Chapter 71 of 100
Chapter 71. Planting Hope for the Bald.
8 min read1,958 words
Chapter 71. Planting Hope for the Bald.
"Interns, this is the field where the crops we need to sell will grow, nya!"
Theo led the interns to introduce Sejun's field and then went down to the cave's storage.
"Four interns, empty your bot bags. We're going to fill them with cherry tomatoes, nya."
However,
Thud.
Only one cat immediately emptied its bot bag at Theo's command.
"The intern who moves first, Jeff, I'll shorten your contract period by 10 days, nya!"
"Th...Thank you!"
Jeff bowed to Theo, expressing gratitude. Just by emptying the bot bag as instructed, his contract period was reduced by 10 days.
"Huh?!"
The three other cats, who had been watching, quickly emptied their bot bags and started filling them with cherry tomatoes when they heard about the reduction in contract period.
"I knew it."
Sejun smiled from a distance, watching Theo. Theo was still naive and had never managed subordinates before. He was so pleased when the interns, who had once tormented him, followed his instructions that he shortened their contract periods.
One might say that Theo already had wolf subordinates, but honestly, the wolves followed him voluntarily, and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the wolves took care of Theo.
"Good that I set the maximum reduction to 10 days."
Sejun thought of reducing the contract period as a way for Theo to control the cats. This way, the cats would have to listen to Theo to get their contract periods reduced.
So he deliberately imposed a 10,000-day contract period on the cats. A period of 10,000 days would allow Theo to reduce it as much as he wanted while still maintaining it for at least six months.
However,
"Mark intern filled the bot bag with cherry tomatoes the fastest, nya! Mark intern, contract period reduced by 10 days!"
"Eric intern answered the loudest just now, nya! Eric intern, contract period reduced by 10 days!"
The contract period might be shorter than Sejun expected. Theo was rewarding the interns with nanoscale detail, finding merits in their actions and giving them rewards.
After watching for about three hours,
"It won't work."
In that short time, the interns' contract periods had mostly been reduced by about 300 days. At this rate, the 10,000 days would be reduced to zero in no time.
Not to mention six months, even maintaining the contract period for a week seemed difficult.
"Mr. Theo, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Sejun, who had been watching, finally couldn't hold back and stepped forward.
"Sure, nya!"
Theo ran over at Sejun's call.
"What is it, nya? Is it time for churu, nya?"
Theo asked, climbing onto Sejun's lap.
"...Yeah."
Seeing Theo's expectant eyes, Sejun couldn't say no and tore open a churu to give to Theo.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Then,
"From now on, Theo can only reduce the interns' contract period by one day."
"Understood, nya!"
Sejun limited Theo's authority to reduce the contract period to one day. If Theo wanted to reduce it more, he had to consult with Sejun.
The next morning,
"President Park, I'm going out, nya!"
"Mr. Sejun, I'm going out."
"Okay, have a good trip."
Sejun saw off Theo and Elka. The cats split into two groups.
Oren and three other cats, with their bot bags filled with cherry tomatoes, followed Theo down to the 38th floor of the tower.
The remaining five cats filled their bot bags with blade leaves and Chef's soup and moved to the 67th floor of the tower with the wolves.
The interns following Theo to the 38th floor looked happy, while those following the wolves to the 67th floor looked gloomy.
This was because they needed to be with Theo to get their contract periods reduced, and those separated from Theo looked gloomy.
As the two groups with different destinations left, the empty space felt quite large.
Then,
Gweong!
Gweong approached Sejun.
"Is he trying to comfort me..."
But,
Gweong!
[I want a snack!]
Gweong held out a glass jar filled with honey to Sejun. Even though honey jelly enhanced his talent, for Gweong, honey was still the best.
"No! You're too fat." Sejun wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to say it to Gweong.
"Okay."
Click.
Sejun took Gweong's honey bowl from the kitchen, opened the glass jar, and poured a spoonful of honey.
Plop.
Slurp, slurp.
"Now, I need to work."
Leaving Gweong, who was enthusiastically licking the honey from the bowl, Sejun started the morning farming.
Today was the day to harvest the corn he had planted before. Sejun began harvesting the corn he had planted in the cave.
Thud, thud.
While harvesting the blue corn covered in green leaves,
"Huh?"
He saw a red corn, different from the others.
Thud.
When he picked the red corn,
[You have harvested Corn of Exploding Stamina.]
[Your job experience has slightly increased.]
[Your Harvesting Level 4 proficiency has slightly increased.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
"Corn of Exploding Stamina?"
The name made it seem like it might be for combat.
[You have achieved the feat of creating a new variety in the tower.]
[The tower recognizes your exclusive cultivation rights for the new variety.]
[Without your permission, the Corn of Exploding Stamina cannot be cultivated.]
[Your job experience has significantly increased.]
[You have achieved the feat of creating three new varieties in the tower.]
[News about you spreads in the Food Association.]
"Food Association?"
Sejun had never heard of the Food Association, even from Theo.
Sejun decided to check the corn in his hand.
[Corn of Exploding Stamina]
Corn grown inside the tower. When heated, the corn kernels explode and expand to dozens of times their original size.
When consumed, it decomposes 30g of fat in the body and increases stamina by 0.5 for 10 minutes.
The effect can be stacked up to 10 times within an hour.
When consumed, it makes hair fuller.
Cultivator: Tower Farmer Sejun
Expiry Date: 90 days
Grade: C
It expands when heated? The explosion doesn't seem to mean physical explosion.
Sejun imagined the corn kernels expanding. This naturally reminded him of something!
