Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 390

Austin, the capital of Texas, USA.

The city center was now a deserted, empty town. Or, more accurately…

Kee-ack!

It had become a city of flesh-eaters. Even though Bat-Bat had defeated the monsters, some of their power remained, like seeds waiting to grow.

Flame and Bat-Bat didn’t realize they needed to eliminate the seeds.

At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the American spy agency, in a conference room…

With the director and key executives present, Robin was reporting her findings.

“We analyzed the satellite images from when the bat symbol was etched into the ground in Austin, but we didn’t find anything special. However, after analyzing atmospheric images, it appears a force was suddenly applied 100 meters above Austin.”

The director, who had been listening to the report, asked, “What about witnesses who saw the Golden Bat? At 100 meters above ground, there should be some witnesses.”

“That’s… there aren’t any survivors.”

“Then who is the suspected entity?”

“The most likely suspect is the Golden Bat that appeared in Harbin, which China claims as its sacred beast. The analysis department has attached a report stating that the similarity between the Golden Bat and the bat symbol is 87%.”

The Director said slowly, his voice heavy. “So, are you saying China’s sacred beast saved America?” He sighed, a deep, troubled sound. His face was serious, and the other important people in the room looked just as worried.

“Well, yes… but no, sir, that’s not exactly what I meant,” Robin stammered.

The air in the room seemed to thicken, becoming cold and heavy. It felt like a storm was coming.

Just then, a quiet voice broke the silence. “Um…”

It was Peter, a new agent working with Robin. He raised his hand hesitantly. Beside him, Robin’s face fell. *Oh no,* she thought.

‘Hey, read the room!’

She had brought the rookie to the meeting because she had an interview with the director afterward…

The atmosphere was already bad enough, and if the rookie added one senseless comment…

The meeting room would freeze over and turn into the Arctic, and she would be marked by the director and sent to the Arctic.

‘Just stay quiet! Can’t you see the atmosphere is bad?’

Robin glared at Peter, trying to tell him to be quiet with her eyes, but…

Nod.

Peter took it as encouragement from his superior and nodded solemnly.

And then,

“Take a look at this.”

He turned his laptop screen to confidently show the director and CIA executives.

You… YouTube?! You little rascal!!! You were watching YouTube during the meeting?

Robin had hoped Peter was a genius, like in movies. Now, she was in despair. She was sure she would be sent to the Arctic.

Should I hand in my resignation?

Robin was seriously thinking about quitting her job when…

-Alright. Current time is 5 AM. Miracle Morning, day 110.

In the meeting room, where everyone was speechless, a video began to play.

About two minutes after the video started…

-Everyone! Do you see that?! There! The rooftop of that building! Isn’t that the Golden Bat?!

The man in the video said, filming the rooftop of a building with an excited voice.

There, a golden bat was standing on the rooftop railing, flapping its wings towards the sky.

The video ended with the Golden Bat disappearing with a black bag.

“Ahem. What’s his name?”

As the video ended, the director asked for Peter’s name.

“Peter Lee, sir.”

Peter answered with a bright smile and a loud voice to the director’s question.

“Alright, Peter. I understand that the Golden Bat appears in this video, but why did you show it to us?”

“This video is from a witness to the Austin incident.”

“Witness?”

“Yes, sir. If you watch the video…”

Peter continued to explain, watching the video.

“The Golden Bat appeared and flapped its wings around 5:03 AM Seoul time, and the bat symbol appeared around 3:05 PM Texas time.”

“Wait a minute!” The deputy director, who had been listening, checked the time difference on his smartphone and asked in a shocked voice. “So, considering the 14-hour time difference between Seoul and Texas, it crossed a distance of 12,000 km and dealt with the monsters in just 2 minutes?!”

“Yes, sir. To be exact, it’s 1 minute and 53 seconds. I couldn’t believe it either, so I found the GPS coordinates based on the building in the video and analyzed the direction in which the Golden Bat flapped its wings, and the direction matches Austin.”

“That can’t be…”

“What is the exact location of the building in this video?”

“It’s the Halla Building in Gangnam, and the owner is Park Se-joon.”

