Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 22

A young man’s voice, a little nervous, called from inside. “Who’s there?”

“Hello,” Kim Dong-shik said clearly. “I’m here because Mr. Park Se-jun asked me to visit.”

A surprised shout came from inside. “Huh?! Mom!”

Then a woman’s voice, full of worry, “Honey, who is it?”

Kim Dong-shik frowned. ‘Was something wrong inside? Had Se-jun not told them he was sending someone?’ He almost considered kicking the door open to check, but then –

*Clunk*.

The lock clicked open.

A young man in his twenties opened the door, his eyes wide with surprise. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said quickly. “Please, come in.”

‘Se-jun’s younger brother, perhaps?’ Kim Dong-shik, holding a gift set of very high-quality beef, entered the house. The house was old, but it felt warm and well-cared for. The paint was peeling a little, and the wooden floor creaked when he stepped inside. The warmth felt like the smell of cooking and cozy furniture.

In the living room, there was a man in his fifties who looked similar to the man who had opened the door.

‘Se-jun’s father, I presume.’

Se-jun’s mother seemed to be in the inner room because of the earlier commotion.

“Let me introduce myself properly. I am Kim Dong-shik, the leader of Team 5 of the Phoenix Guild.”

“Huh?! Phoenix Guild?!”

Tap tap tap!

Se-dol, Se-jun’s younger brother, hastily began searching on his smartphone.

The Phoenix Guild was so famous that its members were all celebrities who had appeared on TV for interviews at least once. And a leader, no less?!

A leader-class figure in the Phoenix Guild would have tens of thousands of photos available with a simple internet search.

After finishing his search, Se-dol looked back and forth between the photo on his smartphone and Kim Dong-shik’s face.

“Y-yes… it’s him. This person really is Kim Dong-shik, the leader of Team 5 of the Phoenix Guild.”

“Then Se-jun is…”

“So, hyung is…”

From their faces, it seemed Se-jun’s family was misunderstanding something.

“I’ve come to deliver this at Park Se-jun’s request.”

Kim Dong-shik quickly handed over an envelope to clear up the misunderstanding.

However,

“Se-jun…”

“Hyung…”

It only led to a greater misunderstanding.

“This isn’t a will. It’s 50 million won, a lot of money.”

“Huh?!”

“…?!”

Se-dol quickly took out the contents of the envelope.

What came out of the envelope was a dazzling check with the number ‘50,000,000 won’ written on it.

“Park Se-jun asked me to tell his family that he is doing well. And this is my gift.”

Kim Dong-shik presented the Hanwoo gift set.

“Our Se-jun is really doing well, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is doing well.”

“Oh, thank you. Honey!”

Se-jun’s father, Park Chun-ho, hastily snatched the check from Se-dol’s hand and ran into the inner room.

After Se-jun sent a message saying he was entering the Tower, Se-jun’s family requested the Awakened People’s Association to confirm whether Se-jun was inside the Tower, as he had not returned for over three months.

However, as they had not received any contact even after two months, they began to think in a negative direction.

In that situation, when Kim Dong-shik said he had come at Se-jun’s request, they misunderstood that he had come to deliver a death notice. The family was very quiet and sad when they opened the door, making Kim Dong-shik wonder if something else was wrong before they jumped to the death notice idea.

A short while later,

Park Chun-ho, who had gone into the inner room, came out with his wife, Kim Mi-ran.

“Thank you. Our Se-jun is really alright, isn’t he? But why isn’t he coming out?”

“He says he can’t come out because of a quest. Mother, you don’t need to worry.”

Kim Dong-shik answered confidently. The quest was something Kim Dong-shik had come up with on the spur of the moment. Sometimes, there were quests in the Tower that became invalid if one left the Tower.

Moreover, he had a brief conversation with Se-dol and learned that it had been a little over five months since Se-jun entered the Tower.

No hunter had reached the 40th floor of the Tower in 10 years, but Se-jun had done it in 5 months? A genius of the century!

