Chapter 248: Is It Already Over?
TL: Hanguk
Ten minutes after the main course was served,
Krueng!
Kuik!
Both Cuengi and Uren raised their hands simultaneously.
"Yes! The plates of Cuengi Park and Uren have been emptied!!! Staff, please hurry and bring more dishes for these two contestants!"
Following the announcer's words, pigs brought plates with 100 steamed fish carrot stews and placed them in front of Cuengi and Uren.
And instead of taking away the empty plates, they were stacked to the side. This was done to count later how much each had eaten by the number of plates.
As the pigs brought dishes for the contestants dozens of times,
"Ugh!"
"I give... up..."
Contestants began to drop out.
Moo...
Even the Black Minotaurs, who had not dropped out until the main course, eventually couldn't hold on and began to drop out one by one.
Shortly after,
As the stack of plates beside Cuengi and Uren exceeded 15,
The last remaining Black Minotaur, Minotaur 3, dropped out.
"Now there are only two contestants left! Cuengi Park is showing a performance not at all inferior to the legendary food fighter Uren!"
Only Cuengi and Uren were left.
And then,
Munch. Munch.
They began eating earnestly.
Until now, the pace of serving had been delayed due to other contestants, leading to multiple interruptions in their eating.
Krueng!
Kuik!
Thanks to this, the time it took for them to finish their food and raise their hands became quicker.
"Staff, please hurry and bring the food!"
The staff couldn't rest and had to keep serving plates.
Munch. Munch.
Krueng!
Kuik!
Cuengi and Uren kept eating non-stop. Despite consuming an enormous amount, their eating pace hadn’t changed from the beginning.
Suddenly, as the stack of plates beside them surpassed 30,
Kuik!
Uren's body began to grow a little. It seemed hard to maintain his small size due to the food in his stomach.
Krueng!
In contrast, Cuengi showed no other change except for an intensification of the red glow around his body.
Krueng!
Kuik!
"Yes! Once again, both Cuengi Park and Uren have raised their hands at the same time! They have both reached 50 plates! Staff, please refill the food quickly!"
The announcer urged the staff.
However,
Kuik. Kuik.
No more food came, and a pig ran up to the announcer to relay something.
"Oh... I have regrettable news. All 50 chefs who were cooking have collapsed due to exhaustion."
The chefs, who were overexerting themselves to keep up with the eating pace of Cuengi and Uren, had collapsed.
Uren, who valued quality as much as quantity, wanted to eat the best food in the competition and had employed 50 top-class chefs to prepare the contest’s dishes.
But combined, Cuengi and Uren had more than 100 plates stacked beside them.
Each plate had servings for 100 people, so they had consumed food for 10,000 people during the main course, not to mention what other contestants had eaten, totaling almost 20,000 servings.
Including the five large appetizers, the amount of food prepared by the chefs was even more. It was understandable that they were exhausted.
"Therefore, we will unfortunately have to substitute the contestants' food with raw carrots from now on!"
Kuik!
Following the announcer's announcement, pigs brought plates with 100 carrots each in front of Cuengi and Uren,
Crunch. Crunch.
And they started eating the carrots.
Soon, 100 plates were stacked beside them.
"Wow. Did they eat all that in an hour?"
The audience was astonished at the amount they ate.
Kuik!
Uren's body started growing again. Slowly enlarging, he eventually reached a size of 3 meters.
Then,
Kuik. Kuik.
A pig ran up to the announcer again.
And,
"Ah... I’m afraid I have to convey another regrettable piece of news. It seems we’ve run out of all the prepared carrots."
The announcer announced a shocking fact to the audience: for the first time in the history of the Food Fighter competition, they had run out of food.
"If we can't secure more food within an hour, I'm afraid we will have to end this competition with a tie."
All the nearby ingredients had already been purchased for the Food Fighter competition. It was highly likely that the competition would end this way.
"Chairman Park, if it's a tie, doesn't that mean we lose, meow?!"
