Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 230

Deep inside the Black Tower, something stirred. “Burp,” a voice rumbled. “What’s this? My stomach feels too full.”

It was the creature, a piece of the great serpent Jormungandr, hidden in the darkness. “Those traders, Teo and Yuren, and their carts… they are taking longer to digest than usual,” the voice grumbled. “But it doesn’t matter. They are trapped inside me now.”

With a snap, the creature bit its own tail again and sank deeper into the shadows.

“Yes! Plenty of it!” Yuren answered Teo, sounding completely trusting.

Teo grinned to himself. *This pink pig is so easy to trick!* he thought. *Why ask for help if you just need to walk this way? I’ll pretend to save him and get a big reward later!*

“Heh heh heh,” Teo chuckled. “Just trust me, and follow me!”

Thinking he had found a fool, Teo happily walked ahead.

Soon, a chilling hiss echoed through the passage. *Hiss. Hiss.* White snakes slithered out from the walls.

“Stay back!” Teo ordered the caravan guards. “Nya meow!”

He stepped forward, facing the snakes alone. *I can’t lose those coins!* he thought fiercely. *They are all mine! Heh heh heh.*

After quickly dealing with the snakes, Teo called out, “Gae-ron, my servant, come here, meow!”

– *Master, you called?* Gae-ron’s voice echoed.

“Yes, yes! Gae-ron, quietly collect all the coins, meow!” Teo instructed.

– *As you command, Master!* Gae-ron replied.

Teo watched as Gae-ron carefully gathered the scattered coins.

Hours passed. Teo had fought snake after snake, his paws aching, but still, the passage stretched on. “Meow?” he muttered, starting to worry. “Why isn’t the exit to the 70th floor here yet?” He should have reached it ages ago.

Just then, Yuren spoke, his voice tired. “Teo, didn’t you realize? This path… it never ends. We just keep walking in circles.”

Yuren explained that they had been trapped for days.

“Meow?! What? You mean… we can’t get out?” Teo’s eyes widened in horror.

“Yes,” Yuren sighed. “We couldn’t find a way, so we hoped you could help.”

“…Meow?!” Teo was stunned. *No! This can’t be happening!* he thought wildly. *I won’t be able to get back to Se-jun’s lap!* The thought was unbearable.

For Teo, nothing was more important than being in Se-jun’s lap. *Nobody keeps me away from Se-jun’s lap!*

“Yuren, give me the money!” Teo demanded, holding out his paw firmly.

“Huh? Yes, of course,” Yuren said, confused. “But… why do you need it back?”

“Just give it to me, meow! Quickly!” Teo insisted urgently.

“Alright,” Yuren said, handing over the heavy pouch from his chest.

As soon as Teo’s paw touched the pouch, a bright golden light erupted. *Flash!* Teo began to glow, and the money in the pouch seemed to burst into flames.

“Oof,” Se-jun sighed, waking up in his bed. He sat up and glanced at his lap. Empty.

“He’s still not back,” Se-jun murmured. “Teo, that little rascal, is he causing trouble again?” Teo usually returned to sleep in his lap by morning. But today, he was missing.

“No,” Se-jun frowned. “It’s more than that. I have a bad feeling…” Something felt wrong, deep in his gut.

“Golden Bat,” Se-jun called out. “Go to Iona. Ask her to find Teo for me.”

*(Yes, Master!)* a tiny voice replied.

After sending Golden Bat, Se-jun slid out of bed. *Slide.* He marked another day on the wall – day 350 of being stranded here.

“Today, I’ll make rice wine and noodles for lunch, and then meat stew and noodles for dinner,” Se-jun said to himself, checking his mental list. He headed to the kitchen to start breakfast.

As he walked past the cherry tomato plants, he stopped. “Huh?” Something was different. Among the red tomatoes, a splash of deep purple caught his eye.

Growing from a branch he had grafted onto the tomato plant was a bunch of grapes, unlike any he had seen before. Each grape was round and plump, the size of a cherry tomato, and they hung in a tempting cluster.

“Oh! They look amazing!” A sweet, fruity smell filled the air. He reached out and gently plucked the bunch. *Snap.*

As he picked the grapes, words seemed to appear in his mind:

**[Harvest: 15 Large Seedless Grapes for Beginners.]**

**[Job experience increased slightly.]**

**[Harvesting Skill Lv. 7 proficiency increased slightly.]**

**[Experience gained: 1050.]**

Se-jun blinked. “For beginners?” he muttered. “Sounds like a failure.” Still, he looked closely at the grapes. More information appeared in his mind:

**[Large Seedless Grapes for Beginners]** *Grown by grafting a special grapevine branch onto a cherry tomato plant. These grapes are designed to help beginners become stronger. The tomato plant has made the grapes larger.* *Effect: Each grape eaten increases all stats by 1.* *Grown by: Top Farmer Park Se-jun* *Best Before: 150 days* *Grade: A*

“Hmm,” Se-jun said. “Still a failure, I guess.” He was a little disappointed. The grapes were bigger, thanks to the tomato plant, but that was all.

