“Make the board transparent!”
“Reveal it! Reveal it!”
The users were protesting, but the lizards kept their mouths tightly shut. This was the first time anyone had encountered a city where the bulletin board wasn’t public, and users were convinced that something shady was going on.
“Disclose the full history of ranks one through four—every last detail! Reveal the ridiculous way they racked up contribution points and who they really are!”
Kebab, who had recently changed class to ‘Scale Trainer,’ cautiously approached the demonstrators while reading the room. In his arms were two sashes, which he handed to me and Kessler, while I was still in my baby Arctic Fox form.
“Put these on. Please give one to the Baby Fox too.”
“What is this?”
The sash had ‘REVEAL IT’ written in bold red letters.
“Why should we—”
Nyang.
“Gasp… He’s showing his face!”
As I softly closed my eyes and leaned my face toward Kessler, he didn’t hesitate to press the sash against my forehead.
“Looks good on you.”
“Everything looks good on you, Woo-rim.”
“Exactly.”
Then he wrapped the other sash around his own head. Kessler always resisted at first, but once he recognized something as a couple item, he was willing to go along with it no matter what it was.
“Hello.”
“Hi there.”
“Hey.”
Nyang.
“Looks like you three came out to protest. That’s awesome—love seeing users taking action!”
A user with a baton in hand passed by, praising us.
While we mingled among the other users, one user unwrapped the ‘REVEAL IT’ pledge ribbon tied around his head, clearly uncomfortable, and shouted,
“Instead of this, how about we each disclose our rank and share screenshots of our system windows so we can line them up and find who’s number one? Let’s start with some verification—”
[System]: (Global) You cannot publicly disclose your rank within the system window.
“I’m rank 1,132—why can’t I reveal that?”
A user tried to take a screenshot of their rank by extracting it from the system window but discovered it was restricted. Even screen captures were blocked, resulting in a blurred-out image being shared instead.
“What? Why can’t we verify this? Fine, just say it out loud. What rank are you all? Let’s hurry and find number one.”
“I’m rank 1,321.”
“I’m 1,422.”
Although many users demanded rank transparency, once the stage was set, most hesitated to answer. I thought I knew why.
‘No matter who ranks first, their real goal is to break into the top 1,000 anyway.’
For higher-ranking users, ‘let’s reveal ranks’ was probably a rather unappealing suggestion. Just as the movement began to fizzle out, a messenger lizard came running toward us.
Nyang?
Cradled in Kessler’s arms, I asked what the matter was, but the messenger simply waved at me. It seemed the message was meant for someone else.
—Kessler-nim, you’re being summoned immediately, kkadeuri.
“Me?”
—Snake Rim-nim is calling for you, kkadeuri.
“Got it. Hang out for a bit, Baby Fox.”
Kessler gently set me down and obediently followed the messenger lizard. Kebab, watching the scene unfold, had a question mark pop up over his head.
“Kessler-nim leaving Woo-rim-nim behind? What’s going on?”
I chose not to answer. This felt like something within Kessler’s private domain. Since Kessler and Snake Rim had a debt relationship, he probably didn’t want to be seen getting hounded about repayment.
But wait a second.
I opened the calendar embedded at the bottom of the system window. It was a shared calendar Kessler and I used.
“That’s weird. The deadline was the day before yesterday, so why is he being summoned again?”
“Shall we go check it out?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Hearing formal speech coming from a Baby Fox is always so surreal…”
When I was in Baby Fox form, I had already dropped formalities with everyone except Kessler.
“Too jarring?”
“Haha, not at all.”
Nyang.
I let out a cute little sound for no reason.
—Beloved Baby Fox, kkadeuri.
Eventually, we arrived at the cave. As we entered the corridor, the lizard guards stationed at the entrance didn’t block our path—instead, they bowed respectfully upon seeing me. The corridor was lined with photos of Snake Rim and me together.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
“Oh, has it?”
“The last time was briefly, when I switched to ‘Scale Trainer.'”
