Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 470

Along with a message announcing the Grape Harvest Competition, 2,000 vineyards, each about the size of a small field, appeared around the luscious Grape Cluster Altar.

And before the Grape Cluster Altar, a huge, glowing message window appeared, displaying:

[Exchange Shop]

“Exchange Shop?” Sejun wondered. “What’s this?”

As Sejun approached, he saw:

[Exchange Shop]

Seedless Grape for Beginners (1) – 100 Harvest Festival Grapes

Blessed Wine (1 bottle) – 5,000 Harvest Festival Grapes

Mystic Sealed Grapevine Bracelet – 10,000,000 Harvest Festival Grapes

Mystic Judgment Grapevine Whip – 50,000,000 Harvest Festival Grapes

Grapevine God’s Stone – 70,000,000 Harvest Festival Grapes

World Tree Grape Seed – 100,000,000 Harvest Festival Grapes

The Exchange Shop offered a variety of grape-related items.

“Hmm,” Sejun murmured.

“First, I’ll pass on the Seedless Grapes for Beginners since they’re very plain,” Sejun said to himself.

The Seedless Grapes for Beginners were said to slightly improve your skills, but they tasted very sour. People said they were only good for those just starting out.

There were also sweet and sour elixirs that greatly increased magic power, cherry tomatoes bursting with magic, and large watermelons that greatly increased strength.

There was no reason to eat grapes that didn’t taste good and didn’t raise stats much.

“The Blessed Wine… it’s just tasty wine when you drink it, but if you sprinkle it on the vineyard, the harvest increases by 2-5 times?”

He chuckled. “Then, if I tell Theo to sprinkle it, a 5x increase in grape harvest is confirmed!”

As Sejun examined the items in the Exchange Shop, he heard:

“Kke-ek!”

[It’s a job!]

Mushroom Ants swarmed into the 2,000 vineyards.

However,

“Kke-ek?”

Only one Mushroom Ant could enter each field.

“Kke-ek!”

[We can’t get in!]

“Kke-ek!”

[So, harvest quickly!]

The 2,000 Mushroom Ants that entered the fields were cheered on by the Mushroom Ants that couldn’t enter.

“Kke-ek! Kke-ek!”

[Okay! Trust me!]

[9:50 – 1 Grape Cluster]

The 2,000 Mushroom Ants harvested grapes, encouraged by their comrades.

After ten minutes, a message appeared:

[Grape Harvest Competition Ranking]

1st – Mushroom Ant No. 1009 (355 clusters) and 50 others [Black Tower 99th Floor]

2nd – Mushroom Ant No. 204 (354 clusters) and 70 others [Black Tower 99th Floor]

3rd – Mushroom Ant No. 4912 (353 clusters) and 50 others [Black Tower 99th Floor]

The rankings of the Mushroom Ants were displayed.

Diligent but slow, the Mushroom Ants couldn’t harvest many grapes due to their slow speed.

Whoosh.

The Mushroom Ants that participated in the competition were automatically moved out of the vineyard.

“Kke-ek!”

[Trust me!]

The 2,000 Mushroom Ants around the field re-entered the field and harvested grapes.

And then,

“Kke-ek!”

[The harvested grapes disappeared!]

“Kke-ek?”

[But what is this?]

“Kke-ek! Kke-ek!”

[I don’t know! Let’s take it to the master!]

The Mushroom Ants that participated in the competition each held three impossibly hard-to-chew grapes in their mouths, received as participation rewards, and went to Sejun.

“Hmm. The Blessed Wine, Uncle’s Blessing Stone, and the World Tree Grape Seed are the only useful ones for now,” Sejun thought as he looked at the items in the shop and chose what to exchange.

“But where do I get the Harvest Festival Grapes?” Then he started to wonder how to obtain the most important means of exchange.

At that moment,

“Kke-ek!”

Plop.

The Mushroom Ants placed the grapes they were holding in front of Sejun.

[Harvest Festival Grape]

“Huh? Where did you get these?” Sejun asked.

“Kke-ek!”

In response to Sejun’s question, the Mushroom Ants pointed their antennae towards the vineyard where the Grape Harvest Competition was taking place.

“Ah, they give them out for participating in the competition.”

During the Carrot Harvest Competition, they gave out half a carrot seed as a participation reward, but the reward changed because it’s the Great Harvest Festival.

Sejun learned how to obtain Harvest Festival Grapes thanks to the Mushroom Ants.

“Hehehe. Tell the others to go and harvest at least once. Got it?”

“Kke-ek!”

The Mushroom Ants diligently shook their antennae up and down at Sejun’s command, conveying Sejun’s words to the other Mushroom Ants.

Rumble.

A massive procession approached the farm. The sounds of people approaching grew louder, hinting at the excitement to come.

“The first competition of the Harvest Festival has already begun! Hurry!” The residents of the Black Tower who bought Harvest Festival tickets in the early morning had just arrived, eager and dressed for the festival.

“Huh?! How did they know the Harvest Festival was being held here?” Sejun wondered.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it’s all thanks to me, nyaong! I had Mason, the chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, sell the Harvest Festival tickets for 100 million Tower Coins, nyaong!” Theo bragged.

“Really?!” Sejun asked, surprised.

“Really, nyaong! I, Vice Chairman Theo, do not lie to the great Chairman Park, nyaong!”

“That’s right! Our Vice Chairman Theo would never lie. Excellent!” Sejun said.

“Puhuhut. That’s right, nyaong! I, Vice Chairman Theo, am excellent, nyaong! So praise me more, nyaong!” Theo continued, puffing out his chest.

“Hehehe. Alright,” Sejun chuckled, finding Theo’s boasting amusing.

