Chapter 232 – I Will Demote You

After coming out of the tower, Han Tae-jun supplied half of the 10,000 Detoxifying Green Onions given by Theo to Brazil. This was because simply by eliminating the Purple Locusts in the Amazon, where the largest number was gathered, the Purple Locusts could be devolved back into Red Locusts.

The remaining Detoxifying Green Onions were supplied with the highest priority to areas exposed to the attacks of the Purple Locusts.

The northern border of the Brazilian Amazon.

“To kill this many with just a single green onion… the tower’s crops are truly amazing.”

Pedro, ranked 397th in the world hunter rankings and commanding the northern border, admired the scene before him. In front of him, the corpses of Purple Locusts killed by the Detoxifying Green Onion stretched out endlessly.

At first, Pedro was puzzled by Han Tae-jun’s instruction not to clear away the corpses of the Purple Locusts that died after eating the Detoxifying Green Onion.

Because they even ate the corpses of their dead kin, the best way to reduce the enemy’s numbers was to quickly clear or burn them.

However, seeing the Purple Locusts die after eating their kin’s corpses, Pedro could understand the reason.

For the Purple Locusts, which had evolved to survive poison, detoxification meant death. The detoxification effect remained in the bodies of the Purple Locusts that died after eating the Detoxifying Green Onion, and the Purple Locusts that ate those corpses also died as their poison was detoxified.

And that process repeated continuously until the detoxification effect of the Detoxifying Green Onion faded, killing the Purple Locusts in a chain reaction.

When the surrounding Purple Locusts were almost completely dealt with,

“Lord Pedro, an order has come from above to load their corpses and drop them in the center of the Amazon!”

The government’s instruction was issued.

“To the center of the Amazon?!”

“Yes!”

The Brazilian government decided to drop the corpses of the Purple Locusts that still had the detoxification effect into the center of the Amazon to maximize the effect of the Detoxifying Green Onion.

In the center of the Amazon, there was a massive number of Purple Locusts, so many that no one dared to approach.

Thus, they had been slowly attacking by planting Detoxifying Green Onions in the outer areas of the Amazon to surround them, but the Brazilian government, encouraged by the effect of the Detoxifying Green Onion, made a bold move.

“It seems the government has gained confidence too. Good! Hurry and load the dead Purple Locusts onto the helicopters!”

A moment later, hundreds of helicopters flew toward the center of the Amazon from various directions along the border.

And,

“Drop them!”

The helicopters scattered the Purple Locust corpses from the sky over the Amazon.

Flutter, flutter.

An enormous number of Purple Locusts flew in to eat the falling bodies of their kin from the sky, and about three hours after the operation began, the color of all the locusts on Earth turned red again.

“Wow! We did it! We won!”

While they raised a victory toast in Brazil,

Wiggle, wiggle.

Squishy-bodied black creatures emerged from the sea and entered Hawaii.

***

Stroke, stroke.

“How is there still fur coming out…”

While Se-jun was complaining about the endless fur while stroking Theo’s body,

‘That fellow Chairman Park’s face is rotting, meow! Since he worked hard, it’s time to give him a reward, meow!’

Theo, who was closely observing Se-jun’s expression, jumped up to increase his intimacy.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, look at this, meow! I brought back the money I earned, meow!”

“Really? How much did you earn?”

“It’s 10.15 million Tower Coins, meow! Here it is, meow!”

He took out the money earned from the auction from his bundle and handed it to Se-jun. His plan was to give the money first and then give a massage second.

“Good job. Here is your incentive.”

When Se-jun gave 1.15 million Tower Coins to Theo,

“Puhuhut. Thank you, meow!”

Flash.

Theo burned it as soon as he received the money.

And,

“Chairman Park, lend me some money, meow!”

Having burned all his money, Theo immediately extended his front paw to Se-jun.

“Theo, you know you already owe me 70 million Tower Coins, right?”

“Puhuhut. Don’t worry, meow! I will pay it back all at once later, meow!”

