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nTL: Hanguk

nDay 177 of being stranded.

nToday, before the black rabbit called, Sejun went to the pond first to move the piranhas and prepared lunch.

nHis work speed increased after raising his agility, giving him a bit of spare time in the morning farming.

nThere was no clock to measure the time accurately, but he could definitely feel that he was faster.

nSince there was some time left until lunchtime, Sejun went to the green onion field, where he had harvested seeds from the green onion flowers and planted them, and cut a few green onions.

nAnd then,

nSlice, slice, slice.

nHe thinly sliced the green onions with a dagger and garnished the grilled fish with them.

nWhile Sejun and the black rabbit were preparing lunch, the white rabbits finished their own tasks and helped in preparing the meal.

nStarting today, the white rabbits are eating separately in the cave. The reason is that the wife rabbit’s belly has grown so much that she can no longer control her body. It seems that the baby rabbits will be born soon.

n“Pull!”

nKkoo! Eung! Kkoo! Eung!

nThe baby bear pulled Sejun and the black rabbit, who had prepared lunch, and the three of them ate lunch above ground.

nSejun took a bite of the grilled fish seasoned with salt and garnished with green onions, and chewed it together with a dried sweet potato. He wanted to create the feeling of eating rice as much as possible.

nChew chew.

nThe familiar taste was similar. As the salty fish entered his mouth, his brain naturally thought of white rice. The dried sweet potato was also a carbohydrate, so it felt a bit similar, but it couldn’t replicate the texture and taste of rice.

n“Ah, I want to eat rice.”

nSejun looked at the vast wasteland and imagined rice ripening as he ate the grilled fish and dried sweet potato, but he still felt unsatisfied.

n“Someday, I’ll eat rice.”

nUntil recently, Sejun was happy just to be able to eat sweet potatoes, but human greed had no end.

nAs Sejun set a new farming goal,

nBuzz buzz.

nTen poison honeybees came up from the cave entrance and scattered in pairs, patrolling about 300 meters around.

nFrom the day Sejun came up to the ground, the poison honeybees also followed him up like this and patrolled. They were protecting Sejun.

n“Interesting…”

nSejun watched the poison honeybees flying around and finished his meal.

nAnd then,

nPlop…

nHrrrr…

nThe black rabbit and baby bear naturally approached Sejun, who was drinking coffee, to take a nap.

nThe black rabbit had a small body, so it didn’t matter, but the baby bear pushed its head forward recklessly.

nHowever, Sejun’s lap was too narrow for the baby bear, which had grown bigger in just a few days.

nHrrrr.

nIt seemed frustrated that it couldn’t sleep in Sejun’s arms as it used to. After tossing and turning a few times, the baby bear changed its strategy.

nThe baby bear lay down sideways, sticking its belly to Sejun’s back and curled up to sleep. It looked as if Sejun was in the baby bear’s arms.

nGrrrrrr.

nThe baby bear fell asleep as soon as it lay down.

nGulp.

nSejun took a sip of coffee and completely leaned his body onto the baby bear’s soft body.

n“Soft and cozy.”

nFeeling the warmth as if he were covering himself with a blanket for the first time in a while, Se-jun fell asleep.

nHow long had they slept?

nSlap! Slap!

n“Uhmm…”

nSe-jun woke up from the sound of something hitting his thigh.

nSqueak!

nThe father rabbit had come up to wake him, as Se-jun hadn’t come down. He must have fallen into a deep sleep because the baby bear’s belly was so soft.

n“Guys, let’s wake up.”

nGroan···

nGroan···

nSe-jun woke up the sleeping black rabbit and baby bear.

nThese days, the black rabbit practiced with the baby bear in the afternoon. More precisely, while the baby bear was playing, the black rabbit was desperately fighting.

nBounce!

nPlop! Plop! Plop!

nThe black rabbit tried hard to hit the baby bear with his hammer while dodging the bear’s front paws, but

nGroan!

nThe baby bear excitedly rushed towards the black rabbit. It seemed to think they were playing tag.

nWhile the two practiced and played, Se-jun planted the tops of the carrots he had brought up and went down to the cave to harvest cherry tomatoes.

nAnd then

nRustle.

nAs he was cutting the cherry tomato branches for a while,

nBuzz.

