99th floor of the Black Tower.

“Alright.”

Sejun opened his eyes.

[The seal of the Earth’s Jewel has been broken.]

[Har, the God of Basalt, who was sealed within the Earth’s Jewel, is released from the seal.]

[Har, the God of Basalt, repays the favor to the one who released his seal.]

[Har, the God of Basalt, repays the favor by creating a basalt road on 3.3 square meters of land.]

[During sleep, 10% of your life force has been stored.]

[The Life Orb is 8.91% complete.]

[0.1 magic power has been accumulated over 24 hours.]

[Magic power increases by 0.1.]

“Basalt road?”

Hehehe. I’m looking forward to this.

As Sejun smiled with anticipation,

Gororong.

Kkirorong.

He heard the snoring of Theo and Blackie.

“Oh, Theo’s here?”

Sejun stroked the head of Theo, who was sleeping on his lap.

“Meow…”

Theo smiled at Sejun’s touch and rubbed his head against Sejun’s hand.

But didn’t he say he was going to get a gift? I wonder if he found one?

He disappeared so suddenly yesterday that he couldn’t even catch him.

Well… if it’s Theo, he must have gotten it. It would be strange if he didn’t with his luck.

Pat. Pat.

Sejun put Theo on his lap and slung the sling bag containing Blackie over his shoulder,

Swoosh.

and marked another line on the bedroom wall, starting the 409th day morning.

‘First, I need to find the basalt road.’

When Sejun came out of the bedroom,

Pirorong.

Yurorong.

he heard the snoring of Piyot and Uren from the guest room.

Did they come up with Theo?

Sejun carefully opened the door and went outside to avoid disturbing their sleep.

And then,

Step. Step.

He walked around the farm, letting the crops hear his footsteps.

[The magical peanuts thank the farmer’s footsteps and lend their strength.]

[The potential of the magic stat increases from 4891 to 4892.]

He increased his potential and also looked for the basalt road that had been created somewhere.

A moment later,

“Is this it?”

Sejun discovered a road paved with black basalt.

“Hmm? This is powder?”

For some reason, Har, the God of Basalt, had sprinkled a 10cm thick layer of stone powder on the road.

“What is this?”

Is it edible?

Sejun carefully touched the stone powder with his finger and cautiously put it in his mouth.

…?!

Sejun was greatly surprised by the taste. Naturally, he had to be.

How does a god know about ‘Oreo’?

The stone powder tasted like Oreo, a snack from Earth.

Wasn’t this only on Earth?

“No, that’s not what’s important right now.”

Sejun hurriedly took out a shovel and scooped the Oreo powder into a leather pouch.

“Hehehe. It’s rewarding to start the morning like this.”

104.28.193.250

While Sejun was pleased with the Oreo powder in the leather pouch,

[Your soul is filled with satisfaction from obtaining good ingredients.]

[Mental strength increases by 1.]

His mental strength increased.

“I’ll give you 28.05 square meters, Har-nim.”

Sejun made an 28.05 square meters Har Road.

“Aileen, how much time is left now?”

He asked Aileen how much time was left until Earth was incorporated into the 0th floor of the Black Tower.

[The tower administrator says there are 24 hours and 37 minutes left.]

“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”

By this time tomorrow, he would be able to leave the tower.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”

Sejun headed to the kitchen, humming a tune that came out naturally.

***

U.S. Department of Defense.

“With 25 hours and 10 minutes remaining until operation time, 98% of Texas residents have been evacuated.”

The face of the Secretary of Defense did not relax upon receiving the report.

2% may seem like a small number, but with Texas’s population nearing 30 million, it meant that 600,000 people had yet to be evacuated.

“What about the remaining 2%?”

“The remaining 2% of the citizens are too deep inside Texas, making rescue difficult, but we are doing our best.”

“Alright. Do your best until the very end.”

“Yes, sir!”

After the subordinate finished the report and left,

“Sigh.”

The Secretary of Defense, feeling heavy-hearted, let out a big sigh.

He was the one who suggested using nuclear missiles, but he didn’t want to use them on U.S. soil.

However, this was the best option for now. If the fully-grown Flesh Eaters began to move, the entire U.S. would be in danger.

Click.

The Secretary of Defense picked up his smartphone and called someone.

“Hello.”

“Director, have there been any updates from the CIA agents in Korea?”

