Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 221

Kim Mi-ran was teaching Sejun how to make tofu when Sejun and Kkuenge suddenly disappeared from the mirror, cutting off their conversation. She had been explaining, “Mix vinegar and salt in a 2:1 ratio and add it to the soybean milk. Don’t stir it too much, or the tofu won’t set properly… Huh?! Sejun?”

Kim Mi-ran looked disappointed. “I still had more to say…”

Just then, something came to mind. She hurriedly opened the front door and went outside.

She called out towards the apple tree in the middle of the flower bed, which had been planted there since they moved in, “Fire!”

The apple tree replied, “Yes, Master’s mother, did you call me?!”

Not long after Fire had taken root in the basement of the house to protect Sejun’s family, Kim Mi-ran had been worried.

Watering the flower bed, her voice filled with concern for Sejun, she had said, “I just want Sejun to tell Hunter Han Tae-jun that he’s doing well. Why doesn’t he ever come out of the Tower… Is he eating properly?”

Thinking he should do something, Fire connected the roots of the apple tree in the flower bed with his own roots to ease Kim Mi-ran’s worries.

He spoke to Kim Mi-ran through the apple tree, occasionally sharing news of Sejun and reassuring the family who were worried about him. “Hello… Master’s mother, I’m Fire.”

However, Fire only talked about the good things that happened to Sejun, so his family didn’t worry about him as much. He had said things like:

“Hee hee hee. Sejun has a girlfriend?! And she’s a stunning beauty?!”

“Really?! With just a word from Sejun, the monsters in the Tower will pretend to die?”

“He even ate ramen recently? They have everything in the Tower.”

Trying to ease her worries went too far. Thanks to that, Kim Mi-ran wasn’t too worried even after seeing Sejun for the first time in almost a year. Moreover, the surrounding environment visible through the mirror was completely reclaimed wasteland, filled with crops like corn and cherry tomatoes, making Sejun’s place look like a typical peaceful countryside.

Back to the present, Kim Mi-ran, unable to satisfy her curiosity because the conversation with Sejun was interrupted, asked Fire, “Fire, honey, the video call with Sejun cut off! So annoying. Hey, can I ask you something quick?”

Fire replied, “Of course, Mom! Anything for you!”

Kim Mi-ran asked, “It’s about Sejun… his skin! It looks amazing now, so smooth! What’s his secret?”

Fire, momentarily puzzled by Kim Mi-ran’s question, explained why Sejun’s skin had improved. “Skin… oh! You mean Master’s face? Ah, that’s because of Theo…”

Kim Mi-ran exclaimed, “So, Sejun’s skin got better because he’s getting kneaded by Theo, the cat he’s raising?!”

Fire confirmed, “Yes!”

Kim Mi-ran was simply envious of her son, who was getting cat kneading massages and having his skin improve. “Sejun is so lucky. Getting kneaded and having his skin improve… I’m so jealous.”

Kim Mi-ran regretted not seeing Theo. “Come to think of it, I didn’t see Theo. I should ask Sejun to show me Theo later.”

Suddenly remembering that she had left the soybean paste stew, a warm and savory Korean dish, on the stove, Kim Mi-ran hurriedly ran to the kitchen. “Oh my! Look at my scatterbrain!”

Fire was relieved that Sejun hadn’t found out that his roots had spread this far. “Phew. I’m glad Master’s mother didn’t tell Master about me.”

Aileen opened the portal in the administrator area and arrived at the Black Dragon’s territory. “Grandfather, I’m here!”

Kaiser welcomed her with a booming laugh, “Kahaha! Our granddaughter has arrived?!”

Aileen got straight to the point, “Grandfather, where’s the stuff?”

Aileen warned Kaiser that it was absolutely not free and handed over the Samyangju. Kaiser gave the Samyangju to the black dragons as Aileen requested and received scales in return.

Kaiser gestured with a wide, proud grin towards the mountain of black scales he had received in exchange for the Samyangju. The scales shimmered like dark jewels under the light. “It’s over there. This time, I received three scales engraved with Dragon Skin magic per cup of Samyangju. Kahaha. How is it?”

