Chapter 43 – Eat and Run

Thud. Thud.

Leaving the Black Minotaurs’ territory, the Bull Demon King began to run quickly. As the boss of the 99th floor of the tower who had the duty to guard the waypoint, the Bull Demon King could not leave the waypoint for more than 1 hour a month.

Huff.

‘I smell Woo Chun-sam’s scent from this direction.’

The Bull Demon King ran quickly, chasing Woo Chun-sam’s scent.

While he was moving, chasing the scent like that,

Moo?!

‘Huh?! Why does Woo Chun-sa’s scent come along with Woo Chun-sam’s scent? Could it be?! Did the two fall in love? These fellas!’

Everything was explained. Why they had not entered the territory for several days. It was clear that Woo Chun-sam had seduced Woo Chun-sa with delicious grass.

Now, there was no Bull Demon King who worried about his subordinate. There was only a Bull Demon King who cursed the happy couple.

Mooooo!

The Bull Demon King let out a roar of rage and moved violently along the scent again.

At that time,

Snort. Snort.

Another scent mixed into the Bull Demon King’s nose.

‘This is?!’

It was one of the scents of delicious grass that the Bull Demon King had ordered Woo Chun-sam to find. And his subordinates’ scents were also continuing along the direction of the grass scent.

‘Caught you! You fellas!’

The Bull Demon King hurriedly ran toward the place where the scent came from. The further he ran along the scent, the stronger both the subordinates’ scents and the grass scent became.

And the scene that unfolded before the Bull Demon King. A green forest of green onions was visible in the place that had been a wasteland. It was clear that those two bastards were in there.

‘To think they are breeding their species while even eating delicious grass!’

‘To think they are trying to have both!’

‘Concede one to me!’

Mooooo!

Thud. Thud.

Although a red fur was visible next to the green onion field, it was not seen by the Bull Demon King, who was only thinking of punishing the happy Black Minotaur couple.

Losing his reason, the Bull Demon King ran toward the green onion field.

***

[Tower 99th Floor Boss Bull Demon King]

“Bull Demon King?”

When Se-jun was flustered, looking at the giant Black Minotaur suddenly running toward the green onion field,

Kuaaaaah!!!

The mother Crimson Giant Bear hurriedly sent Kkueng to Se-jun and blocked the front of the Bull Demon King.

Although she did not know if she could block the Bull Demon King, the strongest entity on the 99th floor, a promise was a promise. Because she had decided to protect this place, the mother Crimson Giant Bear stepped forward, risking her life.

Then,

Rummaging,

As if he had no interest in them, the Bull Demon King hurriedly rummaged through the green onion field, searching for something.

However, when there was nothing,

Munch, munch.

He put the green onion leaves into his mouth without even cutting them and began to chew.

Munch, munch.

The fragrant smell of grass filled the Bull Demon King’s mouth. On top of that, there was even the soft yet chewy texture.

Mooooooo~

Feeling so good, the Bull Demon King could not contain his excitement and cried out joyfully. Then, he sat flat on the ground in earnest, pulled out the green onions by the roots, put them in his mouth, and began to swallow.

Munch, munch.

In an instant, about one-fourth of the green onion field disappeared.

“What is it?”

Kuuung?

Kkueng?

Squeak?

Pyak?

Se-jun and the animals stared at the Bull Demon King as if he were fascinating. Before they knew it, their fear of the Bull Demon King had completely disappeared. That was just a cow. A very big cow that liked green onions.

And after a moment,

Mooo…

As if the Bull Demon King felt it was a pity he could not eat more, he grabbed green onions in both hands, stood up from his seat, and ran back toward the waypoint.

“That’s the boss of the 99th floor of the tower?”

Se-jun stared blankly at the running Bull Demon King. He regretted why he had not thought of going to the waypoint until now.

“I should have gone to find him carrying green onions long ago.”

However, there was no need to do that now. The Bull Demon King had made a mistake. The Bull Demon King ruined Se-jun’s green onion field and even ate without paying.

“Ruining my field and thankfully even eating and running.”

