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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: A Strange App (1)
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"What is this?"
It was a day as ordinary as any other.
I was scrolling through my phone as usual when I found something.
An app I'd never seen before had installed itself among the others.
It had no name, and its icon was just a pitch-black square.
At first, I thought it was some kind of bug, but then a shiver ran down my spine.
Scams and hacking crimes using smartphones were all over the news these days.
Had I become a target?
Hacking my camera to blackmail me or something?!
In my panic, I dropped the phone.
I immediately wracked my brain.
But no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't come up with anything that could have caused this.
I hadn't clicked any suspicious links in text messages, nor had I visited or downloaded anything from strange websites.
"No way."
But the sight that followed made me slump to the floor.
The phone, which had slipped from my hand and landed on the bed, suddenly launched the unidentified app on its own.
It was as if the phone was possessed, moving all by itself.
I stared in disbelief before snapping out of it and quickly pressing and holding the power button.
[It's no use.]
In that instant, I gasped.
The words on the black screen were enough to make me freeze, unable to breathe.
"..."
[Taking it to a repair center won't help. This is an opportunity for you, so listen.]
I quietly started wrapping the phone in a handkerchief to put in my bag when new text appeared.
As if it had read my mind.
"What the hell..."
[If you refuse the game, I will leak your internet history, locked files, and screenshots to everyone you know.]
"Who the hell are you?"
Making a scene wouldn't help. I adopted a more respectful demeanor, covered the camera lens, and set the phone back down.
On the phone's screen, where white text had been appearing on a black background, a new screen now appeared.
"Link... account?"
[Didn't I tell you? It's a game. Besides, you're the one who installed this app in the first place. Why are you reacting like this?]
It was the kind of email account-linking screen you often see in games.
I swallowed nervously.
The moment I link it, I'll be hacked... No, I've probably been completely compromised already, so what's the point?
More importantly, what's this nonsense about me installing it myself?
I'm always so careful with my phone.
[Link it. The detailed explanation comes after.]
"Sh..."
I had no choice.
This unidentified hacker used the word "game," but how could this possibly be a game?
This lunatic was talking to me in real-time, which meant they were probably eavesdropping and watching me right now.
Overwhelmed by the fear of being socially ostracized and the anxiety that this crazy hacker might harm me, I had no choice but to enter one of my burner email addresses.
"It's not working."
[Participants in this game do not link with something as trivial as an email.]
While I was still confused, the front camera's flash went off with a sudden *click*, and my picture was taken.
[Your soul is the price.]
The moment the picture was taken, I knew instinctively.
Others might laugh it off as nonsense, but the horrifying chill that just swept through my body was real.
My heart pounded, and a cold sweat broke out on my skin.
This was real.
[Let the game begin.]
Regardless of my shock, the screen changed on its own.
The new environment that appeared boasted incredible, photorealistic graphics, like a live-action movie.
"A cave."
[Behold. In exchange for your soul, you have obtained an entire species.]
It was a cave.
Faintly glowing stones were embedded here and there in the walls, so it wasn't too dark.
My gaze followed the message that appeared on the screen.
There 'it' was.
"What in the world is..."
It called this thing a lifeform.
But no matter how I looked, all I could see was a puddle of black water on the cave floor.
[Ahh... what an ambiguous situation.]
"What nonsense is this?"
[A species befitting your unremarkable soul, but one with ample potential. A species that can swing from one extreme to the other depending on how it's raised.]
I scoffed in disbelief.
Isn't this just a failed gacha pull? They could have at least warned me.
[If you wish to see more detailed information, try tapping it.]
Looked at this way, it was quite a friendly tutorial guide.
I did as it said and touched the screen.
"They're cells."
[Correct. But they are not simple cells.]
On the magnified screen, writhing cells were extending roots toward one another, dividing at an incredible speed.
So much so that I could see the puddle growing with my naked eye.
[To make it easier to understand, I will show you their species' traits. Species traits are the unique attributes each species possesses.]
[Hive Mind] [Gene Manipulation] [Accelerated Growth]
Three functions unfolded before me.
Seeing those keywords, I understood the nature of these cells.
"The Zer...?"
