Chapter 186

Chapter 186. Complicated problems often have solutions right next to them. (3)

However, the sympathy we felt for Smeragi lasted only about 5 seconds at most.

Of course, if Smeragi knew about our thoughts and attitude, they would probably use every “nya-nya” style insult in the book.

Unfortunately, Smeragi was currently being led by Gryanarr, like a child who was told they were going to eat pork cutlets but ended up at the dentist, so there wasn’t much we could do about it.

Honestly, it’s a sad story for Smeragi…

But right now, we had something more important to worry about than Gryanarr’s “exciting” experiment of using an SSS-Class Superhuman as a test subject.

And what was that, you ask?

“Commander, what do you plan to do with the other two?”

“Hmm…”

As Belial asked me over the comms, it was about how to handle the remaining two S-Class individuals.

Personally, I wanted to throw them both into Professor Gryanarr’s thrilling (?) biological experiments, but…

As you can see from the gallery posts, Gryanarr could only take one person, so…

The remaining two had to either be sent to forced labor camps or left to rot at the base.

But even though it’s a choice between two options, sending them to forced labor camps wasn’t great either, probably because of the -200 favorability penalty.

Contrary to what I thought, it was a pretty bad situation…

—————————————-

Title: Ah, f*ck, if favorability is below -100, even forced labor camps are useless

Author: Oden Soup

Content: [Image of a toad with a collar]

Why the hell are they saying “I’m not working” in the forced labor camp?

I don’t get it.

Isn’t it a forced labor camp because you’re forcing people who don’t want to work?

Comments:

-[Forced Labor Camp (Can’t Force Sh*t)]

-[LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO]

-[Even in forced labor camps, it’s the guards who monitor and handle things. Do you think you could control monsters who can cover dozens of kilometers in less than an hour?]

-[You’d need to pair them with superhumans of the same level to keep them in check, duh.]

-˪[Even if you pair them, they still don’t work] (Author)

-˪[??? What?]

-˪[Why aren’t they working?]

-[Under a sh*tty commander like you, who’d want to work?]

-˪[F*ck]

—————————————-

—————————————-

Title: Found a seriously unexpected problem with forced labor camps

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Image of a message saying “Refusing to work”], [Image showing favorability at -120]

If these bastards’ favorability drops below -100, you can’t even force them to work in labor camps.

I wondered why, so I checked the wiki’s settings, and there’s a reason.

When favorability hits around -100, they just find the idea of working for that commander utterly disgusting.

Even if you try to make them work, they pretend to work while destroying equipment and parts, so you can’t really make them do anything.

Of course, even if superhumans are watching them, they stubbornly keep doing it, which feels a bit forced, but…

Ironically, that’s why this seems more like a balance adjustment and newbie protection measure rather than just a setting.

Comments:

-[Yeah, that makes sense]

-[Honestly, back in the day, those toxic veterans would beat up newbies and steal their good stuff, right?]

-˪[That happened, so how did the game even survive?]

-˪[That’s why the game died]

-˪[Ah]

—————————————-

“Hmmmm…”

As you can see from the newly posted gallery thread, even forced labor camps require favorability to be above -100, which is another problem.

“Commander, then you shouldn’t have called it a choice between two options from the start.”

“I just saw it too.”

Anyway, because of all this, the dilemma of what to do with those two S-Class individuals continued…

‘Should I just let them fall in love and watch them star in a romance?’

With Gryanarr constantly sticking their tentacles where they don’t belong, my SAN points were already at rock bottom.

I started thinking that maybe a wholesome romance could restore my mental health, but…

If I kept thinking like that…

While keeping silent for a moment…

“Commander, no matter how I look at it, those two seem hard to use.”

“…True.”

“Since they’re difficult to use anyway, why don’t you try using the trade window this time, Commander?”

“…Oh.”

When Jessica mentioned the ‘trade window,’ I was able to recall something I had practically forgotten due to various reasons.

“Now that I think about it, there was a trade window, huh?”

Of course, from my perspective, it was hard to keep the existence of the trade window in mind.

Honestly, after glancing at it once last time… let’s be real, what reason would I have to enter the trade window?

There wasn’t much gold to trade anyway, just the basic initial capital (?) given to all users, which wasn’t enough to use in the trade window where inflation was hitting hard.

After that, the only time I went in was to delete reported posts as a moderator, and I didn’t even have a chance to window-shop.

Of course, that’s not to mention how ‘freaking’ busy I was before that.

Anyway, aside from deleting trash posts disguised as trade posts in the trade window and auction house after receiving reports, I had never used the trade window or auction house even once.

Hearing Jessica’s words, I felt a little excitement (?) and decided to give it a try.

Of course, when I actually tried to use it, I felt a bit weird, like I was engaging in human trafficking…

“Commander, are you scared?”

“…Check the management status of those two immediately, it’s hero time!”

Seeing Jessica naturally hit me with a ‘scared?’ look.

I decided to man up and go for a frontal breakthrough instead of backing down.

==========

But even if I decided to go for a frontal breakthrough, proceeding with a ‘trade’ without any knowledge or preparation was really not a good move.

—————————————-

<Trade and Auction House Guide>

<To use this system, you need a special currency called 'Gold.'>

<It’s different from the rare mineral 'Gold' and can only be used here.>

<Current Commander’s remaining currency: 100 Gold>

—————————————-

As soon as I opened the auction house, a guide message popped up naturally, and after confirming that I was in the same state as before.

For the first time since arriving here, I tried to earn gold through the ‘auction house’ instead of trading between users.

But as always, compared to when I used to play, the state of the game had changed drastically.

Starting with the basic UI, it was completely different from what I knew.

Not to mention, it had been 3 years since I quit the game before I got here, and it’s been a year since I arrived.

So, it’s been a total of 4 years since I last played.

“Ughhh.”

—————————————-

<S-Rank Superhuman Axion, Level 60>

<Current market price: 1,200 Gold>

<Current price: Undecided>

<Expected auction profit: +100 Gold>

<Auction registration fee (20%): 240 Gold>

<Total profit excluding expected auction profit: Undecided>

<Current Commander’s remaining Gold: 100>

<Auctions in the auction house are only valid for 5 days, after which they are automatically canceled.>

<Auction registration fees are non-refundable.>

<If the superhuman registered in the auction house is not transferred to the other party as a trade item for any reason, you may face restrictions on using the auction house.>

—————————————-

Faced with the more complicated trade and auction window, I felt my brain going numb.