Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 153

Koshi! Koshi!

[Here it is! I brought the most delicious head especially!]

Kkuengi was putting chestnuts in his pouch. At that moment, Godori came proudly. He had a snake’s head for Sejun. It was as big as a fist. It was dripping with blood, as if it had just been hunted.

“Ah! Sorry… I forgot I ate a little while ago.”

Koshi… Koshi!

[Oh dear… Then take it and eat it when you’re hungry!]

Godori pushed the snake’s head towards Sejun.

“No! That will never happen!!!”

Sejun shouted, stepping back.

Koshi…?

[Could it be that you don’t like our hospitality…?]

Godori asked anxiously.

“Ah… No, it’s not that…”

As Sejun struggled to tell the truth, he heard,

“Sejun-nim, I’m… I’m sorry!”

Hegel and the Black Wolf tribe wolves, who had run over quickly, prostrated themselves and apologized. They had hurried back after hearing the news from the Golden Bat that Sejun was looking for them, cutting short their conversation with the Floor 83 Waypoint boss.

Hegel’s eyes caught sight of the hedgehogs surrounding Sejun.

‘There were monsters?!’

“Sejun-nim! Please, let me take responsibility with my life!”

Hegel felt very guilty. He thought he had failed. He wanted to fix his mistake, no matter what it took.

“It’s okay. But please be a little more careful next time.”

Honestly, he was glad it was a hedgehog; if another monster had appeared, it might not have ended so well.

“Yes! Thank you for forgiving me! I will engrave Sejun-nim’s words in my bones!”

“Okay. But Hegel, you look very hungry? You must be hungry from running? You must be very hungry? Aren’t you? Eat this.”

Sejun pointed at the snake head. He really wanted Hegel to take it.

“Yes?! Sejun-nim…”

‘To give this delicious thing to me, who made a mistake!’

It is said that Hegel was deeply moved that day.

“Alright! Let’s get to work!”

Sejun, having passed the snake’s head to Hegel, hurriedly began harvesting chestnuts.

Koshi!

When the hedgehogs climbed up the trees and dropped the chestnut burrs, Kkuengi and Sejun split open the burrs and took out the chestnuts.

Kkueng!

Kkuengi sat plop on the ground and easily peeled the chestnut burrs that the hedgehogs brought, but

“Move Earth!”

Sejun used his skill to put 100 chestnut burrs into the ground at once and peel them, a cumbersome method. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t peel them with his hands.

When they had neatly cleared the chestnut burrs from about half of the chestnut trees,

Grumble.

Kkueng!

[Daddy, I’m hungry!]

Kkuengi’s tummy clock rang. It was dinner time.

Koshi!

[We will catch dinner for Kkuengi-nim!]

Godori made a fuss as if something terrible had happened at Kkuengi’s words that he was hungry.

“No! You guys have worked hard too. Let’s eat something different today.”

Koshi…

[No, but…]

Godori looked around anxiously.

“No! Stay still! Or I’ll kick you out of the farm!”

Sejun spoke sternly, even threatening the hedgehogs. He couldn’t bring himself to eat the snake’s head.

Koshi!

[We will stay still!]

The hedgehogs froze at Sejun’s words. No, guys, that’s not what I meant. Sejun explained that he meant they didn’t have to get dinner again, and then started preparing dinner.

Dinner was chestnut porridge and roasted chestnuts using the chestnuts harvested today.

Splash.

Sejun went to the stream near the farm and washed the chestnuts diligently. They had harvested almost 100,000 chestnuts today. He washed 5,000 of them.

“Alright! Wash them hard!”

Koshi!

Of course, he did it with the hedgehogs. Since there were so many hedgehogs, it was easy to wash 5,000 chestnuts even if each hedgehog only washed one.

After washing the chestnuts, he put 3,000 of them in a pot and started boiling them.

And

“You guys, score the chestnuts.”

(Yes!)

“Yes! Leave it to us!”

He had the Golden Bat and the wolves score the remaining 2,000 chestnuts for roasting. That way, they could peel the shells easily later.

Swish.

Sejun then used the rice dough that swallowed the wealth to pour rice flour into the pot, add water, and stir it continuously with a stick while boiling it.

At that time,

Kkueng?

[Kkuengi has nothing to do?]

Kkuengi, who usually only sleeps in the back, was asking if there was anything to do today.

“Of course, there is. Here, just keep stirring this.”

Sejun didn’t miss the opportunity and tossed his work to Kkuengi.

