TL: Hanguk

(I had some free time, so I released a chapter early. Enjoy!)

When the mother Crimson Giant Bear found her cub again,

‘What did this little one eat?’

The cub had grown tremendously in the meantime.

Sniff sniff.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear instinctively knew that the sweet smell coming from the cub would be helpful to it.

What’s this sweet smell?

“Mom, it’s honey, and there’s a lot of it in the human’s house.”

The baby bear gestured the size of the water bottle with his arm.

Although the mother bear wanted to taste it too, but she held back for the sake of her cub. When her cub explained it to her, she realized there wouldn’t be much left for her if she tasted it.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear began to search for the human’s house from where she found her cub to feed it honey.

She also thought it would be nice if the human provided food for her cub. Seeing the cub grow more than it did with her, she assumed that the human must have a lot of food.

And after searching the area for a few days, she found the human’s house. The mother Crimson Giant Bear proposed a deal to protect the area in exchange for honey. It seemed like a better idea for a continuous supply of honey.

The reason why she confidently said she could protect the human’s house by herself was that no monster wanted to occupy this desolate land.

Occasionally, monsters came by to cross the wasteland, but she could easily drive them away just by patrolling her territory.

However, when she was wondering how to convey her message,

[The Tower’s Administrator offers to pass the message on to the human.]

…!

The previously inactive Tower’s Administrator stepped forward and mediated the deal with the human.

Seeing even the Tower’s Administrator getting involved, the mother Crimson Giant Bear thought there must be something special about the human.

Thus, the deal was made.

The distance from the nest to the human’s house was quite far, and even for the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who was as tall as a 10-story apartment building, traveling back and forth every day was a lot of work.

However, she didn’t hesitate to travel the long distance to feed her cub honey.

Ku-a-a-argh!

Today, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, with her cub in tow, was thinking about where to take a nap while patrolling on her way to the human’s house for honey.

Thankfully, the human took care of both the cub and even it’s lunch.

The footsteps of the mother Crimson Giant Bear heading to the human’s house became lighter. Whether they were mothers on Earth or monster mothers in the Tower, they all felt the same about the hassle of preparing meals.

***

“Alright!”

Se-jun woke up, added another line on the wall, and began the 173rd day. It had been three days since he made a deal with the mother Crimson Giant Bear.

Buzz buzz.

Squeak!

Squawk!

Squeak!

While greeting the poison bees and rabbits in the morning,

Growl!

The baby bear also greeted them from the hole in the cave ceiling, letting them know it had arrived. The mother Crimson Giant Bear left the baby and went out to patrol.

“Did you sleep well?”

Growl!

The baby bear answered and waved at the black rabbit. Brother, I’m here!

Squeak!

The Black Rabbit coolly waved back and said, “Wait, I’ll catch some fish and bring them up for lunch later!”

After Se-jun washed his face,

Chomp chomp.

Odo-dok.

He had breakfast with the rabbits, consisting of roasted sweet potatoes and carrots.

Then he hurried to start his morning farming. Now that there was a field above ground, there was so much to do.

Sejun quickly cut off the green onion leaves and started harvesting cherry tomatoes, and the wife rabbit picked tomatoes from the harvested branches.

Meanwhile, the sickle rabbit and the cart rabbit spread the cut green onion leaves, and the rabbits with watering Can quickly watered the crops.

And

Bang!

Bang!

The Black Rabbit caught the piranhas. The number of catches had increased significantly recently due to baby bears.

While he worried that catching too many piranhas would reduce their population, but seeing the number of piranhas drawn to the blood, it still seemed sufficient for now.

Finally, the two Shovel Rabbits went up in advance and made the field.

But the situation was very different from the fertile underground land.

Scoop. Scoop.

The shovel rabbits dug up the ground and filtered out small stones to make the field.

Growl!

Thankfully, the baby bear thought they were playing and helped them, flipping the ground with its front paws like a forklift and removing the rocks, which sped up the work.

As the morning passed and lunchtime approached,

Bang!

Black Rabbit called Sejun to move the piranhas. Then Sejun, the black rabbit, and the mother rabbit prepared lunch together. They only planned to light a fire in the cave until they were sure the above ground was safe.

As the smell of fish rose through the cave hole to the surface,

Sniff sniff.

Growl. Growl.

The baby bear started whining that it was hungry. The smell seemed to stimulate its appetite.

“Just wait a little longer.”

Sejun tried to soothe the bear, but

Growl! Growl!

The hungry baby bear continued to cry.

“Here, eat this and wait.”

Sejun threw a sweet potato to the baby bear to quiet it down and filled a bag he brought from the vanishing with sweet potatoes and carrots.

The remaining rabbits connected 40 uncooked piranhas with a string.

Then

“Pull!”

Sejun, with the bag on his shoulder and holding two bundles of raw piranhas and five grilled fish in one hand, grabbed the rope and shouted. To have lunch with the baby bear, they rode the baby bear’s elevator to the surface.

Jump!

Jump!

The rabbits quickly climbed onto Sejun’s body.

Growl! Growl!

Knowing that they were bringing its meal, the baby bear eagerly pulled up the rope. The baby bear pulled the rope rhythmically, as it heard when it was pulled up. A bear with a 2-beat rhythm?

Sejun came up to the ground.

About 5 meters away from the cave entrance, there was a huge rock as tall as Seojun, which wasn’t there before. The end of the rope was tied to the rock.

