abcnovels
Chapter 7: Rebellion
Chapter 7: Rebellion
TL: Hanguk
Se-jun put the harvested cherry tomatoes in his mouth without even washing them. There was no need to wash them, as there was no fine dust or pollution in this place.
With a crunch, as he chewed on the ripe, red cherry tomato,
Splash!
The skin of the cherry tomato split, and the juice inside sprayed like a mist in his mouth. It was a perfect harmony of flavors that couldn’t be described in words.
Bang! Bang!
The sour and sweet bombs exploded like fireworks at a festival, alternating and confusing his taste buds.
“Wow.”
Only an exclamation came from Se-jun’s mouth.
Without a word, Se-jun continued to chew on the cherry tomato and savored the taste until it disappeared.
[You have consumed a Magical Cherry Tomato.]
[You have broken down 10g of fat, increasing your magic power by 0.1 for 10 minutes]
A message appeared saying that his magic power had increased, but it didn’t matter.
Se-jun put another cherry tomato in his mouth and continued the feast.
Squeak?
Seeing Se-jun’s reaction to the cherry tomatoes, the husband rabbit picked up a cherry tomato, tilting his head.
‘Is it that delicious?’
The cherry tomato was quite big for the rabbit, so it couldn’t put it in its mouth in one bite like Se-jun.
Gulp.
So, the rabbit bit into the cherry tomato. Then, the juice began to overflow through the hole in the skin.
‘What a waste of food!’
Slurp.
The husband rabbit, flustered, sucked the cherry tomato juice so it wouldn’t spill. Wasting food was a sin.
“…!”
‘This taste?!’
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
The husband rabbit began to suck on the cherry tomato as if he was bewitched.
And
Squeak?
Squeak?
Seeing their father’s actions, the baby rabbits each picked up a cherry tomato and started to suck on them.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
For a while, only the slurping sounds could be heard inside the cave.
***
The group committed a grave sin by eating cherry tomatoes excluding the wife rabbit. This sin was particularly concentrated on the husband rabbit.
Squeak Squeak
The husband rabbit rubbed his body against his sulking wife rabbit as she prepared dinner, trying to be affectionate. However, the wife rabbit completely ignored her husband’s charm and turned her head away.
Squeak…
The husband rabbit looked at Se-jun with a sad expression, asking for help.
‘Hang in there.’
Se-jun, who had never seen a good outcome when getting involved in a couple’s quarrel, clenched his fist and showed a fighting pose, refusing to help the husband rabbit.
A pleasant mealtime.
Lunch consisted of piranha, cherry tomatoes, and grilled green onions. Even though there was only one more menu item, the meal felt much richer.
The wife rabbit placed a variety of food on each leaf plate and placed it at everyone’s seat.
Squeak?
The husband rabbit protested quietly to his wife when he saw only grilled green onions on his plate.
Squeak!!!
Although he couldn’t understand them, it seemed like she said, ‘Just eat it!!!’ In the end, the husband rabbit failed to calm his wife’s anger.
Squeak…
‘Poor guy.’
Se-jun secretly gave some of his food to the heartbroken husband rabbit.
Squeak.
The husband rabbit sent a grateful glance to Se-jun and quietly disappeared.
And while tearing the flesh stained with piranha thorns in the corner of the cave,
Squeak?
The husband rabbit met the eyes of his wife rabbit who approached thinking he was crying.
“…!”
“…!”
As a couple, they communicated with their eyes.
Where did you get that?
From Sejun.
The husband rabbit pointed at Sejun with his eyes.
‘Traitor!’
How could you expose that!
Shortly after, he didn’t know what had happened, but the two rabbits were arguing and causing a scene, glaring at each other.
Indeed, Sejun learned once again the lesson that one should not intervene in a couple’s fight.
***
After having lunch, Sejun started picking cherry tomatoes again. Fully ripe cherry tomatoes appeared in a few hours.
[You have acquired well-ripened magical cherry tomatoes.]
