TL: Hanguk
PR: MiniPixelZ
Forest of Creation.
[It’s too hard to find the problem. Don’t you have some kind of hint?]
Flamie, who had unleashed an enormous number of Avatars over the past two weeks to explore every corner of the world, asked while gauging the reaction of the Trial Statue.
However,
“The fifth trial begins with finding the problem itself. So there is no hint.”
The statue was firm.
“Ahem. Treasures are always buried in places that are hard to reach.”
A place that’s hard to reach?!
The place that’s hard for me to go to…
Flamie pondered over what the Trial Statue had said.
Is it by Sejun~nim’s side?
The moment Flamie thought of Sejun, flames bloomed brightly on her leaves.
[Ah! I got it!]
The problem must be near Sejun~nim!
[Besides, Theo oppa might be able to help with his golden forepaws! Hehe.]
As Flamie was already itching to attend Sejun’s upcoming birthday party, she was overjoyed.
Even if there was no fifth trial problem, it didn’t matter. She needed an excuse to attend the birthday party anyway.
It had been almost a month since she had used <Law of Creation: Become Weak When Holding Breath> and <Power: Frail Pretty Girl>, but since it was still in the middle of the trial, she had to stay wary of the Trial Statue.
Thus, Flamie found a justification to go to Sejun.
[Thank you, Statue~nim, for the hint! The problem is at the Black Tower, right?!]
“Huh?!”
After thanking the statue,
[Hehe. I need to hurry and prepare a birthday gift for Sejun~nim! Which Fire Apple should I bring?! Hehe. I wonder if Sejun~nim can eat the Golden Fire Apple now?]
She quickly began preparing to descend to the 99th floor of the Black Tower.
That’s not it…
The Trial Statue, unable to answer, looked on with frustration at Flamie, who had misunderstood.
***
99th Floor of the Black Tower.
“Guys, shall we get started now?”
Sejun said to the group as he looked at the mountain of potatoes stacked up.
“Puhuhut. Leave it to Vice Chairman Theo, meow!”
Kyaaong!
[I couldn’t win the knee battle, but I’ll win this!]
At Sejun’s words, Theo and Baektang began quickly peeling the potatoes with their claws.
Moo!
Once peeled, the Black Minotaurs crushed the potatoes with their hands to extract the juice.
Kueong!
Moo!
Beside them, Pink-fur and the Minotaur King crushed corn to extract its juice.
104.28.193.250
This was to obtain starch for making glass noodles.
Originally, sweet potatoes also had to be juiced, but
Grrr. Kking! Kking!
[Grrr. You don’t juice sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes are only for making the Great Blackie’s roasted and dried sweet potatoes!]
“That’s right! We are the Guardians of Roasted and Dried Sweet Potatoes! We will protect sweet potatoes at all costs!”
Kkiruk!
Sharalang!
…
..
.
Blackie and his subordinates tied red headbands around their foreheads and did their utmost to guard the sweet potatoes so no one could take them.
“Okay. Okay, I get it. Just be quiet in return.”
Kking!
[Okay!]
Since the Blackie Family was being such a nuisance, Sejun removed sweet potatoes from the list of starch-making ingredients.
Hehe. I won!
Blackie, having achieved his personal feat of beating Sejun, joyfully rejoiced and went to Kamyeoldaeseong alone
Kking!
[If you want to hear the tale of how the Great Blackie beat his butler, gather around!]
Kiki!
Kya-kya!
He excitedly began telling his story to the Destruction Pioneers and Destruction Devourers.
While the starch was being extracted like that,
“Cuengi, let’s get started too.”
Kueng!
Sejun and Cuengi began kneading the dough.
Sejun made wheat flour dough for noodles, while Cuengi made rice flour dough for rice noodles.
Originally, it was unnecessary to go to such trouble, as Sejun could just gather the ingredients and use his cooking skill to replicate the dish.
However, once the cooking skill evolved into the Delicious Cooking (Master), problems began to arise.
Being able to bring out flavors that surpassed the limitations of the ingredients through cooking was nice, but replicating a single portion of a dish now required much more magic power and time.
