Chapter 295 – Now, Let’s Go Shake Them Down

[You have arrived at the 85th floor of the Black Tower.]

[You have moved from the 99th floor of the tower, the highest floor, to the 85th floor of the tower.]

[You have descended 14 floors.]

[By the effect of , all stats increase by 14.]

“Ugh. I feel drained.”

Se-jun was drained of strength as he moved from the 49th floor to the 85th floor.

Feeling a bit of helplessness, Se-jun approached the tangerine tree standing in the middle of the farm.

“The tangerines aren’t ready yet.”

Se-jun said, looking at the tangerine tree covered only in thick green leaves.

Normally, he would have just turned back and returned to the 99th floor of the tower, but

“Hehehe. Now I have this.”

Pop.

Se-jun took out a glass bottle containing a solution emitting a faint green light and opened the cap.

And,

‘A single drop of this is 70 billion Tower Coins.’

he tilted the glass bottle with extreme focus.

Money was money, but if he accidentally dropped two drops, it could die of vitality depletion.

For reference, this tangerine tree was the last tangerine tree in the Black Tower.

In other words, if the tangerine tree in front of his eyes died, tangerines would go extinct in the Black Tower. He would never eat them again.

‘I can’t let that happen! I will definitely eat it!’

He had already planned to use the Ice Cube to make an igloo to create a winter vibe.

Se-jun had already set a plan to wrap himself in a warm blanket inside, roll around with the animals, and peel and eat tangerines.

Drip.

Exercising high focus, he dropped exactly one drop of the Elixir of Harvest on the tangerine tree.

At that,

Pop. Pop. Pop.

flower buds were formed on the branches of the tangerine tree, and flowers quickly bloomed and the fruit began to grow.

“Good.”

Se-jun confirmed that the tangerines had begun to grow.

Since it would take a few hours for the tangerines to grow to a harvestable state, he looked around the farm.

“Wow. It has become completely clean.”

The endlessly stretching fertile land.

Thanks to the Black Minotaurs overturning the ground by dozens of meters to find the roots of kudzu, the soil quality became extremely fertile.

Of course, kudzu went completely extinct on the 85th floor of the tower due to the Black Minotaurs.

“Golden Bat, Ppiyot, help me out.”

(Yes!)

Ppiyot!

[Yes!]

He couldn’t let this good land go to waste. Se-jun, whose farmer instincts kicked in, had the Golden Bat and Ppiyot sow corn seeds.

Flutter. Flutter.

Flap. Flap.

While the Golden Bat and Ppiyot flew around sowing corn seeds,

Tap. Tap.

[You have obtained corn seeds.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 8 increases slightly.]

[You must use the Seed Harvesting skill 871,821 more times to complete the job quest.]

…

..

.

Se-jun pulled out corn from the subdimensional warehouse and harvested corn seeds for the Golden Bat and Ppiyot to sow.

While the three of them worked like that,

“Nyan-nyan-nyan.”

Theo lay on Se-jun’s lap, stretched out as much as he wanted, and slacked off,

Kyurorong.

and Iona kept sleeping in Theo’s tail. For reference, Iona had been together with them since the 75th floor of the tower.

Lastly, Cuengi

Stare.

was staring intently only at Se-jun’s hand from the side.

To be precise, it was the corn cob from which Se-jun was pulling off the corn kernels.

Cuengi was thoroughly captivated by the charm of the corn cob, which grew sweeter the more it was chewed.

Tap.

When Se-jun pulled all the corn kernels off the corn,

Kkueng!

[Dad, Cuengi wants to eat it, da-yo!]

Cuengi raised his front paw.

‘Cuengi, you are the only one who eats this here anyway.’

Where did he even learn to raise his hand?

“Here.”

Se-jun, while wondering, put the corn cob into Cuengi’s mouth.

Munch. Munch.

Kkuhehehe.

Cuengi smiled while chewing the corn cob. Thanks to that, not even 1 g of food waste was produced.

***

“Good work, everyone. Distribute the wages.”

Clatter.

The Black Skeletons handed out 10 bunches of fragrant grapes overflowing with life each to the workers who had finished their work as wages.

And,

“Colonel Jackson, we did it!”

“Yes. Good work to you guys too.”

Jackson and 10 navy hunters among the workers rejoiced as they looked at the grapes received as wages.

It was a precious grape received only after finding a hunter with an early sequence number ticket, buying the ticket, and working for 10 hours.

As they were leaving the grape farm with proud expressions like that,

[Grapes are sold at a high price.]

“Oh?!”

they discovered the signpost set up by the Farming King.

“Sigh. You should have sold them earlier.”

Jackson let out a sigh and headed back to the grape farm.

And,

“I would like to buy fragrant grapes overflowing with life.”

Jackson visited the Farming King and began negotiations to buy grapes.

Clatter. Clatter.

“How many bunches will you buy?”

Since the Farming King could not speak yet, Se-jun’s first hoe, Philip, conveyed the Farming King’s words to Jackson instead.

“I will buy 1,000 kg.”

“What about the price?”

“The price is…”

Jackson dragged his words slightly and scanned the faces of the Farming King and Philip as he was usually trained.

It was to examine the opponent’s reaction.

However,

……

‘I have no idea at all.’

Jackson could not read the minds of the two.

It was natural. The two were Black Skeletons. Since they had nothing but bones, a perfect poker face was possible.

“I will give 20 Tower Coins per bunch of grapes.”

So he called half of the market price first.

Currently on Earth, the price of fragrant grapes overflowing with life has fallen significantly compared to the beginning, selling for around $40,000.

At that,

Shake. Shake.

the Farming King shook his head side to side, flatly refusing. He hadn’t written ‘high price’ on the signpost for nothing.

“Then I will give 30 Tower Coins for a bunch of grapes.”

Jackson raised the price by 50% and proposed again.

However,

Shake. Shake.

the Farming King refused this time as well.

If Theo had the 3-cut technique passed down by Se-jun, the Farming King had 3 shakes and 1 nod.

The 3 shakes and 1 nod forcibly engraved in the Farming King’s soul. Probably, someone’s heart had burned a lot because of the Farming King.

“Then, 33 Tower Coins.”

Shake. Shake.

“35 Tower Coins.”

Nod. Nod.

The Farming King, who had made 3 shakes like that, did his final combo of 1 nod, and

“Phew. Here is 35,000 Tower Coins.”

Ultimately, Jackson purchased 1,000 bunches of fragrant grapes overflowing with life at a price cheaper than the market price.

However, the market price was the price sold on Earth. Considering the transportation cost, he bought them only a tiny bit cheaper than the market price.

After Jackson left,

“I came to buy fragrant grapes overflowing with life.”

“The price of fragrant grapes overflowing with life is 37 Tower Coins per bunch.”

“Yes?!”

The hunters who came to trade had to buy grapes at the set price without even knowing the reason.

***

Pluck.

[You have harvested ripe tangerines.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 increases slightly.]

[You have acquired 70 experience points.]

“I can harvest them now.”

Se-jun checked the state of the tangerines through the message.

“Cuengi, let’s pick tangerines.”

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Understood, da-yo!]

Cuengi, who was patting his belly with satisfaction, jumped up from his seat at Se-jun’s call.

A moment later,

“It’s done.”

Since there was only one tangerine tree, the harvest finished quickly.

And,

“Ice Cube.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Se-jun piled up ice and

Splash.

poured water to freeze the gaps between the ice, completing the igloo.

Although it was a square igloo rather than a round one, it did not matter. The vibe was what was important.

Se-jun entered the igloo like that.

“Hehehe. It’s cold.”

Satisfied with the cold emitting from the ice, he laid a mattress on the floor and

“Guys, come in.”

covered himself with blankets along with the animals.

“Good. This is it.”

Se-jun, with a satisfied expression at the feeling of it being cold outside but warm inside, took out a tangerine and

Peel. Peel.

peeled it. Se-jun did this just to eat a single tangerine properly.

“Here.”

Kkueng!

(Bat-bat!)

He gave a piece of peeled tangerine each to Cuengi and the Golden Bat, and

Nom. Nom.

Se-jun also put a tangerine in his mouth and chewed.

Burst. Burst.

The pulp of the tangerine was crushed by his teeth, and juice containing a bit of sourness and a lot of sweetness gushed out.

“Delicious.”

While Se-jun was enjoying the taste of the tangerine,

Crack.

“Um?”

something hard was chewed by his teeth.

“Phooey.”

When Se-jun quickly spat out what was chewed by his teeth, a seed as small as a pinky nail came out. It was a tangerine seed.

“Phooey. Phooey.”

And three of them at that.

“Why are there seeds?”

Se-jun had never seen a tangerine with seeds while eating them until now.

“Ah!”

Come to think of it, this was a relief. Because without seeds, they couldn’t increase the number of tangerine trees.

Phooey. Phooey.

Following Se-jun, Cuengi also spat out seeds.

“Hehehe. Shall we eat a few more so we can plant tangerines?”

