-Ahem! Sejun, could you cook one more potato pancake for me?
-Huh! Me too…
Kaiser and Kellion, who had tasted the potato pancakes, asked Sejun for more, glancing at him.
Kaiser had stopped calling Sejun ‘rascal.’ The 3-stage combo of roasted sweet potatoes, sweet potato soup, and potato pancakes had a powerful effect.
However,
“No, I can’t. I have to work now.”
Sejun firmly refused the requests of the two dragons. Sejun’s priority now was to complete his job quest and reach level 51. Instead, he gave them each one more bowl of sweet potato soup.
-I need to eat it with alcohol quickly.
-Alcohol again?!
-Hehehe. I have fire carrot wine that I received from Sejun.
-What?! fire carrot wine?! How did you get that?!
Kellion was greatly surprised at Kaiser’s words.
Fire carrot wine?! It was a alcohol produced by the Red Tower’s tower farmer, and the red dragons strictly prevented its exportation from the tower, making it as hard to find as plucking stars from the sky. Kellion himself had barely managed to taste a single bottle a thousand years ago.
-There was a harvest festival a few days ago.
-You’d need ten kinds of crops for a harvest festival…
Jealousy was not hidden in Kellion’s voice. He was envious of Kaiser having such an excellent tower farmer like Sejun. As for his tower…
-Sigh…
Thinking about his Tower’s tower farmer, all Kellion could do was sigh. That damn fool claim to be a tower farmer…
-Hahaha. Cheer up!
Flap, flap.
Kaiser laughed boisterously and flew up to the fountain. Seeing Whitey’s jealousy, he thought the alcohol would taste really good today.
-Damn… Envy is a losing game…
Kellion was envious of Kaiser, who received delicious foods every day from Sejun.
-I need to call and check on the progress.
After Kaiser left, Kellion went up to Sejun’s house roof, settled in his spot, and moved to his main body into the white tower.
And then,
Snip. Snip.
Sejun continued harvesting cherry tomatoes for several hours.
“Phew. It’s finished.”
As Sejun finished harvesting the cherry tomatoes,
Flap. Flap.
The golden bat flew to Sejun.
(Sejun! I think I’ll be going to Earth soon!)
“Really?”
It had already been a week since the golden bat brought the ramen.
“Golden bat, keep revising what I taught you!”
(Yes-!)
Swoosh. Swoosh.
(Ramen, cola…)
At Sejun’s words, the golden bat saluted and diligently revised the essential keywords like an exam-taking student.
Meanwhile, Sejun took out wooden planks from the void storage.
“Here, take these with you.”
(Yes!)
The golden bat grabbed the palm-sized wooden plank with its foot. On the wooden plank, Sejun had written a message and phone number.
-If you find this, please contact 010 – XXXX – XXXX and I will give you 10 million won. (Han Tae-jun, President of the Korean Awakened Association)
Sejun thought it might take too long to locate where the golden bat appears, so he decided to leave the contact information where it appeared.
The contact information was Han Tae-jun’s phone number, and Sejun had explained this matter to Han Tae-jun and obtained his number.
He used Han Tae-jun’s name as the offer of money looked suspicious, and Han Tae-jun was famous, sometimes even appearing on the news.
“Theo, this is President Han Tae-jun’s number, right?”
“It is, meow! You don’t trust me, meow?!”
Theo was angry at Sejun’s lack of trust.
“Of course I trust you.”
Sejun stroked Theo’s head. His impatience grew, thinking he could soon eat ramen, cola, and more.
“Of course, meow! President Park, just trust me, meow!”
Theo clung closer to Sejun’s lap, shouting loudly.
“Okay, let’s get started.”
(Yes!)
“Golden bat, what’s this?”
Sejun showed a drawn picture on the wooden plank and quickly asked.
(Chicken!)
“Correct. What about this?”
Sejun quickly turned the wooden plank to show another picture.
(Soboro bread1!)
“Good! Well done!”
