Chapter 28: RiceCookerMan Learns Explosion

“Why the sudden change? You didn’t just learn manners out of nowhere.”

[You can’t cut me now, so it’s fine, right?]

Cut you myself?

The vet does that.

I get the obsession, though.

I’m pretty careful washing that part in the shower too.

[You did it knowing that?!]

Who’d imagine a cat getting mad over neutering?

Guess we’ll leave its “peanuts” alone for now.

There’s always the option of buying cockles later, so no need to terrorize the cat by flattening mountains.

Why go all-out when I can outsmart it?

“Then there’s another condition.”

[What?]

“Stay still when I bathe you. And you can pick up your own fur, right?”

I’ve never had a cat, but cat owners’ main complaint is fur.

They say you can’t wear coats.

[…Hiss.]

Why’s this guy hesitating?

Is cleanliness and tidying up on par with castration?

“Guess it won’t do? Gotta snip?”

[I’ll pick up a broom. Just give the order.]

“Good. I’ll accept you for now.”

Taking out a leveled-up cat wasn’t impossible.

It’s definitely intimidated by my strength.

But wrecking more would seriously damage the forest, even if it’s just wilderness.

‘Look at those broken trees dangling…’

No one would think I did this without an axe, but I’ve got a conscience. Trees are expensive.

<Would you like to accept surrender?>

Like the ghoul necromancer’s plea, a surrender approval message pops up.

‘Guess I need to look up how to raise a cat?’

No need for litter training, at least.

If it controls gigantification, a sandbox on the balcony should do.

I accepted.

[Level Up.]

My level rose to 96, as if I defeated the cat.

Two levels from that? Maybe it went up during the fight?

<taming>

You can control the pet’s skills and behavior.

You can freely raise the pet’s stats.

You can summon the pet from subspace.

You can receive experience points the pet earns.

<summon lv1>

You can summon a pet.

“Oh, whoa. That’s how it works?”

I got a summon skill.

Then,

<Mutation Factor – Feline>

The early “Mutation Factor” skill from defeating the Mutation King now has “Feline” added.

What’s this?

Clicking the cat’s level lets me tweak its skills and stats.

The cat’s skills were:

<gigantification lv5>

<telepathy lv1>

<fetch lv49>

<bipedalism lv5>

<lightning lv10>

<lightning dash lv1>

<super regeneration lv10>

<stealth lv50>

<necromancy lv5>

<marine attribute specialization lv80>

These skills are no joke.

My Super Regeneration is only LV8, but this cat’s at LV10.

It probably would’ve survived my punch even if crushed.

How it got these skills is mind-boggling.

I unchecked its equipped skills to see if there were more, but 10 slots was it.

“What? 8000% damage boost against aquatic creatures? That’s insane.”

This guy could take down a whale.

But for a whale to come from the gate, wouldn’t water need to come first?

Telepathy was for communication. When I removed it,

“Meow.”

“You can’t talk now?”

“Meow.”

Good.

A cat talking to people would be beyond troublesome.

Getting cursed out by a cat is bad enough.

I gave it back since it felt stifling.

But I removed Gigantification.

No need to worry about a balcony sandbox now.

With Taming, I can fully customize the opponent.

Even a talking cat isn’t spared.

RiceCookerMan could work too, but there’s no need to tweak its skills.

It’s not like it’ll grow legs or wheels.

“Summon…”

The Summon LV1 skill I got from capturing it caught my eye.

Summon uses Magic.

My Magic’s still 1, and even with a 2-level increase, no random stats went to Magic, so I sacrificed two points to raise Magic to 2.

“Summon toggles between summoning and unsummoning. What’s unsummoning?”

Summon/Unsummon works like YES/NO.

I pressed Unsummon, and the cat vanished.

What’s this?

Where does it go to hide?

And at that moment,

<inventory lv1>

Inventory has been activated.

You can summon specific items from a memorized location using the summon skill.

A small amount of items can be stored with the pet.

Items, except food the pet consumes, are protected by the pet and cannot be stolen.

“Whoa, what?! Inventory?”

Inventory?

Like subspace storage, right?

This is a desperately needed skill.

I couldn’t help but get excited.

Honestly, my abilities so far are mostly for gate monsters, not daily life.

But an inventory? A self-storage?

No baggage fees on flights!

(Assuming I leave the gate in my room to fly.)

Summoning toilet paper during an emergency!

(Most places have it now.)

No need to hug a backpack on the subway!

(I don’t commute!)

“Uh, maybe not that exciting?”

I’m wearing a backpack now.

