Naming the Dogs
Adapting to the Maze 035
It was time to name the dogs. They were finally developing distinct personalities, so proper names were necessary. Otherwise, I would find it extremely inconvenient.
“Yellow dog beastkin zombie. Come here.”
At my call, the creature came bounding over, tail wagging furiously.
“Jjuin called me!”
“Yeah, yeah. Calm down and sit for a moment. I’m going to give you a name now.”
“Name? Name!”
“That’s right. From now on, you’ll have a proper noun to be called by, so stay still. I need to pick out your defining traits.”
“Huk. I’ll stay still. Stay still…!”
The creature declared it would stay still while its tail whipped back and forth without mercy. Not even five seconds later, the corners of its mouth curled up and it broke into a bright, beaming smile.
“Good. From today onward, you’re Bangsil-i!”
The creature bounced around in delight.
“I’m Bangsil-i! I’m Bangsil-i!”
“Right, you’re Bangsil-i. Now go tell everyone that your name is Bangsil-i. Off you go.”
“I’m Bangsil-i! Jjuin said so!”
Bangsil-i dashed off toward the zombie horde. Off to brag, no doubt. I nodded, feeling rather pleased with my naming talent. As expected, I had a gift for this sort of thing.
‘Alright, next.’
I turned to the gray dog. The gray dog beastkin zombie flinched.
“You are…”
“I am…”
I maximized my observational skills and scrutinized the creature’s facial features. Half-lidded eyes, a straight nose, a small mole near the eye. Lips pressed together as if anxious.
‘This one… is prettier than I expected.’
“Good. You’re Nareun-i!”
“Nareun-i…!”
Nareun-i looked impressed. Probably. As expected, I had a gift for naming.
At that moment, Baengnae came running over, shouting that she had heard someone was giving out names. The moment the small zombie arrived, she began throwing a tantrum, insisting that she would name the gray dog herself.
“Baengnae will name it! Baengnae will do it!”
“The name’s already been decided… This one is Nareun-i now.”
“Eh…?”
Baengnae, having arrived a step too late, began to protest.
“Do it again!”
“No, I already named it. What were you going to call it anyway? Let’s hear it.”
“Um… Dog.”
‘Dog? That’s it?’
“If you just call it ‘Dog,’ how are we supposed to tell it apart from any other dog that shows up later? You have no talent for naming. Give up.”
But Baengnae stubbornly refused to back down. Her expression was resolute—she would name something, no matter what.
“Do it again! Baengnae will do it!”
“There’s no ‘again’! If you really want to name something, go name the new zombie. It doesn’t particularly need a name right now, but… I suppose I’ll have to give it one eventually.”
At my words, Baengnae’s face lit up. She pondered deeply before selecting a single word.
“Boots.”
And so, the new summon created from the [Deep Well Boots] was named Boots.
***
Realm of the Dead.
In the blood-red world of the First Underworld, a single white claw suddenly protruded from the air.
Thud—
Riiip—
Space tore open along the claw’s path. Through the gap, a being with pristine white cat ears poked its nose out.
Sniff sniff.
“Ugh… Why does this place always smell so weird every time I come here?”
Death’s Cat slipped out of the torn rift, pinching its nose. It had made an unauthorized intrusion into the First Underworld. Planning to grab only the Zombie Summoner’s soul and flee immediately, it had ignored all defensive systems and ripped its way through.
At the same time, a welcoming ceremony for the cat’s visit began.
Countless ghosts popped out one after another, clapping wildly to greet the cat. Demons also began beating strangely shaped drums.
“Waaaah!”
“Kihihihi!”
Firecrackers made from intestines exploded, and the dead were squeezed until they screamed in agony. The highest level of hospitality the First Underworld could offer.
Zzt—
Crackle—
Aaaagh!
“Huk…! What the—?!”
The cat was startled. It had come without any prior notice, so there shouldn’t have been a welcoming ceremony.
