Chapter 25: Thriving Ecosystem (2)

At that moment, someone appeared before the trembling rat.

“Meow?”

To the rat, neighborhood cats were learned predators.

These cats weren’t starving enough to eat rats.

They had a big subordinate who brought taurine-rich food.

Watching that big subordinate pretend to eat with raised paws, just to get fed, was the cats’ entertainment.

They didn’t communicate well, but it was fun to see the grossed-out act of fake eating.

Today, it was about to tear into a rat’s belly to play with it cruelly and bring it back.

But then, the rat charged at the cat instead.

Zzzzt!

The cat, startled by the rat’s speed, believed it could easily subdue it with a cat punch, confidently swinging its right paw while balancing with its left.

Smack.

“Meow?!”

The rat’s thickened tail lashed the cat’s cheek deliciously, and the cat went flying.

Thud!

The rat rushed at insane speed, its tail crackling with some energy, and whipped it again.

***

Phew, I nearly died from the heat.

The government nagged about saving electricity in summer, and the power actually went out.

Because of that, I couldn’t use RiceCookerMan or the limit-broken fan.

I was melting.

Finally, the power came back, and I could turn on the electronics.

[You called? RiceCookerMan here!]

“Man, I’m melting. Any upgrades to use without electricity?”

I longed to use the limit-broken fan without power.

Forget the rice cooker.

It got me thinking—wouldn’t it be great if electronics got upgraded to not need electricity?

I was daydreaming about it.

“You level up, right? No evolution path to go cordless?”

[Evolution… huh? Can I evolve? From RiceCookerMan to RiceCookerFrosty or something?]

What are you talking about?

“What do you mean asking me? Didn’t you say you’re an ego rice cooker? You don’t know how you change?”

[No, I don’t know! Aren’t electronics developed, not evolved?]

Alright, I get it.

This guy’s really leaning into the appliance vibe.

According to the Swordmaster’s memories, in that world, you can enhance ego weapons.

If the weapon’s secondhand, used by someone, the ego sword absorbs the user’s swordsmanship, martial arts, or skills.

The weapon’s ego reads those memories, can use those skills even without the owner, and sometimes knows the previous owner’s personal details.

RiceCookerMan mostly cooked my rice, so it’s got my thoughts, but the cooker itself was a gift.

My mom said the old one was better and told me to take it when I moved out for college.

So, it’s over ten years old.

I saw it in middle school, stacked in the pantry with an unused grill pan.

“Are the developer’s or factory’s thoughts in you too?”

[Yes. I was touched by someone who said, ‘You little punk,’ in a place where Choco Pies are currency.]

“…What?”

Is my mom’s hometown North Korea?

My last name’s Kim—maybe Dad’s secretly North Korean royalty?

“You remember my mom? She cooked with you once, said it was hard to use, complained about the lid, and stashed you away.”

[I waited a long time to meet my master. I’m happy. Though you don’t cook much.]

“What’s with ‘little punk’? What’s your deal?”

[Let’s devotedly defend General Kim Jong-un!]

“Yeah, I thought I sensed some red vibes from you.”

[I’m curious!]

“What the heck? Huh?”

I looked it up, and RiceCookerMan, it’s actually made in Kaesong Industrial Complex?

“…..”

I got chills and unplugged it.

Now that I’ve got money, I’m thinking of adding another defensive tower(?).

“The fan scatters stuff. More appliances? Or with 12 million…”

Or should I fix the wall first?

With this money, I could hire a pro to patch the hole in the neighbor’s wall with concrete.

They probably won’t make me pay the whole studio’s price for breaking a wall.

This place belongs to the landlord grandpa, but I was checking if I could buy a specific unit.

In a multi-family building, you can own a unit, right?

If that’s possible, I’d buy 203, maybe 202, to break walls for interior design, or at least expand for guilt-free punching space.

That’d be cheaper than buying the whole studio.

But they say that’s not allowed.

“Can I sell meteoric iron?”

It’s debris from the red mage’s meteor, broken into pieces.

Slightly bigger than sand, about salt-sized.

It’s supposed to be a rare sword material, but my kitchen knife’s enough, so I don’t care.

KAIST might have a geology department that’d buy it for research.

Astronomy, geology, stuff like that.

A science and tech university would study physics and buy cosmic materials expensively, right?

There’s a geology museum near KAIST, probably for kids’ field trips.

They made us write experiential reports for self-directed field trips.

Some kids went.

“What’s this? It’s nearby?”

I searched if KAIST has a geology department, and keywords about this area popped up.

The internet’s been noisy and unhelpful for a while, but a whistleblower post from Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, came up.

“Please Don’t Kill the Cats”

The title’s spreading like wildfire online, even hitting the news.

Apparently, stray cats in this area were found dead, tortured with iron whips and electricity.

“There’s all kinds of crazies.”

