TRPM 449

chapter 449

I received all the gift sets on-site, but my mother was different.

Some gifts required writing the recipient’s address, most were addressed to Shinsae-kyo, and only a very few were kept for herself.

It was a small enough amount to fit in the car trunk.

“Everyone’s busy during Seollal, so you can’t just meet them in person, right? That’s why it’s easier to just send them by delivery before the holiday.”

“… Maybe I should have done that too?”

Surely, many people would be away from home during Seollal, visiting their hometowns. I hadn’t considered that since this was my first time preparing holiday gifts this way.

“… Haah…”

Meanwhile, Sophia, who was checking the gift sets beside me and making a list of whom I planned to send gifts to, sighed.

For context, that list was something Sophia made me create immediately after she found out from my mother that I had bought the gift sets. Normally unflappable, Sophia had been annoyed enough to force me into making the list, and so I complied…

“Artist.”
“Hmm?”
“If you’re going to do this again next time, contact me or the Cheolhyeol Guild’s team first.”

Sophia wiped her face, looking tired.

“Uh… is there a problem?”
“Problem? Plenty. A huge one.”

According to Sophia, sending gift sets to acquaintances in the Cheolhyeol Guild or the Seoul Awakener Academy wasn’t an issue.

But…

“Sending gifts to executives of other guilds just because you know them is a bit much. If you were sending it to the guild leader as a representative, that’d be fine…”
“Really?”
“And police officers from the Special Investigation Unit… back in the day, they handled investigations involving you, right? It’s no longer relevant, but sending gifts to them could still cause problems.”
“Oh…”

I hadn’t thought of that at all. Sure, the Special Investigation Unit had acted as a liaison between me and the police, but officially, their role was to investigate and arrest any artist involved in private retribution.

“Sending directly from the store wasn’t a bad move. At least we could assess the situation afterward…”
“Are there any other issues?”

Sophia filtered out anyone who might pose a problem if they received a gift from me. The issue wasn’t with the recipients themselves, but the relationship between them and me could create complications.

“Just send them greetings via phone or text. Make sure to explain why you can’t send a gift.”
“Alright… but then there’s a problem…”

“What do we do with the leftover gift sets?”
“……”

Because some people couldn’t receive gifts, there were leftover sets. How should I deal with them?

“Send them to your four disciples. They’re all in Korea.”
“Eh? I have five disciples…”
“If you’re thinking of including the Great Spirit Master as a disciple, I’d reconsider. You could also send one to President Richard of the Association, and as a bonus, to the Korean Awakeners’ Association president as well.”

Sophia picked out people for whom sending gifts wouldn’t cause issues. Even after filtering carefully…

“Looks like there’ll still be a lot left.”
“We’re still sorting, but put the rest in your pocket dimension. The internal space is huge and seems well-preserved, so it should be fine for storage.”

My pocket dimension didn’t literally stop time, but it had some function to prevent decay or damage to items inside.

‘It didn’t have this feature at first, but it developed as the space grew.’

Someday, it might literally stop time internally. But that wasn’t the priority right now.

“Is that it?”
“Nope.”

There was more.

“Just to confirm, are you planning to visit relatives?”
“Yes. There aren’t any on my father’s side, so I was thinking of visiting relatives on my mother’s side.”
“Then we’ll need to sort gifts for them separately. These can’t be sent by delivery; you’ll have to take them personally…”
“Wait, Sophia?”

My mother stopped Sophia mid-sentence.

“Yes?”
“Our family… I don’t plan on sending gifts to relatives on Geon-woo’s maternal side.”
“Oh, did you prepare something in advance? Then…”
“No.”

Simply put, she had no desire to give them anything.

“… I see. It would be rude to press further. Understood.”

Sophia respected my mother’s wishes. With her help, I managed to sort most of the gifts.

“Alright, now we need to take the packages to the post office, right?”
“……”
“Ah, I’ll handle the ones for you and Mirae later.”

Just thinking about having to do this every Seollal and Chuseok in the future made me dizzy.

