Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 13

Theo lived on the 75th floor, one of the neutral zones of the Tower.

For a long time, Theo had been secretly in love with Maril, the most beautiful woman in Granier Village.

“Theo, confess! You’re good enough,”

“Yeah. Fortune favors the bold, after all.”

“Confess! Confess!”

Encouraged by Oren, the son of the wealthiest family in the village, and his friends, Theo confessed his hidden love.

“Maril, I’ve actually been in love with you! Please go out with me!”

However,

“Hmph! Know your place. How dare you covet me!”

“Yeah, Theo, you need to know your worth. Sorry, but Maril is actually dating me. Heh heh heh.”

Oren kissed Maril on the lips and sneered at Theo.

“Haha, Theo, look at that dumbfounded face.”

“Puhahaha. How’s he going to hold his head up in Granier Village now?!”

Even Maril’s smiles towards him a few days ago, and the encouragement from his friends—or rather, those who pretended to be—were all part of a play to trick the naive Theo.

The lads had egged him on to confess in the village square to show courage, and Theo was rejected so miserably in front of so many people that he could no longer hold his head up in the village.

Shocked and staying indoors for several days, Theo ran away in the middle of the night with the thought of ‘I’ll become rich and take revenge!’ and became a wandering merchant.

After buying the necessary qualifications and equipment to become a wandering merchant with the 50 Tower Coins he had diligently saved up his whole life, he was about to buy goods to sell on his trading journey with the remaining 5 Tower Coins when—

“Theo, this is really good stuff, but I’ll sell it only to you.”

Skalam, a goblin wandering merchant who had given Theo various pieces of advice about being a wandering merchant, spoke to him secretly.

“What is it?”

Theo didn’t suspect anything, as Skalam had been so kind in giving him advice.

The items Skalam took out were a tumbler, a mini fan, and a portable hand warmer.

“These are items from outside the Tower.”

“Items from outside the Tower?”

“That’s right. If you take these to the upper floors, you can sell them for a very high price. The beings living on those upper floors collect these kinds of items as a hobby.”

“Really?! I’ll buy them!”

“This is a map with the location of a new member of the Seed Shop. Since they’re a new member, you might be able to rip them off if you’re lucky.”

Theo trusted Skalam’s words and climbed the Tower following the map.

However, he had given almost all his money to Skalam for the items, so he couldn’t buy enough food. So Theo had come to Sejun’s place, starving.

“Huh?! Work together?”

“Yeah. And the things you brought are all trash.”

Sejun first shook Theo’s mentality with a barrage of truth.

“What?! Trash? That can’t be!”

Theo was agitated by Sejun’s words. It was understandable, considering he was told that the items he bought with his entire fortune from the trusted Skalam were trash.

“There’s no magic on these at all. This tumbler blocks heat transfer by isolating it from the outside, and the mini fan and portable hand warmer will stop working after a few hours because the battery will run out. Here, look.”

Sejun explained, turning on the mini fan and placing it on the floor.

“No! How do you know, Park Sejun?! Skalam said there was magic on them!”

“I came from outside the Tower.”

“Huh?!”

That one sentence explained everything.

“It seems that Skalam guy tricked you.”

“That… that can’t be. He was so kind to me…”

While Theo, greatly shocked, muttered to himself in denial of reality,

Beep!

Beep!

Bbyaang!

The white rabbits started farming,

Splash!

Thwack!

Bbyak!

Sejun and the black rabbit caught piranhas and made grilled fish.

And in the meantime, the mini fan stopped working in less than an hour after being turned on.

“Hooong! Skalam is a bad goblin, nyaang!”

“Why am I always being deceived, nyaang?!”

“What do I do now, nyaang!”

Theo burst into tears and began to wail. The Granier dialect, which he had practiced and corrected for a long time due to excitement, came out.

“Theo, calm down. Shall we talk about the future while eating some grilled fish?”

“Sniff… gulp. You’re going to feed me and then ask for money again, right? Sniff… I’m not stupid, you know.”

