Chapter 82 – We Are One!

“I wonder if any sucker will pass by today?”

Scaram hid in a corner of a building as usual, searching for new prey to scam.

Then,

Pyupyu~ Pyupyu~

A white rabbit was passing in front of Scaram, humming a song with light steps as if it were very excited.

‘What, it’s just a rabbit…’

Just as Scaram was about to turn his gaze away to look for other prey,

‘What is that?’

The red ribbon the white rabbit wore on its ear caught Scaram’s eye. A crescent moon and a rabbit drawn on the ribbon. It was the symbol of the Red Ribbon Royal Family, which had now disappeared.

And,

‘Could it be?!’

An item flashed through Scaram’s mind.

‘The Red Ribbon?!’

It was definitely the Red Ribbon, the item that the great landlord Grid had put a bounty on and was searching for through the Dark Association.

‘Hehehe. Today is my lucky day.’

Scaram grinned, covered his face with his hood, and followed the white rabbit.

And,

Swoosh.

Watching for an opportunity, when the white rabbit passed through a secluded area, he shot it with his poison needle, knocking it out.

Pyuuu…

Thud.

The white rabbit lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Hehehe.”

Scaram approached with a laugh and put the unconscious white rabbit into his bundle.

Since taking only the Red Ribbon and disposing of the white rabbit here could cause various problems, Scaram planned to hand the white rabbit over to Grid as well to clean up the matter neatly.

As Scaram was leaving the shopping district carrying the bundle like that,

Plop.

someone placed a hand on his bundle.

“What?!”

Scaram glared at the guy who dared to touch his bundle.

And,

“You?!”

He locked eyes with Theo, the sucker customer he had ripped off.

***

“Uh?!”

Theo was flustered by his front paw that had reached out toward someone else’s bundle, but he snapped out of it after confirming the identity of the bundle’s owner was Scaram.

And,

“You scammer! Hand over Pyupyu, meow!”

He shouted at Scaram.

“Pyupyu?”

“Yes, meow! Pyupyu is definitely in your bundle, meow!”

Iona, who knew about Theo’s golden front paw, had described Pyupyu’s appearance and also explained about the Red Ribbon item Pyupyu possessed.

“The Red Ribbon is a relic item of which there are only ten in the Black Tower. Representative Theo’s paw will definitely be drawn to it.”

And from Scaram’s bundle, Theo felt a pull similar to when he had grabbed the relic item, the straw hat.

“W-What are you talking about?!”

“Iona!”

As Scaram panicked and tried to leave the shopping district, Theo hurriedly called Iona.

“Representative Theo, did you find our Pyupyu?”

At Theo’s call, Iona, who was nearby, hurriedly flew over.

“It seems so, meow! That wandering merchant’s bundle is ve-ry suspicious, meow!”

“Is that so? Goblin wandering merchant, can you show me your bundle? I am Iona, the Guildmaster of the Mages Guild. Just by showing your bundle, I will give you 10,000 tower coins.”

Iona spoke politely in her own way, asking Scaram to show the bundle. It was an opportunity to receive a huge amount of money just by showing the bundle. If he had nothing to hide, there was no reason to refuse.

However,

“I refuse.”

Scaram, who had something to hide, refused, and

“Kyu—open the bundle!”

Iona entered the first stage of Anger Kyu and cast a spell.

Slid.

With Iona’s shout, the bundle began to open on its own. Iona had forced open the bundle using her magic.

Clatter.

Items from inside the bundle began to pour out. Most of them were Earth items such as tumblers.

“Uh?”

Scaram was flustered when his bundle opened of its own accord.

Then, a pure white rabbit emerged from the bundle.

“Pyupyu!”

Just as Theo expected, they found Pyupyu in Scaram’s bundle.

“Pyupyu!”

……

Even when Iona called, Pyupyu did not answer.

“Absolute Recovery.”

While Iona was casting a high-tier recovery spell to heal Pyupyu,

Stealthily.

Scaram began to sneak away.

However,

Grrr.

Elka and the wolves, who arrived late, surrounded Scaram.

And,

“Fuhuhu. We still have a lot of accounts to settle, so where do you think you’re going, meow?!”

