“So you’re telling me that Gagel’s people are attacking you because they’re trying to plant strange plants on the 4th floor of the tower, meow?!”
“Yes. That’s correct. They have already conquered the 2nd and 3rd floors of the tower and said they would continue ascending after conquering the 4th floor.”
“Hak! Hak! Unforgivable, meow! I’ll teach Gagel a lesson, meow!”
Theo, having heard the words of the Black Skeleton Onik, snarled in anger. It was because Gagel dared to try to conquer the tower.
‘The tower is already conquered by Chairman Park, meow!’
To Theo, the highest rank in the tower belonged to Sejun. Therefore, Gagel’s actions were an invasion of the tower conquered by Sejun.
‘And that’s an insult to me, Theo Park, the golden cat and right-hand man of Chairman Park, meow!’
It was absolutely unacceptable for them to disrespect Sejun and him and try to take over the land arbitrarily.
Hak! Hak!
While the furious Theo struggled to calm his emotions,
“Kyoo-kyoo-”
There was another enraged being. It was Iona, who had been quietly listening from Theo’s tail.
‘How dare they mess with Sejun~nim!’
In Iona’s view, the highest rank in the tower belonged to the great Black Dragon, Aileen.
Although Iona didn’t see Sejun as the highest authority in the Black Tower like Theo, messing with Sejun meant messing with Theo, Sejun’s right-hand man.
‘And messing with Theo means messing with me!’
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
“Kyoo-kyoo-kyoo-”
As Iona’s anger level rose,
“Kyoo-kyoo-kyoo-”
“What’s that sound?”
Paku suddenly asked another monster about the noise that had just started.
“This… This is… the third stage of Kyoo of Rage! We’re all doomed!”
A monster, terrified, pointed at the small white hamster on Theo’s tail and responded.
“Kyoo of Rage? Hey, why are you freaking out over one hamster…”
Huh?! A white hamster making a ‘Kyoo’ sound?! Paku belatedly realized what the Kyoo of Rage meant.
It was the sound made by Iona, the wizard of destruction, when she became angry.
The third stage of Kyoo of Rage could at least destroy a city. Rabbit City was a metropolis, so it wouldn’t be entirely destroyed.
However, since they were right next to her, there was no chance of survival for them.
At that moment,
“Kyoo-kyoo-kyoo-”
Goooo.
The magic of the angry Iona began to affect the surroundings, and small stones started to levitate.
Shiver-shiver.
“We’re all going to die.”
As the monsters resigned themselves to their fate,
“Meow? Iona, calm down, meow!”
“Kyoo-yes.”
Fortunately, Theo, sensing something was wrong, calmed Iona down.
And then,
“Onik, come with me, and the rest of you wait here, meow!”
“Yes!”
The monsters, happy to be able to distance themselves from Iona, responded.
Clatter. Clatter.
Only Onik, trembling with fear, followed Theo and Iona towards the White Castle.
***
“Our Cuengi ate a lot.”
As Sejun took out a carrot cake,
Krueng!
[Cuengi will enjoy this meal!]
Thump. Thump.
Swoosh.
The carrot cake floated in the air and entered Cuengi’s mouth.
Nom-nom.
Kuhehehe. Krueng!
[Hehehe. It’s delicious!]
Cuengi was happy eating the carrot cake.
“Really fascinating. Try eating another one, Cuengi.”
To observe Cuengi’s ability, Sejun kept offering more food.
Cuengi, who had been in a semi-conscious state adapting to his new power, woke up and unlocked a new talent. That ability was telekinesis.
Thump. Thump.
Thanks to this, Cuengi could now lift the carrot cake into his mouth without touching it.
And then,
“Vitality.”
[You have used Vitality Lv. 1.]
[It rapidly digests the food in your stomach.]
[All stats increase by 1% for 60 minutes.]
Sejun was feeding Cuengi while digesting the Aileen’s Healthy Meatball.
Although there was a limit to the maximum amount of food he could digest, requiring him to use the skill every hour, it was a minor inconvenience.
However, thanks to the Vitality skill, Sejun was now able to eat up to 5 of Aileen’s Healthy Meatball per day.
At that moment,
[Your proficiency in Vitality Lv. 1 has been filled, and the level has increased.]
