Poppi's First Chicken

Related videos had already gone up on NuTube.

The comment section had exploded. A few were even posts from fans begging him to please, please join a guild and go on a proper winning streak.

With that thoroughly bureaucratic closing line, Baek Kang-hyun brought the press conference to an end. From beginning to last, not a single word about Poppi, and nothing about the boss's corpse either. The reporters had pressed, of course — but Baek Kang-hyun had offered only, "The body was dissolved. The loot has been stored in inventory."

"'Dissolved,' huh. That actually tracks."

All anyone would need to do is spin it as, well, boss monsters are a different breed, aren't they?

"H-h-how insolent, Boss! I would never dissolve! For all eternity, I shall remain your loyal junior—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Hey, you hungry?"

Situation debriefing could wait. The moment he'd gotten home, all of this had been one absurd thing after another. Food first.

Thanks to parents who ran a fried chicken place, Ji-hoon had grown up eating chicken by the bucketful. Which meant there was probably leftover stock from yesterday still sitting in the fridge and—

"There it is."

He'd been hoping they'd sold out. Apparently, some things hadn't changed in ten years.

"Poppi, try this."

Poppi prodded the chicken box lightly with a forepaw.

"What is this? This… strange, grease-scented lump."

"It's called chicken."

"…Is this the legendary chicken? The one you always said you'd give anything to eat at Hell Farm, calling it 'the finest food in all existence,' Boss?"

"That's the one. So taste it already."

Unable to resist the pleading look in Ji-hoon's eyes, Poppi gingerly pecked at a piece with his beak.

Crunch!

Poppi's eyes flared wide. The little griffin beak moved in a frantic blur, and the chicken piece vanished down his throat in an instant.

"I have never tasted anything like this in my life!! The savory richness of beast meat and this glorious crispness! Boss, more! Give me more!"

Poppi descended on the chicken in a frenzy. Within moments the box was empty, his beak glistening with grease. Ji-hoon pulled off a napkin, wiped the beak clean for him, and laughed.

"Thank goodness. So you like this stuff too."

But his relief was short-lived.

"Is there no more? This will not fill me."

Shrunken or not, he was still a colossal S-Rank dungeon boss. One chicken was never going to cut it.

"More? There isn't any more."

"A shame. I feel I could eat five more boxes of this…."

Five more. At today's prices, what did six whole chickens even cost?

Nothing for it. First thing's first — earn like crazy and get the food budget sorted out.

Extending a hand to his parents was out of the question, and the government support payment coming in soon would barely manage to wet the beast's appetite.

Pecking up the last crumbs of fried batter, Poppi declared grandly:

"Or I shall forage for myself! Simply tell me where carcasses may be found!"

"Like hell you will."

At Ji-hoon's flat refusal, Poppi sulked and drooped his beak.

"You went to the Management Bureau and you still can't get it through your head, huh?"

"Forgive me, Boss…."

"The rules of Hell Farm don't apply here. And one wrong move and you'll genuinely be dissolved, permanently. Are you out of your mind? Do you want to die that badly?"

At his barking, Poppi buried his face, hoisted his body straight up into a handstand, and — WHAM! — drove his beak into the floor.

"Forgive me, Boss!"

"Argh, quit the griffin prostrations already!"

He was going to put a hole clean through the floor!

Looks like he'd have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to ask Branch Chief Baek Kang-hyun to get him some kind of place. A jeonse, a monthly rental, anything would do.

Just then, as if on cue, the Management Bureau called.

"Hello, Hunter Lee Ji-hoon?"

"Yes, this is Lee Ji-hoon."

"This is Kang I-na with the Management Bureau. The Branch Chief asked me to look after you personally, you see! I'm calling to walk you through your compensation!"

This was starting to sound suspiciously like a voice-phishing scam. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Kang I-na chimed brightly:

"All done! You're registered! Oh, and this is just pure curiosity on my part, but—"

"C-curiosity?"

"Yes! Are you, by any chance… some kind of national intelligence operative?"

"…I'm sorry, what?"

It was the only explanation. No ordinary person moved around this covertly. She was a huge spy-movie buff, and honestly, the thrill of it all was delicious. If only this happened, and then that happened, and—

Ji-hoon stood there holding the silent phone for five full minutes.

"I'm going to hang up now."

"Ah — just one moment, Hunter! You simply MUST tell me your adventures later! You must tell—"

Click.

Haah.

"What manner of woman is that, Boss? Shall I dunk her? Thoroughly?"

"No… please, just be quiet…."

"Understood…."

At least this meant he didn't have to scrape by for now. Double a standard civil servant's salary — call it five million won a month, give or take? He flopped backward onto the sofa, savoring the sweet dream.

"…Poppi."

"Yes, Boss."

"You've got feathers, you know."

The Griffin King tilted his head.

"Feathers?"

"Yeah."

