Chapter 473: Hahaha. You're a Genius Guy, Park Sejun. You've Done It Again.

Sejun had breakfast with his companions.

"Now it's time to work."

On the third day of the Harvest Festival, there were no competitions, so he decided to work in the Void Storage in the morning.

"Cuengi, I'll give you some pocket money, so buy lots of delicious food."

He gave Cuengi pocket money to play in the Raccoon Market.

Kuehehehe, Kueng!

[Hehehe, Dad, thank you!]

As Cuengi ran off toward the Raccoon Market, getting further away,

Caw...

(How can the Beast of Apocalypse...)

Karurur, who had been whining and clinging to Blackie's back saying he was scared to be alone, spoke with only his head peeking out of the sling bag.

Karurur couldn't have imagined that it would encounter the Beast of Apocalypse that it had only heard about in stories.

Caw.

(Captain Blackie, I survived an encounter with the Beast of Apocalypse.)

As soon as Cuengi disappeared, Karurur tried to boast about surviving the encounter with the Beast of Apocalypse without getting hurt, but all that was heard was the sound of Blackie snoring.

Come to think of it, I'm tired...

Having been frozen in fear the whole time Cuengi was around, the tension finally released, and fatigue overwhelmed Karurur.

Kkarorong.

He dozed off.

And then,

Clink.

Kya-kya!

Kiki!

"Yes, good morning."

Sejun entered the Void Storage, receiving morning greetings from the Destruction Pioneers and Destruction Devourers.

[You're a Field Lv. 8 has been activated.]

[You have planted the Destruction Devourer Seed in the body of Krueger, the Destroyer of Mountains and 7th seat of the Apostle of Destruction.]

...

..

.

Sejun diligently planted Destruction Devourer Seeds with the Destruction Pioneers and also planted other crops.

After about two hours of farming,

"Why aren't these growing?"

Sejun stared intently at the spot where he had planted the Dragon Fruit and All-Devouring Jelly, both of which were Transcendence-grade seeds he had bought from the Seed Shop.

It had been nearly three weeks since they were planted, yet there was no sign of sprouting.

"Hm."

Were there additional conditions required for them to germinate?

Sejun pondered for a moment.

"If it's Dragon Fruit... could it be related to dragons?"

He decided to look for a hint about the germination conditions from the seed's name.

Then,

Scritch, scritch.

Sejun carefully dug up the spot where the Dragon Fruit seed was planted.

Then

It's clean without any roots...

He saw the dragon fruit seed, completely unchanged from before it was planted.

Pick.

Sejun picked up the Dragon Fruit seed and transplanted it into a small flowerpot.

"Aileen, could you put this near you?"

He entrusted the flowerpot to Aileen. His plan was to leave the Dragon Fruit seed near her for a few days to observe any changes.

[The Tower's Administrator says in a very anxious voice that she is not sure if she can grow a plant properly.]

Having only received care but never actually grown anything, Aileen was afraid of nurturing something.

"It's fine. I'll tell you the exact time and amount of water to give. Plus, if the plant starts wilting, I can heal it with my skill."

[The Tower's Administrator says that if that's the case, she'll trust you and try growing it.]

Encouraged by Sejun's words, Aileen decided to give it a try.

"Yes. Thank you for being brave."

After entrusting the Dragon Fruit pot to Aileen,

Scritch, scritch.

Sejun carefully dug up the spot where the All-Devouring Jelly was planted this time.

"Huh?!"

Unlike the Dragon Fruit seed, the All-Devouring Jelly seed had changed.

First, its size had grown from a millet to about the size of a pea and

[All-Devouring Jelly Seed (1 gulp)]

The name had also changed.

"One gulp?"

What was this?

When Sejun examined the seed closely,

[All-Devouring Jelly Seed (1 gulp)]

→ ???

→ You can check the options after harvesting.

→ It has swallowed water.

A single line had been added to the description.

"It swallowed water?"

Should he give it more water, then?

Sejun dropped a few more droplets of water onto the seed and watched closely, but...

...

Even after 10 minutes, there was no noticeable change.

"Is this not it? Hmm..."

Since it's called the All-Devouring Jelly, should he give it something else?

Sejun had no idea what exactly the All-Devouring Jelly might swallow, but he began to suspect that it might need to devour a variety of things in order to sprout.

So, he started offering various things to the seed.

He first tried giving it small crops like rice and corn kernels, which the seed could swallow, but he failed.

Then,

Drip.

When he gave it honey,

Gulp.

The seed slightly opened and swallowed the honey.

Drip, drip.

