“Hmm...”
Jin-woo took a deep breath and adjusted his grip on his
weapon.
Crackle!
Sparks flew from the flyswatter as he channelled his desire
for greater strength.
The effect was beyond his expectations.
The bee he aimed for was knocked down, along with the bees
buzzing around it, all of which were electrocuted and fell to the ground.
Sizzle! Crack!
Following Jin-woo’s fierce swings, the smell of burning bees
spread more strongly around him.
Zzzzzz!
Swish!
Jin-woo narrowly avoided the retaliating bees’ attacks with
his full attention and managed to swing his weapon.
He successfully struck the bees one after another, not
because he wanted revenge for Gilbert, but because he had witnessed first-hand
how easily the thick and sharp bee stinger could penetrate a person’s body.
He just wanted to clear the surrounding bees as quickly and
surely as possible.
Another reason he was anxious was that the smoke effect was
wearing off.
Cliff seemed to share the same concern and shouted at the top
of his lungs.
“If the bees that are drunk on smoke come to their senses and
attack us, we’re in big trouble! Let’s quickly deal with the ones that are
attacking us now and retreat!”
Fortunately, the bees that had come from outside were being
roughly sorted out.
Jin-woo, conscious of the surrounding eyes, returned the
electric flyswatter to its original power level.
It would have been fine if he had been in a more chaotic
situation, but he had to be careful now because there was a possibility of
being caught.
...No, there might be someone who has already seen it.
Since they fought in an open space, it was possible that
someone’s gaze accidentally fell on him.
After a short moment of thought, Jin-woo decided to push the
electric flyswatter to its limit and broke it.
Zap! Boom!
Fortunately, the area was already cleared out, so everyone’s
attention was drawn to Jin-woo, who dropped the flyswatter with a surprised
expression, and they gathered around him.
“Hey! Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m not hurt. But the weapon you lent me is...”
“Oh, it broke down? No wonder the power seemed a bit
unstable... At least it’s broken after all that chaos. Are you okay? You seem
quite shocked.”
“No, it’s okay. Thanks to that, I survived.”
“Yeah, well, this is not the time for this. Let’s hurry up,
get our stuff and go back!”
Cliff urged the group on, and they were able to catch their
breath after completely leaving the area where the bees were.
“Ouch...!”
Gilbert, who had run all the way here without even treating
his injured arm, groaned and broke out in a cold sweat.
Whether this kind of thing happened often or not, Cliff
calmly shoved a painkiller pill into Gilbert’s mouth, and even removed the bee
sting that was still embedded in his arm.
“Ouch...!”
The rest of the group pinned down Gilbert, who was writhing
in pain, and Cliff skillfully treated his wounds and carefully wrapped them
with bandages.
“There doesn’t seem to be any poison.”
Watching the emergency treatment, which wasn’t much different
from a person being stabbed with a knife, Lee Jin-woo muttered to himself in a
daze and was taken aback. Even though he had experienced something that he
might only experience once in a lifetime if he were on Earth, he was surprised
at how nonchalant he was.
People say that humans are adaptable animals... have I
already become accustomed to this unbelievable world?
While he was pondering this, Cliff quickly organized the
situation.
“I think we should call it a day here. Does anyone object?”
“Well, if it were a normal day, we would have gone further,
but we have an injured person, so I agree.”
“This expedition wasn’t bad, so there’s no need to push
ourselves until the last minute.”
Since there were no objections, Cliff got up and spoke
contentedly.
“Let’s hurry back and wrap things up and rest. We also got
three bottles of Honeysuckle today. There was one injured person due to
unexpected circumstances, but this is not a bad harvest.”
Lee Jin-woo thought this was something he shouldn’t say in
front of the person who was stung in the arm, but surprisingly, no one pointed
out that part.
“We’ll give the goods to the middlemen in Loston and then
enjoy a drink later tonight.”
While the Roamers were cheering and talking amongst
themselves, Lee Jin-woo subtly asked Cliff about something that he had become
curious about during that whole conversation.
“What does it mean to hand over goods to the middlemen?”
“Oh, that? Haha, I keep forgetting that you’re a newly
reincarnated person because of how well you’re adapting,” Cliff explained with
a light laugh.
“The middlemen are people who buy the things we Roamers
collect. We can’t go around looking for buyers one by one as we travel through
the city,” he continued.
“I see. So, can we sell this to them too?” Jinwoo asked,
taking out an energy stone from his pocket and showing it to them. Those who
saw the unique, radiant ore were immediately captivated by its beauty.
“Haha, did you find this again by chance?”
“I got lucky.”
“Wow, you have good eyes and luck. This should be worth quite
a bit of money. You could easily make several hundred bring,” Cliff said.
“Really?”
Jin-woo was surprised to hear that this small ore was worth
tens of thousands of Won. He then made a serious offer.
“Then, I’ll give this to you, Cliff. I couldn’t properly
thank you for rescuing me yesterday.”
Cliff was taken aback, but soon burst out laughing.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but you need to take care of
yourself. It takes more than a few coins to settle down in this world,” he
said.
“But...”
“Cliff, just take it!” Gilbert interjected with a hoarse
voice, thanks to the painkillers that had given him some strength.
He looked at the energy stone in Jin-woo’s hand with greedy
eyes and said.
“I would have shared it with everyone if I had found it amidst
all the chaos. Since we all experienced the suffering together, it would be
unfair for one person to keep it all for themselves. Wouldn’t that be
considered selfish?”
