TL: Hanguk
Black Tower, 75th Floor.
Ssuup.
As Sejun entered the alley in the shopping district where herbs were being sold, he took a deep breath, and the strong smell of medicinal herbs filled his nose.
“Wow. It smells healthy.”
Sejun said with sparkling eyes, a very typical Sunfish-like reaction.
However…
“Meow… I don’t like it, meow!”
Kueng!
Kking…
[I’d rather sleep…]
Piyo…
“I’ve lost my appetite…”
The reactions of his companions weren’t so favorable.
The reason Sejun and his companions had come here, of course, was to gather herbs for Cuengi’s Job Quest.
“Alright, let’s look for some herbs.”
Sejun and his group entered the herbal shop located at the very entrance of the alley.
“Cuengi, what about this one?”
Sejun picked up one of the displayed herbs and placed it in Cuengi’s paws.
However…
Kueng!
[No, it’s not this!]
Cuengi shook his head.
Contrary to Sejun’s idea that anything good for the body could be considered an herb, the system had to officially recognize it to fulfill the requirements of the Job Quest.
“Really?”
Why isn’t this considered a medicinal herb?
Sejun, puzzled, asked,
“Owner, how much is this?”
He decided to purchase the herb anyway. Naturally, he haggled three times for a cheaper price.
“Then I’ll sell it to you for 1,000 Tower Coins.”
Perhaps because it was a medicinal herb, the base price was still expensive.
The reason Sejun bought the herb was…
Crunch, crunch.
…to eat it himself, of course.
[All stats have increased by 3.]
[Your vitality has increased by 30% for 12 hours.]
[You have consumed a bitter medicinal herb.]
[Talent: A Medicine That’s Bitter is Good for Stamina has been activated.]
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
“Puhuhut. Something like this is nothing to me now.”
I’m someone who’s trained by fainting every night after eating medicinal mugwort!
For Sejun, who had adapted to the bitterness that would knock someone unconscious, a 10-year-old Deodeok root was like a sweet snack.
In this manner, Sejun went around to other herbal shops.
“Cuengi, how about this?”
Kueng!
[No, it’s not this!]
He would place an herb in Cuengi’s paws to confirm, and if it wasn’t the right one, he would buy it for himself to eat.
By the time he had visited half of the herbal shops in the alley…
“We’ve found two so far.”
They had secured two herbs that satisfied Cuengi’s Job Quest.
They were ginseng and he shou wu.
Fortunately, they could also buy seeds, so it seemed possible to grow the medicinal herbs.
104.28.193.250
They continued visiting herb shops after that, but herbs that received Cueng’s approval were hard to find.
“Cuengi, what about this one?”
Kueng…
[No, it’s not this one…]
Cuengi answered in a dejected voice, seemingly feeling sorry for Sejun.
Growl.
Is it because he is hungry?
“Let’s eat lunch first and come back.”
At Sejun’s suggestion, his companions cheered, thinking they could escape from the overwhelming herbal smell for a while.
After having lunch, they returned to the herbal alley.
Reinvigorated, they visited the herbal shops one by one again. Before they realized it, they had reached the end of the alley without any new results.
Then, they entered the last shop.
Let’s at least find one here.
As Sejun entered the shop…
“Oh! It’s a Doraji!”
Recognizing the purple-flowered plant, he felt excited.
This has to be an herb!
Sejun was convinced.
Then…
“Cuengi, what about this?”
Sejun placed the Doraji in Cuengi’s front paw.
Kueng! Kueng!
[Yes, this is it! This is the one!]
Cuengi enthusiastically nodded his head.
“Great! Do you have seeds for this as well?”
“Yes, we do. A thousand seeds are 30 Tower Coins.”
“Then give me one 50-year-old Doraji and 10,000 seeds.”
“A 50-year-old Doraji and 10,000 seeds… That will be 5,300 Tower Coins.”
“Puhuhut. Give me a discount, meow!”
When the merchant spoke, Theo used his three-time haggling to slash the price
“Ugh. Alright, I’ll give it to you for 2,500 Tower Coins.”
“Puhuhut. Sounds good, meow!”
They had managed to purchase it for less than half the price.
Just as they were about to leave the herbal alley after securing three medicinal herbs for Cueng’s job quest
“Meow?! Great Hybrid Chairman Park, I feel a pull, meow!”
Theo, who was clinging to Sejun’s knee, raised his front paw and shouted in an excited voice.
