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nTL: Hanguk

n“Is there no one to be swindled today?”

nSkaram, as usual, hid in a corner of the building, looking for new prey to scam.

nThen

nSqueak squeak~

nA white rabbit, humming merrily, passed by Skaram while singing a lively tune.

n‘What the… it’s just a rabbit…’

nSkaram turned his gaze again to find prey, but then

n‘What’s that?’

nThe red ribbon worn on the rabbit’s ears caught Skaram’s attention. It was the symbol of the now-vanished Red Ribbon Royal Family, featuring a crescent moon and a rabbit.

nAnd then,

n‘Could it be?!’

nAn item flashed across Skaram’s mind.

n‘Red Ribbon?!’

nIt was definitely the Red Ribbon, the item that landlord Grid, was desperately searching for, offering a reward through the Dark Society.

n‘Hehehe, I am lucky today.’

nWith a smirk, Skaram put on his hood to hide his face and started following the white rabbit.

nAnd then,

nThud.

nWhen the white rabbit passed a secluded area, he knocked it unconscious with his poison sting.

nSqueak…

nThump.

nThe white rabbit fainted and fell to the ground.

n“Hehehe.”

nSkaram approached, laughing, and put the unconscious white rabbit into his bag. Considering the various problems that could arise from just taking the Red Ribbon and leaving the rabbit here, Skaram decided to hand over the rabbit to Grid as well for a clean finish.

nJust as Skaram was leaving the market area with his bag,

nTap.

nSomeone touched his bag.

n“What the?!”

nSkaram glared at the person who dared to touch his bag.

nAnd then,

n“You?!”

nHe locked eyes with Theo, a customer he once swindled.

n***

n“Huh?!”

nTheo was taken aback by his own paw reaching towards someone else’s bag, but once he recognized that the owner was Skaram, he pulled himself together.

nAnd then,

n“Scammer! Hand over ChuChu, meow!”

nHe shouted at Skaram.

n“ChuChu?”

n“That’s right, meow! ChuChu is definitely in your bag, meow!”

nIona, who knew about Theo’s golden front paw, described the appearance of ChuChu and also about the Red Ribbon that ChuChu was carrying.

n“The Red Ribbon is a relic item, one of only ten in the Black Tower. Your front paw will definitely be attracted to it.”

nIndeed, Theo felt the same attraction from Skaram’s bag as he did when he found the relic item, the Straw Hat.

n“What…what are you talking about?!”

n“Iona!”

nAs Skaram was startled and tried to leave the shopping area, Theo quickly called Iona.

n“Representative Theo, have you found our ChuChu?”

nAt Theo’s call, Iona, who was nearby, quickly flew over.

n“I think so, meow! That goblin wandering merchant’s bag is very suspicious, meow!”

n“Is that so? Goblin wandering merchant, can you show us your bag? I’m Iona, the Chairman of the Wizard’s Association. I’ll give you 10,000 Tower Coins just for showing your bag.”

nIona politely asked Skaram to show his bag. An opportunity to earn a large amount just for showing the bag. If he had nothing to hide, there would be no reason to refuse.

nBut,

n“I refuse.”

nSkaram, who had something to hide, refused, and

n“Open the bag, now!”

nIona became enraged, triggering her level 1 anger state, and used her magic.

nSwoosh.

nWith Iona’s shout, the bag began to open by itself. It was Iona using her magic to forcibly open the bag.

nRumble. 𝘪𝑎.

nThe contents of the bag began to pour out. Most of them were earth items, like tumblers.

n“Huh?”

nSkaram was startled when his bag opened on its own.

nThen, a pure white rabbit came out of the bag.

n“ChuChu!”

nAs expected of Theo, he found ChuChu in Skaram’s bag.

n“ChuChu!”

n……

nChuChu did not respond even when Iona called.

n“Absolute recovery.”

nWhen Iona was using the highest-level healing magic to restore ChuChu,

nQuietly.

nSkaram began to run away.

nBut

nGrrrr

nElka and the wolves who had arrived late surrounded Skaram.

nAnd then,

n“Puhuhut. Where do you think you’re going when there’s still much to account for, meow?!”

nTheo stepped forward with the cat interns and spoke. Theo intended to get back at Skaram for deceiving him by taking him to Sejun to demand payment, aside from the kidnapping of ChuChu.

