OHHITHERE.
 

Angdu can sew with a good ol’ needle as well, but magicking it up with flax stalks (I think that’s what she’s using here) is faster. This is a highly specialized type of suyori magic. Danbi wouldn’t be able to do it, and I don’t think Master is particularly adept at it, either. Angdu is the seamstress of the group.
 

Surprise bonus update! The previous episode cut off at a less than ideal point, and I didn’t want to wait for a whole week before moving on. Poor Ethan got snub’d…

We have a new voting bonus picture at TopWebComics, by the way. Check it out here, and give HoK a vote in the process!

Surprise early update! Multiple significant changes for all of the characters in this chapter.

Moving is a lot of work even when you have the internet to look for new places, trucks to carry your stuff, etc. It’s a lot harder for these people…

The elephant in the room.

This scene played out WAY differently in the first edition, which was released only in Korean. A few things that were very clear in the first edition became ambiguous in this one — e.g. did Lushaka mean to do this?

The ambiguity is unintentional, but in retrospect, I’d say it goes well with the character. He’s meant to be more distant, not the easiest to figure out. I realize that can backfire by being too confusing, though. Let me know what you think! (and no, that’s not code for “give me praises.”)

Power outage. Unfortunately for Adela, this trope failed to apply here.

That bird on the branch is not the best thing I’ve drawn, but I feel its presence makes an impact with regards to timing. Comics are a (mostly) stationary medium, yet the stories told through it happen over a span of time. I pay a lot of attention to portraying a sense of time in HoK. How successful (or not) I am in that aspect is, of course, up to the readers to judge. :)

New TWC vote incentive is up, BTW! May I ask for another round of votes? :D It’s an older piece, but it has aged well, methinks. It’s of a certain pretty boy with a long braid. Click here to vote and see the picture!

Oh hey, it’s Team Rocket these guys again!

I ninja-updated the very first strip of this comic. The art’s still the same, but the text is completely different. Check it out and let me know what you think!

“Oumeh” is like “omg” or “wtf” and is very specific to one region, i.e. not a part of the standard Korean/Keolian vocabulary.

Also, we have a new voting image for TWC! It’s of everyone’s favorite bear on stilts.

I’m baaaack! I will only be able to update once a week for the time being, but one update per week beats no updates. ^_^ Let’s get the story rolling!

Keen readers may notice that Angdu says “sleepyhead” instead of “shleepyhead.” I have decided to remove the accent from the native shpeakers speakers. Why? Because while these characters will always have a very thick accent (전라도 사투리) in my head, it’s just impossible to get it across in the English version. The perfect, seemingly accent-free English doesn’t quite capture how they talk in Korean, but neither did the fake accent. I am in the process of removing it from older pages, which might take me a couple of weeks.

Ethan’s broken speech is here to stay, however — for as long as it takes for him to get fluent. That too works much better in the original Korean version, but it works well enough in English, even if some people find it annoying (sorry!).

That door IS very tiny, by the way. Not every room in a house has good heating during winter; the ones that don’t typically have these baby doors to keep the cold air out, as much as they can. They’re tight for average Keol adults, and for Ethan, well…

Oh, and now I have an incentive thingie for Top Web Comics voting! If you enjoy this comic, please spare a vote — it’s free and just takes two clicks. It will also let you take a peek at a cool picture! This week’s voting incentive image is something I’d shared with Patreon backers a while ago at a higher resolution. I think most folks would find it rather… unexpected.

Click on the bubble below!

Really liking how the art came out for the part where Ethan says “Love… is connected.” He’s struggling to find the right word, and not just because it’s a language he’s not fluent in. Trying to condense that much FEELS into a single word is hard, even for native speakers.

Chapter 9 will begin after a short break. The exact date is to be announced. You can use the RSS feed/ Comic Rocket/ Tapastic subscription to be notified when the new chapter begins, but also take note of Twitter where I am going to announce a giveaway soon — for the upcoming anniversary of this comic!