TL: Hanguk
“Meow meow meow! In a week is my birthday, meow!”
As Theo was going down to the 40th floor of the tower, he met the interns who were also going down for trading cherry tomatoes and supplying sturdy blade green onions. He boasted about his birthday, which he had received from Sejun, while moving together with them.
“Birthday?”
“That’s right, meow! If you have a birthday, you can get a gift from Chairman Park, meow!”
Originally, birthdays were events where you’d receive best wishes from those around you, but in the tower, birthdays had become a day to receive gifts from Sejun.
“Congratulations, Vice Chairman Theo!”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you, meow!”
As Theo was being congratulated by the interns,
Zzzz.
Theo’s whiskers began to tremble.
“This feels ominous, meow!”
It was clear that something had happened to Chairman Park. As expected, Chairman Park can’t manage without me, meow! He can’t take care of his knees like this!
“Should we run?”
An intern, now accustomed to such situations, asked.
“That’s right, meow! Full speed ahead, meow!”
“Alright!”
Theo and the interns started running quickly.
***
[You have arrived at the 83rd-floor farm.]
[You have moved from the top floor, 99th floor, to the 83rd floor.]
[You have descended 16 floors.]
[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 16.]
“Huh?!”
The title was not displayed in the status window. Thus, He had forgotten about it. The title ‘Retrogressor’ seemed to have the effect of increasing stats as you go down the floors.
“That’s good! But are these all chestnuts?!”
Sejun, after checking the message, looked around in amazement. There were over 1,000 chestnut trees with chestnuts hanging from them.
“Dragon Tooth Warrior-Helmet Summon.”
Sejun first summoned the bone helmet and wore it on his head. One couldn’t be too careful; if he wasn’t lucky, a falling chestnut might leave a hole in his head.
‘Full Body Armor Transformation.’
Clank.
Of course, Sejun, who valued safety, also protected the rest of his body as well. An increase in all stats by 16 didn’t mean he could let his guard down. Getting pricked by steel thorns would still result in an immediate critical hit.
As Sejun wore his bone armor,
Clink.
“Guys, come out.”
Sejun called out Cuengi and the golden bat from the void storage.
However,
(Yes!)
Flap. Flap.
Only the golden bat came out.
“Huh?! Where’s Cuengi?”
(Big Brother Cuengi is sleeping! Should I wake him up?)
Kurrrueng.
When Sejun sneaked a peek inside, he saw Cuengi, with his stomach bulging out, sleeping, and empty boxes scattered beside him. He seemed to have eaten the crops in the storage and fallen asleep.
“No need. Can you call the Black Wolves around the farm?”
(Yes!)
Sejun sent the golden bat and approached the nearest chestnut tree.
And then,
“Yap!”
He knocked down a nearby chestnut with Myler’s hoe.
‘Hehehe. First, I’ll roast them over the fire to make roasted chestnuts to eat. With the rest, I’ll make chestnut makgeolli that Kaiser will like and candied chestnuts simmered in honey…”
As Sejun was thinking about the dishes to make with chestnuts and picking chestnuts,
“Oh! That one is bigger?!”
A chestnut that was about 1.5 times bigger than a regular chestnut caught his eye.
“It’s a big catch!”
Sejun swung his hoe towards the larger chestnut right away.
Then,
Thud.
Kwieek.
“Huh?”
An odd sound was heard as the chestnut fell.
“Did I hear it wrong?”
Thwack.
Sejun knocked down another chestnut with his hoe.
Tap.
Kwieek.
“Huh?!”
This time, he clearly heard it.
“What is it?”
Feeling something strange, Sejun gently poked the chestnut that made the initial sound with his hoe,
Kwieek! Kwieek!
The chestnut started making a strange sound and began to move. Then, a name appeared above it.
[Chestnut Hedgehog Godori]
“Huh?! A Hedgehog?”
It was not a chestnut but a hedgehog disguised as a chestnut.
“It looks cute. But why is its name Godori¹?”
While Sejun was busy looking at Godori,
Thump. Thump.
Chestnuts began hitting Sejun on the head.
Thud-thud-thud.