“Hegel, find out the way to the waypoint. We’re going to harvest chestnuts and go straight up to Floor 99.”

Using the little time he had left, Sejun instructed Hegel to find out the way to the waypoint in advance. It was for a quick return to Floor 99.

The chestnut harvest was larger than expected, and the return time to Floor 99 was being delayed.

“Yes! I’ve already finished talking to the boss guarding the waypoint.”

The boss guarding the waypoint, Black Mongoose, said when Hegel told him that the great Black Dragon would soon be visiting the waypoint,

Mong!!!

He was preparing a grand party by ordering his subordinates at the news that he could receive the great Black Dragon.

‘Surely it’s not a giant snake head?’

Sejun put aside his unease and took out a chestnut to check if the chestnuts were cooked well.

Scratch.

When he cut the chestnut in half with a dagger and ate the contents, it was fluffy.

“It’s cooked well. Guys, peel this now.”

Sejun entrusted the task of peeling the boiled chestnuts to the Golden Bat and the wolves, who were resting after scoring the chestnuts.

Koshi!

[We will do it too!]

Godori stepped forward, feeling uneasy about only playing.

“How are you going to peel this?”

Ting!

At Sejun’s question, Godori pulled out one of his steel thorns.

And

Kosyusyusyuk.

He took a fencing posture and thrust it at the boiled chestnut.

Koshi?

[How is it?]

Godori asked with a confident expression.

“I heard you making noises with your mouth. And I told you to peel the chestnut shell, not to make a hole!”

Koshi…

[I’m sorry…]

“No, you don’t have to be sorry…”

Sejun scolded Godori for not doing the job properly, but he couldn’t bring himself to be too harsh.

‘What if he gets annoyed and stabs me?’

Godori’s stabbing attack was no ordinary threat. It could put a hole in Sejun’s bone armor.

“If you’re bored, pick up chestnut burrs.”

Koshi!

[Yes!]

Until dinner was finished, the hedgehogs picked up chestnut burrs again.

“Alright! Let’s eat dinner!”

Sejun and the animals enjoyed a hearty meal of roasted chestnuts and warm chestnut porridge before drifting off to sleep.

Taru watched Theo confidently present 1000 Tower Coins, a sense of bewilderment washing over him.

‘The box I took last time couldn’t possibly be anything valuable…’ Taru thought.

‘He’s not the type to give up after just one failure, is he?’ It seemed Theo had succeeded in the lottery and returned to draw again, leading Taru to believe he was a truly persistent cat merchant.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and take the money, nya!” Theo urged, eager to quickly draw again and return to Sejun—or rather, to Sejun’s lap.

“Alright. Remember, you can only take one item this time as well,” Taru said.

Thud.

Taru opened the door to the lost-and-found warehouse.

“I know that, nya! I’m going in, nya nya nya!” Theo hummed, stepping into the lost-and-found warehouse. The warehouse had a central corridor with four rooms on each side, making a total of eight rooms.

“It’s this way, nya.” Theo extended his paw, guided by a faint pull. He ended up in the third room on the left. Inside, a big pile of junk. It looked like people just threw lost things in here.

The junk pile was covered in a thick layer of dust, a testament to its neglect. It seemed he would have to get covered in dust to find anything.

Originally, this was where the pull from his paw was strongest, but Theo had passed it by because he didn’t want to get dirty.

“Looks like I have to search here after all, nya!”

Theo eagerly started digging into the junk pile. He felt a weaker pull from another room, also filled with junk, but this room felt stronger.

Theo spent an hour rummaging through the junk pile.

“Found it, nya!”

Covered in dust, Theo picked up a black stone fragment that fit perfectly in his paw.

“But what is this, nya?” Theo examined the stone fragment closely. It was just a stone. But getting it was his role.

“Eileen, the appraiser, will know what this is, nya!” Theo thought.

And once the appraisal was done…

“Puhu-hut. Theo’s Vice-Chairman term will be extended, nya!”

Theo strutted out of the warehouse, his tail held high.

“Are you really going to take that?” Taru asked, looking at Theo, who was grimy and holding a black stone fragment as he exited the lost-and-found warehouse. He had been in there for over an hour, so Taru had expected him to come out with something amazing…

“That’s right, nya!” Theo answered cheerfully, holding up the stone fragment. It was a sight that couldn’t help but evoke sympathy.

Taru felt more and more guilty. Last time it was a shabby box, and this time it was a stone fragment that looked like he could pick up dozens on the street.

‘If you wanted a stone fragment like that, just search the streets! Don’t make me feel guilty!’ Taru thought.

