Chapter 36: Holding a Party

After the auction ended, Theo took a photo with the female hunters. However, only four female hunters remained, and only two of them wanted to take a photo with Theo.

After taking the photos, he received three Churros and two coffee mixes.

"This time, the results are bad. I could only earn two hours of Theo's representative time."

While Theo was looking gloomy,

"Theo, take a photo with me. My daughter loves cats. In return, I'll give you this."

Kim Dong-sik, who had been unable to join the female hunters, held out a red powder and said.

"What is it?"

"It's red pepper powder."

"Okay!"

Although he didn't know what it was, he thought Park Se-jun would like it.

Click.

Kim Dong-sik coolly took a photo and left.

After the transaction, Theo hurriedly climbed the tower to claim Se-jun's lap and to meet his nephews who were waiting for their cool uncle.

Unbeknownst to Theo, the baby rabbits had already changed their "cool uncle" to Se-jun.

As Theo was about to use the merchant passage to move from the 40th floor to the 50th floor,

"Stop right there."

"Right. We need your help."

"We won't harm you if you only answer our questions."

Three giant silver wolves, each 5 meters tall, approached.

"What?! I won't help!"

When asked for help, Theo recalled Se-jun's instructions and intended to ignore them.

However,

"Where are you going?"

One of the wolves quickly moved to block Theo's path.

"Why... why are you doing this? I won't help! Se-jun told me not to help!"

"Grr. Answer nicely when I ask you. What did you do with the straw hat you bought from the blacksmith?"

The wolf bared its sharp teeth at Theo.

"That... that's..."

Rattle.

While Theo was trembling from the wolf's threat,

Boom!

Gray smoke spread, and a foul smell permeated the area.

"Ugh!"

"Ah!"

"What is this smell?!"

While the wolves, with their keen sense of smell, suffered from the stench,

"Hey?!"

"Shh! Be quiet."

A masked figure pulled Theo away, evading the silver wolves, and fled to the merchant passage.

Thump, thump, thump.

"Let's take a short break now."

After running for about 30 minutes, the figure stopped.

Then,

"Mr. Theo, are you okay?"

The figure looked at Theo and asked.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Theo, wary that the masked figure knew his name, asked.

"It's me. Jeras."

Jeras removed his mask and said.

30 minutes earlier.

"What should I do?"

Jeras, who had been tailing Theo, hesitated about whether to save him when Theo was surrounded by the silver wolves. Although Theo had interfered with his mission, his intentions were good, and he wasn't a bad person.

Moreover,

'That straw hat really belonged to Grid, the landowner.'

Grid, who used his land and food to treat tenant farmers like slaves and exerted significant influence over the tower in exchange for food, was someone Jeras disliked. This was a golden opportunity to hinder Grid's activities and approach Theo. Thanks to the silver wolves, Jeras no longer needed to worry about how to approach Theo.

So, Jeras burst a stink bomb that the wolves hated and saved Theo.

"Jeras! Thank you!"

"You saved me last time, so let's call it even."

"Still, thank you."

Theo significantly lowered his guard against Jeras. They conversed and moved together to the shop area.

***

After Se-jun fed the queen venom bee enough honey,

Buzz.

The queen venom bee flapped her wings vigorously, flew up, circled the area lightly, and then returned to the pit Se-jun had dug, apparently ready to rest.

"I should head down soon."

It was already late afternoon. Se-jun, who had descended into the cave, planted 400 corn seeds in the field where he had cut down the corn trees.

Originally, he planned to pull out all the roots of the corn trees before planting, but the roots were deeply embedded and difficult to remove, so he planted the seeds in the empty soil beside them.

Squeak!

Planting seeds in the remaining soil seemed a bit strange, but with the husband rabbit coaching him from the side, it should be fine.

After planting the corn, Se-jun covered himself with a blanket and fell asleep.

The next morning.

Roar!

Se-jun woke up to the morning cry of the baby bear. He immediately added a mark to the wall, starting the 188th day of his ordeal.

He went up to the ground to check on the queen venom bee without even washing his face,

"Huh?!"

The queen venom bee was not in the pit.

"Where did she go?"

Se-jun checked the pit whenever he had a chance, but the queen venom bee was nowhere to be seen all day. The honey he had left for her remained untouched.

A day passed, but the queen venom bee did not return.

On the 189th day of his ordeal,

Se-jun, having finished harvesting the cherry tomatoes, picked up the cut leek leaves and cherry tomato branches and stepped on the rope's knot.

Then,

"Pull!"

Roar! Roar!

The baby bear pulled Se-jun and the leek leaves up. Se-jun was covering the field with leek leaves and cherry tomato branches to prevent water evaporation.

When Se-jun brought the leek leaves up, the scythe rabbit and the cart rabbit helped him cover the field with the leaves.

After finishing the work, Se-jun went back to the cave to prepare lunch when

Thump!

The black rabbit called him.

"Move the piranhas?"

Thump! Thump!

In response to Se-jun's question, the black rabbit shook its head and pointed to the pond. There's a strange creature here! My hammer doesn't work on it!

The black rabbit pointed to a purple crustacean monster, about the size of a forearm, leisurely moving along the bottom of the pond, which had accidentally entered through a hole in the pond.

"Huh? What's that?"