The Secretary of Defense called his friend, the CIA Director, to inquire about the situation in Korea.

Specifically, he wanted to know if the Golden Bat, which created the miracle in Austin, Texas, had appeared again.

This was the last hope to avoid using nukes.

“Not yet.”

“I see. Let me know as soon as you hear anything.”

“Will do.”

Click.

After hanging up, the Secretary of Defense took out a cigar from his drawer and lit it, quickly filling the office with a haze of smoke.

***

“Alright. I’ve made 100 pancakes and 1,000 sotteok-sotteok…”

Sejun prepared snacks for Aileen to eat and food to sell at Dragon Market while he was away.

He even made snacks for the leaders occupying the fountain.

With Kaiser, Kellion, Ramter, and Tier managing the 99th floor of the tower, he couldn’t neglect them.

Since he was going home after a long time, he planned to stay on Earth for about 10 days.

With the current money he had, about 7 trillion Tower Coins, it would be enough to take everyone with him.

While Sejun was busy preparing to go to Earth, unaware of the lurking threat,

“Meow… Chairman Park, did you make sausage skewers, meow?”

Theo, who had just woken up, asked if Sejun had made Ophelia’s sausage skewers as he mentioned yesterday.

“Yes, of course I did.”

“Puhuhut. Then did you make my grilled fish too, meow?”

Theo, whose eyes were now sparkling, asked while looking at Sejun.

“Of course. Vice Chairman Theo, I’m grilling an especially big one for you.”

When Sejun showed Theo the fish grilling on the brazier,

“Puhuhut. Very excellent, meow!”

Theo smiled contentedly and began grooming himself.

At that moment,

Kueng!

[Dad, good morning!]

Cuengi, who had woken up, rubbed his eyes and greeted Sejun in the kitchen.

“Yes. Did you sleep well, Cuengi?”

Kueng!

[Yes, I did!]

“Then help your dad a bit.”

Kueng!

[Got it! Cuengi will help!]

I can get a five-star stamp!

The thought of getting a stamp made Cuengi’s eyes sparkle.

“Squeeze this.”

Sejun placed a basket full of cherry tomatoes, pineapples, and grapes in front of Cuengi.

Kueng!

[Got it!]

Cuengi enlarged himself, picked up the basket, and dumping the fruits onto his palm.

Then,

Squeeze.

When Cuengi pressed the fruits with both front paws,

Splash.

The juice flowed into the large bottle Sejun had prepared.

Thanks to Cuengi, Sejun was able to make an enormous amount of cherry tomato, pineapple, and grape juice.

Once the juicing was done,

Kueng!

[Dad, stamp here!]

Cuengi, who had shrunk back down, pulled out the stamp card from his snack pouch with an excited expression.

“Alright. Here you go. Well done.”

Stamp

Sejun stamped Cuengi’s stamp card.

Kuhehehe.

Cuengi folded the praise card neatly and put it back into his snack pouch with a satisfied expression.

Once all the food for Aileen, the four leaders, Ophelia, and the dishes for Dragon Market were completed,

Piyo!

[Good morning, Sejun-nim!]

“Good morning!”

Piyot and Uren entered the kitchen.

“Welcome.”

When everyone sat down, Sejun placed grilled fish in front of Theo, stir-fried peanuts in front of Piyot, and bowls of just milk in front of Cuengi, Blackie, and Uren.

Kueng?

Kking?

“Huh?”

The three were puzzled by Sejun’s actions. Still, they trusted Sejun and waited a bit longer.

“Hehehe. This is called Oreo.”

Sejun scooped Oreo into their bowls, filling them up.

“You mix it with milk and eat it with a spoon.”

When Sejun demonstrated, the others cautiously picked up their spoons, mixed the Oreo with milk, and tasted it.

Kueng!

[It’s delicious! So sweet!]

Kihihit. Kking! Kking!

[Hehe. It’s delicious! I need to get more cores!]

“It’s really tasty!”

The three ate quickly with big smiles on their faces.

Meanwhile, as the Oreo powder spread, the milk gradually turned black.

Slurp.

Cuengi and Uren, who ate quickly, started drinking the slightly darkened milk.

Hehehe. They don’t know.

Sejun, watching them with a smug expression, poured more Oreo powder into the remaining milk.