“Really?! Where is it?!”
Sejun asked in a delighted voice.
“That way, meow!”
Theo pointed with his front paw in the direction he felt the pull, and Sejun quickly ran in that direction. The pull could disappear at any moment.
“Small leather is 1 Tower Coin, and large leather is 5 Tower Coins.”
The place he arrived at was a stall run by a Lizardman hunter in shabby clothes, selling a few pieces of leather in a gruff voice.
“Vice Chairman Theo, do you feel the pull from this leather?”
Sejun asked.
“No, meow! It’s over there, meow!”
Theo shook his head and pointed at the worn-out, faded leather bag of the hunter.
And
“Puhuhut. What’s inside the bag, meow?! Show us, meow!”
Theo asked the hunter to show the bag with an innocent face.
***
What is this rude cat? And why is it so curious about what’s in my bag?
The Lizardman hunter, Olivo, looked at Theo with a disapproving expression but, surprisingly, opened his bag obediently.
Rattle.
He emptied everything inside the bag. Despite his expression, he was very polite.
What came out of the bag were tools used for hunting and skinning, along with fresh meat wrapped in bark of a dark hue, which fell onto the leathers displayed on the ground.
Suddenly, a sweet and slightly spicy scent wafted through the air.
“Oh?! It’s cinnamon!”
Sejun recognized the cinnamon smell and followed the scent to the tree bark that had wrapped the raw meat.
“Oh. You know cinnamon? If you place it around fresh meat, it prevents the meat from spoiling, so in our village, we always store meat this way.”
Surprised that Sejun recognized cinnamon, Olivo kindly explained.
“Can I touch it for a moment?”
“Of course. Here you go.”
Olivo handed one piece of cinnamon-wrapped meat to Sejun.
“Cuengi, how about this?”
Sejun placed the cinnamon bark into Cuengi’s front paw.
Kueng! Kueng!
[This is it! Cueng only needs to find one more!]
Cuengi, holding the cinnamon bark, nodded vigorously with excitement.
“Excuse me, would it be possible to get seeds for this cinnamon?”
“I don’t have any now, but there are plenty on the mountain behind our village.”
“Where is your village?”
“It’s in the northern area of the 63rd floor of the Tower.”
“Really? Then could you bring me some seeds?”
Since Sejun didn’t have a Land Deed for the 63rd floor, he asked Olivo to bring him cinnamon seeds.
“How much do you need?”
“I need about 10,000 seeds.”
“In that case… Considering the time it takes to go back and forth, and the labor involved, you’d have to pay 12 Tower Coins.”
Twelve Tower Coins is enough to support my family for four months!
Thinking about earning four months’ worth of living expenses in one go, Olivo spoke with a slightly nervous voice.
It would take 10 days to travel back and forth, plus two days to gather the seeds on Mount Simon with the help of his entire family.
The 12 Tower Coins were calculated without taking into account the labor involved, simply valuing each day at 1 Tower Coin. While the price might seem unreasonable to others, for Olivo, it was a perfectly rational amount.
At that moment…
“That won’t do, meow!”
Theo stepped forward. Although Theo usually liked to exploit easy deals, he couldn’t stand something this severe.
“That’s right. I’ll pay 200 Tower Coins for the cinnamon seeds.”
Sejun also stepped in, raising the price.
He had adjusted the price based on the market rate of herb seeds he had checked while visiting herbal shops, adding extra for the effort of traveling to the 63rd floor.
“Oh. Really?!”
Olivo asked, astonished at the offer that raised the price by more than ten times.
“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! Our Great Hybrid Chairman Park never lies, meow! Because Chairman Park has fur on his butt…!”
Theo shouted boastfully.
“Hey!”
Sejun hurriedly stopped Theo by covering his mouth.
Meanwhile, Olivo, worried that Sejun might change his mind, quickly packed his belongings into his bag and prepared to leave.
Then…
“Oh. Now that I think about it, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Olivo. So, shall we meet back here in 12 days?”
“Yes. And my name is Park Sejun. Here’s the advance payment.”
Sejun, after introducing himself, handed 50 Tower Coins to Olivo. Judging by Olivo’s appearance, he seemed to be in need of money.
“…Thank you.”
Olivo hesitated for a moment before accepting the money, then hurriedly left.
“Meow… Olivo didn’t ask me for my name, meow…”
Theo, who had been revving up to give an impressive self-introduction if Olivo asked, looked dejected.
