PRSR | Chapter 2.3

Jjikjjiki hesitated, and this time, I pressed gently on its belly with my fingertips like I was massaging it. Jjikjjiki wiggled its feet in the air, clearly enjoying it.

“There’s a question mark, Jjik.”

“I see. It must be something you can only learn after meeting certain conditions. It’s not even something to be embarrassed about, so why hide it?”

“But, Jjik… I want to look cool to Soul.”

Lying on its back and getting petted while saying that didn’t quite seem like a cool thing to do.

“Come here, Jjikjjiki.”

With a little squeak, Jjikjjiki flipped over and scampered up my arm, climbing to my shoulder. I tapped its head gently with my finger.

“Let’s think about what to do with the stats after we hunt goblins today.”

“Jjik!”

“I’m going to need to interact with other Awakened to get more information… How about that person we met yesterday?”

“I’d rather Soul not talk to other rats or people, Jjik.”

“Not even the general store ahjussi? If you don’t, how will you get veggies for us?”

“…Then except for that ahjussi, Jjik.”

Aww, how cute.

***

As soon as the sun rose, I went outside the village with Jjikjjiki to the field. Thanks to the tips the Awakened we met the day before gave us about goblin hunting, I was able to plan our route without getting lost.

While we were wandering around the field, we spotted a lone goblin, separated from the group.

“Jjikjjiki, we’re going to take down that monster now.”

“Leave it to me, Jjik!”

Jjikjjiki, who had been sitting on my shoulder, kicked its back legs and leaped towards the goblin. I quickly grabbed Jjikjjiki mid-air and placed it back on my hand.

It had clearly jumped forward, but in the blink of an eye, Jjikjjiki returned to its original spot and tilted its head.

“Jjik?”

“When I get close to the monster, you can jump and attack it, okay?”

“I can jump even from this distance, Jjik.”

“If you get attacked while flying through the air, you won’t be able to dodge. You might even get hurt if you fall. Let’s go together.”

“Together, Jjik. Sounds good.”

Jjikjjiki had a determined look on its face. The one who should be nervous about approaching the monster was me, but Jjikjjiki seemed completely unfazed.

Phew. Stay calm.

This was Beginner Village. Only monsters that an Awakened who had just entered the Tutorial Field could handle would appear. Besides, Jjikjjiki’s abilities were already proven. There was no reason to worry.

“Let’s start. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry, Jjik.”

As I moved closer to the goblin, Jjikjjiki jumped up and attacked it.

Kweeeck!

With a short scream, the goblin fell to the ground. The battle was short and intense, making the advice to run if things got dangerous seem pointless.

“I’m so cool, Jjik!”

Jjikjjiki returned to my palm with a triumphant expression. But noticing my trembling hands, it quickly became serious.

“Soul-jji…”

“Ah, sorry. I was a little surprised… I’m fine. Let’s go hunt the next goblin.”

“Soul-jji, I can hunt by myself. Why don’t you just watch from behind, Jjik?”

“No way. You’ll be in danger.”

“I’m not in any danger at all, Jjik.”

“You’re small and don’t have any weapons. How are you going to attack such a big goblin?”

“I just have to jump high, Jjik. My legs are strong, Jjik.”

No matter how much I tried to stop Jjikjjiki, it wouldn’t listen.

“If Soul is scared, then I won’t do it. I won’t, Jjik.”

It even laid down on my palm and declared a strike. I tried to soothe it by gently scratching its belly, but Jjikjjiki wouldn’t budge.

“If it’s dangerous, you have to run away immediately. Got it?”

“Just trust me, Jjik!”

In the end, I decided to hunt the goblins the way Jjikjjiki wanted. I put Jjikjjiki down on the ground and stood a step away, watching the hunt.

Jjikjjiki quickly ran toward the goblins. Before the goblin even noticed the approaching enemy, Jjikjjiki made a high jump and kicked the goblin in the head with its foot.

“Gwip!”