Theo swallowed hard as he looked at the grilled fish, but he didn’t take it. He was naive, but he wasn’t a fool to fall for the same trick. And Sejun had no intention of taking money here.

“No, I’ll even give you the one you ate before for free.”

He had shaken his mentality, so now it was time to comfort him. Sejun was aiming for something bigger.

“Really?!”

“Yeah.”

“Here. Listen to my story carefully while you eat.”

Sejun handed Theo the grilled fish and began to talk about the partnership.

“Yes.”

Munch munch.

Theo listened to Sejun’s words and ate the grilled fish mindlessly. When he finished the last piece of grilled fish,

Stamp.

“Huh?!”

Before he knew it, his left foot was stamping on the contract.

Tear.

When he lifted his foot from the contract, his footprint was clearly imprinted.

The contract read: >Lifetime Distribution Contract>

“Why is this here?”

Why was the contract that should have been in his pack in front of him?

Theo hurriedly read the contract.

>Lifetime Distribution Contract>

[Purpose and Content of the Contract]

1. The purpose of this contract is for both parties, A and B, to cooperate and promote the sale of A’s crops, thereby obtaining mutual benefits.

2. Hereafter, B shall sell the crops provided by A for life and bring the sales amount.

[Compensation]

1. A shall give B 25 grilled fish or the equivalent amount as a weekly wage.

2. A shall give B 3-5% of the sales amount brought by B as an incentive.

[Special Agreement]

1. B can terminate the contract if the total sales amount is less than 5 Tower Coins within one month of receiving A’s crops for the first transaction.

2. B must sell the crops for more than the amount A specifies.

3. B cannot create additional 거래처 without A’s permission.

4. 반드시 거래할 때는 그래니어 사투리를 사용한다.

[A: Park Sejun]

Beneath the contract, Sejun’s thumbprint and Theo’s paw print were neatly side by side.

Special Clause 1 was designed to give Theo an escape route, ensuring he’d agree to sign the contract. Maybe Theo was worried about something, and Clause 1 made him feel safe.

Clauses 2 and 3 were there to protect Theo because he trusts people too easily. Clause 4 was added because Sejun thought people on Earth would love the way Theo talks.

Theo looked down at the paper with wide eyes. “What… what is all this writing?” he asked, pointing a paw at the lines of text above their paw and thumb prints.

Sejun smiled warmly and gently stroked Theo’s fur between his ears. “It’s our agreement, Theo. We’re partners now! Let’s work together and make lots of Top Coins.”

Theo purred a little at the head stroke, but then remembered the important contract. “Wait a minute!” He playfully pushed Sejun’s hand away with his paw. “Not so fast! What about Special Clause Number One? You promised!” Theo pretended to be very serious, but his tail twitched with excitement.

Sejun chuckled. “Alright, alright, Representative Theo. Business first, then head scratches. But we are partners now, right?”

“Hmph!” Theo puffed out his chest a little. “That’s right. Partners.” But his eyes kept flicking back to Sejun’s hand, hoping for another stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Sejun understood perfectly and started stroking Theo’s head again, making the cat purr louder this time.

A short while later,

Goro long. Goro long.

Theo, exhausted, drifted off to sleep under Sejun’s gentle touch.

“Sleep well, Representative Theo.”

Sejun carefully laid the sleeping Theo down by the fire and stood up.

‘Just as planned.’

And so, Sejun secured a means to earn Top Coins, the valuable money used in the Tower.

“Ugh-ha-hmm. Such a good smell, nyaang. No! Good smell.”

Theo started to talk in his usual way, but then stopped himself. He rubbed his eyes and woke up.

“You’re awake?”

Sejun asked, grilling fish and green onions for breakfast. A mountain of grilled fish was already piled beside him, the result of Sejun and the black rabbit’s diligent fishing for piranhas since morning. The smell of the grilled fish filled the cave.

“Yes. How long did I sleep?”

