Chapter 168: Jealousy Strategy.

The <Scarecrow Slime> does not move from its place.

Those with greed occasionally visited and fell into traps, but basically, it was harmless unless approached.

The <Vampire Slime> does not come out of the castle. That castle, said to be full of treasures, stimulated the desire for challenge, and many challengers were defeated and driven away, but it was also harmless unless visited.

The tentacle monster was a disaster for those exploring the mountain, but it became a tourist attraction that people seeking thrills actually visited.

The <Witch Slime> evoked a bizarre frenzy.

<Mummy Slime>.

This one, like the <Goblin Slime> and <Demon Slime> combo, had forces actively trying to subjugate it.

The reason was simple.

There were many people who held grudges against <Mummy Slime>.

The reason why many people held grudges was also straightforward.

<Mummy Slime> had a specialty of making those it met hold grudges, and many people had met <Mummy Slime>.

A man exchanged star-shaped cookies and red fruits at the desert market.

“What is this? The taste is strange.”

“I added a drug that makes you lose your sense of taste and smell.”

“What? Why would you do that!”

“You have to fall into the same place as me! Why can you taste and enjoy what I can’t feel or enjoy? If I can’t enjoy it, neither should you!”

The merchant suddenly began to emit light.

The guards came and dragged the merchant away.

In the process, the turban fell off, revealing the head wrapped in bandages.

A woman exploring the desert accidentally touched a scorpion nest and was chased by a giant scorpion.

“Ugh!”

As she desperately fled, a hand suddenly sprang from the sand below and grabbed her ankle.

“Why are you alive? Fall to the bottom with me. Lose your youth, vitality, and spirit, and become just like me!”

Because of the hand wrapped in bandages, the woman was caught by the giant scorpion. She ended up being dragged away and fed to the baby scorpions.

A group of tourists walked across the desert following a guide.

“When on earth will we arrive?”

“The place you will arrive at will never appear.”

“What?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Surely not a bandit group?”

As the tourists panicked, the guide threw off his turban and cloak.

The body wrapped in bandages was revealed.

“You must become more unfortunate than me! Wither away in this place!”

With those words, the fake guide disappeared.

The tourists sent up a rescue signal and were rescued immediately, but it was a waste of time and an unpleasant experience.

A man discovered ruins and explored the interior, finding a collapsed bridge.

Facing a dizzying cliff, he looked at the far side.

It seemed he could barely jump across.

The man swallowed and jumped.

“Hyaat!”

And he landed safely on the other side.

“Whew….”

To confirm how much courage he had mustered, he glanced back.

Thud.

Someone suddenly pushed him.

“How dare you enter here! This is my palace! My one and only palace. No one except me should set foot in this sanctuary!”

As he fell, the man desperately looked back and caught a glimpse of the body wrapped in bandages.

Similar incidents happened countless times.

A woman narrowly avoided a trap.

Click. A hand wrapped in bandages triggered the trap.

“Fall! Fall to the same place as me! No, fall even lower!”

A man collapsed after drinking water from an oasis he found.

Dark poison spread from the water, and a head wrapped in bandages floated to the surface.

“I curse you. I curse you to become more miserable than I, who suffered a fate worse than death.”

Men, women, couples, groups.

Had their plans ruined by the interference of <Mummy Slime>.

<Mummy Slime> appeared in all sorts of places, spreading unpleasantness.

-<Mummy Slime> is really annoying! It activated the trap I had disarmed, and I got chased out of the ruins!

└Right now? <Mummy Slime> sold me a cursed lamp. If I don’t grant people’s wishes three times, I’ll have to go around with a body like a blue balloon.

└Is that fake?

└Yours is probably fake.

└We have one here too.

└Are they all the same entity? Or is <Mummy Slime> just all like that by nature?

<Mummy Slime> was sighted in various places at the same time.

As many people held grudges, information gathered quickly.

“Found it.”

The king of the desert who manipulates numerous puppets.

That was the true identity of <Mummy Slime>.

All those causing harm to people were one and the same entity.

***

Once upon a time, there was a king.

He was a great king.

The policies he implemented brought smiles to his people.

Under his touch, water irrigated the farmlands.

At his command, great structures were built on the ground.

His kingdom seemed blessed.

