Chapter 12: Yerin’s Journey (2)

I stepped out of the front door with energy. The soft feeling of the damp ground under my shoes made me smile. It felt

like the world was blessing my adventure.

I felt like I could walk forever right now. A bit of overconfidence, maybe.

Walking alone like this felt a little different from riding in the car with my sister.

The village was still far away, no matter how far I went.

It’s not like the distance had actually increased—I had just misjudged it.

The place we usually reached in 10 minutes by car… I thought it would take 20 to 30 minutes if I walked, based on my

memories as an adult.

I looked down at my body. Small hands, small feet, short legs—my steps were tiny. I figured it’d take at least an hour of

walking to get there.

It would’ve been nice if the scenery changed a little. But unfortunately, the road from home to the village looked the same

as always—plain and familiar. I felt disappointed in my own body.

I couldn’t get too tense or stressed because of my heart condition, but I had hoped for a little bit of mild suspense.

Maybe I’d meet another friendly and gentle concept being, like the one from last time.

Ever since the kindergarten closed, I hadn’t heard anything about “Concept.” So once again, my friend list had dropped to

zero.

A calm morning by the seaside village. A faint sea mist.

I don’t know how long I walked through that hazy fog, bouncing along, when something unfamiliar came into view.

Two split paths.

And in front of them stood a sign I had never seen before, stuck in the ground with strange writing on it.

[Signpost]

– The left path is the wrong way.

– The right path is the correct way.

“What’s this supposed to mean?”

I tilted my head as I read the writing. The sign’s talk of “right” and “wrong” didn’t really make sense to me.

Does it somehow know where I’m trying to go? Not everyone at a fork in the road has the same destination.

There wasn’t even a subject in the sentence. Just those two vague lines.

I stood there for a moment, then rubbed the sign’s surface with my hand. The paint rubbed off easily, like it had just been

applied.

1 Village 3km

[Destination]

Mountains

I immediately figured it out. Someone was playing a prank. It was too sloppy for me to call it a “mystery.” Just a cheap

joke.

Even the handwriting was bad—it looked like they used a marker, and now there was a black stain on my hand.

They picked the wrong place, too. If you want to prank with a sign like this, it only works in enclosed spaces or mazes.

I turned my head beside the sign. Even with the mist, I could clearly see the chimney smoke rising from the village in the

distance.

“I can see it just fine.”

I took the left path toward the village.

I don’t know who did this…

“But if I meet them, I’m definitely saying something.”

There’s even a thing called an oil-based marker—use it properly.

When a concept appears, the damage increases with time, so normally the rule is to neutralize it quickly.

But not every situation can be handled right away.

What if it appears in the middle of a city? Or somewhere no one can reach? A remote forest, an uninhabited island, or

even in the deep sea—that’s still marked as strictly off-limits.

When concepts appear in those kinds of places, we often miss the timing and a lot of blood has to be spilled.

After learning from those tragedies, the government realized it needed ongoing, long-term detection systems.

[Korean Comprehensive Anomaly Monitoring Center]

Founded after 1920 by the Korean government, this center operates 24/7. It detects and measures unusual phenomena

across the country and shares information with academic research centers.

Kim Sera stared at the document in her hand and then stamped it hard.

[Temporary Survey Team Dispatch]

– Danger Level: Stage 1

– Approved (Complete)

The message had arrived at dawn.

Kim Sera, who had been working late finishing up the last of the Doppelgänger case, mumbled to herself with her head

down as she found this request.

A small seaside village, linked to both Jeondo and Parang, had triggered an abnormal signal on a detector. The official

request for a local investigation team had been sent to our Jeondo Research Center.

‘Signal strength: Stage 1.’

If it were Stage 5 or above, where a concept definitely appears, it’d be a big deal. But Stage 1 is just above the lowest

level, Stage 0.

Most of the time, when we go to check these, nothing’s actually happening. Korea sees dozens of Stage 1 reports every

year. If concepts really did appear that often, the country would fall apart.

What the detector senses is just strange phenomena.

It doesn’t tell you directly that a concept has appeared.

It reacts even to scattered energies that haven’t taken form yet, or to random clumps of force in the air. It’ll also react to

things like rain, wind, storms, or snow blizzards as “abnormal.”

Even so, the Jeondo Research Center, which had been losing credibility, needed to respond to save face. There was a small

chance…

Maybe it would pick up an unusually weak or diluted concept being—unlikely, but not impossible.

‘Chances are nothing will happen.’

Still, that was Kim Sera’s personal hope.

Now came the list-making.

She had to decide who to send on this temporary survey team.

It didn’t require high-level talent. It wasn’t some academic expedition. They just needed to go to the reported location, use

detection equipment, and maybe take measurements.

That’s why the Parang Center would probably send new recruits or staff without specific duties.

As soon as she decided, Kim Sera scrawled out a name on the form. Spare personnel.