“You fell asleep yesterday at lunchtime and just woke up now.”

Today marked day 129 of their survival, and Theo had slept through an entire day, waking up in the morning.

“But what’s that?”

Theo twitched his nose, eyeing the mountain of grilled fish.

“This week’s wage. The grilled fish is getting cold. Hurry and pack it.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Theo thought for a moment, ‘Wait, partners don’t get wages, do they?’ But the fish smelled so good, he forgot about it and started packing the grilled fish into his sack.

The sack item was essential for traveling merchants who had to visit multiple layers. It was enchanted with preservation, space expansion, and weight reduction magic, allowing for the long-term storage of many items in their original condition.

“Let’s eat breakfast!”

Squeak!

Squeak!

At Sejun’s call, the rabbits came running to eat breakfast.

After the lively breakfast,

“Um… Mr. Park Sejun.”

Theo called out to Sejun.

“Just call me Mr. Sejun.”

“Yes. Mr. Sejun, but what are you planning to sell?”

“Cherry tomatoes.”

“What?”

Thud.

“This.”

Sejun plucked a ripe, red cherry tomato from the vine and showed it.

“This thing?”

Theo eyed the cherry tomato with disinterest.

“Have a look.”

Sejun handed the cherry tomato to Theo.

“Huh? A Magical Cherry Tomato? Is this an item?!”

“Yep. Not bad, right?”

“How much are you going to sell them for?”

For 10 minutes: Magic power increases by 0.1, and 10g of fat is decomposed.

Looking at the item’s stats, Theo thought that if sold well to the Tower’s Awakened, they could fetch about 0.01 Top Coins each. 10,000 won for a single cherry tomato. A sufficiently high price.

However,

“0.05 Top Coins each.”

Sejun quoted a price five times higher than Theo’s estimate.

“What?!”

At Sejun’s words, Theo looked at the cherry tomato in his paw with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Will this even sell?’

Sejun was confident that his cherry tomatoes would sell for a high price. These cherry tomatoes weren’t for the Awakened.

While the Magical Cherry Tomatoes provided fat decomposition and magic power increase to the Awakened, the effects weren’t significant. Their bodies were already somewhat optimized by their awakening, so the effects were minimal.

However, for the non-awakened outside the Tower, these cherry tomatoes, which provided an immediate decomposition of 10g of fat and a boost of vitality without side effects, along with their top-notch taste, were definitely a marketable product.

Especially considering the initial scarcity, Sejun thought he could even get 0.1 Top Coins.

Sejun trusted the dieters of Earth. They would respond favorably.

“Alright. Since it’s a contract.”

Theo secretly thought it was a good thing. If the total sales from this deal didn’t reach 5 Top Coins, he could just take the grilled fish and terminate the contract.

“How many should I take?”

“About 1000?”

Sejun pointed to a storage area he had created in the corner of the cave. It was filled with stacks of cherry tomatoes.

Sejun and the rabbits helped Theo pack the cherry tomatoes into his sack.

“Then, I’ll be off.”

Theo slung the sack over his shoulder and left the cave.

5 days later, on the 38th floor of the Tower. Theo had been traveling for five days to reach the 38th floor.

Inside a dark cave, ten elite hunters from the Phoenix Guild were struggling to clear the 38th floor, but their chances of success were still distant.

As they were searching the cave,

Screeeech!

Spider monsters approached.

“15 spiders! Diamond formation!”

At the leader’s command, the hunters quickly formed a formation.

Screech!

The spider monsters’ attack began as soon as the formation was complete.

“Keep watching the rear to avoid being surrounded!”

“Yes!”

As elite hunters from Earth’s top guild, they were flawless.

After a short while, the battle ended.

“Hoo. Good work. Collect the spider corpses and rest here for a bit.”

“Yes.”

As the hunters collected the spider monsters’ corpses and prepared to rest,

“Humans, come and see the good stuff here, nyaang.”

A cheese cat called out to them.