TL: Hanguk
Forest of Creation.
“Candidate for the Tree of Creation. You have successfully nurtured a Dimension Tree. You have passed the third trial.”
[Yes… Does this mean I will become the Tree of Creation now?]
Flamie drooped her leaves weakly, speaking in a dejected voice as she asked the Trial Statue.
“Not a chance.”
[What?!]
“Did you think becoming the Tree of Creation would be that easy?! There are still more trials left!”
The Trial Statue scolded Flamie for trying to become the Tree of Creation so easily.
Yay! There are more than just three trials!
Flamie’s voice brightened up instantly.
“That’s right. Becoming the Tree of Creation isn’t so simple. There are still two more trials left.”
[Then, will I have to seal my power again for the next trial?!]
Thinking about sealing her power and going to Sejun, Flamie asked eagerly.
“No. There will be no more seals.”
[What?! Why not?! Why?! Sealing my power should make the trial more difficult! Didn’t you say becoming the Tree of Creation shouldn’t be easy?!]
Flamie protested against the Trial Statue, who was now saying something different from before.
It’s because you’ve become too strong!
The Trial Statue was frustrated, unable to admit the truth due to pride.
Originally, sealing her power was the right course, but Flamie had grown so powerful that sealing her was no longer possible. In fact, even this time, the seal had nearly broken midway. ṛäóβË𝓢
Had it been just a little later, Sejun would have ended his life as an eternal bachelor. Without knowing it, he had danced on the edge of life and death multiple times.
“Candidate for the Tree of Creation. But don’t worry. I will raise the difficulty of the trial in another way.”
The Trial Statue, admiring Flamie’s enthusiasm for high-difficulty trials, reassured her.
[How will you make it harder?]
Flamie’s excitement rose again.
“Before the trial, there is something you must learn.”
[Something to learn?]
“Yes. You’ll learn how to create Divine Avatars.”
Normally, this is something learned after becoming the Tree of Creation, but… well, you’re practically already there.
The Trial Statue thought it wouldn’t hurt to teach Flamie a few of the techniques that the Tree of Creation should know in advance.
After all, there were no other candidates, and honestly, with just her current strength, Flamie was already the strongest Tree of Creation in history.
[Divine Avatars?]
“Yes. It’s like a clone that carries a portion of your power.”
[Oh?!]
A clone of me?!
Flamie imagined a clone of herself playing joyfully with Sejun every day.
[Hehe. Please teach me quickly!]
“Alright.”
Thus, Flamie began learning the method to create Divine Avatars from the Trial Statue.
***
Morning on the 99th floor of the Black Tower.
Sejun was busy cooking in the kitchen.
Breakfast was already prepared, and now he was making lunch.
He planned to return to the sea on the 77th floor of the Blue Tower and enjoy a picnic-style lunch there.
Sejun placed a bamboo mat on the floor, laid a sheet of seaweed on top, and spread a thin layer of rice over it.
Then, he added a rolled omelet, julienned carrots, cucumbers, spinach, burdock root, crayfish meat, and seasoned radish, rolling everything up tightly.
For the cucumber, he only used the crunchy outer skin for better texture, and since he didn’t have pickled radish, he made seasoned radish instead.
Mom used to do this when she was too lazy to go buy pickled radish, and it turned out delicious.
“Hehehe. Is this our family’s secret recipe?”
Sejun thought this dish was an improvised recipe by Kim Mi-ran, but in reality, it was a creation of the famous franchise owner, Chef Baek.
Completely unaware of this, he proudly said,
“Cuengi, say ‘ahh.’ This is our family’s secret recipe, Seasoned Radish Kimbap.”
After brushing sesame oil over the kimbap, he sliced off the end pieces and popped them into Cuengi’s mouth.
Kueng!
[It’s delicious!]
Cuengi beamed with a big smile, happily shaking his body.
And then,
Our family’s secret recipe! Cuengi will inherit it!
Kueng?
[Dad, how do you make seasoned radish?]
“Well, that’s…”
Cuengi was burning with determination to master the family’s secret recipe, bombarding Sejun with questions.
While answering Cuengi’s questions, Sejun diligently rolled hundreds of kimbap.
“Here, Aileen.”
