Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 134

I’m off now.

Sejun waved goodbye to the monkeys as he finished harvesting the bananas and prepared to leave.

Oooki!

The monkeys bowed, bidding Sejun farewell. Beside each of them lay a single banana—the reward for the first harvest.

Sejun smiled, happy to share the sweet fruit with his animal friends as they traveled. Following behind Sejun were the animals, each carrying armfuls of bananas as they headed towards the waypoint on the 77th floor of the Tower. They could have put the bananas in their pockets that hold a lot, but these bananas were for eating on the way.

Sejun, riding on Kkueng’s back with Black Rabbit and Golden Bat, diligently peeled bananas, feeding the fruit to Kkueng and the wolves.

Here you go.

The banana peels were given to the Black Minotaur.

Moo!

The Black Minotaur was delighted to receive the banana peels, preferring them to the fruit itself.

Sejun, we’ve arrived.

Already?

Distributing bananas to the animals, they had arrived at the gorilla village guarding the waypoint on the 77th floor before he knew it.

Nobody’s here?

The village was deserted, unclaimed since Kkueng had cleared it out. Usually, monsters would quickly take this village. But now, the 77th floor was full of strong creatures. There were Black Minotaurs, wolves from higher floors, and Kkueng.

Also, Sejun and his friends had been searching everywhere for treasures on this floor. Other monsters thought they were showing off their strength. So, they were hiding in their homes, shaking with fear at every sound.

Thump.

Thanks to this, Sejun leisurely approached the floating red crystal and placed his hand on it.

[The waypoint on the 77th floor has been saved.]

[Loading waypoints from other saved floors.]

[Saved waypoints (1)]

-Floor 99

Got it!

Finally, he had a place to move to using the waypoint.

[The waypoint on the 77th floor has been registered after the waypoint on the 99th floor.]

[You have achieved the feat of descending from a higher floor to a lower floor for the first time in the Tower’s history.]

[You have acquired the title: Retrogressor.]

Retrogressor?

Just as Sejun was about to open his status window to examine the title,

[There is currently no entity guarding the waypoint on the 77th floor.]

[As an intermediate manager of the Black Tower, you can designate a boss to guard the waypoint on the 77th floor.]

Hmm… I can designate an entity to guard the waypoint?

Sejun pondered. With the banana farm on the 77th floor, he would be visiting it frequently. It would be convenient to have someone on their side managing the area.

Elka, bring the village chief of the monkey village.

Yes!

Elka hurried to the monkey village and brought back the village chief.

Since he planned to charge hunters a registration fee for using the waypoint later, there was no need for the boss guarding the waypoint to be strong.

However,

Thud. Thud.

Huh?!

What Elka brought back was a giant monkey. The village chief of the monkey village was definitely only about 1 meter tall and rather frail, but in just a few hours, he had grown to 2 meters tall and his entire body was covered in muscles.

Sejun did not know this, but these monkeys were Banana Monkeys. They became stronger by eating bananas. Long ago, when bananas grew well, they were the rulers of this floor.

Sejun’s eyes widened as he saw the huge monkey. ‘Wow, bananas really make them strong!’ he thought quickly, changing his mind about the guards. Because of this, Sejun changed his plan. He would not put the wolves here to guard the waypoint anymore.

From now on, you will guard this waypoint.

As Sejun designated the village chief of the monkey village as the waypoint boss of the 77th floor,

[Designating Banana Monkey Ukil as the entity guarding the waypoint on the 77th floor.]

Oooki!

Thump.

Ukil, the village chief of the Banana Monkey tribe, bowed deeply, greatly moved by Sejun’s grace. He had returned bananas to his tribe and now even the waypoint on the 77th floor.

Then, I’ll be off. You guys come up quickly too.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[We’ll be there soon! Daddy, don’t get hurt in the meantime!]

Sejun, having designated the boss of the 77th floor, spoke to Ukil and the animals, and then selected the 99th floor as his destination.

Flash.

Sejun vanished in an instant.

And then,

Kkueng!

[Let’s go quickly!]

Moo!

Kkueng and the Black Minotaur headed to the 99th floor,

Squeak!

Let’s go!

Black Rabbit and the wolves moved to the 55th floor.

A short while later,

Woo-ooo!

The leader of the orangutan tribe, realizing that the strong ones had left, challenged Ukil, the boss of the waypoint on the 77th floor, with his subordinates.

Oooki!

Ukil, having eaten bananas, was truly strong.

Thwack! Thwack!

Ukil subdued the orangutan tribe leader in an instant. After that, the leaders of other tribes challenged him, but no one could defeat Ukil.

What is the situation in Africa?

Han Taejun asked Ngugi during a video call.

Currently, about half of Nigeria and Cameroon have been occupied by locusts.

Already?

Yes. Because of the grain in the food warehouse at the port of Lagos…

The locusts had devoured all the food that had been shipped for export to Korea. Even with plenty of food, their reproductive power was immense. Their numbers, which had been in the hundreds of thousands, had increased to nearly a billion in just a few days.

And yellow spots are gradually appearing on the bodies of the locusts.

Hmm… it seems like evolution is approaching.

He had heard from Theo that as the number of locusts increased, their color would gradually change, indicating evolution. And once they evolved, things would become really difficult.

When they were Green Locusts, they were no different from ordinary grasshoppers, and even children could easily kill them. But when they evolved into Yellow Locusts, they became so strong that even adults couldn’t easily kill them.

First, it would be good to cut the leaves of the giant leek and create a defensive line surrounding the borders of Nigeria and Cameroon.

