Chapter 228 – I Won’t Be Fooled, Meow!

[Kudzu Root of Overflowing Strength]

[Unlike other kudzu roots that absorb life force from a living host, this is a kudzu root that constricts and kills the roots of surrounding kudzu roots and absorbs their life force.]

[The strength of the root is powerful to constrict and kill other kudzu roots.]

[It absorbed the life force of dozens of tough kudzu roots, yielding excellent medicinal properties.]

[Upon consumption, Strength increases by 50 or Strength potential increases by 25.]

[It has an extremely strong bitter taste.]

[Grower: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun]

[Expiration Date: 210 days]

[Grade: A+]

“Absorbing the life force of other kudzu roots…”

It was a peculiar kudzu root. Perhaps it was its own way of survival to win the competition with other kudzu roots.

While Se-jun was examining the white kudzu root Cuengi had brought like that,

“Kkueng!”

[This is absolutely not because Cuengi doesn’t want to eat it-da-yo! It is for second big brother-da-yo!]

Cuengi, having a guilty conscience, made an excuse.

But

‘Don’t lie. I know you brought it because you didn’t want to eat it, Cuengi.’

Perhaps because of Se-jun’s gaze that saw through Cuengi’s hidden motive, or because he did not want to be a bad bear who lied,

“Kkueng!”

[Actually, it is true that Cuengi brought it because I didn’t want to eat it-da-yo! But it really helps second big brother-da-yo!]

Cuengi spoke his true feelings quickly.

“It’s okay. In any case, I was looking for an herb to raise the Black Rabbit’s Strength. Let’s give all of this to the Black Rabbit.”

“Kkueng! Kkueng!”

[Good-da-yo! This is for Dad-da-yo!]

At Se-jun’s words, Cuengi smiled brightly, took out ten blue kudzu roots from his snack pouch, and handed them to Se-jun.

“Thank you.”

Se-jun, receiving the kudzu roots from Cuengi, ate the kudzu root immediately.

Munch, munch.

Gulp.

[You have consumed the Kudzu Root of Blue Potential.]

[All stat potentials increase by 5.]

“Hehehe. It’s sweet. Sweet. Here, Cuengi, you eat some honey too.”

While Se-jun ate the kudzu root, he also gave Cuengi a glass jar filled with honey.

“Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!”

[Hehehe. It is delicious-da-yo!]

The father and son, who decided among themselves to give the extremely bitter-tasting kudzu root to the Black Rabbit and fell into the sweet taste like that.

“I will be working, so Cuengi, wait while eating snacks. Crop Gigantification.”

Se-jun filled Cuengi’s snack pouch with gigantified sweet potatoes and headed to the brewery.

‘Vice President Theo is working hard to earn money, so I must work hard and earn money too.’

Looking at the speed at which Theo burned money, it seemed like he had to earn a lot.

When he arrived at the brewery, fifty monkeys were washing the jars that had contained the Samyangju cleanly.

As the amount of alcohol being brewed increased, monkeys on the 77th floor of the tower had come as additional dispatches.

Of course, since the labor force of the monkey village would be lacking by the amount they left, Se-jun decided to periodically send crops to the village, in addition to the monthly wages of the monkeys working in the brewery.

“Ukki!”

“Ukki!”

The new monkeys, who had been working hard and discovered Se-jun late, bowed to Se-jun and welcomed him.

“It’s okay. I said you don’t have to do that here.”

Se-jun calmed down the monkeys who were overwhelmed, saying they had seen a god,

“Guys, let’s work.”

He began to brew Samyangju with the monkeys, filling the pre-washed jars with rice flour.

***

“Nya, nya, nyan!”

Theo arrived at the 41st floor of the tower, humming and riding the Express Merchant Passage.

And,

“Humans, I have come, meow!”

Announced his appearance to the camp where the hunters gathered.

Then,

“Vice President Theo, you have come?!”

“Vice President Theo, welcome!”

The interns who had been selling cherry tomatoes to the hunters quickly stood up and welcomed Theo.

“Were you doing well, meow?!”

“Yes! Please come this way!”

“Humans, Vice President Theo has come, meow!”

The cat interns guided Theo to the center of the camp, announcing Theo’s appearance to the hunters.

“I must contact the team that went out to hunt quickly.”