“But stats are stats,” he sighed. “I have to eat them.” He picked a grape and popped it in his mouth. His face twisted. The taste was sharp and bitter, leaving a dry, unpleasant feeling on his tongue.

He quickly ate all fifteen grapes, grimacing with each one. *If Teo were here,* he thought, *he’d say my face is turning green again and demand a massage.*

**[You have consumed Large Seedless Grapes for Beginners.]** **[All stats increased by 1.]**

Se-jun shuddered. “Ugh! I will make proper grapes next time! Real grapes!” The thought of making better grapes burned away some of the bad taste. At least his stats had gone up.

After forcing down the last of the grapes, Se-jun ate a quick breakfast. Then, determined to find better results, he went to check the other grafted plants.

He searched through the tomato field, carefully examining each grapevine branch. “Nothing,” he sighed, plant after plant. “No fruit at all.”

Most of the grafts had failed completely.

“Okay,” he said, “only the kudzu field left to check.” “To-ryong!” he called.

A large, lizard-like creature, To-ryong, lumbered into view. Se-jun climbed onto To-ryong’s back. “Let’s go to the western forest, to the kudzu field,” he said.

To-ryong rumbled in agreement, and they set off.

*Sniff sniff.* A small, furry creature, Kkuengyi, paused in his herb gathering. *Koohehehe.* A delicious smell drifted through the air. *Hehehe. Smells good!* Kkuengyi followed the scent and found a bunch of grapes hanging from a grapevine branch, this one grafted onto a kudzu plant.

*Kkueng!* His eyes lit up. *I should take these to Dad! We can eat them together!*

Just as Kkuengyi reached out to pick the grapes, a voice called out, “Hold it right there, Kkuengyi! Caught you!”

Se-jun, riding To-ryong, had arrived at the kudzu field and saw Kkuengyi reaching for the grapes. “Were you trying to eat these by yourself again?” Se-jun asked, teasingly. “How many times have I told you about eating alone? It’s becoming a habit!”

*Kkueng! Kkueng!* Kkuengyi protested, looking hurt. *No! It’s not like that!*

“Oh really?” Se-jun raised an eyebrow.

*Kkueng! Kkueng!* *Yes! Kkuengyi was going to bring them to Dad! To eat together!*

Kkuenge had pointed his little paw towards the bunch of grapes hanging from the vine, but Sejun still felt a flicker of doubt. Kkuenge, his fluffy black companion, sometimes had a sneaky habit of nibbling on things he shouldn’t. Still, Sejun knew Kkuenge was always honest.

“Alright,” Sejun sighed, looking at the small creature clinging to his leg. “Sorry for doubting you.”

Kkueng! Kkueng!

*’He says it’s okay,’* Sejun thought, smiling. *’But he has tricked me before, so maybe he could be wrong this time!’*

Kkuenge seemed to accept the apology with a happy wiggle. “Thanks for understanding. Come here,” Sejun called.

Tap tap tap.

Plop.

Kkuenge immediately scrambled up Sejun’s leg and settled on his shoulder.

“Where should we look then?” Sejun asked, adjusting Kkuenge’s weight. Kkuenge had become noticeably heavier lately, probably from all the snacks. He moved towards the grape bunch, the plump purple fruit hanging invitingly.

Reaching the vine, Sejun gave a sharp *Pluck!* and harvested a bunch of grapes.

[Harvested 22 grapes brimming with life.]

[Job experience slightly increased.]

[Harvesting Lv. 7 proficiency slightly increased.]

[Acquired 1540 experience.]

“Grapes brimming with life?” Sejun read aloud. The grapes looked plump and juicy, their skins glowing with a faint, healthy light. The word ‘seedless’ was missing from the name. A smile spread across Sejun’s face. He felt a rush of excitement. He checked the grape description right away.

[Grapes Brimming with Life]

These grapes were created by grafting a branch of a seedless grape vine, improved to strengthen a beginner’s body, onto kudzu.

The kudzu plant made the grapes stronger and healthier, but it also made them have seeds again.

The astringent taste has disappeared, and the sour taste has been enhanced.

