Chapter 2: Strange App (2)
[Energy. The most important thing is energy.]
“…So how do we give that energy?”
[Just now, we obtained the genetic information of the fungi living in the cave, and the earthbound ants you collected. This means we can mimic their nutrient absorption methods.]
“Ah.”
I unconsciously looked at the snack bag next to me.
It was new and unopened. But can I really eat this?
There was no need to worry about that.
If the ants can eat it, then it can be eaten.
[Then take a picture.]
I picked up the camera as instructed.
It felt oddly uncomfortable to be given orders, but there was nothing I could do.
[The snack you took a picture of has been transmitted to them.]
As soon as the bag was torn open and the snacks were laid out, they moved into my phone.
With a rustling sound in the dim cave, the snacks poured down.
I observed the response of the cells.
At first, they were cautious.
But soon, they began to create something and started to stretch out.
[The methods of the fungi and the ants have merged.]
The cells clustered together, and it looked like very thin threads were stretching out in myriad directions.
Those threads, which were tentatively reaching out, began to cover the snacks.
It was as if the roots of a plant were trying to digest the snacks, soaking up nutrients.
Looking closer, cells that had biting jaws similar to fungi were attaching to the snacks and gnawing at them.
[We are still primitive. It will take a long time to digest.]
“…That seems to be the case.”
That meant there was nothing to do while they digested.
Even so, I kept looking at my phone.
This was quite interesting.
Watching those little guys squirm around and gradually grow.
It was entertaining, more than just an ordinary nurturing game.
“Hmm…”
I set my phone down and sat in front of my computer.
As interesting as it was, I decided to search for smartphone hacking.
I intended to find others experiencing the same symptoms as me.
However, the results were clear.
Just to be sure, I tried searching in English too, but there wasn’t a single case of similar symptoms.
I opened the messenger and then closed it again.
To be honest, I didn’t think I’d believe it unless I saw it myself, and the threats from that guy lingered in my mind.
It sounds absurd, but if it’s true…
I’ve seen the pictures I took disappear.
This meant it wasn’t just simple hacking.
[That is a wise choice.]
“Whoa!”
At that moment, the screen went dark, and white text began to appear again.
This crazy guy has even set his sights on my computer!
[It would be wise not to draw attention to it.]
“Why should I do that?”
[Aside from protecting your phone records… it is also related to your life, so even more so.]
It was just text, but a chill ran down my spine.
I had no choice but to acknowledge it. The true power lies with them.
Now that I think about it, it was indeed called a game.
There’s no guarantee that this game is single-player.
“Why me? There are many outstanding people. I’m just an ordinary college student.”
[Didn’t I say? You downloaded it yourself. I just activated the system and found its owner, Kang Shin Woo.]
“…”
I was at a loss for words.
It was simply bad luck, and I had no grounds to argue any further.
In the end, I turned off the computer and lay back on my bed again.
I needed to study, but there was no way I could focus on studying in this situation.
“…Hmm?”
I had fallen asleep just like that. I wondered how I could fall asleep in that condition, but the fatigue from an all-nighter had been substantial.
My phone was blaring an alarm loudly next to my ear.
“What is it?”
[It’s an invasion. Sweet snacks suddenly dropped into the dark cave. They’ve caught wind of that smell.]
The source of the alarm was this mysterious game.
I hurriedly accessed the app.
“You’re calling them enemies. Where are they?”
[Zoom in.]
I enlarged the screen as instructed.
The intruders were very small creatures.
Were there no large animals living in this cave to begin with?
[That might actually be beneficial. Larger enemies cannot confront us at our current level.]
My question was soon answered.
In any case, the little ones crawling here were very small, like fleas.
[We have an abundance of stored energy. We can deal with them.]
To confront the creatures getting closer, I began to respond.
Tentacles stretched out towards the little intruders congregating around the digesting snacks.
[We combined the growth methods of the fungi with the genes of the ants.]
The tips of the roots swelled like tumors, rapidly forming and shaping something.
I was very surprised to see that.
Although small, what had been created definitely resembled ants.
The ants that severed their connections with the tentacles began to rush towards the enemies trying to steal their food.
[We are many and yet one. There was no slight inefficiency in our movements. Even the larger and stronger ones among us easily bit to death the enemies. And the defeated enemies became our assets once again.]
[Cave Bloodsucking Flea: 1B1557.]
The battle ended uneventfully.
With our victory.
