Moon's Fall: Mod Complete

Become a cute girl [Applying Cute Girl Mod to target.][Applying (0%)... Please wait a moment.]

The sudden system message made me blink. Wait, the Cute Girl Mod was applying...? I hadn't even thrown a "Cute Girl Punch" this time... What the hell?

"Could it be that just making contact with a monster triggers the Cute Girl Mod...?"

Come to think of it, it did feel unnatural that girlification only happened after a punch. That meant contact alone was enough to start the process all along. Which implied I'd been wasting time punching monsters into girls when I didn't need to...

...Hmm, gotta be careful with this. I can control punches, but contact can happen accidentally. There's a big difference between intentionally girlifying a monster and it happening by mistake.

...In that sense, my current situation was a huge problem.

"What do I do now...?"

I glared at the Moon's Fall in my hand. The lightless Moon's Fall. It was basically just a yellow ping-pong ball now. Though the texture felt more like touching an egg than a ping-pong ball.

...I have to return this to the Foundation. If it gets girlified, I can't hand it over, and it'll expose my power to them.

......Seriously, what now.

"But why's it stuck at 0%?"

The percentage wasn't budging. This was a first. Did it really require a punch for the mod to work properly...?

Too many things were happening at once; I had no idea what to do first. One step at a time. First, get out of the lake.

"Ugh, it's deep..."

The lake was deeper than expected; just surfacing was a struggle. With my zero athleticism, no less. But I managed to climb out somehow.

Looking up at the sky, the moon greeted me. A moon in the sky meant the anomaly was over. And there was the hairtail—er, Ryu Harin—collapsed on the ground. She seemed unconscious. Fortunately, all traces of her monstrous transformation were gone; she was back to normal.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, as long as she's alive..."

Even rolling in dog shit is better than the afterlife. I finally got why multi-run players called Ryu Harin a hairtail. I knew she'd get hit by the monster, but not like this. With a head that hot-tempered..., I wondered if she'd be okay going forward.

Static—

As I worried about Ryu Harin, a loud noise burst out. It came from her waist—a walkie-talkie.

Park Jong-cheol's voice. After a brief hesitation, I pulled the walkie-talkie from Ryu Harin's waist.

"Um... this is Mayuri, director of Ririri Detective Agency... I, uh, recovered the entity."

"Yes... The anomaly ended... Ryu Harin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠underwent mutation but reverted to normal. She's unconscious now."

"My clothes are soaked, so I'm freezing. A towel would be great if you have one..."

That was my report to Deputy Park Jong-cheol. Cleanup should be handled now. Only one thing left to worry about.

I checked the system message again.

A good amount of time had passed, but it was still at 0%. I'd seen it crawl up slowly before, but never flatline like this...

I had one guess. I checked my compendium.

"Whoa, stuff's pouring in..."

As I muttered, a coin appeared in my hand. It didn't look like Korean currency or anything from another country. If anything, it resembled a casino chip.

I'd never seen this item before. Did casino coins even appear in a monster game? I wasn't sure, but since it was a compendium reward, I pocketed it for now. I'd figure out its use later.

First, check Moon's Fall.

"Completely subdued...? Under containment...?"

Unlike Work Negligence Prohibition, which was also "Controlled," the description was totally different. Hard to make sense of it. But one phrase stood out: "lost all aggression."

Among monsters in the game, Moon's Fall had one unique trait—it sometimes lost its monstrous properties entirely.

Exact conditions unknown, but seems it can lose Muksi Saengmyeongche properties sometimes.

Just like that post from my past life's community site—had Moon's Fall lost its monstrous traits and become a plain ping-pong ball? If so, that explained why the mod was stuck at 0%...

It felt a bit iffy, but.

I tested by tossing it into the lake's shallows—no anomaly restarted. As expected, Moon's Fall had lost its traits, and the mod stayed at 0%.

No problem then.

Or so I thought.

Deputy Park Jong-cheol was in a good mood.

'A more capable fixer than expected.'

The cult's terror had released Foundation-contained entities, and those damn cultists deliberately triggered the Moon's Fall anomaly. Sponsors funding the Foundation were furious. "How do you even manage if entities escape?"

We ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had to recover Moon's Fall, but it wasn't easy. Seeing it visually caused mutation. No photos, cameras, or machines worked for retrieval either. Stalemate.

"Deputy, after re-containing the entity, please move to the next site."

...They really know how to grind people down.

Besides Moon's Fall, other entities were still loose. Cult bastards... I wanted to rip them apart.

...Should I contact that fixer again next time?

She looked too young; sending her into the field gave me guilt pangs. Like deploying a child soldier... She was around my daughter's age appearance-wise, but a 00-born adult. Skilled despite ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looks, so I'd call if needed.

Park Jong-cheol opened the bag.

Empty.

He blinked.

"...What? Where is it?"

He glanced around—no Moon's Fall.

He grabbed a staffer.

"You saw it, right? I put the entity in the bag."

"Yes, but..."

"Did I drop it?"

"Doesn't seem so..., but there are staff handling victims on-site. I'll order a search."

Park nodded. Ryu Harin and other mutation victims had reverted post-anomaly. All unconscious, so rescue ops continued.

Now they had extra work too. Park included.

"I definitely put it in..."

Replayed memory: Handed by Mayuri, into special bag. Double-checked procedures.

Haa.

'...Probably disintegrated.'

Didn't know why, but that's how it'd look. Had to be. Otherwise, he'd never leave the company. Job reasons.

"Might as well draft the report..."

Muksi Saengmyeongche Disintegration.

He typed those seven characters into the document program.

"Welcome back?"

Lisa greeted me, but exhaustion let me only nod.

...Felt like a dad returning from work.

"Drew a bath. Gonna wash up?"

"You drew water?"

"Yes. Felt you getting closer."

Right—girlified girls could sense my location. Explains the timing for meals and baths. Convenient.

Thinking that, I emptied my pockets to undress: phone, wallet, ping-pong ball, Park's business card, compendium coin.

......Ping-pong ball?

"Why is this here?"

I'd given it to Park, right? As I blinked, the corner message changed.