It seems I can easily obtain Harvest Festival Grapes.

Sejun stroked Theo’s head and watched the residents lining up to participate in the Grape Harvest Competition.

Black Tower 4th Floor.

Boom.

A stone in the shape of a grape cluster suddenly rose in the center of the vineyard.

Creak.

At the same time, ten vineyards appeared around the stone statue.

And then, a message appeared before everyone on the farm:

[The Harvest Festival’s Grape Harvest Competition will begin shortly.]

[Those who wish to participate in the competition, please enter the vineyard.]

“Huh?! It’s the Harvest Festival!”

“Where’s the vineyard?!”

The hunters, who had been waiting since the message about the Harvest Festival appeared yesterday without any further information, began to search for the vineyard with delight.

The vineyard buzzed with activity as hunters began picking grapes. Suddenly, shouts erupted.

“Huh?! Someone’s already on the rankings?!” one hunter yelled.

“The top spot is Mushroom Ant No. 1009?!”

“Hey?! If you get in the top 100 of the competition, there’s a reward, and if you get in the top 5, there’s a special reward?!”

“Really?!”

The other hunters checked the information available on the stone statues.

After ten minutes of frantic harvesting, the magical grapes vanished from their baskets. In their place, each hunter found a single grape seed.

The hunters rushed to the ancient stone statues at the edge of the vineyard. Etched into the stone, glowing words displayed the ‘Grape Harvesting Competition Ranking’.

The hunters huddled around the statues, murmuring as they saw the first rankings. ‘Stefan is first?’ someone said, reading the names from the Black Tower’s 4th floor.

The hunters who had bravely faced the Mushroom Ants puffed out their chests.

“Floor 99? Not so scary after all,” one boasted. “Let’s go back up the tower when this is done.”

“Yeah.”

Thanks to this, confidence filled the hunters’ hearts instead of fear of the 99th floor of the tower.

An hour later, gasps rippled through the vineyard. The rankings had changed dramatically.

At the top, names appeared that no one recognized: ‘Merchant Golden Sheep Mimir,’ ‘Chestnut Hedgehog Godori,’ and ‘Black Bear Rak’ – strange names, perhaps from creatures of the tower itself.

Just as despair began to settle, a new name shot to the top: ‘Top Farmer Park Se-jun!’ A collective gasp went through the hunters. Hope flickered. But it was quickly extinguished. Moments later, Se-jun’s name was pushed down by an even more unbelievable score: ‘CEO Theo Park!’

Theo’s score was astronomical, clearly using his quick companion, Nyang-bo, to gather grapes at an impossible rate.

“Hee hee hee. Vice President Tae will give Chairman Park’s first-place gift, nya! Theo is letting him have the *reward*, but not first place!”

Se-jun sighed. “Not even three seconds at the top, more like a blink of an eye.”

He knew he would lose first place anyway, but it was too fast.

Se-jun sat at his desk behind the sign carved with Theo’s Dragon Claw, propped his chin, and sighed.

“I’m hungry, should I eat something first?”

“Good, nya! I want to eat grilled fish that Chairman Park cooked, nya!”

With the customers gone, he prepared brunch.

The menu was a 10-layer whipped cream pancake with vanilla ice cream on top and chocolate milk to soothe his gloomy mood. A super sweet set of sugar + sugar.

Of course, since he had more than one mouth to feed, Se-jun quickly made 100 super sweet sets.

Se-jun’s cooking skills were now so good, allowing him to make the same dish within an hour as long as he put magic power into the ingredients.

“Eileen, here you go. Everyone, let’s eat!”

As Se-jun sent five super sweet sets to Eileen and called his companions,

Kkueng!

Kkueng-i, who had become hungry from the grape harvesting competition, hurriedly flew over,

“It’s food!”

Tap tap tap!

The silver, brown, and red foxes who had become employees of Se-jun Company quickly ran and lined up.

“Move! What are you doing, trying to stand in front of a regular employee when you’re just a non-regular employee?!”

“We are regular employees!”

Bayon and the other red foxes pushed the silver and brown foxes and stood at the front.

“Se-jun, your loyal regular employee Bayon has arrived!”

Bayon looked at Se-jun with a very proud expression.

The other foxes looked enviously at Bayon and the red foxes.

“The foxes who cut in line go to the back.”

“Yes…”

The red foxes, dejected at Se-jun’s words, drooped their ears and went to the back of the line.

At that moment,

Kkyeg!

Kkyeg!

The Mushroom Ants made angry noises and rushed towards Se-jun.

Meanwhile, far away, in a shadowy realm, a being called Halphas smiled. He and his slime companions were using the Harvest Festival’s magic to sneak into the Black Tower. Halphas had his own dark plans for this place.

“They’ll be here soon. Get ready,” Halphas said to the slimes, moving along the flow of magical energy.

Suddenly, giant roots burst from the ground, blocking his path. It was the tower itself, defending against him.

“I’m telling you, being a regular employee is a bad deal.”

Kkyeg!

[Master, we worked hard!]

Kkyeg!

[We’ll work harder! Please make us regular employees!]

Se-jun was having a hard time persuading the Mushroom Ants to make him a regular employee.

However,

Kkyeg!

[We’ll go on strike until we become regular employees!]

Se-jun’s persuasion had no effect on the Mushroom Ants at all.

“Okay. I’ll make you regular employees.”

Se-jun made regular employee contracts for the Mushroom Ants and signed them.

Se-jun chuckled, signing the last contract. The Mushroom Ants cheered. Then, he paused, sniffing the air.

“Huh?!”

Sniff. Sniff.

“Vice President Tae, don’t you smell meat grilling somewhere?”

“I smell it, nya!”