Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Small Snowball (3)
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The bespectacled man scanned the documents in his hand.
Unbelievable tally results poured from his mouth.
“Rabbit hides: 312. Deer hides: 421…”
The moment the number of hides collected by the top placer was announced, murmurs spread through the crowd.
“H-How many?”
“You’re joking, right?”
The murmurs grew louder bit by bit, reaching a peak when the wolf tally was revealed.
“Wolves… 142.”
“…?!”
“Wolves got 142?”
Shouts of astonishment erupted from all around.
Even though he could have silenced them, the bespectacled man made no move to do so.
He, too, was inwardly clicking his tongue in disbelief as he announced the results.
‘…What a madman.’
The participants in this quest numbered 80 rabbits, 35 deer, and 20 wolves.
Adding up the hides distributed per person, that came to 4,000 rabbit hides, 700 deer hides, and 200 wolf hides.
Yet the top placer alone had claimed 421 deer hides and 142 wolf hides.
It would’ve been weirder not to click his tongue.
‘If you factor in the hides recovered from the Hell Bootcamp… this guy basically monopolized everything.’
Looking at the proportions, the collections were concentrated on the high-point hides.
Anyone could see he’d ignored the low-yield rabbits and focused solely on deer and wolves.
Of course, 312 rabbit hides wasn’t a small number either.
Even compared to second place Gunter, it was over a hundred more.
But the problem was that the tallies didn’t end there.
The still-shocked cadets were hit with one final bombshell.
“Bear hides: 9… and finally, tiger hide: 1.”
The cadets’ murmurs died instantly at the mention of bear and tiger hides.
The shock was so immense it wiped their ability to speak.
‘Wh-what hides?’
‘Bears? And tigers?’
‘My… God.’
Everyone’s thoughts ground to a halt.
Back when the hide-gathering quest had just started, ignorance had led them to boast arrogantly about taking down bears and tigers.
But after ten days of hellish nights, that bravado had long vanished.
‘He… took those down?’
The bears and tigers that appeared at night were reapers dragging the cadets to hell—terrors impossible to resist.
Yet those reapers had been slain.
Not just one, but that many.
The cadets’ eyes went blank, unsure whether to believe it.
Their paralyzed thoughts snapped back with the next announcement.
Another shock had freed them.
“Total points earned: 19,017,000.”
The unimaginable sum made the cadets’ eyes bulge.
“N-Nineteen million!”
“Gah?!”
This was on a whole different scale from second place.
Could anyone even accumulate 19 million—no, nearly 20 million—points solo?
But there was one fact they’d all momentarily forgotten.
Someone jogged their memory.
“W-Wait… first place gets double points, right?!”
“Gasp?!”
Finally recalling the top prize bonus.
One of them quickly did the math and muttered softly.
“That makes it… a total of 38,034,000 points.”
Though a quiet mutter, everyone heard it.
At the staggering sum, everyone’s jaws dropped.
* * *
With the final tallies and rankings for the hide-gathering quest complete,
the entrance to Animal Forest—which had been sealed tight for ten days—finally swung wide open.
Exhausted figures stumbled out in a horde.
“I wanna sleep…”
“I just wanna wash up…”
“I’m starving…”
After days of nonstop tension and shocks,
the relief of it finally being over unleashed ten days’ worth of accumulated fatigue.
No wonder the cadets groaned nonstop.
While most cadets hurried away, quite a few lingered near the Animal Forest entrance.
They paced about as if waiting for someone.
Most were those who’d earned little from this quest.
Cadets who couldn’t even secure food for tomorrow.
It was obvious who they were waiting for.
‘With 38 million points… he could spot us a little, right?’
‘Just enough for a day’s rations… no, just 10,000 points!’
To the washouts, Boppi—with his 38 million points—was their last hope.
They waited desperately for him to emerge.
But…
“…Why hasn’t he come out?”
Ten minutes passed. Thirty. An hour.
No matter how long they waited, Boppi never appeared.
* * *
The man countless others awaited desperately: Boppi.
Rather than heading out, he was racing toward the heart of Animal Forest—the tiger’s territory.
Naturally, Arin ran alongside him.
Crack—.
After sprinting for a while, the pair finally reached the tiger’s domain.
Someone had arrived ahead of them and greeted the pair warmly.
“Oh, welcome, honored guests! You must be tired from the long journey!”
Yuri spread his arms wide with a cheerful voice.
But the welcome was brief.
He cut straight to business, face hardening as he held out his hand.
“My points? They’re safe, right?”
His stiff expression screamed, ‘Touch my points and you’re dead!’
It was a threat made with his face alone.
Grrr—.
