grilled had firm, delicious flesh.
It was a big catch, so there was plenty of meat, but with the four of us attacking it with our chopsticks, the bones were exposed in no time.
"Thanks for the meal."
After finishing our meal, our family gathered in the first-floor master bedroom where Grandma was.
Mom spoke affectionately to the sleeping Grandma.
"Mom, you've been waiting long, haven't you? We'll wake you up soon."
With that, Grandpa released a green aura toward the fairy.
The fairy received the green aura with its whole body and smiled blissfully.
Then, fluttering its wings above Grandma, it sprinkled sparkling dust.
And in that moment-
Whoosh-
With the eyes of an Absolute Being, I was watching the movement of the transparent energy and confirmed it was retreating into its own territory inside Grandma's head.
And once the transparent energy that had been occupying her whole body fully withdrew into the small area inside her head-
"Mmm..."
Grandma slowly opened her eyes.
Mom was the first to speak to her.
"Mom, are you feeling okay? You're not in pain anywhere, are you?"
With a dazed look in her eyes, Grandma quietly nodded.
"Mom, look over here. Jaehyun's here."
"Jaehyun...?"
At Mom's words, Grandma slowly turned her head toward me, then smiled softly and said,
"That's right... my grandson is here."
"Yes, Grandma. It's me."
"Mom, are you thirsty? Here, some water."
Grandma still couldn't fully regain her clarity.
'Even though the duration has increased, it's still the same in the end.'
The last time I visited, she could only stay awake for about three minutes.
Since she fell back asleep so quickly then, we hadn't thought her dazed state was that unusual.
But now, with more than ten minutes possible, and nearly five minutes already passed since she woke up, her still-dreamlike expression made me realize the seriousness of the situation.
"Grandma."
"Hmm...?"
"I want to ask you something."
I looked into her vacant eyes and asked,
"Do you know anything about a giant tree and forest?"
"A giant tree...?"
"Yes, a giant tree."
The moment I saw that dense forest and massive tree, only one thought came to mind.
"It was like the World Tree..."
Maybe Grandma's sleep had something to do with the World Tree-that was the unsettling idea that crossed my mind.
"The World... Tree...?"
It was at that moment.
Wooooong-
The transparent energy, which had been lurking within its domain, suddenly surged out.
Then, in a flash, it engulfed Grandma's entire body.
"M-Mom!"
Grandma lost consciousness and collapsed.
And then-
Flash-!
A brilliant light burst out.
[The Absolute Being of the household has blocked the mental attack.]
As the system message appeared-
Thud-
Mom, Dad, and even Grandpa-
Everyone except me lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]