Solo Farming In The Tower

Inside Theo’s Mental World.

Miniature Chairman Park No. 6 was shouting with all his might at the towering mountain of grilled fish.

But—

“Ah…”

His voice was so tiny it didn’t even reach the grilled fish mountain. Not even an echo responded.

“Ah…!”

Mini Chairman Park No. 6 tried again, shouting with everything he had.

Since Sejun had been busy every night lately working on the Moonlight Fairy’s album, Kkamang and Taecho hadn’t caused any trouble. As a result, Mini Chairman Park No. 6 had been pouring all his free time into voice training.

Next time, I’ll give him a real scolding!

He was still bitter that he hadn’t been able to scold Kyungsoo Cho, the man who stole Sejun’s song, with his own voice.

After a long while of practice—

“Ah…!!”

His voice rang louder than before.

—Aah…

His cry finally reached the grilled fish mountain, and a faint echo came back.

He had made a bit of a vocal breakthrough.

Nice!

Mini Chairman Park No. 6 clenched his tiny fist and let out a silent cheer. He was usually timid and shy—shouting alone like this was a huge step.

Time to get to work.

“Hyap…!”

Pop!

Thanks to the vocal improvement, even his fighting spirit shout sounded a bit louder.

Someday, I’ll build my own giant grilled fish mountain and a lake full of Churu!

Imagining his future self towering large, Mini Chairman Park No. 6 began stacking anchovy-sized grilled fish to build his own miniature mountain.

***

<Earth>

On the walk home from the dentist.

“Hehe. I’m sure everyone already knows, but just now when I shouted—it was for Taecho. I was only pretending to be scary to awaken her sense of responsibility.”

Sejun was trying hard to make excuses for what happened at the clinic.

“Puhuhut. Youngest, well done nya~! You valiantly defended the Great Hybrid Chairman Park nya~!”

“Ahem. Wasn’t I cool?”

“Guys…?”

Who am I talking to again?

Queng! Queng!

[Youngest was super cool da-yo! From now on, when we can’t step in, Taecho must protect Dad da-yo!]

“Heehee. Leave it to me!”

No one was really listening.

Kihihit. Kking! Kking?

[Heheh. Butler! The Great Kkamang held back the urge to give those guys who scared you a proper mental correction! The Great Kkamang did well, right?!]

“Yeah, you did good.”

Sejun patted Kkamang on the head as he strolled leisurely home, taking the chance to enjoy the neighborhood scenery for once.

And just then—

[Level 8 world <Motri> has begun the Festival of Abundant Harvest.]

[You are invited to the Festival of Abundant Harvest.]

[Do you accept the invitation?]

A message appeared before Sejun.

I’m… invited to a harvest festival?

He’d only ever hosted harvest festivals himself. This was the first time he’d been invited to one.

“Sure, I’ll go.”

Feeling intrigued, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Sejun accepted immediately.

Whoosh.

And disappeared.

“Nya?! Chairman Park, where did you go nya?!”

Only Sejun. The invitation was meant for him alone.

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Dimensional transfer in progress!”

Queng! Queng!

[We have to find Dad da-yo! Dad is in danger da-yo!]

Kking!

[Butler! You were supposed to stay glued to the Great Kkamang’s side!]

“Taecho will protect Dad!”

Everyone panicked over Sejun’s safety.

“Puhuhut. Don’t worry nya! I, Vice Chairman Theo, can find Chairman Park nya! Iona, use your tracking magic to follow me nya!”

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Yes.”

Shoom!

Theo used his transcendent Catstep to teleport directly to Sejun’s location.

“Kkyut-kkyut-kkyut. Power of the dimension…”

Iona extracted the dimensional coordinates and cast a teleportation spell—

Flash!

—and the rest of the group vanished.

***

[You have arrived in Level 8 world <Motri>.]

“Huh? I’m here alone?”

Oops.

Sejun was so used to traveling with everyone that he just assumed they’d come too.

Bat-Bat’s probably with me, right?

He placed his hand on his left shoulder.

Hehehe. There he is.

He felt a soft, fuzzy sensation. Bat-Bat was always sleeping so closely to him, they basically moved as one.

Thank goodness.

Reassured by Bat-Bat’s presence, Sejun looked around.

He was surrounded by cornfields—stalks towering five meters high.

But…

“Why is it so quiet?”

It was supposed to be a harvest festival, yet the silence was eerie. Not just quiet for a festival—truly, deeply silent. The towering corn seemed to muffle all sound.

Then—

Rustle, rustle.

Something approached, disturbing the corn leaves.

“Capture them all! Get them!”

“What… what the hell?!”

“We came to enjoy the festival, dammit!”

Shouting and scuffling erupted.

“Something’s definitely wrong…”

Just as Sejun tensed at the strange atmosphere—

“Puhuhut. What are you talking about nya?!”

Theo, now clinging to Sejun’s face, asked nonchalantly.

And Sejun’s confidence surged.

“Hehe. Nah, it’s nothing. Vice Chairman Te, you got here fast.”

“Nya…”

Sejun pulled Theo off his face and perched him on his knee.

“Puhuhut. That’s right nya! I, Vice Chairman Te, can find Chairman Park no matter where he is nya!”

“Yeah, our Vice Chairman Te is amazing.”

“Puhuhut. Keep the praise coming nya!”

Theo boosted Sejun’s confidence, and Sejun’s compliments in turn boosted Theo’s—a perfect feedback loop of positive reinforcement.

