Chapter 59: Losing Reputation

TL: Hanguk

On the 232nd day of being stranded, while practicing thundercloud skill after lunch and providing shade for Theo, the Black Rabbit, and Cuengi,

Thump. Thump.

Kreung!

The mother Crimson Giant Bear brought a massive tree trunk.

Recently, as the Grey Rabbits started to make chairs, beds, and display shelves from wood, the mother Crimson Giant Bear had been bringing back wood whenever she went out on patrol.

However,

“It’s too much…”

Sejun said, looking at the mountains of wood piled up behind the brick house. He did ask for the bear to bring back wood, but recently, the mother Crimson Giant Bear has been bringing back wood every 2-3 hours.

Boom!

As the mother Crimson Giant Bear laid down the wood and went back on patrol,

Jump!

The Wood Craftsman Grey Rabbit, climbed up the tree for trimming.

And just as he was about to cut the tree with an axe,

Squeeze.

The tree branches quickly moved and ensnared the Grey Rabbit.

Je-eung.

From a bumpy part of the branch, a red fruit the size of a tennis ball sprung out and opened its mouth to eat the Grey Rabbit.

Squeak!!!

“Rabbit!”

Swoosh.

In a rush to save the Grey Rabbit, Sejun quickly sliced the fruit in half with his dagger.

Then,

……

[All here… exist.]

A voice was heard from the fruit.

“What was that?”

Sejun tried to listen more closely, but

[You’ve killed a Carnivorous Fruit of a Corrupted Large Ent.]

[You’ve gained 50 experience points.]

The branch was already dead.

“Corrupted Ent?”

Was this a tree monster?! Occasionally seeing blood on the tree or… the smell of blood was strange.

However…

“I thought it was blood from other monsters.”

He didn’t expect it to be a real monster.

“But what does ‘all here’ mean? And what is ‘existing’?”

For now, Sejun ordered the Poisonous Honey Bees to extend their scouting range.

The next morning,

A bee from the Poisonous Honey Bee landed on Sejun’s shoulder as he came out of his brick house wearing a straw hat.

And then,

Buzz.

[Hive 3, patrol report.]

Buzz.

[There’s nothing suspicious around.]

A Poisonous Honey Bee from the 3rd Queen’s hive reported the results of its patrol to Sejun.

“Alright, good job.”

Rub rub.

At Sejun’s words, the poisonous honey bee rubbed its body on Sejun’s face and flew toward its comrades.

Buzz. Buzz.

The poisonous honeybees from the 3rd Queen’s hive were busily collecting pollen and honey from the large field that was now starting to bloom.

In the field where Sejun had planted 3,000 corn and 1,000 cherry tomatoes a month and a half ago, 1,951 corn and 650 cherry tomatoes had grown to full bloom.

The germination rate was 65%. As the level of seed sowing increased, the germination rate also increased.

Buzz. Buzz.

The poisonous honeybee, which had collected pollen and honey, returned to its home. The third Poisonous Honey Bee’s hive was located inside a brick structure near the green onion field.

In the middle, there were several holes for the poisonous honeybees to enter, and it was sturdy as it was made of bricks.

As Sejun was watching the poisonous honeybee,

Squeak!

Squeak!

Squak!

The rabbits hurried Sejun, calling him.

“I got it. I’ll start harvesting now.”

Today was the day to harvest the carrots that were planted 1000 each on the surface and in the cave.

Swoosh.

Sejun went to the carrot field and when he pulled the carrot stem, a plump carrot was pulled out.

After harvesting 20 carrots,

Crunch.

Sejun and the rabbits started eating the carrots one by one. Grade C definitely tasted different.

“It’s delicious. Let’s each eat one more. That way, our agility will increase, and we can finish our work faster.”

Squeak!!!

Squawk!!!

Squawk!!!

The rabbits were excited by Sejun’s words. They didn’t care about agility. It was only important that they could eat more carrots. They ended up eating all 20 carrots and started working.

Pull. Pull. Pull.

