Chapter 351
Chapter 351
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 351
Chapter Title: King of the Cat Kingdom
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This wasn't a wish.
I just said it would be nice if something like that happened.
To begin with, the [King of the Cat Kingdom] doesn't grant wishes from mere humans, and non-cats have no right to become his kin.
'Well, if I had to put it in words...'
This was like a deal similar to selling cursed items at the Golden Pavilion.
The problem was that unlike the [King of All Gold], who had a structured, quantified transaction system, the [King of the Cat Kingdom] was utterly capricious and had no interest in deals whatsoever.
'It's just the game lore saying that—there are still rules.'
Either way, this was an event provided as an achievement reward.
If you caught his attention, the system would randomly grant 0 to 2 of the requests presented by the player.
Ah, of course, since it was a transaction, you had to pay separately.
"I'll show you."
I drew the Sain Cham Jeong Sword from my waist.
-Grrrrrr...
With a beastly growl, the Sain Cham Jeong Sword transformed into a completely different form from usual.
A massive silhouette like a piece torn from the night sky.
Countless twinkling starlights embedded within it.
A beast so abstract and beautiful that the word "tiger" alone couldn't fully capture it.
It was one sword, yet also the soul of a tiger—the Sain Cham Jeong Sword.
The [King of the Cat Kingdom] expressed admiration for its proud form with thousands of mouths.
『Gyaak.』
-Grrrrrr...
『Your brother recognizes you. A fight will begin soon.』
This wasn't directed at me. It was probably for the Sain Cham Jeong Sword.
-Grrrrrr...
『You've been well-treated, it seems. Since I've petted you, you'll grow stronger.』
-Grrrrrr...
It was the king's blessing. The Sain Cham Jeong Sword crouched low in reverence.
Sssslither—ssssslither—
The bizarre things hidden in the darkness crept closer toward us.
"Ugh... Uuugh..."
A groan escaped Jang Hyun-deok's gritted teeth, as if his breath might stop at any moment.
Jang Hyun-deok must have realized the [King of the Cat Kingdom]'s true nature.
Thousands of cats?
That wasn't accurate.
Like branches extending from a single tree trunk, it was one cat with thousands of heads. That was his form.
Thousands of heads opened thousands of mouths, gazing at us with thousands of eyes gleaming like a galaxy.
* * *
If you act for the sake of my kin, one of your ramblings will come true.
I am ignorant and do not know what action would be good.
Tear down your house, pile up 4,000 nyang of gold, and build a massive cat statue. Then marry the mate I have chosen for you and bear four sons and four daughters. Thereafter, your descendants shall serve cats for eight generations.
* * *
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
One nyang is 3.75 kg.
4,000 nyang is 15,000 kg.
Gold at about 90 million won per kg...
Just the gold alone is 1.35 trillion won.
No, I could somehow scrape together the gold and money—but tear down my starving mansion? What? Marry who and do what with my descendants?
I can't accept this.
I stroked the majestic back of the Sain Cham Jeong Sword and said,
* * *
That's too much.
Then we're done here. Begone.
For the sake of the tiger with you, please make another offer.
Mobilize eight hundred thousand humans, put cat masks on all of them, compose eighty-one new songs praising cats, and sing them day and night for three days and nights. Declare that day Cat Day, and ensure all cats in the nation eat and drink their fill.
* * *
I'm gonna lose it. For real.
If it were a human or something similar, I'd think they were just messing around because they didn't want to deal.
But the [King of the Cat Kingdom] wasn't joking.
Beings of this level just made demands like this by nature.
They had a perspective so vastly different from humans' that they didn't know what humans could or couldn't do.
'The fact that he's using words I can understand means he's tailoring it somewhat to humans...'
Tell an ant you'll give it a handful of sugar if it brings you five hundred won.
The ant wouldn't even know what five hundred won is, let alone be able to lift it.
'Of course, there are humans who somehow fulfill even these kinds of demands.'
