Mu Yichen folded his arms with a long-suffering sigh. “You’re officially hired.”

  “For what?!” she squeaked.

  “Turning this wasteland into a magical forest wonderland,” Kang Juwon replied, hands in pockets. “That, or running away and being hunted down.”

  Yoo Eunsae turned back to Lee Aseok.

  He was now unrolling another sheet of paper. It was a sun-path chart. To maximize flower blooming hours.

  “I want it finished in three days,” he said without looking up.

  As expected of Lee Aseok, he never show mercy.

  There was silence.

  Heavy, awkward, soul-crushing silence.

  Mu Yichen, Park Taegun, Seo MinHyun, and Kang Juwon all stood in a loose semicircle, staring at Lee Aseok like he’d just declared Pudding the new president of the world.

  Which, given how things were going, wasn’t entirely out of the question.

  The husky in question was currently gnawing on a bone with the proud air of someone who’d just been told a personal forest would be built for his entertainment. He paused only to give a smug little tail wag.

  Meanwhile, Yoo Eunsae stood frozen like a deer in headlights.

  “F-Finish it in three days…?” she echoed, voice cracking halfway through the sentence.

  Lee Aseok nodded, utterly serious.

  “Three. Days.”

  Yoo Eunsae opened her mouth. Closed it.

  Opened it again.

  She looked at the map in her hand, hand-drawn, annotated in red ink, labeled like an architect’s blueprint, and then at the sea of seed packets surrounding her like a cursed floral shrine.

  “Wait, wait, wait!” she said, her hands flailing slightly as panic crept in. “I’m B-rank. B. As in ‘barely enough mana to raise a few trees’ I can’t—my mana core, my recovery rate..I mean, I can grow plants but not a forest. In three days?! Are you insane?!”

  She wasn’t sure if that last part was directed at Lee Aseok or herself.

  Lee Aseok remained still, then slowly turned his gaze to Seo MinHyun and He Ziqin.

  Nothing was said.

  But the two men immediately understood.

  Seo MinHyun sighed like a veteran soldier about to march into battle.

  He Ziqin groaned under his breath. “I miss the days when he used to threaten monsters instead of coworkers…”

  Still, without protest, they both reached into their bags.

  And began pulling out potions.

  Mana potions.

  Not just any mana potions, high-grade, glittering, limited-edition, extremely expensive potions that glowed faintly with magical energy.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Ten. Fifteen.

  By the time they were done, the ground in front of Yoo Eunsae looked like the aftermath of a luxury alchemy robbery.

  Yoo Eunsae blinked.

  Seo MinHyun gave her a pained smile.

  “These are yours now.”

  She stared at the potions. “What?”

  “Daily supplements,” He Ziqin muttered as he rubbed his temples. “We live on them.”

  Yoo Eunsae looked between them, genuinely baffled. “Who—who carries this many high-grade mana potions on a regular basis?!”

  Seo MinHyun raised his hand.

  He Ziqin raised both.

  Mu Yichen sighed and joined in. “It’s cheaper than therapy.”

  Kang Juwon didn’t even speak. He just pulled out one from his coat and sipped it like tea.

  “I thought you people were supposed to be sane,” Yoo Eunsae whispered.

  “We were,” said Taegun. “Then we met him.”

  All heads turned to Lee Aseok, who was now unwrapping a snack for Pudding and simultaneously marking new coordinates on the map.

  He didn’t even glance at them.

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  Yoo Eunsae’s lips parted again. “I didn’t even come here to join. I only came because my sister was joining! I was just supposed to accompany her!”

  “You were the chosen one,” Seo MinHyun said dramatically, hand over heart.

  “I’M NOT EVEN S-RANK!”

  “Neither is the dirt you’ll be growing those plants in,” He Ziqin muttered. “Yet here we are.”

  Pudding barked.

  The forest of potions sparkled.

  Yoo Eunsae looked at the bottles again, picked one up cautiously, then glanced at the seeds beside her.

  Her mind, still scrambling for logic, tried to piece it all together.

  She was standing in a ghost zone.

  She had a dog’s personal landscaping assignment.

  Her “coworkers” were treating five-star potions like bottled water.

  And her S-rank sister had not been assigned anything except a front-row seat to her breakdown.

  She looked over at Yoo Areum, who was standing a few meters away, arms crossed, lips pressed tight, an expression on her face that could melt steel.

  She hadn’t said a word since Lee Aseok had once again, utterly and completely, ignored her existence.

  And that, Yoo Eunsae realized, might’ve been the worst offense of all.

  “I don’t get it,” she whispered under her breath.

  Kang Juwon overheard her and leaned in. “Don’t try. You’ll just hurt yourself.”

  Lee Aseok finally walked over again, giving the planted potion forest a brief glance.

  “If your mana drops below half,” he said calmly, “take another one.”

  “And if it drops below that?”

  He pulled a second box from Ziqin’s storage space and opened it. More potions.

  Yoo Eunsae let out a weak laugh. “I feel like I’m going to die.”

  “Not until you finish the garden,” He Ziqin muttered.

  “Forest,” Lee Aseok corrected flatly.

  “Right. Forest.”

  Pudding came over and licked Yoo Eunsae’s hand.

  She stared at him.

  “Well, at least you appreciate me,” she said.

  The husky sneezed.

  Yoo Eunsae stared blankly at the enormous pile of seeds, the intricately detailed map in her hands, and the glittering mountain of mana potions at her feet.

  She blinked once.

  Then again.

  The world remained unchanged. The seeds did not disappear. The potions did not vanish. The absurdity did not lessen.

  She turned slowly to Seo MinHyun, her expression filled with quiet betrayal. “I… I came with you so I could support my sister joining the hero team. Not—this.”

