Chapter 288: This Guy is as Weak as Chairman Park Used to Be, Meow!
Within the fragments of Jǫrmungandr, Fenrir was sealing the energy of destruction inside his body to avoid detection by the Black Tower.
"It's almost time!"
Fenrir was putting the final touches on the nearly completed sealing process.
A moment later.
Woong.
"Kekeke. It's done."
The core, with the energy of destruction sealed within, was completed.
Thanks to this, Fenrir's power was significantly weakened, but even the faint power leaking from the sealed core was much stronger than the power of the fragments of the Apostle of Destruction.
Thud.
"Ugh. This is a bit uncomfortable. I need to change my body."
His current body was made to withstand great power, making it difficult to move even a single step with his current strength.
Swoosh.
Fenrir reconfigured his body to match his weakened power.
"Just wait! You vermin of the Black Tower. I, Fenrir, the god-devouring wolf and the first seat among the Apostle of Destruction, will show you my terror! Kekekek."
As Fenrir was about to show the inhabitants of the Black Tower his terror with a sinister laugh,
Ting!
Something pierced through the gap in Fenrir's reconfiguring body and struck the core.
And then,
"Huh?!"
The shock caused Fenrir's core to be ejected from his body.
The attack that pierced through a moment lasting less than 0.00001 seconds and hit Fenrir's core was Theo's One-Meow Slash.
It was a stroke of luck for all beings in the Black Tower, but a misfortune for Fenrir.
However, Fenrir's misfortune was not over yet.
Ssss.
The ejected core of Fenrir continued to escape as the body of the Jǫrmungandr fragment turned to dust,
······
The vertical speed approached zero due to gravity, and it began to fall downwards.
Whine!
[Grr!]
Trying desperately to catch his core with his incredibly weakened body, reconfigured after the core was ejected,
Piyo!
Snap!
A tiny creature snatched it away.
Kking! Kking!!!
[Let it go! My core!!!]
As a result, Fenrir could only helplessly flail and watch as his falling core was beyond his reach.
Kking!
[I'll kill you!]
Thus, Fenrir expressed his rage and sent murderous intent towards the leader-looking creature among the tiny ones,
Squeeze.
"Puhuhut. &%#@"
The leader-looking creature let out a villainous laugh and spoke in an incomprehensible language, then stamped its front paw on something.
For Fenrir, who had lived for thousands of years, it was the worst misfortune in a very short period of less than 10 minutes.
The unluckiest day in Fenrir's life.
"Puhuhut. I've got a splendid subordinate, meow! Today, I, Vice Chairman Theo, am working hard as always, meow!"
Of course, for Theo, it was the best day.
And then,
Piyo?
[Theo~nim, I'm still above this guy, right?]
Piyot looked anxiously at Fenrir.
Somehow, it seemed highly probable that a higher-ranking officer had just been added.
***
99th Floor of the Tower, in the kitchen.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Sejun mixed freshly cooked fluffy rice with egg fruit and soy sauce using both hands to evenly blend the ingredients in a large bowl.
And then,
Press. Press.
He shaped the soy sauce egg rice into small rice balls with his hands,
Nom.
and put it in his mouth.
Munch. Munch.
"Hehehe. Delicious."
It would have been more surprising if it wasn't delicious.
Soy sauce egg rice is a fail-proof dish as long as the rice isn't weird or the eggs aren't spoiled.
"Is the soup ready?"
Sejun checked the egg soup made with fish bone broth,
Chop. Chop. Chop.
and added chopped green onions and Cheongyang chili peppers.
A moment later,
"Guys, it's time to eat."
Park Sejun called the animals,
Kueng!
Ook!
The animals, who had been waiting behind him for the cooking to be finished, cheered at the dining table.
A moment later,
Click.
"Cuengi, is it delicious?"
Sejun asked Cuengi, who had quickly emptied the bowl full of soy sauce egg rice and was offering the bowl back to him.
Kueng! Kueng!
[It's delicious! Dad is a genius!]
In response to Sejun's question, Cuengi, who was eating the soy sauce egg rice, excitedly praised the dish.
Doomchit doomchit.
Gungshil gungshil.
Cuengi, who was doing the butt dance and shoulder dance that hadn't been seen lately, showed just how delicious it was.
"Hehehe. Try the egg soup too. It tastes even better that way."
