Chapter 325: Theo, Are You Forgetting Something?
TL: Hanguk
Red Tower, 52nd floor.
"Hurry up and lay the pears on the ground!"
"Yes!"
Upon Udon's command, the dwarves began laying pears at the border of the desert.
On the 53rd floor of the tower, the rain fell as the water evaporated from the mild pears of strength and stamina.
Udon confirmed that the area, which had been desertified, had returned to its original state and was now actively drying the pears with the help of the dwarves.
As 100,000 pears were laid out, the sky gradually began to darken.
In areas where desertification had progressed significantly, more moisture was absorbed into the ground, requiring more pears to induce rain.
Shortly after,
Swoooosh.
Rain began to fall over the dwarves' heads.
"Wow!"
"It's raining!"
The dwarves were deeply moved by the rain.
Udon allowed them a brief moment to enjoy the rain, and then said,
"Quickly collect the dried pears!"
They collected the pears, now renamed 'pears of strength and stamina' after all 10L of moisture had evaporated from them.
Although getting wet from the rain did not refill the pears with moisture,
these were crops entrusted directly by the great red dragon Ramter, and damaging even one could provoke Ramter's wrath.
Thus, the dwarves carefully packed the deliciously dried pears back into leather pouches.
***
Morning at the Black Tower, 99th floor.
"Alrighttttt!"
Sejun, who had overslept, stretched as he left his house,
"Meooooow!"
"Ajahjahjah!"
Theo and Ajax, who were beside Sejun, also stretched lazily, and
Kueeeeng!
Cuengi, who had come to find Sejun, heard the sound and stretched as well.
Thus, Sejun and the three seconds-in-command gathered.
"Okay. Let's talk about what each of us will do today."
Sejun said in a serious tone,
"Puhuhut. I, Vice Chairman Theo, will be with Chairman Park's knee, meow!"
Kueng!
[Cuengi will go look at herbs and then eat something delicious!]
"Eehee! I'm going to plant Sundried Red Pepper seeds and eat something yummy!"
The three shared their plans for the day. Nothing special, but that was to be expected.
However,
"Today, I'm going to do something incredibly important."
Sejun suddenly made a bombshell declaration.
"Meow?! What is it?, meow?!"
Kueng!?
[What?!]
"Sejun hyung! Tell me!"
The three looked at Sejun with curious eyes.
"That is... germinating Flame Beans!"
Sejun planned to take the Flame Beans, which wouldn't sprout no matter what he tried, to Ramter and ask him to scorch them strongly.
"Puhuhut. I don't know what that is, but do your best, meow!"
Kueng!
[Daddy, I'm hungry!]
"Hyung! I'm going to see Grandpa."
Of course, the three weren't very interested. Naturally. Sprouting Flame Beans sounded boring just by hearing about it.
So, after eating breakfast and attaching Theo on his leg, Sejun went to find Ramter.
"Ramter~nim, hello. I..."
As Sejun was about to start talking to Ramter,
-Sejun, you came at the right time. Take this!
Ramter opened a leather pouch to show the pears inside. Udon had brought 50,000 pears that were first dried.
[Pears of Strength and Stamina]
They seemed to be properly dried from their name.
-Here. This is the payment for having 500,000 pears dried as promised.
Ramter also handed over a money pouch along with the pouch containing the pears.
Inside the money pouch were 50 billion Tower Coins.
100,000 Tower Coins per pear.
Since the pears didn't disappear and became tastier, and he even received money for them, it was a complete win for Sejun.
"Ramter~nim, thank you."
-Phahaha. Bring me more pears next time.
"Yes."
Hehehe. Of course. Sejun answered with a smile.
And then,
"Ramter~nim, could you please look at this?"
Sejun presented the Flame Bean, which was his original purpose, to Ramter.
-Flame Bean? Why are you showing this to me?
Ramter looked at the Flame Bean, puzzled. Was this meant for him to eat?
"No, it's not sprouting because it might need specific conditions. Could you please try burning it with your fire?"