So to minimize the consumption of magic and time, the ingredients had to be prepared properly.
That way, the maximum number of dishes could be replicated at once.
Besides, it feels comforting to see noodles neatly stacked in the storage. Hehehe.
It was simply Sejun’s personal preference.
Like that, while Sejun and his party spent two days making glass noodles and other types of noodles,
“Sejun~nim, I’ll be going now.”
“Okay. Toryong, be careful out there.”
“Puhuhut. Toryong, make lots of money, meow!”
“Yes!”
Toryong set off on his final field trip to the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods.
***
Land of Destruction.
Thump. Thump.
“Kekeke. Hide well. Or your hair might show.”
Corruption was pretending to look for the pure mental fragments of future Creator God who had not yet been corrupted, trying to scare them.
And then,
So scary!
Someone please help!
Shivering. Trembling.
The mental fragments hiding in a corner, trembling
“Kekeke. Scary, right? I understand your feelings. I’ve been through it too.”
Thump. Thump.
Corruption spoke in a sweet and gentle voice to corrupt the mental fragments.
However.
“Everyone ignored me. Even the Primordial God who was born with me. My own brother left me trembling and didn’t help! He abandoned me!!!”
Suddenly riled up, he shouted with a voice full of long-held resentment. Apparently, he was telling the truth about having gone through it.
“I was born with the Primordial God too! Why am I the weak and ugly one?! Why only me?!”
Once he exploded, Corruption lost all rationality and poured out words full of anger.
And the more he expressed his rage, the more grotesque his appearance became. The hatred and fury he harbored transformed him into the very monster he detested.
At that moment.
“Eek! So scary!”
One terrified mental fragment, upon seeing Corruption’s hideous appearance, sprang to its feet and started running away.
“Save me!”
“Someone please help!”
That acted as a signal, and the other mental fragments also began running to escape from Corruption.
And then.
“Kekeke. Where do you think you’re going?!”
“Sob sob… please spare me…”
Corruption caught one of the fleeing mental fragments.
“Kekeke. Look closely. Do I really look that scary?”
He brought the mental fragment close to his face and asked with a twisted smile on his grotesque mouth.
A voice, filled with 99% despair and 1% hope, trembled ever so slightly.
And then.
“Monster, don’t come near me!”
The answer he received always catered to the 99% despair.
“Tch. How boring.”
Crunch. Crunch.
Corruption put the mental fragment in his mouth and chewed. It tasted bitter.
***
Toryong had arrived at the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods. His body was carrying numerous bottles of alcohol.
This time, he brought the maximum amount of Samyangju he could carry.
So this is what it looks like.
Toryong quickly surveyed the surroundings.
He stood at the entrance of the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods, and beyond the entrance was a forest shrouded in mist. The fog gave the forest a gloomy, eerie feeling.
At that moment.
“Looks like someone’s here.”
“A visitor?”
“Who is it?”
“Doesn’t look like someone who’s dead.”
“Maybe a new caretaker?”
Caretakers and dead gods who had been hiding behind trees started to appear one by one, watching the visitor Toryong.
And then.
Alright, Let’s get started.
“Here, for just 10 billion Tower Coins, I’m selling Samyangju personally brewed by Chairman Park of Sejun Company, where one cup gives you 10 more years of life, and two cups give you 20 more years!”
Toryong began his sales pitch, drawing the eyes of the caretakers and dead gods.
The reason the dead gods who came to the resting grounds eventually disappeared was because their divine power had run out. In other words, as long as they could replenish their divine power, they could continue to exist.
And no god wished to be extinguished.
Now, someone was offering to extend their lives in exchange for riches they had no need for?
After all, gods come with nothing and leave with nothing.
They had no need for such heavy possessions.
As they say even a village dog recites poetry after three years at the village school, similarly at Sejun Company, they develop a business mindset in three months.
Thanks to what he had seen and learned from Sejun and Theo, Toryong’s sales pitch drew responses:
-Me. One glass.
-I’ll take two.
-I’ll buy some too.
The dead gods swarmed in, handed over money, bought Samyangju, drank it, and began extending their lifespans.