Though he was such an excellent king, he trusted no one.

He was certainly a genius.

His country prospered day by day.

As time passed, he began to show his limits.

The kingdom stopped developing.

Innovative ideas no longer came to him.

But the king did not admit his decline.

Many advised him.

They presented ideas to develop the country.

The king could not accept the existence of those superior to him.

He drove away those who saw futures he could not see.

He exiled those who offered advice with different perspectives.

He killed those who knew knowledge he did not know.

Thus, he brought down those above him.

In fact, this was something he had done from the beginning.

The process of him becoming king was stained with blood.

Instead of rising with others, he pulled them down by their ankles.

Still, this was a common occurrence in history.

It was buried because he was exceptional.

The more he faced his limits, the further he extended his blood-stained claws.

After clearing above and beside, he began to trample below as well.

To prevent the birth of anyone who could threaten his position, he burned books.

He killed everyone who might possibly surpass him.

But the decline did not stop.

At some point, a rotten smell started coming from his body.

The end that inevitably comes at the end of decline.

Death was also approaching moment by moment.

The king, wrapped tightly in bandages, began research for eternal youth and endless life.

Even though he had fallen from grace, a genius is still a genius.

His research produced results.

He discovered a way to live forever.

If death is inevitable.

Then dying and coming back to life would suffice.

The king entered the coffin.

By entering this coffin, sleeping for a while, and waking up, he could obtain eternity.

But his research had a flaw.

If he didn’t wake up at the right time, there was a risk of ending up in a limbo state, neither dead nor alive.

It was a problem that could be easily solved if someone woke him up.

But the king, who couldn’t trust anyone in the world.

He, who had no one around him.

Had no one to wake him up.

The king, who trusted himself rather than others, entered the coffin alone.

And in the end, he disappeared without ever waking up from his eternal sleep.

Once seen as a wise ruler.

But always a tyrant, the king.

People were liberated from him.

***

The information necessary to subjugate <Mummy Slime> was immediately revealed.

Learning from the near failure in subjugating <Goblin Slime> and <Demon Slime>, thorough verification was also conducted.

The subjugation of <Mummy Slime> is divided into two stages.

First, dragging out the main body of <Mummy Slime>.

The active <Mummy Slime> are puppets of the main body.

The main body of <Mummy Slime> is inside the coffin that widens its control ability and does not come out.

However, it was confirmed that if someone invades his palace, the main body will directly lead the puppets and emerge. Also, that the puppets become much stronger as the diluted ability due to the ‘widening coffin’ becomes whole.

While someone lures <Mummy Slime> and the puppets, change the ‘widening coffin’ to the ‘coffin of resurrection that cannot wake up alone’.

The <Mummy Slime> that enters it will never be able to wake up.

The blueprints of the palace were discovered.

Plans were properly made to guide <Mummy Slime> so that the team transporting the coffin would not be noticed.

But there was a problem.

Obtaining the ‘coffin of resurrection that cannot wake up alone’ faced difficulties.

That coffin was guarded by a Sphinx that gives problems.

But no one could pass that Sphinx.

Just like how one combo obtained the fruit of alcohol used when subjugating <Goblin Slime> last time.

This time too, such a person was needed.

Only one team needed to succeed.

But everyone failed.

***

Two college students connected by the bond of <Pure Jelsl>.

They participated in the subjugation of <Mummy Slime>.

There was plenty of time.

Since the midterms ended safely(?).

The two college students thought the midterms had ended safely.

Because there’s the law of grade preservation.

There’s time until the finals.

Assignments?

There were some, but since they weren’t group assignments, it was fine.

You can keep postponing it without harming anyone.

Assignments are most efficient when done on the submission day.

If you hold onto it before that, progress doesn’t happen.

Go to the college bulletin board and find posts like [I failed the exam.] or [I have assignments, but Slime Land is too fun.], and find solace in the fact that you’re not alone in failing.

Or giggle while watching WTube videos like [<I tried pull-ups with Wig Slime!], [<What happens if I eat 10 Gargle Slimes at once.].

Sit down to do assignments, and five hours pass, but the Word program is still blank.

But if you start five hours before the deadline, even if the content is sloppy, the blank page will be filled with black.

Even if you don’t finish by the deadline, it’s okay.

