Chapter 165

[Summoning, Ajax Mamebe, Tower Farmer of the White Tower.]

After about 10 seconds since the message appeared,

Boom.

In front of Sejun, a gigantic white dragon, Ajax, about 20 meters in size, appeared.

“Aargh. What’s this? Where am I?”

Ajax, who had now come to his senses, looked around and spoke.

“Ah...Ajax! Go back!”

Sejun, feeling dizzy, hurriedly shouted. Just withstanding the magic power passively emitted by Ajax’s breathing was enough to make Sejun feel faint. He may have acquired a dragon servant for 200 years, but he was unable to utilize him effectively.

[Reverse summoning, Ajax Mamebe, Tower Farmer of the White Tower.]

“Phew.”

Sejun sighed in relief after reverse summoning Ajax.

“Did the dragon just come and go, meow?”

Krueng!

[It was the white dragon!]

Theo and Cuengi, who had been watching Ajax, spoke. They were already aware of the contract with Ajax and weren’t too worried.

“Hahaha. Did you see? A white dragon responding to my call?”

Sejun shouted boastfully, trying to salvage his pride.

However,

“Chairman Park, we aren’t strangers, meow.”

Krueng!

[That’s right! It’s okay even if Cuengi’s dad is weak!]

Rather than appearing strong, Sejun ended up being comforted by the animals.

“...Thanks.”

Upon reflection, Sejun realized it wasn’t the first or second time he had shown such vulnerability in front of the kids. There was no shame in it.

‘I didn’t faint in front of the dragon!’

Technically, he withstood Ajax’s magic power for a few seconds, which was quite impressive. He had grown significantly stronger than before, it just wasn’t apparent because of those around him.

“Get to work, slave.”

For now, Sejun instructed Ajax to harvest tomatoes and started making rice cakes again. The cycle of making and waiting continued.

Just when things started to get a tad boring,

Rumble.

While lying between Sejun’s legs and enjoying a stretch from Sejun, Cuengi’s stomach grumbled.

“Cuengi, want some honey popcorn?”

Krueng!

[Yes!]

Unsurprisingly, Cuengi couldn’t resist any food with honey.

Then,

“Chairman Park, I request the development of a Churu-flavored popcorn, meow!”

Theo, wanting to join Sejun in eating popcorn, requested a new popcorn flavor.

“Churu flavor?”

Popcorn with Churu? Just the thought made Sejun grimace. Wouldn’t it taste very fishy?

“I’ll try making it.”

Sejun used exploding stamina corn to make popcorn. He divided the popcorn into three portions and started making the sauce.

He took out two pots: In one, he mixed water and honey; in the other, Churu and water. A sweet and fishy aroma rose.

“It smells delicious, meow!”

Krueng!

[It smells delicious!]

Cuengi and Theo sniffed the aroma from the pot with the simmering Churu.

‘Isn’t it fishy?’

To Sejun, it was overly fishy, but to Theo and Cuengi, it seemed appetizing. And so, He made three flavored popcorn: salt, honey, and Churu. Sejun, Theo, and Cuengi began eating.

Then,

“Chairman Park, try this one, meow!”

“I’m good... You eat, Vice Chairman Theo.”

“Chairman Park! Are you disregarding my sincerity, meow?”

“No, it’s just... I feel bad eating what you like.”

“I’ll make a special exception for Chairman Park, meow!”

Theo kept insisting on the Churu-flavored popcorn.

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If Theo had maliciously offered like ‘Chairman Park, eat this Churu-flavored popcorn and suffer, meow’, Sejun would’ve declined instantly.

But, Theo, with a ‘I’m giving this to you because it’s you, meow’ expression, made it hard for Sejun to refuse.

Krueng!

[Big bro, Cuengi also want to eat more of Churu-flavored popcorn!]

“Cuengi, you’ve eaten enough, so stop eating, meow!”

If Cuengi hadn’t reduced the amount of Churu-flavored popcorn, Sejun would’ve ended up with even more of it.

Thus, Sejun, enduring the fishy taste in his mouth, reached his rice cake-making target and went to bed.

***

White Tower, 99th floor.

“You bastard!!! How dare you summon and dismiss me at will?!”

