Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 181

Sejun asked Theo, who had fully recovered, “But how did you end up collapsed on the floor?”

Theo immediately blamed Sejun, “It’s all YOUR fault, Chairman Park! Meow!”

“Me?” Sejun asked.

Theo replied, “Yes, meow!”

Sejun asked, “Why me?”

Theo explained, “You sent me away! I was too far from your lap! That’s why I got weak, meow!”

Ah, I remember now! Theo needs to be close to me to have energy. Being away from my lap made him weak. I should ask something else.

Sejun changed the question, “Was there anything unusual?”

Theo answered, “There was, meow! The Three-Headed Society tried to kidnap this body, meow!”

Sejun asked, “The Three-Headed Society? Don’t tell me a Hydra head appeared?!” Even if a hundred or a thousand ordinary hunters from the Three-Headed Society attacked, they couldn’t make Theo collapse from magic depletion. Then, the only remaining possibility was the Hydra’s head.

Theo confirmed, “That’s right, meow! The Blue Serpent appeared, but I easily dealt with it, meow!”

Theo didn’t tell Sejun everything that happened. He just said he won easily, because he wanted Sejun to think he was amazing.

Sejun was shocked at Theo’s words. “Vice Chairman Theo, you did?!”

Theo, pleased with Sejun’s surprised expression, took out a round, bronze coin from his bundle. It had a picture of a Hydra on one side and the number ‘4’ on the other. He handed it to Sejun, “Chairman Park, take this, meow!”

[Hydra’s 4th Bronze Coin]

???

Sejun asked, “What kind of guy was it?”

Theo answered, “It was a Blue Serpent that made ice, meow!”

Sejun had to admit it. “Vice Chairman Theo, you’re really strong.”

Theo, pleased with Sejun’s praise, lay sprawled on Sejun’s lap. “Puhuhu. I’m super strong, meow! I even created a new skill this time, meow!”

Theo demanded handmade Churu. “But I’ve been smelling something strange from your mouth since earlier, meow! Quickly give me Chairman Park’s sincere Churu, meow!”

‘Churu now?’ Sejun thought, feeling a little annoyed. ‘I just gave him elixirs!’ And he said Sejun’s breath smelled strange! But even though he was annoyed, Sejun’s hand moved without thinking. He took out the Churu and gave it to Theo anyway.

Chomp chomp chomp.

Just as Theo was deliciously eating his second spoonful of handmade Churu, he remembered the bronze tag he had drawn from the lost and found warehouse and took it out of his bundle. “That’s right, meow! I have one more thing to give to Chairman Park, meow!”

Theo said, “Chairman Park will be very satisfied with this, meow!”

Sejun, with a thrilled heart at Theo’s confident attitude, received the bronze tag and examined it. “Really?”

[Bronze Mirror]

???

Usage Restriction: None

Grade: D

Sejun looked at the flat, bronze thing. It was a mirror. It looked old and a bit dirty. “It’s a mirror?”

Wipe wipe.

Sejun wiped the bronze with his clothes, but it didn’t become clean enough to reflect his face.

Sejun said, “Aileen, please appraise this.”

[The Tower Administrator says to leave it to them.]

Sejun replied, “Okay. Thank you. Is this all? Take more.”

Sejun sent 1000 elixirs-grade cherry tomatoes along with the bronze tag to Aileen. This morning, the White Tower temporary storage was full of elixirs-grade cherry tomatoes, so 5000 were transported, making the quantity abundant.

[The Tower Administrator says thank you.]

After a while,

[The Tower Administrator says that they feel a strong divine power from the item Theo brought.

[The Tower Administrator says that they need time as they need to appraise it with their grandfather.]

Sejun said, “Divine power? Okay. Take your time. It’s not urgent.”

After entrusting the appraisal to Aileen, Sejun said, “As expected, our Vice Chairman Theo is amazing.”

Theo replied, “That’s right, meow! I am amazing, meow!”

Theo, praised, puffed out his chest even more. Hurry and stroke my amazing belly, meow!

Pat pat.

Sejun carefully stroked Theo’s belly, who had done something commendable.

Theo purred, “Puhuhu… good, meow……”

Theo, who had eaten something delicious and received Sejun’s focused stroking, fell asleep happily.

