The murderer Jung Da-hoon came to a halt immediately after leaving the Lord’s chamber. The bestowed quest,
[The Absolute One considers you a wretch. However, though you may be insignificant and untrustworthy, among humans, you are regarded as the best of a sorry lot. You must find and bring back the one who harmed the Baby Arctic Fox.]
The culprit will be identified by the Baby Arctic Fox through <Proof of the Pawprint>.
—Reward: Unknown
—Failure: You will not be able to side with the Shadows.
—The Absolute One’s patience is not long. Hurry and find the culprit.]
“……Damn it.”
Reading the quest description, Jung Da-hoon bit down hard on his lips.
It was troubling. Troubling, and troubling again.
The Baby Arctic Fox had ended up that way while running away from him. Therefore, the only way to clear this quest would be to confess.
“No, that’s not it.”
He had never actually harmed the fox. Wasn’t it that the fox had simply panicked, bolted, and tumbled down on its own? In that case, it would make more sense for the cowardly fox to accuse itself. However, just before leaving the chamber, the fox had bared its teeth fiercely at Jung Da-hoon.
And it was the fox who would determine the culprit. Through something called or whatever it was, it meant the fox could arbitrarily accuse anyone and abuse its authority.
“What should I do? How should I explain this?”
Should he claim that he was simply power walking to build up his strength, and the fox, seeing that, got scared and ran away on its own? Would anyone even buy that excuse?
“Maybe the only way is to turn the fox into a lump of meat and nullify the quest altogether.”
As Jung Da-hoon mulled it over, he suddenly realized he was empty-handed. He should have selected an alternative reward for back in the Lord’s chamber, but in the rush of receiving the quest, he had fled in a panic without taking anything.
Still, he needed to claim what was rightfully his. Just as Jung Da-hoon tried to thrust himself back into the barrier—
[System]: You have already left the Lord’s chamber. You can no longer claim any rewards.
“?”
Startled, he rammed into the barrier once more.
[System]: You have already left the Lord’s chamber. You can no longer claim any rewards.
Jung Da-hoon cursed under his breath and slumped to the ground on the spot.
“Totally screwed now.”
The reason he had poured everything he had into becoming the ‘Decision Maker’ during was so he could designate the next quest as <The Lord’s Banquet>.
After holding the banquet, he had planned to visit the treasure vault as the temporary Decision Maker and plunder the Lord’s belongings.
That’s why he had emptied his entire fortune just to become the ‘Decision Maker.’
[System]: You currently owe 20 million won to the bank. (Interest rate: 14%)
On top of that, he had even taken out a loan from the bank—at an outrageous 14% interest rate.
The campaign costs had ended up being far higher than expected. A significant chunk had gone into buying lubricants, with those shameless skeletons demanding payment over and over, draining his resources dry.
If he had at least secured one decent reward, he could have repaid everything and made a fresh start. But now things were thoroughly screwed. In the blink of an eye, he had become a debtor.
—Failure: You will not be able to side with the Shadows.
The quest, which already seemed impossible to succeed, had an exceptionally troublesome penalty attached.
It was as if two ugly bumps had suddenly grown on his once-sharp chin overnight.
There were essentially two major strategies for clearing the latter half of this game: One, become a member of the Shadow Castle and quietly blend in. Two, take the opposite side and stand against it from the start.
And now he couldn’t side with the Shadows. Half of his options had been wiped out entirely. At this point, it almost seemed better to ditch this run and start a new game altogether.
But Jung Da-hoon was a fan of Yeo Woo-rim, Poksup.
If everything around you is dark, just close your eyes and pretend you chose it yourself.
When everyone else cited “The important thing is an unyielding heart” as the most iconic line of the game, Jung Da-hoon would always quietly recite that phrase to himself instead.
“Yeah, life is just one endless carousel of flashbacks.”
Even when trapped in the curse of a ‘never-ending nightmare’ where everything around him seemed shrouded in darkness, Poksup Yeo Woo-rim had survived and triumphed in the end. Muttering the scenes from Yeo Woo-rim’s legendary mad movie under his breath, Jung Da-hoon pushed himself up from the ground.
***
—Respected Lord, please hear my plea! I have sinned!
When I rubbed my eyes and woke up, it was early morning. The voice clinging to my ears was so loud that I couldn’t sleep any longer.
—Please have mercy!
At first, I thought it was one of those street announcements like, ‘Broken computers, air conditioners, refrigerators~ We buy them all!’ As I perked up my ears at the oddly familiar voice, Kessler’s brows furrowed.
“Did the noise wake you up?”
Nyang?
It was roughly a questioning mewl, asking what’s all that racket?
“Don’t mind it. Go back to sleep.”
Kessler looked seriously annoyed, but still gently picked the sleep crust from the corner of my eye. He then rolled that tiny speck of dust carefully between his fingers.
—Respected Lord!
“That bastard…”
But the moment the loud voice rang out again, the eye gunk Kessler had been rolling slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. As he looked around, apparently searching for the lost speck, he eventually gave up and scooped up my yawning self into a tight hug.