  Seo MinHyun looked like he wanted to say something comforting. Maybe even a heartfelt apology.

  Instead, he looked at the seeds piled like mini mountains and asked in all sincerity, “So, uh… did Lee Aseok already plan what to plant where?”

  There was a sharp silence.

  Eunsae stared at him like he’d just confessed to war crimes. “THAT’s your question?!”

  Lee Aseok, who had been checking the soil texture a few steps away, turned and gave a calm nod.

  “I planned it last night.”

  Last. night.

  Eunsae choked on air.

  “I was going to find someone with plant-related skills after dealing with the Gates this week,” Lee Aseok continued in his flat tone. “But I didn’t expect..”

  He trailed off, his eyes calmly drifting toward Seo MinHyun.

  The sentence was left unfinished.

  But everyone understood.

  Seo MinHyun found the perfect person. And delivered them right to Lee Aseok’s feet.

  Right on schedule.

  It was a silent arrow of responsibility. The delivery guy who didn’t know the package included accidental forced labor.

  Seo MinHyun blinked, realization dawning far too late. “Oh.”

  Yoo Eunsae’s head snapped toward him with the fire of a thousand betrayed side characters.

  “You.”

  “I—listen—it’s not like I knew he was looking for a gardener!”

  “You dragged me here!”

  “I thought we were just bringing your sister!”

  Mu Yichen, Park Taegun, Kang Juwon, and He Ziqin all stared off into the sky.

  Suddenly, the abandoned west zone’s crumbling buildings were the most fascinating thing they’d ever seen.

  Even the weeds held deep meaning.

  None of them dared meet Yoo Eunsae’s eyes. Not even Pudding, who had quietly waddled over to sit on a rock like a judging little emperor.

  Seo MinHyun winced. “I can’t believe I delivered you like a free gift with purchase.”

  Lee Aseok gave Yoo Eunsae a calm, impassive glance, the kind of look one might give a vending machine they’ve already inserted coins into.

  The transaction had begun. No refunds. No room for negotiation.

  “Don’t slack off.”

  And with that, he turned and walked away.

  His footsteps were unhurried, confident. The kind of gait that screamed: I’ve assigned you a ridiculous task and fully expect results by the deadline, regardless of how unhinged it is.

  Trailing behind him was Pudding, who didn’t even spare Eunsae a glance. The husky’s nose pointed skyward, tail curled with arrogant majesty, stepping like it owned the zone, because, arguably, it did.

  Yoo Eunsae watched their backs disappear into the dust and weeds. Her lips trembled, but no sound came out. The words “I refuse” were stuck somewhere between her lungs and self-preservation.

  So, reluctantly, she walked toward the map. Her shoulders drooped.

  Her steps are sluggish. She picked up a small seed packet labeled fire-resistant berry bush and began her new life.

  Behind her, Mu Yichen finally dared to speak.

  “One more has fallen.”

  He Ziqin sighed and sipped a mana potion like he was at a funeral.

  Seo MinHyun looked at the seeds and the ambitious forest blueprint.

  “She’s going to need more potions.”

  “Should we set up a subscription service?” He Ziqin muttered.

  “I’ll call the alchemist guild,” Park Taegun said with a long-suffering tone.

  Meanwhile, Yoo Eunsae knelt on the barren land, placing seeds with the precision of someone questioning all their life choices.

  Each plant bed was laid out according to Lee Aseok’s handwritten notes:

  “For dog shade.”

  “For scent enrichment.”

  “For berry snacks.”

  “For fall aesthetic.”

  None of it had anything to do with combat. Or strategy. Or survival.

  This was a landscaping blueprint. For a dog.

  A husky with high expectations.

  “This is insanity,” she muttered as she began conjuring vines from the ground with shaky fingers. “This is actual insanity.”

  Pudding, who had returned and was watching her with what could only be described as ‘mild managerial judgment,’ barked once and laid down with a yawn.

  The worst part?

  She could feel Lee Aseok watching from somewhere in the distance. She didn’t see him, but she knew.

  Her back straightened automatically.

  Even worse?

  It wasn’t even the worst job she’d ever had.

  Seo MinHyun crouched beside her after a while and handed her another potion.

  “You’re doing great.”

  “I’m building a personal paradise for a dog.”

  “It’s a very noble job.”

  “Why is he treating the husky better than his entire team?”

  Seo MinHyun blinked. “Because the husky doesn’t talk back.”

  She stared at him.

  “…You know what? That’s fair.”

  Somewhere off to the side, He Ziqin and Kang Juwon watched her down another potion with trembling hands.

  He Ziqin nodded solemnly. “Another victim of the tyrant’s domestic vision.”

  “She’ll be one of us by the end of the week,” Kang Juwon muttered.

  One of us indeed.

  Yoo Eunsae fingers twitched, reached for another mana potion, and uncorked it like a seasoned addict.

  Gulp.

  Now she, too, had joined the growing list of mana junkies under the West Zone’s ruthless regime.

  Seo MinHyun watched her sympathetically as she popped her third bottle. He turned to He Ziqin, who was sitting on a rock like a war veteran watching fresh soldiers arrive.

  “How many is that today?”

  “Fifth bottle,” He Ziqin replied, not even blinking. “She’s ahead of my personal record. We should start a leaderboard.”

  The two shared a long, weary sigh.

  “Truly,” He Ziqin added, “as expected of the tyrant hero.”

  Author Note:

  Thank you for reading and for screaming in the comments—your suffering is my fuel.

  Every “OH MY GOD ASEOK STOP” gives me the strength to write the next disaster.

  Mon ? Wed ? Fri

  (Yes, I too question my life choices.)

  https://www.patreon.com/c/LithutheBloom

  please leave a review or rating—it helps summon new victims readers. ??