Chapter 82

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Translator: crow

Chapter Title: Family Zoo

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『Sorry! It was all my fault! Please! Please forgive me!』

After about an hour of corporal punishment, the model student ghost abandoned the dean's body and came out to apologize to us.

『Waaah! Please forgive me!』

"......"

"Beg for forgiveness a bit more. If you don't get it, we'll resume the punishment. By the way, I can hit spirits too."

"Ahem! What did we even do wrong to need forgiveness...?"

"Yeah, you're forgiven."

『We'll forgive you. We have to, right?』

Once it was all over, I made a request of the model student ghost.

"Will you help us escape the school? And please come with us. I beg you."

『Eek! Y-Yes! Yes!』

The model student ghost had become as docile as a lamb, obediently following my every word.

*'Ahh, so this is the true joy of education.'*

The thrill of taming a vicious sheep and turning it into a gentle one!

Is this why everyone becomes a teacher?

『Phew, it's over! Please, just let me pass out now!』

"You can pass out if you want."

『Ahh......』

Whether it had been staying conscious through sheer willpower, the model student ghost wore an expression of enlightenment.

『Finally...... I can rest.......』

The fading figure turned into a single notebook.

"It doesn't seem like a real ghost after all."

"Do you know something?"

"They say objects can hold a person's soul. That thing we just saw might've been born from the soul dwelling in this notebook."

Following Kim Godok's words, I read through the notebook.

It was filled with all sorts of ghost stories, and the agents said the ones written in it were the ghost stories they'd personally witnessed.

*'This is Dr. Janus's creation.'*

An entity created by extracting information bodies, using the model student ghost as the core, and combining it with other ghost stories?

Or perhaps the model student ghost's ghost story was processed into this form.

*'Either way, it's impressive.'*

I wonder if the Family Zoo would accept something like this as a living creature?

They probably do, which is why Dr. Janus made it this way.

*'What'll happen if I submit it?'*

The address there was unreadable to me, but if I sketched it out in my mental notebook like a drawing and submitted it to the Foundation, they'd forward it for me.

*'The Foundation can probably send packages to other dimensions.'*

Well, if it genuinely repents and decides to live righteously, there's no need to send it there.

It could even side with the Foundation like Shin Youngmun and live as an agent.

『Hey, original. Long time no see.』

"American Lee?"

Once things wrapped up, I saw a familiar face.

『Ha! That damn Ghost summoned me with his ability! I was on vacation! The puppy and the Japanese guy got summoned too, but I don't know where they are.』

"It's a shame I didn't get to see their faces, but knowing everyone's doing well is enough."

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind the main building.

"Tteoya!"

『Sohee-chan! Let's escape quick-neung! The school's barrier is open-neung!』

Apparently, while we were fighting, some civilians had entered the school, and Satoshi had helped them out.

*'They're doing fine.'*

As for Seung-gyeon, I hadn't seen his face, but according to American Lee, he seemed busy.

『That guy's been going around healing people. Treating those without money or kids, and there keep being sightings, so they call him the Angel Welsh Corgi now.』

My reunion with American Lee was brief.

『Gotta go finish enjoying this interrupted vacation.』

"Take care."

『See ya!』

Afterward, the agents returned to the Foundation, and I went back with them.

I reported the school incident to Seong Yura, an S-Grade Agent and one of the Foundation's overseers.

"Dr. Janus, huh. An entity even we haven't identified."

"You have the Sephirot and couldn't find out?"

"The Sephirot doesn't let you browse every dimension's information freely."

She explained that there are many incredibly powerful transcendent beings in dimensions who are sensitive to information gathering or can detect and counter attempts to dig into their secrets, so they avoid rashly collecting data on them.

*'My right eye's gaze noticed it too, didn't it?'*

If only he'd had a slightly larger budget.

What if he'd implemented the "Tteol-tteol" function?

*'One thing's for sure.'*

It wouldn't have ended easily.

"No Named is a new name to me too. From your description, Seung-hoon, it seems like he wants to use entities, but there are countless people like that."

"Can't the Foundation manage them all?"

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

"Even at the Foundation's peak, it was impossible. They're like weeds—masters of hiding, forming alliances among themselves, and even if you wipe some out, more pop up."

It was no different from the game.

*'In the game too, no matter how strong the Foundation was, groups outside it kept emerging.'*

Those outside groups caused incidents using entities, but their exact details weren't even in the wiki.

*'Probably because they didn't flesh out the lore, or it was that Creepypasta style of info cutoff for mystery.'*

Either way, it was disappointing.

A few days after finishing my Foundation report, Dong-uk contacted me.

-Oh man, about that entity you sent us, Seung-hoon—it's been causing nonstop trouble.

He said it kept trying to manifest its self-made ghost stories into reality to take over the Foundation, making it a real pain to handle.

-It's tricky now, but it's getting stronger over time, so they're discussing disposal.

"It's just puberty. Kids that age grow by the day, right?"

-A ghost in puberty? Hmm, it is an entity, so maybe...?

"Anyway, if it's too much trouble, send it here."

Just in case, I sent him the sketched address of the Family Zoo dimension.

-What's this place?

"A dimension belonging to a powerful entity that uses the entire universe as its enclosure."

-......Gotta prepare properly before sending. Thanks.

