171. The Festival Must Go On (4)
171. The Festival Must Go On (4)
Huff— Huff—
Sofia wiped her lips with her hand and let out ragged breaths.
The arm that had been drawing the bowstring trembled as if seized by spasms, and sweat poured from her entire body like rain.
On her shoulders, salt crystals from seawater evaporated by the sun gleamed stark white.
'...Wh-when does this end? No, is it ever gonna end?'
As the last to join the Utopia Party, her stamina lagged behind.
No matter how much raw talent had closed the gap between her and the other party members, there remained a disparity she still couldn't bridge at the foundational level.
That said, the Utopia Party members' expressions weren't exactly bright either.
They too had lost all expression after the prolonged battle.
Now, about three hours had passed since they began holding back the monster wave.
Along the beach, thousands of Blue Crab corpses lay piled in grotesque forms.
The accumulated noise and vibrations from the speakers had weakened the Blue Crabs—originally A-Rank Monsters—to the point where they could barely control their own bodies.
Accordingly, the Utopia Party members now looked almost like veteran workers at a snow crab processing plant, dismantling their catch.
Sreak— sreak—!
"Another one!"
Jin Yu-ha, his face alone lit up with excitement, sliced off every one of a Blue Crab's legs with just two strokes of his sword.
"Grrrrr— Kraa!!"
Lee Yu-ri used her shield as a lever, flipping the Blue Crab's body belly-up.
"Tch!"
Crrrunch—!
Then Kang Do-hee pried open the belly shell slightly with her hands.
"Huff, huff— Hup!"
Thwip! Thwip!
Sofia fired arrows through the gap, pinpointing the Blue Crab's weak spot—its gills.
"Kiiiiieeeek..."
With that, the Blue Crab let out a feeble groan and died on the spot.
Whirr— whirr—
Im Ga-eul, who had been standing by with her Mana Threads ready, wound them around the Blue Crab's legs and body, then dragged the carcass along the beach.
"Hrrgh!! Hup! H-heavy!!!"
Like that, as if puzzle pieces were snapping into place, every party member shared the roles and cooperated.
The only peculiar thing was that everyone except Jin Yu-ha had dead, lifeless eyes.
And even the Blue Crabs themselves.
"Next!!!"
Jin Yu-ha shouted.
The Blue Crab flinched as if it understood his words and tried to turn and flee.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
The clang of Lee Yu-ri's shield halted it in its tracks once more.
"...Kiiieee..."
Having no choice but to turn its attention back to Lee Yu-ri, the Blue Crab let out a mournful cry.
The four crimson eyes dotting its back glistened pitifully.
Staring straight at the creature, Jin Yu-ha spoke to the drone hovering in the air, his voice sulky.
"Hey, I think the cheering's died down a little, hasn't it? Looks like the monster just glanced over that way?"
— Huh? Th-the way we see it, you're doing just f-fine right now...
"No, we're not asking as a favor for ourselves, are we? You've gotta keep shouting. It's for your own safety, you know?"
— ...
"Whoa, one's about to head that way! Hurry! Just one more push, give it your all!"
— We heard that 'one more' line earlier too...
A sight just like a gym trainer demanding, "Just one more rep!"—except he was demanding more cheering.
Sofia rolled her eyes as she watched.
'A demon... He's a demon...'
With no other choice, the audience reluctantly burst into cheers.
— Waaaaaaaah!!!! Utopia! Utopia!!!
Oblivious to what everyone was thinking, Jin Yu-ha cluelessly addressed his party members.
"See, having everyone cheer us on gives us energy, right!? Come on, everyone, just a little more!"
A hollow expression on her face, Sofia twitched one corner of her mouth upward as if in a spasm and let out a dry laugh.
'This is hell... Snow crab hell...'
* * *
Two more hours passed.
By now, even the blazing sun had faded, and the beach had become a pitch-dark nighttime sea.
— K-kill me...
— Urrrggh... M-my throat is completely shot...
— Gaaaaaack...
The people who had been cheering nonstop at Jin Yu-ha's request had reached their limit; their voices cracked and split, now sounding like the cries of the Blue Crabs themselves.
And the Utopia Party members could no longer hide their exhaustion either.
Even Kang Do-hee, who had been the most energetic of them all.
Jin Yu-ha watched them with a displeased face, his eyebrows twitching.
'They're tired already?'
The Swimsuit Festival's monster wave had originally been a fairly popular minigame in Velvetsra.
A minigame where six-member parties competed to see who could catch the most Blue Crabs!
The byproducts from the Blue Crabs they caught earned a fair amount of money, but the bonus prizes for placing well weren't bad either, so it was content that everyone tried at least once.
'Hmph. So this is as far as they go, huh...? Still, I wanted to hit ten thousand if we could...'
The number of Blue Crabs the Utopia Party had caught so far was roughly 9,000.
'Damn. Back in my day, we weren't like this! These kids have no grit!'
Jin Yu-ha clicked his tongue, remembering his own record from the original game.
