Ch.2The Fleeing Mountain Keeper NPC (2)

“Cr, crazy!! Caretaker Jack has gone mad!!!”

“He, he hit someone!! That lunatic hit someone!!”

What are they saying? Idiots.

Anyone could see that the other guy swung first, and I simply defended myself in a perfectly justified and clear act of self-defense.

Someone might think I’m the thug here.

I walked past the trash who were screaming like morons and headed straight for the largest tree house in the center of the village.

The only magic stone exchange point in this village, the village chief’s house. And also my employer who pays my wages.

*Knock knock*

“Chief. It’s Jack.”

No sound at all. It’s like a house of corpses.

*CRASH!!!*

“Excuse me.”

“Y-you lunatic?!! Wh-what are you doing?!”

After lightly kicking the door open, I see two fat pigs trembling while holding clubs.

Oh my. Could it be that they heard about the two guards turning into popcorn machines and decided to barricade themselves at home?

“What’s the big deal. I’m here to get paid. Give me my monthly salary. Oh, no, I mean my weekly pay.”

“Y-you crazy bastard!! After all we’ve done raising you, you demand money?! If anything, you should be paying us!! You won’t get a penny until you pay for repairing this door!!”

“…Huh. Are you serious? Chief. Can’t you assess the situation right now?”

What do you mean ‘raising me’?

My little sister, not sick but just frail. Whenever I asked for a bit more money to feed her something tasty, he’d spout nonsense about me being greedy and hurl insults.

And somehow all the villagers are on these bastards’ side. This level of pettiness is truly a disease.

Perhaps the reason this country perished before the tutorial was because it was full of people like this?

That actually sounds like a fact.

“Wh-what did you say?”

“It seems you already know that your two guards have become popcorn launchers with only their right arms intact. Should I just make you the same… no. Since you have more flesh, maybe I should slice your belly thin? After that happens, you might feel like paying up, right?”

“W-wait!! O-okay. I’ll give you money, just wait!! Y-you!! Get money and give it to that bastard!!”

The female pig beside him, apparently his wife, waddles in and comes back with a pouch.

Then she throws it at me like someone throwing a rock at a sick dog. Really no affection…

*Clatter!!*

“Th-there’s all of it!! Pick it up and get out!!”

“……”

Since she threw the pouch without tying it, all the coins rolled on the floor, and I roughly counted them.

…Ha. 800 cans again.

“…Is it because you’re pigs? You don’t understand words. I told you to give me all the money you’ve been stealing from me. 800 cans again? Are you animals? Do I need to treat you like animals for you to understand?”

“Squeeeeal!!”

When I glared at the chief’s wife who threw the money at me, the female pig let out a pig-like scream, apparently sensing something.

Can she feel killing intent or something? I’m not sure.

“Wh-what are you talking about?! Have you forgotten that 800 cans is what we’ve always paid you…!!”

“How much is your weekly living expense? In a world where one skewer costs 300 cans, I’ve lived on 800 cans for three years. If I hadn’t been trained as a caretaker by my father, if I didn’t know how to find food in the mountains, my sister and I would have starved to death already. You know? But you raised me? This is what I was supposed to get? Did you treat our father the same way? Huh?”

As I approached with clenched fists, I could see the pig trembling and gripping his club tightly.

Alright. Let’s conduct an experiment.

I strode toward him, and the chief pig’s face instantly turned blue. And as soon as I entered his attack range…

“Y-you!! Murderous bastard!!”

*WHACK!!*

He mercilessly struck my head with the club.

Ah. Fucking hurts.

“Ugh… shit. That hurts.”

However, after rubbing my head once, I look straight ahead.

My status window that won’t disappear even if I sing for it to go away.

There it shows:

[HP: 300,000+???]

My HP hasn’t decreased by even 1 point.

If this status window isn’t glitched, it means the club attack isn’t registering as damage to me.

Of course, there’s pain. Ow, my head hurts.

“…Th-this… m-monster…”

“Hmm?”

The club he swung has broken in half and fallen to the side, and he’s trembling against the wall.

Hmm. Defense isn’t displayed separately, so how high is it exactly?

“Well. That experiment is done. Now it’s time for punishment. You, female pig. Don’t think about running away. I’ll give you time to think after your husband becomes a pork belly popcorn machine.”

“Eeeek!!!”

Perhaps because she saw her husband’s club break and me remaining unharmed, the pig collapsed as if her back gave out. After glaring at her once, I approached the chief, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him to the ground.

“Guhak!!”

“They say since ancient times that a beating is the remedy for those who don’t understand words. Hmm, I wonder if beating him like this won’t kill him?”

[Village Chief: Level 8]

Not being able to see the opponent’s HP is a minor flaw. And not being able to turn the status window on and off.

