Chapter 161: <Collection Slime>

Right to collect overdue taxes.

It seems like a formidable right, but in reality, it’s not.

The government’s outsourcing of tax collection to private debt collection agencies is not something being implemented for the first time.

It has been attempted in Korea, and there are countries overseas where it is already in practice.

And have you ever seen the Korean government just give me something for free?

Of course, this time too, there were conditions attached all over it.

Right to collect overdue taxes.

It’s the right to go find people who haven’t paid their taxes and collect them.

Not ‘failed to pay’.

It’s ‘haven’t paid’ people.

Those who didn’t pay because they didn’t know they had to.

Or there was an error in calculation.

Or a problem occurred in the tax processing procedure.

If there’s no intent, I can’t touch them.

If someone lived with a conscience, suddenly forces armed with <Slime> showing up and saying ‘You didn’t pay taxes, right? From now on, we’ll proceed with forced execution.’ and stripping away all their belongings would never happen.

So what right have I obtained then?

There are people living in houses worth tens of billions, driving imported cars, decorating their homes with all sorts of luxury goods, eating food worth hundreds of thousands of won, and practicing non-possession, aren’t there?

All of it is property from family, friends, acquaintances, and so on; none of it is their own.

They just live gratefully with others’ help, with no personal assets at all.

That’s why they can’t pay taxes.

They would have paid if they had money, but they don’t.

They’ll pay someday when they get money.

People who say things like that.

People who pack up money and flee overseas.

People who somehow hold out waiting for the statute of limitations of 5 or 10 years to arrive.

It’s the right to collect taxes from those conscienceless tax evaders.

A tax that comes with many difficulties in collection.

I’ve become able to touch things like that.

And it’s not like I’m keeping what I collect.

I have to take a commission and give the rest to the state.

Since it’s national and local taxes.

It’s not much different from what tax officials do.

To put it badly, it’s ‘We’ll collect the money you couldn’t.’

Still, it’s an important task related to taxes, which are at the core of national operations.

In giving me this right, the Korean government also has the meaning of checking surrounding countries.

‘We’re so close that we’re entrusting you with such an important task.

Alchemy Slime won’t leave Korea, so don’t even think about it.’

That’s how they’re appealing.

I took on a task that seems nothing but troublesome and not very profitable, but the reason I judged it to be fun.

This right isn’t a compensation I received as an apology.

It’s a concession we put forward to extract a bigger reward from the government.

As expected, Hans.

Although it’s limited, he brought in the powerful right of taxation along with additional compensation.

I have no choice but to acknowledge that skill.

Collection work isn’t that difficult.

The versatility of <Slime> is suitable for shining in collection tasks.

Above all, I have a super powerful weapon.

The <Slime> blacklist card.

Why do people evade taxes? It’s to take the money they should pay in taxes and live well, right?

For living well, <Slime> has become essential.

So what if you have a lot of money?

While others take care of their health with <Pure Jelsl>, you have to worry about diabetes.

While others clear their minds with <Poison Jelsl>, you have to worry about dementia.

While others get a good night’s sleep with <Pillow Slime>, you have to toss and turn in bed.

While others manage their skin with <Pack Slime>, you have to fight wrinkles.

While others hide hair loss with <Wig Slime>, you have to get hair transplants.

Besides that, you have to give up all the joys of life that <Slime> provides.

The more money you have, the more convenient life becomes.

High-amount tax evaders may have money, but they have to endure all sorts of inconveniences.

Even if you evaded a lot of taxes, you can just hold out for 10 years.

I have no intention of letting go even after 10 years if you don’t pay taxes.

Either take the money and die of old age.

Someone might ask what right I have to deprive them of <Slime>.

Even if they don’t have their own property, couldn’t they use the <Slime> they received as a gift?

That’s not wrong.

If it’s against a regular company.

<Slime> is classified as an alchemy product, and as the creator, I have the right to discern who is unfit to use <Slime>.

It’s a right I naturally have as an alchemist.

If there are complaints, bring the <Slime> you can’t use anymore.

I’ll refund it.

And I have more than enough justification to wield this powerful weapon.

For people who evaded taxes in the units of tens of millions or billions, I’ll make sure they can’t use <Slime> until they pay their taxes.

How many people will oppose this statement?

Right to collect overdue taxes.

It’s fun, but it’s just fun at that level.

For people with a lot of overdue amounts, they’ll be trembling, but for ordinary people, whether I have it or not doesn’t matter. Rather, since I can punish those sneaky tax evaders, they’ll like it, not dislike it.

The important thing is, in exchange for entrusting the handling of malicious tax evaders as an apology compensation, the right that Hans brought.

Hans brought Korea’s safety and future.

The root that was underground has extended its tentacles to the surface.

***

“This is the temporary <Collection Slime> that will work with us.”

The round <Collection Slime> raised its tentacles high.

