“What is this?”
A land deed lying conspicuously on the ground, and in his own field at that? It was a suspicious situation for anyone to see.
Tap. Tap.
Sejun lightly touched the land deed with his Myler’s hoe to check if it posed any danger. Fortunately, it seemed harmless. Naturally, a land deed wouldn’t attack him.
Sejun was only being overly cautious because of his prior experience dealing with land deeds.
“Hahaha. Well, it’s safe until I open it.”
Just as Sejun was confidently reaching out to pick up the land deed,
Flap. Flap.
-What are you doing?
Kaiser flew in.
“Ah, Lord Kaiser, what brings you here?”
-I felt spatial magic here a moment ago and was checking it out.
“Spatial magic?”
At Kaiser’s words, Sejun hurriedly looked around. There might have been a dangerous intruder.
-Relax. There’s no suspicious figures around.
“Phew. Really?”
Relieved by Kaiser’s words, Sejun once again tried to pick up the land deed.
But then,
-Wait! I can sense remnants of spatial magic from there.
Kaiser pointed at the land deed.
“Really?! From this?”
Sejun hurriedly backed away from the land deed. It was indeed a dangerous item.
-Hmm. It’s Brachio’s magic. How dare she! To do this…
Kaiser inspected the traces of magic left on the land deed.
“Lord Kaiser?”
-Sejun, you were in danger just now. If you had touched it, you would’ve been immediately transported straight to the Green Tower .
Brachio had cast a spell on some of the land deeds sent to the Black Tower, so that if one touched them, they would activate immediately. Sejun’s prior experience with land deeds saved him.
“Really?! Thank you for stopping me.”
-Kahaha. You owe me, understand?
“Yes. I’ll give you five bottles of soju.”
-Good. I’ll take this and inspect it. Kahaha.
Flap. Flap.
Delighted by Sejun’s response, Kaiser deactivated the magic spell cast on the land deed, took it, and flew away.
Sejun, left alone,
“Time to sleep.”
Sejun went home and fell asleep alone.
***
“Puhuhut. Jeto, thank you, meow!”
As he placed the five land deeds into his bag, Theo thanked Jeto.
“Then, I’ll see you at the Red Ribbon Kingdom’s founding ceremony.”
“Got it, meow! Bye, meow!”
“Goodbye.”
After Jeto disappeared,
“Paeten, follow me, meow!”
“Yes.”
Theo took Paeten and went somewhere. He intended to visit the Association Chairman Mason of the Wandering Merchant Association and complain about Paeten, who had troubled and disregarded him.
As Theo was heading to the Chairman’s office with Paeten,
“Mr. Theo?”
Jeras, who was approaching from the opposite side, recognized and called out to Theo.
“Jeras, good to see you, meow!”
“Have you been well?”
“Yes, meow!”
“Salute! It’s an honor to meet you, Sir Jeras.”
Paeten, with a solemn expression, saluted Jeras. He had never known that Theo had a connection with Jeras, the son of the Chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, which was unexpected…
After Jeras’s identity as the son of the association Chairman Mason was revealed when he was held hostage by Grid, Jeras had quit the secret inspection bureau. Now, he was working as the head of security at the headquarters of the Wandering Merchant Association.
And Jeras was Paeten’s direct superior.
“Salute. But why are you with Mr. Theo, Paeten?”
“That’s…”
“I’ll tell you, meow!”
Theo explained what Paeten had done to him.
“That… Is that really true?!”
Jeras, infuriated by Theo’s words, glared at Paeten. He had always warned Paeten about judging by appearances, but he never expected him to cause such a huge problem because of it.
“Mr. Theo, I apologize. I’ll convene a disciplinary committee and have this guy fired.”
“Meow?! No, you can’t, meow!”
When Jeras wanted to fire his ‘slave’, Theo strongly opposed. If Paeten was dismissed, Theo would have to feed and shelter him.
“Do you have any other wishes regarding Paeten?”
“Yes, meow! I’ll have Paeten clean the storage, meow!”
“Clean the storage?”
