Chapter 116 – You Cried

-Ahem! Se-jun, could you grill just one more potato pancake?

-Hehem! Me too…

Kaiser and Kellion, who had tasted the potato pancake, said while watching Se-jun’s reaction, asking him to make more potato pancakes.

Before they knew it, the word “guy” was dropped from Kaiser’s title for Se-jun. It was the power of the three-stage combo starting from roasted sweet potato, sweet potato soup, and potato pancake.

However,

“No. I have to work now.”

Se-jun coldly rejected the requests of the two dragons. Right now, Se-jun’s priority was to complete the job quest and reach level 51. Instead, he gave them each one more bowl of the remaining sweet potato soup.

-I must eat this with alcohol quickly.

-Alcohol again?!

-Kehehehe. I have the Fire Carrot Wine that I received from Se-jun.

-What?! Fire Carrot Wine?! How did you get that?!

Kellion was greatly surprised by Kaiser’s words.

Fire Carrot Wine?! It was a liquor produced by the Tower Farmer of the Red Tower, and because the red dragons strictly blocked its leak outside the tower, obtaining it was as difficult as picking stars from the sky. He had barely obtained a bottle a thousand years ago to taste it.

-There was a Harvest Festival a few days ago.

-To hold a Harvest Festival, you would need ten kinds of crops…

The envy in Kellion’s voice could not be hidden. He envied Kaiser, who had such an excellent Tower Farmer like Se-jun. His own tower was…

-Sigh…

Just thinking of his Tower Farmer made Kellion sigh. Because that nuisance of a guy insisted on being the Tower Farmer for no good reason…

-Kehahaha. Cheer up!

Flutter. Flutter.

Kaiser laughed heartily and climbed onto the fountain. Receiving the envy of that Whitey, today’s drink felt like it would taste exceptionally good.

-Damn it… if you are envious, you lose…

Kellion was so envious of Kaiser, who received delicious food from Se-jun every day.

-I should call him once to check if there is any progress.

After Kaiser left, Kellion climbed onto the roof of Se-jun’s house to settle down, moved his main body, and entered the White Tower.

And,

Pluck. Pluck.

Se-jun continued harvesting cherry tomatoes for several hours.

“Phew. Finished.”

When Se-jun finished harvesting the cherry tomatoes like that,

Flutter. Flutter.

The Golden Bat flew over to Se-jun.

(Se-jun! I think I’m going to Earth soon!)

“Really?”

Come to think of it, it had already been a week since the Golden Bat brought ramen.

“Golden Bat, review what I taught you!”

(Yes-!)

Scratch. Scratch.

(Ramen, cola…)

At Se-jun’s words, the Golden Bat saluted and earnestly reviewed the key keywords Se-jun had taught it on the ground like a student facing an exam.

Meanwhile, Se-jun brought out wooden boards from the subspace warehouse.

“Now, take this with you.”

(Yes!)

The Golden Bat grabbed the palm-sized wooden board handed over by Se-jun with its feet. On the wooden board, there was a message written by Se-jun along with a phone number.

-Whoever finds this, if you contact 010 – XXXX – XXXX, we will give you 10 million won. (Han Tae-jun, President of the Korean Awakened Association)

Se-jun, thinking it would take too long to find the place where the Golden Bat appeared, changed his method and decided to leave a contact number at the place where the Golden Bat appeared.

The contact number written on the wooden board was Han Tae-jun’s phone number; Se-jun had explained the situation to Han Tae-jun in advance and received his phone number.

Since the text offering money seemed too suspicious, he used Han Tae-jun’s name, which could provide credibility. Han Tae-jun was famous enough to occasionally appear on the news.

“Representative Theo, this number is President Han Tae-jun’s, right?”

“It is correct, meow! Are you doubting me, meow?!”

Theo flared up when Se-jun did not believe him.

“Of course I believe you.”

Se-jun said, patting Theo’s head. It would be one thing if he couldn’t eat it at all, but thinking that he would soon be able to eat ramen, cola, and the like made him feel impatient.

“It’s only natural, meow! Chairman Park, just trust me, meow!”

Theo boasted loudly and clung even tighter to Se-jun’s lap.

“Alright. Then let’s start.”

(Yes!)

“Golden Bat, what is this?”

Se-jun asked quickly while showing a picture drawn on the wooden board.

