episode_0013

013

Talkative Ingredient

We crossed the construction site to approach [Stubborn Person’s House].

Among the buildings with only columns and outer walls, the 3-story house with a roof alone felt strange.

Woof woof –

One of the zombie dogs rushed at me.

I, who hadn’t expected it at all, was pushed back and landed on my butt.

“Ow… what’s wrong?”

At that moment, a log the size of a fist fell where I had been standing.

I quickly lifted my head.

But only the exterior walls of the buildings, bare and open, were visible, and no sign of human presence could be felt.

‘Is this the geographic hazard the community was talking about?’

A phenomenon where something happens as if by accident.

‘More… unpleasant than I thought?’

When people discussed this seriously, I just thought they were being sensitive.

The reported cases were merely getting stuck in an elevator briefly, or a door closing and not opening.

The log right now is exactly that level of threat.

But now I understand their discomfort.

This feeling isn’t fear from pain. It’s fear from ignorance.

The anxiety of not knowing when or where something might happen.

It’s the kind of thing that gradually gnaws at a person, wearing them down.

I stared at the log for a moment, then turned around.

The more sensitively one reacts to things like this, the greater their influence becomes.

For now, be vigilant, but let’s not worry about it too much.

“Let’s go.”

Before long, we arrived at [Stubborn Person’s House].

I approached the front door and turned the doorknob.

Click –

According to experts, from the moment you open the door, a chilling scream of ‘Get out!’ is repeatedly heard.

And if you follow that sound, there is [Mandrake].

But even when I opened the door, no scream was heard.

I grinned in the silence.

‘Bingo.’

As a result of analyzing the event using collective intelligence.

The way the event is resolved consists of a 3-stage structure.

Place, artifact, and interpretation are what they are.

The way to find the ‘place’ is as follows.

When an [Event] is triggered, somewhere on the map is transformed.

And the ‘transformation’ gradually expands its territory as if spreading contagiously.

The user can then discover the transformed space and identify it as the event area.

It’s a structure that heavily relies on luck.

But with the help of experts, I was able to skip the troublesome process and come straight to the event area.

‘Very good.’

The ‘artifact’, which is an essential element for resolving the event, can also be roughly guessed.

Isn’t it a Mandrake that can talk?

Perhaps I might be able to resolve [Talkative Ingredient] more easily than I thought.

“Two of you wait at the entrance.”

I set up 2 of them as guards.

And with both arms, I grabbed the door and ripped it off.

Rip –

I’m declining even accidents disguised as coincidence.

An ‘accident’ like being trapped inside the house if there’s no door won’t happen.

Having finished preparations, I stepped inside with the remaining dogs.

The inside of the house is quiet and dark.

Various pieces of furniture are visible in the unlit living room.

Chair, table, sofa, TV.

At that moment, with a crackling sound, the TV turned on.

‘Someone is there?’

Focusing, I saw something sitting on the sofa.

Instinctively, I grabbed the chair next to me.

And just as I was about to swing the sofa, the other party spoke to me.

The voice is calm and gentle.

“Seeing your actions, you don’t seem like the construction site guys… why did you rip off someone else’s front door?”

‘Um…’

Since I didn’t sense hostility in the other party’s voice, I stopped the action I was about to take, which was throwing.

But I continued the conversation without letting down my guard.

“I’ll ask the questions. Who are you?”

“What a funny guy! Who else would I be? I’m the owner of this house. Shouldn’t you be asking who you are?”

Saying that, the other party stood up.

Their build is small.

‘Human…? No.’

The figure that rose from the sofa turned, and his face was visible.

A well-trimmed beard, white hair, and eyes full of wrinkles.

At first glance, he looks like a bad-tempered old man in his 70s.

But a plant is growing on his head.

‘Mandrake… perhaps?’

The old man gazed steadily at me.

Then, as if realizing something, he smiled faintly.

“So you were a user who came to clear a quest.”

This was a more unexpected remark than the question about why I ripped off the door earlier.

I fell into thought about how I should react.

The old man, seeing my expression, sat back down on the sofa.

The act is slow and natural.

“Have a seat. It was getting a bit lonely anyway, if you keep me company for a bit, I’ll count it as a success.”

I thought for a moment, then moved towards the sofa the old man pointed to.

As I sat down, the old man turned off the TV.

‘Is it really resolved just by talking?’

Even if that were the case, I have no reason to be chatting with this old man.

Let’s finish this as quickly as possible and go back.

“I don’t have much time.”

“Then how about we just cover three topics? I’ll ask, and you answer. Of course, if you don’t want to talk, it’s fine to just say no.”

“If it’s just that.”

The old man smiles warmly.

I thought he was a malicious person because he was in [Stubborn Person’s House], but this is an unexpected expression.

Come to think of it, he even just let the part about tearing off the door slide.

‘Was I being overly sensitive because of the construction site incident…?’

“Then here’s the first question. Are you satisfied with your life here?”

Am I satisfied with my life here?

It feels like I’ve come for psychological counseling or something.

‘It’s called Talkative Ingredient… doesn’t this mean it prefers listening more?’

For now, I decided to answer honestly.

