585 Episode 6. Star Relic (2)

"Demon King of Salvation-nim! Watcher of Light and Darkness-nim! Please!"

As Kyung Sein prayed, light exploded from the box.

And.

Hair?

No, wait.

Was there a foreign substance mixed in?

After a while, the glow subsided.

Kyung Sein, Dansoo ahjussi, and I looked at each other, swallowed hard, and opened the box at the same time.

Inside the box was a vibrant, light-blue colored slime, about the size of an adult male's fist.

Kyung Sein frowned.

"It's changed color? It's like Biyoo's poop."

"Let's check it out."

I went straight for the slime. But just before I reached for it, the slime squirmed and dodged my hand.

Upon closer inspection, the slime had eyes. Narrowed eyes.

"Giw—me."

It even had a tiny mouth.

I wondered if it looked like me.

"Giw—me. Giw—me."

Kyung Sein tilted her head.

"Is it swearing?"

"No, I think it's saying, 'give me'. I think it's asking for food."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's similar to the way Jiyoon used to babble..."

After a moment's hesitation, Dansoo ahjussi hesitantly handed over the leftover ground rat meat.

The slime looked at it, and then jumped at his hand. It didn't eat the ground rat meat, but rather went for the bracelet he was wearing.

Dansoo ahjussi startled and jumped back.

"Wilson!"

Apparently, he had named the bracelet.

The slime quickly realized the bracelet was tasteless, spat it out, and curled up with a squeak.

And the next moment.

"Huh?"

The slime had turned into a bracelet.

After we finished organizing our items, we made our escape from the 'Edge of Darkness'.

Luckily, ahjussi had a cockroach in his pocket, so it wasn't hard to find our way out.

But... why did the back of my head keep itching?

"Inho-ssi, is there something wrong?"

"No, it's just..."

I muttered, peering into the pitch-black 'Edge of Darkness'.

"It's just that I feel like someone keeps looking at me."

"Oh, it's just your imagination."

"Even the bugs say there's nothing there."

If ahjussi says there's nothing there, there's nothing there.

At this point, the only person he couldn't detect with his [Diverse Communication] was Killer King.

By now, he must be holding the empty box, his eyes burning with murderous intent as he repeatedly muttered 'Cheon Inho'.

Well... at least I didn't leave him completely empty-handed, so I guess it was fine.

If he made good use of the notes I put inside the box, he would still get a decent haul.

Of course, whatever he got would be worth less than the bracelet on my wrist.

Formed Idea (意態).

'Thoughts of Almost Everything' can mimic an item by touching it.

Since it was a high-grade item, it couldn't mimic others simply by touching them, but only after certain conditions were met.

Once successfully mimicked, the item could be used continuously until the mimicked form was destroyed.

However, the 'Thoughts of Almost Everything' could refuse to obey its owner's 'mimicry command'.

As one could tell from the description, this was a cheat item. In theory, it could be almost anything.

However, the 'Thoughts of Almost Everything' had two fatal flaws.

First, it couldn't be used if you didn't meet the 'mimicry' conditions.

Second, the 'idea' itself could refuse the owner's commands.

So, perhaps it wasn't such a cheat item after all.

Kyung Sein, who was walking beside me, looked at my bracelet with envy.

"Sein-ssi, I'll get you a nice star relic as well."

"Really? N-No need."

"What would you like to have?"

"Heracles' Shield."

What?

As we walked along, making small talk, we arrived at the platform of Geumho Station.

However, Jung Heewon was nowhere to be found.

"Heewon-ssi...?"

"Oh, she woke up thirty minutes ago and went to get food with some people earlier."

Something to eat.

It was time to worry about that.

I asked Bang Cheolsoo what had happened.

"Did anything happen?"

Judging by the strange looks on their faces, something had happened.

Bang Cheolsoo began his report in a slightly nervous voice.

"A few things happened."

The first report was about monstrous creatures roaming around Geumho Station.

"Well, they didn't look like monsters, but they weren't human either..."

