Chapter 9
I open my eyes, stretching in the chair in the disaster-control room.
“Aghhh!! I slept well!!!”
I fell asleep without realizing it yesterday while browsing the gallery, because my chronic post-meal drowsiness flared up.
Actually, it wasn't just yesterday.
A full week had already flown by since I first opened the shop.
After waiting for the free refill that came every 72 hours and selling every refill without fail, I'd already sold more than 300 bottles of Oda Water.
What does that mean?
It meant I'd accumulated quite a lot of mana stones.
“Mmm, this is sweet...!”
Actually, if I added up all the mana stones I'd earned during that time, there were around 7,000, but most of them had already gone toward extending my tile ownership.
[Remaining ownership period: 59 days 13 hours 35 minutes]
Instead of extending it little by little, I went all in and bought a long-term lease.
Actually, I'd been like that since the beginning of the apocalypse, but Zombie-sensei kept appearing in my dreams and licking his lips, which made me uneasy.
Yesterday, I even dreamed that Zombie-sensei ate me.
“It's all because I'm anxious.”
I could develop hypertension, faint, and wake up to find myself with only one minute left on my ownership period.
You never know what might happen.
“The best solution is prevention, obviously.”
The important thing was that I was now a man who could survive for 59 days even if the world ended.
“Oh, right. The world already ended.”
Whatever.
[Shop member capacity expansion complete]
[Current member count (Lv. 2): 200 / 200] - UP!!
After paying a hefty room fee, I also put some of the remaining mana stones toward upgrading the shop.
“What should I have for breakfast today...!”
There was no point agonizing over it. They were all more or less the same.
I had to choose one of cupbap, canned food, ramen, or snacks.
I wondered if the folks outside would like to eat even this, but I'd been eating nothing else, so I was starting to get sick of it.
“Agh, my back.”
On top of that, my back hurt from constantly sleeping in a chair.
A bed! Pizza! Chicken! Raw meat! Variety shows!
“I neeeed them... For my surviiivalll...!”
Humming a song, I prepared to heat my cupbap.
There was no microwave in the disaster-control room, so I had to make do by getting hot water from the purifier and heating the rice and retort pouch in a hot-water bath.
“Cup noodles are one thing, but heating cupbap in hot water is crossing a line.”
I nearly burned my hands on the hot water as I fished out the pouch and muttered,
“This is such a fucking hassle...”
To enjoy my little post-apocalypse pleasures, I really needed to expand my tiles.
“How much do I need? Huh! How much!”
[Upgrade Blueprint Control (Lv. 1) to own a new tile]
[Mana stones required for the next level up: 5,000]
[Mana stones currently owned: 3,000]
“Oh, come on, I can't afford it!!!”
Why were real-estate prices still the same even after the world ended?!
“Or have they gotten fucking cheap...?”
Well, I had to have owned real estate before to know.
Actually, I already knew I couldn't expand my tiles right now.
I just checked once to psyche myself up.
This was also why I hadn't upgraded my inventory slots or registration limit.
“Should I skip the tech tree and upgrade the tiles first?”
I was thinking about skipping everything else and simply increasing the number of tiles I owned.
[Until inventory refill: 4 hours 22 minutes]
“Sshh, there's still a little time left.”
If I waited for one more free refill and sold bottled water one more time, I should be able to upgrade right away.
“No need to rush the decision.”
Time was on my side anyway. It didn't matter what I upgraded first.
I'd paid for a longer stay, I wasn't short on mana stones right now, and if I just sat around selling refilled stock, the mana stones would multiply themselves. What was there to worry about?
Besides, when you have a small amount of seed money in coins or stocks, the proper way to grow it is by day trading first.
“Brrr, it's chilly.”
So what would I do while waiting for the refill?
“Well, eat while browsing the gallery.”
The time would fly by.
I placed the steaming container of spicy pork cupbap on my lap and picked up a plastic spoon.
“Dig in!”
I tore open the pouch of spicy-sweet pork sauce, squeezed every last drop over the rice, and mixed it up. A rich, oily smell that stimulated my salivary glands wafted up.