Moreover, there were the stats of the absorbed enemy.
[Now we can also consume the blood of other lives as nutrients.]
“…That’s amazing.”
I genuinely admired it.
Setting aside the suspiciousness, my curiosity was growing stronger.
“Oppa, what are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
That evening, my younger sister, Kang Do-yeon, who had just returned from school and the academy, frowned at me as I lay on the floor with my face in the carpet.
She was six years younger than me and had just become a high school student.
“…Is there a bug?”
“I caught it, so don’t worry about it.”
She flinched.
She had always hated bugs.
In any case, since I had indeed caught it, I waved her off into her room.
[Fruit Flies and Ghost Spiders. They are all our assets now.]
I had found new specimens while rummaging through the house.
I transmitted those little bugs to the cave after taking pictures of them.
Hundreds of them jumped to hunt the flying fruit flies successfully.
I had introduced sturdy exoskeletons taken from the flea’s genes.
The ghost spider, like the ants, was immediately consumed.
[In just one day, we have grown this much.]
It was just as the guy said.
Starting in the morning and now it was 9 PM.
The cell mass, which had been no more than a small puddle, had now spread its roots across a considerably wide area and grown into the form of mushrooms, allowing for quite a number of soldiers to be produced.
“What do I need to do to grow even bigger?”
[More energy. More specimens.]
Now I was genuinely curious about how big these guys could grow.
“What? My bread! Did you eat it, Oppa?!”
“…I’ll buy you some later.”
After changing clothes, I went out looking for the bread I had bought yesterday.
It was a bit unfair, but I had to compensate.
However, the many breads were not being eaten by me.
They were all shredded and rolling around the cave floor, which was unrecognizable.
Becoming nutrients for the reproduction of a species.
“…They grow incredibly fast.”
[If there is sufficient nutrition, increasing speed is also possible.]
Waking early in the morning, I checked my phone first.
And I was astonished.
In just 8 hours, these creatures had achieved growth beyond the bread they had devoured.
[By combining the webs and growth of fungi, the primordial ‘nest’ has been created.]
“That’s huge…”
I was taken aback as I looked back at the screen.
Cells that had started from a puddle the size of a human footprint had now covered more than half of this underground chamber with their roots and bodies.
Of course, it was still at a size that could be stepped on, but this was just growth in one day.
What would happen if it went on for two days, three days, or four days?
[Nutrients. We need more nutrients.]
“Okay.”
I decided to pour the bread my sister had bought last night back into the mix.
If she finds out that her beloved bread has been completely stolen again, she’ll throw a fit, but I’ll just buy her more.
“Right now, I’m compensating with bread. However, in the long run, I don’t think I can exhaust all my food expenses just for you guys.”
[That’s true. Therefore, you must guide them well. Skills for self-sufficient hunting and exploration, digestion efficiency, energy usage, and so on.]
It was another one of those difficult statements.
In any case, I finished getting ready to go out and left the house, the last of my family to leave.
I only had to attend one class in the afternoon.
“I understand that you mean to design and guide, but first of all, what do I need to know?”
As I boarded the subway to the city where my school was located, I began to be carried away.
To others, I might seem like a crazy person talking to myself, but fortunately, many people nowadays wear wireless earphones and talk on the phone.
[That is a valid point. For your second day, I will unlock one more function for you.]
The tutorial doesn’t end, even though it doesn’t give any rewards.
Almost as soon as the words ended, another icon appeared.
I knew at a glance it was a map.
[However, to uncover the map, scouting is necessary.]
“…I knew you’d say that.”
Scouting. It was a daunting prospect, but it wasn’t anymore.
Dozens of scouts began to set off from the nest.
All of them were equipped with the wings of fruit flies.
What is there to worry about scouting? I could just send out a reconnaissance unit.
[Our greatest advantage is that all information seen by dozens of eyes through a single brain accumulates quickly. The map update speed is explosive. It cannot be imitated by ordinary beings.]
The scouts scattered to investigate every corner of this cave.
What they discovered was that this was the lowest level of the cave and that it was hard to gauge just how deep it went.
Collective Consciousness. I began to see how incredibly powerful this “being connected as one” was.
No matter how far away the scouts were, all the information gathered could be known by the whole.
“What was that just now?”
[It’s a predator. We are currently beyond its reach.]
At that precise moment.
One of the scouts that had been gradually moving up the levels abruptly reported that it was cut off by something.