Still nestled in Kessler’s arms, I was carried out to the castle wall road. Peeking out, I saw users gathered on the other side of the drawbridge.
They were tossing things down like people feeding goldfish in a pond. A closer look revealed they were throwing down megaphones.
“Use this, Snake Rim-nim!”
“Thank you.”
Outside the drawbridge, Snake Rim was kneeling on a mat spread over the desert sand, performing a full-blown public apology. He slapped his own cheeks with his long, slender scaly tail, seeking forgiveness, while users cheered and tossed support items his way.
Nyang.
“No, don’t pity him.”
Nyang?
“You must be too young to understand, but you can’t live in this world with such a soft heart.”
Kessler scratched my head, and the hand that traveled from my head to my back finally reached my tail and gave my butt a good flick. All the dust and debris clinging to me scattered away.
At that moment, the manager—dark circles heavy under his eyes—came up to appeal.
“Kessler-nim, people keep throwing megaphones, and the noise from beyond the walls is getting amplified. The residents can’t sleep because of the noise, and now their joints are aching. The price of joint medicine has skyrocketed.”
“…….Isn’t there any way to shut that bastard up?”
“Forgive me, but he’s already been exiled beyond the walls. It’s difficult to block the noise completely.”
“Difficult, my ass.”
Kessler raised the air pressure around the area where the users were clustered against the wall.
“Ahh, my eardrums are killing me all of a sudden!”
“Yeah, me too… your voice is sounding all weird now.”
The users, complaining that their ears were getting plugged and it felt like their eyeballs were about to explode, soon scrambled and crawled away from the wall road, retreating beneath it.
In an instant, the wall road was cleared, and Snake Rim could no longer receive megaphones from the users. Now, only Kessler, holding a fox in his arms, remained above.
Snake Rim looked up at us with drooping eyes, trembling as a bonus.
“I’m sorry, Kessler-nim.”
“And I’m truly sorry to you, too, Baby Arctic Fox. I lost my mind for a moment and ended up hurting you.”
Snake Rim, looking utterly ashamed, began to dig into the ground, leaving only his head poking out.
“I might as well die like this.”
“Yeah, if you’re going to do it, go ahead and bury your mouth too.”
“Kessler-nim…….”
Kessler casually threw a used hot dog stick that some user had left behind. It looked like he tossed it without aiming, but it struck Snake Rim’s head dead-on.
“You don’t like it? Then just get beaten to death by me.”
Next came a discarded half-slipper, and after that, a leftover bottle of ‘well-being’ juice.
“I was… I was just so lonely! These past three weeks while I was shedding…!”
“You almost died during molting, didn’t you? And who saved your ass?”
“……It was the Baby Arctic Fox.”
“And yet you abandoned the one who saved your life?”
“…….I am truly shameless.”
“A shameless, rotten male snake like you deserves to die.”
“Kessler-nim…….”
Every time Kessler threw something, stars spun around Snake Rim’s head from the impact. As Snake Rim reeled, unable to regain his senses, a heavy meat grill plate came flying down and struck him squarely, knocking him out cold.
This time, the stars spun around for a good while longer. His one and only weakness, unfortunately, was his head.
Nyang, nyang-nyang.
I licked Kessler’s chin. Sure, Snake Rim had played a part in me getting hurt. But thanks to his negligence, I had also been freed from that boring chicken coop.
More importantly… if left alone like this, Snake Rim would eventually wear himself down and vanish from exhaustion. He was someone I had already built a decent relationship with—it would be a waste to lose him so easily.
“What. Why’re you suddenly sucking up to me?”
Nyang! Nyang-nyang!
“What’s your problem, tiny dog-fox?”
Nyang-nyang!
I cried out at the top of my lungs and pointed my injured forepaw down at him.
“You want me to save him?”
I nodded vigorously.
“No.”
[System]: The skill, ‘Protective Instinct,’ has been activated.
I hadn’t wanted to go this far, but there was no choice.
My eyes grew adorably round, and my body began trembling ever so slightly. Kessler, clicking his tongue as though he had no other option, peppered kisses all over my forehead and called out to the manager.
“Manager.”
“Yes, Kessler-nim.”
“If that bastard asks to come back, let him. But he’s not allowed inside the castle. Assign him to the Waste Disposal Department and make him do grunt work.”
“Understood.”
It happened at that moment.
[!!! The Baby Arctic Fox has upheld loyalty with Snake Rim.
Trust level with Snake Rim has reached its maximum.
Assigned to the Waste Disposal Department, he will gift you a stroller with his first paycheck.]
Snake Rim, once a noble, will live as an ordinary resident and commoner for the time being. But one day, simply being alive will prove meaningful.
“Hurry up and give me a kiss.”
Nyang.
Wagging my tail, I puckered my tiny mouth and held it out to Kessler. Instead of biting down as if he would devour me whole like usual, he gently rubbed his cheek against mine.
I still couldn’t understand why someone with a passive, deep-seated hatred for humans liked me so much.
Ah… maybe because I’m not human.