Cuengi started to question Sejun. Today, Sejun failed to secretly eat the elixir without Cuengi noticing.

Thus, Sejun was being interrogated by Cuengi about what he ate that morning alone when,

-Sejun, come up here for a moment.

Kaiser called Sejun to the fountain with a serious tone.

“Yes! I’m coming! Cuengi, eat this while I’m gone, okay?”

Thanks to Kaiser, Sejun, who had the chance to escape, gave a bowl of chestnuts he had previously peeled to ensure Cuengi wouldn’t be hungry while waiting for him, and went to Kaiser.

Krueng! Krueng!

[Alright. Cuengi will wait while eating the chestnuts!]

Cuengi sat down on the ground and waved one front paw at Sejun while picking up and eating chestnuts with the other.

“Kaiser, what’s the matter?”

– Take this.

With a gruff voice, Kaiser handed Sejun a mysterious black stone. It felt quite heavy, indicating its high density.

“Kaiser, what is this?”

– What do you mean, what? It’s food! Eat it quickly!

The fact that this stone was food was surprising...

“...You want me to eat this?!”

Thinking he had misheard, Sejun asked again.

– Yes! Eat it! Consider yourself fortunate! Aileen made this food specially for you!

Thinking of Aileen, who had fallen asleep exhausted after cooking, Kaiser seemed to get furious again.

However,

“What?! This is a dish made by Aileen?!”

Upon hearing Kaiser’s words, Sejun’s face turned pale, and he hurriedly examined the food, which did not look like food at all.

[Aileen’s Healthy Meatball]

→ The great black dragon Aileen Pritani combined various elixirs and meat, and then cooked them under high heat and pressure to form a ball.

→ Due to the extreme pressure and heat, the meat became as hard as a diamond, but its effects are outstanding.

→ With the help of the great black dragon Kaiser Pritani, most of the toxicities of the elixirs were neutralized, preventing side effects upon consumption.

→ When consumed, all stats increase by 100.

→ Chef: The great black dragon Aileen Pritani

→ Expiration date: None

→ Grade: S+

“Phew.”

At least this time, thanks to Kaiser, there was no poison.

“But all stats increase by 100?!”

Upon confirming that there was no poison, Sejun finally took note of the other details. Aileen had specially used ingredients from their family’s elixir storage with Kaiser’s permission.

‘But can I even eat this?’

Just to be sure, Sejun cautiously bit into Aileen’s dish with his front teeth.

Clink.

As expected, it was solid as a rock. It felt more like he would break his teeth rather than biting the meat. It seemed more appropriate to call it a rock ball1 rather than a meat ball.

‘What a shame.’

It seemed safe to eat this dish since there were no mentions of poison or bad taste... but it was too hard.

– Tsk. What to do with this... Give it to me. I’ll break it.

Unable to bear it, Kaiser broke Aileen’s dish into 100 pieces and gave them to Sejun.

“Thank you, Kaiser.”

– Forget it! Just thank Aileen when she wakes up!

“Yes.”

Kaiser, with those final words, went off to drink again.

Then,

“Should I try eating it?”

Sejun cautiously put one of the pill-sized meat pieces that Kaiser had given him into his mouth. Thankfully, he only tasted a slight saltiness.

Gulp.

As Sejun swallowed the piece of meat,

[You have consumed a piece of Aileen’s Healthy Meatball.]

[You must eat all of it to gain the full effect.]

[99 pieces remain.]

A message appeared indicating that no effect could be gained by eating only a part of it.

“It would be nice if my stats increased by 1 for each piece...”

Still, he was grateful that he could eat it this way. Although inconvenient, all he had to do was eat 100 pieces of the meat fragment.

Just as Sejun was about to eat the next piece,

[The compressed meat expands, providing a feeling of fullness that lasts for 24 hours.]

Along with the message, Sejun felt his stomach expand as Aileen’s compressed dish expanded inside Sejun’s stomach.

“What?! What if I had eaten all of it?!”

The mere thought made cold sweat run down Sejun’s forehead.

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TL Notes:

1) Here 주먹 도끼 is used which literally translates to ‘fist axe’ but is an idiomatic expression which means something/someone with great power or force which doesn’t translate well in English so I have used ‘rock ball’ instead to match with meat ball which roughly provides the same meaning.

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