Pat, pat.
The golden bat laughed at Sejun’s praise. It didn’t know why they were doing this, but answering correctly and getting praised felt good. Sejun continued the speed quiz with the golden bat.
(Ganache cake!)
All the pictures were of food Sejun wanted to eat, like pizza, burgers, and black bean noodles.
By the way, Sejun’s drawing skills were terrible, so getting the exact item from the picture was 100% impossible. If the golden bat managed to bring what was in the picture, it was solely because it was a genius.
“You got them all right. Well done.”
Sejun praised the golden bat for correctly guessing all the wooden planks.
Pat, pat!!
The golden bat’s mood lifted at Sejun’s praise.
After the speed quiz was over,
(Sejun! I’ll be back soon!)
“Be careful.”
The golden bat disappeared.
***
Flap. Flap.
Thud.
The golden bat that had moved to Earth quietly dropped the wooden plank it was holding in its feet and quickly hid. This place was crowded with people.
The hidden golden bat quickly looked around and found the word ‘Ramen.’ Having received high praise from Sejun for bringing Ramen last time, it wanted to bring Ramen again.
‘Flap, flap. I must bring what Sejun likes.’
But
(Gone…)
This time, there was no sign of Ramen anywhere. Fortunately, there was coffee.
‘Let’s take that at least.’
The golden bat quickly moved, picked up 10 coffees, and hid them in a corner.
“Now, I should wait until I return to the tower.”
Just then,
Creak.
A woman opened a drawer, revealing a small box with a picture of a fish visible on it.
(Ah! Fish!)
It was Brother Theo’s favorite: fish. There was only about 10 seconds left. It seemed possible to take it.
Flap. Flap.
The golden bat quickly flew and grabbed the box.
Poof.
The golden bat disappeared and returned to the tower.
And
“Huh?! Am I still drunk?”
Kim Kyung-mi, an employee at Hanseong Bank who had partied at a club until dawn, was startled when the Goraebab2 (Snacks) she had placed in the drawer suddenly vanished before her eyes.
***
“Ah! Is it a hoax?!”
The assistant PD Bae Jeong-ho of ‘There’s Such a Thing in the World’ said, smoking a cigarette outside the building. While watching the CCTV footage sent from the coin karaoke room, he thought that if done well, it could get some airtime.
However, after installing a camera in the coin karaoke room and waiting for several days, nothing was captured on video.
Just then,
“Hey, Mr. Kim, did you know that a ghost appears in this building?”
“A ghost?!”
“Yes. The building owner is investigating, but this building is famous for a golden ghost.”
The security guards were outside, talking to a newbie while smoking.
Others might have dismissed it as an old guard trying to intimidate a newbie, but to the PD of ‘There’s Such a Thing in the World’, a ghost was a great subject for broadcasting. Jeong-ho’s ears perked up to hear the guards’ conversation.
And
‘What?! The disappearing objects aren’t limited to the coin karaoke room?’
Jeong-ho discovered new information.
According to the guards, the golden ghost appeared once a week in the building to take things. Its favorite object was a shiny tumbler.
But lately, its taste seemed to have changed, and they warned the newbie that it might target people next.
‘If this goes well, it could be a huge hit?’
The corner of Bae Jeong-ho’s mouth curled up.
***
“Ajax, come here at once.”
Kellion, having entered the administrator’s area of the White Tower, called for his grandson.
A moment later,
“Why did you call me, Grandpa?! Don’t you know I’m farming?”
A handsome teenager with lustrous white hair and covered in dust appeared, grumbling.
“Farming?! Then can you show me even one of the fine crops you’ve grown?”
“No… You want to see the crops?!”
Ajax was visibly flustered by Kellion’s words. So much so that he started talking with honorifics. He clearly looked very guilty.
“Sigh…”
Kellion sighed at Ajax’s behavior. It was obvious without seeing.
“Why did you insist on becoming a tower farmer?!”