I proceeded to slam the pig’s face into the ground a few more times, then threw the bloody mess in front of his female.

Phew. That feels satisfying.

“Hey, Pig Two. Will you bring the money, or do you want to become popcorn?”

Having seen her husband turn into a freshly marbled pig, the female pig ran into the room without answering and soon came back with a large pouch, bowing her head to the ground as she handed it over.

…Huh. Wait, that smell. Did this woman soil herself?

“…Ah, the smell of urine, how old are you to be wetting yourself? Sheesh.”

I moved away from the pig with the seriously bad smell and opened the pouch.

…Oh. Big coins. Each big coin is worth 500 cans. This should be about 200,000 won. Probably around 20,000 cans.

“Sigh. Considering all the monster hunting I’ve done, this is still not enough, but I’m busy so I’ll let it slide. Well, don’t stay well, pigs. It’s not like you have much time left after I leave anyway.”

Having secured travel funds, I walked outside with the money.

The villagers were looking at me like I was crazy, and I stared right back at them, causing them all to cough awkwardly and turn away.

Some of them were holding clubs, seemingly planning to stop me. But they didn’t step forward, probably not wanting to become popcorn machines themselves.

So I headed to the village outskirts…

*WHACK!!*

“…Caught you good.”

Ignoring the presence approaching from behind, I was about to leave the village when a critical back attack struck the back of my head.

Ah. That really fucking hurts.

“…You struck first?”

Seeing three men standing there with clubs, eyeing the large pouch I was deliberately holding in plain sight, I raised the corner of my mouth.

*

“Hmm. A back attack should be a guaranteed critical with double damage, but still no HP reduction?”

Climbing the mountain with an even fatter pouch, I am Jack, the king of the unemployed, a human NEET.

The villagers thought they could subdue me because there were more of them, so more than just those three jumped in. And I went wild with even more enthusiasm.

It feels so refreshing.

The chief stealing my money, me receiving unfair treatment—all the villagers knew about it.

However, I had no intention of taking revenge on all of them just for that. But since they gave me an excuse, I deliciously seized the opportunity.

How many popcorn producers did I create today? Isn’t this creative economy?

Happily climbing the mountain, a small hut comes into view.

There’s one grave in front of the house. Yes, just one.

And when I open the door and enter…

“Brotherrr. Why are you so laaate?”

My cute little sister Ira, with red hair and purple eyes, runs over and hugs my waist tightly, rubbing her face against me.

“Oh my. Did our princess wait a long time?”

“Yes. I waited. Brother. I’m hungry.”

“Alright. I thought our princess might be hungry, so I brought food.”

“…Huh? Skewers?”

“Yes! The meat skewers our princess loves the most!”

Since one of the popcorn machines was a skewer seller, I took his pouch and grabbed a few skewers too. My sister loves skewers the most. It was such a profitable golden goblin to plunder.

I pick up my tiny little sister with one arm, sit down on a chair, and place a skewer in her hand.

My sister, now 8 years old, still has the body of a 5 or 6-year-old girl. The reason is obvious—simply not having enough to eat.

Every day, just picking greens, and meat only from the occasional rabbit or two. Even then, because of the monsters living in this mountain, if the meat is contaminated with poison, I can’t feed it to my sister.

I could remove the poison in the village, but they exploited me so much that when I asked the butcher to remove the poison, I’d come back with scraps instead of meat.

Ah, thinking about it makes me angry again. I should have gone and destroyed that place too.

*Nom nom nom*

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes! Delicious!!”

After setting down my sister, who was happily eating the meat with a bright smile, I fetched water and placed it in front of Ira.

“Eat slowly. You’ll get sick if you eat too fast.”

“Okay. I’ll eat slowly.”

“……”

The thought of taking such a small sister on a long journey makes my stomach churn, but there’s no choice. We must leave. If we stay here, my sister will definitely die.

“…Ira.”

“Nom nom nom. Hmm? Brother?”

As I looked at her with fond eyes and spoke seriously, my sister, who was nibbling on the meat like a squirrel, tilted her head and looked at me.

“Would you like to move somewhere else with your brother?”

Perhaps this child might not want to leave this house where she lived with our father. With that thought in mind, I asked, but…

“Yes!! I’ll go wherever brother goes!”

“…Haha. Alright. Then, after you finish eating, let’s leave right away.”

“Okay! Nom nom!”

With my sister’s permission, I immediately packed our belongings.

Not that we had much—just a blanket and a few old clothes. I’ll need to buy more clothes in the next village with the money I earned earlier.

Making such calculations, I was feeling a great sense of relief.

Thanks to my memories from my previous life, there probably won’t be a second grave in front of our house.