Chapter 152 – Are You Discriminating

“Meow-meow-meow! A week from now is my birthday, meow!”

Theo, who was going down to the 40th floor of the tower, met the interns who were going down to trade cherry tomatoes and supply Sturdy Blade Green Onions. Moving together, he bragged about the birthday he had received from Se-jun.

“A birthday?”

“That’s right, meow! If you have a birthday, you can receive gifts from Chairman Park, meow!”

A birthday was originally an event to receive congratulations from those around, but birthdays in the tower had become a day to receive gifts from Se-jun.

“Congratulations, Vice Chairman Theo!”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks, meow!”

While he was receiving congratulations from the interns like that,

Twitch.

Theo’s whiskers began to tremble.

‘It’s ominous, meow!’

Something had definitely happened to Chairman Park. As expected, Chairman Park could not do without me, meow! For him to manage his knees so poorly!

“Shall we run?”

An intern, who was now used to this kind of thing, asked.

“Yes, meow! Full speed, meow!”

“Yes!”

Theo and the interns began to run fast.

***

[You have arrived at the farm on the 83rd floor of the tower.]

[You have moved from the 99th floor of the tower, which is the top floor, to the 83rd floor of the tower.]

You have descended 16 floors.]

[Due to the effect of , all stats increase by 16.]

“Huh?!”

The title was not displayed in the status window, so he had forgotten about it. The title “Reverse Traveler” seemed to have the effect of increasing stats the further down one descended.

“This is good. But are all of these chestnuts?!”

Se-jun, who checked the message, marvelled as he looked around. There were chestnut burrs hanging in abundance on almost over 1,000 chestnut trees.

“Dragon Tooth Soldier – Summon Helmet.”

Se-jun first summoned the bone helmet and wore it on his head. If he was unlucky, he might get hit by a falling chestnut burr and get a hole in his head.

‘Transform into full-body armor.’

Clatter.

Of course, Se-jun, who prioritized safety, protected other parts too. He could not rest easy just because all stats had increased by about 16. If he got pricked by steel spikes, it would be an immediate puncture wound.

As Se-jun wore the bone armor like that,

Clank.

“Everyone, come out.”

Se-jun called out Cuengi and the golden bat who were in the void storage.

However,

(Yes!)

Flap, flap.

only the golden bat came out.

“Huh?! What about Cuengi?”

(Cuengi hyung-nim is sleeping! Shall I wake him up?)

Kurorung.

Se-jun glanced inside and saw Cuengi sleeping with his belly bulging out, and empty boxes scattered next to him. He had probably fallen asleep after eating the crops that were in the storage.

“No. The Black Wolves must be nearby, so could you call them over?”

(Yes!)

Se-jun sent the golden bat away and approached the nearest chestnut tree.

And,

“Heave-ho!”

he struck and dropped a nearby chestnut burr with Myler’s Hoe.

‘Hehehe. First, I’ll roast them over the fire to make roasted chestnuts, and with the rest, I’ll make sweetened chestnuts simmered in honey and chestnut makgeolli that Kaiser-nim will like…’

While Se-jun was picking chestnut burrs, thinking of the dishes he would make with chestnuts like that,

“Oh! That one is bigger?!”

A chestnut burr about 1.5 times larger than a regular chestnut burr was visible.

“It’s a big catch!”

Se-jun recklessly swung the hoe toward the chestnut burr.

At that moment,

Thump.

Kkosit.

“?”

As the chestnut burr fell, a strange sound was heard.

“Did I hear wrong?”

Thud.

Se-jun dropped another chestnut burr with the hoe again.

Tap.

Kkosit.

“Huh?!”

This time, he clearly heard it.

“What is it?”

As Se-jun felt something strange and gently nudged the chestnut burr that made the first sound nearby with the hoe,

Kkosit! Kkosit!

the chestnut burr began to uncurl its body while making a strange sound. Then, a name appeared above its head.

[Chestnut Burr Hedgehog Godori]

“Huh?! A hedgehog?”

It was not a chestnut burr, but a hedgehog disguised as a chestnut burr.

“Cute. But your name is Godori?”

While Se-jun was talking to Godori,

Thud, thud.

chestnut burrs hit Se-jun’s head.

Pitter-patter.

Chestnut burrs began to fall in drops from the chestnut tree, performing rolling attacks toward Se-jun. About half of the chestnut burrs hanging on the chestnut tree were hedgehogs.

