Solo Farming In The Tower

Chapter 21: Making Dried Sweet Potatoes

TL: Hanguk

“Line up, meow!”

Theo had the female hunters line up and took a picture with each of them.

“Give me my reward, meow.”

After taking the picture, Theo stretched out his front paw and said.

“Oh my! Look at this pink paw.”

Catherine was mesmerized as she gently touched Theo’s front paw. Theo was a bit uncomfortable, but he waited because he had to receive compensation from this human.

“Here.”

Catherine handed over a bag containing white powder.

“What is this, meow?”

“It’s salt.”

“Good, meow.”

Theo quickly put the salt in his bag.

‘Puhuhut. With this, I secure one hour of Theo’s representative time, meow.’

At that moment,

“Theo, take this too. I feel healed thanks to you.”

Catherine handed Theo a packet of Churu that she had brought with her.

“You’re giving this to me for free, meow?”

“Yeah, you let me touch your paws.”

“Gasp! Was that it, meow?!”

Theo was greatly shocked by Catherine’s words.

‘Humans give food even if you let them touch your paws, meow.’

“Next human, come, meow.”

Theo took a picture with the next human in line.

Click.

While taking the picture, Theo subtly placed his front paw on the female hunter’s hand.

‘Hurry up and touch it, meow.’

Following Theo’s intention, the female hunters who took a picture with him couldn’t help but touch his front paw as if they were bewitched, and they offered Churu just as Catherine had done earlier.

“Puhuhut. Are my paws that attractive to humans, meow?”

Theo licked his front paws clean and said.

‘Puhuhut. With this, Park Se-jun’s lap is mine, meow.’

Thanks to the female hunters, Theo had a huge misunderstanding.

“My status…”

Kim Dong-sik, who had loudly claimed he would take 200 Magical Cherry Tomatoes home, had his shoulders slumped.

At that moment,

“Is there any human from Korea here, meow?”

Theo, who had finished the photo time with the female hunters, shouted.

“Korea?”

“The leader is Korean.”

The hunters looked at Kim Dong-sik.

“Human, did you come from Korea, meow?”

Theo approached Kim Dong-sik.

“Yeah, I came from Korea. Why?”

“I have something to talk about alone, meow. Follow me, meow.”

Theo took Kim Dong-sik to a secluded spot where other hunters couldn’t eavesdrop.

***

Morning of the 160th day of being stranded .

“Yawn.”

Se-jun yawned as he woke up. He didn’t sleep well last night. The rabbit couple had finally done the deed last night.

Swoosh.

He added a mark on the wall and started his day.

He scooped some water from the small pond, washed his face quickly, and added 2 tablespoons of honey into the tumbler to make honey water.

Since flowers had started to bloom on the 732 Cherry Tomato trees a few days ago, the number of flowers from which the bees could suck honey had increased.

Yesterday, five new baby honeybees were added, and the amount of honey production increased dramatically, so there was more honey being produced than consumed even when drinking it daily.

Sigh…

Sigh…

The baby rabbits came out of their burrow and greeted Sejun with a weak voice in the morning.

“You guys couldn’t sleep either? Let’s just let us singles drink the honey water.”

Yay!

Yay!

The baby rabbits handed over the carrot cups they had prepared beforehand.

Gulp gulp gulp.

“Really, you must not betray. Got it? You lifelong singles are my only hope.”

Sejun poured honey water for the rabbits while saying this. However, the rabbits seemed to feel burdened by Sejun’s words, and left with only their honey water.

Yuck!

Only the black rabbit remained, taking a sip of honey water and performing a bottoms up with the cup before offering the carrot cup again.

“That’s right, Black Rabbit, I trust you.”

Gulp gulp gulp.

Sejun poured a full carrot cup of honey water for the loyal Black Rabbit. But the black rabbit also took another cup of honey water and just left.

Tsk.

Sejun’s mouth soured at the rabbits’ betrayal.

Gulp. Gulp.

