Chapter 710: The Final Bet (1)
I contacted the remaining sub–team members and told them they could head back. After checking our items, I had Myungwoo help me repair our gear. When I turned to the side, Young Chaos was examining the Ruler’s Sword he’d just received from Yuhyun.
“It’s fine. The listed grade is low, but with what it’s made from, it’s not going to break unless you go up against a Transcendent.”
“Are Transcendents beyond what I can handle?”
“You are. If I’m the one holding it, that’s another story.”
Yuhyun looked down at the sword seriously. Both of us had been acting like nothing had happened for the past three days, but there were these little moments where things snagged and stalled. We’d have to talk it out to fix it, yet both of us kept avoiding it. I still couldn’t bring it up easily, and Yuhyun clearly didn’t want to talk either.
‘…It really is kind of weird.’
‘I get why I’m like this, but why is Yuhyun dodging it that hard? It’s not just that he ran into his pre–regression self; is there something more?’
– Pii!
Grace swooped in, circling once around Myungwoo before flying over to me. Myungwoo held out a necklace that was decorated as extravagantly as possible.
“Her synchronization rate with the Fountain of Young Mana has gone up. Grace herself has grown too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The invulnerability duration got longer too. It should be able to block even L–class and above attacks for a brief moment. I’m not sure about Transcendents, though.”
I thanked Myungwoo and took Grace in my hands. Hm…
“Hey, Grace.”
– Peep!
The bluebird pretended not to understand and perched on top of my head. I got that she was reluctant after putting effort into this for the first time in a while, but this was too much. The necklace had five layered chains by themselves, and over a hundred blue gemstones, from translucent to deep, dark–blue–black, all in different shades, dangling from them. Grace neatly ignored my call and went pii–piip, singing.
“Grace worked really hard, you know. Just accept it this once~.”
Yerim laughed, saying it suited me. Maybe she was sulking over it being stolen by those wolves before. Grace really had helped me a lot. Fine, it’s not like I can’t do at least this much. I screwed my eyes shut and put the necklace on.
“…This better simplify itself once the game starts.”
– Piiik pii!
Before long, a message popped up that time was up. I said goodbye to Chaos and moved.
“This is the final bet.”
This time, the Mermaid Queen, who had arrived first and was waiting, spoke. Beside her, the King of Predation looked at me with a proud, approving expression.
“You’ve improved a little.”
‘No, this isn’t my taste, it’s Grace’s, but if you like it, I guess I’ll just roll with it–.’
“Stylish.”
Seong Hyunjae said that with eyes that clearly did not agree. It was not my taste.
“There are circumstances.”
“It suits you.”
‘…Ms. Soyeong, please buy Byeol a dress–up play set. The flashy princessy kind, no dolls included. Whether it’s this Seong Hyunjae or that Seong Hyunjae, a Seong Hyunjae is a Seong Hyunjae, so you can suffer through it too.’
“Chain, you haven’t filled your team back up yet.”
“I need a bit of special permission.”
Seong Hyunjae looked into empty air, at his system window. He must have sent some sort of message, because the Mermaid Queen and the King of Predation nodded at the same time.
“They don’t meet the qualifications, but as a proxy in place of an original team member, it’s possible.”
Original team member? No way. Seong Hyunjae operated the system, and soon a face I was not happy to see appeared.
“Ooh, our Jin is totally gorgeous~.”
That bastard Hwang Rim winked one eye at me. Why did it have to be this guy.
“Hey! Is that how you manage your dog?!”
“Sorry, sorry. Did you get bitten?”
“You think I just got bitten?! You signed a contract and then just left him? What the hell were you thinking?”
“It’s fun.”
Hwang Rim giggled and walked over to me.
“I never thought I’d actually get to see him tuck his tail and crawl in on his own. I just set it up thinking, ‘Wow, it’d be funny if he did,’ you know. With Woon’s personality, there’s no way he’d accept that kind of contract, so until you said okay, it was basically like it didn’t exist~ is what I figured.”
So he’d toyed with him for no real reason at all. I felt the tiniest speck of pity for Cho Hwawoon, about an ant’s eyebooger’s worth. When I glared at that brazen face, Hwang Rim lifted both hands a little.
“I’ll have you know I still follow laws and morals.”
“You, a merchant?”
“Ordinary, decent citizens are future customers, so I have to treat them well. I’ve got my own lines I don’t cross, you know. Unlike Woon. He nips at anyone, it’s adorable.”
‘…From what I’d heard from Gyeol, he did seem to keep the basics, but still. Hwang Rim really was a weirdo.’
“He was a complete mess, what did you do to him?”
“You don’t need to know, just take good care of him.”
“I’m still debating whether to raise him or sell him. He’s an S–rank with a leash on, you know. Tons of people would want that. For you, Jin, I’ll give you a special discount, half off.”
“Don’t need it. Just keep him out of my sight.”
Listening to Hwang Rim talk, I didn’t even feel like cutting off Cho Hwawoon’s head anymore. It wasn’t like he’d only made my life miserable, and honestly, this seemed like the fate that suited him best. Ending up forced to lie down and submit, even if his owner wasn’t an F–rank but a total non–awakened.
