Chapter 104 – The Harvest Festival Begins (6)

“Pyak!”

“Cueng…”

While the angry Black Rabbit nagged Cuengi, who had plotted a coup,

“Theo, where did you get that yellowtail?”

Se-jun asked Theo, who was preparing the yellowtail and putting it into his bundle.

“Ah. You mean this, meow? This is…”

Just as Theo was about to explain about the yellowtail Flamie had caught,

[Master! What brings you here?]

Flamie quickly called out to Se-jun. It was to divert Se-jun’s attention.

“Ah. Because of Cuengi. You were resting, but it was noisy because of these guys, right? I’ll take them away quickly.”

[Yes. Thank you.]

While Flamie answered,

Slide.

one of Flamie’s roots grabbed Theo’s leg.

And

[Please keep it a secret that I caught the yellowtail.]

Flamie, who wanted to hide her size, requested of Theo.

“I don’t want to, meow! There are no secrets between me and President Park, meow!”

[Instead, I will catch one huge fish like this for you every month. Big Brother.]

“Puhuhut. Did you say big brother, meow?”

Theo felt good at the title he was hearing for the first time.

[Yes. Big Brother.]

“Good, meow! I will keep it a secret, meow! President Park! I caught this yellowtail, meow!”

Theo fell completely for the title of big brother.

[Phew.]

Flamie breathed a sigh of relief.

But

“Theo, you? You hate going into the water, don’t you?”

“Meow? That is…”

Theo suddenly stammered.

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“It’s a secret, meow!”

At Se-jun’s questioning, Theo ran outside.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Se-jun said, watching Theo behave strangely.

And

“Black Rabbit, forgive Cuengi now. Cuengi must have reflected a lot too. Right, Cuengi?”

He reconciled the Black Rabbit and Cuengi.

“Cueng! Cueng!”

Cuengi nodded his head vigorously at Se-jun’s words.

“Pyak.”

The Black Rabbit forgave Cuengi, saying ‘Only this time.’

“Cueng!”

Excited that the Black Rabbit had forgiven him, Cuengi gave the Black Rabbit a piggyback ride on his neck and walked around.

At that moment,

Slap.

“What?”

In the meantime, Theo returned to Se-jun’s lap. Although he had run away because he couldn’t tell the secret, Theo couldn’t leave Se-jun’s lap empty for long. In the end, no matter how far he ran, he was still within Se-jun’s lap.

“Theo, how dare you keep secrets from me?!”

Grab.

Se-jun punished the runaway cat by pulling Theo’s cheeks.

“Pwesident Park, I did wrong, meow! The yellowtail was caught by Flamie, meow!”

In the end, Theo confessed honestly, but his pronunciation was completely crushed.

“Hehehe.”

In the fun of touching Theo’s cheeks, which felt soft like sticky rice cakes the more they were kneaded, Se-jun had long forgotten Theo’s answer.

Thanks to that, Flamie’s secret was kept.

***

Morning of the 269th day of being stranded.

Six days had passed since the harvest festival began.

“Will a contest be held today too?”

Se-jun said as he drank his morning coffee.

This was because, looking at the pattern so far, the Carrot Harvesting Contest was held on the 2nd day, and the Carrot Eating Contest on the 4th day of the harvest festival.

“Since we did harvesting and eating, maybe it’s something like carrot cooking or carrot carving next?”

While Se-jun was thinking about the event of the next contest,

“Pyak! Pyak!”

“Cueng! Cueng!”

The Black Rabbit and Cuengi, whose relationship had improved again, came to find Se-jun while singing together.

Thump.

Thump!

Suddenly, the Black Rabbit and Cuengi bowed to Se-jun, slamming their foreheads on the ground.

And

“Pyak!”

“Cueng!”

They gathered both palms and held them out to Se-jun politely yet confidently.

“Are you asking for food?”

“Pyak!”

The Black Rabbit shaking his head,

“Cueng! Cueeeeng!”

And Cuengi, who was nodding his head, saw the Black Rabbit and hurriedly shook his head.

“Then what is it?”

“Pyak?”

[Uncle, don’t you know about New Year’s allowance?]

The Black Rabbit climbed onto Se-jun’s shoulder and asked quietly. It was consideration for Se-jun, who might not know about New Year’s allowance.

“Ah. Was that it? Of course I know. Here, take this.”