I think stray cats are close to pests, but killing them like that’s another issue.

Who’d want to live next to someone who slaughters animals?

If it’s for food or because of bad knees needing snake soup, hunting abundant wild animals is one thing—I’d think, “Weird guy, go live in the wild.”

But this? The mosaic photos show they were displayed for all to see.

To electrocute cats, you’d need to catch those quick critters first.

Catching, whipping, electrocuting, and leaving them out like that?

Not your average lunatic.

“Won’t this crash housing prices?”

Realistically, falling prices could be a boon.

Maybe studio prices will drop.

But…

The situation wasn’t as simple as I thought.

***

Two days later,

[A large feline has appeared near Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. Please exercise extreme caution.]

The disaster alert was absurd, but local news was wilder.

[Two days ago, a giant feline attacked a woman.]

[Daejeon X-World says no felines escaped.]

[So, no leopards or tigers escaped.]

[Han, who ran a cat feeding station, is in critical condition.]

[They say the cat got big, but it’s not like overfeeding did that, right?]

[Some see it as a Korean tiger, extinct since Japan’s culling program.]

[It was a tiger. That’s probably right.]

[With paw prints this size, it’s likely a tiger.]

[The fur’s black, so it’s closer to a puma or black panther.]

[Raising wild felines like pumas or black panthers…]

“….”

The news is serious but absurd.

I could see <lv94 cat> floating above the giant cat’s head on CCTV footage.

If it were a common breed, I wouldn’t know, but it’s black, so it’s being called a black panther or puma.

“How’d this happen… what?”

It hasn’t caused a huge stir or major issue.

The cat-killing incident from days ago blew up online, so people are spouting nonsense tying them together.

Some say it’s the cat god descending for punishment.

[X-World denies it, but after the 2018 puma escape…]

Since it’s the same city and management as the puma escape,

Daejeon X-World’s getting blamed.

They probably hid it due to image and financial losses from that incident.

Many suspect that first.

It looks like a black panther or jaguar, but it’s shockingly big.

“They can’t catch that thing?”

A beast that size loose in the city, and they can’t find it? That’s wild.

The incident happened two days ago.

A giant cat attacking someone, even in a local area, with Korea’s CCTV-heavy security, they shouldn’t fail to catch it.

[As evidence leopards still exist in Korea!]

[Black tigers are a real category. There’s white tigers and the black-and-white cat theory, right?]

The head of a leopard restoration group is passionately arguing.

A leopard restoration project in Korea?

Black tigers aren’t impossible mutants, but a black big cat brings black panther to mind first.

It’s good they haven’t caught it.

The leveling system shouldn’t leak to the world.

It could lead to extinction from level greed, like that other world.

“It’s got some hiding skill.”

Unless gates opened simultaneously in Yuseong-gu, there’s likely a high-level specter that sneaked out of my room.

That’s probably it.

Since it’s nearby, I planned to find this LV94 cat, but…

“How do I find it?”

Grill some mackerel outside?

No clear method comes to mind.

Of course, I’m going to search.

I don’t know how, but I’ll catch it somehow.

Its level’s visible above its head.

“Bring some fish.”

I’m heading out in the summer heat, reeking of fish.

I might have to fight a cat, so nighttime’s better.

I bought cat food and a Churu at a convenience store and ate dinner before heading out.

With leftover rice and a sweaty tropical night, sodium-heavy ramen’s today’s menu.

“Hm?”

The Fairy’s Flower Bud sees the ramen seasoning packet and waves its arms.

“Want some? Cute.”

<The Fairy’s Flower Bud is happy to be praised. +100>

If I’d been more generous with praise to kids at school, would my career have been better?

I dropped some seasoning flakes, and it eats them like fertilizer.

When I added the dried mushroom bits from the packet,

<Mushroom +50>

It likes mushrooms?

Hold on.

I collected those self-grown mushrooms from the corpse explosion.

“Do you like these mushrooms too?”

It sulks.

I offer the vibrant red mushroom, and it pretends to wilt.

“How about the yellow one?”

Still sulky.

Traffic light vibes?

Then I offered one of the three green mushrooms.

“Aww, so pretty. It’s dancing a wave.”

Seeing it wave its leaves, I thought it was okay and placed the green mushroom.

<Green Mushroom +1000>

[It loves it!]

“1000??”

That’s an insane point jump, so I added another.

<Green Mushroom +750>

At the same time, the Fairy’s Flower Bud glows.

The bud starts to gently open.

“Whoa!”

[Oh, ooooh!]

RiceCookerMan’s jaw drops beside me.

No mouth, but that’s the vibe.

Its lid’s rattling instead.

It must open when excited.

<Gained 1 Magic>

<you can now increase magic>

<you can acquire beginner magic>

The grayed-out Magic stat, stuck at 0, glows green, and rises to 1.