Side Story 5: Family Reunion.
TL: Hanguk
<Labyrin>
"We're here... huh?!"
Thud-clatter.
Cheering with her arms thrown up in excitement, Chaerin stepped through the Dimensional Gate, planted her foot on the squelchy purple ground, lost her balance, and toppled over.
"Hiing... Big Brother...."
With purple mud smeared all over her face and body, Chaerin looked back, on the verge of tears, and then
Thump. Thump.
Kueng! Kueng!
[Chaerin's gonna be just fine! Cuengi will dust her off!]
Cuengi, who had grown to two meters tall through Gigantification, soothed her and lifted her up with both front paws.
Whoosh.
At the same time, he used Telekinesis to brush every last bit of purple mud off her face, body, and clothes.
"Hehehe. Big Brother Cuengi is the best."
Her mood instantly restored, Chaerin threw up two thumbs, and
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Cuengi knows it!]
Cuengi answered with a smug look.
Meanwhile.
"Geommu! Hurry up. Or we're leaving you behind, okay?"
Taecho, who had made the Dimensional Gate, urged on Geommu, who was frozen stiff with fear right in front of the portal.
"No! Take Geommu too!"
"Then hurry up, like I said."
"Don't rush Geommu! Geommu's still scared!"
Even paralyzed with fear, Geommu still shrieked at the top of his lungs.
Now two years old, Geommu was a little boy who took after Sejun. As his name suggests, this time Kim Mi-ran wasn't the one who named him. That was because Sejun had lured her away with the promise of touring other worlds.
Maybe because he had inherited Sejun's genes so strongly, Geommu resembled him not only in face but in personality.
So he was needlessly timid. Even though he was far sturdier than his father Sejun.
Sejun insisted that Geommu was just cautious like him, but the people who had spent a long time with Sejun weren't about to fall for that.
Well, no. There was one who believed Sejun's words. None other than Theo, who treated Sejun's words as gospel.
But even Theo, whenever Geommu was being frustratingly slow, would smack him on the back of the head behind Sejun's back, telling him to stop being a coward and get on with it.
In any case, scaredy-cat second-generation Park Geommu couldn't cross the Dimensional Gate by himself, and so
"Then if you go through with Big Sister, you'll be okay, right?"
"Yeah...."
"All right. Hold on tight to Big Sister. Heave-ho."
Taecho scooped Geommu into her arms and crossed through the Dimensional Gate.
And so, Cuengi, Taecho, Chaerin, and Geommu crossed through the Dimensional Gate. The four Park siblings
Park Cuengi – Beast of Apocalypse
Park Taecho – Primordial God
Park Chaerin – the mighty one who knocked her father unconscious by screaming on her very first day, Owner of All Great Towers
Park Geommu – Youngest, Scaredy-cat
Their powers were all terrifying without exception. Let's ignore the last one.
For reference, in the third year after Chaerin hatched from her egg, Sejun had gathered all the Land Deeds needed for Share Acquisition and became the Owner of All Great Towers.
But
[Um... Sejun-nim, becoming the Owner of All Great Towers is a fine thing, but there's going to be so much to do, so many troublesome matters, so wouldn't transferring it to your daughter be... and since later on for Inheritance there's also Inheritance Tax to consider...]
[System Eok-Samchiri] said all sorts of strange things to stop Sejun from becoming the Owner of All Great Towers.
"What? You want to be impeached?"
[No. That's not what I meant....]
The truth was that if Sejun became the Owner of All Great Towers, World Balance would be too severely disrupted. It was a phenomenon caused by Sejun's influence having grown impossibly vast.
Already, the Creator God was leaning on Sejun. He came to him whenever he was struggling to mooch a meal, consulted him whenever he had worries, and occasionally even asked for his help when he was running short on power.
On top of that, every god and Great Dragon would roll up their sleeves and pitch in whenever Sejun's affairs were involved, and ever since he had become the Second Father of Spirit Lords, every newly born spirit followed Sejun as well.
And then there was the staggering number of employees in Sejun Company.