nHe saw a single poison bee carrying something the size of a fist with great difficulty, leaving the cave.

n“What is that?”

nSe-jun, driven by curiosity, stopped harvesting cherry tomatoes and followed the poison bee up the rope to the ground.

n“What is that?”

nWhen Se-jun asked the poison bee, which was searching for something around,

nThump.

nInstead of answering, the poison bee carefully placed what it had been carrying on Se-jun’s hand and returned to the cave. It had left the disposal to Se-jun.

n“What is this?”

nSe-jun carefully picked up the thing, which looked like an ivory-colored larva.

nYou have acquired the Poison Bee Queen’s Cocoon.

n“Poison Bee Queen’s Cocoon?”

nThe fact that a message appeared meant it was an item. Se-jun examined the cocoon closely.

nPoison Bee Queen’s Cocoon

n-A poison bee larva is preparing to metamorphose into a poison bee queen by consuming only royal jelly1.

n-There are 10 days left until metamorphosis.

n-It will consider the first creature it sees after metamorphosis as its owner.

nThe poison bees had come out to abandon it because a new poison bee queen was about to be born, even though it was not the time for the division of the hive.

nHowever, it was an opportunity for Se-jun to get a second beehive.

nSe-jun dug a hole in the shade near the rock where the rope was tied and carefully placed the poison bee queen’s cocoon.

nThen, he brought up a bunch of green onion leaves from the cave and covered the cocoon.

n“Will this work?”

nSe-jun didn’t know how to ensure the safe emergence of the poison bee queen from the cocoon, so he minimized external stress for the time being.

nHe then resumed harvesting cherry tomatoes, helped the other white rabbits with their tasks, and another day passed.

n***

n178th day morning.

nGrrr!

nThe baby bear announced its arrival at the cave entrance. As always, the baby bear arrived early today.

n“Yeah. Hi.”

nSejun and the rabbits woke up and busily prepared for the morning farming.

nMunch munch.

nGulp gulp.

nSejun had sweet potato for breakfast, while the rabbits had carrots. Just then,

n“I will take revenge, meow!”

nTheo’s voice was heard.

n“Huh? What revenge?”

nSejun hurriedly climbed up the rope.

n***

nTheo, who rushed to secure Sejun’s lap.

n“Meow meow meow. Finally, I’m going to be on Park Sejun’s lap, meow!”

nTheo happily hummed while moving toward the cave where Sejun was.

nAt that moment,

nThud. Thud.

nHe saw Crimson Giant Bear was digging the ground above Sejun’s cave.

n“It was this, meow…”

nTheo hurried here with a sense of unease that something was targeting Sejun’s lap. Sejun must have already been dead. Why is it that ominous thoughts are never wrong, meow?

nTheo mistakenly thought that the Crimson Giant Bear was burying Sejun’s bones.

nIf the Crimson Giant Bear had really eaten Sejun, it wouldn’t have left any bones, but the enraged Theo was not in a situation where he could discern reason right now.

n“How dare you kill Park Sejun, meow!”

n“Stealing my comfortable lap, meow!”

n“I haven’t even used up all of my representative time, meow!”

n“I will take revenge, meow!”

nClang!

nTheo took out the hidden claws and rushed towards the baby bear.

nAt that moment,

n“Theo, you’re here?”

nSejun climbed up the cave with the rope and stuck his head out.

n“Oh?! That’s right, meow! I’m back, meow!”

nTheo quickly changed direction and charged towards Sejun’s face.

nThump!

n“Get off.”

nSejun told Theo, who clung tightly to his face.

n“Puhuhut. Okay, meow.”

nTheo, relieved to see Sejun safe, smiled, climbed down from Sejun’s face, and jumped to the ground.

n“But what’s with this Crimson Giant Bear, meow?”

n“It accidentally fell into the cave and we became friends. Now its mother is protecting the area around here in exchange for giving honey to the baby bear.”

nSejun fully climbed up to the ground and answered.

n“Is that so, meow?”

n“More importantly, did everything go well?”

n“That’s right, meow! I completed all the tasks, sold everything, and came back, meow!”

nTheo confidently replied and climbed onto Sejun’s lap.

nAnd then,

n“This time, I sold 1,800 cherry tomatoes for 220 Tower coins, meow!”

