Chapter 105 – Being Backstabbed

“How dare you eat my ramyeon?! Take this! Pbbbt!”

Se-jun blew an angry raspberry on Cuengi’s belly, who had stolen and eaten his ramyeon.

However,

Kkuhehe. Cueng!

[Hehehe. It was fun!]

Cuengi, liking Se-jun blowing air on his belly, stuck out his belly even more.

While Se-jun was punishing (?) Cuengi like that, a message appeared announcing the start of the third contest of the harvest festival.

“Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest?”

‘If I could just eat the Detoxifying Green Onion, I might be able to win.’

However, seeing that other buffs were lifted for fairness in the Carrot Harvesting Contest, the Detoxifying Green Onion was highly likely not to work either.

“Shall we go for now?”

Just as Se-jun was about to head to the giant carrot altar to participate in the contest,

“President Park, give our youngest New Year’s allowance too, meow!”

Theo, who had received the Churu as a gift, began to take care of the Golden Bat. Its title was even upgraded to ‘our youngest.’

“Oh! Then of course I should give it.”

Se-jun readily agreed. It was the Golden Bat that had brought Pu Ramyeon, after all. He could give even more than just New Year’s allowance.

(Lord Se-jun, please receive my bow!)

As the Golden Bat folded its wings and bowed politely,

“Alright. Here, New Year’s allowance. Stay healthy in the future too, Golden Bat.”

(Yes! Thank you!)

Se-jun gave the New Year’s allowance to the Golden Bat.

And

“Let’s go.”

He took the animals and went to the giant carrot altar.

In front of the giant carrot altar, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, the Black Minotaurs, and the adult rabbits who had arrived first were waiting for the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest to begin.

Cueng!

Cuengi ran over upon seeing his mother.

However,

Kuong!

When the mother Crimson Giant Bear shook her head while the two of them were conversing,

Kwe-e-eng!

Cuengi lay on the floor and began to cry.

“He must be throwing a tantrum to participate in the contest too.”

It was obvious without even looking. Because all the contests held in the harvest festival so far had been eating contests.

However, this contest was a drinking contest. The minor Cuengi could not participate. Se-jun went under the giant carrot altar while wishing the mother Crimson Giant Bear good luck in his heart.

[Time remaining for registration – 7 minutes 51 seconds]

[Current number of registrations – 532]

Perhaps because it was indeed a drinking contest, young rabbits could not participate, so the number of participants was small.

“The Black Rabbit will obviously participate, but will Theo participate?”

“Of course, meow!”

Although he didn’t like alcohol, Theo also registered for the contest to not leave Se-jun’s lap.

[Current number of registrations – 535]

At that moment,

Kuong!

The mother Crimson Giant Bear pointed at Se-jun and sent him an apologetic look.

And

Kwe-e-eng!

Cuengi running over while crying.

‘No. Why did you send him to me? Even if I was in charge of raising Cuengi lately, this was not right!’

Se-jun hurriedly took out honey from the subdimensional warehouse, thinking he should complain to the mother Crimson Giant Bear later. He planned to soothe him with honey for now.

Kwe-e-eng!

As soon as he took out the honey, the crying sound changed. True to being a Honey Bear, Cuengi stopped crying immediately upon seeing the honey.

“If you wait quietly while eating this, I’ll give you another jar of honey when it’s over. Our Cuengi can wait quietly, right?”

Lick, lick, lick.

Cueng!

Cuengi, who was too absorbed in licking the honey, answered loudly without even turning his gaze.

After soothing Cuengi like that, when he went under the giant carrot,

[The contest began.]

Along with the message announcing the start of the contest, a translucent red light wall blocked access to the surroundings.

And

Thump!

Along with a 10m-sized liquor bottle containing a giant carrot in the center, cups appeared in front of the participants.

“Wow!”

It was his first time seeing such a big carrot.

“Will the alcohol taste good too?”

Se-jun, who had never tasted liquor brewed with carrots, looked at the cup that appeared in front of him with expectant eyes. A transparent liquid was contained in the cup. It was carrot liquor.

