Krueng! Krueng!
[It’s Cuengi’s birthday party today! On his birthday, Cuengi can eat rice cakes!]
Cuengi, who had been waiting to eat rice cakes for days, woke up early in the morning and opened the day of the birthday party with a loud cry.
However,
“Wait, Cuengi!”
Sejun, who had been preparing the food for the birthday since dawn, restrained the excited Cuengi.
Krueng?!
[When does Cuengi eat the rice cake?!]
Cuengi, who thought he could eat rice cakes as soon as he woke up, began to sound aggressive. He was getting cranky because he was hungry.
“Here. Eat this, Cuengi, and wait until we cut the rice cake cake!”
Sejun fed Cuengi a mouthful of chestnuts soaked in honey water.
Chomp. Chomp.
Krueng!
[It’s delicious!]
Cheered up by the sweet taste, Cuengi started dancing, wagging his tail.
“Ah… If you dance like that, you’ll get hungry again quickly… Guys, let’s hurry up!”
Squeak!
While Cuengi was dancing, Sejun, who intended to finish the work, shouted to the rabbits who were helping him. They had to finish the task as quickly as possible before Cuengi’s hunger turned him aggressive again.
A moment later,
“Phew… It’s done. Good job, everyone.”
Squeak…
Sejun and the rabbits, after barely finishing the birthday party preparations, sat down with exhausted expressions and took a short break.
Just then,
Thump!
The Black Minotaurs led by the Minotaur King and,
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot.”
A group of wizards from the wizard Tower led by Iona arrived at Sejun’s farm to attend the birthday party.
The wolves had sent a message that they couldn’t attend the party as they were tracking down enemies who stole sturdy blade green onion leaves through the cat intern, Jeff, who arrived yesterday.
“Alright, let’s start the birthday party!”
As all the attendees gathered, Sejun declared the start of the birthday party.
Kreong!
At Sejun’s proclamation, a giant ‘rice cake’ cake shaped like a tower was carefully brought out by Pink-fur.
-Khahaha. It’s the black tower.
Kaiser immediately recognized the tower-shaped cake instantly and smiled with satisfaction,
-Kheek… I’m envious.
Kellion expressed his envy.
However, Sejun didn’t just depict a tower on the cake. At the top of the tower, there were figurines make of rice cake that Sejun had painstakingly crafted the night before.
At the very front, there was a small tree with three leaves made from finely cut green onion leaves, representing Flamie. The leaves had different colors, reflecting meticulous attention to detail.
Behind Flamie, there was Sejun wearing a straw hat and sitting cross-legged. To his sides were Blackwolf and Silverwolf, the rabbits, and the mushroom ants.
Theo and Cuengi sat happily on Sejun’s lap, eating churu and honey. In reality, Cuengi sitting on Sejun’s lap was impossible.
‘I promise to become strong enough to let you sit on my lap.’
Knowing how much Cuengi wanted to sit on his lap but couldn’t due to fear of hurting him, Sejun tried to fulfill Cuengi’s wish through the cake decoration.
Behind Sejun and the animals were the Black Minotaurs, Pink-fur, and the Minotaur King. In the empty spaces of the cake, bees attached to thin rods buzzed around.
Krueng! Krueng!
[Cuengi is sitting on dad’s lap! So exciting!]
Most were moved by the intricate details that Sejun put into the cake. It was a cake decoration that pleased everyone.
“Chairman Park, my dragon claw is missing, meow!”
Of course, there were minor complaints, but most were satisfied.
Then,
[The tower’s administrator is upset that she’s not included in the decorations.]
Aileen felt left out as she wasn’t depicted in the cake’s decorations.
“Just wait. That’s not everything. Open the storage, Iona.”
Sejun spoke to Aileen, opened the void storage, and signaled Iona.
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes! Threads of magic, move as I command. Marionette.”
Iona cast a spell.
Roar!
