Chapter 407: Sejun, I'm Sorry.
[The Black Tower is starting its growth into the Great Black Tower.]
[10,000 days remain until the Great Black Tower’s growth is complete.]
10,000 days is roughly 30 years. For dragons, it’s just enough time for one yawn, but
“What?! It takes that long?!”
I want to brag to our Sejun quickly…
To Aileen, it was an unbearably long time.
At that moment,
[You have created 13 more new varieties as part of the growth conditions for the Great Black Tower.]
[The time needed for the Great Black Tower’s growth is reduced by 3,900 days.]
[You have raised one more World Tree as part of the growth conditions for the Great Black Tower.]
[The time needed for the Great Black Tower’s growth is reduced by 1,000 days.]
[You have achieved 2 more great accomplishments as part of the growth conditions for the Great Black Tower.]
[The time needed for the Great Black Tower’s growth is reduced by 4,000 days.]
The overachieved conditions significantly shortened the time needed for the Black Tower’s growth.
As a result…
[1,100 days remain until the growth into the Great Black Tower is complete.]
The remaining time had been reduced by almost 90%.
“Sigh… but it’s still a long time.”
While Aileen was disheartened,
“Ptooey! Ugh!”
Sylvia spat out the food she had tasted from Aileen’s cooking, shuddering in disgust.
Aileen took Sylvia to a secluded spot, insisting that she needed to have at least this level of cooking skill to be Sejun’s wife, offering her more of her own food.
Kehehehe. She won’t say she wants to marry Sejun after tasting my cooking, right?
Aileen was confident in her cooking. After all, Sejun had never said it was bad.
If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to take Sylvia unnie to an even more secluded place…
“Aileen, Sylvia could never make something like this. I don’t want to marry Park Sejun!”
Fortunately, Sylvia gave up on marrying Sejun just as Aileen intended.
Park Sejun likes such terrible food?! That’s scary!
Although Sylvia gave up for a different reason than Aileen had thought, the result was the same.
Only Sejun was unfairly wronged.
As Sylvia went to rinse her mouth with water,
“No matter how jealous Sylvia unnie is, why would she spit out such delicious food?”
Having only taken a small bite, the food was still practically untouched. Aileen took a bite of the food Sylvia had left behind.
Until now, Aileen had never tasted her own cooking, only feeding it to Sejun.
…?
She was deeply shocked after tasting her own cooking for the first time.
…!!!
This can’t be… My cooking tastes this awful?
“Pftoo!”
Aileen hurriedly spat out the food.
“Keuhing…”
Sejun-ah, I’m sorry.
Aileen felt both apologetic and grateful to Sejun, who had eaten her awful cooking until now.
***
“Is the appraisal not done yet?”
Sejun was eating lunch at the restaurant, waiting for Aileen.
“Blackie, try eating this, meow!”
Kueng!
[Blackie, you need to eat this to become stronger!]
Theo and Cuengi were enthusiastically taking care of the youngest.
‘Ah. How annoying. I want to eat the roasted sweet potato snacks Sejun made…’
Of course, Blackie found their care annoying, but didn’t show it and ate diligently whatever they gave him. He might get beaten again otherwise.
After finishing lunch,
“Vice Chairman Theo, take out the bag.”
Sejun instructed Theo to take out the bag of the legendary merchant wandering the nine towers.
“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”
At Sejun’s words, Theo took out the bag.
“You said the bag is currently connected to the 72nd floor of the Purple Tower, right?”
“That’s right, meow!”
“Hmm… Let’s use 500 billion Tower Coins to change the location first. Here.”
Sejun handed money to Theo.
“Change, meow!”
Theo put the money Sejun gave him into the bag and shouted.
Then,
Wooong.
The bag glowed red and then the light disappeared.
“Vice Chairman Theo, go in and check.”
“Got it, meow!”
Theo entered the bag.
One minute later.
“Chairman Park, this is the 30th floor of the Black Tower, meow!”
