TL: Hanguk
“Y-You’re going to pull them out?”
Lizaen quickly covered his mouth as he saw Theo greedily eyeing his teeth.
“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! If I take that, the god will offer money to Chairman Park, meow!”
“God? Don’t tell me you believe in the legend of the Jewel of the Earth? That’s all nonsense!”
Lizaen shouted, realizing why Theo was trying to pull out his teeth.
‘If you release the soul of the god sealed in the Jewel of the Earth, the god will repay you with grace.’
In the past, many had tried to release the soul of the god sealed in the Jewel of the Earth upon hearing that explanation.
But while there were rumors of failures, there were never any of successes. That’s why it became a legend. Because no one had done it.
But…
“Puhuhut. It’s not nonsense, meow!”
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Lizaen fainted as he heard Theo’s confident shout.
Theo had moved behind Lizaen in an instant with cat-like swiftness and struck him on the back of the head.
Although Theo’s front paw looked like it was wrapped in soft fur, its power was anything but gentle.
Boom!
The 5-meter-tall, massive body of Lizaen collapsed, shaking the ground.
Pop. Pop.
Theo pried open the mouth of the now unconscious Lizaen and started extracting the Jewel of the Earth. It was easy since they were lodged between the teeth.
It did smell, though.
“Puhuhut. Compared to Chairman Park’s poop smell, this is nothing, meow!”
Of course, to Theo, who had been trained by Sejun’s poop smell, it was nothing.
The harvested jewels, or rather, jewel teeth, numbered 31.
“Puhuhut. This is worth 3.1 trillion Tower Coins, meow!”
Theo assumed that since Peblos had given a reward of around 100 billion Tower Coins, other gods would also offer a similar amount as compensation for being saved.
So, he calculated each Jewel of the Earth to be worth 100 billion Tower Coins.
The gods who wouldn’t meet Theo’s expectations in the future were to be pitied.
“Uren, take this, meow!”
Theo handed over 2.1 trillion Tower Coins stored in his bag to Uren. Since he had taken plenty for himself, he generously gave the money to Uren.
Puhuhut. Indeed, I’m a cat with a big heart, meow!
As Theo was feeling proud of his generous act,
“What?! I can have all of this? I’ll give half to Theo~nim. It’s 50-50, after all.”
Uren, not knowing the value of the jewel teeth Theo had kept, readily offered half of the money he received back to Theo.
And,
“Puhuhut. Alright, meow!”
Theo was not a heartless cat who would coldly refuse a gift.
Thanks to that, the formula in Theo’s mind became ‘split the money with Uren, the rest is all mine.’
“Uren, take 100 million Tower Coins more, meow!”
Still, with a big heart, Theo gave up an additional 100 million Tower Coins, pocketing 1.049 trillion Tower Coins in his bag.
“Let’s go, meow!”
After taking the money, Theo took the lead and went outside.
Piyo!
[Yes!]
“Yes!”
Piyot and Uren grabbed the legs of the unconscious Lizaen and dragged him outside.
‘Hehehe. Lizaen, feel the wrath of my revenge! Here comes the sharp stone!’
Uren continued his petty revenge, dragging Lizaen along painful paths on purpose.
***
“Hmm hmm hmm.”
Sejun, who woke up as usual in the morning and was strolling around the farm.
“Oh. The cabbage flowers have bloomed.”
Sejun said as he looked at the field where the wind cabbages were planted. Beside them, the radish and cucumber flowers were also in full bloom.
“I should harvest the seeds later.”
As Sejun decided on his morning tasks for the day,
[You have achieved the feat of making the first well-fermented Five-Colored Bean Meju in the Tower.]
[The recipe for well-fermented Five-Colored Bean Meju is registered at Cooking Lv. 9.]
[Your Proficiency in Cooking Lv. 9 has slightly increased.]
A message appeared. The meju, which had been fermenting while hanging from the ceiling of the cooking area, was finally complete.
“Hehehe. It’s finally done.”
Seeing the message, Sejun grinned foolishly and hurriedly ran to the cooking area.
Then, he carefully picked up the well-fermented, golden-hued, shimmering meju and checked its options.
