Chapter 268 – Why Is This Fellow Ranked 1st

“Again?”

Se-jun said indifferently, looking at the small bird who was flustered by the fact that his rank was the highest after greeting Kkueng. Such treatment was too familiar to Se-jun.

“Is your name Ppiyot-i?”

When Se-jun spoke to Ppiyot-i first like that,

Chirp! Chirp!

[Yes! That’s right! I am called Pirrrr Yacht of the Long-Tailed Tit tribe!]

Ppiyot-i answered in a disciplined voice.

“Oh! You were a long-tailed tit? No wonder you’re cute. Good. Ppiyot-i, let’s get along well in the future.”

As Se-jun grabbed Ppiyot-i’s wing and gently shook it,

Chirp! Chirp!

[Thank you! I will diligently serve Chairman Park from now on!]

Ppiyot-i, feeling overwhelmed with gratitude, bowed his head and shouted. At the same time, inwardly, he fell into deep confusion looking at Se-jun, a being who greatly went against the law of the wild.

‘Why is this fellow ranked 1st?’

To Ppiyot-i, who was only a month old, the only method of ranking he knew was strength. Looking at it that way, Se-jun was below him.

‘Let’s observe for now.’

Ppiyot-i was selected as a messenger bird as soon as he was born. Because he had to leave after receiving only a few days of education, the teachers did not have time to teach Ppiyot-i everything.

“Pirrrr Yacht, if you don’t understand, just observe for now.”

So they taught Ppiyot-i to just observe for now if he didn’t understand. They were very good teachers.

If there had been no such teaching…

Kkueng! Kkueng?!

[Ppiyot-i, just now the look in your eyes watching Papa was impure, kkueng! Did you by any chance ignore Papa, kkueng?!]

Chirp!

[N-No!]

Because he would have been beaten by Se-jun’s bodyguard, Kkueng.

“Ppiyot-i, show Chairman Park the fried egg, meow!”

Theo instructed Ppiyot-i, who had crossed a death crisis without even realizing it like that, to take out the egg.

“Fried egg?”

While Se-jun was wondering at Theo’s words,

Chirp!

[Here it is!]

Ppiyot-i pulled out the egg from his bag.

“Huh?! This is?!”

Se-jun got excited looking at the egg Ppiyot-i pulled out.

But

“It’s not… a chicken egg?”

[Egg Fruit]

The name written above the egg was different from what Se-jun knew.

Clearly, the appearance and texture were of an egg, but the name was Egg Fruit?

“What is it?”

Se-jun examined the egg in wonder.

[Egg Fruit]

It is a fruit harvested from the Mother Tree.

Within the hard shell, white and yellow liquids form layers.

It contains rich nutrients.

Cultivator: Mother Tree

Expiration date: 30 days

Grade: C

A simple explanation.

“An egg grows on a tree?!”

It was enough to surprise Se-jun. Although he had expected it to some extent due to the name ‘Fruit’, it was still amazing.

“Was the fried egg Black Rabbit gave me also made with this?”

Tap.

Se-jun placed a frying pan over the fire and greased it with oil to taste the Egg Fruit.

Once the frying pan was heated to some extent,

Tap.

He struck the Egg Fruit against the edge of the frying pan, applied light pressure to open it, and

Pour.

Sizzle.

The sticky white and yolk from inside the Egg Fruit fell onto the frying pan and began to cook, spreading a savory smell.

“That’s right.”

It was the smell of the fried egg that Se-jun was thinking of.

Kkueng!

[It smells like what we ate at small brother’s house, kkueng!]

Kkueng also sniffed and confirmed it. As expected, the fried egg eaten at Black Rabbit’s castle was made with this Egg Fruit.

Just like that, when Se-jun shared one fried egg with Kkueng and wore a satisfied expression,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, how is it, meow?! Did me, Vice President Theo, who decided to give peanuts to Ppiyot-i and receive fried eggs, work hard, meow?! Or did I not, meow?!”

Theo asked, putting on immense airs.

“There are more of these?! Our Vice President Theo, you really worked hard!”

‘Puhuhut. Of course, meow! Since I am Vice President Theo, I work hard, meow!’

Theo, having received Se-jun’s recognition as well, became completely arrogant. He raised his head and looked at Kkueng and Ppiyot-i. You guys are far from it, meow! Puhuhut. One must do at least this much to be the Vice President, meow!