The plan had been perfect.
With louder cheering than in the original game and Lee Yu-ri's area-wide monster Taunt on the team, he'd thought—just maybe.
But in the end, they'd failed to come anywhere close to the record he'd set back when it was just a game: 12,000. A paltry record.
Jin Yu-ha, who'd been inwardly fuming at not catching more Blue Crabs, suddenly put on an expression of realization.
'Wait, maybe I could just see this as 'not bad'...?'
After all, in the current Velvetsra—where the game had become reality—there was no Gacha, and no growth materials to build up party members.
Which meant the Utopia Party members had reached this level from a base state through training alone.
With people like that, even if they didn't hit ten thousand, pulling a number this close might be a "not bad" achievement in itself.
Sigh—
But the disappointed sigh leaked out anyway.
"Still disappointing though... Couldn't even hit ten thousand..."
Only, there was something Jin Yu-ha was mistaken about.
First of all, in the Swimsuit Festival's Blue Crab Monster Wave, the "ten thousand" benchmark was a unit used even in Velvetsra to distinguish Veterans from the rest.
And the current Utopia Party didn't even have a "Special" role—the position specialized in mass slaughter of weaker enemies!
In other words, Utopia wasn't even a full six-member party but a mere five—and yet they'd already approached the level of Veterans who'd stuffed themselves with in-game resources.
But Jin Yu-ha, long accustomed to squeezing every last drop and setting records well beyond perfection back in the game days, simply couldn't think in terms of what lay below.
"Actually, it's a good thing. Now I've got a rough sense of how weak the party members really are... I'm gonna have to work them even harder from now on. Otherwise, there'll be a lot of genuinely dangerous stuff ahead."
Muttering a monologue that would've horrified any other Player, Jin Yu-ha turned to his party members and clapped his hands.
"Alright everyone, let's call it here!"
And he looked up at the drone.
— Eeep—! J-Jin Yu-ha's looking this way again!
— H-he's cute but terrifying!!
— I-I'll shout! I w-won't rest! Waaaaah!!
By now, the audience who'd been relentlessly hounded by Jin Yu-ha reflexively burst into screams.
"Ah, it's all over now. Looks like the monsters won't be approaching anymore."
Jin Yu-ha grinned brightly and spoke in a breezy voice.
— L-lies! You're gonna say 'last one' again after this!
"Nooo, I'm serious. Look. The monsters can't even get close at all anymore, see?"
At that, every party member stared at Jin Yu-ha with dumbfounded expressions.
'They've been like that for a while now... They were trying to run, but you kept them from running away...'
But no one voiced those words aloud. They just swallowed the simmering anger churning inside.
— F-for real!? We're safe now!?
"Yes, you're all safe now! So, truly, for the absolute last time—I won't ask again!—please give us a huge cheer!"
With Jin Yu-ha's declaration that the strategy phase had ended.
— Waaaaaaaah—!! It's overrrr!!!! It's really overrrrr!!!
The people squeezed out every last ounce of strength and roared in celebration.
Splaaaaash—!!!!
At that, the remaining Blue Crabs glanced warily at Lee Yu-ri, and when she didn't strike her shield, they turned and fled frantically into the sea.
Im Ga-eul stared blankly at the fleeing Blue Crabs.
"Ha... I-it's over. H-hoobae! It's really all over now, right!? For real!!?"
She said this while flopping onto her back.
"Yeah, it's really over now, sunbae. Even if we wanted to keep going, they've all run off, haven't they?"
When Jin Yu-ha nodded and confirmed it once more.
Im Ga-eul and everyone else collapsed to the ground, thud after thud, and let out long sighs.
"...I-it's over..."
"I don't think I'll ever come back to the sea again."
"I am so goddamn sick of crabs!!"
"Sigh, my first time at the beach..."
But then a voice doused them like cold water, pouring on the salt.
"Oh my, you're all done now? Hehe, you've all worked very hard."
The party members, still collapsed on the ground, rolled their eyes toward Shin Se-hee and bit down hard on their lips.
A body that wasn't wet at all—dry and fresh. A face glossy and radiant, as if she'd been eating and resting well. She even had a silk shawl draped over her swimsuit.
"I appreciate all your hard work, but there's one last thing to do."
"...Something to do? Hoobae, we're seriously, really beat..."
"Hmm, but it's something only you all can do, you know?"
"What is it, Flowerbed."
Shin Se-hee smirked and looked around at the crab carcasses strewn haphazardly behind them.
"You all need to move these now."
"What!? Wh-where to!"
"I've arranged refrigerated trucks from all over the country."
"...You could've just hired byproduct dealers! Why!"
"Ah, because this isn't byproduct—it's food. Rather expensive food at that... Isn't that right, Jin Yu-ha?"
"...Uh, yeah."
"So, shouldn't we load it up quickly before the freshness drops? All of this is your money, you know?"
At Shin Se-hee's bright, clear smile, the party members glared at her as if they wanted to kill her.