Chapter 181 – Because I Have Theo on the Left and Cuengi on the Right

“By the way, how did you end up collapsed on the floor?”

Se-jun asked Theo, who had completely recovered.

Then,

“It’s all President Park’s fault, meow!”

Theo immediately blamed Se-jun.

“Me?”

“Yes, meow!”

“Why me?”

“Because President Park sent me down and kept me away from President Park’s knees for too long, my energy was drained, meow!”

Ah… Se-jun had forgotten that Theo was originally this kind of guy. So, he changed the question.

“Was there nothing unusual?”

“There was, meow! The bastards of the Three-Headed Society tried to kidnap this body, meow!”

“Three-Headed Society? Don’t tell me a head of the Hydra appeared?!”

Even if a hundred or a thousand ordinary hunters from the Three-Headed Society attacked, they could not make Theo collapse from mana depletion. Then, the only remaining possibility was a head of the Hydra.

“That’s right, meow! A blue snake guy appeared, but I easily defeated him, meow!”

Although there were twists and turns in the middle, Theo boldly skipped them to show off his competence to Se-jun.

“Vice President Theo, you did?!”

Se-jun was astonished by Theo’s words.

“Puhuhut. President Park, take this, meow!”

Theo, whose mood had improved at Se-jun’s surprised expression, took out a bronze coin from his bundle and handed it to Se-jun. It was a bronze coin with a hydra engraved on the front and the number 4 on the back.

[Hydra’s 4th Bronze Coin]

???

“What kind of guy was it?”

“It was a blue snake that makes ice, meow!”

“Vice President Theo, you are really strong.”

Se-jun had to admit it. Even though he had looked down on Theo as being relatively easy… even Theo was far stronger than himself.

“Puhuhut. I am extremely strong, meow! I even made a new technique this time, meow!”

Theo, pleased by Se-jun’s praise, lay down flat on Se-jun’s lap.

And,

“By the way, there’s a weird smell in my mouth from earlier, meow! Hurry up and give me the Churu made with President Park’s devotion, meow!”

Theo demanded homemade Churu. Even though he had fed him so many elixirs to make the bad brat recover quickly, to say there was a weird smell… Se-jun felt bad for no reason.

However,

“Here.”

Regardless of his mood, Se-jun naturally took out the homemade Churu and fed it to Theo.

Chwap, chwap, chwap.

As Theo was deliciously eating his second spoonful of the homemade Churu,

“Ah, right, meow! I have one more thing to give to President Park, meow!”

Theo remembered the bronze plaque he had drawn from the lost and found warehouse and took it out of his bundle.

“President Park will be very satisfied with this, meow!”

“Really?”

At Theo’s confident attitude, Se-jun accepted the bronze plaque with a fluttering heart and examined it.

[Bronze Mirror]

???

Usage Restriction: None

Grade: D

“It’s a mirror?”

The object he had thought was a plaque because it was flat was actually a mirror.

Rub, rub.

Se-jun tried rubbing the bronze with his clothes, but it did not get clean enough to reflect his face.

“Aileen, please appraise this.”

[The tower administrator tells you to leave it to her.]

“Yeah. Thanks. And is this enough? Take some more.”

Se-jun sent 1,000 elixir-grade cherry tomatoes to Aileen along with the bronze plaque. Since the White Tower’s temporary storage had filled up this morning and 5,000 had been transported, the quantity was plentiful.

[The tower administrator says thank you.]

After a moment,

[The tower administrator says she feels a strong divine power from the item Theo brought.

[The tower administrator says she needs to appraise it with her grandfather, so she needs some time.]

“Divine power? Okay. Take your time. It’s not urgent.”

Having requested Aileen for the appraisal like that,

“As expected, our Vice President Theo is amazing.”

“That’s right, meow! I am amazing, meow!”

When Se-jun praised Theo, Theo smirked and pushed his belly out even further. Hurry up and stroke my amazing belly, meow!

Stroke, stroke.

Se-jun carefully stroked the belly of Theo, who had done a commendable deed.

“Puhuhut… It feels good, meow…”

Gororong.

After eating something delicious and receiving Se-jun’s concentrated stroking, Theo fell asleep happily.

“He really isn’t going.”

When even the last attempt did not work, only then did Se-jun shake off his last remaining lingering attachment.

At that moment,

Slap.

