The Garlic Penalty

The microwave dinged, but I remained sprawled on the floor, unable to get up.

"This has to be a lie..."

I can't eat garlic...?

I reopened my ability window, the Vampire's status screen.

Sunlight and garlic are mildly unpleasant.

Reading that line, I didn't think much of it.

How unpleasant could it really be?

Sunlight was fine since I barely left my room anyway, and garlic? I'd just tough it out and eat it.

Besides, I actually liked garlic quite a bit.

When grilling samgyeopsal, I always roasted garlic with it, and I often added raw garlic to my wraps.

Hell, how does a Korean even live without garlic?

Kimchi jjigae, doenjang jjigae, meat marinades, fried rice—Koreans even make garlic sauce to drizzle over everything.

"Does this mean I can't even dip my pizza in garlic sauce anymore...?"

Forgetting all about the samgyeopsal in the microwave, I grabbed a raw garlic clove from the table and popped it straight into my mouth.

Crunch! Chew!

Tears streamed down my face as expected.

But the taste lingering in my mouth wasn't the garlic I knew—it was something I'd never experienced before.

It felt like wasabi and black pepper exploding on my tongue, with a bitter, unpleasant aftertaste.

Tears and snot flowed automatically.

"Aaaaargh! What the hell is this?! What is this?! I don't need any awakening!!"

I was living just fine, eating well—why did I suddenly turn into a vampire?!

"No, this can't be happening!"

I frantically took another bite of the doenjang jjigae.

It was milder than the raw garlic, but tears still welled up.

"Vampires... can't eat garlic? For real?"

I sat down at my computer and immediately logged into Korea's largest community site.

Ether...?

"That's right! There was that!"

The all-powerful substance that could grant any wish if you could just find it.

The most valuable loot obtainable in the Labyrinth.

Each piece worth at least ten billion won.

A treasure among treasures that most people would never find in their lifetime because the Labyrinth resets every week.

I'd never even considered Ether before, but now I had a reason to hunt for it.

Find Ether and ask it to remove the garlic and sunlight penalties.

The more difficult the wish, the more Ether it required, but mine was just deleting one line of penalties.

"Yeah, one should be enough."

I could find at least one.

Other people couldn't find it even farming alone, but I had ten goblins working for me.

Flash.

Just as I reached that conclusion, the room lit up brightly and something appeared.

"Kerk?"

A vampire goblin holding a dagger in one hand and some unknown scrap metal in the other.

"What? You escaped?"

"Kerkkerk!"

It seemed like it had found an escape gate while farming and come out.

"Good job. Hand over what you farmed."

"Kerk!"

The goblin offered me what it held.

The Sharp Dagger was nothing special, just a basic weapon from the first floor.

The Ruins Scrap Metal was even more worthless—a common trash item that sometimes appeared in quests but wasn't worth selling.

Still, I heard junk shops paid decently for it?

I tossed the scrap metal into a corner and handed the dagger back to the goblin.

"Use this from now on. Don't throw it away."

"Kerk!!"

The goblin bounced around happily after receiving the dagger.

Come to think of it, which goblin was this?

Judging by the bite scars, it wasn't the one I'd bitten.

While staring at the goblin, my eyes landed on the garlic on the table.

Stronger vampires had weaker penalties, right?

What about vampire goblins?

"Goblin, open your mouth."

"Kerk?"

"Open wide. Say ah—"

"Keaah—"

The goblin obediently opened its mouth wide.

I tossed a garlic clove into it.

"Swallow it."

Gulp.

Our vampire goblin followed orders perfectly.

No reaction yet? Is it fine?

The goblin blinked with a "What did you just give me?" expression.

"Ke, kerk?!"

Suddenly its face went pale.

"Kyaaaaah! Keeek! Kreeeeeeek!"

It grabbed its throat and collapsed onto the floor.

"Hey, hey! Are you okay? Was it that bad? I only got teary-eyed!"

"Keeeeeek!!"

The goblin thrashed on the floor clutching its throat before going limp.

No way? Goblin? You're joking, right?

Clang!

