Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 21

Theo lined up the female hunters and took photos of them one by one.

After taking the photos, Theo held out his paw. “Payment, please.”

“Wow, your paw pads are so pink!”

Catherine gently pressed Theo’s paw pads. *Squish, squish.* Theo felt a little ticklish, but he had to get paid by this human, so he waited.

“Here you go.”

Catherine handed over a bag filled with white powder.

“What’s this?”

“It’s salt.”

“Good.”

Whoosh!

Theo quickly put the salt into his bundle.

‘Yes! With this salt, I can get one hour with Representative Te!’

Just then,

“And this is just for you, Theo. Thank you, I feel much happier now.”

Catherine handed Theo the Churu snack she had brought.

“Just for me?”

“Yes. You let me touch your paw, didn’t you?”

“Gasp! That’s why?!”

Theo was greatly shocked by Catherine’s words.

‘Humans give you food just for letting them touch your paws!’

“Next person, please!”

Theo took a photo with the next human in line.

Plop.

While taking the photo, Theo carefully placed his paw on the female hunter’s hand.

‘Touch my paw!’

As Theo planned, the female hunters couldn’t resist touching Theo’s paw, and they offered him Churu snacks, just like Catherine.

“Yes! Are my paws so cute to humans?”

Theo said, cleaning his paw thoroughly.

‘Yes! Now I can sit on Park Se-jun’s lap!’

Thanks to the female hunters, Theo had a big misunderstanding.

“My status…” Kim Dong-shik’s shoulders slumped. He had proudly said he would bring back 200 magical cherry tomatoes this time.

Just then,

“Is there a human from Korea here?” Theo asked loudly, after he finished taking photos with the female hunters.

“Korea?” The hunters looked at Kim Dong-shik.

One hunter asked, “Isn’t the Korean leader here?”

“Are you from Korea?” Theo approached Kim Dong-shik.

“Yeah, I’m from Korea. Why?”

“I have something to say quietly. Follow me.” Theo took Kim Dong-shik to a quiet corner so that the other hunters couldn’t listen secretly.

Se-jun woke up with a yawn. He didn’t sleep well because the rabbit couple had been making noise all night.

He scratched another mark on the wall, counting the days he had been there, and started his day.

He scooped water from the small pond with a plastic container, washed his face simply, and added two spoons of honey to a cup to make honey water.

From a few days ago, flowers had started to bloom on the many cherry tomato trees, increasing the number of flowers for the honeybees to collect nectar from.

Yesterday, five new baby poison honeybees were born. Because of this, honey production had increased a lot, so even if he drank it every day like this, the honey being made was more than the honey being used.

Bbyaang… Bbyuk… The baby rabbits came out of their burrow and greeted Se-jun with weak voices.

“You didn’t sleep well either? Well, this honey water is just for those of us who are alone.”

Bbyaa! Bbyuk! The baby rabbits held out the carrot cups that were already ready.

Glug glug glug.

“You really can’t let me down, okay? You are the only ones I can rely on.”

Se-jun said as he poured honey water for the rabbits. However, the rabbits seemed bothered by Se-jun’s words, took only the honey water, and quickly left.

Bbyaak!

Only the black rabbit remained, chugged the honey water, shook the empty cup, and held out the carrot cup again.

“Okay. Black rabbit, I believed in you.”

Glug glug glug.

Se-jun poured honey water full to the carrot cup for the black rabbit, who seemed loyal. But the black rabbit also took one more cup of honey water and just left.

Tch.

The disappointment of the rabbits left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Gulp. Gulp.

Thus, Se-jun washed away the disappointment with honey water and started his morning farming.

Click.

[You have harvested a well-ripened magical cherry tomato.] [Job experience slightly increases.] [Skill of Harvesting Lv. 3 slightly increases.] [You have gained 12 experience.]

“Oh, a plus grade.”

Se-jun stored the E+ grade cherry tomato separately. E+ grade lasted longer, so he wanted to eat it later than the other E grade cherry tomatoes.

Or he thought he could send it to Theo and get a better price. There was no harm in having a longer expiration date.

As Se-jun was harvesting cherry tomatoes, he began to smell something burning.

“I need to take them out soon.”

Se-jun was baking sweet potatoes to eat for lunch. He was still a bit upset about what the rabbit couple had done at night, but he still wanted to give them a treat since they had been good rabbits.

The treat here was the recently harvested and rare baked sweet potatoes.

The smell of baked sweet potatoes filled the air, and Se-jun began to take out the baked sweet potatoes.

But the number he was taking out was a whopping 50 baked sweet potatoes. No matter how much the rabbit couple needed a treat, it was too many.

Just then,

Cheep! Cheep! The rabbit couple came out of their house together, looking friendly.

“Let’s eat!” Bbyaa! Bbyuk! At Se-jun’s shout, the rabbits came running to eat lunch.

Cheep… Bbyaa… Bbyaak… The rabbits ate their fill of baked sweet potatoes, patted their bellies, and sprawled out. The rabbits ate 3 baked sweet potatoes each. They tried hard, but they couldn’t eat as much as they did with carrots.

“Ah, I’m full.”

Se-jun also ate 2 baked sweet potatoes and got up from his seat.

[The Tower’s Administrator asks if the rest is all for him.]

“I gave you 5 earlier. I have something else to do with these.”

[The Tower’s Administrator is disappointed.]

“Wait. I’ll let you eat something new.”

[The Tower’s Administrator nods his head at your words and is really looking forward to it.]

Se-jun spoke with the Tower’s Administrator and peeled the remaining baked sweet potatoes.

