Chapter 282 – I Permit My Right Knee

[Phew. I must digest it quickly.]

While Flamie’s surveillance vanished, Podori began to release the nutrients he had absorbed under Flamie’s coercion.

He had used some nutrients to make grapes first, but since there was still a lot left over, he spread all the remaining nutrients into the surrounding ground.

[Phew. I think I can finally breathe now.]

Just when Podori discharged the overeaten nutrients and felt relieved like that,

[Is that so? You threw away everything I went through the trouble of giving you, and now you feel like you can live?]

[…?!]

Podori was startled by Flamie’s cold voice that suddenly resounded. Before he knew it, Flamie’s gaze had returned and was staring at Podori. Even her gaze was very cold.

Whoosh.

In contrast, Flamie’s roots were engulfed in flames and grew increasingly hot.

[T… Lady Flamie…]

Feeling a heat that made him feel like he would burn to death, just as Podori was about to hurriedly beg Flamie for forgiveness,

[What are you doing?]

[Yes?]

[Absorb the discharged nutrients again! Quickly!]

[Yes!]

Thus, Podori reabsorbed the nutrients he had spread around to avoid burning to death by Flamie.

At that moment,

[Wow! Master, this is my first time coming outside!]

“Is that so? This is your first time here, right? Is there anywhere you want to go?”

[No. Anywhere is fine as long as I’m next to Master.]

Podori discovered Se-jun and a small being chattering on Se-jun’s shoulder. It was Flamie, moving her five green leaves like a head, arms, and legs.

[Lady Flamie?]

Since the energy was the same, there was no way he could be mistaken.

[Lady Flamie, a lump of affectation. How hypocritical.]

When Podori said that while looking at Flamie’s roots in front of him,

[What?! What?! You know what’s coming if you tell Master, right?! You’re dead! You’re dead!]

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Flamie raised her voice and threatened Podori.

***

In front of the kitchen.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“Nyang… I’m bored, meow…”

Listening to the sound of Se-jun kneading the rice noodle dough, Theo lay down in front of the door and waited for Se-jun. This was because he was banned from approaching when Se-jun was kneading due to his fur.

“It cannot be like this, meow!”

Being separated from Se-jun’s lap because of fur was too unfair.

Lick. Lick. Lick.

So, Theo diligently licked his fur and swallowed all of it.

And,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I don’t shed fur anymore, meow!”

He ran inside the kitchen, trotting and calling Se-jun.

“Really?”

“Puhuhut. Yes, meow!”

“Let’s see.”

Stroke.

As Se-jun stroked Theo’s body with his fingers, a handful of fur was caught. If managing the fur had been easy, there would have been no reason for Se-jun to ban Theo from approaching.

Stroke. Stroke.

After stroking a few times, a clump of fur was quickly formed.

“It’s not true.”

When Se-jun showed the clump of fur in his hand to Theo,

“Nyang… I definitely ate all the fur, meow. It’s strange, meow… Do I need to eat more, meow?”

Theo trudged outside with his tail and ears drooping.

“Hey! Why are you eating your fur?! Come here.”

Tap.

Weakened by Theo’s attitude, Se-jun raised his right leg and said, “Vice Chairman Theo, I permit my right knee.”

“Puhuhut.”

Grab.

At Se-jun’s permission, Theo hung onto Se-jun’s leg with a broad smile.

“Instead, you must stay still so that fur doesn’t fly around. Got it?”

“Puhuhut. Understood, meow!”

As Theo occupied Se-jun’s knee and was delighted like that,

Ppiyot!

[Lord Theo, I’m back from scouting!]

Flap. Flap.

Ppiyot, who had scouted the farm, entered through the kitchen window.

Salute.

Ppiyot!

[There was nothing unusual around!]

Ppiyot reported the scouting details while saluting Theo with his wing.

“Puhuhut. Good job, meow!”

‘Phehe-et. As Lord Theo’s next right front paw, I always scout the surroundings for Lord Theo’s safety!’

Ppiyot was drunk in his own pride at Theo’s praise.

At that moment,

[Hehe. The sun is nice.]

Ppiyot?

In Ppiyot’s eyes, a strange fellow sitting on Se-jun’s right shoulder and sunbathing came into view. How dare she! That was his spot?! You’re in for it now!

