Chapter 39 – Running Two Barracks

Woo Chun-sam, where are you going?

His colleague Woo Chun-sa asked Woo Chun-sam, who had been waking up early every morning for three days to go to work in the wasteland area.

I’m going to eat delicious food!

Woo Chun-sam answered cheerfully. He loved that he could eat grass every day at lunch lately. Woo Chun-sam had completely forgotten about both the debt reduction and the Bull Demon King’s instructions.

Delicious food?!

Yeah! If you flip the ground with your horns and cover it back up, they give you food.

I want to eat food too! I’m going too!

Woo Chun-sa stood up in excitement.

Alright! Let’s go together!

Woo Chun-sam brought the new worker Woo Chun-sa and went to work at Se-jun’s cave.

***

Kkueng!

Se-jun woke up hearing the baby bear’s cry.

And,

Slide.

he started the morning of the 195th day of being stranded by drawing a line on the cave wall.

When Se-jun climbed up to the surface using the rope to instruct the Black Minotaur Woo Chun-sam on the morning tasks,

“Uh?!”

Moo!

Moo!

Two Black Minotaurs were waiting for Se-jun. There was one more. The reason Se-jun could distinguish the two was because the patterns drawn on their shoulders were different.

While Se-jun was thinking about what kind of situation this was,

Bowed.

The Black Minotaur who came along with Woo Chun-sam bowed his head to greet Se-jun.

Moo!

“Woo Chun-sam says he wants his colleague Woo Chun-sa to also work and eat here, meow.”

Theo, who was clinging to Se-jun’s leg, translated Woo Chun-sam’s words.

“Alright. I can provide food, but I can’t pay daily wages. Ask if he still wants to do it.”

“Got it, meow.”

Theo conveyed Se-jun’s words to Woo Chun-sa. For Se-jun, making fields was not urgent right now, so there was no reason to hire an additional Black Minotaur while paying money.

Moo!

Because he came to eat, Woo Chun-sa readily nodded and accepted. Like that, the two Black Minotaurs diligently flipped the ground.

Rumble.

Hearing the sound of the two Black Minotaurs flipping the ground, Se-jun went down to the cave.

And he decided to split and plant the green onion roots that had been left alone all this time.

To cover the fields on the surface to prevent moisture from evaporating, and to feed the two workers of enormous size, it was necessary to increase the production of green onion leaves.

Until now, he hadn’t increased it because green onion leaves were always overflowing, but the more you cut green onions, the more the number of roots increases. Green onions were something whose numbers could be increased as much as one wished.

Se-jun began to detach the roots of the green onions he had planted first when he got stranded. The green onion roots had thickened to about the thickness of a tumbler, and there were almost 30 roots.

Se-jun brought the green onion roots obtained like that to the surface, went to the ground that Woo Chun-sam had flipped and filled back in yesterday, created a field, and planted the green onion roots.

The reason for planting green onions on the surface was that it eliminated the need to laboriously carry green onion leaves up from the cave.

Upon planting the green onion roots, the green onion field on the surface instantly became about 20 times larger than the one in the cave.

[You created a 200-pyeong green onion field.]

[You obtained 200 experience points.]

If he split and planted them again whenever the roots increased in the future, a green onion field several times wider than now would quickly be made.

As long as one problem was solved.

Swoosh.

Se-jun looked at the watering can rabbits giving water to the green onion field. Since the amount of water in the watering can was fixed, they couldn’t water all the crops.

So currently, Se-jun was solving it by personally hauling pond water to a part of the cave field, but that also had its limits.

While Se-jun was contemplating how to solve the water problem,

Flash.

The husband rabbit’s body shone dazzlingly. And just like the Black Rabbit’s hammer had changed, the husband rabbit’s watering can changed, and the part holding water became larger.

“It’s the Second Awakening.”

The term ‘Second Awakening’ was a name Se-jun coined to distinguish how the rabbits’ equipment also grew as they leveled up, and a rabbit that underwent the Second Awakening gained vastly improved abilities than before.

