Monster Company Tycoon - Chapter 44

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Monster Company Tycoon
Chapter 44
I could feel the Facilities Team hanging on my every word, their mouths sealed shut in rapt attention.
Their eyes gleamed with the promise that they’d build whatever I wanted. Impressive.
The thought that I could decorate the Dungeon exactly as I pleased made my heart race all over again.
“We’ll keep the first Gate normal.”
A little warm-up combat! Gotta loosen up first!
“I wouldn’t recommend placing traps right from the start, either. If you spike the difficulty too early, the whole point of staging content progressively falls apart.”
Right, right. This is a beginner Dungeon, after all.
“Instead, we’ll put short corridors between each Gate. Since the 1st Floor is spacious but doesn’t have many rooms, it’s structurally feasible.”
Brownie could handle this much without breaking a sweat.
True to her nature as the Dungeon’s bound spirit, she widened the spaces between Combat Rooms in a blink and carved out short transit passages connecting them.
The field crews waiting in the combat zones must have been startled by the sudden structural shift.
“What kinds of traps can the Physical Team implement right away?”
“Uh! Within the scope of 3rd Grade Certification, we can construct three types, with two different activation methods.”
Gnome explained the trap activation mechanisms first.
The first was the Pressure Plate Mechanism.
When a certain weight bearing down on a pressure plate installed in a corridor exceeded a threshold, a connected device would trigger—the most basic method there was.
The second was the Tripwire Mechanism.
A thin, barely visible line was strung across a passage, and when a challenger touched or snapped it, the connected trap would activate.
At higher grades, you could work with Sensing Mechanisms that triggered automatically when they detected movement, sound, or light.
But 3rd Grade Gnomes like these could only handle such classical mechanical devices.
‘Which means they’re easy to spot and disarm, too.’
Perhaps that was actually just right for novice adventurers.
Next came the actual trap types.
The first was the Downfall Trap.
The classic pit trap that springs to mind when anyone says “trap”—it dropped challengers into a lower chasm.
You could leave it as a simple pit, but the danger level could be adjusted depending on what elements you added inside.
Blades or thornbushes were possibilities, but so were swamps or water to restrict movement.
In advanced Dungeons, they sometimes fill them with substances like lava or acid that inflict fatal wounds the moment you fall in….
‘Challengers could get hurt badly, so I’ll need to choose the options carefully.’
It was possible to combine them with creature traps as well.
You could release aquatic predators like man-eating fish into a pit, or cultivate hostile Plants on the walls and floor.
The second was the Swing Attack Trap.
Heavy logs or weights suspended from a passage or ceiling swung like a pendulum to strike challengers.
Direct impact damage was the basic function, but depending on placement, it could serve other purposes.
Set near a narrow bridge or cliff edge, it could knock a challenger off the edge and send them tumbling.
Last was the Fire Shot Trap.
Multiple firing mechanisms embedded in walls or ceilings that discharged projectiles in unison when the trap activated.
From projectiles dealing direct damage like arrows or poisoned needles to substances that covered an entire area like gas.
The purpose and danger level varied dramatically depending on what you loaded.
“Hm….”
There were more varieties than I’d expected, and far more ways to apply them creatively.
“Because the purpose of traps in a Dungeon isn’t necessarily just to inflict heavy damage.”
Alraune nodded in agreement.
“Precisely. Even if no actual injury occurs, simply planting the thought ‘one wrong move and I could die’ applies sufficient psychological pressure. That’s how we extract the fear.”
“Right! In that case, even just rigging the pit bottom with fake blades would be plenty effective.”
That would certainly be terrifying.
I paused to think, then decided to establish one principle first.
“Let’s avoid placing traps in our Dungeon that could cause serious injury to challengers. The goal is to give them the experience of recognizing danger and responding to it—not to actually inflict severe wounds.”
Next, I turned to Fairy with a question.
“What kinds of disorientation traps can you create with Fairy Dust?”
“Mm-hmm, within the scope of 3rd Grade Certification, I can make stuff like reduced sense of direction and stuff.”
Loss of directional sense, distorted distance perception, dulled senses, induced sleep, balance loss and so on.
“Stuff that directly scrambles perception like hallucinations or auditory illusions, that’s 2nd Grade and up, and creating phantoms starts at 1st Grade.”
“So you could make an actually very short corridor feel much longer?”
“Yep. I’m real good at wearing down stamina.”
Fairy Dust functioned as a kind of debuff.
“And finally, what Plants can you cultivate, Alraune?”
“At 3rd Grade Certification, I can work with Tentacle Plant strains—currently I can cultivate three species. From 2nd Grade onward, I gain access to Glooie and Bucket Plant, and from 1st Grade, Fire Plant.”
Tentacle Plant.
A plant-type monster that extends vines like tentacles to grab challengers or obstruct their movement.
There are three varieties of Tentacle Plant that Alraune can cultivate.
Ivy, which clings to walls and spreads vines in all directions as it grows.
Pumpkin, which sprawls across the floor and coils around ankles.
Spiny Gourd, which thrives in wetlands and seizes opponents with thorny vines.
Each has different habitat preferences and characteristics, allowing them to be deployed according to the terrain.
“And these plants differ somewhat from ordinary traps, which are simply installed and forgotten.”
“I see.”
“The key point is that they’re living biological traps. With consistent cultivation and care, they grow progressively stronger.”
Alraune’s face held a note of pride as she spoke of her area of expertise.
“Over time, through repeated cultivation and maintenance, the plants can evolve to higher stages. As individual specimens mature, the range and binding force of their vines strengthen, and depending on environmental conditions, they can even acquire new traits.”
Traps that could be cultivated and strengthened—that had considerable appeal.
After hearing the full scope of what the Facilities Team could accomplish, a rough trap layout began taking shape in my mind.
‘Keep the first Gate as straightforward as it is now.’
Novice challengers didn’t need to face traps and combat simultaneously from the start.
Instead, difficulty would increase gradually after passing the 1st Gate.
‘Fill all the corridors between Gates with traps….’
By the 2nd Gate, challengers would merely learn how to evade and disarm traps.
From the 3rd Gate onward, traps would be placed inside the Combat Rooms themselves, forcing challengers to face monsters and mechanisms at once.
And in the final Boss Room, everything they’d experienced thus far would converge into a single crucible.
‘This way, difficulty would rise naturally with each stage, wouldn’t it?’
Rather than scattering traps haphazardly, the design would introduce one new element at a time as challengers progressed.
Once I’d settled on the general approach, I passed my proposed layout to the Facilities Team.
After calculating the anticipated materials and maintenance costs, Alraune spoke up.
“We’d recommend setting the initial budget at around one hundred thousand Won per month.”
And she immediately followed with concrete budgeting proposals.
My heart sank into my stomach at Alraune’s audacity in calling out a six-figure monthly sum without hesitation.
“I’d suggest allocating the budget at the start of each month and settling accounts based on actual expenditures. If we run short, we can bill additional costs separately, and any surplus can be deducted from the following month’s allocation.”
“Yes, of course.”
Alraune pulled a blank sheet of paper forward.
“I’ll record every expenditure without exception—from material purchases to consumables to repair and maintenance costs. At month’s end, I’ll prepare an Expense Statement organizing usage and amounts, which I’ll submit to you for review.”
Systematic. Choosing Alraune as team leader had been an excellent decision!
Indeed, wherever money changes hands, receipt management is absolutely paramount.
Part of me wanted to simply hand the Facilities Team a corporate credit card instead of haggling over budgets.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————