Chapter 3
ㅡClank, clank….
“A-ah, no one’s coming..? I have to keep watch..?”
ㅡBeep!
I took Mecha DdaengDdaeng and went outside. The sky was already deep in pre-dawn darkness, and the flickering streetlights barely lit this hillside slum.
The steep roads made climbing the back hill unnecessary, and the walls were covered in all kinds of harmful graffiti. If the Korean government had found this place, they’d have blocked it like a harmful website.
So, what am I doing here right now, you ask.
“I’m a princess…. Why do I have to rummage through trash….”
I came here to pick up all the aluminum cans I’d already thrown away. They’d definitely been stacked up at home like a mountain of cocktails until just a few days ago, so why did I suddenly toss them out yesterday? My brain truly makes no sense.
What princess is rummaging through trash bags at 2 a.m., seriously. This was definitely because I ran away from a cockroach. And it was a metal cockroach, too. There’s no way I could catch that thing..
ㅡRattle….
With the hood of a baggy black hoodie pulled low, I was rummaging through trash while making Mecha DdaengDdaeng keep watch. Even after awakening, nothing about me had changed at all.
If anything, I hadn’t even rummaged through trash bags before..
ㅡBeep!
“Eek?! W-what is it all of a sudden?!”
Startled by Mecha DdaengDdaeng’s warning, I backed away from the utility pole where the trash bags had been illegally dumped.
My pants had slipped all the way down, so I was using the baggy hoodie to cover my lower body.
In other words, I’m not wearing pants. Not even underwear.. A cold wind was getting in, making my whole body shiver. If someone found me like this, my life would be over that very day.
ㅡVroooom….
The sound of a car engine came from the alley next door, and headlights cast a rough glow on one side of the road.
“I-it’s a car..! Warn me if a person comes..!”
ㅡBeep….
I got startled for nothing, and even my firm resolve faded away. What I was holding in my hand was about ten crushed aluminum cans. My hands were small and my arms were short, so I’d diligently compressed them by stomping on them with my tiny soles.
Maybe because my body was so light, they wouldn’t crush properly. And because the slippers didn’t fit, my heels hurt like crazy. The moment I lifted my leg to crush the cans, I even felt a chilly wind brush past my empty lower body.
“Sigh.. let’s go back already.”
ㅡBeep!
* * * * *
I dumped the aluminum cans I’d been holding onto a sink that hadn’t been used in years. I figured washing them first would make using them feel a little less filthy.
I’m not really one to talk, since I’d just been hugging those things to my chest, but wouldn’t it also be a little weird for a golem to smell like beer?
Still, the water came out of the sink just fine. After washing the aluminum beer cans and all that, I shook the water off and stacked the ten crushed cans on the floor.
ㅡShhhk….
“Ugh..!! I hate it so much..!!!”
Our Unit 2 golem, the aluminum beer-can cockroach, was crawling around beside me doing nothing. The squeaking metal noises, plus that truly cockroach-like skittering sound, were really wearing me down.
How is it that the golems meant to serve a princess are showing me bank balances and calling me a beggar? And their appearance itself is exactly the kind of thing a princess hates most….
“U,uhhh….”
Surely not, surely not. I made a golem, so it wouldn’t come out as a cockroach as big as ten aluminum cans, right? If that happened, I’d leave this house immediately.
Seriously.
“Please.. Golem Creation..!!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted, reaching toward the ten beer cans in front of me. After that came only the sound of aluminum cans crumpling.
ㅡCrack, crack….
ㅡThud.
Before long, I heard something fairly heavy drop to the floor of the room. The moment I opened my eyes, what I saw before me was….
“W-wow….”
It was that thing. The sort of knockoff model you’d find in an old corner shop, made of angular rubber and not even properly finished. It had no facial features, but it did have a square head, and though it had no fingers, it had slightly angular square hands.
It really had the feel of a stone golem you’d see in a game. Except this one was aluminum.
ㅡSqueak!
The aluminum golem raised both arms with a clanging metal sound, celebrating its own birth. Looking at it like this, it almost seemed kind of cute….
Its size is.. a little taller than DdaengDdaeng. Though the thin parts are even thinner.
Mecha DdaengDdaeng is, for some reason, bulkier than a smartphone. Maybe about the volume of a brand-new, never-used roll of toilet paper.
But the aluminum golem is exactly the size you’d get from melting down aluminum cans. What’s the difference between the two?
“Ah, could it be that value….”
[Golem Creation : EX
The last bastion to rebuild a fallen kingdom. It creates golems to serve you by consuming your own wealth and materials, or the value of those things.
Golem Creation : Lv.1]
Since Mecha DdaengDdaeng even inherited some smartphone functions, maybe the value of the material it’s made from had an effect?
If you use only matter as the material, it stays just matter, and if there’s some additional value, it changes like Mecha DdaengDdaeng.
“Then if it’s currency, maybe….”
Probably money. Does that mean if I spend money on making it, a better golem will come out? I’m not really sure. Besides, you’re not supposed to destroy banknotes carelessly, right? Coins too.
More than anything, I don’t have any money. I’m a beggar.
“DdaengDdaeng, balance!”
ㅡBeep!
[Account balance : 80,721 won]
“Yeah, that’s no good….”
I don’t even have money to buy a meal right now. What a pitiful princess.
[The additional function of Golem Creation : EX skill has been unlocked.]
“Huh..? What’s this..?”
After making the aluminum golem, a notification window popped up in my status window. An additional function for Golem Creation? So I can do something other than just make them?
“This is….”
[Golem Creation : EX
The last bastion to rebuild a fallen kingdom. It creates golems to serve you by consuming your own wealth and materials, or the value of those things.
