‘…This just won’t do. Let’s change how they look for now.’
I just couldn’t stand the sight in front of me anymore. I opened the settings menu and turned on “Hide Bugs” mode. Instantly, the ants started looking like coconuts.
These coconuts, who had taken up residence in the now-empty cave after all the lizards were chased out, seemed to see the plump-tailed baby fox-lizard as a prime new prey and came rolling toward me.
Smack, smack! They burst instantly upon contact with my tail. One coconut that came to save a squashed friend ended up squashed right alongside it.
I cleared the cave in the same pattern, all the way into the coconut house—no, the ant nest—and even took out the King Coconut hiding there.
You have eradicated the ant nest in the eastern swamp cave.
Because they’re highly reproductive pests, they may have been exterminated for now, but there’s no telling when they’ll reclaim the area. Still unsure, I plucked a single hair from my tail and placed it atop the ant nest.
It was a sort of mark, a symbol that I’d wiped them out faster than the blink of an eye.
Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard has acquired ant extermination techniques!
The ants will remember the history written by your tail.
As long as your mark remains, they will not easily attempt to reclaim this territory.
“Huh? That actually works.”
I picked up the hair I’d casually dropped and planted it firmly into the mud to keep it from blowing away in the wind that reached even into the cave.
As I stepped out, Kessler, who’d been waiting at the entrance, greeted me.
“Where to next?”
“Let’s go to the Elder Lizard’s house. Not the current one—the old one.”
While Kessler diligently played the role of taxi, I rested in his arms. When I woke from my short nap, we were already in front of the elder’s former home. The one that had been rendered unusable after the ants gnawed away too much of the wood. I barged in without hesitation, fluttering my tail like I was dusting the whole place.
As I was in the middle of exterminating, a neighboring lizard peeked in through the window.
—Hey, I’m the lizard from next door. After you’re done here, could you take care of my place too, kkadeuri? I’m begging you, kkadeuri.
“I’m kinda tired… but okay, I’ll do it.”
—Thank you so much, kkadeuri.
[System] : Your tail’s fatigue level is rising. Please take a break.
Kessler, watching me absently as I tapped the message to dismiss it, silently exited the elder’s house.
[System] : Red ant extermination complete. Tail muscle strength increased.
I pulled another hair from my tail and handed it to the house’s owner.
“Hang it proudly on your door. That’s a piece of my tail.”
—Really, thank you, kkadeuri…
When I arrived at the next destination—the neighbor’s house—I was met with a bizarre sight.
Swish, swish.
—Mr. Fox, I don’t think the ants are getting exterminated properly, kkadeuri…
“I’m doing my best, nya~.”
—Please, make sure to sweep into every corner with your tail, kkadeuri…
“Don’t nag me, nya~.”
—Be careful over there, kkadeuri…!
CRASH!
A storage jar holding food was knocked over and shattered by the fox’s tail sweep.
—KKADEURIIII!! MY JAR!! MY PRECIOUS JAR, KKADEURIIIIII!!!
“…It wasn’t on purpose, nya~. I’m sorry, nya~.”
Behind the sobbing lizard, clutching his broken jar, stood a slender baby fox, looking awkward and flustered.
“Why’re you crying like that? You okay, nya~?”
“Kessler, what are you doing?”
The foxified Kessler flinched, turned around, and trotted over to me with his tail wagging. Then, sticking real close like he was about to mate, he braced himself on my rear and stood upright.
“I changed species, nya~.”
“Don’t just casually rub up on my butt. Why’s that guy bawling like that?”
“…”
“So you thought if you became a fox too, you could exterminate ants with your tail? It doesn’t work like that. Turn back into a human and go help that guy.”
The fox, now standing a bit apart from me, soon reverted to his massive Kessler form.
“Sometimes, staying still is the best help, Kessler.”
“…”
“Come over here and brush my tail. And hey, Mr. Lizard.”
—Kkadeuri?
“My precious teammate broke your stuff, so we won’t charge you. And I’ll make sure the ants are completely taken care of.”
—It’s not a precious teammate—it’s a precious jar, kkadeuri!!
“He is a precious teammate.”