"I have never once plucked my feathers for you, Boss."

"No — I got them as a Gate clearance reward. Look at this."

The moment Poppi laid eyes on the reward feather, his eyes went round as saucers.

"That is indeed my feather — the most bedraggled of the lot, but mine nonetheless. Why on earth would that come out of a reward?"

"That's exactly what I'm here to check."

Ji-hoon picked up the smartphone he'd tossed beside the bed. A red, garishly dated icon. Time to actually put this "Hell Market" to use.

The moment he pressed the red icon, an eerie notification popped up.

"So it really was Abel's account after all."

At the top of the screen floated Abel's profile image, beneath the username ElegantUltramarineWisp. A supreme Demon King, and his secondhand-market handle looked like it had been spat out by a game's random-name generator.

Clicking his tongue, Ji-hoon selected one of the items in his inventory.

"Would this even sell, though?"

Who on earth would buy griffin feathers? Crafting materials for weapons, maybe?

"Hmm, what price should I set…"

Having no idea what Hell's currency, the Dephor, was actually worth, Ji-hoon just typed in a round number: 500 apiece. Twenty feathers — 10,000 Dephor total.

Not even a second after the listing went live, the chat alerts went berserk.

"Wh-what the—?"

Startled, Ji-hoon pulled up the chat log.

"What is going on?"

"What is wrong with these cretins? Why do they covet my feathers so desperately?"

"No idea. I guess your feathers are worth something."

"My feathers? I've never sensed anything of the sort."

Ji-hoon was about to reply to TrustTheTrade, who'd contacted him first, when—

Wait.

"…Hold on."

He hurriedly deleted what he'd already typed and posted a new message instead.

Right on cue, a reply arrived in 0.1 seconds flat.

And then Ji-hoon messaged DemonRealmCollector.

Next, AnonymousImp.

Oho. Now this had potential.

He had no clue what a Dephor was worth, but more was always better, wasn't it? The only problem was that he didn't know the value, so… what now?

What do I do? Easy. Use what the devils taught me.

As Ji-hoon pondered, the chat alerts kept rolling in.

Bidding war, started on the spot. The oldest and easiest trick in the book — the one devils used most, and best.

The three blazing buyers haggled and wrestled for a good long while until TrustTheTrade finally emerged victorious. A full ten times the original asking price — 100,000 Dephor!

Wondering what to do next, Ji-hoon pressed the [Confirm Transaction] button on screen. At the same instant, the bundle of feathers in his hand vanished in a puff of smoke — poof! A moment later, a cheerful notification chimed.

"Oh. It actually works."

Real money, from selling a handful of feathers. He'd have to figure out a way to spend it in this world, but for now, a weight had lifted off his chest. Better still, the creature sitting right beside him could supply those feathers in effectively unlimited quantities (...).

At 5,000 Dephor a feather, that was no small sum, either.

I should browse regularly and learn the market prices. That way I won't get played for a sucker like today.

Resolved, Ji-hoon began skimming through other sellers' listings.

"Let's see what they've got here."

"I am curious as well."

Poppi craned his head over.

True to its monster-neighborhood roots, the Market was crammed wall to wall with the most outlandish goods imaginable. For Ji-hoon, who in all his years at Hell Farm had known nothing but the regularly supplied feed and herbs, it was a whole new world.

Most of this is monster-exclusive. The kids will need this.

Ji-hoon started filling his shopping cart. He'd been quietly worried his pampered babies might fail to adapt to Earth's environment, after all. His farmer's instincts awakened, and his shopping speed went into overdrive. In the end, he bought:

"Phew. That should about do it."

He'd clicked things into the cart without noticing, and 5,000 Dephor had slipped away just like that. Ji-hoon stared at his remaining balance, deliberated, then closed the app.

"I'll hold onto the rest. Just in case."

Hell was, in the end, still a place where people — no, where devils and monsters — lived and spent.

Ji-hoon was coming to realize that this 'Secret Ledger' Abel had given him was a survival tool far more useful than he'd expected.

"Poppi. You were a genuinely valuable asset all along, weren't you?"

"Thank you, Boss! For you, I would gladly smash my bones to powder at any moment!"

"Oh ho, is that a fact."

Ji-hoon stood directly in front of Poppi.

"B-Boss?"

"Poppi."

"…Gulp."

"I'm going to pluck some of your feathers."

He had no idea what a Dephor was actually worth. But the high-concentration recovery potion cost 1,000 Dephor. Right now, top-tier potions traded among Hunters for ten million won apiece. If those high-concentration potions were even equal to a top-tier potion, that meant he'd earned a billion won today.

"You understand, right?"

"N-no, Boss, you can't! If these feathers are to properly regener— AAAAAH!"

Pluck! Pluck!

Arms full of Poppi's feathers, Ji-hoon smiled in deep satisfaction.