Seong Hyunjae, who had been quietly watching us, spoke up.
“You two get along–”
“No, we don’t!”
“We get along great!”
That bastard Hwang Rim plopped his arm over my shoulder and beamed.
“I love you, Jin.”
“Get off, get off, ugh!”
“If I had to describe just how deep and close we’ve played~.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“The dog is Woon. I’m the dog owner.”
Why did Seong Hyunjae have to bring this guy and wreck my mood. I smashed my fist down on the head of the Hwang Rim clinging to me. Only my hand hurt. When my eyes met Seong Hyunjae’s, he smiled gently.
“I’m glad to hear you’ve been having so much fun together.”
‘You think I’m glad?!’ Unable to watch any longer, the Mermaid Queen told Seong Hyunjae to send his team member back.
“Babe, see you later♡”
Hwang Rim, who had been about to press his lips to my cheek, was snatched away and teleported. Ugh, what a clingy human. I briskly brushed off the spot he’d clung to and glared at Seong Hyunjae.
“Did you bring that guy here just to torment me?”
“Of course not. We lost the dog, so we at least had to drag the owner over.”
“He’s definitely going to cling to Chief Song too, you know.”
Seong Hyunjae made a face like he very much wanted to watch that. Still, Hyunah would block him, probably. Mari seemed like she’d handle him better than expected, and Samir was the one I was a tiny bit worried about.
“Once again, we’ll briefly run a game to determine a favorable choice. The game list was decided by recommendations from the related Transcendents and will be picked at random. Who will roll?”
“It won’t make much difference whether I throw it or you do, Mr. Seong, but if it’s okay, I’ll go.”
Whether I rolled something terrible or Seong Hyunjae rolled something favorable to their side, it was all the same anyway. I took the die and threw it.
[Fishing]
Fishing? What the heck. Is there a Transcendent who likes fishing? More than that, Seong Hyunjae really looked like he’d be good at it.
“Will you go by total weight or by number of catches?”
“Weight! That’s okay, right?”
“As you wish.”
Then the location shifted. We were on a small rocky island with a wide ocean spread out around us. I immediately called in the rest of our team.
“It’s the seaside? We win!”
As soon as she saw the ocean, Yerim shouted confidently. Yerim, that’s not it. Probably.
[Skill usage is prohibited.]
Knew it. If skills were allowed, Yerim would just scoop everything up and Seong Hyunjae would electrocute the water.
Then two doors appeared.
[These doors connect to each team’s tank. Any fish you catch will be automatically transferred to the tank, and you may invade the other team’s fish farm. Skill usage is permitted inside the farms. The allotted time is ten hours by the current space’s standard.]
“Let’s keep it simple and just fish.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Peace, you want to sit in front of the door?”
– Kyang!
“In your adult form. Yeah, good boy. Sit there and watch Dad work~.”
Peace couldn’t really go fishing anyway. On Seong Hyunjae’s side, they grabbed Chief Song, who said he’d sit out, and played rock–paper–scissors. Mari earnestly went up against S–ranks at rock–paper–scissors and lost. She looked like she was about to cry.
“I don’t get to fish?”
“I’ve never gone fishing either, just like Mari, so I’ll sit out in her place.”
Samir volunteered to be the gatekeeper instead of Mari. Chief Song also looked like he wanted to raise his hand, but Seong Hyunjae ruthlessly blocked him.
“I can’t possibly give up Chief Song Taewon, who got dragged to a fishing tournament and landed a big catch to take first place.”
Chief Song, an unexpected dark horse. Well, he did look like he’d be good at fishing. Not just Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song, but even Hyunah and Hwang Rim handled the prepared fishing gear with practiced ease. Our team, on the other hand…
“Why do we have to drop a line and wait? We can just jump in and grab them.”
“…All I learned from my sister was how to spear fish.”
“Mister, I think it’d be faster if I just go in and grab them too.”
“Hyung, honestly, same here.”
We were screwed. All we could do was bet on beginner’s luck.
“Uh… Let’s each at least grab a rod. And this is the bait…”
While I explained, I kept sneaking glances at Seong Hyunjae’s team, who had already taken their spots. Look at that bastard Hwang Rim throw out the chum, those hands were experienced.
“…Let’s copy them as much as we can, kids.”
“Can’t we use a spear? I can catch them bare–handed too.”
“Fishing first, at least for now.”
“Chief Song, hit!”
Hyunah’s voice rang out. Hwang Rim ran over with the net, and soon a big fish was hauled up. Then Seong Hyunjae’s rod bent sharply as well. We really were screwed.
At least I’d gone sea fishing inside a dungeon before my regression, so I could set the kids’ rigs up for them. Yuhyun and Noah cast their lines with serious faces, but Yerim and Liette were already looking bored.
“Mister, can I just stab them with the hook to catch them?”
“Me too, me too!”
“…Do whatever you want.”
Sometimes they did hook onto a fin or something and drag them up, so it’d probably be fine. Yerim and Liette started whipping their rods around. The lines tangled and they flailed. I hurriedly separated the two and moved them far apart.
