Chapter 217 – It’s Not Rotten

“Chairman Park, you should also change your claws to dragon claws like me this time, meow!”

Sparkle.

Theo spoke as he proudly pulled out his dragon claws to Se-jun, who was contemplating what to receive in return after giving the triple-brewed liquor to the dragons.

“No. I cannot retract and extend claws like you can, Vice Chairman Theo.”

If he scratched an itchy spot in his sleep with dragon claws, he might never wake up again due to excessive bleeding.

“Meow… Why can Chairman Park not retract claws, meow?”

Theo, who wished Se-jun could have dragon claws like him, felt gloomy as he retracted and extended his dragon claws.

Stroke. Stroke.

Se-jun consoled Theo by silently stroking his head.

Then,

“Chairman Park, this place is better than the head, meow! Stroke me here, meow!”

Theo immediately rolled onto his back and confidently showed his belly. “It is a good time to order Chairman Park around, meow!” He did not miss the opportunity.

“Alright.”

Se-jun, unaware of Theo’s thoughts, stroked the pink belly.

After a while,

“Chairman Park, I am hungry, meow! I want to eat Churu, meow!”

As Se-jun stroked his belly, the hungry Theo demanded Churu.

“Alright.”

Clank.

Se-jun took out a glass bottle containing Churu from the subspace warehouse and served the homemade Churu scooped with a spoon in front of Theo.

Chwap. Chwap. Chwap.

“Puhuhut. As expected, the Churu made with Chairman Park’s sincerity is the most delicious, meow!”

While Theo was eating the homemade Churu deliciously like that,

[A job quest occurs.]

[Quest: Due to the force of destruction, the minds of the dragons are gradually falling ill without them even realizing it. Within 100 days, provide 30,000 bottles of triple-brewed liquor to each dragon clan to delay the illness of their minds.]

Brown Dragons (0/30,000 bottles)

Black Dragons (0/30,000 bottles)

Green Dragons (0/30,000 bottles)

…

..

.

Reward: A large amount of job experience, potential of all stats +100, Trial of the 10th Tower

[99 bottles of the completed triple-brewed liquor are distributed to the administrators of each tower, 11 bottles each.]

Along with the message that the quest had occurred, the 99 bottles of triple-brewed liquor that had been in front of Se-jun disappeared, leaving only the one bottle from which two cups had just been poured.

“What?!”

“This is not it! This is my alcohol! Does someone think I’m doing business by digging up the ground?! They should take it after paying the price!”

Se-jun, who literally did business by digging up the ground, grew angry at the entity that had taken the triple-brewed liquor without his permission, but since there was no way to know exactly who gave the quest, he huffed and puffed alone.

At that moment,

Chwap. Chwap. Chwap.

“Chairman Park! Your face has rotted red, meow!”

Theo, who discovered Se-jun’s angry face, jumped up while eating Churu and pointed at Se-jun’s face with his front paw.

“It did not rot!”

“Puhuhut. Do not worry, meow! I will touch it for you, meow!”

Although Se-jun denied it, Theo, who had already decided on his answer, stubbornly massaged Se-jun’s face with his front paws. Thanks to that, Se-jun was dumbfounded.

Squeeze. Squeeze.

He just left his face to Theo’s paws, went outside the brewery to get some fresh air, and calmed his anger.

***

The White Tower Administrator’s Area.

“Kya. Good! Huh?! It disappeared?”

While admiring the triple-brewed liquor Se-jun had given him, Kellion felt something disappearing from his head. His head was extremely clear.

At that moment,

“Huh?! Triple-brewed liquor?!”

[Have all dragons drink one cup of the delivered triple-brewed liquor.]

As 11 bottles of triple-brewed liquor appeared in front of Kellion, an alarm appeared on the crystal ball. Kellion had wanted to have the other White Dragons drink the triple-brewed liquor anyway.

“Only those 50,000 years old or older, assemble!”

Kellion first called the White Dragons of 50,000 years old or older, who formed the backbone of the White Tower.

And,

“Only drink exactly one cup each! If you get caught lining up again, you are dead!”

He began to pour the alcohol while warning the dragons.

‘Exactly one cup! Not a single drop must overflow!’

Kellion poured the alcohol very precisely to drink the remaining alcohol himself.

