Headquarters of the Wandering Merchant Association on the 75th floor of the tower.
“What?! The information has been leaked?”
“Yes. Among the Secret Inspection Bureau agents, there was a spy working for Grid.”
“How did you manage the agents?!”
Mason, the Chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, was furious at the report given by Vega, the Director of the Secret Inspection Bureau.
The Secret Inspection Bureau is a secret spy organization created for the Wandering Merchant Association. But the fact that the agent, who should be extracting information from others, was bought by Grid and was leaking information…
“…I apologize.”
“So, did you catch the agents who were bought by Grid?”
It was most urgent to identify the spy, because if the spy is not caught, all the plans will leak out even if they are changed.
“Yes! We have caught a total of 9 people, including 5 regular agents, 3 intermediate agents, and Vice Director Itos, and are making them confess in the interrogation room about what information they passed on to Grid.”
“Even the Vice Director was bought?!”
Mason was surprised and asked back. If it’s a position of the Vice Director, they would know most of the Secret Inspection Bureau’s information. It was fair to assume that all the information about the Secret Inspection Bureau had been passed on to Grid.
“Yes. And it seems that your son’s whereabouts have been exposed as well.”
“What?! Jeras? Where is Jeras now?”
“Well… At Itos’s direction, he was deployed on a mission to infiltrate the 55th floor of the tower… but we lost contact with him and the agents 3 hours ago. There is a high possibility that he has been taken hostage.”
“Hmm…”
It was a troubling situation. It was highly likely that Grid would demand various things in exchange for his son’s life.
‘What should I do?’
Just as Mason was lost in thought,
Bang!
The office door swung open and animals led by Iona entered.
***
As the harvest festival ended, a sense of loneliness swept over. Sejun quickly shook off the gloomy feeling and started doing what needed to be done. It was good to move when he felt down.
“I have to cut the green onions.”
Sejun began to cut the onion leaves that had grown lushly because they hadn’t been cut during the harvest festival. He planned to harvest green onions in the wide onion field until he got tired.
Swish. Swish.
Onion leaves were being cut quickly. Sejun was now much faster at cutting onion leaves than before. It was the effect of his agility increasing by 22.5 during the harvest festival. Now, agility was the highest stat Sejun had.
When Sejun was concentrating on cutting the onion leaves,
Swish. Swish.
He saw other rabbits also cutting onion leaves next to him. The rabbits were feeling the same as Sejun. They were moving their bodies to shake off the gloom.
And thus, doing the work in the green onion field slowly faded away the gloom.
“Phew. Let’s call it a day.”
As Sejun, who had been working in the field with the rabbits until late evening, said this
Squeak!
Squeal!
Squeap!
The rabbits began to disperse, heading towards their homes. Now the rabbits had houses not only in the cave but also all over the ground.
“I should wash up and go to bed.”
As Sejun headed home after washing his face at the tap,
Zing.
He felt a piercing gaze on his back.
‘Ignore it.’
Sejun tried hard to ignore it but,
Flap. Flap.
The black dragon statue flew and landed on the roof of Sejun’s house.
And
-Humph!
It glared at Sejun again.
“Phew. Mr. Kaiser, why are you doing this?”
Sejun, who found it hard to ignore any longer, asked Kaiser.
-Why?! Because of you, I couldn’t see my granddaughter!
“Aileen?”
-Yes, is she happy just meeting you?!
“How can I meet Aileen when she’s in the administrator’s area?”
Sejun, who couldn’t remember what happened when Aileen appeared, felt wronged.
“Ah! Before that, please have this.”
Sejun took out a bottle of carrot wine that he had put in the void storage. When he regained consciousness after fainting, he found 9 bottles of carrot wine in the void storage. It was taken care of by Theo.
However,
[Carrot Wine]
→ A wine made by soaking carrots, which absorbed fire for 100 years in soju.
→ When consumed, it increases the fire affinity and burns the impurities in the body.
→ If the magic power is less than 100, the body cannot bear the fire energy due to side effects, and the fire energy burns the body as well.
→ Producer: Red Tower farmer Udon
→ Expiration date: 500 years
→ Grade: C+
Because of the option that the whole body would burn due to side effects if the magic power was less than 100, Sejun could not drink the carrot wine. So he decided to gift it to Kaiser, who liked alcohol. Of course, he wanted something in return for the alcohol.
-Hmm, you’re a sensible human, Park Sejun.
When Sejun took out the carrot wine, Kaiser’s voice became softer.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
The black dragon statue poured the wine from the bottle into its mouth.
After a while,
-Ha, this is good. The feeling of my throat heating up isn’t bad.
The carrot wine had enough heat to burn the body, but for Kaiser, it was just a heat that briefly warmed the throat.
“Do you want more?”
-Of course! A single bottle won’t even be enough to warm my liver!
“Here you go.”
Sejun obediently handed over the carrot wine to Kaiser.
And when he had handed over 5 bottles of carrot wine,
“Uh… but, Mr. Kaiser, the scale you gave me as a New Year’s gift seems to be defective. It disappeared when I woke up. Please give me another one.”
Sejun showed his left arm and spoke. Sejun obediently gave up his carrot wine to create an atmosphere for bringing this up.
-What?! That can’t be!
At Sejun’s words, Kaiser used his magic to examine Sejun’s body. And a powerful mana reaction remained on the back of his head.
‘It’s Aileen.’
He felt Aileen’s energy from the mana. Impressive. Very impressive. The mana wasn’t strong, but it was impressive that his granddaughter had grown to a level where she could destroy the scale with his magic.
-All right. I’ll make another one for you.
Kaiser, who was in a good mood, readily agreed.
Spit.
The black dragon statue spat out one black scale.