From the void storage, three roaring dragons made of rice cake, flapping their wings according to Iona’s spell, and flew out of the void storage. A massive black dragon was flanked by a smaller black and white dragon.
The giant black dragon represented Aileen, and the dragons flying to its sides represented the black dragon Kaiser and the white dragon Kellion.
[The tower’s administrator is very pleased with her size.]
-Huh?! Is that supposed to be me?
-What?! Why am I depicted so small?
Aileen was satisfied with how Sejun expressed her the most, while Kaiser and Kellion expressed dissatisfaction with their smaller representation.
“Now, sing the song I taught you earlier! Happy Birthday~”
Ignoring the dragons’ complaints, Sejun began to sing the birthday song.
“Happy Birthday, meow~”
Krueng~
[Happy Birthday~]
Kuooooeng~
Emmoooo~
Squeak~
Kkwek~
Everyone began to sing in their own unique style. It was a discordance unlike any other.
“Dear~”
As the song headed towards its climax,
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Oh power of fire. Answer my call and bring the eternal hellfire! Hellfire!”
Iona conjured a massive flame in the sky, serving as candles. Candles weren’t used because everyone’s age varied, which was problematic.
And then,
“Happy Birthday-!”
Finally, the song ended.
“Now, blow out that fire!”
Sejun shouted at the animals and then blew air towards the Hellfire. Knowing the fire wouldn’t be put out by mere breath, Iona would cancel the magic at the right moment.
“Hoo-!”
“Ho,meow!”
“Hoo-!Kyoot!”
Kuuuueng!
Koooooeng!
Emuooo!
Starting with Sejun, the animals blew air towards the Hellfire.
Then,
Shush.
The Hellfire went out earlier than expected.
“Iona, it’s not time yet…”
“Kyarrgh! It wasn’t me.”
Iona responded in a flustered voice, looking at Minotaur King and Pink-fur. She had underestimated the power of Minotaur King and Pink-fur. Their breath from opposite sides met in the middle, creating a whirlwind.
If the Hellfire hadn’t gone out and they hadn’t stopped blowing, the whirlwind would’ve swept away the rice cake and everyone.
“Kyoo-kyoo-my Hellfire!”
Iona’s pride was unexpectedly scratched.
Once the candle-blowing ended,
“Pink Fur, lift me up.”
Sejun called Pink-fur to take him to the top of the cake for the final cake-cutting ceremony.
“Thank you, Pink-fur. Vice Chairman Theo, bring out your claws.”
“Got it, meow!”
Snap!
Theo unsheathed his claws and infused them with magic power. Puhuut. Chairman Park, behold the power of my dragon claw, meow!
“Happy Birthday everyone! Here we go!”
Sejun once again wished everyone a happy birthday and began to cut the cake with Theo’s claw.
Swish.
Thanks to the dragon claw, it cut smoothly. Too smoothly.
“Huh?!”
It felt like Theo’s claw was slicing even before making contact. This was because Theo, had infused so much magic power in his claws, that an invisible power emanated from them.
“Ahh!”
Theo’s claw sliced the rice cake in an instant, and Sejun quickly landed on the bottom layer.
Kugung.
The rice cake split in two.
Krueng!
[Can we eat the cake now~?]
As soon as the rice cake was cut, Cuengi lunged towards it.
Kuoooong!
Emuoo!
All the other animals also began to rush towards the cake.
Kudangtang.
“This isn’t right…”
Sejun looked at the shattered ‘rice cake’ cake, being ravaged by the animals, with a look of desolation. He had imagined a harmonious scene of everyone enjoying the cake…
Krueng!
Kreong!
Squeak!
Ook!
It was a wild scene.
Then,
Emoo!
Black Minotaurs tried to pull the banana leaves spread on the floor to eat.
Roll roll.
Sejun, who was on top of the banana leaves, rolled with the rice cake. It was total chaos.
However,
“Hehehe.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. It was too much fun.
“Argh! Whatever!”
