TL: Hanguk
Krueng?
While wandering around the party hall, Cuengi noticed some skeleton dogs staring at Sejun with malicious intent. It’s not that Cuengi has learned bad language, but they were actually skeletons with dog heads.
(Pip-pip! How dare they look at Sejun like that!!! Brother Cuengi, should I take care of them?!)
The golden bat, angered by the skeleton dogs looking at Sejun with hostile gazes, whispered to Cuengi while making a throat-slitting gesture with its wing.
Krueng! Krueng!
[No! I’ve never seen anyone weaker than dad!]
(Pip-pip. Well, that’s true!)
Finding someone weaker than Sejun on the 99th floor was like plucking stars from the sky. Therefore, Cuengi decided to restore his dad’s confidence!
Krueng!
[Golden bat, hide over there!]
(Pip-pip! Yes, Brother Cuengi!)
They hid behind a table and kept an eye on the skeleton dogs approaching Sejun.
Then,
Sniff sniff.
Cuengi and the golden bat smelled something delicious.
Krueng!
[It smells like honey!]
(Pip-pip! Brother Cuengi! I smell something fragrant too!]
Unfortunately, the table they hid behind had Garaetteok (rice cakes) smeared with honey and strawberries, and they got distracted by the food.
***
Among the skeletons, there is a caste system called ‘Bone Rank,’ which determines one’s status based on the bones.
It classifies the skeletons into five levels based on who owned the bone originally, the power of the bone’s original owner, and how well its shape is maintained.
Sacred Bone – True Bone – Noble Bone – Common Bone – Mixed Bone.
From True Bone onwards, skeletons are treated as nobility.
True Bone skeletons from the 93rd floor, following Sacred Bone Ker and his son Ber to the party, discovered a skeleton. Although they couldn’t determine the original owner of the bone, it had less than 0.1% of its original power and was greatly deformed.
‘A Mixed Bone.’
They assumed the Mixed Bone skeleton was a slave following its master since they too had struggled to attend the party where the lowest Mixed Bone skeleton was present.
So they ordered the lowest-ranking true bone skeleton among them to collect the bone. Offering one’s bone signifies submission in skeleton society. It was a light jest by the True Bone skeletons.
That’s why Koto, a lowest-ranking true true bone skeleton from the 20th floor, approached Sejun and demanded the bone.
***
“Keuk.”
“Kuk kuk kuk.”
From afar, the sound of True Bone skeletons holding back their laughter could be heard, all because of Koto being ignored even by a slave.
“Hey! You! Quickly offer your bone!”
As Koto raised his voice and reached out towards Sejun, If he returned empty-handed after being ignored by a Mixed Bone, it would be a stain on his reputation forever.
“Ugh!”
Sejun, thinking Koto was attacking, quickly raised his arm in defense.
“If you won’t offer it, I will take it myself!”
Koto grabbed Sejun’s arm.
‘Crazy bastard!’
Frightened Sejun, seeing Koto demanding the bone, swung his arm to shake off Koto’s hand.
And then,
Thwack!
Koto’s arm was detached way too easily. More precisely, the bone in Koto’s arm came off.
“What?!”
Sejun was startled by the unexpected situation and then realized,
‘Right! I’ve become strong!’
He had forgotten because he had been with beings from the 99th floor, but Sejun had the ability to easily overpower those from around the 20th floor.
Cling clang.
Sejun, who had been nervous just moments before, now held the detached arm of Koto.
And then,
“Hehehe. Hey, skeleton dog. What did you just say?”
Sejun spoke with a confident expression, forgetting his earlier nervousness. It was the epitome of pettiness.
“You! How dare a lowly Mixed Bone like you attack me, a lower True Bone?! Where is your master?! I’ll hold him accountable for the mistake of his slave!”
“What slave? What are you talking about? And Mixed Bone? This is a dragon bone! If Kellion heard what you just said, you’d be annihilated instantly.”
“Eek! I challenge you to a duel!”
Koto, enraged by Sejun’s words hinting ‘you almost got into big trouble,’ shouted.
“What duel? Just take the hits!”
Thwack! Thwack!
Sejun started hitting Koto with Koto’s own right arm.
Then,
“Enough.”
The True Bone skeletons who had sent Koto approached.
All eyes at the party were on Sejun and Koto. It was not good for the other skeletons to see Koto continuously being beaten up.
“What’s this? You are trying to fight with numbers?”
Even though the other skeletons had a completely different aura than Koto, Sejun, who had already gained too much confidence, charged at them like a speeding train.
“Do you think we’re a joke just because you defeated a single skeleton from the 20th floor?”
One of the true-bone skeletons standing behind stepped forward, transforming its hand bone into a sword. Then, it infused mana into the bone sword and slashed at Sejun.
Thwack!
The bone sword collided with the bone armor, but thanks to the hardness of the dragon bone, the sword could not fulfill its purpose.
However,
‘What the?!’
Sejun felt a shiver down his spine. The armor’s bone was about half cracked because of the bone sword. It meant that if he got hit in the same spot again, the armor would be penetrated.
However,
“Pretty sturdy, aren’t you? But how many times can you withstand it?!”
Thwack! Thwack!
No matter how many times the skeleton attacked, Sejun’s bone armor was not penetrated. The regeneration speed of the bone armor was much faster than the skeleton’s attacks.
‘One hit, two hits…’
Thanks to that, Sejun was immersed in counting how many times the skeleton attacked and thinking about how to deal with these skeletons.
Then,
Krueng!
[Daddy’s in danger!]
Cuengi, who had finished eating the honey garaetteok on the table and focused on Sejun, saw Sejun being beaten by the skeleton. He even forgot that he was hiding to boost Sejun’s confidence.
