*Why am I smiling?*
I stepped out into the yard where a cold wind was blowing, and all at once I felt happiness wash over my entire body.
Some ancient energy, buried deep inside me for a very long time, was seeping out from every single cell — releasing emotions I'd kept locked away for years.
What was this feeling?
That old, old energy — something that felt older than human civilization itself — trickled out slowly at first, then burst free all at once, flooding through me and wrapping around me like a wave. And I laughed. Laughed like a madman, overwhelmed by it.
The boar monster's hideous teeth came at me in slow motion. A spray of disgusting saliva flew toward my face; I tilted my head just slightly and let it miss. Then I swung the sword and sheared off two of its protruding tusks. The cut took its snout off too.
I'd just been curious. *Can I cut the teeth?* A simple, childlike question.
I spun and sliced through the monster's neck. Two more were charging at me from behind — I didn't even need to look to feel them coming.
I reversed my grip on the sword and stabbed twice. Pulling the blade back out felt like pulling it out of soft tofu — smooth, almost effortless. Like I was swinging a light stick around for fun.
I drifted back to elementary school. Kids fighting with sticks in the yard. Me and Heesung, each holding a thin branch, going at it like it was a real duel. Seonghee standing in the middle like a referee, giggling at us.
My branch tapped Heesung lightly on the neck. Seonghee pointed at me. Seven points now — she was keeping score. Green liquid from the monster arced through the air and splattered across my face.
Little Seonghee splashing water from the outdoor spigot. Through the spray, the boar monster's head split in two and dropped to the ground. Little Heesung tapping it lightly with a grin.
Water and green liquid and thin branches and children's laughter — all of it swirling and dancing through the yard.
Time passed. The sound of kids laughing without a care in the world slowly faded into the distance.
I took a breath.
My mind felt calm.
I finally understood that smile that hadn't left my face.
It was the laugh of a child — one I'd forgotten for a long, long time.
I shook myself back to the present and looked around the yard. Quiet. And grim.
The shredded monster corpses scattered across the ground crumbled into gray dust and drifted away. In their place, ten corcas sat glittering with an almost mystical glow.
As if it had been waiting, the camper van's fuel cap popped open on its own.
*Will they all fit?*
Before I could wonder too long, the corcas on the ground rose into the air almost simultaneously and shot straight into the fuel port. One by one, in a neat line, they all went in.
*They all fit.*
I pulled the three corcas from my pocket and fed those in too. They went right in as well. So one corca doesn't equal one gauge bar?
I picked up the arrows scattered on the ground and climbed back into the camper van.
Seonghee, who had been staring at me in a daze, slowly backed away. Fear in her eyes.
"How… how did you—"
She clearly couldn't process what she'd just seen. Neither could I, honestly. I was just adapting.
I didn't answer. I walked to the driver's seat and checked the dashboard. I needed to see the fuel gauge.
All ten bars were full.
Wait — so two bars before, then eight corcas to fill it up, and the remaining five just… got absorbed?
That's when I noticed a light I hadn't seen before. A button was glowing, and as it lit up, the text engraved on it became visible.
**[Evolution]**
Hm. Was it what I thought it was?
Either way, there was no reason not to press it. I'd been worried I'd wasted corcas by overfilling the tank — and now here was an option presenting itself.
I didn't overthink it. I pressed the button.
"Ugh—!"
A blinding light flooded my vision in an instant. Intensely, overwhelmingly bright. About the same intensity as last night.
I couldn't keep my eyes open. I tried covering them with both hands like I had before, but it was just as useless.
Seonghee screamed behind me. She was going through the same thing. So it wasn't just in my head.
*Oh, damn it.*
The dizziness hit again, and my mind started to blur. The blinding white swallowed everything — then suddenly went pitch black—
I opened my eyes.
I was sitting in the driver's seat with my neck bent sideways. At least I hadn't slumped forward onto the steering wheel. That would've blasted the horn and called every monster in the area straight to us.
I turned around.
Seonghee was gone.
*Huh?*
But the inside of the camper van had changed. It was bigger. The living area was larger. The bench seat by the table — there had been one before; now there were two, enough for four people to sit comfortably.
The kitchen was bigger too. And the bedroom was completely different — a proper bunk bed, generously sized.
I looked for her first. No answer when I called. I moved toward the living area with the table. That's when I spotted a pair of feet sticking out from underneath it.
I crouched down and checked on her. She was breathing. I lifted her up and laid her on the lower bunk.