“Mmm, as expected, a man's soul food is spicy pork, before or after the apocalypse.”
I scooped up a big spoonful of the red-coated rice and mashed meat and sent it straight into my mouth as I opened the gallery.
- Since bottled water's been flooding the market thanks to the shop, seems like the price of shit water is falling too...? [441]
- Yeah, some hero came to our refugee camp and handed out bottled water too ㅠㅠ [211]
- Do you think there'll be another chance to get invited?? [662]
- This is the first system update, but will there be more...? [113]
....
Even after a week, the hottest topic was still the shop update.
“Hey, hey, this should've died down by now.”
With the topic burning this hot, you'd expect complaints or trolls to appear, but that wasn't happening either.
[Upstanding Young Man] Young people these days... their jokes are... too much...^^
ㄴ [Upstanding Young Man] To think you can... purchase goods... online... I'll be laughing as I go...^^
ㄴ Ugh, boomer alert;;
ㄴ Amazingly, that was possible even before the apocalypse...
ㄴ For real;;
Wait, things really get delivered right in front of your eyes?
ㄴ Is this for real??
ㄴ No, I'm telling you, it really arrives.
ㄴ Why don't you believe us;;
Fuck, if bottled water supposedly appeared and flew right in front of you, would you believe it immediately?
ㄴ Would you believe fire shooting out of my hands?
ㄴ Hmm, fair point.
ㄴ Fuck, invite me too.
But remote payment with mana stones is pretty amazing too, yeah.
ㄴ For real, mana stones disintegrating in midair;;
ㄴ What kind of principle is that based on;;
New regulars and users were actually swarming in and adding fuel to the topic, creating a strange spectacle.
“Is this what they mean by one thing leading to another?”
With nearly a hundred thousand gallery users, it wasn't strange that there were users who didn't know about it, but I was still a little surprised by the reach it had.
Title : *Featured [Shop Wiki] I've written up the shop's official moves so far
Everyone knows the shop appeared after the system update last week, right?
I got invited after selling my tragic story back then, and I was extremely grateful.
Since another opportunity like this might come up, I wrote this for the other bros' convenience.
[History]
Initial 100 selected: Oda Water Bro-led selection focused on charity and credentials.
Second 100 additional invitations (NEW!): Additional invitations were issued when the capacity was expanded to 200 two days ago.
The invitation criteria were the same as for the first round.
[Supply Rules—Important]
1. Inventory refill cycle: Based on an analysis of the pattern so far, the shop's inventory appears to refill at approximately 72-hour intervals.
Around the refill time, the shop temporarily becomes inactive or remains sold out.
The key is to aim for the next refill timing—in other words, the open run.
(Speedrun, you bastard, stop sweeping it all up)
[Behaviors to Avoid]
1. Pride and greed result in expulsion > Example: Oda Water Bro
Ironically, after the first member, Oda Water Bro, was made an example, several people who continued showing off without learning their lesson were expelled too.
The Shop Owner seems to allow good-natured bragging, but appears to absolutely hate excessive bragging and reselling.
Therefore, don't brag excessively or resell.
However, free giveaways appear to be allowed.
[What to Do]
1. The Shop Owner is on the side of the weak, but does not endorse incompetence.
If you have a tragic story or are in difficult circumstances, try appealing to the Shop Owner >> The Shop Owner is merciful.
However, considering that capable people were also invited, it seems the priority ultimately goes to people who are willing to survive on their own,
>>> Above all, it seems the priority goes to those with purchasing power.
[Conclusion]
As everyone knows, the Shop Owner appears to exercise autonomous judgment far beyond the level of AI, and is presumed to read every post uploaded to the gallery >> They even post written announcements.
Conclusion: Those who didn't get invited should quietly mine mana stones and wait for the next round of member invitations.
Oh, thanks for the write-up...
ㄴ I'm a newbie, but I didn't know there had been an update like this...
Informative posts like this deserve an upvote, yeah.
ㄴ Upvoted.
ㄴ Upvote, yeah.
It had even reached the point where an informational post like this was sitting in Featured.
“Pfft! Cough-!”
