Chapter 68
“Is it morning already?”
It had been a week since the kind of cold that felt capable of tearing one's flesh had arrived.
The bitter cold that descended on Phron made no distinction between inside and outside.
Hundreds had already frozen to death, but at least Dave wasn't among them.
“Was it called a heat pack? The more I look at it, the stranger it is.”
It was all thanks to the heat pack he had activated beneath his blankets.
At first, he had wondered whether something so tiny could really produce heat.
But he soon came to understand the villagers, who worshipped anything from the Marketplace without question.
He couldn't feel the cold.
No, if anything, he was even warm.
When he staggered sleepily into the kitchen, his child and his wife, Aline, who had already woken up, greeted him.
“Dad!”
“Dave, are you awake? Drink this.”
The item his wife took out was something he had never seen in his life.
[90-Count Ground Coffee Mix]
When he opened the black container bearing those words, he found it crammed with things made of high-quality plastic.
Aline took one out, boiled water over a flame lit with a Marketplace lighter, and dissolved it.
What filled the cup was hot, black water.
“I've never seen this tea before.”
The aroma was exceptionally sweet, too.
“It's coffee. I got some.”
“Coffee? The stuff only those noble lords drink?”
Dave was about to put it to his lips when he froze in surprise.
Wasn't coffee a drink reserved for nobles, costing as much as an ordinary family's monthly income?
Aline gave a small laugh and waved her hand.
“Do you think I'd be crazy enough to buy it myself? It's from Head Mod's Marketplace.”
“Ah, uh, hmm.”
Dave sat back down.
Head Mod's Marketplace.
Strangely, even in his outlying village, people accepted anything as soon as those words were attached to it.
No matter how expensive it was or how absurd its effects sounded, the words ‘Head Mod's Marketplace’ solved everything.
“Here's your breakfast.”
The additional breakfast she brought out was in a can.
It was an orange can made of a thin, iron-like material, with the words ‘Lean Tuna’ catching his eye.
He silently scooped the tuna out and shoveled it into his mouth.
The maddeningly rich sheen of oil and the savory flavor of tuna spreading through his body drove him wild.
After scraping the bottom and sides of the can clean, he took a sip of coffee and muttered,
“This makes no sense.”
“Right? Who would sell things like this even to people like us?”
In fact, Dave's family hadn't been doing very well until a few years ago.
Dave had been drafted into the Great War, but by some miracle, he had returned alive.
And the reality he faced was a sick son and his starving wife, Aline.
The high-and-mighty nobles had shut themselves inside the city gates, too busy eating and drinking among themselves.
Just as his family had been left with no choice but to die, Head Mod had suddenly appeared in the Gallery.
“It was practically given to us for free.”
“Anyway, I heard you're going out to do that job starting today?”
Aline leaned toward Dave, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at him.
They were shining so brightly that anyone might have thought she was the one heading out.
“Ah, well, I guess so.”
“That's wonderful. When would anyone get a chance like this?”
“That too. It was a stroke of luck.”
-Ding.
Just then, a notification rang out from the Gallery.
When he checked, it was a notification from work.
[Phron Hunters' Chatroom]
Head Mod*: Hi.
World's Best Hunter: Hello!!!!!!!!!
Deer Specialist Hunter: Good morning!!!
Head Mod*: Starting today, do the work as announced beforehand and leave a review in the Gallery.
Head Mod*: Leaving the instructions one last time in case anyone forgot ㅇㅇ
Head Mod*: (??? Safe Usage Example Video)
The job in question was that of a Phron hunter personally recruited by Head Mod.
All they had to do was hunt using the items Head Mod distributed and record their effects.
Surprisingly, Head Mod had no interest in the hides or meat they received after the hunt.
“Well, I'll get going.”
“Take care. Watch out for bears.”
“Bye, Dad!”
Dave stared at his son, then ruffled his hair affectionately.
He slung his hunting gear over his shoulder and went out the door.
“It's cold, so go stay at the village headman's house. The...”
“The portable generator?”
“Yeah. Head Mod gave us that too.”
The cold could no longer put the North in danger.
Not after Head Mod had given them heat packs and then something called a generator that pulsed like a heart.
No one had to shiver from the cold indoors anymore.
Each village had one, and people gathered in small groups to drink tea or pass the time.
But food was another matter.
- Where'd all the deer go?
- Why Phron Got Jojo'd After Skipping True True Season 142...jpg
- Fuck, I need to hunt, but there's nothing to hunt
As the posts appearing in the Gallery suggested, nearly all the wild animals had died from the cold.
All that remained were truly vicious predators like ice bears, and monsters.
But even that was old news now.
“He told me to install this, right?”
After reaching the depths of the mountains, Dave set down the load he had been carrying and took something out.
Then, after somehow managing to follow the instructions from the video, he soon finished installing it.
-Click
“...That's one hell of a terrifying-looking thing.”
Head Mod had personally provided a hunting tool.
Dave gave a hollow laugh as he looked at the ominous hunting tool he had finished installing.
It was a monstrous trap that could easily catch a monster he would normally have to flee from.
