Chapter 19: Planting Potatoes

TL: Hanguk

Day 154 of being stranded, morning.

Swoosh.

Sejun got up and drew a line on the cave wall.

At that moment

Buzz.

Whizz.

The sound of wings from behind. The poisonous honeybees were already up and sucking honey. They had been collecting honey diligently lately, as it seemed like the poisonous honeybee queen had started laying eggs again.

As Sejun was watching the poisonous honeybees,

Peep!

Squeak!

Bang!

The rabbits energetically greeted him and lined up out of the burrow. In their hands, each held a carrot that they had left unfinished from yesterday’s meal.

The carrots were about the same size as the rabbits, so the rabbits had eaten half of a carrot until they were full yesterday. It was amazing how they could fit that much in their stomachs.

However, as the rabbits looked at the remaining carrots, they felt a sense of regret that they wouldn’t be able to eat them all at once. They carried the carrots back to their burrow and brought them out again in the morning.

The size of the carrots they brought out seemed to have decreased significantly since they went in, so they must have eaten them at night as well.

Hop. Hop.

The rabbits that came out of the burrow rubbed their eyes and began to finish off the remaining carrots from yesterday.

“Is it really that good?”

When Sejun looked at the black rabbit as if scolding it.

Bang!

The black rabbit nodded its head towards Sejun.

Thanks to that, Sejun was swept up in the atmosphere and had a simple breakfast of cherry tomatoes and carrots before starting his morning farm work.

Sejun had a lot to do today. From harvesting cherry tomatoes to harvesting carrots.

But today, the poisonous honeybees and rabbits were busier than Sejun.

The poisonous honeybees became busier as the distance they had to travel increased due to the blooming flowers in the newly planted cherry tomato field.

And the rabbit couple sent their children out of the cave.

Peep!

Squeak?!

The children were made independent. The six rabbits who were kicked out of the house started to make their own burrows.

“Why do you have to be independent?”

Could it be?! Are they up to that again?!

Sejun prayed it wasn’t so.

Since the grade of cherry tomatoes drops quickly if the harvest time is missed, Sejun quickly harvested the cherry tomatoes first.

Then, after finishing the cherry tomato harvest, Sejun went to the carrot field and began harvesting carrots.

Swoosh.

As expected, the carrots came out easily.

[You have harvested a well-ripened Agility Carrot.]

[Job experience increases slightly.]

[Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency increases slightly.]

[You have gained 12 experience points.]

Luckily, it was an E+ grade carrot from the beginning.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

Sejun began to harvest carrots in earnest.

Bang! Bang!

As Sejun diligently pulled the carrots and stacked them beside him, the black rabbit carried a carrot on each shoulder under the pretext of strength training and moved them to the storage.

The carrot storage had been prepared yesterday by digging a neat square pit next to the cherry tomato storage and laying down some dried green onion leaves.

Sigh...

The black rabbit went back and forth about ten times, and its speed suddenly slowed down as it seemed to be running out of energy.

Thud. Thud.

Rolling.

The black rabbit tried to sneakily kick the carrot with its feet to move it to the storage but was caught by the mother rabbit and scolded.

“Hehehe. I knew you would do that.”

Seojun watched the black rabbit getting scolded and laughed.

[You have acquired 1mL of Cherry Tomato Flower’s honey.]

[Beekeeping Lv. 1 proficiency has increased slightly.]

[You have acquired 1mL of Cherry Tomato Flower’s honey.]

[Beekeeping Lv. 1 proficiency has increased slightly.]

...

..

.

The poisonous honeybees filled the water bottle with honey.

And then,

[You have acquired 1mL of Cherry Tomato Flower’s honey.]

[Beekeeping Lv. 1 proficiency has increased slightly.]

[Beekeeping Lv. 1 proficiency has been filled, and the level has increased.]

Seojun’s beekeeping skill level had increased.

Wail...

The rabbits came out with tired faces, as if they hadn’t slept well.

“What’s wrong? What did you do without sleeping?”

Squeak!

Whine!

Wail! Wail!

At Sejun’s words, the rabbits became furious. Especially the rabbit couple, who were burning with anger because it was his fault!

“Hahaha. Sorry.”

Sejun appeased the angry rabbits by offering carrots, which calmed their anger.

Then he started his morning farming.

“Hum, hum, hum.”

As Sejun hummed and focused on harvesting cherry tomatoes for a while,

[The seed shop is now open.]

[Three types of seeds available for purchase today will be shown randomly.]

[You can only purchase seeds once every 30 days at your current level.]

The seeds available for purchase today appeared.

[Seed potatoes 100 – 5 Tower Coins]

[Strawberry seeds 100 – 0.5 Tower Coins]

[Lettuce seeds 1000 – 0.1 Tower Coins]

“I’ll pass on the lettuce since there’s no meat.”

The remaining options were seed potatoes and strawberries. Since he had a lot of money, he didn’t consider the price.

“Ah, it’s hard to decide.”

Sejun imagined scenes of eating potatoes and strawberries while trying to decide which to buy.

When you wrap the potato in foil, roast it, and peel it while blowing on it, the fluffy texture and subtle saltiness of the steaming hot potato flesh...

“Grr!”

Just imagining it made his stomach feel warm.

How about strawberries? When you pick a ripe, bright red strawberry and take a bite, the unique flavor of the strawberry, combined with the sour and sweet taste as if sprinkled with sugar, fills your mouth.

“Slurp.”

Sejun wiped his drooling mouth while looking at the seed shop window.

“What should I buy?”

After a long hesitation, Sejun tearfully chose seed potatoes.

He had been craving carbohydrates lately.

[You have purchased 100 seed potatoes.]

[5 Tower Coins have been deducted from Sejun’s seed bank account.]

[You have earned 50 seed Shop loyalty points.]

[You now have a total of 56 seed Shop loyalty points.]

[Thank you for using the seed shop.]

[You can use the Level 1 seed shop again in 30 days.]

Thump.

A bundle containing 100 seed potatoes appeared in front of Sejun.

“Great.”

Sejun hurriedly finished harvesting cherry tomatoes and carrots and began planting seed potatoes.

Since he had asked the rabbits to prepare the fields in advance, all he had to do was plant the seed potatoes.

“Cut it like this.”

Sejun asked a rabbit with a sickle item to quarter the seed potatoes. He could see the sprouting spots, so all he had to do was cut it so that part was included.

Sejun planted the quartered seed potatoes.

[You have planted seed potatoes.]

[Due to the effect of Seed Sowing Lv. 2, the probability of seed potatoes sprouting increases.]

[The proficiency of Seed Sowing Lv. 2 increases slightly.]

...

..

.

Sejun planted all 400 seed potatoes in just an hour.

He had now become completely proficient in his work.

Swoosh.

The rabbits with watering cans watered the potato field, and the potato planting was completely finished.

“Ah, I’m proud.”

While Sejun was proudly looking at the field where he planted 400 seed potatoes,

[You have created a 10-pyeong potato field.]

[You have gained 10 experience points.]

1 experience point per pyeong. It wasn’t much, but it felt like extra income.

“Isn’t it amazing? My farming technique, planting 400 seed potatoes from just 100?”

Bbang?!

As Sejun boasted, the black rabbit looked at him with contempt. Where’s the farmer who doesn’t know that?!

He only got ignored for speaking out of turn.

On Day 155 of being stranded, potatoes began to grow on Sejun’s farm.

****