According to Bang Cheolsoo, the creatures had started lingering around a few hours ago.

My mind raced.

"Do they look like rats?"

"Some looked like rats, some looked like lizards."

I had a vague idea of who they were. Probably incarnations under the command of the Misreading Association.

"Anything else?"

"A scenario penalty has been added."

Scenario. Sure enough, I got a message too.

I hit notifications, and they popped up one after the other.

A food stockpiling ban and a survival cost penalty.

No wonder Jung Heewon went to get food.

"Let's gather the people for a moment."

Despite all the stockpiled food disappearing, the group didn't seem to be in despair.

Perhaps it was because this group had a different starting point than the one in the 3rd turn.

They shared their food and stuck together in the face of crisis.

"Gather round! The boss is looking for you!"

"Come on quickly!"

The scattered, hungry people began to gather one by one.

"Inho ahjussi!"

Dayoung, who was riding on Bang Cheolsoo's shoulders, waved at me. As I gently held her hand, I suddenly remembered Yoo Joonghyuk.

He had come to Geumho Station the day I was eaten by the ichthyosaur.

At that time, Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't trying to kill people. Rather, he had come here to save them.

Now that I thought about it, it didn't make sense.

This was the 41st turn.

A world where Yoo Joonghyuk was the most ruthless man in all of 'Ways of Survival'.

And yet, he was trying to save these people.

"Inho-ssi?"

"Ah, yes. Is everyone here?"

Looking around, there were around 80 people.

Judging from the decrease in number, some had left for other areas, excluding those who had followed Jung Heewon to get food.

I started talking.

"I'm guessing you all received a 'survival cost' penalty."

A few people reacted to the words survival cost.

"That's right, suddenly we have to pay something every night......."

"How are we supposed to earn coins?"

I calmly explained.

"Coins can be earned from the sponsorship of the constellations or by completing scenarios."

"Scenarios...... That's the one we did at the beginning, right?"

"Do I have to kill people again?"

People's eyes filled with fear again.

Most of the people here had already killed in the first scenario. But few of them killed for the sake of killing.

[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' despises the weakness of the incarnations.]

The constellations weren't wrong.

However, if we train them in such a harsh way, most of them will not survive.

People like Dayoung, who was pulling Bang Cheolsoo's ear, and Dayoung's mother, who was scolding her, wouldn't have survived.

So, this decision was the least I could do for the extras who had died without any chance in the original story.

"You could kill other people and take their coins, but I don't recommend that. Frankly, I don't think anyone here wants to resort to that anyway."

"I-Is there any other way to earn coins?"

I nodded and looked toward the tunnel.

"Well, we're running out of food... and that's actually a good thing."

"What? Why would you say that..."

Just then, Jung Heewon and the others returned from the tunnel, dragging the corpse of a ground rat.

"Ah, Inho-ssi!"

Jung Heewon waved happily, and I waved back.

"No matter how hard I looked, there was no food. The surface is covered in poisonous fog, so we can't go up... So I brought this back, thinking we might be able to eat it..."

"Well done."

I instructed the Cheoldoo Group to carry the ground rat carcass onto the platform.

A few people stumbled back in surprise.

"From now on, this is your food."

"What, we're eating this? Do you know what this is......."

"It's the same meat. Just a different recipe."

I proclaimed myself a 'professional butcher' and began to carve the meat from the carcass.

Jung Heewon, Kyung Sein, and Dansoo ahjussi helped me without hesitation, probably because they had seen it before.

"Take turns!"

Jeong Heewon handed each one a piece of meat.

Once everyone had received a piece, I pulled out the Magic Power Stove I had obtained from the Edge of Darkness.

"This is an item called a 'Magic Power Stove'."

I placed the meat on the Magic Power Stove. I increased the power of the stove, and the meat was deliciously roasted in less than a dozen seconds.

Dayoung muttered happily.

"Mom, it smells delicious..."

As I took a bite to demonstrate, the crowd rushed toward the stove, having waited for this moment.

