“But, wouldn’t it be better if Geom-in ca too? I an, while at it, we can invite him to the forest shelter.” Da-jeong said. However, even though her words sounded like she was being considerate, her underlying tone didn’t sound the sa. Looks like she was protesting about being forced to build the cabin alone.
“We can’t let him enter yet. After all, that guy is a shelter fanatic. I bet he will never want to go out again once he goes in there.” I shook my head.
“Well…yeah, that guy is like that, isn’t he?”
“That place is a fantasy world. He can build his own shelter and procure supplies whenever he wants. On top of that, there’s also a computer there, so it must be heaven for him.”
As I said that, I received a request from Jang Won-taek’s Chief of Staff, Lee Beom-seok. Seems like they couldn’t imagine the appearance of the monster just from listening to my explanation.
-This…Sniffles monster, can you please draw its appearance? And can you please mark where the thorns ca out from? We’ll pay for the information. The more detailed the description, the more we will pay.
I gave in at his demand and drew a picture in my notebook before giving it to Da-jeong,
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! What the hell is this! Did you just draw a stickman?? Hahaha!”
Well yeah… Whenever I draw a humanoid figure, for so strange reason it always becos a stickman.
“It should be enough, though.”
“He’s soone who used to work for the governnt, so he should want to know the details.”
In other words, he’s a picky bastard.
As I was about to give up, I rembered that the scarabs were good painters. If they draw them nicely, I could sell it at a high price…
When I told Da-jeong about the idea, she pinched both of my cheeks. “Isn’t that what’s called ‘exploitation’?”
“I an, I did get points, but the scarabs got to feel special, didn’t they? So it’s a long-term benefit for both of us.”
“Yeah right.” Da-jeong snorted. “You just want to earn points using their skill.”
It’s true that I am greedy, but that’s too blatant. But to be honest, there’s a better way to earn points rather than using the scarab’s drawing skill. It was by selling everything I could find inside the portal. The sea, forest, adow, valley, and the snowy mountains were all overflowing with things that could easily be converted into points. If I process them and sell them, I would be swimming in points to the point I would not have to be envious of Da-jeong.
The problem is, it takes too much ti. I only have one body, so slaughtering wild boars all day would be a waste of ti. Therefore, I would have to hire soone I can trust.
For now, let’s focus on the task at hand. Before the two arrive, I must finish securing the picture and figure out Sniffles’ weaknesses. Of course, if we have an anti-tank weapon, I wouldn’t need to know any of its weaknesses. But I still need to know it because there would definitely be a ti where the situation would force us to fight it directly.”
“Will the fla can work, I wonder…” Judging by its powerful regenerative ability, it seems that it wouldn’t be able to kill it.
My thoughts were only broken when Da-jeong found a printer in the corner of the cave. “Is this working?”
“It should be.” Though, I wasn’t sure because I had never used it from the ti I looted it. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Da-jeong fiddling with a smartphone.
“Let’s take a picture with this and print it to try.”
“Wait a minute.”
When I turned on the printer, the light all over the cave flickered. This device consus a lot of power… Fortunately, the generator did not go out.
When I connected the printer and the smartphone via Bluetooth, Da-jeong stuck next to .
“Quickly!”
Taking pictures was sothing I didn’t enjoy, but let’s get along with her wish for now. After pressing the shutter button and the print button, the photo was printed out. Da-jeong looked at the paper and a smile blood on her face in the next instance.
Anyway, with the printer working fine, the next step was decided. I will take a picture of the Sniffles and print it out so the scarabs could draw it. At the sa ti, I could try using the dinsional wall and the dinsional prison against the Sniffles. Though, I doubt dinsional prison will work, as Sniffles was too tall to the point it can’t seem to fit into the dinsional prison door.
I gathered the materials and made a fla can. Let’s see how long this thing will fare against Sniffles.
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.
Attracting Sniffles was an easy task. We only need to walk or send sothing to an area near the main office and it will pop out. However, since it was so powerful, it was almost impossible to hold onto it. Among Da-jeong’s rank of ghoul, a grasshopper–the highest ranked ghoul, could not last even 5 seconds against it. Whenever it jumps and attacks, Sniffles’ long arm would grab its face and drag it away, and that’s the end of it.
Kiaaaaak-!!
When the grasshopper split in half and died, Da-jeong ground her teeth.
“Fuck.”
At that mont, I pointed the smartphone towards Sniffles and pressed the shutter. Once I printed it, I took it to the scarabs. Unfortunately, the only response I got was them tilting their heads.
