“Whew!”
I stretched my back and looked around.
Before I knew it, thick vegetation had spread across more than a thousand pyeong of land.
Slimes were crawling between the plants, and although I couldn’t tell exactly what they were doing, they certainly seemed busy.
Squish!
“Hmm?
What’s up?
Oh, you want me to help with this?”
By now I was getting fairly good at understanding slime gestures.
I followed the Level 1 recruit I’d summoned yesterday to the area where we’d planted sweet potatoes.
The plants had already been tidied up, apparently because the slimes had been thinning the vines.
Plop.
“Oof.
I really need to get myself a cushion.”
I sat beside the slime and helped thin the sweet potato shoots.
It was simple, repetitive work, so my hands could keep moving while my mind wandered.
‘Cooking, huh…’
Just before returning to the dungeon, I’d met my younger brother Jaeseong and talked things over with him.
We’d agreed that he should first try cooking with the crops I grew and see whether the results were good enough to justify his plans.
‘To be honest, I’d rather just send him abroad to study straightaway…’
Studying overseas wasn’t necessarily the answer, but I was his older brother.
And the guilt I felt for having dragged our family into difficult circumstances made me want to do something for him.
But Jaeseong had always been sensible.
He’d argued that he couldn’t accept unconditional support without first proving something to himself, and in the end he’d convinced me.
“Honestly, I’m trying to help him.
Why’s he got to argue so much?”
In any case, I decided to work just as hard as my little brother.
With the matter of studying abroad put aside for now, I’d resolved to focus on buying the dungeon first.
As far as I knew, the slime dungeon I was living in had an asking price of around 2.35 billion won.
My bank balance, meanwhile, contained only the forty-three million won I’d earned over the last several days.
“Still got a long way to go!”
I said it out loud, but I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.
After all, I’d earned that much in just a few days.
And I hadn’t even used today’s ability yet.
My cooldown would be ending soon, and now that I’d discovered the joys of making money, I had a difficult decision to make.
Slimes or fruit and vegetable juice.
Which one deserved today’s synthesis?
‘Why not alternate between them?’
That was what I decided.
Growing my slimes was an investment in the future, while producing juice let me bring in money immediately.
Both mattered to me, so I’d make sure to look after both sides of the business.
“Wonder if Mr.
Hanul cleared his dungeon.”
The dungeon had appeared in Yeongdeungpo, right in the middle of Seoul.
If Ara Hongryeon failed again, the public backlash would be fierce.
They would likely have to pass priority for the dungeon to another guild, weakening their influence in Awakened society.
I could step outside and look for news, but dungeon expeditions sometimes took several days.
It might not even be over yet.
“Right, the cooldown’s done!
Time to synthesize something!”
Today was a momentous occasion: Mark Two was finally going to reach Level 3.
I couldn’t help feeling a little sentimental, considering how much I owed this slime.
‘I’m actually nervous.’
I summoned Mark Two and the slime with the Running ability.
Once the two of them had wriggled over, I activated Liquid Synthesis, which was finally available again.
[Slime LV.2 and Slime LV.2 will be synthesized.]
[The merging slimes will share all memories and experiences.]
[Farming] [Running]
Naturally, I selected Farming.
Perhaps the answer to raising my crops’ levels lay right here.
[Slime LV.3 has been completed.]
[Slime LV.3]
An ordi?nary slime.
‘Liquid Synthesis possible’
Ability: Farming LV.2
Squish!
Mark Two had reached Level 3, and its appearance had changed quite a bit.
“A straw hat?”
It had grown something resembling the straw hats farmers used to wear in the old days.
I couldn’t understand how it was attached to Mark Two, but it certainly made the slime easier to recognize.
[Farming LV.2]
Promotes crop growth.
Increases harvest yield.
Improves crop quality.
The last line caught my attention.
The description about improving crop quality hadn’t existed before, and seeing it made me even more confident in my guess.
“Does this mean I’ll finally get to see Level 2 crops?”
What would happen when a crop’s level increased?
Would it taste better, or would its effects improve?
Whatever the change, it was bound to be for the better.
“Now that’s what I like to see.”
I picked Mark Two up and examined it from different angles.
It felt slightly cool against my palms, but the sensation was pleasant.
The straw hat seemed to be part of Mark Two’s body and wouldn’t come off.
Despite its appearance, it felt just like the rest of the slime.
“Hmm!
Let’s work hard, Mark Two!”
Squirm!
The other slimes began gathering around us as they watched.
What was this?
Were they jealous?
“Hehehe.”
I gathered Ppuu, Dokdoki, Mark Two, and the newest recruit into my arms and played with them.
Come to think of it, I’d been rushing around nonstop ever since I awakened Slime Lord.