After rolling up their sleeves, Bang Cheolsoo and the Cheoldoo Group took over and grilled the meat for them.

"Does anyone have salt?"

"Hyung-ssi, there's no salt here, just eat it!"

Groans of satisfaction echoed through the platform. After all, they hadn't tasted meat in three days.

But my true purpose wasn't just to feed everyone.

The sub scenario 'Food Acquisition' can only be completed by cooking a 'self-hunted monster'.

The carcasses that Jung Heewon brought back this time were the ones that Kyung Sein, Dansoo ahjussi, and I hunted.

Presumably, the others did not receive the rewards we did.

"From now on, all food must be obtained by hunting monsters."

At the mention of hunting, the faces of those picking at the meat stiffened.

"For now, my companions and I have provided this meat, but we cannot continue this way indefinitely. You must learn to hunt for yourselves if you want to survive."

My words were no different from those of Yoo Joonghyuk, who had come here not long before.

He was right, and he was trying to give these people what they needed.

They just weren't ready to receive it.

"As you can see in the scenario window, you earn coins by hunting and cooking ground rats. If you're short on coins, you can earn 500 coins by hunting one today."

Those who checked the scenario window at my words said.

"It's true, it says it will give us coins."

"But how are we supposed to catch a monster like this?"

"Everyone, don't be scared. I caught one, and so did this ahjussi."

Kyung Sein and Dansoo ahjussi stepped up to my side to support my words, and I could see a few people shaking their heads at them.

I quickly added before anyone could complain.

"We'll show you how to catch them."

Dansoo ahjussi, Kyung Sein, Jung Heewon, and I taught the people step-by-step how to hunt ground rats.

It was valuable information we had to learn through blood, sweat, and tears—something that never appeared in the text of Omniscient Reader.

Kyung Sein, who still had bite marks all over her body, squared her shoulders and said.

"Their patterns are very simple. As long as you stay calm, you can easily catch them!"

Though they certainly bit us a lot despite that simple pattern.

In this world, good deeds become coins.

No matter what you do, the results of your actions are directly related to coins.

I wonder if Kim Dokja felt the same way.

However, I didn't have time to ponder for long. We were still too weak and unprepared for the upcoming scenarios.

I could understand why Kim Dokja was so obsessed with coins. Having plenty of coins didn't mean one could do everything, but it certainly opened up more options.

Next stop, Chungmuro.

If I wanted to deal with the bald man at Chungmuro, I had to start saving up coins now.

The Ten Evil of Chungmuro Station.

Armed Fortress Master Gong Pildu.

Although he was a character with as much presence as hair in the original story, Gong Pildu was a terrifying villain in the early scenarios.

This was a world where even early skills like the [Woryeong Sword Technique] cost 8,000 coins.

With the coins I had now, I didn't even have enough to raise my stats, let alone take care of my companions.

I wished coins would fall from the sky. Kim Dokja really had it easy, earning coins just by breathing.

I looked up at the channel entry notification.

Lily Blooming in Aquarius.

Gabriel, the archangel of <Eden>, had entered the channel.

I wondered what brought her to this obscure channel, but her gaze soon settled on a specific spot.

"No, hold the sword like this."

"Like this?"

"Stay still. I'll show you."

Jung Heewon was fixing the frozen Kyung Sein's posture.

Even from a distance, I could see that Kyung Sein's earlobes had turned bright red.

I had forgotten for a moment.

I had forgotten that her future attribute was the [Judge of Destruction].

After receiving the coins, Kyung Sein's shoulders shook as if wondering what she was thinking.

"L-Like this? Is it okay?"

"Stretch your arm more, like this."

It was a sight that brought blood tears to my eyes, as I had sold my conscience and innocence to earn coins.

Holy constellation Gabriel.

The person you just sponsored is actually a muscular man. You're being deceived.

I stood up from my seat, thinking that I should tell my companions to go to Chungmuro.

And the next moment.

My eyes widened at the sight of the name of the constellation entering the channel.

Author's Note

Hakhyun, do something