Chapter 323 – Aren’t You Going to Answer

The way down the tower.

“Nyan nyang nyang.”

Ppiyot?

[Representative Theo, but who are you going to visit first?]

When Ppiyot asked Theo, who was humming,

“Puh-hu-huh. First, I will monitor Manager Bill, meow!”

Theo answered.

The eight cat interns who worked under Theo.

They had made achievements and been promoted; Bill became a manager, Jeff and Mark became assistant managers, and the remaining five became regular employees.

Ppiyot?! Ppiyot!

[Ah! So you are checking on the most senior person first?! As expected, Representative Theo is great!]

“Puh-hu-huh. Of course, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, am amazing, meow!”

Theo smiled happily at Ppiyot’s flattery.

At that moment,

“Vice Chairman Theo, Ppiyot, why did you arrive so late?”

Se-jun appeared in front of them.

Ppiyot!

[Representative Theo, it’s Se-jun!]

Upon seeing Se-jun, Ppiyot tried to approach him without any suspicion.

However,

“Ppiyot! Stay back, meow!”

Theo was wary of the Se-jun in front of him. No. He denied the Se-jun in front of him. ‘That was not Chairman Park, meow!’

It was because his Se-jun knee detector was still pointing to the 99th floor of the tower.

“Who are you, meow?”

When Theo asked the Se-jun in front of him,

“Vice Chairman Theo, what are you talking about? It’s me!”

Se-jun said, feeling aggrieved.

“Do not lie, meow! You are not Chairman Park, meow!”

“Vice Chairman Theo, look closely. It’s me.”

Point.

Se-jun said, pointing to his own face.

Then, Se-jun’s face became slightly brighter, his facial features clearer, and he looked handsomer.

Ppiyot…

[Se-jun…]

Ppiyot tried to approach Se-jun as if possessed.

However,

“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Chairman Park’s face is not that handsome, meow! Do not alter it as you please, meow!”

That only fueled Theo’s anger. ‘Only I can fix Chairman Park’s rotten face, meow!’

Ppiyot?!

[For Representative Theo to hiss three times in a row?!]

Tremble. Tremble.

Ppiyot trembled in fear looking at Theo.

“I am angry, meow!!!”

Snap!

Angry, Theo pulled out a dragon claw

Pointed.

and pointed it at the Se-jun in front of him.

Thud.

A mana claw shot from Theo’s claw penetrated about 1 meter above Se-jun’s head.

At the same time, Se-jun’s figure vanished.

—Ugh! How…?!

Instead, in the place where Se-jun had disappeared, a giant spider with five pairs of eyes and a fist-sized hole in its head stood with its mouth agape.

After showing an illusion to the target with its ten eyes,

hunting down the off-guard prey was the method of Alice, the Deceptive Spider, the 9th Seat of the Apostles of Destruction.

—You bastard, next time…

Thump.

Alice’s fragment collapsed without finishing its sentence, its body turning into black ash and vanishing.

And,

Clink.

only five silver coins engraved with a spider with ten eyes and eight legs remained in its place.

“Puh-hu-huh. You cannot fool me, Chairman Theo, meow! Ppiyot, let’s go, meow!”

Ppiyot!

[Yes!]

Ppiyot hurriedly picked up the coins and followed Theo.

Alice, the Deceptive Spider, the 9th Seat of the Apostles of Destruction, had met a natural enemy she could never fool.

“Nyan nyang nyang.”

Ppiyot! Ppiyot!

Theo and Ppiyot went down the path again, humming.

When they went down about ten floors like that,

“Nyan?!”

Ppiyot!

[It’s a fork in the road!]

A fork in the road appeared in front of the two.

“Puh-hu-huh. It’s this way, meow!”

Theo led the way without hesitation.

And,

“Representative Theo, please save me!”

“Puh-hu-huh. I understand, meow! Give me money, meow!”

“Yes! Here it is!”

As if it were natural, he encountered Uren, who was stranded in the belly of the Jormungand fragment, and extracted money from him.

At this point, one might say Uren, who desperately wanted to give money to Theo, had been waiting for him.

“Representative Theo, but where are you going?”

Uren, who was rescued from the Jormungand fragment, asked.

“Puh-hu-huh. I am going to monitor the employees, meow!”

“Oh! Can I tag along as well?!”

