episode_0012

012

Event

[Enemies increase by 240%.]

[Enemies become 120% stronger.]

[Special Shops are confirmed to appear.]

[Event ‘Special Meal’ is unlocked.]

[Event ‘Talkative Ingredients’ is unlocked.]

[Event ‘Contaminated Source’ is unlocked.]

System messages indicating the increase in difficulty flowed up one after another.

‘Honestly, I don’t feel particularly impressed.’

Moreover, if you break them down one by one, you can’t say they are unconditionally bad.

First, number 1, ‘Increase in numbers’, is definitely good news.

Doesn’t that mean there will be more food for the kids?

Bang-nae’s appetite is already enormous. Where does all that quantity go… And now with more family members, the more food the better.

Number 2, ‘Enemy strengthening’, isn’t bad either.

The enemies appearing now are not threatening at all.

They are even insufficient for gaining combat experience.

I know that appropriate threats are excellent growth material.

‘And Special Shops… This is also good?’

Stage 3 maps are quite large.

Enough to be called the size of a small city.

And tools and special ingredients are scattered throughout the map.

However, adventuring for curiosity is not recommended.

This is because geographical dangers exist.

Entering a construction site might cause it to collapse, or taking an elevator might cause it to suddenly stop.

‘Incidents’ happen so frequently that there is a ‘City Knowledge’ bulletin board under the ‘Stage 3’ category in the community.

Nevertheless, the reason for adventuring is because of the special ingredients.

While most buffs are temporary, a very small number of foods made with special ingredients provide permanent buffs.

But these Special Shops are offering to come and visit?

I feel like paying them for delivery.

‘Long live the Cat-nim!’

And finally, [Event].

The previous ones were overwhelmingly beneficial, but this one is a bit ambiguous.

Events are a kind of time bomb.

When they are activated, somewhere in the map quietly changes.

They lie dormant until the secret is unraveled and ‘solved’, then reveal themselves the moment the boss stage begins.

The effects vary widely.

Categories that strengthen the boss, categories that increase the number of enemies, categories that change terrain or climate.

Something that is very disadvantageous to the user takes effect.

It’s not merely the level of ‘it’s good because enemies get stronger and increase in number’ mentioned earlier.

Failure of an [Event] brings terrible results.

‘I’ve got three tasks now.’

Still, since solving an event gives a unique reward, there’s no reason to dislike it entirely.

I first distributed the items I received from the Cat.

Most went to Bang-nae, but fortunately, there were also items for the dogs.

Bang-nae acted stubborn.

“The cloak is also Bang-nae’s.”

“No… Bang-nae, you already have the shoes, gloves, and protectors. Let’s give the cloak to the dogs.”

After thinking for a moment, Bang-nae replied.

“Dogs get Leap.”

Of course, since 5 [Leap] skills came out, I gave one to each zombie dog.

But that’s all for the dogs.

All items except [Leap] are currently worn by Bang-nae.

I decided to change my approach.

It seems Bang-nae’s conscience hasn’t grown yet, so let’s persuade her with utility.

“Bang-nae, the cloak is too big for you to wear. If you wear it, it’ll drag on the floor, won’t it?”

“Dog, if hav Leap, no need for cloak.”

The effect of the cloak is increased movement speed.

This must be a counterargument that the cloak is less useful for dogs since they have [Leap].

But Bang-nae also has [Leap].

I had no choice but to nod my head and agree with Bang-nae.

“That’s right. Bang-nae. You’re right.”

Bang-nae grinned.

“Hehe. Right. Bang-nae is right.”

“So, I should use the cloak, shouldn’t I? Because both Bang-nae and the dogs have Leap. I don’t have Leap, do I?”

And I threw the cloak over my shoulder with a swish.

Bang-nae looked at me with empty eyes.

“What are you looking at? Do you know how many things you have draped over your body right now? This greedy zombie. I’ll snatch them away!”

As I made a gesture to snatch the items, Bang-nae ran away.

“Waaah.”

I shouted at Bang-nae.

“You. From now on, you stand on the frontline. Otherwise, I’ll give all the items you’re wearing to the dogs. Got it?”

“Got it. Got it. Bang-nae will do it.”

‘She’s good with words.’

Let’s watch and see if she keeps her word.

And the opportunity to find out came sooner than expected.

The event name [Special Meal] is quite a famous event.

This is because it was the first event covered in the community.

One day, a post titled [Event Special Meal / Help Request] was uploaded.

There were countless posts requesting help, but the keyword ‘event’ stimulated the users’ interest.

Numerous people gathered, and based on the clues uploaded by the user, people exercised their collective intelligence.

They identified the location and shared interpretations.

And the conclusion reached.

The word ‘Special Meal’ refers to the user.

And the being that eats the Special Meal was the famous ‘Slime Pufferfish’.

When the event activates, you can enter a solo dungeon through the ‘Slime Pufferfish’ painting in the shop.

The first challenger, who didn’t know it was a ‘solo dungeon’, lost contact after posting that they would try entering through the painting.

Later, when the second challenger tried to enter by throwing their summon in first, the phrase [This is a solo dungeon] appeared, and the information became known.

And when the fifth challenger cleared the dungeon by entering directly instead of with a summon, it was revealed that the dungeon master was the ‘Slime Pufferfish’.

The 11th challenger ignored the [Special Meal] event.

Having a summon with an overly sensitive sense of smell, he ultimately couldn’t decide on a suitable person to enter the solo dungeon.

