Chapter 21 of 100

Chapter 21. Making Dried Sweet Potatoes

8 min read1,963 words

"Line up, kitty!"

Theo lined up the female hunters and took photos of them one by one.

"Give me a reward, kitty."

After taking the photo, Theo extended his front paw and said.

"Oh! Look at the pink jelly."

Squishy.

Catherine touched Theo's front paw as if she were enchanted. Theo was a bit uncomfortable, but he had to wait for the reward from this human.

"Here you go."

Catherine handed him a bag of white powder.

"What's this, kitty?"

"It's salt."

"Alright, kitty."

Flick.

Theo quickly put the salt into his saddlebag.

'Hehe. This will definitely get me a one-hour pass from Park Sejun, kitty.'

Just then,

"And this is just for you, Theo. Thanks to you, I feel healed."

Catherine handed Theo a churu she had brought.

"Are you giving this to me for free, kitty?"

"Yeah. You let me touch your paws."

"Whoa! Is that what it was, kitty?!"

Catherine's words shocked Theo.

'Humans give you food if you let them touch your paws, kitty.'

"Next human, kitty."

Theo took a photo with the next human in line.

Click.

While taking the photo, Theo subtly placed his front paw on the female hunter's hand.

'Hurry up and touch it, kitty.'

As Theo intended, the female hunters, like sparrows passing through a mill, touched Theo's front paw as if enchanted and offered churu just like Catherine did.

"Hehe. My paws are so charming to humans, kitty?"

Theo licked his front paws clean and said.

'Hehe. With this, Park Sejun's knees are mine, kitty.'

Thanks to the female hunters, Theo had a big misunderstanding.

"My status..."

Kim Dong-sik, who had boasted at home that he would take 200 magical cherry tomatoes this time, slumped his shoulders.

Just then,

"Is there a human from Korea here, kitty?"

Theo, who had finished photo time with the female hunters, called out.

"Korea?"

"The leader is Korean."

The hunters looked at Kim Dong-sik.

"Human, are you from Korea, kitty?"

Theo approached Kim Dong-sik.

"Yeah, I'm from Korea. Why?"

"I have something to talk about quietly, kitty. Follow me, kitty."

Theo led Kim Dong-sik to a secluded spot where the other hunters couldn't eavesdrop.

***

Day 160 of the Stranding, Morning.

"Yawn."

Sejun yawned and got up. He had a bit of insomnia last night because the rabbit couple finally went through with their plan.

Swish.

He added a line to the wall and started the day.

He scooped water from the small pond with a plastic container, washed his face, and made honey water by filling a tumbler with two spoonfuls of honey.

A few days ago, the 732 cherry tomato plants started blooming, and the number of flowers for the bees to collect nectar from increased.

Moreover, five new baby honey bees were added yesterday, significantly increasing the honey production. Now, even if he drank honey water every day, the honey produced was more than what he consumed.

Chirp...

The baby rabbits came out of their burrow and greeted Sejun with weak voices.

"Did you guys not sleep well either? Come on, let's drink honey water, just us singles."

Chirp!

The baby rabbits extended the carrot cups they had prepared.

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

"Really, don't betray me. Got it? You, the eternal singles, are my only hope."

Sejun poured honey water into the rabbits' cups. However, the rabbits, perhaps feeling burdened by Sejun's words, took the honey water and left.

Chirp!

Only the black rabbit stayed, drank the honey water in one go, and performed a headbanging act with the cup before extending the carrot cup again.

"Alright. Black rabbit, I trust you."

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

Sejun filled the black rabbit's carrot cup with honey water. But even the black rabbit, after receiving another cup of honey water, just left.

Tsk.

Sejun was bitter about the rabbits' betrayal.

Swallow, swallow.

He resolved the bitter taste of betrayal with honey water and started the morning farming.

Ping.

[You have harvested a well-ripened magical cherry tomato.]

[Your job experience has increased slightly.]

[Your Harvesting skill at level 3 has increased slightly.]

[You have gained 12 experience points.]

"Ah, a Plus grade."

Sejun stored the E+ grade cherry tomatoes separately. The E+ grade had a longer shelf life, so he planned to eat them later or send them to Theo for a better price. There was no harm in having a longer shelf life.

While Sejun was harvesting the cherry tomatoes, the smell of smoke began to rise.

"I'll have to take them out soon."

Sejun was roasting sweet potatoes for lunch. Although he couldn't forgive the rabbit couple for what they did last night, he still wanted to help them recover their strength.

The best way to do that was with roasted sweet potatoes, which were rare and recently harvested.

As the smell of roasted sweet potatoes matured, Sejun started taking them out.

However, the number he took out was quite large—50 roasted sweet potatoes. Even if the rabbit couple needed to recover their strength, it was an excessive number.

Just then,

Chirp!

The rabbit couple came out of their house, getting along well.

"Let's eat!"

Chirp!

At Sejun's call, the rabbits ran over to eat lunch.

Chirp...

Chirp!

The rabbits ate the roasted sweet potatoes, patted their bellies, and stretched. The rabbits ate 3 roasted sweet potatoes. Despite their efforts, they couldn't eat as much as carrots.

"Ah, I'm full."

Sejun also ate 2 roasted sweet potatoes and got up.

[Tower Manager: So, the rest are all mine, right?]

"I already gave you 5. I have something else to do with these."

[Tower Manager: I'm disappointed.]

"Wait and see. I'll give you something new to eat."

[Tower Manager: Nodding, he is greatly looking forward to it.]

Sejun talked to the Tower Manager and peeled the remaining roasted sweet potatoes.

Then,

"Can you slice these for me?"