Squeak…

Having finished his Second Awakening, the husband rabbit proudly looked at his changed watering can.

“How is it? Did the water capacity increase a lot?”

Se-jun asked in a voice full of expectation.

Squeak!

The husband rabbit nodded vigorously and held up two fingers. Double!

“Oh!”

With the husband rabbit’s Second Awakening, the shortage of water disappeared for the time being. Like that, as the water problem was solved, Se-jun’s farm grew once more.

***

The 197th day of being stranded.

“Alright, let’s eat!”

Today, the baby rabbits came up to the surface for the first time to eat together.

And once the meal ended,

Kkueng!

Whether Cuengi was glad to meet baby rabbits younger than himself, he approached first to greet them.

Pyaang!

Pyap!

Pyaat!

The baby rabbits were not intimidated by Cuengi’s giant size, and they approached Cuengi to start playing together.

Kkueng!

Whether Cuengi wanted to teach what he knew as the older brother, he took the baby rabbits to the fields and taught them planting. If you plant here, more will come out later.

“To teach planting to white rabbits in whose veins the blood of farmers flows.”

Se-jun watched Cuengi and the baby rabbits with excitement while sipping coffee. Of course, on the lap of Se-jun who was resting and drinking coffee, Theo and the Black Rabbit occupied a spot each, taking a nap.

Pyaang?

Hearing Cuengi’s explanation, one baby rabbit took out dried roasted sweet potato from its leather pouch bag and planted it in the ground.

Kkuuuet!

Cuengi sneered looking at that baby rabbit. Like a frog forgetting its tadpole days, he didn’t seem to remember that he had planted roasted sweet potatoes and piranhas.

While they were spending a peaceful break like that,

Buzz, buzz.

the wing sound of baby poison honeybees was heard.

“Huh?”

Se-jun wore a puzzled expression. Because the poison honeybees did not send baby poison honeybees out of the cave where it could be dangerous. What was it?

When Se-jun looked at the place the sound came from,

Buzz, buzz.

seven baby poison honeybees were flying around the beehive built on the rock. The first baby poison honeybees had finally been born from the second beehive.

Se-jun placed the sleeping Black Rabbit and Theo on the ground and approached the baby poison honeybees.

Buzz, buzz.

Perhaps because he was recognized as the poison honeybee queen’s master, the baby poison honeybees did not guard against Se-jun even without the poison honeybee queen’s education, but approached and acted cute.

“Guys, let’s go eat something delicious.”

Se-jun led the baby poison honeybees down to the cave. And he took them to where the flowers were, letting the baby poison honeybees suck nectar.

Buzz, buzz.

The existing poison honeybees showed wariness at the appearance of poison honeybees from a different group, but once Se-jun was with them, they soon let down their guard and sucked nectar again.

Like that, the baby poison honeybees born from the second beehive settled down. The production of honey would also increase in the future, and a means to expand his active area that Se-jun had thought of was finally created.

Se-jun smoothly began running two beehive barracks.

In the afternoon, he cut green onion leaves to cover the fields, went down to the cave, and began harvesting cherry tomatoes.

While Se-jun was harvesting cherry tomatoes like that,

[You harvested 8 well-ripened Cherry Tomatoes of Mana simultaneously.]

[Your job experience increased slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increased slightly.]

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

[You obtained 176 experience points.]

[You leveled up.]

[You obtained 1 bonus stat.]

As Se-jun’s level rose, he became Level 17. Since he had never lacked strength or stamina so far, he invested the bonus stat in Agility, which increased his work speed, this time as well.

As evening came,

Kuuuong.

the mother Crimson Giant Bear came to pick up the baby bear,

Moo!

Moo!

and the two Black Minotaurs also went home from work.

“Representative Theo, isn’t it about time to head down to trade?”

