Why Is Everyone in This Dating Sim Trying to Kill Me?!

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Festival Must Go On (4)

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Haaah— Haaah—

Sophia wiped her lips with her hand, letting out ragged breaths.

Her arms, which had been drawing the bowstring, trembled as if convulsing, and sweat poured from her entire body.

White salt crystals sparkled on her shoulders, remnants of seawater evaporated by the sun.

'W-When is this going to end? No, *is* it ever going to end?'

As the last one to join the Utopia party, her stamina was lagging.

Even if her talent had allowed her to close the gap with the other party members, there was still a fundamental difference in basic levels that couldn't be overcome.

However, that didn't mean the Utopia party members were looking bright either.

Their faces, too, were devoid of expression after the long battle.

Now, about three hours had passed since they began fending off the monster wave.

Thousands of Blue Crab corpses were piled up grotesquely on the beach.

The accumulated noise and vibrations from the speakers had weakened the Blue Crabs, originally A-rank monsters, to the point where they could barely move their bodies.

As a result, the Utopia party members now resembled skilled workers in a crab processing plant, disassembling king crabs.

Slice, slice—!

"Another one!"

Jin Yuha, the only one with an excited expression, would sever all of a Blue Crab's legs with just two slashes of her sword.

"Kk-geu-deu-deu-deu-deu— Kkuaa!!"

Lee Yuri would then use her shield as a lever to flip the Blue Crab's body belly-up.

"Tch!"

Crunch!

Then Kang Dohui would gently pry open its belly plate with her hands.

"Haaah haaah— Eek!"

Thwip! Thwip!

Sophia would then shoot arrows into the opened gap, pinpointing the Blue Crab's weak point: its gills.

"Kkieeeeek..."

The Blue Crab would then let out a weak groan and die instantly.

Whoosh— Whoosh—

Im Gaeul, waiting with her magical threads drawn, would wrap them around the Blue Crabs' legs and bodies, dragging their corpses across the beach.

"Kkeuh-heup!! Eek! H-Heavy!!!"

Just like that, all party members were cooperating, dividing their roles as if fitting together puzzle pieces.

It was only extremely peculiar that everyone except Jin Yuha had dead eyes.

Even the Blue Crabs themselves.

"Next!!!"

When Jin Yuha shouted.

The Blue Crab, as if understanding her words, flinched and tried to turn and escape.

Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!

Lee Yuri's shield sounds stopped its movement once again.

"…Kieeeeh…"

The Blue Crab, having no choice but to turn its gaze to Lee Yuri, let out a mournful cry.

The four crimson eyes sprouting on its back shone pitifully.

Jin Yuha, staring intently at the scene, spoke to the drone hovering in the air with a displeased voice.

"Excuse me, it seems like the cheering has died down a bit? It looks like the monster is glancing your way."

—Huh? Y-You seem to be doing, doing well right now…

"No, we didn't ask for this for *our* benefit, did we? You have to keep shouting so that *you* all stay safe, you know?"

—…

"Oh, oh, one's trying to go your way! Hurry! Just one more time, please give it your all!"

—I heard that "last time" just a moment ago…

It was like a gym trainer demanding 'just one more rep!' and requesting additional cheers.

Sophia watched the scene, her eyes wide with disbelief.

'A demon… She's a demon…'

The audience, forced to, reluctantly let out cheers.

—Waaaaaaah!!!! Utopia! Utopia!!!

Unaware of what everyone else was thinking, Jin Yuha spoke to her party members without a hint of tact.

"See, doesn't it give you strength when people cheer for you like this!? Come on, everyone, let's do a little more!"

Sophia, with a look of utter defeat, twitched one corner of her mouth upwards and let out a hollow laugh.

'This is hell… Crab hell…'

* * *

Two more hours passed after that.

The blazing sun had now faded, and the beach had become a dark night sea.

—K-Kill me…

—Ughhh… My, my voice is completely gone…

—Gaaah…

The people who had been shouting cheers at Jin Yuha's request were now cracking and hoarse, their voices sounding like the cries of the Blue Crabs, as if they had reached their limit.

And the Utopia party members could no longer hide their exhaustion either.

Even Kang Dohui, who had been the most energetic.

Jin Yuha looked at them with an uncomfortable expression, her eyebrows twitching.

'Already tired?'

The monster wave challenge in this swimsuit festival was originally a fairly popular mini-game in the game "VelvetSra."

A mini-game where six-person parties competed to see how many Blue Crabs they could catch!

While the byproducts of the caught Blue Crabs brought in a considerable amount of money,

the additional rewards for ranking high were not bad, making it content that everyone tried at least once.

'Tsk, is this all they've got…? Still, I wanted to reach ten thousand somehow…'

So far, the Utopia party had caught approximately 9,000 Blue Crabs.

