I Became a Food Developer in Another World

Episode 52

The first anomaly discovered in the Blue Tower was by the night watchman patrolling.

“Indeed, the hamburger is a Triple Big Cheese.”

The night watchman nodded contentedly while eating a triple-big cheeseburger stacked with layers of cheese and patties.

The 12th Magic Tower does not consume processed foods manufactured by the White Magic Tower.

They believed that enjoying processed foods from the White Magic Tower would be a blow to their pride.

However, that was just a Appearance; it was a well-known fact that everyone secretly indulged in them.

The night watchman was also secretly eating a hamburger while on patrol at night.

“It seems my guidance has been effective.”

Seeing that all the lights were on in the apprentice wizards’ ‘C’ floor, he smiled proudly.

The apprentice wizards were organized in tiers A-B-C, with the C floor being where the students with poor grades gathered.

It was the place where the lights would go out every evening, as they often neglected their assignments.

But today, every single light was on.

The night watchman thought it was the result of his effective ‘teaching’ and felt proud.

‘Did I teach them this well?’

He suddenly had that thought but laughed it off, believing that it was a good thing.

‘I should encourage them.’

Thinking of sharing hamburgers as a treat for the diligent students, the night watchman quietly peeked into a room.

And he witnessed a terrifying scene he should not have seen.

─How do I do this? I’m sleepy, guys.

─Sleepy? Then you should drink.

─It’s okay; you’re not sleepy. Absolutely not.

─Don’t worry, Thompson. You won’t collapse. I’ll help you.

─No! D-don’t! Ah, no—ugh, ugh!

─Hehe, get up!

The night watchman was at a loss for words at the chilling sight of one child being force-fed milk by the others.

‘This is worse than in my time.’

The apprentice wizards, grouped into ‘teams’ for their assignments, had developed a culture of mutual surveillance since they had to bring along any team members who were lacking in ‘performance’ to achieve good grades.

Thus, various methods of dealing with non-contributing team members have existed in the Blue Tower since ancient times.

However, he had never seen such a chilling scene before.

The children did not seem to be in their right minds, but since this was part of their ‘group assignment,’ the night watchman did not intervene.

The thought of sharing hamburgers vanished…

However, the odd behavior was not limited to this group.

“You kids! What are you doing out here instead of going in?”

The night watchman tilted his head at the children standing in the hallway.

Strange things like ‘garlic’ and ‘green onion’ were hanging on the door they were gathered around.

It was a bizarre decoration, as if they were sealing a demon inside.

“You can’t open it!”

“There’s a zombie inside!”

The children exclaimed in horror as the night watchman tried to open the door.

“A zombie? What do you mean?”

The night watchman looked inside in confusion.

─Oh, it’s Lord Raul! Lord Raul! Please open the door!

─Those guys locked us in because they didn’t want to do their assignments!

Inside, seemingly normal children were knocking on the door, asking to be let out.

Their eyes were particularly bloodshot, but it was common for students to look like that after working late on assignments.

“Don’t be fooled, Lord Raul! Those guys are working on their next assignment after finishing this one!”

“Well, doesn’t that mean you’re the ones in the wrong?”

The diligent students were being locked in by the lazy ones.

‘Tsk, how do they expect to become wizards like this?’

Even when working hard, they were being held back by slackers?

Shaking his head at the behavior that was the complete opposite of what he had just seen, the night watchman opened the door.

“Don’t disturb the hardworking members. At least pretend to be working inside.”

“L-Lord Raul! Our achievement rate is eighty percent.

“Come here!”

In that instant, a hand reached out from the opened door and grabbed the child who was speaking, pulling them inside.

“Are they locking the door?”

“Where do you think you’re running off to?”

“Ahhh—!”

The children who had rushed out grabbed their teammates in the hallway and pulled them back in.

Boom!

The door slammed shut with a loud noise.

The impact caused the garlic and green onions hanging on the door to fall down.

As he picked them up and organized them, the night watchman recalled what the child who had been pulled in had said.

“Eighty percent achievement rate?”

He scoffed.

‘What nonsense is that?’

It was probably just an excuse thrown out because they didn’t want to do it.

Shaking his head, the night watchman continued picking up the garlic.

This was the sixth day since the monthly performance evaluation had begun.

*

The next morning, on the seventh day.

“Zombies are spreading in the tower.”

“The apprentice wizards aren’t sleeping.”

The wizards of the Blue Tower began to realize the situation belatedly.

However, by the time they grasped the situation, Snoopy had already spread throughout the entire Blue Tower.

Most of the wizards welcomed Snoopy’s arrival with enthusiasm.