n***

n255th day of being stranded, morning.

n“Alright.”

nSejun woke up in a good mood. Perhaps because he had burned the western forest yesterday, no branch scouts came this morning.

n“I’ll need to set a fire from time to time.”

nSejun added ‘Burning the western forest’ to his farming task list. It was killing two birds with one stone, gaining experience and preventing the corrupted Ents of the western forest from expanding their power.

nSwoosh.

nSejun added a stroke on the bedroom wall to complete one ‘正’ and then went outside.

nToday, since he woke up early, there was no one wandering around the ground fields except for busy honeybees.

n“Should I have some morning coffee for a change?”

nSejun filled a tumbler with hot water to make coffee and sat in the chair in front of his house drinking the coffee.

nSlurp.

n“Ahh, this is good.”

nAs the hot coffee went down his throat and into his stomach, he felt a comforting warmth as if he was having a hangover cure.

nJust as he was enjoying his leisurely coffee,

nBuzz..zzz..

nHe saw a struggling honeybee fall to the ground.

n“Huh?”

nSejun, who had been drinking coffee, quickly put down his tumbler and ran towards the fallen honeybee.

n“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”

nSejun asked as he touched the honeybee’s body and asked. The honeybee was in bad shape. Its wings were slightly torn and one of its legs was cut off.

nBuzz…zz…

nTo the east…the honeybees…

n“East?”

nIf it’s the east, it’s the original habitat of the bees that used to live on the 99th floor of the tower.

nUnlike the honeybees that Sejun raises, these were aggressive and carnivorous, so Sejun had instructed the honeybees not to venture near the eastern region.

nBuzz…

nThey’ve invaded our territory… and we fought…

n“Rest for now.”

nSejun put the honeybee into the hive.

n“I need to go check out the east.”

nWith the west calming down a bit, the east was the problem. Sejun started to prepare to go east.

nFirst,

n“Black Rabbit! Cuengi!”

nHe called his bodyguards, the Black Rabbit and Cuengi. Sejun never went outside the farm alone.

nWhile the poisonous honeybee’s venom can be easily neutralized with detoxifying green onions, that’s only true if stung once or twice.

nThe sting of the poisonous honeybee is about 10cm long and as thick as a ballpoint pen. On top of that, the bees move in groups of hundreds. It wasn’t the poison that could kill, but excessive bleeding was also a possibility.

nSqueak!

nKroung!

nAt Sejun’s call, Black Rabbit and Cuengi came running.

n“Cuengi, transform!”

nKroung!

nSejun rode on the enlarged Cuengi and moved towards the eastern border.

n***

n“Help me, everyone! These guys are trying to kill me!”

nSkaram called for help from those around him. He hoped to create an opportunity to escape in the confusion when other merchants gathered to watch.

nHowever,

nClick.

n“I am Jeras, an agent of secret inspection bureau of the Wandering Merchant Association! This goblin wandering merchant, Skaram, is caught red-handed trying to kidnap a white rabbit. I will hold an immediate trial now.”

nJeras stepped forward quickly, showing his identification from secret inspection bureau. For him, who had been struggling to catch Skaram in the act, this was a golden opportunity.

nClank.

nJeras handcuffed Skaram’s hand.

n“Huh?!”

nSkaram was surprised when an agent of secret inspection bureau suddenly appeared.

n“Goblin Wandering Merchant Skaram, you are permanently expelled from the list of wandering merchants. You are no longer a wandering merchant.”

nWith Jeras’s words, Skaram’s name was erased from the wandering merchant’s certificate he held and from the scoreboard showing the sales amount ranking of wandering merchants.

n“No!”

nSkaram despaired at Jeras’s judgment. Being permanently expelled from the wandering merchant list had significant implications.

nFirst of all, when you are permanently expelled from the wandering merchant list, not only the Wandering Merchant Association but also all relationships with the Freelance Mercenaries Association, Wizard’s Association are cut off.

nIn other words, it was impossible to officially operate in the tower. Moreover, the Wandering Merchant Association does not protect those who are not wandering merchants.

n“You can do as you please now.”

nJeras handed over Skaram, who was handcuffed, to Theo and said.