So, Sejun resolved the bitter taste of betrayal with honey water and began his morning farming.

Pop.

[You have harvested a well-ripened Magical Cherry Tomato.]

[Your job experience increases very slightly.]

[Harvesting Lv. 3 proficiency increases very slightly.]

[You have gained 12 experience points.]

“Wow, E+ grade.”

Sejun set aside the E+ grade cherry tomatoes. He did this because the E+ grade had a longer shelf life than other E grade cherry tomatoes, which he could eat later.

Or he thought he could get a better price if he sold them through Theo. There’s nothing wrong with having a longer shelf life.

As Sejun was harvesting cherry tomatoes, he began to smell something burning.

“I need to take them out soon.”

Sejun was grilling sweet potatoes for lunch. He couldn’t forgive what the rabbit couple did at night, but he still wanted to give them a treat since they had worked hard.

The treat here was limited to recently harvested rare grilled sweet potatoes.

And as the smell of grilled sweet potatoes ripened, Sejun began to take them out.

But there were quite a lot to take out. A whopping 50 grilled sweet potatoes. No matter how much the rabbit couple needed a treat, it was too many.

Then

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbit couple came out of their house happily.

“Let’s eat!”

Yay!

Yay!

At Sejun’s shout, the rabbits rushed to eat lunch.

Squeak…

Yay…

The rabbits ate their fill of grilled sweet potatoes and lay down with their bellies full. The rabbits ate 3 grilled sweet potatoes. They tried their best, but they couldn’t eat as much as they did with carrots.

“Ah, I’m full.”

Sejun also ate 2 grilled sweet potatoes and got up from his seat.

[The Tower Administrator asks if the remaining ones are all mine.]

“I already gave you 5 earlier. I have separate plans for these.”

[The Tower Administrator is disappointed.]

“Wait and see. I’ll let you eat something new.”

[The tower administrator nods at your words and looks forward to it greatly.]

Sejun talked to the tower administrator and then peeled the remaining roasted sweet potatoes.

And then,

“Can you cut this for me?”

Sejun asked the white rabbit holding a sickle to cut the roasted sweet potatoes into pieces about the size of a pinky finger.

The black rabbit was asked to lay the sliced sweet potatoes on dried leaves without stacking them.

“Now all we have to do is dry them well.”

The roasted sweet potatoes were basking in the warm sunlight, turning into dried sweet potatoes.

***

75th floor of the tower.

Theo arrived at the merchant district where the wandering merchants’ headquarters were located. This time, he wasn’t here to play but to run errands for Sejun, who asked him to buy a few things.

“Pot, ladle, bowl, spoon, dagger. Pot…”

Theo walked through the shopping area, muttering the items Sejun asked him to buy, so he wouldn’t forget. Sejun, who didn’t trust the gullible Theo, only asked him to buy the five most essential and inexpensive items first.

“Welcome.”

Theo entered a general store, picked up the necessary items, and brought them to the store owner.

“The pot is 1 Tower Coin, the ladle 0.2 Tower Coins, the bowl 0.3 Tower Coins, the spoon 0.1 Tower Coins, so the total is 1.6 Tower Coins.”

“Give me a discount, meow.”

“Hmm…then I’ll give it to you for 1.5 Tower Coins.”

“Discount more, meow.”

“Customer, we’re giving it to you at the lowest price we can.”

“I understand, meow.”

Theo responded and then promptly turned to leave without hesitation.

“I give up. I’ll give it to you for 1.3 Tower Coins.”

“1.2 Tower Coins. Or I’ll just leave, meow.”

“Sigh. Fine, 1.2 Tower Coins.”

“Here, meow.”

Theo purchased the items and left nonchalantly.

However,

Thump! Thump!

Theo’s heart was beating intensely.

“Phew. I did it, meow.”

Sejun had instructed Theo to haggle at least three times as a minimum precaution against being a sucker.

As soon as the opponent quotes the price, ask for a discount, and if they refuse, leave without hesitation. If they hold you back, haggle more and buy after a total of three discounts.

