What Does This Mean?
What Does This Mean?
004.
- "Grow well, potatoes."
The next day, Vivian was planting potatoes in a small field she had tilled behind the ruins.
She is currently working based on the [ Reveal Basic Agriculture: 300pt ] I had given her. Thanks to that, my balance is back down to 1,000 pt.
- "Hyuu. Finished planting!"
Soon, having finished her work, she entered the abandoned building—our settlement.
However, upon stepping inside, she now began digging up the dirt floor inside the building as well. Second, who was repairing a wall in the room, glanced over and asked.
- "E-Eonni? Why are you suddenly digging up the ground there?"
- "Huh? Ah... That Person ordered me to."
- "What?"
- "Ah... He told me to plant flowers here."
- "Eng??? Indoors??? By digging up the ground???"
Indeed.
If I spent a whopping 300 pt to teach them agriculture, shouldn't I milk it for all it's worth?
The best way to extract maximum value was digging up the floor indoors to plant flowers.
- "No, eonni! Did you perhaps hear Him wrong?"
- "N-No. He spoke very clearly. He said to dig up the ground inside the room and plant flowers."
- "No, what on earth does that mean?! Why put a flowerbed inside the room... And if you plant them there, the flowers won't get any light!!"
Second was pointing it out quite accurately, but in truth, doing this had huge advantages.
First off, planting flowers allowed her to quickly level up her [Horticulture].
And since they would wither quickly without light, she would have to replant them, which was great for repeated training.
"Mwahaha. The AI character is even getting flustered, which makes this even more satisfying!"
Besides, didn't our Vivian happen to have a star in [Horticulture (★)] as well? For Vivian, a well-rounded jack-of-all-trades character, farming was her pastime chore.
Soon, Vivian finished planting all the flowers. She then fetched some water and watered them as well.
- "...Well... I mean, passing by, it doesn't look too bad..."
Second, who had been dumbfounded, muttered to herself upon seeing the randomly completed flowerbed inside the room.
"See? The effect shows right away."
Second verified it with her own mouth.
Looking at a flower garden boosts the settlers' moods. When their mood improves, work efficiency increases, and even if bad things happen, the chance of them going insane decreases.
Thus, this was all part of a design refined over 16,000 hours of gameplay.
But to the AI characters who actually had to experience these things repeatedly, it must seem a bit strange.
- "Everyone, gather round for a moment!!!"
An emergency meeting was suddenly called.
- "Eonni! I'm asking because I'm genuinely worried. Are we really okay going on like this?"
The meeting began with the summons from Second, who had been constantly questioning and doubting this 'abnormality.'
- "He tells us to dig up the floor inside the room to plant flowers! He won't let us kill that bad bastard, making us repeatedly detach and reattach his prosthetic leg! And now He tells us to cut off his other leg. Can we really trust that Outer God?"
Finding the scene fascinating, I stared intently at the monitor.
'They're executing this concept to this extent?'
I was marvelling at the mod AI's writing skills. Isn't this a conversation breaking the wall between reality and the game—the 4th wall or something!
The commands I gave were near hyper-efficient in terms of game mechanics, but far from normal in daily life. Now the AI characters were pointing out that exact gap.
- "You shouldn't say things like that! The reason we are safely alive right now is all thanks to His help. What if He hears this conversation right now and thinks we're ungrateful!"
The eldest, Vivian, was arguing against it. She really seemed like a dutiful daughter.
Is this how a god feels watching its creations? They're all just so cute.
Knowing they couldn't hear me, I chuckled while watching them.
But when Third, who had been quietly watching the back-and-forth between the two, chimed in with a word, everyone suddenly went silent.
- "The Outer God is testing us."
I choked on my Zero Cola when I saw that line.
"Keok-keok, what is this supposed to mean?"
- "You said He first told eonni to remove the prisoner's heart. But since eldest eonni couldn't do it right away, He quickly changed it to attaching and detaching the prosthetic leg, right? This time, it's the middle ground—leg amputation. Therefore, this Outer God is testing us."
