Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
“What’s this now?”
White streaks of light start raining down like a vertical shower near the gate.
And among the small beings, even smaller ones begin spawning under my room.
Thanks to my boosted intelligence, I can now see their levels above their heads without shining my smartphone. Looks like my smartphone had higher intelligence than me.
Wait…
That’s kind of annoying. With all this AI stuff making humans feel uneasy, and my brain being outdone by an Exynos chip, no wonder semiconductors get exported while I don’t.
[Roarrrr!]
[Grrrrrahaha!]
“Whoa, this is… uh.”
They’re so tiny I can’t make out their appearance, so I zoom in. Perfectly bipedal, with decayed cloth and shriveled skin—
<zombie lv1>
<zombie lv21>
A zombie horde with varying levels, so many it hurts my eyes to distinguish them.
“Even in a giant world, since their forms are similar, they’re likely to deploy monsters that resemble humans or have human hearts. They’ll exploit hesitation.”
I was prepared for humanoid monsters, thanks to the Swordmaster’s lingering thoughts.
“Gross.”
But these are so corpse-like, it probably doesn’t matter. I did think about it.
There are demons in that world that look exactly like humans—succubi. According to the Swordmaster’s memories, they were deployed under the Queen of Nightmares’ orders.
If something like that showed up, even on a small scale, killing them like swatting flies with a flyswatter would feel beyond cruel.
It probably wouldn’t do my personality any favors either.
“May they rest in peace.”
If a zombie outbreak happened?
“They were human, so we can’t kill them! There’s got to be a cure, a way to reverse it!”
I’m not doing that.
They’re so small that even zooming in, the focus is shaky, and I can’t see them clearly.
Still, my personality is important, so I clasped my hands, prayed for them, and then—
Click.
Before turning on the fan to level 2, I prepared for the rainy season and typhoon season by putting up a raincoat against the wall.
If I used the fan, the tiny things would get blown away, hit the wall, and splatter. I’m confident in wallpapering, but I don’t want to do it again.
I spread out the raincoat to secure the rear and turned on the fan.
[Ugh, roarrrr!]
At fan level 2, they all get blown away, crashing into the raincoat area and going down.
<experience gained through trap hunting>
“Auto-hunting, nice.”
The trap hunting skill has been around since I took down three skeleton monsters with the fan early on.
I wondered what kind of skill it was, but it turns out devices like RiceCookerMan or the fan, powered by electricity or fuel, or even autonomous ego swords or literal traps, grant experience to their owner without direct combat.
“It doesn’t go up if I disable it.”
Since these are low-level enemies, the experience is minimal. I tried disabling <trap hunting lv10>, and the fan’s enhancement level increased, but my experience didn’t.
Pop, pop, pop, pop.
They keep spawning, but their levels are so low there’s no tension. They don’t seem to have any skills, and while some have higher speed, most zombies aren’t that threatening.
Since they’re mindless corpses, their muscles and nerves probably aren’t in great shape, so it makes sense they move slowly, groaning roarrrr.
But…
[Grrrrrr!]
Ugh, that’s jarring.
I was leaning on the fan, just looking at my phone.
<fan limit break available>
<fan limit break available>
Don’t tempt me with limit breaks. Limit breaks are chance-based enhancements, and a fan isn’t a flyswatter—it’s not meant for smashing. It’s summer, after all.
Just when I thought I’d taken out the first wave of zombies with the fan’s level 2 breeze,
Pop! Pop!
<skeleton soldier lv1>
<skeleton soldier lv2>
Now a mixed unit of skeleton soldiers joins the fray. Zombies must be civilians, while skeleton soldiers are somewhat military.
The skeleton soldiers aren’t just bones—they’re clad in leather. There’s a lot of them too.
“How many… I mean, how many people are invading!?”
Since they’re monsters made from human corpses, I’m trying to respect the deceased in my own way.
I’m not flustered. There are a lot of them, but they’re low-level monsters, getting blown away by the fan and crashing into the raincoat, earning me death-verdict experience.
<Experience +1>
The problem is that the +1 experience keeps popping up on my status window, making it hard to watch. I thought about leaving it to RiceCookerMan, but then—
<acquired regeneration skill>
<acquired super regeneration skill>
<regeneration skill level increased>
“Hmm.”
I decided to keep using the fan.
At first, I thought it’d be hard to use a rice cooker that “cooked” monsters, but after tasting the rice, I changed my mind.
If you clean the cooker, it’s fine. Gopchang, daechang, makchang—those are all from the same “passage,” right?
You clean them, and they’re delicious, so why not rice? But unless you’re into “that” taste, it’s human nature to prefer cleaner insides.
So, I’ll use RiceCookerMan only for defense during sleep or outings.
“Oh, look at that.”
A level 20-something zombie dodges the fan’s blind spot and climbs over it. It’s trying its best to run bipedally, but it’s not fast.
“Nice effort.”
No matter how fast they are, short legs mean nothing. For those bypassing the fan defense tower, I swatted them with a flyswatter, sending them to…
“No, I mean, granting them rest. Yeah, rest.”
The experience isn’t much, but with their numbers, skill absorption is great. Regeneration is already at level 19.
<regeneration lv19>
Instantly regenerates about 1.9% of bodily damage.
Survives up to 5.7% bodily damage without dying, recovering over time with stamina and healing items. Severed or lost parts regenerate.
However, damage above the neck does not regenerate.
What a generous skill.
Just when things seemed to calm down, the third wave of zombies comes rushing in. The third offensive.
“Coming again? Did they change tactics?”