Theo said, stepping forward with the cat interns. Separate from Pyupyu’s kidnapping, Theo planned to take Scaram to Se-jun to make him pay for scamming him.

***

Morning of the 255th day of being stranded.

“Heave-ho.”

Se-jun woke up in a good mood. Perhaps because he had burned the western forest yesterday, the branch scouts did not come at dawn today.

“I should go and set fire to it once in a while.”

Se-jun added setting fire to the western forest to his farming task list. It killed two birds with one stone, as he could gain experience points and also prevent the corrupted ents in the western forest from expanding their power.

Swish.

Se-jun added a stroke to his bedroom wall, completing one “” character, and stepped outside.

Perhaps because he woke up early today, there was no one roaming the aboveground fields except for the diligent poison honeybees.

“Shall I have morning coffee for the first time in a while?”

Se-jun put hot water in his tumbler, made coffee, sat on the chair placed in front of his house, and drank it.

Slurp.

“Ah. Good.”

As the hot coffee traveled down his throat and into his stomach, his chest felt relieved as if he were curing a hangover.

While he was enjoying such leisure and drinking coffee,

Buz…zz…

he saw one poison honeybee, flying with difficulty, crash to the ground.

“Uh?”

Se-jun, who was drinking coffee, hurriedly put down his tumbler and ran toward the poison honeybee that fell on the ground.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”

Se-jun asked, placing a hand on the poison honeybee. The poison honeybee’s condition was not good. Its wings were slightly torn, and one of its legs was severed.

Buzz… buzz…

[East… the poison honeybees…]

“The east?”

The east was originally the habitat of the poison honeybees that lived on the 99th floor of the tower.

Since they were aggressive and carnivorous, unlike the poison honeybees Se-jun raised, Se-jun had instructed his poison honeybees not to even go near the eastern area.

Buzz…

[They crossed over to our area… and while fighting…]

“Rest for now.”

Se-jun put the poison honeybee into the beehive.

“I must go to the east.”

Now that the west had calmed down a bit, the east was the problem. Se-jun began to prepare to go to the east.

First,

“Black Rabbit! Cuengi!”

He called his bodyguards, the black rabbit and Cuengi. Se-jun was someone who never went outside the farm alone.

One might say that the poison honeybees’ stingers were nothing to worry about if resolved with the Detoxifying Green Onion, but that was only the case when stung once or twice.

A poison honeybee’s stinger was 10cm long and about as thick as a ballpoint pen. On top of that, they moved in units of hundreds. One could die from excessive bleeding rather than the poison.

Pyak!

Cueng!

At Se-jun’s call, the black rabbit and Cuengi rushed over.

“Cuengi, transform!”

Cueng!

Se-jun rode the giant Cuengi and moved to the eastern boundary area.

***

“Everyone, please help me! These guys here are trying to kill me!”

Scaram requested help from his surroundings. He planned to create an opportunity to escape in the chaos if other merchants gathered to watch.

However,

Plop.

“I am Jeras, an agent of the Secret Inspection Bureau of the Wandering Merchant Association! This goblin wandering merchant, Scaram, is caught red-handed trying to kidnap the white rabbit tribe. I will execute a summary judgment right now.”

Jeras quickly stepped forward, showing his Secret Inspection Bureau identity plaque. For Jeras, who had struggled to catch Scaram red-handed, this was a golden opportunity.

Click.

Jeras cuffed Scaram’s hands.

“Uh?!”

Scaram was flustered when the Secret Inspection Bureau agent suddenly stepped in.

“Goblin wandering merchant Scaram, you are permanently expelled from the registry of wandering merchants. You are no longer a wandering merchant.”

With Jeras’s words, Scaram’s name was erased from the wandering merchant license he held and from the bulletin board showing the sales rankings of wandering merchants.

“No!”

Scaram despaired at Jeras’s judgment. Being permanently expelled from the wandering merchant registry carried significant weight.

Once permanently expelled from the wandering merchant registry, all relations with not only the Wandering Merchant Association but also the Free Mercenary Association and the Mages Association would be severed.

In other words, it meant that officially operating in the tower was impossible. Moreover, the Wandering Merchant Association did not protect those who were not wandering merchants.

