Round 371

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“How many guild members leveled up after completing quests this year?”

At Choi Young-seong’s question, Kim Si-young checked the documents and answered.

“Eight.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot.”

“Well, it makes sense. We’re clearing dungeons faster and more often than others.”

As Kim Si-young said, Ara Hongryeon’s dungeon-clearing performance was extraordinary.

Even on a global scale, their speed and number of clears were unprecedented.

Naturally, many guild members were completing quests, and their growth was rapid.

“This is a national record. Eight people in one guild ranking up in a single year.”

“And it’s not just anyone—our ace, So-yeon, was one of them. That’s great, really.”

“It’s all thanks to the items. Who else can afford to use such powerful buff potions like water?”

Kim Si-young handed the document she was reviewing to Choi Young-seong.

It contained details about how many items had been used in just one week.

“That’s a lot.”

“Honestly, it’s excessive. I keep warning the guild members, but at this rate, they’re going to become too reliant on Kyu-seong’s items.”

“That worries me too. It’s not like there’s a guarantee Kyu-seong will stay in our guild forever.”

“Exactly. But we can’t exactly cut down on item supply either.”

Sighing as if her head hurt, Kim Si-young stood up and grabbed something.

Soon, a subtle scent of green tea spread through the room, refreshing their minds.

“Haa, I can’t even complain to the kids when I myself can’t quit using Kyu-seong’s crops.”

“Haha. True that.”

As the couple shared a peaceful tea time, Choi Young-seong’s phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

After a brief call, Young-seong ended the conversation with a pleased smile.

“Kyu-seong’s coming.”

“Kyu-seong? It feels like it’s been ages.”

“He rarely comes out of the dungeon, so it makes sense.”

“I wouldn’t come out either if I were him. Actually, let’s just set a retirement date and move into his dungeon already.”

“I’d love nothing more than to live a peaceful life in Kyu-seong’s dungeon.”

While they were chatting over tea, word came that Kyu-seong had arrived, and a knock sounded at the door.

“I’m here.”

“Come in.”

Seeing Kyu-seong’s face after so long, Choi Young-seong grinned widely.

“Seeing your face is like pulling stars from the sky.”

“How have you been? It’s been a while, Si-young.”

“It has, Kyu-seong.”

“Hello there!”

Ara now greeted Kim Si-young confidently.

Then, as if showing off, she straightened her shoulders to display her strength.

“Pfft. Hi, Ara! It’s been a while!”

“Hmph!”

As Ara widened her eyes to boast her strength, Kyu-seong pulled something out.

“These are newly harvested apples. Please try one.”

“Apples?”

“Yes. Actually, they’ve been harvested for a while now, but they’re not on the delivery list yet. So-yeon saw them once though…”

“Oh! That? I heard about it. So this is that apple.”

“Oh? Is this the one with the meditation effect?”

“That’s the one. Sister-in-law, please try it too.”

Crunch.

Without hesitation, Choi Young-seong bit into one.

Then he gave a thumbs-up.

“I was waiting for you to bring some. You only gave them to So-yeon and the guild leader, right?”

“Uh… I didn’t mean to do that on purpose. Hehe.”

While he smiled awkwardly, Ara quickly claimed a seat and started eating an apple.

Even then, her eyes remained fixed on Kim Si-young.

Watching Ara crunch down even the core, Si-young laughed, and Kyu-seong scratched his head.

“Did something happen to our Ara?”

“Fear is not something to overcome, but to face head-on!”

What was that supposed to mean?

As Kyu-seong guessed where she might’ve heard such a phrase, Choi Young-seong asked him a question.

“Anyway, what brings you here? You rarely show up, and now you’ve come in person.”

“Ah, I just wanted to ask if you knew anything about elves.”

“Elves? What are you up to this time that you’re asking about elves?”

“Ah, it’s nothing much. I just got curious because of the World Tree in our dungeon. You know, when you think of World Trees, you naturally think of elves, right?”

