Translated by Demonic Dog
Read it only at utoon.net
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Chapter 234 – Eating White Rice
As a suspicious object appeared on the beach,
Weeeing!
sirens began to wail throughout Hawaii. Because there had been strange signs beforehand, the United States had issued an evacuation order for all of Hawaii, and most of the people who lived in Hawaii had already evacuated via ships or planes.
Boom!
Kaboom!
Thanks to that, the tanks and fighter jets waiting on the beach could fire shells and missiles at the approaching black entities that dyed the beach black to their hearts’ content.
After hundreds of shells and missiles landed like that, the enemy seemed to have disappeared.
However,
Wiggle, wiggle.
the flesh of the black creatures scattered on the ground gathered toward the sea, and then,
Boom!
a giant black creature surged out of the sea.
“What?! Isn’t that a leech?!”
“Was it a leech?”
The black creature was indeed a leech. Only then did the soldiers, who realized the enemy’s identity, feel relieved. ‘It’s just a leech.’
Boom!
Kaboom!
The tanks and fighter jets began to pour attacks on the giant leech again. Because the giant leech was slow and large, all of their attacks hit the target.
However,
Squirm, squirm.
even after receiving the attacks, the giant leech’s body was quickly restored.
Furthermore, the giant leech did not just stay still. It widened its head and lunged with its body at the fighter jets and tanks that attacked it. Although it was a very simple attack, it was sufficiently threatening due to its massive size.
Thump!
The fighter jets were able to fly and dodge the giant leech’s attack quickly, but the tanks were crushed underneath the giant leech just like that.
“Move at full speed!”
“Yes!”
The soldiers inside the tanks did not panic and tried to escape by breaking through the leech’s body.
At that moment,
Crunch, crunch.
Along with the sound of something crushing, the leeches, smelling the fragrant scent of blood, pried open the gaps of the tanks and began to pour in like water.
“What?!”
Bang! Bang!
The tank commander accurately shot the heads of the approaching leeches.
However,
Wiggle, wiggle.
the fragments of the dead leeches were merely absorbed into the bodies of other leeches.
And,
Wiggle, wiggle.
the leeches clung to the soldiers’ bodies, sank their teeth in, and began to suck blood.
“Argh!”
“Help me…”
In the end, buried under thousands of tiny leeches, they were drained of their blood like fish floating in the Pacific Ocean, turning into mummies.
***
The 23rd floor of the Purple Tower.
[O fire, burn!]
Whoosh.
Along with Flamie’s spell,
Screeech!
hundreds of poison centipedes approaching Flamie’s roots burned to death. True to Flamie’s immense talent in the fire attribute, she used it proficiently as soon as she learned the low-grade fire attribute magic from Aileen.
But,
[This is annoying just the same.]
Although it was easier than before since she could kill hundreds at once, she still had to pay attention just the same.
[Is there no better way? Ah! There is! Master’s Detoxifying Green Onion!]
Flamie rejoiced as she recalled the Detoxifying Green Onion, but
[But how do I bring it?]
having no suitable method, Flamie quickly became downcast.
[I should ask Lady Aileen if there is a way!]
Flamie requested help from Aileen.
***
“Now. The rice is washed.”
Se-jun soaked the milled, translucent rice in water, gently stirred it with his hands to wash it, and poured out the water twice.
Shhh.
He poured the washed rice into the stone pot that Theo had brought from the 97th floor of the tower previously. It was all of the harvested rice. The stone pot was large, so all of it fit.
Splash.
He also filled the stone pot with water.
“Hmm… is this enough?”
Se-jun, who was pouring water, fell into contemplation. Unlike an electric rice cooker, there was no scale marked on the stone pot to show how much water to put.
“What should I do…”
If he failed here, the hard-earned rice would be wasted. No. He could not throw away precious rice! Even if it failed, he would eat it without throwing it away.
However, Se-jun wanted to eat delicious rice from the very beginning without failure if possible.
“Aileen, has the repair of the bronze mirror finished by any chance?”
Se-jun asked Aileen to use his mother’s help.