Then Sophia said…

“Next time, don’t bother buying gift sets. Just plan the money for people you’ll meet in person, and leave the rest to the Cheolhyeol Guild’s support team.”
“Okay, I will.”
“But don’t start that this Chuseok. You’re still a minor, so you’re supposed to receive money, not give it—even as an Auramaster.”
“Hmm… Sophia?”

There was something I’d been wanting to ask.

“Sophia, you’re American, right? How do you know so much about Korean holidays?”

She looked tired as she replied.

“I didn’t want to know. I just learned last Chuseok while helping Mirae send gifts to acquaintances.”

If she had known the welfare team of Cheolhyeol Guild would handle all this… Sophia muttered. Poor thing.

“No, it’s fine. It was a task I volunteered for, even if I didn’t have to.”

Anyway, I gathered the gift sets into my pocket dimension and headed to the post office, with Sophia accompanying me.

“Sending gifts to guild members is easier if you send them to the guild, not their homes. And the same goes for Academy members…”
“……”

My ears were aching, but it was necessary, so I had to listen.

I had bought gifts, but there was still plenty of time before Seollal. During this time, I decided to focus on dungeon clearing.

‘The Association directly requested it because too many dungeons remain uncleared.’

It wasn’t just me; all veteran awakeners in Korea received a similar request. Many were needed to handle ongoing incidents rather than dungeon clearing, and winter wasn’t a convenient season for activity. The cold wasn’t the only problem—snow falling from the sky was.

“More garbage from the sky today.”
“Even with hot packs, it’s cold.”

I overheard the soldiers guarding the dungeon muttering.

Right. Snow is the biggest problem. It comes with cold, so it chills the soldiers. Moreover, snow is frozen rain, soaking their clothes and draining body heat.

‘That’s not all.’

Snow accumulating on roads hinders movement. Awakeners usually use vehicles to reach gates, so snow delays travel, which reduces the number of dungeons cleared per day.

‘If snow piles on mountains, it can even hide gates. Awakeners usually rely on visual info to locate dungeons, so snow makes them hard to find.’

Some give up and descend mountains after nightfall to avoid getting lost. No wonder winter often saturates dungeons.

Still, the Association hadn’t asked all veteran awakeners for help like this before; this winter seemed serious.

“Better to handle this now than wait for a holiday incident.”
“……”

I asked Arthur, standing beside me.

“Why are you here?”
“I received the same request as you, Artist.”

Wait, you’re a foreigner. The Association asked all veteran awakeners in Korea, meaning Korean nationals currently in Korea—not foreigners.

Arthur, or awakeners visiting Korea for work or study like Clio or Sergei, are technically foreigners, so this request normally wouldn’t apply.

“Don’t worry about the details.”
“Not worry? How can I not?”
“Ahaha… It’s complicated, but simply, I went to the Association to earn some pocket money, and the president personally asked me there.”

Ah, so it was an unofficial route.

“I also requested a simpler procedure for dungeon clearing in Korea during this holiday.”
“… Foreigners have complicated procedures for clearing dungeons in Korea anyway.”

Since Arthur wanted to clear many dungeons, the president likely agreed to skip some formalities.

“By the way, pocket money? Are you short on cash?”

I thought he’d have enough, having been on vacation in Korea for over a month.

“Yes. More money went out than I expected.”

Potions for Rachel, daily living expenses, souvenirs… but the biggest expense was…

“Baby supplies… really expensive.”
“… Really?”

I hadn’t raised a baby, but I’d heard baby products are pricey. For Arthur to be this burdened, they must be insanely expensive. I looked at him carrying the weight of a family.

He had long been a reliable companion, helping me with tasks. Since I wasn’t short on money, I decided to help him a bit.

“By the way, I didn’t give you a wedding gift, right?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s count everything we earn today as your wedding gift plus overdue interest.”

So, I accompanied Arthur and cleared 58 dungeons in one day, earning about 500 million won, and handed it all to him.