“Thank you.”
-Hmm. If you’re thankful, bring out some more liquor.
“Yes, here you go.”
Sejun handed over 2 bottles of carrot wine to Kaiser. Originally, he intended to give only one bottle, but since things went smoothly, he gave two to Kaiser and still had two left.
When Sejun returned home, he placed Kaiser’s scale on his left arm and re-tattooed the black dragon tattoo.
“It’s reassuring.”
Sejun appreciated the black dragon tattoo that would protect his life and fell asleep.
***
“Iona?”
“Hello, Chairman Mason.”
“Yes. But why are you here?”
“I want to know what’s happening with Grid’s punishment.”
“Well…”
Mason began to talk about the fact that there was a spy for Grid in the Secret Inspection Bureau and currently his son was being held hostage by Grid.
“Is this the Chairman’s office, meow?”
Squeak?
While Iona and Mason were talking, Theo and the Black Rabbit, who had followed Iona, were looking around the Chairman’s office.
“Oh! This looks expensive, meow!”
Theo, who naturally put the items in the Chairman’s office into his bag as if they were his. . There was no thief like him.
And
Squeak!
The Black Rabbit sat on Mason’s rocking chair for rest,
Creak. Creak.
He was rocking back and forth, having fun.
‘They really have no manners.’
Mason glared at Theo and the black rabbit who were boldly stealing items and playing in his office, the Chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association. He was furious, but now was not the time to get angry.
“Iona, I have a favor to ask.”
“Kyoo-Kyoo-what kind of favor?”
Iona was in her second-stage of anger at Mason’s attitude of making a mess and then asking for a favor.
“Iona, please calm down and listen. If you rescue my son, we will supply the goods we provide for the reconstruction of the Rabbit Kingdom at a 10% discount when Grid retreats from the 55th floor of the tower.”
“Really?”
Rebuilding the Rabbit Kingdom required a huge amount of money, so Iona’s ears perked up with interest.
“Meow meow meow! Leave the negotiation to me, who learned from President Park, the God of Trading!”
Theo boasted proudly. Now is the opponent’s crisis situation. It was time to use the trading skills that Sejun used against the Raccoon tribe a few days ago.
“Who are you?! Who dares to interrupt?!”
Mason, who had been annoyed by Theo, couldn’t contain his anger when Theo interrupted his conversation with Iona.
However,
“Ho ho ho, If you ask who I am, it’s common courtesy to answer.”
Theo was just happy that an opportunity to introduce himself had come.
“I am the great black…”
“He is Theo, an elite wandering merchant, .”
Iona simply introduced Theo. It did no good to spread rumors around that he was the subordinate of the black dragon.
Especially since he just stole Mason’s stuff. Revealing his identity would tarnish Sejun’s reputation.
“What?! Why is a wandering merchant taking their side?! I’m the Chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association!”
Mason was irritated by Theo’s words.
“Don’t worry, meow! I’m not on Iona’s side, I’m on President Park’s side, meow!”
“What?!”
“Let’s finish with a cool deal, meow! For free in exchange for saving your son! What do you think, meow?!”
“That’s nonsense! 15%!”
“Give it for free, meow!”
“20%!”
“Give it for free, meow!”
‘What’s with this guy?’
Mason, who had risen from the bottom to this position as a wandering merchant, was baffled by Theo, who consistently called for free.
He really was an unreasonable guy. An attitude that doesn’t even consider the margin rate of the opponent. He was curious about how he became an elite wandering merchant without even knowing the ‘essence’ of negotiation.
‘Does he have a backer?’
It was possible considering that he was traveling with Iona, but it was not in Iona’s nature to carry such a burden.
“President Theo, let’s stop here.”
It seemed that the matter would not progress in this way.
“Meow?! What are you talking about, meow? The negotiation isn’t over yet, meow!”
“Really? Then I can’t help it. I will go directly to the 99th floor of the tower. Sejun’s knees are… Kyoot.”
“You can’t do that, meow!”
Theo was taken aback by Iona’s laughter. There was no greater threat to Theo than this.
“Then shouldn’t you finish the deal on the 38th floor of the tower quickly?”
“Okay, meow! Iona should also solve the 55th floor and not go up, meow!”
“Okay. I promise.”
“Then I’ll go, meow!”
Having obtained a promise from Iona not to go directly to the 99th floor of the tower, Theo hurriedly went down to the 38th floor.
***
Day 271 of being stranded.
“There’s not much time left until the Blue Moon.”
Sejun said, eating cheese soup and bread for dinner. Sejun’s mind was very relaxed as he welcomed the 10th Blue Moon. Because he trusted Aileen.
Fortunately, Aileen, who had been sleeping soundly due to the aftereffects of polymorph magic spell, opened her eyes in the morning.
[The Tower’s administrator asks if you really don’t remember what happened during the drinking competition.]
“Yeah. I think I drank too much and blacked out.”
[The Tower’s administrator is angry and asks why you drank enough to black out]
Aileen was momentarily shocked that Sejun did not remember their meeting, but she thought it was a good opportunity to make a good first impression with Sejun again.
“Thanks for your help today.”
[The Tower’s administrator shouts loudly to trust her.]
After finishing his conversation with Aileen, Sejun spent the day cutting green onion leaves and did not harvest crops. This was to increase the chances of the energy of the Blue Moon permeating the crops.
And when there was about an hour left until midnight,
“Guys, get into position.”
Sejun sent the rabbits and poisonous honeybees to various fields. It was to not miss the crops imbued with the energy of the Blue Moon.
Soon after, the Blue Moon rose. But time passed and Aileen did not appear.
“…Aileen?”
Sejun urgently called Aileen.
