TL: Hanguk
Theo is from the 75th floor, one of the neutral zones in the tower.
For a long time, Theo had been infatuated with Granier village’s most beautiful woman, Maril.
“Theo, confess your love! You can do it.”
“That’s right. The brave ones get the beauty.”
“Confess! Confess!”
Encouraged by the support of his friend Oren, the son of the wealthiest family in the village, Theo confesses his hidden love.
“Maril, I like you! Would you go out with me?”
However,
“Humph! Know your place. How dare you look down on me!”
“That’s right, Theo. Know your place. I’m sorry, but Maril and I are actually dating. Kekeke.”
Oren kissed Maril’s lips, laughing at Theo.
“Kekeke. Theo, look at that dumbfounded face.”
“Puhahaha. How can he show his face around Granier village now?!”
The smiles Maril had given him a few days ago and the encouragement from his friends, or rather, those who pretended to be his friends, were all part of a play to fool naive Theo.
Humiliated in front of many people in the village square, where he had been urged to confess by showing his bravery, Theo could no longer hold his head high in the village.
Shocked, Theo stayed home for a few days and decided to become a wandering merchant to seek revenge by becoming rich. ‘I’ll get rich and take revenge!’
With the 50 Tower Coins he had saved up from working hard all his life, he bought the necessary qualifications and equipment to become a wandering merchant, and was about to buy goods from the market with the remaining 5 Tower Coins when
“Theo, I have a really good deal for you.”
Goblin wandering merchant Skaram, who had given Theo various advice about wandering merchants, approached him secretly.
“What is it?”
Theo did not doubt Skaram, who had kindly given him advice.
So, Skaram showed Theo the tumbler, mini fan, and portable hand warmer.
“These are items from outside the tower.”
“Items from outside the tower?”
“That’s right. If you take these to the upper floors, you can sell them for a high price. Those who live on the upper floors collect these items as a hobby.”
“Really?! I’ll buy them!”
“This is a map with the location of a new member of the Seed Shop. Since they’re new members, you might be able to get a good price if you’re lucky.”
Theo went up the tower following the map, trusting only Skaram’s words.
However, since he had given almost all of his money to Skaram for the items, he couldn’t afford enough food. That’s why Theo, starving, found his way to where Se-jun was.
*****
“Huh?! You want to work together?”
“Yes, and all the items you brought are garbage.”
Se-jun first shook Theo’s mentality with a harsh truth.
“What?! Garbage? That can’t be!”
Theo was agitated by Se-jun’s words. It was understandable since he had spent all his money on the items, trusting Skaram.
“There’s no magic on them at all. This tumbler blocks contact with the outside and prevents heat transfer, and the mini fan and portable hand warmer will stop working after a few hours when the battery runs out. Look.”
Se-jun explained and turned on the mini fan, placing it on the floor.
“No way! How do you know, Se-jun?! Skaram said there was magic on them!”
“I’m from outside the tower.”
“What?!”
That explained everything.
“It seems that the Skaram guy deceived you.”
“But… How could he? He was so kind to me…”
While the shocked Theo was mumbling to himself, denying reality,
Squeak!
Beep!
Meow!
The White Rabbits started farming,
Splish!
Whack!
Bam!
Se-jun and the Black Rabbit caught Piranhas and made grilled fish.
Meanwhile, the mini fan stopped working not even an hour after being turned on.
“Wahhh! Skaram is a bad Goblin jerk!”
“Why do I always fall for this?!”
“What do I do now?!”
Theo started to cry, sobbing loudly. His sadness even brought out the Granier dialect he had practiced to hide for so long.
“Theo, calm down. Let’s talk about our future plans while eating grilled fish?”
*Sniffle… gulp. “You’re going to make me eat and then ask for money, aren’t you? Sniffle… I’m not that stupid.”
Theo swallowed his saliva looking at the grilled fish but didn’t let his guard down. He was naive, but he wasn’t a fool to be tricked by the same method again. And Se-jun had no intention of taking money here either.
“No, I’ll let you have what you ate earlier for free.”
Having shaken his mentality, it was now time to comfort him. Se-jun had bigger plans in mind.
“Really?!”
“Yes.”
“Now, listen carefully to my story while eating.”
Se-jun started talking about their partnership, offering grilled fish to Theo’s front paw.
“Okay.”
Yum yum.
Theo absentmindedly ate the grilled fish while listening to Se-jun’s words. When he finished the last piece of grilled fish,
Press.
“Huh?!”
His left paw had stamped the contract.
Squeak.
His paw print was clearly visible as he lifted his paw from the contract.
The contract read, “Lifetime Distribution Contract.”
“Why is this here?”
Why was the contract that should have been in his bag in front of him?
Theo hurriedly read the contract.
<Lifetime Distribution Contract>
[Purpose and Content of the Contract]
-The purpose of this contract is for Party A and Party B to cooperate mutually and promote the sale of Party A’s agricultural products, thus obtaining benefits for both parties.
-From now on, Party B will sell the agricultural products provided by Party A for life and bring in the sales revenue.
[Compensation]
-Party A will provide Party B with 25 grilled fish per week or an equivalent amount as a weekly salary.
-Party A will give Party B 3-5% of the sales revenue as an incentive.
[Special Provisions]
-Party B may terminate the contract if the total sales amount within one month of the initial transaction is less than 5 Tower Coins.
–Party B must sell agricultural products for an amount equal to or greater than the price set by Party A.
