Chapter 375 – Puhuhut. As Expected, I Am a Cat with a Conscience, Meow!

“Y… You’re going to pull this out?”

Rizaen quickly covered his mouth as he looked at Theo, who was staring greedily at his teeth.

“Puhuhut. That’s right, meow! If I take that, a god will offer money to Chairman Park, meow!”

“A god? Are you seriously believing in the legend of the Earth Gems? That’s all a lie!”

Rizaen, realizing why Theo was trying to pull out his teeth, shouted.

‘If you release the soul of a god sealed in the Earth Gem, the god will repay the favor.’

In the past, seeing that description, many people had tried to release the souls of gods sealed in the Earth Gems.

However, though there were rumors of people failing, there were no rumors of success. That was why it became a legend. Because no one could do it.

Yet…

“Puhuhut. It’s not a lie, meow!”

Thud!

“Keohuk!”

Hearing Theo’s confidently shouting voice, Rizaen fainted.

Theo had instantly moved behind Rizaen using Meow Step and hit the back of his head.

Although Theo’s front paws looked as if they were soft cotton paws, their power was not soft at all.

Thud!

The ground vibrated as Rizaen’s heavy five-meter-tall body collapsed,

Pop. Pop.

Theo forced open the anesthetized(?) Rizaen’s mouth and began to pull out the Earth Gems. Because they were caught on the adjacent teeth, extracting them was easy.

Except for the fact that they smelled.

“Puhuhut. This is nothing compared to Chairman Park’s poop smell, meow!”

Of course, to Theo, who had been trained by Se-jun’s poop smell, it was nothing.

The harvested gem corn… no, gem teeth, amounted to 31.

“Puhuhut. With this, it’s 3.1 trillion Tower Coins, meow!”

Theo thought that since Peblos had left around 100 billion Tower Coins as a reward, other gods would also offer about that much in return for being rescued.

Therefore, he calculated 100 billion Tower Coins per Earth Gem.

He felt deeply worried about the future of the gods who would fail to meet Theo’s expectations later.

“Yuren, take this, meow!”

Theo gave the 2.1 trillion Tower Coins in the vault to Yuren. Since he had taken plenty for himself, he conceded the money to Yuren.

Puhuhut. As Expected, I Am a Cat with a Conscience, Meow!

While Theo was feeling proud of himself for his conscientious action,

“What?! I get to keep all of this? I’ll give you half, Theo-nim. It’s fifty-fifty.”

Perhaps Yuren did not know the value of the gem teeth Theo had taken, as he readily handed half of the money he received to Theo.

And,

“Puhuhut. Understood, meow!”

Theo was not a cat lacking feline affection who would coldly refuse what was given to him.

Thanks to that, a formula was created in Theo’s mind: ‘Money was split fifty-fifty with Yuren, and the rest was all mine.’

“Yuren should take 100 million more Tower Coins, meow!”

Still, because he had a conscience, he conceded 100 million Tower Coins and packed only 1.0499 trillion Tower Coins into his bundle.

“Let’s go, meow!”

As Theo, who had packed the money in that way, took the lead and went outside,

Ppiyot!

[Yes!]

“Yes!”

Ppiyot-i and Yuren grabbed the fainted Rizaen’s legs and dragged him outside.

‘Uhehe. Rizaen, take this. My revenge! A sharp rock!’

Yuren continued his petty revenge by dragging Rizaen over rough paths on purpose.

***

“Hum hum hum.”

Se-jun woke up in the morning as usual and walked around the farm.

“Oh. The cabbage flowers have bloomed.”

Se-jun said, looking at the field where the Wind Cabbage was planted. Beside it, radish flowers and cucumber flowers were also blooming in profusion.

“I should harvest the seeds later.”

When Se-jun decided on his morning routine for today,

[You have achieved the achievement of being the first in the tower to make well-fermented Five-Colored Bean meju.]

[The recipe for well-fermented Five-Colored Bean meju is registered under Cooking Lv. 9.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 9 increases slightly.]

a message appeared. The meju, which had been fermenting while hanging from the kitchen ceiling, was completed.

“Hehehe. It is finally completed.”

Confirming the message, Se-jun ran quickly to the kitchen with a foolish grin on his face.

