: MAKING MEJU
TL: Hanguk
10th Tower 1st Floor.
“How dare you ignore my words?!”
Stella spoke in an angry voice. She, the great Silver Dragon, sent a voice message directly, and they still haven’t come?
Whatever the 10th Tower’s trial is, passing the trial means they have sufficient ability to come to the 10th Tower.
Moreover, he broke through the final trial with overwhelming results and even received the qualification to ascend to the 2nd floor as an additional reward.
Yet he still hadn’t come…
‘He ignored my voice message!’
Grrrr.
Stella gritted her teeth.
Judging by his reaction, there was a high probability he hadn’t even informed his mother that she was alive.
“Should I send it again? Sigh, It’s bothersome…”
Stella sighed heavily. Gathering the materials to create another voice message orb was going to be quite troublesome.
***
Black Tower 99th Floor at Dawn.
Kking…
Fenrir, who had woken up, crawled out while wriggling inside his home, the sling bag.
Kkihihit. Kking.
‘Heheh, I’m the most diligent.’
Proud of being the first to wake up, Fenrir looked down on Sejun, Theo, Black Rabbit, and Ajax, who were still sleeping.
But considering that Fenrir had been asleep since last evening, it wasn’t diligence. He simply wasn’t sleepy because he had slept a lot.
Kking.
‘You guys, I am the great Fenrir, the 1st Seat of the Apostles of Destruction, the wolf who hunts gods.’
While Fenrir was quietly barking to boost his self-esteem,
Kking?
‘This is faint, but it feels like my core’s energy?’
Fenrir sensed a fragment of his core. More precisely, it felt similar to the energy of the core he had dug up and eaten before, which lacked the energy of destruction.
My core!
Fenrir hurried down from the bed and ran outside.
Thump. Thump.
Following the energy, he saw the Golden Tree Stump Pot of Abundance.
Kking!
‘There it is!’
Fenrir barked upon seeing the crops planted in the pot.
Though Magic Seed Sowing Lv. 9 was supposed to infuse the seeds with a Tower Farmer’s energy to repel monsters,
Kking!
‘My core!’
Some of Fenrir’s core power had been infused into the energy, attracting him instead.
The ability proved much more a loss than a gain, as it failed to repel monsters and only attracted Fenrir.
Kkihihit. Kking?
‘Heheh, what should I eat first?’
Fenrir eagerly climbed onto the pot, contemplating which crop to devour while looking at the planted crops.
In that moment of consideration,
‘But the butler planted these with effort…’
He felt his butler might get upset if he secretly ate them.
Moreover,
‘It would taste better if the butler cooked these rather than eating like this, right?’
It seemed tastier to eat what the butler had cooked.
Thus, Fenrir decided to be a considerate owner, mindful of his butler’s feelings.
It definitely wasn’t because it would taste better. It was because he was generous.
‘I really am a good owner!’
Fenrir praised himself and moved to the sweet potato field.
And after digging up some fresh sweet potatoes,
‘Heheh, delicious.’
Crunch. Crunch.
He ate one on the spot and took the rest to his secret storage.
Dig. Dig.
When Fenrir dug the ground, there were also dried sweet potato and other snacks he had hidden earlier.
Having securely hidden the sweet potatoes in his secret storage, Fenrir then covered them back with soil.
‘Heheh, they’ll never find this.’This belongs to - ©.
Confident that he had perfectly hidden the sweet potatoes, he returned to bed and fell asleep again.
***
Several hours later.
Dadada.
Cuengi, who ran to Sejun as soon as he woke up.
Kueng?
[What is this smell?]
He tracked the scent of sweet potatoes coming from somewhere other than the field.
And then
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. It’s food!]
Cuengi had discovered Fenrir’s secret storage.
“Yawn.”
“Meeeow.”
Ppyak!
“Ahhh!”
As Sejun woke up and stretched outside, Theo, Black Rabbit, and Ajax followed suit, stretching themselves.
Kkirorong.
Fenrir, perhaps tired from his early morning activities, was still in dreamland.
At that moment,
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Good morning, Dad!]