(Chicken!)

“Correct. What about this?”

Se-jun quickly flipped the wooden board and showed another picture.

(Soboro bread!)

“Good! Well done!”

Batbat.

At Se-jun’s praise, the Golden Bat laughed aloud. It didn’t know well why it was doing this, but it was happy to receive praise when it got it right. Se-jun continued the speed quiz with the Golden Bat, flipping the wooden boards in that manner.

(Ganache cake!)

Every picture was of the food Se-jun wanted to eat. Pizza, hamburger, jajangmyeon, and so on.

For reference, Se-jun’s drawing skills were terrible, so it was 100% impossible to bring the exact same thing by looking at the drawing. If the Golden Bat brought what was in the drawing, it was entirely because the Golden Bat was a genius.

“You got them all correct. Well done.”

Se-jun praised the Golden Bat, who had correctly answered all the prepared wooden boards.

Batbat!!

The Golden Bat’s excitement rose as it felt good from Se-jun’s praise.

When the speed quiz finished like that,

(Se-jun, I will be back!)

“Have a safe trip.”

The Golden Bat disappeared.

***

Flutter. Flutter.

Drop.

The Golden Bat, who had moved to Earth, quietly dropped the wooden board it was holding in its foot for now and quickly hid itself. There were many people in this place.

And hiding itself, the Golden Bat hurriedly looked around, searching for the word written as “Ramen.” Since it had received great praise from Se-jun for bringing something called ramen last time, it wanted to bring ramen this time as well.

‘Batbat. I should take what Se-jun likes.’

However,

(There is none…)

In the place where it appeared this time, the word “Ramen” was not visible at all. Fortunately, though, coffee was visible.

‘Let’s at least take that.’

The Golden Bat moved quickly, picked up ten coffees, and hid in a corner.

‘Now I just have to wait and go back.’

At that moment,

Slide.

When a woman opened a drawer, a small box with a fish drawn on it was visible inside.

(Ah! A fish!)

It was the fish that Brother Theo liked. The remaining time was about ten seconds. It seemed like it could bring it if it did well.

Flutter. Flutter.

The moment the Golden Bat flew quickly and snatched the box,

Pop.

The Golden Bat disappeared and returned to the tower.

And,

“Huh?! Did I not sober up yet?”

Kim Kyung-mi, an employee of Hanseong Bank who had come to work after partying at a club until dawn, was flustered when the Black Humpback Whale-Bab stored in her drawer suddenly vanished before her eyes.

***

“Ah! Was it a waste of time?!”

Bae Jung-ho, an assistant PD of “How on Earth,” said while smoking a cigarette outside the building. Looking at the CCTV report sent from the coin karaoke, he thought that it might yield a good broadcast material if things went well.

However, although he installed cameras in the coin karaoke and waited for a few days, he did not get anything from the video.

At that moment,

“Hey, Mr. Kim, do you know that a ghost appears in this building?”

“A ghost?!”

“Yeah. Although the building owner is keeping a tight lid on it, this place is famous as the building where the golden ghost appears.”

The guards were talking while smoking cigarettes outside with a rookie guard.

Anyone else would have viewed it as the bluffing of a senior guard who wanted to act big in front of the rookie, but

‘A ghost?!’

To a PD of “How on Earth,” a ghost was a great broadcast topic. Bae Jung-ho’s ears perked up to listen to the guards’ conversation.

And,

‘What?! The coin karaoke wasn’t the only place where items disappeared?’

Bae Jung-ho came to know a new fact.

According to the guards, the golden ghost appeared in the building once a week to take items. Its favorite item was a shiny tumbler.

However, they concluded by scaring the rookie, saying that its taste seemed to have changed lately and that it might target humans in the future, so he should be careful.

‘If this goes well, it could be a massive hit?’

The corners of Bae Jung-ho’s mouth went up.

***

“Ajax, come over here right now.”

Kellion, who entered the administrator area of the White Tower, called his grandson.

A moment later,

“Grandfather, why did you call?! Don’t you know I’m farming?!”

A handsome boy who looked to be in his mid-teens, with glossy white hair, appeared grumbling with his whole body covered in dust and dirt.

“Farming?! Then, can you show me even one of those precious crops you grew?”

“You… you want me to show you the crops?!”

