[You have entered the City of Invention, Gearheim!]
I looked around.
From the name alone, I'd expected it to be full of gears and spewing steam.
But it was a peaceful, quiet city nestled on a mountainside.
'The air is clean, and the view is nice.'
I walked to the edge and took a breath.
It was pretty high up, giving me a full view of the surrounding landscape.
Untouched nature, unmarred by civilization.
The more I looked, the further this city seemed from the concept of invention.
"Huh?"
I leaned forward.
An enormous procession stretched from the base of the mountain all the way to the city.
What was it for?
'Must be the other side.'
It seemed I had arrived at the back of the city.
I started walking toward the main gate to gather some information.
But still, it was a bit puzzling.
The entry condition for the 18th floor of the Tower of Myth was the annihilation of Queen Rakshasa.
I naturally assumed it would be connected to Rakshasa or Renya.
But the city's name and appearance didn't match that at all.
*Clang! Creak! Scrape!*
As I entered the city, various sounds reached my ears.
'So it's not called the City of Invention for nothing.'
The houses themselves looked very ordinary.
But the atmosphere and scenery around them were not.
Every house was piled high with mechanical junk, and people were buried in it, tirelessly moving screwdrivers and wrenches.
Adults and children alike, everyone was making something.
The mismatch between the exterior and the vibe made it even more interesting, I guess.
Anyway, it was a peculiar city.
I approached a young inventor nearby.
"Hey."
Since it was the City of Invention, I had something to ask.
The kid, buried in junk, lifted his head.
His face was covered in soot.
"Who are you, mister? I've never seen you before."
"I'm Yoo Jinhyuk. I just arrived in Gearheim."
"I'm Roco! Did you come to see Lady Velo too?"
"Who is Lady Velo?"
Roco spread his arms as wide as he could.
"She's a reaaaaally amazing person! She can tell what anything is for the moment she sees it!"
Oh.
My eyes lit up.
The mysterious sphere I got from defeating Mortarion in the unique floor.
—How odd? I've never seen this before, but why does it feel so familiar? Anyway, I don't know. I'm not exactly friends with machines.
Even Elia, with her three thousand years of wisdom, had waved it off, so I needed an appraiser to take a look at it.
"So Lady Velo is an incredible inventor. And she does appraisals on the side."
"That's not it!"
Roco's face stiffened as he waved his hand.
"Lady Velo is terrible at inventing! I'm better than her!"
"Oh."
"But she's good at looking at things! Do you have something to appraise too, mister?"
I took the mysterious sphere out of my inventory.
Roco stared at it for a while, turning it this way and that, then tilted his head.
"Isn't this just junk? It looks worse than the stuff I make!"
I was about to say, "No, it's not," but I swallowed my words when I saw the invention Roco held out.
I had to admit it.
Just by appearance, Roco's invention was far superior.
"Mister, do you know where Lady Velo is?"
"No, I was about to ask you."
"I'll take you!"
He crawled out of the junk pile and fumbled for his cloak.
He also grabbed a horned helmet and an iron club lying nearby.
He was guiding me, so why the weapons?!
"Let's go, mister! Follow me!"
I followed Roco as he strode ahead confidently.
"Oh, Roco? Where are you going?"
"I'm taking this mister to see Lady Velo!"
"Wow! That sounds fun! I wanna go too!"
"Me too!"
They must have been pretty bored.
One by one, the aspiring young inventors joined the procession.
Before long, it had swelled to over a dozen.
'I hope no one misunderstands.'
I looked like the Pied Piper, which made me a bit worried, but no one seemed to care. It must have been a common sight.
Since he seemed to be the neighborhood boss, I approached Roco, who had naturally taken the lead.
"Hey, Roco. Why are all your helmets so similar?"
Here a horned helmet, there a horned helmet—every single one had horns.
Roco snapped his head up.
He looked shocked.
"You don't even know that, mister?!"
"S-sorry."
"You have to wear a horned helmet like this so the Dokkaebi-nim protects us!"
"Dokkaebi-nim?"
"Yeah! A loooong time ago, monsters tried to kill our ancestors! But Dokkaebi-nim protected us! That's why we could be born, my mom said!"
"My family goes every weekend to thank Dokkaebi-nim!"
One of the kids pointed in a direction.
"My family goes over there!"
"We go to the center!"
The kids pointed in different directions, and I looked around.
Come to think of it, there were spaces like that all over the city.
Spaces whose purpose was hard to guess just by looking at the outside.
At the entrances to these spaces, carefully crafted inventions were placed alongside bouquets of flowers or food.
And, most importantly.
'Wow.'
At the center of the city stood a giant statue.
No matter how you looked at it, it was unmistakably Renya.
"It's super cool, right!? Our ancestor built this first when they settled here!"
"Yeah! They were an amazing sculptor, so they made it look exactly like Dokkaebi-nim!"
An amazing sculptor—I totally agreed.
It was practically a copy.
'Nice.'
I smiled at the statue.
'I'll call Renya later.'
I wanted to show her.
That unlike the bad blood that ended with Queen Rakshasa's death, the thread of fate that began in the cave was still connected.
Roco, who was beside me, tugged at my clothes.
"Mister! Over there! That's where Lady Velo is!"
"Oh? We're here, the—"
I frowned.
I'd been wondering where the procession from the base of the mountain was heading.
They were all gathered in front of that house.