Krueng!!!
Without thinking, Cuengi ran towards the skeleton and threw a punch.
Kwang!
With a loud bang, the skeletons shattered into pieces and crashed into the wall of the tower.
And then,
Kwang!
Another loud noise was heard as a hole appeared in the newly constructed wizard tower’s wall.
“……”
The monsters participating in the party were frozen in place, staring at Cuengi, who had dared to make a hole in the wizard tower.
Krueng?!
[Is Daddy okay?!]
Cuengi hurried over and checked Sejun’s body.
“Uh… I’m fine… Shall we leave, Vice Chairman Theo?”
Seeing the hole in the wizard tower’s wall, Sejun quickly called for Theo.
“What happened, meow?!”
Theo, who was busily bragging to a wealthy wandering merchant, ran over in response to Sejun’s call.
“We have to go!”
Sejun put Theo on his knee and hurriedly left the tower, escaping to the farm.
Thus, Cuengi’s attempt to boost Sejun’s confidence ended in a rather ambiguous state, neither a success nor a failure.
Shortly after,
“Kyoo-kyoo-Who did this?!!!”
Iona, seeing the hole in the wizard tower wall, was furious.
***
“Aha! Hey! Did they come at dawn?”
Waking up, Sejun noticed Theo and Iona, who were sleeping on his lap.
Three days ago, Iona came to question Cuengi after the tower completion celebration party ended.
“How could you let Cuengi do such a thing at the celebration party?!”
It was clear that Cuengi was responsible for the hole in the tower wall shaped like a giant bear paw print. There were plenty of witnesses anyway.
“Calm down, Iona. The truth is…”
So, Sejun explained what happened with the skeletons and calmed Iona’s anger.
And then,
“Here is an irresistible offer.”
He also paid an additional price. The price was one more day of using Theo’s tail.
“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Okay!”
When Iona and Sejun agreed,
“Meow?! What did you say, meow?!”
Theo, who was sleeping on Sejun’s lap, unknowingly protested against the trade of his tail usage rights.
However,
“In return, an extension of Vice Chairman tenure by one week.”
“Fine, meow! It’s okay even if you use it for a few more days, meow!”
Theo gladly accepted the extension of his tail usage rights and even encouraged it.
Thus, Sejun resolved the complaints of both Iona and Theo, and Theo spent two days at the wizard tower with Iona while she worked during the day and returned with her after she finished her work at dawn.
***
“Mewwwwo…”
Sejun got up, picked up Theo, and attached him to his knee, then went to the bedroom wall.
Swoosh.
He added another stroke to the wall, and Sejun started the morning of the 310th day of being stranded.
“But what’s the date today?”
Suddenly curious about the date, Sejun started counting the days.
“Since I got stranded on May 11th…”
Sejun drew the calendars of March, April, and May on the ground and counted 55 days backward from the date of Vanishing to calculate the current date.
“So today is March… 16th?! Huh?! That means my birthday is in a week?”
Sejun’s birthday is on March 23rd. No wonder he wanted to calculate the date…
“Phew. I almost forgot to celebrate my own birthday.”
Sejun breathed a sigh of relief as if he had narrowly avoided a disaster.
And then,
“In a week, it’s my birthday!”
Sejun made a big announcement to the animals eating breakfast in the kitchen.
However,
“What’s a birthday?”
“Huh? What is that?”
Krueng?
[What is that?]
(Birthday?)
Squeak?
Squeak?
The animals did not know what a birthday was. Come to think of it, they had never seen anyone celebrate a birthday in the tower.
“A birthday is the date you were born. On your birthday, you receive congratulations and gifts from the people around you for being born.”
“The date of birth, meow?! So, if you don’t know your birth date, you can’t get any gifts, meow?!”
“Kyoo-that can’t be right!”
Krueng?!
(Pip-pip! No way!)
Squeak!
Squeak
The animals were shocked by Theo’s words. It was natural. There was no calendar here. The animals only sensed and remembered the passage of time instinctively.
Sejun’s announcement threw the farm into chaos.
After breakfast,
“I don’t have a birthday, so I can’t get any gifts, meow…”
“Kyooon… Even with powerful magic, I cannot know the date of my birth…”
(I’m just a lowly bat without a birthday…)
Squeak…
All the animals sat dejectedly, their faces downcast.
Hmm…
The Black Minotaurs also became gloomy after hearing about birthdays from the other animals.
Then,
Krueng…
[My mom doesn’t know the date when Cuengi was born…]
Cuengi, who went to ask Pink-fur about his birthday, returned with a disappointed expression.
‘It can’t be helped.’
It looked like the animals would be depressed all day.
“Actually, I have the ability to give my birthday to others. If you need a birthday, I’ll give you mine.”
So, Sejun created a new non-existent ability.
“Really, meow? Chairman Park! I want a birthday, meow!”
“Kyoot, Kyoot, Kyoot! Really?! I want a birthday too!”
Krueng! Krueng!
[Cuengi needs a birthday too! I want 100 bottles of honey as a birthday gift!]
(Pip-pip! Sejun! I want one too!)
Squeak!
Squeak!
All the animals wanted a birthday, so they all ended up having the same birthday as Sejun, March 23rd. In the end, Sejun’s birthday party became everyone’s birthday party a week later.
Later, the animals who received birthdays from Sejun shared their birthdays with other monsters, and March 23rd became a festival of the Black Tower.
And then,
“Heeheehee. Is that even possible?! Sejun, give me a birthday too!”
Aileen, who already had a birthday, but wanted to receive birthday gifts twice a year.
However,
“No, I can’t. I can’t give a birthday to someone who already has one.”
Aileen’s cunning plan was foiled by Sejun’s very convenient ability.
*****
*****
3/5