Because you can email the professor and ask to extend the assignment submission deadline by just one day.

If that doesn’t work, you can make up for it in the finals.

If you don’t see any way to recover in the finals, it’s better to get a moderately low grade.

Because if your grades are ambiguously high, you can’t use the retake card.

And even if you desperately wrack your brain on the due date, you’ll get a better score than in group assignments.

Group assignments are a disaster these days.

Someone dies and someone gets married.

Lies disguised as sorrow and joy are wildly holding events.

Stories of group assignment meetings falling apart and meeting humans who couldn’t come to Slime Land due to circumstances are not uncommon.

“Is this a wedding hall?”

“Is this a funeral home?”

It’s a popular saying among college students these days.

‘If we’re together, it’s not scary.’ Embodying that saying, the two enjoyed the Halloween event.

Then they encountered <Mummy Slime> and suffered badly.

To get revenge, they found the pyramid with the ‘coffin of resurrection that cannot wake up alone’.

A Sphinx as big as a mountain welcomed the two.

“Solve this test paper. There’s no time limit.”

“…Yes?”

Mint Choco freshman was dumbfounded by the test paper prepared by the Sphinx.

There were problems that felt similar to those from the midterms.

“You, write the code.”

“No, wait….”

The Sphinx prepared a computer.

Lemon freshman was baffled.

What does a computer mean in a stone building full of history?

“Would paper and pencil have been better?”

Lemon freshman averted his gaze from the sight of Mint Choco freshman clutching his head in agony beside him.

“No.”

At least with a computer, you can run the code.

If you write code with paper and pencil, the difficulty of identifying bugs increases dramatically.

The two desperately solved the problems for an hour.

But effort doesn’t always get rewarded.

Especially if the effort has no foundation, it’s even harder to get rewarded.

“Out of 10 problems, 3 are correct. Only one is optimized. It’s a fail. Don’t go around saying you’re a software major.”

“Ugh….”

Lemon freshman let out a groan.

Next was Mint Choco freshman’s turn.

“You tried to fill in the proof that ends in just three lines with immature knowledge, even resorting to flailing. There are unnecessary contents, of course, and even clearly wrong contents. A mathematician? You’re not even worthy of being called an arithmetic expert.”

“Ugh.”

Mint Choco freshman spat out invisible blood.

“Both are disqualified!!! You don’t have the qualification to enter here! Go and study!!!”

They were driven out just like that.

“It hurts….”

“So.”

“Should we study a bit?”

“Forget about studying, we should probably do the assignment in advance.”

The two college students slightly reflected.

But how long this reflection would last was unknown.

The situations of the others weren’t much different.

“I didn’t learn this!”

“It’s a problem that comes from digging deeper into your major. And there are no limits to the scope of life’s exams.”

There were people protesting against this problem-setting method.

“Shouldn’t it be testing wisdom??”

“What’s the point of just talking about building a house well? If you don’t have bricks to show, it’s meaningless.”

They got hit with a rhetorical question and were eliminated.

-Problems vary by educational background. Can’t uneducated people go?

└Saying uneducated people makes it sound a bit off. Let’s say people who went a different path.

Celebrities, chefs, artists, athletes, businesspeople, etc. People who found their paths early challenged it.

“You don’t remember because it’s been too long? Knowledge that’s covered in dust and rusted to the point of unusability is no different from not existing. Dust it off and remove the rust before coming back. It should be faster than building from scratch.”

Some were blocked by common sense problems.

“Learning doesn’t only come from school. Everyone has their own area of expertise. How much do you know about the path you’re on?”

For some, it became an opportunity to reflect on their lives.

People from all sorts of fields were eliminated.

People who were too busy with their own work and had no interest in things like the Halloween event heard the news.

“Aren’t you supposed to be good at studying?”

“There’s a difficult problem that no one can solve right now, aren’t you interested?”

“Use that brilliant brain of yours.”

With people’s temptations, they found Slime Land.

The Sphinx gave problems from their fields of expertise, and they passed easily.

But the exam wasn’t just one stage.

They were soon blocked.

“This isn’t my major.”

“Your major is different? Can the knowledge you learn exist alone? Does it get completed by going narrow and deep? Haven’t you realized the extensibility of your major from the question I gave?”