Thinking it would be fun, Uren said he would follow. Of course, he also did not want to get stranded again while moving alone.

“Sure, meow!”

Theo naturally agreed, since the benefactor who would pay money was tagging along,

“Nyan nyang nyang.”

Ppiyot! Ppiyot!

Kkuik! Kkuik!

Thus, Theo, Ppiyot, and Uren moved to the 42nd floor of the tower where Manager Bill was, humming all the way.

***

The next morning.

“Hup!”

Se-jun woke up and got out of bed.

At that time,

Arorong.

Whimper…

Along with Ajax’s snoring, Fenrir’s groan was heard. What was this?

When Se-jun looked at where the sound was coming from,

he saw Fenrir pinned under Ajax’s head. It seemed Ajax had mistaken Fenrir for a pillow while sleeping.

Gently,

Se-jun lifted Ajax’s head to pull Fenrir out,

Slide.

and slid a pillow under Ajax’s head.

Kirorong.

Thanks to that, Fenrir slept comfortably.

Arorong.

Kirorong.

Step.

Leaving behind the snoring of Ajax and Fenrir, Se-jun stepped outside.

“First, I should check on the black beans.”

Clank.

Se-jun opened the subspace warehouse and went inside,

Click.

opened the Box of Abundance, took out two of the three black beans, and closed it again.

[Transcendental Black Bean (+2)]

“This makes six.”

Tap.

Se-jun said, putting the +2 black beans into his leather pouch.

Once the black bean collection was finished,

Slice.

Se-jun sliced the side of a Solar Pepper and carefully pulled out the seeds with his fingers.

[You have obtained a Solar Pepper Seed.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

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

[You must use the Seed Harvesting skill 494,829 more times to complete the job quest.]

…

..

.

Se-jun obtained about 200 Solar Pepper seeds like that.

He went to the empty land of the farm,

Dig.

dug the ground, and carefully planted a Solar Pepper seed.

And,

Pop!

he opened the glass bottle containing the Elixir of Harvest,

Drip.

and dropped the very last drop of the Elixir of Harvest onto the Solar Pepper. It was to grow the Solar Pepper quickly and secure a large quantity of seeds.

Creak.

Upon absorbing the Elixir of Harvest, the sprout of the Solar Pepper grew rapidly.

“Good. I can harvest the Solar Peppers after having breakfast…”

Se-jun wore a satisfied smile and slowly inspected the farm.

[The Corn of Stamina is grateful for the farmer’s footsteps and contributes its strength.]

[The potential of your Stamina stat increases from 1,397 to 1,398.]

As he was raising the potential of the crops by letting them hear his footsteps,

“Huh?”

a golden radiance enveloped Se-jun.

***

[Podori, are you ready?]

[Yes! Flamie-nim!]

At Flamie’s question, Podori answered solemnly.

Currently, Podori was at an important moment of its tree life.

Namely, the evolution into a World Tree.

‘Now, once I eat that and become a World Tree, I won’t have to consume nutritional supplements anymore!’

Podori thought, looking at the thumb-sized golden apple held by Flamie’s root.

For Podori, the fact that it would no longer need to consume nutritional supplements upon becoming a World Tree was more important than the evolution itself.

[Good. Here it goes!]

[Yes!]

With Podori’s response, Flamie’s root sent the golden apple to Podori.

Then, the golden apple was absorbed into Podori’s body as if melting like water.

And starting from Podori’s roots, the golden color dyed it, rising up its body,

and once Podori’s entire body was dyed in gold,

Flash!

a golden light began to explode.

***

The Black Tower Administrator Area.

“Khehehe. My Se-jun is managing the crops from early morning today as well. He is indeed diligent.”

Yum yum.

Aileen watched Se-jun through the crystal ball while eating the elixir-grade tomato he had given her.

At that moment,

[One of the growth conditions of the Black Giant Tower has been achieved.]

a notification appeared as Se-jun’s surroundings were dyed in a dazzling golden light.

“Khing? What is it?”

When Aileen checked the growth conditions of the Black Giant Tower in wonder,

[Black Giant Tower Growth Conditions (4/8)]

– Tower Farmer (A): Achieved

– Create 10 or more new varieties: Exceeded (19/10)

– Cultivate 100 million pyeong or more of farmland: Unachieved

– Grow a World Tree: 1 (Podori)/?