Peter, who had already completed the investigation, spoke without hesitation.

“What?! Park Se-joon?”

Why is that name coming up here?

All the CIA executives in the meeting room were surprised by Peter’s report.

Park Se-joon.

Currently, he is a hunter who is selling agricultural items and has a great influence on the Earth, and he is known as the strongest among the hunters.

However, it is known that he has never left the Tower for the safety of everyone since he entered it.

But… the Golden Bat, which China claimed as its sacred beast, appeared on the rooftop of Park Se-joon’s building?

There’s something fishy about this.

“Robin, leave for Korea with Peter right away! Go and find out the relationship between the Golden Bat and Park Se-joon!”

“Yes? Korea?!”

Robin, who had been surprised by Peter’s explanation and hadn’t said anything, now replied.

“Yes! Hurry!”

“Yes, sir! I’ll leave right away!”

Good job, Peter!

Robin looked at Peter admirably and nodded, and Peter also nodded to Robin, who had believed in him (?).

99th floor of the Black Tower.

“Alright. Now, I need to dry them. Greenhouse.”

[Greenhouse Lv. 4 is activated.]

[A warm greenhouse is created within a 2km radius.]

[Proficiency of Greenhouse Lv. 4 is filled.]

Se-joon used the Greenhouse skill to make the sun-dried peppers look like they were in a vinyl greenhouse.

There were only two days left until the Dragon Council, so there was no time to naturally dry the sun-dried peppers.

“Kkueng-ie, blow a gentle breeze inside here.”

Kkueng!

[Understood!]

Se-joon had Kkueng-ie blow wind inside the greenhouse. Wind was necessary for drying.

After drying the sun-dried peppers for several hours like that…

Crunch.

They were so dry that they would crumble with just a slight touch.

“Alright. Iona, grind these up.”

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut. Yes! Power of the wind, crush my enemies! Tornado!”

With Iona’s magic, the sun-dried peppers were ground very finely, and Iona put the chili powder into Se-joon’s subspace warehouse with magic.

At that moment,

“Kekeke. Se-joon, I’ve finished pulling the garae-tteok (long rice cakes). Is there anything else you need me to do?”

Oric, who had pulled the garae-tteok with the other Tower farmers, rushed over to report. He was trying to regain the points he had lost to Se-joon yesterday.

“Alright. Good job. Take a break for a bit.”

“Kekeke. Yes!”

As Oric turned around,

Porridge complete.

Garae-tteok complete.

Samyangju (Korean traditional liquor) complete.

The wine will be opened on the day of…

Se-joon checked the current situation.

“Now, all that’s left is to cut the fruit for dessert and make the spicy fish stew.”

It seemed like it would be almost over if he worked hard until tomorrow morning.

At that moment,

Kkuhehehe.

Grumble.

A loud sound came from Kkueng-ie’s stomach, who was proudly looking at the paper with five stars that Se-joon had given him. It was lunchtime.

“I should eat.”

Since the easiest thing to make was the garae-tteok he had just pulled, Se-joon used it to make soy sauce tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cakes) for the first time in a while.

With homemade soy sauce, too. Yesterday, the soy sauce and soybean paste were finally completed. Originally, it would take a lot of time, but it was thanks to the fermentation skill.

“Wow! Hyung, are you making soy sauce tteokbokki? Guys, this is really delicious!”

You guys haven’t had it before, right? I’ve had it.

Ajakusu, who had already eaten it, boasted and explained the taste of soy sauce tteokbokki to the other Tower farmers.

While Ajakusu was chattering,

“Guys, come eat.”

Se-joon, who had made the soy sauce tteokbokki, called the group.

And then,

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. It’s delicious!]

“Ehehe. As expected, Se-joon hyung is the best!”

“As expected, Se-joon is a master of cooking.”

“It’s really delicious! But I still prefer Se-joon’s steamed potatoes…”

“Kekeke. It’s really delicious! In that sense, I’ll make rice cakes with goblin vision next time…”

“I don’t want to eat it!”

As everyone praised Se-joon’s cooking and began to eat the soy sauce tteokbokki,

Whine?! Whine?!

