episode_0156

After jumping into bed with our cute little Geumsu 2nd Platoon.

When I regained consciousness, only Sheila and I were on the bed.

“…Huh?”

Where did the general and Midas go?

Knock knock.

I heard a strange sound next to me. I turned my head and saw Midas hitting the feed bag.

“Midas? What are you doing?”

“Then the feed will come out.”

“What?”

I was still a bit dizzy and still hadn’t completely recovered from the stress.

While I was watching from the bed, Midas kept pressing a certain part of the feed bag.

Then, as if a corner in the middle of the cradle had burst, the feed really fell into the bowl.

“…Really.”

“I’m hungry!”

Midas looked at me as if the amount of food he had obtained was not enough.

“Okay, okay. Just a minute.”

I gently pushed the cat-like Sheila out of my arms.

Even the way it was pushed away felt like some kind of liquid. Was it true that the cat was a liquid?

“Wouldn’t it be better to just cover it up?”

While talking to myself, I covered the bed where Sheila was lying alone with a blanket.

He looked so cute while sleeping that I gently touched his cheek and he responded with a cute cry.

“Chris.”

“I told you so.”

Midas’s complaints became increasingly more intense.

I had no choice but to get up from the bed, pick up the bag of food, and pour in as much as he wanted.

“…Huh?”

Thump thump thump. Thud!!!

I figured Midas would eat it all anyway. That’s why the food bowl was overflowing and I turned the area around the bowl into a food paradise.

“Are you scared?”

When asked with a somewhat familiar expression, Midas moved without the slightest hesitation.

“What the heck!”

“Yes, you can.”

As the target he had to defeat appeared before his eyes, Midas moved his head busily.

As I left that sight behind and came out into the living room, the first thing I saw was the general.

“General, what are you doing?”

“The Internet!”

“What.”

Our general now knows how to use the Internet on his own?!

Should I like this…?

You could say it’s a huge leap forward, but the Internet is truly an ocean of information.

This was the same in the real world, as well as here in the city of magical engineering.

That is, good and bad information constantly floods the general.

“….”

***

I swallowed hard.

I checked the monitor screen right away. Could it be that Jang-Gun had already crossed a line that he shouldn’t have crossed?

“….”

Is it cute?

“It’s a wild boar!”

No, I know that when I see it.

“General, just a moment.”

“Yes.”

I checked my viewing history just in case. Maybe Jang-Gun-I saw something cute just when I was there!

“….”

I guess I worried for nothing.

Click.

I quite naturally clicked on one of the videos that the general had seen a few minutes ago.

A sea otter floating in what looks like a swimming pool.

The sea otter grabbed something with both hands, then lowered its head close to the surface of the water and began to spin around.

I didn’t know what I was holding in my hand, but it was clear that it felt very good.

“Aren’t you dizzy?”

“I guess so.”

The general had already seen the video, but when it was shown to him again, he shook his body as if it was fun.

….

There was something suspicious about the general’s gestures.

“Oh, don’t turn around.”

“Tsk.”

The general tried to shake his head like an otter, but I was able to stop him with my timely action.

When I turned my gaze back to the monitor screen, the sea otter was now completely submerged in the water and spinning around.

“Hey, you only saw animals the whole time?”

“Well… isn’t it cute?”

I think the general is cuter, you know.

“General, just a moment.”

There’s no reason to stop a video like that.

First, I grabbed the hairbrush placed near the bathroom and then came back.

“Okay, let me comb your hair.”

“Wow!”

It seemed like it had been a while since he had gotten out of bed, but the general’s hair was in bad shape because he had been watching only animal videos.

I watched animal videos with Janggun and combed his hair at the same time.

The general shivered every time the comb passed through his blue hair.

‘I guess you’re in a good mood.’

“Huh?”

The general’s scary reaction when he clicked on the next video.

It was a slightly strange reaction, so I quickly turned my eyes to the screen.

But it looks like some guy uploaded a fishing video pretending to be an animal video.

There was just one picture of several puppies huddled together.

There were these letters underneath.

***

You’ve met a lucky puppy!

If you look at this picture, it’s nothing special, it’s cute!

“….”

All places where people live are the same.

There are people like this in this city too.

“Still cute though. Especially the one in the middle.”

“The fat guy next to you is cuter.”

Huh? I checked the photo again at the general’s words.

Oh, there is one. There is one who definitely looks like he ate several times more than the other guys.

“Then that puppy is your lucky puppy.”

“Wow!”

The general seemed to feel better after hearing what I said.

Yeah, what’s happiness? Spending time with such cute kids is happiness!

After that, Janggun and I spent a lot of time watching animal videos.

After being like that for a while, I started to feel a sense of unease.

“….”

“Huh! When did you come?”

As I turned around in a sense of discomfort, Sylvia was standing there with her hair disheveled.

“I was wondering if Chris was going to show the general something strange.”

“Hey, do I look like that kind of person?”

“To be honest, only a little bit, right?”

“Oh, that’s too much!”

“By the way… Chris?”

“Huh?”

“Did you contact 6th and 7th?”

“….”

Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. I quickly left the general in Sylvia’s care and headed to the sofa, then took out my terminal.

“I was relieved yesterday because it seemed like you were going to do it on your own.”

“I’ll do it right now!”

First, starting from 6th place.

“4th place? What’s going on?”

The 6th place has a hearty voice. It felt like she was playing the role of a firefighter in Firefighter and Fuel.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“…Okay, just a minute.”

Her hologram hasn’t appeared yet. And this sound of her tossing and turning in a hurry.

The conversation began without any hologram appearing over my terminal.

“So what’s going on? Did you find a second place?”

“Uh… I found it.”

“What? Really?!”

The 6th place heard what I said and immediately asked about the 2nd place’s whereabouts.

This time, with the confident determination to end it once and for all.

“Hey, can we have a brief truce with the second place guy?”

“….”

Surprisingly, she didn’t get angry or anything.

“Why?”

“The second person helped me out a bit, and he asked me to help him out too.”

I summarized it as simply as possible. Of course, there are some parts that are a little different from reality.

***

“And it would be difficult for a ranker who was 1st or 2nd to disappear again.”

“1st place? Why?”

“The top tier problem solvers have changed so much these days. The 8th place was taken care of by me and the 2nd place yesterday.”

“….”

Number 6 didn’t readily give me the answer I wanted.

Do I have to persuade you a little more?

I mentioned to #6 that I was also in a truce with the former #2.

It’s tempting to completely eliminate your competition, but the reality is not so easy.

“Still, it’s a bit weird to keep that girl alive.”

“Hey, I’m not saying we should have a lifelong truce, just a little bit.”

Once arbitration was established, that was enough.

Anyway, once the 2nd place team is ready to counterattack, they will immediately attack the 6th and 7th places.

“Just skip it and I can give you the money too.”

“…You’re going that far for that girl?”

“I told you earlier. I happened to get some help from the second place guy.”

I guess in the eyes of the 6th place, I probably looked like a little kid who was repaying a favor.

She mentioned number 8 again, and confirmed again that number 2 had helped me when number 8 and the spawn were threatening me.

“Huh… Okay. I’ll do that.”

“Oh, really?!”

I got confirmation from her. I asked how much money to send, but No. 6 didn’t seem very interested in the amount.

“Oh, keep this one in mind.”

“What?”

He asked, tilting his head.

“I agree to this truce, but maybe not that 7th-ranked guy.”

“Ah, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it.”

There was some truth to what the 6th place said. The 6th and 2nd place finally agreed to a ceasefire, but what good would it do if the 7th place broke the game on its own?

After ending the call, I called number 7 this time.

“, 7th place. Do you have a minute?”

“What’s going on?”

Unlike the 6th place, the 7th place figure appeared as a hologram right above my terminal.

His face looked like he was curious about what I was going to say.

“Can’t you stop fighting with the 2nd place for a moment?!”

The call with number 7 ended faster than the call with number 6.

To conclude… a huge success!

Both parties to the conflict agreed to this temporary ceasefire.

I immediately relayed this information to the second person through Lund, along with a word of thanks for helping me this time to deal with the eighth person and the survivors.

“Okay. Is that all I can say?”

“Yeah! No need to say anything else.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

This was enough for the relationship between me and the second place.

Please do not come to my house to say thank you or anything!

I left the rest of the work to Lund with that sense of relief.

‘But when did Lund leave the house?’

“Chris, can you help me make breakfast?”

“Oh! Got it!”

Just a thought. Sylvia needed me.

“Is Sheila still sleeping?”

“Yeah. I think it’ll take a while to get up.”

***

“Then I guess we can take it slow.”

“The general is… having fun.”

I was still sitting in front of the computer, watching various animal videos.

“Hehehe, cute guy.”

“Chris, stop laughing like an old man! Go get some ingredients from the fridge.”

“Okay, as ordered!”

I remembered the ingredients Sylvia had mentioned and started taking them out of the refrigerator one by one.

“What are you going to have for breakfast this morning?”

“Can’t we do it like usual?”

“What…is that so?”

It’s not a special day… Just wait.

It was a special day since we finally got to deal with the 8th place and the survivors.

It gives you an excuse to eat things you wouldn’t normally eat.

“Hmm….”

“Are we there yet?”

“Oh, wait a minute.”

While I was thinking about it, Sylvia urged me again.

Now that I look at it, Sylvia’s urging was a bit like Midas.

“Okay, here.”

I took the ingredients from the refrigerator into the kitchen and put them down.

Sylvia patted my head a few times, checked the ingredients, and began preparing the dish in earnest.

“Can I help you with something?”

“It’s okay. I can do the rest by myself.”

“Well, then it’s no different than usual.”

“It’s okay as usual.”

Since Sylvia said so, let’s do it.

To be honest, I think Sylvia is better at cooking than I am.

Instead, as a thank you for Sylvia’s breakfast, I was planning to treat her to a big lunch or dinner.

So as I returned to the living room, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Could it be second place?! I quickly checked the intercom just in case.

“…Raine?”

Phew… Thank goodness. It really has been ten years.