Day 278 of being stranded, morning.

“President Park… Can’t you sleep a bit more, meow…?”

Dangling.

“No, I can’t. There’s something we have to resolve quickly today.”

Sejun picked Theo, who was whining to sleep more, and placed him on his knee.

Cling.

Theo naturally slipped into sleep mode, clinging to Sejun’s leg. He always whined like this when sleeping soundly.

Then

“Meow?!”

Theo discovered something stuck to his tail. It was Iona, who had sneaked in at dawn.

“Iona, when did you get here, meow?!”

Theo asked, looking at Iona clinging to his tail.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot, I came at dawn. I’ll sleep just a little more.”

Iona curled up, wrapping her body with Theo’s tail and fell asleep again.

Sejun then went outside, carrying Theo and Iona on his leg.

Then

“Let’s eat breakfast!”

He heated up the soup made yesterday and quickly ate breakfast. Then, he headed to where the mushroom ants lived. They had begun building their home on the land that Sejun provided since yesterday.

When Sejun arrived at the place where the mushroom ants were,

Kkwek!

Kkwek!

The ants were building walls, piling up the dirt from the underground tunnels they were digging. They indeed displayed the qualities of workers.

“Guys, let’s harvest.”

Kkwek!

At Sejun’s call, some mushroom ants with mushrooms on their back neatly lined up, while the rest continued building.

It seemed they had already decided among themselves who would harvest and who would work.

‘The more I see, the more I like them.’

Sejun found himself nodding in approval at the diligent mushroom ants, who were always eager to work without wasting a moment.

After about three hours of harvesting,

[You have harvested a Oyster Mushroom.]

[You have 1 time left to complete the job quest.]

[Your job experience has increased slightly.]

[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 5 has increased slightly.]

[You have gained 1 experience point.]

Finally, the completion of the job quest was near.

Then

Pop.

He harvested the last mushroom.

[You have completed the job quest.]

[Level 51 is unlocked as a quest completion reward.]

[You have acquired 50,000 Tower Coins as a quest completion reward.]

[All job skills of the Tower Farmer have increased by 1 level.]

“Finally!”

Sejun cheered. His level restriction that had been stuck on the 50th level was finally lifted. Now he could gain experience freely.

Then

[Your crops have exterminated pests.]

[You have gained 1 experience point.]

…

..

.

“Huh?! Why is this showing up? Are there other pests besides locusts?”

Messages started to appear about exterminating pests, which hadn’t been shown due to the level-up restriction.

***

Kenya, Africa.

After receiving Ngũgĩ’s report, Han Tae-jun and other Earth Defense Force Hunters arrived to confirm the monster with their own eyes.

[Green Locust]

“It’s real.”

“How can this be…?”

“How did the monster…?!”

The Hunters were shocked to see the name displayed above the captured monster’s head.

What they had hoped would never happen had become a reality. The appearance of a monster on Earth made Theo’s prediction of Earth’s destruction feel more real.

Of course, the Green Locust was much weaker than the Skeletons encountered on the 2nd floor of the tower. Even ordinary people could kill it easily. This wouldn’t be enough to cause the destruction of the Earth.

“Does this mean if their numbers grow beyond a certain point, they will evolve and become stronger?”

“Yes. Fortunately, ordinary locusts have been keeping the monster locusts in check.”

Ngũgĩ, who had been observing the Green Locusts for a few days, replied.

In the days following the discovery, thousands of Green Locusts died in the sturdy blade green onion fields.

However, the ordinary swarms of locusts just passed by the sturdy blade green onion field.

Instead, they ferociously hunted down and killed the Green Locusts. From the perspective of ordinary locusts, the Green Locusts were competitors for food and their enemies.

This kept the Green Locust population in check and prevented the locust swarms from growing too large. Otherwise, they would have already devoured all of Africa’s crops and moved on to the Middle East.

This was unlucky for the Green Locusts but fortunate for the Earth.

“We have confirmed the appearance of the monster, so for now, we will direct 50% of the sturdy blade green onions, which are obtained from the tower, towards Africa.”

“Yes!”

The other members agreed with Han Tae-jun’s decision. He decided to focus on buying land in Africa and its vicinity before heading back to Korea.

***

“It’s a party today!”

Sejun decided to have a party to celebrate the completion of his job quest. He wanted to share the joy of having the level 51 restriction lifted with everyone. He decided to level up starting tomorrow.

“A party, you say?! Then hurry and prepare the churu and grilled fish, meow!!!”

At Sejun’s words, Theo shouted with excitement. It would be great to eat churu while lying on Sejun’s lap on top of a mountain of grilled fish.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. No way! The party needs Kyoot kyoot… roasted peanuts!”

Iona argued against Theo’s words. Iona couldn’t hide her excitement at the thought of nibbling on roasted peanuts while cozily covered with Theo’s tail on Sejun’s lap wrapped in a blanket.

Kreong! Kreong!!!

[No! For a party, meat is a must!!!]

Cuengi clenched both fists at the thought of holding the bountiful meat. Saliva was already dripping from Cuengi’s mouth.

Everyone had strong preferences for the party.

(Pip-pip! I want fruit…)

The golden bat cautiously expressed its opinion, but

“A party must absolutely have Churu and grilled fish, meow!”

“A party without roasted peanuts is no party at all!”

Kreong!

[Meat is a must!]

No one paid attention to the golden bat’s opinion.

And then,

[Current list of items available from the Red Ribbon Kingdom’s treasure vault (Total 23,911,912 items)]

30 million Tower coins X 1

Mithril ore X 100

Gold bars X 10,000

Silver bars X 50,000

Land deed of the 77th floor farm

Land deed of the 83rd floor farm

…

..