Lastly, [System Eok-Samchiri] itself was friendly to Sejun. If on top of all this the 10 Great Towers also became Sejun's, World Balance would grow gravely unstable.
It wasn't that Sejun seemed likely to do anything bad. It was simply the way of nature to be wary of things tilting too far to one side.
As the saying goes, 'Too much is worse than not enough.' Everything was best when slightly lacking.
And so Sejun bequeathed ownership of all 10 Great Towers to his daughter Chaerin, and now Chaerin had obtained <Title: Owner of All Great Towers> and could wield its authority.
Of course, Sejun was the one who actually handled all the problems that cropped up in any of the Great Towers on Chaerin's behalf. Even now, he was away with Theo, off solving an issue that had arisen in the Red Great Tower.
So what was the reason the four of them had snuck off to <Labyrin> without anyone else knowing?
That was...
"Mr. Bee Shrine! Tell Geommu a fun story!" [TL: Geommu mispronounces 'President' (sajang-nim) as 'Shrine' (sadang-nim).]
Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
[Of course! As many as you like! I've broken more than ten thousand exclusive scoops in my career!]
Geommu had been listening to all kinds of fun stories from Poison Bee #13124, president of Honey Bee Daily, which Geommu had once started as a hobby but had now grown into a Family Business.
Whirr? Whirr.
[Did you know? The truth is, Minotaur King-nim's homeland is Labyrin.]
Getting to hear about the Minotaur King's homeland was what set this whole thing in motion.
"Big Sister Chaerin! I know where Uncle Minotaur King is from!"
Geommu went looking for Chaerin to show off what he knew, and
"Really? Uncle Minotaur King helped our dad out a lot. Then let's go to his home Labyrin too and help out with something! Dad always told us to repay what we receive twofold!"
"Geommu knows too! Grudges hundredfold! Gratitude twofold! Geommu's gonna pay back Dad's kindness too!"
Chaerin and Geommu came up with the kind-hearted idea of visiting <Labyrin> to lend a hand.
But since there was nothing they could actually accomplish with just their own abilities,
"Big Sister Taecho, help us!"
"Big Sister Taecho! Help!"
The two of them went to find Taecho.
"Labyrin? Hold on a sec."
Taecho already knew that the Minotaur King's homeland <Labyrin> had been destroyed. Well, no, she had been told that, but since it was her siblings asking, she made a show of effort and did a search.
And
Huh? It hasn't been destroyed after all?
How did that happen?
She discovered that <Labyrin> had not, in fact, been destroyed.
"Big Brother Cuengi!"
Kuehehehe. Kueng?!
[Hehehe. Did you call Cuengi?!]
So they called Cuengi, who had been busy in the kitchen pulling Garaetteok he was going to eat himself, completed their 4-person party, and made a Dimensional Gate leading to <Labyrin>.
Taecho could perfectly well make Dimensional Gates herself. After all, everything had begun at Taecho, the Primordial God.
"But there's nobody here...?"
"If that's the case, isn't there nothing for us to help with...?"
Geommu and Chaerin looked around and their faces fell.
But
Kueng! Kueng!
[Everyone be careful! This place is super suspicious!]
"Right. You two stay close behind me and Big Brother Cuengi."
Tension was clear on the faces of Cuengi and Taecho. They could feel an ominous energy from their surroundings.
Just then
Kkiek!
A horrible shriek echoed from far away.
"Eeek!"
"Eek!"
Hearing the cry, Chaerin and Geommu trembled in fright, while Cuengi and Taecho shielded them and kept watch on their surroundings.
......
The shrieking soon died down.
But
"Hiing... Geommu's scared...."
With the tension broken, Geommu started crying in earnest.
And
Kkiek!
That fear-laden wailing drew other beings in.
[Hirudin's Split Bodies, Remnant of Destruction: Explosive Blood Leech]
Their form resembled the Second Calamity Giant Blood-Sucking Leech, but their color was green.
Squelch. Squelch.
The leeches writhed their bodies and advanced toward the group.
At that moment
Moo!
[Warriors! Save the children in danger!]
Moo!
[Yes! Leader!]