Se-jun immediately recognized the creature. It was a crayfish. He was thrilled to see it here! It was the same creature that participants in "Survival in the Jungle" had praised for its delicious taste.

"Black rabbit, cover me!"

Thump!

Splash!

While the black rabbit entered the water to block the piranhas, Se-jun cautiously approached the crustacean.

Then,

Poke.

With Cain's training dagger, he quickly stabbed the crayfish's head.

[You have defeated a crayfish.]

[You have gained 30 experience points.]

A new protein source appeared in the pond. Se-jun fished out the crayfish he had hunted.

Then,

Poke.

He stabbed the crayfish's chest again to let the blood drain.

"Wow. There are crayfish living underground... Are there more?"

While draining the crayfish's blood, Se-jun searched the pond to see if there were more crayfish, but the blood from the crayfish he had caught only attracted the piranhas.

Thump!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The black rabbit enthusiastically hunted the piranhas. It seemed that the baby bear could also feast on them for lunch today.

After draining the crayfish's blood, Se-jun tightly wrapped it in leek leaves and put it in the fire.

Today's lunch is grilled crayfish! As time passed, the delicious smell filled the cave.

Squeak!

Squish!

Thump!

Roar!

The rabbits and the baby bear were excited by the smell of the grilled crayfish.

"Wait."

Se-jun calmed the excited animals and grilled the crayfish a bit more before taking it out.

After removing the leek leaves that tightly wrapped the crayfish, a red crayfish greeted Se-jun.

"Wow."

Crack.

Se-jun marveled at the well-grilled crayfish. When he cut it in half, the tender, white flesh was revealed.

Roar!

The baby bear drooled and got excited at the sight of the crayfish's flesh.

"If you keep this up, it'll fall off again."

Se-jun quickly cut the crayfish's flesh and distributed it to the rabbits and the baby bear. If he had eaten it alone, it would have been a satisfying meal, but with so many mouths to feed, each only got a small piece.

After giving everyone a piece of crayfish, Se-jun picked up the remaining flesh and took a small bite.

Munch, munch.

As soon as he chewed the crayfish's flesh, a rich texture filled his mouth, along with a slight salty and sweet taste.

Smack, smack.

The more he chewed, the sweeter it became.

'So this is the taste.'

Having tasted the crayfish's flesh, Se-jun decided to try the other parts.

Squish, squish.

Se-jun squeezed the crayfish's innards and put a piece in his mouth.

"Mmm."

The innards, which were said to be delicious, exploded with a cheesy and buttery flavor in his mouth.

Thump?

Curious about Se-jun's reaction, the black rabbit tentatively tasted the crayfish's innards with its finger.

Then,

Thump!

Chomp.

The black rabbit, captivated by the taste of the innards, started dipping its carrot into the crayfish's innards and eating it.

Crunch, crunch.

The baby bear finished the grilled crayfish by chewing on the shell.

"Ah..."

Squeak...

Squish...

Squish...

Roar...

As everyone savored the grilled crayfish, still savoring the aftertaste,

Splash! Splash!

A commotion arose in the pond.

"What's happening?"

Se-jun, regaining his composure, approached the pond. It was a blood-soaked battlefield. No, it was more like a massacre.

Ten crayfish were mercilessly slaughtering the piranhas. It seemed that the crayfish's companions had come to avenge the one Se-jun had killed.

"This is a problem."

There wasn't enough fire. With the current fire, he couldn't cook ten crayfish.

"Everyone! Quickly make more fire, and Black Rabbit, bring a long stick and some rope!"

Today is a crayfish party!

Thump?

The black rabbit, puzzled by Se-jun's instructions, brought a long stick and rope and got excited when it saw the crayfish in the pond.

Then, it ran to the fire pit and made four more with the white rabbits and dried leek leaves.

Scrape, scrape.

Meanwhile, Se-jun carved grooves in the wood to hang the rope and connected it to the dagger's handle with the rope.

Then,

Poke.

[You have defeated a crayfish.]

[You have gained 30 experience points.]

Se-jun used the long reach of the stick to hunt and retrieve the crayfish one by one.

Thump!

When Se-jun caught a crayfish, the black rabbit moved it to the fire pit, and the white rabbits tightly wrapped it in leek leaves and put it in the fire.

Crackle.

The crayfish began to grill deliciously.

Poke.

[You have defeated a crayfish.]

[You have gained 30 experience points.]

While Se-jun was retrieving the crayfish he had hunted,

"Huh?"

He saw another crayfish entering the pond through the hole. The blood from the crayfish he had killed earlier had attracted more crayfish.

"Maybe we can have a full meal of crayfish today?"

Poke, poke.

Se-jun deliberately stabbed the crayfish's body several times to spread the blood and attract more crayfish.

That day, Se-jun and the animals hunted 30 crayfish and had a satisfying meal.

Crunch, crunch.

Although the baby bear, which was eating the crayfish's shell, seemed a bit unsatisfied, it would take 50 crayfish to fully satisfy the baby bear.

After having a high-protein meal with crayfish, Se-jun and the rabbits started their afternoon farming with renewed energy.

As the afternoon farming was coming to an end,

Roar.

The mother crimson giant bear came to pick up the baby bear.

Roar!

"Take care."

Se-jun waved goodbye to the baby bear and was about to go back to the cave when

Buzz.

The queen venom bee, which had been absent for several days, returned with a plump tail.