“How did you even know I was coming?!”
The black demon at the very front prostrated itself, pressing its lips to the filthy, blood-soaked ground. With its eyes lowered, it answered.
“We greet the Fragment of Death.”
It was a demon the cat recognized. The name had slipped its mind, but it seemed to be the one in charge of the First Underworld. Or maybe not. It had been so long since the cat last visited the First Underworld that it didn’t bother remembering such trivial details.
Well, this was convenient timing. The cat got straight to the point.
“I came to find one of the dead!”
When it had checked the third stage, Baek Suhan hadn’t been there. As a Zombie Summoner contracted with ‘Death,’ he should have been transported here without fail. The cat was demanding they hand him over.
But the demon remained prostrated, wearing an awkward smile.
“Hahaha. Actually, Death left a message that must be delivered to the Fragment. Please calm yourself.”
The cat’s eyes lit up. It assumed the boss had already secured the Zombie Summoner’s soul in advance.
“Oh! What is it? Spit it out!”
“That… the soul you’re looking for is not here.”
“Nya?”
The cat tilted its head, then immediately understood and leaped into the air. The soul that should have arrived in the First Underworld hadn’t come. In other words, the Zombie Summoner hadn’t died and had instead advanced to the fourth stage.
“Boss…! You knew all along!”
With that, the cat extended its claws, tore open the void, and vanished. At the same time, the welcoming ceremony ceased. The First Underworld returned to its original state—filled with nothing but eerie, ominous hellishness.
Uwaaah—
Huaaah—
The demon rose to its feet and brushed the blood and chunks of flesh from its fine suit. One of the other demons approached and clicked its tongue. It was a high-ranking demon, a mid-level manager of the demons.
“Tsk, we went through all that trouble to prepare. If it was just going to leave right away, there wasn’t much point in all that effort!”
Crunch—
The black demon who had greeted the cat drove its fist into the head of the one who had spoken out of turn, bursting it like a watermelon. Chunks of flesh flew in all directions. But soon, the head began to wriggle and regenerate.
“You. You’re the new one who just transferred from the Sixth Underworld, aren’t you? Idiot. Go back to being a trainee and start over from the beginning.”
“Huk… B-but…”
The black demon snapped its fingers and lit a cigar. Then it glared at the new manager.
“If you spout that kind of nonsense in front of the people from headquarters, you won’t escape annihilation. I’m letting it slide because you’re one of us, so just shut up and leave.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The new manager scurried away in a panic. The black demon clicked its tongue and gave a bitter laugh. The new recruits these days had no sense. They couldn’t even comprehend what kind of being could casually refer to the exalted Death as ‘boss.’
Huu—
“I’ll have to redesign the entire defense system…”
It was an extremely busy season. Not only in the First Underworld under its jurisdiction, but in every underworld, the dead were overflowing. All because the destruction of the new world was approaching.
The black demon pinned the badge symbolizing a Great Demon to its chest. It, too, had once been a man who dreamed of becoming a Demon King. But of the thirteen Great Demons that had existed in the old days, only two remained after a white monster had come seeking a meal.
‘If Death hadn’t sent her back quickly… the First Underworld might have closed its doors today…’
Now that the terrifying predator was gone, it was time to get back to work. Extracting souls and bodies. Producing high-quality soul snacks to supply to the megacorporation ‘Death.’
***
We split into teams and began exploring the maze. We designated bases at intervals and expanded our search radius in circular patterns centered on those points. If we encountered creatures, we would capture them; if we found [Special Artifacts], we would report them.
It was a reasonably efficient method, but we still hadn’t found any artifacts. Instead, we obtained other information. The area we were in was a zone called the ‘Monkey Habitat.’
Users who started the fourth stage were thrown into random locations within the maze. This had both advantages and disadvantages. The downside was that you didn’t know where you were, making it difficult to utilize information from the community. But once you overcame that, the disadvantage turned into an advantage. Since everyone started in different places, information about countless areas accumulated in the community. And with so much information, names naturally began to be assigned to each zone.
