Chapter 17. Making a Decision

Theo, who had been running without rest after completing a perfect run, stood there.

However,

Buzz! Buzz!

The baby venom bees drew their stingers and surrounded Theo. Since Theo wasn't there when the baby venom bees were born, it was natural for them to see him as an enemy.

"Don't do this, we're on the same side. Sejun, tell the venom bees not to attack, please!"

Theo, covering his head with his front paws, crouched down and asked Sejun for help.

"It's okay. They're family."

Buzz, buzz.

At Sejun's words, the baby venom bees retracted their stingers and started sucking nectar from the cherry tomatoes again.

"Phew. Thanks, Sejun."

"What? Sejun?"

"Why? Aren't we family?"

"Where do you get off, a mere servant?!"

Sejun lightly pinched Theo's cheeks with both hands as a punishment.

Squish.

"Ouch! It hurts! I'm sorry!"

Theo, who screamed even though Sejun didn't pinch him hard.

'Annoying.'

Sejun's hand gripped Theo's soft cheeks even tighter.

Honestly, he needed more reason to keep holding them. The way Theo's cheeks stretched like cheese was quite satisfying.

'Hehe, feels good.'

No! Now is the time to be angry.

Sejun barely let go of the magical cheeks that made his heart soften and composed himself. He caught his upturned lips and put on a stern face again.

"Servant Theo, let's settle the accounts first. Take out the money from the cherry tomatoes."

"Here it is."

Theo, with his shoulders tensed, handed the money to Sejun.

"75 Tackoins."

"Right!!!"

A loud voice.

"......"

Sejun's gaze met Theo's confident eyes. His ears were perked up. He was too confident. Something was off.

Then,

[The Tower Manager reports that Yi is lying.]

[The Tower Manager reports that Yi sold the magic cherry tomatoes for 0.07 Tackoins each.]

[The Tower Manager is looking forward to seeing the fear you will show.]

The timely message. The Tower Manager was watching Theo too. A new fact was revealed.

'So that's it?'

Sejun carefully observed Theo.

'He's not trying to embezzle...'

Given Theo's personality, if he had embezzled money, he wouldn't be this confident. He would show it if he had done something wrong.

'So what is it? Could it be?'

While Sejun was thinking about Theo's confident attitude,

"Yay! Humans waited for days to buy the magic cherry tomatoes, so I charged an extra 0.02 Tackoins each. Did I do well?"

Theo took out an additional 30 Tackoins, trying to create a dramatic effect with the unexpected money.

But,

"Here's your incentive."

Sejun, who already knew the information, was not surprised. He handed 4.2 Tackoins to Theo.

"Huh? That's it? I did well, but you're not making me the leader?"

"That's not enough. Servant Theo, work harder."

"I understand."

Theo realized that becoming a leader was difficult and decided to work harder.

"Sejun, I'm out of fish. Give me my salary."

"Alright. Wait."

Sejun approached the dark pond. When the black rabbit hunted by swimming, he turned off the torch to prevent piranhas from gathering.

As Sejun approached the pond,

Splash.

There were no piranhas in the pond, only the black rabbit swimming alone. Instead, ten piranhas were neatly stacked on the ground beside the pond, caught by the black rabbit while swimming.

Squish.

The black rabbit came out of the pond and shook its body as Sejun approached.

"Black rabbit, it's burning time."

Sejun, holding two dead piranhas, spoke to the black rabbit.

Snap!

The black rabbit stood in the pond with a determined expression.

There was a method to lure piranhas faster and more intensely than using a torch.

Sejun embedded the teeth of one piranha into another's body and then pulled it out. He dropped a few drops of blood from the pierced piranha into the pond and waited.

Within a minute, dozens of piranhas, attracted by the smell of blood, entered the pond through the hole. The pond quickly turned half water, half fish.

Then, as usual, Sejun waved the torch,

Splash! Splash!

The piranhas, jumping at the sight of the torch, were quickly hunted by the black rabbit with its hammer.

While making grilled fish with the caught piranhas,

Squish, squish, squish.

A strange sound was heard. Sejun saw Theo licking something.

"Theo, what's that?"

"This? It's a treat."

"Treat? Where did you get it?"

"I got it from humans for taking photos. This one is tuna-flavored..."

Theo, while talking, took out the treats from his bag and started showing them off.

All treats. All of them!

None for himself.

Trading with humans and only bringing back treats...

Squish, squish, squish.

Eating alone. Sejun felt angry.

"Confiscating the treats."

Sejun confiscated all the treats from Theo's bag.

"Huh? Why? I got these from humans for taking photos!"

Theo, with foam in his mouth, strongly protested to Sejun. Even innocent Theo was standing up to him. Treats were indeed a cat-limited drug.

But Sejun had a legitimate right to confiscate the treats.