There’s nothing to keep secret anyway.

“I don’t know. But I have to adapt. Life is a wilderness every moment. Even within the modern civilization humanity has built, aren’t we endlessly competing with others, eliminating the weak, and devouring them? In my previous life, and here, honestly, I don’t feel much has changed.”

This is purely my honest feeling.

At first, I thought it was someone’s scheme.

And I thought that someone who could pull off something like this might be able to grant what I wished for.

That’s why I worked hard on ‘climbing the stages’, which I thought he wanted.

But by meeting the ‘crazy guy’, I vaguely realized there was no such absolute being.

But despite that, I want to ‘climb the stages’. More than before.

The rewards here are fair and immediate.

And I believe that this power, fully obtained in this way, will make the things I despaired over and gave up on in the past come true.

“Is it because of a man named Section Chief Park Kibum?”

‘Wait, what…’

Goosebumps rose all over my body in that instant.

This conversation is somehow strange.

The old man in front of me is getting information not from my words, but from my thoughts.

And reading my thoughts arbitrarily is something that even that ‘crazy guy’ couldn’t do carelessly.

But an entity from a mere Stage 3 event can do something like that?

It doesn’t make sense.

‘Come to think of it… since when did I start feeling favorable towards this old man?’

At that moment, the information I had read in an expert’s post came to mind.

[Mandrake] is used as an ingredient for treating insomnia and anxiety.

And the origin of Mandrake, the story that because a plant grown in a gloomy place has a human-like form, evil spirits dwell in it and bewitch people.

Doesn’t it just resemble the current situation?

The appearance of the old man awkwardly reading my past and thoughts and using them to talk to me…

Come to think of it, I remember that face.

It’s the face of my deceased grandfather.

Instantly, anger and loathing surged up from deep within and then subsided again.

“It was a dirty trick…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Section Chief Park Kibum is definitely someone I want to beat to a pulp. But that wasn’t something I particularly couldn’t do. Looks like you can’t see very deep?”

I picked up the chair and stood up.

“Anyway, let’s stop here. I think I know what you are now.”

Whoosh –

I swung the chair at the old man, but the attack passed through the opponent and cut through empty air.

The old man’s mouth stretches wide as he laughs.

“Heh heh heh. Where did I make a mistake? I was sure the enchantment had taken effect.”

The guy reveals his true nature.

“I admit it. I was quite swayed. If I hadn’t known anything, I would have just thought you were a skilled counselor.”

“Then how about we talk a little more? I will lessen your pain.”

“Ridiculous.”

As I became conscious that all of this was false, the old man’s form gradually became blurry.

Not just the old man, but the entire house is shaking.

The old man screams.

“What a shame! Just a little more and it would have worked… It’s a shame. What a shame! Let’s talk more, more. I’ll make you comfortable. I’ll embrace your pain. I’ll…”

Slap –

I raised my hand and slapped my cheek.

Because I felt like if I listened any longer, I might actually accept that old man’s offer.

A sharp pain rang in my head. And the world melted away like paint.

“Ugh…”

When I opened my eyes, I was lying at the entrance of [Stubborn Person’s House].

Looking beside me, all the dogs were also collapsed.

And plant-like stems were tightly wrapped around their bodies.

The plants were wriggling, trying to get inside their bodies through the dogs’ ears or noses.

‘I have them too…’

I grabbed the stem trying to enter my nose and ripped it off.

Rip – Rip rip –

I tore off all the stems entangled around the dogs too and shook them.

But the dogs just breathed quietly, as if in a deep sleep.

‘Looks like it’ll be faster to eliminate the source.’

I looked at where the stems were connected.

In the center of the living room, a [Mandrake] as tall as a person was planted, piercing through the floor.

On its surface, red charring was writhing like the face of a demon.

“Did you mean that if I talked, I would become the ingredient?”

Just utterly bad taste.

[Special Meal] was a special meal for the Slime Pufferfish, [Talkative Ingredient] was an ingredient for the Mandrake.

I picked up the chair.

And I furiously struck the floor where the Mandrake was planted.

Bang bang bang!

The floor cracked, and roots stretching downwards were visible.

The roots dug further down to escape from me.

“Was I almost killed by that thing?”

I newly felt that the difficulty of Stage 3 had increased.

“Mr. Cat… this is a sponsorship… right?”

I felt a bit like my gratitude towards the cat was fading.

Snap –

I grabbed the roots with both hands and pulled them out.

At the same time, a system message appeared.

[Event Talkative Ingredient has been terminated.]

I cleared it quite easily, but I felt absolutely terrible.

As expected, I’m much more suited for physical activities than these mental ones.

One more system message appears.

[Event Special Meal has been terminated.]

Looks like Bangnae also successfully completed the mission.

I knew he would do well.

‘Come to think of it…’

The reason I like this place, it seems Bangnae has quite a bit to do with it.

I shouted at the dogs who were staggering to their feet.

“Get up, get up, you slugs. You did nothing in this event, so prepare for special training.”

Whine… whimper –

The dogs groaned as they tried to get up and collapsed back onto the floor.

Let’s go back. Bangnae will be waiting.