“...I found it myself prior to the bee incident. Even if I
had come across it while catching the bees, I still discovered it on my own,
which means you cannot just claim ownership of it.”
Jin-woo maintained his composure and responded in a typical
problem-solving fashion as Gilbert became increasingly agitated and
argumentative.
“What’s wrong with this guy?!”
“Stop it! Gilbert, do you really want to talk like that to
someone who’s just been reincarnated?”
Although Gilbert left in a huff, no one in the group tried to
stop him.
Observing Gilbert’s pathetic behavior, Cliff, with a cold
tongue, nodded at Jinwoo as if to tell him not to take it to heart.
“He’s probably just extra sensitive from being hurt, so don’t
hold it against him too much.”
“I understand.”
“Anyway... I’m sorry for bringing you here and exposing you
to danger.”
Jin-woo, whose evaluation of Cliff had just gone up, readily
accepted his apology.
“It wasn’t an intentionally dangerous situation, and I didn’t
get hurt, so it’s okay.”
“Thanks for understanding. By the way, I noticed your
movements weren’t normal earlier... were you perhaps a professional athlete in
your past life?”
“...I don’t think so.”
He was just an ordinary electrician. Of course, he was in
good shape, but that was thanks to the practical muscles he gained from various
part-time jobs and manual labor, as he had nowhere else to rely on.
Even after he got a job, he consistently maintained his body,
thinking of it as an asset. However, he had never done any training that could
be helpful in a situation like today.
But still, my body moved the way I wanted it to.
No, it was even better than that. His strength, speed, and
flexibility had all improved beyond what he remembered.
“You don’t need to jump to conclusions so soon. If someone
shows exceptional talent in Gaia, it’s usually related to their past lives. In
fact, most Olympic gold medalists on Earth who were reincarnated here also
become athletes.”
“Is that so?”
Jin-woo looked at Cliff, who was excitedly talking, feeling a
little uneasy.
He felt like the other was expecting more from him than just
taking care of a novice reincarnator.
***
The group returned to the makeshift station while chatting
about this and that. It was already late afternoon, so Cliff suggested that
they all rest and meet up later to eat dinner.
The group scattered to do their own things. They didn’t see
Gilbert, who went ahead alone, but no one was worried if he had arrived safely.
“What are you going to do?”
“I want to take a shower first.”
“Yeah, you seem to be someone who is neat and tidy. However,
since there are many cases where you can’t shower for a few days while living
as a Roamer, it’s better to gradually get used to it.”
“...”
Although he had never said that he would be a Roamer, Cliff
was speaking as if it were a given fact.
Jin-woo decided to get the necessary information instead of
creating unnecessary trouble by denying what the other just said.
“Can we use the shower here like we did at the temporary
station?”
There was a shower on the train, but it was much smaller and
uncomfortable, and there were fewer of them. It wasn’t a place he wanted to use
while the train was parked like this.
“You have to use points, but you can use it.”
“Yesterday...”
“That was a shower attached to the information center. It’s a
service for those who have just been reincarnated.”
“...”
Seeing Jin-woo, who thought that all the stalls were the same
in any world, Cliff laughed and patted him on the shoulder.
“I told you, living is the same wherever you are. I’ll pay
for the shower, so come with me.”
“Thank you.”
Jin-woo, who was about to decline out of habit, changed his
mind and accepted Cliff’s kindness.
This was because Cliff’s words that it would take a lot of
money to settle down sounded realistic.
Didn’t he say I needed 300,000 bring just to get
citizennship? Even if I work like a machine, I don’t know when I’ll be able to
collect that much. If I lose money on small things like this...
Even while washing himself with hot water, Jin-woo’s head was
noisy with worries about money.
After returning to the train to take a break, he still felt
suffocated and eventually climbed back onto the roof of the train to clear his
thoughts while quietly gazing up at the sky and closing his eyes. Since the
train was stopped, there was no danger, and he wanted to take the opportunity
to organize his thoughts.
Right now, the only options are either being a Roamer or
working at a factory...
He had to see the factory for himself to know exactly what
kind of place it was, but generally speaking, it probably wasn’t a place where
he could make a lot of money in a short period of time.
Stable but with low income, or risky but with high
returns...
Lee Jin-woo recalled the life of a Roamer he had observed
throughout the day.
Although there were definitely some risky moments, it felt
like he could handle them well enough.
If I were alone, it might have been easier... if I just
prepare well enough...
Zap!
Lee Jin-woo tried to generate a small electric spark at the
tip of his finger, an uncommon ability that was mentioned in the guidebook. If he
could control this power freely, he would surely become a competitive Roamer.
I need to practice. I’ll need a private room if I don’t
want to get caught... Of course, it’ll be much more expensive. It would be
better to work solo to save money rather than with a team.
He couldn’t just entrust his back to others.
Of course, Cliff had taken care of him kindly, but it didn’t
feel like pure kindness, as if he had some ulterior motives.
Getting stabbed in the back is getting tiresome...
At that moment, Lee Jin-woo heard an unwelcome voice as he
recalled his bitter past.
Thud.
“Is that really true, Brother?”
“Hahaha, of course it is. So just do well with me from now
on.”
...Senior and Gilbert? Why are they together? No, wait,
did that guy finally snap out of it?
Lee Jin-woo carefully hid his presence and focused on their
conversation.