Golem Creation : Lv.1
Golem Fusion : Lv.1]
“Golem Fusion..?”
It sounds like I can fuse the golems I have, which means….
“F-fusion!! That cockroach!! And this golem!!”
ㅡVroooom..!!
The aluminum cockroach that had been scuttling around the corners of the house was suddenly drawn by magic and merged with the aluminum golem.
ㅡFlash!
“Eek!”
The result was a great success.
“Y-you..!! It got fingers!”
Three fingers that seem to have only very limited functions! They’re thick and probably can’t do proper work, but it got fingers!!
“Amazing! It got upgraded, right?!”
I picked up the golem that had grown fingers and rubbed my cheek against it. The cold feel of metal snapped me awake, but as I felt it stretch out its arms to hug my face, somehow I felt good. Its height seemed to have increased just a little, too?
“Sniffle…. You’re my first soldier!”
It was lighter and smaller than a 500g dumbbell, just a little bigger than the span of my hand, but what mattered was that I had made it.
ㅡBeep!!
“Ah, DdaengDdaeng. You’re not a soldier, you’re a pet.”
ㅡBeep?
“No.. not an animal..? A pet golem..? A pet machine? Whatever!”
Be happy. A princess’s pet is a very high-ranking position.
“Hehe.. I’m going to make tons of these and rebuild the Golem Kingdom!”
Wait, if that’s the case….
“Okay. I give up. I can’t keep digging through trash bags.”
But I am genuinely happy. I’m not really sure how, but I awakened a power? And there are tons of surprisingly interesting functions. Of course, compared to real hunters, I’m still way behind, but a big part of that is my lack of wealth.
Come to think of it, I think Do-syoong-jwak said he’d give me something.
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : Just kidding, any expensive thing not? I need it to use my skill;
-Do-syoong-jwak : What if your job wasn’t princess but beggar? You’re talking nonsense like asking for money;
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : In my soul, there is a star of the prairie..
-Do-syoong-jwak : Does magic come out if you eat a Cyber Burger? ㄷㄷ
-Do-syoong-jwak : Is it a Psy-Psy fruit??
-Do-syoong-jwak : You there?? Where’d you go again?
-Do-syoong-jwak : Is it really a Psy-Psy fruit? Are you trying to summon a Cyber Burger in my head right now??
-Do-syoong-jwak : Save me, seriously
Since I hadn’t replied for a while, he must have been running wild with some bizarre delusions on his own. What even is a Psy-Psy fruit?
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : No; it’s not that ㅡㅡ I’m trying out the skill
-Do-syoong-jwak : Looks like you really did awaken, grats
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : I’m telling you it’s real, why won’t you believe me;
-Do-syoong-jwak : How many people do you think actually awaken for real while hanging out on the awakening board in real time, lol
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : Well, that’s true though;
-Do-syoong-jwak : So what skill is it, anyway? What do you mean princess ㅇㅇ
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : Dunno.. I made a golem out of aluminum cans or something; want me to show you a video
-Do-syoong-jwak : LOLLLLLLLLL enter the total idiot class~!
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : Watch it first and then talk;;
I was about to use my phone to film a video to send to Do-syoong-jwak, but….
“DdaengDdaeng..! Give me back my phone..!!”
ㅡBeep!
“I need to film a video….”
ㅡBee-beep!!
Perhaps sensing my earnest plea, a camera suddenly popped out from the upper center of the screen that displayed DdaengDdaeng’s face.
“Gasp!!! DdaengDdaeng can even record video!!!”
Soon after, the tiny screen showed a dirty, messy one-room apartment. I was definitely recording through the camera.
“Uh, me..? Hehe.. V..?”
ㅡBeep
“No, no, don’t film me…. How about filming that Unit 2..?”
Mecha DdaengDdaeng turned the camera toward the aluminum golem at my command.
And then the recording sound began.
ㅡDing!
The aluminum golem apparently had some sense of the word filming too, because it held up two of the three fingers on one hand to make a V sign.
“G-golem! Dance, dance!”
ㅡSqueak!
It suddenly started moving its joints with a metallic screech and moonwalked. This is going to blow up. It’s a 100-million-view YouTube clip.
“Good job, good job! DdaengDdaeng! Stop recording now!”
ㅡBeep!
We captured something incredible. If the American tycoon who wanted to make androids that move like people—and more than that, wanted to go to Mars—saw this video, he’d definitely pay hundreds of billions of dollars for it.
“DdaengDdaeng! Can you maybe send that over? I want to move the video over to the computer here….”
ㅡBeep!
Mecha DdaengDdaeng looked at where my finger was pointing, then waddled over to the desktop tower.
Then, not long after, it pulled out a USB-shaped tail and suddenly jammed it right into the tower.
“O-ohhh..!”
Along with a notification saying an unnamed USB device had been connected, the video I’d just recorded was downloaded to the computer.
“Thanks! You did great!”
ㅡBe-beep!!
“Heehee, let’s see Do-syoong-jwak’s reaction.”
I clicked the video I’d recorded, then dragged it over into my chat window with Do-syoong-jwak.
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : Watch the video, it’s real
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : I’m telling you, it’s a golem made from 11 aluminum cans
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : (video)
The 1 disappeared as proof that the message had been read, but Do-syoong-jwak didn’t reply for a while. He must have been so amazed by my video that he couldn’t even put it into words!
After this, I’ll probably get praise, applause, compliments, acclaim, worship, respect.. or anyway, 500 good messages.
-Insaengmanghaess-eum : So how is it, how is it ㅎ
-Do-syoong-jwak : Hey lol
But the reply that came back was completely different from what I expected.
-Do-syoong-jwak : What’s with the voice? Is it female?
-Do-syoong-jwak : Why is the shadow naked again lol
“Ah.”