The dagger fell from its hand.

Whoosh.

"Huh...? Huh??"

The goblin turned to dust and vanished.

"Gobliiiiiin!!!!"

***

The sudden death of the goblin.

I never expected it to be this vulnerable to garlic!

I'd thought it would just make it cry and sniffle like me.

I'd only wanted to compare our penalties.

"I'm sorry... I won't forget you! Goblin... Number 3!"

Whether it was actually the third one didn't really matter.

Thanks to Goblin 3's noble sacrifice, I'd learned something crucial.

Because I was a True Ancestor, eating garlic only made me tear up and sniffle.

For other vampires, garlic was lethal poison.

One raw clove and they'd be exorcised on the spot.

"This is why I look like a real monster! I'm not a monster!"

Why did biting that goblin in the tutorial give me this trait?!

After a moment of silence at the spot where the goblin had vanished, I summoned another goblin still farming through the familiar third-person view.

"Go bite another goblin."

-Kyaaaaah!

The vampire goblin charged off to find another goblin.

Sad ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was sad, but I still needed to maintain my numbers, right?

Come to think of it, there was one thing that worried me now.

It was night so I couldn't tell, but what about sunlight...?

I'd probably just get annoyed.

But the vampire goblins would be different.

Would they die from sunlight too?

"...This is straight out of a manga character."

I recalled the villain from that neighboring country's manga who killed people and turned them into monsters to overcome sunlight.

That was pretty entertaining. The anime was a masterpiece too.

Was I becoming exactly like that villain?

"Proceed."

That made ten vampire goblins again.

I popped the now-cold samgyeopsal into my mouth and activated the familiar third-person view.

To overcome sunlight and garlic, I needed Ether.

The Labyrinth's greatest treasure, a rare farming item worth at least ten billion won.

"Guys, if you see an escape gate, come out. If not, search the area thoroughly. The target is a small white orb."

-Kerk! -Kerk -Kyaaaaah!

The goblins nodded and scattered.

Ether was rare, but it existed.

There was exactly one on the first floor.

The drop rate increased on deeper floors, but sending goblins there would just get them killed.

I had to find it on the first floor.

Ideally, one every Monday when the Labyrinth reset.

Just then, one goblin caught my eye.

It wasn't farming—just standing still, tilting its head curiously.

"Why aren't you farming?"

-Kerk?

The goblin raised its hand upward.

As if to say "Look at this."

From its expression and actions, I could almost hear its voice.

'Is this it?'

In the goblin's hand was a faintly glowing white orb the size of a finger.

"Huh?"

It was Ether.

"You... you! Escape! Find the gate and get out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now!"

-Kerk?

"Agh! Look for the blue glowing circle!"

-Kerk!

The goblin ran into a building.

"The escape gate is outside! Run around outside!"

-Kerk!!

This wasn't coding.

Was there no way to raise their intelligence?

My head spun for a moment.

This was pure luck.

One goblin had won the lottery.

But was it really okay to use this Ether just to overcome the garlic penalty?

Something worth more than a hundred billion won lottery ticket?

Shouldn't I use it to strengthen my abilities like normal awakeners first?

Just then, light burst from the room and a system window appeared.

Escaping with Ether would put your name on the system rankings.

I turned my head to see the goblin standing there blankly, still holding the Ether.

"Good job. Give it here and rest!"

"Kerk!"

I took the Ether and looked back at the system window.

The nickname field blinked, urging me to set it quickly.

Distracted by the Ether, I didn't have time to think deeply.

I'd stay in my room, and my abilities were blood-related, so...

***

Korean Awakeners Association, Seoul Branch.

In this era, the most important institution wasn't the military or the police—it was the Awakeners Association.

The world's attention was focused entirely on the Labyrinth.

Because of the barrier that prevented Labyrinth overflow and because of Ether.

The barrier maintained by magic stones was the only means of stopping monsters from overflowing into reality.

Of course, the military could handle monsters once they appeared, but overflows happened randomly without warning, and if one occurred in a busy district, the damage would be catastrophic.

The best option was prevention.

