Chapter 166

Premium (1)

Summer.

The season when sweltering heat arrived and all manner of insects ran rampant.

In South Korea, mosquitoes were the most notorious example.

Even saying they "ran rampant" was inadequate. They seemed specifically designed to irritate people.

Their bites were unbearably itchy, they buzzed around your ears while you tried to sleep, and they were a damned nuisance to catch.

People often said that while cockroaches were disgusting, mosquitoes were infuriating.

That irritation had even inspired people to devise "creative" ways to kill them.

Granted, summers had recently become so hot because of global warming that mosquitoes were rarely seen.

You might see one or two buzzing around in late summer or early autumn, but that was about it.

The insects of the Forest of Four Seasons, however...

They were beyond words.

Winter brought blizzards, spring brought pollen and yellow dust, and summer brought swarms of insects.

As if announcing the beginning of summer, an enormous swarm had appeared, completely obscuring my vision.

Where the hell did so many insects come from?

I brought Kkobong, whom the insects had bitten, gnawed on, tasted, and thoroughly enjoyed, into the cave.

Once I hurriedly applied insect repellent to him, they stopped approaching him.

The repellent had received good reviews, but it worked even better than I had expected.

BZZZZZZZZZZ!

After rescuing Kkobong, I looked outside the cave.

A terrifying number of insects had multiplied and blanketed the entire Forest of Four Seasons.

Not only did they completely fill my field of view, but their collective buzzing was so loud that it was intensely irritating.

It sounded as though a helicopter were hovering nearby.

When I first started living here, it must have been mid-to-late summer at the latest. There weren’t nearly this many insects back then.

Was it because it was early summer?

Or was this year unusual?

Had Rice Crowne written anything about this in his journal?

Questions continued to surface in my mind.

I wonder if the raccoon family is all right. I’m worried about them.

If this situation was unusual, I was deeply concerned about the raccoon family.

Even Kkobong would still have been covered in insects if I had not applied repellent to him.

The raccoon family would have an even harder time dealing with them.

Fortunately, these were not locusts. If they had been, they might have stripped the flesh from our bones.

...Come to think of it, a locust swarm would be a genuine disaster.

Locust swarms were already infamous.

South Korea had winters, so insects generally did not pose that great a threat. Regions that remained warm throughout the year were a different story.

Whenever a locust swarm arrived, it utterly destroyed all the crops.

In Korea, locusts were merely annoying pests. In a region that remained warm throughout all four seasons, they were a natural disaster.

It’s fortunate that the temperature changes so dramatically here.

If the weather remained warm all year, swarms like this might appear whenever they pleased.

The thought alone was horrifying.

In any case, I could not do anything until the swarm disappeared, so I settled for smoked meat for breakfast.

What about Kkobong’s meal?

I asked the fast sloth directly.

Shake, shake.

It told me not to feed him.

Apparently, it intended to establish discipline properly.

Kkobong was still dazed from being attacked by the swarm anyway.

The fish are outside. Will the insects eat them?

If I had known this would happen, I would at least have covered them.

If I was unlucky, I might have to throw away all the fish I had collected.

Granted, I had plenty of food now thanks to yesterday’s wild boar, but it would still be a terrible waste.

At the very least, I need to protect the cores.

The potential waste was one reason, but I was even more concerned about what might happen.

What if an insect ate one of the cores and grew larger?

That would be truly horrifying.

Since winter existed, there probably would not be any drastic changes, but I could not be certain.

After watching the swarm rage outside while refusing to enter the cave, I opened the Auction House.

I purchased more of the insect repellent with the best reviews among those I had previously bought.

I had applied it throughout the cave just in case, but the fact that a swarm of that size would not even attempt to enter made me wonder if the repellent was truly responsible.

Could it really be because of this?

I decided to test it.

I picked up a suitable stone and coated it with insect repellent.

Just to be safe, I slathered on enough to leave it sticky.

Whoosh!

When I threw the stone in an arc, the insects scattered along its trajectory.

The stone landed, rolled across the ground, and finally came to a stop.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Soon, the insects began avoiding the area around it.

Perhaps they hated the smell, because the empty space around the stone gradually widened.

This stuff is seriously effective.

It had not earned such high ratings for nothing.