Her face still had traces of the girl I remembered from when we were kids. There was a bruise forming on her forehead, and the knees of her jeans were torn, dried blood caked into the fabric. Nothing serious.
I went back to the driver's seat and looked for other changes.
The dashboard looked more modern. The most noticeable thing was the corca gauge — it used to show ten bars, but now it displayed a number.
**[5/100]**
Hm. I'd put in thirteen, and there were five left?
I thought about it for a moment.
*Oh.*
Before, ten was the max. Once ten were filled, the Evolution button activated. Pressing it changed the camper van. So ten corcas were consumed by the evolution. That left five. That tracked.
So the next evolution would take a hundred?
That seemed like a lot at first — but a hundred corcas was actually enough to hold out in the camper van for a good while without worrying about fuel.
What would improve if the camper van evolved again?
I looked over the dashboard and instrument panel more carefully.
Other than the gauge display changing, nothing else stood out. There had always been buttons I didn't know the purpose of.
I went back to the living area and opened the refrigerator, which was slightly larger now.
*Hm.*
A few new items had appeared. A small pack of Korean beef sirloin, a canned coffee, a carrot, an onion, and an apple. Still one of each, same as before. Since it restocked every time I opened and closed the door, there was no need for large quantities at once. But if I ate carelessly, the corcas would drain fast.
*Wait — the sword and shield?*
I thought I'd left them next to the driver's seat yesterday. I rushed to check, but they weren't there.
*Damn it.*
I checked under the table in the living area, the bathroom, and around the beds — nothing. Seonghee was still out cold on the lower bunk.
I tried the storage room last.
*Oh.*
The sword and shield were right where they'd originally been. So were the bow and quiver.
*Thank god. They reset back to the storage room — must've been part of the evolution.*
No new weapons, so I started to close the door — then noticed a toolbox on the floor. I checked it: a basic, standard tool set.
The sink was a bit wider too. Good for stacking used dishes. I went to the control panel and checked the switches. Nothing significantly different from before.
I double-checked each switch to make sure I wasn't wasting fuel. Same as before — only the refrigerator was on.
*It's getting dark.*
I hadn't noticed when the sun went down, but outside the windows, a deep reddish-black darkness was already settling in.
"Looks like we're not making it to the town center today."
I muttered to myself without thinking, still watching out the window — when a voice came from behind me.
"Jinwoo…"
"Holy—! You scared me!"
I thought she was still out, but she'd woken up and was sitting upright.
Her long, tangled hair had fallen forward over her face, and for a split second it gave me a chill.
"You feeling okay?"
She climbed off the bunk and stumbled over to the table, dropping into the seat across from me.
"How did you…"
It made sense that she couldn't process it. I couldn't fully explain it either. I was just rolling with it.
*Was it my will that let her in? Or does she have some kind of ability?*
Then she hesitated for a moment, and spoke in a quiet, steady voice.
"That must've hurt."
"What?"
"Back at the house… I thought you were a monster."
She must've thought I wouldn't remember, given how out of it she'd been — but it had been weighing on her.
"It hurt like hell. Come here, let me return the favor."
I said it with a grin. She looked away with an apologetic expression, then slowly bowed her head and pushed her messy hair toward me.
"I'm kidding."
She kept her head down and spoke.
"Thank you."
"I said I'm not gonna hit you!"
I was starting to wonder if I'd taken the joke too far — when her quiet, almost shy voice came through.
"For saving my life."
An awkward silence settled between us. I'd been genuinely annoyed when she clocked me earlier, but one sentence from her and that petty resentment dissolved completely.
I opened my mouth to change the subject.
"Are your parents in the town center?"
She slowly lifted her head and looked at me. Her long, tangled hair covered half her face, and there was dried saliva at the corner of her mouth — but none of that could hide the face I remembered.
*She looks exactly the same as when we were kids.*
The wild, unhinged look in her eyes from earlier was gone.
"I moved out to Seoul on my own, and my parents came back here after that."
She shifted her gaze to the window.
"They were farming, but they also opened a little shop in the town center."
I nodded and listened.
"I was on my way here to see them when everything went crazy…"
I'd been wondering how far those massive, mysterious fireballs had actually fallen.
"Where were you when you saw them?"
"Not long after I left."
"Left from where?"
Just the act of remembering made fear flicker across her eyes. And her answer sent that same fear creeping back into me.
"Seoul."