Ppuu!
“Ppuu, you’re the nicest to touch.
Guess that’s the majesty of Level 10 for you.”
I still hadn’t worked out the mystery behind Ppuu’s question marks, but it didn’t particularly bother me.
I should probably check those stairs too.’
The place where I’d found Ppuu was still exactly as it had been.
I’d had so much else to do that I hadn’t been able to pay it any attention.
Better to buy the dungeon first and inspect the altar and stairs afterward.
Who knew what might happen if I disturbed them prematurely?
I could trigger some drastic change that the dungeon’s owner would notice.
Then not only might the asking price rise, but the owner might decide against selling the dungeon at all.
Ppuuuu…
Playing with Ppuu as if it were a lump of clay made me lose track of time.
Eventually, I used the remaining Leila and a little of the Mana Cherry Tomato supply to make fruit and vegetable juice.
I munched on a few tomatoes while I worked and gradually began to feel hungry.
“Maybe I should eat.
But do I have anything left?”
I went to inspect the storage shed I’d roughly made from soil and slime bodily fluid, since I’d needed somewhere to keep the crops.
I’d brought all the harvested Mana Cherry Tomatoes with me when I went out yesterday, so I wasn’t expecting much.
But then…
“What the heck?!”
The sight of something unexpected sent me rushing back outside to check the fields.
I looked back and forth between them and the inside of the storage shed.
“Why’s this here?”
Squirm?
A huge pile of potatoes I’d never seen before was sitting in the shed.
It wasn’t as though the field had been emptied, either.
There were still plants growing out there.
“W-wait, what’s even going on here…?”
I went closer to inspect the field and finally understood.
“Oh, you’ve harvested some of them already?”
The slimes hadn’t harvested everything.
A few patches were empty, but the surrounding leaves were so thick that I hadn’t noticed from a distance.
“Why didn’t you harvest the rest?”
Squirm!
Squish!
“I don’t know what you’re saying, but I guess you have your reasons?”
They must have been harvesting the potatoes while I was away.
Fortunately, the ones in the shed had been wrapped in slime fluid to keep them from rotting.
“Let’s see.”
I lifted a potato, naturally expecting an item description to appear.
But nothing showed up in front of my eyes.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t an item?
So that could happen too.
I’d assumed every crop the slimes harvested would turn into an item.
Only now did I realize that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Then what about the potatoes they hadn’t harvested yet?
“Those have a better chance of being items, I suppose.”
It was only a guess, but it sounded plausible.
Just then, Mark Two and Ppuu approached and rubbed against me as if asking whether they’d done a good job.
Ppuu!
Squirm!
“Yes, yes.
You’ve been working hard while I was away.”
It would’ve been even nicer if they’d told me they’d harvested something, but I couldn’t complain.
And looking more carefully, there weren’t all that many potatoes in the shed.
The slimes had probably already eaten some of them.
“They aren’t items anyway.
How about we have these for dinner?”
Potatoes.
Hmm, potatoes.
There was just one problem: I didn’t know how to cook.
I’d spent practically every day in the dungeon eating instant food or boiling ramen.
I’d never really gone shopping for ingredients and cooked a proper meal.
“I can just boil them, right?”
I did have basic things like salt and sugar.
I went upstairs to collect my portable gas stove, salt, sugar, pepper, and a few other supplies.
Then I called the recruits who were still working and told them to come downstairs.
“Food tastes better when we all eat together.”
From everything I’d observed, these little guys could definitely taste things.
If we were going to eat something delicious, why not enjoy it together?
‘I’m such a good boss.’
That’s right.
I was the kind of warmhearted employer who thought about his workers’ welfare.
First, I scooped up some water from the pond and put a pot on the gas burner.
I added roughly half a spoonful of salt.
With so many mouths to feed, I expected I’d have to repeat the process several times, but for now I simply let the water heat.
‘How long do you boil potatoes again?
About twenty minutes?’
I wanted to look it up online, but the thought of leaving the dungeon just to search was too much trouble.
I’d cook them for a while, then poke them with a chopstick to see if they were done.
Bubble, bubble!
The water soon came to a boil.
I washed the potatoes thoroughly, added enough to fill the large pot, and covered it with a lid.
Squirm?
“Just wait.
I’m going to feed you something much tastier than raw potatoes.”
Squirm!
The slimes appeared delighted by my promise.
Seeing how excited they were made all this feel worthwhile.
While the potatoes cooked, I passed the time playing with the slimes again.
After about thirty minutes, I tested them with a chopstick.
“I put too many in.
They’re taking forever to cook.”
They seemed almost done, though.
After another five minutes, all the potatoes were finally cooked.
“Ow, hot!”
I took out the entire batch and put fresh potatoes into the pot.