“The name was... Chalko, wasn't it?”
The trap waited for its prey with its jaws open ominously.
It was commonly known as a bear trap.
*
[Title: Amazing!]
Author: Dave
(Meme of an ice bear caught and killed by a bear trap)
This is fun!
(Meme of efficiently harvesting ice bear meat)
How admirable!
[Recommendations1452] [Dislikes13]
- That's fucking awesome. How'd you catch it?
- Whoa, no, what kind of monster is that?
ㄴ It's not a monster, it's an animal.
ㄴ It's bigger than a monster. How does that make sense?
ㄴ In Phron, anything goes lol
- How do you harvest the meat?
ㄴ Author) It's an ice bear, so it's immune to the cold.
ㄴ Its flesh is soft, so it cuts easily lol
ㄴ It was only because it was so strong that no one had thought of hunting it.
- (Scared squirrel emoticon)
ㄴ (Hug me emoticon)
ㄴ (I'll hug you, monster emoticon)
- No, seriously, how do people even come up with things like that?
ㄴ For real, that's fucking evil lol
ㄴ (Meme of a demon giving a standing ovation)
Phron's cold problem had been solved to some extent.
But the problem was food.
Even with the Marketplace, they couldn't live depending on it every day, every moment.
So Head Mod had given them bear traps, and they were undeniably effective.
- But then how do you harvest the meat?
- For real, are you supposed to stand there watching until it dies? Isn't it freezing?
- It's not like there are only ice bears.
The problem was the cold.
Ice bear meat was soft enough for that to work, but monsters were different.
Besides, if meat was left outside for just an hour, it turned into a lump of stone, so naturally a knife couldn't get through it.
At first, meat was often left to waste because of this problem, but not anymore.
[Title: Cold? Isn't that Just a Refrigerator?]
(Meme of prey frozen to death outside)
(Meme of groups gathered around an animal, harvesting it with axes and pickaxes)
Just use an ax lol
- Lmao, fucking hell
- Meat harvesting x, meat mining o
- They just carry it away like that lol
- What kind of place is Phron, anyway?
In the first place, Phron's residents had been chopping down trees in winter, so frozen meat was nothing to them.
They used all sorts of methods, even bringing frozen animals indoors to thaw and eat them.
Their time spent outdoors also increased.
They covered their bodies in heat packs and wore goggles bought from the Marketplace to prevent exposing their skin.
They were even adapting to the cold as readily as ordinary wild animals.
[Title: A Shot from the Mountain Behind My House^^]
(Meme of someone giving a thumbs-up while half-buried in a blizzard)
The weather's been so warm and nice latelyㅎㅎ
- Warm? Warm?
- So where is the author?
ㄴ Lol, fuck, you can't even see him.
ㄴ Half snow, half person
Of course, this led to a few mishaps as well.
Northern Adrian was also the place least affected by the Gallery's influence.
It was also heavily cut off from the outside world, allowing its own culture to take deep root.
In other words, it was a place where indigenous beliefs had taken root instead of the church.
[Title: Declaring Myself Irreligious]
(Meme of someone giving the middle finger to a sheep statue)
(Sullen frog emoticon)
I was born into the faith, but I don't believe in the Sheep God anymore.
I think I've prayed about a thousand times, but it never helped even once lol
At that rate, I'd rather believe in pretty-girl Head Mod.
(Pretty-girl Head Mod thumbs-up emoticon)
Any spots left in Head Mod's fan club?
- Orange faction) Hehe, welcome.
ㄴ Is this bastard still active?
ㄴ Fuck, wasn't it disbanded?
- But why is she a pretty girl?
ㄴ For real, didn't Head Mod's gender reveal make the whole thing explode?
ㄴ Info) Once you're a Grand Mage-level Head Mod, changing genders must be a piece of cake.
ㄴ For real?
ㄴ It... makes sense!
The indigenous faith had begun to shake from its very roots.
People began to distance themselves from religion and reflect more on practical matters.
- Prayer alone can't do anything
- We need to band together ourselves
- Wouldn't a community be better than individuals?
As the problem of survival drew right up to their throats,
the idea that monarchy was no longer the only answer began to seep into Phron.
Just as the atmosphere was beginning to fill with questions, one post appeared that blew everything wide open.
[Title: Ah, Fucking Seriously...]
(Meme of someone extorting Marketplace goods)
(Meme of someone beating a resident and stealing his heat pack)
I used to pay my taxes in food, but suddenly the tax collectors started making a fuss about changing the way taxes were collected.
Then they abruptly started searching our homes and confiscating Marketplace goods...
When my parents protested, they beat them up. What am I supposed to do...?
“What?”
They had suddenly changed the way taxes were collected within Phron.
Some of the items among them had even been practically given to them for free by me.
- Head Mod*) I never agreed to this, though?
Naturally, I found it absurd and left a comment on the post. A reply came just a few minutes later.
- Duke's Proxy) They are residents of Phron before they are Gallery users.
- Duke's Proxy) I appreciate the aid, but I would prefer it if you refrained from excessive interference.