“Hey! It’s me, return quickly. Theo has arrived.”

Thanks to that, the hunters who were resting in the camp could call their colleagues who were out hunting even a little earlier.

At that moment,

“Vice President Theo, I was waiting for you.”

Han Tae-jun approached Theo.

“What is the matter, meow?”

“Purple Locusts have appeared on Earth.”

“What, meow?! Chairman Park is working hard to help, so what are the humans doing, meow?!”

Theo grew angry at Han Tae-jun’s words. If he heard this news, Chairman Park would worry, meow! He hated that, meow! He did not like it, meow!

“Hoonyang…”

Theo exhaled deeply. Chairman Park always exhaled deeply like this when a problem arose, meow! His chest felt a little refreshed, meow!

Theo, whose thoughts were organized, surely showing the effect of copying Se-jun.

“We will supply Detoxifying Green Onions from now on, so plant the Sturdy Blade Green Onions and Detoxifying Green Onions in a ratio of nine to one, meow!”

Theo delivered the new method to Han Tae-jun and handed over all 10,000 Detoxifying Green Onions from his bundle.

The detoxifying effect of the Detoxifying Green Onion was so outstanding that even a single Detoxifying Green Onion could easily wipe out tens of thousands of surrounding Purple Locusts.

Therefore, Theo expected them to quickly degenerate from Purple Locusts back to Red Locusts, and did not reduce the number of Sturdy Blade Green Onions.

“Understood.”

Han Tae-jun, receiving the Detoxifying Green Onions from Theo, returned to Earth to plant them on Earth in a hurry.

“Vice President Theo, all the hunters have gathered, meow!”

When all the hunters who had gone hunting gathered while they were talking with Han Tae-jun, Mark, a cat intern who was practicing the Granier dialect copying Theo’s tone and using Theo as a role model, reported to Theo.

“Understood, meow!”

Theo walked with majestic steps to the center of the camp and climbed the platform made by the cat interns stacking wooden boxes in advance.

And,

“I will start the auction, meow!”

Theo began to sell Se-jun’s crops.

After a while,

“Magical Peanut, sold out, meow!”

Today’s auction was also successful. The total sales amount seemed like it would reach nearly ten million Tower Coins.

As the auction was almost ending like that,

“Vice President Theo, aren’t you selling Detoxifying Green Onions today?”

The hunters who were waiting to buy the Detoxifying Green Onions asked Theo.

“That is right, meow! I am not selling Detoxifying Green Onions today, meow! And for the time being, to protect Earth, the Detoxifying Green Onions must be prioritized for the Earth Defense Force, so we will greatly reduce the sales volume of the Detoxifying Green Onions, meow!”

“What?! How can you do that?!”

A few hunters protested at Theo’s words that he would not sell Detoxifying Green Onions, but,

“Rude, meow! How dare you argue with Vice President Theo, meow!?!”

Mark quietly took those hunters away with the cat interns and persuaded(?) them. The cat interns were suppressing their tempers lately, but they had once been feline hoodlums who ruled Granier Village.

“Now, I will leave, meow!”

Thus, when the auction ended, Theo hurriedly ran toward the 99th floor of the tower where Se-jun was.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, wait for me, meow!”

Theo was excited at the thought of lying on Se-jun’s lap, receiving Churu, and burning Se-jun’s money.

***

“Finished.”

Se-jun, who completed the yeast-brewing process in 1,500 of the 3,300 washed jars.

“Now I should make noodles.”

Noodles were a must for a wedding. Se-jun decided to make feast noodles for the Black Rabbit’s wedding.

And since he was doing it, he decided to do it properly. Se-jun, who had always been dissatisfied with the tasteless food served at wedding halls.

‘I can’t let the Black Rabbit be criticized for food!’

Se-jun intended to make delicious feast noodles so that there would be no talk of the food being bad at the Black Rabbit’s wedding. Black Rabbit, even if you forget your wedding, I’ll make sure you remember the feast noodles!

Thump, thump.

Se-jun kneaded the rice dough obtained after putting Tower Coins into the Wealth-Swallowing Rice Dough. Since there was no wheat flour, he intended to substitute the noodles with rice noodles.

Putting the completed dough inside a hollowed-out log, Se-jun plugged the hole with another piece of wood that fit the size perfectly and began to press the dough.