Meanwhile.
“This one’s interesting.”
“Shall we try buying some too?”
“Shall we? We’ve got plenty of gemstones abandoned in storage anyway.”
The caretakers looked at Toryong with interest, wondering whether to buy some Samyangju.
But.
“Sold out! Everything’s been sold!”
While they were hesitating, the Samyangju had all been sold.
So this is how it feels.
Toryong, experiencing a sell-out for the first time, had a proud expression on his face when,
“How is it? Pretty fun here, right? Would you like to become a caretaker?”
One caretaker approached Toryong and asked, his voice tense with both expectation and anxiety.
“Yes. I’ll do it. Be a caretaker.”
Toryong accepted without hesitation, making the caretaker’s nervousness seem needless.
“Huh!? You’re really going to become a caretaker?!”
The caretaker who had made the offer was instead the one flustered, asking in disbelief.
And.
“Yes, really. I’ll become a caretaker.”
Toryong responded once more, this time even more firmly.
A few days ago.
“Sejun~nim, where should I go?”
Toryong had sought career counseling from Sejun about which god realm would be good to go to.
“Wait a second. The more information we have, the more options you’ll have.”
In order to make the right choice, Sejun spoke with Leah, the God of Abundance at the Seed Shop Headquarters, Bev, the God of Courage at the Combat Shop Headquarters, and Hel, the God of Merchants at Hel’s Pawnshop.
He also gathered information not just on the Seed Shop Headquarters, Combat Shop Headquarters, and Hel’s Pawnshop, but also on the Prison of the Gods, Tartarus, and the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods.
“Hmm.”
Sejun pondered Toryong’s path, weighing the information received from the three gods.
“But if the dead gods at the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods have divine power, then they won’t disappear, right?”
A great idea came to him.
And then.
“Puhuhut. Bev~nim says they don’t die, meow!”
“And if they don’t die, they can work too, right?”
“Puhuhut. Hel~nim says it should be possible, meow! And Leah~nim says that many of the dead gods at the resting grounds are non-combat gods, meow!”
Sejun further refined the idea with additional advice from the gods.
“Toryong, let’s set up shop there.”
And so, as Sejun set his sights on the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods, Toryong’s career path was decided.
Even if the vacation time was only 12 hours per 100 years.
“Who’s the boss here?!”
Rules exist to be changed.
Toryong decided to seize control of the place and change the rules. Unlimited vacation for the boss.
A short while later.
“How dare a rookie caretaker call out the head caretaker?!”
A giant with a fierce expression appeared, wielding a massive axe.
[Dus, God of Logging]
Dus’s legs trembled as he looked up at Toryong, who was even bigger than himself.
Despite appearances, Dus was a cowardly and kind-hearted non-combat god who desired peace.
And then.
“Dus~nim, Leah~nim told me to take over as head and that you should return.”
“Huh?! Really?!”
At Toryong’s words, Dus’s practiced scary expression instantly melted into a bright smile.
“Yes.”
“Yes! Here, take it. I’ve been so tired making scary faces all this time. Thanks for becoming head in my place.”
Dus immediately handed over the head position to Toryong, thanked him, packed up quickly, and returned to the Seed Shop Headquarters.
Dus had been managing the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods and earning divine power there as the most frightening-looking among the non-combat gods, in order to send divine power to the Seed Shop Headquarters.
And so Toryong claimed control of the Resting Grounds of the Forgotten Gods.
“From now on, your vacation time is 12 hours per year!”
He first implemented a drastic reform by significantly increasing the caretakers’ vacation time.
“Boss Toryong, is that… really true?!”
“Twelve hours a year?!”
“Then if we save up for just two years, we can take a full day off?!”
“Boss Toryong! I will serve you with loyalty from now on!”
Toryong instantly gained the full support of the caretakers.
And then.
“Do you all want to live longer? Then contribute to Sejun Company by doing what you do best!”
He began putting the dead gods to work in exchange for extended lifespan.
Hehehe. The gods gain more life, and we make money, such a good win-win deal.
Of course, this was just the evil exploitative employer Sejun’s thinking.
*****
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