The Event Is Over

I really shouldn't think of it that way.

Two weeks. To be precise, two weeks and then some. At last, the hellish training I had grown so thoroughly sick of had come to an end.

Hoo....

I unfolded my legs from the lotus position, rose to my feet, and stretched until every joint in my body answered with a long, satisfying crack. They had been hard days.

But this body of mine is at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation now.

I had finally hit max level.

If I had to put the whole stretch into one sentence, I hadn't gotten a proper night's sleep the entire time. Theory lectures every day. Practical drills right after. Mess it up and you ran it again. When the lessons ended I crawled into the cave for breathing cultivation. Sleep? Three hours a day, maybe?

The weird part was that my body held up. I had been sure I would be dead on my feet, but I didn't actually feel all that tired. Still, now that the training was over... how to put it? It felt like I had passed special forces selection.

And once I finished the training in one piece, my masters even gilded my face for me. Now I finally know what they mean by gilding someone's face!

It means sucking up!

Maybe it was because every last one of them kept calling me a prodigy, a prodigy. The dopamine hit was starting to wear off.

No — wait. That wasn't the important part!

I didn't have to do this hell training anymore!

Once I hit Foundation Establishment, there wouldn't be anyone left to pester me, right? This godforsaken cave life was over!

"So now I just need to advance to Foundation Establishment? How do I do that?"

The instant I asked, the chat window froze solid.

Did something happen?

What kind of problem? Why were they suddenly hemming and hawing like that?

"What problem? Can I not advance?"

"However?"

A Foundation Establishment Pill? Foundation Establishment, so... a Foundation Establishment Pill? Some kind of spiritual elixir?

"It must be a pretty rare item, if even you masters can't get one."

I could practically see them looking anywhere but at me and coughing into their fists.

That was when Ocheong Yowang's message rolled in.

Why had the mood suddenly gone like this? And why was Ocheong Yowang the only one who could get a Foundation Establishment Pill?

"Is it really that hard to find?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah—!"

"I get it."

"Ahhh!!"

I understood what he meant. So they couldn't get one?

"Then I can't advance without it?"

"What about you, Ocheong Yowang? Beastfolk are fine?"

"Ooooh — so beastfolk have tough bodies, huh."

"So if I fail, I have to live at Qi Condensation for the rest of my life?"

The more I thought about it, the more this felt like a trash-tier character. I already had to grind fourteen times the experience, and one failed rank-up was a hard game over. No matter how I looked at it, this was a garbage game system.

"Then I just... shouldn't advance, right?"

"Ah! So you'll get them for me, Ocheong Yowang?"

A few days? Please tell me that didn't mean I had to stay in here a few days longer.

"Then what do I do in the meantime?"

"What? I need to go outside. I haven't taken a single step out since I entered the Tower!"

Robber Cultivators? What was that supposed to be?

"What's a Robber Cultivator?"

No, something about this wasn't lining up. What kind of neighborhood did these people even live in? This wasn't some country with terrible public safety.

That was when an ally appeared.

"The place I live is different from where you masters live?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Uh...?"

Ocheong Yowang was saying something pretty weird himself. Had he been watching movies?

"Korea doesn't have guns."

"Got it. I'll get ready to head out, then."

A short while later.

No, seriously, what was this?

I wasn't a magnet. Why was everyone sticking to me like iron filings? I glanced back and it wasn't a track meet out there — they were sprinting like lunatics. Someone even tripped, went down, and rolled.

Ugh.... If this keeps up, somebody's going to get hurt.

A little farther and someone was going to get badly injured. If this stampede hit the safety zone, people were genuinely going to get crushed to death.

I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me.

And someone might already be standing on the transfer formation, so that probably wouldn't work either.

No choice, I guess?

I just came down to the ground.

Walking's going to take forever, though.

"GOAT-JJAAANG!!"

I wasn't an idol. I wasn't a zombie either. Why were they swarming like that? And it wasn't even just Koreans. I could see foreigners mixed in here and there.

The first foreign hunter to reach me started babbling something in a hurry. It sounded a bit like Hindi. He fiddled with something that looked like a headset, then tried again.

"Oh! Goat-jjang! I have come from India to find the Tteokbap! I must climb the Tower!"

What was that? The speaker was translating in real time. It even kept the Indian accent. Did hunters all wear gear like that?

I didn't get a second to sort my thoughts before they came running from every direction.

"Goat-jjang! Please, just one Tteokbap!"

"Goat-jjang! The brother nation needs the Tteokbap!"

"I bought a handmade burger today! The combo!"

Everyone was shouting something and I couldn't make out a single word! People shoved from behind, everyone talking over everyone else, and my head was spinning. The one mercy was that they weren't just barging in blindly. Maybe because they had seen me fight that hunter last time — Baek Shin-hoo, was it? They were strangely careful not to cross the line.

Hey. This was not the time to sit back and appreciate the view.

This was a wishing jar of pure greed! Every single one of them had nothing but Inedia Pills on the brain! If I showed a single crack here, I would never get this under control!

I needed a way to shut them all down in one shot.

Should I tell them I'm a person, not an NPC?

No! I wasn't even a registered hunter. If they found out I was making strange things, bad people — no, the government — might come after me!

Then should I say I'm not making Tteokbap anymore? Or that I can't make them?

Absolutely not. If I said I wouldn't, they would cling and beg me to please make more. If I said I couldn't, they would pick me apart with questions and find some way to make me do it anyway. And now there were foreigners here too!

Forget all that. If this were a real matter of survival, I would have at least thought it over. But it wasn't! They were all hanging off me for the money!

I need... I need a way to cut this off for good.

I turned it over in my head, and then a good idea surfaced.

This might actually work!

I waited until the shouting died down. I said nothing and simply watched, and one by one the hunters began to close their mouths. At last the noisy crowd fell quiet.

I confirmed I had the room. I looked once around me. Then I dropped my voice and made it serious.

Sound cut out as if someone had pulled a plug. I mean it — you couldn't even hear anyone breathe. Then the groaning started.

"Aaaaah—"

"No! I packed food every single day!"

"Oh! Dear God!"

They were all in despair. Too bad. Do they have any idea how annoying it is to stir a cauldron all day?

"Goat-jjang! Can't you extend the event? Just through today!"

"No."

I cut it off clean, and every pair of shoulders in the crowd sagged. Still, once I had said the event was over, the mood wasn't one where anyone could keep pushing. The whole operation seemed to have landed perfectly.

That was when some hunter tossed out a question.

"Goat-jjang. Then when's the next event?"

Huh? I had not seen that one coming....

No — I could not let it show on my face! I had to get through this somehow!

"I can't say."

The man nodded, accepting it.

Hoo— did I pull ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it off?

The words seemed to travel all the way to the back, and the hunters began to drift off one by one.

I pulled it off!!

So why were a few of them still standing there?

The moment the crowd looked like it was thinning, they stepped in close and started pulling out food.

"Goat-jjang, eat this."

"Goat-jjang, take mine too."

"I brought some as well."

What? I had clearly said I wasn't giving any.

And what was with those faces? They were wearing these meaningful little expressions.

"I'm still not giving you Tteokbap."

"It's fine."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Just eat well."

"I'm sick of braised chicken myself. I bought this for you."

What on earth was going on?

I took the food since they were offering, but... why were they like this?

At the same time, on the Hunter Gallery.

Someone had thrown kindling on the fire. The bored hunters bit down on the new bait one after another.

The gallery's center of gravity began, slowly, to tilt in another direction. And a fresh piece of bait caught fire.

........