Part 2 Chapter 149: The Master of Finding One's Initial Mind, Great Blackie, Deploys! / 873
TL: Hanguk
Baphomet's Mental World.
"Now then, let's test how well your mental education stuck. One."
"Great Blackie is the truth!"
"Two."
"Great Blackie loves Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes!"
"Three."
"The only Butler of Great Blackie is Park Sejun-nim!"
"Good. Everything else is heresy. Got it?"
"Yes!"
"Mental education complete! Baphomet, you can go now! And the moment I call you later, you come running!"
Blackie, having drilled mental education into Baphomet in a way he could understand, wore a satisfied smile.
"Yes!"
Baphomet, freshly subjected to Blackie's mental education, returned to where he had been before.
And...
"The existence and words of Great Blackie are the first truth. The words of Park Sejun-nim, Butler and proxy of Great Blackie, are the second truth! All else is heresy!"
Baphomet went back and began preaching a new religion.
The name of the religion was...
"Great Blackie! Long live!"
"Butler Sejun-nim! Long live!"
"Bark Church! Long live!"
It was the Bark Church.
Originally he had wanted to call it the Park Blackie Church, but that was too embarrassing, so he changed it to the Park Dark Church, and as everyone kept calling it that, it eventually morphed into the Bark Church.
And so, somewhere on the far side of the world, fanatics who revered Blackie and Sejun as truth were spreading the Bark Church.
***
<Uman>
"At this rate, I could probably make a million servings."
Sejun spoke as he looked over the Necrium corpses, dismantled by part and stacked neatly across five rooms of the Void Storage.
The room he had been using as a Calamity Farm until recently had now been turned into a warehouse for storing Necrium.
The leeches that were the Necrium's heads shrank dramatically in volume once dried, so he kept them stored separately in one corner of the warehouse.
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, this still isn't nearly enough, meow! Let's catch more, meow!"
Kueng!
Theo and Cuengi were both pressing Sejun on.
"Uren, you've digested it, right?"
"Uhehehe. Yes."
Sejun asked, looking at Uren.
Sejun planned to feed Uren more Necrium food and run another Necrium drive hunt.
Uren had become a Necrium-exclusive Bait.
A short while later.
"All right. Let's eat."
While eating with the party, Sejun watched Uren closely.
Hm? Why don't I see the pink glow?
No matter how long he waited, no pink light emanated from Uren's body.
[Sejun-nim, the Positive Causality emanating from Uren has been cut to one-third of what it was earlier.]
[System Eok-Samchiri] confirmed numerically that it wasn't Sejun's eyes playing tricks on him.
Is the food not tasty?
Wondering whether something was wrong with his cooking, Sejun tried each dish one by one, but...
It's delicious, though?
It wasn't a problem with the food.
And...
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Delicious!]
"Uhehehe. So tasty! I was so happy!"
Cuengi and Uren's reactions confirmed that the food was indeed delicious.
So as Sejun was puzzling over what the problem could be...
[Sejun-nim, Necrium have appeared.]
[System Eok-Samchiri] announced the arrival of Necrium.
But...
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, Necrium have appeared, meow!"
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. One! Two! Three... forty-two total!]
"Huh?"
Only forty-two?!
The number of Necrium was far smaller than expected.
It was the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility at work.
Uren had already tasted the most delicious Necrium dish in the world, prepared by Sejun, so when he ate a second helping, the satisfaction wasn't as great as the first time. In a word, he had lost his initial mind.
What a shame...
"Uren, I'm disappointed. You shouldn't change so easily."
"Huh?"
Sejun unfairly scolded Uren, who was perfectly happy eating away.
"Hey, eat up and grow fast."
"Puhuhut. Eat lots, meow!"
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Eat lots!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Hurry up and eat what Great Blackie is giving you!]
"Hehe. Eat lots!"
Piyo!
"Mohehehe. Eat lots."
Kkaung!
Nyongnyone!
Ppokppok!
Jjaekjjaek!
While Sejun, his party, and Piyot's group were busy feeding the newly appeared forty-two Necrium...
Kkaung...