***

The lair of the Black Dragons.

“I must quickly ask Se-jun for more.”

Just as Kaiser was about to move the dragon statue to drink himself and also give some to the other dragons,

Hum.

The portal that had been in front of Kaiser began to open.

And,

“Grandfather, Father, I am here!”

Aileen opened the portal herself and came out carrying 11 bottles of triple-brewed liquor.

“Oh! My granddaughter, did you bring this from Se-jun?! Excellent! I needed it anyway…”

“Hold on!”

“Huh?! Why…?”

“This is not free!”

Aileen stopped Kaiser from reaching for the triple-brewed liquor and stretched out her hand. Give and take!

***

“Phew.”

As his mind calmed down a bit from Theo’s massage, Se-jun decided to check the quest rewards, hoping the rewards would be good at least.

However,

“What is the Trial of the 10th Tower? Was there a 10th tower?”

Looking at the final reward, Se-jun’s expression turned bad again. To give a trial as a reward?! Are they out of their mind?! Se-jun felt angry again at the entity that gave the quest.

“Chairman Park’s face is rotting red again, meow!”

“It did not rot!”

“Puhuhut. Do not worry, meow! I will make your face normal, meow!”

Theo ignored Se-jun’s words this time too, massaging Se-jun’s face with his front paws.

At that moment,

Kkueng!

[Cuengi will also massage Dad’s rotted face-da-yo!]

Cuengi, who had woken up from his nap after eating lunch, approached with energetic steps.

“No. Dad’s face did not rot! Right?! Vice Chairman Theo.”

Se-jun, whose face turned pale at Cuengi’s words, hurriedly requested help from Theo. If Cuengi applied strength incorrectly even once… it would be dangerous!

However,

“It is not so, meow! Chairman Park’s face has rotted blue this time, meow!”

Theo, burning with a sense of duty to make Se-jun’s face normal, ignored Se-jun’s SOS request.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Dad, lie down here-da-yo! You might get hurt if you move, so you must stay still-da-yo!]

In the end, due to Theo’s uncooperativeness, Se-jun was dragged by Cuengi’s strength, lay down between Cuengi’s legs, and had his face held.

And,

“Ugh! Argh!”

While receiving the massage from Theo’s and Cuengi’s front paws, Se-jun’s screams continued.

After a while,

“This is more refreshing than I thought? Huh?! Did the swelling go down, it seems a bit slenderer!”

Se-jun, who checked the condition of his face with the bronze mirror, admired the massage effect. Of course, he had absolutely no desire to receive it again.

“Then I should go make alcohol.”

Having confirmed that his face was fine, Se-jun entered the brewery again.

Se-jun was lost in thought as his anger subsided while receiving the massage from Theo and Cuengi, and the reality that had been hidden by anger began to appear.

Minds of the dragons falling ill. In other words, wouldn’t they become crazy dragons? Thinking about it, it was an extremely serious situation. The scene of crazy, rampaging dragons shooting breath without distinguishing between allies and enemies… just imagining it was horrible.

And,

[The tower administrator says that she will absolutely not pass your alcohol over for free, and tells you to trust only her.]

There was Aileen’s reliable support. It seemed he would at least be able to receive payment for the triple-brewed liquor from the Black Dragons.

“Now! Starting today, we only make triple-brewed liquor! Guys, are you ready?!”

Ukki!

Ukki!

The monkeys answered vigorously at Se-jun’s words.

“Good. Start!”

Se-jun put Tower Coins into the Wealth-Swallowing Rice Dough and made it spit out rice flour.

Swoosh.

As 2kg of rice flour was filled into a jar,

Ukki!

Ukki!

The monkeys poured hot water into the jar and stirred to make the base brew. In the meantime, Se-jun filled the remaining empty jars with rice flour, and following the monkeys, poured hot water into the jars and stirred the rice flour.

“Finished, meow!”

Kkueng!

[Finished-da-yo!]

Theo and Cuengi, who was permitted to enter the brewery only today, also helped Se-jun stir the rice dough inside the jars.

Like that, they were able to finish the base brew work for 300 jars in 4 hours. Since one jar produced 100 bottles of triple-brewed liquor, as long as there were no variables, 30,000 bottles of triple-brewed liquor would be completed in a week.

