The Isolated Island (19)
“What’s this?”
“I’m not sure either. But I thought… maybe it could help you, Yooha.”
Embedded in the ground was a faintly glowing blue crystal.
“It’s not a core, but if it contains mana, maybe you could absorb it with your power?”
It made sense that Min Hajun would think that way. The thing was clearly not an ordinary gem.
Unlike regular luminous stones, this one pulsed—its light flickering faintly on and off like a heartbeat.
“If it works, that’d be a big help for me.”
I crouched down beside him and reached out.
‘It feels alive.’
I couldn’t tell whether the steady rhythm I felt came from my own heartbeat or the crystal itself. Of course, that stone couldn’t really be alive.
I closed my eyes and activated my skill.
‘〈Absorb〉.’
If it truly held mana, I should be able to absorb it easily—just like I’d done with Lee Yul’s clone. I’d used up a lot of mana purifying Min Hajun earlier, so this was perfect timing.
Absorption failed due to unmet special condition.
Condition: Must absorb this gate’s core first.
The skill was rejected, and a status window appeared before my eyes. The crystal stayed perfectly still, still emitting its dim glow.
‘…What?’
That was a first. I’d never seen a special condition tied to absorption before.
“Something wrong?”
I must’ve looked surprised, because Min Hajun’s eyes widened. I tilted my head and replied,
“There’s a special condition attached to absorption.”
“A condition?”
“Yes. It says I have to absorb the gate’s core first.”
So this thing wasn’t just some lump of mana. It was something linked to the gate itself.
“Hmm…”
Min Hajun lowered his gaze, studying the blue crystal closely. Then, without a word, he reached for it.
“What are you doing?”
He didn’t even have an absorption skill, so what—
“I just thought it’d be a waste to leave it. Once we take the core, we probably won’t have time to come back.”
With a casual motion, he snapped the crystal cleanly from its base and held it out to me.
“Usually, items with conditions like this have some kind of special ability.”
I carefully accepted the crystal he handed over. I hadn’t even thought about taking it physically instead of absorbing it.
Even broken, it still glowed faintly and pulsed with mana.
“There are more over there.”
Apparently deciding to harvest them properly, Min Hajun began moving about industriously. With him working that eagerly, I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing.
We started scouring the area for more crystals like kids hunting four-leaf clovers.
“Yooha, Yooha. This one’s… probably too much, huh?”
His voice came from somewhere quite far off.
‘Wasn’t he just beside me a moment ago?’
I’d gotten so caught up in the search I hadn’t even noticed he’d wandered off.
Scanning the floor, I followed his voice and found him tucked away in a deep recess of the cavern—somewhere barely visible from outside.
“When did you get all the way in there?”
Apparently, Min Hajun had a knack for treasure hunting. He’d even found spots I wouldn’t have thought to check.
I smiled lightly and peered into the hollow—and immediately took that thought back.
‘No, he’s not just good at it—he’s a prodigy.’
If this were a treasure-hunting contest, Min Hajun would’ve won first place without question.
Beside him stood a crystal far larger than any we’d seen before.
It was so huge I wanted to take it with us… but he was probably right—it would be impossible.
“It’s too big, huh?”
“Yeah.”
The crystal was at least three times Min Hajun’s size. Not an exaggeration. Seeing them side by side made it obvious.
“I doubt you could even break that.”
“Oh, I can break it.”
He answered instantly, as if that wasn’t even a concern.
‘Right, of course. You’d probably snap something ten times thicker.’
Still, there was no point in going that far. If it shattered, we couldn’t be sure the mana or effect would remain intact.
But before I could say that, Min Hajun placed his hand on the massive structure to test its strength.
Crack.
The sound was sharp and immediate.
“Ah, no! I meant the smaller ones—”
I reached out to stop him, but before I could finish, a chill ran down my spine, freezing me mid-motion.
‘What… is that?’
Min Hajun must have felt it too—his expression went rigid.
It was like stepping on a landmine.
Instinctively, I wrapped myself in mana reinforcement just as I sensed a powerful vortex forming right in front of us.
One second. Two seconds.
No hesitation—Min Hajun and I both reached out to grab each other and escape.
But—
Boom.
Whoosh.
The ground shook, and a massive surge of water came out of nowhere, sweeping us away.
It wasn’t something we could resist—it was a tidal wave, a force of nature.
We were carried off helplessly, tumbling along the current. Thankfully, we managed to cling to each other, avoiding separation.
We sank under the water, burst up for air, then plunged back down again—over and over. It was chaos.
‘Damn it.’
I cursed under my breath. Once we got out of this, I wouldn’t want to see water again for a long while.
Still, eventually the current began to slow. The mana vortex seemed to fade too—maybe we’d just been carried far away from its center.
“Are you okay, Hajun?”
Once the water calmed enough to stop spinning us around, I finally managed to speak.
My feet still didn’t touch the ground, but at least I could float. That alone was something to be grateful for.
“Yeah… are you?”
During the chaos, he’d shielded me with his own body the entire time—I didn’t have a single scratch.
“Thanks to you, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Good.”
He loosened the arm still wrapped around my waist and ran a hand through his soaked hair.
“The water level’s dropping.”
He was right—the water was receding, though we had no idea why.
“What on earth just happened…”
“I’m sorry. I think it’s my fault.”
He spoke quietly, guilt filling his eyes.
“Breaking that big crystal probably triggered this.”
True enough, the water surge had started right after that cracking sound. There was nothing else that could’ve caused it.
“If you’re right, that means it really was a special item.”
“I just… feel bad. Because of me—”
“What are you talking about? Neither of us got hurt, and we even got some good loot out of it.”
If that crystal really did have some kind of hidden power, then the smaller ones in my pocket might be useful too. Maybe not as strong—but still valuable.
I checked what I’d managed to gather. Five crystals total. Not bad.
“You can let go now, by the way.”
I tapped his arm lightly. The water had drained enough that we could stand now—no more danger of being swept away.
‘Phew…’
I couldn’t tell if the stuff dripping down my face was sweat or water anymore.
Min Hajun released me, straightened his clothes, and wrung out his sleeves. We both looked like we’d been through a storm—which, technically, we had.
“Food’s going to be an issue…”
Everything in our packs was soaked. The jerky could still be eaten, but long-term preservation was another matter.
“If we find the others soon, it’ll be fine.”
He said it to comfort me, but it didn’t help much.
We’d just found a lead—and now we were lost again.
Where were we this time? It didn’t look like the place we’d come from.
‘Back to square one.’
I suppressed a sigh. Min Hajun already felt guilty enough; I wasn’t about to make it worse.
He looked like a drenched puppy as it was.
And then—
“Hey!”
A voice.
For a second, I thought I was hearing things.
“Hey! Where are you?”
That tone—impatient, familiar, and very real.
“Please tell me I’m not the only one hearing that.”
“No, I hear it too.”
That snapped me fully awake.
I turned toward the direction of the voice and shouted back,
“Over here! We’re over here!”
For the first time in my life, I was actually happy to hear Lee Yul yelling.
When we met again, I was definitely going to give him a big hug.
He’d hate it, but I didn’t care.
Relief washed over me as I spotted four distant figures flying toward us.
We were safe.
