Chapter 61: It Tastes Like Chicken

TL: Hanguk

“...Erm... You’re here, meow?”

“Mr. Theo! You didn’t forget about us, did you?”

“No...no, meow! I...I was testing whether you guys would come find me or not, meow!”

Though Theo had completely forgotten about the hunters,

‘Phew. I didn’t show any signs of being flustered, meow!’

He believed he had perfectly hidden it with his acting skills.

However,

‘He did forget about us.’

‘We should’ve just stayed hidden.’

‘We should’ve just kept quiet.’

The hunters, who had come seeking Theo out of fear, were regretting their actions as they observed his awkward acting..

“So, did you make any money? Hand it over, meow!”

Theo hurriedly brought up a different topic.

“Yes, here’s 715 Tower Coins.”

The hunters proudly handed over all the money they had been diligently saving up to Theo. It had been a while since they had hunted so hard.

However, it was just chump change, not enough to satisfy Theo, who had just made a significant amount of sales.

“What, meow? 715 Tower Coins? Have you been slacking off, meow?!”

“Huh?! What do you mean?! We’ve really been hunting hard!”

“That’s right! We really worked hard!”

Growl.

As the wronged hunters raised their voices towards Theo, the wolves bared their teeth and growled.

“Eek!”

At the wolves’ threatening behavior, the hunters shut their mouths.

“So, you’re incompetent, meow? Humans even less useful than Cuengi, meow!”

Theo berated the hunters.

‘Who’s Cuengi?’

The unknown Cuengi scored an unexpected win against the hunters.

“If you’re like this next time, it won’t be fun, meow!”

As Theo made a scary face and signaled to the wolves with his paw,

Growl.

The wolves once again released a strong killing intent.

“Eeek! We understand! We’ll earn more!!”

With that, Theo, who had pushed the hunters, once again set off for the 99th floor of the tower.

***

Ugh!

Once the attack of the Branch Scouts was almost settled, the Minotaur King quickly returned to the waypoint.

After the Minotaur King had left and about two hours had passed, they were finally able to completely defeat the Branch Scouts.

“But why did they come here?”

They were puzzled by the sudden attack of the Ents, but no one knew the answer to that.

[The Tower’s Administrator says that the corrupted ents want to corrupt any uncorrupted trees around them.]

Aileen could only guess based on her knowledge of corrupted ents.

“Trees?”

The only thing that could be called a tree around here was the cherry tomato trees or the corn trees.

But the Branch Scouts had no interest in them. They were only interested in the cave.

“What is it?”

While Sejun was pondering the reason why the corrupted ents attacked this place,

Grrrumble.

His body, which had been overworked since dawn, asked for fuel replenishment.

“Guys, let’s eat!”

Sejun treated the Mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Minotaurs, who had helped him, with food as a token of his gratitude.

First, he gave finely chopped carrots to the wife rabbit who had just given birth, and to the mother Crimson Giant Bear, he gave a basket made of green onion leaves filled with 200 squids and sweet potatoes.

And he let the Black Minotaurs eat as much green onion leaves as they wanted. In addition, he cut the stems of harvested carrots and gave them as well. Due to the time limit, he also sent 3 heaps of green onion leaves and a bundle of cherry tomato branches to the Minotaur King who had to return to the waypoint first.

After preparing their meals, Sejun and the rabbits prepared their own food.

However,

“Should we just eat something simple since we’re so tired?”

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbits strongly agreed with Sejun’s suggestion. They were exhausted from preparing food for others.

Crunch.

The rabbits took out carrots from the storage, held one in their arms each, and ate them,

Woong-woong.

and Sejun munched on dried sweet potatoes.

While they were eating,

Woo-jeok-woo-jeok.

After finishing off 200 squids and a bundle of sweet potatoes in just two bites, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who seemed to still be hungry, started to eat the dead Branch Scouts.

“Old man! Where did you get that golden sweet potato? Don’t tell me you killed Dong-sik and took it?!”

Theo approached Han Tae-jun and asked. If that was the case, he thought of avenging Kim Dong-sik.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Then where did you get it?!”

“I got it from Dong-sik. Besides, thanks to you selling me the sun sweet potato, I was freed from the fire curse. I owe you one. Thank you.”

“Then repay your debt.”

“Sure, how?”

“First, stamp this contract.”

Theo handed out a blank contract.

However,

“I can’t do that.”

His opponent was the president of the Korean Awakened Association. He was not an easy opponent.

***

As lunchtime approached,

Sniff sniff.

The rabbits, smelling something delicious, gathered near Sejun’s brick house.

Rustle.

The wolves also waited in front of Sejun’s brick house, wagging their tails.

Slurp. Slurp.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear, who had returned early from patrol, was also salivating at the delicious smell.

“Let’s see if it’s well-cooked?”

When Se-jun removed the bricks and opened the pot lid,

[You have achieved the feat of making Combat Rations – Red Locust Soup for the first time in the tower.]

[The recipe for Combat Rations – Red Locust Soup is registered at Cooking Lv. 3.]

[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 3 increases significantly.]

It seems that there was no one who had cooked with the red locust, as this time too, it was the first.

“Combat Rations?”

As Se-jun was about to examine his dish,

Grumble!

Grumble!

Gruuumble!

Bleeeh!

Animals excited by the delicious smell drooled and looked at Se-jun with heated eyes. It seemed necessary to calm down the excited animals first.

“Guys, calm down. I’ll give it to you.”

Sejun decided to check the dish later and first served the red locust soup to the animals. He gave a whole large pot to the mother Crimson Giant Bear.

While the animals were focused on eating, Sejun looked at the food remaining in the large pot.

[Combat Rations – Red Locust Soup]

→ Thinly sliced red locust meat, detoxifying green onions, and power potatoes are added and boiled for a long time so that all ingredients blend harmoniously and all effects increase.

→ The detoxifying green onions neutralize the poison in the red locust meat, making it softer.

→ Due to the detoxifying effect of the green onions, the food doesn’t spoil easily.

→ The taste improves slightly.

→ Consumption increases strength by 5.1 for 30 minutes. (Due to the effect of Cooking Lv. 2, your strength increases by 0.1)

[TL Note: Here, the cooking level should be level 3 as it was mentioned earlier in the chapter that it was increased to level 3. However, in the raw version, it is mentioned as level 2. It seems like the author may have made a mistake.]

→ Due to the effect of combat rations, you will feel full for 3 hours.

→ Cook: Tower Farmer Park Sejun

→ Expiration date: 30 days

→ Grade: C+

“It’s softer?”

Sejun took a spoonful of red locust soup and put it in his mouth.

Chew, chew.

The finely ground meat was tender even to Sejun’s teeth.

Then,

‘What is this?!’

Sejun was touched by the familiar taste and texture of the red locust meat.

‘It tastes like chicken!’

Slurp.

Sejun hastily finished a bowl of red locust soup.

[You have consumed the standard portion of Combat Rations – Red Locust Soup.]

[Strength increases by 5.1 for 30 minutes.]

[You will feel full for 3 hours.]

The amount of red locust soup that triggers the options varies depending on who ate it.

However,

Slurp.

Sejun seemed uninterested in such matters and started to eat the red locust soup again. It was the taste of chicken that he had been craving for almost 8 months.

On the 235th day of being stranded, Sejun found meat that tastes like chicken.

*****

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