And he carefully picked up the brilliant meju, which was well-fermented and glowing with a golden light, to check its options.

[Well-Fermented Five-Colored Bean Meju]

Boiled and mashed Five-Colored Beans, which fully absorbed nutrients in the tower, and then fermented them.

During the fermentation process, the potential effects of the Five-Colored Beans were manifested.

Upon long-term consumption, Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Magic stats randomly increase.

Due to the effect of Cooking Lv. 9, the ingredient’s effect increases by 5%.

It has a characteristic smell, but it can produce a deep flavor.

Chef: Tower Farmer Park Se-jun

Expiration Date: 5 years

Grade: A

“Oho! Random stat increase upon long-term consumption.”

Now that the meju was completed, he would make the three sacred treasures of sauce: soy sauce, doenjang, and gochujang. Since they would eat them almost every day…

“Hehehe. Good. Very good.”

Se-jun smiled, filled the pre-prepared jar with meju, made salt water, and poured it into the jar.

With this, doenjang and soy sauce were completed. Later, when the water was drained, the solids remaining would become doenjang, and the liquid would become soy sauce.

He decided to make gochujang later, as the chili powder was not yet sufficiently prepared.

After the work ended like that,

“Now, I should make breakfast.”

Se-jun started cooking.

The breakfast menu was morning rolls to dip into the leftover potato soup from yesterday. Since he had made the dough in advance yesterday, he only needed to bake them.

“Hum hum hum.”

Humming, Se-jun cut the dough into appropriate sizes, rolled them into round shapes, and placed them inside the hearth.

A moment later.

When the bread was baked, the savory aroma of the bread began to drift gently around the kitchen.

And,

Ppyak!

[Uncle, good morning!]

Cuengi!

[Dad, did you sleep well, yo!]

“Se-jun-hyung, good morning!”

Kking! Kking!

[Hey! I’m hungry! Give me food!]

Waking up pleasantly at the delicious smell of bread, the companions gathered one by one in the kitchen.

“Just wait a moment. It’s all done.”

Se-jun placed the plate piled high with morning rolls in the center of the table and set a bowl of potato soup in front of each of them.

He also gave Fenrir his bowl after tearing the morning rolls into small pieces and putting them in the cooled potato soup.

And,

“Now, let’s eat.”

With Se-jun’s words, the companions began to eat.

Ppyak!

[Uncle, the bread is so soft!]

The Black Rabbit tore a morning roll apart, put the bread emitting a warm buttery aroma into his mouth, and shouted in excitement.

Cuengi! Cuengi!

[Dad, it’s so delicious, yo! Cuengi needs honey, yo!]

Even though Cuengi had potato soup to dip his bread in, he steadfastly looked only for honey. He was indeed a honey bear.

And,

“As expected of Se-jun-hyungnim! Just as you said, dipping it in the potato soup makes it really soft and delicious!”

Ajax dipped the morning roll into the potato soup as Se-jun had taught him and praised Se-jun.

Finally, Fenrir…

Smack. Smack. Smack.

As if even barking were a waste of time, he buried his face in the bowl and kept moving his tongue.

“This is happiness.”

Se-jun smiled happily, watching the companions eat his food with relish.

However, happiness could not fill one’s stomach.

“Ah?!”

Seeing the morning rolls quickly disappearing from the plate, Se-jun also hurriedly started eating.

Hehehe. He was happy.

With his stomach full, the happiness doubled.

After eating breakfast like that,

“Guys, have a safe day!”

Se-jun saw off the Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Ajax.

“Time to work.”

Just as he was about to start his morning routine,

[The tower administrator says that Grandmother Chrisella bought Aunt Stella’s voice message bead.]

Aileen sent the money to Se-jun.

“20 billion Tower Coins?”

Se-jun was puzzled after checking the amount. Had it not been 10 billion Tower Coins?

At that moment,

[The tower administrator says that Grandmother Chrisella said she will pay double if we hand over the voice message beads in the future without listening to their content.]

Aileen explained the reason why it became 20,000 times instead of 10,000 times.

Chrisella, who had heard Stella’s curse-filled voice recorded in the voice bead message, had set this condition.

If other dragons were to hear this voice message bead… Chrisella could not allow her daughter’s marriage prospects to be blocked, making her an old maid dragon.

