Chapter 82
Chapter 82
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Bachinum Comic Book VER.C.DAWN
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I hate reading books.
Dun was rereading the same book for the third time now. It felt like he already knew everything from reading it so much, but when he delved into the details, it was all unfamiliar content.
Once the talented Viscount Luyan was assigned to Prim's army, Dun pushed back his army visits from once a week to once a month.
Things were progressing more smoothly than expected with the military plans. Still, he couldn't let his guard down.
With some extra time on his hands, Dun started digging deeper into his own identity.
He'd always felt an odd pull toward the Bachinum race, and sure enough, that was his true nature.
As soon as he wriggled under the covers and realized he was a Bachinum, Dun picked up the Bachinum genre books he'd dropped multiple times before.
Honestly, they just wouldn't stick. The words spun around in his vision from left to right.
They were even poetic info books, every single one utterly boring. But he had to read them to understand himself, trapping him in the dilemma of rereading the same book, the same paragraph, the same sentence over and over.
Finally hitting reading burnout again. The book slipped powerlessly from his grasp and thumped onto his face.
Dun sprawled limply on the bed.
He resisted the urge to tear up those pages of black letters dancing like earthworms on white paper and stuff them in his mouth.
Before, he hadn't known he was a Bachinum, so he could skim through them half-heartedly without obligation. But now that he knew, he had to learn the details. Everything happening to him might be tied to this identity.
"This isn't working. I want to read it as a comic."
An educational comic book would go down easy. The thought hit him, and Dun sprang into action.
It was time to hand out a new job-change quest to the players.
'Educational Comic Specialist Mangaka.'
Sure, it sounded like no one would take it, but his popularity was sky-high, so plenty of players (suckers) would bite more than expected.
* * *
Dun stepped out of the general store.
A peaceful-looking village. A quiet atmosphere. Adventurers milling about just the right amount.
Clap, clap.
Dun clapped his hands twice.
"Everyone, gather 'round."
Players who had been lurking hidden nearby came swarming out.
Groups of players stood before Dun. Some tried to approach him, others blocked them, quietly bickering. Some had just wandered over by chance.
"What the hell are you? Kill that guy."
[Kieeeek!]
An assassination-specialist monster whose stealth had accidentally broken was mixed in among the players. They mobbed it, killed it, and handed the item to Dun.
They gave him the dropped items right away because last time, fights had broken out over loot near him, tanking his favorability massively.
Handing over drops raised his favorability, so everyone offered up their items to him.
Dun's favorability, which let you buy higher-grade goods than mere rares, was more important.
After collecting the assassination monster's item, Dun cleared his throat a few times.
"Everyone, pay attention~~!"
"Ah, come on. You shut up first."
Shouts to quiet down mixed with pleas to hold off, until silence fell.
Players gathered around Dun gazed at him with eyes full of excitement. Whenever he called out the players circling him like this, he usually gave out pretty fun favorability quests.
They were really just boring chores, but they were already brainwashed by him.
"The quest I'm giving out today isn't some dishwashing or weed-pulling favorability quest."
"Not a favorability quest???"
They all looked hugely disappointed at his words. Dun pressed a finger to his lips, signaling quiet. Silence returned.
"Instead, it's a linked job-change quest."
"Woooah!!"
Cheers erupted the moment he spoke. Dun crossed his arms and watched the chaos coolly.
"Hey, shut up quick! Dun's noise buffering is on!"
Dun noise buffering: the term for when Dun wouldn't move until the players quieted down.
Sure enough, they all fell silent again.
With everywhere quiet, Dun popped up a quest window.
[??? Grade Genesis Limited Quest] Talent Scout Test.
Content: Dun is looking for a personal talent. Go through the process to confirm if you're one.
Reward: ???
On Failure: None
"No idea what it is, but I already smell jackpot......"
As soon as the quest window appeared, curses flew from all sides. A tiny commotion stirred as they tried to figure out exactly what quest it was.
Scouting? What kind of talent?
Swordsman? Mage? Was he trying to pick players to keep by his side?
Lately, rumors had spread that Dun was prepping a massive quest somewhere. Many guessed it involved the Prima Vera princess he'd been hanging with a lot.
Thinking about it, it clicked.
This was a quest to select players to work right beside Dun for that huge quest.
No doubt about it. It had to lead to ranker-level job change.
This. Is. It!
Players in front of Dun couldn't hide their excitement, stomping their feet.
"Dun, what do we do?"
Players bombarded him with excited questions.
Dun said nothing, did nothing—just stood there arms crossed, staring at the group.
Dun noise buffering, round two.
They caught on and quieted. Then Dun spoke.
"Starting the first screening process."
About 20 participants right now. Some had heard the rumors and come running late.
Dun pulled huge sheets of drawing paper from his inventory, laying one out for each participant.
One curious soul raised a hand.
"Yeah, go ahead and ask."
"What are we getting judged on with this paper?"
"Drawing skills evaluation."
They'd expected combat prowess, but suddenly it was grab a pen and draw.
[First Test!]
[Draw a person on the drawing paper.]
[Time Limit: 20 minutes.]
Players looked stunned but one raised a hand. Dun nodded, permitting speech.
"What kind of person? Kid? Adult? Woman? Man?"
"Up to you."
Dun fetched a box of pens from the store and dumped them out in front of everyone. Pens scattered on the ground; people grabbed one each and sat by their paper.
The test felt a bit weird, but they picked up pens and started drawing someone who came to mind.
While players drew in front of the general store, Dun slipped back inside for a nap.
"What? What's going on over there?"