From far away, hundreds of Black Minotaurs bellowed and charged toward the leeches. To save them.
The biggest of them, taking the lead, a Black Minotaur with his left horn snapped halfway off, shoulder-tackled a leech, and
KA-BOOM!
The leech, unable to absorb the impact, was knocked backward, tangling with the other leeches as it fell.
And then
Moo!
Crash! Crash!
The other Black Minotaurs chopped those leeches down with their massive axes like they were splitting firewood, finishing them off.
Moo?
[Kids, are you all right?]
When the Black Minotaur with the broken left horn approached the children and asked,
"Uncle Minotaur King?"
Geommu, looking a little relieved, called out in a bright and welcoming voice. Aside from the broken horn, the face looked remarkably similar to the Minotaur King's.
The rest of the group thought the same as Geommu, but they didn't call her Minotaur King.
Geommu, that's not Master Minotaur King! The voice is different!
Geommu, you can clearly tell she's a woman.
Geommu, you dummy!
That was because both the clothing and the voice were feminine.
Fortunately, the other party didn't get angry.
Moo? Moo?!
[Uncle Minotaur King? Could it be that you know our Minotaur King?!]
Instead, hearing the words "Minotaur King", the female Black Minotaur's face filled with shock.
"Yeah! Geommu is good friends with Uncle Minotaur King!"
Geommu puffed himself up with pride as he answered, and
Moo! Moo!
[Leader Minotaur Rose! Congratulations!]
Moo!
[Your son is alive!]
At Geommu's reply, the other Black Minotaurs beside her congratulated their leader Minotaur Rose.
Moo?!
[Then do you know Minotaur 1003 too?!]
Moo?!
[What about Minotaur 509?!]
The other Black Minotaurs also pressed Geommu with voices full of hope. They were desperate to know whether their own children had survived.
They were the parents of the Minotaur King and the other Black Minotaurs, who had endured for hundreds of years clinging to the hope that one day they might meet again the children they had sent off to the Black Tower.
"Yeah! Geommu's good friends with Uncle Minotaur 1003 and Uncle Minotaur 509! Yesterday Uncle Minotaur 3 even gave Geommu a piggyback ride!"
Geommu happily bragged about his connection to them, and with every name of a son or daughter that came out of Geommu's mouth, the number of Black Minotaurs whose faces broke into smiles grew.
Just then
Kkiek!
From far away came the screeching cries of leeches.
Moo. Moo?
[For now I'd like to move somewhere else and talk. Could you come along with us?]
Minotaur Rose asked in a careful voice. They could easily hunt a few leeches, but once the numbers got too high, fleeing was the only option.
At Minotaur Rose's words, Taecho, Chaerin, and Geommu all looked to Cuengi with eyes that said please decide, and
Kueng!
[There's no need for that!]
Hurry up, gotta bring Master Minotaur King here!
Kueng!
Cuengi swung his front paw down powerfully and struck the ground.
Whoosh.
First a strong wind blew, and
Ka-rumble.
Then a tremor surged out, and the surroundings fell silent.
Moo?
At first, the Black Minotaurs didn't understand what Cuengi had done.
And then
Moo!
[Leader! The ground...]
Only belatedly did they discover that all the ground except for the patch they were standing on had sunk down by about ten meters.
If they had seen it from the sky, they would have realized the shape was a gigantic bear's paw print.
Cuengi had used Cuengi Myriad Step Fist to crush all the surrounding leeches.
Don't tell me that little one did all this?!
While Minotaur Rose was staring at Cuengi in astonishment,
Kueng!
[Taecho, open a Dimensional Gate to the 99th Floor of Great Black Tower and let Master Minotaur King know what's going on here!]
Cuengi issued his orders to Taecho.
"Okay! Yah!"
Taecho made a Dimensional Gate leading to the 99th Floor of Great Black Tower and summoned the Minotaur King and the other Black Minotaurs, and
Moo!
[Mom!]
Moo!
[Dad!]
Moo~!
[My son~!]
Moo~!
[My daughter~!]
