episode_0007

007

Difficulty Test

A system like a game, zombies, dwarves.

None of this is natural.

That’s why I thought someone’s purpose must be involved.

‘Is it finally the person in question making an appearance?’

After contemplating, I threw out a question.

“Who are you?”

[Puh… puhaha. Is that the right question in this situation? I’ve got myself a truly interesting fellow. No, no. Looking at your life, such a question might indeed come up.]

‘Does it know me…’

[No? I just checked?]

“You… can you read thoughts?”

[Ahahaha. No. It was just written all over your face. Interesting, very interesting.]

It laughs in a strange way.

But for some reason, I don’t feel bad. I sense an unknown goodwill in its voice.

“So… what’s the purpose?”

[Purpose? Aha… you’re trying to scheme something? No, no. I’ll only tell you one thing. The reason this phenomenon is happening now. And the reason I’m appearing before you now. Only one of the two. Choose!]

I am indeed curious about both, but honestly, I didn’t intend to dig for information in such a high-level manner.

‘The reason for the phenomenon and the reason for the appearance…’

I bit my lip slightly.

This looks like it’s offering a choice, but it’s actually forcing the latter option.

Looking at the entity’s first line, it spoke as if it had discovered something interesting.

That is, there’s a high possibility it came to make me an offer.

But if I ask something useless, it implies it will withdraw that opportunity.

‘But… is this something that requires such deep consideration?’

Of course, having my daily life suddenly involve being kidnapped to a strange place and fighting dwarves is bizarre.

It might be uncomfortable for some.

But at least I’m experiencing less stress now than when I was working at the company.

I admit it.

It has become a slightly thrilling and dangerous environment.

But wasn’t reality also a wilderness?

It was a precarious life where you never knew when or how you would be eaten.

No, I should say it correctly.

I was rescued by them from a situation where I was on the verge of being eaten.

I came to a conclusion.

“I’m curious about both. But since it seems like you want to talk about the latter, I will listen to the latter. What is the reason you came to find me?”

[Hmm… If choosing the latter means you permanently lose the opportunity to hear the former?]

“No need to hear it. I respect your judgment.”

[Ahaha. Interesting. Then you can hear that kind of thing from other fellows later or not. Here’s the offer I have for you now. You, want to raise the difficulty a bit? Honestly, proceeding like this is just too boring, isn’t it?]

‘Raise the difficulty…? Was this it?’

Some users grew rapidly after completing Stage 2.

Looking at the phrase ‘other fellows’, it must mean there are several entities making these kinds of offers.

It’s highly probable that other people met those ‘other fellows’ and received different offers.

Since it’s offering an opportunity, there’s no reason to miss it.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

[Good. Then I’ll make some adjustments my way? And remember. You. The one who discovered Baek Su-han first was none other than me, ■■■■■■■.]

‘Huh? I can’t hear what you’re saying.’

[Ah. Is it still impossible?]

A moment of silence.

[Then… The Most Melancholy Savior…? Oh, it worked. As expected, this much circumvention is sufficient! Then I’ll see you again, Zombie Summoner. If you survive, that is. Giggle.]

After saying this, no more messages came.

It seems the entity has left.

‘Anyway, how is it going to adjust the difficulty?’

[error] [error] [error]

‘Error…? Is this a real system?’

Thud –

I hear the sound of the ground shaking.

‘Ah, right. The map is changing again… Huh? Wait a minute…’

Thud – Thud –

This isn’t the sound of the map changing.

Far away. There’s something massive at the entrance of the mountain fortress.

I feel a sense of dread.

I immediately ran to the watchtower. I need to confirm the source of the sound.

And what came into view was.

“What… is that?”

Towards the main gate of the mountain fortress, something humanoid is sitting with its back to the watchtower.

Bushy brown hair completely covers the back of its head and hangs down to its back.

Its sitting height alone is 3m. Its skin is greyish.

‘A giant?’

The monster raises a long arm and squishes a dwarf.

Thud –

The dwarves shoot arrows and swing axes, but the giant’s hide isn’t penetrated.

The small ballista, which was the biggest concern for attacking the main gate, is fired.

The giant snatches the flying arrow.

‘Is this the difficulty…?’

I quickly called my zombies.

“Zombie.”

“Kiiik…”

Perhaps scared by the sight of the giant, the zombie’s voice is small.

“Go out and call all the dogs.”

The zombie quickly jumped down from the watchtower.

Even the zombie knows that if all those dwarves die, it will be our turn.