Chestnuts from the chestnut tree started launching rolling attacks towards Sejun and began falling down. About half of the chestnuts hanging on the chestnut tree were actually hedgehogs.
And,
Kwieek! Kwieek!
Godori was commanding the hedgehogs. Godori was the leader of the chestnut hedgehogs.
Thud. Thud.
The hedgehog’s quills got stuck in the bone armor.
Then,
[A quest has been generated.]
[Quest: Defeat the hedgehogs hiding in the farm disguised as chestnuts or regain land rights through peaceful agreement.]
Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the land deed.
A quest message appeared in front of Sejun.
“You said there were no monsters!”
Sejun hurriedly ran, avoiding the hedgehogs. The rolling attack of the chestnut hedgehogs was not strong enough to penetrate the bone armor, but there were too many of them.
So, Sejun ran frantically with dozens of hedgehogs stuck with their quills in his bone armor. However, this place was in the middle of the farm. Sejun was quickly surrounded by over 10,000 hedgehogs.
“Hey, guys, let’s resolve this with a peaceful conversation.”
Sejun, who was surrounded, requested a peaceful conversation with the hedgehogs.
However,
Kwieek! Kwieek!
The hedgehogs were very aggressive. Showing their teeth, they curled into balls, readying for another attack. They seemed to have no intention of talking.
“Do I have to fight?”
Considering his bone armor could block enemy attacks and he had the Throw Thunder and land-moving skills, he thought he could handle a fight.
‘Let’s give it a try!’
Just as Sejun was about to use his skill, holding the Myler’s hoe,
Kuuang!
Cuengi, who had slept well, got up, yawning.
And then,
Krueng!
[Wow! It’s a Chestnut!]
Cuengi came out of the void storage and picked up a hedgehog disguised as a chestnut.
Then,
Kweesi! Kweesi!
The hedgehog suddenly relaxed its body and started acting cute towards Cuengi. It was a completely different cry and posture from when they were dealing with Sejun. The aggressive attitude from earlier was gone, and they showed a posture of surrender by exposing their belly.
Krueng?
[It’s not a chestnut?]
Kweesi! Kweesi!
When Cuengi was disappointed that it was not a chestnut, the hedgehogs hurriedly climbed up the chestnut tree and dropped the chestnuts.
Thump. Thump.
Krueng!
Cuengi eagerly picked up the chestnuts dropped by the hedgehogs, and took out the chestnuts from inside.Watching this, Sejun was very displeased. They were ignoring him because he was weak!
Even if this is a tower dominated by the law of the jungle, this is too much!
“You’re all acting so different now? Are you discriminating against me?”
Kwieek! Kwieek!
The hedgehogs stiffened their bodies at Sejun’s words. It was a reaction as if asking how a weakling could act so boldly.
“Oh ho! You’re looking down on me now, aren’t you?! Cuengi!”
Sejun, infuriated by the hedgehogs’ attitude, called Cuengi.
Krueng?! Krueng!
[Did you call me?! Here are the chestnuts!]
Cuengi, who approached at Sejun’s call, handed him the chestnuts.
Kwieek? Kweesi?
The hedgehogs were confused. They couldn’t understand why the strong being was offering food to the weak one.
Then,
“Who said you could eat from the storage? This is punishment! Boop! Bubububup.”
Kuhehehehe.
Sejun’s raspberry blowing made Cuengi to laugh uncontrollably, and
……
The hedgehogs were speechless with shock.
And then,
Flop.
Eventually, the leader of the hedgehogs, Godori, came forward and lay down, showing his belly. It was a sign of surrender. Now they understood the hierarchy.
Kweesi! Kweesi!
Following their leader, the hedgehogs lay down showing their bellies. Their attitude towards Sejun changed in an instant.
[The chestnut hedgehogs completely surrendered and will follow your decisions.]
[You have completed the quest.]
[As a reward for completing the quest, you are recognized as the rightful owner of the land deed.]
[Land Deed Skill: Farm Information Lv. Max is activated.]
At the same time, the quest was completed.
“Let’s see.”
Sejun checked the land deed.
[83rd Floor Farm Land Deed]
→ This land deed proves ownership of the farm on the 83rd floor of the tower.
→ Owner: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Grade: B+
→ Skill: [Farm Information Lv. Max]
“Farm information.”
