Chapter 150 – Sharing Birthdays

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While roaming around the party hall, Cuengi discovered dog-bone skeletons looking at Se-jun with unpleasant eyes. It was not that Cuengi had learned a bad expression, but they were skeletons with actual dog heads.

(Bat-bat! How dare they to Se-jun-nim!!! Cuengi hyung-nim, shall I get rid of them?!)

Enraged by the dog-bone skeletons looking at Se-jun with bad eyes, the golden bat made a gesture of slitting his neck with his wings and spoke so only Cuengi could hear.

Cueng! Cueng!

[No-da-yo! This is the first time I’ve seen a guy weaker than Dad!]

(Bat-bat. That is true!)

On the 99th floor of the tower, seeing a being weaker than Se-jun was like picking a star from the sky. Therefore, Cuengi made a decision. I will revive Dad’s confidence-da-yo!

Cueng!

[Golden Bat, we are hiding over there-da-yo!]

(Bat-bat! Yes! Cuengi hyung-nim!)

Like that, they hid behind the table and watched the dog-bone skeleton approaching Se-jun.

At that moment,

Sniff, sniff.

Cuengi and the golden bat smelled a delicious scent.

Cueng!

[I smell honey-da-yo!]

(Bat-bat! Cuengi hyung-nim! I also smell a sweet fragrance!)

Unluckily, on top of the table they hid behind were honey-glazed garae-tteok and strawberries, and their attention was stolen by those foods.

***

Among skeletons, there was a class system called the bone-rank system that determined status by bones.

Based on who the original owner of the bones was, how much of the original owner’s power they possessed, and how well they maintained the shape of the bones, they determined a rank divided into five levels.

Sacred Bone – True Bone – Extraordinary Bone – Common Bone – Miscellaneous Bone.

And among skeletons, those from True Bone and above were treated as nobility.

The True Bone skeletons from the lower floors, who had come to the magic tower party following the Sacred Bone Ker of the 93rd floor and his son Ver, discovered a skeleton while looking around the party hall.

Although they did not know who the owner of the bones was, it did not possess even 0.1% of the power of the original owner, and the shape of the bones was also immensely deformed.

‘It’s a Miscellaneous Bone.’

Seeing the lowest Miscellaneous Bone skeleton in the party that they themselves had joined with difficulty, they thought the Miscellaneous Bone skeleton was a slave who had followed its master.

So, they ordered the skeleton with the lowest rank among them to go and get a bone. Offering a bone among skeletons meant obedience to the opponent. It was a light amusement for the True Bone skeletons.

In that way, Koto, a lower-class True Bone from the 20th floor of the tower who approached Se-jun, demanded that he offer a bone.

***

“Pffft.”

“Keke-ke.”

From afar, the sound of the True Bone skeletons holding back their laughter was heard. It was because of Koto, who was being ignored even by a slave.

“Eek! You fellow! Offer your bone right now!”

Raising his voice, Koto approached Se-jun and stretched out his arm. Having already been ignored by a Miscellaneous Bone, if he even returned empty-handed from here, today’s incident would become his dark history for the rest of his life.

“Ugh!”

Se-jun, thinking Koto was attacking, hurriedly raised his arms to take a defensive posture.

“If you won’t offer it, I will take it myself!”

Koto, who approached, pulled Se-jun’s arm.

‘You crazy bastard!’

Terrified as he looked at Koto asking for his bone, Se-jun swung his arm and shook off Koto’s arm.

And,

Thud!

Koto’s arm was shaken off too easily. No, to be precise, Koto’s arm bone dislocated.

“Huh?!”

Se-jun was flustered by the situation that was so different from his expectation. And then he realized.

‘Right! I’ve become stronger!’

Although he had forgotten it because he was with the beings of the 99th floor of the tower, Se-jun was equipped with the ability to easily crush the 20th floor of the tower.

Clatter.

Despite having been terrified just a moment ago, Se-jun detached Koto’s arm, which was hanging on his own arm, and held it in his hand.

And,

“Hehehe. Hey. Dog-bone. What did you just say?”

Forgetting his own image of being extremely terrified just a moment ago, he spoke with a face overflowing with confidence. It was meanness itself.