It didn’t take long for the Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard to earn a reputation as the go-to expert for red ant extermination.
—Isn’t the Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard the pride of our clan, kkadeuri?
—You still haven’t booked the Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard yet, kkadeuri? Mine’s scheduled three months out, hurry up, kkadeuri!
Lizards swarmed in like they were lining up, and within a single day, a twenty-slot reservation list had been filled.
“Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard is clocking in for work.”
I bit into a mud Resonance Pill, nestled in Kessler’s arms as he brushed my tail, reviewing today’s schedule.
Click click. Looking good.
Click. Very stylish.
“Kessler, is this all we’ve got for today?”
“Yeah. We’re just hitting Seob Lizard’s, Juri Lizard’s, and Biri Lizard’s places.”
“That’s not five.”
“I cut it down. It was too much. Your body’s small, so you need to take it easy.”
“Got it.”
Kessler, the baby fox’s ambassador, now doubled as my secretary, planning my travel route. Meanwhile, Jung Da-hoon stayed nearby, snapping pictures of us.
“First house.”
Swish— I’d gotten the hang of it, and as soon as I entered, I herded the ants with my tail.
Smack smack! Then came the tail slams for the kill!
The landlord lizard beamed with delight as he looked at the annihilated pile of coconuts.
—Happy Lizard Day, kkadeuri.
“All done. Have a good one.”
—Hold up, kkadeuri.
“Yes? What is it?”
The landlord lizard’s gaze subtly drifted toward my rear.
—I heard you gave tail hairs to other houses, kkadeuri. Gimme one too, kkadeuri.
Just as I was about to pluck a hair from my tail, Kessler stepped in front of me.
“No more giving out tail hair.”
—Huh? Since when, kkadeuri?
“Just now. Look at his baby tail. One side’s so bald it looks like he’s got alopecia.”
—Alright, kkadeuri…
“Good. Then take care.”
—Still, just give one to me, kkadeuri.
As Kessler started to leave the first house, he suddenly froze in place. Emboldened, the landlord lizard raised his voice.
—I’m not okay with this. I get the baby lizard’s situation, kkadeuri. But if everyone else got one, why not me? Just give me one, I’ll pretend I didn’t ask. If you don’t, I’m filing a complaint, kkadeuri!
Kessler’s left eye twitched, then his face twisted. A dark aura he’d been suppressing surged out, and instinctively, I flinched.
“I showed you the baby Fox-Lizard’s butt just now to explain the situation.”
—You did, kkadeuri.
“You know that, and still… Doesn’t your heart ache seeing how bare his baby tail looks?”
—Don’t those grow back anyway, kkadeuri? And when he sheds, he’ll lose all the fur anyway, so just give me one already, kkadeuri!
“Come on, Kessler. Just one. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”
Honestly, I understood the guy.
It’s like being too late for the super early bird discount on a crowdfunding site and having to pay more for the regular early bird—of course you’d be bitter. Now imagine not getting a talismanic tail hair that everyone else got. He probably assumed he’d get one too. What’s one more strand? The bald patch is already there, right?
But Kessler, who brushed my tail every single day, thought differently.
“Every single strand is precious.”
With a calm voice, Kessler gently lifted me and placed me outside the door.
“Hyung, head to the next house first. I have… a conversation to finish with this lizard.”
I stood still, ears perked toward the closed door.
WHAM WHAM WHAM!
—Kyaa! Kkack! KKADEURIIIIK!!
“……”
Sounded like the “conversation” got a bit intense. Acting like I had no idea, I headed off to the next house.
***
Thanks to Kessler’s ironclad defense of my tail hair, it didn’t take long for my tail to return to its former pristine condition.
After the tail hair gifts were discontinued, the lizards mostly grumbled about how ridiculous it was to hoard those measly strands. Some rich lizards even tried to buy them for inflated prices.
But with Kessler’s impenetrable shielding and the subtle surge of violent incidents that came with it, all criticism started targeting Kessler. Sympathy began to rise for me, the baby fox-lizard, under the narrative of being “exploited.”
And just like that, I continued stacking up Merit Points without a hitch—until one day…
The official quest of the “City of Gratitude Swamp” begins once the player quota is met. Players arrived: 15/1,000
Squads of past round winners were beginning to arrive.