Cuengi greeted Sejun with a very lively voice.
‘Did Cuengi have a good dream?’
Usually, before breakfast, his voice should be about two tones lower, but today it was strangely high.
“Just wait a moment.”
Sejun went into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast.
After eating breakfast,
“Ajax, go back. Veronica, go back.”
Sejun sent Ajax and Veronica to the White Tower and Purple Tower for work.
Kueng!
[Cuengi is going too!]
Ppyak!
[See you later, Cuengi!]
Kueng!
[Okay!]
Cuengi and Black Rabbit also left the farm to meet later at the location of the Minotaur King.
Once everyone had left,
Click.
Sejun took 4 out of the 5 Transcendent Black Beans from the Golden Box of Abundance.
Then he went to the brewery to start making alcohol. The dragons had been buying Samyangju steadily, and the stored Samyangju was running out.
So, he cooked the rice and cooled it down before mixing it with nuruk and placing it in 100 jars as the base of the brewing process.
No. There was still one more task left for today.
“Fermentation.”
[Using Fermentation Lv. 1.]
[Fermentation Lv. 1 slightly speeds up the fermentation process.]
[Fermentation Lv. 1 slightly deepens the flavor.]
[Your proficiency in Fermentation Lv. 1 slightly increases.]
Sejun used the fermentation skill on each of the jars.
A moment later,
“Fermentation.”
[Using Fermentation Lv. 1.]
…
..
[Your proficiency in Fermentation Lv. 1 has been filled and the level increases.]
When Sejun used the fermentation skill on the 100th jar, the level of the fermentation skill increased to 2.
“Hehehe. Nice.”
Nothing had changed because the level increased, but looking at the 100 jars in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile.
When the alcohol in these 100 jars is ready, it would yield 10,000 bottles of Samyangju. Then the money…
“Should I make some more?”
As Sejun spoke with greed,
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, let’s make more, meow!”
Theo egged Sejun on.
“Should I?”
With the Dragon Market customers increasing, it seemed not a bad idea to prepare more Samyangju in advance.
As Sejun was busily preparing the base for another 200 jars,
Kiiiing!
Fenrir, who had just woken up in bed, stretched as he got up.
Kking…
‘I’m hungry…’
Driven by hunger, Fenrir went looking for Sejun.
‘He’s working.’
Sejun was busily brewing alcohol in the brewery.
Usually, he would have had no choice but to call Sejun and ask for food, but
Kkihihit. Kking! Kking!
‘Heheh. I am Fenrir, the attentive owner! And I have a secret storage!’
Not anymore.
Thump. Thump.
Fenrir happily ran towards his secret storage. The location of the secret storage was right next to the Creator’s Tablet in the front yard of Sejun’s house.
However,
Kking?!
‘Who is it?!’
He realized someone had tampered with his secret storage. There were signs of digging.
Kking?! Kking! Kking!
‘How dare someone touch the secret storage of Fenrir, the god hunting wolf and first seat of the Apostle of Destruction?! For every single item stolen, a hundred hits! I won’t let it slide if I catch you!’
Dig dig dig.
Fenrir furiously dug at his secret storage with his front paws, vowing revenge, and checked how much had been taken.
Kking?
‘Why has it increased?’
Contrary to Fenrir’s thoughts, there was more food in the secret storage than he had put in.
Moreover, there were other snacks that weren’t originally there, such as rice cakes and dried persimmons.
At that moment,
Kking?!
‘This is?!’
Fenrir found a rice cake stamped with Cuengi’s paw print.
It turned out Cuengi, who had discovered Fenrir’s secret storage, had taken out food from his own snack bag to fill it up. That bear guy was a good one.
Kking?
‘But what should I do now?’
He had said a hundred strikes for each stolen item, but if they put food in like this, do I get hit?
Fenrir, calculating in his simple way, thought about it.
Kking!
‘No!’
After thinking for a moment, Fenrir remembered Cuengi’s formidable strength and shook his head.
Kking.
‘Let’s just spare him once.’
