[Survival Quest: <Protect Your Shadow Tail>
Convert all your assets into Shadow Resonance Pills via the Exchange Booth. Your wealth, abilities, and unique items will be converted according to their assessed value.
—The converted value will attach to your tail and increase its length.
—You may steal another player’s value and make it your own.
—Rankings are determined by tail length, and only the top 3 players will survive.
—Time remaining until tail protection ends: 2:59:57
The Exchange Booth is only available for five minutes at the top of each hour. The minimum exchange value is 1 Shadow Resonance Pill.]
Of course I’m in first place. Right before the quest began, Jung Da-hoon handed back his shares in the Bone Density Enhancement Center to me.
“How much should I exchange?”
Since this quest had taken on the flavor of a game of tag, having a tail that’s too long could also be a problem.
I exchanged 10% of my shares in the Bone Density Enhancement Center, and in an instant, an enormous number of Shadow Resonance Pills attached themselves behind me like a tail.
You have exchanged the highest amount among all players. A total of 824 Shadow Resonance Pills have been converted.
“Hm… This is longer than I thought. Anyway, thank you.”
Holding up the tail that looked like a string of cherry light bulbs, I wound it around my body several times. It was so long that the surrounding skeletons had to help me manage it. Fortunately, it was not very heavy, but it was undeniably cumbersome.
If someone just cuts it cleanly, they could steal it. Can I not put it in my bag?
[System]: This item cannot be placed in your inventory.
As I barely managed to gather the Shadow Resonance Pill tail and began walking, a few passing villagers began licking their lips and followed me as if entranced. My tail must’ve looked incredibly tempting.
– Clack, clack
– I just want one bite of that old decrepit bastard’s tail
– Father, allow me to go!
Even a whole family unit of filial skeletons appeared, targeting my tail. Their sharp expressions as they lowered their torsos into attack stances and clacked their bones together were terrifying.
I hurried into my personal stable, locked the door, and finally laid down the mass of Shadow Resonance Pills wrapped around my body.
These mischievous black clumps began to squirm and clump together like little balls, transforming into a cow that silently mooed.
“You idiots. This is a stable—if anything, you should turn into horses.”
I sat down on a tightly packed pile of dry straw. If anyone managed to break down this door and come inside, it would turn into a head-on battle.
All players have completed their exchanges.
Finally… the quest was about to begin.
[Ranking of players with the highest number of Shadow Resonance Pills will now be revealed. Rankings will update every 10 minutes.
1st: Yeo Woo-rim
2nd: MaekbanseokGrilledEgg
3rd: KebabGudasaai
…
11th: Bori]
What the hell? These lunatics. They are revealing the rankings? Is this some public execution?
I stared into the air, as if glaring at the invisible system. Where is it? The one who said they wanted me to win—this is how they play?
[System]: The originally set absolute values cannot be altered.
A pop-up full of excuses floated into view.
“Try being a little flexible, would you?”
I lashed out into the air once, then quietly stared at the passing time.
[Time remaining: 2:58:47]
The game had started, and there were three hours left until it ended.
I pulled up both the remaining time and the current ranking in a pop-up window, waiting for time to pass.
Bori, currently ranked 11th, could likely figure out where I was. Her class is ‘Shadow Guide’, and the map she created with her class skills would show the stable marked ‘Owned by Yeo Woo-rim’. That is why I deliberately came to my own stable.
We had not made any prior arrangements, but considering our past relationship, if Bori Noona asked for help, I was willing to cooperate to some extent.
Knock knock. Just as I expected, not long after, someone knocked on the stable door.
Instead of answering, I quietly approached the door. …But something felt off. The shadow cast beneath the door was not the silhouette of the thick mushroom shoes Bori Noona always wore.
Thin… almost like bones…
Knock knock. The knocking came once again.
I cautiously released my grip from the doorknob. The other side fell silent too.
Quietly and slowly, I crouched down to check beneath the door. At that moment, I locked eyes with the skeleton peering in from under the door.
“AAAGH!!”
– Clack clack
I was so startled that I rolled backward twice. Immediately, the doorknob rattled violently.
What the hell? Why is a skeleton even here?
“What do you want?”
