[Did you eat laundry detergent?]
“I ate a monster, you cat.”
It kinda smells like detergent, and the gate’s all messed up, but…
The King Slime did feel like transparent body wash, considering its scent and visuals.
[Tch, you loved it so much but pretended to offer me fire lizards. Don’t share next time—just eat it all.]
“You’re banned from cockles.”
[Meeoow!]
The floral rice drink is complete.
Washing rice with <Fragrance LV15> equipped, earned from defeating the King Slime, gave the rice a subtle floral aroma.
When I made rice drink with that steamed rice, the aftertaste was refreshingly elderflower-scented.
“With 100 Intelligence… it’s freaking delicious.”
The buff item’s effects are starting to kick in.
“So Intelligence and Magic let me see stats. I had a hunch.”
With my Intelligence temporarily boosted, I’m getting more info, even seeing descriptions I couldn’t before.
The next day, I grabbed the freshly brewed, chilled rice drink.
“Hey, kid.”
“Gasp! You actually came?”
I showed up for YellowLight on her way to cram school.
“You said you wanted more rice drink. Here.”
“…You’re really giving it to me?”
“I’m gonna sell it for money the day before the college entrance exam, so I’m giving out samples now. Take more.”
It’s not just for YellowLight.
I brought some in PET bottles to share with her friends taking the mock exam at cram school.
“Huh? Hmm, is this for real?”
“You’ll see if you try it, kid.”
“But, seriously, what’s in this rice drink?”
“Stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Love.”
“Uh… l-love?”
…
“Love is sweet.”
I poured in a ton of love, expressed through sugar.
“It feels kinda addictive. You didn’t put anything weird in it, right?”
Sugar addiction’s a real thing for a reason.
“If you think love’s weird, maybe you’re the one looking at the world crookedly, young friend.”
“…Are you writing poetry?”
There’s a poetry-writing Korean teacher at school who handles the writing contests, but that’s not me.
“Anyway, do your best. You’re my proud sample.”
“This is crazy.”
Her success is key to the next step.
The kids at cram school are desperate to achieve something through studying, and I’m targeting that urgent demand.
“Anyway, let me know how the exam goes. I’m curious too.”
“Cheer me on or something.”
“It’s not the actual entrance exam, just a mock.”
“Fine.”
“Do well.”
I sent YellowLight off near the cram school with a bunch of rice drink bottles.
But carrying them in a coffee tray looks a bit inconvenient.
They’re bulky, which is nice, but transport costs add up.
The kicker? I don’t even have a car.
CatMan’s income jumped fivefold since wearing the Succubus Queen’s Necklace, so I might save enough for a car in a year.
“Maybe making it into taffy and selling that would have more product value.”
The next value-added product is taffy.
The process is similar to rice drink.
Especially since it uses the rice cooker, just like the drink.
But my terrible cooking skills make me hesitant to try taffy—it’s an uncharted path, and I’m scared.
For rice drink, I just dump in all the sugar, and RiceCookerMan’s <High Heat LV5> skill melts it, making it taste like eating rice with a 1+1 sugar deal.
It’s impossible for it to taste bad, and the stat-boosting effect is great.
But taffy requires an extra cooking step I’ve never done, so I’d need to psych myself up.
Still, as an Intelligence-buff item for exam-takers, taffy looks flashy and has a good justification.
I could probably make it with some practice.
[You’ve got a call!]
“You’re handling my phone notifications now?”
I was researching how to make taffy from rice while steaming it.
Amylase means saliva, so am I supposed to make it with spit?
<Blockhead>
The call I’d been waiting for came through.
Did it work?
“Wants to meet?”
Can’t we just talk about this over messenger?
But since she’s an important test subject, I couldn’t ignore it and got ready.
“Taking the necklace with me.”
Like Room 202, she might suddenly say, “I fell for the oppa who makes this rice drink!” and put me in an awkward spot.
But unlike Room 202, who reacts strongly to the Succubus’s Necklace and my Charm stat, this kid doesn’t seem affected much.
Even though she’s an adult cram school student, seducing a student goes against my ethics and beliefs.
Still, the necklace influences negotiations and income, so I’m bringing it.
CatMan’s income went up five times, after all.
If I were a hot private tutor, I’d try to charm her.
I’m totally not bothered by that thought.
“Hey, I’m heading out. Guard the place. You know that without me saying, right?”
[A guy who usually stares at a monster-spawning hole in his room is crawling out. Must be a girl calling. Shouldn’t we go too?]
[Looks like a mommy’s boy is being summoned!]
These guys…
I ignored their nonsense and headed to a nearby café.
It’s a bit annoying, but since I’m providing the rice drink, I figured I’m in charge and called her nearby.
The café’s near the university gate and main road, bustling even at night.
Even though it’s not exam season.
“Hey.”
There’s a student waiting alone at a table.
“Uh, t-teacher.”
“Why?”
She’s calling me teacher so politely?
YellowLight’s face is flushed as she asks.
She seems excited.
I don’t get why she’s excited, though.
“Are you really… selling this for money?”
“The reactions of people who tried it matter. How was it? Did they do well?”
“Well, no, I thought the test was just easy, but it wasn’t? The kids who drank it all did well this time… What is this stuff?”
“It’s rice drink, I told you.”
“No, I know regular rice drink wouldn’t do this. And what’s with the floral scent? It wasn’t like that last time. Is it opium or something? Eek!”
“You say the wildest things.”
“Then what is it! It doesn’t make sense to do this just from drinking rice drink!”
If she asks about the source, I don’t have much to say.
Gotta throw out some long-winded nonsense.
“I don’t know either. Living alone, my mom sent me some Shindongjin rice, but I don’t cook rice much, so it was just sitting there. Old rice tastes bad, and I didn’t want to waste it, so I made rice drink. Weirdly, it made my head feel sharper.”