.

“Huh?! How did it suddenly get so many?”

Sejun was surprised to see the enormous list of items when he opened the treasure vault, something he often did when bored.

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. So this was connected to the Red Ribbon Kingdom’s treasure vault. I’ve filled it with Grid’s wealth!”

Iona proudly said, looking at the list of items from behind Sejun.

“Really? Well done!”

“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Thank you. Ah! Did you summon the white dragon statue this way, too?”

“Yes. But have you ever met Kellion?”

“He was Kellion? We almost died because of him.”

“What?!”

-Ahem···I didn’t know you were Sejun’s subordinate at that time.

Hearing his name from the roof, Kellion, who was listening from the roof, hurriedly spoke.

“Kewk!”

Iona, surprised to find the white dragon statue, hid behind Sejun.

-Don’t be too frightened, insignificant hamster. I won’t harm you.

Kellion’s words to ease Iona’s guard,

“Insignificant, you say?!”

only irritated Sejun more.

-Ahem… You’ll still invite me to the party, right?

In the Dragon Tribe, only those who are invited to a party can attend, so Kellion was nervous, fearing that Sejun might not invite him.

Of course, his intention to attend the party was to try Sejun’s cooking.

“I don’t know. Inviting someone who targeted my subordinate to my party is a bit…”

Normally, he would have said ‘Of course, you’re invited,’ but this time was different. From afar, Kaiser was watching over them. In this situation, Kaiser was reassuring.

-khahahaha. I’ll be the only one to go to Sejun’s party.

Kaiser enjoyed seeing Kellion in trouble. He planned to attend Sejun’s party alone to put Kellion down.

-Sejun, refuse quickly.

As Kaiser cheered on Sejun,

-Wait!

When Sejun seemed hesitant to invite him to the party, Kellion frantically pressed his belly button, fearing he might not get an invitation. In his haste, he remembered something he had saved.

Click.

His belly button must have been a switch, as it opened to reveal a storage space inside the statue. Although it had been an relic with no apparent use, now it was something he could use to appeal to Sejun.

-Invite me to the party, and I’ll give you this!

Kellion shouted, pulling out a fist-sized, shiny white dough.

-No! Refuse! How can you invite someone to the party who has tried to take the life of your subordinate with such a bribe? Sejun, don’t you have any pride?”

It seemed like Sejun was tempted, so Kaiser flew over in a hurry and shouted,

“Alright. I’ll invite Mr. Kellion to the party.”

Sejun, already entranced by the white dough in Kellion’s hand, had made up his mind.

“Hehehe. Thank you. Here, take it.”

Kellion handed the white dough to Sejun.

“Thank you!”

Sejun thanked him heartily, receiving the dough.

Soft and squishy.

It was the touch he had been expecting. He then hurriedly checked the dough.

[Relic: Wealth-devouring Rice Dough]

→ Made by Pongpong, a rabbit tribe’s rice cake master who bet his life on rice cakes, it’s a rice dough designed to make the best rice dough always.

→ It is one of the 10 relics that exist in the Black Tower.

→ When you feed the rice dough with wealth that has the value of 1 Tower Coin, it will spit out 1kg of top-quality rice dough.

→ Usage Restrictions: Lv. 50 or higher, Magic Power 50 or higher

→ Creator: Pongpong

→ Grade: AA

“Jackpot!”

With this relic, he could make rice dough whenever he wanted. Although Tower Coins would be consumed to obtain the dough, to Sejun, Tower Coins were just numbers except when using the seed shop.

“With this, I can make both the rice cakes and Makgeolli (rice wine) that the raccoons sold last time.”

– What?! Is that true?

Kaiser was excited at the word Makgeolli after hearing Sejun’s words.

Kreong!

Cuengi was no different. He could dip rice cakes in honey again.

“Hehehe. Know that it’s all thanks to me.”

Kellion spoke smugly, realizing that what he had given was even more remarkable than he had thought.

“Shall we try making the rice dough first?”

Sejun placed his hand on the rice dough and used 10 Tower Coins.

[Relic: Wealth-devouring Rice Dough has swallowed 10 Tower Coins and produced 10kg of top-quality rice dough.]

Poof.

The Wealth-devouring Rice Dough spat out a basketball-sized lump of rice dough.

Chuk.

“Wow!”

Sejun was thrilled to obtain 10kg of rice dough. He hurried to the kitchen with it.

Suddenly, he wanted to make a particular dish. It was Songpyeon¹! He really wanted to eat songpyeon today.

‘I’ll mix sweet potatoes, potatoes, and honey for the filling…’

Sejun thought about how to make Songpyeon as he boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes in a pot.

Then he grilled fish and Purple Locust meat and roasted peanuts, preparing the menu that Theo, Iona, and Cuengi had wanted for the party.

While Sejun was cooking,

“Hahaha. You can make Makgeolli with this? Put in 10 million Tower Coins! I’m not as stingy as Sejun!”

Kaiser laughed boisterously and put 10 million Tower Coins into the Wealth-devouring Rice Dough.

And then

Bwoooooooooooong!!!

A 10,000-ton gigantic lump of rice dough shot up.

“Huh?!”

Kaiser was taken aback by the unexpectedly massive size of the rice dough. If it fell, the damage would be immense.

‘The fields would be ruined, and Sejun would probably die.’

“Vanish.”

Kaiser quickly made the rice dough disappear. 10 million Tower Coins were gone in vain.

-Puhahaha. Kaiser, if you’re going to spend money like that, give it to me!

-Shut up!

Kellion jeered from the side.

*****

TL Notes:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songpyeon