– Clack clack Open the dooorrr
“I mean, why?”
– If you don’t, I’ll tell everyone where you are!!
He was even resorting to threats.
[System]: The thug of Skeleton Village, Bone Fist, is threatening you.
‘Bone Fist?’
This was the skeleton who had once shown a very friendly attitude toward me when I was a baby fox.
– Golgolgol
– Beep beep beep
– Squeak squeak
[System]: Your stable has become infamous among the skeletons as a gourmet hotspot.
“This is nuts.”
No one said I had to be on guard against skeletons during the quest. Suddenly, my shabby stable had become a hot place, and my hiding spot was at risk of being exposed.
What do I do? Can I even negotiate with skeletons?
“If you all leave quietly, I’ll give one Shadow Resonance Pill per skull, alright?”
– Clack clack Nooo make it two
– Then I want three
– Four for me! Golgolgol
You greedy, shameless skeleton bastards.
I paused to think.
‘…If I had known this would happen.’
I should have been more careful. The rumor that I was a baby fox had already spread among the players.
If I reverted to my baby fox form here, my Shadow Resonance Pills would be stolen immediately. Still, it was the only option that might allow me to turn this situation around.
– Golgolgol
– Clack clack
“Release human form.”
[System]: Activating Baby Fox skill ‘Protective Instinct Scent’. Others will be unable to detect your scent.
As soon as I transformed into a fox, I activated my skill.
Then, I carefully extended my front paw under the door.
Nyang.
– Golgol?
– Clack clack clack?
The skeletons’ hands and feet, which had been flailing wildly through the door crack, began to pull back.
– Don’t take from the Baby Fox
– Must protect the Baby Fox
– Where is the little guy
They mumbled in confusion for a bit, then dispersed.
‘Safe… for now.’
At last, light—not bones—filtered through the bottom of the closed stable door.
Now I could breathe freely. And with my scent hidden, no one would be able to find me.
Knock knock.
Ah, except for one person.
“Woo-rim, are you in there?”
It was Bori Noona’s voice.
“Please let me in. I’m on your side.”
Normally, saying “I’m on your side” right before the final round would be the most suspicious thing imaginable—but it was different with Bori Noona.
Nyang nyang!! I barked to let her know my current state. I could not open the door myself with these tiny paws.
“…Ah, you’re in fox form, I see. Is there another way in? Bark once for yes, twice for no.”
Nyang!
“Okay, so there is. Where is it?”
I moved to the corner and barked again for her to follow my voice. From beyond the wall, Bori Noona followed the sound.
“Ah, there’s a window here.”
It was a tiny ventilation hatch, but it should be more than enough for someone like Bori Noona to slip through.
“Heeyah!”
Plop. She slipped inside through the tiny window far easier than I expected. She immediately scooped me into her arms and petted me.
Just then, the rankings were updated.
[Rankings update every 10 minutes.
1st: Yeo Woo-rim
2nd: MaekbanseokGrilledEgg
3rd: KebabGudasaai
…
11th: Bori]
There was still no change in the rankings.
“Baby Fox, I’ve got one Shadow Resonance Pill on me. We didn’t really get a chance to talk properly after the quest details were revealed… So I just quickly asked Da-hoon what to do, and he told me to attach exactly one and find you first. Also… from what I know, Kebab—the one in 3rd place—has about 130. I bumped into him on the way here. How many do you have, Woo-rim? Just from looking, I—gasp. Wait. Don’t tell me… that cow is all Shadow Resonance Pills? I thought it was a decoration… Whoa, you could cook an entire oxtail stew with that thing.”
It must’ve been an overwhelming lead.
“Baby Fox, you can’t turn back into human form right now, can you? I heard you can only transform once a day. Then for now… let me give you a board to write on. Could you type out the letters for me?”
She pulled out a giant fox educational Hangul board from who knows where. I jumped nimbly across the consonants and vowels to form words.
‘I’ll give you two hundred. Give it back next round. Need to confirm how many #2 has.’
“Alright. Got it.”
‘You have gifted 200 Shadow Resonance Pills to player ‘Bori’.’
“Thank you.”
Bori Noona pulled me into her arms again. We leaned on each other and quietly waited for the next ranking update.
