Chapter 166 - Premium (1)

Summer. The season when all kinds of insects ran rampant alongside the sweltering heat.

In the Republic of Korea, mosquitoes were the prime example. Even “running rampant” failed to do justice to these insects, which specialized in getting on people's nerves. Their bites itched like crazy, they whined in your ears when you tried to sleep, and they were damn near impossible to catch.

If cockroaches were disgusting, mosquitoes were annoying. People had even started coming up with “creative” ways to kill them.

Well, global warming had made recent summers so hot that you hardly saw mosquitoes anymore. It had gotten to the point where you might see one or two buzzing around in late summer or early autumn.

But the insects in the Forest of Four Seasons... Words simply couldn't do them justice.

Winter brought blizzards, spring brought dust storms of pollen, and summer brought insect swarms. As if heralding the start of summer, an enormous swarm had appeared, completely blocking the view.

'Where the hell are all these bugs coming from?'

I let Lackey into the cave after the insects had chewed, ripped, tasted, and thoroughly enjoyed him. I hastily applied insect repellent, and they stopped coming near him. The repellent had decent reviews, but it worked even better than I'd expected.

BZZZZZZZZ!!!

After rescuing Lackey, I looked outside the cave. A terrifying number of insects had swarmed over the entire Forest of Four Seasons. Not only did they completely fill my vision, but their noise was loud enough to be seriously irritating. It was like having a helicopter hovering outside.

'When I first started living here, it would've been mid-to-late summer at the latest. There weren't this many bugs then.'

Was it because this was early summer? Or was this an unusual occurrence? Had Lais Kraone mentioned it in his journal? Questions kept popping into my head.

'Is the raccoon family all right? I'm worried.'

If this was unusual, I had serious cause to worry about the raccoon family. Even Lackey would still be struggling to get the insects off if I hadn't applied repellent. The raccoons would have an even harder time.

At least these weren't locusts. If they were, they might have stripped all the flesh off us.

'... Come to think of it, a locust swarm really would've been a disaster, huh?'

Locust swarms were already infamous. Insects weren't much of a threat in the Republic of Korea thanks to its winters, but regions that stayed warm year-round were a different story. One locust swarm could wipe out an entire harvest. In Korea, grasshoppers were merely annoying pests; in a climate that stayed warm all four seasons, locusts were a catastrophe.

'Good thing the temperature changes so much here.'

If it stayed warm year-round, swarms like that would show up all the time. The mere thought was horrifying.

Anyway, since I couldn't do anything until the swarm disappeared, I made do with smoked food for breakfast. What about Lackey's meal? I asked Speedy directly.

He shook his head firmly. No food for him, apparently. He seemed intent on setting Lackey straight once and for all. Besides, Lackey was still out of it after his ordeal with the insects.

'The fish are outside. Will the bugs eat them?'

If I'd known this would happen, I would've at least put a lid on them. With bad luck, I might have to throw out all the fish I'd collected so far. Killing that boar yesterday had left me with plenty of food, but... a waste was still a waste.

'I've got to protect the inner cores, at least.'

Partly because it would be a waste, but mostly because I had no idea what might happen. What if an insect ate an inner core and grew bigger? That would be truly horrific. Winter would probably keep things from changing too drastically, but I couldn't be certain.

After watching the swarm rage outside without ever coming in, I opened the auction house. Of the insect repellents I'd bought there, I'd chosen the one with the best reviews. I'd applied it around the cave as a precaution, but it still puzzled me that not one insect in that enormous swarm even considered coming inside.

'Is this really what's doing it?'

Time for a test. I picked up a suitable stone and coated it in insect repellent, slathering it on until it was sticky, just to be safe.

WHOOSH!

I threw it in an arc, and the insects scattered along its trajectory. The stone hit the ground, rolled a little, and came to a stop.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Before long, the insects began avoiding the area around the stone. Perhaps they hated the smell; the empty space around it kept widening.

'This stuff really works!'

Those good reviews weren't for nothing. An insect repellent that worked even in the Forest of Four Seasons. Incidentally, the same registered user made the snake repellent, too.

I bought more repellent from the auction house and made a post. Not to advertise it, but to show everyone my current situation.

Title) What the hell is going on?

Wild Grylls

(Video of an insect swarm completely blocking the view)

(Photo of Lackey after the insect attack)

Woke up and it was still pitch-black outside. Took a look and it's all bugs;;

Can't go out or do anything with this many of them. So I'm just holed up in the cave.

Oh, anyone know what's good for bug bites? Lackey got bitten and the bastard's scratching himself like fucking crazy.

└Heavenly Demon) I have seen locust swarms before, but never one that blocked all visibility.

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

└Heavenly Demon) I am not particularly fond of insects myself. One avoids shit because it is filthy, not because it is frightening.

└Sword Masta) The people who say that always seem to be scared, though.

└Heavenly Demon) Ridiculous. You think mere insects would frighten me?

└I'll post some cockroach or money-bug pictures. Let's see you comment on those.

└Bet they'd get banned instantly lol

└Cockroaches are one thing, but don't post money bugs; I nearly fainted looking at one.

└Aren't money bugs house centipedes?

└Yep. Money bugs in the east, house centipedes in the west.

└Starlight Lady) I can make some medicine for him. Did you get bitten too, Grylls?

└Wild Grylls) No. I put on repellent, so I'm fine. Lackey was sleeping outside.

└Starlight Lady) Understood. I'll have it ready soon, so please wait a little!

└Wild Grylls) Thank you. Can I give you an inner core or something?

└Starlight Lady) It's not as if I'm making Elixir, so I'll pass.

