Part 2 Chapter 114: New Year's Money / 838
TL: Hanguk
A week had passed since Christmas, and the New Year of January 1st had arrived.
And then.
99th floor of the Black Tower.
“Happy New Year!”
When Sejun, who had brought along his companions, the Children of Destruction, and the Children of Creation in a big group, bowed before the dragon leaders, the companions and children followed him and bowed toward the nine dragon leaders.
Although Korea celebrates the Lunar New Year rather than the Solar New Year,
Hehehe. I can just receive it again then!
Twice is fine.
“Puhuhut. Happy New Year, meow!”
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Happy New Year, dragon-nims.”
[Hehe. Please accept our bows!]
(Pip-pip. Please accept our bows~)
Kuehehehe. Kueng! Kueng!
[Hehehe. Grandpas, accept our bows! And if you accept bows, you have to give New Year's money!]
Kihihit. Kking? Kking!
[Hehe. You accepted the bow, right? Then as New Year’s money, offer the ultra-delicious roasted and dried sweet potato to great Blackie!]
“Grandpas! Please accept Taecho's bow!"
“Please accept our bows!”
“Accept our bows!”
...
..
.
“Bow!”
Hehehe. To boldly give a bow like that, Kyako’s going to make it big.
Sejun looked at the youngest, Kyako, who confidently shouted “Bow!” and smiled warmly.
“Okay. Now, let’s receive New Year’s money.”
“Yes!”
He gave the kids a mission.
“Elders! Give us New Year’s money!”
“New Year’s moneeey!”
The kids clung to the dragon leaders and began their looting.
In the meantime,
“Ahem. Sabren-nim, may I have a word...?”
Sejun approached the rock that contained the soul of the great Colorless Dragon Sabren and spoke to it.
Then,
(Very well. You finally have time, Sejun Zack?)
Sabren responded immediately and sharply. It’s always the desperate side that becomes the subordinate.
“Yes. I wanted to hear about the trial you mentioned before.”
Sejun asked Sabren about the trial to become the Great Colorless Dragon.
Originally, he had no intention of taking the trial,
But after being with Aileen again...
During his Christmas date with Aileen, his “I want to be strong” syndrome flared up again. So Sejun resolved to become the Great Colorless Dragon.
If Sabren had heard the reason, it was such a trivial reason that he would have felt self-loathing.
Anyway, Sabren didn’t know the reason why Sejun wanted to become the Great Colorless Dragon.
(Do not worry, Sejun Zack. I’ve divided the three trials to suit your weak level into 957 newly created trials.)
Sabren explained in a proud voice about the trial. It must have taken quite a bit of effort to split each of the three trials into about 320 parts, so his pride was understandable.
“Oh! Really?! Thank you! I’ll take the trial!”
If three trials were split into 957, it seemed doable!
Feeling confident thanks to Sabren’s words, Sejun decided to take the trial immediately.
(Then I shall tell you the first trial.)
“Yes!”
(The first trial is to raise your magic power to 1 million!)
“...What? If it’s just magic power 1 million....”
Sejun’s current magic power was 250,000. If he pushed himself, it wasn’t impossible.
But,
This was the first trial?!
The problem was that raising his magic power to 1 million was only the first trial.
‘If this is the easiest...’
Then the difficulty of the trials that follow...
‘I don’t think this is going to work?’
Sejun’s confidence fizzled out. He strongly felt that the difficulty balance was off.
“By any chance, what’s the second trial?”
(As expected, the first trial is too easy, right? But the second trial will also be easy. No, even up to the tenth trial, it’ll be super easy. You just need to absorb the essence of the nine attributes, one by one. Just eat the essences. You could probably finish it in a day.)
“Haa. As I thought....”
How am I supposed to eat that...
Sejun let out a sigh at Sabren’s explanation.
He had almost burned to death once before from accidentally eating the essence of fire, so he knew all too well the power of each attribute’s essence.