It feels like their strategy shifted to a numbers game. So, I just watched TV. They can’t even beat a non-limit-broken fan and are getting smashed, so…
Pop, poppoppop!
“Come on, bring it.”
After a brief pause, the zombie horde keeps coming. The fourth grand offensive. Still no tension.
[Let’s finish this. You guys can’t do this. Tell me, tell me.]
Smack!
[Why’d you make me do this, punk?]
“Pfft.”
That goofy older brother type is smacking the grasshopper mascot in Infinite Challenge.
He used to get face-punched all the time, but now he’s shining. I’m watching a rerun of Infinite Challenge, scratching my butt.
While a living corpse invasion continues, I’m laughing at a timely funeral comedy sketch.
And as I do, my experience and skills keep rising. The fan’s doing great. The experience is small, but gaining 1-2 points is pushing me toward the next level.
<level increased>
Leaning against the bed mattress behind the fan, holding the remote, watching TV, and drinking sikhye, my level goes up. Now I’m level 89. The level-up stat boosted luck by +1.
<Acquired hidden trait: Necromancy!>
With the fan taking down so many enemies, I even got a hidden trait.
Necromancy, huh. It’s a bit creepy, and I don’t want to use it, but since I got Swordmaster from the Swordmaster’s possession, it’s not bad to have and swap as needed.
I’ll look into it later. This is fun. Yeah, when tiny-world monsters invade, you gotta have some easy wins.
I’ve had it rough lately.
Pop! Poppoppop!
“Oh?”
This time, they’re in formation and not getting blown away? In the fifth grand offensive, it seems they finally have a commander.
They’re grouping up to increase their weight and avoid being swept away.
Nice try, but no chance. Level 3.
In the zombie horde’s fifth offensive, they’re resisting like penguins enduring Antarctic cold, so I had to use my secret weapon: level 3 gale-force wind.
I asked, “Is there anyone I can communicate with?”
[Grrrrrrr!]
[Roarrrr!]
“Sorry.”
I tilted the fan slightly from behind to hit them directly, and they scattered and flew away. Regeneration skill levels up again. Super Regeneration skill hits level 2.
“Bring it on, hahaha!”
Is it okay to level up like this, watching TV reruns and sipping sikhye?
***
This otherworld invasion went on for a whopping ten waves of full-scale demonic assault.
With ten offensives and thousands of units, if they weren’t tiny-world creatures, the world might’ve faced a grim outcome.
Having blocked all ten waves, I got some loot. First, my level went up by 2, hitting 90.
<regeneration lv39>
Instantly recovers about 3.9% of bodily damage. Survives up to 11.7% bodily damage without dying, recovering over time with stamina and healing items. Head and heart damage does not recover.
Killing so many regeneration-skill enemies raised my Regeneration to level 39. It’s a skill that can instantly regenerate even a severed hand.
<super regeneration lv4>
Can recover even from head and heart damage. Restores the original self even after brain damage.
However, at the current level, it takes a long time.
And Super Regeneration, which regenerates even a severed head.
<corpse poison lv10>
Spreads plague with corpse poison. The plague causes continuous pain and severely reduces stamina stats.
I even got a skill for biological warfare. That’s how I stopped the invasion.
The problem is…
“I’m screwed.”
I’m screwed again. The walls didn’t collapse or anything. It’s just that the remains of thousands of zombies and skeleton soldiers are piled up.
Even if they’re tiny-world monsters, the sheer number… And since they were originally human, they’re bleeding red blood.
If they did a luminol test in my room, the bloodstains would…
“Can’t they just poof and disappear like specters?”
No wonder games make monsters or units evaporate. Killing them was fine, but the cleanup is the problem.
I can’t find anyone to empathize with this absurd situation, so I plugged in RiceCookerMan.
[Night has come. Time for me to shine. Uh? Uhh?]
I don’t know if RiceCookerMan has eyes, but it seemed speechless at the sight. I asked, “Can you dry this stuff if I put it in you?”
[It’s too much for me to handle!]
“Yeah, no kidding. Maybe if we put it in bit by bit…”
[No way!]
The pile of zombie corpses exceeds RiceCookerMan’s capacity. A mountain of bodies and a sea of blood.
That phrase describes my room right now.
Twitch.
This is driving me crazy. Some parts are still moving. Would my fairy’s dicotyledonous plant absorb this as fertilizer?
“Ugh, a plant raised on zombies… I love youuu!”
When I looked at the pot, the dicotyledonous plant outside the balcony window, instead of dancing, drooped like clock hands at 8:20.
That plant definitely senses human emotions. Feeling bad for the zombie-plant quip, I shouted “I love you,” and the dicotyledon perked up, swaying again.
First, I cleared out the delayed recycling and trash. Then I grabbed a broom and dustpan to move the remains to the trash can…
“Ugh.”
I hadn’t noticed because of all the <zombie> and <skeleton> tags, but there were glowing clumps scattered everywhere. Literally, gold coins were strewn about.
“Skeleton soldiers were human-world forces defeated while trying to suppress demons early on.
Zombies, with some flesh remaining, were high-ranking humans who survived until the end, killed at the last moment.
Since their bodies didn’t fully decay, they carried many assets. In conclusion, even in death, equality was impossible.”
The Swordmaster’s lingering thoughts and reflections on the fallen world came through.
“Wait, with this number and volume, if it’s gold coins… huh? What?”
While worrying about how to deal with the trash pile, my mood flipped at the sight of their gold and treasures. As I swept up the otherworld zombie remains, a message popped up.
“What? A plague?”
The otherworld invaders brought a biological attack along with their gold coins.