After giving the rabid chihuahua—now reduced to a tiny dot—one last look...
We went right back to being fishern who hooked people, and started bullying Group A parties again.
After a long stretch of spraying mortar rounds and a sniper rifle nonstop—
[Side Quest: Finals Week 17–18](In Progress....)
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(33/20 people)
—we’d overshot the quest target by a wide margin.
The crystals we stole totaled five.
‘This area’s starting to thin out too.’
Not as badly as Group C, but we’d caught plenty.
And with the sun slowly sinking, it looked like it’d be evening soon.
So I asked Seo Ye-in and Park Nari,
“Wanna head back and rest now?”
“Good idea.”
“You worked hard.......”
They didn’t show it, but fatigue must’ve been piling up, because both of them accepted without hesitation.
We packed up and started moving back to base.
Picking up empty crystals whenever we spotted them along the way.
When we arrived, even more had changed.
The barrier was thicker than before, and it had a deep blue tint.
[Barrier(E→C)]
On one side, a radar was slowly rotating.
[Radar(D)]
Right now it wasn’t detecting anything, but if enemies approached within a certain distance, it would mark them in red and alert us.
On the other side was a structure with angel wings.
[Resurrection Totem(F)]
It reduced the re-entry wait ti for our mbers.
When you’ve got dozens of people, no matter how safely you run things, strange accidents inevitably happen and soone becos combat-incapable.
Spending a little investnt here couldn’t hurt.
Besides that, there was a campfire with a recovery effect, turrets controlled by mages or ranged classes, a device that generated crystals—slowly, but still—and more. The place was steadily starting to look like a real base.
And on one side, I spotted sothing we’d asked for before leaving.
[Card Shop(D)]
A machine that reminded of an old arcade cabinet.
It had a single button and a small output slot.
When I looked at the screen on top—
▷Obtainable Cards:3/5
▷Next Card In:00:03:43
—it worked like this: every set interval, the count increased by one.
From the look of it, we’d arrived right before it beca four.
Just then, Song Cheon-hye’s voice ca from behind .
“I still haven’t raised everything. There’s not much left, though.”
“If we add this too?”
As I asked while pulling out crystals, Song Cheon-hye looked startled again.
“Where are you going around, doing what exactly?”
“Contributing to Group B’s developnt.”
“So how?”
“Let’s talk while we eat. Anyway—enough?”
“It’s exactly enough. Hold on a second.”
Song Cheon-hye walked up to the facility vending machine.
After tapping the screen a few tis, she fed the crystals in.
[Card Shop(D→C)]
The arcade-cabinet look beca a bit more refined.
And item cards would show up more often, with better ones appearing too.
Perfect timing: the count had risen to four, and if we left it alone too long, it might hit a cap—so we decided to draw imdiately.
I asked Seo Ye-in in the most respectful tone I could manage.
“Lucky Charm, please show your skills again today.”
“Our Ye-in.”
“You know we only trust our Ye-in, right?”
Seo Ye-in gave a small nod—and before anyone could say a word, pressed the button down hard.
▷Obtainable Cards:4/5
▷Obtainable Cards:0/5
CLUNK,
Item cards slid out one by one from the output slot.
Seo Ye-in and I, Park Nari and Song Cheon-hye, and even the mbers hovering nearby all stared with curiosity at the results...
...and everyone brightened at the sa ti.
[Return]
▷Teleports you to your affiliated base.
A superior version of [Exit] from .
Not a random location, but your affiliated base—so the mont you use it, your safety is guaranteed.
And of course, you can take your crystals with you.
‘If I have to na a downside, it’s that it’s single-target.’
We can’t exactly prepare one per party mber, so in most cases, only one or two key people would make it out alive.
Even that would be more than enough to be grateful for.
[Duplication]
▷Duplicates the specified item card.
It could turn any card into two, which gave it limitless uses.
Since we hadn’t gotten what we really wanted yet, we’d save it for later.
The remaining two cards were the sa, but nobody complained.
[Bombardnt]*2
▷Bombards the specified base.
▷The ranks of 2 random facilities decrease.
Facilities taking damage ant the crystals we’d fed in ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) would evaporate.
It also ant the effort and ti our mbers put in would turn into nothing.
Song Cheon-hye’s eyes went wide at the absurd effect.
“This kind of thing...... exists?”
“It’s a three-way battle in a team fight. Makes sense sothing like this would exist.”
“When you put it like that, it does.”
I shrugged.
“It doesn’t co up often.”
“But we got two.”
“That’s because this person draws well.”
With everyone’s eyes on her, Lucky Charm delivered a short verdict.
“......Good luck.”
“This is why I said we should raise the card shop first.”
Song Cheon-hye looked like the last traces of doubt had finally left her.
She nodded, then asked,
“I’m glad I trusted you. How are you going to use that?”
“Dump both into one group.”
That would land a more aningful blow than spreading them between A and C.
And which side we’d use it on was already decided.
“Group C?”
“Obviously.”
Song Cheon-hye—and the mbers too—looked unanimously in agreent.
They were the ones who proposed the nonaggression pact first, so of course they were even more obnoxious.
Song Cheon-hye asked again.
“When will you use them?”
“If we’re talking pure efficiency, it’s better to delay to tomorrow or the day after.”
