Chapter 159 – Waking the Sleeping Dragon

“Since we, the Earth Defense Force, are planting the Sturdy Blade Green Onions to prevent the spread of the locusts, citizens of Brasilia, please do not panic and follow the government’s instructions.”

Han Tae-jun, who made his broadcast debut as Captain K, a member of the Earth Defense Force, reassured people by conducting interviews with other broadcasting stations afterward.

While Brasilia was successfully fending off the locusts’ invasion with the Sturdy Blade Green Onions like that,

“What’s the use of only blocking the capital?!”

“What about our farms?!”

Other farm owners in Brazil, worried that the locusts would rush into their own farms, united and began to file protests demanding that Sturdy Blade Green Onions be planted on their farms as well.

However,

“I refuse.”

Han Tae-jun flatly refused. Currently, they were barely holding on by deploying all the Sturdy Blade Green Onions supplied from the tower to Brasilia. they did not have the leeway to deploy Sturdy Blade Green Onions anywhere else.

And soon, they would have to replace the Sturdy Blade Green Onions that they had first started planting in Brasilia.

The reason was that, unlike in the tower, the Sturdy Blade Green Onions planted on Earth lost the sturdiness of their leaves as time passed. Dividing and planting them by cutting the blade leaves was something they couldn’t even dream of.

In the end, the only way to grant the farm owners’ request was to increase the quantity of Sturdy Blade Green Onions transported from the tower.

‘But that is not easy either…’

While Han Tae-jun was lost in thought about whether there was a good way,

“Master! We have a big problem!”

Cha Si-hyeok, Han Tae-jun’s first disciple, ran over in a hurry.

“What happened?”

“I heard that the youngest members who were transporting the Sturdy Blade Green Onions in the tower were attacked by other hunters, and the Sturdy Blade Green Onions were stolen.”

“What?! What about the state of the youngest members?”

“Well… Jang Rin lost his right arm while resisting to the end.”

“Grind. That foolish fellow, Jang Rin…”

Han Tae-jun ground his teeth in rising anger.

While sharing joys and sorrows with the Black Wolf Band to make them competent, Han Tae-jun had plenty of time to talk with them. By listening to their circumstances, he was able to learn the reason why they had stolen other hunters’ belongings.

An orphanage in a rural area of China. All members of the Black Wolf Band were from that orphanage, and they had committed robbery to earn the orphanage’s operating expenses.

Since thievery was all they had learned, and those were the things they had seen since childhood, they naturally turned to robbery after becoming hunters.

However, while living with Han Tae-jun, the Black Wolf Band realized that there was a different kind of life, and their thoughts began to change little by little.

And,

“Tae-jun, please take us in as your disciples!”

“We want to live honest lives!”

The Black Wolf Band, who now had the desire to live good lives, requested to become Han Tae-jun’s disciples. They believed that Han Tae-jun would lead them to the right path.

“If you want to become my disciples, correct your past wrongdoings first.”

If they wanted to live good lives, acknowledging their past mistakes was the priority. After much deliberation, Han Tae-jun made it a condition of accepting them as disciples that they visit and apologize to all the hunters who had been harmed by the Black Wolf Band.

“We are truly sorry!”

“We will make sure to compensate you for the damages!”

As for the compensation for the financial damages suffered by the hunters, Han Tae-jun personally stood as a guarantor and arranged a settlement to pay it back gradually, having the reports against the Black Wolf Band withdrawn.

Because the president of the Korean Awakened Association had personally stood as guarantor, the hunters accepted the settlement with peace of mind, and only after all reports were canceled did Han Tae-jun accept the Black Wolf Band as his disciples.

The Black Wolf Band, who became Han Tae-jun’s disciples like that, tried to live their lives diligently and responsibly.

And after becoming the Earth Defense Force, they were doing their best, feeling rewarded and proud that what they were doing was helping other people… yet someone dared to lay a hand on the youngest members who were trying to live honest lives!

“Gather the kids! We are entering the tower right now!”

“Yes!”

