Chapter 14
[Munch, munch (sizzle~)... It's hot, but it's edible enough.]
"Whoa, that's incredible. How does someone even think of eating a Lava Slime's core along with the lava?"
The young man with neatly swept-back black hair looked incredulous as he watched Joo So-jeong on his phone, stuffing a Lava Slime's core and lava into her mouth at the same time and chewing them up.
On closer inspection, smoke was billowing from her mouth, nose, and ears, but she paid it no mind as she chewed and swallowed.
Did this ridiculous regenerative ability apply to her mouth, too?
And putting aside how her mukbang show had distracted everyone, her ability as an Awakened was impressive in its own right. She was so capable that it was hard to believe she was an early climber.
"What do you think?"
"Mm... At this rate, she could probably conquer the lower floors of the Tower in no time... It's just that her goal is so completely different from those of the other Awakened who climb the Tower..."
The vampire sitting on the bed with a blanket draped over her as she watched the stream spoke. Her name was Shimizu Sawako.
Many Awakened climbed the Tower to fulfill their desires, but Joo So-jeong, a phoenix Awakened, was an unusual case: her goal itself was death. She'd shown little interest in conquering the Tower until she suddenly became fired up after hearing that climbing it might give her a chance to die.
In a way, wanting her own death could be considered a desire, but it was clear that her goal was completely different from those of the other Awakened.
Who knew what she thought of spiritual death, though...
"But was she able to eat things other than blood? Oh, no. If she couldn't, she wouldn't be able to eat dishes with broth."
"At first, I really couldn't... So the Bureau gave me blood packs..."
As befitted a vampire, she had many weaknesses, which meant she could only be active at night. But as she climbed the Tower, she completely overcame all of them.
She no longer needed blood to survive, and she could drink water and swim, too.
In terms of her standing as an Awakened, she had already reached the realm of a 'True Ancestor.'
As a result, her connection with her constellation had grown stronger, but ironically, she'd become one of the Awakened with the worst relationships with their constellations.
She'd even tossed the red-jeweled necklace that let her communicate with her constellation into a roadside landfill without a care, so it was easy to see just how bad their relationship was.
Apparently, the Japanese authorities had tried to forcibly brainwash her and make her climb the Tower despite the Bureau's objections, but in the end, one of Japan's special-class Awakened had simply emigrated.
"But she really must be a phoenix. How did she fall from a high-rise apartment building, turn into a pulp, and still revive in a perfectly healthy new body?"
"I can't do that..."
Sawako reacted with disbelief to the ability that had even made the breaking-news headlines.
She had super-regeneration herself and could regenerate immediately as long as her head was intact, but she couldn't survive having her head, heart, and everything else completely destroyed like that.
Besides, recovering from a serious injury and coming back from death both came with severe mental anguish...
Joo So-jeong was
'already mentally broken'
and was seeking death without caring about any of the pain.
'I'm a little curious...'
What could have happened to make her seek death so desperately?
"Then, are you going out to eat?"
"It's so bright... My eyes are burning..."
"Ah... That's why you should've turned on a light..."
She'd become such a creature of darkness in so many ways that it would take a while to get used to the light again.
"Have you ever had sushi, Sis Mi-reu?"
"Hmm? I've had sashimi freshly cut and eaten right there."
"I haven't. I've only had grilled shark fin."
So-jeong, troubled because the Tower had set a condition to forcibly eject her, was playing one of the games she'd found on a sales site while talking with Han Mi-reu about seafood.
Both So-jeong and Mi-reu had eaten seafood in the Tower, though.
So-jeong's shark fin hadn't tasted quite right, since it had been soaked in seawater...
In fact, seafood markets around the world had quieted down considerably because fish were being eaten or killed by marine monsters that had made their way into the sea, while many fishermen had been killed or injured as well.
Awakened specialized in underwater combat, led by mermaids, were taking care of the monsters, but there were super-large monsters the size of whales, too, and progress had stalled at some point.
It was still possible to get seafood from the Tower, but many people missed the fish and seafood from before it appeared.
'Especially since some species had gone completely extinct because of the monsters.'
"But you can eat something called a Clione, too?"
"Maybe?"