The goblin, hit by Jjikjjiki’s short legs as small as its body, flew far away and crashed into the distance.

“Wow!”

“Soul- jjik! Did you see that? How was it?”

“You’re awesome, Jjikjjiki! Well done, Jjikjjiki!”

It seemed like Jjikjjiki was pleased with the praise, as it hurriedly found the next goblin to knock down.

“How was that?!”

“Our Jjikjjiki is the best!”

Every time Jjikjjiki defeated a goblin, it looked back at me. Each time, I cheered it on with exaggerated enthusiasm and applause. Jjikjjiki’s fluffy chest puffed up from the compliments.

Whoosh. Thud! Creak!

“Good job, good job!”

Whoosh. Thud! Creak!

“You’re amazing, our Jjikjjiki.”

Whoosh. Thud! Creak!

“Wow.”

As the number of goblins sent flying by Jjikjjiki’s feet surpassed five, my reactions grew a bit more indifferent. Now that it was clear Jjikjjiki had the ability to hunt monsters on its own, it was time for me to do my part.

‘I need to analyze Jjikjjiki’s abilities properly. That way, we can safely proceed with quests in the future.’

I took out the paper and pen I brought from the inn. If writing tools in this era were quills dipped in ink, it would have been difficult to carry around, but luckily, there was something similar to a fountain pen, so I was relieved.

“Soul- jjik!”

“Huh, yeah.”

Instead of greeting Jjikjjiki, who was happily running towards me after defeating the goblin, with open arms, I scribbled notes on the paper. I was planning to analyze Jjikjjiki’s combat style.

<The foot most often used for attacks is the left one.>

<The short length means it has to get close to attack, which is a disadvantage.>

<Avoids attacks well.>
…..

Something felt off. By now, Jjikjjiki should have been clinging to my leg, chirping away… but why was it so quiet?

“……?”

I raised my head slightly, and from a distance, I saw Jjikjjiki staring at me.

“Jjikjjiki?”

Jjikjjiki stared at me for a moment, then…

“…Jjik.”

It collapsed sideways with a small “pffft.”

“Jjikjjiki!”

I rushed to Jjikjjiki in a panic.

Carefully lifting Jjikjjiki, which was sprawled on the ground, I heard faint, labored breaths.

“Chik.”

“Jjikjjiki, are you okay?”

“……”

“No! Jjikjjiki, open your eyes!”

“Soul- jjik.”

Jjikjjiki barely opened its eyes and rubbed its cheek against my palm.

“Hah, you’re okay. I’m so relieved.”

I collapsed to the ground. I was so shocked that my legs wouldn’t hold me up.

‘I thought my heart was going to drop out.’

Since coming here, my heart has been on edge. I let out a long breath to calm myself down and gently picked up Jjikjjiki. Jjikjjiki tossed aside the paper I was writing on and smiled brightly at me.

No matter how much I looked, there were no signs of injury. Its fur, shiny and clean, hadn’t even a drop of goblin blood on it.

“Are you really okay? If anything hurts, tell me.”

“I’m tired. Hug me.”

I cradled Jjikjjiki in my arms and gently stroked it. Seeing Jjikjjiki grip my clothes tightly with its little hands, I couldn’t help but think.

Maybe it was too much to hunt four goblins in a row? It must have been exhausting from fighting that huge monster yesterday, and today, it had been running around all day. It was no surprise that it was tired. I felt bad for possibly hurting Jjikjjiki with my poor judgment and commands.

“Do you want to go to the hospital? Tell me where it hurts.”

“I’m fine now.”

“Jjikjjiki.”

“Jjik.”

“No matter how strong you are, you can’t push yourself too hard. Even if we don’t have stats like HP or MP, fatigue still builds up when you move around. It’s dangerous if you collapse like this again.”

“I’ll remember.”

Jjikjjiki nodded in understanding, but my worry didn’t fade. Even though I knew Jjikjjiki had overexerted itself to the point of collapsing, I couldn’t just continue the hunt.