Lifted.

Se-jun lifted the cup and first smelled the aroma of the carrot liquor slowly. Since he wasn’t even thinking of winning anyway, he focused on enjoying the alcohol.

“Mmm.”

A fragrant flower scent along with the unique flavor of carrots was felt from the alcohol.

Now that he had smelled the aroma, it was time to taste it.

Sip.

Se-jun drank the alcohol.

“Mmm.”

As soon as the alcohol entered his mouth, the deep flavor of grain and carrot, along with a light bitterness, filled his mouth.

Gulp.

Regardless of his will, the alcohol smoothly went down his throat.

Whoosh.

At the same time as the cool energy of alcohol went straight down his esophagus, a subtle sweetness of grain rose from the mouth where the alcohol had disappeared, cleanly masking the remaining bitterness.

“Keuu. It’s truly delicious.”

Sip.

Se-jun, who was in a good mood from the taste of the carrot liquor, drank another cup of alcohol from the cup that had refilled before he knew it.

As Se-jun drank five cups in a row without any side dishes like that,

“Oh? I’m getting a bit drunk?”

Se-jun tried to take out the Detoxifying Green Onion to sober up, but

[Other items could not be used for the fairness of the contest.]

As expected, usage was restricted.

“Shall I stop drinking?”

Se-jun tried to stop drinking and come out, but

[You could not leave until the liquor in the bottle was completely emptied or all participants collapsed.]

He could not go outside until the contest ended.

“Shall I wait?”

“Meow, meow, meow.”

While Se-jun was waiting for the contest to end and stroking Theo’s belly,

Kuong!

Moo!

Ppi-ik!

The animals marveled as they drank the liquor.

Stealthily.

Se-jun’s hand, wanting to drink, moved little by little toward the cup.

“Just one cup.”

Se-jun held up the cup.

Gulp.

“Keuu.”

A taste that naturally elicited exclamations. The more he drank, the more he craved the alcohol.

“I want to have just one more cup.”

‘Drink! It was a once-in-a-lifetime anyway. Who knew when the day to drink would come again after today passed?’

‘No! Pull yourself together! What if you made a mistake like that? You would die immediately!’

Whispers of instinct and reason were heard inside his head.

But

“I should quickly empty the bottle!”

Today was instinct’s victory. Looking at the liquor bottle in the center which was about half-full, Se-jun decided to join in emptying it.

***

55th floor of the tower.

“What?! Tarik is dead?!”

Grid was flustered at the news of Tarik’s death. He had been looking into his whereabouts because contact had been cut off for a few days, but to think he was dead.

“Yes! He was caught feeding the locusts on the 67th floor of the tower by Iona, the president of the Wizards’ Association, and was reportedly killed on the spot.”

“How dare they kill the elder of our boar tribe?!”

Slam!

At Grid’s fist, unable to overcome his anger, the desk broke in half.

“Lord Grid, please calm down. A message came that President Mason is moving the agents of the Secret Inspection Bureau to find evidence connecting you to Tarik in order to frame you with this incident and deal with you at once. You must quickly erase all connections with Tarik.”

Mason, who usually regarded Grid as an eyesore. Mason moved as secretly as possible to finish Grid off for good, but Grid’s intelligence network was also formidable.

Grid had made a few of the Secret Inspection Bureau agents, which was operated in top secret by the Wandering Merchant Association, into his own people by putting effort into them for a long time.

“There is no need to worry about that. Since there will be no evidence.”

As soon as contact with Tarik was cut off, Grid ordered all traces connected with Tarik to be removed just in case, and the assassination squad wiped out several villages to eliminate witnesses.

“More importantly, all the White Rabbits at the farm disappeared?”

“Yes. Dozens of guards were clearly watching, but they disappeared without a trace.”

“It is soon time to harvest. Whether you find the disappeared White Rabbits or capture other White Rabbits, bring the White Rabbits back by any means necessary!”

“Yes! Then, I will go!”

As the subordinate hurriedly went out to secure the White Rabbits,

Creak.

Grid stood up from his seat and slid the bookshelf in the office to the side. There, stairs leading to the basement were revealed.