Mi-reu replied to So-jeong, who was controlling a character on the screen and fighting a giant Clione.
On the surface, it looked like a game about catching fish, making sushi or other dishes, and selling them. But it was unusual in that you could make sushi and other dishes out of even ornamental fish and species you might wonder whether you could eat. Judging from the in-game reactions, the cooking was apparently quite impressive.
Maybe that's why most of the bosses were much larger than ordinary fish. Surprisingly, you could even cook and eat the boss monsters.
In the past, it had been a highly rated game that won awards in several genres—business simulation, action-adventure, and ARPG—but now it had become a nostalgic game where you could see fish that had gone extinct, making it popular for an entirely different reason.
There was so much more content than she'd expected that even So-jeong was enjoying it quite a bit.
Though she did have the terrible memory of having to delete her save file because she'd skipped an achievement without saving, even though missing it meant she had to start from the beginning.
As a result, in a fit of horrible shock, she jumped into the sea, saying she'd drown herself—and ended up being eaten down to the bones by underwater monsters, dying and reviving over and over until the heat from the flames that erupted boiled the monsters in the seawater and sent their corpses floating to the surface.
Of course, So-jeong eventually revived.
"By the way, what's a ration? It doesn't sound like a kind of fish."
"It's a combat ration."
"I see."
[The Fire Chicken Who Skipped an Achievement.avi]
[Posted by: Deep Sea Diver]
(A photo of Joo So-jeong spreading her wings and diving toward the sea from the air)
(A photo of a huge splash)
(A photo of steam rising from the seawater for some reason)
(A photo of the corpses of underwater monsters, thoroughly boiled and floating to the surface)
(A photo of Joo So-jeong, revived and soaked, in a despairing OTL pose on the pier)
From what I heard, she looked like that because she'd missed an achievement that required starting over if you passed it without saving.
It was unexpected that the seawater would heat up, but fortunately all the Awakened were safe since they happened to be outside.
......
(A photo of a huge black underwater monster, something like a whale, with a hole through its body and roasted whole)
Anyway, one of those goddamn bastards is dead, so good riddance!
-I Am Empire: Now she dies because she couldn't clear an achievement... ㅇㅅㅇ
└Fashionista: It does fucking suck that there are achievements you have to start all over for if you miss them.
-Clacker Maniac: Holy shit, even in the picture that thing looks huge. Fire Chicken killed that?
└Deep Sea Diver: Fire Chicken didn't kill it. To be precise, it surfaced because the water got hot, then the dragon who'd followed Fire Chicken punched a hole through its belly with a mana-enhanced fist. But it still didn't die, so the dragon roasted it whole with its breath.
└Future Archmage Pro: What is that dragon, One-Punch Man? More importantly, what the hell happened underwater when Fire Chicken revived;;
"What monster is this?"
"It's a Giant Overeating Black Whale. One of the major culprits destroying the marine ecosystem by swallowing every fish and monster it comes across. It surfaced because the water got hot, and I dealt with it."
Han Mi-reu answered So-jeong, who'd grown curious after seeing a large whale monster in one of the gallery's featured posts.
"But why was this posted?"
"Apparently, the water temperature suddenly shot up when you revived, and not long afterward, this thing surfaced... I don't know the details, though. I just helped with the cleanup..."
It had been giving Awakened specialists in underwater combat a headache because it was huge to begin with and its hide was ridiculously thick, never mind its muscles and bones. Startled by the sudden rise in temperature, it surged to the surface, where Han Mi-reu, who happened to have followed So-jeong, took care of it.
Even after putting a hole through it, its enormous size meant it had incredible vitality, so Mi-reu had to use her breath to make sure it was dead.
Maybe they were all having a whale-meat feast at the harbor by now.
Its hide and bones were valuable even aside from the part Han Mi-reu had punched through, so if they sold them and split the proceeds among everyone at the harbor, they'd have no money worries for a while.
"Anyway, you really did eat it this time, right? If you keep going to the end, ARU shows up, you know?"
"What's ARU?"
"It's an ancient creature. Not a monster, though."
"Well, dinosaurs showed up, too, so I guess it doesn't matter."
Aside from dying once underwater, nothing else happened, so it was peaceful... right?