Theo, aware of the contract details, looked at Sejun in shock. Could it be?! Is Chairman Park going to lose, meow?! Does that mean Chairman Park isn't that great, meow?!
"Well..."
Sejun hadn't anticipated the competition ending due to a shortage of food.
He had bet on Cuengi's overwhelming victory, so even in a tie, he had negotiated the contract so that the salesperson would keep the deposit, but he had increased the reward ratio if Cuengi won.
'I can't lose like this!'
Chairman Park is great, meow! Sejun didn't want to disappoint Theo, who believed in his greatness.
Thud. Thud.
Sejun stepped onto the stage.
Then,
"You can't come up here! Please get down immediately!"
The announcer tried to stop Sejun.
But,
Krueng!
[Cuengi's dad is here! If you stop Dad, Cuengi will get angry!]
Cuengi stood up and shouted,
"Don't be rude to him; he’s a VIP."
Uren also stopped the announcer.
Thud. Thud.
Thanks to them, Sejun reached the announcer without any interference.
"Continue the competition. I'll supply the food."
Clank.
Sejun spoke to the announcer and opened his void storage.
***
4th Floor of the Black Tower.
The surroundings were filled with mutant cherry tomatoes.
Then,
"Vice Chairman, have you arrived?!"
As Michael McLaren, vice chairman of Gagel, arrived through the waypoint, the employees of the Experience Farm greeted him with a 90-degree bow.
Gagel had transformed the 2nd and 3rd floors of the tower into Experience Farms and was now developing one on the 4th floor.
"Yes. How's the farm expansion going?"
"Sir! Currently, half of the 4th floor has been completed!"
Paul, the team leader in charge of the 4th floor's Experience Farm, responded to Michael's inquiry.
"What?! Why only half?!"
Michael asked in an annoyed tone, surprised at the slower-than-expected progress.
"Well... as we reported earlier, the resistance from the Black Skeletons is too fierce."
The Black Skeletons, unnoticed in a corner of the 4th floor, had black bones instead of white like other skeletons.
"Even with all the slave soldiers deployed?"
The average level of the slave soldiers was about 15, not enough to be overwhelmed by the 4th floor's monsters.
But,
"Yes. The number of slave soldiers killed in battle with the Black Skeletons has exceeded 1,000."
The Black Skeletons were much stronger than regular skeletons.
"How many enemies are left?"
"Most have been dealt with, but the remaining are elite, so it might take some more time. Just a little longer, please..."
"Put in a request to the Crash Guild."
"What?! The Crash Guild?!"
Paul was shocked at Michael's order.
The Crash Guild was a secretive organization operated by Gagel, comprising solely of notorious criminals, and everyone hesitated to work with them.
"Yes. Time is money; we can’t wait forever. Finish quickly and move to the 5th floor."
Michael's goal was to conquer each floor and ultimately become the owner of the tower. There was no time to waste.
***
"Ladies and gentlemen, there was a bit of a problem, but thanks to Mr. Park Sejun, we can continue the competition!"
"Park! Se! Jun!"
The audience chanted Sejun's name following the announcer's announcement.
And,
"Puhuhut. As expected of Chairman Park, meow! Chairman Park is even greater than great, meow!"
Uren agreed to buy Sejun's carrots at a high price, and Theo's praise for Sejun soared even higher.
"Hehehe. Crop Gigantification."
Sejun, amidst the cheers of the audience and Theo's praise, enlarged the Agility Carrots in the void storage and handed them to the staff pigs.
Kwak!
The pigs weighed the carrots to ensure they were of equal weight before delivering them to Cuengi and Uren.
Crunch. Crunch.
Cuengi and Uren resumed the Food Fighter competition, eating the carrots.
“Huh?! Why are these so delicious?!”
Uren, having tasted Sejun's carrot, looked surprised. It was much tastier than the usual carrots he ate.
Kuehehehe! Krueng!
[Hehehe. Daddy’s carrots are the best!]