I nearly spat everything out while eating my cupbap.
No, this is actually pretty funny.
I could understand mistaking the shop account for a system update, but now they've made a whole wiki?
[Shop Wiki] If a new announcement goes up or we discover any additional conditions, I'll update it right away, yeah.
ㄴ Thanks, thanks.
ㄴ Upvote for the archivist.
But judging by what this guy was doing, he seemed pretty serious.
“I should play along right away.”
I pulled out my main account.
[Trolling NEET] You're overinterpreting this way too much lol. What do you mean the shop has a will of its own?
ㄴ [Trolling NEET] It just invites people who meet the conditions, that's all lol.
[Shop Wiki] ㄴㄴ I actually ran the statistics too.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] Looking at the first-round invite list, there were 32 people from the ultra-poor / 50 middle-class asset holders / 17 professionals + 1 Head Mod, yeah.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] It looks random at first glance, but it's a distribution that meets the minimum conditions for a capital market to function—and you could call it a perfectly balanced allocation, yeah.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] You can interpret this as the system itself understanding capital markets and regulating supply and demand through a precise three-day refill cycle.
I'm an economics student, and I think this is actually right.
ㄴ Those 32 people from the ultra-poor have a marginal propensity to consume approaching 1.
What the fuck does that mean, nerd?
ㄴ It means they're a group that spends 100% of every mana stone they obtain on survival.
ㄴ Thanks to them, transaction volume shoots up, which adds vitality to the market.
ㄴ Ohh.
“Wow... That's impressive.”
So the Shop Owner really did have that kind of intention too. I nearly overlooked it.
No, but seriously lol, and that Trolling NEET bastard lol.
ㄴ He saw through the shop system and told everyone to promote themselves, which got them invited in both the first and second rounds.
ㄴ Now he's looking at the Shop Wiki and saying it's overinterpreting things, what the fuck lol.
ㄴ For real lol.
ㄴ This guy is seriously unbelievable lol.
[Shop Wiki] Actually, I was inspired to start writing the wiki after seeing that Trolling NEET bastard...
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] I'm just saying it's ridiculous that he suddenly pretends not to know anything and starts talking about something else...
ㄴ For real, that bastard's character is hilarious lol.
ㄴ A bastard who knows nothing but is pretty clever...
ㄴ He really lives up to his nickname...
But thanks to that bastard, you got invited, right?
ㄴ Damn, that's true.
ㄴ The undisputed king of sages.
ㄴ The Shining Trolling NEET.
The four great elements of browsing the gallery.
Deception, humblebragging, hot topics, and trolling.
“Heh heh.”
I'm having all four to myself.
“This counts as a successful life, doesn't it? Mm-hmm.”
Ah, to think I can live this enjoyably even though the world has ended.
“Good. I've worked hard earning mana stones for a week, so...”
I scooped up a spoonful of cupbap and shouted,
“Today, we're going all-in on gallery browsing without taking a breath!!”
*****
It was while Trolling NEET was enjoying his happy life.
A hideout somewhere in the Yellow Zone.
The gallery's Head Mod, Baek Eunwol, sat with her cap pulled low, lost in thought as she waited for the guests across from her.
“...”
A week had passed since the shop appeared. During that time, not only the gallery but also the real world had gradually begun to change.
“Hahahaha!! We really got invited!!”
Beyond Eunwol's line of sight, a gang of ragpickers gathered in an alley was cheering as they looked at the gallery.
Under normal circumstances, these were people who would have been fighting over the scrap they'd picked up that day or a few mana stones.
“Huh? You guys got invited too?”
“Of course! I wrote an incredible story!”
“Fuck, that's 20 mana stones! Starting today, I won't return to the hideout until I've smashed 20 Walkers' heads. Next time, we're the ones buying bottled water!”
Eunwol pulled her cap down farther and quietly took in the scene.
Some 350 bottles of water.
That was the only miracle the shop had released into the ruined world over the past week, but its influence was by no means small.
Survivors no longer tried to kill one another over rotten, muddy water.
