Chapter 229 – But Do You Have a Lot of Money, Meow

The Traveling Merchant Association Headquarters.

“How is the investigation into the disappearances occurring in the merchant passage going? Any identification of suspects?”

Mason, the president of the association, asked Vega, the director of the Secret Inspection Bureau.

“About that… we have not found any clues yet.”

“What?! As far as I know, a month has passed since the first disappearance case occurred in the merchant passage, and the number of missing persons has exceeded 1,000 since then, but you still haven’t found a single clue?!”

Mason scolded Vega. This was not a light matter. If this became known, the activities of traveling merchants who had trusted and used the merchant passage would inevitably shrink.

Until now, because the Traveling Merchant Association guaranteed the safety of traveling merchants, they had been able to move with peace of mind.

However, if it became known that the merchant passage was not safe, traveling merchants would not move.

And if the traveling merchants stopped, supplies would not be properly provided to each floor of the tower. A major uproar would occur on various floors due to lack of supplies.

Moreover, the merchant passage was not used only by traveling merchants. The trust of external personnel who used the merchant passage in the Traveling Merchant Association would also drop significantly.

Therefore, this disappearance case was an incident that the Traveling Merchant Association paid attention to and put all their efforts into from the beginning. Yet, let alone identifying suspects, they couldn’t even find a clue?

“I am sorry!”

Because the Secret Inspection Bureau received such massive support, Vega, the director of the Secret Inspection Bureau, had no excuse even if he had ten mouths.

At that moment,

Knock, knock, knock.

Bang!

The entity who knocked hurriedly opened the door of the president’s office and entered without even receiving permission to enter.

“Who is it? It’s a face I haven’t seen before.”

“It is me, James. Please understand that I cannot reveal my actual appearance to the president and the director. I came in a hurry because I have something to report.”

James, the legendary agent of the Secret Inspection Bureau who never revealed his true appearance, showed his identity token and bowed to apologize to the two.

“Ah, it was you, James. But what is it that you have to report in such a hurry?”

Mason, who was briefly tense, asked in relief.

“I think I have grasped a clue to the disappearances in the merchant passage.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. And just a moment ago, Great Merchant Yuren disappeared in the merchant passage.”

“What?! Great Merchant Yuren?! Is that true?!”

“Yes. It is true. Because I was with Lord Yuren until just a moment ago.”

To investigate the disappearances in the merchant passage, James had disguised his identity and was hired as a guard mercenary for a sizable merchant group, moving together to find clues.

Then,

“Lord Yuren, a fork in the road appeared ahead!”

While moving with Yuren’s merchant group, a fork in the road that originally did not exist appeared,

“We will go ahead, so investigate this place and come back.”

Great Merchant Yuren, thinking of the safety of other traveling merchants, entrusted the investigation of the other road to the mercenaries and continued his journey.

However, contrary to expectation, the mercenaries who moved along the road safely arrived at the exit of the merchant passage, and Yuren’s merchant group disappeared without a trace.

“This is a serious matter…”

“Even Lord Yuren…”

At James’s words, the two wore serious expressions. For Yuren, one of the three great merchants, to go missing… once the news of Yuren’s disappearance began to spread through the traveling merchants under his command, the rumor would spread through the tower in an instant.

“Director Vega, block the merchant passage for a few days under the pretext of repairing the merchant passage!”

“Yes!”

To prevent the situation from getting larger, Mason decided to block the merchant passage.

***

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

Theo, confident that he was going the right way without being fooled, walked the path without hesitation, humming.

However,

Hiss, hiss.

Not long after entering the road, hundreds of white snakes surrounded Theo.

“What, meow? There are strange numbers on their heads, meow!”

Numbers like ‘0.01’ and ‘0.02’ were written on the heads of those snakes.

But,

“Don’t block Vice President Theo’s path home, meow!”

Theo did not pay attention to the numbers. He merely punished the snakes blocking his way.

Shring.

“Nya, nya, nyan!”

Clink.

Until white coins, big and small, dropped from the corpses of the snakes.

“Meow?! What, meow?! Were they Apostles of Destruction, meow?!”

Theo rejoiced, looking at the snakes dropping coins.