“You! How dare you, a lowly Miscellaneous Bone, attack me, a lower-class True Bone?! Where is your master?! I will hold your master responsible for the slave’s wrongdoing!”

“What master? What is all that about? And Miscellaneous Bone? This is dragon bone! If Kellion-nim had heard what you just said, you would have been instantly vaporized.”

“Eek! It’s a duel!”

Furious at Se-jun’s words implying ‘you almost got into big trouble’, Koto shouted.

“What duel? Just take a beating!”

Thud! Thud!

Se-jun began to hit Koto with Koto’s own right arm.

At that moment,

“That’s enough.”

The True Bone skeletons who had sent Koto approached.

Currently, the attention of the party hall was all focused on Se-jun and Koto. Continuing to show Koto getting beaten up did no good for them, who were also skeletons.

“What?! You want to try with numbers?”

Although they were skeletons with an atmosphere on a completely different level from Koto, Se-jun, who had already gained excessive confidence, charged like a runaway train.

“Do you look down on us just because you beat a single skeleton from the 20th floor of the tower?!”

One of the True Bone skeletons standing behind stepped forward and transformed its hand bone into a sword. Then, it infused the bone sword with energy and slashed Se-jun.

Thud!

The bone armor collided with the bone sword, but thanks to the hardness of the dragon bones, the bone sword failed to accomplish its purpose.

However,

‘What?!’

Se-jun felt a chill. This was because about half of the armor’s bone was gouged by the bone sword. It meant that if he got attacked in the same spot once more, the armor would be pierced.

However,

“It is quite sturdy. But how many times will you hold out!”

Thud! Thud!

No matter how much the skeleton hit him, Se-jun’s bone armor was not pierced. The speed at which the bone armor regenerated was much faster than the skeleton’s attack.

‘One hit, two hits…’

Thanks to that, Se-jun fell into thought about how to deal with these skeletons while counting how many times the skeleton attacked.

At that moment,

Cueng!

[Dad is in danger-da-yo!]

Having finished all the honey garae-tteok on the table and snapped back to reality, Cuengi saw Se-jun getting beaten up by the skeleton and lost his mind. He even forgot that he had been hiding to build up Se-jun’s confidence.

Kkueee-eng!!!

Without thinking twice, Cuengi ran toward the skeletons and recklessly threw a punch.

Boom!

Along with an explosive sound, the skeletons were smashed to pieces by Cuengi’s punch and crashed into the wall of the magic tower.

And,

Boom!

another explosive sound was heard, and a hole was made in the wall of the newly built magic tower.

“……”

The monsters participating in the party froze as they looked at Cuengi, who had dared to make a hole in the magic tower.

Cueng?!

[Dad, are you okay-da-yo?!]

Cuengi hurriedly ran over and examined Se-jun’s body.

“Uh-huh… I’m fine, but… shall we get going? Vice Chairman Theo!”

Looking at the hole in the magic tower’s wall, Se-jun hurriedly called Theo.

“What happened, meow?!”

At Se-jun’s call, Theo, who had been diligently boasting and showing off to the excellent traveling merchant, came running.

“We have to go!”

Se-jun attached Theo to his knee and hurriedly left the magic tower, escaping to the farm.

In that way, Cuengi’s project to raise Se-jun’s confidence ended in an ambiguous state, being neither a success nor a failure.

After a while,

“Kyu-kyu-who is it?!!!”

Iona was enraged as she looked at the hole in the wall of the magic tower.

***

“Heave-ho! Oh! Did they come at dawn?”

Se-jun said as he woke up, looking at Theo and Iona sleeping on his knees.

Three days ago, when the magic tower completion celebration party ended, Iona had come to demand answers about Cuengi breaking the magic tower.

“How could you let Cuengi do such a thing at the celebration party?!”

Since a hole in the shape of a giant bear paw print had been made on the wall of the magic tower, saying it was not Cuengi’s doing did not work at all. There were many witnesses anyway.

“Iona, calm down. Actually…”

So, Se-jun calmed Iona’s anger by explaining what had happened with the skeletons.

And,

“I will make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

he paid an additional price. The price was one additional day of the right to use Theo’s tail.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Good!”

