Chapter 249: All My Questions Have Been Answered, Meow!
ChuChu!
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Really?"
ChuChu!
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. I'll wait with you."
Iona spent her time keeping Chuchu company, who was waiting for Black Rabbit to return from investigating a murder case.
However,
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. So, what happened?"
ChuChu!
Engrossed in their conversation, the two soon forgot the original intention of waiting for Black Rabbit, falling into a world of endless chitchat. They talked through the night, breakfast, and lunch, thoroughly enjoying their gossiping.
Ppyak!
With the Black Rabbit, having solved the murder case with Sejun's help, came looking for ChuChu.
And then,
Ppyak!
ChuChu!
The two happily went off to sleep together.
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. I should go to sleep too."
Left alone, Iona decided to find Theo for a good night's rest.
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. It's that way."
Following the tracking magic she had placed on Theo, Iona made her way to him.
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. There's Theo!"
From a distance, she spotted Theo, busy selling sweet potatoes to a large crowd.
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. I need to hurry and sleep!"
With that thought, Iona quickly approached Theo.
But then,
"Kyoot?! This is an immense power!"
Iona sensed an enormous surge of energy nearby.
"Ppyak! Sejun is in danger! Power of magic, follow my command and block all impact! Force Shield!"
Realizing the source of this immense power was Cuengi, who Sejun was holding, Iona hastily cast a spell to protect Sejun.
Zing.
Fortunately, a cylindrical shield enveloped Cuengi just before his power exploded.
Kruuueng!
At the same time, Cuengi stretched out grandly.
Just a moment's delay could have been disastrous. Sejun was saved from an explosive fate.
And then,
Flash!
An intense red light burst from Cuengi's body,
Kwaang!
and the red energy shot up into the sky.
Iona hadn't had enough time to complete a spell that could fully contain Cuengi's power. She smartly made a hole in the top of the Force Shield, directing Cuengi's power upwards, successfully preventing any damage to the surroundings.
Well, there was a little damage.
"Chairman Park, wake up, meow!"
"......"
Sejun, who had fainted due to the shockwave erupting into the sky, was saved by his Black Dragon tattoo once again.
"That was close, meow!"
Squeeze.
Theo used a black dragon scale to imprint a tattoo on Sejun's body,
Slap. Slap.
and slapped Sejun's face with his front paws to heal the unconscious Sejun.
Slap. Slap.
The sound was like a slap, but it was actually healing.
***
Slap. Slap.
"Hmm..."
Sejun regained consciousness, feeling something hitting his face.
Slap. Slap.
"Chairman Park, are you awake meow?!"
Theo, who was treating Sejun, spoke with a relieved voice as Sejun regained consciousness.
"Yeah. But why did I faint... Ah! What about Cuengi?!"
Sejun, recalling the moment just before he fainted, hurriedly got up and looked around.
Then,
Floating.
He found Cuengi floating about 1 meter off the ground, emitting a faint red light.
Kurorong.
Seeing Cuengi snoring, it seemed there was no immediate danger.
"Is Cuengi okay?"
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes. He's in a light sleep state to adapt to the sudden increase in power. It's fine as long as you don't touch him."
Responding to Sejun's query, Iona, who was on Theo's tail, answered.
"Really? That's a relief."
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. But it's still dangerous here, so we should return to the White Castle!"
"Okay. But how do we move Cuengi? You said not to touch him."
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. That's easy. If Sejun moves, he'll follow automatically."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Just start moving and you'll see."
Not fully understanding what Iona meant, Sejun nonetheless did as she suggested and started moving.
And then,
Whoosh.
Cuengi followed Sejun. Even in his sleep, Cuengi subconsciously made sure not to separate from Sejun. Following daddy!
Thanks to this, it seemed possible to move Cuengi to White Castle as long as they moved slowly enough for Cuengi to follow.
"Let's go then."
As Sejun was about to leave with Cuengi for White Castle,
"Chairman Park, you go ahead, meow! I'll stay and collect the money from Uren!"
Theo decided to stay behind to collect Sejun's money.
"Okay, got it. I'll go ahead then."
"Understood, meow! I'll bring a lot of money, meow!"
"Just don't overdo it."
After Sejun left,
"Uren, wake up, meow! Pay and then go back to sleep, meow!"
Slap. Slap.
Theo slapped the unconscious Uren's face with his front paws, using his healing skill again.
***
"Is Cuengi following well?"
On his way to White Castle, Sejun looked back to check if Cuengi was following properly.
Floating.
Cuengi was still following obediently.
"That's really amazing."
Kurorong.
Cuengi, clearly asleep, was still following him closely.
"Hehehe. But our Cuengi is really cute."
Sejun admired the peacefully sleeping Cuengi. As cute as he usually was, Cuengi looked the cutest while sleeping.
"Ah, I want to touch him."
It was tempting to touch Cuengi's chubby cheeks... but he couldn't. It was quite frustrating.
As Sejun continued towards White Castle, occasionally checking that Cuengi was still following,
Suddenly,
Ppak!
[Sejun~nim]
Coco, who had gone to the Black Rabbit and then returned to Sejun, ran up to him.
"Yes, did you deliver the land deeds to Black Rabbit?"
Ppak! Ppak!
[Yes! And the king asked me to give this to you.]
Coco handed Sejun a land deed.
[Purple Tower 80th Floor Land Deed]
"This is from Purple Tower?"
Ppak! Ppak!
[It was mixed with the Black Tower's land deeds! The king believes Purple Tower is behind this incident and asked you to take revenge!]