Deciding to spare Cuengi, Fenrir took out two pieces of dried sweet potato and then covered the secret storage again.
And then
Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
He ate the dried sweet potato diligently and fell asleep again.
***
Kkirorong.
“He’s still sleeping. Isn’t he hungry?”
Having finished preparing the base for 300 jars and stepping out of the brewery, Sejun looked at Fenrir snoring on the ground.
Somewhere in between, he had gotten up and snacked on his own because his belly was full again.
Sejun picked up Fenrir and placed him in the slingback.
“Chairman Park, I’m hungry, meow!”
Theo, who was clinging to Sejun’s leg, said.
“Alright. Let’s eat.”
Sejun sat on the chair with good sunlight and,
Nom.
[You have consumed Aileen’s Healthier Meatball Piece.]
[You must eat all the remaining pieces to gain its effects.]
[99 pieces remaining.]
He ate the meatball given by Aileen, and fed Theo some Churu while he sat on his lap.
Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.
Theo eagerly licked up the Churu.
Then
Piyo!
[Theo~nim!]
From afar, Piyot rushed over, urgently flying towards Theo.
Piyot was with Uren to inform Theo when Uren, who brought misfortune, was in danger.
The fact that Piyot had arrived meant…
“Meow? Could it be that Uren is in danger, meow?”
Piyo!
[Yes!]
It meant that misfortune had befallen Uren.
And then
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I’m off to make some money, meow!”
For Theo, it meant an opportunity had arisen. He quickly followed Piyot and went down the tower.
As Theo departed,
“I should get back to work too.”
Sejun stood up and went to the kitchen and started boiling five-colored beans.
He had been putting off a task for a while. That was making meju. Meju1Meju is a brick of dried fermented soybeans. While not consumed on its own, it serves as the basis of several Korean condiments, such as doenjang, ganjang, and gochujang. Meju is produced by pounding, kneading, and shaping cooked soybeans, and undergoes fermentation with Aspergillus oryzae and/or Bacillus subtilis. Wikipedia was essential for making soy sauce, chili paste, and soybean paste.
Sejun filled a black pot with five-colored beans and water, infusing the handle with magic power to boil the beans with strong fire.
In the meantime, he made ropes with green onion leaves to tie the meju.
After a few hours of boiling the beans until they could be easily crushed with hands, he scooped out the beans and drained the water.
When all the water from the beans was drained,
Ppyak!
[Uncle, I’m here!]
Kueng!
[Dad, Cuengi is here!]
Just in time, the helpers arrived. ‘Just in time’ was a bit of a stretch since he had been waiting for them.
“Hey kids, come on over.”
Sejun assigned Black Rabbit the task of mashing the beans and Cuengi the task of pressing the mashed beans into square mold to make meju.
“Summon, Ajax. Summon, Veronica.”
In the meantime, he summoned Ajax and Veronica to help with the work.
Veronica tied the meju Cuengi made with rope, and Ajax was instructed to hang the tied meju from the kitchen ceiling.
And then
“Fermentation.”
Sejun used the skill on the secured meju to enhance its fermentation speed and flavor, albeit slightly.
Having finished making the meju,
“Done. Guys, let’s eat.”
Sejun and his companions ate dinner. It was another peaceful day for Sejun.
***
Black Tower 15th Floor.
“Good. I’ve climbed quite a bit!”
The Black Skeleton, King of Farming, climbed the tower in search of Sejun, avoiding monsters or pretending to be dead.
Now, just 84 more floors to go… Sigh…
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
At that moment,
“Hand over everything you’ve got.”
Suddenly, five robbers surrounded the King of Farming and looted everything he had.
And then,
“I like the look of you! Join our Crying Skeleton Gang!”
The robbers, liking the appearance of the King of Farming, invited him to join their gang.
“What? I’d rather not…”
The King of Farming tried to refuse, but
“There are no refusals!”
The robbers pressed a knife to the King of Farming’s neck. He really felt like crying now.
“Okay…”
With no other choice, the King of Farming joined the Crying Skeleton Gang with a crying face.
*****
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TL: Meju
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