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

– Possess 5 or more Sacred Items: Unachieved

– Achieve 3 Great Achievements: Unachieved

– Increase the number of entrances to the Black Tower to 120: Unachieved

Under “Grow a World Tree,” the name Podori appeared along with the number 1.

“Huh?! When did Podori become a World Tree? As expected of my Se-jun!”

Aileen praised Se-jun even though it was Podori who became the World Tree.

“I should tell Grandfather!”

Aileen informed Kaiser of Se-jun’s achievement (?).

***

“Ugh! What was that?”

As the golden light faded, Se-jun lowered his hands that were covering his eyes.

Creak. Creak.

“Huh?!”

In Se-jun’s eyes, the Ents who had been guarding Podori’s surroundings were seen bowing toward Podori.

“What is this?”

As Se-jun approached Podori,

Hop.

[Master! Podori-nim has become a World Tree!]

Flamie, who was on her way to call Se-jun, spotted him, jumped onto his shoulder, and spoke.

“World Tree? Then should I bow too?”

Se-jun said in a slightly intimidated voice. If it was a World Tree, wasn’t it extremely strong?

[No! Absolutely not! Don’t be intimidated!]

At Se-jun’s words, Flamie spoke in a firm voice. How dare any tree receive a bow from her master?!

[Master, let’s go to Podori-nim!]

“Yeah.”

Se-jun approached Podori with Flamie like that.

‘What is this?’

Podori was extremely flustered, looking at Flamie.

It thought that since it had also become a World Tree, it was now on the same level as Flamie. It had even thought of rebelling a bit and standing on equal footing.

However,

‘What?! This is Flamie-nim?!’

Upon becoming a World Tree, Flamie became even more terrifying.

Flamie’s size and power were so immense that it could not understand why she had even put up with something like itself until now.

With its cognitive power as a World Tree, it could not even estimate Flamie’s size.

‘I must tell Se-jun-nim!’

Podori thought it should inform Se-jun of how terrifying Flamie was.

However,

[Hehe. Master, now Podori-nim will make even more delicious grapes for you, right? Isn’t that so, Podori-nim?]

[······]

Seeing Flamie even using honorifics to it to deceive Se-jun, its branches went cold, and its mouth froze in sheer terror.

‘If I speak, she will definitely kill me with overnutrition…’

[Podori-nim, you have no answer? I guess your stomach feels empty from becoming a World Tree? Hehe.]

Although Flamie’s voice that Se-jun heard was gentle,

‘Aren’t you going to answer?’

Flamie’s leaf, which Se-jun could not see, made a throat-slitting gesture.

[N… No! I am very full! I will make even more delicious grapes for Se-jun-nim!]

At Flamie’s action, Podori quickly answered and began making grapes.

Then,

Plump. Plump.

a golden cluster of grapes with large berries grew rapidly in front of Se-jun.

“Oh!”

Snap.

Se-jun looked at the golden grapes and broke the stem at the end of the cluster as if possessed.

Then,

[You have harvested 1 fragrant golden grape cluster (30 berries) filled with the energy of the World Tree.]

[Your job experience increases slightly.]

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

the message appeared. The name looked just as premium as its color.

“Will the effect be amazing too?”

Pluck.

Se-jun picked up a golden grape berry and inspected its options.

[Fragrant Golden Grape Filled with the Energy of the World Tree]

Grapes created by the World Tree containing its own energy.

The taste is excellent, and the fragrant aroma of the grapes spreads very far.

Upon consumption, all stats increase by 5.

If 10 or more berries are consumed, the fragrant scent emitted from the body will attract the opposite sex for 10 days.

Both the skin and seeds must be consumed for the effect to manifest.

Grower: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration date: 180 days

Grade: A+

“As expected, the options are excellent too.”

Every time he ate a single grape berry, all stats increased by 5.

Moreover, although it was embarrassing to express it outwardly, the effect of attracting the opposite sex when eating ten or more berries… huhut.

For Se-jun, who had never been popular in his life, it was an ability he wanted to possess at least once.

At that moment,

[The Tower Administrator says to absolutely make sure Se-jun does not eat 10 or more berries!]

Kkueng!

[Dad only eats nine, da-yo!]

“He says Brother Se-jun should only eat nine!”

Receiving Aileen’s special order, Cuengi and Ajax rapidly flew toward Se-jun.