Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Eradicating Rice Eaters, For the Normalization of the Hunter Industry (Not Really)
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“There… here goes!”
With a trembling heart, I clicked the [Withdraw] button on the internet window.
Ding!
[JH Hunter Love Future Account (4213) Deposit: 1,470,000 won - (Hunter Points Withdrawal)]
“Muahaha….”
Behold. This fantastical sum of money.
It was the earnings from selling the mana stones I’d obtained in the gate seven days ago.
Mana stones were being used in various fields in modern society these days. For power generation, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and so on.
For reference, the mana stone the size of my palm had sold for a whopping 500,000 won.
The undisputed top contributor to this profit.
By utilizing the hunter community’s ‘Trading Gallery’ like this, transactions between users were possible.
Sure, trading with non-hunters would fetch a higher price, but…
‘That’s too much hassle.’
To sell materials like mana stones to civilians, you needed special permission.
Awakeners were fine, but they couldn’t guarantee civilian safety.
Plus, you could get scammed.
It felt a lot like secondhand trading.
That’s why many hunters used the Trading Gallery.
It was a bit cheaper than market price, but the convenience and safety were definite advantages.
[Current Balance: 1,470,104 won]
“Grrrah…!”
Sweet. So sweet. My teeth are rotting. Just looking at it brings a smile to my face.
Now that I knew this insanely sweet, thrilling taste, how could I be satisfied with minimum wage from a part-time job?
That’s why people desperately try to awaken.
No matter how hard you grind away at a regular job, you can’t compete with hunters snapping their fingers.
Of course, this time the hunt had gone exceptionally well. Normally, even in a D-rank gate, you wouldn’t earn this much in one go.
Even so, being a hunter was undeniably a high-efficiency profession.
Molrang?
“Feeling good. Have another one!”
!!!
Molrang gobbled up the mana stone I gave it, just like always.
Molrang!
While petting the satisfied little guy, I posted something on the community.
[Title: I Have a Declaration.][Author: WannaRaiseADragon]
From now on, I will bring about the normalization of rice eaters.
I’ll clean up the hunter industry and make it pure again.
-Who the hell are you lolololol
-What’s this, a normal post for once?
└Huh?
-If you actually eradicate those rice eater bugs, I’ll stan you hard af
└Fr lol
-You’re a rice eater yourself lmao
└Yeah, true. High-rank hunters make bank anyway, so why do they hate rice eaters so much? It’s mutual aid~
└Trash like you hate seeing people make money without effort
└Wut? Why so mad? Lol
Whoa, check out these fiery comments.
Recommendations and dislikes piled up in an instant, propelling it to popular post status.
That drew even more comments, turning it into a fierce battle.
[This post has been deleted.]
“Ah….”
And it ended in deletion, as expected.
Opinions on rice eaters were sharply divided among hunters.
Typically, B-rank and above hunters who actively hunted monsters despised rice eaters.
Lower-rank hunters naturally loved them, of course.
And objectively speaking, this profit structure was extremely distorted.
In the long term, it inevitably led to a decline in skills among lower-rank hunters.
If the foundation crumbles, the upper echelons won’t last long either.
New faces need to rise from the bottom for a healthy hunter society, right?
Even now, plenty of A-rank hunters had started out as D-ranks.
Plus, in this world where [Hunter Power = National Strength!], rice eaters needed to be normalized for the country to prosper.
Well, not that I had any room to talk, having been one myself.
Anyway!
Why was I suddenly spouting such grandiose, ill-fitting nonsense?
Not for normalizing the hunter industry…
Purely to make money.
“Molrang. You ready?”
!!
At my question, Molrang blinked its cute eyes and focused.
Then, with a cheerful *pop!*, a fragment broke off from Molrang.
“This one’s pretty good.”
I fiddled with the fragment, about the size of a small handbag.
Squish squish.
Hmm, nice and elastic.
This fragment was my idea for a primary business item.
