Chapter 480: It's gone?!

Black Tower Administrator's Area.

"Grandpa, you're here!"

When Aileen ran toward Kaiser and greeted him warmly,

'As expected, Aileen missed me too!'

Kaiser was moved by Aileen's warm welcome.

But then,

"Grandpa, do you know what a dragon fruit is?"

"Dragon fruit? I don't really..."

"Ah, never mind if you don't know."

It seemed that her affection was limited to grandpas who could tell her things she didn't know.

As soon as Kaiser answered, Aileen turned around to do her own thing.

"Ahem. My granddaughter, I've heard about dragon fruit from the elders in the past."

Startled by his granddaughter's sudden change in attitude, Kaiser quickly opened his mouth.

Then,

"Really?! Tell me!"

Aileen quickly ran back, massaging Kaiser's shoulders as she urged him.

"Kuhahaha. Alright, I'll tell you. Ahem. It was about when I was 300 years old..."

Kaiser, wanting to extend the massage from his granddaughter, started his story from 1,000 years before the actual time he heard about dragon fruit.

***

99th floor of the Black Tower.

"Alright. Now that I've finished my morning tasks, should I test this out?"

Sejun began putting on the Durable Spider Silk Camouflage Suit that Ggomi had made.

The Eomdol's Sturdy Dolsot made by Eomdol had proven its performance by making delicious and sticky rice in just 1 minute for lunch, and

The Well-Aged Golden Samyangju that Kkabi had made couldn't be tested because it required either over 1 million magic power or a being with divinity to use.

And the Orb of Death's Energy that Karurur had crafted, which supposedly prevented aging, would take some time to verify if it truly worked, since aging would only become noticeable as time passes.

104.28.193.250

Additionally, the Harvester of Death skill embedded in the Orb of Death's Energy had no suitable place to be used.

"Puhuhut."

"Vice Chairman Theo, get off for a moment."

Sejun tried to remove Theo off his lap to test the camouflage skill against Theo, Cuengi, and Flamie.

"I don't want to, meow! Absolutely not, meow!"

Theo immediately rejected the request.

Grab.

"Meow..."

In the end, Sejun forcibly separated Theo.

Sejun, after removing Theo like that.

"Instead, if you find me after 5 minutes, I'll let you follow me even to the bathroom."

Although he set a reward that seemed more like a punishment

"Puhuhut. Deal, meow! I will definitely find you, meow!"

Theo agreed happily.

Kueng?!

[What will Cuengi get if Cuengi finds you too?!]

Next to him, Cuengi, hearing the mention of a reward, looked at Sejun with expectant eyes and asked.

"If Cuengi finds me, I'll give you pocket money."

Kuhehehe, Cuengi!

[Hehehe. That's good!]

"And Flamie, is there something you want?"

[Hehe. Nope!]

Flamie answered Sejun's question cheerfully.

"Then... if Flamie finds me, I'll grant you one wish."

After thinking for a moment, Sejun spoke.

[Really?!]

"Yes. Now, it's your turn next, so wait. Theo, cover your eyes for 5 minutes."

"Got it, meow!"

At Sejun's words, Theo covered his eyes with his paws.

And so, the hide-and-seek between Sejun and Theo began.

5 minutes later.

"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I'm coming to find you now, meow!"

As soon as the game started, Theo didn't even bother looking around and ran straight in the direction where Sejun was hiding.

"I found Chairman Park, meow!"

He found Sejun, who was camouflaged and hiding among the corn, far too easily.

Even from a distance, Theo, equipped with the highly-sensitive Sejun-knee detector, capable of detecting Sejun's presence and even if Sejun's in danger, rendered the camouflage skill useless.

"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, now I get to follow you to the bathroom too, meow!"

Thanks to that, Theo was excited that he wouldn't have to be separated from Sejun, even when he went to the bathroom.

"Sigh. Fine..."

On the other hand, Sejun could only sigh.

Still, since I put purifying charcoal in the bathroom, I won't hear complaints about poop smell, right?

While Sejun was worrying about taking Theo with him to the bathroom,

Kueng!

[Now it's Cuengi's turn!]

Cuengi shouted excitedly.

However,

"Cuengi, I'll give you the pocket money. And Flamie, tell me your wish."

Sejun admitted defeat before it even started by giving Cuengi 1000 Tower Coins as pocket money and asking Flamie for her wish.