Theo confidently answered in a loud voice to Se-jun’s reminder not to forget the debt he owed him.

“Theo, why are you so confident?”

Seeing Theo so confident, Se-jun felt somewhat anxious. ‘Theo, did this guy cause some kind of trouble?’

At that moment,

“This time, I caught a pink pig sucker, meow!”

“A pink pig sucker?”

“Yes, meow! When I went down this time…”

Theo began to tell the story of how he was swallowed by the fragment of Jormungandr and returned alive.

“What? You met an Apostle of Destruction? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Although he knew there was nothing wrong after stroking Theo’s body until now, Se-jun began to inspect Theo’s body closely to see if he had missed anything.

‘Puhuhut. That fellow Chairman Park. Caring for me so much like this…’

“Chairman Park, from here on is the important part, meow! I, with my front paw on its face…”

Theo continued his story, satisfied with Se-jun’s touch.

“So, the pink pig sucker you saved is a Great Merchant, of which there are only three in the Black Tower?”

“Yes, meow! Great Merchant is an honorary title that can only be received by having an enormous amount of money, meow! That Great Merchant told me, Vice President Theo, to visit him on the 65th floor of the tower, saying he would reward me, meow! So Chairman Park, rest assured and lend me the money, meow!”

Theo spoke proudly.

“Okay. I get it.”

Having learned that Theo had a reliable financial backer, Se-jun handed over 8.9 million Tower Coins to Theo. The 100,000 Tower Coins were to be used for extracting rice flour.

Flash!

Theo burned Se-jun’s money as soon as he received it, beginning to emit a golden light.

‘Puhuhut. As expected, burning Chairman Park’s money is the most effective, meow!’

Theo made a satisfied expression while burning Se-jun’s money.

A moment later,

“These are the coins I got from defeating the Apostle of Destruction, meow!”

Having burned all the money, Theo began to take out the white coins obtained by defeating the fragment of Jormungandr.

“Meow?! Why are these merged together, meow?”

Theo, who was pulling the coins out of his bundle, discovered that the small coins obtained by catching the white snakes in the stomach of the Jormungandr fragment had merged together. ‘It’s a failure, meow…’

While Theo, who had intended to boast to Se-jun by pulling out many coins, was disappointed as he took out fifty white coins,

“What?! Fifty coins?!”

Se-jun was surprised to see the number of coins Theo was pulling out. The number of coins dropped when an Apostle of Destruction died was a measure of how strong the Apostle of Destruction was.

‘But if it is fifty…’

A strength unimaginable to Se-jun. To think that Theo had easily defeated such an Apostle of Destruction…

‘It was worth splurging 70 million Tower Coins!’

Se-jun thought Theo had defeated the Apostle of Destruction worth fifty coins by burning 70 million Tower Coins, but that was a massive misunderstanding.

This was because he did not know that Theo had burned 1.2 billion Tower Coins of Great Merchant Yuren’s money. Theo did not mention that he had received and burned 1.2 billion Tower Coins from Yuren.

And Theo could not even burn that money properly. There was a maximum limit to the amount of money Theo could burn at once with his ability. The money Theo could burn at one time was approximately 100 million Tower Coins.

Not knowing that, Theo had almost died when he tried to burn 1 billion Tower Coins at once, which was too much to handle at the time.

Fortunately, Theo had instinctively awakened the hidden ability of ‘Insignificant Wealth’. It was the ability to convert a portion of the burned wealth into attack power to attack enemies.

Thanks to that, Theo was able to defeat Jormungandr by converting the unmanageable 900 million Tower Coins into an attack.

Had the fragment of Jormungandr not appeared at the right time, or if the efficiency of converting wealth into attacks had not been high, the result might have been a bad ending instead of a happy ending.

Because dozens of merchant passages would have been broken in vain by Theo’s attack, and Theo would have had to pay a huge sum of money.

‘If Theo burns about 100 million more Tower Coins in the future, wouldn’t he be able to fight even the Bull Demon King?’