It’s so delicious when you keep adding Oreo until the milk turns into chocolate milk.

Kking!

[Give me more too!]

“Alright. Here, Blackie, I’ll pour more for you too.”

Kihihi. Kking! Kking!

[Hehe. I’m happy! There’s more!]

As the milk in Sejun and Blackie’s bowls, which they hadn’t drunk, gradually darkened and turned into chocolate milk,

Kueng?

[Why is Dad’s and Blackie’s milk black?]

“Yeah, how did you do that?”

Only then did Cuengi and Uren listen to Sejun’s explanation and add more Oreo powder to their remaining milk to make chocolate milk.

A moment later,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I’m off now, meow!”

After finishing breakfast, Theo prepared to leave for the 1st floor of the Green Tower.

“Okay. We’ll go down to the 1st floor of the tower after lunch, so come back early today.”

Sejun planned to restore the shop on the 1st floor of the tower to normal this afternoon and then head to Earth.

“Got it, meow!”

Theo responded energetically and left for the Green Tower.

“You guys go tell Black Rabbit to come up right away and bring some skeletons from the 4th floor of the tower.”

Sejun sent Piyot and Uren on errands.

After everyone went off to do their tasks,

Kueng?

[What about Cuengi? What should Cuengi do?]

Cuengi, who was left alone, asked Sejun.

“Hmm. Cuengi, go take a bath and wash Blackie too.”

Kking?!

[Why me?!]

Kueng!

[Got it!]

Kking!

[Save me!]

With that, Cuengi took Blackie to the bathroom.

“I should transfer the Samyangju.”

Sejun headed to the brewery.

Today was the day to open the jars containing the golden Samyangju.

Glug glug.

Sejun carefully poured the golden Samyangju from the jar into the bottles.

One jar could fill 100 bottles.

And Sejun had a total of ten jars of golden Samyangju.

“It’s done.”

Once Sejun finished transferring, he had completed 1,000 bottles of golden Samyangju, each radiating a brilliant golden light.

With nine servings per bottle, a total of 9,000 dragons could have a cup each.

“First, I’ll give four bottles to the dragon leaders.”

To avoid conflicts, Sejun chose to give each of the four dragons one bottle to maintain peace.

With 996 bottles remaining,

“Hehehe. I can get 24 bottles of the Growth Elixir. Aileen, please sell these.”

[The tower administrator says you can trust her with this.]

“Of course. I always trust you, Aileen.”

Sejun replied and then had a simple lunch with Cuengi and Blackie, who had finished their bath, before heading to the fountain to meet the dragons.

And then,

-Welcome, Sejun.

“Please have one bottle each.”

Sejun handed the golden Samyangju to the dragons who welcomed him warmly.

-Kwahaha. Giving us each a bottle of golden Samyangju, our Sejun is indeed generous.

-Uhahaha. That’s right, it’s our Sejun after all.

-Pfhahaha. Indeed. Our Sejun is a big-hearted man.

-Drhahaha. Our Sejun truly has an excellent inner beauty.

Tier-nim, are you picking a fight?

While Sejun was contemplating whether to snatch Tier’s golden Samyangju,

-Kwahaha. Sejun, take this to your parents.

Kaiser took out a small box.

Click.

When Sejun opened the box he received,

“Oh!”

There was a black diamond the size of a fist.

Kaiser thought Sejun’s parents, who had raised him with great effort, were definitely weaker than Sejun. Therefore, he believed giving them wealth rather than good items was safer.

-Sejun, I also prepared a gift.

-I, too, prepared a gift for our Sejun’s parents.

-Sejun, I’ve prepared one too!

The other dragons handed boxes of jewels to Sejun.

Inside were transparent diamonds, red diamonds, and purple diamonds, each similar in size to the one Kaiser had given.

I was a bit nervous, but they gave such normal gifts…

“Thank you.”

Sejun packed the boxes, thanked the dragons, and came down from the fountain.

At that moment,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I, Vice Chairman Theo, am back, meow!”

Theo, who had sold all the crops at the Green Tower, returned.

“Good job.”

As Sejun petted Theo, who was clinging to his leg,

Ppyak!

[Uncle, I’m here!]

The final member going to Earth with them, Black Rabbit, arrived.

“Alright, everyone, gather around!”

Sejun called his companions to go down to the 1st floor of the Black Tower.

*****