Chapter 624. "Hey, Where Are You Going? How Am I Supposed to Get Home?"

 

Black Tower, 99th Floor

Clank.

As the portal to the 10th Tower opened—

Thud, thud, thud.

"Kihee-hee! Kking!"

[Hee-hee! The Great Victor Kamangi has arrived!]

Kamangi ran out proudly.

"I can't believe I lost to Kamangi, the fish with barely any bones..."

Following behind, Sejun trudged out, looking defeated.

It seemed his pride was hurt, having been beaten by Kamangi, whom he considered beneath him.

"Hehehe. But no matter what, I still hold the power over food."

Of course, he got over it quickly.

With his confidence restored, Sejun hummed as he went.

"Hmph hmph. Aileen, what do you want to eat?"

[The Tower Administrator says she wants pancakes today.]

"Pancakes? Got it."

He headed to the kitchen, chatting with Aileen as he prepared pancakes.

Chittering.

Snoring.

Gurgling.

…

…

The Kamangi family, who had just indulged in roasted sweet potato strips, dozed off in the sling bag, soon falling fast asleep.

A little later—

"Aileen, here. Enjoy your meal."

[The Tower Administrator says she’ll enjoy it.]

Sejun sent Aileen a stack of 30 pancakes.

“Ajax, here, have some pancakes too.”

He also sent a stack of 20 pancakes to Ajax, who loved them.

Just as he sat down to enjoy his own pancakes—

…

Suddenly, everything went dark, and it became hard to breathe.

"Puhuhut! Chairman Park, I’ve returned!"

Theo had latched onto his face.

"Finished early?"

As Sejun peeled Theo off his face, he asked.

"Puhuhut! Brinks is doing great, so I returned quickly, nyang!"

"Did you eat lunch?"

"Puhuhut! I didn't eat because I wanted to have lunch with Chairman Park, nyang!"

Theo stared intensely at Sejun.

‘What are you doing, nyang? Hurry up and grill me some fish!’

His eyes seemed to say.

“You still have the fish lunchbox I packed for you. Eat that.”

“No way, nyang! That’s for saving later, nyang!”

"You’ve got plenty of stashed snacks already."

"Those are for emergencies, nyang!"

"What emergencies?! Just eat it!"

“No, nyang! I want grilled fish, nyang!”

"Alright, fine."

As Sejun and Theo argued over lunch—

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Mom, it's lunchtime!]

Kuengi and Pink Fur were also having lunch in the herb field.

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Here’s a bite for you, Mom!]

Kuong.

Kuengi placed a rice ball in Pink Fur's open mouth.

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Now it's Kuengi's turn!]

Then, Pink Fur opened her mouth, feeding Kuengi a rice ball in return.

It was a peaceful lunchtime on the 99th floor of the tower.

 

Earthworm

"Oh! There's a lot today."

Bubble bubble.

After lunch, Sejun entered Earthworm through the dimensional portal, delighted to see countless Tears of Destruction forming in his image.

Thanks to Blaze's skillful maneuvering of Jormungandr's body, they had lured many Tears of Destruction into one spot.

“Hey there, everyone.”

As Sejun greeted the new group of Destruction Sejuns—

“Puhuhut! Chairman Park, I missed you, nyang!”

Theo, carrying the sling bag with Kamangi's family, crossed the portal and clung to Sejun’s knee.

“Puhuhut! Here’s Chairman Park, nyang!”

“Alright.”

Sejun took the sling bag from Theo and slung it over his shoulder again.

Then, after collecting 10 immature Creation God’s Tears that appeared as the existing Destruction Sejuns disappeared—

“Here you go.”

He sent the tears to Emilia right away.

[You’ve completed the quest 10 times.]

[Quest reward: You’ve obtained 50 drops of the Elixir of Great Growth.]

A glass bottle appeared in Sejun's hand.

He planned to distribute them generously: two drops each for his companions, and twenty drops for himself.

After dividing the elixir and giving two drops to Kuengi, he fed his allies and drank his own portion.

Of course, there was a bit of resistance along the way, but he managed with some coaxing and a little force.

"Hehehe. Think you can escape, fish-brain?"

Squeak…

[But I won earlier…]

Sejun felt a sense of triumph as he firmly subdued Kamangi, restoring his bruised ego.

While Sejun was busy planting seeds with the Destruction Sejuns after drinking the elixir—

"Sejun, sir, I have something to tell you."

Earth Dragon approached Sejun.

"What is it?"

“It’s about… well…”

Earth Dragon explained that Sejun had planted so many Destruction Devourers that now one-fourth of Earthworm's land was covered by them, restricting the movement of other Earth Dragons.

"I see…”

Though he hadn’t counted precisely, he guessed that the number of Destruction Devourers on Earthworm had exceeded 10 billion by now.

The mushroom ants had initially helped with the massive planting, and Sejun, along with the Destruction Sejuns, had continued planting diligently.

Considering how fast the Destruction Devourers reproduced, their numbers would only increase even more rapidly.

"There sure are a lot of them. Alright, I’ll find a solution.”

“Thank you. Also, be careful, there have been mysterious impacts outside recently.”

“Impacts? Thanks for letting me know.”

After wrapping up his conversation with Earth Dragon, Sejun pondered.

How should he deal with the Destruction Devourers?

And then—

"Oh, I can just send them up."

He came up with a plan.

Initially, he had planted the Destruction Devourers on Earthworm due to external circumstances, but there was no longer a need to keep them here.