–Party B cannot establish additional trade partners without Party A’s permission.
–When trading, the Granier dialect must be used.
[Party A: Park Sejun]
[Party B: Theo]
At the bottom of the contract, Sejun’s stamp and Theo’s paw print were placed side by side.
Special Provision 1 was designed to make Theo sign the contract by providing an escape route. Special Provisions 2 and 3 were intended to prevent Theo, a big sucker, from being fooled again, and Special Provision 4 was added because Sejun was confident that people from Earth would love Theo’s dialect.
“What’s… this?”
“Let’s do our best from now on, Representative Theo.”
Sejun stroked Theo’s head.
“It’s not in effect yet. There’s Special Provision 1, right?”
But Theo pushed Sejun’s hand away and spoke coldly.
“Alright, but we’re still trading, right? Representative Theo.”
“Hmph! Well, that’s true.”
Theo answered, glancing at Sejun’s hand.
Sejun stroked Theo’s head again.
Shortly after, Theo, seemingly tired, fell asleep under Sejun’s touch.
“Sleep well, Representative Theo.”
Sejun laid the sleeping Theo on the floor and got up.
‘Everything is going according to plan.’
In this way, Sejun secured a means of earning Tower Coins.
*****
“Uhaham, it smells so good. No! It smells really good.”
Theo corrected his unconscious dialect and rubbed his eyes as he woke up.
“Did you wake up?”
Sejun asked while grilling fish and green onions for breakfast. Stacked next to him were numerous grilled fish. Sejun and the black rabbit had worked hard to catch piranhas since morning.
“Yes. How long did I sleep?”
“You slept from lunch yesterday to now.”
Today is day 129 of being stranded, and Theo woke up in the morning, planning to sleep for the entire day.
“But what’s that?”
Theo asked about the stacks of grilled fish, sniffing the scent.
“It’s this week’s salary. The grilled fish will cool down. Pack it up quickly.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Theo briefly thought, ‘Why am I getting a salary when we’re partners?’ but quickly began packing the grilled fish into his bag, tempted by the stimulating aroma.
The space bag is an essential item for wandering merchants who need to travel through multiple levels, as it is enchanted with preservation, space expansion, and weight reduction magic. This allows them to store a large number of items in their original state for extended periods.
“Let’s eat breakfast!”
Squeak!
Squawk!
At Sejun’s shout, the rabbits rushed over and began eating breakfast.
After the noisy morning meal ended,
“Um… Mr. Park Sejun.”
Theo called Sejun.
“Just call me Sejun.”
“Yes. Sejun, what are you planning to sell?”
“Cherry tomatoes.”
“What?”
Pluck.
“This.”
Sejun picked a ripe cherry tomato from the tree and showed it to Theo.
“This?”
Theo looked at the cherry tomato with disdain.
“Take a look.”
Sejun handed the cherry tomato to Theo.
“Huh? Magical cherry tomatoes? This is an item?!”
“Yeah. Not bad, right?”
“How much are you going to sell it for?”
[For 10 minutes, increase magic power by 0.1 and dissolve 10g of fat.]
Theo thought that, considering the item’s options, he could get around 0.01 Tower Coins each if it was well-received by the awakened people in the tower. One cherry tomato for 10,000 won. That’s quite a high price.
However,
“0.05 Tower coin each.”
Sejun called out a price five times higher than Theo’s estimate.
“What?!”
At Sejun’s words, Theo looked at the cherry tomato in his hand with a “will this sell?” expression.
Sejun was confident that his cherry tomatoes would sell at a high price. These cherry tomatoes were not meant for the awakened ones.
Although magical cherry tomatoes provided fat dissolution and magic power increase to the awakened ones, the effects were not significant. Their bodies were already somewhat optimized through awakening, so the effects were not substantial.
However, for the non-awakened people outside the tower, cherry tomatoes that instantly dissolve 10g of fat and invigorate the body without side effects, and also have top-notch taste, were undoubtedly marketable products.
Considering the initial scarcity, Sejun even thought he could get 0.1 Tower coin each.
Sejun believed in Earth’s dieters. They would respond.
“Alright. It’s a contract anyway.”
Theo thought it was rather fortunate. If the total sales amount doesn’t reach 5 Tower Coins through this deal, he can nullify the contract and just receive the grilled fish.
“How many will you take?”
“About 1,000?”
Sejun pointed to a storage room he had made in the corner of the cave. Cherry tomatoes were piled up there.
Sejun and the rabbits helped Theo fill his space bag with cherry tomatoes.
“Then, I’ll be on my way.”
Theo left the cave with his space bag.
*****
5 days later, on the 38th floor of the tower.
Inside a dark cave, 10 elite hunters of the Phoenix Guild were struggling to clear the 38th floor, but the possibility of clearing it was still remote.
While they were exploring the cave,
Screech!
Spider monsters approached.
“15 spiders! Diamond formation!”
At the leader’s command, the hunters quickly formed a formation.
Screech!
As soon as the formation was made, the spider monsters began their attack.
“Don’t get surrounded! Keep an eye on the rear!”
“Yes!”
As elite hunters of the top guild on Earth, they had no weak points.
A short while later, the battle ended.
“Phew. Good job. Collect the spider corpses and rest here for a while.”
“Yes.”
As the hunters were about to sit down and rest after collecting the spider monster corpses,
“Humans, come see the good stuff here, meow.”
A Cat called out to them.
