2023.08.03.
The Blue Starlight teddy bear doll was, to this day, the most popular item among children under the age of five. Its cute little heart-shaped nose and pink ribbon were the monster’s trademark.
And this teddy bear was just as famous among hunters as it was with children. The mouth, which had always been drawn in a smiling shape, looked unbelievably grotesque in real life.
*‘The Smiling Murderer, the Psychopath Teddy Bear, the bear tears hunters apart while smiling……!’*
Countless epithets for the teddy bear that I had read online flashed through my mind.
The most famous nickname among them was ‘Doldori.’ It was short for ‘Dol-ai Teddy Bear.’
They said that whenever hunters fought in the Blue Starlight Valley, it would appear like a ghost and run amok…….
It was classified as A-rank by the system, but it was an invincible monster that took no damage even when struck by S-rank hunters.
Monsters usually raised their stats by eating magic stones, and rumors circulated that Doldori had gorged on so many magic stones that its stats had broken through the meter.
No doubt, Doldori had played a major role in sharply raising the difficulty of the already grueling S-rank dungeon.
*Thud! Thud!*
Doldori’s massive soles fell at a right angle. The tremendous roars and pouring attacks left me with no room to think.
“Keuk!”
Eventually, my shoulder was grazed by Doldori’s claws.
[Body Concealment (C) has been released due to contact with a monster.]
*I wasn’t even fighting, so why did Doldori have to fixate on me?!*
My left arm had nearly been torn clean off. It was fortunate I hadn’t suffered a major injury, but my skill was released due to contact with the monster.
The surroundings were reduced to a wasteland, dust scattering everywhere.
[The vision of ‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ is dizzy.]
[‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ uses ‘Swipe (A).’]
When its feet weren’t enough, Doldori swung its hand. Then, it nonchalantly shoved a tree it had grabbed in passing into its mouth.
*Look at it, eating without being picky. Maybe the rumors are true…….*
While Doldori was eating the tree, the dust gradually settled.
*At this rate, I’ll be targeted!*
[♥: 0%]
Then, I spotted a heart-shaped text floating near the bear’s ankle. It hovered in the air, trailing the movement of its foot.
[If you observe a monster for more than 5 seconds, favorability will appear.]
*Favorability?*
Come to think of it, I had a taming skill called ‘Bring the Sack (A).’ Although it was a conditional skill that required favorability to be above 50%.
Since things had come to this, I had to somehow use the skill to capture the bear.
*But how?*
There were various ways to raise favorability: feeding, petting, singing songs, and so on.
The most important thing was understanding the habits of the target whose favorability you were trying to raise.
*What was it that bears liked again?*
I recalled a bear character from a cartoon I had watched as a child, which had liked honey. But no matter how much I looked around, there was nothing even remotely like honey.
Even if there were, it wasn’t as if I had an Appraisal skill, so telling whether something was honey would be difficult.
In that case, I could pet the spot animals liked, or give it food…….
*Ha, you might as well just ask me to drop dead.*
No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem possible.
Then.
Through the dust, Doldori’s red pupils stared directly at me.
“Uwaaack!”
When Doldori lifted my left leg, my vision flipped. In an instant, I was raised to a height of 10 meters.
[‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ is happy to see you.]
[‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ waves its hand.]
*You psychopath teddy bear!*
I was trembling with fear, wondering when I would end up inside that mouth, yet it was leisurely waving its hand.
Doldori had become famous partly because of this behavior.
When it caught hunters, it played with them like toys. Then it would kill them while pretending it was an accident.
When I was too terrified to react, it shook me gently.
“Mommy, huugh. Save me. Dad, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Huaaang.”
Tears flowed out on their own. Doldori looked slightly puzzled.
*Is it already bored? Is it going to eat me?*
While my body was trembling, something fell from my pocket with a thud. Doldori quickly caught the fallen object with its other hand.
*What is it?*
Doldori’s gaze became peculiar for a moment. What had fallen from my pocket was a bear-shaped jelly, which I had packed as a snack.
Doldori suddenly lowered me to the ground, then used its index finger and thumb to tear open the jelly packet. It was a familiar gesture, as if it knew exactly what this was.
The moment I saw that, a memory from the past suddenly came to mind.
*‘Mom. Why are you taking that?’*
Mom had always packed snacks before going into a dungeon.
*‘Dungeon monsters like human food more than you’d think.’*
At the time, I had been sulky because it felt like the monsters were taking my things away.
[♥: 32%↑]
But now, I found myself cheering for Doldori, whose eyes were sparkling as it ate the jelly.
“Yes, yes! Eat more! Here, I have another bag!”
I pulled out another bag of jelly from my opposite pocket. When I threw it, Doldori caught it in a flash.
It promptly poured the entire bag into its mouth.
[♥: 100%↑]
[Favorability with ‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ can no longer be increased.]
The favorability had risen far above the target value. I immediately cast the skill.
“Bring the Sack!”
[Yu Bom (F) has used ‘Bring the Sack (A)’ on ‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A).’]
[You have successfully captured ‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A).’]
Doldori stopped moving and glanced my way. Its red pupils had turned docile.
[If you give a captured monster a name, you can issue it commands.]
*A name?*
As Doldori became docile, the harpy peeked out again.
I recalled my first impression of the monster and called out the first thing that came to mind.
“Teddy!”
[The name of ‘Blue Starlight Teddy Bear (A)’ has been changed to ‘Teddy (A).’]
Doldori wasn’t a nickname given with good intentions, after all. And if I could control its crazy antics, it was simply my cute doll, Teddy itself.
“Protect me!”
“Kyaek!”
Doldori instantly swatted away the harpy that had drawn near. It was an easy finish, as if swatting away a mosquito.