Thump. Thump.

Grid went down to the basement along the stairs. The stairs were connected to an underground passage, and the passage was connected to a giant plaza.

And a white dragon statue in the center of the plaza.

“The humble Grid greets the great White Dragon.”

Thud!

The large landowner Grid folded his huge body and bowed toward the 1m-sized white dragon statue.

***

“Kehehehe. I learned it all! Now I can see Se-jun!”

Aileen, who had completely mastered the polymorph magic, shouted with a happy expression.

Now she only had to wait until Kaiser signaled.

“Kehehehe. I want to see Se-jun quickly!”

Aileen inspected Se-jun through the crystal ball with an excited expression.

-Keuu. It is good.

Se-jun, who participated in the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest, continuously spat out exclamations while drinking the alcohol.

“Is that so good?”

Curiosity arose in Aileen.

-Keuu. It is good.

-It is so good!

-It is good.

Se-jun spat out the exclamation ‘it’s good’ every time he drank. Looking at such Se-jun, Aileen’s expression gradually hardened.

‘Hmph! Do you like it more than me?!’

***

[The administrator of the tower asked if you liked that liquor more than her.]

“Huh?! What are you talking about?!”

[The administrator of the tower was furious, asking why you kept saying ‘it’s good! It’s good!’ while drinking.]

“Hhehehe. Is our Aileen jealous of alcohol?”

[The administrator of the tower flared up, asking when she ever got jealous.]

“Hhehehe. Don’t worry. I only have our Aileen.”

Se-jun, who was in a good mood from being drunk, said cutely.

[……]

At that moment,

[The Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest was ended early due to running out of all prepared carrot liquor.]

The rankings were decided as the participants drank all the liquor that was in the bottle.

[Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest Rankings]

1st Place – Red Fur (1,000L)

2nd Place – Woobaek-i (103L)

3rd Place – Woochil-i (102.5L)

…

..

.

An volume that was incomprehensible how they drank that much with a small cup. Se-jun did not know, but when the liquor in the cup was emptied, it was continuously refilled, allowing them to drink without stopping.

[Rewards were distributed to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places of the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest.]

The reward was a beer bottle-sized liquor bottle containing a carrot.

[You obtained 10 carrot seeds as a participation reward for the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest.]

Se-jun received carrot seeds as a participation reward.

At that moment,

“Wait!”

Se-jun called the mother Crimson Giant Bear, Woobaek-i, and Woochil-i, who were trying to hurriedly leave the place without yielding their rewards to Se-jun this time.

“Why aren’t you giving it to me this time? Hand over the rewards!”

The drunk Se-jun held out his hand confidently.

“I won’t let you guys get away with this!”

Although he was swaying because he couldn’t control his body, Se-jun got angry at the innocent animals, telling them to stay still.

“Give me the rewards quickly!”

Kuong!

Moo!

At Se-jun’s demand, the mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Black Minotaurs shook their heads firmly while holding the liquor bottles.

“Hhehehe. You guys were trying to eat something delicious only by yourselves?!”

Se-jun was convinced. Looking at the animals’ reactions, the reward this time was definitely something delicious.

“President Theo, go!”

“Understood, meow!”

Theo quickly grabbed the liquor bottle Woochil-i was holding. Normally Woochil-i wouldn’t have had it taken by Theo, but he was currently drunk. His reaction speed was slow.

“Here it is, meow!”

“Good job, meow!”

Pop.

Se-jun copied Theo’s tone and opened the cap of the liquor bottle Theo brought.

And just as Se-jun was about to drink the liquor in the bottle,

“You fool! If you drink that, you’ll die!”

Thump!

Along with a young girl’s voice, something hit Se-jun on the back of the head.

[Your body suffered a fatal wound.]

[ activated.]

[It consumed magic power to protect the body from breaking.]

[Magic power was extremely insufficient.]

[The Dragon Clan skill – Dragon Skin activated.]

[The scale of the great Black Dragon Kaiser was destroyed.]

It was Kaiser’s scale disappearing in vain.