-Well... It's not impossible. But you know, it might turn into ash?
"It's okay. I've tried burning it with my fire, but it didn't burn."
-Really? If you, Sejun, say so...
Whoosh.
Ramter began to burn the Flame Bean with his fire, using only a tiny fraction of his power.
Although Sejun said he had tried burning it, the fire Sejun used and the fire Ramter used were of a different caliber. It was almost like the difference between a firefly and the sun.
-Ho. It's withstanding it?
Whoosh.
Surprisingly, the Flame Bean, living up to its name, withstood Ramter's fire. Shall we see if it can withstand this much?
Whoosh.
Ramter gradually increased the firepower.
Whoosh!
The fire grew stronger.
And then,
Crack.
The Flame Bean slightly cracked open. It wasn't the surface burning and hardening; it was different.
Peek.
Because a red root had emerged from inside.
Pop.
The Flame Bean actively absorbed Ramter's fire and began to open up widely.
"I've also tried burning it..."
Sejun spoke in a disappointed tone, looking at the sprouted Flame Bean. Now, even a bean seemed to be ignoring Sejun.
A moment later,
-I guess this is enough.
Ramter, with a proud voice, handed the fully sprouted Flame Bean to Sejun. Hahaha. This is how great I am!
"Yes. Thank you."
And so, when Sejun planted the Flame Bean that had germinated with Ramter's fire in the ground,
-...
Ramter silently watched Sejun, precisely the leather pouch filled with pears. Is there no gratitude?
"...Ramter~nim, would you like some pear?"
-Ahem. If you're offering, Sejun, I'll have one.
Crunch. Crunch.
Sejun began peeling the pear under Ramter's intense gaze.
Then,
-Wait. What's this sound?
-Yeah, what's being peeled?
-Seems like there's some smell too?
Dragons, who had been watching nearby pretending they hadn't noticed anything, awkwardly approached with their scripted lines.
"Come and have some together."
-Hahaha. Shall we?"
At Sejun's invitation, three dragons quickly flew over,
Chomp. Chomp.
And began eating the pieces of pear Sejun had cut.
-Delicious.
-As expected of Sejun.
-Hahaha. Know that it's thanks to me!
-What do you mean thanks to you? It's thanks to Sejun!
Despite their bickering, the dragons enjoyed the pears amicably.
After a while, craving alcohol after eating the pears, the dragons went off to drink again, taking ten peeled pears with them.
And as the dragons left,
Gulp.
Sejun also peeled a pear and took a big bite.
Crunch.
The crisp sound and the chewy texture of the pear's flesh,
And the sweet juice. It was delicious.
But something was lacking.
'It's not cold.'
Sejun preferred his pears cold.
So,
"Ice cube."
He froze the pear with ice to make it cold,
Crunch.
And took another bite. Ahh. Cold. As expected, cold pears indeed taste better.
Sejun quickly finished off a pear.
[You have consumed a Pear of Strength and Stamina.]
[Strength and Stamina increase by 1 each.]
And then,
"Time to finish the quest."
Sejun sat in the front yard of his house and began seed harvesting.
Thanks to his diligent seed harvesting until the night before, he only needed to do it 100,000 more times to complete his job quest.
"I'll finish the quest today."
Sejun began harvesting corn seeds with determination.
***
Black Tower, 79th floor.
Chirp.
Caw.
Tweet.
As the flowers of the giant tree bloomed, baby birds hatched, and
"Take care of the children."
Adult birds gathered the chicks and took them to Aebro, the capital of Kov.
And then,
[Little Flamie, you've worked hard. Here, take this nutritional supplement.]
Flamie handed a nutritional supplement to the tired Little Flamie after hatching the birds.
[Thank you, Flamie~nim!]
Little Flamie gulped down the nutritional supplement after receiving it.
Little Flamie was currently working hard to incubate more birds to restore the reduced bird population.
Thanks to this, the Kingdom of Kov was quickly regaining its former glory.
Without Flamie's nutritional supplements, this would have been impossible.
