“Hello, Lord Sejun!”
Cat intern Bill greets Sejun, who is taking a break, sipping coffee after eating balanidae porridge.
Moments later,
“Lord Sejun, how are you?”
“Hello!”
Other cat interns also began to gather one by one on the 99th floor of the tower.
When all eight cat interns had gathered,
“Puhuhut, has everyone gathered, meow?”
“Yes! Vice Chairman Theo!”
Theo, who was hanging on Sejun’s leg, descended from his lap and addressed them. Theo had called the cat interns together today.
And,
“We will now start the employee promotion ceremony, meow!”
The purpose of gathering them was to promote the interns who had shown good performance to full-time employees.
“Bill, Jeff, come forward, meow!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Bill and Jeff stepped forward at Theo’s call. Their faces were filled with pride. Now, unlike other cats, they had secured a permanent position, which means they could work beyond their contractual period of 10,000 days.
“Listen up, meow! Bill swiftly requested aid from the Black Orcs when I, Vice Chairman Theo, was attacked by the Three Head Society and greatly contributed to the search of the Three Head Society’s hideout…”
As Theo recited Bill’s achievements,
“From now on, Bill is an official employee of our farm, meow! Everyone, congratulate him, meow!”
Bill was appointed as an employee.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Following Theo’s announcement, the interns looked at Bill with envy and clapped their front paws.
“Jeff has demonstrated excellent communication skills with other animals while working. When a need arises, he quickly locates them and assigns them to the right place at the right time…”
Jeff’s achievements were then read out, and he was appointed as an employee.
“Thank you! We will work even harder in the future!”
“That’s right, meow! You both must continue to work hard for Chairman Park, who has promoted you guys, meow!”
The one who decided their promotions was Sejun. Theo, being quite whimsical, if left to his own devices, might soon end up promoting cats and appointing eight cat Chairman.
“Yes! Chairman Park, we’ll continue to do our best.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
As Bill and Jeff expressed their gratitude to Sejun,
“From now on, both newly-promoted employees will receive three grilled fish daily and a sales incentive of 2%, meow!”
Theo explained the benefits for the employees.
“2%?!”
“Wow!”
The cats interns were astonished to hear about the employee benefits. Not only the grilled fish, but the incentive had also doubled. They would now earn twice as much for the same amount of work.
However, the employee benefits didn’t stop there. There was something even more extraordinary waiting for them.
“And Bill will be in charge of potato distribution, and Jeff will handle carrots, meow!”
Bill and Jeff were given responsibility for the distribution of Power Potatoes and Agility Carrots, crops that made several times more revenue than the magical cherry tomatoes.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
Stunned by the generous benefits, Bill and Jeff thanked Theo once again.
“Puhuhut. The rest of the interns should work hard and aim to become employees quickly, meow!”
Theo addressed the other interns. This way, I won’t have to leave Chairman Park’s lap, meow! Theo, eager to delegate his duties, wanted to promote everyone quickly.
As the promotion ceremony ended,
“Everyone, follow Vice Chairman Theo, meow! I’ll be back Chairman Park, meow.”
“Alright, take care on your way.”
“Okay, meow!”
Eager to delegate his work, Theo, leading the cats as an example, descended to the 41st floor of the tower.
***
“I hope it works today!”
Gonzalez, who had been persistently trying to exit the tower, pushed himself against the exit door every day with hope. Despite his shouting, he expected the exit to remain closed as usual, but…
Swish.
“Huh?!”
He passed through the exit and fell to the ground.
Then,
“Where is this?”
Gonzalez quickly got up and looked around, completely unfamiliar with his surroundings.
Suddenly,
“A person has come out of the tower!”
The staff of the Korean Awakened Association, who were controlling access to the tower, discovered Gonzalez and quickly approached him.
“By any chance, are you from the Brasília Tower?”
The assumption was made that the tower that appeared in Hannam-dong might be the tower from Brasília, so an interpreter who spoke Portuguese was on standby, ensuring no issues in conversation.
“Yes. But where am I?”
“This is Korea.”
“Korea?”
“It’s definitely the tower from Brasília!”
Thanks to this, both parties were able to obtain the necessary information.
“We will issue you a visa so you can stay in Korea for now.”
The staff requested personal information about Gonzalez from the Brazilian Awakened Association, confirmed his identity, and issued him a long-term visa to stay in Korea for 10 years.
The goal was to have the hunters stay in Korea as long as possible. The number of hunters who entered through the Brasília tower was roughly 100,000, while Korea had 10,000 hunters.
This was an opportunity to double the number of hunters in Korea, even if only 10% of the 100,000 hunters were to naturalize.
Furthermore, it was known that among those who entered the Brasília tower, a significant number were top-tier hunters ranked within the top 10,000 worldwide. Simply making a good impression on them would be hugely beneficial for Korea.
“How about accommodations? If you don’t have a place in mind, we can arrange a nearby hotel.”
The employees kindly asked.
“Just a moment. First, I need to go into the tower and let the people know they can come out.”
“Of course. We’ll also send in our hunters to assist.”
“Thank you.”
Shortly after, over 10,000 hunters emerged from the Hannam-dong tower, greatly boosting the revenues of nearby hotels and lodgings.
***
Swish. Swish.
“Hmm hmm hmm.”
After lunch, Sejun was humming as he harvested cherry tomatoes.
Then,
[You’ve harvested a magical cherry tomato.]
[Due to the effect of Harvesting Lv. 7 , you’ve harvested a crop of one grade higher.]
[Your job experience increases slightly.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 7 increases slightly.]
[You’ve gained 100 experience points.]
Thanks to his harvesting skill, he harvested an A-grade cherry tomato.
“Wow! I’m such a lucky guy!”