He asked the white rabbit, who was holding a sickle, to slice the roasted sweet potatoes into pieces about the size of a pinky finger.

He asked the black rabbit to lay the sliced sweet potatoes on the sun-dried leaves of the sweet potato plant, not overlapping them.

"Now, just dry them well, and we're done."

The roasted sweet potatoes, basking in the warm sunlight, were turning into dried sweet potatoes.

***

75th Floor of the Tower.

Theo arrived at the merchant area where the itinerant merchant headquarters was located. This time, he wasn't there to play but to run errands for Sejun, who had asked him to buy a few items.

"Pot, ladle, bowl, spoon, dagger. Pot..."

Theo muttered the items Sejun had asked him to buy as he walked through the merchant area. Sejun, not trusting the gullible Theo, had instructed him to buy only the 5 most necessary and cheapest items.

"Welcome."

Theo entered a general store and picked up the items he needed, bringing them to the shop owner.

"1 Tower Coin for the pot, 0.2 Tower Coins for the ladle, 0.3 Tower Coins for the bowl, 0.1 Tower Coins for the spoon, so a total of 1.6 Tower Coins."

"Can you give me a discount, kitty?"

"Hmm... How about 1.5 Tower Coins?"

"Can you give me a bigger discount, kitty?"

"Sir, we're already giving you a good deal."

"Alright, kitty."

Theo answered and started to leave without hesitation.

"I give up. 1.3 Tower Coins."

"1.2 Tower Coins. Otherwise, I'll just leave, kitty."

"Sigh. Alright. 1.2 Tower Coins."

"Here you go, kitty."

Theo bought the items and walked out calmly.

However,

Thump! Thump!

His heart was pounding.

"Sigh. I did it, kitty."

Sejun had instructed Theo to use a minimum strategy to prevent him from being gullible: always ask for a discount when the seller gives a price, leave without hesitation if they refuse, and if they try to stop you, ask for a bigger discount, for a total of three discounts.

Following Sejun's instructions, Theo went to the blacksmith and tried the three-discount strategy, buying a 20 Tower Coin dagger for 13 Tower Coins.

"Hehe. Now I know how to haggle, kitty."

Feeling proud, Theo was about to go to the 99th floor when

"This is an item from outside the Tower."

"An item from outside?!"

"Yes. If you take this upstairs..."

A familiar voice came from somewhere.

Theo turned his head and saw the goblin itinerant merchant Scaram trying to scam a new fox itinerant merchant.

'That bad guy...!'

"Don't believe Scaram, kitty. He's a scammer, kitty."

Theo interfered to prevent the new itinerant merchant from being scammed like he was. Sejun had prevented Theo from being gullible, but he hadn't expected Theo to meddle.

"What?! Do you have proof I'm a scammer?!"

Scaram, momentarily taken aback by Theo, raised his voice.

"That tumbler is definitely enchanted to preserve, right, kitty? Don't believe it, kitty. This tumbler just blocks external contact to slow down heat transfer, that's all, kitty."

Theo confidently said, recalling what Sejun had told him.

"Ugh... We'll see."

Thinking the deal was off because Theo was right, Scaram backed off.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn't get scammed. What's your name?"

"My name, kitty? I'm Theo, kitty."

"So you're Mr. Theo. Thank you so much for your help."

"Sure. Be careful, kitty. Don't be gullible, kitty."

"Got it. Goodbye."

Theo saved a gullible person and happily went up to the 99th floor.

In the merchant area, after Theo left, the new fox itinerant merchant entered a store in a sparsely populated alley.

"Welcome. What would you like?"

"Golden Eternity."

The fox itinerant merchant, without answering, walked past the shop owner and pressed a shield hanging in the corner.

Click.

The shield moved back, revealing a staircase leading underground.

Going down the stairs, busy merchants could be seen.

"Agent Jeras, how did the operation to arrest Scaram go?"

"I'm sorry. It failed."

Jeras, an agent of the Itinerant Merchant Association's Secret Inspection Bureau, had heard about Scaram scamming new itinerant merchants and was disguised as a new itinerant merchant to catch Scaram in the act.

'If only that guy hadn't been there!'

Grinding his teeth, Jeras thought of Theo.

"Hehe. Thinking about Scaram's angry face makes me feel good, kitty."

Unintentionally, Theo had helped Scaram.

***

An expensive foreign car arrived in front of an apartment in Bucheon.

"Is this Mr. Sejun's home?"

Kim Dong-sik looked around the apartment, recalling his conversation with Theo.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's make a deal, kitty."

"Deal?"

Theo took out a contract. Contracts made in the Tower had a binding force even outside, making them a commonly used method of trading.

Kim Dong-sik looked at the contract. The content was already written by Sejun.

"Deliver 50 million won to the family of Park Sejun at New World Apartment 305-701, Sosa-gu, Bucheon?"

"That's right, kitty. And you have to tell them that Mr. Sejun is doing well, kitty. The reward is 200 magical cherry tomatoes and 50 Tower Coins, kitty."

Theo took out the cherry tomatoes he had set aside.

"I'll do it!"

Kim Dong-sik, who needed 200 magical cherry tomatoes, shouted.

"But who is Mr. Park Sejun?"

"Mr. Park Sejun is a great man, kitty! He saved my life on the 40th floor, kitty. That's why I'm doing this errand, kitty."

Theo was following a script he had rehearsed with Sejun.

"What?! The 40th floor?"

Thus, a rumor about a genius hunter who had unofficially reached the 40th floor began to spread.

'The family of such a hunter... If I get close to them, it might help me in the future.'

Kim Dong-sik took out a set of beef from the trunk and entered the apartment.

Then,

Ding-dong.

Kim Dong-sik pressed the doorbell of Sejun's home.