episode_0015

015

Make the Calculation Certain

The moment I was about to press the [Start Battle] button, I heard familiar laughter from somewhere.

[Nya ha.]

‘Cat-nim…?’

I don’t know if she came to see me or had been here all along, but I have something to question her about.

I immediately shouted into the air.

“Cat of Death, explain yourself!”

[Gasp… How did you know I was here? And what do you mean? I didn’t do anything.]

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! Didn’t you raise the difficulty to maximum without consulting me!”

[Haha, caught!]

‘Saying “caught”.’

“What are you going to do about this? Cat, explain yourself!”

Silence falls again.

But I have now grasped the Cat to some extent.

This fellow is an avoidance type who runs away when they become disadvantaged.

The way to handle fellows like this is simple.

If you open a way out, they leap into it with a wide smile.

“Cat, you owe me a debt, so grant me one favor. Then I’ll completely forget about it!”

[Hmm… What is the favor?]

As expected, they immediately bite the bait.

I pointed at Baengnae.

“Give me something like the regenerative cells that Baengnae has here.”

[Are you talking about Soul Imprinting…? That’s too expensive, I’d be in big trouble if I gave it for free. It’s also hard to sneak out.]

‘Was this that precious?’

Of course, it did look quite good.

But as I had already obtained one at a low stage, I had judged that it wasn’t to the extent that the Cat would feel burdened.

“Honestly, it’s hard to believe. If it’s something that high in value, why was it given as a basic reward?”

[One Soul Imprinting being given is like support for beginner Summoners. Even if you receive it through sponsorship, you need a lot of tokens…]

“How many do I need?”

[Based on Stage 6, 5 difficulties?]

“Based on Stage 3?”

[No. Even if you raise it 12 times, isn’t that only 36 tokens? Even the cheapest imprinting needs 50.]

I looked down at Baengnae.

It seems this fellow consumed something more expensive than I thought.

‘If it’s something that good, I want to have more…’

“Let’s do this. If you give me one Soul Imprinting, I will receive sponsorship from you in Stage 4 as well.”

[Nya ha… That’s a strange thing to say. I’m the one giving the sponsorship, so why do I have to give something more…? And isn’t there a possibility that you might die in Stage 3?]

“Uh-huh! So, shouldn’t you just give me one Soul Imprinting so I don’t die in Stage 3! Are you an idiot!”

[Nya…]

It was so quiet I couldn’t tell if they were thinking or if they had run away.

Then finally, an answer returned.

[L-let’s do this. If you want Soul Imprinting that much, I’ll slightly manipulate the probability when I give rewards. How about that!]

‘Sounds good?’

Rather than having junk pile up as rewards, one solid one is definitely better.

I replied as if doing a favor.

“If I keep only receiving imprintings, it might get detected, so I’ll receive only the single best one within the limit.”

[Nya… Good! Let’s do that. And this is a small gift. In Stage 4, be sure to accept my offer! I have a guest for a moment, so I’ll be going.]

Along with those words, a single pill packet fell from the air.

Inside, there were 2 pills.

‘What is this?’

[Suicide-Inducing Pill]

[Upon consumption, you die for 30 minutes.]

‘…?’

Even if I wanted to ask more, Cat-nim seemed to have gone to greet the one called a guest.

“Let’s just work.”

I turned on my phone again and pressed [Start Battle].

***

The Cat of Death sips black tea.

“Delicious.”

The Heavenly Rabbit sitting in front of them munches on a snack.

“Cat. You found a strange fellow.”

“Nya haha. I was lucky. But what brings you to Stage 3? Weren’t you in charge of Stage 5?”

“Huh? Didn’t you guys get the notice? Up above, they’re in an uproar trying to find the Summoner who defeated the Vampire Giant in Stage 2. A considerable number, including me, have been dispatched.”

“Nya haha. Right, I saw. But wouldn’t a Summoner of that level have already passed Stage 3?”

“You really don’t read official documents, do you? The analysis is that if they defeated the Vampire Giant, they would have lost most of their fighting strength. Because of that, all Summoners who have set up shop and are resting in Stage 3 are investigation targets, so it’s incredibly busy.”

“How strange. Munch. Delicious! But if you just look up the records, it would come out right away, so why are you going through so much trouble?”

The Rabbit finally clasped their forehead.

Although they came for work, dealing with the Cat makes them feel like their insides are bursting.

“Whew… How did a Vampire Giant even appear in Stage 2 in the first place? It was a bug. That’s why the management department deleted all the related records.”

The Rabbit smiled slightly and stood up.

“Anyway, I’ll be going now. I also have work to do.”

“You’re leaving as soon as you arrive? Alright, farewell!”

The Heavenly Rabbit drew a red line over the Cat of Death’s name on the list.

There was no lie in the Rabbit’s words.

The large corporation ‘Cheonsang’ dispatched employees to find the aforementioned Summoner.

And among them were role groups that dug up information on other corporations, like the Rabbit.

The Cat of Death, found after a long time, was the same idiot they had seen in the past.

Although they heard the Cat openly say they would manipulate probabilities, it was actually better if such an idiot remained in a competing corporation.

The Summoner was the same.

A Stage 3 Summoner, who possessed abilities related to the undead, yet had only 6 summoned beings.