“Yes, meow! The one over there…”
Theo wanted to tidy up the new lottery drawing location; the lost and found storage that was known for being filled with evil spirits.
“Ah! Got it. I’ll relocate Paeten’s work area to that place.” 𝑖𝘦.𝑐𝘰𝘮
Jeras willingly changed Paeten’s work area as Theo wished.
“Then, I’ll be going, meow!”
“Yes. Please take care.”
Theo hurriedly headed to the 99th floor of the tower.
The next day.
“Whew. Is this my new workspace…?”
Paeten sighed as he stepped into the dilapidated storage room.
And then,
“Uwaaaah!”
Meeting the evil spirits on his first day, he fainted, concluding his first day of cleaning.
***
“Umm.”
Sejun woke up feeling refreshed and reached out towards the warmth he felt on his knee.
“Puhuhu…”
Theo purred happily at Sejun’s touch. Theo had returned at dawn.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
While Sejun continued to stroke Theo,
Gulp.
he ate a piece of Aileen’s healthy meatball.
Then,
“Meooow…”
He lifted Theo, put Theo on his lap,
Swoosh.
marked the date on the wall, stepped outside, and thus began the 328th morning of Sejun’s survival.
“Ugh!”
Under the warm sunlight, Sejun stretched, raising both arms high.
Then,
Krueng!
[Daddy, Cuengi missed you!]
Dada dada.
Cuengi, who had woken up earlier than usual today, ran towards Sejun with quick steps and
Thump.
leaped into his body.
Pouf.
“Hehehe. We just saw each other yesterday, but you still missed Daddy?”
At Cuengi’s words, Sejun, feeling even better, hugged Cuengi and asked.
Krueng!
[Yes! Cuengi had a dream where Daddy flew far away!]
To Sejun’s question, Cuengi replied in an anxious voice. 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜
“Really?”
At Cuengi’s words, Sejun recalled the land deed he saw in the field yesterday. If not for Kaiser, he might have been taken to the Green Tower, just like in Cuengi’s dream.
“Don’t worry. That won’t happen. Are you hungry? Let’s eat.”
Sejun holding Cuengi, headed towards the kitchen.
Krueng!
[Cuengi is stressed, so Cuengi needs to eat something spicy!]
“Really?”
Sejun was taken aback by Cuengi’s words. But where did Cuengi learn the word ‘stress’? Unbeknownst to Sejun, Cuengi had been studying Korean diligently to communicate with his grandmother.
By now, Cuengi had reached a level where he could fully read, and he was acquiring Korean culture by reading the subtitles on the TV shows that Golden Bat and Kim Mi-ran occasionally watched.
The idea that one needs to eat spicy food when stressed was also information Cuengi got from the TV.
“Then today’s breakfast menu is Flaming Hell Squid Stir-fry!”
Krueng! Krueng!
[Great! Cuengi is excited!]
Despite Sejun’s grave announcement, Cuengi, thinking that Sejun was making something amazing, became happy.
However, despite its terrifying name, the only ingredients that could make it spicy were red chili powder and Cheongyang green peppers. The dish Sejun was making was just a spicy squid stir-fry.
Dum dum.
Excited Cuengi started shaking his hips. That’s not good! It burns too many calories!
“Cuengi, eat this while dancing. Crop Gigantification.”
Sejun hurriedly handed a giant sweet potato to Cuengi, who was shaking his hips, and began cooking the squid stir-fry.
Sizzle.
First, he melted a lump of tuna fat he had separated and solidified when making tuna porridge in a preheated pot,
Chop chop.
Then, he quickly and thinly sliced some green onions and added them to the pot. He stir-fried them until the green onions turned golden, making green onion oil, and then added squid to the pot, stir-frying until the squid turned white.
He then seasoned it with red chili powder, salt, pepper, and honey, and added a generous amount of chopped onions, carrots, and green peppers.
“Cough! Cough!”
Inhaling the spicy fumes, Sejun started coughing. Did he make it too spicy? While the color wasn’t too red, the smell was spicier than he expected. He began to sweat from his forehead just from the smell.
Thump! Thump!