[There's no opening...]
Baektang kept watching for a chance to claim Sejun's lap, but Theo, as if refusing to give Baektang even a sliver of hope, showed no opening whatsoever.
Meanwhile...
Yurorong.
Uren, having eaten his fill, was leisurely napping all on his own. Normally he would have already left before the next misfortune struck, but this time he had stayed because of the Necrium hunt.
And since everyone around him kept handling all the misfortunes for him, he slept in complete peace.
Just then...
Kihihit. Kking?!
[Hehe. If I find Uren's initial mind, the Butler will praise Great Blackie, right?!]
Truly, Great Blackie is a genius!
Having struck on a brilliant idea, Blackie strode purposefully toward Uren.
And...
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. The Master of Finding One's Initial Mind, Great Blackie, deploys!]
Kkung.
He headbutted Uren.
***
Uren's Mental World.
"Uhehehe. So tasty."
Uren clung to a giant donut, gobbling away at it in pure bliss. Around the donut were heaps of other dishes, all of them enormous.
"Uhehehe. Should I try that one next?"
Apparently too lazy to walk, Uren rolled himself sideways and tumbled onto a giant candy beside him.
Crunch.
Crunch.
This time he started gnawing on the candy.
Uren, who had stuffed himself and was now dreaming of eating even more in his sleep.
Just then...
Kung. Kung.
With booming footsteps, an enormous black wolf and his 12 Subordinates strode into the territory of Uren's Mental World.
It was the Blackie Family.
"What is this?! Why is everything just food?! With a mindset like this, no wonder his reaction to the Butler's cooking is so weak! Hey, you lot, clean it all up!"
""Yes!""
At Blackie's order, his subordinates devoured every last bit of food in Uren's Mental World, leaving behind a perfectly flat, barren patch of ground.
"Good. Uren, now run. I'll find your initial mind for you."
"Huh? Initial mind? It's fine if you don't find it..."
Looking at Blackie, who had appeared out of nowhere to interrupt his dream, Uren wondered what on earth was happening.
But...
"I said run!"
When Blackie barked with overwhelming pressure...
"Yes!"
Uren moved on instinct, for the moment.
"Now roll!"
"Yes!"
"On one, your initial mind! On two, find it! One!"
"Initial mind!"
"Two!"
"Find it!"
And so Uren endured Blackie's brutal mental education for several hours. Mental education that had absolutely nothing to do with finding one's initial mind.
Several hours later.
"Uren, how is it? You found your initial mind, right?"
"Yes!"
What even IS an initial mind?!
Uren had no idea what an initial mind was, but he answered that he had found it. Initial mind or whatever, it didn't matter. Uren just wanted Blackie's mental education to end.
"Of course you did. The Initial Mind Maker, Great Blackie, was the one who educated you, after all."
Pleased with Uren's answer, Blackie left Uren's Mental World.
"Ah, I'm exhausted... I want something sweet."
Even though he was asleep, Uren felt tired. So he tried to eat something sweet, but whatever Blackie had done, no more food would form in Uren's Mental World.
On top of that...
Smack. Smack. Smack.
Someone was slapping his face, waking him up.
***
Kihihit. Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! The Initial Mind Maker, Great Blackie, found Uren's initial mind! Hey! Wake up!]
Blackie called out to Sejun while waking Uren with his front paws.
"Initial mind? What initial mind?"
Kking! Kking!
[Just give Uren some food! Then you'll see!]
Blackie barked back with utter confidence in answer to Sejun's question.
"Why are you suddenly telling me to give him food?"
What is he up to?
Sejun looked at Blackie, wondering what had gotten into him.
Now that I think about it, it is mealtime.
Is it because he wants Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes?
Sejun figured Blackie was putting on a show because he wanted a snack.
"All right."
Since he had to cook anyway, Sejun started preparing food.
A short while later.
The cooking was done.
"Hey everyone, time to eat!"
Sejun called the party over for a meal.
And then...
"Uhehehe. So tasty! Wahhh. I'm so happy!"
Piit!