Unlike Kessler, who came when it was time to pay off debts, or me, who dropped by during mealtimes, the rest of the group rarely had any reason to visit this place. According to Bori Noona, it kind of felt like intruding into someone’s master bedroom…
“So, what does a Scale Trainer actually do?”
“A variety of things. They care for scales that haven’t been evenly shed. Lizards molt periodically, and the discarded scales often entangle wandering souls, which then give birth to new life. Those newborns can be trained and made into subordinates.”
“Oh, that’s pretty fascinating.”
“Yes. I’m still not sure what meaning all of it holds, but it’s an interesting profession, and training the newly born souls is quite enjoyable, so I’ve kept at it.”
“That’s the spirit. Fun always comes first. Ah, we’re here.”
Just before entering the room, I stopped when I caught a glimpse of Kessler’s broad frame through the column of tree roots hanging down in tangled strands.
“Can’t you handle this on your own?”
“No, I can’t. Please, Kessler-nim, help me. Sob sob. I’m really desperate. I need your incredible strength. Your power was truly amazing…”
Snake Rim’s tail smacked the floor anxiously. As he knelt before Kessler, his head conveniently blocked the view of Kessler’s lower half. Kebab, looking as though he had just seen something he wished he hadn’t, turned his eyes away in discomfort.
“I’ve heard rumors that lizards go into heat, but…”
“Wait… Kebab-ssi, what are you even thinking right now?”
Nyang nyang!
I barked sharply, pushing through the columns.
“Baby Fox.”
“You’re here, Baby Fox.”
“Forgive me for the intrusion, but may I ask what’s going on here? The Baby Fox is curious.”
Kebab, hesitantly following behind, looked around in confusion and spoke on my behalf.
“This lizard asked me to teach him how to control players. Baby Fox, did you come because you were worried about me?”
Kessler affectionately rubbed his cheek against my fur as he asked. Snake Rim collapsed to the floor in despair, as though his deepest shame had been laid bare before the world.
A patch of his new scales had clearly fallen off while I wasn’t looking.
Kebab spoke with a hint of pity.
“Snake Rim-nim, when someone tries to control a player, it triggers their rebellious instinct and they act out even more. Just leave them alone.”
Nyang nyang.
“Exactly. Just ignore them and focus on your own duties.”
“Sigh, the townspeople lizards are flooding me with complaints because of the chaos caused by the players. Everyone keeps telling me: ‘Resolve this quickly!’ What am I supposed to do?”
“You’ve been away from the capital for over a hundred years, and you still can’t control a room full of people?”
Kessler scolded him, clearly baffled.
“I try to rule like a friend.”
“Is holding drinking parties every day with female lizards your idea of ‘friendly politics’?”
“Sob sob, please don’t scold me. I’m really struggling with my emotions right now.”
“Yeah, you don’t look like you’re managing too well.”
Having called in a seasoned expert for help, all Snake Rim was getting was a full dose of nagging. I slipped out of Kessler’s arms and cautiously moved into a corner.
Moments later, I reappeared as Baby Fox Lizard.
“Father, are you alright?”
“My son…”
“In times like these, there is a method.”
“What is it? A way to break through this crisis…”
“Sleep for a full week.”
I pointed at the coffin lid. Kebab quickly opened it. Kessler then lifted Snake Rim and gently placed him inside.
“Um…”
“Shh. Close your eyes. When you wake up, everything will be over. Even Kessler slept a lot after causing trouble.”
Snake Rim made a face like this can’t possibly be right, but soon he settled in and closed his eyes.
“I leave the rest to you.”
The coffin lid shut with a firm sound. Kebab, having been swept up into all of this, now wore an uncertain expression.
“…Avoidance. Is this really the right solution?”
“Mental shielding is the best medicine for a lizard with a fragile mindset. Players basically think NPCs have preset behavior patterns, so once they realize communication isn’t possible, they stop wasting their time. They just assume, ‘Oh, this city’s just hell difficulty,’ and move on.”
And it actually worked. Two days later, once users realized their protests were completely ineffective, all demonstrations were disbanded.
But that didn’t mean the low-ranking users’ grand operation to uncover the rankings was over. On the contrary—it was only escalating.