“Ah.”
Complete failure. Who would have thought it would connect to the Black Tower…
“Let’s change it one more time.”
Sejun handed Theo another 500 billion Tower Coins.
“Change, meow!”
Just like that, 1 trillion Tower Coins vanished in an instant.
“Vice Chairman Theo, go in and check again.”
“Got it, meow!”
Theo went back into the bag.
“Chairman Park, this is the 1st floor of the Green Tower, meow!”
“Huh?! The 1st floor of the Green Tower?”
Coincidentally, Sejun had a land deed for the 1st floor of the Green Tower, which he had just received from Mason.
And,
“How’s the surroundings? Is it dangerous?”
“There’s no one stronger than Chairman Park, meow!”
The scouting was perfectly completed.
“Really?”
No one stronger than me, huh?
Then, let’s take a look around the 1st floor of the green tower.
“Guys, get inside for a moment.”
Sejun had everyone except Theo enter the Void Storage.
Then,
Swoosh.
Sejun disappeared as he unfolded the land deed for the 1st floor of the Green Tower.
***
1st Floor of the Green Tower.
“Those who want to learn skills can come this way!”
“Come check out the swords!”
“Shields are better than swords! With this shield, you can return alive!”
“Selling potions that reduce magic power consumption!”
Like the 1st floor of the Black Tower, it was bustling with training centers where you could learn skills, and shops selling equipment and potions.
However,
“I’m hungry…”
“Is there any food on the ground?”
Black, round, furry creatures, hiding in the alley and peeking out, were scanning the ground for food scraps, not fitting in with the bustling atmosphere.
At that moment,
“Hey! You filthy refugees! How unlucky. Get lost! I told you not to show your faces!”
A merchant selling swords spotted them and chased them away by throwing stones.
“We’re sorry!”
The black, furry creatures, called refugees were startled and apologized, then fled to another place rolling along.
These creatures were from the Ururuk tribe, a race whose world had been consumed by destruction so quickly that they couldn’t establish a strong presence in the tower and became its residents.
However, while the tower accepts survivors, it doesn’t guarantee their survival.
And refugees refer to those who couldn’t establish a place in the tower before their world perished.
Such races, unable to settle, become refugees wandering the tower, either seizing land from other races or continuing to roam until they gradually disappear from the tower.
They moved places and were chased away many times like that, and when evening came,
They returned to a building on the outskirts of the 1st floor of the tower, which was their dwelling, carrying a few food scraps.
It was an empty building without an owner that they were using.
“The adults are back!”
As their parents arrived, the smaller Ururuk children, who had been hiding in the building, ran out to greet them.
“Mom, I’m hungry!”
“Here, eat this.”
The adults gave the food they had obtained with difficulty to their children.
At that moment,
Fwoosh.
A bright light emanated from the center of the building as Sejun appeared.
***
[You have arrived at the 1st floor of the Green Tower.]
“Where is this?”
It’s not a farm?
Sejun noticed the buildings around him.
At that moment,
“Um… who are you?”
“Mom!”
Startled by the voice from beneath him, Sejun shouted.
“Chairman Park, what’s going on?! Are these guys threatening you, meow?!”
Theo, who had clung to Sejun’s knee without him noticing, drew his dragon claws and threatened the black furballs.
“W-We didn’t do anything!”
Frightened by Theo’s threats, the black furballs retreated.
“Ahem. Vice Chairman Theo, put away your claws.”
Feeling embarrassed for being startled alone, Sejun calmed Theo and looked around at his feet.
Hundreds of black furballs were huddled together, staring at Sejun with fearful eyes.
What is this? I look like a villain now.
As Sejun felt troubled,
[A quest has appeared.]
[Quest: Deal with the Ururuk tribe refugees illegally occupying the shop either by resolving it peacefully or reclaiming the land rights.]
Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the shop on the 1st floor of the Green Tower.
A quest appeared before Sejun.
“So this is a shop.”