Uren, having eaten Sejun's Necrium dish, began crying from sheer happiness, and a far more vivid pink glow than before emanated from his body.
"Huh?"
Did Uren actually find his initial mind?
In truth, it wasn't so much that he had found his initial mind, but rather that his body had grown sensitive from being mentally worn ragged by Blackie.
As a result, his tongue had grown sensitive too, so he could taste the food more keenly and enjoy it more deeply. Of course, the suffering of being run ragged by Blackie also played a part.
Did Blackie really find Uren's initial mind?
As Sejun was getting the wrong idea...
[Sejun-nim, Necrium have appeared!]
[An astonishing number!]
[System Eok-Samchiri] notified Sejun of the Necrium's appearance.
And...
"Oh! For real!"
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it's Necrium, meow! More than five hundred of them, meow!"
Kuehehehe. Kueng! Kueng!
[Hehehe. Lots of Necrium! So exciting!]
Sejun, Theo, and Cuengi cheered at the sight of a horde of more than five hundred Necrium.
Kihihit. Kking?!
[Hehe. Butler! Big bros! Great Blackie did well, right?!]
Blackie too pranced about around the three of them, barking joyfully.
"Big brother Blackie, that's amazing!"
Taecho gazed at Blackie with eyes full of admiration.
Kkehem! Kking! Kking!
[Ahem! Of course Great Blackie's abilities are great! Once Great Blackie's on the case, finding an initial mind is a piece of cake!]
"Hehe. Then big brother Blackie, Taecho wants to find her initial mind too!"
Kking! Kking... Kking?!
[Got it! Great Blackie will... huh?!]
Blackie, on the verge of finding Taecho's initial mind, froze.
Taecho's initial mind is destruction!
An initial mind wasn't always a good thing.
Kking! Kking!
[Taecho doesn't need to find her initial mind! Because Taecho has grown!]
"Hehe. Really?! Has Taecho grown?!"
So Blackie hurriedly made his excuse. And it happened to be true. Taecho was a brave child who had stepped over the pain of her past and chosen to face the world again.
And so, thanks to Blackie's heroics, 537 Necrium appeared.
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Sejun-nim, this is too much for my Parallel World Magic to handle. I think we'll have to split them in half and raise them separately."
Even Parallel World Magic, strengthened by the powers of the gods, couldn't contain them all.
"Yeah? Got it."
Sejun split the Necrium in half, putting half inside the parallel world and locking the other half in a Stone Prison he made himself.
Since they hadn't fully matured yet, even Sejun's strength alone was enough to keep them contained.
After spending nearly the entire day raising and dispatching all 537 Necrium and storing them in the Void Storage...
Kihihit. Kking...?! Kking?!
[Hehe. Great Blackie will find Uren's initial mind again... huh?! Where did he go?!]
Blackie looked all around him, but at some point Uren and Piyot's party had vanished from sight.
"If I stay here any longer, I might die! Hey everyone, let's go, quick!"
Uren had begged and pleaded to escape Blackie's clutches, and rushed off in a hurry.
Kking?! Kking!
[That pig! Where did he go?! Great Blackie has to find his initial mind!]
While Blackie was raging...
"It's fine. We have enough materials now. Blackie, you did well, so here's your reward. Take it."
Sejun handed Blackie a 100 Roasted and Dried Sweet Potato Exchange Coupon.
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! Trade it in for Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes!]
"Right now? Don't you want to make them last?"
Kking! Kking!
[No way! Hurry up and exchange it for 100 Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes!]
"Fine. Do whatever you want."
Kihihit.
Jjap. Jjap. Jjap.
Blackie received all 100 Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes, polished them off in a single day, and gained another 3 kilograms.
And...
"Blackie, starting today, Diet."
Kking?!
He went on another diet, eating fewer Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes than before. In the end, it was nothing more than Three in the Morning, Four in the Evening. [TL: A Chinese-derived idiom about a monkey trainer who promised his monkeys 3 chestnuts in the morning and 4 in the evening; when they protested, he switched to 4 and 3 — same total, different arrangement. It refers to a superficial change that produces the same outcome.]
*****
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