“Sabren-nim, I think we need to break down the trials further.”
(Further than this?)
“Yes. It’s too difficult.”
(Very well. Then into 2,000...)
“Please divide it into 10,000.”
Sejun needed a staircase with smaller and more manageable steps.
(...Fine. Wait a moment.)
After finishing the conversation with Sejun, Sabren first split the first trial.
[We shall now begin the first trial to become the Great Colorless Dragon.]
[First Trial to Become the Great Colorless Dragon: Please reach 300,000 magic power.]
Reward: 0.01% inheritance of the power of the Great Colorless Dragon
“Hehehe. Thank you. I’ll do my best!”
Aileen, wait for me!
Sejun steeled himself with his own determination and finally set off on the long journey to become the Great Colorless Dragon.
After receiving the first trial to become the Great Colorless Dragon, Sejun returned to his group.
“Puhuhut. Put all the New Year's money you received in here without leaving any behind, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, will keep it safe, meow! If you don’t hand it over, it won’t be fun, meow!”
He saw Theo putting into his bag the scales, claws, and horn fragments the kids had received as New Year’s money from the dragon leaders.
No matter how generously he looked at it, Theo was a gang boss receiving tribute from beggars who had been panhandling.
However,
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I, Vice Chairman Theo, have collected all the New Year’s money, meow!”
“Hehehe. Good job.”
“Puhuhut. I know, meow!”
The real gang boss was Sejun.
“Let’s eat now.”
Sejun made rice cake soup and they all ate together.
"This is a New Year's gift. Happy New Year."
–Kuhahaha. Sure. Sejun, you have a happy new year too.
–Uhaha. We are always grateful. Our Sejun, happy new year to you too.
After giving Samyangju to the dragon leaders as New Year’s gifts,
“Hehehe. Please give me New Year’s money too.”
He received New Year’s money and returned to Earth.
***
A few days passed after returning to Earth.
During that time, Sejun underwent special training to increase his magic power, diligently eating Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power, Elixir: Egg Fruits, and mugwort.
[You have achieved 500,000 magic power.]
[You have passed the third trial to become the Great Colorless Dragon.]
[As a reward for passing the trial, 0.01% of the power of the Great Colorless Dragon has been inherited.]
“Hehehe. Nice.”
He had passed the third trial.
At that moment,
“Huh?!”
What’s going on?
Sejun suddenly felt dizzy, and his stomach churned.
[Sejun-nim, your magic power is fluctuating.]
[You need to learn how to control your magic power.]
It was because Sejun wasn’t properly controlling his magic power.
He currently had more magic power in his body than he could control, and the uncontrollable power would occasionally surge, damaging his body.
For now, it was just dizziness and nausea, but if it worsened, it could become life-threatening.
I need to learn magic power control?
“Aileen, can you teach me how to control magic power?”
Sejun immediately went to Aileen, who had a high level of magic mastery , and asked her about magic control.
“Magic control? Doesn’t it just happen naturally?”
“I... I see. So it just comes naturally, huh.”
Ah. Aileen was a dragon, the pinnacle of talent...
He only ended up getting hurt for no reason.
“Iona, can you teach me how to control magic power?”
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Sure!”
So next, he asked Iona, who was also skilled in magic.
“First, feel the magic power by each attribute, then twist the magic like a rope. After that, move the twisted magic so it passes through your heart and circulates throughout your body. That’s it. Easy, right?”
“.......”
I have no idea what she’s talking about...
Iona was the top magical genius of the Black Tower. For an ordinary person like Sejun, understanding a genius’s explanation was far too difficult.
Isn’t it always like that?
“It’s so easy, how can you not do it?”
What’s too easy for a genius is too hard for an average person.
“Vice Chairman Theo, let’s find a private tutor for magic.”
“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”
To find a private tutor for magic control, Sejun moved to the 75th floor of the Black Tower.
“Jeras, we’re here, meow!”
He went to Jeras and had him put out a job posting.