Kkurorong.

Hearing Theo’s snoring, Cuengi, perhaps thinking it was nap time, fell asleep as soon as he pressed his butt against Se-jun’s hip.

“Right. Because I have Theo on my left and Cuengi on my right.”

Once he gave up, everything became comfortable.

Keueueo.

Gororong.

Kkurorong.

Se-jun fell asleep holding Theo and Cuengi.

Two hours later.

“Ngh.”

Se-jun woke up while stretching.

“Guys, let’s wake up.”

Massage, massage.

Se-jun began to wake Theo up first by massaging him.

“Puhuhut… President Park, did you sleep well, meow?”

Theo opened his eyes, smiling happily at Se-jun’s massage.

“Yeah. Did you also sleep well, Vice President Theo?”

“Yes, meow… President Park’s lap is always cozy, meow…”

Theo tried to fall back asleep while answering.

“By the way, did the auction end well?”

Se-jun spoke to Theo to wake him up again.

“Yes, meow! It was a sellout this time too, meow!”

At the mention of the auction, Theo’s eyes snapped open. No matter how much he liked sleep, it was not better than boasting of his achievements to Se-jun.

“Right. Good job.”

“That’s right, meow! I did an immense amount of work, meow! Look at this, meow! This is the money I made, meow!”

Theo smirked, showing the 6.75 million Tower Coins he had made from this auction. Puhuhut. President Park, hurry up and praise me and give me my incentive, meow!

“Vice President Theo, well done. Here’s your incentive.”

Se-jun handed 750,000 Tower Coins to Theo as an incentive. The Vice President’s incentive was 10%. However, these days, he just gave the amount below the million digit as the incentive.

“Puhuhut. Thank you, meow!”

Theo put the money Se-jun gave him into his bundle with satisfaction.

At that moment,

Roll, roll.

Cuengi rolled his body and came in front of Se-jun,

Flop.

and lay spread-eagled.

Kyueueng…

[Cuengi also wants to get a massage…]

“Sure.”

Stretch, stretch.

Se-jun pulled Cuengi’s legs and stretched him hard.

After waking the animals and stepping out of the house like that,

“Have you woken up, Representative Se-jun?”

Urchi greeted Se-jun.

“Yeah. How is the Sky-Reaching Bean? Is it growing well?”

The Sky-Reaching Bean, which was described as reaching the sky in 7 days after planting. Today was the 6th day since the Sky-Reaching Bean had been planted.

However, since it had been planted with Mana Sowing at first, accelerating the growth speed for 24 hours, it would reach the sky a bit faster.

“It seems to be almost fully grown. I ordered my soldiers to climb the beanstalk, and a report came in that a giant land is floating in the sky.”

“A giant land?”

Theo, what on earth did your front paws find?

When Se-jun looked at Theo,

“Nyang nyang nyang.”

Theo, who was in a good mood after waking up, was humming and peacefully grooming his front paws.

“It’s not precise yet because the beanstalk hasn’t fully reached it, but it seems there are no living beings.”

“I should go and see for myself first.”

“We will follow you.”

“No. For now, you guys wait down here.”

Since Se-jun and the animals could escape using the precious dragon horn bracelet Kaiser had given them even if an emergency occurred, Se-jun planned to check it out first with the animals.

With that, Se-jun moved to the place where the Sky-Reaching Bean had been planted.

***

The administrator area on the 99th floor of the tower.

-Hmm… That guy Theo manages to pick up things like this so well.

-Indeed. How does he pick out and find only these kinds of items?

Kaiser and Kellion, who were appraising the bronze mirror at Aileen’s request, spoke in wonder. What was even more wondrous was that no matter how much the two dragons examined Theo, there was absolutely nothing unusual about him.

“Don’t just talk among yourselves, tell me too!”

Aileen got angry at Kaiser and Kellion. She was upset because she wanted to play an active role for Se-jun, but repeatedly had to receive help from the two of them.

-Kuhahaha. Our granddaughter, you got angry because only the two of us were talking? This grandpa will explain it quickly! This is a divine artifact containing the power of the God of Space, Dimena.

“A divine artifact?”

-Yes. A divine artifact is…

As Aileen was curious, Kaiser excitedly explained about divine artifacts.

“Grandpa, tell me about the divine artifacts of other gods too.”

-Sure!