Kim Dong-shik began to develop fantasies about Se-jun’s talent. Then, his eyes turned to Se-dol. He was in good shape, and if his brother had such great talent, there was a high possibility that the younger brother also had talent.

He was tempted. He even wanted to give him a ticket himself and awaken him.

However, he didn’t do so because he didn’t know what Se-jun was thinking.

Becoming a hunter offered the opportunity to gain glamorous fame and money, but one had to risk their life to obtain it. Therefore, many hunters did not recommend becoming a hunter to their families.

Awakening someone without permission could worsen the relationship.

“Then, I’ll be on my way.”

“No, have a meal before you go.”

“No, I came straight here as soon as I came out of the Tower. My family is waiting.”

“Ah, I’ve kept a busy person. Then, go carefully.”

“Yes, I’ll be going then.”

Kim Dong-shik stopped Se-jun’s family from seeing him out and left the house.

Whoosh.

The contract in Kim Dong-shik’s arms began to burn with blue flames. It meant that the contract had been fulfilled. As it was magical fire, it didn’t burn anything else.

“Good.”

Vroom.

Kim Dong-shik started the car and headed home. It was time to take the magic cherry tomatoes and establish the prestige of the head of the household.

Day 161 of being stranded.

As soon as he woke up, he drew a line on the wall and washed his face.

“I hope it was delivered well.”

Se-jun thought of his family. He hoped the gift had been delivered well. He missed them terribly, even though he knew they would be worried. Sending money was the best way he could think of to tell them he was okay, without breaking the rules of the tower.

At that moment,

Whirr!

The poisonous honeybees were diligently going back and forth near the tall corn.

“Huh?”

As Se-jun approached, he noticed that flowers had bloomed at the ends of the corn stalks, which had only grown tall like grass and hadn’t garnered much attention until now.

Moreover, the seed potatoes he had bought from the seed shop had also sprouted.

“Sorry. Guys, I haven’t been paying attention lately.”

Swish.

Se-jun quickly washed his face and apologized as he watered the corn and potato sprouts.

Thanks to this, the rabbits also started working as soon as they woke up.

Out of 200 corn seeds, 139 had grown, and out of 400 seed potatoes, 282 had sprouted. The germination rate of the seeds bought from the seed shop seemed to be fixed at around 70%.

‘I’ll have to watch it a bit more.’

Se-jun watered the growing corn and potatoes and prepared breakfast.

Today’s breakfast menu was dried roasted sweet potato and carrots that had been dried in the sun yesterday. He had flipped the dried roasted sweet potato once before going to bed yesterday to ensure it dried well.

Se-jun picked up one of the dried roasted sweet potatoes with his finger to see if it was done well. The outside was well-dried and didn’t stick to his hand.

“Nice.”

Se-jun put the dried roasted sweet potato in his mouth with satisfaction.

Munch munch.

As soon as he chewed, the unique flavor of roasted sweet potato, along with the sweetness of the potato that had become more concentrated as the moisture evaporated in the sun, delighted Se-jun’s tongue.

Chewy chewy.

The chewy texture unique to dried roasted sweet potato added to the fun of eating.

Crunch.

Squeak?

Bbaa?

Bbyak?

The rabbits, having finished their carrots, looked at Se-jun with expectant eyes for new food. Can we eat it?

Nod.

As Se-jun nodded, the rabbits ran towards the dried roasted sweet potato.

Squeak!!

Bbyap!!

Bbyak!!

The rabbits eagerly munched on the dried roasted sweet potato, their eyes wide with delight at the intense sweetness.

[The Tower’s administrator asks if you’ve forgotten something.]

“I know.”

Se-jun filled the bag of washed apples he had eaten on the first day with dried roasted sweet potato.

“Here, enjoy.”

The bag of dried roasted sweet potato disappeared.

[The Tower’s administrator is delighted with the sweetness of the dried roasted sweet potato.]

Se-jun, who had introduced the taste of dried roasted sweet potato to the rabbits and the Tower’s administrator, also quickly began to eat the dried roasted sweet potato. He had dried 40 roasted sweet potatoes, but it seemed like they would disappear today.