"Right. You got them from humans for taking photos?"

"Yes!"

"Special Clause 3. Yi cannot make additional deals without Jia's permission. This is a clear breach of contract."

Sejun showed the contract.

"Wow! Is that so?!"

"Yes. You were secretly filling your own pockets."

Theo was shocked that he had to give up the treats.

"Don't be too disappointed. Theo, let's talk about a new deal."

"Huh? I'm the leader?"

"I'll give you an hour. If you perform well in new deals, I'll give you an hour as the leader."

"Alright! Call me again."

"Theo."

"Hehe. Call me again."

"Theo."

Theo was happy to sit in the leader's position for an hour. He quickly took his place on Sejun's lap.

"I want a treat too."

"Sure."

Sejun took out a treat and held it in front of Theo.

Squish, squish, squish.

Being fed was indeed a perk of being the leader.

Sejun, stroking Theo's head, talked about a new business idea using Theo's image rights. It seemed he would find a way to bring outside items into the tower sooner than expected.

There are two ways for outside items to enter the tower.

One is vanishing. When this happens, you can bring the items you're holding into the tower. However, since you can be summoned to the first floor at any time, the transaction is usually over by then.

The other is when an awakened hunter brings items into the tower.

When a hunter enters the tower, they can only bring in about 1kg of items. Items are exempt from the weight limit. When leaving, there is no limit.

Hunters usually bring a hunter phone and some snacks when entering the tower.

The hunter phone, with its solar charging function and short-range communication capabilities, is a must-have for hunters.

"Because of the weight limit, they can only bring simple seasonings or coffee. Got it, Servant Theo?"

"Huh? What? And why Servant Theo all of a sudden?"

Theo, who was dozing off while eating the treat, asked as Sejun's hand stopped.

"The hour is up."

"Already?"

Theo, disappointed, left Sejun's lap with the remaining treats. Theo mistakenly thought sitting on Sejun's lap and being petted was a leader's privilege.

"Next time, bring something useful. Then you can be the leader again."

"Got it!"

Then,

"Theo, how do you get to the 38th floor without fighting monsters?"

Sejun was sometimes curious but tried not to think about it.

He didn't want to think about the outside. Since he couldn't leave anyway.

He tried to ignore it, but the thought of getting outside items made his curiosity about the outside world resurface.

"It's because I have a traveling merchant license."

"Traveling merchant license?"

"Yes."

Theo, with his hands on his hips, proudly said.

The traveling merchant license requires paying a high annual fee to the traveling merchant association to maintain the qualification.

The higher the rank, the higher the annual fee. But the benefits also increase.

Licensed traveling merchants are protected by the association and can use various facilities, which is why they don't get attacked by monsters.

"Can you bring hunters here?"

"That's impossible. Monsters only don't attack traveling merchants. Besides, hunters can't use the merchant route."

"Merchant route?"

"Yes. It's a shortcut for merchants. You need a traveling merchant license to use it."

"Shortcut...?"

"Yes. It's impossible to get from the 38th floor to here in five days without the merchant route."

"What floor are we on?"

Sejun asked, then realized he shouldn't have.

"99th floor."

Theo answered with a cheerful voice.

"What?!"

He found out what he least wanted to know.

"We're on the 99th floor. Didn't you know?"

Theo, kindly reiterating the information, confirmed it.

Sejun was relieved that Theo could get to the 38th floor in five days.

Thinking Theo, who couldn't use waypoints like hunters, could only make a round trip in ten days, he assumed they were only a few floors apart.

But he was completely wrong.

His enthusiasm for new deals vanished.

While Sejun was dazed,

Squish, squish, squish.

"Sejun! My salary is burning!"

Theo, quietly licking the remaining treats, called Sejun urgently when he smelled the burning fish.

"What?! What!"

Theo's cry snapped Sejun back to reality.

‘No! Pull yourself together, Park Sejun!’

Nothing has changed. You just found out what floor you're on.

Sejun calmed himself and took the grilled fish off the fire. He got a slight burn on his hand but didn't even notice the pain.

He thought of another way.

"Theo, can I become a traveling merchant?"

According to Theo, becoming a traveling merchant would allow him to safely descend the tower.

But,

"Sejun, you can't. Only those born in the tower can be traveling merchants."

Another dead end.

"Damn! Damn-!"

Sejun, frustrated by the lack of options, shouted.

"Hic! Why...hic!?"

Theo, startled by Sejun's shout, hiccuped. The rabbits and venom bees were also startled.

The rabbits perked up their ears and stared at Sejun with wide eyes, and the venom bees buzzed frantically, flying around. Even the queen bee poked her head out of the hive to see what was happening.

"Phew. Sorry for the noise."

Sejun apologized to the cave family. Shouting did help calm him down a bit.

And Sejun made a decision.

"I'll eat well and live well here!"