Names weren’t the only thing. Thanks to the sacrifices of countless users, the danger level of each location could also be determined. The danger levels of each zone were divided into five grades: Safe, Normal, Dangerous, High Risk, and Access Prohibited.
And the Monkey Habitat we were in fell under the Dangerous category.
The Monkey Habitat was a dense forest where monkeys lived in scattered groups. From as few as thirty to over a hundred. The monkeys possessed some intelligence, so they had been observed making simple tools or digging traps. This was very good news for me.
Who was I? I was a Zombie Summoner who followed the principle that high-quality corpses became high-quality zombies. And now there was an abundance of smart monkeys!
Thus, on the second day in the maze, I succeeded in incorporating two hundred monkey zombies into the artifact exploration unit. And their numbers were only going to keep growing.
Piiiii—
“Everyone, wake up!”
As the morning sun rose, I woke the monkey zombies sprawled on the ground. They stirred noisily.
“Morning exercises, begin!”
“Ook ook.”
“Ook…”
“O-o-o.”
The monkeys performed their exercises with awkward movements. Of course, not all of them were cooperative. Those lazy zombies were immediately dealt with by Baengnae, who stepped in and began pounding their heads.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Die! Die! Lazybones, die!”
‘Hmm, she’s doing well!’
Baengnae had become a fully seasoned drill instructor. Did you know? Starting from the fourth stage, you could finally use the [Shop] with the gold you had collected. But the shop’s purpose was a little different from what I had expected. Instead of selling weapons or armor as I had anticipated, their main products were food and daily necessities.
At first, I had wondered why the [Shop] even existed. But after checking the community, I understood. Far more people than I had expected were suffering from food shortages in the Fourth Stage. Elimination wasn't limited to the Third Stage and below. Users in the Fourth Stage, no longer protected by beginner safeguards, were now burdened with complete self-sufficiency. If they did nothing, they starved. The [Shop] served as a safety net, ensuring that they could at least survive.
‘So that’s why gold transfers were possible…?’
If you went to the fourth stage tab on the Japanese forums, there was even a separate board for begging for gold. The poverty of the fourth stage was no less severe than that of the third. But sending gold indiscriminately was also problematic—the transfer fee was a whopping 50%. Send ten gold, and only five arrived. Unless it was someone you knew from Earth, even a ranker wouldn’t easily lend a hand.
‘No, but you could just hunt rabbits or something…’
Anyway, for that reason, what I purchased from the [Shop] was a red hat. And it now sat atop Baengnae’s head. I had also bought a pair of mint-colored children’s sneakers that fit Baengnae’s feet perfectly.
“Listen up! If you fail to find any special artifacts again today, I’ll extract the brains of fifty of you and give them to Baengnae as snacks! If you don’t want to experience death again, work hard!”
“Madda! Madda!”
“U… u.”
“Ook ook…”
A few monkeys voiced complaints, but what could they possibly do? Disobedience meant becoming Baengnae’s snack. There were plenty of monkeys to spare. Even if monkeys went extinct, it wouldn’t matter. We could just move to the next region and recruit the native creatures there as explorers.
The fourth stage was truly the paradise I had expected.
“Why would anyone beg in such a great place?”
After finishing their morning exercises, the monkeys ate breakfast as usual and then began their training. I had constructed a massive forest gym by weaving together rocks and tree trunks. Exploration was important, but we couldn’t neglect the basics.
And just as I was warming up for my own workout, a message appeared before my eyes.
> [W-what is all this?]
‘Cat?’
I had told it to contact me once I reached the fourth stage, and now Death’s Cat had returned. I looked around and replied.
“I’m training the monkeys.”
[Nya-ha…]
“Follow me for a moment. I have something to tell you.”
I left the exercising monkeys behind and walked into the dark forest. There was something I needed to report to the cat.