Even as the mad dog bared his teeth up front, Arin and Boppi paid no mind.
They responded with smug confidence.
“Hmm? You threatening us right now?”
“Hungry?”
“That it?”
“Hungry?”
Yuri’s face melted at their few curt words.
The mad dog’s tail began wagging.
“Oh dear, threaten? What scary talk! I just wanted to know if my points were…”
“Your points?”
“…Our points are safe! That’s all!”
Yuri flashed a oily grin.
But inwardly, he grumbled nonstop.
‘Tch… if it weren’t for that potion mess, none of this would’ve happened.’
He’d arranged to get potions from Greta, but she’d suddenly been assigned a long-term mission, botching everything.
To untangle the mess, Yuri had turned to Boppi and Arin.
When he’d approached them, Yuri brimmed with confidence.
‘Look at me from front, back, side, lying down—any way you slice it, I’m guaranteed first place in this quest.’
That would make Boppi and Arin likely second and third.
But as they say, you never know—someone else could outscore them.
So Yuri had laid out his situation simply and made a proposal.
[Second and third only get 50% and 30% extra anyway… Why not pool your points with mine and take 60% each instead?]
In exchange for handling the hide settlements for him.
It was a good deal for Boppi and Arin—not to mention Yuri.
The pair would gain far more than second/third bonuses.
Yuri would get their help, plus unearned profit from their points.
In Yuri’s mind, a flawless offer with zero reason to refuse.
But nope.
‘No thanks. Too much hassle.’
‘Hungry.’
Both Boppi and Arin shot it down flat.
Without a hint of hesitation.
Wondering if his cut was too low, Yuri gritted his teeth and upped it to 70% in a second pitch.
They still refused.
As if they didn’t care one bit.
That’s when Yuri realized.
‘…The greediest thing in the world is someone with no greed.’
Correction.
‘Ghosts take first place.’
Then came the greedless ones.
You had no clue how to tempt the greedless.
As Yuri racked his brain, the pair countered with their own offer.
Keep the fee at 60%, but do one thing for them.
‘What do you want?’
‘Find us a place to live.’
‘A place? You still don’t have housing? How’ve you been surviving?’
‘Sleeping rough.’
‘For a month?’
‘Yeah. Or we’d crash in some obvious cave… but beasts popped out sometimes. Urgh.’
‘…No wonder you always showed up covered in weird fur. But why ask me?’
‘You’re picky…’
‘Picky?’
‘…No, thorough. We figured you’d find something solid. If not, say no—we’ll just say no too.’
‘Hey now, picky? Don’t say such disappointing things! I’ll handle it with housing-hunter precision—just wait!’
Honestly, Arin and Boppi’s counter wasn’t bad for Yuri.
No, it was great.
His second offer was 70% fee.
Now 60%, plus just find them a place.
‘Boppi and Arin have 6 bear hides.’
Converted to points: 3 million. 10% of that was 300,000.
Save 300,000 points on housing help, and achieve his goal to boot—why would Yuri say no?
Which is why now…
“Right, our points—they’re still ours!”
“Exactly! Still our points! Hahaha!”
The tables had turned.
Until he got his points back, Yuri had no choice but to play nice, forcing a smile as he asked.
“So… our points. Where are they?”
Arin savored Yuri’s groveling just enough.
Figuring more teasing might flip his switch, she drew the line.
She pulled a sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it over.
“Here.”
“…What’s this?”
“Our points.”
“This scrap of paper? Haha, what kind of prank is—”
“How were you gonna carry all those points? Take that to the bank—they’ll cash it out, the glasses black-armor guy said?”
“…For real?”
Yuri snatched the paper.
He skimmed the part about payout to the bearer.
His eyes locked on the number scribbled there, reading the units carefully.
“One, ten, hundred, thousand…”
And finally.
“…Hundred thousand, million…”
Seeing the millions made Yuri’s hands shake with excitement and awe.
‘Th-this is my points.’
What if the wind blew it away?
What if he gripped too hard and tore it?
What if sweat smeared the ink?
Fidgeting anxiously, Yuri clutched the paper with trembling hands.
Arin eyed him.
“Why’re you like that? Want me to hold it for you?”
“N-No way! Don’t you dare drop our precious points, you demon!”
“…Whatever.”
Even under Arin’s cold stare, Yuri didn’t care.
Instead, he twitched with nerves.
“Bank… gotta get to the bank.”
Holding this paper felt like it’d give him a heart attack first.
He yearned to behold his shiny points ASAP.
With that desperate urge, Yuri bolted.
“Ah, w-wait! Come with!”
“Hungry!”
Boppi and Arin hurriedly chased after him.