If it could function like Molrang’s main body, as a slime ball, it’d basically be a portable inventory.
Hunters would swarm to buy it, right?
That’d bring me immense wealth, and in turn, rice eater hunters would face normalization.
“Muahaha….”
Everyone really ought to thank me.
Not only do I battle for the nation’s survival every night, but I’m even nurturing hunter skills?
I deserve a commendation or a fat reward bonus.
Of course, the ‘Molrang Inventory’ wasn’t even at prototype stage yet.
I’d run tests over the past week and found several issues.
First, it melted away in less than a day. The record so far was 8 hours.
Second, its capacity was clearly limited.
‘Just one tiny remote control, that’s it.’
In its current state, it wasn’t an inventory—it was straight-up trash. Cute, squishy trash.
How the heck was I supposed to improve it?
I’d tried plenty.
Fed it mana stones, but no absorption, so I tried powdered mana stone dust, even coated it with glue.
Still, the fragment melted away, thoroughly betraying my expectations.
Even asking about pudding slime traits on the monster gallery yielded no detailed info.
‘Doubt anyone even raises them.’
The only tidbit I found after diligently AI-translating foreign papers in tough languages, eyes nearly falling out, was:
[Pudding slimes’ surfaces possess a special power that grows much stronger with each fusion.]
Something about fusion—what the hell did that mean?
I’d tried merging multiple fragments, but the results weren’t much different.
“Ugh, headache.”
No progress meant reality hit hard.
My mind went blank for a moment, then filled with pessimistic thoughts.
What good was summoning monsters if I couldn’t use it properly yet?
Sure, it was an amazing ability, but stepping back, I was just a little girl.
A little girl who couldn’t even hunt monsters alone.
‘This isn’t good….’
Lethargy crept in, soaking me through. No resisting the hormones flooding my brain.
From a few days of living like this, I’d noticed a girl’s body had wildly intense emotional swings.
Sky-high joy one moment, crashing to the basement the next.
And in situations like this, I knew what dream I’d have.
A super vivid one.
Crackle.
In the end, I lit a new incense stick. Stronger than before, meant to suppress dreams.
Not sure if it actually worked.
Crackle.
So I lit another one.
“Ugh….”
Drenched in total lethargy, I collapsed onto the bed.
Molrang.
Sharp Molrang came right up beside me and snuggled close.
You’re the only one for me.
With that happy squishiness, I fell asleep in seconds.
**
As expected, I had a dream.
This time, not a dragon, but with a pudding slime.
One just like Molrang, but a bit different—a red one.
I reached out toward it absentmindedly.
Just as expected, I stroked its squishy surface.
It shivered *brrr*, and changes began.
“Wh-whoa…!”
With a *crack!*, it split into two.
Two became four, four became eight.
It didn’t take long for them to tightly fill the cramped rooftop room.
“Aaah…!”
I experienced that blissful suffocation.
And woke from the dream.
**
“Huh?”
When I came to and sat up, I felt one more puff of softness.
Right next to Molrang, the red pudding slime from the dream was wriggling.
‘Did I summon it again?’
At least it’s a pudding slime.
Pitter-patter….
The incense stick had nearly burned out to the side.
Wonder if it worked at all. You guys get 1-star reviews.
Squeeze!
I wrote the review right away, then stretched with a big *yawn*.
No dull *crack* sounds. A girl’s body was softer and more flexible than anything.
‘Sleep really is the best.’
Last night’s gloom was gone, replaced by refreshing energy.
Morning sunlight filtered through the rooftop curtains, warming me nicely.
Slide!
Habitually, I opened the drawer and grabbed a mana stone.
Ah, from today, I’ll need two.
And I’m running low on mana stones… Guess I’ll have to hit a gate again?
As I thought that and went to feed Molrang and the red one.
The moment I saw them stuck together like sticky rice cakes.
A great idea flashed through my head.
Just make them… fuse?