The Black Minotaurs who had crossed over from the 99th Floor of Great Black Tower and the Black Minotaurs of <Labyrin> had a moving family reunion, hundreds of years in the making.
Moo?
[But what have you been eating to survive all this time?]
Moo.
[Those things.]
In answer to the Minotaur King's question, Minotaur Rose pointed at the leeches.
After sending their children off to the Black Tower, every plant in <Labyrin> had gone extinct, and the Black Minotaur parents had been on the verge of starving to death when they caught a faint smell of grass from the leeches' hides.
That was thanks to their senses of smell sharpening as hunger intensified.
They had eaten the leeches' hides figuring that at worst they could only die anyway, and discovered that the leeches' hide was similar to the grass they could eat. From then on, she said, they had survived by hunting and eating leeches.
In the middle of that conversation between the Minotaur King and Minotaur Rose,
Ka-rumble.
The ground shook as something massive approached.
"Who DARES to have slaughtered my Split Bodies?!"
It was the Remnant of Destruction: Explosive Blood Leech Hirudin.
Moo.
[How tiresome.]
The Minotaur King shot like an arrow toward Hirudin, who was interrupting his conversation with his mother, and
Boom!
Kicked off the ground, leaping all the way up to the height of Hirudin's head.
And then
Moo.
[Destruction Fist.]
Slammed both hands down on Hirudin's head with crushing force.
Crunch.
Boom.
Hirudin, his head now gone, collapsed.
Our son has grown up well.
Minotaur Rose watched her son the Minotaur King with a look of warm satisfaction.
***
Chaerin's Diary.
Today Chaerin helped Dad out by finding Uncle Minotaur King's mom for him. It was a really rewarding day.
– The End –
"Chaerin, where did you go off to?"
When Sejun, who was checking her diary, asked,
"Ah. It's a secret!"
"Hehehe. Then is this a secret just between Dad and Chaerin?"
"Yeah!"
"No! Geommu too!"
"All right. Then our Geommu is in on the secret too."
"Hak! Chairman Park, leaving out Vice Chairman Theo when you're keeping secrets is just hurtful, meow!"
"Fine. Then Theo too."
Kueng!
"Yeah. Then Cuengi too."
Kking!
"Right. And Blackie too...."
"Dad! Taecho too!"
"Of course! How could we leave out our Taecho!"
(Pip-pip! Sejun-nim, what about me?!)
"Naturally, our Paespaes too...."
And so, one by one, more and more were brought in on the secret, until eventually everyone knew about it.
[Honey Bee Daily President Poison Bee #13124: <Exclusive Scoop!>(The Strongest Beings of the 99th Floor of Great Black Tower, the Black Minotaurs, Had Parents Too) The four Park siblings of the Sejun Family slew the monster that had been terrorizing <Labyrin>, and the Minotaur King and the other Black Minotaurs were at last reunited with their parents...]
The achievements of the Sejun Family, it is said, were recorded for posterity with no secrets kept at all.
– The End –
Author's Note
For reference, because Park Geommu was such a coward, he refused to come out of his egg and held out for several years. Kim Mi-ran, who kept waiting and waiting for him to hatch, eventually got worn out and ended up going on her trip.
Thank you so very much for traveling with me through <Solo Farming in Tower>, all 889 chapters and 1,049 days of the journey.
I'll be back to see you again with another fun work next time^^
*****
Translator's Note:
And so, we've reached the end.
It's hard to believe this moment is finally here. Three and a half years ago, I picked up this novel with no idea just how long the road ahead would be. There were countless ups and downs along the way, but here we are at last, standing at the finish line together.
This novel holds a special place in my heart. It was the first one I ever started translating, and now it's the first one I've seen through to completion. That wouldn't have been possible without all of you. To my Patreon supporters and to every reader who stuck with me chapter after chapter, thank you. Your patience, encouragement, and kind words kept me going through every slow week and every difficult passage.
This isn't goodbye, though. I'll be continuing my translation journey, and I've already picked up a new novel to work on. If you've enjoyed my work here, I'd love to see you over there as well.
Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the love and support. It's been an honour to share this story with you.
Until next time.
*****
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