Chapter 308: Call Me Hyung

Thud.

With a single word from Sejun, Ajax stopped his tantrum.

And then

Swoosh.

Ajax stood up.

"Grandpa..."

Obeying Sejun's command, Ajax, who had stood up, asked Kellion for help.

Since he was Sejun's slave, he had to listen to everything Sejun said.

However,

-Cough. Sejun-ah, please take care of it.

-Kahahaha. Sejun-ah, go easy.

Flap. Flap.

Leaving those words to Sejun, Kellion flew with Kaiser towards the fountain.

"Ha... Grandpa abandoned me!"

Ajax was shocked to be left alone as Kellion abandoned him.

And then,

"Waah!"

Without Kellion to heed his whining,

Drip, drip, drip.

Ajax could only shed tears like chicken droppings, his face clearly showing his fear of Sejun.

"Hey. Why are you crying? I'm not a bad guy."

Feeling like he had become the villain, Sejun started to soothe Ajax.

"Ajax, do you want to try eating this?"

Naturally, he tempted him with something he was confident Ajax would eat.

Pluck.

Sejun picked a Daebong persimmon from a nearby tree and offered it to him,

"Waah! Waah!"

Shake, shake.

Ajax shook his head while crying.

"Really? If Ajax doesn't eat it, then who will?"

Sejun pretended to ponder, putting on a show,

Kueng!

[Dad! Cuengi wants to eat it!]

Excited, Cuengi raised his right front paw and shouted. It looks delicious!

"Alright. Then it should be given to Cuengi."

Sejun said, glancing at Ajax,

"......"

Ajax had stopped crying and looked at the persimmon, conflicted.

How delicious must it be for him to want to eat it like that?

It was originally meant for me... Should I just say I'll eat it?'

He was swayed by Cuengi's enthusiastic reaction.

But,

'No! I have the pride of a dragon!'

As a noble white dragon, he couldn't show himself going from crying to smiling.

Thus, Ajax resisted Sejun's temptation.

'Ajax, can you really not eat this?'

Ajax had stopped crying, but now it was a matter of pride.

The one trying to feed and the one refusing.

'And this is my victory.'

Beside Sejun was Cuengi, who could eat anything deliciously, a budding mukbang[mfn]A mukbang or meokbang, also known as an eating show, is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience.[/mfn] star.

If Cuengi did a mukbang on Neotube, he'd easily gather 500,000 subscribers.

'If he even does his butt dance, 1 million might be possible, right? Hehehe.'

Sejun briefly daydreamed.

"Alright. Then, Cuengi, you eat this persimmon."

Snapping out of his daydream, Sejun handed the persimmon to Cuengi,

Kueng!

[Cuengi is so happy!]

Crack.

Cuengi first split the persimmon in half,

Slurp.

Chew, chew.

And started to deliciously eat the inside. Cuengi indeed knows how to eat.

Kueng!

[It's so delicious!]

Cuengi roared with happiness as he ate the persimmon.

'Suddenly, I want to eat it too.'

Seeing Cuengi eat so deliciously made Sejun salivate, imagining the taste.

Just then,

"Umm... I can eat it too..."

Ajax, who had quietly approached, gently grabbed Sejun's pants and said.

Eventually conceding to Cuengi's mukbang, Ajax raised the white flag.

"Really? Just a moment."

Pluck, pluck, pluck.

Sejun picked a handful of persimmons,

"Here. Eat."

One for Ajax, one for Cuengi, and one for me.

And then,

"Aileen, take theses."

He gave the rest to Aileen.

Slurp.

In the meantime, Ajax buried his face in the persimmon and ate it hurriedly.

"Huh. I've already eaten it all—."

He ate the persimmon quickly, looking regretful.

"Ajax, want more?"

"Yeah! This time, I'll help!"

Flap. Flap.

I have to make a good impression! Thinking to impress Sejun, Ajax flew towards the Daebong persimmon tree,

"Wind Cutter!"

He used magic to cut the stem connecting the persimmons with the wind.

And naturally, due to the law of gravity, the persimmons... fell to the ground.

About half of the persimmons on the tree fell to the ground.