Grower: Top Farmer Park Sejun

Expiration Date: 150 days

Grade: A

“Nice!”

Although the effect of increasing all stats by 1 disappeared as seeds appeared and the taste improved, Sejun was simply happy that he could finally eat delicious grapes.

Wipe.

“Here, Kkuenge, watch this.”

Sejun showed Kkuenge how to eat a grape. “You just squeeze it a little here,” he pointed to the stem end, “and then suck.”

Squeeze.

Suck.

Following his explanation, Sejun gently pressed the grape skin and sucked in air with his mouth, and the grape flesh was smoothly sucked into Sejun’s mouth.

Munch. Munch.

The more he chewed the grape flesh, the more the unique aroma and sweet and sour taste of the grape filled Sejun’s mouth.

‘That’s it. This is the taste!’

Sejun, having eaten a proper grape, wore a satisfied expression as he savored the taste and

“Ptooey.”

Gulp.

He separated and spat out the grape seeds, then swallowed the grape.

And then,

Wipe wipe.

“Here.”

Sejun, having demonstrated, put the grape seeds he spat out into his pocket and wiped a grape clean with his clothes before handing it to Kkuenge.

“Can Kkuenge do it too?”

Kkueng!

[Kkuenge can do it!]

Kkuenge answered Sejun’s question energetically and put the grape in his mouth.

However,

Pop.

The grape burst as Kkuenge gently pressed it.

Kkueng!

[Can’t do it!]

Kkuenge instinctively put the grape on his front paws, skin and all, into his mouth.

And then,

Munch munch.

Gulp.

Kkuenge swallowed the seeds and skin whole.

Kkuenge….

[It’s hard to spit out the seeds…. ]

Kkuenge, unable to spit out the seeds, answered in a gloomy voice.

“It’s okay. Kkuenge, just eat them whole.”

Wipe wipe.

Sejun quickly wiped five grapes and put them all at once into Kkuenge’s mouth, who was feeling gloomy. With Kkuenge’s digestive power, eating seeds wouldn’t cause any problems anyway.

Munch munch.

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Delicious!]

Thanks to that, Kkuenge shook off his gloom in an instant and perked up.

“Then Dad will go now.”

Sejun cut off the branch he had grafted with kudzu and returned to the farm. If he grafted this branch back onto the grape vine, the quest would be complete.

The golden light disappeared from Theo’s body after he burned all the money in Yuren’s money pouch.

“If I can’t get out, I’ll break it down, nyaa!”

Scratch.

Burning the money made Theo stronger. He drew his dragon claws.

“Nyanyang!”

Theo swung his paws at the wall again and again. But only a small scratch appeared. Moreover, the scratched wall quickly recovered.

“Yuren, give me more money, nyaa!”

“Yes. Here you go.”

Overwhelmed by Theo’s force, Yuren took out another money pouch and handed it to Theo.

“Nyanyang!”

Theo, who burned the money in the money pouch, attacked the wall again. This time, the wall was more damaged than before, but the wall was incredibly thick.

“This won’t do, nyaa! Yuren, give me everything you have, nyaa!”

“Yes?! Uh? Uh…”

While Yuren was panicking, Theo rummaged through Yuren’s arms and took out 10 money pouches, starting to burn the money again.

Flash!

This time, a light exploded that was incomparably brighter than before. It couldn’t be helped. Each of Yuren’s money pouches contained 100 million Top Coins.

In other words, Theo was burning 1 billion Top Coins at once.

“Puhuhut. I’m overflowing with power, nyaa!”

Scratch!

Theo, who gained confidence while burning the money, drew his dragon claws and

“Nya!”

Swung his front paw with all his might.

Slice.

This time, the wall was easily pierced like paper, creating a huge hole.

Slice.

Theo’s attack had enough power left to pierce the merchant passage next to it, and

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, people appeared in the passage. They were agents from the secret inspection bureau. They were looking for the missing person and the hidden path.

“Lord Yuren!!!”

“We’re here to rescue you!”

The secret inspection bureau agents saw Yuren on the other side and hurriedly connected with ropes to rescue Theo, Yuren, and Yuren’s merchants.

At that moment,

-Who dares to make a hole in my ship?!

A huge, angry face appeared. It was a fragment of Jormungandr, enraged by the hole in his ship.

And then,

“It was you, nyaa?! You’re the one who blocked my relationship with Chairman Park, nyaa?! I won’t let you get away with this, nyaa!”

Theo swung his golden front paw at the fragment of Jormungandr, who had delayed his happy commute to Sejun’s lap.