At that moment,

Hiss, hiss.

Hundreds of snakes that appeared again approached Theo.

“Puhuhut. Become my spoils of war to be brought to Chairman Park, meow! My slave Gaeron, come out, meow!”

Theo summoned Gaeron while defeating the snakes.

“Gaeron, shrink, come up onto the head of Vice President Theo, and pick up the coins, meow!!”

-Yes!

Hop.

At Theo’s instruction, Gaeron transformed into a small size and went up onto Theo’s head,

Slurp, slurp.

Picking up the white coins using his tongue, he put the coins into Theo’s bundle.

“Nya, nya, nyan! Gaeron, don’t miss a single one and pick them all up, meow!”

-Yes!

While Theo was defeating the snakes diligently like that and earning white coins excitedly,

“Block them!”

“Protect Lord Yuren!”

The sound of a battle going on was heard from ahead.

And,

Hum, hum.

Theo’s front paw turning gold. Flamie’s Golden Flame buff sent a signal that there was luck for wealth ahead.

“Puhuhut. As expected, I am lucky, meow! There is gold ahead, meow! Let’s go! Gaeron!”

-Yes!

Theo quickly ran toward the place where the sound came from.

***

“Uh?! What?! Where did it all go?!”

Se-jun, who entered the kitchen to make breakfast. He was flustered when he did not see any of the rice noodles he had hung to dry.

And,

“Kkuhehe… Kkueng…?”

[Hehe… was Cuengi not supposed to eat that-da-yo…?]

Cuengi, who entered the kitchen excitedly following Se-jun, was flustered by Se-jun’s reaction.

And,

“Kkueng… Kkueng…”

[Dad, sorry-da-yo… Cuengi ate all of it-da-yo…]

He quickly entered shrinking mode.

“Cuengi, you ate all of that?!”

“Kkueng…”

[That is true-da-yo…]

Cuengi answered while looking at Se-jun’s reaction.

“……”

At Cuengi’s answer, Se-jun was dumbfounded and lost his words. He had not thought Cuengi would be able to eat as many as 1,000 servings of rice noodles.

“Kkueng…”

[Sorry… da-yo…]

When Se-jun remained silent, Cuengi, thinking his father was angry, grew scared and began to cry.

“No… it is Dad’s fault for not telling you in advance. It’s okay. We can just make the rice noodles again.”

Se-jun calmed Cuengi down while stroking his head.

“In return, Cuengi help Dad starting today.”

“Kkueng! Kkueng!”

[I understand-da-yo! Cuengi will work hard to help you-da-yo!]

Cuengi, who quickly cheered up at Se-jun’s words, spoke bravely while raising his adorable front paws.

One hour later,

[The tower administrator asks if it can be made like this.]

A black, polished cylinder appeared in front of Se-jun. It was a cylinder structure where one side had closely-packed thin holes, and the opposite side was completely open.

Beside the cylinder, a lid with a handle that fit the size of the cylinder perfectly was attached so that the contents inside could be pressed.

It was a noodle press made because Se-jun requested Aileen to make a noodle-pressing device using the black dragon’s scales as material so that it could withstand Cuengi’s strength.

[Black Noodle Press]

[A noodle press made using the scales of the great black dragons as material, used to put in dough and press out noodles.]

[It will not break under any amount of strong force.]

[Cleanliness magic is automatically used every 24 hours.]

[The size can be adjusted as desired.]

[Usage Restriction: Strength 1,000 or higher]

[Creator: Aileen Pritani]

[Grade: Unmeasurable]

“Good.”

Se-jun, who examined the noodle press, wore a satisfied expression. The material was special, but the structure of the noodle press itself was very simple, so it was made exactly as Se-jun desired.

“Aileen, thank you. I’ll treat you to delicious noodles later.”

[The tower administrator says she will be looking forward to it.]

Se-jun thanked Aileen, went to the kitchen, and began to knead the rice noodle dough in earnest. Since animals with fur could not knead, the kneading was entirely Se-jun’s share.

“Ugh! Finished!”

When Se-jun had finished the rice noodle dough after kneading it for several hours like that,

“Kkueng!”

[Dad, Cuengi brought something good for Dad and second big brother-da-yo!]