And,

Kkosit! Kkosit!

Godori was commanding the hedgehogs. Godori was the leader of the chestnut burr hedgehogs.

Stab, stab.

The hedgehog’s spikes got stuck in the bone armor.

At that moment,

[A quest occurs.]

[Quest: Defeat the hedgehogs hiding on the farm disguised as chestnut burrs, or reclaim the land rights through a peaceful agreement.]

Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the land deed

Se-jun’s ahead quest message appeared.

“They said there were no monsters!”

Se-jun hurriedly ran to avoid the hedgehogs. Although the rolling attack of the chestnut burr hedgehogs was not an attack strong enough to pierce the bone armor, there were too many of them.

In that way, Se-jun ran diligently, carrying dozens of hedgehogs whose spikes were stuck in his bone armor and who were struggling to pull themselves out. However, this was the center of the farm. Se-jun was quickly surrounded by over 10,000 hedgehogs.

“Guys, let’s solve this through conversation first.”

The surrounded Se-jun requested a conversation with the hedgehogs.

However,

Kkosit! Kkosit!

The hedgehogs were extremely hostile. Showing their teeth to Se-jun, the hedgehogs curled their bodies round again and prepared to attack. They seemed to have no intention of talking at all.

“Do I have to fight?”

Since the bone armor blocked the enemy’s attacks, he thought it would be worth fighting using the Thunder Throw and Ground Moving skills.

‘Let’s try it!’

When Se-jun put strength into the hand holding Myler’s Hoe and was about to use a skill,

Kkue-eng!

Cuengi, who had slept sufficiently, woke up while yawning lazily.

And,

Cueng!

[Wow! Chestnuts-da-yo!]

Cuengi came out of the void storage and picked up a hedgehog disguised as a chestnut burr.

At that,

Kkosi! Kkosi!

the hedgehog suddenly uncurled its body and acted cute toward Cuengi. Its cry and posture were completely different from when it dealt with Se-jun. Showing a posture of surrender by exposing its belly, its hostile appearance from just a moment ago was nowhere to be found.

Cueng?

[It’s not a chestnut-da-yo?]

Kkosi! Kkosi!

When Cuengi felt disappointed that what he held was not a chestnut, the hedgehogs hurriedly climbed the chestnut tree and dropped chestnut burrs.

Thump, thump.

Cueng!

Cuengi diligently picked up the chestnut burrs the hedgehogs dropped and took out the chestnuts from inside. And Se-jun, who was watching that, felt extremely displeased. These things were ignoring him because he was weak!

Even if the tower was a place ruled by the law of the jungle!

“You guys are very unfamiliar. Are you discriminating right now?”

Kkosit! Kkosit!

At Se-jun’s words, the hedgehogs curled their bodies even tighter. It was a reaction asking where a weakling was acting up so carelessly.

“Oho! So you’re treating me like a pushover now, huh?! Cuengi!”

Provoked by the hedgehogs’ attitude, Se-jun called Cuengi.

Cueng?! Cueng!

[Did you call-da-yo?! Here is a chestnut-da-yo!]

When Cuengi approached at Se-jun’s call and handed Se-jun a chestnut,

Kkosit? Kkosi?

the hedgehogs were confused. They could not understand why the strong one offered food to the weak one.

At that moment,

“Who said you could eat in the storage? It’s a punishment! Tummy raspberry! Ppprrr-ttt.”

Khehehehe.

Cuengi burst into laughter at Se-jun’s tummy raspberry, and

……

the hedgehogs received an unspeakable shock.

And,

Flop.

in the end, Godori, the leader of the hedgehogs, stepped forward and lay down showing his belly. It was a sign of surrender. He had now grasped the hierarchy.

Kkosi! Kkosi!

Hedgehogs lay down showing their bellies following the leader. In an instant, their attitude toward Se-jun changed.

[The Chestnut Burr Hedgehogs surrender completely, saying they will follow your disposal.]

[The quest has been completed.]

[As a quest completion reward, you have been recognized as the rightful owner of the land deed.]

[The skill of the land deed: Farm Information Lv. Max is activated.]

At the same time, the quest was completed.

“Let’s see.”

Se-jun checked the land deed.

[Farm Land Deed of the 83rd Floor of the Tower]

A land deed proving that one was the owner of the farm on the 83rd floor of the tower.