But,
[The administrator of the tower says the repairs are not yet complete.]
The Bronze Mirror of Yearning was still under repair. It was because Aileen had used it once to greet Se-jun’s mother, but Se-jun had no way of knowing that.
“It can’t be helped.”
Press.
Se-jun vertically inserted his index finger and adjusted the water to the height of one finger joint from the flattened rice. It was a method cooking experts often talked about on TV.
Since the length of a finger joint varies from person to person, it was a very subjective method, but right now there was nothing else to rely on.
“This should be enough, right?”
Se-jun, who had adjusted the water level to the height of one index finger joint like that,
Thud,
closed the lid of the stone pot, placed the stone pot on the brazier, and began to cook the rice.
“Hehehe. What should I eat for side dishes?”
Se-jun thought of the side dishes to eat with the white rice.
“First, I should make grilled fish and stir-fried squid.”
Clank.
Having decided on the side dishes, Se-jun opened the sub-space warehouse, took out piranhas and squid, and began cooking.
Thirty minutes later,
Clatter.
when he opened the lid of the stone pot,
“Oh!”
fluffy rice flowing with a brilliant gloss was completed.
“I should mix it once.”
Se-jun stirred the rice in the stone pot with a spatula.
And,
Puff, puff.
he blew wind on the rice grains stuck to the spatula to cool them down, picked up the rice grains with his hand, and put them in his mouth.
Chew, chew.
Se-jun slowly chewed and savored the grains of rice. The plump texture of chewing the rice grains was fully alive. When he applied a little pressure, the rice grains burst and were softly crushed.
And,
Mumble, mumble.
the more he chewed, the more he could feel a slight stickiness and a savory sweetness.
“Wow… this is crazy! I made it myself, but it’s so delicious.”
Se-jun praised himself, scooped a spoonful of rice with a spoon, and put it in his mouth.
“Wow. It’s so delicious.”
Perhaps because it was the first time he had eaten white rice in almost a year, the rice was very sweet. It seemed like he could finish a few bowls just eating plain rice.
“Ah. I was eating all by myself.”
Se-jun came to his senses only after eating about three spoonfuls of rice like that.
“Guys, let’s eat!”
Se-jun called the animals.
Kkueng!
Squeak!
Ukki!
The animals came to the kitchen at Se-jun’s call.
“Here, take this.”
Se-jun scooped rice into bowls, distributed them to the animals, and
“Let’s see, shall we eat!”
Se-jun scooped a large spoonful of white rice, placed a piece of fish meat deboned from the grilled fish on top,
Chomp,
and put it in his mouth in one bite.
Munch, munch.
The salty taste of the fish and the soft sweetness of the rice filled his mouth.
Gulp.
As he swallowed what was in his mouth, the salty taste remaining in his mouth demanded more rice.
“Hehehe. This time, with the stir-fried squid.”
Se-jun scooped the stir-fried squid with a spoon,
Mix, mix,
mixed it with the white rice, scooped another large spoonful,
Chomp,
and put it in his mouth.
Munch, munch.
Gulp.
As he swallowed the food, this time the spicy taste remained in his mouth, demanding more rice.
“Delicious.”
While he was eating grilled fish once and stir-fried squid alternately like that,
Kkueng! Kkueng!
[Dad always eats deliciously! If I follow Dad, there is no failure!]
Cuengi began to eat rice along with the grilled fish and stir-fried squid following Se-jun, and the other animals also began to copy him.
A moment later,
Kkueng! Kkueng!
[It’s delicious! I want to eat another bowl!]
Squeak!
Ukki!
The animals quickly finished all their rice, and one after another, they handed their empty bowls to Se-jun.
“Okay.”
Se-jun scooped rice for the animals.
And,
Kuhehehe. Kkueng!
[Hehehe. It’s delicious!]
Cuengi ate the rice exceptionally fast even among them.
Once Cuengi ate ten bowls of rice,
Flash!
a golden light gathered around Cuengi’s body and slowly vanished. The ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect had occurred. Thanks to that, Se-jun was able to know that the rice he had cooked was 100 servings, and that approximately 10,000 grains of rice went into a single bowl.