Plop.

"No!"

Sejun despaired as he saw the persimmons hit the ground.

***

On the outskirts of destruction.

"This is taking a long time."

Halphas, who took over the command in place of Fenrir, looked at the Black Tower and said.

It was taking longer than expected for Fenrir's return.

"He couldn't have been caught, right?"

No. With Fenrir's personality, he would die before being captured. He must be lost somewhere.

Halphas thought so as he imagined Fenrir being lost.

He started commanding again.

At that moment,

"What's that?!"

The first calamity locust, at the forefront of the dimensions being eroded by destruction, noticed a dimension where it was unusually scarce.

It was Earth.

"I must take command myself."

Halphas's attention turned towards Earth.

***

Kking...

Inside Sejun's vest pocket, Fenrir, who had been curled up and sleeping, woke up.

Kking?

'Where is this?'

Peek.

Fenrir stood on tiptoes in the pocket, pushing his head against the edge of the pocket to look around.

Then,

"Ajax, watch. You just need to twist the stem like this."

Sejun was demonstrating how to pick persimmons in front of the Daebong persimmon tree to Ajax.

However,

"I know!"

Ajax showed irritation towards Sejun, who was demonstrating.

Because Sejun had banned the use of magic for farming in the future.

"What do you know?! Knowing so much you turned the persimmons into mush?!"

"Ugh... nagging!"

Ajax, not wanting to listen, covered his ears with his front foot.

"Nagging?! It's all for your own good!"

Of course, the price was Sejun's barrage of nagging.

Kking. Kking.

'He's really amazing. He even stands up to a dragon despite being weak.'

Fenrir watched Sejun scolding Ajax.

Then,

"Blackie, you're awake?"

Sejun noticed Fenrir poking his head out of the pocket,

"Just play around."

Chuck.

Sejun took Fenrir out of the pocket and placed him on the ground.

Sniff. Sniff.

Kking?

'But what's this smell?'

Fenrir, now on the ground, started sniffing himself intently.

And then,

Kking?!

'What is this?!'

Fenrir was shocked to discover the source of the smell. Why has my fur turned into dragon skin?!

As Fenrir was bewildered by the unbearable shame he had suffered,

"Puhuhut. Blackie, are you that moved, meow? It's all thanks to me, meow!"

Theo laughed beside him, turning Fenrir's stomach upside down.

Kking!

'Don't laugh!'

Angry, Fenrir lunged at Theo and

Bite.

bit him. But Theo's skin was also that of a dragon.

Crunch.

Kking?!

Instead, Fenrir's tooth came out.

"Puhuhut. Blackie, did your tooth fall out, meow? Puhuhut. Don't worry, meow!"

Gulp.

Theo grabbed Fenrir and ran towards the dragons drinking at the fountain.

To get Dragon Teeth. Puhuhut. I'll even replace your teeth, meow!

While Theo and Fenrir went to find the dragons,

"Alright. That's enough for today. Eat this and go to sleep."

Having finished the scolding, Sejun stood up with a bowl filled with a thick red liquid.

It was filled with the tops of the persimmons that Cuengi had telekinetically removed from the ground after Ajax caused them to fall.

"Hmph! I won't eat."

Ajax turned his head sharply, showing that he was sulking.

And then,

Kueng!

[Thank you!]

Cuengi was grateful for Ajax's refusal.

Because it meant he could eat more since Ajax wasn't eating.

"Okay. Then don't eat it. Ice Cube."

Sejun didn't insist any further and created ice, placed the Daebong persimmons on top, and mixed it with the ice until it had a crunchy texture.

It was a frozen persimmon slushie.

'Hehehe. This is so delicious.'

"Okay. Let's eat."

Kueng!

[Cuengi'll enjoy the food!]

Puk. Puk.

Sejun gave Cuengi a spoon and placed another spoon next to him, enjoying the frozen persimmon slushie together.

Though a message about an increase in accuracy appeared, neither Sejun nor Cuengi paid any attention to it.

And then,

Puk.

Ajax stealthily approached, took a spoon, and started eating the frozen persimmon slushie.

