Chapter 190 – What Did I Make

“What is this?”

A land deed was lying all alone on the ground. Moreover, in his field? It was a suspicious situation no matter who looked at it.

Tap. Tap.

Se-jun slightly nudged the land deed with Myler’s hoe and checked if it was dangerous. Fortunately, nothing seemed dangerous. It was natural. There was no way a land deed would attack.

It was just that Se-jun, who had a painful experience with land deeds in the past, was making a fuss.

“Hahaha. Well, this is fine until I open it anyway.”

Pretending to be brave belatedly, when Se-jun was about to pick up the land deed,

Flutter. Flutter.

“-What are you doing?”

Kaiser flew down.

“Ah. Lord Kaiser, what brings you here?”

“-I felt spatial movement magic here a moment ago, so I was looking around.”

“Spatial movement magic?”

At Kaiser’s words, Se-jun hurriedly looked around. Some scary fellow might have invaded.

“-Rest assured. Because there is no suspicious fellow around.”

“Whew. Is that so?”

Relieved at Kaiser’s words, Se-jun tried to pick up the land deed again.

At that moment,

“-Wait! I feel the remnants of spatial movement magic from it.”

Kaiser spoke, looking at the land deed.

“What?! From this?!”

Se-jun hurriedly distanced himself from the land deed. As expected, it was indeed a dangerous object.

“-Hmm. It’s Brachio’s magic power. How dare she! In this manner…”

Kaiser spoke, reading the traces of magic power remaining on the land deed.

“Lord Kaiser?”

“-Se-jun, you were in danger just now. If you had grabbed this, you would have been dragged to the Green Tower immediately.”

Brachio had cast a magic on the portion of the Green Tower’s land deed sent to the Black Tower that would trigger the land deed immediately upon being grabbed. The experience of having been burned by land deeds saved Se-jun.

“Really?! Thank you for stopping me.”

“-Khahaha. If you are grateful, you know what to do, right?”

“Yes. I will give you 5 bottles of soju.”

“-Dispel. I will take this and examine it further. Khahaha.”

Flutter. Flutter.

At Se-jun’s reply, Kaiser dispelled the magic cast on the land deed with a pleased expression, picked up the land deed, and flew away.

In that way, Se-jun was left alone.

“I should sleep.”

Se-jun went back to his house and fell asleep alone.

***

“Puhuhut. Jeto, thanks, meow!”

Theo said to Jeto while putting five land deeds into his bundle.

“Then, I will see you at the founding ceremony of the Red Ribbon Kingdom.”

“I understand, meow! Goodbye, meow!”

“Yes.”

After Jeto disappeared,

“Patton, follow me, meow!”

“Yes.”

Theo headed somewhere with Patton. Theo intended to visit Mason, the president of the Traveling Merchant Association, and tell him to punish Patton for ignoring and troubling him.

While Theo was heading toward the president’s office with Patton like that,

“Theo-nim?”

Jeras, who was approaching from the opposite side, recognized Theo and called him.

“Jeras, glad to see you, meow!”

“Have you been well?”

“I have, meow!”

“Loyalty! Nice to see you, Lord Jeras.”

Patton, with a pale face, saluted Jeras. To think Theo had a connection even with Jeras, the son of the Traveling Merchant Association president…

Jeras, who was hostage to Grid and whose identity as Mason’s son was revealed, quit his job at the Secret Inspection Bureau and was now working as the security team leader at the Traveling Merchant Association headquarters.

And Jeras was Patton’s direct supervisor.

“Loyalty. But Patton, why are you with Theo-nim?”

“That is…”

“I will tell you that, meow!”

Theo explained what Patton had done to him.

“Is… Is that really true?!”

Jeras, extremely enraged by Theo’s words, glared at Patton and spoke. He had warned him normally because he evaluated people by their appearance… to think he would cause such a major accident.

“Theo-nim, I am sorry. I will summon the disciplinary committee and fire this fellow.”

“Meow?! You can’t do that, meow!”

When Jeras tried to fire his slave (?), Theo strongly opposed it. If he was fired, he had to feed and house him.

“Do you perhaps want something else from Patton?”