The flyswatter’s foldable, so it’s in there, plus ice water since it’s hot. I didn’t pack mackerel—that’d be crazy.

Carrying a backpack in this heat is no joke.

I used the basic Ice skill to endure and walked here.

Still, the backpack made my back sweat like crazy.

With an inventory, I could avoid sweaty backs and funky bag smells.

‘Good for going out. Not just staying in my room.’

Summon!

I called the cat again.

I was curious where it goes when unsummoned.

“Meeowww.”

Yeah, a pet should roar fiercely when summoned to set the mood.

I asked when it reappeared,

“Hey, where do you go when unsummoned?”

[A box just my size. Cozy. Not bad.]

Nice.

A subspace for a cat.

I relate to the “I don’t have a cat” meme and thought it’d be nice to have a pet since I’ve got nowhere to put my heart.

The fairy’s speech is unpredictable.

I’ve got one talkative guy,

[Eat some rice!]

But a rice cooker’s a rice cooker.

Plus, a bipedal, human-understanding cat? A video of it using a human toilet could rack up views.

But I couldn’t ignore reality.

Neutering, noise, fur, etc.

A subspace cat house means its living space is separate.

No worries about it sitting on my laptop typing comments or other disasters.

“So, is your goal just to be raised by humans?”

It’s weird it surrendered so easily despite fearing me.

I can’t take it to its grandma, though.

It’s a level 94 cat.

Can’t let it loose.

[Not really. Street life wasn’t bad. Just…]

“Just what?”

[I want to see that grandma again. That’s all.]

“Hm.”

A wake-up call for loyalty in an era of declining values.

[If I get under a human, I can ride that car thing and get there fast. Please.]

A car?

“I don’t have a car.”

[…No car?]

“Yeah, none.”

This cat’s scratching its ears with its paw.

Its face was always grumpy, but now it’s extra grumpy.

[Why no car? You don’t buy one?]

A cat’s nagging me about buying a car, like asking a rookie worker if they’re getting married or dating. You need a car to date.

I’m already getting cursed out by a cat—now this?

“Talking like that? Hey, a talking cat’s supposed to marry its owner to a princess. Other cats fetch donkeys or wear boots. What about you?”

With summon/unsummon, public transport’s an option, but I didn’t say it out of spite.

[Well, I know human women. They want to feed me and take my picture.]

“Oh, really?”

[Not sure they’d like you.]

This beast.

Kinda cocky.

“So, you had an owner. What’s your name?”

[Forgot. Too fluffy for me.]

So full of itself.

If it knew I was searching neutering costs on my phone with Cheonjiin keyboard, its fur would stand on end.

[What, gonna give me a new name?]

“Let’s go with CatMan.”

[A masculine name. I like it.]

“Seriously?”

[What about Kim Jun-tae?]

So random.

“Kim Jun-tae? Who’s that?”

[Sounds cool, right?]

“Yeah, CatMan.”

***

Cat hunting and tracking took nearly a day.

I went out at night after getting Detection magic and returned home.

It’s been a while since I was gone this long.

My mom nagged about setting up boar fences at Grandma’s old hometown house, so I glanced at my fist.

“…Phew.”

I could dig up the ground better than a boar.

I should take a day or two to visit home.

To do that, I need to see how long RiceCookerMan can guard the gate.

While catching the cat, I tested it.

[Leave it to me!]

It didn’t salute but reported like it did.

It held up for 8-9 hours during sleep.

Beep beep beep, beep.

Entering the password at night, I came home to the rice cooker shaking.

Beyond shaking—its lid was rattling.

RiceCookerMan, eyeless, shouted at me.

[S-Save me! This punk won’t stay still!]

“What’s this?”

Wait, “punk” again?

It’s confirming its Kaesong Industrial Complex roots, showing its true colors.

Is Kaesong’s dialect that strong?

The rice obsession’s intense too…

A self-shaking rice cooker is pure horror, so I diagnosed it.

“What’s wrong? Stomachache? Why’s it shaking?”

[T-The lid’s gonna pop!]

No choice.

I might need to open it for surgery.

Or a skull incision, since it’s the head.

[It feels like a thousand fires inside!]

“What, an explosion? Is a circuit burning?”

Touching the lid, it’s scalding hot.

“Damn, is it gonna blow?”

I was about to open it but hesitated.

I’ve never lived in a rice cooker, but it must be insanely hot inside.

Anything surviving that is likely fire-based.

“Wait.”

I filled a measuring bowl with water, used when not cooking rice, opened the cooker, and poured it in.