[Similar, yet different. They can proliferate explosively and literally become anything, but the process is an ordeal, like carving stones to make a beach.]
Couldn't it just speak plainly?
I returned the screen to its previous view.
So, what am I supposed to do? It's not like it has a flashy UI like a real game; it's just showing me this bare screen.
[Now, we will proceed with the tutorial.]
It wasn't even me controlling the progress; it was doing whatever it wanted.
[They lack power. Limitless, explosive proliferation is an advantage, but it also has the disadvantage of energy depletion.]
"So what am I supposed to do about it?"
[Provide a specimen and energy to them, who are currently mere cellular units.]
It arbitrarily issued me a command.
A specimen, and energy.
I could guess what energy meant, but what in the world was a specimen?
[A specimen from which a genetic sample can be obtained. At their current stage of growth, they cannot replicate a lifeform that is too large.]
"I think I get what you mean."
I got up from my spot.
I already had a grasp of what kind of creatures this species I was supposed to manage was.
Devour, replicate, combine, and become stronger.
To do that, they needed a variety of samples.
"How about this? It's small."
I stepped outside my house and found what I was looking for.
A small ant was crawling along the wall.
[In their current state, that is perfectly possible. Take a picture of it.]
The app acted on its own again, and the camera turned on.
Bewildered, I raised the camera, aimed it at the ant, and took a picture.
"...It's gone."
[Look. Your children have seen a ray of light. This moment will be recorded in the history of the species.]
The screen was once again showing the puddle.
The single ant I had photographed was transported there, dropping right into the puddle.
Devouring, and deconstruction.
I frowned as I watched the ant get surrounded by countless cells and broken down to the cellular level.
[A macroscopic roadmap is needed. What kind of species will you raise these beings with this ability into?]
"Asking such a grand question all of a sudden."
Back in my room, I scratched my head.
Why was I, who should be worrying about midterms and reports, worrying about something like this?
But according to it, they had to keep getting stronger to survive.
If everything happening now wasn't a dream, then I couldn't just ignore it.
"It sounds like the species' traits are their most powerful weapon, so I should head in a direction that best utilizes them."
Those three traits were what they gained in exchange for starting at the cellular level.
So, it seemed I had to proceed in a way that made the most of them.
[In that case, you must steadily acquire energy and specimens for that goal. For now, prepare for war. There is an intruder.]
"Huh?"
A random event had just occurred.
I quickly zoomed in on the screen and saw that there really was an intruder.
They were... spores of some unknown origin.
[A type of fungus that lives in this cave. Spores of the fungus, carried by the wind, have come into contact with your children.]
It was a fungus, but it seemed different from the molds I was familiar with.
Nothing was visible on the surface.
But when I touched the screen to zoom in, the scene of a fierce battle unfolded before my eyes.
[The fungus possesses weapons of strength and filaments. And its size is also much larger than your children's. However, your children have already acquired their own weapons.]
There were some peculiar ones among the cells.
They were the ones with protrusions shaped like an ant's mandibles.
Countless such cells swarmed the fungus and began to tear it apart.
[The complacent fungus began to be brutally torn apart. It started to break down, piece by piece. Thus, we achieved our first victory. This, too, will be recorded in the history of the species.]
An icon appeared on one side of the screen.
It was obviously the "history of the species" that it had mentioned.
[And you have obtained the genetic information of the fungus. Confirm it.]
Another icon appeared below it.
I did as it said and clicked the icon.
[Cave Glow Mushroom: 1A1237]
Information about the lifeform we had just fought was written there.
It said it was a fungus, and just as described, it had the appearance of a faintly glowing mushroom.
"What is this...?"
[They are mimicking the fungus they absorbed.]
Some of the cells once again began to divide violently at an incredible speed.
Their shape was similar to the fungus they had just devoured.
It wasn't like a time-lapse; a mushroom was genuinely growing at high speed.
One peculiar thing was that while the absorbed glow mushroom was white, the one I was seeing now was black.
[They are mimicking the mushroom's method of reproduction to expand their influence beyond this place. They intend to spread wider by riding the spores.]
I was a little surprised to hear the reason.
This unknown species was smarter than I had thought.