Sejun had tried to make Theo leave, but Theo was staying. Sejun stopped wishing Theo would go.

At that moment,

Thwack.

Kkulorong.

Kkueng-ie, hearing Theo’s snoring, thought it was nap time and fell asleep as soon as he stuck his butt to Sejun’s butt.

Sejun woke up feeling very comfortable. He opened his eyes and realized why. He had Theo on his left and Kkueng-ie on his right.

Snore.

Purrrr.

Kkulorong.

Sejun fell asleep holding Theo and Kkueng-ie.

Two hours later.

“Ugh.” Sejun woke up stretching.

Sejun started waking Theo up by massaging him. “Guys, wake up.”

Theo smiled pleasantly at Sejun’s massage and opened his eyes. “Puhuhu… Chairman Park, did you sleep well, meow?”

Sejun asked, “Yeah. Did Vice Chairman Theo sleep well too?”

Theo, answering, tried to fall back asleep. “Yes, meow… Chairman Park’s lap is always cozy, meow……”

Sejun asked, waking Theo up again, “But did the auction go well?”

At the word auction, Theo’s eyes widened. No matter how much he loved sleep, it wasn’t better than boasting about his achievements to Sejun. “Yes, meow! It was a complete sell-out again, meow!”

Sejun said, “Okay. Good job.”

Theo boasted, “That’s right, meow! I did a tremendous job, meow! Look at this, meow! This is the money I earned, meow!” Theo took out 6.75 million Tower Coins he had earned from this auction. Puhuhu. Chairman Park, hurry and praise me and give me incentives, meow!

Sejun handed 750,000 Tower Coins to Theo as an incentive. “Vice Chairman Theo, well done. Here’s the incentive.” Vice Chairman Theo’s incentive is 10%. But these days, he was just giving the money below a million as an incentive.

Theo was satisfied and put the money Sejun gave him into his bundle. “Puhuhu. Thank you, meow!”

At that moment,

Roll. Roll.

Kkueng-ie rolled his body and came in front of Sejun,

Plop.

He lay sprawled out.

Kkuengeeeh……

[Kkueng-ie wants a massage too……]

Sejun said, “Alright.”

Stretch. Stretch.

Sejun gently stretched Kkueng’s legs. The morning sun was just rising as they woke up the other animals and went outside.

“Mr. Sejun, are you awake?” Urchi asked.

“Yes,” Sejun replied. “How is the beanstalk? Is it growing well?” This beanstalk was special. It was supposed to reach the sky in seven days after planting. Today was day six. But Sejun had used a special trick called ‘Mana Seed Sowing’ to make it grow faster for a whole day. So, it might reach the sky even sooner.

“It looks like it’s almost fully grown,” Urchi said. “Soldiers climbed up a bit and said there’s a huge land floating in the sky.”

“A huge land?” Sejun wondered. *What amazing thing has Theo found this time?*

He looked at Theo.

“Meow meow,” Theo purred happily, grooming his paws. He seemed very pleased with himself.

“They think there are no living things there,” Urchi added, “but they can’t be sure until the beanstalk reaches all the way.”

“I need to see this,” Sejun decided.

“We’ll come with you!” Urchi offered.

“No, you all wait here,” Sejun said. “If there’s trouble, we can use Kaiser’s dragon scale bracelet to escape quickly.” Sejun wanted to check it out with just the animals first. He walked towards the giant beanstalk.

High up on the 99th floor of the Tower, in the Administrator’s Area, Kaiser and Kellion were looking closely at a bronze mirror. Aileen had asked them to check it.

“Hmm,” Kaiser said, “that Theo is a clever one. He always finds the most interesting things.”

“I don’t know how he does it,” Kellion added, “finding items like this.” They were amazed, especially because Theo seemed like a normal cat to them.

“Hey! Don’t just whisper to each other, tell me!” Aileen said, sounding annoyed. She didn’t like having to ask for their help all the time. She wanted to be useful to Sejun herself.

“Kuhahaha!” Kaiser chuckled. “Is our granddaughter upset that we’re talking secrets? Okay, okay, Grandpa will tell you! This is a divine artifact. It has the power of Dimena, the God of Space.”

“A divine artifact?” Aileen’s eyes widened.