Even without this, he had been failing to make subordinates lately, and he felt like he could do something about a fellow of that caliber.

‘Puhuhut. I will grant you the honor of becoming the first subordinate of me, Lord Ppi-ru-ru-ru Yacht, Lord Theo’s next right front paw!’

Flap. Flap.

Excited at the thought of making a subordinate soon, Ppiyot climbed onto Se-jun’s shoulder.

Tap. Tap.

Ppiyot? Ppiyot! Ppiyot?!

[Do you know whose spot this is? It’s the spot of me, Lord Ppi-ru-ru-ru Yacht, Lord Theo’s next right front paw! Move aside quickly?!]

Ppiyot poked Flamie’s shoulder with his wing and spoke in the scariest voice possible. ‘Phehe-et. I’m so scary. What if this fellow gets too scared and faints?’

While Ppiyot was absorbed in his own scary appearance,

Slap.

A leaf slap flew right into Ppiyot’s face.

“Hmph, hmph, hmph.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Currently, Se-jun was deeply focused on kneading. Flamie was only well-behaved when Se-jun was looking, but when Se-jun wasn’t looking… she was very scary.

Ppiyot?

Ppiyot suddenly got slapped. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Ppi…

Just as the aggrieved Ppiyot was about to protest why she slapped him,

Chuk.

Flamie raised a leaf like an index finger and blocked Ppiyot’s mouth.

‘Pbeh-eng! Why did you hit me?!’

So he asked with his eyes while looking at Flamie. It was because he felt like he would be hit harder if he made a sound.

[Since you’re Brother Theo’s subordinate, I only hit you once. Be careful in the future.]

Although it was a quiet and gentle voice,

Tremble. Tremble.

Ppiyot’s legs, completely overwhelmed by Flamie’s presence, were trembling severely.

‘A fight is all about the first strike!’

It was another lesson learned for Ppiyot today.

***

Black Tower Administrator Area.

“Khing. It’s exhausting.”

Aileen was exhausted from devoting herself to engraving magic on Kai-la’s heart fragment.

“Khehehe. Still, it’s almost done.”

Aileen wore a proud smile as she looked at the magic circles densely engraved on Kai-la’s heart fragment.

It seemed that if she worked for a few more days, she would be able to give the gift to Se-jun in time for the planned date.

Munch. Munch.

“Khehehe. Se-jun’s tomatoes are delicious.”

As Aileen ate the elixir cherry tomatoes given by Se-jun to recover her mana and checked the alarms on the crystal ball like that,

[You have overachieved one of the growth conditions of the Black Great Tower.]

A new golden message came into view.

“Huh? Overachieved?”

When Aileen clicked the message,

[Black Great Tower Growth Conditions]

-Tower Farmer (A): Achieved

-Create 10 or more new breeds: Overachieved (15/10)

-Cultivate 100 million pyeong or more of farmland: Unachieved

-Grow a World Tree: ?

-Secure 10,000 pieces or more of the World’s Energy: Unachieved

-Own 5 or more Divine Tools: Unachieved

-Achieve 3 Great Achievements: Unachieved

-Increase the entrances of the Black Tower to 120: Unachieved

The growth conditions of the Great Tower appeared.

“Uh?! When on earth did the new breeds become 15?”

Aileen said as she checked the conditions.

“But is there anything good about overachieving?”

When Aileen brought her hand to the words ‘Overachieved,’

[If there are two overachieved conditions among the Great Tower’s growth conditions, it is recognized as achieving one condition.]

A new message appeared.

“Khehehe. Good job, Se-jun! I should work harder too!”

Chomp.

Aileen stuffed her mouth full of elixir cherry tomatoes and began engraving magic on Kai-la’s heart fragment again.

***

Han Tae-jun and Kim Dong-sik were surrounded by the Blue-backed Penguin tribe and imprisoned in a jail on the 44th floor of the tower.

“What’s the date today?”

“It’s May 6th.”

When Han Tae-jun asked Kim Dong-sik for the date, Kim Dong-sik checked his hunter phone and replied.

At first, they fought the penguins to avoid being captured, but the armor the penguins wore did not even let Han Tae-jun’s Magic Missile pass through,

“Dong-sik, drop your weapon.”