Cuengi was also delighted, having only eaten tasteless carrots before Sejun's.
As they both enjoyed Sejun's delicious carrots,
"Are they that delicious?"
“Can I try some?”
The audience began to show interest, and naturally, Sejun's carrots were promoted.
Then,
“Uh... Mr. Sejun…”
The salespeople approached, asking if they could sell Sejun's carrots.
“Of course.”
There was no reason to refuse since they offered to handle the sales themselves.
“How much should we sell the carrots for?”
When the salesperson asked about the pricing,
“Puhuhut. Let’s discuss that with me, Vice Chairman Theo, Chairman Park’s right hand, meow!"
Theo, overflowing with admiration for Sejun, was eager to be involved in something himself.
And then,
Shrrk. Shrrk.
Theo cut a giant carrot into 200 pieces.
"Skewer the carrots on sticks, meow!"
“Yes!”
The salespeople started cutting the carrots and skewering them, then began selling the carrot skewers for 0.5 Tower Coins each.
“Crop Gigantification.”
While Theo and the salespeople sold carrot skewers, Sejun enlarged 3,000 more carrots.
[Your proficiency in Crop Gigantification Lv. 5 has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency in Crop Gigantification Lv. 5 has been filled, and the level has increased.]
As the level of Crop Gigantification increased, the size of the giant carrots grew even more.
After Sejun's Crop Gigantification skill level increased and he gigantified another 3,000 carrots,
Kuik...
Uren’s body grew again, almost reaching 10 meters in size.
However, despite his increasing size, Uren's eating pace started to slow down. He was reaching his limit. The end was in sight.
Shortly after,
“Is this what losing feels like? I've lost…”
Thump.
Unable to eat any more, Uren finally conceded defeat and fainted.
“Uren is eliminated! Therefore, the winner is Cuengi Park! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new legend in Food Fighter Contest!”
Crunch. Crunch.
Krueng? Krueng!
[Is it over already? That can’t be! Cuengi is still hungry!]
Cuengi, still happily eating carrots, became furious at the announcer's words, and the red glow emanating from his body intensified. It was a side effect of activating his gluttony at 100%.
"It's okay, Cuengi. Daddy will give you more to eat. Crop Gigantification!"
Sejun calmed Cuengi down.
After Cuengi ate about 1,000 more giant carrots,
Krueng!
[Cuengi don’t want to eat anymore!]
Cuengi, finally full, refused to eat anymore.
Krueng!
[Cuengi wants to eat sweet potatoes now!]
No, it wasn’t that he refused to eat; he was just tired of carrots. Considering Cuengi had eaten tens of thousands of carrots today...
“Okay. Crop Gigantification.”
Sejun took out sweet potatoes, enlarged them, and gave them to Cuengi. Since Uren agreed to pay for the food, there was no need to economize.
Eventually, after eating 5000 giant sweet potatoes,
Krueng!
[Cuengi is full now!]
The red glow around his body disappeared.
And then,
Krueng!
[Cuengi is sleepy now!]
Dadada.
He ran and leaped into Sejun's arms.
Thump!
“Oof!”
Sejun caught Cuengi, feeling a huge impact.
Cuengi had eaten tens of thousands of servings of food. Even if his weight was reduced to a thousandth, it was still significant. Sejun almost hurt his back.
Kuhehehe. Krueng...
[Hehehe. Daddy will take the prize...]
Cuengi, wanting to give Sejun the prize, giggled sleepily.
“That’s right. You did great.”
Stroke. Stroke.
As Sejun stroked Cuengi's head,
Kurorong...
Cuengi quickly fell asleep, snoring.
Just then,
“Meow?! Chairman Park! Get away from Cuengi, meow!”
Theo, who was selling sweet potatoes to the audience, noticed the explosive power building up in Cuengi's body and shouted at Sejun.
The food Cuengi had eaten was finally being digested, causing his power to increase explosively.
*****
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