“Have you seen this monster before?”
Shake-!! Shake-!!
It was also the case for the stag beetles as they also shake their heads.
So just where the hell does it co from?
For so reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling of it being made by soone. After all, its little bit of intelligence, as well as its appearance looked like it was sothing which was made using humans as the frawork.
Anyway, taking advantage of the grasshopper taking the aggro, I was able to test various attacks. I shot bolts and guns into the Sniffles’ head and even threw a fla can towards it too, but all of it failed to inflict any significant damage to it.
And just as I expected, it couldn’t even enter the dinsional prison as it was too tall and only bounced off the portal. There was also a limit to blocking him with the dinsion wall. Truly a formidable monster.
At this point, Sniffles had beco cautious of . Everyti it sees from a distance, it runs away. If that wasn’t proof it had intelligence, I don’t know what is.
I wrote everything from my observation without any exaggeration to the drawing of the scarabs.
“I think it would be okay if we also draw a picture of it using its thorns. I should also draw humans here.” The later part was to express how big it is.
The three drawings and the detailed explanations were all cramd into a single A4 sheet, turning it into a comprehensive report. This end product could easily give a good chunk of points from the governnt shelter.
At that mont, Da-jeong hugged from behind and asked . “How much will you sell it for?”
“500 points.”
At my answer, Da-jeong’s friendly touch imdiately turned into a ferocious one.
“A complete scam! Die, die!” Da-jeong hissed.
“Keuukkk!! Your husband dies.”
Her hand softened at my playful words.
“Why are you selling it that high? If it is priced at about 50 points each, a lot of people will be able to buy it.”
“Once the governnt obtains this, they will surely sell the copies for 10 points each. The price I gave is aningless. That’s why I sell it at a high price.”
“…I’ll give you points, so can’t you just give it to the governnt?”
She’s saying weird things…
“Selling it is fine no matter the price is, but giving it away is just plain stupid. Nothing is free in this world.” The maxim rang truer even more so in the apocalypse. My way of survival was that I had to always be vicious at all tis because I didn’t know when the other people would answer my kindness with bullshit.
“I’m just saying this because I don’t want to see you getting sweared on again.”
Hearing her words, I realized that she had changed a lot. Back when we first t, my first impression of her was ‘There’s this kind of madman in this world?’ but now, she was wiser, to the point of giving advice.
I could feel Da-jeong put more strength in her arms.
“If you ever et soone who will surely treat your kindness with sothing else, you can do whatever you want. Better yet, I’m going to go ahead and kill them for you. But the governnt shelter isn’t like that, aren’t they? The people there just want to help survivors and make a better place for them in the future. So, you don’t have to be too strict with them.”
She still doesn’t know, but my judgnt about governnt shelter was still on going. As of this mont, they were neither an enemy nor an ally to . But her thoughts were not wrong either.
Shall I follow Da-jeong’s advice here, I wonder?
Thinking again, it doesn’t matter whether I’ll get 500 points or zero points here. Just think it was a price I need to pay for drawing the bigger picture. Afterall, what would happen to my reputation if I just stole from them every ti?
“Fine, fine.”
Da-jeong grabbed and kissed at my answer.
“You thought well. Here’s a reward for the obedient child.”
Avoiding the incoming kiss, I called the governnt shelter and put the drawing in the auction for 20 points.
-Uh, looks like you uploaded it at the wrong price…
For so reason, I could see what kind of expression Lee Beom-seok made from his words alone. Just who does this guy think I am? A con artist?
-Just buy it before I change my mind.
– Oh, yes….
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“What a great drawing.” Jang Won-taek mused as soon as he saw Seongho’s report. His finger traced the outline of the monster called Sniffles as he could not contain his admiration. The degree of details contained in the drawing such as the monster’s delicate muscles and its bulkiness which seed to be able to grow bigger at any given mont was surprising. He believed that even a professional artist wouldn’t be able to draw the sa drawing with the sa level of detail.
“Did Seongho graduate from art college?”
“I don’t believe so. According to information, he used to run a snack bar.”
“Snack bar? It doesn’t quite match the impression I have for him…”
“According to the mbers of Dot Island group, Seongho used to be fat.”
“Is that so?” Jang Won-taek asked rhetorically. “Anyway, this…Sniffles, it’s very different from what I imagined. If I hadn’t seen the picture, I would never have thought that it was this kind of monster.”
“I also thought the sa. I only thought that the thorns could only co out of its arms.”