Those are called madmen—or cultists.
* * *
That's too much.
Begone. Annoy me more, and your life ends here.
Don't a hundred of your kin vouch for my identity? For their sake, please make another offer.
Infuse my power into a mask imbued with the might of an abyssal being. You must wear that mask when fighting him. And accept a hundred of my kin into your domain. You must care for them so they never go cold, hot, or hungry.
I accept.
One of your wishes has been granted.
Thank you.
I'm hungry. Leave the one who came with you.
I can't do that.
Then leave a leg.
I'll leave my left hand.
Good.
* * *
Knew it would be like this.
I had to end it before he changed his whim again.
So as soon as the words fell, I sliced off my left hand with my flesh sword and placed it on the ground.
"Huh? Wizard?"
Jang Hyun-deok was startled by the sight of a left hand that hadn't been there suddenly being severed, but before this idiot could spout nonsense, I hurriedly said,
"Thank you for your interest. We'll be going now. Hyun-deok—from now on we're going home but you absolutely must not look back if you do you'll turn into a cat and be trapped here forever."
Knowing he wouldn't listen to words alone, I extended my mana to bind his entire body and hastily retreated.
An endlessly gloomy forest.
An immense number of cats watching us from all sides.
Crunch—munch munch—
A horrific sound from behind.
A colossal being devouring my left hand.
And a low, terrifying whisper.
『You've tricked me. But you offered your left hand. Your left hand will never regrow.』
* * *
[System : You have received a curse from 'Ancient God – King of the Cat Kingdom.' The penalty trait 'Left Hand Regeneration Impossible' has been applied.]
"That hand from earlier—what was that?"
As soon as we escaped the grove, Jang Hyun-deok asked me.
"A fake made of magic stone."
"Is it okay to do something like that? That giant cat king said something scary at the end..."
A sigh.
"Severed hands don't regrow anyway."
"I thought you'd magic it back someday—poof!"
I had been looking for a way, but now it was hopeless.
Once cursed by a god, I couldn't heal my left hand through regeneration or restoration.
"No choice. 'Won't regrow' means I can still attach one, so it's fine."
I said it casually to calm Jang Hyun-deok's excessive panic, but...
Honestly, it was a bit disappointing.
He might whimsically lift the curse later, or if not... tch. Maybe talk to the King of All Gold?
For now, I'd just find a replacement.
Just as the conversation seemed to wrap up, a new message appeared.
[Achievement Unlocked! You have transacted with the 'King of the Cat Kingdom.'
You have obtained the 'High Achievement: Cat Merchant.'
As an achievement reward, one of your possessed masks mutates into the 'Mask of Nine Lives' and you gain bonus experience.]
"Ah, right—he said he'd infuse power into one of the masks."
The mask the [King of the Cat Kingdom] mentioned was...
No way! It was Nile!
"Oh dear. Nile! What happened!? It's fine. Kim Shin-hwa. This is nothing."
"Wizard?"
Nile had originally been the crocodile mask infused with the power of [Scaled Schemer].
Its precise name was [Mask of the Desert (Modified)].
During the fusion of two into one, its eyes became four.
My right hand trembled as it held Nile.
"If I'd known it'd turn into this... Damn it... Hey, Kim Shin-hwa. Even like this, I'm still your friend Nile."
"Wizard? What are you doing? Role-playing?"
Nile's appearance had changed.
A pitch-black metallic body utterly alien.
Four glowing green eyes. A bizarre rune etched on its forehead.
And, uh...
"Cat ears?"
Wear this to fight?
[Mask of Nine Lives (L-Grade Accessory) - A mask created by infusing an ancient god's power into one imbued with abyssal might. Powers of desert and cat reside within simultaneously.
Reptile Slayer – Converts the abyssal influence in Target 1's body to ancient god influence (once only). However, to activate, the bond between target and abyssal being must be severed.