“Yes, meow! I will make Patton clean the warehouse, meow!”

“Warehouse cleaning?”

“Yes, meow! The one over there…”

Theo wanted to cleanly organize the lost and found warehouse filled with evil spirits, which was the new draw location.

“Ah! Understood. I will move Patton’s workplace to that side.”

Jeras readily changed Patton’s workplace as Theo wished.

“Then, I’ll be going, meow!”

“Yes. Go safely.”

Theo hurriedly left for the 99th floor of the tower.

The next day.

“Phew. Is this my new workplace…?”

Patton sighed as he entered the shabby warehouse.

And,

“Argh!”

Along with his first greeting to the evil spirits, he fainted, wrapping up his first day of cleaning the warehouse.

***

“Heave-ho.”

Se-jun, waking up in a good mood, reached out toward the warmth felt from his knees.

“Puhuhut…”

At Se-jun’s touch, Theo cried, making a pleasant sound. It was Theo, who had returned at dawn.

Stroke. Stroke.

While Se-jun kept stroking Theo like that,

Gulp.

He ate a piece of Aileen’s Fist Meat.

And,

“Meow…”

he picked up Theo, wore him on his lap, and

Scratch.

marked the date on the wall, and went outside, starting the morning of Se-jun’s 328th day of being stranded.

“Urrrgh!”

Se-jun stretched with his arms raised under the warm sunshine.

At that moment,

Kkueng!

[I missed you, Dad!]

Patter, patter.

Cuengi, who woke up early today of all days, ran toward Se-jun with quick steps,

Hop.

and threw his body.

Soft.

“Hehehe. I saw you yesterday, but you missed Dad again?”

Se-jun, whose mood improved at Cuengi’s words, asked as he caught Cuengi.

Kkueng!

[That’s right! I dreamed that Dad was flying far away!]

At Se-jun’s question, Cuengi replied in an anxious voice.

“Is that so?”

At Cuengi’s words, Se-jun remembered the land deed he had seen in the field yesterday. If it hadn’t been for Kaiser, he might have flown to the Green Tower just like in Cuengi’s dream.

“Don’t worry. Such a thing won’t happen. You’re hungry, right? Let’s eat.”

Se-jun headed to the kitchen holding Cuengi.

Kkueng!

[Cuengi is stressed, so I must eat something spicy!]

“I… I see.”

Se-jun was flustered by Cuengi’s words. But where did he learn the word ‘stress’? Se-jun did not know, but lately, Cuengi was studying Hangul hard to communicate with his grandmother.

And now, he had reached a level where he could fully read writing, acquiring Korean culture by reading the subtitles of the TV that the Golden Bat and occasionally Kim Mi-ran watched.

The fact that one had to eat something spicy when stressed was also information obtained from the TV.

“Then, today’s breakfast menu is Burning Hell’s Squid Stir-Fry!”

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Good! Cuengi is excited!]

Cuengi rejoiced, thinking Se-jun was making something amazing at Se-jun’s solemn expression.

However, only the name was terrifying, and after all, red pepper powder and Cheongyang chili peppers were all the ingredients to create the spicy taste. The dish Se-jun would make was just spicy squid stir-fry.

Doom-chit, doom-chit.

The excited Cuengi began to shake his butt. No! That consumes too many calories!

“Cuengi, let’s dance while eating this. Crop Giantization.”

Se-jun hurriedly gave a giant sweet potato to Cuengi, who was shaking his butt, and began to make the squid stir-fry.

Sizzle.

First, he put the tuna fat block, which he had scooped separately and solidified when making the tuna fish porridge, into the heated pot to melt it, and

Chop, chop, chop.

quickly sliced green onions thinly and put them into the pot. After stir-frying until the green onions turned slightly yellow to make green onion oil, he put the squid into the pot and stir-fried it until the color of the squid turned white.

Subsequently, he seasoned it with red pepper powder, salt, pepper, and honey, and chopped and threw in a large amount of onions, carrots, and Cheongyang chili peppers.

“Cough! Cough!”

Se-jun, who inhaled the smoke from the cooking and got a tickle in his throat, coughed. Did he make it too spicy? The color was not that red, but the smell was spicier than he thought. Just by smelling it, sweat formed on his forehead.