"I-Is that so?"
It was strangely persuasive, almost convincing me.
- "How far can we go! What things are we incapable of doing! Will we even obey a ridiculous command like creating a flowerbed inside a room? He's checking things like that."
Vivian seemed completely sold on those words as well.
- "I-Is that so?"
"N-No, it's not!! Indoor flowerbeds are a good thing!!"
Wanting to actively defend myself, I clicked <Reveal>.
After typing out a huge wall of text explaining the reasons for everything, I was about to hit send. But right before clicking <Send>, I paused.
'Could this be a commercial gimmick by the AI mod?'
If I get sucked into draining points like this, I could be drained endlessly. I shouldn't fall for this. I already spent 600 points on the prisoner escape last night.
My balance right now is 1,000 pt, which I need to stockpile for emergencies.
'Hmm... I'm pretty smart. I almost got fooled.'
"Hyuu..."
I immediately closed <Reveal> and patted my chest.
Soon, once the basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter) quest is completed, I'll get 3,000 pt. It won't be too late to defend myself then.
'Now is it complete once we just craft clothing?'
Shelter: an abandoned building where worn-out iron panels were collapsing. By filling in the holes in that building with wooden walls, they could block the wind.
Food: while there was room for improvement, they weren't starving. They cooked game and gathered items well to make good meals.
Clothing: all three were wearing clothes, but some were frayed. Third, having devoured [ Reveal Basic Tailoring: 500pt ], was making a shirt for herself to wear.
[ Balance: 500 pt ]
Wouldn't it be complete once she finishes that?
Right on cue, the family meeting ended, and Third was heading toward the final stretch of tailoring the clothing.
Ttiring-.
Soon, a message popped up in the notification window saying tailoring was complete, but it didn't say the quest was completed.
"Humm..."
If so, rather than a quest to prepare the conditions for food, clothing, and shelter to survive, it might actually want them to fully equip everything.
It was around the time I was thinking of making a new plan.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the screen went completely dark again.
Soon, text dropped down from above with a tung.
- You managed the basics at least, huh?
"D-Did I clear it?"
This seems pretty similar to the special effect from last time!
From somewhere far off, the ticking sound of a second hand grew louder, filling the audio space. Soon, a huge pocket watch appeared in front of the screen with a syueook.
It opened. A silver pocket watch, inside of which was an honest, classic white face with black characters.
Chareureureu.
The angled second hand accelerated in an instant. And the moment it hit 12 o'clock, the screen flashed, fireworks exploded with a peopeopeong, and the entire screen turned white.
"W-Woah!"
As I stood mesmerized, jet-black text soon came into view.
- Tutorial Cleared! You're in the top 5%, you know?
"W-What?"
I was flustered by the sudden information.
- From now on, the <Gift> feature is unlocked. Of course, it costs points (pt), right?
Just then, the bottom right of the screen flashed, and a new button appeared there.
While the rightmost button with a comic speech bubble icon had been the <Reveal> button until now, this time it was a gift icon.
I clicked the button with my mouse. A pop-up appeared containing two buttons: <Give Gift> and <Receive Gift>.
Naturally, my interest gravitated toward <Receive Gift>. I timidly hovered the mouse over that button. A tooltip popped up.
- The Receive Gift feature delivers items from inside the game to your home using points.
"What?"
I froze. But soon I remembered that the person who introduced this mod to me mentioned giving out 'prizes.' This might be it.
"Ah! So it custom-makes souvenirs or something. The mod creator sure is thoughtful."
I naturally clicked it.
A trade UI window popped up.
It showed the complete inventory list of our settlement's assets. The gathered wooden planks, hunted hides, prepared meals.
And of course, settlers and prisoners were listed there as well.
"What, it gives me these?"
Since it was hard to gauge the value, I clicked on the currency—25 silver coins. It was the silver dropped by Long-term Service Unit 1 when he was captured while carrying it.
[ Required pt: 250 pt ]
"Aha! The price is reasonable too. Should I try this once?"