[Well-Fermented Five-Colored Bean Meju]
→ The Five-Colored Beans, which have absorbed ample nutrients in the Tower, have been boiled, mashed, and fermented.
→ During the fermentation process, the latent effects of the Five-Colored Beans have manifested.
→ When consumed over a long period, the Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Magic power stats increase randomly.
→ The effect of ingredients increases by 5% due to Cooking Lv. 9.
→ It has a unique smell but can produce a deep flavor.
→ Chef: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Shelf life: 5 years
→ Grade: A
“Oho! Random stat increase when consumed long-term.”
Now that the meju was complete, he would make soy sauce, doenjang, and gochujang, the three essential sauces. Then I’ll eat them almost every day… (TL: Doenjang = Soybean paste and Gochujang = Red chili paste)
“Hehehe. This is great. Really great.”
Sejun smiled as he filled a prepared jar with meju and made a saltwater solution to pour into the jar.
With this, the doenjang and soy sauce were complete. Later, after draining the water, what remains would be doenjang, and the liquid would be soy sauce.
Since there wasn’t enough chili powder yet, he’d make gochujang later.
After finishing the work,
“Time to make breakfast.”
Sejun began cooking.
The breakfast menu was morning bread to dip in leftover potato soup from the previous day. Since he had prepared the dough the day before, all he had to do was bake it. (TL: Morning Bread aka Dinner rolls or Morning Bbang)
“Hmm hmm hmm.”
Sejun hummed as he cut the dough into appropriate sizes, rolled it into round shapes, and placed them in the brazier.
A little while later.
As the bread baked, the fragrant smell began to spread around the kitchen.
And then,
Ppiak!
[Uncle, good morning!]
Kueng!
[Dad, did you sleep well?]
“Sejun-hyung, good morning!”
Kking! Kking!
‘Hey! I’m hungry! Give me food!’
Awakened by the delicious bread smell, the group happily gathered in the kitchen one by one.
“Just wait a moment. It’s almost done.”
Sejun placed a plate piled high with bread in the center of the table and set bowls of potato soup in front of each person.
In Fenrir’s bowl, he tore up the morning bread into small pieces and mixed it with cooled potato soup before giving it to him.
And then,
“Let’s eat now.”
With Sejun’s words, the group began to eat.
Ppiak!
[Uncle, the bread is so soft!]
The Black Rabbit excitedly tore the morning bread and stuffed the buttery-smelling pieces into his mouth.
Kueng! Kueng!
[Dad, it’s so delicious! Cuengi needs honey!]
Cuengi, despite having potato soup to dip the bread in, persistently asked honey. As expected of a honey bear.
And then,
“As expected, Sejun-hyung! Just as you said, dipping it in the potato soup makes it really soft and delicious!”
Ajax praised Sejun as he dipped his morning bread in the potato soup, just as Sejun had instructed.
Lastly, Fenrir…
Nom. Nom. Nom.
Not even sparing time to bark, he buried his face in his bowl, constantly moving his tongue.
“This is happiness.”
Sejun smiled happily as he watched his companions enjoy the food he made.
However, happiness alone couldn’t fill his stomach.
“What?!”
Seeing the morning bread quickly disappearing from the plate, Sejun hurriedly began his own meal.
Hehehe. This is happiness.
With his belly full, the sense of happiness doubled.
After breakfast,
“Have a good day, everyone!”
Sejun saw off the Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax.
“Time to work.”
As he was about to start his morning tasks,
[The Tower’s Administrator says that Grandma Crisella has bought Aunt Stella’s voice message orb.]
Aileen sent money to Sejun.
“20 billion Tower Coins?”
Sejun confirmed the amount and felt puzzled. Wasn’t it supposed to be 10 billion Tower Coins?
At that moment,
[The Tower’s Administrator says that Grandma Crisella promised to pay double if she handed over the voice message orbs without listening to the contents.]
Aileen explained why the amount had doubled to 20,000 times instead of 10,000 times.
This condition was set by Crisella after listening to the curse filled voice messages recorded in the voice message orb from Stella.
If this voice message orb were to be heard by another dragon… Crisella couldn’t let her daughter’s marriage prospects be blocked and let her become an spinster dragon.
“Really? That’s good.”