While Sejun was using his Camouflage skill and moving around during the 5 minutes that Theo had his eyes covered,

Kueng? Kueng?

[Huh?! Huh?!]

Both Cuengi and Flamie followed Sejun's movements with their eyes.

They can see everything...

[I'll tell you my wish later.]

"Alright, just let me know later."

Thus, Sejun failed his Camouflage skill test against the three.

"Alright, everyone, let's go!"

"Alright, meow!"

Kueng!

[Yes!]

Sejun put all three inside the camouflage suit and began moving.

And

Kkiyaam!

Sejun noticed Blackie, who had just woken up and was stretching and yawning lazily in front of the house.

Hehehe. My next prey... I mean, test subject spotted.

Step. Step.

Sejun, using the Camouflage skill, carefully approached Blackie.

Hehehe. He'll definitely scream 'Kkieeng!' in surprise!

"..Wo"

Just as Sejun was about to jump out and shout "Woof!" while imagining Blackie's startled reaction,

Kkihihit. Kking!

[Hehe. Butler! Give me food!]

Blackie barked towards Sejun first.

Ggomi, having sensed the suit she made coming closer, had hung onto Blackie's ear and told him the direction Sejun was coming from.

Tch. No fun.

"Here. Eat this."

Since Sejun had missed the opportunity for a fun scare, he instead fed Blackie and his subordinates the lunch leftovers he had saved for them.

A little while later.

"Alright, let's go again!"

"Puhuhut. Alright, meow!"

Kueng!

[Yes!]

Kkihihit.

After finishing the meal, Sejun put Blackie and his subordinates into his sling bag, wore them inside the camouflage suit, and set off again.

And

Kkwek?

Hehehe.

While camouflaged, Sejun secretly harvested the mushrooms growing on the backs of Mushroom Ants, and

"Sejun-nim's food really seems delicious."

"Yeah, I've never tasted anything that good in my life. I'll really miss it when we go back."

"But I wonder what will be for dinner tonight?"

"Sejun-nim is really generous, don't you think?"

"Totally. And he seems stronger than he looks. Even the Minotaur King is careful around him."

Hehehe.

He overheard praises about himself.

"What are you saying? That Park Sejun guy is such a pushover..."

There were also some guys who badmouthed him occasionally, but

"Cuengi, front paw."

Kueng!

Sejun had Cuengi slap the back of their head with his paw.

Thwack.

After finishing the Camouflage skill test(?) that way, Sejun went to see the Minotaur King.

"Minotaur King, give me special training!"

He wanted to test how well the Durable Spider Silk Camouflage Suit could distribute force.

Moo. Moo.

[Two fingers, 5 minutes. Let's begin.]

"Okay!"

With Sejun's agreement, the Minotaur King pressed down on him with two fingers.

And

[You've withstood an immense weight.]

[Strength has increased by 1.]

[Your body has endured tremendous pressure.]

[Stamina has increased by 1.]

"Ugh..."

Sejun was able to confirm the performance of the suit by enduring 2 minutes longer than the Minotaur King's expectation.

Though, thanks to the gear, the training effect was the same as if he had endured for the full 5 minutes.

"Performance fully passed."

Hehehe.

When Sejun finished testing the Durable Spider Silk Camouflage Suit and returned to the farm,

-Kuhahahaha! Sejun, have you been well?!

-Uhhahaha. Sejun! We've returned!

-Puhahahaha. Did you miss us?

-Dhahaha. Of course, we've been doing well!

The dragons from the Four Dragon Council, who had returned after dealing with Jǫrmungandr, the world-devouring serpent and 3rd seat of the Apostle of Destruction, came to visit Sejun.

"Did everything go well?"

-Kuhahahaha. Of course! Who do you think we are?! We're the great Dragon race! We handled it smoothly!

All nine dragons of the Dragon Clans had ganged up on Jǫrmungandr for five hours, yet Kaiser boasted proudly as if it was nothing.

Of course, this also meant that Jǫrmungandr's power, after releasing the 5th-level seal, was truly tremendous.

Releasing the 5th level seal was on a completely different level compared to the previous four seals.

At that moment,

-But where is this delicious smell coming from?

-Yeah, it smells stronger than the golden Samyangju!

-Does that mean it's even tastier?!

The excited dragon statues began sniffing around, looking for the source of the smell.