“Yeah, exactly! Why’s that? I hadn’t seen the question before, but I remembered it clearly. I memorized the passage! The non-literature Korean passage this time was…”
Okay.
She doesn’t need to recite it all in front of me.
She even memorized the poetry passage and started reciting it.
“See? I remembered it. It was so vivid, but after the test, I forgot it on my way here. Then I drank more rice drink, and I remembered. What is this?”
“I thought maybe it was just me, so I gave it to you. It made studying easier for me too.”
“Huh? Teacher, you study too?”
YellowLight never called me teacher before, but now she’s consistent.
It’s been a while since I heard that.
“Studying worked well for me, so I’m thinking about med school. I’m gonna take the entrance exam.”
“What?”
I’ve submitted my application for the college entrance exam.
I didn’t get med school scores the first time, and my knowledge is skewed toward my major, so I probably won’t make it right away.
But I need to see how much Intelligence affects academic performance, so I’m jumping in as a player myself.
If it boosts test-taking ability that much, I want to try mastering law or medicine.
Math’s the problem, but lately, the math I do for fun has been going well.
Plus, monsters don’t come out in real-time.
There’s not much to do at home.
It’s basically guarding the place, like actual home security.
Eat, cook rice, make rice drink, play games.
If I study with that time, it feels kinda fun after so long.
“Well, proving it myself is easiest. It’s been over seven years since I studied, but I’ll give it a shot.”
“The kid redoing the exam for med school was crying. They got a perfect score on the mock. And weirdly, the cram school teacher said they studied better too.”
More samples.
Nice.
“Then let’s make a deal.”
“What… deal?”
“You sell it.”
“Me?”
“Nothing spreads word-of-mouth like a student who tried it and vouches for its effects.”
“Is it… okay to sell this stuff?”
I don’t know exactly, so that’s why I’m doing this.
But, you know, a health certificate?
As long as I have that, they won’t arrest me for selling drinks, as long as it’s not spoiled.
Unless I mess up quality control and cause food poisoning.
Otherwise, the old ladies selling coffee from carts at the market would be in jail.
“I don’t know either. That’s why I’m setting up a middleman, just in case.”
“What if I get arrested? What is this stuff? Why does it make studying better?”
It’s the Intelligence buff.
Just a +100 Intelligence boost disrupting the student study market.
The world’s getting simpler.
It’s not hard to imagine a battle royale among crazy students hunting levels to study better.
“So you sell it with a margin. Keep the margin. I’ll supply the rice drink. How’s that?”
“What?”
It tastes good, so…
***
When I cook ramen, I always mix rice into the broth.
RiceCookerMan initially opposed me eating ramen, but now that I mix rice in, he’s come around.
In front of someone judging you for eating ramen instead of rice, mixing a bowl of rice into it shuts them up.
Of course, I’m the guy who argued with Mom about nutrition, saying, “If I didn’t eat that ramen, I’d have eaten two bowls of rice.”
“Hey, CatMan.”
[What?]
“Is there sin in sodium?”
I’m debating whether to drink the broth.
Since I’ve got a few beings to talk to at home, I ask them stuff sometimes.
It’s better than muttering to myself.
RiceCookerMan and CatMan talk via telepathy, so sometimes they’re just there.
I used to wonder if I was schizophrenic, creating alternate personalities to talk to.
But thankfully, the Sprout Fairy picks up our language fast and chimes in, so I’m reassured.
[Hmm, that so-called perfect nutrition cat food honestly doesn’t taste great. I miss the old lady who peeled cockles for me.]
Since he’s craving cockles, I order cockle bibimbap with extra grams to save on delivery fees, even though I’m not crazy about it.
The cockle bibimbap doesn’t come with shells, so it’s easy to eat.
Now he’s comparing it to the effort of peeling cockles.
“You’re banned from cock—… Nah. Wanna write cat food reviews?”
[Reviews?]
“Is there another cat who knows as much about taste as you?”
I can’t feed CatMan real fish, so I give him cat food—the cheapest, bulkiest stuff I can order online.
I don’t buy the fancy, expensive kind.
Come to think of it, since he’s a cat who can express his tastes, maybe I should’ve asked him sooner.
[I’ll tell you, so listen. My tastes are a bit biased, but I’ve eaten from plenty of humans on the streets.]
“Hmm, go ahead.”
CatMan’s dictated cat food star reviews were detailed and specific.
Above all, it’s a review from an actual cat.
Listening to it, I couldn’t help but be impressed.
“Pretty legit, huh?”
[Of course it’s legit. Who else can hear our kind speak directly?]
Sounds good.
I’d ordered one discounted cat food and another at the lowest price.
I wrote down CatMan’s reviews based on his impressions.
Man, this guy’s got a humanities vibe.
Still refuses to do multiplication tables, though.
“Hey, strike that pose.”
[This one?]
CatMan knows how to give a thumbs-up.
“Good job. Your portrait rights… don’t exist. I’m posting it.”
[Think of it as fan service.]
“Hey, wait.”
[What?]
“Does that work? If you give a thumbs-up, do you spread all your toes too?”
[What’s so hard? Look.]
He does it with his paws.
It’s like he’s giving a real five-star rating.
Though his toes aren’t that long, so it’s not fully spread.
Still, posting the review with the score and photo makes it look like…
A cat actually gave a rating.
“This is fun.”
Since I started writing reviews, I also wrote ones for the delivery sushi place and cockle bibimbap spot I order from a lot.
[The shrimp there was dry. Oh, but the soy sauce shrimp was good.]
“Got it.”
CatMan, this guy’s got a mother-in-law’s palate but is lenient with sodium.
He gives a thumbs-up indulgence to heavy salt eaters?