The proficiency of the Vitality skill was filled, increasing its level.
[Skill: Vitality Lv. 2] .𝒎
– Quickly digests the remaining food in the stomach to gain vitality.
– The speed of food digestion is doubled, and Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Magic Power are increased by 2%.
– The duration is determined based on the amount of food remaining in the stomach. (Maximum 70 minutes)
Thanks to the enhanced Vitality skill, the amount of food Sejun could digest increased, and now it seemed he could eat ten of Aileen’s Healthy Meatball per day.
Sejun wasn’t concerned about the 2% stat increase. After all, a slight increase in already weak stats would hardly make a noticeable difference.
“Hehehe. Almost finished eating them all.”
Sejun looked at the remaining Aileen’s Healthy Meatball.
There were 19 left. Once he ate all of them, he would be free from Aileen’s Healthy Meatball, and all his stats would increase by 100.
“Hehehe.”
Kuhehehe.
Thus, Sejun and Cuengi laughed for different reasons.
When Cuengi had eaten a few more carrot cakes,
Thud. Thud.
Krueng.
[Cuengi is sleepy.]
Cuengi, rubbing his eyes, snuggled up to Sejun. Still not accustomed to using telekinesis, Cuengi quickly felt tired.
“Shall we sleep then?”
Feeling full, Sejun quickly picked up Cuengi and lay down on the bed, making a pillow with his arm for Cuengi.
A little while later.
Snore.
Kurorong.
The room was filled only with the snoring sounds of Sejun and Cuengi.
Creak.
The door opened, and someone entered.
“Meow? Chairman Park, are you sleeping, meow?”
It was Theo.
“Kyoot, kyoot, Vice Chairman Theo, we’re sleeping too!”
Iona, whose original goal was to sleep, said.
“Puhuhut. Let’s do that, meow!”
Theo, whose life goal was to claim Sejun’s lap, quickly took his place on Sejun’s lap following Iona’s words.
Snore.
Gororong.
Kurorong.
Kyuorong.
The room was now filled with everyone sleeping snores.
Clatter…
Black Skeleton Onik, left alone, carefully moved to lie on the floor without making noise.
And then,
Sneakily…
Sejun’s shadow began to move.
***
“Alright!”
Kurorong.
Sejun, waking up, carefully lifted Cuengi’s head resting on his arm and got up.
Gororong.
Kyuorong.
“Huh? Theo and Iona?”
He heard the snoring sounds of Theo and Iona.
As Sejun’s gaze turned towards his lap, he saw Theo sleeping on his lap and Iona curled around Theo’s tail.
“Where did he pick this up from?”
Theo’s fur, which was yellow before sleep, had turned black.
As Sejun reached out to inspect what was on Theo’s fur,
Slither.
“Uh?!”
The black substances that Sejun touched started to be absorbed into his hand. More precisely, they merged with his shadow.
“What’s this?!”
While Sejun hesitated in confusion,
Sneakily…
Small blobs of shadow about 5 cm in size began to detach from Sejun’s shadow and began to stick back onto Theo’s fur one by one.
And the shadow blobs touching Theo’s fur. They moved somewhat cutely as they wriggled.
“Aileen, what is this?”
Sejun pointed at the shadow blobs with his finger, careful not to touch them with his shadow, and asked Aileen,
[The Tower’s administrator says that these are shadow minions, and they will not harm anything their master does not wish to harm, so you can rest assured.]
Aileen explained the nature of the shadow blobs.
“Are these shadow minions?”
But wasn’t it said that summoning was impossible due to a lack of magic power?
“Shadow minions.”
Sejun attempted to summon the shadow minions again.
However,
[You lack the magic power to summon shadow minions.]
The summoning failed again.
“Then what are these ones out here?”
As Sejun wondered,
[The Tower’s administrator says that according to grandpa, Dark, God of Darkness, was a cat lover.]
[The Tower’s administrator says that the shadow minions influenced by God of Darkness, seem to be mimicking Dark’s behavior.]
“So, they are like this because he liked cats?”
Aileen clarified Sejun’s question.
And then,
“So even without enough magic power, I can summon shadow minions? Hi there, guys.”
