Chapter 15
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Manager Sol-chan Arrives
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‘I wonder what kind of friend this summoned creature will be?’
Mimi was a rabbit, so maybe this one’s a deer.
Or since his name is Sol-chan, maybe a pine tree spirit…!
Moon Chae-ryeon waited with her heart pounding.
What appeared before her was a tall young man.
He had brown hair, green eyes, and a somewhat rigid demeanor.
“……Huh?”
A person?
Special Summoned Creature, ‘Manager Sol-chan’ recognizes user Moon Chae-ryeon as its master.
‘Manager Sol-chan’ is bound to user Moon Chae-ryeon.
Stunned by the unexpected arrival, Chae-ryeon blinked in surprise. The young man bowed politely to her.
“Pleased to meet you, Chae-ryeon. I am Sol-chan, the summoned creature who will serve as manager of your shop from now on.”
“But… you’re a person?”
Chae-ryeon pointed to Mimi, who had toddled up beside her.
“Aren’t you human?”
“No. Like Mimi, I am a special summoned creature with my own ego. Look here.”
“Huh?”
Sol-chan pointed above his head.
There, a pair of round animal ears twitched perkily.
‘Ears… so cute!’
“Since you’re the one I must serve as my master, I should reveal my true form to properly introduce myself.”
Sol-chan flipped in the air with a puff, and thick smoke billowed up once more.
“This is my true appearance!”
Emerging from the smoke was… a raccoon-dog.
The fluffy brown-furred raccoon-dog wore glasses just like in his human form, with green eyes.
“You’re too cute.”
“Ahem, thank you for the compliment, but we should focus on the quest from the administrator right now.”
Sol-chan shifted back to human form and handed something to Chae-ryeon.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the ‘Chamber of Time and Mind,’ the reward for completing the first stage of the bonus quest.”
What Sol-chan handed her was a pocket watch. Strangely, both sides were clock faces, like the face of Janus.
Sol-chan explained.
“The ‘Chamber of Time and Mind’ can adjust the flow of time in a desired location. The front speeds up time in the designated place, while the back slows it down.”
The SS-Rank Dungeon where Shin Ha-rang was trapped had time flowing faster than in reality.
“Then I need to press the back button.”
“Yes. Press the back button and name the location, and time there will flow slower than here.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
Without hesitation, Chae-ryeon pulled up Shin Ha-rang’s status window, which she had sensed when using her skill earlier.
“Customer’s status window.”
Uploading status window for ‘Ranking 1 is Mine’.
Additional data uploaded due to Lv. 3 achievement.
Current Dungeon: ⟨Mirage Quest⟩
‘Perfect!’
Chae-ryeon pressed the back button on the pocket watch and shouted.
“SS-Rank Dungeon, ⟨Mirage Quest⟩!”
The item glowed brilliantly and activated.
One-time item, ‘Chamber of Time and Mind’ slows time at the selected location.
Tick… tock… tick…
Adjusting dungeon time to match the awakener who activated the item.
Maximum item duration: 5 minutes only.
Ding-
Mission Stage 1 (1/1) Complete
Having put out the urgent fire, Chae-ryeon let out a sigh of relief.
‘Now all that’s left is to make the ordered bento within the time limit!’
As she scooped the perfectly fried tempura from the oil with a strainer, Chae-ryeon asked Sol-chan.
“Sol-chan, what’s your major?”
Even with the sudden question, Sol-chan answered calmly without flinching.
“Accounting. I’m also confident in cleaning and security. Oh! And packaging too.”
He pushed up his glasses with an air of full confidence.
‘What is this, a jack-of-all-trades?’
Chae-ryeon liked this versatile manager.
“What about cooking?”
“Of course I can cook too. Though my skills are probably not as good as your current ‘Delicious Waitress Mimi.’”
At that, Mimi cleared her throat and puffed out her chest proudly.
Satisfied with the answer, Chae-ryeon clapped her hands.
“Perfect! Mimi!”
“You called, Mistress?”