“Wow, you’re so strong!”
While I was marveling, Doldori’s hand approached.
“Uwoooah! Wait! Why are you doing this!”
For a moment, I thought it was going to swallow me whole. However, Teddy grabbed my body and lifted me onto its shoulder.
“Hello, Master. Don’t worry. You are safe now!”
“You…… you were a girl? No, you can talk?”
[Communication is possible with captured monsters.]
The system’s explanation came instead of Teddy. It was an extremely convenient function.
“From now on, I will assist Master. Please ask me anything about the dungeon. I will protect Master to the best of my ability!”
The ferocious appearance I had seen mere moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Contrary to its scary exterior, its voice was incredibly cute.
“……For now, I need to build a campground. Is there a safe site? Somewhere with no monsters and flat terrain.”
“Yes, of course! I will guide you right away.”
* * *
Teddy walked toward the lowlands with me on its shoulder.
We did encounter monsters along the way, but perhaps because of Teddy’s high rank, they didn’t approach. Capturing it had been the best choice.
“But how did you find me? I wasn’t even fighting monsters.”
“I think Master’s Charm stat is high, so I was drawn to you.”
“This applies to monsters too?”
Isn’t that a bad thing?
“It probably only applies to monsters that are favorable toward humans. I was always looking for humans to play with.”
“Play……?”
“Yes! Humans are so cute!”
Teddy hopped excitedly. Somehow, it had felt more like playing than attacking; it seemed Teddy really had been following hunters around with the intention of playing together.
“Ugh, Teddy. I’m dizzy. A little slower, please.”
“Yes, Master!”
Whatever Teddy’s intentions were, it must have felt threatening to humans.
“How about here?”
The place where Teddy stopped matched the conditions at a glance. A vast, flat meadow with a river flowing on one side.
The rugged mountain range wrapped solidly around the terrain. The nearby trees were of suitable size and looked loggable.
The view was wide open, and the sky was clearly visible. In the sky, a huge planet and islands floated.
“How did you find such a perfect place? My explanation was insufficient.”
“Since Master captured me, the system window is shared. And the system injected information so that Master could live a comfortable camping life.”
“Into you?”
“Yes.”
Come to think of it, the description of the ‘Bring the Sack’ skill had mentioned system sharing and helping with camping life.
*I didn’t know that’s what it meant. So it acts as a guide?*
The system’s explanations were sometimes ambiguous and confusing, but having it explained right beside me like this would be a great help.
“But isn’t that a monster over there?”
If there was one thing that bothered me, it was the blue slime-type monster near the site. No, it was embarrassing to even call it a monster.
Its entire body was a palm-sized, round, mucus-like blob, moving slowly like a snail.
What do you call those again.
“A slime?”
“Yes.”
Right, a slime. Even if it looked that harmless, it was still a monster. Just in case it suddenly rushed at me, I grabbed Teddy’s head.
“There are fluid-type monsters inhabiting this forest. That slime isn’t an adult yet, so it won’t have any attack power. It hasn’t even grown teeth.”
The slime really did try to bite a tree, but only got mucus on it. Giving up, the slime ate dirt.
*……What the. It’s kind of cute.*
No monster appearance message popped up on the system window either. Like butterflies, immature monsters didn’t seem to be classified as threats.
“Then please put me down. I’ll try building the campground here.”
“Yes.”
Teddy lowered me to the ground. I pressed the ‘Establish Campground’ button.
[Please name your campground.]
It immediately moved to the next window. The site seemed to have passed for now.
“A name…… Bomi’s Campground?”
But then I encountered another obstacle.
“No, it’s not a farm. Isn’t there something more appropriate?”
It was, after all, the first self-run business bearing my name. The more I thought about it, the deeper my worries became.
“Forget it. I’ll just name it randomly.”
A ‘Random Name’ button blinked next to the system window.
Since I was only going to use it as temporary shelter until rescue anyway, if I built it with too much care, it might feel like a waste to throw away.
I immediately pressed the ‘Random Name’ button.
[Campground establishment successful.]
[Welcome to Spring Campground!]
“Spring? That’s just my name.”
It wasn’t a bad name for a campground, but I felt embarrassed because it felt like I was blatantly using my own name.
[Quest completed.]
[You have acquired ‘1,000C’ as a quest reward.]
[You have learned the campground skill ‘Crafting.’]
[The captured monster is shrunk to a size suitable for the campground.]
Along with the quest completion message, Teddy’s size decreased.
“Ooh. Master! I got tiny!”
“Haha. Congratulations.”
In truth, it wasn’t as tiny as Teddy described. It was still much larger than an adult male.
*Still, compared to before, it shrank by a surprising amount.*
And I had received the quest completion reward for establishing the campground.
“1,000 coins……? 10 million won?!”
At the exchange rate, 1 coin was 10,000 won. That meant I had earned 10 million won from a single quest.
“System, is this a bug?”
I had heard that quest rewards were substantial, but this was more tremendous than I had imagined. 10 million won for a campground establishment quest. It hardly felt real.
“And what is this?”
A wooden sign I hadn’t seen before appeared next to where we stood.
“Is this it?”
It was too simple, if not shoddy. A wooden plank that looked hastily nailed together was dangling, and it looked old.
The letters scrawled in paint were garishly colorful and tacky.
“Master. There’s something else too!”
Teddy gestured behind me. There was a familiar sign there.
“It’s a bathroom!”
There was a portable bathroom that looked like it could fit one person. Next to it was a shower room.
“Isn’t this amazing?”
“Master, there’s something here too!”
While I was marveling, Teddy seemed to have discovered something else.
“What is this?”
This was also a familiar object. About 2 meters tall, one where you put money in and the item you wanted came out.
“A vending machine……?”