└Allfather) An insect swarm of that size. Truly a bizarre and mysterious phenomenon. The journal mentioned something similar.

└Wild Grylls) Something similar?

└Allfather) Yes. A particular area was blanketed by a pitch-black swarm of insects. Apparently, the area Lais Kraone lived in was outside its range.

└Wild Grylls) So it's only here?

└Allfather) Yes. According to the journal, they disappear quickly, so there should be no need to worry.

That was a relief, but I still had a question. How exactly did a swarm that size disappear? It wasn't as if someone was sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner. I found it hard to believe they'd vanish so quickly.

└Don't they get into the cave? Even blocking it with a tarp wouldn't do much.

└Wild Grylls) I applied repellent. The stuff I use works really well.

└What are you using?

└Wild Grylls) One with good reviews. It's made by the Icon Merchant Company. Am I allowed to mention that?

└Don't Abandon the Hero) A little advertising is fine! After all, you'll be the one bearing the consequences!

└Hey, the admin's here. What've you been doing lately? Still on the run?

└Don't Abandon the Hero) I'm at a port, fishing! Life's been pretty relaxed lately! Oh! Grylls! Has Ludwig still not arrived?

└Wild Grylls) Still no word from him.

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

└Wild Grylls) (Video of insects flying around the repellent-coated stone) This good. Pretty nice, right?

└That's fucking amazing lol

└Gotta buy some myself. Adventurers and explorers would get a lot of use out of it.

Somehow, it seemed to have become an unintentional advertisement. Still, it was an honest review from an actual user. I didn't see any problem, so I decided not to worry about it.

I'd killed some time on the forum, but... in the end, I was back to waiting for the swarm to disappear.

'Or should I put on repellent and go outside?'

That might be a better idea. As soon as the thought occurred to me, I applied repellent all over my body. Then I cautiously stuck an arm outside the cave to test it.

BZZZZZZZ!!

The insects wouldn't go anywhere near my arm. The same held true when I stepped all the way outside. Even when I reached out to grab them, they all dodged me like a single collective organism.

It worked extremely well. I figured I'd stick to this repellent from now on.

'Let's see. The fish...'

SPLASH! SPLASH!

The moment I looked into the tub of fish, I realized my worries had been groundless. Why? Because the fish were going wild feasting on the insects. It was like watching whales waiting for food with their mouths wide open.

I could probably leave the fish as they were. That just left the raccoon family.

CRACKLE! POP!

When I reached the tree where the raccoon family lived, I was greeted by an unusual sight. Papa Raccoon was diligently tending a campfire beneath the tree. The insects were avoiding the smoke rising from it.

"Keh! Kek! Cough!"

But that meant Papa Raccoon had to keep the fire—and, more importantly, the smoke—going. Feeling sorry for him, I applied some repellent. I even gave him a whole container just in case, to make things easier for the family.

With everything taken care of, I returned to the cave. It felt strange having the insects part around me all the way back.

'Let's buy about ten containers.'

I figured the stuff would come in handy, so I went straight to the auction house. I was thinking I might leave a review while I was at it, but...

[Sold Out]

"...?"

All I could do was blink at the sold-out notice.

"What the hell?"

Where did all my stuff go?

* * *

The forum's auction house charged murderous fees, but its ability to bypass distribution entirely more than made up for that. However, money earned on the forum couldn't be withdrawn into the real world. That was its most crippling drawback.

As a result, most products listed there were individual items, with very little stock available. Even those were mostly used as a form of advertising. To merchant companies, that was all it amounted to, no more and no less. There wasn't much incentive to use it.

"Sir! Requests for insect repellent are pouring in!"

"Uh... huh?"

"Sir! The Adventurers' Guild is requesting repellent...!"

"Uh..."

Marshall, head of the Icon Merchant Company, couldn't make sense of the situation. He'd been hard at work as usual, dreaming of the company's future, when this happened out of nowhere. Requests for insect repellent had suddenly exploded, clearing out their entire stock.

Orders were coming in for staggering quantities. Never in his life had he seen insect repellent become this popular.

"W-why is this selling so well? What did we even do? We only put it on the forum as an advertisement."

"Well... have you visited the forum lately?"

"Not recently."

"Someone using 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 surviving in the Forest of Four Seasons, but that was the extent of it. Busy with his real life and unable to source goods from the forest anyway, he'd put it out of his mind long ago.

"Yes, the Forest of Four Seasons. The deadly realm where no one knows what lurks inside."

"I know someone's scraping out a living there. And you're saying he wrote a review?"

"He showed a video of even the forest's insects avoiding it. Do you understand what that means?"

Of course he did. The company head's mind raced. This was an opportunity. A golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

There was a problem, though: the repellent's ingredients.

'... I've just been selling what Father made for me.'

The repellent had been made with his father's wisdom and assistance. In other words, he'd have to run himself ragged sourcing the ingredients. Repellent hadn't been one of the company's main products in the first place. The market was flooded with it, and there were far too many competitors.

After much deliberation, Marshall gave his secretary instructions. First, they needed to put out the immediate fire.

"Start by organizing the incoming orders in sequence and work out the total quantity required. With demand rising so suddenly, I can't guarantee we'll have enough."

"Understood."

"And be sure to set aside a minimum reserve to keep that survivor supplied. That will be our top priority."

Marshall might be cautious, but he wasn't a man who threw away opportunities.

"Why don't we take this opportunity to supply him with our company's goods?"

"Our... goods, sir?"

"Yes. Supplies he needs to survive."

While the outside world bustled with activity...

"See if I ever review anything again."

Grylls ground his teeth as the repellent acquired a premium price tag in real time.