“Wow, the city’s suddenly so lively!”
Bori Noona cheered in excitement.
“It’s filling up faster than expected.”
“Woo-rim, you need to be careful not to get trampled by the more mischievous players! Still baby-sized even as a Baby Arctic Fox-Lizard, huh?”
“It seems that way.”
Their earlier excitement over reaching fifteen players quickly became laughable as the number grew to twenty by evening and thirty by the next day.
As a result, Bori Noona got busier. Having successfully job-changed from Murderer Class to Guide, she organized tour programs, leading players around and introducing them to key locations.
The real incident occurred exactly two weeks later.
The City of Gratitude Swamp has exceeded its player capacity.
1,121 / 1,000
“…Looks like everyone lost the game of chicken.”
Players who emerged victorious from the Shadow Castle were meant to disperse to various towns according to their needs and roles.
The Shadow Castle, known as the “Original Village,” was the same place I parachuted into to meet the “Last Chef.” Dozens, even hundreds of different planes hosted versions of the Shadow Castle, and only those who triumphed could enter the unified world.
Likewise, the officially opened “City of Gratitude Swamp,” which had taken 100 years in-world before launching as a formal server, had already spawned many small and large lizard cities nearby.
So, victorious players from the Shadow Castle were to ride time-synced trains to choose their second settlement among various swamp cities. Each city had a different capacity limit, but even slightly exceeding those limits was permitted, so players could freely pick whichever they wanted and go for it.
“Hey, Kessler. Do the other towns get this crowded too?”
“…Yeah. A few of them blew up too. The ones outta luck gotta pioneer new land.”
“Wow…”
Even if players quit mid-game in the Shadow Castle, they could always retry, which led to a continuous flood of new winners arriving.
Just because all cities hit their cap didn’t mean the swamp server locked immediately—it remained open a few extra days, and the waiting list kept growing.
[SYSTEM] : City of Gratitude Swamp has exceeded player capacity. 1,511 / 1,000
[SYSTEM] : City of Gratitude Swamp fades behind the mist.
Only once the total passed 1,500 did the city close its gates.
Those who’d advanced to Stage 2 and managed to enter the city wore grim faces. After all that effort, only to find out this many others had made it too?
Survival Quest:
The City of Gratitude Swamp has exceeded its population limit.
The 511 excess players must leave the village and pioneer a new one. Win the favor of the villagers and secure your place in the final 1,000!
You must earn ratings from 200 different lizards through various efforts. Your cumulative score ranking determines your survival.
Success → Remain
Failure → Return to Castle of Shadows
“Bullshit. Just raise the damn player cap.”
“Bullshit mode initiated—going full blast…”
[System] : Your residency has been secured.
[System] : Total confirmed residents: 3 / 1,000
“Oh… Looks like we’re starting with reserved seats. So it’s not a team-based system?”
Among our squad, only I, Kessler, and Bori Noona had been confirmed.
I had done countless contributions and become part of the lizard community, so I was automatically approved.
Kessler, meanwhile, had racked up so much debt at the swamp bank that kicking him out was impossible, so he stayed too.
Bori Noona, as a long-time resident and a guide familiar with every nook and cranny of the swamp, was a must-have according to the city’s needs.
‘Come to think of it, all our team members are support roles.’
Seeing the incoming users all carrying massive greatswords on their backs made me anxious. The squad balance was seriously off…
I looked over the wide plaza now packed with users. Everyone was doing their best to make the top 1,000, chatting like it was a flea market.
That’s when someone caught my eye—off in the corner, someone was making kimchi.
“Gasp… That’s…”
“Come, come, have a taste before you go, dear lizards. Baby lizard, would you like a bite?”
The merchant tore off a piece of freshly made kimchi and popped it into my mouth. The crisp, tangy flavor was divine—this was a taste I knew well. Fresh, seasoned kimchi.
“Could your name be…”
“I am the Kimchi Artisan. Baby lizard, if you enjoyed it, could you sign here for my rating? From now on, the swamp’s kimchi is my responsibility.”
The player known as Kimchi Artisan… had returned.