‘Me too!’ Se-jun also ate rice diligently to get the ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect.
As Se-jun finished his tenth bowl following Cuengi,
Flash.
a golden light gathered around Se-jun’s body.
[You have consumed 100,000 grains of rice.]
[The ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect occurs.]
[Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Mana stats randomly increase by a total of 100 stats.]
[Strength increased by 23, Stamina by 9, Agility by 37, and Mana by 31.]
“Nice.”
Confirming the message that his stats had increased due to the ‘Rice is Medicine’ effect, a smile formed on Se-jun’s face.
And,
Chwap, chwap, chwap.
Theo, who was lying on Se-jun’s lap and diligently enjoying the Vice President’s privilege of eating two Churus at the same time,
“Meow?!”
as the golden light appeared on Se-jun’s body,
‘What is this, meow?! Puhuhut. Is Chairman Park also burning money and growing stronger like me, meow?!’
He misunderstood that Se-jun was also burning money like him. ‘From now on, I will have to work hard to earn even the money Chairman Park will burn, meow!’ Theo burned with determination to earn more money in the future. Just the determination.
Purr, purr.
As his body warmed up from burning with determination, Theo fell asleep with his tongue touching the Churu.
At that moment,
“Cuengi, we’re out of rice.”
The stone pot revealed its bottom.
Kkueng…
[It is still not enough…]
Cuengi made a downcast expression. It was only natural for a child who ate 1,000 servings of rice noodles.
“Don’t be too disappointed. The rice is all gone, but we still have this left.”
Splash.
Se-jun poured water over the scorched rice at the bottom of the stone pot and began to boil it again. He was making scorched rice soup.
Bubble, bubble.
As the water inside the stone pot boiled, a savory aroma began to spread in all directions.
“Here. Try a bowl each.”
Se-jun served the completed scorched rice soup to the animals.
And,
Slurp.
Se-jun also took a spoonful and ate it. Chewing the scorched rice that had been pressed once and then softened again,
Gulp.
he swallowed it along with the scorched rice water.
“Ah!”
As the hot broth entered, his stomach warmed up.
“I might not even need to wash this?”
Se-jun, who finished eating, said as he looked at the clean stone pot after eating the scorched rice soup cleanly without leaving a single grain of rice. The white rice and scorched rice soup were that popular among the animals.
“Now, I should work.”
Se-jun, who finished eating, stood up from his seat. Because he had failed to meet the quota of Samyangju and rice noodles he planned to make yesterday due to Theo’s interruption, he had no time to rest today.
“Guys, let’s work.”
At Se-jun’s words, the animals moved to their respective workplaces.
***
[Lord Flamie, good morning!]
As he had said, Podori’s root politely greeted Flamie’s root as soon as morning came.
[Yes. Did you sleep well too, Podori?]
[Yes! I slept well!]
[Yes. You must sleep well. Here, take this.]
Flamie’s root handed a drop of liquid to Podori’s root. It was absorbed from the lake where she had rooted, and though she wanted to give more, she felt that Podori would not be able to handle more than one drop.
[Wh-what is this?]
Podori asked, surprised by the immense energy felt from the liquid.
[Hmm… it’s like a nutritional supplement.]
[A nutritional supplement?]
[Yes. So absorb the nutritional supplement and hurry up and make delicious grapes for Master.]
[Yes! I will work hard to make grapes!]
Podori began to absorb the liquid handed over by Flamie.
Then,
Creak, creak.
Podori’s grapevine branch, which absorbed the liquid, grew rapidly and began to produce bunches of grapes.
A moment later,
Kkuoooh!
Kkueng!
[It smells delicious!]
Squeak
Ukki
Squeek!
All the members of the farm began to gather toward where Podori was, as if possessed, following the delicious aroma.
“Huh?! Is this the smell of grapes?”
Se-jun, who woke up from sleep, also moved toward where Podori was, as if possessed, following the smell of grapes like the other animals.
And,
“Huh?!”
he discovered an enormous number of grapes hanging on the grapevine.