An insect repellent that worked even in the Forest of Four Seasons.

For reference, the same registered user also made the snake repellent.

I purchased more repellent from the Auction House and made a post.

I was not trying to advertise it. I merely wanted to show everyone what was currently happening.

Title: What the Hell Is Going On?

Wild Grylls

(A video of an insect swarm completely obscuring the view)

(A photograph of Kkobong after being attacked by the insects)

Everything outside was still pitch-black when I woke up, so I took a look. Turns out it’s all bugs ;;

With this many of them, there’s no way to do anything outside. So I’m just holed up in the cave.

Oh, and does anyone know something good for insect bites? This bastard Kkobong got bitten and won’t stop scratching the hell out of himself.

└ Heavenly Demon) I have seen locust swarms before, but this is the first time I have seen one so dense that it obscures all vision.

└ Wild Grylls) How do you deal with something like that, Heavenly Demon?

└ Heavenly Demon) This lady is not particularly fond of insects either. One avoids filth because it is disgusting, not because one fears it.

└ SwordMaster) People who say that are usually the most frightened of them.

└ Heavenly Demon) How absurd. This lady, frightened by mere insects?

└ Someone upload pictures of cockroaches and house centipedes and tell her to comment on them.

└ You’ll probably get banned immediately. Lol.

└ Cockroaches are one thing, but don’t upload house centipedes. I nearly fainted when I saw one.

└ Isn’t a "money bug" just a house centipede?

└ Yeah. They call it a money bug in the East and a house centipede in the West.

└ Starlight Princess) I can make some medicine for you. Were you bitten as well, Mr. Grylls?

└ Wild Grylls) No. I applied repellent, so I’m fine. Kkobong only got bitten because he slept outside.

└ Starlight Princess) Understood. I’ll send it to you shortly, so please wait a moment!

└ Wild Grylls) Thank you. Would you like one of the cores in return?

└ Starlight Princess) I’m not making an elixir, so I’ll decline.

└ All-Father) For such an enormous swarm to appear... It is truly a bizarre yet fascinating phenomenon. A similar situation was mentioned in the journal.

└ Wild Grylls) A similar situation?

└ All-Father) Yes. It described a particular region being blanketed by a pitch-black swarm of insects. It appears the area where Rice Crowne lived was outside its range of influence.

└ Wild Grylls) Then this is only happening here?

└ All-Father) Yes. According to the journal, they disappear quickly, so you should not need to worry.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero) A little casual advertising is perfectly fine! After all, the seller will receive the proceeds directly!

└ The head moderator is here. What have you been doing lately? Are you still being chased?

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero) I arrived at a harbor and have been fishing! Things have been quite peaceful lately! Oh, and Mr. Grylls! Has Mr. Ludwig still not arrived?

└ Wild Grylls) I still haven’t heard anything from him.

└ Grylls, show us how well it works. How effective is it?

└ Wild Grylls) (A video of the insect swarm flying around a stone coated in repellent) About this effective. Pretty good, right?

└ That’s fucking amazing! Lmao.

└ I should buy some too. Adventurers and explorers will probably use it often.

That was certainly a relief, but I still had one question.

How exactly did a swarm of that size disappear?

It wasn’t as though someone was sucking them up like a vacuum cleaner, so I found it hard to believe they would disappear so quickly.

└ But they aren’t entering the cave? Even with a tarp covering the entrance, keeping them out should be difficult.

└ Wild Grylls) I applied repellent. The stuff I use is seriously effective.

└ Which one are you using?

└ Wild Grylls) The one with the best reviews. It’s made by the Icon Trading Company. Is it okay for me to mention that here?

Somehow, it had turned into an advertisement despite that not being my intention.

Still, this was a genuine testimonial from an actual user. I decided it probably would not cause any problems and stopped worrying about it.

I killed some time browsing the Gallery, but ultimately concluded that I would simply have to wait until the swarm disappeared.

Or should I apply the repellent to my body and go outside?

That might actually be the better option.

As soon as the thought occurred to me, I applied repellent to my body.

Then, to test it, I cautiously extended one arm outside the cave.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Not a single insect came near my arm.

The same remained true when I stepped outside completely.

Even when I reached out to catch them, they all evaded me as though the entire swarm were a single colony organism.