Se-jun gave the New Year’s allowance to the Black Rabbit and Cuengi. It was the rabbits’ tradition to perform the New Year’s bow and receive New Year’s allowance on the 6th day of the harvest festival.

“Pyak!”

“Cueng!”

The Black Rabbit and Cuengi rejoiced holding the New Year’s allowance they received from Se-jun.

“Give me some too, meow!”

Theo hurriedly bowed to Se-jun. Being able to receive money just by bowing seemed like a very good deal.

“Here. Since Theo is the oldest brother, I’ll give you a bit more.”

Se-jun gave twice the amount he had given to the Black Rabbit and Cuengi.

“Thank you, meow! Receive another bow, meow!”

Theo thought he would receive New Year’s allowance every time he bowed, like a vending machine.

But

“Do you want to get what you received confiscated too?”

“No, meow.”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo quietly put the New Year’s allowance into his bundle and pulled out a Churu.

“Open it, meow!”

“Okay.”

Tear.

While Se-jun tore open the Churu and was feeding it to Theo,

“Ppi-ik!”

“Pya-ah!”

“Ppyook!”

The rabbits lined up in front of Se-jun, performed the New Year’s bow, and received their allowance.

“Yes. Stay healthy in the future too.”

Before he knew it, Se-jun was even offering words of blessing.

And

Scratch. Scratch.

(Ga, Na, Da, Ra…)

Behind Se-jun, the Golden Bat was reviewing by diligently writing Hangul on the ground. It was almost time to move back to Earth.

(Noodles, coffee, cola…)

Following that, it reviewed the words Se-jun had emphasized to bring no matter what if it saw them.

A moment later, the feeling came.

‘This time, I will definitely bring something Lord Se-jun likes!’

The Golden Bat kept Se-jun’s back in its eyes and disappeared.

***

Flutter. Flutter.

(Which one should I choose?)

The Golden Bat quickly looked around, searching for letters it could read.

At that moment,

OO Noodles, OO Coffee.

Familiar letters were visible.

(Ah! That’s it!)

The Golden Bat quickly grabbed the items and disappeared.

A moment later,

“Ah, damn! Who is it?! Who ate the ramyeon? It was here just before I went to the restroom…”

A man who came into the pantry to eat ramyeon grumbled while looking at the snack display.

“There is no way they could have eaten the ramyeon and disappeared in just a few minutes…”

Moreover, there was also a trace of packet coffee being taken.

“Even if it’s a small but certain happiness, this isn’t right!”

The president, who was too lazy to go out and was trying to have a meal inside, grew angry at the disappearance of the last ramyeon.

***

“Here. Take this. New Year’s allowance. Live happily.”

While Se-jun was giving the New Year’s allowance to the rabbits who bowed,

Flutter. Flutter.

The black dragon statue approached.

And

-Ahem. You rascal, Park Se-jun! Why are you not performing the New Year’s bow to me?

Kaiser was sulking at Se-jun, who was not coming to perform the New Year’s bow to him.

“Ah! I was planning to visit after receiving bows from the rabbits. Sorry for making you wait.”

Although he hadn’t even thought of visiting Kaiser, if he didn’t want to die, he couldn’t speak the truth.

-It’s not that I was waiting… Ahem. Generous as I am, I will make a special exception. Hurry up and perform the bow.

“Yes. Lord Kaiser, please live a long and healthy life.”

Se-jun politely performed the bow.

-What?! You rascal, Park Se-jun! Are you telling me to drop dead?!

“Excuse me?!”

-I am already 10,000 years old, so telling me to live for ten thousand years means telling me to die now!

He had not thought of the long lifespan of dragons.

“Ah. That is not it!”

Se-jun hurriedly explained his words.

“In our place, living to just 100 years is considered living a very long life. Living a long and healthy life means to live for a very, very long time.”

-Kahahahaha. So that was it. I did not consider the frailty of humans. Here, this is New Year’s allowance!

Spit.

A glossy black object spat by the black dragon statue fell into Se-jun’s hand.

-Since I gave you mine as a special favor, consider it an honor.

“Thank you!”

Although he didn’t know what it was, he expressed his gratitude for now.

Flutter. Flutter.

Kaiser returned to the fountain, and Se-jun checked the item Kaiser had given him.

[Scale of the Great Black Dragon Kaiser]

The great Black Dragon, Kaiser Pratarani, cast magic on his own scale directly.

Upon equipping it on a desired area, it settles as a tattoo on the skin.