‘There must be a way somewhere.’

I reviewed the [Stage 2 Observation Log] in my head and began devising a strategy.

***

After observing the giant’s massacre of the dwarves, I was certain that a head-on confrontation was absolutely impossible.

When the sitting creature stood up, it easily exceeded 5m.

This feels even more real to me, who has been dominating the dwarves with sheer size up until now.

Furthermore, the creature swung its arms a few times and shattered the main gate of the mountain fortress.

Its strength is one thing, but that hide is the real problem.

Since there were 20 dwarves, they did manage to land attacks occasionally, but even when struck with an axe, it was only a slight scratch.

And it regenerates.

I confirmed that the spot where there had clearly been a wound had healed when I turned around.

‘Everyone won against this?’

That can’t be true.

It’s just that I got caught by a crazy bastard.

This is certain considering my crazy bastard radar, which has been honed over years of dealing with crazy bastards, is working.

‘Ha… Do I perhaps emit a pheromone that attracts crazy bastards?’

After racking my brain and racking it again.

I finally reached one path.

The 3rd posting by the ‘Stage 2 Expert’.

The [Let’s Explore the End of the Map] segment mainly deals with him climbing trees.

He attempts to climb trees and go outside the map.

Since it was the 3rd part posted after suffering greatly from the dwarves in parts 1 and 2, I had just considered it a post to avoid something, but it contains content that could be a solution to this situation.

‘You feel terrible pain if you go outside the map.’

This was the result of verification not only by the ‘Stage 2 Expert’ himself but also by his summoned creatures, and later, in the 13th posting, by catching a dwarf and throwing it outside.

Creatures that go outside the map die if they don’t return within a certain time, and even if they return, they suffer from exhaustion for a long time.

‘If this is the rule of the game, it will apply equally to that giant.’

As far as I can tell now, there is no other answer besides this.

Now the problem is, how do I send that creature outside the map?

“This is truly driving me crazy.”

Somewhere, I feel like I can hear the laughter of ‘The Most Melancholy Savior’.

I thought it was a savior, but it was a lunatic.

Thud – Crash –

The last remaining dwarf is running along the top of the wooden fence, avoiding the giant.

The giant doesn’t bother chasing him and throws rocks nearby.

Bang!

The accuracy is terrible. Only the innocent wooden fence gets destroyed.

No, it seems it’s intentionally not hitting.

Since there are no immediate enemies in sight, it seems like it’s just playing around.

“If that’s the case, luring won’t work either.”

Isn’t having ranged attacks too unfair?

It seems like balance was thrown to the dogs.

If I tied a rope to that creature and had 40 dogs pull at once, would it be a tug-of-war?

It was a foolish thought.

If I made a rope, it would likely be a tree trunk, and the rope would break first during a tug-of-war.

What should I do?

Food? Poison? Trap?

‘Wait a minute… Is that perhaps?’

Observing the giant carefully, I discovered something unusual.

Besides my crazy bastard radar, I have another detection ability.

That trashy Section Chief Park Ki-beom didn’t have much hair on his head.

But he was so concerned about how he appeared to others that he always wore a custom-made wig.

Of course, he didn’t wear it inside the company.

Just like an outer coat, he took it off inside and wore it outside, that’s how he went around.

‘That must have meant he didn’t need to look good to us.’

Anyway, because of that, I watched a bald man handling a wig for many years.

I saw it every single day even though I didn’t want to.

And that giant bastard… is showing those characteristics.

The way it seems conscious of its hair when raising its arms.

The habit of pressing the top of its head when its body moves significantly.

And even the action of carefully untangling its hair with both hands instead of using its fingers like a comb, no matter how tangled its hair gets.

‘You son of a bitch… you’re bald, aren’t you?’

Why is being bald important, you ask?

Ah, of course, it’s not an important matter for me.

But it must be a very important matter for that bastard.

For example. What if I snatch that wig and throw it outside the map?

Will the creature rush to kill me? Or will it jump outside the map to retrieve its wig?

I can bet my entire fortune that it will jump outside the map.

Suddenly, the giant looks like Section Chief Park Ki-beom.

That fat belly.

The action of playfully crushing those weaker than himself.

Being ugly is also exactly the same.

Honestly, I don’t think this is the official strategy either.

But whatever the official strategy is, now that this method has come to mind, I must strip that bald head.

So, the conclusion is reached.

Operation Name: Bald Wig Snatching Operation begins.

Release all the dogs.