TL: Hanguk
[You have arrived at the 99th floor of the Black Tower.]
When Park Sejun exited the door connecting to the 10th tower, the outside was dark, and 12 starlights twinkled, warmly welcoming Sejun.
At that moment,
Growl.
Kueng…
Cuengi’s stomach rumbled loudly like a clock.
Growl growl.
Right after, the sound came from the stomachs of Sejun, Theo, and the rest of the Blackie family.
Having fought Melpheus, the Apostle of Destruction, Sejun and his companions had forgotten about their hunger. But now that they had returned home, their tension relaxed, and hunger came rushing in.
Come to think of it, we skipped both lunch and dinner.
“My Cuengi was hungry but held it in so well. Let’s eat quickly.”
Kuhehehe. Kueng! Kueng!
[Hehehe. Sounds good! Cuengi wants soy sauce butter egg rice!]
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I want grilled fish, meow!”
Kikikihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! I want roasted and dried sweet potato!]
“Alright.”
As Sejun was being urged by his companions, he headed to the kitchen and
“Sejun No. 1, make soy sauce butter egg rice.”
He instructed Sejun No. 1 to prepare Cuengi’s requested dish.
And then,
“Here. Blackie, share this with everyone here.”
Kikikihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Okay!]
Sejun handed Blackie ten pieces of roasted and dried sweet potatoes and began grilling the fish for Theo.
A little later,
“Here you go, Vice Chairman Theo.”
“Puhuhut. As expected, the grilled fish made with Chairman Park’s care looks completely different, meow! It tastes amazing, meow!”
Theo started eating the grilled fish that Sejun had prepared with relish.
Kuhehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. It’s delicious!]
Cuengi also enjoyed his soy sauce butter egg rice topped with 30 soft-boiled eggs.
“Let me try some too.”
When Sejun was about to scoop some soy sauce butter egg rice from Cuengi’s bowl,
[The Tower’s Administrator tells you not to eat that.]
[The Tower’s Administrator confidently says she has prepared a dish just for you.]
Aileen hurriedly spoke up.
“D-dish?”
Sejun’s voice trembled at Aileen’s words.
[The Tower’s Administrator says she has made plenty of swelled up corn that you love.]
“What?! What are you talking about?!
Since when do I love swelled corn?”
Sejun asked with a puzzled expression.
[The Tower’s Administrator, in a flustered voice, says that your mother clearly said you love swelled corn.]
Aileen was visibly flustered.
And then,
Mother… no matter how much you want to score points with Aileen, selling out your son like this?
Sejun quickly grasped the situation.
“Oh. Swelled corn?! Sorry, I read it wrong as ‘burning corn’! Swelled corn?! How much I’ve been craving that! Aileen, give it to me quickly! I feel like I might pass out.”
Sejun acted with all his might, pretending he was desperate to eat swelled corn.
[The Tower’s Administrator realizes the misunderstanding and happily says it’s all good.]
[The Tower’s Administrator tells you to enjoy the meal.]
Thud.
With Aileen’s words, a massive plate appeared, piled high like a pyramid with swelled corn.
How many layers is this?
A 130-story corn tower, with more floors than the Black Tower.
Can I clear this?
Sejun hesitated for a moment but then resolved,
‘I have to do it!’
I’m going to score some points with Aileen, too!
Chomp. Chomp.
He began eating the swelled corn. Compared to the burnt dishes from before, this was definitely edible.
[You have consumed the Swelled Stamina Corn.]
[The corn’s effects have been reduced by 30% as it has swelled with water.]
[Your Strength increases by 14 for 30 minutes.]
…
..
.
After clearing 50 layers from the top, a crisis came, but
“Vitality.”
[You have used Vitality Lv. 8.]
[The food in your stomach is instantly digested.]
[All stat values increase by 8% for 180 minutes.]
[Your digestion speed increases significantly for 180 minutes.]
He emptied his stomach using the skill and started eating corn again.
At that moment,
Kikikihit. Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Butler! Name this one!]
Blackie barked as he put down Melpheus in front of Sejun, having carried him in his mouth.
Melpheus, who had been carried by Blackie, had no idea of the fate awaiting him and was munching on the roasted sweet potato slices in delight.
Mumu?! Mumu?!
(What is this?! Why is it so delicious?!)
He devoured the roasted sweet potato slices hurriedly, spitting tiny flames barely visible at the tips of his horns from his excitement at the sweet taste.
Ah. Right, I need to name the newbie.
“Let’s see…”
Original name Melpheus. Ladybug. Seven black spots on the back.
Makes ‘mumu’ sound and spits fire when excited.
Sejun listed out Melpheus’ characteristics.
Kking! Kking!
[Butler! He’s also really bad at commanding!]
Blackie provided additional information to Sejun.