"Roco."
"Yeah?"
"Did all those people come to get appraisals from Lady Velo?"
"Right! Lady Velo is super famous in other cities too! People even sleep on the mountain to get an appraisal!"
"How long does it take?"
"You can get one next month!"
"Oh..."
"No way! What next month! It'll be the month after!"
"You idiots! It'll be the month after that!"
The kids raised their voices, each insisting they were right.
It looked like it would go on until next year.
I slowly turned my head and looked at Renya's statue.
"Hey, kids. If I'm friends with Dokkaebi-nim, would the wait be a little shorter?"
"Mister."
Roco shook his head with a supremely solemn and serious face.
"Then no. You'll be punished."
"Right! My dad said so! There are lies you can tell and lies you can't!"
"I thought you were a nice mister!"
A torrent of harsh criticism and scolding began to pour down on me.
If it went on any longer, they looked ready to beat me with their iron clubs.
That was how immense the children's faith and love for Dokkaebi-nim was.
'I'm sorry, everyone waiting. I'm going to use a cheat code.'
After offering a half-hearted apology, I called Renya.
In less than a second, Renya manifested beside me.
At the same time, the torrent of scolding stopped as if by magic.
"An enemy?"
Renya murmured lightly and looked around.
Then she made a questioning expression.
There were no enemies—only kids the size of peanuts.
To be more precise.
"G-gah...!"
"H-huuuh...!"
"Eeek...!"
The kids were frozen in terror.
Roco, the neighborhood boss, turned his head with stiff movements.
He looked back and forth between the central statue and Renya several times.
Then—
"I-it's, it's, it's, it's Dokkaebi-niiiiim!!!"
He screamed.
As if that was the signal, the frozen kids started screaming too.
"Waaaaah!! It's Dokkaebi-nim!"
"It's really Dokkaebi-nim! My mom said so! She said Dokkaebi-nim is alive!"
"Right! She said Dokkaebi-nim is super strong and never dies!"
A commotion erupted.
People began to gather around.
And they reacted the same way as the kids.
*Creak.*
The door of the building opened.
A middle-aged woman, Velo, pushed up her thin gold-rimmed glasses as she stepped out.
"What's all this commotion? I asked you to be quiet in front of the workshop...?"
Velo stopped mid-sentence and stared blankly at Renya.
Then, a few seconds later.
"It's Dokkaebi-niiiiim!!!!"
She screamed even louder than Roco.
After taking several deep breaths, Velo slowly walked forward.
The crowd, gathered like a cloud, made way for her.
Velo stopped right in front of Renya and took a breath.
Then she asked carefully.
"D-do you... remember? The names of the people you kept with you in the cave?"
A heavy silence flowed through the city.
All eyes were fixed on Renya's lips.
After a moment, Renya, who had been utterly expressionless, opened her mouth.
"Rosalyn, Daku, Merlin."
Velo's eyes shook violently.
Not a single letter was wrong.
They were the names of her ancestors, recorded in the archives.
"Ah... So it really... was Dokkaebi-nim."
Velo, who had been standing with her hand over her mouth, slowly knelt on one knee.
The gathered people did the same.
Everyone lowered their bodies with faces full of emotion.
"The City of Invention, Gearheim, greets the benefactor who made us all possible."
Feeling a bit empty, Renya turned her head.
There was her master, Yoo Jinhyuk, who had already slipped to the back and was enthusiastically flashing a thumbs-up.
Jinhyuk had whispered to her a moment ago.
He said these were the bonds she had protected.
Renya slowly looked around at the people and let out a low breath.
Perhaps it was because she now knew that it hadn't been in vain.
A strange sense of relief washed over her.
And then, a moment later.
The Dokkaebi's lips moved slightly.
It was a smile so faint that even she herself didn't notice it.
* * *
I entered the home of the appraiser, Velo.
There was no glare or resentment for cutting in line.
And that was because—
"Waaaaah!"
"Dokkaebi-nim!!"
Everyone, young and old, had all their attention and eyes fixed on Renya.
Even though she was surrounded by children, Renya wasn't showing any sign of displeasure. In fact, she was playing along with them.
I decided I would absolutely never call Dark.
I didn't want to show him this side of her.
"I don't know how to express my gratitude. For bringing Dokkaebi-nim here."
Velo placed a hand on her chest and continued.
"It was written in detail in our ancestors' records. They said their one regret was not being able to properly thank Dokkaebi-nim. So it was passed down through the generations. A teaching that, no matter the era, if we ever met Dokkaebi-nim, we must offer our proper thanks. And today, I was finally able to fulfill that teaching."
"It worked out well. For both Gearheim and Renya."
"So it was Renya. Dokkaebi-nim's name. This is truly an immense honor. Not only to learn that name, but to meet you in person."
Her emotion didn't seem to fade easily.
Velo nodded several times as she looked at Renya through the window.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry. You said you needed an appraisal, and I've lost my composure. Please, have a seat over here."
"It's fine. You probably wanted to stay out there too, but you came in because of me."
Velo shook her head.
"Jinhyuk-nim, who brought Dokkaebi-nim here, is also a benefactor of Gearheim. Now, please show me. I will do my best to appraise it."
"Thank you!"
I took the mysterious sphere out of my inventory and placed it on the workbench.
And not long after.
"This is...!"
Appraiser Velo's eyes flew wide open.
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T/N:
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