“Yes,” Kaiser said, ready to explain. “A divine artifact is…” He saw Aileen was interested and got excited.

“Grandfather, tell me about other gods’ artifacts too!” Aileen asked.

“Of course!” Kaiser beamed. *My granddaughter is actually listening to my stories!* He was thrilled and started talking about all the gods and their special items.

But Aileen was thinking, *I’ll learn all this from Grandpa, and then I can appraise Sejun’s things myself!* She was determined to be helpful to Sejun.

Kellion rolled his eyes at Kaiser, who was completely focused on Aileen. *Foolish girl,* Kellion thought, but he was just as obsessed with his grandson.

“Wow!” Sejun gasped, staring up at the beanstalk. It was huge, as thick as a house, maybe thirty meters around! It went up and up, disappearing into the clouds. It really did seem to reach the sky.

“Puhuhut! Amazing, right, meow?” Theo puffed out his chest, grabbing Sejun’s leg tightly. He looked very proud of himself.

“It’s incredible,” Sejun agreed. “Even all the rabbits and minotaurs couldn’t eat this whole thing.”

“Kkueng, you should wait in your special storage for now,” Sejun said. He worried Kkueng might be too heavy for the beanstalk.

“Kkueng!” [Will wait, no eat this time!]

*But he really meant he’d fill his snack bag first.*

“Okay, Kkueng, you’re a good friend.” *Clang!* Sejun patted Kkueng and put him safely in his storage space, closing the door.

“Let’s climb,” Sejun said to Theo.

“Understood, meow!” Theo replied, still clinging tight.

As Sejun started to climb, grabbing onto the rough bark of the beanstalk, a warm feeling spread through him. *[Farmer’s Warm Touch Lv. 4 is activated!]* *[The beanstalk is growing even stronger and will last longer because of your touch!]* Sejun smiled.

“Golden Bat, sing us a climbing song!” he called to the little bat on his back.

“(Yes!)” the Golden Bat chirped happily. *Maybe his song will help the beanstalk too,* Sejun thought.

“(Beanstalk so tall, reaching for the sky~)” the Golden Bat sang in its squeaky voice. They climbed for what felt like a long time, maybe an hour, listening to the Golden Bat’s funny songs. *Thump.* Finally, they reached the top. They stepped onto solid ground. It was strange. They were in the sky, but it looked like a dry, empty field. In the distance, there was a single building, shining white in the sun.

“Let’s go to that building,” Sejun said.

“Understood, meow!” Theo mumbled, still holding on tight. *He’s not going anywhere,* Sejun thought with a smile.

“(I’ll check it out first!)” the Golden Bat zipped ahead towards the building and quickly flew back.

“(It’s empty and clean! No one there!)”

“Really?” Sejun walked closer to the building.

“Huh?” As he got nearer, he saw plants growing around it.

“Are those magic cherry tomatoes? And… what are those?” He saw his own crops, but also plants he’d never seen before.

“I should pick some of these,” he thought. As Sejun reached out to touch a plant, suddenly, a voice spoke in his mind. *[You have entered Emila’s Flower Garden.]* *[Well done for finding this place, Park Sejun, Tower Farmer of the Black Tower. But stealing is not allowed. It is not yet time for us to meet.]*

Then, everything changed.

“Huh? Where am I?” Sejun blinked. He was back at the bottom of the beanstalk, on the ground. *[It was nice to meet you,]* the voice whispered, and then it was gone.

“Theo? Golden Bat?” Sejun felt confused and worried. He quickly checked on his animal friends. *Grolong. Berolong.* They were fine, thank goodness.

“Kkueng!” *Clang!* He opened Kkueng’s storage door just to be sure.

“Kkueng?” [Coming out already?]

Kkueng asked, looking a little sad because he was still filling his snack bag.

“Not yet, Kkueng. Fill it up all the way, then come out,” Sejun said.

“Kkueng!” [Understood!]

Kkueng happily went back to his snack bag.

“Phew. What just happened?” Sejun wondered, trying to understand. Then he looked down.

“Wait… when did I get these?” He noticed his shoes. They weren’t his old, worn-out sneakers anymore. Now he was wearing shiny golden shoes!

“What are these?” Sejun murmured, looking at his new shoes.