As expected, the Foundation could send packages across dimensions.

"Package delivery!"

The next day, it arrived.

[From: Family Zoo]

I couldn't understand how it got here.

I'd sent the model student ghost via the Foundation, yet the Family Zoo knew me and sent me a package.

*'Some entities can see through truths.'*

Given their scale of treating the universe as an enclosure, it wouldn't be hard for them.

Inside the small box was a letter from the Family Zoo.

[Thank you so much for submitting to our rare animal recruitment.]

[Your animal was truly rare, but due to extremely low activity, it sadly didn't win.]

[However, as a rare ethereal lifeform, it earned bonus points, and we highly value its ability to create other creatures, so we award you an encouragement prize.]

The rare animal collection event seemed to have ended, and a list of winners was enclosed.

[5th Place: Living Abyss Apartment]

[Head Zookeeper's Evaluation: Extremely excellent. Each floor is a lifeform, each unit is a lifeform. Kidnaps, tortures, mocks humans from other dimensions, ecstasy, hell, digestion, absorption. But low movement—only moves inside.]

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

[4th Place: Sunrise Beetle]

[Head Zookeeper's Evaluation: Extremely excellent. Shines only at sunrise, light of a million galaxies, iridescent, heals the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soul, beauty. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But short lifespan.]

[3rd Place: Shadow Cat]

[Head Zookeeper's Evaluation: Truly extremely excellent! Cat made of shadows! Quantum leap! Probabilistic existence! Dead but alive! Alive but dead! Hard to observe!]

[2nd Place: Horned Horse]

[Head Zookeeper's Evaluation: Truly super extremely excellent! Horse! But with a horn! Horned horse! First time seeing one!]

[1st Place: Great Universe Total Ascension]

[Head Zookeeper's Evaluation: Truly super extremely incredibly excellent! All lifeforms, one! Ascension, unity! All pain, together! All joy, together! All chaos, together! Extremely rare universe!]

Setting aside the list with the head zookeeper's curt evaluations, I pulled out the last item from the package.

An encouragement prize sticker on a small bag of candies called "Mr. Ando Chef's Taste of the Universe!"

In the corner, a pig in an astronaut suit winked, with a speech bubble saying "Yummy!"

*'30 pieces, 5 flavors?'*

Among the 50-won-coin-sized candies wrapped in red, blue, purple, black, and white plastic, I picked out a blue one and ate it.

"!?"

An incredibly unique taste. One I'd never tasted before in my life, and probably never would again without this candy.

Not sour, salty, sweet, spicy, bitter, umami, fatty, or astringent—this flavor didn't fit anywhere, impossible to describe, yet I instinctively knew what it was.

"A supernova."

A mix of chemical and geological tastes with burning and scorching notes—would that make this flavor?

It wasn't a metaphor; that's exactly how it tasted.

*'Let's try the others.'*

Red was the taste of a red giant.

Hot, but brimming with vibrant life.

Purple was dark matter and dark energy combined.

More than in the mouth, once it hit my stomach, I felt an emptiness in my gut.

White was a white dwarf.

The taste of everything ending, cooling coldly, the world's futility.

Finally, black was a black hole.

Intensely sour, my mouth puckered involuntarily, and as time passed, the puckering intensified until I quickly spat it out.

"If I'd kept it in, I might've gotten sucked into the candy."

Excluding the black hole flavor, the rest seemed safe.

I tried spraying strengthening and weakening potions on them, but no change.

"Well, guess this incident's wrapped up."

『As expected from the original—such a great kin-neung!』

A familiar face reflected in the ceiling fluorescent light.

『Muttering to yourself is the otaku's basic passive-neung!』

"Satoshi?"

My doppelganger Satoshi, who used to wear name-unknown anime character T-shirts, was now dressed neatly.

『Got a new fave lately, so I changed my style-neung.』

"Who's your fave?"

『Secret-neung! Too popular; don't wanna deal with the business-neung! Wish she could've been my little Sohee-chan only! But she's a big corp-neung!』

After chatting a bit, Satoshi got to the point of his visit.

『Take this-neung! Isekaied here for you—the Transfer series-neung!』

Sometime along the way, a book appeared on my desk.

"For You Who Wants to Transfer to Another World, Vol. 5: Wuxia"

I'd seen up to Vol. 4 in the game.

Vol. 5 was new.

『Was gonna trade with that guy, but I used that part to save Sohee-chan-neung!』

"Thanks. This'll let me help even more people."

『But from what I saw, it's more for challenging types than desperate ones-neung.』

"Yeah?"

『Anyway, if you're grateful, grant one request-neung!』

"What?"

Satoshi pushed up his glasses.

『Buy me an iPad-neung. Wanna watch Sohee-chan's streams in HD-neung.』

＊＊＊

『Thanks-neung! Now I can watch Sohee-chan's streams every day-neung!』

Satoshi said his goodbyes and left.

The iPad I'd bought was on the desk for a moment before the world flickered and it was already in his hands.

"Hmm."

By the way, he said challenging types would use it more than desperate ones?

I opened the book. It had different precautions and basics from the medieval fantasy one, but after skimming, I checked the records of the first user.

"No matter the world, it's the same as medieval fantasy in one way."

Survival's brutal either way.

"Shall I read more?"