Episode 3 – Contract (1)

My body suddenly became heavy as I felt water entering my lungs. Then I was sucked in somewhere. I wasn’t torn apart because I fell with perfect timing. However, I couldn’t lose consciousness here.

I had to stay awake. I needed to wait for a while.

I somehow managed to curl up and hold my breath. 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds…I was barely breathing when my hands hit a tangible wall in the darkness.

“U-Uwek.”

I could barely breathe after coughing up the river water several times. My level 10 stamina saved me from being killed by hitting the water surface, but the large and small bruises all over my body were very painful.

I controlled my breathing in order to not fall into a panic and turned on my smartphone.

I was worried it might’ve broken in the fall but the power was fortunately okay. It was good that I spent big and bought a smartphone with a waterproof function.

Pahat.

The flashlight turned on and the surrounding scenery entered my eyes. There were huge walls with concrete by-products floating by. The stomach of an ichthyosaur was more disgusting than I thought.

“Dammit.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s expression as he let go of his hand without hesitation and got off the bridge was vivid. I expected it but it was more shocking than I thought.

…If I wanted to be his companion, I had to survive.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand.

Companion. The weight of this word was too great for Yoo Jonghyuk. Since his failure in the first round of regression, Yoo Jonghyuk had never made a real ‘companion.’

It was rare for humans to easily follow the growth of a regressor. As a result, he solved everything alone, was revered as a savior and was naturally lonely.

To Yoo Jonghyuk, ‘humans’ were only subordinates or enemies.

Thus, this was a test. If I wanted to be in a equal position with him, I had to solve this much alone.

…Well, this was when looking at it from Yoo Jonghyuk’s viewpoint.

“A companion like you…crazy psychopath.”

I barely doggy paddled to a floating styrofoam panel and raised my body onto it. Thanks to the warmth of the stomach, I wasn’t cold. However, the problem was from now on.

I closed my eyes and played the message log that I heard.

[You have failed to clear the scenario.]

[Paid settlement will begin.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ has nodded at your exciting remarks.]

[100 coins have been sponsored.]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ nods are your coice.]

[100 coins have been sponsored.]

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is disappointed in your rash remarks.]

There were quite a few messages. In addition, a few exposed constellations sponsored me. Maybe it was due to the final conversation between Yoo Jonghyuk and I.

I felt a little down as I read through the messages of the constellations one by one and collected the coins. If I had picked one of these constellations in the first Sponsor Selection, this might not have happened.

But there was no regret in my choice.

After encountering Yoo Jonghyuk directly, I was certain.

The Great Sage the Equal of Heaven might be a sponsor of the highest quality but he wasn’t enough. I needed more than just ‘sponsorship’ if I wanted to confront Yoo Jonghyuk.

And I would gain it from here.

The walls of the stomach growled and small waves rose inside. The sea commander seemed to be moving somewhere. I turned on my smartphone and calculated the time.

According to Ways of Survival, the ichthyosaur started to secret stomach acid around three hours after ingesting food.

In other words, I didn’t have much time left.

[Haha, it is sad that things turned out like this. It was very interesting.]

There was a sound effect before the dokkaebi’s voice was heard.

“…Dokkaebi?”

[Yes, that’s right. You don’t seem panicked at all?]

“I knew you would come.”

[Hrmm. It sounds like you were waiting for me?]

“Of course I have been waiting.”

Light turned on and the dokkaebi appeared. I couldn’t tell for sure from his expression alone, but this guy was clearly interested.

I deliberately spoke calmly. If I was pushed here, I wouldn’t be able to eat my meal.

“Are you doing to take coins from me?”

[…Coins?]

“You have to take coins in exchange for me failing the scenario.”

[Hmm, not your life?]

“If it was my life, you would have written ‘death’ in the failure results column, not three question marks. Doesn’t this mean there is room to negotiation?”

[…Hahaha. How interesting.]

In fact, there was a loophole in my words. The scenario message was ‘Failure: ???’. This literally meant that the penalty of failure was unknown. It was just my assumption that it was in exchange for coins. Nevertheless, there was a reason why I was so certain.

“Am I wrong?”

It was because I already knew about this scenario. The dokkaebi hesitated for a moment before nodding.

[You are right. Amazing. That you could determine this point with such a clue… as expected from someone who is attraction the constellations’ attention.]

The dokkaebi’s tone was filled with sincere admiration.

[As you said, you can survive this sub scenario if you pay coins, even if you fail.]

“How much?”

[Pay 5,100 coins. Then I will let you live.]

I looked at how many coins I currently posessed.

[Coins Possessed: 5,100 C]

I couldn’t help smiling. This jerk was messing around right now.

“That is too much.”

[Haha, then won’t you die? It is up to me to accept the coins or not. If you do something wrong then I can just end it here.]

“Then kill me.”

[…Huh?]

“Kill me.”

[······.]

“You can’t kill me?”

The dokkaebi didn’t move. It was natural. He was having a lot of fun with me right now. Furthermore, he wouldn’t have come down here to see me if he had been planning to kill me. For this guy, I had to survive here or I at least had to die miserably.

[Haha. You are really making me angry. Look, now…]

The dokkaebi’s flat-shaped eyebrows wriggled furiously. It was time to stop the taunts and get to the main point.

“Low-grade dokkaebi, Bihyung. How are the activities of a streamer?”

If there was a crack in the face, it would look exactly like this. Dokkaebi Bihyung showed confusion for the first time.

[H-How do you know my name?]

“You haven’t been enjoying broadcasting lately, right? The constellations are too stingy.”

[W-Who the hell are you? How does a human…]

Bihyung’s horns shook. It was natural. An ordinary human couldn’t know about the Star Stream system. But I wasn’t an ordinary human.

[A few constellations have doubts about your existence.]

[The constellation Secretive Plotter’s eyes are shining at your plan.]

From now on, it wasn’t a story for the constellations.

I mouthed to Bihyung, “How about we talk after you close the channel?”

Bihyung was worried and closed the channel.

[#BI-7623 channel is closed.]

Once the constellations left the channel, Bihyung showed his true colours.

[Feel free to speak. You, how can an ordinary human know about the Star Stream broadcasting?]

“That isn’t important.”

[Huh?]

“Bihyung, do you want to be ‘king of the dokkaebis’?”

[What now―]

“Don’t you wish to be the best streamer in the network, surpassing Dokgak and Gildal?”

Bihyung’s complexion was changing.

“Dokkaebi Bihyung, sign a contract with me. Then I will make you the king of the dokkaebis.”