Sejun was pleased with Aileen’s words. Since he hadn’t planned on listening to the message anyway, it was not a bad deal at all.
Thanks to this, Sejun gained an additional profit of 10 billion Tower Coins.
“Hmm hmm hmm.”
Humming happily, he went to the field to harvest seeds from the cabbages, radishes, and cucumbers.
***
66th floor of the Black Tower.
The headquarters of the Wizard’s Association.
Knock, knock.
Oros, an employee in charge of requests, carefully knocked on the door of the association chairman’s office and waited.
Recently, with the increasing number of strange phenomena in the Black Tower, the volume of exploration requests coming into the Wizard Association had surged, which had put Iona in a foul mood.
“I heard she’s been sleeping well these days, so why is she like this?”
Oros wondered. Although the workload had increased, Iona hadn’t been this angry in the past.
As he pondered why Iona had become more sensitive lately,
“Kyoo—come in.”
Iona’s reply came.
‘Starting with anger at Kyoo level 1…’
It wasn’t a good start. Clearly, someone had already gone in before him and angered her. Lucky bastard!
‘This is bad.’
Oros looked at the request form in his hand with a dark expression.
It was a request for Iona, the head of the Wizard Association, to personally investigate the strange phenomena discovered on the 53rd floor of the Black Tower.
With so much work already, calling the association chairman…
Just thinking about the moment she saw the request, Oros could already hear Iona’s voice escalating to Kyoo level 3, ‘Kyoo Kyoo Kyoo.’
Moreover, the amount offered for the request was far below what it would take to call the association chairman.
‘I really don’t want to go in…’
Oros, feeling as if he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse, mustered up his courage and opened the door to the chairman’s office.
As he entered, hot air greeted Oros. It was the result of the angry Iona using magic.
If it weren’t for the dozens of layers of top-tier defensive magic surrounding the chairman’s office, it would have already been destroyed.
‘It’s hot.’
Oros constantly wiped the sweat streaming down his face repeatedly as he waited for Iona, who didn’t even glance at him, to finish processing the documents.
After a moment,
“Kyoo—what is it?”
Iona, having finished a bundle of paperwork, looked up and asked. Her scrunched-up face was terrifying.
“C-Chairman, we’ve received a request for you!”
Oros answered in a trembling voice.
“Kyoo-Kyoo—Did you just say a request for me just came in?”
Oros was surprised to see Iona’s anger gauge rise faster than expected, even though he thought she would check the request before getting angry.
“Y-Yes! It’s a request from the 53rd floor of the Tower!”
“Kyoot?! From the 53rd floor? Bring the request quickly!”
At the mention of the 53rd floor, Iona’s face brightened instantly.
“What?! Yes!”
But the nervous Oros didn’t realize that Iona’s anger had already subsided.
After a moment,
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. I’ll leave right away. Let them know that!”
Iona, who read the request form, shouted as she left through the window using a flight spell.
“Yes! Chairman! Have a long and safe trip!”
Oros waved enthusiastically at Iona.
And then,
“What was that? Why didn’t the chairman get angry?”
Once Iona was out of sight, Oros pondered why she hadn’t gotten angry. But he couldn’t find a clear answer.
Meanwhile,
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Theo~nim is still on the 53rd floor! If I hurry, I can see him!”
Confirming the tracking magic placed on Theo, Iona swiftly moved to meet him.
***
53rd Floor of the Black Tower.
“Meow?!”
“Theo~nim, what’s wrong?”
When Theo stopped just before entering the merchant’s passage, Uren asked.
“I think I’ll take a little rest here, meow!”
As Theo sat down to rest at the entrance of the merchant’s passage, Piyot and Uren also began to rest beside him.
About an hour had passed since they started resting when,
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Theo~nim!”
Iona flew in and snuggled up to Theo’s tail.
“Meow?! Iona, how did you know I was here?!”
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. I know everything!”
Theo looked startled, while Iona had a proud expression on her face.
“Theo~nim also knows that…”
Piyo!
[Stay still!]
Slap.
Piyot hurriedly slapped Uren’s mouth. Uren, despite being older than the less than six-month-old Piyot, lacked situational awareness.
*****
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