As Sejun silently patted Theo’s bottom,
Growl.
A sound came from Cueng’s stomach.
“Let’s go get something to eat.”
“Puhuhut. Sounds good, meow!”
Kueng!
Kking!
Piyo!
“Uheheh. Yes!”
Thanks to Cueng’s belly clock, Sejun realized it was dinner time and entered a restaurant with his companions.
“Please bring us three servings of everything on the menu. And please prepare the fastest-to-make dishes first.”
When Sejun ordered the food,
“Chairman Park, Vice Chairman wants to eat wants Churu, meow!”
Theo, sprawled out on Sejun’s lap, demanded Churu.
“Here you go.”
“Puhuhut.”
SlurpSlurpSlurp.
Sejun gave Theo some Churu while taking out peanuts to give to Piyot.
Piyo!
[Thank you, Sejun-nim!]
Peck peck.
As Piyot thanked Sejun and eagerly pecked at the peanuts with his beak
Caw?
Piyak?
The crow Karurur and the blue chick Shari looked on with interest. Though they had seen peanuts before, Piyot’s mukbang was something new.
Then,
Caw!
[Sejun-nim, we want to eat peanuts too!]
Piyak!
[Please give us peanuts!]
Karurur and Shari requested peanuts from Sejun.
“Alright.”
When Sejun gave a small portion of peanuts to the two,
Peck.
Peck.
The two birds eagerly pecked at the peanuts, enjoying them.
However, their eating pace gradually slowed, and soon they stopped eating altogether.
After all, Sejun-nim’s roasted and dried sweet potatoes are the best.
Peanuts were delicious, but they couldn’t compare to their soul food, roasted and dried sweet potatoes.
A short while later…
The food started coming out one by one, and Sejun and his companions enjoyed their meal.
When about half the dishes had arrived,
“Hey, piggy friend, you’re eating a lot of good stuff. Share some with us.”
Bang!
Five raccoons, who looked like troublemakers at a glance, slammed the table and surrounded Uren.
Theo-nim, should I take care of them?
When Uren, who had brought in customers, looked at Theo, who was lying on Sejun’s lap, enjoying Churu.
“Hak.Hak.”
Theo was in a state of great anger, even raising his fur.
Drip
Because the food that splashed when the raccoons hit the table was dripping down Sejun’s head.
Kueng!
Kking!
Realizing the situation a moment too late, both Cuengi and Blackie became enraged.
The result of angering Theo, Cuengi, and Blackie?
Bam bam bam!
Stomp.
Thud.
A three-hit combo of fainting, stamping, and nightmares.
“Maintain Cleanliness.”
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, here’s 1,000 Tower Coins, meow!”
Theo handed over the money he had searched from the raccoons to Sejun, who had cleaned himself using his skill. Thanks to this, their dinner expenses were covered.
When the meal was over,
“Puhuhut. Let’s go to Jeras, meow!”
Carrying the unconscious raccoons, they headed to claim the bounty.
“Huh?”
A familiar bag was lying on the ground.
Next to it was a collapsed Lizardman.
It was none other than the Lizardman hunter Olivo, who should have left long ago.
“Olivo!”
Sejun called out Olivo’s name as he rushed over.
“Se… Sejun-nim?”
Olivo regained consciousness. Thankfully, his life wasn’t in immediate danger.
“Olivo, what happened?”
When Sejun asked
“Sejun-nim, it’s dangerous. They’re nearby. You must leave quickly.”
“What?! What are you talking about?”
Olivo looked around anxiously, trying to hurriedly send Sejun and his companions away.
At that moment,
“Kukukuk. See? I told you. If we leave Olivo here as bait, someone would definitely take it.”
“Right. Timmy, you’re smart.”
“Don’t forget, I, Idril-nim, was the one who spotted Olivo receiving the money. Kekeke.”
Ten Black Lizardmen with black scales appeared, surrounding Sejun and his group. They joked leisurely as if enjoying the situation.
And then,
You dare interfere with my Cueng’s job quest?!
“Water Bomb!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
They fainted after being hit by angry parent Sejun’s water bomb attack.
‘Puhuhut. Chairman Park has grown a lot, meow!’
Now I can coordinate with Chairman Park, meow!
Theo looked on proudly as Sejun rendered the Black Lizardmen unconscious and pulled out the seal to stamp them.