Chapter 109: Slime Bus

The village bus driver who heard the news about <Tunnel Slimes> was full of worries.

After trying it out himself, his worries only grew.

Even now, the deficit is so severe that they have to reduce routes or cut down the number of vehicles in operation.

If the demand for village buses drops even further because of the appearance of <Tunnel Slimes>, what on earth will happen?

He worried whether he would even be able to keep working in the future.

But then.

Alchemy Slime stepped up, saying it would modify the bus.

He wondered if there could really be any point to that.

The moment he saw the bus modified by Alchemy Slime, half of those doubts flew away.

He just wanted to try riding it at least once.

Out of curiosity, he figured he would ride it at least once.

He opened the driver’s door, went inside, and sat on the seat modified with <Slime>.

<Slime> firmly supported his body, and tentacles stretching from the seat supported his arms.

It was surprisingly comfortable.

On top of that, the interior of the bus had a subtle and pleasant fragrance.

He started the engine, and the engine noise was astonishingly quiet.

He couldn’t even feel the engine’s vibrations.

He stepped on the accelerator and drove onto the road.

The ride was so smooth and quiet, it made him feel as if he was playing a game rather than actually riding a bus. Even though there were no passengers, the pedals were so light. To exaggerate a bit, it felt like driving a minivan.

‘At this level, won’t a lot of people want to ride?’

The next day.

Finally, it was time to run the route with the Slime Bus.

Just like how even the same old route feels new when you get a new car.

The bus driver, excited, started up the bus.

Unfortunately, he started the run with an empty bus, but before long the first passenger got on.

“Welcome aboard.”

“Ah, hello.”

“The bus is new, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“The ride comfort is great, so please look forward to it.”

The passenger who sat down was surprised.

The seating comfort was on a different level from the typical bus seat that seemed to say you should just be grateful to have a place to sit.

The surprise didn’t stop there.

A tentacle carefully stretched out and wrapped around the passenger’s waist.

‘A seatbelt?’

It was a seatbelt you’d never find except on express or intercity buses.

As if that wasn’t enough, two thin tentacles stretched out from the main one.

One was immediately obvious.

There was a route map displayed on it, and a guide popped up.

[Please press where you want to get off.]

He pressed as instructed.

[We will notify you when it’s time to get off.]

The passenger was amazed at the convenience.

With this, there was no need to worry about missing your stop, so you could focus on whatever you wanted to do.

The passenger noticed another tentacle.

Wondering what it could be, he looked at the shape at the end and guessed its purpose.

‘A smartphone holder?’

As a test, he put his smartphone on it, and it was held firmly in place.

He could adjust the position freely, too.

Glancing out the window, the passenger was surprised again at the scenery.

‘When did we even start moving?’

With no noise or shaking, he hadn’t even noticed the bus had started.

The passenger, fiddling with his smartphone for no reason, fell into thought.

‘At this level, it’s not much worse than a café.’

Compared to some cafés that focus on high turnover, the seats were even more comfortable.

The bus was also filled with a quiet, pleasant fragrance like a café.

With no vibrations, there was hardly any fatigue.

When turning left or right, his body would lean, but the seatbelt always firmly supported him.

The passenger took his eyes off his smartphone and looked out the window.

‘It even feels like going for a drive.’

With a bus like this, travel time wouldn’t be something to simply endure-it could be something to enjoy.

Of course, that’s only for the first couple of times; soon enough, people will get bored.

And it’s a comfort you can only experience if you get a seat.

One by one, passengers boarded, and eventually all the seats were filled.

A new passenger, realizing there were no seats left, looked at the seated passengers with envy, but they all avoided his gaze.

With no choice, the standing passenger grabbed a handhold and saw a guide come down in front of him.

Following the instructions and pressing a button, a tentacle came down from above and wrapped around his body.

He was standing, but with the tentacle supporting him in places, it was almost as comfortable as sitting.

A smartphone holder was also provided for standing passengers, just like for those in seats.

‘What is that? It looks fun.’

Some passengers even got up from their seats to try holding the handholds.

When the bus reached the destination entered by a passenger, the tentacle began to sparkle.

Thanks to that, it was easy to see who was about to get off.

“Goodbye!”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Maybe because everyone was in a good mood, the passenger and the driver exchanged warm farewells.

After completing a round and returning to the terminal, the bus driver was shocked at the amount of fuel used.

‘That’s all it used?’

Whatever magic was at work, the fuel consumption had dropped dramatically.

And it wasn’t just the fuel consumption that had gone down.

The bus driver’s physical fatigue had also been drastically reduced.

Maybe because of all the pleasant greetings, even emotional fatigue was down.

The village bus driver went into the waiting area and sat down on a chair.

“….”