Originally, these dragon statues couldn't smell anything.

But after modifying each other's statues, they had gained the ability to smell.

"Ah. That smell is probably because of this."

Sejun proudly pulled out the well-aged golden Samyangju and showed it to the sniffing dragon statues.

He had already planned to sell this Samyangju to the dragons at an even higher price, as he couldn't drink it himself.

Hehehe. They'll definitely go crazy, fighting to buy it first.

Sejun imagined the dragons pulling out their money and fighting to buy the Samyangju.

"Huh?!"

This is bad! The label on the bottle still had Kkabi listed as Delia, the Apostle of Destruction!

He remembered too late that the description on the well-aged golden Samyangju mentioned this.

What should I do?!

Actually, our Blackie is an exorcist, so he exorcised the Apostles of Destruction...

As Sejun desperately racked his brain to figure out how to explain it to the furious dragons,

-Kuhahahaha! Sejun, I'll buy it all!

-What are you talking about?! I'm buying it all!

-No way! I'm buying it all!

-300 billion Tower Coins per bottle!

Completely ignoring Sejun's worries, the dragons were already pulling out their money, fighting to buy the well-aged golden Samyangju.

"Huh?"

What's going on?

Sejun was relieved, but something still felt off.

He quickly pulled out another bottle of well-aged golden Samyangju and checked the description.

What?! It's gone?!

He confirmed that all mentions of the Apostle of Destruction had been erased from the bottle's description.

It was the effect of the small miracle Sejun had unintentionally created.

The miracle Sejun had triggered didn't just affect Theo's golden boots, it had happened in various places at the same time.

"Phew."

Saved.

Thanks to this, Sejun was able to hide the true identity of Blackie's subordinates from the dragons.

Sejun, who had overcome a great crisis like that.

"Let's make it a bit more than 300 billion Tower Coins."

"Puhuhut. That's right, meow! Dragon-nims, spend more money, meow!"

With Theo's encouragement, Sejun ended up selling two bottles of well-aged golden Samyangju to each dragon at 500 billion Tower Coins per bottle, earning a total of 4 trillion Tower Coins.

Thanks to this, the dragons handed over all the Tower Coins they had earned from defeating Jǫrmungandr directly to Sejun.

And then,

-Kuhahahaha. HHere. Have a drink each! I'm giving you the honor of tasting the alcohol bought by a VVIP!

Kaiser, who had accumulated a total purchase amount of 5 trillion Tower Coins, became a VVIP of the Dragon Market and began teasing Kellion, Ramter, and Tier while sharing one of the bottles he had just bought.

Damn it! To think I have to watch Kaiser flaunt his status like that!

Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! I need to make money fast!

I feel bad, but it's so delicious!

Although they were annoyed by Kaiser's arrogance, the taste was too good for Kellion, Ramter, and Tier to leave.

***

Black Tower Administrator's Area.

"Kuhahahaha. So, do you know what this old man got for his 700th birthday?"

Kaiser had been drinking and talking non-stop about his old stories for six hours.

"Gran...d.p.a..."

Aileen, her patience completely worn out, called out to Kaiser in a cold voice.

"Kuhuhuhu. Yes, my dear granddaughter, did you call this old man?"

Kaiser, drunk on the joy of becoming a VVIP of the Dragon Market, teasing other dragons, drinking delicious alcohol, and chatting with Aileen, didn't notice that Aileen's mood had changed.

And

"Grandpa, you liar! You don't know anything about the dragon fruit!!!"

The result was his granddaughter's fiery outburst.

"Aileen, your grandpa isn't a liar! Let me tell you what I've heard about dragon fruit!"

Of course, being a doting grandfather, Kaiser, desperate not to lose his granddaughter's affection, began recounting a story he had heard about dragon fruit.

"A long time ago, among the ten dragons first created by the Creator God, when the first white dragon Kel-gas perished in battle... There's a legend I've heard that when the Creator God harvested the dragon fruit he had grown in tears, Kel-gas was revived."

"Really?! Then how do you grow dragon fruit?!"

"Grow it? Well, since the Creator God was the one who grew it, I wouldn't know. Ah, but they did say the Creator God was crying while growing it, so maybe it's the Creator God's tears?"

"......"

Silently, Aileen activated the portal and, using her administrator privileges, expelled Kaiser.

*****