Following Sejun’s instructions, Theo went to the blacksmith and also tried haggling three times, eventually buying a 20 Tower Coin dagger for 13 Tower Coins.

“Puhuhut. Now I’m a wandering merchant who knows how to haggle, meow.”

As Theo was about to head to the 99th floor, feeling proud,

“This is an item from outside the tower.”

“From outside?!”

“Yes. If you take this to the upper floors…”

He heard a familiar voice.

When Theo turned his head, there was the goblin wandering merchant Skaram trying to cheat another rookie fox wandering merchant.

‘That bad guy…!’

“Don’t believe Skaram’s words, meow. That guy is a scammer, meow.”

Theo interfered with Skaram’s scam to prevent the new wandering merchant from being fooled like he was. Sejun had prevented Theo from being a sucker in their transactions, but he hadn’t anticipated Theo’s meddling.

“What?! Do you have any evidence that I’m a scammer?!”

Skaram looked at Theo with momentary confusion, but quickly raised his voice and yelled.

“He must have said that the tumbler had preservation magic on it, right? Don’t believe him. This tumbler only blocks contact with the outside and prevents heat transfer, causing the temperature to drop slowly.”

Theo recalled Sejun’s words and spoke confidently.

“Prove it…”

As Theo’s words were correct, Skaram backed off, thinking the deal was off this time.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn’t fall for the scam. What’s your name?”

“My name? I’m Theo.”

“Oh, so you’re Theo. Thank you so much for your help.”

“Yeah, be careful. Don’t be a sucker.”

“Okay. Goodbye.”

Theo saved a potential victim and happily went up to the 99th floor.

In the merchant area where Theo disappeared, the rookie fox wandering merchant entered a store in a quiet alley.

“Welcome. What can I get for you?”

“Eternal Gold.”

The rookie fox wandering merchant bypassed the store owner and pressed a shield hanging in the corner.

Clink.

The shield slid back, revealing a staircase leading underground.

As they went down the stairs, they saw bustling merchants.

“Agent Jeras, how did the operation to arrest Skaram go?”

“I’m sorry. It failed.”

Jeras, a member of the secret inspection bureau of the wandering merchant association, was on a mission to capture Skaram, who was scamming rookie wandering merchants, by disguising as a rookie merchant and catching Skaram in the act.

‘If it wasn’t for that guy!’

Gritting his teeth, Jeras thought of Theo.

“Hehe. Just thinking of Skaram’s embarrassed face makes me feel good.”

Unknowingly, Theo had ended up helping Skaram.

***

A luxury foreign car arrived in front of an apartment in Bucheon.

“Is this Sejun’s house?”

Kim Dongsik recalled his conversation with Theo.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Let’s make a deal.”

“A deal?”

Theo took out a contract. The contract made in the Tower was also enforceable outside, making it a commonly used method of trading.

Kim Dongsik examined the contract, which contained content Sejun had already prepared.

“Deliver 50 million won to Park Sejun’s family at New World Apartment 305, Building 701 in Sosa-gu, Bucheon…?”

“That’s right. And you have to tell Sejun’s family that he’s doing well. The reward is 200 Magical Cherry Tomatoes and 50 Tower Coins.”

Theo took out the cherry tomatoes he had set aside.

“I’ll do it!”

Kim Dongsik, who needed 200 Magical Cherry Tomatoes, shouted.

“But who is Park Sejun?”

“Park Sejun is an amazing man! He saved my life on the 40th floor. That’s why I’m running errands for him.”

Theo’s conversation was scripted with Sejun.

“What?! The 40th floor?”

Thus, the rumor of an unofficial genius hunter who reached the 40th floor was created.

‘If I become friends with such a hunter’s family… it will be helpful later.’

Kim Dongsik took out a Korean beef set from the trunk and entered the apartment.

And then

Ding-dong.

Kim Dongsik pressed the doorbell of Sejun’s house.

*****