Finally, he crushed peanuts into powder with his hand axe and sprinkled it over the stir-fried squid as a substitute for sesame seeds,
[You have achieved the feat of making Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry for the first time in the tower.]
[The recipe for Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry is registered in Cooking Lv. 5.]
[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 5 increases greatly.]
[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 5 is filled, and the level increases.]
With the achievement notification, the dish was completed.
“Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry?”
The name of the dish was terrifying. He had added 50 Calming Cheongyang peppers for spiciness, which seemed to be overkill.
Then,
Krueng!
[Cuengi is hungry!]
Before he knew it, Cuengi, having finished his giant sweet potato, began to show signs of hunger.
‘It should be fine, right?’
After all, it was just food. Sejun, not sensing any potential harm, called out,
“It’s ready. Let’s eat!”
After a brief hesitation, Sejun called the animals over.
Moments later,
Squeakeee!
Ookeee!
Upon tasting the Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry, the rabbits and monkeys began eating quickly, shrieking due to its spiciness. Despite shedding tears from the spiciness, the animals couldn’t stop eating.
“What’s going on?”
Feeling something was off, Sejun hurriedly checked the dish’s options.
[Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry]
→ Deep-sea giant tuna fat is used to stir-fry detoxifying green onions, the oil infused with the scent of the onions, and then the deep-sea giant squid and other vegetables are stir-fried in it. The dish is thoroughly permeated with the flavor of onions.
→ However, the excessive addition of calming cheongyang green peppers has caused side effects.
→ The side effect is that once you taste the food, you become addicted to the spiciness, and you continue to eat while screaming in agony.
→ The addiction doesn’t end until you’ve had your fill of the Hell’s Screaming Squid Stir-fry.
→ Thanks to the agility effect of carrots, you can eat quickly.
→ The detoxifying effect from the onions leads to profuse sweating.
→ Once you finish eating and the addictive effect wears off, your mind becomes very calm.
→ There’s a very low probability of awakening the talent: Clear Mirror, Still Water (明鏡止水).
→ Cook: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Expiration date: 120 days
→ Grade: A+
“What have I created?”
A dish that you have to keep eating despite the pain from the spiciness. It was almost like a torture tool. While the after-effects weren’t bad, seeing the animals’ reactions made him think it might not be safe for consumption.
“But is Cuengi okay?”
Sejun hurriedly looked for Cuengi.
However,
Krueng!
[It’s delicious! It’s relieving my stress!]
Contrary to Sejun’s worries, Cuengi was happily eating the squid stir-fry. To Cuengi, it seemed to be just a spicy dish.
Squeak.
Ook.
The animals, having finished their meals quickly, went about their tasks with peaceful expressions. Sejun was fortunate that the after-effects of the dish made them calm. Otherwise, there could have been massive complaints.
Once the animals left,
“Chairman Park, give me some homemade Churu, meow!”
Theo, who had overslept and woken up late, spoke to Sejun
“Alright.”
Lick lick lick.
Sejun gave Theo some tuna porridge with a spoon and stroked Theo’s belly.
Meanwhile,
Kuehehehe. Krueng!
[Hehehe, Cuengi is stress-free!]
Having finished the stir-fried squid, Cuengi, looking refreshed, began playing with the golden bat while riding on Sejun’s back.
“By the way, did you manage to get the land deeds, Vice Chairman Theo?”
Sejun asked Theo, who had filled his stomach with five spoonfuls of tuna porridge.
“I got them, meow!”
Theo confidently replied, pulling out six land deeds from his bag.
“Oh! You brought six land deeds?! Vice Chairman Theo, you’re amazing!”
“Puhuhut… That’s right, meow! I am amazing, meow! From now on, Chairman Park can rely on me, meow!”
Flattered by Sejun’s compliment, the delighted Theo flopped down and rubbed his back against Sejun’s knee.
“Hmm, two of these haven’t been appraised yet. Aileen, can you appraise these for me?”
[The tower’s administrator says you can leave it to her.]
Sejun sent the two unappraised land deeds to Aileen and examined the other four that were already appraised.
*****
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮
