Chapter 32 – Harvesting Corn

When the Blue Moon ended, the rampaging monsters of the 99th floor returned to their own territories.

And the Bull Demon King, who guarded the waypoint of the 99th floor, began checking the headcount of his subordinates.

It was because there were occasionally fellows who entered other monsters’ territories and could not return.

Woo-il, Woo-dul, Woo-sam…

While the Bull Demon King was checking his subordinates like that,

Dangle, dangle.

Something was seen dangling from Woo Chun-sam’s horn.

Moo?

“Woo Chun-sam, what is that?” the Bull Demon King asked, looking at his subordinate.

However,

Moo?

“Leader, what?” the subordinate asked back, as if not knowing that something was dangling from his horn.

Moo!

To think a warrior would not even know something was stuck to his body! Frustrated by the subordinate’s reaction, the Bull Demon King personally removed the object stuck to his subordinate’s horn.

It was a plant with green leaves and an orange root. It was clear that Woo Chun-sam had dug up the ground with his horns during the Blue Moon.

The Bull Demon King passed by Woo Chun-sam and checked the headcount again.

…Woo Sam-cheon-pal-i.

Fortunately, there were no subordinates who failed to return.

Thump. Thump.

The Bull Demon King took his spot in front of the 99th floor’s waypoint again.

And while he was spending tedious time again,

Sniff, sniff.

A sweet fragrance drifted in from somewhere.

Moo?

The Bull Demon King turned his gaze toward the direction of the smell. The plant removed from his subordinate’s horn was in his hand. ‘Why did I not throw this away?’

That did not matter. The Bull Demon King put the plant in his mouth and chewed.

Crunch, crunch.

Munch, munch.

The orange root gave a good texture and sweetness, and the stem was tender, swallowing smoothly.

Moooo?!

“Where did you get this?!” the Bull Demon King urgently called Woo Chun-sam.

***

As soon as the Blue Moon ended, Se-jun called out Theo, who had entered the bundle, and had him scout outside.

“There is no one, meow.”

“Good. You worked hard.”

Theo reports to Se-jun, then went inside Se-jun’s blanket and fell asleep, and Se-jun began to move busily.

The first place Se-jun headed to was the cornfield.

Snap.

He snapped off the blue corn wrapped in green leaves.

[You harvested the Corn of Stamina containing the energy of the Blue Moon.]

[Your job experience increased.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increased.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Boost Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increased by an additional 5%.]

[You obtained 100 experience points.]

“Corn of Stamina?”

Corn was a crop that raised the stamina stat.

[Corn of Stamina containing the energy of the Blue Moon]

A corn grown inside the tower that absorbed sufficient nutrients and was delicious.

With the energy of the Blue Moon contained, the taste became even better.

Upon consumption, Stamina permanently increases by 0.1.

Grower: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 60 days

Grade: D

Perhaps because it was a D-grade crop, the stat increase was twice as high as that of an E-grade crop.

However,

“Who cares.”

It did not matter to Se-jun at all. The taste was what was important.

“Hum, hum, hum.”

Se-jun hummed and first pulled out the silk attached to the corn,

Rip, rip.

and boldly peeled off the husks of the corn. Then, plump blue corn kernels that looked like they would burst if pressed lightly revealed themselves.

“Wow, look at the gloss.”

Showing a blue gloss, the corn was tempting him as if saying, ‘I am delicious,’ to taste it quickly. His heart grew rushed. He wanted to eat it quickly!

“Huh?!”

Without realizing it, Se-jun almost put the raw corn to his mouth before stopping. A major accident of eating the corn even before steaming it almost occurred.

“Phew.”

Se-jun took a deep breath, calming his excited heart,

Stack, stack.

carefully lined the peeled corn husks one by one in the pot, poured an appropriate amount of water, put the corn in, and closed the lid.

And,

Fwoosh.

he placed it on the fire and began to boil. Once the water boiled down, the corn husks would create a space between the pot and the corn and steam the corn.

Now, all that was needed was to wait for the corn to be steamed deliciously.

However,

[The administrator of the tower spoke, telling him to keep his promise quickly.]

“Alright. I was about to give it to you.”

Se-jun went to the cherry tomato field and harvested cherry tomatoes containing the energy of the Blue Moon.

Pluck.

[You harvested the Cherry Tomato of Mana containing the energy of the Blue Moon.]

[Your job experience increased.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increased.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Boost Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increased by an additional 5%.]

[You obtained 100 experience points.]

Pluck.

[You harvested the Cherry Tomato of Mana containing the energy of the Blue Moon.]

…

..

.

The cherry tomatoes containing the energy of the Blue Moon harvested by Se-jun like that were 13 in total.

“It is a real bumper harvest. Hehehe.”

Se-jun smiled while looking at the blue cherry tomatoes filling both his hands.

“Here, take them.”

Se-jun gave five blue cherry tomatoes to the administrator of the tower.

[The administrator of the tower was grateful to you.]

[The administrator of the tower spoke, saying she would definitely repay you later.]

“Right.”

He did not expect much. How was he supposed to wait for 300 years?

“They look delicious.”

Se-jun looked at the cherry tomatoes in his hand. Since they were D-grade and contained the energy of the Blue Moon, they would be even more delicious.

However,

“Let’s hold back.”

He decided to endure in order to properly experience the taste of the corn.

Taking the opportunity of standing up, Se-jun spread out and dried the corn silk on his designated seat where the sun shone well.

If he dried the corn silk well, he could make and drink corn silk tea.

“With this, the drinks I can have increased by one.”

Se-jun returned to the fireside with a proud expression.

And while he was waiting for the corn to be finished, the sweet and savory smell unique to corn began to spread through the gaps in the pot lid.