Owner: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Grade: B+

Skill: [Farm Information Lv. Max]

“Farm Information.”

[Farm Information Lv. Max]

Size: 10,000 pyeong

Crops: 1,043 Chestnut Trees

Workers: 1 person (Owner of the land)

Special Note: Thanks to the Chestnut Burr Hedgehogs disguising themselves as chestnut burrs and guarding the chestnut trees, the condition of the chestnut trees is good. There are 10,265 Chestnut Burr Hedgehogs that can be used as workers.

‘Oh! These guys were guarding the chestnut trees.’

Come to think of it, if someone entered this place without knowing anything like him and received a baptism of rolling attacks from the hedgehogs, they would never set foot here again.

At that moment,

Kkosi! Kkosi!

[Please do not kick us out! We have nowhere to go!]

Godori clung to Se-jun’s foot and pleaded.

“Why would I kick you out? But what do you guys eat?”

Se-jun investigated information about the hedgehogs before wage negotiation.

Kkosi? Kkosi!

[Ah, are you hungry? Guys, bring food!]

Kkosi! Kkosi!

At Godori’s command, the hedgehogs swarmed off somewhere.

Cueng!

[Dad said that if I gather a lot of this, he will make something delicious later-da-yo!]

Meanwhile, Cuengi diligently peeled chestnut burrs and put chestnuts into his snack pouch.

***

Theo, who arrived at the camp on the 40th floor of the tower.

“Meow?! Chairman Park has become safe, meow!”

He was relieved when the sensitivity of the crisis signal on the Se-jun knee detector decreased.

And,

“I have returned, meow!”

he shouted to the hunters that he had arrived.

“Oh! It’s Theo!”

The hunters who had been waiting for cherry tomatoes hurriedly picked up their hunter phones to call the hunters who had gone out hunting when Theo arrived.

Meanwhile, the interns sold the magical cherry tomatoes.

“Give me 100.”

“It is 150 tower coins.”

In the case of cherry tomatoes, supply and demand had reached a balance, and they were trading at a stable price of around 1.5 tower coins.

“Sold out!”

Once the interns had sold all 10,000 cherry tomatoes like that,

“I will start the auction, meow!”

Theo started the auction.

“Please sell the Corn of Exploding Stamina first!”

“Yeah! The money is ready!”

Thanks to the hunters who wanted to purchase the Corn of Exploding Stamina as soon as possible, the vicinity of the auction site brightened.

Since Theo’s last auction, the news that Ethan, the guild leader of the Royal Knight Guild, had been bald but cured his baldness at once with the Corn of Exploding Stamina obtained from the tower was a hot topic among the hunters.

And hearing that news, bald hunters had risked their lives to climb up to the 40th floor of the tower. The hair loss treatment had produced the effect of raising the level of Earth’s hunters by one step.

However,

“Meow!!”

the enthusiastic glare of the hunters was too blinding for Theo.

“Theo, wear this.”

A hunter handed sunglasses to Theo, who was struggling with the glare.

‘Kyaah! Now my wish is fulfilled!’

A female hunter, who had only been looking for an opportunity to put sunglasses on Theo all this time, cheered at Theo’s cute appearance wearing the sunglasses.

“Oh! Now it is not blinding, meow! Then I will sell the Corn of Exploding Stamina first, meow!”

Theo, wearing the sunglasses, found it fascinating and proceeded with the auction again.

“I will sell a total of 10, one by one, meow!”

Last time, he had brought quite a few to see the reaction. Because Se-jun had planted most of the remaining Corn of Exploding Stamina in the field, the remaining quantity was not sufficient.

Therefore, Theo chose a strategy of selling a little at a time over a long period to maintain a high price.

“5,500 tower coins!”

“Sold out, meow!”

Thanks to that, he was able to sell the Corn of Exploding Stamina at a higher price than last time.

‘Puhuhut. As expected, I am smart, meow!’

Intoxicated by his own greatness like that, Theo sold out the rest of the crops as well, earned a lot of tower coins, and went to the upper floor. Naturally, it was toward Se-jun’s knees.

However,

“Why did you come again?”

“Naturally, I came to do the draw, meow!”

Since Se-jun’s knees were safe, he had decided to drop by the lost-and-found warehouse on the 75th floor of the tower for a moment to do a single round of the draw before going.