Those subjected to fact assaults had no choice but to back down.

-Asking about parts outside your major? This is essentially a structure where you can’t clear it without knowing all the world’s knowledge. Is it meant to be unpassable?

└We have tools that contain all knowledge. Doesn’t the phone work there?

└That can’t be.

When everyone was at a loss, one person came up with an idea.

-Is there no limit on the number of people?

└Yeah. There’s no limit on the number. But if one person fails, everyone fails together, so going together is meaningless.

└That’s not it. They didn’t say anything last time. If a problem that can’t be solved alone comes up, couldn’t experts from various fields go in together?

└Then the depth of the problems would be too great. The problems change depending on who’s taking the exam.

└What about students? The content they’ve learned is uniform, and overly advanced stuff won’t come up.

└That makes sense?

Students from all over Korea who were known for studying gathered.

They rushed in.

They rushed out.

“I guess I have to say this to you too. The knowledge you learn in school isn’t the whole world. What you usually see also forms your thoughts. See more of the world.”

Even they failed, and when everyone was worried that there might really be no answer.

One class found Slime Land.

There were students good at studying.

There were students good at sports.

There were students good at games.

There were students whose strengths were unclear.

If a problem they didn’t know came up, another student would tell them.

Like that, they stepped up one stage at a time.

The problems the Sphinx gave became increasingly difficult.

The students discussed among themselves and found the answers.

An unexpected person came up with a different idea, and all the questions of the final exam were filled.

“There are quite a few wrong answers.”

While the students were disappointed, the Sphinx continued.

“Still, the answers you all put together were interesting. I’ll give extra points.”

The Sphinx stepped aside, and the firmly closed door opened wide.

“You pass.”

The students obtained the ‘coffin of resurrection that cannot awaken alone’.

Finally, the preparation for raiding <Mummy Slime> was complete.

***

What has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?

A bored Slime.

There are two that give birth to each other. Who are they?

A playful Slime.

It grows in the morning, shrinks at noon, grows again in the afternoon, and disappears at night?

A working Slime.

What happens when ice dies?

A <Ice Slime> whose lifespan has ended.

What if a car gets startled?

A startled <Car Slime>.

What is a stone that poses?

A <Rock Slime> striking a pose.

The answer to all riddles is just one.

Slime!

That’s why I can make the Sphinx’s questions into riddles.

It’s half a joke.

I put a little effort into it because I brought up the decline in Korean academic ability.

I made an educational game and took some credit.

Even after the event ends, <Sphinx Slime> will become a member of Slime Land and wander around tormenting people.

Students will despair and parents will cheer.

I wonder how it will turn out.

Parents can’t avoid <Sphinx Slime>’s questions either.

If you don’t want to be embarrassed in front of your child, you should study a bit?

Oh, of course, I don’t plan to embarrass just anyone.

I have to protect the parents’ prestige.

Who to embarrass will be decided by the vast accumulated data.

More than that.

The participation rate for the space side event is lower than expected.

The breathless duel between survivors and murderers too.

The game of discovering and expelling hidden killers.

The space war fought on spaceships.

The participation in the games I highlighted as the core in my video is less than expected.

Fans of the original game, SF enthusiasts, and people who love space are going to the Slime Planet side to enjoy those games.

But the majority of ordinary people stay in Slime Land and enjoy the Halloween event.

There are many people who go to space and come back.

That’s strange.

Somehow, it feels like the side dishes are more popular than the main course.

There are even people who treat the space side as a fake shown to hide the true Halloween event.

There are certainly things to enjoy in the ground’s Halloween event.

You can explore eerie places. However, such places are not suitable for enjoying throughout the month.

You can also compete with special entities as everyone tries. But these special entities are like bonuses that you can defeat or not, so there’s no dramatic reward.

So, what do people on the ground mainly do?

They explore here and there and interact with the monsters living there.

Giving snacks and receiving snacks.

Playing pranks and getting pranked.

Talking about memories.

Going together to places of memories following the monster’s guidance.

The ground’s Halloween event is quite peaceful.

I thought it wouldn’t be very popular because it’s too peaceful.

Everyone fighting, destroying, competing, and taking.

And thus rising above others.

Didn’t they prefer more exciting games?