Yesterday at lunch, when the 300 jars of Samyangju that Sejun had made a week ago were completed, 3333 bottles of Samyangju were delivered to each dragon race, and yesterday all the dragons had tasted at least one cup of Samyangju. And because of the good taste and the mind-clearing effect of Samyangju, it quickly became the dragons’ favorite drink. There might have been dragons who didn’t drink a single cup, but there couldn’t have been dragons who only drank one cup. Thanks to this, the black dragons didn’t complain at all when Kaiser told them to pay the price and offered their scales engraved with Dragon Skin magic. In fact, they even asked to offer more scales in exchange for more alcohol.

Aileen took the pile of scales and hurriedly turned towards the portal. “Grandfather, thank you. Then, I’ll be going!”

Kaiser, who was feeling regretful, asked, “Oh?! Are you leaving already?”

Aileen replied, “Yes. I have a lot to do!”

Aileen left Kaiser and hurriedly returned to the administrator area.

Thinking about Sejun being happy, she smiled slightly. “Khee hee hee. Sejun will be happy, right?”

Aileen delivered the black dragon scales she had received from Kaiser to Sejun.

Aileen spoke to Sejun, who was eating breakfast and drinking his morning coffee. “The Tower’s Administrator says this was received in exchange for Samyangju.”

Approximately 80,000 black dragon scales appeared in front of Sejun with a thud!

Sejun thanked her. “Aileen, thank you.”

Sejun put the black dragon scales he received from Aileen into his subspace warehouse. It was more than he needed, but one dragon scale could help him survive a life-threatening crisis, so it couldn’t hurt to have more.

As he put the black dragon scales into the subspace warehouse and came out of the warehouse,

Kkuenge hurriedly tried to go to the western forest. “Papa, Kkuenge is going to check on the herbs!”

Sejun said, noticing that Kkuenge’s snack pouch was empty, “Kkuenge, you should take a snack with you.”

Unbelievably, Kkuenge refused the food and quickly headed towards the western forest. “No! It’s okay!”

Sejun thought, “That Kkuenge is acting suspicious.”

Theo tilted his head, a soft “nya?” sound escaping him. “What’s suspicious?”

Sejun watched Kkuengi scamper away, a thoughtful frown on his face. “It’s Kkuengi,” he said to Theo. “Lately, he hasn’t been filling his snack pouch when he goes out, and he’s coming back late every evening.”

Sejun’s suspicion had been growing for days, ever since they made tofu. That’s when Kkuengi had suddenly stopped asking him for snacks. Now, even when Kkuengi returned at dusk, he wouldn’t eat. He would just bounce around Sejun for a bit before curling up to sleep. Sejun had watched him, a knot of worry tightening in his stomach.

“Could he be sick somewhere?”

At first, Sejun was worried Kkuengi might be sick, but Kkuengi was too energetic for that.

“If that’s the case… there’s only one thing left.”

“What is it, nya?!”

Sejun looked at Theo with a playful smile. “Theo, you don’t know? Really? A famous detective like Sherlock Sejun needs a brilliant assistant. Can you even be called Assistant Theotson if you don’t know this?”

“Nya?! What is Theotson, nya?”

Theo was puzzled by Sejun’s sudden role-playing. He didn’t know what was going on, nya!

“There is such a thing. So, are you not going to be my assistant?!”

“I will, nya! I am Chairman Park’s right-hand man and assistant, nya!”

He didn’t know what ‘Theotson’ meant, but Theo always wanted to help Sejun. So, he puffed out his chest and said he would be Sejun’s assistant, no matter what it was.

“Good. Seeing Theotson’s enthusiasm, I’ll let it slide this time.”

“Thank you, nya! I will work hard in the future, nya!”

“Good! That’s the attitude! Theotson!”

Sejun was satisfied with Theo’s proactive attitude.

“Theotson, listen carefully. Considering Kkuengi’s eating habits, it doesn’t make sense that he hasn’t eaten anything. Right?”

Sejun continued his deduction.

“That’s right, nya! It doesn’t make sense for Kkuengi to starve, nya!”

Theo eagerly agreed with Sejun’s words.