Ajax, suddenly flustered by Kellion’s words, spoke politely. He looked extremely guilty, no matter how one looked at it.

“Sigh…”

Kellion sighed at Ajax’s attitude. It was obvious without even looking.

“Why did you step forward to be a Tower Farmer in the first place?!”

“I thought I would do well since I am a great White Dragon…”

Ajax replied gloomily. Dragons were not compatible with farming at all. It was because the mighty energy of a dragon killed all the crops.

Therefore, the number of crops harvested by Ajax was zero. No matter how many seeds he sowed, they did not sprout.

“Try this. It is made from a crop called sweet potato grown by the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, and it tastes good.”

Kellion handed the sweet potato soup made by Se-jun to Ajax.

“Sweet potato?”

Slurp.

“Ah, hot!”

“Uh-huh! You should eat slowly. Absolute Heal!”

When Ajax burned his tongue, Kellion quickly cast the magic. It was a healing magic far too excessive compared to the minor injury.

“Hehehe. Grandfather, this is delicious!”

“Hahaha. Eat up and cheer up again.”

“Yeah!”

No matter how annoying his actions were, just looking at Ajax made Kellion’s anger melt away and a smile form on his face without him realizing it. If Kaiser was a fool for his granddaughter, Kellion was a fool for his grandson.

***

One minute after the Golden Bat disappeared,

(Se-jun, I’m back!)

It returned from Earth.

“Oh! Good job.”

Looking at the items held in the Golden Bat’s feet, Se-jun’s expression brightened.

‘Huh?! Is that Black Humpback Whale-Bab?!’

Although it was not a snack he usually ate, he was so glad to see it here.

“Here you go.”

The Golden Bat laid only the coffee down in Se-jun’s hand.

Huh?! My snack?

While Se-jun was flustered,

Flutter. Flutter.

(Brother Theo, here is what you like.)

The Golden Bat handed the Black Humpback Whale-Bab to Theo.

However,

“You fool! There is no fish here, meow!”

Theo, who instinctively detected like a ghost that there was no fish inside, rejected the Golden Bat’s gift decisively.

(Is that so?)

The Golden Bat was disappointed by Theo’s words.

“It’s okay. That’s mine.”

Se-jun tore open the snack box held by the Golden Bat and pulled out the bag inside.

And,

Rip.

As he tore open the bag,

“Mmm.”

The smell of artificial spices tickled Se-jun’s nose.

“Looks delicious.”

Se-jun picked up one snack from inside and put it in his mouth.

Crunch.

As expected, it was a taste and texture that could not be easily felt here.

“Golden Bat, good job.”

Se-jun praised the Golden Bat repeatedly while eating the snack.

(Really?! I’m so happy that you like it, Se-jun!)

Batbat! Batbat!

At Se-jun’s praise, the Golden Bat hovered around Se-jun and rejoiced.

“Now let’s go to the west forest. Cuengi!”

When Se-jun, who had finished eating the snack, called Cuengi, who was hunting in the pond, to go harvest the Ent’s seeds,

Kkueng!

Cuengi ran over immediately.

“Hup!”

Se-jun climbed onto the back of the gigantified Cuengi.

And right before departure.

“Huh?!”

Se-jun realized that his lap felt empty.

“Where did Theo go?”

Se-jun looked around, searching for Theo.

“Chairman Park, where are you, meow?!”

Se-jun discovered Theo waving his front paws behind the house with his head stuck in the Black Humpback Whale-Bab box. Apparently, unable to see ahead, he had wandered around and moved to the back of the house.

“Representative Theo, over here! Come quickly!”

Se-jun called Theo.

However,

“Chairman Park! I cannot see, meow! Help me, meow!”

All he had to do was pull the box off, but Theo could not think of pulling the box off.

“You fool. You just need to pull the box off.”

Pop.

When the frustrated Se-jun pulled the snack box Theo was wearing,

“Chairman Park! I missed you, meow!”

Theo hurriedly clung to Se-jun’s lap. The corners of Theo’s eyes were moist.

“You cried.”

Kkueng?

[Big brother, did you cry?]

(Brother Theo, did you cry?)

“N… No, meow! I didn’t cry, meow!”

“Ayy. Don’t lie. They say you even had a runny nose here.”

“No, meow! I really didn’t have a runny nose, meow!”

Se-jun moved to the west forest while teasing Theo.