Watching Kyu-seong speak so casually, Choi Young-seong shrugged.

“Not many people know the details about elves. They’ve never been discovered in Korea, and even in countries where they were, contact was brief.”

“I see.”

“But back then, there was a rumor. You’ve now managed to grow crops in a dungeon using slimes—making you the first human to farm there—but people wondered if elves already knew farming techniques.”

Elven farming methods…

It was an extremely intriguing topic for Kyu-seong, who had now fully become a farmer.

Since farming was virtually impossible without slimes these days, he wondered how elves managed to cultivate crops.

“But no one figured it out?”

“From what I’ve heard, they didn’t have the chance to ask about farming. After contact with the elves ended, scholars started regretting not asking sooner.”

“Yeah, back then, people were more focused on getting stronger than farming.”

“Exactly. That’s the  problem with Awakeners. Their brains are basically all muscle. They wasted such an important opportunity. Tsk tsk.”

“Dear, watch your mouth.”

“Ahem, right.”

As Kim Si-young smiled gently, Choi Young-seong gave a forced cough.

“Anyway, there are no dungeons currently connected to elves or other native races. If one is discovered, the academic world will go wild. Back then, there was no time, but now people have more than enough leisure. So many researchers are just waiting, eyes lit up, to dive in.”

“I seeeeee.”

Thinking it might cause a stir, Kyu-seong decided to keep the fact that he had met an elf to himself.

He figured he’d only tell Choi Young-seong once he had that “leisure” too.

“Well, there are some records from back then. If you want, I can print them out for you. That’s kind of my specialty.”

“Oh, I’d really appreciate that.”

“Sure. Who knows, maybe there’s a way the World Tree is connected to the elves. That might even help you improve your farming methods.”

Choi Young-seong immediately accessed academic publishing sites and databases his connections had built, gathering all the documents related to elves.

He sent them to Kyu-seong’s phone and added,

“There might be a lot of technical terms that are hard to understand, so just skim through what you can. Most of it is common knowledge anyway. Like how they prefer vegetarian food or liked it when gifted fruit.”

“So they actually checked that kind of stuff too?”

“Right? I wonder what the person in charge was thinking, wasting time on that nonsense.”

As Choi Young-seong made a scathing remark, Kim Si-young covered Ara’s ears.

“Watch your mouth. There’s a kid here.”

“Oops.”

Choi Young-seong scratched his head, and Kyu-seong chuckled.

As Kyu-seong thanked them and left with Ara, the Choi couple quietly watched them go.

“What’s he scheming this time?”

“He probably met an elf, right?”

“Probably. Geez, that cheeky guy. He thinks he didn’t get caught, but he’s cute, so I’ll let it slide.”

“Ara’s gotten even cuter too.”

“Yeah. She really has.”

Though Choi Young-seong responded absentmindedly, he soon noticed the persistent stare beside him and turned his head.

“Uh, um?”

“Ara’s really cute, huh.”

“Y-yeah. Right.”

“Don’t you think kids have been getting cuter these days?”

“Really?”

What on earth does she want?

As Kim Si-young kept talking, Choi Young-seong felt a sweat run down his back.

“Maybe it’s time we have a child too.”

“Ahem. Si-young… our age is…”

“What are you talking about? I may look like this, but I’m a level 8 Awakener. My physical age is in my twenties.”

“But Si-young… I’m not Awakener…”

With a tearful expression, Choi Young-seong stared at the door Kyu-seong had just walked out of.

***

Since I was out for the first time in a while, it seemed like I had met everyone I could.

At Ara Hongryeon, I saw Young-seong and his wife, the guild leader, and Han-ul.

Then I made my rounds to the Terror Guild and Ironblood Guild as well.

By the time I returned home, it was already 11 PM.

As an Awakener myself, I wasn’t tired, but Ara apparently was.

“Snoo… snooo…”

Even though her body was stronger than mine, her mind must have been exhausted. Ara had fallen asleep on my back, breathing peacefully.