“Brother-in-law, take some to the Dragons of the Four Dragons Council and the Five Dragons Council grandfathers, and have some yourself.”
After distributing the kimbap to Aileen and the other dragons, Sejun and his group had breakfast together.
Then,
“Alright. Let’s head out!”
Sejun and his companions packed the lunchboxes filled with kimbap and set off once again for the 77th floor of the Blue Tower to search for the Creator God’s Tablet.
…
..
.
Upon arriving at the 77th floor of the Blue Tower,
“Huh?!”
“Meow?! Great Hybrid Chairman Park, our Jewel Pen Shell is missing, meow!”
“Theotson, this is a theft case.”
They were greeted with a robbery.
“Everyone, check if anything else is suspicious.”
At Sejun’s command,
“Puhuhut. Understood, meow! Leave it to Detective Theotson, the famous assistant of Sherlock Sejun, meow!”
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Detective Cunan will also search for evidence!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! The Great Blackie will catch the culprit for you!]
Theo, Cuengi, and the Blackie Family began searching for traces of the culprit who had stolen the Jewel Pen Shell.
“Was anything else stolen?”
Sejun also checked for any other missing items.
“Huh?!”
My seaweed!
He discovered that the dried seaweed he had carefully laid out on a rock was also gone.
“What the hell? Who steals seaweed? It takes hours to dry this properly…”
Grumbling, Sejun quickly started laying out more seaweed on the rock to dry.
A moment later,
Dadadada.
Kking!
[Butler!]
Blackie came dashing toward Sejun in a hurry.
“Blackie, did you find something?”
Kking! Kking!
[No! That’s not important right now!]
“Then what is it?”
Kking? Kking?
[Butler! What was the Great Blackie’s detective name again? Was it Detective Blackie?]
“Detective Kkeobungi.” (TL: It’s a play on words, and ‘Kkeobungi’ here means clumsy or slow-witted, etc. It is just a slight modification of the Korean name for Blackie.)
Kking?! Kking?
[Huh?! Was it that?]
Blackie tilted his head in confusion, completely oblivious to the fact that Sejun was teasing him.
At that moment,
“Puhuhut. Detective Theotson, the famous assistant of Sherlock Sejun, has found a clue, meow!”
Theo returned, holding a single strand of blue fur.
Sniff. Sniff.
Kueng!
[The scent continues this way!]
Cuengi started tracking the scent from the fur Theo had found.
However,
Kueng…
[The trail ends here…]
Since the area was surrounded by the sea, further tracking was impossible.
“There’s no helping it. Kin~nim, please help us.”
He had clearly said to ask if anything was troubling them.
Recalling Kin’s words from yesterday, Sejun requested the help of Kin Aster, the Great Blue Dragon.
And then,
-Find every being that has passed through the 77th floor of the Tower between last night and this morning!
Kin Aster’s order, issued in response to Sejun’s request, resounded throughout the entire Blue Tower.
The Wandering Merchant Guild in the Blue Tower was thrown into chaos.
After all, anyone moving between floors of the Tower would have used the merchant routes managed by the guild.
As the floor bosses and wandering merchants scoured the area for the Jewel Pen Shell thief,
Sejun and his companions spent the entire morning searching the sea floor for the Creator God’s Tablet.
However,
“Why can’t I find it?”
Once again, they had no success.
“They definitely said to search the seabed…”
Mulling over the words of the Creator God, Sejun surfaced and began preparing lunch.
Hehehe. Cold kimbap needs hot soup.
Sejun placed a pot of water on the fire and opened a ramen packet.
Kimbap and ramen.
The perfect combination.
“Just like us.”
Sejun looked at his companions and smiled.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Dad is a genius!]
Experiencing the combination of ramen and kimbap for the first time, Cuengi was in awe and once again praised Sejun.
After their delightful lunch,
“Ah. This is nice.”
Sejun lay back on a sunbed, sipping his coffee.
At that moment,
“Puhuhut.”
Kuehehehe.
Theo and Cuengi climbed onto Sejun’s body, settling into place.
However,
Kkirorong.
Blackie was sound asleep, a piece of roasted and dried sweet potato dangling from his mouth.
“Our Blackie must be cold.”
