Chapter 36: Having a Party
TL: Hanguk
After the auction, Theo had a photo session with the female hunters.
However, the remaining number of female hunters was only four, and of those, only two agreed to take a picture with Theo.
After taking the pictures, he received three Churu and two coffee mixes.
“The results this time are poor meow. I only earned two hours of representative time meow.”
Just as Theo was wearing a gloomy expression,
“Theo, let’s take just one picture together. My daughter loves cats. In return, I’ll give you this.”
Kim Dongsik, who had been unable to interject due to the female hunters, offered some red powder.
“What is this meow?”
“It’s chili powder.”
“Good meow!”
He didn’t quite know what it was, but it seemed like something Park Se Jun would like.
Click.
Kim Dong-sik took a photo and left.
After the trade, Theo hurriedly climbed the tower. To take Se Jun’s lap, and for his nieces and nephews who were waiting for their cool uncle.
The cool uncle had already been replaced by Se Jun in the eyes of the baby rabbits, but Theo didn’t know that.
Just as Theo was about to use the merchant route to move from the 40th floor to the 50th floor,
“Hold on a moment.”
“Yeah. You need to help us.”
“We won’t harm you if you just answer what we ask.”
Three giant silver wolves, each 5m in size, approached.
“What meow?! I’m not going to help meow!”
At the request for help, Theo recalled Se Jun’s instructions and tried to ignore them.
But,
“Where do you think you’re going?”
One of the wolves moved quickly and blocked Theo’s path.
“Why… why are you doing this meow? I’m not going to help meow! Park Se Jun told me not to help meow!”
“Grrr. You should cooperate when we ask nicely! What did you do with the straw hat you bought from the blacksmith?”
The wolf threatened Theo with its sharp teeth.
“That… that is…”
Thump thump thump.
Just as Theo was trembling under the wolf’s threat,
Poof!
Grey smoke spread out, and a foul smell filled the surroundings.
“Cough!”
“Eek!”
“What’s this smell!”
While the wolves with their keen sense of smell were suffering from the stench,
“Huh?!”
“Shh! Be quiet.”
A figure in a mask grabbed Theo and fled through the merchant route to avoid the Silver Wolf tribe.
Thump thump thump.
“Let’s take a break now.”
The figure, who had been running with Theo for about 30 minutes, stopped.
And then,
“Theo, are you okay?”
He asked, looking at Theo.
“Who are you meow? How do you know my name meow?”
When the masked figure knew his name, Theo asked defensively.
“It’s me. Jeras.”
Jeras said, removing his mask.
30 minutes ago.
‘What should I do?’
Jeras, who had been tailing them, was contemplating whether or not to save Theo when he was surrounded by the Silver Wolf tribe.
Theo did interfere with his mission, but his intentions were good. He was not a bad guy.
Also,
‘That straw hat really belonged to Landlord Grid.’
Landlord Grid, a figure who exerted a huge influence on the tower by exploiting tenant farmers like slaves with the land and food he possessed.
For Jeras, who dislikes Grid, it was a two birds with one stone opportunity to interfere with Grid’s work and approach Theo. Thanks to the Silver Wolf tribe, he didn’t have to worry about how to approach Theo.
So Jeras set off a stink bomb, which wolves hate, and saved Theo.
“Jeras! Thank you meow!”
“You saved me last time, didn’t you? So, let’s call it even now.”
“Still, thank you meow.”
Theo significantly lowered his guard against Jeras. The two chatted and moved to the shopping district together.
***
After feeding the Queen Poison Honeybee enough honey,
Buzz.
The Queen Poison Honeybee flapped her wings vigorously and flew up, briefly looking around and then went back into the pit dug by Sejun. It seemed like she wanted to rest.
“I should also head back down now.”
It was already late in the afternoon. Sejun, who had descended into the cave, planted 400 corn seeds in the field where he had cut down the corn stalks.