On that slime’s head was a hat inscribed with [AlchemySlime Company Collection Team].

“Puff~!”

“Team leader….”

“Don’t look at me like that. I know….”

Collection work is intense.

How could the nature of humans who don’t pay taxes for years be good?

Not opening the door is basic.

Hiding inside pretending not to be there is daily life.

As soon as it seems unfavorable, they spit out bizarre logic along with curses; that’s what high-amount tax evaders do.

While listening to the nagging of tax evaders who pester from the side about what right we have to do this, we have to search their houses.

It’s good if we find something after searching.

Because tax evaders hide evidence and assets using all sorts of tricks, the work inevitably drags on.

We have to drive long distances and even stake out.

We have to judge whether they’re really unable to pay taxes or if it’s crocodile tears.

If we push through this hardship and work, we might get some appreciation.

Mostly, only curses and resentment come back.

And we’re not even getting paid a salary that matches the intensity of the work.

That’s why many people couldn’t endure for long.

The team leader had let go of several team members and formed teams with various people.

But I never imagined that a day would come when I’d be teamed up with <Slime>.

“Jin~ppeum?”

<Collection Slime> wriggled and extended its tentacles.

“Eh? Want to shake hands?”

<Collection Slime> left a small <Slime> in the team leader’s grasped hand.

After shaking its tentacles as if to say eat it, it extended them to the other team members too.

“What is this move, like a grandma giving out candy.”

“It’s probably just as you felt, telling you to eat it.”

The team leader put the <Slime> in his mouth.

A soothing sweetness spread across his tongue.

The team member did the same, putting the <Slime> in his mouth, and a faint smile appeared on his face that was always full of fatigue.

“It was a job lacking in healing, but it’s a bit better now. Is this perhaps introduced for our mental stability?”

“Who knows.”

The team leader had only heard that <Collection Slime> would join in tracking high-amount tax evaders. He hadn’t heard the details.

“Let’s go.”

The collection team got into the car.

As they tried to input the address into the navigation and move, tentacles stretched out and changed the destination.

“Team leader.”

The team member in the driver’s seat sought the team leader’s judgment.

“Let’s go. There must be a reason.”

The order to form a team with <Collection Slime> was bewildering, but since it’s a <Slime> made by Alchemy Slime, it must have some special ability.

And that ability was revealed soon.

“Eh? Isn’t that person over there?”

The collection team’s eyes caught the tax evader getting out of an expensive foreign car.

<Collection Slime> rolled down the window and jumped out.

“Eh? What? Why is there a Slime here?”

While the tax evader was panicking, the team leader also got out of the car and approached the tax evader.

“We’ve come from the Seoul tax collection department. You’re Yang Chanhyuk, right?”

The tax evader’s expression twisted in an instant.

Because he had shown himself getting out of the driver’s seat.

Moreover, in the driver’s seat, there was even a 2.7 million won <Frame Slime> installed.

As Yang Chanhyuk quickly racked his brain to come up with an excuse, the Slime extended its tentacles inside the car.

It opened the trunk and then bounced into the trunk.

Extending its tentacles, it pulled out bundles of cash from the secret safe inside the trunk.

“Jin~ppeum!”

“….”

“….”

“Mr. Yang Chanhyuk, please pay the overdue taxes. If you refuse, we’ll proceed with a house search starting now.”

The team leader asked with his eyes if he could evade this <Collection Slime>’s search.

“Ah, damn it. Fine, I’ll pay! I’ll pay! Damn it.”

Even though he heard rude words mixed with swearing, the team leader didn’t mind.

He was used to it, and more than that, he felt joy.

What could have taken hours and ended with no income was finished in an instant.

“Is it already over?”

“Yeah.”

“A lucky charm has come in! Are we going to keep working with this one from now on?”

The team member happily held up the <Collection Slime>.

“No, it’s only for searching high-amount tax evaders.”

“So, it’s like judging the worst of the worst!”

“Jin~ppeum!”

“Please take care of us for a while!”

“Jin~ppeum!”

Similar incidents occurred in other collection teams as well.

“You’re in there, right? If you don’t open up, we’ll break in!”

Bang bang bang!

“This won’t do. Let’s open it.”

“Jin~ppeum.”

It even easily picked locked doors.

“Jin~ppeum!”

“What are you doing there right now.”

It found hidden tax evaders.

“Jin~ppeum!”

Jars, trash cans, wardrobes, inside bed mattresses, between books on bookshelves, inside air conditioners, inside computer cases, and so on. <Collection Slime> picked out the assets that tax evaders had hidden in all sorts of places.

And that wasn’t all.

“Ppeum!”

“Wait. Is that fake, by any chance?”

“Ppeum!”

“That’s impossible! Do you know how much I paid for that?”

“Ppeum!”