Kkueng!

[Sounds good, da-yo!]

It was absolutely not because he wanted to eat more tangerines. The seeds were needed to plant tangerines. The tangerines were just a bonus.

Peel. Peel.

As they peeled and ate tangerines one by one like that,

“Oh?! We ate them all?”

Kkueng?!

[There are none left already, da-yo?!]

Before they knew it, Se-jun and Cuengi had eaten all the harvested tangerines. Thanks to that, they used the painstakingly made igloo for a bit longer.

Slurp. Slurp.

Until then, the Golden Bat was still diligently sucking on the single segment of tangerine Se-jun had given him at first.

A moment later,

[You have created a 10,000-pyeong tangerine field.]

[You have acquired 30,000 experience points.]

[You cannot acquire experience points because you have not completed the job quest.]

With hands turned yellow from peeling tangerine skins, Se-jun planted 3,100 tangerine seeds and

“Now, let’s go home.”

returned to the 99th floor of the tower.

***

[You have arrived at the 99th floor of the tower.]

“Toryong-i. Let’s go home.”

—Yes, Master.

Having arrived at the 99th floor of the tower, Se-jun headed to the farm riding Toryong-i.

“I should go and rest a bit.”

Se-jun planned to finish the day quietly now and hold the party around lunch tomorrow.

“Huh?! What is all of that?”

A bustling crowd came into Se-jun’s view.

At that moment,

Thud. Thud.

Moo!

[Master Se-jun!]

The Bull Demon King, who discovered Se-jun, approached hurriedly.

And,

“So you’re saying it’s because Vice Chairman Theo sold party invitations?”

Se-jun learned that the 99th floor of the tower became like this because of Theo’s invitations. And also how Theo had prepared the money.

However,

“Meow?! I did not sell this many invitations, meow! I sold exactly 1,000 sheets, meow!”

The number of participants was too high compared to the invitations Theo sold. It was clear someone had counterfeited the invitations.

How dare they disrupt my party!

“Theotson, this is a forgery case! Let’s find the culprit!”

“Puhuhut. Sherlock Se-jun, do not worry, meow! I can recognize the original invitation, meow!”

Theo, who was now familiar with this kind of role-play at Se-jun’s words, quickly adapted and replied.

“But how do you recognize the original?”

“That is…”

It was because mana had to be injected to engrave the Black Dragon tattoo along with the paw print.

In other words, the invitations Theo made contained Theo’s unique mana.

“Really? Then if you look at the invitation, you can tell if it’s the original.”

“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow!”

“But how can you find them all here?”

The number of participants currently in the tower was almost 1 million.

This meant only 0.1% held the originals. The day would pass completely just looking for the culprit.

At that moment,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu, don’t worry about that. I will help you.”

Iona, who was sleeping, woke up from sleep in anger at the news that Theo’s invitations were counterfeited.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu, power of mana. Find the energy I want. Mana Scan!”

When Iona used magic, blue waves spread with Iona as the center, searching for Theo’s energy.

And,

“Marking.”

Iona used one more magic to display the people holding Theo’s original invitations in blue, and all others in red.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu, it’s done! Now, let’s go shake them down!”

Iona, emitting a chilling vibe, tried to punish the participants who held the counterfeit invitations.

Iona became even more violent in matters concerning Theo.

However,

“Puhuhut. Wait a moment, Iona.”

Theo stopped Iona like that, and

Slide.

pulled out a stack of contracts from his bundle.

And,

“Those with red marks on their heads did wrong, so come this way, meow!”

he began to receive the stamps of those who had counterfeit invitations. Puhuhut. Many excellent slaves have been created, meow!

“There are too many, so please help me, meow!”

Since the number of people was too large, Se-jun, the animals, and the Black Minotaurs joined in as well.

Such that the counterfeit invitation holders became slaves for one year.

“No! Why should I?!”

Although there were some who resisted,

Kkueng!

“Kyu-kyu-kyu—”

Moo!

they became quiet in an instant as Cuengi, Iona, and the Bull Demon King—the Trio of Destruction—emitted murderous intent.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu, confess while I’m speaking nicely! It won’t be fun if I find you later!”

“I’m sorry. I did it.”

“I’m sorry.”

At Iona’s chilling threat, the main culprits who led this work, the Red Orcs’ Great Fang and Skilled Hands, were also caught in no time.

While they were smoothly catching the main culprits who made the counterfeit invitations and proceeding with the slave contracts,

[Master, Kkamang-i is being beaten!]

Flamie reported Kkamang-i’s situation to Se-jun.