Chapter 468: From Now On, There Will Be No More Slaves at Sejun Company.
"Sejun~nim, thank you for the meal. This is the seventh time in my life I've eaten this much! I will never forget this kindness!"
"This is my third time. I will never forget this kindness!"
"For me, it's my first time..."
While Bayon and his subordinates, who had eaten their fill of samgyeopsal, bowed and expressed their gratitude to Sejun,
[You have fed 10 Foxes of the Red Tower to their hearts' content.]
[Due to the effect of <Title: Saint of Feeding>, all stats have increased by 2.]
[Your soul is filled with satisfaction from the outpouring of praise.]
[Mental Strength has increased by 8.]
'Hehehe. This is great.'
Sejun checked the messages and smiled.
At that moment,
Piyo!
[Sejun~nim, we're back! We also got some slaves on the way!]
"Sejun~nim, hello! By the way, can we have some samgyeopsal too?"
Piyot and Uren arrived, bringing with them some Foxes of the Brown Tower who were gloomy because they had become slaves.
"Wait a minute. Piyot, let's get you something to eat."
Sizzle.
After placing the samgyeopsal on the grill, Sejun prepared some peanuts and walnuts for Piyot to eat.
Piyo!
[Thank you!]
Peck. Peck. Peck.
While Piyot was busily eating 5 peanuts and 1 walnut,
"It's ready now. You can eat."
As Sejun cut the grilled samgyeopsal and put it on a plate,
"Uhehehe. Thank you for the meal!"
Uren, who had already prepared the lettuce ssam, immediately placed three pieces of samgyeopsal inside, shoved it into his mouth, and began chewing as he prepared the next ssam.
A battle-like meal befitting a food fighter.
While Uren was busy stuffing his third wrap into his mouth,
Ssss.
Gulp.
Sejun noticed the Foxes of the Brown Tower standing nearby, staring intensely at the samgyeopsal and swallowing their saliva.
'Why aren't they eating?'
Sejun hadn't specifically told them to eat because he assumed that anyone who entered the kitchen would naturally join the meal.
'These cruel bastards, isn't this going too far?!'
But the Foxes of the Brown Tower thought Sejun and Uren were deliberately torturing them by making them stand and watch.
'It won't taste good if it gets cold... Maybe they're vegetarians?'
'If we even touch the food, they'll probably make an example of us with some really severe torture.'
Sejun and the Brown foxes were having completely opposite thoughts.
At that moment,
'I don't care anymore. I'd rather just eat and die!'
Swoosh.
A young Brown Fox, unable to resist the hunger any longer, quickly snatched up a piece of samgyeopsal and began eating.
And then,
'Ah! They weren't eating because I didn't give them forks!'
'Sena, you brat, I told you to hold back! What should we do?!
Both Sejun and the Brown Foxes were surprised at the same time, albeit for different reasons.
'Wow! It melts in my mouth! It's so delicious!'
In the meantime, Sena had devoured one piece of pork belly in an instant and was already grabbing another.
Shwik.
As Sejun hurriedly pulled out several forks to give to the Brown Foxes,
'Could he be planning to torture us with those?!'
The Brown Foxes quickly moved to hide Sena behind them and took defensive stances.
'What's going on?'
Sejun found the behavior of the Brown Foxes strange as they cowered in fear of him.
"Here, use these to eat."
Poke. Poke.
With a gentle tone, Sejun, like a friendly staff member at a food sampling booth, used the fork to pick up samgyeopsal and handed one to each of the Brown Foxes.
"Th-thank you."
"Thank you for the food..."
Despite their confusion, the Brown Foxes hurriedly accepted the forks Sejun offered and shoved the food into their mouths.
'It's delicious!'
'So tasty!'
Overwhelmed by the flavor of the greasy, rich meat they hadn't tasted in so long, the Brown Foxes frantically began devouring the pork belly with both front paws.
If they hadn't eaten at all, it might have been easier to resist. But after one bite, they couldn't stop.
Though the samgyeopsal eventually ran out and was replaced by other cuts like pork neck and pork jowl,
Chomp. Chomp.
The Brown Foxes were so focused on filling their stomachs that they didn't even notice the change in the type of meat.
A little later,
Piyihihi. Piyo!
[Hehe. I'm full!]
"Uhehehe. I'm stuffed."
"To think I'd eat meat until I'm full..."
Uren and the Brown foxes, who had depleted Sejun's pork supply, were patting their stomachs and feeling happy with their fullness, and
[You have fed 130 Foxes of the Brown Tower to their hearts' content.]
[Due to the effect of <Title: Saint of Feeding>, all stats have increased by 26.]