“Help Sol-chan prepare the side dishes for the bento!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Mimi saluted sharply toward her mistress like a soldier, then grabbed Sol-chan’s pant leg and dashed to the kitchen.
“What are you doing, newbie! We don’t have time!”
“R-Right!”
Sol-chan hurriedly tied on an apron and headscarf as he followed the bouncing Mimi to the kitchen.
‘Mimi… so she only uses that archaic speech with me, her mistress!’
Realizing this new fact, Chae-ryeon instructed them.
“Sol-chan, handle the simpler stuff like salads and fruit! Mimi, you take the basics like stir-fried kimchi, radish strips, rolled omelets!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“As you command, Mistress!”
The two summoned creatures moved in perfect sync.
‘Great. Time for me to step it up too!’
ପ(੭◍ ´ᵕ`◍)੭ ❁˚๑₊· ͟͟͞͞➳➲
system: You got this! Fight! Fight! Ting!
system: Milky-white Moon Chae-ryeon! In-vin-ci-ble! Un-stop-pa-ble!
｡.ﾟ+:((ヾ(｡･ω･)ｼ)).:ﾟ+｡
“……What’s all this?”
Chae-ryeon’s cheeks flushed at the unprecedented cheers, but she couldn’t hide the slight upward curl of her lips.
Time Limit: 00:03:58
For a while, the kitchen echoed only with the quiet clatter of utensils.
Time Limit: 00:01:27
It was when the time limit was running critically low.
‘Oh! If he’s been starving that long, I need to add that too!’
Chae-ryeon, who had been neatly packing the mouthwatering dishes into the bento tiers, suddenly stood up and headed back to the counter.
“Huh? Mistress? What are you making?”
In her hand was a perfectly steamed sweet potato.
“It’s not part of the ‘King of Kings Bento’ menu, but I’m sure this customer needs it!”
Chae-ryeon smiled brightly.
“Kieeeek-!”
Boom. Crash.
Sounds like exploding bombs shook the ground repeatedly.
‘That thing’s completely lost it.’
“Kieeeek!!!”
The source was the SS-Rank Dungeon boss monster, a colossal sandworm chasing Shin Ha-rang to hunt him. It barreled forward, smashing rocks and stone walls regardless of whether its head took damage, looking utterly menacing.
“Huff. Pant.”
‘If it catches me, I’m dead meat.’
Shin Ha-rang’s blood ran cold as he barely dodged the monster’s maw and fled.
The beast knew it too. The tasty S-Rank Hunter prey was wearing down bit by bit.
“Kie! Kieeeek-!”
Frustrated that the slippery prey evaded like a rat, the sandworm opted for a frontal charge. A few scratches on its tough, pale pink skin were a small price for catching Ha-rang—a great deal.
True to his elite S-Rank attacker status, Ha-rang used his high strength, vitality, and agility stats to keep escaping somehow… but the longer it dragged on, the worse it got for him.
Grrroooowl.
‘…Even my stomach’s giving up.’
Hunger had turned into outright pain.
Ha-rang’s face flushed as he gritted his teeth and ran. Damn it, the sandworm’s keen hearing picked up even his stomach growls.
Even while sprinting, the extreme hunger hit hard. Beyond food, he hadn’t had water in ages thanks to the relentless pursuit.
His mental resolve to hold on was starting to crack.
‘Thirsty… starving…’
Exhaustion like he might collapse any second washed over him.
Filthy and ragged after days without washing, Ha-rang felt the urge to flop down and sob.
If he did, he’d just become a meal for the equally famished sandworm.
‘So tired… exhausted… I wanna go home…’
His trembling arms and legs were screaming their limits. A normal person would’ve collapsed from exhaustion or been eaten long ago.
Even as an S-Rank, he was still human. His body, battered from constant flight in the dungeon, begged for mercy.
The environment of ⟨Mirage Quest⟩ was a desert. Scorching sun like a griddle by day, bitter cold worse than ice at night.
Surviving this long without proper food or water was praiseworthy.
But what good was that? He’d die in here at this rate.