If the owner’s life was endangered, the Dragon Clan skill – Dragon Skin automatically activated for a 1-time limit to save the owner’s life, and then it was destroyed.

Use Restriction: Park Se-jun, who has been recognized by Kaiser Pratarani

Creator: Kaiser Pratarani

Grade: Unmeasurable

“Wow.”

It was an amazing object.

“Do I just place it here like this?”

When Se-jun placed Kaiser’s scale on his left arm,

Whoosh.

The scale permeated Se-jun’s skin, and a black dragon tattoo occupying up to his left shoulder settled in.

“But will I ever have a need to use this?”

He already had the .

Se-jun thought he would never have a use for Kaiser’s scale, but the time to use the scale arrived sooner than expected.

Without knowing that a moment of life threat would soon arrive, Se-jun received bows from the remaining rabbits and gave them their New Year’s allowance.

“Did everyone receive it now?”

While Se-jun looked around to see if there was any rabbit who hadn’t received their allowance,

Flutter. Flutter.

The Golden Bat flew back rapidly.

(Lord Se-jun! I think I finally found what you wanted!)

The Golden Bat flew in while tightly clutching the items in both feet.

“Huh?! That is?!!!”

Se-jun was astonished at the amazing items the Golden Bat brought.

“Pu Ramyeon? Mixim Coffee?”

This time, the Golden Bat had brought truly proper items.

“First, put 550mL of water.”

Since there was only one ramyeon, failure could not be tolerated. Se-jun boiled the ramyeon as written in the instructions.

To measure the correct amount of water, Se-jun matched the water volume closely using the water bottle he brought during the stranding and boiled the water.

“Hehehe. Good job. Good job.”

While boiling the water for the ramyeon, Se-jun held the Golden Bat, today’s greatest contributor, in his arms and kept stroking its head.

“Bat-bat.”

The Golden Bat cried happily in Se-jun’s arms. However, there was a being watching that with displeasure.

“I don’t like it, meow!”

Theo glared at the Golden Bat. Bringing things Se-jun needed was his role, yet the youngest dare coveted the task the oldest brother should do.

‘How should I punish that guy?’

While Theo licked his front paw and contemplated how to punish the Golden Bat,

“Now is the time!”

Se-jun put the ramyeon, soup powder, and flakes together into the boiling water.

And

“1, 2…269, 270!”

After boiling for 4 minutes and 30 seconds as stated in the instructions, he removed the pot from the fire and transferred the ramyeon into a bowl.

“Keuu. This is the smell.”

Just smelling it, the emotion was already rushing in.

“Huu! Huu!”

Se-jun lifted a chopstick-full of ramyeon and blew air onto the steaming noodles.

‘It must have cooled down by now, right? Oh, whatever.’

Feeling it had cooled down moderately, Se-jun first put it into his mouth.

Slurp.

“Mmm!”

The taste of ramyeon experienced after almost 9 months. Se-jun’s forehead furrowed naturally.

Slurp. Slurp.

This time, Se-jun ladled the ramyeon soup with a spoon and drank it several times.

“Keuu!”

No other words were needed. It was simply moving.

While he was eating the ramyeon like that,

“Pyak!”

“Cueng!”

The Black Rabbit and Cuengi approached Se-jun. Just one bite!

“Uh…”

Se-jun’s pupils shook violently at the words ‘just one bite.’

“Here.”

Se-jun first gave the Black Rabbit one noodle strand and five spoonfuls of soup. That was enough for the Black Rabbit.

And

“Here, slurp.”

Se-jun pretended to share it with Cuengi, but suddenly buried his face in the bowl and began to inhale the ramyeon. He couldn’t let this be taken away.

But

“Cueng!”

As Cuengi quickly approached and buried his mouth in Se-jun’s bowl to start sucking, the ramyeon was sucked into Cuengi’s mouth like being drawn into a vacuum cleaner by the pressure.

Slurp.

With the last noodle that was connected to Se-jun’s mouth being sucked into Cuengi’s mouth, the ramyeon disappeared cleanly.

“My… ramyeon…”

While Se-jun was in despair,

(Um… Big Brother, I brought this for you.)

The Golden Bat cautiously handed Theo a packet with a drawing of a cat. It was a Churu.

At that moment,

[In a moment, the third contest of the harvest festival, the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest, was about to begin.]

[Those who want to participate in the contest, please gather in front of the giant carrot altar of Red Ribbon.]

The last contest of the harvest festival began.