[Your soul is filled with satisfaction from the outpouring of praise.]
[Mental Strength has increased by 13.]
"Hehehe."
Sejun, who had traded his meat for stat boosts, was also content.
As the meal came to an end,
"Hehehe, I'm full."
"Sena, wasn't it delicious?"
"Yes! It was really tasty!"
Sejun struck up a conversation with Sena, who seemed the least guarded.
"But why didn't you eat at first?"
The Brown Foxes hadn't used the forks Sejun had provided, instead grabbing the meat with their bare paws, so it clearly wasn't a problem with the forks.
"Well... because we're slaves... If a slave recklessly eats their master's food, it's a big problem. Wait! Are you going to punish us because we ate a lot of meat?!"
Sena suddenly asked Sejun in a terrified voice, looking at him with fearful eyes.
"No! No! Absolutely not! Why would I punish you for eating a lot of meat?!"
Sejun strongly denied her assumption and reassured her.
The others around him didn't seem to mind being slaves, so he hadn't given it much thought until now...
Well, the term "slave" does carry a very negative connotation.
I'll need to revise the policy a bit.
Determined to improve the image of Sejun Company, Sejun decided to change the policy.
But where did Theo go?
"Piyot, can you find Theo for me?"
Piyo!
[Yes!]
Sejun sent Piyot to find Theo so they could discuss how to adjust the company policy.
Then,
Shwik.
As Sejun lay down on the bed, waiting,
'I shouldn't fall asleep yet...'
There was something he needed to say to Theo...
I haven't even taken the medicinal mugwort...
Snore.
Unable to resist the pull of sleep, Sejun dozed off.
***
Outskirts of Destruction.
Rumble.
As Jǫrmungandr arrived with the Kraken and Hydra to rescue Leviathan,
[Jǫrmungandr~nim, you came! Thanks, guys!]
Leviathan mentally expressed his gratitude to the Apostles of Destruction.
At that moment,
"Oh! Welcome, Jǫrmungandr! Kraken! Hydra!"
Halphas greeted the Apostles of Destruction with excitement.
"Halphas, why did you call us?"
Jǫrmungandr asked Halphas, wondering the reason for the gathering since they had come all this way.
However,
"Hmm, why did I call them?"
In his anger over the Apostles of Destruction not showing up earlier, Halphas had forgotten why he had summoned them.
"...Then, we'll be going."
"Alright."
With that, Jǫrmungandr left, taking the snake faction's Apostles of Destruction with him.
"What was I trying to do again?"
Halphas looked around, scratching his head.
"Ah! Right, I need to destroy the worlds."
With his blood-red eyes glowing even more intensely, Halphas resumed his mission to bring destruction to the world.
***
99th Floor of the Black Tower, at dawn.
Kihihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler, swallow it!]
This will make you a little stronger!
Blackie placed a purified fragment of Violet's core into Sejun's mouth and
Thump.
Pressed it down with his front paw.
Swoosh.
Gulp.
The core fragment smoothly slid down Sejun's throat.
Normally, mixing two different core fragments would be disastrous, but,
Absorb it my core!
The core of Fenrir, the noble wolf who hunts gods, had the ability to devour any kind of energy.
After feeding Sejun the core fragment,
Flop.
Blackie nestled on Sejun's chest.
Thump. Thump.
Hehe. Butler's heart is beating well today too.
Kkirorong.
Listening to Sejun's heartbeat, Blackie fell back asleep.
Thus, as everyone slept peacefully through the dawn,
"Hurry, hurry up!"
"If we don't sell all the tickets by tomorrow, we'll be out of time!"
Mason and Jeras were selling the Harvest Festival tickets on every floor using the distribution network of the Wandering Merchant Association.
"Puhuhut. Sell each ticket for 100 million Tower Coins, meow! And I'll give Mason 10,000 Tower Coins commsion for each one you sell, meow!"
Although the profit split was 99.99% to 0.01%, the ticket price was so high that the wage was still substantial.
On top of that, being able to exclusively sell tickets to the Harvest Festival, where the great Black Dragon was participating, would significantly boost the reputation of the Wandering Merchant Association.
It was a highly profitable deal.
104.28.193.250
And so, throughout the night, residents who bought the Harvest Festival tickets sold by the Wandering Merchants began climbing the tower to attend the festival.
***
"Alright."
Sejun woke up from his sleep.
[You have forcibly consumed a purified fragment of Violet's core.]
[Fenrir's core fragment devours 0.003% of Violet's power.]
[0.002% of power is absorbed into Fenrir's core fragment.]
[Fenrir's power accumulates in your body, reaching 0.0149%.]
