Chapter 31 - Room 103, Room of Curses - 'Animal Farm' (5)
[User: Han Ga-in (Ji-hye)
Date: Day 13
Current Location: Layer 1, Room 103 (Room of Curses - Animal Farm)
Sage's Advice: 3]
I lightly licked my fur.
The four-legged gait I've now grown accustomed to.
Honestly, among various animals, becoming a cat is quite agreeable to me.
It's a rather elegant animal, after all.
Being a Norwegian Forest breed isn't bad either.
At least I'm not a cow or a pig, isn't that something to be grateful for?
It might be a bit sorry to say to my party members, but truthfully, I don't harbor much grudge against the farm family.
Honestly, what did those people do wrong?
The goose feathers had grown sufficiently, so they plucked them; wolves invaded, so they killed them.
By the same logic, the cow went bad, so they're just preparing to butcher it.
It's a common occurrence that always happens on Earth.
The problem was simply that a person happened to be inside that goose, that wolf, that cow.
Of course, what needs to be done must be done.
Meow! Meeeow!
I cried out as loudly as possible to gather attention. When I vocalized at the top of my lungs since morning, May naturally looked my way.
I do feel a bit sorry thinking about what I'm about to do, considering she seemed to quite like me.
Tap tap
"Ah! Ari, no! Come here~ Good Ari, okay?"
Tap
"Uh-uh! No, Ari, you can't hit that! Mom really treasures that vase~"
Sorry. That's exactly why I'm hitting it.
Tap!
Crash!!!!!!!!
"Aaaaaah!!!!!!!"
After calling May over, I tapped at the vase that looked most expensive until it fell and shattered.
This is actually really fun.
Along with the scream, Amy came into the room too and started yelling, but I couldn't care less.
I just ignored them and headed out the window.
Now I need to go to the cow pen for my final role.
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"What... what in the world is going on?"
Bryan couldn't collect himself at all.
Less than 10 minutes after waking up and starting to rack his brain for ways to normalize the farm, he heard the screaming.
When he rushed to the kitchen in alarm, his wife's beloved vase was shattered to pieces, and his daughter was in a frenzy saying the cat had run away.
He was already overwhelmed from yesterday's wolf incident—why was everything going wrong these days?
However, Bryan's nightmare was only just beginning.
"Father!!! Come to the farm right now! Hurry!"
When he rushed over frantically, some large wild boar was devastating the fields.
It wasn't even selectively eating certain crops!
It was pulling out and trampling the crops as if destroying the field itself was the purpose!
He felt rage surging to the top of his head.
"Peter, stay careful. I'll go get the gun."
Bryan immediately set out to fetch the gun.
What in the world was happening to the farm? He couldn't understand it, but he knew how to solve it.
Ultimately, if he blew the heads off the troublemakers, the problem would be solved, right?
While rushing to resolve the situation, he saw the loyal Golden Retriever staring at him intently.
Seeing it wagging its tail vivaciously as if asking what was wrong even amidst the farm's chaos stabilized his mind.
Right. It's no big deal. Just shoot the wild boar dead, and either chase out the cat or something, and it'll be fine.
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ElMengMeng (Elena): Farmer moving to get gun
SmartSnake (Lee Eun-sol): I've got position too
WildBoar (Cha Jin-cheol): Should I avoid?
KimCat (Kim Ari): Trust me
BlackCow (Han Ga-in): When are they coming?
KimCat (Kim Ari): Need to check gun condition just in case
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Picking up the hunting rifle from the room, my mind eased.
That's right. Didn't we solve all those wolves yesterday with just two guns? All I need to do is shoot the wild boar dead.
When I calmly went to the field, the wild boar showed no fear, continuing to destroy the field without even trying to avoid me.
Feeling the heat rise at the back of my neck, I immediately pulled the trigger.
————Bang!!!!!!!
The next moment, the gun exploded.
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"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The farmer's screams filled the farm. The family members all rushed out in shock.
The plan was a success.
Staying up all night (though cats don't really sleep at night anyway) and stuffing garbage into the gun barrel to block it had been effective.
I could see the farm family unable to hide their horror as they moved Bryan to the bed and started the commotion of applying medicine and wrapping bandages.
Then... now I can go do the final task of the plan.
With a light jump, I moved through the windowsill, and after some hopping around, I arrived at the cow pen.
As soon as I arrived, the black cow that had been lying on the floor raised its upper body as if it had been waiting.
The wooden fence blocking the cows from going outside.
It's impossible even for a cow to break it with brute force, but the structure is actually quite simple.
Just twist the handle to the left and lift it up, and it opens.
Naturally, there's no reason to make it difficult for even a person to enter.
For a beast, this is sufficient. Without the wisdom to use the fence's handle, there's no way out.