Han Tae-jun entrusted the field of Sturdy Blade Green Onions to Lucilia, the leader of the Wizard Guild and vice commander of the Earth Defense Force, and led his disciples into the tower.

***

“Hup!”

Se-jun woke up.

“Did I wake up a bit early?”

Although there was no clock, he instinctively felt that he had woken up earlier than usual.

“Nyaaang…”

Se-jun woke up, placed the sleeping Theo on his lap, and

Swish.

He began the morning of the 314th day of being stranded by adding a stroke to the bedroom wall where he marked the date.

“First, I should drink some coffee.”

He couldn’t just let the morning leisure slip away. Once Cuengi rushed in demanding food a bit later, he would become frantically busy.

Se-jun opened the coffee packet and poured it into his tumbler, and

Snap.

He created fire with a finger snap, heated the water in the kettle with his finger, poured a little hot water into the tumbler, and dissolved the coffee.

And,

“Ice Cube.”

Plop. Plop.

As Se-jun made small ice cubes and put them into the tumbler, a cup of iced Americano was completed in no time.

“Keh. If I open a cafe, I think it’ll be a huge hit?!”

Praising himself, Se-jun sat at the table in front of the house, looked at the farm, and organized his tasks for today.

“First, as soon as we eat breakfast, I’ll harvest the pineapples.”

When he harvested the pineapples last time, he had harvested them unripe for the Golden Bat, and only now were the pineapples properly ripe.

“Lastly, in the evening, I should discuss with Iona about the fireworks to be used during the birthday party finale, right?”

Just as Se-jun was finishing organizing today’s tasks,

Kkueng!

[Hungry!]

Cuengi appeared.

“Is it already time for breakfast, meow…?”

At the appearance of the farm’s official mealtime notifier, Theo woke up, and

“Kyu… I will sleep more.”

Iona, who had worked late and returned at dawn today as well, tightly rolled herself in Theo’s tail and fell back asleep.

“Sit down and wait for a moment.”

Se-jun hurriedly prepared breakfast.

Squeak!

Ukki!

Meanwhile, the rabbits and monkeys also entered the kitchen area and sat down, waiting for their meal.

At first, the monkeys did not know what to do when Se-jun, whom they knew as a god, served them food, but they quickly adapted.

“Here, eat.”

Se-jun placed the prepared breakfast on the table. Breakfast consisted of soup with sweet potatoes and locust meat, and steamed potatoes. Although the menu was similar every day, the animals ate it deliciously without complaining.

The pineapple harvest began after eating breakfast like that. However, out of the eleven pineapples to be harvested, two were Screaming Pineapples.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready, meow!”

Kkueng

[Ready!]

At Se-jun’s question, Theo and Cuengi answered and took their respective positions. Theo hung onto the back of Se-jun’s head and blocked Se-jun’s ears with his front paws, while Cuengi stood firm in front of Se-jun.

“Then, I’ll cut!”

Se-jun shouted as he cut the pineapple with his dagger.

[You have harvested a Screaming Pineapple.]

[Your job experience points increase very slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 6 increases very slightly.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 6 increases by an additional 5%.]

[You have obtained 30 experience points.]

And,

“Cuengi, hold it!”

Kkueng!

At Se-jun’s instruction, Cuengi grabbed the pineapple to prevent it from splitting, but it did not move even a tiny bit.

……

Over ten minutes passed, but no scream was heard. Or rather, it was correct to say that Cuengi suppressed it with force so it could not scream.

“Cuengi, try releasing your strength little by little.”

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Understood! It is dangerous for Dad, so it would be good if you step back!]

Cuengi said, worrying about Se-jun.

“Really? Okay!”

At Cuengi’s words, Se-jun hurriedly stepped back. Se-jun was someone who stubbornly refused to listen to his parents’ words, yet listened to his child’s words with absolute devotion.

Although a long time passed after Cuengi completely took one hand off the pineapple like that, the pineapple did not split open.

“Is it okay?”

Se-jun carefully approached from behind Cuengi and picked up the pineapple to examine it.