Having eaten six carrots and his agility increased by three, Sejun harvested the carrots at a tremendous speed. The carrot harvest was finished in less than an hour.

Squeak.

Squawk.

Squawk.

While the rabbits were pleased looking at the cave storage full of carrots,

“Sejun, we have arrived.”

“We are honored to see the mighty black dragon Sejun.”

Elka brought two wolves that Sejun had never seen before. Theo had to go down the tower again to trade, so Elka brought more wolves to deliver the Sturdy Blade onion leaves on the 67th floor on his behalf.

“My name is Malkai.”

“My name is Borori.”

The wolves wagged their tails vigorously and introduced themselves to Sejun.

“Okay. Malkai, Borori, I look forward to working with you.”

“Leave it to us!”

“We will work hard!”

After greeting Sejun, the wolves loaded the Sturdy Blade onion leaves. And then Theo came out of Sejun’s brick house, trudging along with his bag.

“President Park, I’ll be back.”

Theo, who didn’t want to leave Sejun’s lap, buried his face in Sejun’s lap. He left his scent on Sejun’s lap to alert others that he ‘had an owner’.

He felt like there would be more entities aiming for Sejun’s lap, not just the black rabbit and Cuengi.

“Take care of my lap!”

“What do you mean? Take care.”

Sejun said, detaching Theo, who clung to his leg.

“Meow…I got it! I’ll be back!”

Theo with an anxious face and the wolves went down the tower together.

***

“Great job, everyone. We’ll rest for 5 days and then continue exploring on the 39th floor!”

“Yes!”

At the words of Leon, the guild leader of the Phoenix Guild, the guild members answered and left the tower.

Kim Dong-sik, who participated in the first conquest of the deadly tarantula for his merit in bringing the detoxifying green onion, also left the tower.

And as soon as he left the black tower, he went straight to the Awakened Association building to find Han Tae-jun. It was to hand over his Golden Sweet Potato to his master.

Korea’s Awakened Association President’s Office.

The indoor temperature, which was set to minus 30 degrees Celsius, was now set to minus 35 degrees in the President’s Office. The curse of the flame was getting worse.

“Dongsik, is this Golden Sweet Potato grown by Mr. Park Sejun?”

Han tae-jun asked, looking at the golden sweet potato in his hand that was glowing.

“Yes. It’s exactly as described in the item description. I saw the fire resistance option in the Golden Sweet Potato. So, I pleaded with the cat merchant to get it for you, master.”

Though Theo had practically pawned off the Golden Sweet Potato to cover his mistake, Kim Dongsik exaggerated a bit to score more points with his master.

“Alright, Dongsik, thank you. I’ll give you three chances to refuse a 1v1 spar.”

Han Taejoon did not understand why, but his disciples loved this reward the most.

“Thank you!!!”

Kim Dongsik, who had earned three chances to avoid beatings, answered cheerfully.

“You may leave now.”

“Yes.”

As Kim Dongsik exited,

Crunch.

Han tae-jun started to bite into the Golden Sweet Potato, without even peeling the skin.

Chew-chew.

“Ah!”

He hadn’t cared about the taste as the fire resistance option was important, but as he chewed, a rich sweetness flowed out.

Then

[You have consumed the Golden Sweet Potato.]

[200g of fat will be broken down, increasing your fire resistance for 5 hours.]

[Due to the talent: Medicine Boost, the medicinal effect is enhanced by 30%.]

[The curse of fire has been temporarily lifted.]

His fire resistance greatly increased, and he could completely escape from the curse of fire for a few hours.

“Ha ha ha! Good!”

Han tae-jun quickly packed the Golden Sweet Potato and got up. He was going to kill the boss of the 52nd floor of the tower who had cursed him. He was confident that he could kill him in his current state.

“Secretary Kim! I’m going into the tower, if anyone comes looking for me, tell them I’m on vacation!”

Han tae-jun shouted to Secretary Kim, who was waiting outside the president’s office, and

Crash.

