Let's Go Find a Hidden Piece! (1)
Zhou Huang, a world-class ranker, had me in his sights, and yet I was perfectly at ease.
Think about it and there was nothing to worry over. Outside the Tower I wasn't living as Dandanso. I was Lee Jimin, and I wasn't even registered as a Hunter. If Zhou Huang came to Korea, he would never find me. And suppose, somehow, he did. I still had Dandanso.
"Hmm... what should I eat today?"
Forty million won had just come in. Money like that deserved something expensive and delicious.
Oh—and before you ask, no, yesterday's deal did not fall through.
After Dandanso killed every last one of the traffickers, I lined up another trade on Fadegram, and luckily the other party was an actual normal person. Unlike the first deal, which had ended in a bloodbath, the second one closed in peace. I handed over the magic stones, took the bag with forty million won inside, and the whole thing was done in under a minute.
After years of living like a shut-in without earning a single coin, making money again felt good. Money, once it arrives, is meant to be spent. So there I was, digging through a delivery app without a thought for the price. Sure, I'd already thrown a beef party yesterday, but with forty million won on hand, I was allowed to enjoy myself again today.
"Delivery again?"
"Again? I grilled the meat myself last night."
"And aside from that one meal, has it not all been delivery until now?"
"When you live alone, that's just how it is."
"Hmph. Then This Venerable One shall specially cook for you."
"Huh?! You know how to cook?"
"There is nothing This Venerable One cannot do."
Mm... that sounded like pure bluster. I didn't believe it for a second. The Heavenly Demon, cooking with her own hands? She'd eaten plenty of food other people made, but I doubted she'd ever cooked a thing herself.
"Are you doubting This Venerable One even now?"
"A... a little."
"Insolence! This Venerable One shall show you at once. Yield the body."
The moment I handed it over, Dandanso made straight for the fridge. One look inside and the shock hit her.
"What is all of this? Can this truly be right?"
The fridge was a wasteland. A few cans of zero-calorie soda, a few cans of beer, and nothing else.
"Are you some manner of beast?"
"What are you talking about! You just don't know. This is the average fridge for someone living alone, and mine is above average."
"Enough. We are going to that place called a mart at once."
Something in her voice sounded oddly excited. Pretty sure she just wanted to see a supermarket.
"Oh! This is a place where nothing is lacking."
She said it calmly, but the excitement came through all the same. The moment we stepped inside, Dandanso—wearing my body—whipped her head this way and that, took the whole store in, and snatched up a cart.
"You look pretty used to this."
"I saw it all in your memories."
She wandered the aisles, dropping things into the cart as she went.
"I saw yesterday that the house had run out of tissue."
"Doubanjiang, black bean paste, soy sauce—seasonings such as these must be on hand."
"The stairs move of their own accord. I saw it in your memories, and still it is wondrous."
"This blade looks rather fine."
She chattered and gawked at everything like a child seeing a supermarket for the first time, and it was honestly pretty cute. Finding my own body cute felt a little strange, but still.
Before I knew it the cart was packed, and she reached the register.
"Your total is 524,500 won. Would you like to save the points?"
What! Five hundred thousand won?
I'd filled the cart to bursting, sure, but I never thought it would clear half a million. Korean prices. Terrifying.
"The points will not be necessary."
"Hey! You can't talk like that outside! That's my body!"
"This Venerable One is sorry. It slipped out before I knew it."
The cashier's eyes looked rattled. She was definitely filing me under weirdo. I was finished!
Wait—the payment! She did know how to pay, right?
Beep.
Contrary to every fear, Dandanso paid with Galaxy Pay as if she'd done it a thousand times.
"What? Since when do you know how to use Galaxy Pay?"
"This Venerable One learns anything in no time at all."
"Huff... huff."
Dandanso set the bags on the table and dragged in a ragged breath.
"You ought to train. To pant like this over so little."
"Excuse you. I am not weak. You just bought way too much."
"Enough. Wait a moment."
Once the groceries were put away, she started to cook. The knife went tok, tok, tok as she sliced with practiced hands, then came the whoosh of ingredients and seasoning hitting the pan as she tossed the wok. The dishes were done in no time: a meat plate that looked, at a glance, a great deal like Korean spicy stir-fried pork, and a stir-fry of vegetables beside it.