It was incredibly effective.

I should probably use this repellent exclusively from now on.

Let’s see. The fish...

Flap! Flap!

The moment I looked at the container holding the fish, I realized that my concerns had been unfounded.

Why?

Because the fish were going wild as they feasted on the insects.

It was like watching whales wait with their mouths wide open for food to pour inside.

I could probably leave the fish as they were.

That only left the raccoon family.

Crackle! Pop!

When I reached the tree where the raccoon family lived, I witnessed an unusual sight.

Father Raccoon was diligently tending a campfire beneath the tree.

The insects were avoiding the smoke rising from the flames.

"Kyeng! Cough! Cough!"

The problem was that Father Raccoon had to keep the fire—and, more importantly, the smoke—going continuously.

The sight was rather pitiful, so I applied insect repellent to him.

Just in case, I gave the raccoon family an entire container of it to make their lives easier.

Having done everything I needed to do, I returned to the cave.

Even on the way back, the swarm avoided me.

It felt strangely surreal.

I should buy about ten containers.

It seemed likely to prove extremely useful, so I immediately opened the Auction House.

I even considered leaving a review while I was there, but....

[Sold Out]

"...?"

I could only blink when I saw the notice.

"What the hell?"

Where did all my repellent go?

***

The Gallery Auction House charged murderous fees, but its ability to bypass all conventional distribution more than compensated for them.

However, the money earned through the Gallery could not be withdrawn into the real world.

That was its greatest and most crippling drawback.

Consequently, most products listed in the Auction House were one-off items available in extremely limited quantities.

Moreover, even those listings were usually used as a form of advertising.

From a trading company’s perspective, that was the full extent of its value—nothing more, nothing less.

There was little incentive to use it for actual commerce.

"Master! We’re being inundated with requests for more insect repellent!"

"Uh... What?"

"Master! The Adventurers’ Guild has submitted an order for repellent...!"

"Uh...."

Marshall, the master of the Icon Trading Company, could not comprehend the current situation.

He had been working diligently as usual, dreaming of a prosperous future for his company, when suddenly—

Orders for insect repellent began pouring in, and their entire stock was wiped out.

The sheer volume of requests was staggering.

Never in his life had he seen insect repellent attract this much attention.

"W-Why is it selling? What the hell happened? We only listed it on the Gallery as an advertisement."

"Well... have you visited the Gallery recently?"

"Not lately."

"A user who tested it in the Forest of Four Seasons posted a review."

"The Forest of Four Seasons?"

Marshall tilted his head at his secretary’s words.

He knew about the registered user who was allegedly surviving in the Forest of Four Seasons.

But that was all.

He had been too busy with real life, and since there was no way to obtain merchandise from the Forest of Four Seasons, he had dismissed the matter long ago.

"Yes, the Forest of Four Seasons—the demonic realm where no one knows what may exist."

"I know someone is desperately clinging to life in there. But you’re saying that person reviewed our product?"

"He uploaded a video showing that even the insects of the Forest of Four Seasons avoid it. Do you understand what that means?"

Of course he did.

The trading company master’s mind began racing.

This was an opportunity.

A golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

There was one problem, however: the ingredients needed to make the repellent.

...I was selling the batch Father made for me.

The repellent had been produced with his father’s knowledge and assistance.

In other words, he would now have to run himself ragged acquiring its ingredients.

Insect repellent had never been one of the Icon Trading Company’s flagship products in the first place.

Repellents were everywhere, and the market had far too many competitors.

After deliberating for some time, Marshall gave his secretary instructions.

First, they needed to deal with the immediate crisis.

"Start by organizing the orders in the order they were received and calculate the total amount required. Demand has risen without warning, so I cannot guarantee that we will have enough stock."

"Understood."

"And make certain to reserve a minimum quantity for that survivor and keep supplying it to him. That is the most important thing."

Marshall might have been cautious, but he was not the kind of man who would throw away an opportunity.

"While we are at it, why don’t we sponsor him with some of our company’s products?"

"Products... sir?"

"Yes. Supplies necessary for survival."

While the outside world began moving at a frantic pace—

"I swear I’m checking the reviews before I buy anything from now on."

Grylls ground his teeth as he watched the repellent’s price acquire a premium markup in real time.