“But I’ll need Kuengi for this…”

He needed a way to send the Destruction Devourers up into the sky.

“Actually, I have just the thing.”

Thump.

Proudly, Sejun opened a large box full of beans.

[Sky-Reaching Beans]

If eaten, they’d make one grow three centimeters taller. Sejun had saved up a large quantity, intending to sell them back on Earth someday to cover living expenses.

Though he was already quite wealthy, Sejun was always mindful of his future, wanting to ensure he’d never run out of resources.

With the Sky-Reaching Beans, he planned to send the Destruction Devourers outside of Earthworm.

“Vice-President Theo, could you ask Her to get 10 drops of Harvest Elixir from Rea?”

“Puhuhut. Of course, nyang!”

Theo quickly relayed Sejun’s request to Her.

[Quest initiated for Vice-President Park Theo from <Boss> Her’s Pawnshop: Accepted!]

Her promptly carried out the quest.

“Rea, I need 10 drops of Harvest Elixir!”

Her quickly located Rea, purchased the elixir, and delivered it to Theo.

[Quest completion reward: Her received 5 welfare points.]

Excited about the reward, Her found it a profitable exchange.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, here’s the 10 drops of Harvest Elixir, nyang!”

“Thanks.”

Upon receiving the elixir, Sejun began to plant the Sky-Reaching Beans.

Then, with the elixir applied, the beans sprouted rapidly, shooting up toward the sky.

“Come on up!”

Sejun had the Destruction Sejuns and Destruction Devourers latch onto the towering bean stalks, which stretched closer and closer to the heavens.

“World Tree, fire the Seed Cannon!”

[Yes!]

With a whoosh, the World Tree opened a path through the sky, allowing the bean stalks to rise seamlessly.

As the remaining Destruction Devourers climbed the bean stalks, they absorbed the dense energy of destruction, then released the essence of creation in return.

"Look carefully, this is how you do it."

Thunk, thunk.

[You Are the Field (Master) activates.]

[You have planted Destruction Pioneer seeds within Jormungandr’s body, designated as the 3rd Apostle of Destruction.]

Sejun demonstrated to the Destruction Sejuns how to plant seeds in Jormungandr’s body.

However—

The seeds they planted failed to sprout.

Due to the narrow rift between dimensions, Blaze had only lured the smallest Tears of Destruction.

The Destruction Sejuns, who had barely mastered the basics of magic planting and harvesting, could not use the You Are the Field skill.

“What?! You can’t do it?”

An unexpected obstacle.

“Fine. Then just focus on harvesting.”

Sejun began planting other crops within Jormungandr’s body to keep the Destruction Sejuns occupied.

Normally, he didn’t mind others resting while he worked, but watching the Destruction Sejuns, who looked exactly like him, laze around was another story.

As Sejun busily tended to the crops, the idle Destruction Sejuns tried to playfully attack him with awkward moves—

"Keehee-hee! Kking!"

[Hee-hee! The mighty Kamangi shall protect the master! Charge, everyone!]

Kamangi’s family easily subdued the Destruction Sejuns.

Thanks to the Great Growth Elixir, all of Kamangi’s family members had stats over 1000.

They also had superb combat sense, specialized combat powers, talents, and skills.

In contrast, the Destruction Sejuns, who only had farming-focused skills and poor combat sense, couldn’t hold up, despite having higher stats.

"Good job."

Sejun watched, satisfied, as the Destruction Sejuns were defeated.

But—

Keehee-hee! Kking!

[Hee-hee! Let’s punish them even more!]

Thud, thud.

“Hey! Stop hitting them already!”

Watching the Destruction Sejuns getting beaten down started to make him feel a bit sorry for them.

As time passed—

Kueng?

[Dad, why haven’t you finished work yet?]

Kuengi came looking for Sejun, wondering why he wasn’t done yet.

“Oh, has it gotten that late already?”

Kueng! Kueng!

[Yes! Kuengi’s belly clock rang five times already!]

“Is that so? You must be very hungry. Let’s head back quickly.”

As Sejun prepared to leave—

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, a blue energy began to fill the air around him.

“What’s this?”

It was a phenomenon that occurred when the concentration of creation energy built up.

The problem was that they were in a completely sealed-off area, and the space was saturated with the creation energy the Destruction Devourers had released.

“Will this be okay?”

Thinking it shouldn’t be as dangerous as the time Earthworm evolved, Sejun dismissed it lightly.

But then—

Rumble.

Boom!

Earthworm shifted, bursting out through Jormungandr’s mouth.

The buildup of creation energy had pushed Earthworm out.

“Hey, where are you going? How am I supposed to get home?”

Sejun watched Earthworm drift away, looking bewildered.

“No, wait. As long as I have Bepbep, I can make another portal! Vice-President Theo, where’s Bepbep? Is he on my back?”

Quickly recovering his composure, he began searching for Bepbep.

But—

“Nyah?! Bepbep just went to the bathroom, nyang!”

“What?!”

“Where…?”

“Over there, nyang!”

Theo pointed with a paw toward where Earthworm was vanishing.

Bepbep was drifting away with Earthworm.

“No! Bepbep, come back!”

Sejun called desperately.

Just then—

"Puhuhut! Chairman Park, no worries, nyang! We can use Kaiser’s Bracelet to return, nyang!”

“Oh. Right.”

He’d forgotten about the Dragon’s Return Bracelet.

Feeling a bit sheepish, Sejun returned to planting crops as if nothing had happened.

Another peaceful day for Sejun’s family.