Nine Lives – Automatically casts 'Limited Resurrection' when owner suffers fatal damage (up to 9 times).
Cat's Charm – Charm +2 against abyssal beings, otherworldly beings, surreal beings.
Cat's Friend – Charm +10 against all felines.
Schrödinger – Minimizes owner's presence to the extreme. Duration is...]
No need to read all these abilities.
"He granted the wish to restore Hyun-ah."
[! Time Limit: Jeong Hyun-ah will cease to exist in this world in (1) day. !]
One day left.
I'd gotten everything I could, so now it was time to move.
"Let's go, Hyun-deok."
"Huh, where to?"
"Home first. We'll prep diligently from now on, eat a hearty breakfast tomorrow morning, and head straight to Cheong-ho's place."
And this time, I wouldn't go alone.
I'd show them everything I could muster.
"Got it!"
"Good. But how'd you get here? Taxi?"
"Ah! Let's go that way. I prepared a car!"
"A car?"
"Yeah!"
"What kind?"
"Oh, remember I mentioned? That—Type 21 magic stone engine one?"
What was this now?
"You don't mean—that 500 million one?"
"Yeah!"
"The one with 190 million in annual interest?"
"Aigoo, yes! That's it. Great terms, right?"
Ugh, gonna lose it.
I felt suffocated.
I clutched my throbbing head and shook my head.
"For now... yeah, home first. We'll solve this incident, then deal with that."
"Yahoo! Let's roll!"
"Yahoo?"
"Huh?"
"You're laughing?"
"Yes?"
* * *
The next day.
The same place as three days ago.
"Second try, huh?"
In game terms, it was retrying a failed mission, but today was different in several ways from last time.
For one, the map layout was different.
A vast desert sprawling even wider than before.
"Damn, no wonder the pyramid didn't show up."
Just as Jang Hyun-deok said.
A massive pyramid rising in the desert's center.
Arid abyssal mana emanating from all directions.
The desert wasn't just for atmosphere. It was an environment crafted for the abyssal being to maximize its power.
"I can feel the spicy terrain effects. You've prepped your side too, huh?"
I'd prepped mine as well.
My phone rang. Caller: Blood Marquess, leader of the [Blood Demon Sect].
I donned the [Mask of Nine Lives] with its cat ears and answered.
-My Sovereign, deployment is complete.
"Understood. Activate on my signal."
First preparation complete.
Next—
I dumped a mountain of magic stones and said,
"Good. Eat up, baby."
Crunch crunch—crunch crunch—munch munch—
'Aga' devouring the high-purity magic stones.
I said I wouldn't come alone, right?
I planted a brief kiss on the nearest of the gleaming white tentacles and shared a massive surge of mana.
Churrrrrr—churrrrrr—
Dozens of mouths on the [Child of Darkness]'s body chorused eerie voices.
"Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—" "Excited—"
Plan?
Eh, betrayal, treachery, deception, concealment—
Sick of it all.
I'd mobilized every resource I had and decided to brute-force it.
"Alright. Let's go hard. Doldola! Bring out the belly!"
Grrrroooowl!
The Dragon King's belly, stolen from Dagon, emerged.
As soon as the eye-catching massive object appeared, the desert sands began to churn.
Shhhrrrrr!
[System : The effect of penalty trait 'Feast's Offering' activates.]
Shhhrrrrr!!
Giant crocodiles and scorpions surging from beneath the sand.
It was late summer, heat still lingering—why a desert now?
Didn't this game have summer events? Oh, Gwangalli... I wrecked Songjeong Beach. Was that the summer special?
"Ah, whatever! Hey, everyone got swimsuits ready? See that nice beach over there?"
Kkiririririk!!
Spirit golems climbing aboard en masse.
And the massive tentacle monster—no, [Child of Darkness]—began dragging the ship forward.
Grooooom—
The ship cut through the desert sands, advancing.
"Alright! To the beach!"