He had originally planned to completely uproot the corn stalk and plant the seeds, but since the roots of the corn stalk were deeper than he thought and did not uproot easily, he just planted them in the empty ground next to it.
Squeak!
It was a bit strange to plant in a place where the roots remained, but there seemed to be no problem as the husband rabbit was coaching him on farming next to him.
Like that, Sejun who had planted the corn, covered himself with a blanket, and fell asleep.
The next morning.
Growl!
Sejun woke up to the wake-up cry of the baby bear. As soon as he woke up, Sejun added a line on the wall and started the morning of the 188th day of being stranded.
And he came up to the ground without washing his face to check the status of the Queen Poison Honeybee, but
“Huh?!”
The Queen Poison Honeybee was not in the pit.
“Where did she go?”
Every time Sejun had a chance, he came up to the surface and checked the pit, but the Queen Poison Honeybee was not seen all day. The honey that he had left for her to eat was also untouched.
A day passed like that, but the Queen Poison Honeybee did not return.
The morning of the 189th day of being stranded.
Sejun, who had finished harvesting cherry tomatoes, carried the cut leek leaves and cherry tomato branches, and stepped on the knot of the rope.
And then,
“Pull!”
Gruh! Ugh! Gruh! Ugh!
The baby bear pulled up Sejun and the green onion leaves. Sejun was covering the field again with green onion leaves and cherry tomato branches to prevent moisture evaporation.
When Sejun came up with the green onion leaves, the sickle rabbit and the cart rabbit helped Sejun and diligently covered the field with the green onion leaves and cherry tomato branches.
And when Sejun, who had finished his work, went down to the cave again to prepare lunch,
Ping!
The black rabbit called Sejun.
“Do you want to move the piranhas?”
Ping! Ping!
At Sejun’s words, the black rabbit shook its head and pointed at the pond. There’s a strange creature there! My hammer doesn’t work on it!
In the place where the black rabbit pointed, a violet crustacean monster the size of an arm, which had accidentally entered through a hole in the pond, was leisurely roaming the pond’s bottom.
“Huh?! That’s…”
Sejun recognized the identity of the monster at once. To see you here! It was the creature that the participants had highly praised in “Law of the Jungle¹” for its delicious taste.
“Black Rabbit, cover me!”
Beep!
Splash!
At Sejun’s words, the black rabbit entered the water and blocked the piranhas’ approach while Sejun cautiously approached the crustacean.
And then,
Thud.
With Keinz’s Training Dagger, he immediately stabbed the head of the crustacean monster.
[You have killed a crayfish.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
A new source of protein appeared in the pond. Sejun fished the crayfish he had hunted out of the pond.
And then,
Thud.
He stabbed the dagger into its chest once more and waited for the blood to drain.
“This is amazing. I didn’t know there were crayfish living underground… Are there more?”
While draining the blood of the crayfish, Sejun peeked into the pond to see if there were any more crayfish, but due to the blood that flowed out when Sejun caught the crayfish, only the piranhas gathered.
Beep!
Plop! Plop! Plop!
The black rabbit happily hunted the piranhas, and it seemed like the baby bear would also be able to enjoy a feast for lunch today.
Thus, after draining the blood of the crayfish, Sejun tightly wrapped it in green onion leaves and put it on the fire.
Today’s lunch is grilled crayfish! As time passed, a delicious aroma filled the cave.
Squeak!
Squeal!
Beep!
Growl!
Even the rabbits and the baby bear got excited by the smell of the grilled crayfish.
“Wait.”
Sejun calmed the excited animals and grilled the crayfish a little more before taking it out of the fire.
And when he unwrapped the green onion leaves that had tightly wrapped around the crayfish’s body, the crayfish, whose shell had turned red, greeted Sejun.
“Wow.”
Gulp.
As Sejun admired the well-cooked crayfish and folded its body in half, the juicy and white flesh was revealed.
Growl!
The baby bear drooled with excitement at the sight of the crayfish flesh.