But Kkueng and Ppiyot-i did not care about Theo’s gaze at all.

Kkueng!

[Papa, Kkueng is hungry, kkueng!]

Especially for Kkueng, he was only resentful of the cooling grilled fish.

“Alright. Wait just a moment.”

Se-jun grabbed the Kudzu Root of Overflowing Mana and squeezed it tightly, spraying the lime-scented kudzu juice onto the grilled fish.

As he sprayed the lime-scented kudzu juice onto the grilled fish like that,

[The grilled piranha with lime-scented kudzu juice has been completed.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 8 rises minutely.]

[The effect of Cooking Lv. 8 is exerted.]

[The effect is applied in proportion to the consumed amount of the Kudzu Root of Overflowing Mana.]

The messages that appeared.

“The effect is applied in proportion to the consumed amount?”

Among them was a message of content Se-jun saw for the first time.

It was something created as Se-jun’s Cooking skill reached level 8; even if one did not eat the whole of one ingredient put in the dish, the effect was applied just for the amount consumed.

“Nice. Everyone, let’s eat!”

“Puhuhut. I will eat well, meow!”

Kkueng!

[It looks delicious, kkueng!]

At Se-jun’s words, Theo and Kkueng lunged at the grilled fish.

But

“Meow! Chairman Park, what did you do to the grilled fish, meow?! A strange smell is coming out, meow!”

Kkueng!

[It is so delicious, kkueng!]

The reactions of the two were opposite. Because of the lime scent. Theo disliked the lime scent.

“Chairman Park, I can’t eat this, meow! Make grilled fish again, meow!”

Theo whined that he couldn’t eat the lime-scented grilled fish.

“Just eat it. Alright.”

Se-jun had no choice but to peel off the fish skin stained with the lime-scented kudzu juice and deboned the fish flesh for him.

At that,

“Since Chairman Park is deboning it for me, I will specially eat it, meow!”

Theo ate the grilled fish while bearing the faint lime scent. He hated the lime scent, but he liked Se-jun deboning the fish flesh for him.

‘Puhuhut. I am eating it considering Chairman Park’s sincerity, meow!’

While Theo was eating the fish flesh Se-jun deboned for him deliciously,

Slide.

Kkuhehehe.

Kkueng also set down the grilled fish he was eating and slyly began to eat the fish flesh Se-jun had deboned.

The fish flesh disappeared rapidly. Se-jun diligently deboned the fish so that the two wouldn’t fight.

While Se-jun was diligently deboning the fish flesh like that,

‘Is that the secret of the number one rank? If you debone fish flesh well, does your rank rise?!’

Ppiyot-i observed Se-jun and learned a new method of ranking.

Then,

Ukki!

Monkeys entered the kitchen to eat dinner.

Chirp! Chirp!

[Hello! I am called Pirrrr Yacht of the Long-Tailed Tit tribe!]

Ppiyot-i greeted the monkeys diligently. The teachers said that just by greeting well, one would receive love!

After exchanging greetings with the monkeys like that, Ppiyot-i also picked up a grilled fish and began to debone the flesh using his feet and beak.

***

The 4th floor of the tower.

Pluck, pluck.

Ten novice hunters were diligently harvesting grapes in the grape farm.

“This is more fun than I thought?”

“Indeed.”

The expressions of the hunters had become brighter than at first. They weren’t given difficult tasks to do, and they were also given rest times in between.

“It’s not the time to be happy. They will surely kill us after just making us work like this.”

Mendal spoke with a frightened expression.

Then,

“Stop now.”

The black skeletons approached them and said.

‘Are they really trying to kill us?’

When the hunters grew tense,

“This is the wage for working all this time.”

The black skeleton really returned the weapons and left for the grape farm.

“Huh? Wages?”

“Yes. If you have thoughts of working again next time, come back. If you follow them, they will return your weapons outside the grape farm.”

The black skeleton spoke like that and left.

“Come back if we have thoughts of working again?”

The hunters were dumbfounded by the black skeleton’s words.

“Aren’t they trying to lower our guard and kill us?”

While the hunters followed the black skeletons with suspicion in their hearts,

Rattle.