Among the lower ranks, players began marking and tracking their daily score fluctuations and rank movements. A few higher-ranking users, caught lying about being in the 1,000s to dodge the lower ranks’ suspicion, were even executed on the spot.
Title: If you’re going to execute people for lying, who in the upper ranks is ever gonna come clean? (42)
└ Their whole goal is to beat the crap out of every high-ranker and take their place. But there are more of the top ranks, so they’re laying low for now.
└ Seriously, don’t y’all have anything better to do? Instead of beating up fellow players, take it to the devs and demand transparency.
At one point, someone even created an account called ‘Daily Rank Notifier for the Swamp City’, where they regularly posted whatever rankings they had managed to uncover. As low-ranking players became increasingly aggressive, a few top-ranked users tried to identify as “low-rank-friendly” and voluntarily disclosed their rank—but those actions only drew hatred from other high-rankers.
Rumors even began to spread—one such user, after revealing their rank, was allegedly found dead the next day in a garlic field, in the form of a teddy bear corpse.
Guess-the-rank had become its own form of user-generated content, and with it, deaths caused by factionalism were on the rise.
***
“What’s going to happen with the Bug Exterminator job?”
Recently, the number of players running around the swamp wielding butterfly nets had skyrocketed. Since this wasn’t a major city, job variety was limited. So most figured it was better to become an Bug Exterminator and sidestep the competitive chaos.
Confirmed Remaining Participants: 21 / 1,483
With more players dying from sunstroke or PvP brawls, the competition pool had now dropped to the fourteen-hundreds.
At this point, I began shaping my image. I shot a long scene showing the back of a Baby Fox gazing sentimentally at the forest’s edge under the setting sun. I also went around encouraging lizards who were working in the fields.
“Yes, the art style is lovely.”
This season’s winner would have their gameplay edited into a promo video and used for marketing, so we also put together a few cheerful group scenes of the five of us hanging out.
“Ugh, I’m having an existential crisis. Da-hoon, we’re not gonna fail after doing all this, right?”
“Bori-ssi, after going this far, there’s no turning back.”
“Hmm… Are people gonna say we climbed too easily?”
“Anyone who sees how much grind we’ve put in won’t be able to say that.”
Jung Da-hoon’s eyes widened as he wrapped a piece of perfectly grilled kimchi around a bite of meat.
“Whoa… this taste?”
“Who made this kimchi? It tastes just like the Kimchi Artisan’s stuff.”
It had probably ripened just right, making it even more delicious. Kebab began devouring his portion, clearly enjoying it, while Kessler quickly shielded my share from the others’ chopsticks and moved it to my plate.
“Got it from the Fresh Kimchi Artisan.”
***
Title: Ant extermination is way too hard (12)
After this game, I could probably get a job at SESCO…
└This is some military-level stuff
└It’s kinda fun if you set your pixels right and just slap whatever pops out
└Then just don’t do ant extermination lol
Title: 50 Hidden Unique Jobs & Unlock Conditions Shared (9)
500 won per entry
└DM sent
└This stuff’s useless anyway
└Purchased, thanks
Title: Where can I become a Bug Exterminator? (18)
Seriously, how do you do thisㅠ
└Just go to a random house and try to start an ant extermination quest
└└But normal houses don’t have ants??
└└You just went to the wrong house. Try a few more—there are lots in the east
└└I’m telling you, there are no ants in the east XD
└└Where even are you guys?
└└City of Gratitude Swamp
Title: Gratitude Swamp already wiped out all ants so the Bug Exterminator job is gone (67)
.
└What the hell even happened in that town
└Guess they cleaned up early?
└One weird thing: the #1 ranked player has 12 million points
└└What
└└For real??
└Guess that person wiped out all the bugs
Title: What even is Gratitude Swamp? (41)
Someone please explain
└Wow, must be nice playing easy mode
└└Easy?? Nah, it’s a mind game hellscape
└└Bug Exterminator was the only overlapping job, and now it doesn’t even exist anymore
Title: Baby Fox Lizard’s Tail (8)
The homeowner’s asking me to get this…?