“Which means…”

“Which means? What is it, nya? I’m so curious, nya! Tell me quickly, nya!”

“Kkuengi is eating delicious things all by himself! Heh heh! How about that?! The deduction of the famous detective Sherlock Sejun?”

Sejun said in a boastful voice at Theo’s attitude of urging him, saying he was dying of curiosity.

“Golden Bat! Go and bring Iona.”

He called the Golden Bat to bring Iona from the Magic Tower in the Black Field.

The time had finally come to question Kkuengi’s crime, which he couldn’t pursue due to having only circumstantial evidence and no concrete proof.

‘That Kkuengi is probably eating delicious things alone and giving me only the tasteless ones.’

Sejun was planning to tail Kkuengi and catch him in the act of eating delicious things alone.

That’s why he had the Golden Bat bring Iona. To approach the scene without being caught by Kkuengi’s excellent sense of smell, he needed Iona’s wind magic.

He had also considered moving underground, but Kkuengi had learned how to detect enemies moving underground from the Pink Fur while fighting the corrupted Ents last time.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

“[Something on the floor! I’ll hit it first!]”

If Kkuengi suspected something and hit the floor once with his front paw… it was too dangerous.

A little later,

“Kkyu kkyu kkyu. Sejun, did you call?”

The Golden Bat and Iona flew in.

“You came just in time, Iona. From now on, we’re going to secretly tail Kkuengi, so please hide our scent with your wind magic.”

“Kkyu kkyu kkyu. Tailing?! That sounds fun. Leave it to me!”

Iona showed interest in the idea of tailing and actively cooperated.

“Puhuhut. Even if Iona hides the scent, it is I, the famous assistant Theotson, who will assist the famous detective Sherlock Sejun, nya!”

Theo, immersed in the role-playing, clung to Sejun’s knee and confidently shouted. He now had a grasp of what Chairman Park wanted, nya!

“Good! Let’s go!”

Sejun, along with Theo, Iona, and the Golden Bat, set off to the Western Forest to catch Kkuengi in his sneaky snacking.

Western Forest.

Kkueng!

“[Arrived!]”

Kkuengi, who hadn’t eaten properly in the morning, arrived at a place where giant trees were draped in thick, green kudzu vines, like nature’s blankets, and hurriedly began to sniff.

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

“[Hehehe. I smell honey here!]”

Crack!

Kkuengi, having found the scent he wanted, dug his front paw into the tree trunk and pulled out a blue kudzu root. It was thick and juicy, smelling sweetly of honey.

Kkueng!

“[Found a honey-flavored herb!]”

Crunch. Crunch.

He ate it deliciously.

Kkueng!

“[Delicious!]”

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

Kkuengi chewed on the kudzu root, shaking his butt and dancing as the sweet juice flowed out.

After finding and eating several honey-flavored kudzu roots like that,

Sniff sniff.

Kkuengi began to look for new kudzu roots.

At that moment,

Kkueng!

“[I smell something bitter here!]”

Crack!

Kkuengi, smelling the bitter scent, dug his front paw into the tree and pulled out a red kudzu root, smaller and darker, with a sharp, bitter smell.

Kkueng!

“[This is for Daddy!]”

Kkuengi quickly put the red kudzu root into his snack pouch.

“Got him! You rascal!”

Sejun said, watching Kkuengi’s misdeeds of eating the blue kudzu roots and putting the red kudzu roots in his bag with the Clairvoyance magic cast by Iona.

As Sejun expected, Kkuengi was eating the delicious things himself and giving Sejun only the bitter herbs.

What was even more infuriating was that Kkuengi was digging up blue kudzu roots at a ratio of 9 to 1 red kudzu root. Even though the ratio of delicious kudzu roots was overwhelmingly high, he didn’t give Sejun even one root to try.

‘You rascal, Kkuengi! You must have been giving me only the bitter stuff when there were definitely delicious things!’

Sejun, enraged by Kkuengi’s wickedness, quietly approached Kkuengi.

“Got you! You little thief!”

Kkueng?

Sejun grabbed the scruff of Kkuengi’s neck, who was diligently eating the blue kudzu root.