Chapter 9: Otopal

The moment I opened my eyes again, I knew.  

If heaven existed, this would be it.  

The soft thighs wrapped snugly around the back of my head.  

The overwhelming presence of maternal love, like the vast sky before my eyes.  

And the fur tickling the tip of my nose.  

Achoo! 

“Woof! Master Jooin, are you awake?”  

With a loud sneeze, my mind snapped back to reality.  

I had passed out.  

First, I got hit in the side by a wild boar and went flying, and now I fainted after being buried in someone’s chest.  

I’m so damn weak, seriously.  

Starting tomorrow, I’m doing early morning workouts.  

Running, push-ups, and…  

“Are you okay, woof?”  

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”  

Honestly, I wanted to enjoy it a bit longer,  

but what if I got attached?  

Swallowing my regret, I adjusted my posture and sat up.  

The place where I had comfortably passed out was the bench in the square where I had met Rumi earlier.  

“Anyway, to explain a bit more…”  

“Uwoo, no need for explanations, woof! Master Jooin is Master Jooin! Rumi will protect Master Jooin, woof!”  

So full of enthusiasm.  

Enthusiasm is a good thing.  

Without needing any persuasion, Rumi started following me, wagging her tail.  

I should ask later if I can pet her.  

Guild House.  

It wasn’t like we hadn’t interacted before, but there was an awkward silence between the two women.  

Ari, in her own way,  

felt uncomfortable being alone with the Saintess, who was arguably the most famous person in the city.  

And Johanna was…  

‘Did she really do it? Nah, probably not. Should I ask? No, it’s a bit awkward to ask…’  

She was floundering in a swamp of misunderstanding born from a misconception.  

Creak.

As soon as the guild house door opened,  

“Welcome back, Ark!”  

“Did you have a good trip?”  

They greeted us with lively voices.  

“We’re back,” Ark responded.  

Following that,  

“Nice to meet you, woof!”  

A dog beast girl suddenly popped out from behind.  

Sway, jiggle.

Overwhelmed by her presence, Ari and Johanna momentarily lost their words.  

Naturally, their gazes drifted to their own chests.  

…!  

Faced with the incomparable, massive presence, the two women couldn’t help but feel a bit solemn.  

***

“Yes, 23 gold.”  

After our heroes briefly exchanged greetings, since we took the morning off due to mental issues and Rumi’s recruitment, 

We focused on making up for it by diving into the afternoon sales.  

Meanwhile, I was racking my brain to solve one problem.  

Rumi. 

How should I use her?  

If I hadn’t made a contract with her, it would’ve been different, but since I did, I had to somehow integrate her into the current party and make her work.  

Even a rotten fish is still a fish.  

Being a natural 5-star, her stats were relatively higher than the 3-star tanks, so there wouldn’t be any issues in the early stages.  

But plans are usually made for the long term.  

If I fully activated my foresight, she would inevitably have to leave the party eventually.  

Sigh.

If I hadn’t seen her in person, if she were just a piece of data, I wouldn’t have cared.  

But from her standing illustration, to her Live 2D illustration, and even her in-game 3D model, I could feel a vividness that I couldn’t before.  

So, I was torn.  

Should I go extreme with the party composition?  

Remove the tank and use Rumi as a damage-soaking tank while filling the rest with ranged DPS?  

Or should I bring two healers to manage her health even if she takes hits?  

I’d have to try various things.  

If I were a player chronically short on resources, I’d have to focus on selective growth.  

But now, I’m a shop owner.  

Given enough time, I can gather several times the resources and pour them in.  

“30 gold, please. Thank you.”  

Just like when I worked part-time at a convenience store,  

my brain was constantly running simulations for Rumi.  

It was like a brainstorm!  

However, my delusions were futile.  

After pouring all the day’s EXP potions into Rumi and forming a 3-man party to enter the tower,  

“Rumi, you’re amazing!”  

“…………Impressive.”  

“Yeah………….”  

Johanna didn’t need to heal, and Ari didn’t need to shoot arrows.  

Before entering the tower,  

Rumi was just a gentle dog wagging her tail and panting.  

But the moment she faced a monster,  

“Gyao!”  

A roar to dominate the battlefield!  

“Woof!”  

She leaped up and punched the wild boar’s head with a thud!  

Even if it were the original game, she would’ve taken some unavoidable damage, but  

“Woof!”  

She easily dodged the boar’s charge, grabbed its tail, spun it around, and slammed it down!  

That’s right.  

Rumi could ‘dodge’…………!  

Moreover,  

“Rumi! Only hit the head!”  

“Got it, woof!”  

Just in case, I gave her specific combat instructions, and Rumi, who had been randomly punching wherever she could reach, started selectively pounding the boar’s head.  

Following instructions held significant meaning.  

I could use my knowledge to evade threatening attacks in advance, use taunt skills at the right moments, or even use them before combat to just gain the attack boost.  

In other words, I wasn’t just a simple player or observer.  

I could be an active commander on the battlefield!  

Let’s test a bit more.  

“Rumi, jump!”  

“Woof!”  

“Rumi, sit!”  

“Woof!”  

“Rumi, bang bang!”  

“Bang!”  

Suddenly, I missed our Bokshil.  

I hope she’s doing well.

Rumi, who had been faithfully following commands, poked her head in, so I started petting her.