“Then I’ll be going, nya!”

“Alright,” Taru replied.

As Theo turned to leave, Taru barely resisted the urge to call him back and return his money.

‘Now that he’s taken such a stone fragment, he really won’t come back, right?’ Taru felt a little sad at the thought of Theo never coming back.

Thud!

Taru closed the lost-and-found warehouse, feeling a sense of regret.

“Oof!” Sejun woke up feeling refreshed. It was only natural, having slept on the soft belly of Kkuenge, who had grown to a massive size of 3 meters.

Sejun carefully got off Kkuenge’s belly and prepared breakfast. He decided on honey sirutteok for the morning menu.

It didn’t take much effort. He added a little water to the rice flour, sifted it through a fine sieve, put half of it into the steamer first, sprinkled honey in the middle, and then added the remaining rice flour before steaming it to finish. The sweet smell of honey and warm rice filled the air.

About 20 minutes later, as the sirutteok was nearing completion…

Sniff sniff.

Kkuenge?

[Is that the smell of honey sirutteok about to be finished, yo?]

Kkuenge miraculously smelled it and woke up. They ate honey sirutteok for breakfast and started harvesting chestnuts again.

At that moment,

“Sejun, leave it to us now! We’ll do everything!” Hegel spoke, using the Land Manipulation skill to take chestnuts out of their burrs, skillfully showing how to peel the chestnut burrs. “We help now! We good at peeling!”

The wolves had been whimpering in the corner since yesterday, apparently practicing how to peel chestnut burrs.

“You’ve worked hard. But I need practice too… Let’s just do it together,” Sejun said.

“Yes!”

Sejun was practicing the Land Manipulation skill while harvesting chestnuts. Thanks to that, there were results. Yesterday, he could take chestnuts out of about 100 burrs at once, but today he could take them out of about 120 burrs.

Thanks to the wolves joining in peeling the chestnut burrs, the chestnut harvest ended faster than expected.

“Godori, keep guarding the chestnut tree farm well.”

Kkosi!

[Leave it to me! I’ll give my life!]

Godori answered with a determined expression at Sejun’s words.

“No. You can run away if it’s too dangerous. Just get the news to the 99th floor of the Tower. Got it? Don’t risk your life.”

Sejun instructed Godori and set off for the waypoint.

“Let’s go!”

Sejun rode the wolves and arrived at the waypoint after about an hour.

[Black Mongoose Mongu, Boss of the 83rd Floor of the Tower]

Mong mong!

Mongu, the boss of the 83rd floor of the Tower, about 1 meter in size, and his subordinates, the other black mongooses, bowed to Sejun.

‘As expected…’ Sejun thought.

As Sejun had anticipated, a giant snake head was being roasted behind the black mongooses for Sejun.

Sejun spoke quickly before Mongu could offer him the snake head. “I’m not hungry, so you guys eat my share without leaving any behind!”

“Yes! Let’s go, everyone!”

Mong?!

The black mongooses were puzzled by the order to eat the snake head, but when the wolves started eating it, the black mongooses also hurriedly began to eat the snake head.

Kkuenge!

“Kkuenge can’t!” Sejun stopped Kkuenge, who was trying to run after the wolves.

And

[The waypoint on the 83rd floor of the Tower has been saved.]

[Loading waypoints from other saved floors.]

[Saved waypoints from other floors (2)]

-99th floor of the Tower

-77th floor of the Tower

He registered the waypoints.

“Let’s go now. Kkuenge and Golden Bat, go into the subspace warehouse.”

As Sejun was about to move to the 99th floor of the Tower through the waypoint,

“Huh?! Theo is nearby?”

Sniff sniff.

Bat bat…

Kkuenge and Golden Bat focused on the smell and sound at Sejun’s words.

A moment later,

Kkuenge!

[I smell Big Bro, yo!]

(I hear Big Brother’s footsteps!)

The two felt Theo was nearby and looked at Sejun in amazement. Sejun felt the same way.

“But how did I sense him?”

It seemed that just as Theo had a Sejun detector, Sejun had also gained the ability to detect Theo.

After waiting for about 30 minutes,

“Chairman Park, I’ve arrived, nya!” Theo, in his grimy state, appeared and clung to Sejun’s lap. Thanks to that, they were able to return to the 99th floor of the Tower together.

And

“Chairman Park, this is not right, nya! As Vice-Chairman Theo, I refuse to bathe, nya!”

“I refuse too.”

Splash.

As soon as they arrived, Theo headed straight for the fountain for a bath.