“I thought I’d do well because I’m a great White Dragon…”
Ajax replied, looking downcast. Dragons and farming did not go well together. The powerful energy of the dragon killed all the crops.
That’s why Ajax’s harvested crop count was zero; no matter how many seeds were sown, none sprouted.
“Try eating this. It’s a sweet potato dish made from a crop grown by the Black Tower’s tower farmer. It’s tasty.”
Kellion handed Ajax the sweet potato soup that Sejun had made.
“Sweet potato?”
Slurp.
“Ouch!”
“Hey! Eat slowly. Absolute Heal!”
As Ajax burned his tongue, Kellion quickly cast a healing spell. It was an excessively healing magic for the injury.
“Hehehe. Grandpa, this is delicious!”
“Hahaha. Eat up and regain your strength.”
“Okay!”
No matter what mischief Ajax got into, Kellion couldn’t help but smile and feel his anger dissolve. If Kaiser was a fool for his granddaughter, Kellion was a fool for his grandson.
***
A minute after the golden bat disappeared,
(Sejun, I’m back!)
It returned from Earth.
“Oh! Good job.”
Sejun’s face lit up as he looked at the items caught on the golden bat’s feet.
“Whoa?! Is that Goraebab snack?!”
It wasn’t a snack he normally ate, but he was delighted to see it here.
“Here you go.”
The golden bat placed only the coffee in Sejun’s hand.
‘Huh?! What about my snack?’
While Sejun was puzzled,
Flap. Flap.
(Big Brother Theo, here’s something you like.)
The golden bat handed the Goraebab snack to Theo.
But
“You fool! There’s no fish here, meow!”
Theo, who instinctively detected that there was no fish inside, sharply refused the golden bat’s gift.
(Is that so?)
The golden bat was disappointed at Theo’s words.
“It’s okay. That’s mine.”
Sejun tore open snack box that the golden bat was holding and took out a bag from inside.
And
Rip.
As he opened the bag,
“Hmm.” .
The artificial seasoning smell tickled Sejun’s nose.
“This looks delicious.”
Sejun picked up one of the snacks and put it in his mouth.
Crunch.
The taste and texture were something he couldn’t easily find here.
“Golden bat, well done.”
Sejun praised the golden bat while eating the snacks.
(Really?! I’m so happy that you like it, Sejun!)
Flap! Flap!
The golden bat happily flew around Sejun at his praise.
“Now let’s go to the western forest. Cuengi!”
Having finished the snacks, Sejun called Cuengi, who was hunting in the pond, to harvest the Ent’s seeds.
Kreong!
Cuengi came running right away.
“Hiyah!”
Sejun climbed onto the enlarged Cuengi’s back.
And just before departure,
“Huh?!”
Sejun realized that his lap was empty.
“Where did Theo go?”
Sejun looked around for Theo.
“President Park, where are you, meow?!”
Sejun found Theo behind the house, his head stuck in a box of Goraebab snack, flailing his front paws. He seemed to have wandered there because he couldn’t see.
“President Theo, here! Come quickly!”
Sejun called Theo.
But,
“President Park! I can’t see, meow! Help me, meow!”
Theo didn’t think to remove the box, even though it was the obvious solution.
“You fool. Just take the box off.”
Pull.
Frustrated, Sejun pulled off the snack box that Theo was wearing.
“President Park! I missed you, meow!”
Theo quickly clung to Sejun’s lap. Theo’s eyes were moist.
“You’ve been crying.”
Kreong?
[Big brother, were you crying?]
(Big brother Theo, were you really crying?)
“No… no, meow! I didn’t cry, meow!”
“Hey. Don’t deny it. You even have a runny nose.”
“No, meow! I really didn’t have a runny nose, meow!”
Sejun teased Theo as they moved to the western forest.
*****
TL Notes:
1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soboro-ppang
2) Orion Whale Goraebab : Korean Snacks. More Details here –> namu.wiki/w/%EA%B3%A0%EB%9E%98%EB%B0%A5
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