Understood. Then I will quickly save people and create a defensive line!

Ngugi replied and hurriedly hired workers to cut the leaves of the sturdy blade leeks planted in Kenya.

Whirr.

Hundreds of grinders spun, cutting the blade leaves and moving them to the borders of Nigeria and Cameroon to create a defensive line to prevent the locusts from escaping.

However, some locusts were already spreading to other countries by boarding ships in the port.

[Arrived at the 99th floor of the Tower.]

Moo!

The Ox King, guarding the waypoint, greeted Sejun.

Yes. It’s been a while.

Sejun exchanged brief greetings with the Ox King and, riding the Black Minotaur Uil, hurried to the farm.

At that moment,

[The Tower Administrator says she is happy that you have returned.]

Yeah. Has Aileen been well?

[The Tower Administrator says she has not been well.]

Huh? Why?

The moment he asked, Sejun realized his mistake. The message hadn’t changed, but Sejun belatedly felt a chilling aura from the message.

‘I shouldn’t have asked…’

Just as Sejun was trembling with unease on Uil’s head,

[The Tower Administrator asks, ‘Who is the woman in the picture on the thing in your pocket?’]

Aileen’s message used strange words.

Picture on what?

Sejun wondered.

[The Tower Administrator shouts, ‘WHO IS SHE?!’]

Sejun could feel Aileen was very angry.

That woman?

While talking with Aileen,

Moo-err!

Uil, sensing the seriousness of the atmosphere, quickly ran, dropped Sejun off at the farm, and hurried back.

And then,

Ah! The brain-attribute item must be referring to the smartphone.

Looking at the screen of the smartphone, which was turned on, he could tell who Aileen was talking about.

The woman in this photo is Sera from the girl group Moonlight Fairies…

[The Tower Administrator asks anxiously what your relationship with that woman is.]

What relationship? No relationship at all? Just a fan?

[The Tower Administrator asks what a fan is.]

Glare.

Kaiser was glaring at Sejun from the side. If he said something wrong here, he would be on his way to the afterlife. He had to explain himself well.

Um… someone who cheers you on to do well?

[The Tower Administrator says she understands.]

Oh?! Really?

The misunderstanding was resolved much easier than he thought.

[The Tower Administrator says that a fan is someone who cheers on a pitiful person to do well, right?]

On the wallpaper, Sera was wearing torn skinny jeans and a loose hoodie.

From Aileen’s perspective, who didn’t know about Earth’s fashion, Sera was a beggar who couldn’t even afford to buy fabric and just wore ripped pants and picked up a top that she could throw on.

Oh?! Th-that’s right! That’s it! That’s what it is!

Well, it was kind of similar. When he first became a fan of Sera, she wasn’t very popular. She might have been a little pitiful?

[The Tower Administrator says she is sorry for misunderstanding.]

No, it’s okay. It happens sometimes. More importantly, I brought this for you, Aileen. It’s called a banana.

Sejun quickly changed the subject.

[The Tower Administrator says thank you.]

[The Tower Administrator says to change the wallpaper of the smartphone to her picture later.]

Okay. I’ll do that. I’ll take a good picture of you later.

Sejun readily agreed. It would be cool to have a picture of a giant black dragon as the wallpaper.

[The Tower Administrator says she is happy.]

Having safely overcome the crisis, Sejun carefully pushed the seeds into the soil, hoping for juicy mangoes and watermelons soon. He imagined sharing them with everyone. Sejun planted the mango and watermelon seeds he had brought from the 77th floor in the field in front of his house. He had collected all the seeds that the animals had eaten, so he had about 200 mango seeds and 3000 watermelon seeds.

Swish.

Grow well.

As Sejun watered the place where he had planted the mangoes and watermelons, encouraging the seeds to grow well,

Kkueng!

[Daddy, I’m here!]

Kkueng arrived and hugged Sejun’s leg.

Oh?! How did you get here so fast?

It was too fast.

At that moment,

Oink, oink, oink. I came with her through the hyperspace merchant passage.

Iona, who had been hidden behind Kkueng, peeked out and said.

Iona got permission from the dragons to build a magic tower on the 99th floor. She quickly went down to the 77th floor to ask Sejun for his okay too. There, she met Kkueng. Kkueng told her Sejun was already on the 99th floor. So, they came up together.

Sejun, I have something to tell you.

What is it?

Iona began to talk about building a magic tower on the 99th floor.

75th floor of the Tower, shopping district.

Where can I buy land papers, meow?!

Theo, having quickly finished trading with the hunters, wandered around the shopping district, asking where to buy land deeds.

It’s easier to ask the main office of the Wandering Merchant Group. They usually help people buy and sell land papers.

Thank you, meow!

Theo thanked him. He was about to rush to the main office when someone said,

Listen, the fee at the office is high. And you need to be a top merchant to even buy land. I have land papers right here. Why pay extra? Let’s make a deal now, just you and me.

I refuse, meow!

Theo refused sharply.

Yeah, the fee isn’t cheap… What?!

The snake merchant, who didn’t expect Theo to refuse, was flustered.

Theo puffed out his chest. Chairman Park told me not to trust nice merchants, meow! And soon, *I* will be the best merchant!

He marched proudly to the main office.

I will be promoted to the best wandering merchant, meow!

He went straight to the staff and announced loudly.

The promotion requirement for the best wandering merchant was 10 million Tower Coins. But his total accumulated sales amount from today’s transactions exceeded 15 million Tower Coins. He easily met the requirements to become the best wandering merchant.

However,

It is not possible.

Why, meow?!

He was rejected.