Chapter 397 – Hehehe. I Have a Lot of This

The administrator area of the Black Tower.

[Black Tower 4th Floor Flesh Devourer Extermination Contribution]

1st Place – Park Se-jun (19,920,042 monsters)

2nd Place – Han Tae-jun (3,312 monsters)

3rd Place – Leon (2,134 monsters)

…

..

.

“Hehehe. Hang in there, guys.”

Aileen, looking at Se-jun’s contribution displayed on the crystal ball, cheered on the beings fighting hard on the 4th floor of the tower.

Hehehe. If she occupied just 10 million more, she could purchase a power to make their Se-jun a bit sturdier!

Although power could be purchased with money, what Aileen was aiming for was a special power that could only be purchased with contribution points.

[The performance of Park Se-jun, the middle manager and tower farmer of the Black Tower, increases by 1.]

…

..

.

“Hehehe. It’s rising well.”

While Aileen was playing alone, watching Se-jun’s contribution rise like that,

*Rumble.*

several dragons entered the administrator area. They were parent dragons and hatchlings.

“Aileen, where are you?!”

“Aileen, Hokus-oppa is here!”

“Sylvia-sister is here too!”

As soon as the hatchlings arrived at the Black Tower, they ran around wildly, calling Aileen.

“Ah. I was having fun just now…”

Aileen laid down the crystal ball and welcomed the guests.

“Welcome, sisters and brothers!”

“Aileen, you were bored alone, right?!”

“Yes?!”

“We will play with you!”

Aileen was flustered by the attitude of the hatchlings who shone their eyes, saying they would play with her.

No. She was not bored. How fun it was to watch their Se-jun’s contribution points rise.

“I, Hokus Yul, will make sure you aren’t bored!”

“What do you mean?! Sylvia will play fun games with Aileen!”

“No way! I will play with her!”

Not knowing Aileen’s thoughts, the hatchlings bickered, each claiming they would play with the youngest.

‘How could she make the sisters and brothers play fun games without fighting?’

In the meantime, Aileen pondered a way for everyone to play together. If she only played with one hatchling, the remaining hatchlings would be sulky.

Then, the hatchlings sulking at Aileen wouldn’t visit the Black Tower, and that would soon mean a drop in Se-jun’s crop sales.

That could not happen!

Once sales had risen, they must not fall. Never!

A play that everyone could play together was needed.

Ah! That would do!

“Sisters and brothers, let’s play hide-and-seek!”

Aileen spoke to the hatchlings who were still bickering.

“Hide-and-seek?”

“What is that?”

“I’ve never heard of it?”

The hatchlings showed interest in the play they had heard of for the first time.

“Hide-and-seek is…”

Aileen explained the rules of hide-and-seek.

The reason Aileen came to know about hide-and-seek was naturally because of Se-jun.

In the past, Se-jun, who wanted to have some time alone, played hide-and-seek with the tower family with the intention of hiding tightly and not coming out.

However, he was caught as soon as he hid.

“Puhuhut. Found you, meow!”

Since the seeker was Theo, it was natural to be caught. It was a time when he didn’t know that Theo had a Se-jun detector.

Thus, Se-jun immediately became the seeker.

While wandering around to find the hidden kids, he realized that if he didn’t look for them, he could have time alone, so he just slacked off and played by himself.

But—

*Kkwoooong! *Kkwoooong!*

[I’m hungry, but I’m not supposed to move!]

Because Se-jun did not look for him, Cuengi wailed loudly, and the hide-and-seek was ended.

Hehehe. Se-jun was really funny back then.

Aileen laughed, recalling Se-jun’s flustered expression.

“So we just have to hide without using magic?”

“Yes. Hakun-oppa.”

“Oh! That sounds fun!”

“Then Garlic wants to be the seeker!”

Fortunately, the hatchlings showed interest in hide-and-seek.

“Then hide quickly! I’m counting! One, two…”

When Garlic covered his eyes and began to count,

“Aileen, hide with me!”

“Hakun-hyung is too big. If you go with him, you’ll get caught. So go with me.”

the hatchlings began to fight to go with Aileen.

At that moment,

“Hehehe. Sylvia is the smallest here! So Aileen will hide with Sylvia! Let’s go, Aileen!”