One. Two. Three…

Se-jun counted 30 seconds in his mind, took the pot off the fire, and opened the lid. Too much was as bad as too little. He had to pay close attention because the corn kernels would all burst if steamed too much.

Whoosh.

As soon as he opened the lid, the smell of corn filled the air along with the steam.

“Wow!”

Se-jun carefully lifted the corn with tongs and placed it in his bowl.

And,

Huuu, huuu.

Anxious to eat quickly, Se-jun blew wind on the corn, cooling it down diligently.

“Is it ready?”

Se-jun placed his hand on the corn to check if it was still hot. The corn was hot enough that he could only hold it for a second or two.

“Good.”

Se-jun grabbed both ends of the corn with a cooled corn husk, and

Snap.

broke it in half. Half was the corn to give to the rabbits.

Se-jun took a bite of one half of the corn.

Chrrk.

Se-jun’s teeth swept up the corn kernels like an excavator.

“Slurp.” Se-jun hurriedly sucked the sweet juice flowing from the cob as the corn kernels fell away. “Ah! It’s sweet!”

Crunch, crunch.

After sucking the sweet juice, Se-jun began to chew the corn kernels in earnest.

Every single corn kernel was fully intact. Therefore, whenever he chewed, the corn kernels resisted moderately in his mouth before bursting open.

Munch, munch.

The savory sweetness that rose the more he chewed. Se-jun ate the corn diligently, playing the corn harmonica as if possessed.

And,

[You consumed the Corn of Stamina containing the energy of the Blue Moon.]

[Stamina permanently increased by 0.1.]

Before he knew it, Se-jun had eaten even the corn he saved for the rabbits.

“To think I ate all of this…”

Se-jun sucked the remaining sweet juice from the cob with a look of disbelief as he looked at the message in front of him.

However, because Se-jun had already sucked and drank it dry until no juice would come out, no sweet juice came out.

“What a shame.”

Se-jun hurriedly threw the cob and leaves into the fire and burned them to destroy the evidence.

And as he added a stroke to the wall and started the morning,

Kkueng…

The baby bear quietly announced his arrival. It was to avoid waking up the baby rabbits.

Se-jun went up to the surface. The arrival of the baby bear meant that the mother Crimson Giant Bear had come, which indicated that the surroundings were 100% safe.

Upon going up to the surface,

“As expected.”

As expected, the fields on the surface were completely in a mess due to the monsters that came during the Blue Moon.

Se-jun hurriedly looked for the mother Crimson Giant Bear. He was worried if she was injured anywhere.

In the distance, Se-jun saw the mother Crimson Giant Bear walking with strides. Judging by her gait, she did not seem to be injured.

Having confirmed the safety of the mother Crimson Giant Bear, Se-jun carefully put the cocoon of the poison honeybee queen, which he had entrusted to Theo, back in its place.

And,

“You’re not hurt anywhere either, right?”

Se-jun checked the baby bear’s body to see if he was injured anywhere.

Kkueng!

When Se-jun inspected his body, the baby bear lay flat on his back, thinking that Se-jun was going to stroke him.

“Yes, yes.”

Se-jun checked the baby bear’s entire body while stroking him. Fortunately, he was not injured anywhere.

“Here, some honey.”

When Se-jun gave three squeezes of honey to the baby bear who must have suffered during the Blue Moon, and went down to the cave again,

Squeak!

Squee!

as if it was time to wake up, the rabbit couple from the burrow and

Pyaa.

Pyak!

the offspring rabbits who had moved out came out of their burrows, greeted him, and prepared for the morning farming.

Crunch, crunch.

“Here, eat this.”

Se-jun handed eight blue cherry tomatoes one by one to the rabbits who were eating carrots for breakfast.

Although there were no cherry tomatoes left for Se-jun after distributing them like that, he decided to yield today since he had eaten corn.

Squeak!

Squee!

Pyaa!

Pyak!

Suck, suck, suck.

The rabbits thanked Se-jun and began to suck the cherry tomatoes deliciously.

Pyaa!

Pyang!

Pyat!

In the afternoon, the rabbit couple brought five baby rabbits out of the burrow and showed them the world. The curious baby rabbits actively began exploring the surroundings.

At that moment,

Pyaa!

Pyang!

Pyat!

There was something that particularly drew the attention of the baby rabbits.

Chwap, chwap, chwap.

The baby rabbits approached Theo, who was diligently eating Churu, and began to climb on Theo’s body and play.

“Why are you doing this to me, meow?”

Theo stood up from his spot to avoid the annoying baby rabbits and moved to another place.

However,

Pyaa!

Pyang!

Pyat!

The baby rabbits persistently followed Theo.

“Chairman, the babies keep following me, meow. Do something about it, meow.”

As the baby rabbits kept following him, Theo approached Se-jun and requested help. He could have fled to the surface, but on the surface, there was the baby bear targeting Theo’s Churu.

“The baby rabbits recognized a cool uncle. That’s why they are following Representative Theo.”

“Then am I a cool uncle, meow?”

“That’s right.”

Although they seemed to follow him because he was an easy target, he did not tell the truth. Someone had to look after the babies.

Pyaa!

Pyang!

Pyat!

In the meantime, the baby rabbits followed Theo again.

“So that was the reason, meow?”

Theo this time did not run away to avoid the babies.

“Now, follow me, the cool Representative Theo, meow.”

Theo began to lead the baby rabbits around.

“That is dirty, meow! You must not eat it, meow.”

“Come here, meow! Fire is dangerous, meow!”

Surprisingly, Theo looked after the five baby rabbits well. A babysitter duty was added to the duties of Representative Theo.

And the 183rd day of being stranded.

“The cool uncle will earn a lot of money and come back, meow!”

Pyaa!

Pyang!

Pyat!

Theo went down the tower again, seen off by the baby rabbits.