Sejun boasted. Today was his day; eating loads of lucky strawberries had an amazing effect. It was questionable why the luck that should have only lasted for an hour continued, but…”
“Hehe. Has my time finally come?”
Just when Sejun wondered if his life’s luck had turned around,
Krueng!
[Daddy, Cuengi wants a snack!]
Cuengi, which had been playing alone digging the ground, came asking for a snack.
“Just a moment, Crop Gigantification.”
[Using Crop Enlargement Lv. 4 on the Power Sweet Potato.]
[Using the power contained within the Power Sweet Potato to enlarge the crop.]
Sejun used Crop Gigantification on the sweet potato.
[You’re lucky.]
[The Power Sweet Potato has enlarged successfully while retaining its effects.]
“Huh?”
The Power Sweet Potato grew larger while retaining its effects.
“Hehe. I really am lucky. Here you go.”
Sejun, reaffirming his luck, gave the enlarged sweet potato with its effects intact to Cuengi and resumed harvesting cherry tomatoes.
Then,
Kwiek!
The fire ant that followed Sejun to the farm approached with confidence. On the fire ant’s back a single King oyster mushroom was growing fully.
“Could it be, is that an elixir mushroom?!”
Kwiek!
The fire ant nodded in response to Sejun’s question by moving its antennae up and down. Another good thing had happened.
“Really?”
Sejun was surprised that the fire ant could also grow elixir mushroom.
Kwiek!
The fire ant worker proudly displayed the mushroom on its back.
Pluck.
Sejun harvested the mushroom from the fire ant’s back and checked its options.
[Enhanced Elixir: Fiery King Oyster Mushroom]
→ Grown by the fire ant under the care of tower farmer Park Sejun, this mushroom absorbed the fire ant’s fire energy and all nearby nutrients to transform into an elixir mushroom.
→ It boasts excellent taste and aroma.
→ Upon consumption, all stats +3
→ Upon consumption, flame-related talents are slightly enhanced.
→ Cultivator: Park Sejun’s tenent fire ant worker.
→ Expiration date: 120 days.
→ Grade: B.
The elixir’s effects were better, likely due to the fire ant’s larger size compared to mushroom ants.
“I should bring more fire ants.”
Sejun thought he should go north later to catch more fire ants and continued harvesting cherry tomatoes.
A short while later
“”Oh! Another A-grade cherry tomato!”
Sejun’s streak of luck continued, unaware of what consequences it would bring.
***
Black Tower Administrator’s Zone.
“Ugh… So tired… nom.”
Aileen , exhausted from engraving magic on the fragment of Kai-ra’s Dragon Heart, put a Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power into her mouth, which Sejun had given her. She was halfway through the engraving process.
“Kehihihi. Delicious. Nom nom.”
As Aileen was restoring her magic by eating the elixir-grade cherry tomato,
[The Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, Park Sejun, has utilized luck exceeding his share.]
[The Scale of Causality of the Black Tower has slightly tipped.]
[The Scale of Causality activates.]
[The scale of causality imparts misfortune on Tower Farmer Park Sejun to restore balance.]
An alert appeared on the crystal orb indicating misfortune would befall Sejun.
“Krrrung! Not my Sejun!”
How dare they bring misfortune to our Sejun?! That’s unacceptable! Aileen, fuming, poured her magic into the crystal orb, invoking her administrator privileges.
Then,
[Black Tower’s Administrator intervenes in the adjustment of causality.]
[Causality adjustment is in progress.]
[The misfortune intended for Tower Farmer Park Sejun is now distributed among the beings of the 99th floor.]
The misfortune meant for Sejun scattered. As a result, the misfortune that would have made any seed Sejun planted have a 0% germination rate for the next 3 days was instead distorted and passed onto other beings.
***
99th floor’s western forest.
Thump. Thump.
A young Ent was playfully tapping the ice in front of it.
Then,
Crack.
A small crack appeared on the ice, which seemed unbreakable, when hit by a branch of the young Ent.
Crack-crack.
Starting with that small crack, fissures rapidly spread in all directions, creating a web of cracks in the ice.
And then,
Crash.
The giant wall of ice crumbled, releasing the corrupted Ents from the core of the western forest. Their bodies began to warm, spreading the aura of corruption.
***
Rustle. Rustle.
After harvesting the magical cherry tomatoes, Sejun energetically swung the Amplifying Greatsword, cutting leaves in the green onion field. It was Sejun’s own way of swordsmanship training, as he had no skills in wielding a sword.
While he was diligently cutting the green onion leaves,
Plop. Plop.
Thud. Thud.
“Huh?”
Turning towards the source of the sound, Sejun saw a massive number of Ents approaching from the west.
“What’s happening?”
Feeling that something was off, Sejun approached the purified Ents.
“What’s going on, guys?”
[Sejun… sir… The ice… it broke…]
“Ice?”
[Yes… the ice that was… imprisoning… the corrupted… Ents…]
“Really?!”
Only then did Sejun recall the corrupted Ents that Iona had trapped behind an ice wall.
“Got it. You guys guard the surroundings. Cuengi! Pink-fur!”
Sejun asked the Ents to defend the farm and called for Cuengi and Pink-fur.
“Let’s head to the western forest!”
Krueng!
[Understood!]
Krueong!
[Got it!]
Riding Cuengi and accompanied by Pink-fur, Sejun rushed towards the western forest.
Sejun’s dispersed misfortune had led the purified Ents to inadvertently release the corrupted ones from their icy prison.
However, the misfortune was equally applied to the corrupted Ents as well, creating an opportunity for Sejun, whose luck hadn’t diminished, to gain a massive amount of experience points.
“Level up, let’s go!”
Sejun and the animals rushed towards the western forest, prepared to bring misfortune to the corrupted Ents.