Sylvia grabbed Aileen’s hand and ran.

Thus, Aileen ended up hiding with Sylvia.

“Aileen, trust only me!”

“Yeah.”

She followed Sylvia, who showed confidence.

But since Sylvia had never played hide-and-seek before, there was no way she would hide well, and—

“Sylvia-sister, you were trying to go over there just now, right? That is a really good idea!”

Aileen, to such Sylvia,

indirectly suggested a hiding place.

“Huh?! Of course! Because Sylvia is the older sister! Hehehe.”

Sylvia, whose mood improved at Aileen’s words, could hide in a decent place as Aileen intended.

Once they played hide-and-seek a few times like that, the hatchlings grew hungry.

“Let’s eat something.”

“Let’s do that.”

The hatchlings felt like eating snacks, and—

“Aileen, could you give me stick rice cakes and honey?”

“Give us some roasted sweet potato jerky.”

“We want roasted corn…”

the parents began to buy snacks from Aileen.

Play was play, and business was business. Aileen was thorough in separating public and private matters.

Hehehe. This was also fine.

Thus, Aileen, who returned from being the cared-for youngest to a seller again, smiled as she sold Se-jun’s food.

However, the parent dragons were also very satisfied with the current situation. It was because they could rest comfortably since the hatchlings were playing among themselves.

“Shall we meet periodically at the Black Tower like this from next time?”

“That sounds great?”

While the parents drafted specific meeting plans like that,

“Let’s play hide-and-seek!”

the hatchlings who ate snacks started playing again.

“This time, since Aileen is the seeker, sisters and brothers, hide quickly!”

Aileen, who initially thought she was playing along with the sisters and brothers,

“One, two, three…”

before she knew it, her face, as she closed her eyes and counted numbers, was filled with genuine joy.

***

The 70th floor of the tower.

“Where are the companions, meow?!”

“I can never tell you!”

“Tell me, meow!”

Despite Theo’s harsh treatment, the skeleton did not tell the location of its companions.

“Vice President Theo, don’t get too worked up. If you just find its thumb, you will be able to hear the answer.”

Once they became slaves, their thoughts had no choice but to change.

“Puhuhut. As expected, Chairman Park is smart, meow!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo hurriedly took the contracts and began to find the skeleton’s thumb bones and stamp them, and—

“Guys, let’s help too.”

Se-jun and the other companions also found the thumb bones and stamped the contracts.

Thus, several hours passed.

“Oh. My back. Heave-ho!”

When Se-jun, who was diligently finding thumb bones and stamping, stood up and stretched widely,

*Nyaaaang.*

*Kkwoooong.*

*Kkyuuuut.*

*Ppiyoooot.*

“Heave-ho!”

the companions stretched following Se-jun.

“This is harder than packing treasure.”

Se-jun spoke as he looked at the highly piled bones whose thumb bone classification had finished.

Since the number of skeletons was large, finding the thumb bones and stamping them was also a massive task. There were still many bones left unchecked.

At that moment,

*Rumble.*

Cuengi’s belly from a sound came. It was dinner time.

Since it was difficult to finish within today anyway, he felt like he should do the remaining work tomorrow.

“Let’s eat first. Vice President Theo, catch some fish.”

“Understood, meow!”

At Se-jun’s words, Theo hunted fish living in the moat, and Se-jun prepared and grilled the fish deliciously.

“As expected, grilled fish containing Chairman Park’s devotion is delicious, meow!”

Cuengi!

[It’s delicious!]

*Whimper! Whimper!*

‘Give me more! I said give me more!’

While the companions were eating grilled fish like that,

*Swish. Swish.*

the fish bones eaten and thrown away by the companions piled up high.

At that moment,

*Crunch. Crunch.*

a strange sound was heard from the place where the fish bones were piled.

“Huh?”

“What is it, meow?”

Cuengi?

When Se-jun stood up and looked at the place where the bones were piled,

“A skeleton?”

there, a single skull of a skeleton was chewing and eating the fish bones deliciously.

“Meow? That’s the guy who didn’t tell us the location of his companions earlier, meow!”

Theo said as he recognized the skeleton.

“Really?”

Come to think of it, they hadn’t found that fellow’s thumb bone yet.

“You like this, don’t you?”