Then,

Squeeze.

The pressured dough began to emerge through the small, closely-packed holes he had drilled in advance.

“Hehehe. It works! Iyap!”

Se-jun pressed the dough harder, watching the compressed rice noodles emerge.

Two hours later,

Tremble, tremble.

“I should stop here for today. Ah, no strength is entering my hands.”

Se-jun, who had produced 1,000 servings of noodles, sat down to rest for a moment while shaking his hands.

While he was resting briefly like that,

“Kkueng!”

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

“Squeak!”

“Ukki!”

The animals gathered at the kitchen, as it was dinner time.

“Wait just a moment.”

Se-jun, who had recovered his physical strength to some extent, quickly prepared the meal. With plans to eat feast noodles today, he had already prepared the broth and toppings boiled with locust meat, green onions, and other vegetables in advance, so he only needed to boil the noodles.

Poke, poke, poke.

Se-jun poked small holes in several small pots with a dagger, making them similar to the noodle strainers used to boil noodles separately in ramen or udon shops.

And,

Pour.

He put in the rice noodles and began to boil them.

“Done.”

When the noodles were fully cooked while waiting in front of the pot,

Shake, shake, shake.

Se-jun shook the pot in the air to remove moisture, grabbed an appropriate amount of noodles, and placed them in bowls.

Pour.

Lastly, he scooped the warm broth with a ladle and poured it into the bowls, completing the feast noodles.

“Everyone, eat.”

He distributed the feast noodles to the waiting animals one by one, and,

“Cuengi, eat from here.”

Se-jun transferred his broth elsewhere, put a whole 100 servings of noodles into the broth pot, and gave it to Cuengi.

‘Still, 800 servings remain.’

Se-jun felt proud as he checked the remaining rice noodles. It seemed like he could make 5,000 servings by the wedding.

Slurp.

Checking the amount of rice noodles like that, Se-jun ate the noodles in relief.

“Mmm. It’s delicious.”

Although the flavor of the feast noodles was not perfect due to lack of ingredients, they went down his throat easily, perhaps because he was hungry.

After eating dinner like that,

“I will sleep first, so please clean up.”

Se-jun, who was tired from pulling out 1,000 servings of noodles, went to sleep first.

And,

“Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!”

[Hehehe. It is delicious-da-yo!]

Cuengi was eating the feast noodles eagerly, remaining alone until all the other animals finished eating, washed their bowls, and left.

“Kkueng!”

[Cuengi will eat a lot, become strong, and protect Dad-da-yo!]

He dipped the rice noodles hung by Se-jun to dry into the broth and ate them, as if eating shabu-shabu. The rice noodles disappeared rapidly.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[I finished eating all of it-da-yo! Now I am sleepy-da-yo!]

Ultimately, Cuengi ate all 800 servings of rice noodles Se-jun had left behind. It was Se-jun, who had overlooked the talent of Gluttony.

***

“Nya, nya, nyan~ meow?!”

Theo, who was heading to the 99th floor of the tower riding the Express Merchant Passage excitedly while humming, suddenly stopped his steps.

“That’s right, meow! I must do the draw before going, meow!”

It occurred to him that he had to do the draw on the 75th floor of the tower.

“Puhuhut. As expected, I am smart, meow! Nya, nya, nyan~”

Praising himself for remembering before passing the 75th floor of the tower, Theo moved on while humming again.

At that moment,

“Meow?!”

Theo was flustered, looking at the road split into two branches that appeared in front of him.

“Why are there two roads, meow?”

This was a place where the road should not split. Theo examined the fork in the road closely.

And,

“Meow! The floor here is different from the original road, meow!”

Theo found out that the floor material of the left road was different.

“Puhuhut. Vice President Theo won’t be fooled, meow!”

Theo walked toward the right road with confident steps.

After a while,

Thud.

The right road Theo entered closed, and a giant snake’s face appeared.

It was Jormungandr’s Fragment, the World-Swallowing Snake, who occupied the 3rd Seat of the 12 Apostles of Destruction, who had made a hole in the Express Merchant Passage and disguised it as a road, waiting for prey to enter on its own.

-Kekeke. It is a double trick. Foolish fellow.

It was Theo, who had walked into the enemy’s mouth by himself after overthinking for nothing.