Seeing the food set out on the table, I felt as if I'd walked into an inn from a murim novel. Tasting the dishes from those stories had always been one of my wishes.
"Come. Have a taste."
Dandanso gave the body back, and I picked up a piece of the meat that looked like spicy pork stir-fry.
"Whoa! This is insanely good."
"It is huiguo rou, one of the dishes This Venerable One does best. Eat the rest, and quickly."
I demolished everything like someone who hadn't eaten in days. I don't usually eat much, but Dandanso's cooking was good enough that I didn't leave a bite.
"Heh heh heh."
I was patting my satisfied stomach when her laugh drifted in.
"All right! Next time I'll show you what I can do."
"Th... that will not be necessary."
"Why?"
"You have never cooked, have you?"
"I have too."
She had the wrong idea. I had cooked, and I had never even failed at it. Boiling ramen and heating frozen food still counts as cooking.
"There was no scene of you cooking in your memories."
"Psh. Guess the little stuff doesn't get shared."
"Th... then very well."
She answered like she'd bitten into something sour. One of these days I was going to school her with Korea's greatest specialty: cup ramen.
Today was the day I entered Floor 2 of the Tower of Doom. Three days had finally passed since I'd cleared the first floor.
"All right, shall we go?"
"Wait! Wh... what manner of attire is that?"
I was just about to step into the Tower when Dandanso started nitpicking.
"Oh, this? Explorer gear. Today's stream content is an expedition."
I wasn't wearing the blood-red robe with the Demonic Cult's insignia embroidered in black silk. I had something else on entirely: explorer clothes that looked ready for a deserted-island survival show.
"Can you not simply go dressed like a normal person?"
"No. Content is the lifeblood of a stream."
Unbelievable. She was saying something that could end a streamer's career. Prepared content is life itself for a streamer. Of course, other Hunter streamers go live with nothing prepared at all. Flash a few strong, showy skills and the viewers stick around anyway. I had no intention of doing that.
Once, I was the streamer Cheezz officially ranked number one in viewers, number one in watch time, and number one in thousand-won punches taken. My pride would not allow me to stream without content like every other Hunter streamer.
"Ugh... then at least take off that ridiculous hat?"
"This?"
I said it while touching the boonie hat stamped with a military pattern.
"Yes. That."
Hmm. The outfit was the heart of today's bit. Without the hat, I had a feeling things would be a little dull.
"No."
"Why?! It is only a hat. Keep this up and This Venerable One has methods of her own."
Faced with my flat refusal, Dandanso was staging a rebellion. I'd have to come down harder.
"Dandanso. You saw what those panting, breathless noonas were wearing on the way to the club last time. Keep pushing and I'll wear that."
"Th... This Venerable One is sorry! Those clothes are absolutely forbidden. Absolutely!"
"Explorer clothes, you said. Looking again, they are quite fetching."
There. Rebellion crushed.
"Enter the Tower!"
"Hello, everyone! This is Dandanso of DandanTV."
Hmm. My viewers, throwing a tantrum on the outside while loving it on the inside. I know everything. They type that they're pissed, but deep down they're eating it up.
"Floor 2 of the Tower is famous for how huge it is. Today we're going to explore the whole second floor of the Tower of Doom. Well? You guys are getting excited too, right?"
The viewers lit up the second they heard what we were doing today. And honestly, even I thought the content was pretty well put together.
Floor 2 of the Tower is the heart of a forest like the Amazon. Deal with the goblin scout party and the clear is yours. Hearing that, you'd think you have to wander the woods hunting them down. You don't. Stay at the starting point and the goblin scouts come to you. So the established clear for Floor 2 is to lay traps at the start and wait, or hide in ambush and jump them the moment they appear.
Early on, people did roam the second-floor forest looking for the scouts. Once the guide came out, no Hunter bothered walking the woods, and even in those early days they hadn't roamed much. Ten minutes on foot was enough to run into a scout party.
"All right, let's head out."
But unlike everyone else, I meant to walk every last corner of this forest today. You never know.
Somewhere out there, a hidden piece might be waiting.