Se-jun spoke, clearing away the surrounding fish bones so that the skeleton could not eat them.

Then,

“Ah…”

The skeleton felt extremely regretful, visibly showing it. It looked ready to do anything if it could just eat fish bones.

“Hehehe. I have a lot of this.”

Se-jun spoke as he took out fish bones that he had gathered for broth from the sub-space warehouse.

The skeleton that saw the fish bones swallowed saliva. It did not actually swallow, but only acted like it did.

“If you stamp the print on this contract, I will give you one of these fish bones every day. How about it? If you want to stamp, move your thumb bone.”

When Se-jun spoke toward such a skeleton,

*Clatter. Clatter.*

suddenly, the sound of moving thumb bones was heard from all directions. The one wanting the fish bones was not just the single skeleton in front of him.

Thanks to this, the maintenance cost of the skeletons rose from 0 Won to one fish bone a day, but there was no burden at all.

“As expected, Chairman Park is a genius, meow!”

“Hey. It’s nothing much…”

Although Se-jun spoke modestly at Theo’s praise,

Huhut. Maybe he really was a genius?

he was incredibly proud inside.

A moment later.

they were able to find all moving thumb bones and stamp the contracts, and—

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, Anes says that if we go to the 96th floor of the tower, there are many slaves, meow!”

Theo found out the location of the companions from Anes, the leader of the skeleton mages.

“The 96th floor of the tower?”

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. The 96th floor of the tower is the place ruled by Regius, the Sovereign of Bones, who is called the holy bone among holy bones!”

“Really? But we are stronger, right?”

Se-jun asked Iona in a slightly anxious voice at the impressive title of Sovereign of Bones.

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Of course! Just us are enough! If you are anxious, shall we call Lord Bull Demon King and the Black Minotaurs, too?”

“Shall we?”

Se-jun, who was anxious, nodded his head right away.

“Then shall we contact the Bull Demon King right away?”

“No. Since we have to go to the 68th floor of the tower first, contact him later.”

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Yes!”

Se-jun, who finished the conversation with Iona like that, fell asleep after playing with Theo, Cuengi, and Fenrir.

***

The 99th floor of the Golden Tower.

[In a moment, the third competition of the harvest festival, the cherry tomato juice drinking competition, will begin.]

[Participants who wish to participate in the competition, please gather in front of the high elf’s giant cherry tomato altar.]

“Huh?!”

“Not alcohol, but juice?”

The elves who were expecting alcohol were flustered.

“No way!”

It was the same for Cecilia.

“Wow!”

Instead, the young elves who were able to participate in the competition cheered.

And—

“Ugh… I’m full…”

Cecilia took last place again.

Still, the Cherry Tomato Juice of Mana Mixed with Honey was really delicious.

Cecilia smiled, recalling the taste of the juice she drank just a moment ago.

But—

“But… the reward will probably be something even more delicious, right? I’m so jealous.”

Thinking of the reward, she soon grew sad.

“Oh! It’s the reward!”

In the meantime, the winners of the competition received their rewards.

“Terrible Cherry Tomato Goblin Whiskey?”

It was an S-grade liquor made by Orik taking Se-jun’s cherry tomatoes to the Brown Tower and mixing them with the Terrible Goblin Whiskey.

Thanks to this, Orik received immense recognition in the Red Goblin tribe, but it was a massive misfortune for the elves.

“Let’s drink it first. Even if the name is like this, the taste will definitely be good!”

“Yeah.”

The winners who drank the liquor received as a reward like that fainted while throwing up everything they had eaten, and

“Whew. Thank goodness.”

Cecilia was thankful that she had not won.

It was said that the winners who woke up later fell into shock and horror, and trembled for several months even if only the letter ‘G’ of Goblin came out.

***

The next morning.

“You guys, go to the 4th floor of the tower, meow!”

“Yes!”

The skeleton mages, receiving Theo’s instruction, departed for the 4th floor of the tower while preciously holding the bundle containing fish bones inside their ribs.

And—

“Guys, get in the warehouse.”

Se-jun put his companions into the sub-space warehouse, and

*Unfurl.*

[The summoning function for the initial owner engraving of the Black Tower 68th floor farm land deed is activated.]

vanished, unfolding the land deed for the 68th floor of the tower.