n“I don’t know what’s going on, but thank you, meow! And I also have a secret, meow. In fact, I am the great Black…”

nJust when Theo was about to disclose his identity,

n“Kyoo-Kyoo-How dare you touch my disciple! I will not forgive you!”

nUpon witnessing the situation where her disciple was almost kidnapped, Iona reached level 2 anger state, “Kyoo-Kyoo-“.

n“It’s the second stage of Kyoo- anger!”

n“Run!”

n“We need to get out of here!”

nMerchants who recognized Iona, the great destructive wizard, began to flee. If it’s the second stage of Kyoo anger, at least a small village would be destroyed. A quarter of the market area could be blown away.

nGulp.

nJeras was also nervous. If Iona used destructive magic here, he couldn’t guarantee his own life.

nThen

n“Iona, calm down, meow. We need to take this scammer to President Park, meow!”

n“Kyoo-Kyoo-To Sejun?”

n“That’s right, meow!”

n“Kyoo-Why?”

nThe level of Iona’s Kyoo anger gradually decreased as she talked with Theo.

n“That’s because President Park asked us to bring this scammer, meow!”

nSejun had doubts while looking at the Earth goods that Skaram scammed from the cats. Compared to the number of awakened ones entering through Vanishing, Skaram was selling too many Earth goods.

nAnd,

n‘Why are they all Korean products?’

nThe majority of goods Skaram sold were from Korea. It was impossible that only Koreans were entering the tower via Vanishing.

nSo, Sejun thought that Skaram was trading with someone in Korea.

n“Okay. Let’s go to Sejun together then.”

n“Meow?! No way, meow! Iona, don’t come to the 99th floor of the tower, meow!”

nTheo immediately adopted a defensive posture at Iona’s willingness to join. He had gone so far as to find her disciple, but she wanted to follow him all the way to the 99th floor of the tower!

n“I don’t want to! But it’s my mind and I have no choice but to go to the 99th floor!”

n“Then I’ll get to the 99th floor first, meow!”

nTheo shouted as he put Skaram on another wolf and climbed on Elka’s back.

n“Elka, let’s go, meow!

n“Yes!”

nThe wolves set off for the 99th floor of the tower.

nAnd then…

n“Representative Theo!”

n“Let’s go together!”

nDa-da-da.

nInterns eagerly followed him.

n“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot! We can’t lose, either. ChuChu, let’s go!”

nIona got on ChuChu’s back casually and spoke.

nSqueak!

nChuChu quickly ran with Iona on its back.

nThus began the race between Theo and Iona.

nHowever…

n“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Two light-speed merchant route passage, please!”

nThe winner was already decided.

n***

nOn the way to the East,

nVvveeeeng!

nBefore Sejun even arrived at the eastern border, he could see the poison honey bees fighting. The eastern poison honey bees had started patrolling up to this point.

n“Let’s help them too!”

nHowever, he soon discovered a problem.

n“We can’t differentiate between our guys and the enemies.”

nThe appearance of the poison honey bees was so similar that it was hard to distinguish.

nKreong!

nWe can tell by the smell!

nCuengi pointed to his nose and said. According to Cuengi, Sejun’s poison honey bees smelled sweet like honey and the other poison bees smelled like meat.

n“But that’s something only you can do.”

nKreong?

nCuengi tilted his head, wondering why he couldn’t do something so simple.

nWhile they were talking,

nVvveeeeng.

nOne of the battling poison bees flew toward Sejun.

n“Cuengi, what smell is it?”

nKreong!

nIt smells like meat!

n“Really?”

nSejun threw his hand axe at the poison bee.

nHowever,

nVvveeeeng.

nThe poison bee easily dodged Sejun’s hand axe.

nAnd then…

nBang!

nPop! Pop! Pop!

nIn the end, the Black Rabbit took care of it.

n“Guys, I’ve prepared a slogan for us.”

nSejun said suddenly with a serious face.

nSqueak?

nKreong?

nBlack Rabbit and Cuengi were confused by Sejun’s sudden remark.

n“Repeat after me. We are one!”

nSqueak!(We are one!)

nKreong!(We are one!)

nAt Sejun’s shout, the black rabbit and Cuengi shouted in unison.

nDay 255 of being stranded. Sejun’s journey for self-reliance was still far from complete.

n*****

nFor extra chapters, you can read them on my Patreon at www.patreon.com

/HangukTranslations.

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