Pleased with Cuengi's reaction, Sejun packed the rice bowl full and handed it to Cuengi.
Kueng!
[Got it!]
Slurp.
Feeling a little thirsty, Cuengi gulped down the egg soup.
The egg soup Sejun made with Cheongyang chili peppers.
The spicy egg soup cleanly washed away the greasiness of the soy sauce egg rice, leaving a slight spiciness that stimulated the appetite once again.
At that moment,
Wap.
A mouthful of greasy soy sauce egg rice.
And then,
Slurp.
Another sip of the spicy egg soup.
An invincible combination that could be endlessly consumed.
Swoosh.
Cuengi's body shone brightly in gold from the tonic effect of the rice.
"Ah?! This isn't the time!"
Seeing the rapidly diminishing soy sauce egg rice and egg soup, Sejun hurriedly ate as well,
"Vitality."
He used a skill to quickly digest the food and eagerly continued eating.
[You have consumed 100,000 grains of rice.]
[The rice will have a Rice-as-Medicine effect].
[A total of 100 stats in strength, stamina, agility, and magic power will randomly increase.]
[You have gained 23 Strength, 9 stamina, 37 agility, and 31 magic power.]
...
..
.
Thanks to eating about 30 bowls of rice, activating the Rice-as-Medicine effect three times, strength increased by 53, stamina by 23, agility by 110, and magic power by 114.
A two-for-one effect of enjoying delicious food and becoming stronger.
'Cuengi, is this how you feel?'
Sejun, having finished the rice and now gulping down the egg soup directly from the pot, looked at Cuengi with envy.
***
75th Floor of the Tower, Merchant Street.
"Please give me 10 rainbow trouts."
"Each rainbow trout is 3 Tower Coins, is that okay?"
"What?! 3 Tower Coins?! Has the price of rainbow trout gone up that much?!"
The merchant who had entered an ingredient store was greatly surprised by the shop owner's words because the price had tripled since two weeks ago.
"You've been away for a while, haven't you? Seems like you went to some remote place."
"Yes. I was on a long-distance trade journey..."
"Then it's understandable why you're so surprised."
The shop owner showed understanding towards the merchant.
"Right now, the Red Ribbon Kingdom and the Kingdom of Kov are buying up not just ingredients but all sorts of goods in bulk, so the prices have skyrocketed."
"What? The Red Ribbon Kingdom and the Kingdom of Kov? Is it a war?"
The merchant asked with a nervous voice. If a war broke out, the risk of trading would increase.
Of course, with that risk, there was a lot to gain from trading, but one only has one life. It was better to earn a little less and be safe.
"Nope. They're holding a party to celebrate the first anniversary of the great Black Dragon. I'm not sure what the anniversary is about, but... By the way, can you continue trading with that kind of sense?"
The shop owner joked with the merchant.
However,
"Hahaha... Maybe it's time for me to quit."
The merchant, who had taken a big risk on a long-distance trade journey and suffered a great loss, couldn't laugh. The merchant looked downhearted at the shop owner's words.
"Hey, why is a young friend like you lacking confidence?! Cheer up! Instead, I'll give you some good information!"
Not wanting to lose a customer, the shop owner decided to give the young merchant some information.
"If you have something that needs appraisal, try visiting the branch of the Wizard's Association. They're appraising for free right now."
Currently, the Wizard's Association was under Iona's instructions, looking for a special item to gift to Sejun.
"For free?! Oh! I do have one thing, maybe I should go check it out?"
The merchant remembered an item he had obtained on the way back from his trading journey.
"Yeah! Give it a try. Who knows? What you have might be a tremendous treasure."
"Thank you. If it turns out to be a valuable item, I'll come here and sell a lot!"
"Sure. I wish you luck."
"Thank you!"
The merchant hurriedly ran to the branch of the Wizard's Association.
***
Toddle. Toddle.
"Where do you think you're running off to, meow?"
Kkiing!
'I am the noble wolf Fenrir!'
Snap.
Theo caught Fenrir by the scruff of his neck as he started walking in a different direction than told.
Kking! Kking!
'You bastards! Let me go!'
Fenrir struggled to escape, but without his core, he didn't have the strength to even move Theo's toe.
"But what is he saying, meow?"
Piyo!
[I don't understand either.]