“……Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just…

A little…”

“Ark? Even though she’s a dog beastkin, she’s still a girl, so I should avoid giving her any unpleasant commands.”

“Rumi likes it, woof! So excited, woof!”

Ah.

Even though the person in question says it’s fine.

The Saintess’s point was valid.

“Rumi, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, woof! I like you, Master, woof!”

Rumi rubbed her head against me even more enthusiastically.

Her expressions are a bit strange, but…

She really is like a dog…

Even the way her tail fluffs up…

Anyway, I felt relieved.

Let’s keep going like this!

[Cleared Floor 2 of the Tower of Wishes – Evergreen Forest Area 9!]

“Alright. Let’s break through Area 10 right away.”

The party’s stability has definitely improved.

Even though Ari’s normal attacks deal area damage,

there were times when a single arrow didn’t even come close to wiping them all out.

But now, like yesterday, if a boar gets to our flank, that kind of problem can still happen.

“Woof!”

Rumi leaped into the midst of the colorful-maned monsters,

“Woof woof! Woof!”

and with my signal, she unleashed an area taunt.

“Kkwok!”

“Kkwok!”

The boars started rushing toward Rumi.

“Ari!”

“Yeah!”

Through several experiments, we discovered that allies aren’t affected by area attacks, so Ari aimed and fired without any hesitation!

The arrow left the bowstring and exploded at Rumi’s feet!

[Defeated Earth Boar (LV.17)!]

[Defeated Wind Boar (LV.17)!]

Look at how uncreative these mob names are.

It seems like the easy part is coming to an end.

“Kkwok!”

One boar, barely alive, let out a pitiful roar,

“Shut up, woof!”

Thud!

Rumi’s punch cleanly landed on the boar’s head.

[Defeated Earth Boar (LV.19)!]

A clean sweep.

Even though these monsters could be easily handled by Rumi alone, we were practicing to get our coordination right.

As we pushed forward, defeating the mobs,

[Great Boar (LV.20)]

The boss of the 2nd floor revealed itself.

Roughly estimating its health, it would take five arrows.

Or, three arrows and three punches from Rumi.

If we were to just use normal attacks, that is.

“Rumi. You don’t have to attack. Just keep the boss’s attention. Ari, let’s just shoot three arrows first. Don’t kill it.”

“Woof!”

Rumi responded with pure positivity to my instructions.

“Huh? Okay…!”

Ari, who had been full of courage since Rumi joined, nodded.

“Ark, is there a reason you don’t want to kill it?”

The ever-curious Saintess asked.

Good attitude.

“There’s something I want to test.”

With my kind explanation, Johanna seemed to agree and cast blessings on Ari and Rumi.

“Kkkkkwwwok!!!”

The Great Boar let out a roar, roughly four letters and two exclamation marks more intense than the regular boars, and the clash began.

“Woof~ Woof~”

While the Great Boar charged mindlessly, Rumi dodged its attacks with acrobatic leaps.

Our obedient Ari calmly shot one, two, and then three arrows.

Since its health was now below 50%, it was time for it to show its move.

I gauged the distance between the Great Boar and us, and slowly pulled Ari and Johanna back.

Then.

“Kkkkkwwwok……………!”

The Great Boar stopped its charge and started scraping the ground with its hooves, gathering energy.

The precursor to a massive attack pattern.

It scrapes the ground five times, leaps into the air, and slams down, dealing massive area damage to everyone.

It was easy to miss when watching on a small screen, but in real life, the movements were too obvious.

Two, three, four, five…

“Rumi! Taunt!”

“Woof! Woof woof!”

Instead of her usual cute “woof,” Rumi let out a fierce “woof woof!”

“Kkwok…?”

Just as the boar boss was about to leap into the air, its eyes turned red, and it gently landed back on the ground.

“Nice! Rumi! Triple punch!”

“Woof!”

[Defeated Great Boar (LV.20)!]

With precise damage calculation, the Great Boar fell with a thud.

“Hahaha, hahahaha…!”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

The hypothesis was proven.

In the original game, Last Felix, one of the core techniques for climbing the higher floors was timing skill usage.

Cooldown reduction, attack speed, clear time from the previous round, buffs from other characters— all these factors had to be carefully managed to ensure that defensive measures like taunts or area shields were ready when threatening attacks came.

If not?

DEFEAT.

Wipeout. 

Please spend more money.

But!

I don’t need to go through all that trouble.

I just need to temporarily disable the autonomous mode of our heroes and take the wheel with my Class 2 driving skills.

Hit. 

Dodge.

Hit, or take the hit and heal. 

Draw aggro!

Dodge! 

Breath attack! To the corner!

Pattern? 

Taunt.

Continuous pattern? 

Shield.

Insane pattern?

[Cleared Floor 2 of the Tower of Wishes – Evergreen Forest Area 10!]

[You can now enter Floor 3 of the Tower of Wishes.]

[New feature unlocked: Daily Dungeon]

And, even with the Shopkeeper’s authority,

we can now acquire experience potions, which are never enough for our heroes.

The Daily Dungeon has been unlocked.

“Otapal.”

“Otapal? What does that mean?”

“It means ‘Today’s Tower was fulfilling.’ Let’s stop here. Let’s have a meat party with the boars we hunted today.”

“Meat! I love meat, woof!”

Today, our heroes worked hard.

Let’s grease our bellies a bit.