“Oh, hyung. This.”
There was a tug on Yuhyun’s rod! Right after, Noah pulled on his rod as well. This fast? Maybe this was secretly a prime spot!
“Slowly, slowly! If you just yank it, the line might snap. That’s it!”
A big water… snake came up with Yuhyun’s. The large water snake tossed onto the ground vanished as it was transferred to the tank.
‘So, anything you pull up counts as a fish?’
On Seong Hyunjae’s side, I saw Hwang Rim haul up an octopus. Next to him, Mari had a starfish.
“It’s star–shaped!”
A starfish bigger than a person. Noah’s was relatively normal, a tuna–like fish.
“Got one! Mister!”
Yerim, who had given up on swinging her rod around and was sulking as she sat, broke into a bright grin. Good job! But Seong Hyunjae’s team was still doing better. Especially Seong Hyunjae and Hwang Rim – even their posture looked pro–level. You could slap them on the cover of a monthly fishing magazine, seriously.
‘Yeah, this isn’t going to work like this.’
Three hours flew by in no time. Our team was catching a decent amount too, but the gap was more than double. Still holding my rod, I looked over at Seong Hyunjae’s tank. I could just flip it. But it would be a waste to spend energy fighting here. In that case…
“I’m going to go check on our tank for a bit.”
I put down my rod and stepped through the door leading to our team’s tank.
“Oh.”
The inside was like a huge swimming pool. The fish we’d caught were swimming around inside. There was visible feed too, which made it closer to a fish farm than a simple tank.
‘This is our team’s tank.’
And you could say it belonged to me. It reminded me of when I’d done farm work as a temporary administrator assignment. I opened my system window. If I fully took control of this space, I could apply my skills.
A growth buff. On top of that, maybe I could speed up the flow of time inside the tank.
I pushed my mana into the system, into this space, as much as I could. Then I dragged over the fish feed bin and scooped out a big shovel–full.
“Guys, I love you!”
I love you water snakes, I love you tuna, I love you turtles, I love you squid, I love you sea anemones, I love all of you! The feed scattered across the surface of the water. The fish swarmed together. I grabbed a turtle and kissed its smooth head.
“Grow big, okay!”
The match would be decided by weight, and they’d weigh everything after time was up. Catching big ones outright was fine, but there was no problem with catching them and then fattening them up after, right?
“I’ll give you kisses, whatever you want, just grow exactly three times bigger!”
Then we’d have a shot! I even pulled mana stones out of my inventory, mixed them into the feed, and scattered it. I love you, all you fish!
[The meal is fried chicken and cup ramen!]
A message came in that was clearly from some newbie. Cup ramen isn’t exactly good for you. Still, it’d been a while, so I was a little tempted. Yerim heated water for us, and we each grabbed a cup ramen and sat around the table.
Seong Hyunjae folded down the edge of his cup’s lid and closed it. But the lid kept popping back up. You can’t just close it like that, you know. Next to him, Chief Song expertly pinned his down with wooden chopsticks. Yuhyun had never eaten cup ramen either, but he’d watched Yerim eat it often enough that he knew how to close the lid.
“Kids, focus on the chicken. Meat’s better than ramen.”
There were a lot of kinds, too. When Hyunah lamented that there was no beer, Hwang Rim pulled a potion bottle out of his inventory.
“Breaker–brand wine~.”
“I’m kind of liking this damn punk! Captain, slice us up one fish for sashimi~.”
“I can do sashimi too! I’ll grab one from the tank!”
Mari dashed over to Seong Hyunjae’s team’s tank. Then Seong Hyunjae took cups out of his inventory. Between the wine glasses, a familiar cup caught my eye.
“Hold on, that’s a cup from my place.”
“It was in my inventory.”
“Uh, I have one too, actually.”
“…Me too, hyung.”
So that’s why my cups kept disappearing! Because we had baby monsters, I’d bought a bunch of cups made from dungeon by–products, since the fragile ones would break easily. Even Noah, watching me nervously, pulled a cup out.
“They fit into the inventory so easily that I just… kind of…”
“I don’t have any.”
Chief Song said that as my gaze landed on him. It was convenient to toss plates and cups into your inventory when you were carrying a bunch of dishes out to wash them. Same with laundry. Those commemorative Breeding Facility towels were really nice.
Mari came back and cleanly filleted one fish into sashimi, and the ramen finished cooking.
“This is how you use a cup ramen lid~.”
She folded hers into a funnel shape and showed it off to Seong Hyunjae. That definitely wasn’t in any instructions.
After a surprisingly pleasant meal, we picked our rods back up. Our team was still at a disadvantage.
[Han Yujin’s team wins!]
The result was different from what anyone expected. Yuhyun stared up at the enormous water snake with slightly stunned eyes.
“Hyung, wasn’t that thing smaller than me…?”
That one in particular grew like crazy. The other fish had all puffed up to double size too.
“Wow… That’s a real giant squid.”
“Um, Yujin. I’m pretty sure the one I caught wasn’t even a meter–long tuna…”
Everyone looked bewildered, but hey, we won, so it was fine. Time for the real game now.
–TL Notes–
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