‘She did have a lot of fun.’

Meeting people she hadn’t seen in a while had excited Ara immensely.

Even when they briefly walked through the streets, some subscribers who remembered Ara’s daily life channel still recognized her, which made her even happier.

She even danced and gave out autographs as a service.

“Brother, you’re late today.”

Just then, Jae-seong and the kitchen staff were wrapping up at the restaurant.

I jokingly shrugged my shoulders like I was exhausted, and Jae-seong suddenly invited me to sit down.

“Brother, want a drink?”

“Huh? Out of nowhere? Did something happen?”

“Yeah, something happened.”

What was it? Maybe a difficult customer?

But looking at his expression, I could see a joy he couldn’t hide.

Jae-seong was never good at hiding things—his emotions always showed on his face.

“Hold on. Let me bring out some snacks.”

Looking now, it seemed they were planning a small party with the staff.

Soon enough, the so-called light snacks were brought out, though they were dazzling.

Even some of the good liquor that had been saved was opened.

“Did something happen?”

“Hehe.”

Even when I asked Orie, she just smiled quietly without answering.

I was wondering what was going on when Ara squirmed and woke up from my back.

“Something smells delicious, it does.”

“Ara, you’re awake?”

“Awake, I am.”

Her slurred speech was adorable.

Once the table was fully set, we each picked up a filled glass.

“Today is a happy day. Thank you all for your hard work.”

“Hard work? Chef, you’re the amazing one for achieving this much in such a short time!”

“Actually, thinking about it, it’s all thanks to you, Brother. Without your ingredients, we wouldn’t have earned a star this quickly.”

“A star?”

Oh… no way?

“Alright, shall we toast? Congratulations to Slime & Rabbit for earning its first Michelin star!”

“Wow! I’m working at a Michelin-starred restaurant!”

“Star chef!!”

From everyone’s cheers, I finally realized what had happened.

Jae-seong’s restaurant had been featured in a famous gourmet magazine.

“Wow! Congrats, Jae-seong!”

“What is the occasion?! What is the occasion?!”

Only Ara had no idea what was happening, lifting her juice cup with more passion than anyone else. She didn’t know what was going on, but her effort was just too cute and funny.

“Jae-seong’s restaurant got a high rating. He’s been recognized as a top-tier chef.”

“Oooooh! I celebrate you, Lee Jae-seong-Jae-seong!”

“Hehe. Thank you, Ara.”

How long had it been since he opened the restaurant?

Not even a full year yet. And already, he had earned a star—that really was something special.

Still, I couldn’t quite grasp just how special, so I asked Jung-yul, who was sitting next to me…

“It’s incredible! I think he’s the youngest and fastest chef to get a Michelin star in history! I mean, there’s someone even younger, technically, but in terms of time taken, Chef Jae-seong is unbeatable!”

“Oh, really?”

“Not only that, but just getting a star at all is a huge deal. Chef Jae-seong is basically on track for three stars now.”

“There are other Michelin-starred restaurants in Korea, right?”

“There used to be about three with 3 stars, but now there aren’t any. There’s one with 2 stars, and about ten with 1 star. Now we’re one of them!”

So even stars can fall away, huh.

I found it fascinating, and when they saw my expression, Orie and the other staff nodded in understanding.

“Most people don’t realize just how big of a deal this is.”

“Just know it’s a huge deal. Basically, in Korea, Chef Jae-seong is number one when it comes to cooking!”

“Aw, come on. Hehe.”

Jae-seong looked bashful at their words.

But the fact that he didn’t deny it strongly probably meant it was mostly true. If it weren’t, he would’ve awkwardly denied it just like before.

“Congrats, Jae-seong.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Brother.”

“Congratulations!”

But Jae-seong, you’re not satisfied with just this, right?

I began thinking I needed to grow even more types of crops, looking forward to the day Jae-seong’s restaurant would earn three stars.

More ingredients! Even better dishes!

‘Hehe. More slimes!’

I need to expand my fields right away!

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