For his granddaughter to listen to his stories so eagerly! Thanks to that, Kaiser got excited and began to talk about all the gods he knew who possessed divine artifacts.

But

‘I’m going to learn from Grandpa so that in the future, I can appraise Se-jun’s items with my own power!’

Inside Aileen’s head, there was only the single-minded determination to appraise Se-jun’s items by her own efforts.

-Foolish guy.

Kellion stared at the granddaughter-fool Kaiser with pity. Even though he himself was a grandson-fool…

***

“Wow!”

Se-jun marveled as he looked at the gigantically grown beanstalk. Its circumference was about 30 meters, and its end was invisible. It truly seemed to reach the sky.

“Puhuhut. How is it, meow? Meow!”

Theo began to smirk again. With his front paws tightly holding Se-jun’s knee so he wouldn’t be dragged to the sky.

“Wonderful.”

This amount would be too much for even the rabbits or the Black Minotaurs to eat.

“Cuengi, let’s wait in the warehouse for now.”

Since the beanstalk might fall down because of Cuengi’s weight, Se-jun had Cuengi wait in the subspatial warehouse.

Kkueng!

[I will wait without eating this time too.]

It meant he would fill his snack pouch without eating and then come out.

“Right. Our Cuengi is good.”

Clank.

Praising Cuengi, Se-jun put him in the warehouse and closed the door.

“Let’s climb up.”

“Got it, meow!”

Se-jun began to climb the beanstalk with Theo.

[Farmer’s Warm Touch Lv. 4 is activated.]

[While the touch is in contact, the growth speed of the Sky-Reaching Beanstalk accelerates slightly.]

[While the touch is in contact, the lifespan of the Sky-Reaching Beanstalk increases slightly.]

Since Se-jun climbed holding the beanstalk, the skill was naturally applied to it.

“Golden Bat, let’s climb while singing.”

(Yes!)

Se-jun called the Golden Bat hanging on his back. If his skill worked, then the Golden Bat’s song would surely be able to extend the beanstalk’s lifespan.

(There is a high, high beanstalk~)

Like that, after climbing for about an hour while listening to the Golden Bat’s self-composed song,

Step.

he was able to arrive on a giant land. It was strange that such a giant land in the sky had not been visible. The land was a barren wasteland with nothing, and only a single, dazzlingly white building could be seen far in the distance.

“Let’s head over there first.”

“Understood, meow!”

Theo only answered well while hanging on Se-jun’s knee. You aren’t going to move anyway.

(I will go check it out first!)

The Golden Bat flew quickly, looked around the building, and returned.

(The building is clean, but there is no one!)

“Really?”

Se-jun walked toward the building.

“Huh?”

As he drew closer to the building, he saw crops surrounding it.

“Are those Cherry Tomatoes of Mana? Huh?! What is that?”

Se-jun’s crops were visible, and there were also some that he was seeing for the first time.

“I should pack them for now.”

As Se-jun approached to pick the crops,

[You have entered Emila’s Flower Bed.]

-How commendable that you managed to find this place. However, stealing cannot be permitted, Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, Park Se-jun. And it is not yet time for us to meet.

Someone spoke directly into Se-jun’s mind.

And then,

“Huh? Where is this?”

Se-jun was suddenly moved to another place as if he had teleported. A familiar place. It was the ground, at the bottom of the Sky-Reaching Bean.

-It was nice meeting you.

The voice fell silent after those words.

“What? Vice President Theo? Golden Bat?”

Se-jun felt a sense of strangeness and first checked to see if the animals were safely there.

Gororong.

Baerorong.

Fortunately, both were fine.

“Ah! What about Cuengi?”

Clank.

Just in case, he opened the subspatial warehouse to check if Cuengi was safe.

Kkueng?

[Are we coming out already?]

Cuengi, who had been diligently putting food into his snack pouch, asked with a look of regret.

“No. Cuengi, fill it up all the way and then come out.”

Kkueng!

[Got it!]

At Se-jun’s words, Cuengi resumed putting food into his snack pouch diligently.

“Whew. What happened?”

While Se-jun felt relieved and thought about the situation from a moment ago,

“Huh? When did I put these on?”

Se-jun realized that his shoes had been changed. They were not the worn-out sneakers he originally wore, which were on the verge of getting holes, but golden leather shoes.

“What is this?”

Se-jun examined the shoes.