"Are they crazy?"
"Why are they squatting all gloomy in front of the store drawing pictures?"
Crowds started gathering to gawk at the bizarre sight of tons of people hunched over drawings in front of Dun's house. Especially streamers.
Jackpot content. Several Nina Pinta streamers jumped in with live broadcasts.
[WheelLegFur Streaming ON: Bizarre Incident During Dun-Approved Reception Time.avi]
[DogLikeNickDuplicateCheck Streaming ON: Sudden Art Contest in Front of Dun's House?]
[HealerKiller588 Streaming ON: What the hell is this lololol?]
Streamers prowled near the picture-drawing crowd, trying to figure out the situation.
'WheelLegFur' streamer grabbed a quest participant and got them talking.
"Excuse me, mind if I ask what you're doing?"
"It's a quest. Dun's linked job-change quest."
"!!! Can I join right now?"
"Too bad, you should've come sooner. 20-person limit~"
The streaming item 'Eye of Sharing' translated players' words from various countries into the viewer's set language.
The stream spread across channels, comments flooding in.
-fuck fuck dun linked quest jealous af
-dawn gee ral ddo ssi zak
-that participant's speech is so cringy
-wtf is he trying to do this time lololololol
-uh zil uh zil
-wtf is that language?
-foreign dude influx lololol it is konglish (english+korean) :)
-dont explain its embarrassing
-aaaaah i just logged out ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-what does drawing have to do with talent scouting?
-job change jealousy. hidden for sure?
-fuck went to bathroom and dun dropped quest for real;;; ㅠㅠㅠ baby poop diarrhea
-lol korean artist factory? 😂😂
-yeah our crazy korean man dun is our korean server npc man
-kcrazy wtf
-everyone suddenly quest summoned and drawing like shit lolololol
-lolololololol
-told em draw a person and they drew a pig lolololololololololololololololol
[Time Limit Complete!]
20 minutes flew by. Dun emerged from the store in a comfy tank top, yawning lazily. His hair was already a bird's nest.
Even more people had gathered in front of his house. Dun stared blankly at them, wrinkling his nose bridge with a 'sniff'.
"Hmm......"
As Dun walked, players suddenly went dead silent.
-what is this sudden tension
-gotta shut up around dun or favor drops
-my fingers can be loud woof woof~
-didnt know everyone was this whipped for a kid's favor lolololㅠㅠㅠ capitalism too funny lololol
-wanna yell muyaho super loud in the middle there.
-youd get buried alive by those stagnant water losers
-dun cartel real majestic chest~
-dun lord silencing mouths kawai ><
-uwuk,,,,,;
Amid the total silence, only the chat exploded. Chit-chat conservation law: if one side quiets, the other gets chattier.
Dun casually strolled through the players, checking the drawings.
Ones he liked, he kicked to the right with his foot.
Ones he didn't, to the left.
"Fail."
"Fail."
"Pass."
"Pass."
"Fail."
The obedient Dun passed or failed the drawings to his taste. Joy and despair split the crowd.
-lmao too funny
-jealous of that power trip
-even chance to get power tripped on is something; art school users crying.
In the end, 10 out of 20 made it. The failed ones joined the spectators, watching to see where this quest was headed.
The remaining 10 were on high alert, laser-focused on Dun.
[Second Test!]
Dun handed each of the 10 passers a photocopied chunk of the densest, hardest-to-understand chapter.
[Normal] Second Test Text Fragment
(Excerpt from 'Bachinum Basics')
The 10 received papers marked as items from Dun.
[Read the given text quickly and tell Dun the content! First 3 to finish.]
The text was so poorly formatted, incredibly hard to read.
-leg hair bro read the second test notice quick plz plz
"Uh, um. Do you know what the second test is?"
'Wheel Leg Fur' streamer asked a failed participant.
"Speed reading test, I think?"
-drawing test then speed reading?
-wtf......? no clue what talent hes scouting
All eyes locked on Dun, who looked utterly thoughtless.
Dun waiting for the test to end seemed super bored. While participants pored over the text, he idly poked nearby wildflowers with his fingertip.
"I-I'm done......"
First to finish: adventurer named 'Adventurer Rahirahirahirahing'.
Huge musclebound barcode-bald character—eyes had been on him the whole time.
"Come whisper the content in my ear."
Dun beckoned. The barcode bald guy scurried over and murmured the book's contents into Dun's ear.
The power of the hyper-immersive novel geek shone here too, genre be damned. Rahirahirahirahing conveyed the key points and plot as clearly as possible.
"Pass."
Two more finished next. They all succeeded in relaying the plot accurately to Dun, auto-completing the second test and moving to the next.
[Final Test!]
[Turn the content you just read into a comic!]
Players who got the final quest prompt all floated question marks.
-eeeeh????
-????
-really what even......
-what job change is this even for?
Right on cue with the final notice, rewards updated.
[Reward: Children's Educational Comic Artist Job Change (Hidden)]
Participants' eyes went wide at the notice. One mustered courage and raised a hand.
"Um, Dun. What's a children's educational comic artist job change?"
A already-eliminated spectator asked in a shaky voice.
Lately, Dun carried books around reading—or skimming, then using them as pillows later.
And the speed-read content earlier was from a book he'd been trying hard to read on the go.
Then suddenly, this children's educational comic artist job-change quest.
No way....... No way........
"I hate reading books."
Dun narrowed his eyes in reply.
"I like comics."
Someone smacked their forehead in despair.
Smack! Smack smack smack!
Foretaps and napeslaps echoed everywhere in rapid succession.