'Tsk, it wasn't like this in my day! Kids today have no grit!'

Jin Yuha clicked her tongue, recalling her own records from when it was just a game.

Her plan had been perfect.

With even louder cheers than in the original game, and Lee Yuri with her wide-area monster taunt, she had thought, "maybe, just maybe."

But in the end, they set a pathetic record, far short of the twelve thousand she had achieved in the game.

Jin Yuha, who had been grumbling internally about not catching more Blue Crabs, suddenly wore an expression of realization.

'No, maybe it's just… decent enough?'

In "VelvetSra" now that the game had become reality, there was no gacha, and no resources to help party members grow.

In other words, the Utopia party members had reached this level purely through training, from a "vanilla" state.

For them to catch a number close to, though not quite reaching, ten thousand, might actually be a 'not bad' achievement.

Sigh—

But a sigh of regret still escaped her, despite herself.

"Still, it's a shame… Not even ten thousand…"

However, there was something Jin Yuha was mistaken about.

First, the 'ten thousand crabs' benchmark in the Swimsuit Festival's Blue Crab monster wave was a standard used in VelvetSra to identify veteran players.

Second, the Utopia party currently lacked a 'specialized' position for mass slaughter of weaker monsters!

In other words, Utopia, with only five party members instead of a full six-person party, was already approaching the level of veteran players who had maxed out their in-game resources.

However, Jin Yuha, accustomed to squeezing out every last bit of potential to set perfect or higher scores when it was just a game, hadn't even considered anything below that.

"It's actually a good thing, I got a rough idea of how weak the party members are this time… I'll have to make them train even harder in the future. Otherwise, there will be a lot of truly dangerous situations ahead."

Jin Yuha, muttering a monologue that would have horrified other players if they heard it, turned to her party members and clapped her hands.

"Alright everyone, let's call it a day!"

And then she looked up at the drone.

—H-Heek—! J-Jin Yuha's looking here again!

—It's, it's good but scary!!

—I-I'll shout! I-I won't rest! Waaaah!!

The audience, who had been continuously harassed by Jin Yuha, habitually let out shouts.

"Ah, it's all over now. The monsters don't seem to be approaching anymore."

Jin Yuha said with a wide smile and an innocent voice.

—L-Lies! You'll just say "last time" again after this!

"Oh, no, it's not like that. See? The monsters can't even approach at all now."

At that, all the party members looked at Jin Yuha with dumbfounded expressions.

'They've been like that for a while now… trying to run away, but *you* wouldn't let them…'

But no one voiced these thoughts. They merely swallowed the boiling frustration within.

—R-Really!? We're safe now!?

"Yes, you are all safe now! So, for the very, very last time! I won't ask again! Please give us one big cheer!"

Along with Jin Yuha's declaration that the challenge was over.

—Waaaaaaah—!! It's overrrr!!!! It's really overrrr!!!

The people squeezed out every last ounce of strength they had to let out a cheer.

Chwa-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-jak—!!!!

Then, the remaining Blue Crabs glanced warily at Lee Yuri, and when she didn't bang her shield, they turned and scurried away into the sea.

Im Gaeul watched the fleeing Blue Crabs blankly.

"Haaah… I-It's over. H-Hoobae! It's really over now, right!? Really!?"

She flopped back and said.

"Yes, it's really over now. Even if we wanted to do more, they've all run away."

When Jin Yuha nodded, confirming it again.

Im Gaeul and everyone else slumped down, one by one, letting out long sighs.

"…I-It's over…"

"I don't think I'll ever come to the sea again."

"I'm so sick of crabs!!!"

"Hah, my first beach trip…"

But then, a voice poured cold water on their relief, spoiling the mood.

"Oh my, are you done now? Heh heh, you all worked very hard."

The party members, still slumped on the ground, rolled their eyes towards Shin Sehee and bit their lips.

Her body was dry and fresh, her face smooth and well-rested, as if she'd eaten and slept well. She even had a silk shawl draped over her swimsuit.

"It's great that you all worked so hard. But now, there's one last thing to do."

"…Something to do? Hoobae, we're really, really tired now…"

"Hmm, but it's something only you all can do, you know?"

"What is it, flower patch?"

Shin Sehee let out a small laugh and looked around at the crab corpses scattered haphazardly behind them.

"Now, you'll need to move all of these."

"What!? W-Where to!"

"I've arranged for refrigerated trucks across the country."

"…Can't you just get the byproduct dealers to do it! Why!"

"Ah, these aren't byproducts, you see. They're ingredients. Quite expensive ones, at that… Right, Jin Yuha-ssi?"

"…Uh, yeah."

"So, shouldn't we load them up quickly before they lose their freshness? This is all your money, you know?"

At Shin Sehee's clear smile, the party members glared at her as if they wanted to kill her.