“No geniuses. No gifted ones either.”
“Okay.”
With the job posted, Sejun returned home.
“It’s already lunchtime.”
He went into the kitchen and started cooking.
“Hehehe. Since today is a cheat day, I’m going to eat pizza.”
Because of his special training to raise his magic power, Sejun had been on a restricted diet, but he had made a rule that after passing a trial, he could skip the diet for one meal.
As Sejun, looking excited, kneaded pizza dough.
Kihihit. Kking! Kking? Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! Make a roasted and dried sweet potato pizza for great Blackie too! You’re generous, so you’ll make it for me, right? You’re awesome, Butler!]
Blackie sweet-talked Sejun to get him to make sweet potato pizza.
“No way. Blackie, you’re just going to pick out the roasted sweet potato again.”
Kking.
[Tch! You caught me.]
It didn’t work.
A little while later.
When the cooking was finished.
“Kids, let’s eat!”
Sejun called his companions and the Children of Destruction to eat together.
After the meal ended,
“Ugh. I can’t eat anymore....”
Slurp.
As Sejun patted his bloated belly and sipped coffee,
Lick. Lick.
Puhuhut. I am a cat that diligently manages myself, meow!
Theo, having finished eating, was grooming himself thoroughly.
Once my grooming is done, I should tidy up Chairman Park’s face too, meow!
He looked toward his next target.
Then.
Meow?! That’s right, meow! I had that, meow!
While staring at Sejun’s face, something forgotten suddenly popped into Theo’s mind.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, take this, meow!”
Theo began taking out 100 items he felt the pull, which he had found on the 75th floor of the Nine Towers, from his bag. He had forgotten all about them after Sejun passed out during Christmas.
“Appraise. Sejun, here.”
“Mm. Thanks.”
Aileen, who was next to Sejun eating cake and drinking coffee, appraised the items Theo pulled out.
“Oh. As expected of Vice Chairman Theo.”
“Puhuhut. I know, meow!”
Sejun examined the appraised items and admired them. Every one of them was SS-grade or higher.
However, once the number of items exceeded 70.
“Huh? This is...”
[Land Deed for 27th Floor of White Tower]
[Land Deed for 81st Floor of Blue Tower]
...
..
.
Land deeds started appearing.
Now that he thought of it, didn’t owning more than half of the land deeds of a tower grant ownership of that tower?
As Sejun looked at the 29 land deeds Theo pulled out, he recalled the Ninth Commandment of the Ten Commandments.
Should I just go ahead and collect the other towers too?
Becoming the owner of a tower didn’t necessarily improve his situation, but there was that collector’s desire. He simply wanted to gather them.
‘Who knows?’
Maybe owning the towers would elevate his status.
‘Then with Aileen... hehehe.’
Just as Sejun’s thoughts inevitably turned to Aileen.
“Puhuhut. This is the last one, meow!”
Theo pulled out the last of the 100 items.
[Seed of ?]
The final item was a seed with a question mark for its name.
“Huh? It’s a seed? Appraise. Sejun, here.”
Aileen casually cast an appraisal spell on the seed and handed it to Sejun.
But.
[Seed of ?]
???
“Aileen, this one didn’t appraise.”
“Huh? That’s strange? Huh?! You’re right! Appraise. Huh?! Why isn’t the appraisal magic working?”
The seed Theo had brought couldn’t be appraised even with Aileen’s magic.
This is a jackpot!
Sejun instantly became convinced that this seed was an incredible item.
“Vice Chairman Theo, 10-year exclusive knee-sitting rights.”
“Puhuhut. I don’t know why you’re giving that, but I want more, meow!”
“Heh. I’ll consider it if the seed turns out to have good options later.”
“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”
He gave Theo an advance reward.
Then.
“Eok-Samchiri, find out what this is.”
He instructed [System Eok-Samchiri] to investigate the information on the seed.
*****
Happy New Year! 🎉 Thank you for your support. Here's to another amazing year together! ✨