“Yes.”

Since the penguins did not show an attitude of trying to kill them, they surrendered meekly.

“There isn’t much time.”

“We need to hurry up and deliver the kimchi to Lord Se-jun…”

Kim Dong-sik said in a regretful voice.

They were planning an event to deliver kimchi and other food items to Se-jun on May 11th, marking one year since Se-jun’s disappearance.

And today, under the supervision of Se-jun’s mother, Kim Mi-ran, the employees of the Awakened Association were scheduled to make kimchi and record the recipe.

In addition, 1,000 Earth Defense Force members had entered South Korea to transport the food made by Kim Mi-ran to the tower.

Normally, they would have had to return before catching the 43rd floor boss of the tower to have some room in their schedule, but because Han Tae-jun insisted on catching the boss before leaving, they ended up in this state.

Somehow, the two top commanders of the kimchi transport operation were in a situation where they could not command.

“Timing is important for kimchi…”

At this rate, by the time it was delivered to Se-jun, completely sour kimchi might arrive.

“Ahem… I really intended to just defeat the boss and leave, but who knew it would turn out like this? Still, the kids will deliver it well to Lord Se-jun on our behalf.”

Perhaps feeling sorry, Han Tae-jun spoke quietly, whereas normally he would have shouted or thrown a fist at Kim Dong-sik’s words.

At that moment,

“Do you guys know Lord Se-jun, peng?”

One of the penguins guarding the jail asked them.

***

“Kneading done.”

Se-jun put 1,000kg of the completed dough into his subspace warehouse.

Since the state was maintained as is inside the subspace warehouse, he could just pull out noodles with the noodle press whenever needed.

“Puhuhut. Is it finally over, meow?! Eunyanyang!”

At Se-jun’s words that it was over, the sleeping Theo yawned deeply and stretched.

Ppiyoooot!

Ppiyot, who had been sitting on Se-jun’s instep, leaning his head against Theo’s leg and dozing off, also hurriedly stretched, fully spreading his wings following Theo.

Ppiyot, whose spot on Se-jun’s right shoulder was taken by Flamie, took a spot on Se-jun’s right instep. Thanks to that, he could stay closer to Theo.

“I should rest while drinking coffee.”

To have a brief coffee time,

Grind.

Se-jun ground the coffee beans with the millstone.

Tap. Tap.

He put the coffee powder into a glossy black dripper and

Pour.

began to pour hot water in circles.

The dripper, made of dragon scales given by Aileen, was cast with a heat preservation magic, keeping the water temperature hot.

Thanks to that, the coffee extraction was active, allowing a rich coffee to be brewed.

Slurp.

“Keu. It’s rich.”

As Se-jun sat at the table and had a coffee time while drinking the coffee he had brewed himself like that,

“Puhuhut. It’s good, meow!”

Theo was on Se-jun’s lap,

[Hehe. It’s warm.]

Flamie was on Se-jun’s shoulder,

Ppihehe.

[Hehe.]

and Ppiyot sat on Se-jun’s instep, enjoying the sunbath together with Se-jun, receiving the warm sun with their whole bodies.

At that moment,

Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi has dug up herbs!]

Dadadada.

Cuengi, who had met Pink Fur and visited the herb field, ran over holding the herbs and

Hop.

jumped into Se-jun’s arms.

Kkueng!

[Here are the herbs!]

Cuengi, held in Se-jun’s arms, began to take out herbs from his snack pouch.

Ten sweet-tasting blue kudzu roots, one bitter-tasting white kudzu root, and one sour-tasting light green kudzu root.

[Hehe. Hello, Cuengi?]

Flutter. Flutter.

Flamie waved her leaves to greet Cuengi, who had handed the herbs to Se-jun like that.

Kkueng?

[It’s sister Flamie?]

Cuengi, feeling the unique energy coming from Flamie’s body, asked.

[Yes. I’ve become able to go around with you guys now.]

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. That’s great!]

While the two of them were talking,

“Let’s go down now.”

Having finished his coffee, Se-jun went down to the 79th floor of the tower with the animals and plants.

And,

[Uh?! There was a decent World Tree candidate here too? Come, my roots.]

Seeing the bird-bearing tree, Flamie guided her roots to the 79th floor of the tower.