When he talked with Woo Chun-sam, the Black Minotaurs definitely valued a warrior’s honor. Surely the Bull Demon King would too. No, as the leader of the Black Minotaurs, he would value honor even more.

Se-jun smiled insidiously, tapping a calculator in his head. A good idea came to Se-jun, as if a blessing in disguise.

Se-jun wanted to run to the waypoint right now to negotiate with the Bull Demon King, but he decided to visit the Bull Demon King once Theo, who would translate for smooth negotiations, arrived.

Aileen could translate too, but she sometimes fell asleep suddenly, which made him a bit uneasy.

Se-jun began to tidy up the green onion field ruined by the Bull Demon King. It was definitely an annoying task, but no annoyance could be seen on Se-jun’s face.

“Hehehe.”

Rather, he hummed as if he were in a good mood, and his face was full of smiles.

“First, I should ask the Bull Demon King to let us use the waypoint. Hehehe. And…”

Se-jun worked without even knowing he was tired, thinking of the things he would demand from the Bull Demon King.

***

The day after the Bull Demon King made a mess of the green onion field.

Se-jun quickly finished harvesting cherry tomatoes in the morning and, wrapping up the green onion field he could not finish yesterday due to the late hour, began slicing green onion leaves.

Slice. Slice.

The work of slicing green onion leaves ended in no time. Thanks to the Bull Demon King destroying(?) one-fourth of the green onion field yesterday, Se-jun’s work was greatly reduced.

“A bit of a pity.”

Sitting on the ground, Se-jun said as the morning work ended with all the green onion leaves sliced.

Kkueng!

Kkueng, who helped Se-jun pile up the green onion leaves, brought the glass jar. Give me honey!

“Sure.”

Click.

As Se-jun opened the lid of the glass jar,

Pat.

Kkueng hurriedly extended his front paw, and

Glug.

Se-jun carefully poured one glug of honey.

Lick, lick.

While Se-jun was resting, watching Kkueng lick the honey deliciously,

[Blessing of Good Harvest Lv. 1 is activated.]

[A good harvest comes to 70 pyeong of the green onion field.]

[The yield increases by 50% for the next week.]

“In the green onion field?!”

Creak, creak.

The sound of life growing wildly reached Se-jun’s ears.

“Uh?!”

Se-jun hastily looked at the green onion field. The green onion leaves in the field tinged with a golden glow were rising rapidly again.

His earlier statement about it being a pity was cancelled. Se-jun was now able to harvest green onion leaves three times a day from the field where the good harvest had come.

And

Kkueeeng!

Kkueng, who was now able to eat honey again, raised both hands and cheered. Hurrah!

***

The 75th floor of the tower.

Theo arrived at the merchant district with the Black Minotaurs. And on his way to the general store to buy the glass jars Se-jun requested, the street was unusually crowded with merchants today.

‘I must move carefully to avoid them-nyan.’

Just as Theo was thinking he should walk carefully today so as not to get kicked by the merchants’ feet,

Rumble.

The merchants parted to both sides, creating a path for Theo.

‘What is it-nyan?’

Theo was flustered. Theo, who was short, had always walked dodging here and there between the merchants’ legs to avoid getting hit by their feet… but for some reason today, none of the tall merchants blocked Theo’s path.

‘Puhuhut. Is it because they recognized Representative Theo, the mid-tier wandering merchant-nyan?’

Theo walked majestically with his chin held high and entered the general store with the Black Minotaurs.

As Theo entered the general store,

“Did you see that just now?!”

“Yeah. I saw it right, didn’t I? Wow! To think I’d see Black Minotaurs here.”

“But how did they enter the merchant district? I thought there were no Black Minotaur wandering merchants.”

“Maybe they are free mercenaries?”

“Wow, that’s amazing. A wandering merchant who hired Black Minotaurs as free mercenaries. I’d like to see him once.”

“Indeed. I should at least introduce myself to such a big-shot wandering merchant.”

None of the merchants knew that the employer of the Black Minotaurs had passed under their feet.

Inside the general store.

Thud.

Theo placed 20 glass jars on the counter.

Snort. Snort.

Behind Theo, Woo Chun-sam and Woo Chun-sa, with three wolves draped over their shoulders, snorted and looked down at the general store owner.