No matter what, as long as it’s fun, that’s all that matters. Sejun rolled around more actively on the ‘rice cake’ cake with Theo in his arms.
“Meow! It’s sticky, meow!”
Theo was annoyed looking at his fur covered in sticky rice, but washing later would solve it. After all, Theo now had the talent: aquatic affinity.
That’s how the ‘rice cake’ cake cutting ceremony ended and the real birthday party began.
“Here, have some makgeolli!”
Sejun brought out 11 different flavored makgeollis from the brewery,
-Come here and get a drink each! You have to have a drink on your birthday. One for me, one for you. Hahaha.
-Ahem. Take my drink, too.
Kaiser and Kellion barged in. Sejun tried to stop the two dragons from using tricks to drink more alcohol, but he gave up when he saw the animals lining up in front of them with eyes full of reverence.
Come to think of it, the dragons’ authority in the tower wasn’t taken lightly. To the animals, receiving a drink from the dragons that represented the two towers could be a tremendous honor to boast about for generations.
While the adults were getting drinks from the dragons,
“Hey kids, have some of this.”
Sejun handed out sweet snacks like chestnuts and sweet potato candies to the young animals who couldn’t drink alcohol.
Then,
“I should eat some too.”
Sejun sat down, sipped on his makgeolli, and began to eat the other dishes.
Then,
[The tower’s administrator congratulates you on your birthday.]
[The tower’s administrator says this is her gift.]
With Aileen’s words, a document was placed in Sejun’s hand. Aileen found the document while searching the Pritani family’s warehouse for Sejun’s birthday gift.
[Persimmon Farm Land Deed, 49th Floor of the Tower]
“Oh! Persimmons?! Aileen, thank you. It’s a wonderful gift!”
Sejun, who can now eat persimmons, was delighted with Aileen’s gift. He could now enjoy foods like dried persimmons, fresh persimmon juice, and other persimmon delicacies.
[The tower’s administrator regrets not being able to deliver the gift personally.]
“It’s alright.”
Sejun had heard about Aileen’s condition from Kaiser. If she came, it would rather be a situation to avoid.
[The tower’s administrator says she has a lot to tell you.]
[The tower’s administrator says she met a very old grandmother in the Dragonheart fragment.]
“An old grandmother?”
Aileen told the story of meeting Kai-ra’s lingering spirit from the Dragonheart fragment brought by Theo.
“That happened?!”
While talking to Aileen,
“Yawn…”
Sejun yawned, getting drowsy from the alcohol. Along with the drinking, the fatigue from preparing for the birthday party also caught up with him.
“Chairman Park, your face looks so exhausted, meow! But don’t worry, meow! Vice Chairman Theo, with healing power, will massage you, meow!”
Theo began massaging Sejun’s face with his front paws. Theo now had the healing skill, so Sejun felt the effect immediately as his fatigue was alleviated.
However,
Squish. Squish.
Theo’s paws, which still had sticky cake residue, felt unpleasant on Sejun’s face.
“This won’t do. Let’s wash up first.”
“Hehe, alright, meow! Let’s go wash, meow!”
Due to the water affinity, Theo didn’t resist the bath.
Splash.
So, Sejun and Theo headed to the fountain and stepped into the water.
However,
“Huh?!”
The water didn’t wet Theo’s fur when they got in.
“What?”
“Hehe.”
Theo chuckled, looking at Sejun.
“Hey! Who said you could use water affinity like that?!”
Sejun, realizing Theo’s mischief, got angry.
“Hehehe. I’m waterproof now, meow!”
Instead of bonding with water using his water affinity, Theo had repelled it. It was a completely different use of the water affinity skill than Sejun had anticipated.
Fortunately, only the fur was waterproof, so the sticky cake stuck on it could be washed off.
Splash. Splash.
In the end, Sejun washed Theo as if he was doing laundry, dunking him into the water a few times.
“It feels refreshing, meow!”
Theo, who finished his bath without a drop of water on him, smiled contentedly.