On top of that, he’s a bad commander.
“Then…”
As Sejun got into naming mode,
Thump! Thump!
The Blackie family looked at Sejun with eyes full of expectation.
Especially,
Please, let it be a silly name!
The look in Karurur’s eyes wasn’t just expectant—it was desperate.
With everyone’s hopes in mind,
Since his name is Melpheus… Melatonin, Melcheese. (TL: Random names starting with ‘Mel’)
Since he’s a ladybug, how about Murisu, Mumaster, Musawon. (TL: Ladybug’s (무당벌레) 무(Mu) + rest are random things.)
Since he’s a fire-spitting ladybug, how about Buldang. (TL: 불 (Bul) means fire + 당 (dang) from Ladybug (무당벌레))
And he is a poor commander… Munoob? No, that’s too harsh. (TL: It’s actually Munung, but Munoob sounded better, so I translated it that way. Mu (무) comes from ladybug (무당벌레), and nung (능) means ‘incompetent’.)
Sejun pondered hard, thinking of various names.
But…
This is tough…
He couldn’t come up with a name he liked.
At that moment
Then, the words started to form in his mind:
A ladybug that makes ‘Mumu’ sound. Bad commander. Seven spots on its back.
As these three characteristics combined in Sejun’s mind,
Mubalchil! (TL: Mu (무) from Mumu (무무) + Bal (발) comes from 발컨 which is a slang for bad players used online, meaning playing a game with your foot + Chil (칠) is number 7 in Korean)
One name came to mind.
This seems pretty good?
Though it made his toes feel tingly, he still thought,
“Mubalchil.”
Saying it out loud, it sounded even better.
And then,
Kikikihit. Kking!
[Hehe. Butler’s naming skills have returned!]
“It’s the Sejun-nim from before!”
Kkiruk!
Shalarrang!
“You’ve returned, sir!”
Caw!
Ppiyak!
The Blackie family, who had been worried because no good names had come up since Karurur, cheered upon hearing Sejun’s new name.
Cawrurur. Cawrurur.
Karurur, who had suffered a lot due to his own name, burst into laughter at Mubalchil.
A little later,
Chomp. Chomp.
“I’ve finished eating!”
Sejun, having digested the food while naming, cleared the swelled corn tower and fell asleep.
***
Sejun’s coffee plantation in Chikasan on the 94th floor of the tower.
“Hmm… from now on, the highest-grade coffee produced from Chikasan will be named ‘Sejun 94 Chikasan Black Tower’, and the next grade will be named ‘Mozak 94 Chikasan Black Tower.’”
Ninir, the legendary merchant in charge of managing the coffee plantation, named the coffee.
The highest grade bore Sejun’s name, the chairman of Sejun Company, and the next grade carried the name of Black Drake Mozak, the Ruler of Chikasan.
“Alright. Then I’ll send 100 kilograms of ‘Sejun 94 Chikasan Black Tower’ to Sejun-nim on the 99th floor…”
After naming the coffee, Ninir gave instructions to the Black Wolves and Silver Wolves on where to deliver it.
“By the way, Ninir, didn’t you contact your sister to tell her you’re here?”
“Yeah. Mimyr seemed to be looking for you…”
Hegel and Elka cautiously asked Ninir.
To that,
“Hmph! You think my ‘dear big sister’ would worry about someone like me if I went missing?! She’s too busy working to even care about someone like me!!!”
Ninir shouted at the two in a shrill voice.
Hwarururu.
Fiery flames burst from Ninir’s red fur.
Among the White Sheep Tribe, Mimyr and Ninir were rare in that they were born with different colored fur.
And they were sisters.
The White Sheep Tribe was innately capable of handling lightning energy, and Mimyr, born with golden fur, had displayed a high level of achievement from birth, enveloping her entire body in lightning, gaining recognition from the tribe.
However,
Neeheheh.
Ninir, with her red fur, had almost no talent in handling lightning energy. No, it was practically non-existent.
Even though she was over 10 years old,
“Neeak! It stings!”
She couldn’t even control the level of lightning energy that newborn White Sheep Tribe members could handle.
Because of this, Ninir was always compared to her older sister Mimyr among the White Sheep Tribe.
The more this happened, the more Ninir felt discouraged.
On top of that, when Mimyr became a legendary merchant,
“Sigh, the older sister is a genius, but the younger sister is an idiot…”
Ninir faced even greater comparisons and could no longer stay in the White Sheep Tribe’s village.
“Hmph! I’ll become a legendary merchant too!”
She ran away from home, wandering the tower while working hard to earn money to become a merchant.
That’s when she met Theo and became a legendary merchant.
And then,
I’m not talentless! My talent is in fire!
While working to create merchant items, Ninir realized she had incredible talent, not in handling lightning energy but in controlling fire energy.