“You’re going to fall again at this rate.”
Sejun quickly cut the flesh of the crayfish and shared it with the rabbits and the baby bear. It would have been a satisfying meal if he had eaten it alone, but because there were many mouths to feed, each only got about one piece of flesh.
After sharing a piece of crayfish with everyone, Sejun took the remaining piece of crayfish flesh, bit into it, and chewed.
Chomp chomp.
As soon as he chewed the flesh of the crayfish, a chewy texture filled his mouth, accompanied by a slight salty and sweet flavor.
Chew chew.
The more he chewed the flesh, the sweeter it became.
‘So this is the taste.’
Having tasted the true flavor of the crayfish, it was time to taste the combined flavors of the other parts.
Shush.
He dipped a piece of crayfish meat into the entrails inside the body of the crayfish.
“Hmm.”
It was said that the entrails were delicious and indeed, a taste of cheese and butter exploded in his mouth.
Ping?
At Se-jun’s reaction, the black rabbit dipped a finger into the crayfish’s unpleasant-looking innards and tasted it.
And then,
Ping!
Munch munch.
Bewitched by the taste of the intestines, the black rabbit began dipping its carrot into the crayfish’s intestines and eating it.
Crunch crunch.
The baby bear finished off the grilled crayfish by chewing on the shell.
“Ah…”
Squeak…
Squeal…
Peep…
Grrr…
While everyone was savoring the aftertaste of the grilled crayfish with a look of regret,
Splash! Splash!
There was a commotion in the pond.
“What’s that?”
Se-jun, who had regained his senses, approached the pond. It was a battlefield overflowing with blood. No, it would be more accurate to call it a massacre scene.
Ten crayfish were brutally slaughtering the piranhas. It seemed like they had come for revenge following the blood that flowed out when Sejun had stabbed the crayfish earlier.
“This is trouble.”
There was not enough fire. The current fire was not enough to cook ten crayfish.
“Guys! Quickly make more fire, and Black Rabbit, bring a long stick and rope!”
It’s a crayfish party today!
Ping?
The black rabbit, puzzled by Sejun’s instructions, got excited when it saw the crayfish in the pond and brought a long stick and a rope.
Then, it ran to the fireplace and made four more hearths with the white rabbits and dried green onion leaves.
In the meantime, Se-jun carved a notch in the wood so he could hang a rope, and connected it to the hilt of the dagger with a rope.
And then,
Thud.
[You have killed a crayfish.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
Sejun used the long reach of the stick to hunt one crayfish at a time and pull them out.
Ping!
When Sejun caught a crayfish, the black rabbit moved it to the fireplace, and the white rabbits covered the crayfish with leaves and placed it on the fire.
Fwoosh.
The crayfish began to be grilled.
Thud.
[You have killed a crayfish.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
While Sejun was pulling up the hunted crayfish,
“Huh?”
He saw a crayfish coming in through the pond hole. The blood of the crayfish had called its comrades again.
“Looks like we’ll be able to fill our stomachs with crayfish today?”
Thud, thud.
Sejun deliberately punctured the body of the crayfish several times to make the blood spread and lure other crayfish.
That day, Sejun and the animals hunted thirty crayfish and ate their fill.
Crunch, crunch.
Of course, the baby bear eating the crayfish’s shell seemed a bit unsatisfied, but to fill the baby bear, even 50 crayfish seemed insufficient.
Thus, Se-jun and the rabbits, having had a high-protein meal with crayfish, energetically started afternoon farming.
And as the afternoon farming was nearing its end,
Roar.
The mother Crimson Giant Bear came to pick up the baby bear.
Roar!
“Goodbye.”
As Sejun waved his hand to say goodbye to the baby bear and was about to go down to the cave,
Buzz, buzz.
The queen honey bee, who had been away for a few days, returned with a plump tail.
*****
1. Law of the Jungle is a South Korean reality-documentary show that airs on SBS.