"Got it, leave it to me."
Sejun decided it was time to teach Purple Tower a lesson for daring to attack Black Tower.
And with the Purple Tower land deed...
[To transport items under 100kg from Black Tower to White Tower, a transportation fee of 1 million Tower Coins is required.]
[Would you like to proceed with the inter-tower transport?]
"Yes."
He sent it to Ajax.
"Go! Ajax! Wipe them out with your breath!"
Sejun ordered Ajax to launch a breath attack on the 80th floor of the Purple Tower.
***
At a tavern in Rabbit City on the 55th floor of the Tower.
"Is it true that Golden Cat Theo, subordinate of the Black Dragon, is coming here for the wedding?"
"Yes, that's right! Theo is the elder brother of Black Rabbit, who's getting married. Of course, he'll come."
"Right! I heard that rumor and came here too."
Monsters in the tavern were drinking and talking. They were there on behalf of the five floor bosses from the 50th floor, hoping to receive the Black Dragon's Dragon Warrior Helmets.
"But will Theo meet us?"
"That's why I prepared this."
Thud.
A monster placed a hefty money pouch on the table.
Then,
Clatter. Clatter.
"Is it true?! A subordinate of the Black Dragon is here?!"
A hooded figure, sitting quietly, approached them to inquire.
***
Slap. Slap.
Kuik...
Uren, who had fainted, under Theo's healing started to regain consciousness.
"Uren, are you awake, meow?"
"Yes... Did you wake me up, Theo? Thank you."
"Puhuhut, you should feel honored to receive my healing, meow! Let's settle the payment quickly, meow!"
"Payment? Oh! Of course! Creta!"
Regaining his senses, Uren quickly called Creta, the deputy head of his Midas Trading Guild.
"Yes. Did you call for me?"
Creta approached at Uren's call.
"Meow?! Perfect timing, meow! Since Chairman Park won, pay up, meow!"
Theo extended his front paw towards Creta. Creta was the salesperson who had negotiated and written the contract was Creta.
"Yes. I didn't think Uren~nim would lose but... Here are 20,000 Tower Coins."
Creta took out the money from his pouch and handed it to Theo.
"The cost for the ingredients provided, for the carrots..."
Creta then calculated the cost for the carrots and sweet potatoes that came from Sejun's void storage.
"Here's the cost of ingredients, 5 million Tower Coins."
After finalizing the ingredient costs, Creta went back to organize the Food Fighter Competition venue.
And then,
"Puhuhut. Now let's settle our account, meow!"
Theo, with a gleam in his eye, turned to Uren.
"What account?"
"Yes, meow! First, hand over the prize for winning the food fighter competition, meow!"
Kuik?
Uren looked confusedly at Theo. The prize was already taken by Sejun.
"That wasn't the prize; it was unavoidably 'lost' in the process of saving Uren's life in an emergency, meow! So bring out a new prize, meow!"
Theo, inspired by Sejun's excellent performance, even though he had already secured two valuable items.
"My brother Cuengi is a very ferocious creature, meow! If he finds out he won the competition but didn't receive a prize, he'll be angry, meow!"
Theo threatened to obtain the prize.
"Ah, that's possible."
Uren was easily persuaded by Theo's almost unreasonable logic. No wonder Theo thought he was a pushover.
"Currently, I don't have a prize... then how about this..."
Uren touched the giant plates next to him.
Then,
Swoosh.
Where Uren paw touched, the plate started turning into gold.
"Meow?! How did you do that, meow?!"
Theo, surprised, asked Uren.
"Ah. I have the talent called 'Midas Touch', which can turn the weight of what I eat into gold."
An incredible talent to create gold, but it came with the consequence of tremendous bad luck.
That's why Uren usually surrounded himself with beings of strong luck to counterbalance his own misfortune.
"There's such a talent, meow?!"
"Yes. Here you go."
Uren responded, handing Theo ten giant golden plates.
"Uren, give me a few more gold plates, meow!"
As Theo put the golden plates into his bag, he asked Uren,
"Sure."
Swoosh.
Uren effortlessly created more golden plates.
Watching this, Theo realized,
"Meow! All my questions have been answered, meow!"
Theo finally understood all the unanswered questions about Uren. How someone with such terrible luck and poor business skills became a Legendary merchant.
'Uren is just a rich pig with a lot of money, meow!'
Being a Legendary merchant was just a hobby, and Uren was originally just wealthy.
"Puhuhut. Ulrich, I look forward to working with you, meow!"
"Yes! I also want to be friends with Theo~nim!"
Uren, who wanted to be close to Theo to counterbalance his strong misfortune, happily responded.
The golden paw that brings luck and the golden paw that creates gold. No one knew what changes this meeting would bring to the Black Tower.
But that was a story for another time.
"Puhuhut. Uren, make ten more gold plates, meow! If you make ten gold plates, I'll give you one of these, meow!"
Theo took out a Black Dragon scale and showed it to Uren.
"What is that?"
"With this, you can survive a near-death experience once, meow! Thanks to this, weak Chairman Park has saved his life several times, meow! It will also help someone unlucky like you, meow!"
"Really?! I'll buy ten of them!"
"Puhuhut. Then give me 100 gold plates, meow!"
"Okay!"
Thus, Theo filled his bundle with gold from the food fighter competition prize and by selling the Black Dragon scales.
"Meow meow meow."
Puhuhut. Chairman Park will be happy to see the gold, meow! Thinking of Sejun's joy at seeing the gold, Theo happily hummed a tune as he ran towards White Castle.
*****