Hehehe. The sea breeze is quite harsh.
Seeing Blackie like that, Sejun’s playful side kicked in.
He covered Blackie with a thick blanket of sand, then lay back on the sunbed, pretending to know nothing and resumed his rest.
A short while later,
Kking… Kking…
Blackie woke up, whimpering as he struggled to free himself from the sand.
Kking?! Kking?! Kking!
[Who did this?! Who dared to cover the Great Blackie with sand?! Detective Kkeobungi will find the culprit for sure!]
He set off to investigate.
But then,
“Blackie, do you want some roasted and dried sweet potato?”
Kking!
Completely distracted by food, Blackie instantly forgot about the investigation.
While Sejun and his party were enjoying a peaceful moment,
“Sejun-nim, we found something!”
Zelga, the Tower Farmer of the Blue Tower, arrived with a clue about the Jewel Pen Shell thief.
“So, you saw a ship carrying a huge object moving from the 77th floor to the 82nd floor?”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, the 82nd floor was one of the floors where Sejun had registered a waypoint while searching for the Creator God’s Tablet in the past.
I was already frustrated from not finding the tablet… now I have a way to relieve some stress.
“Alright, everyone, let’s go!”
Sejun and his party set off for the 82nd floor of the Blue Tower to catch the Jewel Pen Shell thief.
***
Marchio, the port town on the Blue Tower’s 82nd floor.
“Move it carefully!”
Inside the largest mansion in Marchio, a massive Jewel Pen Shell covered in jewels was being transported.
Meanwhile,
“Where did that come from?”
Watching from a mansion window, Bochiel, the Legendary Merchant of the Blue Tower, asked his subordinate, Tobas.
“Hehehe. Some fool only ate the meat and left the shell behind.”
“Really? There’s actually an idiot who would abandon a Jewel Pen Shell?”
Bochiel asked, sounding a bit skeptical.
Within Bochiel’s merchant group, Tobas was known as ‘Tobas the Empty-Handed’ because most of his trade ventures resulted in little to no profit.
Bochiel had continued to entrust Tobas with trade, believing that his diligence would eventually pay off.
But now that Tobas had struck a big deal, Bochiel felt a bit uneasy.
“Yes. And here, try this. I found it drying near the Jewel Pen Shell. Dip it in this sauce, it’s absolutely delicious.”
Tobas handed Bochiel a piece of dried seaweed, which he dipped into Sejun’s soy sauce seasoning before offering it to him.
Even Sejun hadn’t noticed that his seasoning had gone missing.
“Tobas… You knew someone was drying this, yet it never crossed your mind that they might come back for it?!”
Realizing Tobas’ mistake, Bochiel scolded him.
“Where is it?! Go return that Jewel Pen Shell immediately and apologize!”
“…Yes, sir.”
Tobas, who had just thought he had finally lived up to Bochiel’s expectations, became dejected as he opened the door.
And then,
“Heheh. Gotcha.”
“Puhuhut. As expected, the great Detective Sherlock Sejun is incredible, meow! It’s a clean sweep, meow!”
Sejun and Theo grinned wickedly as they looked at Tobas and Bochiel, who stood behind him.
A short while later,
Thud.
Theo stamped Bochiel’s forehead with a seal, adding two more votes to Theo’s impeachment tally.
Then,
“Puhuhut. From now on, Bochiel will oversee the Sejun Company’s Blue Tower branch, meow! If you ever need help, seek assistance from the 99th-floor boss or Zelga, meow!”
104.28.193.250
“Yes! I’ll do my best!”
Bochiel had just gained the most powerful connections possible.
After recovering the Jewel Pen Shell and plundering half of Bochiel’s treasure vault,
“I’m hungry.”
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, grill some fish for me, meow!”
“Alright. I’ll use the kitchen too.”
They made themselves at home in Bochiel’s mansion, eating dinner there as if it were their own place.
Then,
“Let’s head back.”
They returned to the 77th floor of the Blue Tower and resumed searching the darkened night sea.
To be honest, the search was more of an excuse to digest all the food they had eaten.
As they swam through the pitch-black sea,
“Huh?”
Sejun’s eyes caught a glow rising from the distant seabed.
*****
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