After eating breakfast, Se-jun took three carrot tops, with about a finger’s length of stem left by the rabbits, and went to the field where he had harvested sweet potatoes a few days ago.

The black rabbit had already flattened the ground with a hammer, and two rabbits with shovels had created furrows, completing the field where new crops could be planted.

Se-jun dug into the soil of the ridge and planted the carrot tops so that the stems were not buried in the soil.

[You have planted the tops of the carrot roots.]

[Due to the effect of Seed Sowing Lv. 2, the probability of carrots taking root increases.]

[The proficiency of Seed Sowing Lv. 2 increases very slightly.]

After accidentally learning that carrot sprouts could grow even from just the tops, Se-jun forbade the rabbits from eating the tops.

And he was planting about 3-5 carrot tops that the rabbits left behind every day. Of course, he was also preparing to collect seeds by allowing some of the previously planted carrots to flower.

When he planted the third carrot top,

[The proficiency of Seed Sowing Lv. 2 increases very slightly.]

[The proficiency of Seed Sowing Lv. 2 is full, and the level increases.]

“Oh!”

The level of the Seed Sowing skill had increased. Farming was good for this. If you work hard, it accumulates little by little and gives you unexpected rewards.

It was a rewarding morning.

“Hum hum hum.”

Se-jun started harvesting cherry tomatoes, humming a tune.

While he was harvesting cherry tomatoes,

[You have acquired 1mL of cherry tomato flower honey.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

[You have acquired 1mL of cherry tomato flower honey.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

…
..
.

“Why isn’t there any corn flower honey?”

The poisonous honeybees were clearly going back and forth to the corn flowers, but there was no message saying he had acquired corn flower honey.

“Is there no honey in corn flowers?”

While Se-jun was thinking about whether there was honey in corn flowers, he noticed the bees going to the corn for a while.

Bbyak? Bbyak!

The black rabbit hopped towards him with a proud swagger. What are you doing? I leveled up!

It seemed he had caught another piranha and leveled up. At this rate, wasn’t he a piranha slaughterer?

“Huh?”

Se-jun noticed a dried roasted sweet potato dangling from the black rabbit’s butt as he walked. It seemed to have stuck while he was eating earlier.

“Puhahaha. Are you saving this for later?”

Se-jun removed the dried roasted sweet potato stuck to the black rabbit’s butt.

Tug.

It felt like something was being torn off.

Bbyak!

The black rabbit cried out as if it stung. Tears welled up in the black rabbit’s eyes, as if it really hurt.

“Oh?!”

Se-jun looked at the dried roasted sweet potato in his hand and saw black fur stuck all over it.

“Sorry.”

Bbyak!

The black rabbit pouted and lay down on Se-jun’s lap. It hurts, so pat me quickly.

“Alright.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Se-jun patted the black rabbit’s plump butt and took a short break.

As he was slowly getting ready to sleep, he discovered the pollen clumps.

Plop.

Before entering the hive, a poisonous honeybee left a yellow candy-like object in Se-jun’s hand.

[You have acquired 10g of corn pollen clump.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

“Corn pollen clump?”

It seemed the poisonous honeybees were going back and forth because of this pollen instead of honey. Se-jun examined the corn pollen clump in his hand and put it in his mouth.

Melt.

As soon as he put it in his mouth, the corn pollen clump dissolved in his saliva and loosened like cotton candy.

“Sweet.”

While Se-jun was smiling,

Plop. Plop. Plop.

[You have acquired 10g of corn pollen clump.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

…
..
.

The poisonous honeybees placed corn pollen clumps one by one in Se-jun’s palm and went home to their hive.

Before he knew it, Se-jun’s one hand was piled high with 15 corn pollen clumps.

“Hmm.”

Se-jun put another corn pollen clump in his mouth and savored the taste.

“I’m back, meow!”

Theo returned after completing his third sell-out and Se-jun’s errand.