[Screaming Pineapple That Suppressed Its Scream Once]

A pineapple grown in the tower that has absorbed sufficient nutrients and is delicious.

Upon harvesting, the mana accumulated by the pineapple explodes, causing the middle part to split and emit a shockwave filled with mana along with a scream-like sound, but it was unable to explode as it was suppressed by a powerful force.

By suppressing the mana explosion once, the purity of the mana inside the pineapple increases, greatly increasing the power of the explosion.

It will explode if the pineapple is damaged or if mana is applied.

Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 60 days

Grade: C

“Oh! This is good?”

The Screaming Pineapple turned into a portable pineapple bomb.

“Everyone, let’s go pick the next pineapple!”

“Understood, meow!”

Kkueng!

[Understood!]

Se-jun, who obtained two pineapple bombs like that, replanted the pineapple crowns and

“Let’s go north.”

He hurriedly changed his schedule. Since he got bombs, it was only natural to use them. Se-jun was planning to use the pineapple bombs on the fire ant cave.

“Cuengi, giantify!”

Kkueng!

Se-jun rode the giantified Cuengi and moved north.

***

Scurry.

Halt.

Se-jun carefully approached near the fire ant cave as if infiltrating an enemy camp in a spy game.

And,

Kkueng!

[We must not be caught!]

Cuengi was following closely behind him.

At that moment,

Kieeek.

A fire ant worker scouting about 100 meters away was seen.

“Hide!”

Se-jun hurriedly lowered his head.

“Only President Park needs to hide, meow!”

Kkueng!

[We are small, so we can’t be seen!]

In any case, because there were many rocks, the short Theo and Cuengi were not visible.

“Right.”

Se-jun, feeling embarrassed, silently moved again.

And,

Roll. Roll.

Having arrived at the unguarded entrance of the fire ant cave, Se-jun rolled the pineapple in. The fire ants would try to attack the suspicious pineapple first, and in that process, the pineapple would explode.

While dropping one pineapple bomb like that and moving again to find another entrance, Se-jun discovered a cave with an entrance much larger than the other fire ant caves.

“The fire ant colony here must be huge?”

Throwing a pineapple bomb into the hole with eyes full of anticipation, Se-jun climbed to the top floor of the Black Parkae Magic Tower after obtaining Iona’s permission.

And,

“Create Dark Clouds.”

“Make It Rain.”

Making it rain, he waited for the explosion. If it didn’t explode, he was planning to detonate it with Thunder Throwing.

A moment later,

Boom!

The first pineapple bomb Se-jun had dropped detonated, and with a huge explosion, the ground within a 200m diameter collapsed.

[You have defeated a Fire Ant Great Warrior with the mana explosion of the Screaming Pineapple That Suppressed Its Scream Once.]

[You have obtained 50,000 experience points.]

[You have defeated a Fire Ant Worker with the mana explosion of the Screaming Pineapple That Suppressed Its Scream Once.]

[You have obtained 1,000 experience points.]

…

..

.

Messages appeared simultaneously. There were fewer messages than expected.

Rumble!

Subsequently, a secondary collapse occurred due to the rain Se-jun had sowed, and the ground sank once more.

Kieeek!

When the fire ants that escaped from the collapsed cave began to run around in confusion outside,

“Thunder Throwing!”

Se-jun did not miss the opportunity and began the next attack. Since the ground was already sufficiently wet, he could increase the damage.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have obtained 1 bonus stat point.]

When he used Thunder Throwing three times like that, his level rose, making him level 56. Now that he had more mana, his legs no longer gave out from three uses of Thunder Throwing.

At that moment,

Boom!

Once again, an explosion occurred. It was the explosion of the second pineapple bomb.

And,

[The sleeping Black Earth Dragon has woken up due to the mana explosion of the Screaming Pineapple That Suppressed Its Scream Once.]

[The Black Earth Dragon is furious at the being who woke it up.]

It seemed it wasn’t a fire ant cave.

“Oh?!”

While Se-jun was panicking,

Boom!

Along with the message, a giant monster resembling an earthworm broke through the ground and turned its head toward the magic tower where Se-jun was.