Cuengi, who had gone to the western forest late in the afternoon, returned. Because time to make the noodle press and knead the dough was needed, Se-jun had Cuengi dig up kudzu roots to give to the Black Rabbit, who had a wedding coming up soon, during the remaining time.

“Kkueng!”

[Here it is-da-yo!]

Cuengi handed nine blue kudzu roots and two white kudzu roots to Se-jun.

“Cuengi, good job. Eat this.”

Se-jun gave Cuengi a jar of honey, and,

Munch, munch.

Began to eat the kudzu roots. He stored the two white kudzu roots to be gifted(?) to the Black Rabbit safely in the subdimensional warehouse.

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

[All stat potentials increase by 5.]

…

..

.

Like that, Se-jun ate all nine kudzu roots.

Lick, lick.

Cuengi was still occupied with eating honey.

“He’s eating well.”

Se-jun, who watched Cuengi’s honey-eating show and confirmed that Cuengi had cleanly licked even the honey at the bottom of the glass jar, took out the Black Noodle Press.

And,

“Cuengi, gigantify, put the dough Dad gives you inside here, and press it.”

When Se-jun spoke while handing the noodle press to Cuengi,

“Kkueng!”

[I understand-da-yo!]

Cuengi, receiving the Black Noodle Press, gigantified to about ten meters. The Black Noodle Press, whose size could be adjusted as desired, also became giant to match Cuengi’s size.

“Here.”

When Se-jun handed the pot containing the pre-prepared dough to Cuengi, Cuengi shook the pot and poured the dough inside into the noodle press.

When the 1,000 kg of dough prepared by Se-jun was filled into the Black Noodle Press like that,

“Kkueng!”

Cuengi held the lid of the noodle press and began to press the dough inside the noodle press powerfully.

Squeeze.

Tremendous pressure was applied to the noodle press, but the noodle press made of black dragon scales withstood Cuengi’s strength without any issue, beginning to discharge the rice noodles.

Thanks to that, it was Se-jun, who made 10,000 servings of rice noodles without any hand trembling.

“Kkueng!”

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

Of course, 1,000 servings of those were scheduled to go into Cuengi’s belly.

***

“Who is it?!”

When Theo approached the place where the battle was going on, a merchant group soldier guarding the merchant group pointed a spear at Theo and shouted.

“Puhuhut. If you ask who this body is, it is only proper to answer…”

Just as Theo, who had obtained a self-introduction opportunity for the first time in a while, was excitedly about to introduce himself,

-You bastards! How rude! This is Lord Theo, the master of the great, great, great bug hunter, me, Lord Gaeron!

Gaeron, who was on Theo’s head, scolded the merchant group soldier committing rudeness to Theo.

But

“What?! Pffft! Bug hunter? If you are a bug hunter, am I a snake hunter?!”

That only bought the ridicule of the merchant group soldier. Because to a merchant group soldier, it was only natural for a frog to catch and eat bugs.

-What?!

Gaeron, flared up by the attitude of the merchant group soldier ignoring him, tried to eat the soldier, but,

“Gaeron, go back in, meow! I was ignored because of Gaeron, meow!”

-Yes!

Theo, who was angry, sent Gaeron back.

And,

“Listen carefully, meow! This body is the great black…”

Just as Theo was about to introduce himself again,

“Did you say Lord Theo just now?”

A lucky-looking pink pig approached Theo.

“That is right, meow! Who are you, meow?”

“Oh! I am Great Merchant Yuren! By any chance, are you indeed Lord Theo himself, the subordinate of the Great Black Dragon?”

“That is right, meow! This body is indeed the subordinate of the Great Black Dragon, the deadly Dragon’s Claw yellow cat, Theo Park, meow!”

Theo, who made his introduction properly. Theo puffed out his chest and made his body size as large as possible.

“Oh! Thank God! Please save me! Lord Theo!”

Yuren looked at Theo and was relieved. Because Yuren had also heard rumors about Theo through Mason. If Theo was here, in the worst-case scenario, the Great Black Dragon might come to rescue them.

“Puhuhut. But do you have a lot of money, meow?”

Theo asked Yuren while laughing like a feline mugger.