The black skeleton really returned the weapons and left for the grape farm.

“What is this?”

“Let’s go quickly first! What if they change their minds and follow us!”

“Yeah. Let’s head back first!”

Just like that, the hunters returned to Earth holding an armful of fragrant grapes full of life.

***

‘If they eat the fish flesh I deboned, they become my subordinate, so I should make many subordinates to raise my rank.’

Ppiyot-i diligently deboned the grilled fish to raise his rank.

But

Chirp?

[Why does no one eat what I deboned?]

Because Ppiyot-i had dismantled the fish flesh to almost powder level, no one touched it.

From the perspective of the tiny Ppiyot-i, it was an easy-to-eat size, but not for other animals.

Chirp! Chirp!

[Indeed, raising the rank is not easy! I must practice hard in the future!]

Ppiyot-i, hardening his resolve to debone fish flesh well. It would have been good if Ppiyot-i’s teachers had taught him to just ask when curious, but…

Thanks to that, Ppiyot-i’s beak and feet became glossy with oil coating.

Ki-ki-ki. Chirp.

[Hehehe. But this is delicious.]

Still, one good thing was that he came to know the taste of grilled fish.

However, the grilled fish powder Ppiyot-i ate was only a tiny fraction, and

“Huh?! Ppiyot-i, are you playing with food?”

Chirp… Chirp…

[It’s not that… I’m sorry…]

He was caught with the rest of the grilled fish powder by Se-jun and had to be nagged.

Ten minutes later

Ppi-ro-rong.

Ppiyot-i, who fell asleep taking Se-jun’s nagging as a lullaby.

“Huh?! He fell asleep? Was he very tired?”

Se-jun gently lifted Ppiyot-i with both hands and left the kitchen.

“Chairman Park, let’s go together, meow!”

As Se-jun stood up, Theo quickly bit a piece of fish flesh in his mouth and clung to Se-jun’s leg.

Just like that, Se-jun went to the bedroom with Theo.

Slide.

He laid rice straw inside the wooden box house previously used by Black Rabbit and gently laid Ppiyot-i on top of it.

And he came out of the bedroom and headed back to the kitchen. Kkueng’s meal was not finished yet.

Theo, hanging on Se-jun’s leg as he returned to the kitchen like that.

Lick, lick.

Theo, hanging on Se-jun’s leg, finished eating the fish flesh and was wiping off the grease on his front paw.

“Meow! That unpleasant thing also got on my front paw, meow!”

Lick, lick.

While Theo was grumbling and diligently licking his front paw to erase the lime scent coming from it,

Hum.

A faint silver light emitted from Theo’s body.

“Meow?! Chairman Park, I just awakened a talent, meow!”

“A talent?”

This suddenly? No way?!

‘Upon ingestion, there is a low probability of awakening a talent related to absorption.’

Se-jun recalled the content written in the Kudzu Root of Overflowing Mana in his head.

But what Theo ate was less than a 10,000th of the kudzu… and a 10,000th of an already low probability was extremely low.

“Unbelievable…”

Theo, who awakened a talent by piercing through such an atrocious probability. He was indeed a lucky cat.

“Lucky fellow… so what talent is it…?”

Se-jun asked in a listless voice, envious of Theo’s luck. But why is my body feeling so sluggish? Did I overdo it today?

“It is a talent called Energy Drain, meow!”

“Energy Drain?”

“That’s right, meow! It absorbs the surrounding energy to become stronger, meow?”

“Ah… absorbs surrounding energy… no wonder! Hey! Get off!”

Se-jun, knowing the reason why his body was feeling sluggish, tried to pull Theo off. He was having his energy drained by Theo due to Theo’s talent: Energy Drain.

“Meow?! No, meow!”

When Se-jun tried to pull Theo off his leg, Theo clung like a leech.

“Hey… get off… you’re draining my ener…”

Thud.

Se-jun collapsed while speaking.

“Meow?! Is it because of me, meow?! Chairman Park, wake up, meow!”

Only then did Theo hurriedly control his talent, and

Slap, slap.

Slapped Se-jun’s face while using healing magic.

“Chairman Park, wake up, meow!”

Slap, slap.

Theo, who gave the disease and then the medicine.

Thanks to that, Se-jun slept early and could wake up early in a refreshed state the next day.