But... for a thinking beast, things are a bit different.
Thanks to the cat's meager muscle strength, lifting the handle wasn't exactly easy.
When I forcefully twisted my whole body to lift the handle, the black cow on the opposite side supported the lifted handle with its horn and then twisted it open with its own strength, as if it had been waiting.
Now, my role is done. The remaining work will be handled well by the large friends.
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Day 4 of being in this damn farm as a cow.
Finally, freedom.
The first thing I did upon getting out was to let all the other cows out too.
Opening each pen's handle with my horns and giving the hesitant cows a poke on the rump, they all startled and started coming out.
Now those friends will cause the rampage...
I should head toward the geese. Song-i must have been really frustrated too, so it's about time to let her out.
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I could tell right away that the farm collapse operation had started without anyone needing to explain.
As soon as morning came, the farm was filled with screams and shouts.
Human screams, cries full of sorrow, and the loud noises made by animals...
This farm is definitely ruined at this point.
I still have doubts about whether this operation is truly the right path...
But I didn't have the confidence to definitively say what was wrong, so I said nothing today.
So while I was preening my feathers alone, suddenly the goose pen door flew open.
Managing the pen in the middle of all this?
It wasn't a person coming to manage the pen. It was a cow.
How on earth did it open the pen door? Well, it's a 'thinking cow,' so I shouldn't think of it like an ordinary cow.
Even without a 'KakaoTalk' message, I immediately understood what it meant. It must be telling me to come out now too.
Until the very last moment, I still wasn't certain about the plan...
Even so, it's time to help everyone now.
But what exactly can a goose do to ruin a farm?
In my entire life, I've never thought this deeply about how to destroy something.
Actually, it seems like I don't need to do anything.
Looking around, the farm was already a complete mess!
Everyone must have caused such a rampage—more than 10 cows were running around making hideous noises,
In the fields that already seemed impossible to ruin further, a wild boar was tearing down even the wooden fences,
Over 300 geese were starting to take flight into the sky.
And the farm owner covered in blood on top of that.
Sorry, Bryan. No matter how I look at it, the farm seems ruined.
What more could I possibly add...
Wandering around, I found something to do. That's... a carriage, isn't it.
Come to think of it, what era is this 'stage' set in?
I'm not sure of the type, but the farm owner carries a gun, yet the transportation is a carriage?
I approached the carriage and nudged what looked like a wooden peg in the middle of the wheel with my beak.
I should just remove this and pass the remaining time.
But, will destroying the farm like this lead to 'escape'?
I've been feeling this since yesterday, but this operation is really strange somehow.
While I was lost in my own thoughts and diligently working on the wheel's wooden peg, a shadow appeared.
"You little! Huh? Aren't you the one that was biting yesterday? That's strange.
The one that was biting died... anyway, why are you acting like this here again?"
An enraged Peter.
If I had seen him when I was human, I would have thought of him as a reasonably lively rural boy,
but meeting him as a goose, he's the scariest thing in the world.
Peter's hand grabbed my neck.
No way? Am I going to die like this? Will he catch me just for nudging a wooden wheel peg?
Between one doubt and another, Peter's hand suddenly tightened.
My consciousness fades. Ah, what an absurd ending this is.
Even in Room 103, I couldn't do anything...
At that moment
A vast, distant form obscured the surroundings.
Silence—filled the surroundings.
An absurd phenomenon.
Just a moment before, all the people and livestock were running amuck, filling the surroundings with enough noise to make my ears ring, but in an instant, it became so quiet that not even a mosquito's sound could be heard.
When a dark tentacle extended and touched Peter, my body became free.
It saved me.
I had been suspicious until now, but I'm certain at this point.
That 'Dokkaebi' cherishes me in its own way.
It's been like that these past few days too. When Ari discovered it, it didn't make any contact, but it came to me every time and stroked my head.
Furthermore, this time it openly saved me from a crisis.
It's not even close. Even though I was suspicious, now I'm certain.
Moreover, it's daytime right now.
Clearly, according to its behavioral patterns so far, it's a being that only acts at night, yet it appeared in broad daylight when I fell into danger.
What on earth is that? Something not human cherishing me is less joyful than it is terrifying.
Just as it appeared, the form vanished without any warning.
Peter, as if hypnotized, turned around and went about his other business as if nothing had happened.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only at this moment did I realize.
The sense of discomfort I felt every time I heard the so-called farm collapse strategy since yesterday.
The true nature of the doubt that something was wrong.
The most surreal existence in this strange farm is clearly that 'Dokkaebi,'
but in the farm collapse strategy—or more precisely, in the escape plan created by the party...
There's absolutely no consideration for the Dokkaebi. As if... such a thing doesn't exist.