“Let’s head back for today.”

“Jjik?”

“Let’s go home, rest up, and come back tomorrow. You caught six goblins today, so we’ll catch two more each tomorrow and the day after, and finish the quest.”

“I’m fine!”

Jjikjjiki flailed its arms, looking frantic. It seemed surprised by my suggestion, as it was expecting a different response.

“Since you hugged me, I’m all better now. Let’s catch goblins!”

That was such a ridiculous excuse. I didn’t have any ability to heal Jjikjjiki’s fatigue or injuries. After all, I wasn’t even an Awakened. It didn’t make sense that Jjikjjiki felt better just from my hug.

“There’s no way you’re fine just because I hugged you. Jjikjjiki, don’t tell me…”

“Jjik…”

Jjikjjiki flinched and hunched its shoulders.

“You didn’t collapse because you were hurt or tired… It was because you were stressed, wasn’t it?”

“Chik.”

Jjikjjiki let out a sigh-like breath and nodded vigorously.

‘So it was stress…’

That made me feel even more guilty. With a sympathetic heart, I slowly rubbed Jjikjjiki’s belly.

“Muah.”

Since Jjikjjiki loved kisses so much, I kissed the tip of its nose once and then pecked its soft belly. Seeing it stomp its feet with excitement, I realized that the problem was more psychological than physical.

“I want to keep catching goblins.”

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course!”

The way Jjikjjiki said “of course” with “dang-geun” (the Korean word for “carrot”) instead of “of course” made me smile. You really are a proper Korean mouse.

I took out a small piece of carrot I had brought as a snack and handed it to Jjikjjiki. Crunch, crunch, crunch. The carrot disappeared at an astonishing speed.

“Well then, how about this: every time you catch a goblin, I’ll give you a kiss?”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Chik!”

Jjikjjiki raised its arms in the air like it had just won a victory, then happily rolled on its back. I scratched its exposed belly with my finger, and it chirped happily.

It was amazing how little it took to make Jjikjjiki this happy.

“Let’s push through just a little more.”

“Jjik!”

Unlike the little mouse that had collapsed before, Jjikjjiki now flew around energetically, defeating goblins. Each time it caught one, it would rush over to me and poke my cheek or lips with its nose, occasionally even managing to touch the tip of its snout instead of just its nose.

Even when multiple goblins appeared, Jjikjjiki kept defeating them one by one and running toward me. I had to explain that when facing multiple monsters, it was better to defeat them all at once instead of running away after killing just one.

“Listen up, Jjikjjiki. If three goblins appear, you need to kill all three. If you defeat one and turn your back, the other two will attack, and that’s dangerous.”

“But if I do that, I’ll lose two kisses.”

“I’ll give you three kisses instead.”

“Then I’m okay with that.”

As we progressed in the quest, the number of goblins we had to catch increased. As a result, we stayed in the field for longer periods of time, but from that point on, Jjikjjiki never collapsed again. It didn’t seem tired or stressed. In fact, it was so full of energy that I had to stop it from attacking the goblin den.

After several battles, I confirmed that Jjikjjiki gained 3 stat points per level-up. Considering that when it was level 9, it had 34 stat points left, it was safe to assume that it started with 10 stat points remaining when it was summoned.

I had planned to wait until Jjikjjiki’s skills were unlocked to distribute the stat points, but they hadn’t been unlocked even after a long time. Eventually, by the time Jjikjjiki reached level 15, it had allocated 30 of the 52 stat points it gained into strength, stamina, and agility. I didn’t invest in talents or luck since those stats couldn’t be raised with points, and I didn’t need MP at the moment, so I left magic out.

By now, Jjikjjiki had the ability to defeat even the boss monster of the Beginner Village. So, I could have kept the stat points and waited longer, but I decided to distribute them at this point for one reason.

It was time to leave the Beginner Village.

Jjikjjiki had received the quest to move to the next region.