He was startled by how hard the chair felt.

‘Isn’t the bus more comfortable than this?’

It wasn’t just the village bus drivers and passengers who were amazed by this.

Similar scenes could be seen on the subway and in taxis coated with slime.

***

Following <Tunnel Slimes>, there was a drastic upgrade of public transportation and taxi vehicles.

Businesspeople who felt a sense of crisis gathered in secret for a meeting.

“We must never make an enemy of Alchemy Slime.”

Among those gathered, Chairman Yang, who was on the younger side, spoke up.

“Chairman Yang, you talk like you just inherited your company! I built my company brick by brick myself! Do you think I can just give it up so easily?”

Chairman Kang, whose subsidiaries had already been hit by <Slime> and whose sales had plummeted, strongly objected, now that even his main industry was under threat.

“Chairman Kang. Our Chairman Kang, who is famous for caring so much about his health.”

Chairman Yang calmly replied to that.

“Are you using <Slime>?”

That was a question that didn’t need an answer.

The <Wig Slime> perched atop his head was boldly asserting itself.

“Wealth, honor, power. All of that is good. But you can only enjoy those things if you have a solid foundation of health. The moment you collapse from a stroke or start showing signs of dementia, it’s over. You’ll be pushed aside by your children and end up as an old man in the back room.”

The businesspeople couldn’t refute those words.

“I know. That’s how I made it to where I am now.”

After all, it was the testimony of a living witness.

“Chairman Kang, you know that too, which is why you’re so concerned about your health. But strokes caused by diabetes and high blood pressure. Dementia, which still has so many unknowns. Aren’t you using <Slime> to prevent those? Your facial skin looks a lot brighter than before-aren’t you using <Pack Slime> on your face?”

Chairman Kang covered his face with his hand.

Beneath his fingers, he could feel the much younger, firmer skin.

When he ran his hand upward, he felt the fullness of the <Wig Slime>.

“Could you really go back to a life without using <Slime>, even now?”

Just by consistently using <Slime>, he felt as though he had regained ten or twenty years of youth.

Conversely, the moment he stopped using <Slime>, those twenty years he’d chased away might come rushing back all at once.

“Do you think the politicians you trust are any different, Chairman Kang?”

Maybe it’s different for people in their twenties and thirties, who are still young and healthy. But once you get past your forties and fifties, when your body starts breaking down, it’s not so easy to fix. Living with aches and pains all over, you start to realize that nothing is as precious as youth and health.

The average age of lawmakers and ministers is sixty. They’re all at the age where they have to worry about their brains and blood vessels.

And now, Alchemy Slime-nim had public opinion on its side.

How many people would risk both their physical and political lives to go up against Alchemy Slime-nim?

“Are you telling us to just hand over our lifelines to someone else?”

But if they did nothing, they’d have to hand over their lifelines to Alchemy Slime-nim anyway.

What if Alchemy Slime-nim decided to fully enter this industry?

What if it provided its technology to a competitor?

They would always have to live on edge.

“The moment you allowed <Slime> to seep into your life, you already handed over your lifeline.”

No one could argue with that.

In the end, the meeting fizzled out.

Outside, Chairman Yang sent an email.

The recipient checked the email and then deleted it.

A purplish kernel fell across the screen.

***

Today was the day to hang out with Makina, my mysterious and secretive internet friend.

I came home and sat down in front of my computer.

Now that I think about it, it feels like it’s been a while since I last came home.

For some reason, it feels like my house is annoyed at me.

Of course, there’s no way my house could actually be annoyed.

[Me: The owner of Slime Land is calling for Makina.

Me: The owner of Slime Land is looking for Makina.

Me: The owner of Slime Land is pestering Makina to come play.

Makina: What are you doing?

Me: Playing Constellation.

Makina; All of a sudden?

Me: It’s the latest content trending in Slime Land.]

[My Own Story] is usually a solo game, but this is a rare piece of content that can be enjoyed with others.

You have to become a constellation and get the protagonist’s party to make a contract with you.

Since the success rate of the contract depends on how well you understand the protagonist’s party, it’s also used as a test for true fans.

[Mikana: Sounds fun.

Me: Yeah. Yeah. Slime Land is getting better every day.]

After chatting a bit more, we decided on today’s game.

Sometimes I play co-op games with Makina, sometimes we play story games and share our thoughts, and sometimes we compete.

Today, it was a competition between Makina and me.

And it was a pure game of luck.

I didn’t choose it-Makina did.

[Me: A luck-based game? That’s rare.

Makina: I win at luck too.]

What on earth.

I might lose in skill, but when it comes to luck, who knows?

We moved to the casino inside the game.

Whoever made more money within the set time limit would win.