Theo and Piyot couldn't understand what Fenrir was saying.
Kking?!
'What are you two talking about without me?!'
Fenrir felt the same way. The Apostle of Destruction didn't have a language. He just sent and received his intentions directly.
However, with the core gone, that ability vanished, and communication failed.
"Let's head out, meow!"
Kking!
Theo tied his front paw to Fenrir's with a rope to prevent him from escaping and went back down the tower.
Kking?! Kking!
How could this humiliation happen to me?! This is something dogs do! Fenrir tried to remove the rope tied to his front paw,
"Whiny, don't remove it, meow! (TL: So, Fenrir is making a "낑" sound, which resembles a dog's whining or whimpering. I have translated it as "Kking," and here, as Theo couldn't understand him, he named him "낑낑이," which again just represents the sounds. Therefore, I have decided to translate it as "Whiny".)
Eventually, having the rope around his neck only added to the humiliation.
Getting the odd name Whiny was a bonus. It seemed Theo's naming sense was similar to Sejun's.
Kking!
I won't go until this is untied! Initially, Fenrir resisted going,
Drag. Drag.
Kking! Kking!
Ouch! Hot! As he was dragged along, he eventually had to walk because his paws became hot from the dragging.
Toddle. Toddle.
Thus, the noble wolf Fenrir trudged on, crushing his pride.
But
Kking... Kking...
'These brats... How can they have so much stamina...' Fenrir got tired after just 10 minutes.
Kking... Kking...
I'm tired... Just leave me... Fenrir gave up the last of his pride as a noble wolf and lay sprawled on the ground in a 大 shape.
Drag. Drag.
"It's no use, meow! This guy is as weak as Chairman Park used to be, meow!"
Unable to speed up because of Fenrir,
Snap.
Theo carried Fenrir on his back,
Kking...
It's so soft and comfortable... Fenrir immediately fell asleep.
Gororong.
Unaware that his combat power was now rated below Sejun, officially the weakest on the 99th floor of the Black Tower.
Thus, with the sound of Fenrir snoring, Theo reached the 55th floor.
"Black Rabbit, come to Chairman Park's party, meow!"
The first one Theo sought out to invite to Sejun's party was Black Rabbit.
But
Ppyak?! Ppyak?!
[Uncle, isn't that too much?! How can you tell me about the party so late?!]
Black Rabbit, feeling slighted, complained to Theo.
"Meow?! What are you talking about? I told you first, meow!"
Theo was unaware that news of Sejun's 1st-anniversary event had already spread throughout the Black Tower.
Ppyak?
[Really?]
"That's right, meow!"
Ppyak?
[Then what's this rumor going around the tower?]
"Puhuhut. It's actually good, meow! I was planning to make Chairman Park's party grand anyway, meow!"
Ppyak! Ppyak!
[Me too! Since it's Uncle's 1st anniversary in the tower, we should have a party loud enough to shake the Black Tower!]
"Puhuhut. Great, meow! But where is the leader rabbit, meow?"
Ppyak? Ppyak?
[Leader Rabbit? Oh, you mean Dad?]
"That's right, meow! We have to invite him to Chairman Park's party, meow!"
Ppyak!
[Coco, take Theo to Dad!]
Ppak!
[Yes!]
At Black Rabbit's command, the leader of the guards, Coco, who had been hiding, showed himself.
Although Black Rabbit and Theo had already seen Coco despite his stealth, revealing himself had no real significance.
***
Day 364 of being stranded, dawn.
In Sejun's bedroom.
Zzzzz.
[Hehehe. He's fallen into a deep sleep.]
Flamie began to move her roots, watching Sejun snore in his sleep.
And then,
[Podori! Sejun~nim is sleeping, so now's the time to eat up and grow quickly!]
Flamie encouraged Podori to grow by giving it a lot of nutrients.
However,
[Huh? Flamie~nim, with the new member here, can I just fall behind?]
Podori, ignoring Flamie's sincerity, spouted nonsense.
[No. Don't worry. I will. Not. Let. You. Fall. Behind.]
Whooosh.
Flamie answered, creating flames with her roots. There's no falling behind, only death as an alternative.
[No! I'll follow to the end!]
Podori absorbed the nutrients given by Flamie with a do-or-die attitude, and
Boom.
With a small earthquake, Podori grew significantly.
*****
7/10