“How much is it-nyan?”

“It’s… it’s 0.15 Tower Coins per glass jar, making a total of 3 Tower Coins.”

The general store owner said in a terrified voice.

“Discount it-nyan!”

Theo attempted his first discount.

“Th… then I will give them to you for 1.5 Tower Coins.”

‘What-nyan?’

Theo was momentarily flustered by the general store owner’s treatment, cutting the price by 50% in an instant.

‘Puhuhut. He is trying to get on my good side because I became a mid-tier wandering merchant-nyan.’

Although it seemed the price had been discounted enough, he still had to ask for a discount two more times as Se-jun had instructed.

“Discount it-nyan!”

“More than this?”

At Theo’s second discount request, the general store owner replied in a tearful voice.

“Or else…”

“N… No! I will give them to you for 0.5 Tower Coins!”

The general store owner shouted with a pale face. Although he would make a loss as the cost price of a single glass jar was 0.1 Tower Coins, he did not want to end up as a corpse on that Black Minotaur’s shoulder.

‘What-nyan? I was just trying to say “or else I will leave”…’

Sensing something strange, Theo attempted to ask for a discount once more.

“Discount it-nyan!”

“I was foolish and did not know. I will just give them to you. Just spare my life!”

The general store owner shouted, bowing flat on the floor.

“Oh…? Thank you-nyan.”

Theo left the general store in bewilderment, packing the 20 glass jars.

‘Indeed, Park Se-jun’s words were the absolute truth-nyan!’

Theo realized Se-jun’s greatness once again.

And when he went to the blacksmith and attempted to ask for a discount three times again,

“Just draw it for free.”

“Thank you-nyan!”

The blacksmith also allowed him to draw equipment for free.

But

“Nothing catches my eye-nyan.”

Still, since it was free, he just drew anything.

“Let’s go-nyan!”

Having completed his tasks, Theo went back up to the 99th floor of the tower using the merchant passage with the Black Minotaurs.

The merchant district that Theo swept through with the Minotaurs.

As rumors spread that a Black Minotaur had threatened a cat merchant to sign a free mercenary contract and was tyrannizing the place, the hiring conditions for Black Minotaurs as free mercenaries became stricter.

***

When Se-jun cut green onion leaves three times from the field where the good harvest had come and came down to eat dinner,

“Huh?!”

The black rabbit was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, Se-jun had not seen the black rabbit since lunchtime today.

Squeak!

Pyah!

The other white rabbits also realized late that the black rabbit had disappeared and began to search for him.

At that time,

Pyahak!

The black rabbit came up, bursting the breath he had held in the water.

“Huh?! I definitely searched the pond too.”

While Se-jun was wondering,

Pyak!

Catching his breath, the black rabbit pointed to the hole in the pond. Looking closely, the pond hole had widened considerably.

Pyak!

The black rabbit gestured as if hitting the wall with the end of his hammer. I broke it!

After the pond poisoning(?) incident, since piranhas and crayfish did not come around the pond, the black rabbit had gone out of the pond hole in search of prey.

“Hey! That’s dangerous!”

Although the pond water was diluted so he would not get poisoned, Se-jun, knowing that there were dangerous monsters like the Giant Electric Eel outside besides piranhas and crayfish, got angry.

But

Pyak! Pyak!

The black rabbit argued back. I am a warrior too! A warrior must become strong! As a warrior, he had a duty to protect Se-jun, his family, and the field.

However…

The black rabbit knew. He was the weakest here. Next to Se-jun.

It was Se-jun, who did not know he was treated as the weakest.

Therefore, when the piranhas and crayfish that gave experience points disappeared, he felt impatient and set out outside the pond. Se-jun mentioning that there was a Giant Electric Eel outside the pond also played a part.

“Black rabbit, you…”

Se-jun realized that he had known too little of the black rabbit’s heart. Did you want to eat meat that much?

Pyak!

The black rabbit nodded, thinking Se-jun understood his intention.

Same bed, different dreams.

The 206th day of being stranded. Although they had lived together for nearly half a year, Se-jun and the black rabbit still did not understand each other’s meaning.