While a dramatic agreement was being reached with Iona,

“Meow?! What is that, meow?!”

Theo, who was sleeping on Se-jun’s knee, voiced his complaints about the right to use his tail being traded without his knowledge.

But,

“In exchange, Vice Chairman Theo’s term is extended by one week.”

“Good, meow! You can use it for a few more days, meow!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo readily agreed to the right to use his tail and even encouraged it further.

In that way, Se-jun put to rest all the complaints of Iona and Theo, and Theo had returned at dawn with Iona, who had finished her work, after staying with her for two days at the Black Parkae Magic Tower while she was working.

Step.

“Meowww…”

Se-jun picked Theo up, stood up, attached him to his knee, and went to the bedroom wall.

Scratch.

Adding one stroke to the wall, Se-jun started the morning of the 310th day of his distress.

“By the way, what day is it today?”

Se-jun, who suddenly became curious about the date, began to count the days.

“Since I was stranded on May 11th…”

Se-jun drew the March, April, and May calendars on the floor, and calculated today’s date by counting 55 days backward from the day he was stranded.

“Then today is March… 16th?! Huh?! Then my birthday is in a week?”

Se-jun’s birthday was March 23rd. No wonder he had wanted to calculate the date…

“Whew. If things had gone wrong, I almost missed my birthday.”

Se-jun let out a sigh of relief as if he had almost gotten into big trouble.

And,

“A week from now is my birthday!”

Se-jun made a major announcement to the animals eating breakfast in the kitchen.

But,

“What is a birthday, meow?”

“Kyu? What is that?”

Cueng?

[What is that-da-yo?]

(A birthday?)

Squeak?

Pyah?

The animals did not know what a birthday was. Come to think of it, he had never seen anyone celebrate a birthday in the tower.

“A birthday refers to the date you were born. On your birthday, you receive congratulations and gifts from people around you for being born well.”

“The date you were born, meow?! Then if you don’t know it and don’t have a birthday, does that mean you can’t receive gifts either, meow?!”

“Kyu—that cannot be!”

Cueng?!

(Bat-bat! How can that be!)

Squeak!

Pyah!

The animals were shocked by Theo’s words. It was natural. Because there were no calendars here. The animals only knew and remembered the flow of time by instinct.

Due to Se-jun’s major announcement, confusion arose on the farm.

After breakfast,

“I don’t have a birthday, so I can’t receive gifts, meow…”

“Kyu… even with great magic, the date of birth cannot be known…”

(I am a trivial bat without even a birthday…)

Squeak…

The animals were all sitting listlessly with heartbroken expressions.

Mooo…

The Black Minotaurs also became depressed after hearing about birthdays from the other animals.

At that moment,

Cueng…

[Mom doesn’t know the date when Cuengi was born-da-yo…]

Cuengi, who had gone to ask Pink Fur about his birthday, returned with a disappointed face.

‘It can’t be helped.’

If this kept up, the animals would likely feel depressed all day long.

“Actually, I have the ability to give my birthday to other beings. If you need a birthday, I will give you my birthday.”

So, Se-jun made up an ability that did not exist.

“Is that true, meow? Chairman Park! Give me a birthday, meow!”

“Kyu-kyu-kyu! Really?! Please give me a birthday too!”

Cueng! Cueng!

[Cuengi also needs a birthday-da-yo! I want to have 100 bottles of honey as a birthday gift-da-yo!]

(Bat-bat! Se-jun-nim! Give me one too!)

Squeak!

Pyah!

Since all the animals wanted a birthday, everyone’s birthday became March 23rd, the same as Se-jun’s. In the end, Se-jun’s birthday party a week later became everyone’s birthday party.

Later, as the animals who received their birthdays from Se-jun shared their birthdays with other monsters, March 23rd would become a festival of the Black Tower.

And,

“Khehehehe. That is possible?! Se-jun, give me a birthday too!”

Aileen, who already had a birthday, wanted to receive birthday gifts twice a year.

But,

“No. I cannot give a birthday to a being that already has a birthday.”

By Se-jun’s highly convenient ability, Aileen’s trick was cut off.