Among the luxury goods piled up in the tax evader’s house, it identified the fakes and drove the tax evader to mental breakdown.

Pop, pop, pop.

“There’s a bunch of cash buried here!”

It dug up the yard and found piles of cash.

“Is this really a jewel?”

“Jin~ppeum!”

It found jewels hidden in glass ornaments.

Even more.

“Is this storage unit the tax evader’s?”

“Jin~ppeum!”

“How did you know that?”

[By smell.]

“Let’s check who rented this in whose name and find out their relationship with the tax evader.”

It even discovered assets hidden in the storage unit.

But no matter how great <Collection Slime> was, it had its limits.

It couldn’t find anything that wasn’t physically hidden.

“Fine! Take it all! Take everything! And don’t come back!”

In the house of the grandmother who had evaded over 1 billion won, there were no significant items.

“It seems like we can’t even cover 1/100 of it.”

“Really, is there nothing else hidden?”

“<Collection Slime> couldn’t find it, and even though we searched just in case, nothing came up.”

“Maybe she hid it in cryptocurrency or something?”

“That grandmother?”

“Don’t underestimate her just because she’s old. Someone else might have helped.”

As the collection team gave up and was about to leave to find another way,

<Collection Slime> pulled out a single sheet of paper from inside its body and handed it to the tax evader.

[Until the day you pay your taxes, I will seize <Slime> from your life.]

“Ha, what? Seizing <Slime>? I lived well without that crap my whole life!”

In the end, the collection team had no choice but to withdraw bitterly.

Similar incidents happened a few more times.

But less than a week passed.

“Did you hear that news?”

“What news?”

“There are people who held out saying they couldn’t pay taxes until the end, right? They all paid their taxes and begged to be able to use <Slime>?”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“Is it that inconvenient? If you have a lot of money, you could manage without <Slime>.”

“It seems it’s not just about inconvenience. People’s gazes change completely, apparently?”

“Ah…. That’s true. In this era, not using any <Slime> is definitely strange. If it’s just a day or two, okay, but if it continues for more than a few days, the impression changes a lot. I wonder how wicked they must have been to be hated that much by that angel-like Alchemy Slime.”

Those who couldn’t endure people’s gazes more than the inconvenience visited the National Tax Service and city hall.

The overdue taxes were steadily entering the national treasury.

***

The <Collection Slime>s are doing well.

Having only <Collection Slime>s go around demanding taxes seems too early for humanity to accept. Also, conversations are needed in the collection process sometimes.

I could make Slimes that speak fluently, but that also seems a bit early for people to accept.

People needed to go along.

Experts aren’t cultivated overnight.

I judged that acting with existing experts was better, and that’s how the current form came about.

Our cute <Collection Slime> only handles finding the opponent’s assets, and the rest is done by the experts.

<Collection Slime> may look small and cute, but in reality, it’s a high-performance <Slime> made by compressing a large quantity of Slimes with the [Spacetime★] skill.

Its judgment ability is quite excellent, and it has many talents.

Still, as it’s inherently a regular <Slime>, it has limitations.

This limitation was overcome by Root assisting with the [Link+] skill.

As Root could fully step onto the surface, there were quite big changes.

With Root as the command center, things that couldn’t be done due to the limitations of regular <Slime>s became possible.

Even on the surface, regular <Slime>s can now act independently.

Soon, the sight of numerous <Slime>s wandering among humans might become common.

[Trait: Slime☆☆☆☆☆☆’s level has risen to 65.]

Oh, the level reached 65.

When I was consumed by the Curse of Arrogance, the status window gave skill experience first.

So, this time it’s time to get a skill.

It feels like being tested on the first quarter’s performance.

[A new skill has been created.]

[Crush skill grows into Crush+ skill.]

A quite aggressive skill has come into my hands.

I thought I was doing well even with the Curse of Anger, but maybe not.

Or perhaps Anger focused its power on skill selection.

[Crush+ Lv. 1.

-It breaks and crushes.]

The skills I had until now were mostly non-aggressive.

[Pressure+] skill could be said to be a bit of an attack skill, but even that wasn’t filled with this much malice.

The influence of the Curse of Anger is clearly there.

Well, tools or skills depend on how you use them.

I threw the monster’s claw into my mouth.

Using [Crush+] skill, it broke into tiny pieces.

It became easier to absorb.

Indeed, food should be chewed thoroughly.

I went to the children who must have had a hard time eating food without proper teeth and shared the [Crush+] skill with them.

The tentacles crushed rocks much more easily than before and dug into the soil.

The area my children occupy is expanding at a rapid pace.

I don’t know what the Curse of Anger expected by giving me the [Crush+] skill.

That one’s for eating and mining.

***

The boy saw a scarecrow that suddenly appeared in the corner of the school.

This scarecrow, made of Slime, had a sign around its neck that read [Welcome to Worry Counseling].