[Your job experience increases slightly.]
[You gained 10 experience points.]
…
..
.
He picked 67 cherry tomatoes in the afternoon. He harvested a little more than in the morning. He leveled up once more to level 5.
For the bonus stats, he raised his strength and stamina by 2 each. Strength and stamina are most important for farming.
The harvested cherry tomatoes were stored in a storage room he made in a cool corner of the cave. The storage room was made by digging a pit in a cool corner of the cave and laying leaves densely so that dirt wouldn’t enter.
Sejun transferred the cherry tomatoes into a plastic container and
Squeak!
The father rabbit moved two cherry tomatoes, carrying them on his side.
And then,
Squeak!
Squeak!
The baby rabbits, looking at their father with admiring eyes, carried one cherry tomato each and moved them to the storage room.
“One, two, three… one hundred and five.”
The total harvested cherry tomatoes were 120, but after eating 15, there were 105 left.
Seeing the stack of cherry tomatoes, a sense of pride surged again.
“Hehehe.”
As Sejun chuckled and returned to his spot,
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple were pushing the playful young rabbits into their burrow to prepare for the night.
“Well, another day’s work done.”
Watching the rabbits, Sejun also prepared for bed.
Pat pat.
He gathered dirt to make a pillow and
Thump! Thump!
He pounded the dirt to make a sleeping spot and laid sun-dried leaves on the floor to prevent dirt from coming up. It was a somewhat ergonomic dirt bed with 75 days of know-how.
“Ah, this is nice.”
When he lay down on the leaves, he could feel the warmth from the sun-dried leaves.
“Another well lived day. Park Sejun.”
As he praised himself and tried to wrap up his day,
[A quest has been issued.]
[Quest: Offer 100 harvested Magic Cherry Tomatoes to the Tower Manager.]
Reward: 1 job skill
If refused: death
Sejun angrily sat up.
“What do they expect me to eat?!”
And at least give a decent reward!
Sejun had no expectations for the reward after receiving the seed-sowing job skill.
But he couldn’t refuse either.
‘I can’t die.’
“Here.”
Sejun offered the magical cherry tomatoes with tears, reluctantly.
[You have completed the quest.]
[The tower manager is satisfied.]
[As a reward for completing the quest, you have acquired the job skill – Harvesting Lv. 1.]
“Ah! Seriously!”
Why do I need a skill for harvesting?!
As expected, there was no answer.
He didn’t bother to check the skill. Even if there was a slight increase in something, it would only make him angrier.
“It’s only me who loses by getting angry…”
Sejun calmed himself down and lay down again. He closed his eyes, planning to sleep, but within a second…
Snores.
Sejun fell asleep.
“No… my… tomatoes…”
Even in his dreams, Sejun tried his best to protect the cherry tomatoes.
****
“Yawn!”
Swoosh.
Sejun, who had just woken up, drew another stick on the cave wall.
In front of it, there were 16 ? (line) marks.
Day 82 of being trapped in the tower had begun.
There was a lot to do this morning. He had to harvest cherry tomatoes from the 8 cherry tomato trees he planted later and water the cherry tomato trees he harvested earlier.
Especially since he needed to gain experience, cherry tomato harvesting was solely Sejun’s responsibility.
Snap.
Sejun picked a slightly green cherry tomato.
[You have harvested a slightly unripe Magic Cherry Tomato.]
[The effect of Harvesting Lv. 1 turns the fruit into its optimal state.]
[Harvesting Lv. 1 proficiency slightly increases.]
[Job experience slightly increases.]
[You have gained 10 experience points.]
The Harvesting skill was more useful than he thought. The skill had the effect of turning slightly underripe or overripe fruits into their optimal state when harvested. Also, the proficiency increased with each harvest.
Thanks to the skill, he could harvest crops in their best condition, and even if he harvested underripe cherry tomatoes, he could still gain normal job experience.
The harvest was quick since there were only 8 trees. He harvested 50 cherry tomatoes from the trees.