If they made it only 9 times like this, they could make 270,000 bottles of triple-brewed liquor. It seemed they could complete the quest in about 63 days.

But,

“Vice Chairman Theo, go buy 3,000 jars.”

Se-jun, who wanted to complete the quest faster, asked Theo to buy the jars. He also needed triple-brewed liquor to bring to the Black Rabbit’s wedding, which was about 20 days away.

“Meow?! Can I not go tomorrow, meow?”

Theo, who wanted to sleep on Se-jun’s lap and go tomorrow morning, grumbled.

Saying ‘No, you can’t,’ Se-jun wanted to retaliate for Theo not accepting his SOS request earlier, but

‘Still, I should let him sleep.’

His heart softened at the look in Theo’s eyes.

“Alright. Go tomorrow then.”

“Understood, meow!”

Thus wearing Theo and Cuengi on his legs,

“By the way, why have Lord Kaiser and Lord Kellion been silent since earlier?”

Se-jun examined the two stationary dragon statues.

At that moment,

Growl.

Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi is hungry-da-yo!]

Cuengi rang his belly clock and urged Se-jun.

“Alright. Let’s eat this first.”

Se-jun made a giant sweet potato with a skill and gave it to Cuengi, then headed to the kitchen.

***

The next morning.

“Chairman Park, I will be back, meow!”

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. I will be back too!”

Theo and Iona went down to the 75th floor of the tower. Iona had arrived two days ago and slept like she was dead, and woke up this morning. Hearing that Theo was going to buy jars, she clung to Theo’s tail and moved with him, saying she also had something to buy.

After a while,

“Meow-meow-meow. Iona, we have arrived, meow! Have a safe trip, meow!”

“Kyu-kyu-kyu! See you later, Vice Chairman Theo!”

Having arrived at the 75th floor of the tower in less than an hour through the Express Merchant Passage, Theo parted ways with Iona since their respective errands were different.

Having parted with Iona, Theo first went to the general store to buy the 3,000 jars Se-jun had asked for.

“Welcome!”

“Give me 3,000 jars, meow!”

“Yes?! 3,000 jars?! Just a moment!”

At Theo’s massive order, the general store owner quickly checked their stock.

“I am sorry, but the stock of jars currently in the store is only 300. Instead, since you are buying a lot, it would normally be 450 Tower Coins, but I will give them to you for 440 Tower Coins as a special discount.”

The owner, having checked the inventory, suggested a discount, saying they could only sell 300 to Theo, and

“Give me a discount, meow!”

As if that level of discount was far from enough, Theo used the 3-discount technique to purchase the jars for 420 Tower Coins.

“Puhuhut. My skills are not rusty, meow!”

Putting the purchased jars into his bundle and leaving the general store, Theo felt proud.

And although he went around other general stores and bought all the jars,

“I have only bought 1,500 so far, meow!”

The number of jars was far from enough. He was told he had to wait three days for more jars to come in.

“I am depressed, meow…”

Theo, who wanted to quickly buy them and return to Se-jun’s lap, headed to the lost-and-found warehouse to shake off his depressed mood. He planned to change his mood by drawing items.

“Taru, long time no see, meow!”

“Oh! You have come.”

When Theo went to the lost-and-found warehouse, Taru welcomed Theo warmly.

“Here, take 1,000 Tower Coins, meow! I want to draw quickly and feel better, meow!”

“Did something bad happen?”

Taru asked as they walked to the warehouse where Theo and the ghosts were.

“That is right, meow! Even though I bought all the jars in the general stores, the jars are still lacking, meow!”

“Jars?! How many?”

“1,500, meow!”

“You are quite short… If it is alright, shall I introduce a place that sells jars?”

“Taru, you mean, meow?!”

“Yes. My friend makes jars on the 97th floor of the tower.”

“Really, meow?!”

“Yes. If it is urgent, let’s go right now.”

Having heard Theo’s urgent situation, Taru turned around in a hurry.

At that moment,

“Wait just a moment, meow!”

Theo caught Taru.

“Vice Chairman Theo, why?”

“I must do the drawing before going anyway, meow!”

Theo hurriedly entered the lost-and-found warehouse and came out carrying an item.