Sejun continued feeding the seed honey until it stopped swallowing. Once the seed stopped,

[All-Devouring Jelly Seed (2 gulps)]

→ ???

→ You can check the options after harvesting.

→ It has swallowed both water and honey.

The name and description had changed.

"Could it be that it can only swallow liquids?"

Drip.

To test his hypothesis, Sejun immediately squeezed some sugarcane juice and gave it to the seed.

[All-Devouring Jelly Seed (3 gulps)]

The name changed again.

"This is it!"

104.28.193.250

Finally, he had figured it out.

"Hahaha. You're a genius guy, Park Sejun. You've done it again."

Sejun, feeling pleased with himself, hurriedly started squeezing various crops that could produce juice, increasing the seed's gulp count.

***

At the Raccoon Market.

"We greet Cuengi-nim!"

"We greet the Boss!"

Rak, the Black Bear managing the melon farm on the 80th floor of the Tower, and the Black Bears of the Kueng gang on the 1st floor, greeted Cuengi with a 90-degree bow as he strolled through the market.

Since Rak and the Kueng gang were of the same species, they had met during the Harvest Festival and were now hanging out together.

Kuhehehe, Kueng! Kueng?

[Hehehe. Good to see you! Are you all living well?]

"Of course!"

"Yes! We're only making slaves out of those who pick fights with us by getting their seal!"

Kueng! Kueng!

[No, that's not allowed! Dad said no more slaves!]

Cuengi exclaimed in shock at the words of his gang's underling.

"Huh?"

"Then what should we do?"

Kueng! Kueng!

[From now on, instead of making slaves out of those who pick fights, hire them as non-regular employees! Make sure they get three meals a day!]

"Ah."

"Yes, we understand!"

Feeling proud after informing the Black Bears of the new policy from Sejun Company, Cuengi beamed.

Kueng! Kueng!

[Everyone follow Cuengi! Cuengi will buy you something delicious!]

Using the pocket money Sejun had given him, Cuengi bought food from street vendors for the Black Bears.

But soon after,

Kueng...

[Dad's pocket money is all gone...]

Cuengi's pocket money ran out way too quickly.

It was only natural, given that Cuengi, who could easily spend that money by himself, had been spending it on the 301 hungry Black Bears.

At that moment,

"Uhehehe. How much is this?"

Cuengi heard a familiar voice.

Kueng!

[It's Uren hyung!]

If I go around with rich Uren hyung, I can feed my subordinates until they're full!

With a sense of responsibility to take care of his subordinates, Cuengi hurriedly ran toward Uren.

"Ah! Cuengi..."

As Uren was about to greet the approaching Cuengi, he was suddenly surrounded by figures wearing black hoods.

And then,

"We got him! Quickly, let's get out of here!"

Bang!

The figures in black hoods threw a smoke bomb, and the area was soon covered in a gray mist.

Kuueeeng!

Cuengi quickly used his Kueng-fooo to blow the smoke away, but by the time the smoke cleared, Uren and the black-hooded figures had already disappeared.

Kueng?!

[Where did Uren hyung go?!]

Cuengi was confused by Uren's sudden disappearance.

"Cuengi-nim, it seems Uren-nim has been kidnapped."

Rak explained the situation to Cuengi.

Kueng?! Kueng!

[Uren hyung got kidnapped?! Then Cuengi will go save him!]

"Shall we track them down right away?!"

Rak and the Kueng gang began to move quickly, but

Kueng! Kueng!

[No! First, we need to tell Dad!]

Dad will worry!

As expected of the filial son Cuengi.

Cuengi hurriedly went to find Sejun to tell him he was going out for a while.

A little while later.

"What?! Uren got kidnapped?! Then Detective Sherlock Sejun must step in!"

As expected, Uren the Misfortune King had gotten himself into trouble again, unable to stay out of harm's way for even a moment...

Upon hearing Cuengi's words, Sejun stood up, putting the All-Devouring Jelly Seed, now at 15 gulps, into his pocket.

"Puhuhut. Then, Detective Sherlock Sejun's brilliant assistant, Theoson will step in too, meow!"

Kueng!

[Then Detective Cunan will join too!]

Sejun, Theo, and Cuengi set off to find Uren.

And,

"We're not detectives though, what should we do?"

"Well, the boss is going, so we should at least follow, right?"

The 301 Black Bears also followed the three from behind.

***

"...Machun?"

Uren, who had lost consciousness after being kidnapped, awoke to see a pink pig standing in front of him and spoke.

"It's been a while, Uren. I've heard you've been doing quite well recently. So, where are my brother Magin and the others?"