"Could it be? Is this popcorn?"
Sejun quickly peeled off the red leaves of the Corn of Exploding Stamina. The kernels inside were also red.
Pop.
Sejun picked one red kernel.
[You have obtained a seed of Corn of Exploding Stamina.]
[Your job experience has slightly increased.]
[Your Seed Collection Level 2 proficiency has slightly increased.]
He then had Flame heat the corn kernel.
"Be careful. Don't let it burn."
[Yes, Master!]
After a moment, Flame heated the corn kernel with fire.
Crack.
The red corn kernel popped, and the white inside expanded and burst out.
[Here.]
Flame removed the fire, and a warm popcorn fell onto Sejun's hand.
Crunch.
Sejun sprinkled salt on the popcorn in his palm and carefully put it in his mouth.
Crunch.
The crispy texture and the savory, salty taste.
"Oh!"
Sejun was delighted by the taste similar to the popcorn he used to buy outside.
"This isn't the time for that!"
The sooner he plants, the sooner he can harvest. One corn kernel now will become a bag of popcorn later.
Thud.
Sejun planted 199 seeds of Corn of Exploding Stamina in the field.
[You have created a 50-pyeong cornfield.]
[You have gained 100 experience points.]
"Grow well."
Sejun encouraged the corn planted in the field.
Thus, the crop that would become the hope of bald people worldwide began to grow on the 99th floor of the tower.
***
Day 244 of the disaster, early morning.
Crunch, crunch.
The branch scouts, which had been quiet, invaded again.
Roar, roar.
This time, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who had been asked by Sejun for a chance to grow, watched from a distance, only revealing her presence to the branch scouts.
"Let's go, kids!!!"
Whoosh!!!
Gweong!!!
Sejun, Black Rabbit, and Gweong charged forward with a battle cry.
Thud.
Thump, thump, thump.
Black Rabbit and Gweong, who had the same starting point, quickly overtook Sejun and started killing the branch scouts. Sejun had the lowest agility stat.
Whoosh.
Thud!
Splat.
[You have defeated a Large Branch Scout of Fallen Ent.]
[You have gained 500 experience points.]
Sejun threw a throwing axe from behind to kill the enemy.
"A bit sad. Retrieve."
Sejun retrieved the axe and charged forward again.
He then lit the torches he had placed around the fire to set the branch scouts on fire.
Whoosh.
The fire spread to the branch scouts, burning them.
[You have defeated a Small Branch Scout of Fallen Ent.]
[You have gained 25 experience points.]
...
..
.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have gained 1 bonus stat point.]
"Great!"
Sejun leveled up to level 28.
While leveling up and gaining experience by killing the branch scouts,
Splat!
Splat!
The sound of spitting and a sticky liquid flew toward the burning branch scouts.
Pshh.
The sticky liquid extinguished the fire.
"What?"
Sejun looked at the source of the sound.
Squish, squish.
30cm tall yellow and purple flowers were moving with the large branch scouts, attached to their bodies with vine-like limbs.
[Sticky Flower Attacker of Fallen Ent]
[Poison Mist Flower Attacker of Fallen Ent]
The yellow ones were sticky flowers, and the purple ones were poison mist flowers.
"Now it's flowers?"
Sejun was curious about the Fallen Ent, which had turned branches, flowers, and fruits into monsters.
"Kids, fall back for now!"
Seeing the names of the enemies, he thought they would use a strategy to bind with sticky substances and kill with poison mist.
But,
Whoosh!
Black Rabbit easily avoided the sticky substance with its fast speed.
Gweong!
Gweong moved without any hindrance even when hit by the sticky substance.
"Right. I'm the only weak one. I'm the only one..."
Sejun confirmed his combat power ranking again and threw the axe to focus on killing the poison mist flower attackers, helping Black Rabbit and Gweong fight.
Whoosh.
Thud!
[You have defeated a Poison Mist Flower Attacker of Fallen Ent.]
[You have gained 1500 experience points.]
The experience points were good.
"Right. I'm a ranged character."
While Sejun was fighting and comforting himself,
Rumble, rumble.
The ground began to shake.
"Huh?!"
Sejun looked at the mother Crimson Giant Bear. Why is she moving?
Roar!
Thump, thump.
The mother Crimson Giant Bear shook her head, indicating it wasn't her, and pointed to the west.
"What is it?"
Sejun looked in the direction the mother Crimson Giant Bear pointed.
"Huh?!"
In the distance, a 70-meter tall giant tree was slowly approaching.
Rumble, rumble.
[Fallen Ent that has absorbed the energy of the Blue Moon]
Sejun had overlooked the fact that the Fallen Ent could absorb the energy of the Blue Moon, just like Flame had grown by absorbing the energy of the Blue Moon.
The Fallen Ent was so thick that even the mother Crimson Giant Bear couldn't wrap her arms around it, and it was much taller.
Moreover, various monsters fell from its body as it moved.
"Can we win?"
While Sejun was thinking about a strategy to defeat the Fallen Ent,
-I'll help you.
A deep voice echoed in Sejun's ear.
"Huh? Who is it?"
Sejun looked around to find the source of the voice.
Then,
Flap, flap.
The black dragon statue, which should have been at the fountain, appeared in front of Sejun with glowing red eyes.
-I am the great black dragon Anton Fritani, Eileen's father.
"Eileen's father?"
-Yes. We don't have time for conversation now.
The black dragon statue finished talking and quickly flew toward the Fallen Ent.
Then,
Boom!
A black breath shot from the black dragon statue's mouth, heading toward the Fallen Ent.