I’ll work hard under Theo~nim and show my skills to my sister and the White Sheep Tribe!
Ninir dreamed of returning in triumph after developing her abilities.
However, she didn’t know that her sister was already a senior full-time employee of Sejun Company.
***
The next morning.
“Alright.”
Sejun woke up after a good night’s sleep.
“Meow…”
Kking…
He got up, taking care of Theo and the Blackie family.
“Maintain Cleanliness.”
He used the skill to clean himself and his companions.
Then,
Scribble.
He marked the date on the wall and went outside and,
“Land Moving.”
He erected a 10-meter-tall monument for Hamer.
[Hamer’s Achievement Monument]
– Hamer, the God of Farming, the first god to be commanded under the leadership of the great Park Sejun
“Hehehe.”
Sejun felt proud as he looked at the inscription he had written.
I’ve raised them really well.
Thinking about Theo, Cuengi, and the Blackie family, who made it possible for him to command Hamer,
Step. Step.
He strolled through his farm.
After walking for about 30 minutes,
[The Wind Cabbage is grateful for the farmer’s footsteps and lends its strength.]
[The effect of Great Blessing of the Crops (Master) activates, increasing the potential of your Magic Power potential from 7,157 to 7,167.]
His potential stat rose.
Magic Power (7,167/7,167).
Of course, it filled up right away.
And so, Sejun slightly reduced the queue of stats waiting for him to increase his potential stat today as well.
A little later,
Kueng!
[Dad, did you sleep well?!]
Cuengi, who had woken up, joined and clung to Sejun’s side as they walked around the farm together.
Then,
“Hm?”
Sejun’s eyes caught sight of something hard, with a mix of brown and green, piled up in a heap.
Did Paespaes bring this?
Usually, Paespaes brought slimes, but it seemed he had brought something different today.
Sejun cautiously approached and touched it.
This is…
“Seaweed?”
Nice. Today’s breakfast will be seaweed soup!
Excited, Sejun hurriedly grabbed the seaweed and ran to the cooking area, where he washed and soaked the seaweed in water to soften it.
After about 20 minutes, the seaweed had absorbed plenty of water and became soft and elastic.
“Today, I’ll personally handle the cooking.”
Sejun was cooking for the first time in a long while. Since the recipe for seaweed soup wasn’t registered in the cooking skill, Sejun No. 1 couldn’t make it.
Of course, once the seaweed soup recipe was registered in the cooking skill, Sejun No. 1 would be able to make it.
Sizzle.
Sejun heated the sturdy stone pot made by Eomdol and stir-fried slime meat in it, stirring until it changed color.
Whoosh.
He then added the soaked seaweed and stir-fried it together.
‘Add soy sauce, garlic, and some tuna broth.’ owns this.
After adding seasoning and ingredients, he stir-fried the meat and seaweed again to let the flavors soak in.
Pour.
He then added water and covered the pot.
“Time Acceleration.”
Finally, he used a skill and waited for a minute. When he opened the lid, a cloudy broth of seaweed soup greeted him.
[You have achieved the feat of making Slime Meat Bloodsucking Leech Hide Soup for the first time in the Tower.]
[The recipe for Slime Meat Bloodsucking Leech Hide Soup has been registered in Cooking (Master).]
[Your proficiency in Cooking (Master) has greatly increased.]
A grotesquely named dish was now registered in his recipe list.
“Huh?!”
It’s not seaweed soup but bloodsucking leech hide soup?!
“What’s with this name?!”
Sejun was shocked by the name of the dish.
In reality, what Sejun had mistaken for seaweed was actually the corpse of a bloodsucking leech.
When Paespaes had killed the bloodsucking leech, the liquid inside had drained, making the leech’s skin dry out and resemble seaweed.
The smell and taste were like seaweed soup, but…
As Sejun took a sip of the soup and tilted his head in confusion,
[You have achieved the great feat of creation by completing a dish using two types of calamities for the first time in the tower.]
[As a reward for your great feat of creation, you have acquired the
[As a reward for your great feat of creation, you have awakened the talent: Bizarre Cooking.]
[As a reward for your great feat of creation, the cost of staying on the 0th floor of the Black Tower will be reduced by 0.1%.]
A series of messages appeared.
“…..”
Is this system mocking me?!
“Vice Chairman Theo, this won’t do! Let’s impeach the system!”
“Puhuhut. I agree, meow! Impeachment it is, meow!”
Kueng!
[Cuengi wants to join the impeachment too!]
Kking! Kking!
[We want to join too! Let us in!]
And so, on the 99th floor of the Black Tower, Sejun and his companions started plotting the impeachment of the system.
Despite giving Sejun titles and talents based on his achievements, the system still somehow managed to make him angry.
*****
TL Note:
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*****
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