“Guys, let’s eat some cherry tomatoes.”
Squeak!
Squeak!
At Sejun’s words, the baby rabbits who were watering the cherry tomato trees rushed over.
The baby rabbits, who were already a month and a half old, had grown a lot thanks to eating well, and now they were as tall as the husband rabbit’s shoulder.
Pop.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
The baby rabbits began sucking the juice from the cherry tomatoes.
“Here you go.”
Sejun also handed one cherry tomato each to the working rabbit couple.
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple bowed their heads in gratitude.
Pop.
Sejun also put a cherry tomato in his mouth and bit into it.
Crunch!
“Ah, it’s so good.”
As the sweet and sour taste filled his mouth, he couldn’t help but exclaim.
Then,
[The tower manager urges you to complete the quest quickly.]
“I don’t want to. I’ll do it later.”
Since Sejun started harvesting cherry tomatoes, the quests given by the tower manager became increasingly greedy, with the number of cherry tomatoes requested growing constantly.
The rewards were not even good. After giving him the Harvesting skill, there had been no rewards.
It had been 5 days since he started offering cherry tomatoes.
[A quest has occurred.]
[Quest: Offer 500 harvested magical cherry tomatoes to the tower’s manager.]
Reward: None
Refusal: Death
As the tower’s manager demanded 500 cherry tomatoes, Sejun’s rage gauge reached its maximum.
‘This is crossing the line!’
500?! He can’t endure this every day!
“I refuse!”
Sejun finally released the anger he had bottled up in his chest.
His chest felt lighter, but his face turned pale.
And he quickly thought of a way to survive.
‘Ah! As long as I don’t reject the quest, I should be fine!’
“I’ll offer them later!”
[The tower manager is taken aback.]
That’s how Sejun was rebelling against the tower’s manager by postponing the completion of the quest.
And
[The tower’s manager is angry that you are eating the magical cherry tomatoes alone.]
“Then I’ll offer 5.”
Occasionally, when the tower’s manager was angry, Sejun would offer a few cherry tomatoes. The manager was still the tower’s manager, after all, and it wouldn’t do to be too hated.
[The tower’s manager will let it go this time.]
Sejun was engaged in this push and pull with the tower’s manager.
*****
Day 91 of the disaster.
The 4th Blue Moon was approaching.
Pee-eek!
Pee-ee!
The rabbit couple pushed their babies into the cave and covered the entrance with dirt to prepare for the Blue Moon.
Sejun also put out the fire and cleared away smelly things to prepare for the Blue Moon.
And this time, he prepared earplugs made from rolled-up leaves and magical cherry tomatoes to avoid passing out.
He had heard that having a higher magic power could withstand the monster’s roar, so in case a situation like last time occurred, he prepared the magical cherry tomatoes to slightly increase his magic power.
‘It would be best if nothing like last time happens.’
As Sejun was thinking that, the sunlight turned blue.
The Blue Moon had begun.
Soon after,
Ku-aaah!
Kya-ya-aa!
The roars of monsters excited by the Blue Moon could be heard from afar.
“Don’t come here! Don’t come here!”
An hour had passed like that, with Se-jun silently praying in his heart.
“Huh?!”
A mysterious phenomenon appeared before Sejun’s eyes.
A blue aura began to form on one of the cherry tomato plants. It was the energy of the Blue Moon.
The energy of the Blue Moon slowly moved along the stem to the cherry tomatoes and was absorbed by them.
And then,
“Wow.”
The cherry tomatoes turned blue. The sight of the Blue Moon’s energy being contained in the cherry tomatoes was mysterious and beautiful.
Sejun witnessed the entire process of the Blue Moon’s energy being absorbed by the cherry tomatoes for the first time.
‘I want to harvest them quickly.’
Sejun was eagerly waiting for the Blue Moon to end.
At that moment,
“Huh?!”
He saw the blue energy moving in the sweet potato vines as well.