It’s not that she was embarrassed to go to work or avoid seeing Han Yoori, not at all.

She had a reason: As the director of Jeondo Research Center, she couldn’t just ignore something that happened in her

own assigned region.

The team was a mix of Jeondo, Parang, and government personnel—a temporary survey squad.

The government and Parang had more influence, but something was odd this time.

Kim Sera’s credentials as a chief scholar were overwhelming. Most of the other team members were rookies. She

intimidated them just by being there.

And her position as director meant none of the other team leaders had anything close to her authority.

Parang’s top: Senior Scholar.

Government’s top: Senior Scholar.

Jeondo’s top: Director (formerly Chief Scholar).

The others faded into the background.

So naturally, Kim Sera became the team leader.

Temporary Survey Team Leader: Kim Sera.

She took the title and, for once, was actively engaging with people and exchanging information.

While doing that, a clumsy-looking man introduced as a new scholar from Parang, Kim Won-jae, rushed into the tent.

“You’re seriously not doing anything right. Are you really a Senior Scholar? This is what you call a report? Why is the

credibility so bad?”

“Sorry.”

Kim Won-jae hesitated after seeing his senior getting scolded. Then he looked around and cautiously spoke.

“Team Leader Kim Sera.”

“Mm? I’m busy. Is this urgent?”

“Th-The detector’s readings just went up to Stage 3.”

“You’re kidding.”

Kim Sera shook her head and smiled, but Kim Won-jae immediately handed her a printout.

“What is this?”

“A reading from the detector. Abnormality level.”

[Phenomenon Reading]

– 13133411

– Elevated to Stage 3

Kim Sera’s face went pale, and her smile disappeared as she looked at the numbers.

“When did this happen?”

“Ten minutes ago.”

Back to the path—another sign had appeared.

This time the road split into three directions.

[Signpost]

Destination path.

Left.

– The middle path is incorrect.

Middle.

– The right path is not the way of the living.

Right.

– Please take this path.

“Who’s pulling this prank?”

I read the scribbled notes, pulled up my sleeve, and erased them all without hesitation.

Clean sign now.

Mountains 3km

Seaside

[Destination]

Village 1km

After thinking for a moment, I veered slightly from my original goal and walked into the middle path. The village and

seaside were next to each other anyway.

My gut was pointing me strongly toward the beach. For some reason, it felt like I’d find what I was looking for there.

After ignoring about five signs in a row and just confirming the destination before quickly passing through each fork…

I finally saw someone standing with their back to me.

To be precise, a girl standing in front of a sign, writing something on it.

Vandal.

“Found you!”

“Hmm? Eh? H-How did you escape my dream-maze so fast?!”

“Dream maze?”

The white-haired girl with bunny ears puffed out her chest and blew air from her nose.

“Yes, human! It’s my masterpiece that I’ve been working on for days!”

If she means those signs… I erased all of them.

“Hmph. I had to move because the deep sea one took over the old spot. I was rebuilding the maze but—ugh, I guess it

can’t be helped. Too bad, but you! Become my meal!”

She shouted dramatically and pointed at me, doing a peace sign with her other hand.

Kids these days…

“W-What’s going on… Hey, become my meal!”

Red eyes, white hair.

Weird bunny ears on her head. They twitched every time she yelled. The toy seemed very detailed.

“Human, become my meal!”

She kept shouting strange things. Then, noticing my blank stare, her hands dropped slowly and her face turned red.

I had followed my instincts—and now there was a girl about my age standing in front of me.

And importantly, she didn’t look like Gummy Bear at all.

She’s just a cringey, middle-school-syndrome girl who keeps calling people “human.”

A village with fewer than 100 people.

Finding another kid my age—besides her—would be tough.

I don’t know whose kid she is, but hey, be my friend.

Since she kept shouting “food,” I figured she was hungry.

I remembered the candy my sister gave me before I left.

Maybe it won’t be enough to fill her up, but…

I rummaged in my pocket and handed her a candy.

– Invisible Mode activated.

– Attempting negotiation with a ‘Concept.’ Current difficulty: [Extreme].

– Baby Mode adjusting difficulty.

: [Extreme] → [Baby]

– Negotiation attempt!

To a being that has always existed and is used to having everything come to it… everything else naturally carries

maximum value.

– Target’s value is fixed at max.

– Current desire of the concept:

[A mountain’s weight]

[Left: Essence, Body] [Right: _kg]

– Value detected.

– Current value of Han Yerin: 0.005kg

“Here.”

The girl took the candy I handed over with a clack and looked closely at it, then shook her head and said,

“You think I can be satisfied with this? Foolish! Foolish, human!”

She popped the round candy into her mouth and looked smug while swirling it with her tongue. But then her head froze

mid-motion.

The pen she’d been holding rolled out of her hand and fell to the ground.

“…Huh?