While Se-jun was misunderstanding Theo’s strength like that,

“Meow?! What is that, meow?”

Theo, who was about to lie down on Se-jun’s lap again, was surprised to see the pile of fur stacked next to Se-jun.

“What else could it be? It’s your fur.”

Se-jun replied as he stroked Theo’s body again, beginning to brush off the fur once more. Even when bathing, Theo used his water-attribute ability to keep his fur from getting wet, so there was a lot of loose fur left on his body.

After Se-jun stroked Theo’s body for about thirty minutes, the amount of fur coming out decreased significantly.

“Okay, it’s done.”

“Meow…”

Se-jun grabbed the scruff of Theo’s neck as he lay on his lap, set him down on the ground, and gathered the clumps of Theo’s fur to roll them into one. It was to discard it easily all at once.

Press, press.

As Se-jun compressed the fur like that, the clump of fur gradually took the shape of a ball.

“Oh! This is fun?!”

Se-jun rolled the fur clump, which was turning into a ball, between both palms as if making a rice ball.

And,

“Tada! Theo Ball complete!”

A yellow fur ball about half the size of a fist was created.

“What is that, meow?!”

Theo, who was sitting on the floor grooming his fur that had been messed up because of Se-jun, began to show interest in the ball made from his own fur.

At that moment,

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. I will buy that!”

Iona, who had been sleeping while wrapped around Theo’s tail, shouted. She felt as if she could sleep soundly anywhere if she only had that.

“You’re buying this?”

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. Yes! Please let me buy it!”

At Se-jun’s words, Iona shouted, pulling out a pouch of coins.

“Okay. Iona, take it.”

Se-jun handed the Theo Ball to Iona.

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. Thank you, Mr. Se-jun.”

Kyurorong.

Cradling the Theo Ball, which was the size of her own body, in her arms, Iona happily fell asleep quickly. It had an incredible sleep-inducing effect.

“Here.”

Se-jun handed the coin pouch he received from Iona to Theo. Since it was money made from Theo’s fur, Se-jun thought it was right to give it to Theo.

But,

“I don’t need to receive it, meow! Chairman Park, you take it all, meow!”

Theo coolly yielded the pouch of coins to Se-jun.

“Are you really letting me take it all? Gasp! There are 1 million Tower Coins in here?”

Se-jun opened the coin pouch given by Iona and was surprised to see the money inside. He could feel Iona’s immense sincerity regarding sleep.

“Yes, meow!”

Se-jun asked again, but Theo readily yielded all the money to Se-jun.

“In return, lend me some money, meow!”

Of course, he had an ulterior motive.

“Aren’t you just going to burn the money? You can just take this money.”

“I don’t want that, meow! I want to burn Chairman Park’s money, meow!”

“What?!”

Se-jun was dumbfounded by Theo’s words.

Snap!

‘Theo, you… you brat! Do you like burning my money that much?!’

Se-jun’s mood soured at Theo’s words, which seemed to tease him.

And,

“Vice President Theo, if you don’t pay back the money within a month, I will demote you to Representative Theo.”

He decided to impose a harsh disciplinary measure of demotion on Theo.

“Meow?! What does that mean, meow?!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo made a face as if the world had ended.

“Th-then, if I get demoted to Representative Theo, does that mean I won’t be able to eat two Churus at a time anymore, meow?!”

For Theo, who was already accustomed to eating two Churus at a time, eating only one Churu at a time was too big of a shock.

“Of course. Representative Theo gets only one Churu at a time.”

“Chairman Park, you are too much, meow! That’s cheap, meow!”

Theo began to whine to Se-jun.

But,

Purr, purr.

Theo whined a little, then clung to Se-jun’s warm lap and quickly fell asleep.

Thud, thud.

Thanks to that, Se-jun was able to work on the dough in a pleasant environment with no flying fur.

Thud, thud.

Purr, purr.

Kyurorong.

The sound of Se-jun kneading and the snoring of Theo and Iona peacefully took over the kitchen.