No wonder I thought it was strange because of the building.
But Ururuk tribe refugees?
“Are you guys from the Ururuk tribe?”
When Sejun asked the black furballs,
“Oh! Do you know about the Ururuk tribe?!”
“That’s right! We are the Ururuk tribe!”
The Ururuk tribe members answered, delighted that they were recognized.
“Okay. Nice to meet you. But I’m the owner of this shop…”
As Sejun began to speak,
“Ah…”
The Ururuk tribe members suddenly fell silent.
Oh, right. They’re refugees. Is it because they have nowhere else to go?
“Do you guys want to work here? There’s no daily wage. But I’ll provide you with room and board.”
As soon as Sejun realized this place was a shop, he thought of selling crops here.
The shop wasn’t very large, so it seemed like hiring about 30 people would be sufficient.
Seeing the Ururuk tribe clutching food scraps dearly, he thought this offer would be better than a wage.
“We’ll do it!”
“Just tell us what to do!”
“Wow! We got a job!”
The Ururuk tribe members cheered with tears in their eyes at Sejun’s words.
And then,
Drip. Drip.
Black grime began to fall from their bodies.
So they weren’t originally black.
“Alright. Sejun Company’s employees need to be clean, so let’s start by washing up. Land Moving.”
Sejun went outside the shop and created a huge bathtub.
“Ice Cube. Ice Cube.”
He filled the bathtub with large blocks of ice.
Then,
“Iona, heat it up.”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Okay. Fire!”
Iona, who had come out of the Void Storage and was hanging on Theo’s tail, used fire magic as Sejun requested.
The ice quickly melted into water, and steam started rising from it.
“Alright. Quickly get in and wash.”
Sejun directed the Ururuk tribe members to wash up.
As the Ururuk tribe entered the water, it quickly turned black.
“Ice Cube.”
After changing the water several times, the Ururuk tribe regained their original color.
“Huh? You guys were originally green?”
Seeing the green fur of the Ururuk tribe, Sejun asked.
“Yes! We haven’t been able to wash recently…”
One of the Ururuk tribe members scratched their head in embarrassment as they answered.
Recently probably means at least several years…
At that moment,
Kueng!
[Dad, Cuengi finished roasting all the corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes!]
While Sejun was changing the bathwater for the Ururuk tribe, Cuengi, who had been cooking, shouted.
“Alright. Put down those scraps and eat this instead.”
Sejun handed the roasted sweet potatoes to the Ururuk tribe, who were still holding onto the food scraps.
“Thank you!”
“Ah! It’s really delicious!”
“Sejun nim, you should eat too!”
As the Ururuk tribe, Theo, Cuengi, Blackie, and Iona all enjoyed their dinner,
[Your soul is fullfilled from the Ururuk tribe’s outpouring of praise.]
[Mental Strength increases by 5.]
…
..
.
“Hehehe.”
Sejun smiled contentedly while looking at the messages.
“Sejun nim, aren’t you going to eat?”
One of the Ururuk tribe children handed a roasted potato to Sejun and asked.
“No, you guys eat plenty. I’m full just watching you eat.”
Sejun spoke while peeling the skin off the roasted potato and giving it to the baby Ururuk next to him.
A moment later,
[You have fed 530 members of the Ururuk tribe until they were full.]
[Due to the effect of <Title: Saint of Feeding>, all stats increase by 106.]
“Ah, I’m so full.”
As Sejun patted his belly with a satisfied expression, reading the message,
Growl.
A sound came from Sejun’s stomach.
“Meow?! Chairman Park, is your head broken?! Eat this quickly, meow!”
Theo shoved the grilled fish he was eating into Sejun’s mouth.
“Mmff!”
The next morning.
“Huh?! Was there a shop there?”
“No. There definitely wasn’t.”
“Then is it newly opened?”
“Let’s go check it out.”
A new farming crops shop quietly opened on the 1st floor of the Green Tower.
*****