Thump! Thump!

Lastly, when he crushed peanuts with a hand axe and sprinkled the powdered peanuts on top of the squid stir-fry instead of sesame seeds,

[You achieved the feat of making Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry for the first time in the tower.]

[The recipe for Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry was registered in Cooking Lv. 5.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 5 increased significantly.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 5 was filled, and the level increased.]

Along with the achievement message, the dish was completed.

“Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry?”

The name of the dish was too terrifying. He had put in fifty Cheongyang chili peppers for the spicy taste, which seemed a bit excessive.

At that moment,

Kkueng!

[Cuengi is hungry!]

Perhaps having eaten the giant sweet potato already, Cuengi began to pester him, saying he was hungry.

‘It should be fine, right?’

After all, it was food. Se-jun, whose stomach was full, could not taste it.

“It’s all done. Everyone, let’s eat breakfast!”

Se-jun, who pondered for a moment, called the animals.

A moment later,

Squeak!

Ukkee!

The rabbits and monkeys who put the Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry into their mouths screamed and began to eat the food rapidly. The animals did not stop eating the food even while shedding tears at the spicy taste.

“What is this?”

Se-jun felt something strange and hurriedly checked the options of the dish.

[Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry]

By stir-frying the Detoxifying Green Onion with the oil of the Giant Deep-Sea Tuna to make oil infused with green onion scent, and stir-frying the Giant Deep-Sea Squid and other vegetables with it, the flavor of the green onion was evenly infused into the food.

A side effect occurred due to an excessive amount of the Cheongyang Chili Pepper of Calmness.

As a side effect, once one tasted the food, they became addicted to the spicy taste, continuing to eat it even while screaming.

The addiction would not be lifted until one ate their fill of the Hell-Screaming Squid Stir-Fry.

Due to the effect of the Agility Carrot, one could eat the food quickly.

Due to the effect of the Discharge Onion, sweat excretion increased upon eating the food.

When one finished eating the food and the addiction effect was lifted, their mind became extremely calm.

With an extremely low probability, the talent: Clear Mirror, Still Water could be awakened.

Chef: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 120 days

Grade: A+

“What did I make?”

A dish that one had to continue eating while suffering from the spicy taste. At this level, it was almost a torture tool. Of course, the effect after eating was not bad, but looking at the animals, it seemed it was something that should not be eaten.

“But is Cuengi okay?”

Se-jun hurriedly looked for Cuengi.

However,

Kkueng!

[It’s delicious! My stress is relieved!]

Contrary to Se-jun’s worry, Cuengi was eating the squid stir-fry happily. To Cuengi, it seemed to be just a spicy dish.

Squeak.

Uk.

The animals, who finished their meals quickly, went to work with peaceful expressions. Fortunately, the effect after eating the food was becoming calm. Otherwise, he might have received huge protests.

After the animals left like that,

“President Park, give me handmade Churu, meow!”

Theo, who had fallen asleep at dawn and woke up late, said to Se-jun.

“Alright.”

Chwap, chwap, chwap.

Se-jun gave the tuna fish porridge scooped with a spoon to Theo and stroked Theo’s belly.

In the meantime,

Khehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Cuengi’s stress is relieved!]

Cuengi, who had finished eating the squid stir-fry, climbed onto Se-jun’s back with a refreshed expression and began to play with the Golden Bat.

“By the way, VP Theo, did you obtain the land deeds?”

Se-jun asked Theo, who filled his belly with five spoons of tuna fish porridge.

“I brought them, meow!”

Theo replied with a confident expression and took out six land deeds from his bundle.

“Oh! You brought six land deeds?! VP Theo, amazing!”

“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! I am amazing, meow! From now on, President Park just needs to trust me, meow!”

Theo, whose mood improved at Se-jun’s praise, rolled over on his back and rubbed his back against Se-jun’s lap.

“Hmm. Two are unappraised. Aileen, please appraise these.”

[The Tower Administrator said to leave it to her.]

Se-jun sent the two land deeds requiring appraisal to Aileen and checked the other four appraised land deeds.