Rice Cake
“I’m dying…”
Ryu Jia stumbled through the crack in the door and collapsed straight to the floor.
Her face was slick with sweat, her hair was scattered in every direction, and none of her usual bright, energetic presence remained.
“Rough day, huh.”
Kim Jun gave a snort of laughter.
He didn’t need to see it to know exactly what had happened.
Adeline was the type who never let talent slip through her fingers once she found it.
She had probably gone wild while analyzing Ryu Jia’s mana circuits.
Whether Ryu Jia wanted her to or not.
“That woman’s... a demon. A demon…”
Ryu Jia muttered weakly.
“Even after skill fusion, she still wouldn’t let me go. It was all, ‘learn this too,’ ‘master that too,’ ‘improve your mana circuits,’ ‘you’re pathetic,’ and so on... Ugh…”
“But you did learn something, didn’t you?”
“…Yeah.”
Ryu Jia gave a small nod.
She still wore a sulky expression, but there was something different in her eyes.
Even at a glance, he could tell something had clearly changed.
The explosive mana she’d always given off was gone.
In its place was a dense, concentrated, refined feeling.
She taught her well after all.
Kim Jun smiled to himself.
And, frankly, once Adeline saw Ryu Jia’s talent, there was no way she could have left her alone.
If Olivia felt like a graduate student, Adeline felt like a textbook professor.
With that personality, there was no way she’d let a fine specimen of raw material pass her by.
“Go warm yourself up first. You’ll feel better after the hot spring.”
“O-oh, there’s a hot spring!?”
“Of course.”
Kim Jun grabbed Ryu Jia by the arm and hauled her to her feet.
“It’s called Olympus Paradise, the finest lodging in this place. Everyone’s staying there.”
“Are you coming too, oppa?”
“I’ve got something to take care of first. You go ahead.”
“What is it?”
“Going to get a pet.”
Kim Jun answered with a grin.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Twenty minutes after passing through Artemis’s north gate, he spotted a sign that read Pet Ranch.
Here it is.
Kim Jun stopped walking.
There were several ways to obtain a pet.
You could capture a wild monster yourself, open a random box, or, as in a place like this, adopt one from a ranch.
Of course, getting a good pet was difficult.
A-rank ones were rare, and S-rank pets didn’t even exist here to begin with.
But Kim Jun wasn’t looking for something like that.
All I need is utility.
He and his companions would handle the fighting themselves.
They weren’t weak enough to depend on a pet’s performance.
That went for all of them, Kim Jun included.
So a pet that could automatically collect loot and sense danger would be enough.
And above all else—
The one I met before regression.
A small, adorable black cat.
It was the only pet Kim Jun had ever grown attached to.
I wonder if I can find it.
“Welcome!”
The woman running the ranch waved cheerfully at him.
“How many draws would you like?”
“Five!”
One for himself and one for each of his companions.
The owner handed him five keys.
“Good luck!”
Kim Jun stepped out into the field.
The pet ranch was laid out across a wide plain, with hundreds of boxes arranged in rows.
Each box contained a single pet, and if you opened it with a key, that pet was adopted into your care.
The problem was that there was no way to know which pet was in which box.
Pure luck.
But for me...
Kim Jun activated Thread of Ariadne.
Fwip.
Thread of Ariadne pointed in one direction.
All the way at the far end of the ranch.
Over there?
Kim Jun followed the thread.
There was a rule here.
The longer a pet had been alive, the closer it was placed to the entrance; the younger it was, the deeper inside the ranch it was kept.
Like a convenience store putting milk close to its expiration date right up front.
It was around the middle before I regressed.
Kim Jun tilted his head.
The black cat he’d met back then had definitely been somewhere near the middle of the ranch.
But now it was all the way at the back?
Ah, right. Time difference.
Compared to before regression, he had climbed the Tower at an absurd pace.
Of course time had passed differently, which meant that cat would be much younger now.
So it’ll be even more of a baby this time? It was young before too.
The corner of Kim Jun’s mouth lifted.
That wasn’t bad.
As he drew near the spot the thread pointed to, he found a single box that was noticeably smaller than the others around it.
The box is smaller too.
The moment Kim Jun opened it—
The pet has not yet hatched.
Time until hatch: 25 hours 30 minutes
We recommend choosing another pet!
“...What?”
Kim Jun froze.
It hadn’t hatched?
That means it’s basically just been born.