He jumped out of the window from the 30th floor of the building.

Boom.

“President! What about the World Awakened Association meeting tomorrow?!”

When Secretary Kim opened the door in a hurry after hearing Han tae-jun’s voice, the president’s office was already empty.

Han tae-jun started to climb the tower again.

***

“Is this the 67th floor of the tower, meow?”

“Yes. Please come this way.”

Elka guided Theo to where his tribe members were gathering.

Growl. Creak.

About 100 silver wolves, 4-5m in size, were gathered there.

“Greet him. This is Representative Theo, who we are serving.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Representative Theo.”

“Good! Nice to meet you too, meow!”

When 100 wolves bowed and greeted him, Theo felt a sense of grandeur in his heart.

‘Heh heh heh. Of course, I’m invincible when I’m with Park Sejun, meow!’

“I’ll look around and explore for a bit, meow.”

Theo, in a good mood, started exploring the 67th floor of the tower. They were gradually reclaiming the land, pushing out the Red Locust a bit by bit with the Sturdy Blade onion leaves.

Just then

“That cat… he’s the subordinate of the great Black Dragon…”

The Lizardmen, free mercenaries, and wizards who were resting in the back looked at Theo with a glance and whispered to each other.

‘Puhuhut. Do they recognize me, the dadly yellow cat, Theo Park, the subordinate of the great Black Dragon?’

Theo, with his chin held high, walked slowly so that the beings of the 67th floor could get a detailed look at his formidable appearance.

Then

“Representative Theo, I’m sorry.”

From afar, Elka looked apologetic as she watched Theo. While delivering the Sturdy Blade onion Leaves to the 67th floor of the tower, Elka had heard a strange rumor.

The main content was, ‘The great Black Dragon spends a lot of money.’

It seemed due to the Sturdy Blade onion leaves deal. Although it was true, from the standpoint of serving the Great Black Dragon, Elka couldn’t sit by while Sejun’s reputation was tarnished.

So, during every trade, Elka would leak some other information to the Lizardmen.

“There’s a wandering cat merchant named Theo among the subordinates of the Great Black Dragon, and he spends a ton of money. This deal was led by Representative Theo from start to finish.”

Having heard this a few times from Elka, the beings in the tower came to believe that the great Black Dragon would never spend money so recklessly. Thus, the honor of the Great Black Dragon was maintained.

However, Theo’s reputation began to drop.

Since there was originally no great reputation, there was nothing to lose, but his nearly zero reputation started to plummet below zero, spreading rumors about the unscrupulous merchant Theo.

‘Puhuhut. What? Can’t they all even look me in the eyes because they’re embarrassed, meow?’

Only Theo was unaware of his bad reputation.

“Representative Theo, let’s go down now.”

“Understood, meow!”

Before being discovered, Elka quickly took Theo down the tower.

***

Dawn of the 235th day of being stranded.

Squee!!!

A scream came from the mother rabbit’s in the cave. Labor had started.

Kiieeek.

Sejun quickly opened the door and left the brick house. He planned to go down into the cave in case of an emergency.

Then

Thud. Thud.

There was a sound of something moving unnaturally.

“What’s that sound?”

When Sejun looked at where the sound came from, small tree branches, about 50 cm tall and as thick as Sejun’s wrist, were approaching the cave, walking on two legs.

[Corrupted Ent’s Small Branch Scout]

It was a monster.

“Black Rabbit, invaders!”

Sejun quickly stabbed the branch scout in front of him with a dagger and called for the Black Rabbit.

[You have defeated the Corrupted Ent’s Small Branch Scout.]

Bang!

The Black Rabbit, hearing Sejun’s call, took up his weapon, a hammer, and

Thump! Thump! Thump!

started pounding the branch scouts. In an instant, eight branch scouts around them were taken down.

Then

Thud. Thud.

Countless branch scouts were approaching.

It seemed it was going to be a tough morning.

*****

For extra chapters, you can read them on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/HangukTranslations.

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