[Farm Information Lv. Max]
→ Size: 33,000 square meters
→ Crops: 1043 chestnut trees
→ Worker: 1 person (landowner)
→ Special note: Thanks to the chestnut hedgehogs disguised as chestnuts and protecting the chestnut trees, the chestnut trees are in good condition. There are 10,265 chestnut hedgehogs available as workers.
‘Oh! They were protecting the chestnut trees.’
Thinking about it, if someone unknowingly entered this place like him and faced the rolling attack of the hedgehogs, they’d be too frightened to ever return.
Then,
Kweesi! Kweesi!
[Please don’t drive us out! We have nowhere to go!]
Godori clung to Sejun’s foot and pleaded.
“Why would I drive you out? But what do you eat?”
Before negotiating wages, Sejun tried to gather information about the hedgehogs.
Kweesi? Kweesi!
[Are you hungry? Guys, bring some food!]
Kweesi! Kweesi!
At Godori’s command, the hedgehogs hurriedly moved somewhere.
Krueng!
[If I gather a lot, dad said he’ll make something delicious later!]
In the meantime, Cuengi diligently peeled the chestnuts and put them in his snack pocket.
***
Theo arrived at the 40th floor camp.
“Meow?! Chairman Park is safe now, meow!”
Theo sighed in relief as the danger signal of Sejun’s knee tracker decreased.
And then,
“I’m back, meow!”
He shouted towards the hunters, announcing his arrival.
“Oh! It’s Theo!”
Hunters who were waiting for cherry tomatoes hurriedly picked up their hunter phones and called the hunters who had gone out for hunting as soon as Theo arrived.
Meanwhile, the interns sold the magical cherry tomatoes.
“I’ll take 100.”
“That will be 150 tower coins.”
In the case of cherry tomatoes, the demand and supply had reached a balance, and they were being traded at a stable price of 1.5 tower coins.
“SOLD OUT!”
So, when the interns had sold all 10,000 cherry tomatoes,
“We will start the auction now, meow!”
Theo started the auction.
“Please start by selling the Exploding Stamina Corn first!”
“Yes! We’ve got the money ready!”
Thanks to the hunters who wanted to buy the exploding stamina corn as soon as possible, the area around the auction brightened up.
After Theo’s last auction, it was a hot topic among the hunters that Ethan, the guild master of the Royal Knight Guild, was bald, but he quickly cured his baldness with the exploding stamina corn he acquired from the tower.
And upon hearing that news, bald hunters risked their lives to climb up to the 40th floor of the tower. The hair loss treatment had elevated the standards of the Earth hunters by a significant margin.
However,
“Meow!!”
Theo found the enthusiasm of the hunters too dazzling.
“Theo, wear these.”
A hunter handed over a pair of sunglasses to Theo, who was struggling with all the glare.
“Kyaaak! My wish came true!”
A female hunter, who had been waiting for an opportunity to put sunglasses on Theo, cheered at his adorable look with the glasses on.
“Oh! Now my eyes aren’t dazzled anymore, meow! Then, I will start selling the exploding stamina corn first, meow!”
Theo, wearing the sunglasses, happily resumed the auction.
“I will sell a total of 10 pieces, one at a time, meow!”
Last time, he brought a larger quantity to see the response. Most of the remaining Explosive Stamina Corn had been planted by Sejun in the fields, so the available quantity was limited.
So, Theo chose a strategy of selling them slowly, in small amounts, to maintain a high price.
“5500 tower coins!”
“SOLD OUT, meow!”
Thanks to that, he was able to sell the exploding stamina corn at a higher price than last time.
‘Puhuhut. I am indeed smart, meow!’
Thus, Theo, intoxicated with his own cleverness, sold all the remaining crops, earned a lot of tower coins, and went up to the higher floors. Of course, he was headed towards Sejun’s knee location.
However,
“Why are you here again?”
“Obviously, I came to draw again, meow!”
Since Sejun’s knee was safe, he decided to stop by the lost and found storage on the 75th floor and do just one round of the draw before leaving.
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1) Godori is a Korean fishing card game
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5/5
Mass Release. Enjoy!!!!
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