“Shall we go check out what’s going on?”

“Puhuhut. Let’s go nya!”

With Theo on his knee, Sejun strode confidently toward the noise.

“Huh? No one’s here?”

Only a minute or two had passed since the commotion, but everyone had already vanished.

“Where did they go? If only Queng were here—we’d track them down in no time.”

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, Queng and Iona will be here soon. Just wait a bit nya!”

“Alright.”

Guess I’ll steam some corn while I wait?

Sejun looked around at the surrounding corn.

Then—

“Eoksamchiri, does this corn have an owner? Is it okay for me to harvest some?”

He always checked now. Too many times had he gotten people hired just by picking their crops.

[Yes. This corn has an owner.]

[But don’t worry! Who am I?]

[I am the capable [System Eoksamchiri]! I’ll handle it.]

“Ooh. Eoksamchiri, that was kinda cool just now.”

[Thank you!]

[I’ll strive to become an even more capable [System Eoksamchiri]!]

Eoksamchiri burned with motivation from Sejun’s praise.

“So… can I bring these seeds back and plant them?”

The tall corn yielded better harvest per area. Sejun was tempted to plant some.

[It’s fine. These seeds are not subject to exclusive ownership.]

“Nice. Theo, let’s harvest some corn.”

“Puhuhut. Got it nya!”

With Eoksamchiri’s go-ahead, Sejun and Theo eagerly began picking corn.

Pluck. Pluck.

[You have harvested Tall Corn.]

[Your job experience has increased ever so slightly.]

[Harvesting (Master) skill proficiency did not increase.]

[You have gained 1 EXP.]

So it’s called Tall Corn?

The ears were about average size—it was just the plant that was enormous.

While Sejun was checking the name—

Shuffle shuffle.

“Chairman Park, do you need more nya?! I, the very capable Vice Chairman Te, can harvest even more nya!”

Thump!

Theo dumped out a huge sack of corn, staring at Sejun with blazing eyes.

Sejun’s earlier compliment to Eoksamchiri had ignited Theo’s competitive spirit. As a result, every corn stalk within 100 meters was now gone.

“Nah, that’s enough.”

“Puhuhut. Then… I’m also capable, right nya?!”

“Of course. No vice chairman is more capable than Theo.”

“Puhuhut. I know nya!”

Beaming proudly, Theo clung to Sejun’s knee.

“Knee privileges: 5 hours!”

So cute and proud that Sejun automatically granted Theo a five-hour knee-exclusive permit.

Honestly, that was pretty stingy given how he felt.

“Puhuhut. Thank you nya!”

Theo smiled with pure happiness.

“Hmph hmph hmph~”

“Nyan nyan nyan~”

The two hummed a tuneless duet while steaming corn—well, Sejun did the work, Theo just clung to his knee.

As Sejun waited for the corn to finish steaming—

Slish, slish…

Something was approaching again, more cautiously this time.

Then—

“Ooh! There are two of them!”

“Lucky us!”

Figures emerged, rustling through the corn. On closer inspection: a lion, a rabbit, a bear…

Magic?

As Sejun observed closely—

“Scared, weren’t you? Don’t worry. From now on, we, the Resistance, will protect you.”

A lizard perched on the bear’s head shifted from brown to green—clearly a chameleon.

“The Resistance?”

“Yeah. I’m the Disguise Grand Mage of the Resistance—Kkokkokko.”

“Wow, that’s a great name! Who gave it to you?”

Sejun was genuinely impressed.

“Ugh…”

Kkokkokko grunted. His skin darkened.

“You must be suspicious of everything right now. But you have to trust us.”

“If it weren’t for the captain’s disguise spell, we’d all have been captured and turned into corn field slaves.”

“All thanks to Kkokkokko’s spell!”

The Resistance members, mistaking Sejun’s reaction for distrust, tried their best to explain and earn his trust.

No way they’d praise that name with a straight face otherwise. Sejun was curious to see their expressions once they learned Kkamang’s family’s names.

“Keheheh… N-no, it’s nothing…”

Kkokkokko, unable to hide his joy at the compliments, blushed pink. A mage whose emotions showed on his skin.

“Captain, we don’t know when they’ll return. We should move.”

The lion finally spoke.

“Right. Alexander, let’s move. Our hideout’s nearby.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sejun, wanting to ask why the festival was so eerily quiet, packed up the pot of steamed corn and obediently followed.

He still needed to wait for Iona and the others, but with Iona’s tracking magic and Queng’s nose, they’d find him.

“Here we are.”

Boom.

The bear opened a disguised door hidden among the corn. Sejun crawled into a burrow with the others.

After ten minutes of crawling through a 45-degree downward tunnel—

“This is our hideout.”

A cozy cavern with multiple tunnels appeared.

“This is all we can offer. You were probably invited to the festival too, right? So were we. We accepted without knowing it was a trap.”

Kkokkokko led Sejun into his chamber and served corn tea.

“A trap?”

“Yes. It was a scheme by the vile Winged Monkey Tribe.”

Kkokkokko explained:

The Winged Monkeys had figured out how to artificially trigger the Festival of Abundant Harvest using a corn altar.

They lured in guests with invitations, then enslaved them to work the fields.

“And we, the Resistance, are those who escaped their grasp. Our mission is to free the other slaves. Will you join our cause?”

Kkokkokko looked at Sejun—

“I refuse nya!”

If we free the slaves, who’s going to do the farming nya?!

Theo snapped.