“Now, do as you please.”

Jeras said, handing cuffed Scaram over to Theo.

“I don’t know what this is, but thank you, meow! And I also have a secret, meow. I am actually the great black…”

Just as Theo was about to widely publicize his identity by himself,

“Kyu—Kyu—how dare you touch my disciple! I will not forgive you!”

With her disciple almost kidnapped, Iona reached the second stage of Anger Kyu.

“It’s stage 2 of Anger Kyu!”

“Run!”

“We must escape from here!”

The merchants, recognizing the Archmage of Destruction Iona, began to flee. If it were stage 2 of Anger Kyu, at least a small village would be destroyed. About a quarter of the shopping district could be blown away.

Gulp.

Jeras was also tense. If Iona used destruction magic here, he could not guarantee his own life either.

Then,

“Iona, calm down, meow. We must take this scammer to Chairman Park, meow!”

“Kyu—Kyu—to Se-jun-nim?”

“Yes, meow!”

“Kyu—why?”

As she conversed with Theo, Iona’s Anger Kyu stage gradually lowered.

“That’s because Chairman Park told me to bring this scammer, meow!”

Looking at the items Scaram had scammed the cats with, Se-jun had doubts. Compared to the number of awakened individuals entering through Vanishing, there were too many Earth items Scaram was selling.

And,

‘Why are they all Korean items?’

Most of the items Scaram sold were Korean goods. There was no way that the awakened entering the tower through Vanishing were only Koreans.

Therefore, Se-jun thought that Scaram was trading with someone in Korea.

“I understand. Then let’s go to Se-jun-nim together.”

“Meow?! I hate that, meow! Iona, don’t you come to the 99th floor of the tower, meow!”

Theo immediately went on high alert at Iona’s attitude of wanting to go together. To think she would follow him all the way to the 99th floor of the tower when he had even helped find her disciple!

“No! Going to the 99th floor of the tower is up to me!”

“Then I will arrive at the 99th floor of the tower first, meow!”

Theo put Scaram on another wolf, mounted Elka’s back, and shouted.

“Elka, departure, meow!”

“Yes!”

The wolves set off toward the 99th floor of the tower.

And,

“Representative Theo!”

“Let’s go together!”

Thump-thump-thump.

The interns ran hard behind them, trying to keep up.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. We can’t lose either. Pyupyu! Let’s go!”

Iona said, leisurely mounting Pyupyu’s back.

Pyupyu!

Pyupyu ran fast carrying Iona on her back.

In this way, the race between Theo and Iona began.

However,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu. Two tickets for the Light-Speed Merchant Passage, please!”

The winner was already decided.

***

On the way to the east,

Buzz!

Se-jun could see the poison honeybees fighting even before arriving at the eastern boundary. The eastern poison honeybees had patrolled all the way here before he knew it.

“Let’s help too!”

However, he soon discovered a problem.

“I can’t tell our kids apart from the enemies.”

The poison honeybees looked identical, so they could not be distinguished.

Cueng!

[I can tell by the smell!]

Cuengi said, pointing to his nose. According to Cuengi, Se-jun’s poison honeybees smelled of sweet honey, while the other poison honeybees smelled of meat.

“That only works for you.”

Cueng?

Cuengi tilted his head, wondering why they couldn’t do something so easy.

While they were talking like that,

Buzz.

one of the poison honeybees fighting each other flew toward Se-jun.

“Cuengi, what smell is it?”

Cueng!

[Meat smell!]

“Really?”

Se-jun threw his hand axe at the poison honeybee.

However,

Buzz.

the poison honeybee dodged Se-jun’s hand axe all too easily.

And,

Pyak!

Pop! Pop! Pop!

eventually, the black rabbit finished it off.

“Guys, I prepared a rallying cry for us.”

Se-jun said with a suddenly serious expression.

Pyak?

Cueng?

At Se-jun’s out-of-the-blue words, the black rabbit and Cuengi were puzzled.

“Repeat after me. We are one!”

—Pyak! (We are one!)

—Cuengi! (We are one!)

At Se-jun’s shout, the black rabbit and Cuengi shouted along for now.

The 255th day of being stranded. Se-jun’s standing on his own feet still had a long way to go.