“Please slice these.” He asked the white rabbit, who was holding a small knife, to slice the baked sweet potatoes into pieces about the size of a little finger.

He had the black rabbit lay out the sliced sweet potatoes side by side on the leaves that were being dried, without overlapping them.

“Now, all that’s left is to dry them well.” The baked sweet potatoes were turning into sweet potato snacks under the warm sunlight.

Theo arrived at the merchant district on the 75th floor of the Tower, where the main place for wandering merchants was located. This time, he didn’t come to play, but because Se-jun had asked him to buy some things.

“Pot, ladle, bowl, spoon, dagger. Pot…” Theo walked through the shopping district, muttering the things Se-jun had asked him to buy so he wouldn’t forget. Se-jun couldn’t trust the easily tricked Theo, so he had him buy only the five most necessary and cheapest items for now.

“Welcome.”

Theo entered a general store, picked up the necessary items, and took them to the shop owner.

“The pot is 1 Tower Coin, the ladle is 0.2 Tower Coins, the bowl is 0.3 Tower Coins, and the spoon is 0.1 Tower Coins, so it’s a total of 1.6 Tower Coins.”

“Discount, please.”

“Hmm… then I’ll give it to you for 1.5 Tower Coins.”

“More discount.”

“Sir, we’re already giving it to you without adding any extra cost.”

“Okay.”

Theo answered and started to turn around and leave without any regrets.

“I give up. I’ll give it to you for 1.3 Tower Coins.”

“1.2 Tower Coins. Or I’m just going to leave.”

“Hmph. Alright. 1.2 Tower Coins.”

“Here.”

Theo bought the items and came out casually.

But Thump! Thump! Theo’s heart was beating wildly.

“Phew. I did it!”

Se-jun told Theo to use the 3-discount strategy to make sure Theo wasn’t a pushover.

Always ask for a discount when someone tells you the price, and if they say no, leave without regret. And if they catch you, ask for more discount there. Try to get a discount three times before you buy.

That way, Theo went to the blacksmith as Se-jun had taught him and tried the 3-discount strategy, buying a 20 Tower Coin dagger for 13 Tower Coins.

“Yes! Now I’m a wandering merchant who knows how to get good deals!”

As Theo was about to go to the 99th floor,

“This is an item from outside the Tower.”

“An item from outside?!”

“Yes. If you take this to the upper floors…” He heard a familiar voice from somewhere.

Theo turned his head, and there was the goblin wandering merchant Skaram, trying to scam another new merchant who was a fox.

‘That bad guy…!’

“Don’t believe Skaram. That guy is a scammer.” Theo stopped Skaram from scamming the new wandering merchant so that he wouldn’t get scammed like he had. Se-jun had prevented Theo from being a pushover in transactions, but he hadn’t anticipated his meddling.

“What?! Do you have any proof that I’m a scammer?!” Skaram was briefly surprised and confused to see Theo, but instead raised his voice and shouted.

“That tumbler, you definitely said it had preservation magic on it, right? Don’t believe it. It doesn’t have magic to keep things fresh. It just keeps heat from getting in or out, so things cool down slowly.”

Theo recalled what Se-jun had said and spoke confidently.

“Tch… just you wait.”

Skaram thought that this deal was ruined because Theo’s words were all correct and left.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I wasn’t scammed. What’s your name?”

“My name? I’m Theo.” “Theo, is it? Thank you so much for your help.”

“Okay. Be careful. Don’t be a pushover.” “Yes. Goodbye.”

Theo saved a pushover and went up to the 99th floor in a good mood.

The shopping district where Theo disappeared. The new fox wandering merchant entered a shop in a hidden alley.

“Welcome. What can I get for you?” “Eternal gold.”

The fox wandering merchant, after answering, passed the shop owner and pressed on a shield hanging in the corner.

Click.

The shield slid back, revealing stairs leading to the basement.

And as he went down the stairs, he saw merchants moving busily.

“Agent Jeras, how did the plan to catch Skaram go?”

“I’m sorry. It failed.”

Jeras was an agent from the Secret Inspection Bureau of the Wandering Merchant Association. They had a plan to catch Skaram in the act of scamming someone. Jeras pretended to be a new merchant because they heard Skaram was scamming new merchants.

‘If it weren’t for that guy!’

Jeras was angry. He remembered Theo and clenched his fists.

“I feel good just thinking about Skaram’s upset face.” Theo unknowingly ended up saving Skaram.

A fancy car from another country arrived in front of an apartment building in a city.

“Is this Se-jun’s house?” Kim Dong-shik looked up at the building and recalled his conversation with Theo.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s make a deal.” Theo took out a contract. Contracts made in the Tower were also legal outside, so people often used them for deals.

Kim Dong-shik looked at the contract. The things Se-jun had written before were written on the contract.

“Deliver a lot of money to the family of Park Se-jun at their home address?”

“That’s right. And you have to tell them that Se-jun is doing well. The price is 200 magical cherry tomatoes and 50 Tower Coins.” Theo took out the cherry tomatoes he had set aside.

“I’ll do it!” Kim Dong-shik, who needed 200 magical cherry tomatoes, shouted.

“But who is Park Se-jun?”

“Park Se-jun is an amazing man! He saved my life on the 40th floor. That’s why I’m helping him out.”

It was a plan that Theo had arranged with Se-jun.

“What?! The 40th floor?” That’s how the rumor started that a very talented hunter had secretly reached the 40th floor.

‘The family of such a hunter… if I make friends with them, it will be helpful later.’

Kim Dong-shik took out an expensive gift from the trunk and entered the apartment.

Ding-dong.

Kim Dong-shik pressed the doorbell of Se-jun’s house.