‘Hey! What about my food?! You don’t seem to care about me these days!’

Fenrir, who was upset that Se-joon was busy preparing for the Dragon Council, got angry.

“Alright, alright. I have yours too, Fenrir. Here.”

Se-joon put finely chopped soy sauce tteokbokki into Fenrir’s bowl so it wouldn’t get stuck in his throat.

Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.

Delicious!

Fenrir, who had been whining just a moment ago, became quiet after eating the soy sauce tteokbokki.

The emotions he had been feeling melted away with the soy sauce tteokbokki in his mouth.

Se-joon even took care of Fenrir’s meal.

“Hehehe. I should eat it spicy.”

Se-joon, who was craving a spicy taste, sprinkled the sun-dried chili powder he had made today on his tteokbokki and ate it.

Then,

[You have consumed sun-dried chili powder.]

[If you receive light for 1 minute, one of your stats will randomly increase by 0.0002.]

…

..

.

Messages appeared.

After 1 minute.

[You have received enough light, and your Strength stat has increased by 0.0002.]

…

..

.

Se-joon’s stats began to rise as he sat still, receiving light.

It wasn’t a high stat, but it was as good as free since he was eating something delicious and his stats were rising.

[Your soul is filled with the pouring praise.]

[Your Mentality increases by 3.]

His Mentality also increased.

“Hehehe. Today’s lunch was also a rewarding meal.”

Se-joon smiled contentedly and was grinding coffee beans to make coffee when

Bbyot!

[Hello, Se-joon!]

“Hello!”

Bbyot and Yuren appeared.

Bbyot!

[Theo, a letter!]

Bbyot sat on Se-joon’s lap and handed Theo, who was grooming himself, a letter from the Wandering Merchant Association.

“Meow? Who sent it, meow?”

Theo, who had never received a letter before, wondered and read the letter.

And then,

“Puhu-hut.”

“Puhu-hut.”

Theo kept laughing while looking at the letter.

“Vice President Theo, what’s the letter about?”

Se-joon, who was curious about the contents of the letter because of Theo’s reaction, asked.

“Puhu-hut. President Park, the Wandering Merchant Association contacted me, Vice President Theo, to take the exam to be promoted to a Great Merchant, meow!”

“Great Merchant?”

“Puhu-hut. That’s right, meow!”

Starting from a novice wandering merchant, he was finally becoming a Great Merchant, meow! President Park should be with me in this glorious moment, meow!

Theo got the land document for the 75th floor of the Tower and thought that he should grab Se-joon’s lap and go to the headquarters of the Wandering Merchant Association together.

And he imagined himself becoming a Great Merchant while receiving Se-joon’s congratulations.

“Puhu-hut. I’m excited just thinking about it, meow!”

“What about?”

“There’s something, meow! President Park, I’ll go down for a bit, meow!”

“Okay. I understand. Oh, right! If you see the land document for the 68th floor of the Tower, please pick it up too.”

Eileen said that she felt the power of destruction on the 68th floor of the Tower, so Se-joon asked Theo.

“I understand, meow! Bbyot, Yuren, let’s go, meow!”

“Have a good trip!”

While Se-joon was seeing Theo off,

Kkihihit. Whine!

‘Hee hee. I found out!’

Fenrir had a big realization.

Whine! Whine?!

‘The butler’s food has become delicious since I received my core! Then, if I receive more of my core, the food will become more delicious, right?!’

It was Fenrir’s misunderstanding. Se-joon just made the food he wanted to make, and it just happened to suit Fenrir’s taste.

However, Fenrir, who thought of himself as a smart wolf, thought that he couldn’t have been wrong.

And then,

Kkihihit! Whine!

‘Hee hee! I should feed him this too!’

Fenrir, holding a 1% core fragment that Se-joon had given him to play with, began to look for an opportunity to put the core fragment into Se-joon’s mouth.

It would be very painful to swallow a core fragment that doesn’t match his abilities.

However,

Whine?!

“Fenrir! Why are you putting something you slobbered on in my mouth?!”

He failed.