The fact that the thorns could co out from its whole body as well as its stretched parts make the expression of the two a few shades paler. On top of it, compared to the human figure which was drawn right next to it, the monster seed to be almost 2.3 ters tall.
Jang Won-taek tapped the paper. “Is there a way to kill this guy in our current state?”
“Seongho said we need to use anti-tank firearms to kill it. However, pouring out a fire extinguisher will most likely incapacitate it. So, I don’t know whether he’s lying or not.”
“We will see that soon enough…”
There is no such thing as an unbeatable monster in front of modernization, the two of them believed so. If bullets were not enough, they could use grenades. And if the grenade was not enough, they could use better weapons to kill it. However, rather than wasting bullets on just one monster, it’s better to just do a single attack which does not tax their arsenal too much to kill it.
Jang Won-taek handed the paper to Lee Beom-seok.
“How much did you pay for this?”
“…I bought it for 20 points.”
“Huh? Did he mistakenly upload it at the wrong price?”
“I thought so too, but he said it himself, the price was 20 points.”
Jang Won-taek laughed at his aide’s words.
“Hehe, the sun will rise in the west tomorrow!”
Seongho was soone who had always tried to rip sothing out from them, so why did he suddenly change his mind? Of course, Jang Won-taek knew that wasn’t the case.
“Maybe it ans that Seongho now has the sa way of thinking as us?”
“I don’t think so. As you know, to judge soone’s psychology, a lot of factors need to be considered.”
“Yes.”
“We have to collect and analyze all of those things. Not only once or twice either. If we wait long enough, the reason will co out.”
“So for now, we will have to step back and see the reaction?”
“Request a couple more cooperation. We’ll see the response for those too. And every ti, make sure we pay enough money to let him know that we don’t want to be his enemy, nor are we trying to do him dirty or sothing like that.”
“It seems like you want to walk together with him.”
“I am. Everyone needs to walk together, hand-in-hand in order to survive in this ruined world.” Jang Won-taek said vigorously. “There may be, no, there will be so quarrels along the way. But it’s only natural, since everyone will have ten or thousands ideas and thoughts in their heads. It would be even weirder if there’s no quarrels. But quarrels should not lead to a permanent separation. Isn’t humanity the pri example for being able to move while fighting and spilling a lot of blood along the way?”
It was his philosophy that had never changed at all ever since he stepped into the Blue House. He disagreed a little with Seongho’s radical way of doing things, but he could understand why he did that. Afterall, as soone whom the public branded as the “selfish bastard who didn’t want to share and took everything just for himself”, there must be so many people trying to put him down. When such groups of hyenas run around the adow, the lions have no choice but to be aggressive. That’s how he keeps the group away from him and his pack. That was Jang Won-taek’s view of Seongho.
(Blue House = executive office and ho to South Korea’s President)
Lee Beom-seok pondered his superior’s remarks for a mont, and then presented a following report to him. “It has been confird that the Japanese have settled on Dot Island in Changwon.”
“Dot Island, huh? Isn’t that where people from Seongho’s group used to stay? Did Seongho abandon the island?”
“I think there was so kind of agreent that took place shortly before they left. According to the information I got from the two high school students, there’s soone who cos from the royal family there.”
“Did they all co from the sa family line?”
“We don’t know yet. We will know only when Captain Kim cos into contact with them.”
“He’s not a Captain anymore, he’s a Major.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Not long ago, when Kim returned to the shelter, Jang Won-taek promoted him to the rank of Major. Others might laugh at his antics as the current ti was an apocalypse, a ti where law and constitution had died. However, it was still important to Jang Won-taek. The more people have a sense of belonging to the governnt shelter, the easier it is to form a force.
Jang Won-taek also wanted people who belonged to Kang Seongho’s pack to have a sense of belonging to the Governnt Shelter. After all, it would be much easier and more wonderful if they all beco one.
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In the late evening, Seokhyun and Mikyung arrived in Gyeoryongdae. Once their contact ca in through the Auction House, Da-jeong went out and brought them to our hideout.
“Lower your voice. That guy has a very good hearing.”
“So this is Sniffles, huh?” Seokhyun looked at the paper lit up by the glowstone.
anwhile, Mikyung said it was disgusting, closed her eyes and hid behind Da-jeong.
“It sure looks strong.”
“It’s really strong. Even after being hit by several bullets in the back of the head, it’s still fine. I think we have to use anti-tank weapons on him.”
“Have you tried fighting it in close combat?”
“We are trying to kill a monster here, not people.”
“I will test it then.”
Seokhyun jumped to his feet and I quickly grabbed his leg. “Hey, sit down for a second.”