If even a little of the ‘Death’ resources were consumed thanks to those two idiots, it would be advantageous for ‘Cheonsang’.

The Rabbit snickered at the idiotic duo and left the Cat’s box.

Thus, with the Rabbit’s report, the zombie Summoner Baek Suh-han was excluded from ‘Cheonsang”s investigation net.

***

Rumble – Grumble –

Feeling the familiar vibrations, I stared blankly at the buildings being built.

‘Wait, how many are being built?’

According to what is known, the number of hostile stores in 3-2 is 2.

It increased by 240%, so even when rounded up, it’s 7.

If special stores are added separately, 8 is correct.

But what is being shown before my eyes already exceeds 10 buildings.

Even if you set the number of dwarves per store at 20, it already exceeds 200.

‘Cat-nim… Did you deceive me again?’

There’s no time to resent the Cat.

Even if they are just dwarves, there’s no answer if surrounded by 200 of them.

“First of all, run to the west!”

I ran towards the direction of the Stubborn One’s house with the zombies.

The entire city is an unfamiliar place.

The judgment is that a terrain I’ve seen at least once would be better.

I turned around and checked the signs.

‘Total 11. Special stores… three? Did the 240% apply to special stores too? No, even so, isn’t 10 the correct number? Why is it 11?’

There’s no problem looking into such things later.

For now, I must run.

With 11 stores springing up, it became a complete food alley.

Makgeolli, Whiskey, Dumplings, Pizza.

Without any set concept, dwarves just swarm out.

Baengnae suddenly shouts.

“There! There!”

Looking at the direction she was pointing, dwarves carrying boiling oil drums on their backs and holding the ends of hoses were running towards us.

“Yes… there’s an oil store. Our Baengnae is lucky.”

‘Must be nice to have no worries.’

The choice to run away was a very good judgment.

Since the enemies’ weapons are all different, the groups are divided according to weight.

Due to the concept that they are also competing businesses, there are no movements to systematically corner us.

Finally, the rear group fell behind, and the lead and middle groups were divided again.

The lead group’s weapons are wine bottles, paring knives, butcher knives.

Judging that I had created enough distance, I turned around and shouted.

“The dogs go for the paring knives, Baengnae for the knives, I go for the wine.”

The paring knives receive a wound aggravation buff, and the butcher knives receive a speed increase buff.

I don’t know how well Baengnae’s [Regenerative Cells] will counter wound aggravation, so I’ll leave it to the dogs for now.

I charged at the fellows holding wine.

Unlike their appearance, these fellows are from special stores.

Currently, they are receiving an endurance enhancement buff, but it changes to a random buff every time they drink alcohol.

I kicked the fellow in the lead, and with my hands, I snatched the bottles from the fellows behind them.

‘The buff changes if they drink alcohol?’

Then all I have to do is stop them from drinking.

I forcefully threw the snatched wine onto the ground.

Shatter – Shatter –

It’s a little regrettable that the food ingredients are being wasted, but there will be stock piled up at the stores.

I just roughly took moderate attacks and focused on snatching the alcohol bottles.

Anyway, getting hit by a bottle would only sting.

Thud – Shatter!

“Uh-huh. Where do you intend to drink?”

“Kyah!”

“Uh-oh? Losing muscle mass?”

Shatter! Shatter!

After getting hit like that and dancing a bit, I succeeded in smashing all the wine bottles.

The dwarves also flinched, sensing that a crisis had arrived.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked around.

The dogs are struggling quite a bit.

I’ve dealt with about half, but considering there are 5 dogs, it’s a slow pace.

On the other hand, Baengnae is completely overwhelming them.

Baengnae teases the dwarves as if playing, threatening them and stabbing them to death one by one.

In terms of speed, skill, and strength, they are in an overwhelming advantage that you wouldn’t expect from an individual facing a large number.

Baengnae shouts.

“Dwarfs. Eat! See. Hate!”

Although the chant is a little strange, Baengnae doesn’t seem to need help.

I shouted to the dogs.

“You guys! Swap with me. Finish them quickly and leave this spot. Baengnae, don’t play around and help the dogs.”

“Ung Alatta.”

As it was, I could slowly see the middle group running in the distance.

I swapped with the dogs and confronted the dwarves holding paring knives.

The fellows holding paring knives also saw me and didn’t rush in immediately, but grouped up among themselves and kept me in check.

Or maybe it’s just because I’m a giant twice as big as them.

‘Come to think of it, from these guys’ perspective, the zombie dogs are the size of bears, huh? But the bear left and a giant came.’

Anyway, if they give me leeway, I’m thankful.

I moved my feet and went to the cafe right next door.

And there was a very useful item there.

That is, a chair made of wood.

The material and grip feel are much worse than the one I used before, but this is excellent enough.

I swung it experimentally.

Whoosh – Whoosh –

“Hmm. Good. The sound of a cool breeze.”

The dwarves who were pursuing me, having gained confidence thinking I was running away, flinched.

Their faces looked like something was wrong.

And a chair flew towards their faces.

Crack –

“Ehehe… The chair can’t withstand this.”

I clicked my tongue while looking at the shattered chair.

But there’s no problem. Because there are many chairs.