Was this Blackie's doing again?
"Good job, you little rascal."
Sejun patted Blackie's bottom, who was sleeping on his chest.
Though his chest was wet with drool, Sejun decided to let it go since Blackie had done something commendable.
Kihihit.
Blackie chuckled in his sleep as Sejun patted him.
While listening to Blackie's laughter, Sejun checked the next message.
[The seal of the Earth's Jewel has been broken.]
...
[Cleaning, the God of Cleanliness, teaches you the skill - Maintain Cleanliness Lv. 1 to repay your kindness.]
Sejun blinked and reviewed the skill.
"...Maintain Cleanliness?"
Sejun rubbed his eyes and checked the skill.
[Maintain Cleanliness Lv. 1]
- Cleans the area within a 10cm radius around the hand using the skill.
"Hm..."
So it keeps the area around your hands clean?
Kihi... King...
Sejun picked up Blackie, who was drooling in his sleep on his chest.
"Maintain Cleanliness."
He used the skill on his drool-soaked shirt.
In an instant, the shirt was spotless.
Sniff. Sniff.
Even Blackie's faint musky smell was gone.
"Oh! This is nice! Maintain Cleanliness. Maintain Cleanliness."
Sejun began using the skill, focusing on the primary sources of dirt—Blackie and Theo.
Well done, Cleaning~nim. 5 points.
Sejun generously rated the excellent life skill as he even used Maintain Cleanliness to wash his face.
Shwik.
He marked the date on the wall and started the 445th day morning.
As he stepped outside,
They're here again, huh.
He saw temporary structures near the Grape Altar.
The Raccoon Tribe, that followed the Harvest Festival and set up markets, had returned.
"But the scale's pretty big this time?"
Previously, there were only five stalls, but now, at a glance, there were over 20.
It was thanks to the increased scale of the harvest festival.
As Sejun walked slowly toward the market,
"Hurry up! Customers will be swarming soon!"
Emil, the elder of the raccoon tribe, was seen giving instructions to the raccoons.
And then,
Grrr...
The foxes licked their lips as they eyed the Raccoons hungrily.
The foxes of the Silver Tower, Red Tower, and Brown Tower had been fed by Sejun, but the rest of the foxes had gone hungry all night and were now starving.
This could turn into a problem.
As Sejun was thinking about how to handle the situation,
Kueng!
[Dad, good morning!]
Cuengi, who had enjoyed a great night's sleep, ran up to Sejun and greeted him happily.
Scurry.
At Cuengi's appearance, the foxes quickly scattered and hid.
Because they had seen Bayon being beaten nearly to death by Cuengi yesterday.
And then,
"Oh! Cuengi~nim, good morning! Did you sleep well?"
Bayon, who had been beaten nearly to death yesterday due to his weak-to-strong and strong-to-weak act, hurried over to Cuengi, trying to act friendly as he greeted him.
Kueng!
[Yes! I slept well!]
"Of course! I slept well too! As expected, we red-furred ones have a connection!"
Bayon extended his front paw to Cuengi, waiting for a high-five, but...
Kueng!
[Cuengi doesn't have red fur, it's crimson fur!]
Cuengi ignored him.
"Absolutely! That's right! Hah... compared to Cuengi~nim's splendid and luxurious crimson fur, my fur is just a dull red."
His flattery was quite fluent.
'This won't be good for Cuengi's education.'
"Bayon, guard the area around the market."
So Sejun assigned Bayon a task to keep him away from Cuengi.
And then,
"Vice Chairman Theo."
"Meow?!"
"I think it's time we clean up Sejun Company's image. From now on, there will be no more slaves at Sejun Company."
Sejun shared the new company policy that he had briefly considered the night before.
"Meow?! Does that mean we have to release all the slaves, meow...?"
Theo's face fell at the thought of having to free the slaves they'd worked so hard to capture.
"No. We just need to call them something different."
"Puhuhut. As expected from Chairman Park, meow! Understood, meow! So what will we call the slaves from now on, meow?!"
Theo, excited by the idea that they wouldn't actually have to release the slaves, asked in a cheerful voice.
"From now on, slaves with a fixed term will be called temporary employees, and permanent slaves will be called regular employees."
"Puhuhut. As expected, Chairman Park is truly great, meow! 'Employee' sounds much better than 'slave,' meow!"
"Hahaha. From now on, call me the Master of Image Makeovers."
Sejun, pleased with Theo's words, puffed up with pride.
"Then, we should change this name too, meow!"
Hel~nim, please change the name of this, meow!
Theo requested Hel, the God of Merchants, to rename the Five Towers' Slave Seal.