Conveniently, I had just earned 3,000 pt from completing the tutorial quest, and since silver coins were the iconic currency of this game, it didn't seem bad for a souvenir.
'At most, they'll just send a silver coin souvenir, right?'
I glanced at the cabinet next to my desk. A few anime figures were displayed there. Naturally, as an unemployed young man taking a break, it was mostly empty.
Still, having played this game for 16,000 hours, wouldn't it be great as a token of commemoration?
Dalgak.
"I wonder how it comes?"
I clicked <Receive Gift>. At that moment, Vivian, who was sitting at the dining table, suddenly flinched and walked to the storage room. Then she knelt down in front of the silver coins and prayed.
- "...I gladly offer this."
"Eng?"
But suddenly, with a syu-yuk sound, the screen flashed, and the silver coins disappeared from the game.
"Huh?? Ah!! So it's set up like this. Wait a minute. What about my address?"
The points definitely vanished, and the silver coins in the game vanished too. If they were giving it to me as a prize in exchange, how were they planning to send it to me?
"Ah... Should I send an email tomorrow?"
Glancing at the clock, it was already 2 AM. I thought I should call it a night and get some sleep.
So I left the computer on with the screen running and tried to sleep.
In my head, I fell asleep devising ways to protect our settlement against potential raids.
Kung-kung-kung-kung-.
"Delivery!!"
I woke up from a light sleep. Looking at the clock, it was 9 AM. I definitely wasn't expecting anything, so what delivery?
"Umm? I didn't order anything."
Dazed and half-asleep with messy hair, I opened the door.
"What delivery? I don't have any packages coming?"
At that, the delivery driver held up a small box and checked it.
"I wouldn't know. Hmm... It says... Outer God Company?"
I froze. In an instant, sleepiness vanished completely. The delivery man handed a box the size of a palm to the stunned me and left.
'No way, could this be?'
Goosebumps broke out over my skin. An unidentified program installed from a single email. I knew early on that my personal info had been leaked, but now even my home address so accurately?
'This mod creator, what kind of guy is he really...'
Suspicion soared to the top of my head.
I ripped open the box with a bu-uk bu-uk. Inside the box, a stack of silver coins was neatly wrapped in bubble wrap. I carefully took one out. A heavy silver glow glistened on my palm.
And the game's emblem was embossed on it, identical down to the smallest detail.
"Woah... What is this? Woah damn, this is so pretty? Wait, merch like this existed?"
My mood instantly brightened. This actually arrived as physical merch.
"Kuuu... This mod creator guy!! Ah, thank you so much. The merch quality is killer."
Hum-humming lulla-lulla, I went over to the cabinet. The completely empty figure display stand. I stacked the silver coins up one by one with a chareureureuk.
As much as possible like the in-game silver coin icon, tilted sideways to look good.
"Oh... the vibe is insane."
Just as I was stacking them up with satisfaction—
"...Huh?"
I strangely felt that for a souvenir, a single coin was awfully heavy. I picked one up again, placed it on my palm, and tossed it slightly.
"Ayy, no way. They embedded real silver in merch? Keuk-keuk."
After laughing silly to myself, it started feeling oddly weird.
'...Could it be?'
I scratched my head vigorously.
Throwing on a hoodie, I put one silver coin in my pocket to head out while grabbing something from the convenience store. Conveniently, there was a jewelry store across the main street.
Dallang.
"...Boss. Could you take a look at this for a moment?"
The owner put on a magnifying glass and took the silver coin. He tilted it this way and that, put it on a scale, and applied a bit of some chemical to it. Then he raised his head.
"This is real silver though?"
"...Pardon?"
"The purity is good. Where did you get this?"
My mind went completely blank.
"Uh... How much is it?"
"Looking at the weight and purity, one coin would be worth about 100,000 won."
"O-One hundred thousand won?"
"By the way, do you only have this one? If you have more, I can buy them all at once."
My hands trembled violently.
"What on earth is... going..."