“Is that so? That’s great.”

Se-jun rejoiced at Aileen’s words. For Se-jun, who had no intention of listening in the first place, it was not a bad condition at all.

Thanks to that, Se-jun gained an additional profit of 10 billion Tower Coins.

“Hum hum hum.”

Humming excitedly, he went to the fields and harvested the seeds of cabbage, radish, and cucumber.

***

The 66th floor of the Black Tower.

The headquarters of the Mage Association.

Knock. Knock.

Oros, an employee of the dedicated commission department, knocked gently on the door of the association president’s office and waited.

Lately, as anomalies in the Black Tower increased and the amount of exploration requests coming to the Mage Association surged drastically, Iona’s mood had been bad.

“I heard she sleeps well lately, so why is that?”

Oros wondered. Although the volume of work had increased, Iona had not gotten this angry in the past.

While he was pondering why Iona had become more sensitive lately,

“Kyu—come in.”

Iona’s reply was heard.

‘Level 1 Kyu of Anger right from the start…’

The start was not good. Someone had clearly entered before him and angered Iona. What a lucky guy!

‘This is a big problem.’

Oros’s face darkened as he looked at the request form in his hand.

An anomaly discovered on the 53rd floor of the Black Tower. It was a request form asking Iona, the president of the Mage Association, to come and investigate it personally.

As if they weren’t busy enough, to call the association president…

The moment she saw this request, she would instantly rise to Level 3 Kyu of Anger, and it felt as if he could already hear Iona’s voice going ‘Kyu-kyu-kyu—’.

Furthermore, the payment was far below what was required to summon the association president.

‘I really don’t want to go in…’

Oros, terrified like a cow dragged to a slaughterhouse, opened the door of the president’s office.

Upon entering, hot air welcomed Oros. It was the result of the angered Iona using magic.

If not for the dozens of layers of high-grade defensive magic cast inside the president’s office, the office would have disappeared already.

‘So hot.’

Oros continuously wiped away the sweat trickling down, waiting for Iona, who was processing documents without even sparing him a glance.

A moment later.

“Kyu—what is it?”

Iona, who had finished a stack of paperwork, asked, raising her head. Her severely scowling face was too terrifying.

“A… A request has arrived for the association president!”

Oros replied in a trembling voice.

“Kyu-kyu—did you just say a request has arrived for me?”

He thought she would at least check the request form before getting angry… Oros was flustered by Iona’s anger gauge rising much faster than expected.

“Ye… Yes! It is a request sent from the 53rd floor of the tower!”

“Kyu?! From the 53rd floor of the tower? Bring the request form quickly!”

At the mention of the 53rd floor, Iona’s face brightened instantly.

“What?! Yes!”

However, the tense Oros did not recognize that Iona’s anger had already dissipated.

A moment later.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. I will depart immediately, so keep that in mind!”

Iona, who read the request form, shouted as she flew out of the window using flight magic.

“Yes! Association President! Please have a safe and very long trip!”

Oros waved his hand vigorously toward Iona.

And,

“What is this? Why did the association president not get angry?”

Once Iona was out of sight, Oros thought about the reason why Iona had not gotten angry. However, he could not find a proper answer.

Meanwhile,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Representative Theo is still on the 53rd floor of the tower! If I hurry, I can see him!”

Checking the tracking magic she had cast on Theo, Iona moved quickly to meet him.

***

The 53rd floor of the Black Tower.

“Meow?!”

“Theo-nim, what is wrong?”

When Theo, who was about to enter the merchant passage, stopped, Yuren asked.

“I should rest here for a bit before going, meow!”

As Theo sat down at the entrance of the merchant passage to rest, Ppiyot-i and Yuren also began to rest beside him.

When they had rested for about an hour in that manner,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Representative Theo!”

Iona flew over and dug into Theo’s tail,

“Meow?! Iona, how did you know I was here and come, meow?!”

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. I can know everything!”

Theo made a startled expression, while Iona, in contrast, wore a proud expression.

“Something that even Theo-nim knows…”

Ppiyot!

[Keep quiet!]

Smack.

Ppiyot-i hurriedly slapped Yuren’s mouth. Yuren was less tactful than Ppiyot-i, who was not even six months old.