Snoopy was precisely the ‘non-sleeping potion’ they had longed for.

But not everyone welcomed Snoopy.

“Selling yourself to Snoopy for grades?”

“If you had any pride, you wouldn’t do that.”

“Drinking milk from the White Magic Tower? How pathetic.”

Wizards with a sense of conscience or strong pride refused to drink Snoopy.

They believed that ‘Snoopy’ was a real night spirit.

And it made sense.

‘Every time I try to sleep, Snoopy comes and hits my head.’

‘I briefly dozed off, and when I opened my eyes, Snoopy was disappearing between the walls.’

There were numerous testimonies from wizards who claimed to have actually seen Snoopy after drinking the milk.

‘I wake up every morning because Snoopy rings a bell for me. It’s true.’

Though some exaggerated lies were mixed in, it was clear that Snoopy was a night spirit.

Drinking Snoopy’s milk was akin to relying on a spirit to achieve results—an act of ‘corruption.’

However, since wizards were humans too, it was inevitable that they craved success.

“Snoffer, what’s that you’re holding?”

“Th-this is…”

“Is that why your grades were good?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was so sleepy.”

Those caught drinking Snoopy’s milk began to suspect one another.

Meanwhile, some wizards harbored doubts about Snoopy’s very existence.

“There’s no such thing as Snoopy.”

Ayla denied the existence of Snoopy.

She was a rational and cold realist who typically did not believe in ‘non-magical’ phenomena.

“You must have been so sleepy that you saw things.”

Ayla argued that the wizards had been consumed by delusions of their own making.

In fact, descriptions of Snoopy from those who claimed to have seen him varied greatly.

Some said he wielded a ladle and hit people, while others claimed he was a giant dog that reached the ceiling.

The eyewitness accounts were all mixed up.

“Indeed. They’re suffering from a serious addiction to Snoopy’s milk.”

Of course, Ayla’s claims were not accepted by the wizards addicted to Snoopy’s milk.

In the end, she decided to uncover Snoopy’s true identity herself.

The problem was that Ayla was extremely afraid of ghosts.

“There you are, Luna. You must stay close to me.”

“Ayla, don’t worry. I’ll keep watching over you.”

Accompanied by a junior wizard, Ayla walked through the dark hallway where Snoopy was said to frequently appear.

Clack, clack—

For some reason, her footsteps echoed loudly.

Every time the wind blew by the window in the hallway, Ayla flinched.

Even though she knew in her head that Snoopy didn’t exist, her body reacted honestly.

‘Snoopy doesn’t exist.’

Repeating that to herself in her mind, Ayla continued down the dark hallway.

Whoosh. Suddenly, a chilling sound of wind made Ayla stop abruptly.

Realizing it was just the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew, just leaves—”

Meow—

“Eek!”

A cat with bright yellow eyes suddenly leaped out of the darkness and dashed down the hallway.

‘W-Who brought a cat into the tower?’

Ayla, almost falling over, clutched her pounding heart.

─Ayla! Are you okay? You don’t have to push yourself if it’s too hard!

“I-I’m fine!”

Ayla did not give up.

She felt a sense of duty that the tower of intellect should not be consumed by ‘superstition,’ which drove away her fear.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Steeling herself, Ayla took her crystal ball and illuminated the dark hallway, walking for a full five minutes.

Finally reaching the end of the hallway, a bright vitality shone on Ayla’s face.

“See! There’s no such thing as Snoopy—huh?”

In an instant, Ayla screamed as she saw something leap out from around the corner.

“Ahhh!”

*

“Why are you running away?”

Late at night, while out for a walk, I scratched my cheek as I suddenly saw Ayla turn and flee.

“Is it because of this?”

I looked down at my shirt.

It had a large picture of ‘Snoopy’ printed on it.

It was a promotional shirt made by Aria.

She had insisted on dressing me in it because she thought I shouldn’t just sit still and be anxious.

However, not just Ayla, but everyone I encountered in the hallway at this late hour was running away like that.

“Hm, maybe I should just go in and sleep.”

Not wanting to chase after her to clear up the misunderstanding, I finished the snoopy milk I was holding.

‘It’s strange, but even if I drink it, I still feel sleepy.’

It had always been like this; even when I drank Snoopy’s milk, I had no particular reaction.

In fact, having a glass of Snoopy’s milk before bed helped me sleep better.

So, after finishing the Snoopy milk before going to bed, I fell into a deep sleep.

‘The prize for the contest is probably a top-grade magic stone.’

I looked forward to the ranking announcement for the contest the next day.