One of those helpless little things that couldn’t even open its eyes yet and had to be fed by hand.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Kim Jun looked down at the small box.
Before regression, it had already grown a bit by the time he met it, but now it was still in egg form.
Twenty-five hours and thirty minutes...
Should he wait or not?
No, waiting was the right call.
It was the one Thread of Ariadne had led him to, and if this really was the same cat from before regression—
It’ll be a pain, but...
Raising a baby cat didn’t sound bad.
“Let’s check the others for now.”
Kim Jun looked around at the boxes nearby.
He didn’t have any particular standard.
He just went with whatever caught his eye.
The first box.
Click—
When it opened, a small turtle appeared.
Blink-blink.
Its shell looked as hard as rock.
[Name]: Shelton
[Grade]: C
[Effect]: Owner’s defense +5%, health +5%
[Special]: Danger sense, automatic loot collection
“That one’s definitely Minsu’s.”
The second box.
Shhhk—
A small white bird spread its wings.
[Name]: Lumi
[Grade]: C
[Effect]: Owner’s mana recovery speed +5%
[Special]: Early status effect detection, automatic loot collection
“For a healer or mage, I guess.”
The third box.
“Meow~”
A white cat appeared.
Small, but lean and quick-looking.
[Name]: Blanc
[Grade]: C
[Effect]: Owner’s agility +25%, critical hit chance +10%
[Special]: Automatic loot collection
“That’s perfect for Suin.”
The fourth box.
Flutter-flap—
A vividly colored parrot flew up.
[Name]: Echo
[Grade]: D
[Effect]: Owner’s intelligence +5%
[Special]: Skill cooldown reduced by 5%, automatic loot collection
“Hmm... a little disappointing in terms of grade.”
It was only D-rank, but reducing skill cooldown was useful.
For a mage like Ryu Jia, who had a wide array of skills, it would actually be very handy.
“That leaves just mine.”
Kim Jun returned to the small box he had found first.
[Time until hatch: 25 hours 19 minutes]
“Still a while.”
He had thought he’d spent quite a bit of time wandering around, opening boxes, and checking pets.
But it had only been ten minutes.
I can’t just sit around here and wait.
Kim Jun propped his chin on his hand and thought.
His companions’ pets were already taken care of, and only his own remained.
But there was no way he could wait here for more than a day.
“I’ll take it with me for now.”
He was already carrying accumulated fatigue anyway.
Maybe he could just soak in the hot spring and wait there?
In the meantime, he could take care of other things too.
Kim Jun carefully picked up the small egg.
It was lighter than he’d expected.
“Taking it with you?”
The ranch owner came over and asked.
“Yeah. Since it hasn’t hatched yet, I’ll need to wait a bit.”
“Ah, then take this.”
The owner handed him a small bundle of cloth.
“Pet eggs are all about temperature. If you keep it warm, it’ll hatch faster.”
“Thanks.”
Kim Jun wrapped the box in the bundle.
It felt soft and cozy.
“Oh, just a moment.”
The owner hurried inside, then came back out carrying a small basket.
“You’ll need these as soon as it hatches. I packed a milk bottle, some soft food, and a blanket too.”
“This too?”
“It’s on the house. Baby pets take a lot of work.”
The owner smiled brightly and held out the basket.
Kim Jun accepted it.
It was more fully stocked than he’d expected.
“Thanks for taking care of me.”
“I hope you end up with a good pet.”
Kim Jun gathered up the pets and supplies and left the ranch.
“...”
The owner watched his back in silence.
Her eyes looked sad.
No—sad wasn’t quite right.
It was closer to something wistful.
“Please... may you reach it...”
As soon as she murmured those words—
Drip.
The outline of the ranch owner began to blur.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Haaah...”
Kim Jun let out a deep sigh.
[Time until hatch: 23 hours 40 minutes]
He’d deliberately walked slowly.
He’d browsed the shops, looked around the streets, even bought snacks from a street stall just to kill time, and yet...
There was still almost a full day left.
I want to see it already.
The little black cat he’d known before regression.
When he thought about it, it had been an insignificant pet, but to Kim Jun it had been the only thing in the Tower he’d ever truly grown attached to.
This time, I can raise it from the start.
Kim Jun looked down at the small box.
An egg wrapped tightly in the cloth bundle.
Following the ranch owner’s advice to keep it warm, he had carried it against his chest the whole way back.
“I should at least take a bath first.”
Kim Jun went into his room and carefully set the egg down on the bed.
He fluffed the blanket over it and lined pillows around it to keep it in place.
“Wait here a little.”
It felt ridiculous to talk to an egg, but somehow it seemed like the right thing to do.
Kim Jun took off his clothes, wrapped a towel around himself, and headed for the hot spring.
The hot springs at Olympus Paradise were divided into the men’s and women’s baths by nothing more than a bamboo fence.
It blocked the view completely, but sound carried well enough.
Looks like they’re all in there.
He could hear laughter and conversation from the women’s side.
Ryu Jia. Lee Seoyeon.
Suin is probably sitting quietly without saying a word.
Kim Jun smirked and stepped into the men’s bath.
Hot water bubbled and rolled.
The steam wrapped around his entire body.
“Haaah...”
As he eased himself in slowly—
Splash.
The warm water closed over him.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Boil-boil-boil—
“So everyone except me was enjoying this!?”
“That’s why we came back in, didn’t we?”
Lee Seoyeon said as she sank into the hot spring water.
“Hmph!”
Ryu Jia puffed out her cheeks.
She, along with Lee Seoyeon and Han Suin, had already enjoyed the hot spring earlier and gotten out, but they’d been worn down by Ryu Jia’s relentless whining and come back in.
You couldn’t ignore the youngest when she threw a fit.
If they hadn’t gone along with it, she might have stayed sulking all the way until they cleared the Tower.
“Still, Jia.”
Lee Seoyeon looked at Ryu Jia closely.
“Yeah?”
“You really do seem different. Your mana is much more stable than before.”
“Really?”
Ryu Jia’s eyes sparkled.
“Yeah. Before, it felt like your mana was bursting out all over the place, but now it feels like it’s been firmly forged into something solid.”
“Really? Really? You think so too, unnie?”
Ryu Jia grabbed Lee Seoyeon’s arm and asked eagerly.
“Of course. I’m certain.”
“What about Suin unnie? Do you think so too, Suin unnie?”
Ryu Jia turned to Han Suin.
“...”
Han Suin looked at Ryu Jia without saying a word, then slowly gave her a thumbs-up.
“Ehehehe!”
Ryu Jia’s face lit up.
It had all been worth it.
Adeline really was a demon, but still, it seemed she had definitely taught her something.
“By the way, where did the guild leader go again?”
Lee Seoyeon asked, glancing around.
“He didn’t go off to the next floor by himself again, did he?”
“Oh, I saw oppa.”
Ryu Jia answered, stirring the water with her hand.
“He said he was going to get a pet.”
“A pet?”
“Yeah. He said he’d get one for all of us too. He should’ve arrived by now.”
No sooner had Ryu Jia finished speaking than—
Splash.
From the other side of the bamboo fence, the men’s bath sent up a splash of water.
“Looks like oppa’s here?”
“He came back quickly.”
Lee Seoyeon nodded.
Then—
“Huh?”
Ryu Jia’s gaze fixed on one spot in the bamboo fence.
A tiny hole.
Whether it had always been there or had formed because the bamboo had grown old, it was just about the size of a finger.
Gulp.
Ryu Jia and Lee Seoyeon swallowed at the same time.
Then they met each other’s eyes.
Just once?
No, we can’t...
What?
If you really want to...
They had a full conversation with their eyes.
They were curious.
Kim Jun’s solid physique was visible even through his clothes most of the time.
And those sharply defined muscles and veins that showed whenever he rolled up his sleeves.
Just how hard had he trained his body?
The two of them were slowly inching toward the hole when—
“N-no, n-noooo!!”
Han Suin shot to her feet and blocked them.
Usually so taciturn, she now raised her voice and strongly objected.
“I-it, you c-can’t, lo-look...”
Han Suin shook her head firmly.
Then—
Thud.
She placed her own body over the hole and blocked it completely.
She turned her back and pressed herself right up against the bamboo fence, sealing it shut.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Hm?
As Kim Jun soaked in the hot spring and let his body relax, something caught his eye near the bamboo fence.
A small hole.
And blocking that hole...
What is that?
Something pure white.
Soft-looking.
Like a mochi rice cake.
“Rice cake? No, that can’t be.”
But he decided not to think too hard about it.
Some things felt better left unknown.
Kim Jun looked away and surrendered himself once more to the steaming hot water.
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