The higher the overall facility ranks climbed, the worse the damage from bombardnt would beco.
But I grinned as I continued.
“I think breaking their morale matters more.”
“That’s a good point too.”
Ever since I trashed their place, they’d probably been moving extrely carefully while collecting crystals.
With lower efficiency, their facilities would be one or two stages behind ours.
And if even that suddenly collapsed?
‘It turns into a funeral mood.’
And beyond that, it would drag down their productivity on day two and day three, too.
So we decided we’d use [Bombardnt] tonight.
Then we ate dinner and relaxed at our leisure.
We sat around the campfire chatting, and played with Beomi and Chaemi, who’d shrunk down to mini size.
“Affection.”
“Peep, peep-peep.”
Seo Ye-in gently stroked the two of them as they wriggled their way into the Cube of Life.
Watching that, Song Cheon-hye asked,
“Can I pet them too?”
“Yeah....... It’s okay.......”
With Park Nari’s permission, Song Cheon-hye slowly brought a hand toward the cube.
Beomi didn’t seem to reject it—but the mont her fingertips touched its head—
ZAP!
A sudden static shock made Beomi flinch away to the opposite side.
Then it puffed its fur up and bared its teeth.
“HSSS—!”
“N-No, I didn’t do that on purpose—”
“H—SSS—!!”
It also took a stance like it was about to throw a fluffy little punch at any second.
Like it was saying, If you co closer, there will be bloodshed, human.
“I really didn’t do it on purpose.......”
Song Cheon-hye had no choice but to retreat, swallowing her disappointnt.
They say first impressions are half of everything, and she’d opened with static.
Looks like she’d have a rough ti getting close to Beomi.
Fortunately, once Seo Ye-in and Park Nari soothed it, it went back to purring happily again.
How long did we play like that?
Before we knew it, the night had grown deep.
Seo Ye-in’s eyelids kept drooping too, so we cleaned up and stood.
“I’m going in. I’ll wake up for a bit later and use [Bombardnt].”
“Okay. Get good rest.”
Song Cheon-hye nodded easily enough, but when she saw the three of us going in together, she looked puzzled.
“Wait—are you going in together?”
“Sleep together.”
Seo Ye-in answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Song Cheon-hye’s expression went a little blank.
“Sleep...... together?”
“Kim Ho pillow comfy.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“......?”
Seo Ye-in tilted her head.
Like she was asking, Why is that nonsense?
Maybe her brain overloaded—Song Cheon-hye.exe paused for a mont, then her eyes snapped up like she’d realized sothing.
“No—then you’ve been sleeping like that this whole ti? Midterms too, finals too, the entire ti?”
NOD,
Confusion filled Song Cheon-hye’s face.
Several tis more than when she heard Group A and Group C had signed a nonaggression pact.
She finally forced the words out, stamring.
“I...... I...... can’t accept this. Sleep separately.”
“.......”
Seo Ye-in stared at her.
Then, as if turning away, she tossed out a single word.
“......Scrub.”
“......What did you say?”
“Scrub.”
Song Cheon-hye’s face reddened slightly.
She was probably rembering the ti she used ★Blink★ in front of us and slamd into a wall with a BANG.
She tried to be patient as she asked,
“What does that have to do with this?”
“......Scrub.”
Seo Ye-in quietly covered her ears with both hands.
So, as the official sloth-language interpreter, I stepped in.
“She says, ‘I don’t take orders from a scrub.’”
“What—! You don’t understand, do you? ★Blink★ is hard in the first place! At first, everyone bumps into things like I did, and then you gradually get better—”
As Song Cheon-hye argued, Seo Ye-in tugged my sleeve and pointed forward.
“Demonstration.”
SHK,
A ★Blink★ that scored a perfect ten out of ten.
Seo Ye-in nodded with satisfaction.
“Expert.”
Then she faced Song Cheon-hye again.
“Scrub.”
“No—! That person is—! Wow, seriously...!”
She looked like she was going to burst from frustration, but there wasn’t much she could actually say.
Even if she argued, That person is an exception, it wouldn’t change the fact that she was a scrub.
Once I figured the initiative had fully swung our way, I added casually,
“I don’t think you need to oppose it that hard. We’re just sleeping close together. If people are close, isn’t that sothing that can happen?”
“I can’t understand it at all with my common sense.”
Then Park Nari, who’d been quietly listening, timidly joined in.
“Um...... I also sleep with Beomi and Chaemi...... together.......”
“Is... that so?”
“Yeah....... Because they’re companions.......”
“But that’s different—”
Song Cheon-hye trailed off.
If I had to guess, she was about to say, But that’s different. They’re animals.
Then she probably realized how insanely rude that would be to say to a druid.
Park Nari looked shy and kind on the outside, but who knew what she was like inside?
A careless slip could earn you real resentnt.
Like how Song Cheon-hye had already ruined her first impression with Beomi over a tiny static shock.
So Song Cheon-hye tried to patch things up before it got worse.
“Maybe...... my thinking...... was too narrow-minded...... I guess.......”
But it didn’t look like she truly accepted it. She kept glancing between us, lips twitching.
She’d already blurted it out, so she couldn’t advance or retreat.
In the end, Song Cheon-hye spun around.
“......Ah, whatever. Do whatever you want.”
And she fled into the lodging like she was running away.
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