nTheo took out the money from the bag and handed it to Sejun. Although the amount had decreased compared to last time, it didn’t matter. Higher-grade cherry tomatoes were waiting to be released.

n“Good job. Here’s a 5% incentive.”

nSejun gave Theo 11 Tower coins. Since Theo was doing a good job, Sejun increased Theo’s incentive to 5%, which was the representative rate.

n“I have this too, meow!”

nTheo took out the items Sejun had requested, along with churu, seasonings, and coffee.

n“How many hours of my representative time available now, meow?”

nTheo, with eyes full of anticipation, waited for Sejun’s words.

n“Adding the previous time, it’s 38 hours?”

n“Got it, meow! I’ll use up all of that time, meow!”

nHaving realized the preciousness of Sejun’s lap, Theo decided to enjoy the lap for a long time.

n“Good job.”

nSejun stroked Theo’s head and tore a Churu (cat treat) to put it in Theo’s mouth.

n“That’s right, meow! I worked really hard, meow!”

nChomp chomp chomp.

nWhile Theo was bragging and enthusiastically licking the Churu,

nLick lick.

nA strange tongue intruded.

n“What, meow?

nGrrr?

nThe baby bear tilted its head and looked at Theo. Who is this brother?

nThe baby bear fearlessly licked Theo’s Churu.

nHaaak! Haaak! .𝒎

nSejun tightly grabbed Theo, who was causing a fuss and threatening to hit the baby bear with his claws, preventing his rampage.

nHowever,

nGrrrrrr!

nThe startled baby bear began to scream.

nAnd then,

nRoaaar.

nThud. Thud. Thud.

nThe mother Crimson Giant Bear, who hadn’t gone far, rushed over upon hearing the baby bear’s cries.

nGrrr! Grrr!

nThe baby bear ran to the mother Crimson Giant Bear and pointed at Theo with its paw, telling her what Theo had done.

n“Ah… Hello! I’m Theo, the wandering cat merchant!”

nTheo hurriedly got off Sejun’s lap and bowed 90 degrees to greet the mother Crimson Giant Bear. Theo, whether confused or not, suddenly began speaking standard Korean, forgetting his dialect.

nRoaaar.

nThe mother Crimson Giant Bear growled at Theo, staring at him.

n“Yes! I was wrong. We will get along from now on.”

nTheo earnestly apologized, unsure if the bear understood him.

n“They just had a small fight. Nothing happened.”

nSejun also hurriedly defended Theo, feeling responsible for the situation. Theo had come a long way, only to encounter this upon arrival.

nRumble.

nThe mother Crimson Giant Bear snorted loudly, warning Theo not to touch her cub again, and left to resume her patrol.

n“Hooo-nyaang. Meowhiccup. Meowhiccup.”

nTheo, relieved, suddenly started hiccupping.

n“Okay. It’s over. Calm down.”

n“Thanks for… meowhiccup… standing up for me… meowhiccup… thank you, meow.”

nTheo hiccupped while expressing his gratitude to Sejun.

n“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand.”

nSejun hugged Theo and patted his chest.

nAnd then,

nSnore.

nTheo, seemingly calmed by Sejun’s touch, quickly fell asleep.

nGrrr.

nThe baby bear, thinking it was nap time since Theo was asleep, leaned against Sejun’s back and lay down.

nPlop!

nThe black rabbit also hopped onto Sejun’s lap.

n“Guys?”

nSnore.

nYawn.

nGrrr.

nInstead of answering, he just heard low snoring. They had all fallen asleep.

n“Oh, what the heck. Huh?”

nAs Sejun resigned himself to sleep as well, he noticed a straw hat next to him. It must have flown over when the mother Crimson Giant Bear snorted earlier.

n“Good.”

nSejun, who needed something to block the sun, put on the straw hat and fell asleep.

nOn day 178 of the being stranded, Theo realized that causing trouble with the baby bear would lead to big problems.

n“Let’s get along from now on, baby bear, meow. But please, just eat a little less Churu…”

nTheo muttered in his sleep.

n*****

n1. Royal jelly is a secretion produced by the hypopharyngeal glands of young worker bees, and it is fed to all bee larvae in a colony during their first few days of life. However, only the larvae destined to become queen bees continue to be fed royal jelly throughout their development, which helps them develop reproductive organs and larger size.

nGood Night!!!

n𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ

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