No matter how good his immortality unique skill is, he needs more and more points after each revive. If he keeps dying aninglessly, so ti in the future, I am certain that sothing bad would befall him.
“Its regeneration is no joke. You know my ballista bolt, right? When I shot that guy with it, its wound closed up as soon as it pulled the bolt out.” I explained all my experience to Seokhyun in great detail. In summary, It’s a monster that is hard to fight either from a long distance or from a short distance.
“My ghouls can’t fight them too. I don’t think I’ll be able to last for a few minutes even if I use them all at the sa ti.”
“I don’t understand why such a strong guy is appearing now.”
Seokhyun tilted his head at Da-jeong’s remarks. “Back in the ga, what monsters appear after the lizardn?”
“It’s the trolls. Those guys also shoot thorns.”
“Thorn… it’s similar to this one.”
Co to think of it, trolls and Sniffles were quite similar. They both shared the characteristic of having long arms and had thorns.
Could it be that Sniffles was a terrible result of a fusion between several monsters and humans?
Well, I hope it was nothing but my imagination.
I snapped the picture from Seokhyun’s grasp with my finger.
“Paralysis poison doesn’t work against that guy, the fla cans aren’t very effective either. All we can do is open the bunker and use the anti-tank weapon stored inside to kill it in one hit before it can even regenerate.”
“You want to buy ti.”
“Yeah. It takes quite a while to open the bunker.”
“If it’s us, we can do it! Rapwi, let’s go crazy after a long while!”
When Da-jeong clenched her fist, Seokhyun grinned.
“It’s been a while since the three of us fought together.”
“Ah, by the way, Rapwi. I can now enter Seongho’s shelter.”
“How?” Mikyung, who had transford into a sagging sack because of the Sniffles, crawled forward at that mont.
Da-jeong crossed his arms and pointed at with her chin.
“That’s what Seongho’s level 30 additional effect is. He took the Da-jeong bus, by the way.”
“But, oddly enough, Da-jeong was the one who paid the bus fare.”
“Ah, ah, stop talking about that.”
“I want to see it…” Mikyung pleaded.
“I want to see it too. Duck, go inside!”
At their request, I opened the portal. Da-jeong walked through the portal and stopped once she was half way through.
“Voila! I can do this. Isn’t it great?”
“That’s great. But do I have to pay the bus fare?”
“Yeah. 100 points for every entry. However, there is no deadline. You can stay inside as long as you want.”
“Seems like, if you are inside and Seongho moves on Earth, you will also move huh?” Seokhyun said.
“You also need to do the quest quickly.”
“There’s a quest too?”
“Yeah. But It’s not that difficult.”
At that mont, Sniffles’ roar was heard from afar. anwhile, Seokhyun stood up saying he was going to pee. Since the bathroom was on the second floor, there’s no way he would get lost, so we let him go alone.
Da-jeong took Mikyung in her arms and asked. “My albino, do you want to go inside too?”
Mikyung nodded at the question.
“Inside, the supplies were huge. There’s a lot of spams, the number can fill a room the size of a bathroom!”
At that information, Mikyung looked at .
“…Oppa, can I co in too?” There’s a tone of desperation in her question. I wonder what will happen if I say no here…
However, she’s soone who had co all the way here just because of my words, so how can I be that cruel?
“Sure, you can.”
Mikyung’s expression brightened up, and she lifted her head and looked up at Da-jeong. Da-jeong hugged her like she was cute and whispered.
“Let’s all go in and have a crazy sex party.”
“I, I don’t know about that…”
“Hey, I can hear everything, so stop talking nonsense.”
The next morning, we went into action. The zombies of Da-jeong entered the main office to kite Sniffles out, and as expected, within a few minutes, they all turned into pieces before the last one broke through the window with Sniffles in tow..
“Wha…” A shriek escaped from Mikyung’s mouth who stood behind . It’s natural for her to be afraid. Afterall, it will be her first ti fighting a battle like this.
“You don’t have to be nervous. Just rember, never get too close to the monster at all cost, even if Seokhyun or Da-jeong are in danger. I will be the one who rescues them, understood?”
“Y-yes. I will do it.”
Sniffles, who appeared under the morning sun, seed a little taken aback when it saw us around him. Seokhyun quickly stepped forward and pulled down his panties before putting his hands on his waist.
“Nice to et you! I am Rabbit Pwincess!”
KIaaaaaakkkk-!!
Sniffles opened its large mouth and roared, giving us a good morning greeting.
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