[Flamie~nim, the supplements are so delicious!]
Slurp. Slurp.
So, Little Flamie diligently sucked on the nutritional supplement.
[I'm hungry...]
Before long, Little Flamie had finished the supplement and was looking pitifully at Flamie.
[Right. Our Little Flamie eats well. Eat more.]
Flamie happily handed another supplements to Little Flamie, amused by the reaction, unlike the grumbling Podori.
'Our Little Flamie eats so well.'
While Flamie was fondly watching Little Flamie enjoy the supplements,
[You dare ignore our Sejun's fire?!]
[You?! You dare to ignore the fire of our Sejun~nim?!]
[......]
[Hey! The World Tree, I, Lady Podori, am speaking to you, and you're ignore me?!]
[......]
Podori was trying to scold the newcomer Flame Bean who couldn't even speak yet.
***
Late afternoon.
Pluck. Pluck.
[You have obtained a Stamina Corn Seed.]
[Your job experience points increase slightly.]
[Your proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[You need to use the Seed Harvesting skill 892 more times to complete the job quest.]
"It's almost done now."
Seeing the few numbers left, Sejun pressed on.
And then,
[You have completed the job quest.]
[As a quest completion reward, level 71 is unlocked.]
[As a quest completion reward, you have acquired 10 million Tower Coins.]
[As a quest completion reward, all stats increase by 100.]
Finally completing the job quest after a million times of seed harvesting.
"Great! Quest complete!"
Sejun celebrated joyously. Now he doesn't have to waste experience points anymore!
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, congratulations, meow!"
Theo, who had been playing on Sejun's lap all day, congratulated him.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Sejun answered in a dispirited voice when,
[You have created a 33,000 square meters Sweet Potato Field.]
[You have gained 20,000 experience points.]
[You have created a 3,000 square meters Radish of Strong Lower Body Field.]
[You have gained 2,000 experience points.]
...
..
.
Messages appearing as if celebrating Sejun's quest completion. The farms cultivated by the tenant farmer mushroom ants were completed.
"I should go down to the 55th floor of the tower tomorrow."
Hehehe. If even the rabbits are designated as tenant farmers, the speed of gaining experience points would increase, right?
While Sejun was smiling to himself,
Kueng!
[Daddy, Cuengi has brought herbs!]
Cuengi, who had harvested herbs from the western forest, ran to Sejun.
"Hyung! I've planted them all!"
Ajax, too, who had planted all the Sundried Red Peppers.
"Good job, guys."
Sejun greeted Cuengi and Ajax and headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Then,
-Ahem.
Tier approached, clearing his throat.
Tier thought Theo must have properly delivered the deed to the 83rd floor of the White Tower to Sejun.
But no matter how long he waited, there was no sign of Sejun trying to leave for the White Tower.
And when Sejun just mentioned going down to the 55th floor,
'Theo, that idiot must have forgotten.'
Tier was convinced that Theo had forgotten about picking up the land deed.
-Ahem. Theo, are you forgetting something?
So he subtly asked so Theo could remember, but
"Tier~nim, I, Vice Chairman Theo, haven't forgotten anything, meow!"
Theo responded confidently with an innocent look that said, 'I don't know anything.'
'You stupid cat, you picked up the land deed!'
Tier wanted to say that so badly it was at the tip of his tongue, but he managed to hold back.
And then,
-No, as I was passing by, I saw you picking something up, didn't I? Piyot saw it too, right?
He calmed his anger and gave very specific details, asking Piyot, who was there with them.
However,
Piyo! Piyo!
[No! I don't remember!]
Piyot was a genius at forgetting things.
"Meow! I remembered, meow! Chairman Park, I picked this up, meow!"
Fortunately, Theo remembered and took out the land deed.
"Huh?! This is the land deed for the 83rd floor of the White Tower?!"
"Puhuhut. I picked it up, meow!"
'Phew. That was hard.'
Finally, seeing that the land deed for the 83rd floor of the White Tower had been passed to Sejun, Tier relaxed and went to drink.
*****
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