Se-jun stroked the head of Theo, who had climbed onto his lap, and asked after eating dinner. Normally, he would have let Theo play for a few more days, but it was time to send greetings to his family.

“I want to head down, but I can’t head down, meow!”

“What do you mean?”

“On my way here…”

Theo talked about being attacked by the wolves.

“The wolves asked about the straw hat and tried to eat me, meow.”

“This straw hat?”

Are there people who farm on other floors too? Se-jun asked, touching the straw hat he was wearing. Although it was a relic and also had good effects, it was an item with options that were useless unless one was a farmer.

“That’s right, meow! That’s why I can’t head down, meow!”

“Don’t worry. How dare they target our Representative Theo! I will solve it for you.”

How dare they target our Theo’s life! Se-jun felt enraged and thought of a powerful solution.

“How, meow?”

“We have Woo Chun-sam. Representative Theo, you can hire free mercenaries, right?”

“I can do that, meow!”

“You can just hire Woo Chun-sam as a free mercenary and go down and come back.”

A being employed as a traveling merchant’s mercenary can use the merchant passages while employed as a free mercenary.

It would be nice if Se-jun could also go down the tower together as a free mercenary, but due to one condition, it was impossible for Se-jun to become a free mercenary.

That condition was to be born in the tower. It was a condition for which there was no way other than being reborn. He learned later, but the same applied to traveling merchants.

It was said that several occupations, such as traveling merchants and free mercenaries, were allowed only to beings born in the tower.

“Oh! That’s right, meow! If the wolves attack this time, I will punish them along with Woo Chun-sam, meow!”

Theo gained courage from Se-jun’s words.

Gororong.

Like that, Theo decided to go down the tower with Woo Chun-sam tomorrow and fell asleep on Se-jun’s belly.

***

The next morning.

Se-jun proposed to Woo Chun-sam that if he was employed as a free mercenary and escorted Theo, he would write off 3 Tower Coins, which was three times his daily wage.

However,

Moo!

Woo Chun-sam shook his head and refused.

“Why? I’m giving three times the daily wage?!”

Moo!

“He says he dislikes leaving here because he won’t be able to eat food, meow!”

“What?!”

To Woo Chun-sam, food was more important than debt reduction.

“Alright. Then, three meals a day guaranteed.”

When Se-jun decided to provide all three meals,

Moo!

Woo Chun-sa, who was listening from the side, raised his hand. I’m going too! Since a job where he could eat three meals a day appeared, he absolutely had to do it.

“Mmm… Alright. Then for you too, 3 Tower Coins and 3 meals a day guaranteed is fine, right?”

Se-jun thought that with two Black Minotaurs, while one was fighting, the remaining one could protect Theo, so Theo’s safety could be sufficiently guaranteed.

Moo. Moo.

Woo Chun-sa shook his head. No need for money. Give me food.

“Alright.”

Se-jun hurriedly cut green onion leaves to pack 10 days’ worth of food for the two Black Minotaurs.

“No. I should pack 15 days’ worth.”

Se-jun packed an additional 50% of green onion leaves into Theo’s bundle.

If the schedule lengthened due to unavoidable events, the green onion leaves might run short. Then, the hungry Woo Chun-sam and Woo Chun-sa might eat Theo.

“That would be trouble. Should I get a contract stating they will never eat Theo?”

While Se-jun was worrying like that, 15 days’ worth of green onion leaves for the two Black Minotaurs to eat were packed into Theo’s bundle.

Although it was an enormous amount, it occupied only one-third of Theo’s bundle.

“Oh! A lot goes in, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right, meow. Because now I am Representative Theo, a mid-level traveling merchant, meow!”

Theo said boastfully. If the capacity of the bundle had not increased significantly as Theo was promoted to a mid-level traveling merchant, he would have almost carried only green onion leaves in this trade.

“Go and return safely!”

“Then I will be back, meow!”

The 198th day of being stranded. Theo went down the tower accompanied by the two Black Minotaurs, seen off by Se-jun.