And, as the boss stage began, a deep green liquid endlessly flowed out from inside the Slime Pufferfish painting. Along with countless Slime Pufferfish eggs.

The 11th challenger successfully completed Stage 3, but reported suffering damage that was difficult to recover from due to the toxic liquid with a terrible smell.

A post-completion note remains stating that the last enemy was caught at the point where the deep green liquid had inundated a quarter of the city.

Therefore, I immediately took Bang-nae to the front of the painting.

Bang-nae was next to me and saw the contents just now, so she knows everything.

“Alright. Bang-nae. Go in.”

“Um… Bang-nae doesn’t like Pufferfish monster. Dogs like Pufferfish monster.”

“Haha. What do you want me to do about that?”

Bang-nae ended up having a private interview with the Slime Pufferfish so she wouldn’t lose her items.

Bang-nae eventually went into the painting, whimpering.

“Smells a lot.”

“Oh dear… Then hurry up and come back.”

“Waaah…”

I have no worries about Bang-nae.

As it’s the first event of Stage 3, the ‘Slime Pufferfish’ is not a very strong mob.

At best, it’s a mid-boss level.

But Bang-nae monopolized all the resources and is adorned with items from head to toe, isn’t she?

‘Have a good trip, Bang-nae. There was a healthy meal you could make from Slime Pufferfish, I’ll give you all of that.’

Bang-nae peeked at me one last time before entering.

As I waved my hand, she disappeared into the painting.

***

The Cat of Death was watching the Zombie Summoner while eating snacks.

Suddenly, a message titled [Urgent Notification] was sent to all staff.

The content was that there was a Stage 2 Summoner who caught a Vampire Giant.

It was the Chairman’s order to find them no matter what, even if they had to mobilize all low-level field staff.

“Meow-ha. Interesting. Is such a thing possible?”

But the Cat of Death wasn’t interested.

This is because she had already met her quota. For the cat who defended her snacks, extra work was none of her concern.

“Oh, that’s right!”

She sent a report to the leader stating that she had sponsored the Zombie Summoner.

It was the Cat’s achievement, and others shouldn’t sneak in and take credit.

“Crunch. Delicious!”

And so, Baek Su-han, the unemployed Zombie Summoner, was excluded from the investigation list of the large corporation ‘Death’.

***

After Bang-nae left to catch the Slime Pufferfish.

I called the dogs.

This was to solve the 2nd event, [Talkative Ingredients].

From here on, there is no information.

There are no posts related to [Talkative Ingredients] among the community posts.

However, it’s not like there’s no way at all.

Ultimately, the core keyword is ‘ingredient’.

And I know someone who has mastered all the ingredients in Stage 3.

I opened the post by the ‘Stage 3 Expert’.

There were nearly 1000 comments attached.

‘Kuh… As expected, I wasn’t the only one who noticed? They were eventually destined for great success.’

I feel good that the person I recognized is being acknowledged by people.

I used the keyword search function and began searching with keywords like ‘talk’, ‘chatter’.

And the results came out faster than expected.

[Mandrake] – Unresolved

Its root is in human form, and it screams loudly all day long.

There were a few other ingredients that matched the keywords, but there was another reason why I was certain that [Mandrake] was the protagonist of the event.

This was because the ‘Stage 3 Expert’ had added an annotation next to the description of [Mandrake].

‘Confirmed that communication is possible under specific conditions. 11 attempts failed. Concluded due to condition not discovered.’

It seems the Expert ultimately failed to unravel the secret of the [Mandrake] and moved on after writing ‘Unresolved’.

It was an unavoidable situation.

Since the condition for communication was the event activation, there wouldn’t have been any other way even for an expert.

‘Finally, a chance has come to repay you something.’

Reading the Expert’s posts, you can tell how serious they are about information.

These unresolved items must cause them considerable inconvenience.

Since I’ve grasped the clue, let’s try completing the event and sending them a message.

Although it is valuable information, it is insignificant compared to the help received from the Expert until now.

I took the dogs and set out towards the western outskirts of the city where [Mandrake] is said to be found.

I didn’t forget to leave a note for Bang-nae.

It would be troublesome if she wandered around looking for me after catching the Slime Pufferfish and coming out.

The further we went outside the city, the rougher the surroundings became.

What I mean by roughness is that buildings that were started but not finished were lined up.

It’s closer to abandoned construction sites where only the framework was put up and left as is, rather than completed buildings that collapsed like ruins.

The roads that were paved with asphalt also became bumpy unpaved roads.

Dust flies every time the wind blows.

Whooosh –

“This should be the area…”

The building we are looking for is very peculiar.

To the extent that you can recognize it immediately when it comes into view.

And before long.

Found it.

A perfectly built three-story house amidst the chaos like a construction site.

With white walls and a red roof, it is distinctive.

The paint also looks very bright, as if it was recently repainted.

“Seeing it in person. What an incredible fellow…”

An exclamation of amazement comes out naturally.

What could a perfectly fine house built in the middle of a construction site be?

This house is currently holding out.

The fact that they repainted in the meantime is an expression of strong stubbornness that they will absolutely not leave this place.

And as much as that stubbornness, the house is filled with terrifying traps prepared for unwelcome guests.

According to the expert, this place is one of the top 3 places you should be most careful about in the city.

[The Stubborn One’s House] is its name.

It feels as if the house is looking at us, slightly tilted towards this direction.