Instead, they willingly took up weapons and ventured outside, where monsters swarmed, in order to prove themselves to the system and get invited.
The eyes of survivors who had once had no tomorrow began to glow with the vitality of those yearning for a miracle.
“If this is what the system intended... then it succeeded.”
But Eunwol still had one unanswered question.
“Then what am I...?”
She recalled the moment she awakened.
[You have met the conditions for awakening]
[Condition: Survive for a total of 5 days inside the Red Zone]
[Difficulty: Hard]
[A legendary-grade trait will be granted in proportion to the difficulty of the conditions!]
[You have been chosen by the system > Awakened as an Administrator (JUDDAK)]
She believed there had been some intention behind her awakening as the administrator of this capital-region gallery.
She thought it was the system's weighty decision to maintain at least a minimum degree of order in this virtual space—the only place where survivors could communicate in a world turning into hell.
That was why Eunwol hacked apart mutants outside while drenched in blood, and controlled false information inside to protect this space.
But why had this new miracle and system called the shop failed to give even Administrator Eunwol a single word of notice?
Had a separate, higher-level system that she knew nothing about intervened?
“Hmm...”
For now, she had no way of knowing.
Title : But if it's true that the shop has a will of its own
What kind of intention would that be?
I suppose it's a convenient function.
ㄴ Wouldn't it be to help us survive?
[Shop Wiki] Yeah, I think it could be interpreted that way.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] If the system wanted to destroy us, it wouldn't have awakened us in the first place, and we'd have perished long ago. But we awakened and have survived this long.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] If the system's goal isn't to destroy us completely, then perhaps the shop is one of the systems supporting our survival.
[Shop Wiki] So that system invited the Head Mod first?
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] That's proof positive that it has an intention, yeah.
ㄴ Damn;; I agree.
ㄴ You're practically the Compendium of Agreement.
ㄴ It makes sense.
ㄴ No wonder the Head Mod told people to delete posts and refrain from shitposting when the shop was selling.
ㄴ For real, right?
[Trolling NEET] Mmm... Nice analysis;; I think the system has an intention too, yeah.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] Do you really think so?
ㄴ [Trolling NEET] Do you think I do? The Head Mod just got lucky and was invited lol.
ㄴ [Shop Wiki] ;;
ㄴ What the fuck is this guy?
ㄴ Just pick one.
ㄴ Ah, lol.
One thing was certain: the system had a clear intention and some future it hoped to bring about.
And if that future was heading in a hopeful direction, Eunwol would be willing to assist the shop system at any time.
“If that, too, is part of an administrator's role, I'll accept it.”
Just as Eunwol muttered that and steeled her resolve,
the people she had been waiting for arrived.
“Aha, look who it is... The Head Mod?”
A gang that flaunted its intimidation with sturdy bulletproof vests and razor-sharp weapons, conspicuously chewing precious jerky.
The alliance supplying food and drinking water throughout the Yellow Zone.
The subordinates of the Oasis Guild surrounded Eunwol.
“Hey. Don't speak informally.”
When Eunwol shot them a murderous glare from beneath her cap, the men who had barged in so confidently flinched and slowly backed down.
“Ahem! Ahem! W-We came because we heard the Head Mod wanted to see us personally...”
“Good.”
Having seized the initiative, Eunwol slightly lifted the brim of her cap and got straight to the point in a cold, subdued voice.
“I'll ask you directly. Why have you suddenly tripled the market price of water and decided to cut off the water deliveries to the refugee camp I asked you to supply?”
At Eunwol's interrogation, the atmosphere in the space froze.
As the subordinates' faces subtly contorted under the weight of her overwhelming presence and they nervously watched her reaction,
“Fuck, what else could it be but that goddamn shop update?”
The frozen gang split apart, and a man with slicked-back hair stepped out.
It was Choi Tae-su, leader of the Oasis Guild.
Click-!
He wore a faint smile, but the handgun in his hand was aimed squarely at Eunwol's forehead.
“...Are you kidding me?”
“We're not.”
A week since the shop appeared. Three hundred and fifty bottles of water released into circulation.
That alone was enough to shake the order of the ruined world.