Thanks to the rock brought by the mother Crimson Giant Bear at Seojun’s request yesterday, they were now able to secure the rope.

Sniff sniff.

Koo-ung!

The baby bear sniffed the piranhas in Sejun’s hand excitedly.

“Hey, wait!”

When Sejun spoke sternly,

Kkooee!

The baby bear quickly backed away and sat down. I’m waiting now!

Although the baby bear had grown as tall as Sejun, but it still retained its unique cuteness.

While the baby bear was waiting, Sejun and the rabbits quickly prepared the meal and began eating.

“Now, let’s eat.”

Munch munch.

Kkooee!

The baby bear made a happy sound while eating the piranhas. So delicious!

Afterward, the baby bear ate honey for dessert, then went to Sejun, who was resting and drinking coffee, and peacefully took a nap with Black Rabbit on Sejun’s lap.

***

“Why do I feel like something has been taken away from me, meow?”

With a strange feeling, Theo arrived at the 38th floor of the tower.

“Hey humans, I’m here, meow”

“The cat wandering merchant has arrived!”

“Theo is here!”

The hunters who had been eagerly waiting for Theo greeted him warmly. In the meantime, the rumor about the magical cherry tomatoes spread, and about 40 hunters were waiting for Theo.

This means that four out of the ten Phoenix Guild teams were waiting for Theo here. The interest in magical cherry tomatoes was getting hotter.

“Today, I will sell 1800 magical cherry tomatoes in total, 300 each, through an auction!”

Theo had been upgrading his storage whenever he received an incentive from Seojun. Since he didn’t have any food expenses as he received grilled fish as his weekly pay, so he invested all his money into upgrading his storage.

Thanks to that, the bag’s storage capacity increased, and now it could hold up to 1800 cherry tomatoes, which initially could only hold 1500.

“25 tower coins for 300!”

“27 tower coins for 300!”

The auction was fierce, but the high prices like last time didn’t happen.

In this way, Theo sold 1,800 magical cherry tomatoes and earned 220 tower coins.

“Theo, let’s take a picture together! I brought both Churu and coffee.”

“Me too! I brought Churu and chili powder!”

Female hunters approached Theo with Churu, seasonings, and coffee mix that Seojun wanted in order to take pictures with him.

“Good job. I also groomed myself and got dressed up! So, line up, meow!”

Theo lined up the hunters, took pictures with each one, let them touch his paws, and put the items in his storage.

‘Puhuhut, I can occupy Sejun’s lap for a day this time too, meow!”

As soon as photo time ended, Theo hurriedly climbed the tower to claim Sejun’s lap.

Upon arriving at the 50th floor, having moved through the merchant passage connecting the 40th to the 50th floor,

“Help me, please!”

He heard a cry for help nearby.

Hesitating for a moment, Theo’s steps stopped at the sound of the pleading voice.

However, suddenly, Sejun’s words came to mind.

Sejun had warned Theo not to get fooled while wandering around, and one of the most emphasized advice was to simply pass by if someone asked for help on the street.

Although it was a cruel instruction, Theo had already been tricked before when he saved a person from drowning and instead of receiving a thank you, had his belongings stolen.

“That’s right! Sejun told me to just keep going, meow!”

Ignoring the pleading voice, Theo entered the merchant passage connecting the 50th to the 60th floor.

“What’s going on?”

Having observed Theo’s personality on the shopping street, Jeras thought Theo would 100% help them, so they asked for help…

Jeras’ plan to create a chance encounter and accompany Theo failed.

***

After having lunch and resting, Sejun went down to the cave once more and brought up 100 sweet potatoes and ten carrot tops.

He then started planting the sweet potatoes and carrot tops in a roughly 50-square-meter field created by the shovel rabbits as a test. He didn’t plant cherry tomatoes, as the ground looked too barren.

Since the shovel rabbits had already made holes to plant in, Sejun simply buried the sweet potatoes and covered them with soil.

[You have planted sweet potatoes.]

[The probability of sweet potatoes taking root increases due to the effect of Sowing Lv. 3.]

[Your job experience increases very slightly.]

[The proficiency of Sowing Lv. 3 increases very slightly.]

[The proficiency of Sowing Lv. 3 increases an additional 5% due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1.]

…

..

.

While Sejun was diligently planting sweet potatoes,

Grr?

The baby bear tilted his head while watching Sejun’s actions. Why is he burying food in the ground?

Grr!

Thump! Thump!

Having realized something, the baby bear started digging up the sweet potatoes that Sejun had planted and ate them while following Sejun.

Chomp.

Chomp.

“Huh?!”

Sejun, who was busily planting sweet potatoes, looked back at the strange sounds coming from behind him.

He then locked eyes with the baby bear eating the sweet potatoes deliciously.

Grr!

The baby bear looked at Sejun with a smug expression. I found them all!

“No! You!”

Sejun’s voice rose because of the baby bear, who thought it was a game of finding food and ate the sweet potatoes dug up from the ground.

Bam!

Hearing Sejun’s voice, the black rabbit, who had been catching piranhas in the cave, came up to the surface.

Grr?

The baby bear, still not understanding what was wrong, tilted its head. Big brother, what did I do wrong?

Bam!

The black rabbit began teaching the baby bear what it did wrong.

On the 173rd day of being stranded, the baby bear learned the meaning of planting.

*****