Since it was a simple competition of just pulling the lever, we kept chatting.

[Me: Do you notice anything different about me?

Makina: Are you serious?

Me: I’m not asking you to play spot the difference.]

You don’t ask for that kind of thing from someone when you’re only connected by text.

[Me: I just wondered if there’s a change I haven’t noticed myself.

Makina: There is.

Me: Really?

Makina: Yeah.

Makina: You’re trying too hard to bring people to Slime Land.

Me: Am I?

Makina: Yeah.]

Hm….

Even after overhauling transportation, I’m still trying to bring people to Slime Land too easily.

Of course, preparing for changes in transportation caused by Slime Land is the responsible thing to do.

But before, I wouldn’t have gone this far to push things.

Did I lose control?

I’m not sure if the reason I lost control is because of the curse or my own emotions.

I am at least aware that I’m under a curse right now.

I don’t know if the lingering memories of the curse are due to the effect of the [Purification] skill, or if this curse is pulling some kind of trick. Just because I remember doesn’t mean I can declare there’s no effect from the curse.

I make mistakes too. It could simply be that I’m behaving wrongly.

But it’s possible the curse did something.

Let’s check my thinking.

The reason I’m trying to drag people to Slime Land, even by force.

To make more people happy.

Because wouldn’t it be great if lots of people became happy?

“…Wait a minute.”

There are two things wrong with that thinking.

First, just coming to Slime Land doesn’t guarantee happiness.

Second, happiness isn’t something you can force on someone.

Everyone is different.

Naturally, everyone’s definition of happiness is different.

For some people, happiness might be coming home after a hard day’s work and having a beer.

For others, achieving their goals is what happiness means.

Some people might say happiness is watching their child grow up.

Everyone’s happiness is different.

So I shouldn’t treat other people’s happiness as wrong and force my own idea of happiness onto them.

But right now, I’m using all sorts of methods to drag people into the deepest part of Slime Land and AlchemySlime Company.

I’ve definitely prepared facilities in the deepest part of Slime Land that lots of people would likely enjoy.

Through AlchemySlime Company, I offer benefits and wages that people would be satisfied with.

But that doesn’t mean I should force people to enter Slime Land.

Or, in effect, eliminate all choices except getting hired by AlchemySlime Company, and then force them to be happy in the way I’ve decided.

That’s not right.

Forcing my own idea of happiness on others just because I think it’s right.

Is this curse Arrogance this time?

It’s still too early to say for sure.

I am a human with emotions.

Even without the influence of a curse, I can get swept up in certain feelings.

I get angry even when it’s not the turn for the curse of anger.

I get greedy even when it’s not the turn for the curse of gluttony.

I slack off even when it’s not the turn for the curse of laziness.

But if I suspect it’s the curse of arrogance, then it’s right to take precautions.

I engraved the following phrase onto <Slime> with the flames of [Purification].

-Listen to others’ opinions.

I don’t know how long I’ll remember and perceive it, but I’ll try to remember as much as possible.

Thanks to the effect of the [Purification] skill, I should be able to hold out a bit longer.

[Me: Thanks.

Me: Feeling a bit more clear-headed.

Makina: K.]

I spent some pleasant time with Makina and then contacted Hans.

“Hans. What do you think about the free policy for <Tunnel Slimes>?”

“I think it’s a bit too much.”

“I thought so too. But is there a reason you didn’t bring it up?”

“Because it’s something I can handle, and it’s what Lime wants.”

It is something she wanted.

“Expanding the scope of commercial use a bit….”

Using it for commuting would also count as commercial use, so we’d charge a fare.

And if necessary, we should make people pay for other uses too.

“What do you think, Hans?”

“I think it’s still early enough to change things.”

“Right. We can just say everything up to now was a trial run.”

The modern world is a data-driven society.

It’s common to offer a service for free for a certain period, then switch to paid once testing is over and there are enough customers.

I even stuffed a clause about possible price changes into the pledge.

I’m not really happy about changing my words like this.

Still, I decided to listen to what others say.

“I’ll leave the fare policy for <Tunnel Slimes> to you.”

“Understood. What about the fare policy for Slime Land?”

Ah, that one.

“…Do we really have to change it?”

I know. People’s time is limited. The more time people pour into Slime Land, the more it will negatively affect other industries.

Even so, I want the inside of Slime Land to remain a place full of dreams and hope.

I want to make it a place as free as possible from the worries of money and reality.

But if I did it completely my way, all sorts of industries from food to games would collapse.

“Lime, do whatever you want. We’re here to help you achieve your vision.”

“Thank you. If it ever really seems impossible, please tell me. My ears are always open.”

I hung up the phone and sprawled out on the floor.

Ah….

If only I could just embrace the whole world, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this.