"Oh! It tastes even better cold!"

"Right? Eat a lot."

"Yeah! But, can I call you 'hyung'?"

Ajax, wanting to get closer to Sejun, asked. If you're giving delicious food, you're a hyung.

"Sure. Call me hyung."

Sejun happily allowed it.

"Got it! Sejun hyung!"

Ajax was overjoyed at Sejun's permission and began to eagerly scoop up more of the frozen persimmon slushie.

Thus, 500-year-old Ajax decided to treat 27-year-old Sejun as his hyung,

Kuengi?

[Then are you Cuengi's younger dad?]

Cuengi got himself a younger dad.

The three of them enjoyed the ice persimmon and fell asleep.

***

The next morning.

"Alright."

[During sleep, you have stored 10% of your life force.]

[The Life Orb is 0.6% complete.]

Sejun saw the message about storing life force when he opened his eyes.

'It went up a bit.'

Thanks to his stats increasing a lot recently, the completion rate of the Life Orb had been rising by 0.15% daily since yesterday.

Then,

Gororong.

Kiroorong.

Pirorong.

Sejun heard the sounds of animals peacefully sleeping.

And then,

Aroorong.

One more sound added. It was Ajax, who had come to the Black Tower yesterday.

Ajax boldly lay next to Sejun, wanting to sleep with his hyung.

As a result, Kaiser had to entertain an angry Aileen.

"Grandpa! I also want to sleep next to Sejun! Seal my power!"

Fortunately, Aileen went back disappointed when she heard that sealing her power would prevent her from polymorphing.

"Time to get up."

"Meow..."

As Sejun picked up Theo to carry him on his lap and was about to go outside,

"Hyung, where are you going?"

Ajax, waking up from his sleep, called out to Sejun.

"Yeah. I have something to harvest."

"Then I'll come too."

"Alright. Follow me."

"Yeah!"

Flap, Flap

Ajax flew up and followed closely behind Sejun.

And then,

"Oh! They've all grown!"

Sejun arrived at a walnut tree laden with walnuts.

Compared to the other nine walnut trees that had grown to the height of Sejun's chest, this one had grown significantly.

It was because Sejun had given it a drop of Harvest Elixir before going to bed last night.

It was intended as a gift for the returning rabbits.

"Okay. Let's harvest them."

Crack.

Sejun harvested the walnuts using his wooden shield like a net,

"Yeah!"

Ajax flew around, harvesting walnuts one by one with his front paws.

[You have harvested Walnuts of Training.]

[Your job experience has slightly increased.]

[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]

[You have gained 70 experience points.]

···

..

.

While Sejun and Ajax were diligently harvesting walnuts,

Then,

[You have harvested a Special Walnut of Training.]

···

..

.

"Uh?!"

He saw a walnut with a different name.

From the outside, there was no big difference between this walnut and the Walnuts of Training.

Sejun examined the Special Walnut of Training.

[Special Walnut of Training]

→ A walnut that rarely grows on walnut trees inside the tower, it is delicious due to being fully nourished.

→ This walnut has a harder shell than the Walnut of Training.

→ Every time you break its shell, your strength increases by 10.

→ Eating the walnut inside makes you feel fuller for longer than usual.

→ Grade: A

Unfortunately, it was not a new variety.

"How does it taste?"

Sejun applied force to his right hand holding the Special Walnut of Training.

Though it was harder than the Walnut of Training, Sejun's strength was nearly 800.

Crack.

The Special Walnut of Training easily broke apart.

And then,

[You have broken a Special Walnut of Training's shell.]

[Your strength increases by 10.]

As he saw the message about his strength increase, he put the walnut in his mouth and chewed.

Crunch, crunch.

"It's definitely richer."

Indeed, it tasted better than the Walnut of Training, which increased strength by 1.

As Sejun was eating the walnut,

"Hyung-nim! I want some too!"

Ajax hurriedly flew towards Sejun.

Seeing Sejun with food, he suddenly gained a newfound respect for him, adding 'nim' to 'hyung'.

Day 2 of Ajax's study abroad in the Black Tower. A delicious morning for Ajax had begun.