Sejun, happy to have found a way to summon shadow minions without using magic power, greeted them, but
……
The shadow minions ignored Sejun’s words.
“Do they not understand me?”
As Sejun observed the shadow minions clinging to Theo,
“Meow? Chairman Park, you’re awake, meow?”
Theo woke up and greeted Sejun.
And then,
“What’s this, meow?! Get off me, meow!”
Theo shouted at the shadow minions clinging to his body,
Slither.
The shadow minions distanced themselves from Theo.
“Huh?”
That’s when Sejun noticed something strange. Why did it seem like they understood speech?
“Vice Chairman Theo, tell them to form a line.”
“Meow?! Okay, meow! Line up, meow!”
Whoosh.
Following Theo’s command, the shadow minions neatly formed a line.
“Whoa!”
Look at these guys?
“Hmph! They don’t listen to me but follow Theo’s commands?”
Sejun laughed, looking at the vexing shadow minions. Well then, let’s put Theo to use and make the most of them!
“Vice Chairman Theo, tell one of them to bring a spoon over there.”
“Understood, meow! You, go and bring that spoon, meow!”
Whoosh.
Sure enough, the shadow minion obediently followed Theo’s command. Sejun, through Theo, tested and assessed the capabilities of the shadow minions.
Although they couldn’t exert strong force, as they weren’t summoned by magic power, they were capable of running errands.
While testing what the shadow minions could do,
Clatter…
The Black Skeleton Onik, who had been sleeping on the floor, hurriedly got up, thinking he needed to show prompt action as he was the lowest in the hierarchy there.
And then,
“Aaah!”
Sejun, startled by Onik’s sudden appearance, screamed in shock.
Krueng?! Krueng?!
[What’s happening, Dad?! Did you scare my dad?!]
Hearing Sejun’s scream, Cuengi quickly got up to check the surroundings and, perceiving Onik as the most hostile-looking, attempted to kill him using telekinesis.
“Meow?! Cuengi, stop, meow!”
Krueng?
Luckily, Theo, sensing Cuengi’s power, intervened and stopped Cuengi.
“Greetings! I am Black Skeleton Onik, from the 4th floor of the Tower!”
Thanks to this, Onik, unaware that an immense power had just passed by his shoulders moments ago, was able to kneel and greet Sejun.
Externally, he seemed the weakest, but given the surroundings and Theos’ demeanor, he appeared to be of the highest rank. Onik did have good sense.
“Ahem. So, you’re Onik?”
“Yes!”
“But why are you in our room…?”
“Chairman Park, I brought him here, meow!”
Theo answered Sejun, who was puzzled.
“Vice Chairman Theo? Why?”
“Listen to what Onik has to say, meow! There are people we need to teach a lesson, meow!”
“People we need to teach a lesson?”
“Yes, meow! Onik, tell Chairman Park quickly, meow!”
“Yes. I am here because humans belonging to a place called Gagel…”
Onik explained the situation on the 4th floor of the tower.
“So, Gagel is trying to take over the 4th floor, and you came here to gain the power to oppose them by obtaining the Dragon Warrior Helmet?”
“Yes!”
“That’s it, meow!”
“Hmm…”
Sejun fell into thought.
At that moment,
[The Tower’s administrator reports that a green alarm has appeared.]
Aileen spoke up.
“A green alarm? Could it be the 4th floor?”
[The Tower’s administrator confirms it.]
[The Tower’s administrator appoints you as the mid-level administrator of the tower to prevent the extinction of the Black Skeletons in the Black Graveyard of the 4th floor.]
[You will be transported to the Black Graveyard of the 4th floor in 30 seconds.]
[You may bring your subordinates with you.]
[Please designate which subordinates will accompany you.]
“Got it.”
Sejun quickly selected the animals and the Black Skeleton Onik, and
[Transporting to the Black Graveyard of the 4th floor.]
[You cannot leave more than 100 meters from the Black Graveyard.]
Sejun and the animals disappeared.
(Pip-pip?)
Leaving behind only the Golden Bat. Sejun, who hadn’t seen the Golden Bat on his back, didn’t notice.
Thanks to this, the Golden Bat was able to tell the others where Sejun had gone.
*****
TL: Poor Golden Bat. Always forgotten….
*****
.