The Hunters Association spent enormous tax money purchasing magic stones from awakeners.

It was practically a defense budget.

And second, purchasing Ether.

Though harder to obtain than magic stones, the Association poured all its efforts into acquiring Ether.

Because in the current world, Ether held power greater than nuclear weapons.

Nowadays, national power was determined not by nuclear bombs but by the number of Ether possessed.

That's why the Association constantly monitored the Ether rankings provided by the system.

Twenty-four hours a day, without missing a single moment.

"Haaah."

The staff member on night duty stretched and yawned loudly.

His job was to record any ranking changes tonight.

There were three rankings total.

National Weekly Ranking.

National Monthly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ranking.

World Annual Ranking.

All three were recorded in real time but reset at different times.

The staff member rubbed his eyes and checked the weekly ranking.

"...Huh? What?"

"What is it?"

"The weekly ranking... eighth place appeared."

Eighth place appearing meant that eight Ethers had been farmed on the Korean server this week before the Monday reset.

"But it's a nickname not registered with the Association."

"First time farming? Man, whoever it is must be feeling pretty damn good right now."

"Ah, I wish I could find just one Ether. How much is Ether worth now? Ten billion each?"

"Ten billion? So what? No one's selling. It'll go up soon, right?"

Selling Ether would make you rich, but there was something more precious than money.

Life itself.

"You have to strengthen your abilities first. You can earn money by selling other drops."

"Yeah, that's true. If it were me, I'd strengthen my ability and go deeper to farm."

"Right. Anyway, what's the nickname? I need to record it."

"Hmm... Shut-inBloodDemon?"

"...Pfft. Another chuuni has appeared."

"Since it's a first-time farm, we just need to record it, right?"

"Yeah, it'll probably be beginner's luck anyway. We only report from the second one onward."

The Association staff member added the name to the Ether acquirer list.

***

The Ether was absorbed into my body along with light, turning into white powder.

The moment one Ether Point was created, system windows popped up one after another.

"What is this now?"

I immediately checked the ticket.

Would I ever need to use something like this?

I set the ticket on my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠desk for now and immediately used the Ether.

Domination Power or whatever—I couldn't live without garlic, let alone sunlight.

I could just farm more Ether later.

Of course, I could sell it for money.

I'd become a billionaire overnight, but...

I decided to leave that to my future self.

If ten goblins farmed, I'd surely find more someday.

"Use Ether."

Ding!

"Delete the penalty that makes garlic and sunlight unpleasant."

It was just removing the garlic and sunlight penalties.

It wasn't some grand wish, so one should be enough...

"What?!!!"

I was shocked by the enormous Ether requirement I hadn't even imagined.

Ten thousand points?

Only three SS-rank awakeners existed worldwide.

They'd needed ten thousand points to rise from S to SS.

Impossible alone, but possible because their nations backed them.

By simple calculation, that meant over one hundred trillion won in Ether value.

Yet only around ten thousand Ethers were mined worldwide each year.

Never mind the price—there weren't even any on the market.

"What the hell, I just want to eat garlic and it costs ten thousand?! Then just garlic! At least remove the garlic!"

"What the hell is this?!"

I'd already given up on sunlight—what was garlic that it needed eight thousand Ethers to remove?!

"Then forget garlic, what about just sunlight?"

"Hah! Fine, whatever!"

This was basically the system telling me not to bother.

Even if an entire nation went all out, they'd struggle to gather a thousand—yet it wanted at least eight thousand.

Just then, my eyes fell on the ticket on the desk.

Maybe?

"Use Information Exchange Ticket."

The ticket turned to dust in my hand and vanished.

"A way for me to escape the garlic and sunlight penalties."

Gulp.

Maybe there was another way besides ten thousand Ether?

"What the hell?"

I used an S-rank ticket and the information I got was just "become stronger"?

Just garlic—but for a Korean, it was everything.

"Fine, let's do it. Someday I'll definitely eat samgyeopsal with whole garlic cloves in my wraps, smiling. Use Ether!"

"Strengthen ability!"

— End —