"Machun, don't tell me you're involved in this too?!"

Uren's face filled with disbelief.

Unlike Magin, Machun had always helped him in difficult times.

Even within the family, Machun had a stellar reputation.

But now...

"Yes, Actually, I'm the one who gave the orders. It's all to become the head of the Daemon Family."

Machun was, in fact, the mastermind who had driven Uren out of the family in order to become the next head of the Daemon Family.

"Eek! How could you?!"

"If someone soft like you becomes the head, our Daemon Family will collapse in no time."

Furious at Machun's words, Uren tried to get up, but Machun's subordinates held him down, making it impossible to move.

So, he didn't kill them. As expected, he's soft.

Seeing Uren's reaction, Machun became certain that Magin and the others were still alive.

"Hurry up and tell me where Evis and Nellie are, or you'll face some very unpleasant torture."

Machun threatened, pressing a knife against Uren.

The truth was, Machun wasn't in a good situation either.

A problem arose when Evis, the heir to the Green Pig family, and Nellie, the heir to the Red Pig family, both branch families, went missing.

Both the Green and Red Pig Families declared they would withdraw their support if their heirs didn't return.

The Daemon Family had five branch families: the Black Pig, Blue Pig, Red Pig, Green Pig, and Yellow Pig Families.

Of those, the Black Pig Family supported the official heir, Uren; the Blue Pig Family remained neutral, while the remaining three branch families supported Machun.

If the Green and Red Pig Families withdrew their support, it would leave both Uren and Machun with only one supporting family each.

However, among the branch families, the Black Pig Family was the strongest, while the Yellow Pig Family was the weakest, putting Machun at a significant disadvantage.

To make matters worse, rumors had recently spread within the family that Uren was recovering the money he had previously lost due to his gullibility, improving his reputation little by little.

I absolutely need the support of those two families!

That's why Machun had taken the risky step of kidnapping Uren by coming all the way to the Black Tower with his subordinates.

Of course, it was a huge mistake.

Bang!

...?!

Kueng!

[Detective Cunan found them by scent!]

"That's not true, meow! Theoson, Detective Sherlock Sejun's assistant, pointed this way with my front paw first, meow!"

Kueng! Kueng!

[No, Detective Cunan found them!]

"That's not true, meow! It was Theoson, meow!"

As Cuengi and Theo, who had burst through the cave wall, argued over who had found the location first,

"Hehehe. This is a locked-room case. Everyone stop! The culprit is in here!"

Sejun slowly entered, calling out.

"Kyoot, kyoot, kyoot. Oh, power of ice, freeze everything. Freeze."

From Sejun's shoulder, Iona, who had been protecting him, cast a spell.

"Alright. Everyone except Uren is the culprit, right?"

And just like that, Uren's kidnapping case was solved anticlimactically.

"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, are these ones full-time employee, meow?"

"Of course. They dared to try and kidnap Uren, who is the very essence of Sejun Company's finance department."

"Puhuhut. Got it, meow! Then it's an eternal contract, meow!"

Press.

Following Sejun's words, Theo used the Nine Dragons' Employee Contract Seal to make Machun and his subordinates full-time employees.

"Puhuhut. Assistant Manager Jeff, here are the new interns, meow!"

Theo handed Machun and his subordinates over to Jeff.

And then,

"Brother!"

"Machun-nim!"

"Madaf!"

After being handed over to Jeff, Machun met Magin, Evis, and Nellie, who had been working as wandering merchants.

***

Silver Tower, 82nd Floor.

Whooooosh.

A wasteland where sharp winds, sharp enough to cut anything, blew fiercely.

Rocks that were being pierced by the sand carried by the wind stood precariously, as if they could crumble at any moment.

"Sephiro, are we there yet?"

"Great Chieftain, we're almost there."

Two men walking through such a wasteland.

One of them, the man being guided, was a head and a half taller than the other.

Both men had silver hair, and strangely enough, no wind blew around them—it was eerily still.

A short while later.

"There it is."

The guide pointed toward a grapevine that had been reduced to just bare branches.

"Sephiro, you said you saw that grapevine full of grapes just yesterday?"

"Yes! I'm certain."

"Hmm. That confirms it—its the Harvest Festival."

"Then?!"

"Yes. The first grape harvesting competition has ended, so the second grape eating competition will soon take place. Sephiro, this is a chance to eat our fill. Hurry and spread the word to all the residents of the Tower."

"Yes!"

Following the order of Kwin, the Tower Farmer of the Silver Tower, Sephiro quickly flew away with the wind to deliver the message.

*****