I added more water and didn’t forget the salt.
“Shall we have a taste while the second batch cooks?”
I picked up one of the boiled potatoes lying on the ground, brushed off the dirt it had picked up when I tossed it down, peeled away the skin, and took a bite.
Munch, munch!
Gulp!
“Mmm…
That’s it.”
The fluffy, crumbly texture was the same as an ordinary potato.
But the flavor was in a different league.
“Even without being an item, it’s different from a normal potato.”
It tasted twice as rich.
There was a distinct sweetness peculiar to potatoes, together with a deep, almost buttery flavor.
It wasn’t actually butter, but I couldn’t find a better way to describe it.
“It’s just…
really good.”
Delicious.
That single word was enough.
I blew on the hot potato as I ate, while the slimes began wriggling toward the boiled potatoes scattered on the ground.
But they ate much faster than I’d expected.
‘…Can’t they feel the heat?’
How unfair was that?
Before I’d managed to cool and finish a single potato, every boiled potato had disappeared.
Squish!
Squish!
Ppuuuuuu!
Now the slimes were wriggling around, demanding more.
They’d each eaten at least three or four already.
Weren’t they being a little greedy?
“Hold on.
I’ll keep boiling them for you.”
They were lucky they’d met me.
What other slimes got to eat food like this?
Though, at this rate, they were going to devour the entire harvest.
‘We can always grow more potatoes.
I’d better save just one for Jaeseong to try, though.’
My farm was practically automated, with the slimes handling everything from cultivation to harvesting.
Feeding them a few potatoes was nothing compared with what they did for me.
“Today, we’re having a potato party!”
Oh, and when I gave Jaeseong that potato, I should ask him what kinds of dishes he could make with it.
The slimes were reacting so well that I wanted to feed them other things too.
Although, at this rate, wasn’t I going to make them terribly picky eaters?
* * *
Outside a building in Yeongdeungpo, reporters from various media outlets waited near an area sealed off to pedestrians and surrounded by police officers.
Reporter Oh of the Awakened Newspaper, who had a straw stuck in his coffee, turned to another reporter standing beside him.
“How long do you reckon they’ll take?”
“Hard to say.
It’s only Grade 4, and both Teams One and Two from Ara Hongryeon went in.
Maybe four days?
Although the unidentified monster might slow them down.”
“What are the odds they fail again?”
“No way.
The Predator went in this time.”
“True enough.
With that man involved, a Grade 4 dungeon is barely an after-dinner workout.”
Reporter Oh muttered to himself and looked toward the dungeon entrance, which was hidden behind a large banner, then took another sip of coffee.
“Still, the fact they had to send the Predator at all is disappointing.
Personally, I think Jeong Soyeon, Ara Hongryeon’s Team One Leader, has been badly overrated.”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.
But she’s still impressive for her age, isn’t she?”
“Objectively, yes.
But people’s standards have risen too high.
She’s got her past achievements to live up to.”
“I actually feel sorry for her.
She’s barely become an adult, yet she has to risk her life clearing dungeons while worrying about what the public thinks…”
“Risk her life?
You’re talking like Jeong Soyeon is raiding Grade 7 or Grade 8 dungeons.
She’s only a Grade 6 Awakened.”
“Come on, even so…”
Suddenly, the crowd around them became noisy.
Both reporters cut off their conversation and looked around, startled by the change in atmosphere.
“Uh…?”
Reporter Oh spotted Awakened from the Ara Hongryeon Guild emerging from the dungeon.
“What?
They failed again?
Even with the Predator inside?”
The possibility that they’d succeeded never even occurred to him.
After all, it had been just twenty-seven hours since the expedition entered.
Click!
Click!
Camera shutters erupted all around him.
Reporter Oh frantically signaled the Awakened Newspaper’s cameraman, switched on his recorder, and rushed forward with the other journalists.
Jeong Soyeon was at the front of the group.
“Awakened Jeong Soyeon!
Did you fail again?
How could you possibly fail twice in a Grade 4 dungeon…?”
But his words died on his lips.
The Awakened behind her were dragging out the corpse of a monster none of the reporters had ever seen before.
“W-what is that?”
Its appearance was so remarkable that everyone turned to stare.
It had an airy, fluttering shape and a translucent body, like an enormous manta ray.
BOOM!
“Gasp!”
Reporter Oh was studying the monster when someone suddenly landed right beside him, startling him so badly he fell backward.
An intense pressure froze him in place.
“Who…?”
A savage aura spread in every direction.
The sound of clicking camera shutters vanished instantly as everyone went rigid.
One man dominated the entire scene.
“So you think we failed, do you?”
Kang Hanul’s lips curled into a ferocious smile as he stared down the reporters.