Round 374

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It happened to be the day Jung So-yeon was supposed to come, so we matched the time to go out and greet her.

She probably had no idea that Romrom would give birth today.

“She’s coming!”

At Ara’s words, I figured Jung So-yeon must be arriving soon.

Roughly 10 minutes later?

And just as I thought, about 10 minutes later, Jung So-yeon’s car came up the mountain road.

Just as I was about to greet her as she got out after parking, another person stepped out from the passenger seat.

“Hanul?”

“It’s Hanul!”

It had been a long time since I saw Hanul, not since the Spirit Seed incident, and he waved at us with a smile.

“Wahahaha! I’m here!”

“Hanul! You’ve come!”

Ara ran up to him, arms wide open.

Then Hanul naturally picked Ara up and spun her around.

‘No wonder So-yeon drove her car this time.’

She usually rode her motorcycle.

I should’ve guessed the moment I saw the car coming up.

“Kyu-seong, my brother! How have you been?”

“I’ve been well. It’s been hard to see you lately.”

“Wahahaha! That’s not something you should be saying!”

Well, he had a point.

I was also busy, either in dungeons or traveling abroad.

“I’m sorry, Kyu-seong. I should’ve stopped him, but he insisted on coming no matter what. Sigh.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you came together. Haha.”

I brushed off Jung So-yeon’s apology with a laugh.

Meanwhile, Hanul was playing excitedly with Ara, talking about heirs and such.

“More importantly, something big just happened.”

“Something important? What is it?”

“Romrom gave birth.”

“What?!”

Jung So-yeon’s eyes widened in shock.

Then she hurriedly urged us to go check right away.

“Let’s go! Team 2 Leader! Hurry up!”

Maybe it was her urgent voice that got through.

Hanul finally snapped out of it and followed after us.

“Did something happen?”

“Our new family member gave birth.”

“Could it be… Romrom?”

“Oh, you’ve heard.”

While we talked, we had already arrived at the dungeon.

We immediately headed toward the barn.

“What in the world is this?!”

Hanul was startled by the railroad, a new invention to him.

The tracks that connected all areas, including the dungeon entrance, had revolutionized internal transportation.

“It’s cramped!”

The inside of the cart filled up completely when Hanul got on.

Even though he sat alone, it looked packed, and Ara giggled out loud.

But Hanul didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the cool breeze during the ride.

“Wahahaha! This is great!”

I was just thankful he liked everything.

While we chatted and called to each other between the carts, we quickly arrived at the ranch.

There, Seon-ah and the people from Skyscraper were waiting, and Hanul was surprised again.

“Why is Skyscraper here?”

“Oh, we set up a portal. Makes it easier to travel back and forth.”

“What! That’s a thing?!”

“Yes. But we could only set up two, so one’s here and the other’s in the Middle East.”

“Urgh. What a shame.”

Meanwhile, Jung So-yeon carefully entered the barn with Seon-ah.

We quietly followed behind and saw Romrom resting, and her piglets suckling.

The tiny piglets wriggling around were absolutely adorable.

“Wow.”

Jung So-yeon didn’t know what to do, so Seon-ah picked up a confused piglet and handed it to her.

“Try touching it.”

“Okay.”

Jung So-yeon carefully received the piglet and examined it for a while, during which I chatted with Hanul.

“We can finally collect meat now.”

“You cruel guy.”

“…I think you’ve misunderstood something. That’s not it. These wild boars regularly shed their armor-like skin like a molt. We collect meat from those discarded shells.”

“You impressive guy.”

Luckily, we had some collected meat.

Since it’d been a while, I thought Hanul should try it too.

“Romrom, you’ve worked so hard.”

– Kkweek.

“She says she’s feeling good.”

As Jung So-yeon patted Romrom’s head, Ara immediately interpreted.

She’s so gentle—why couldn’t she be domesticated in the other world?

I’d already discussed this with Seon-ah before, and she said it might be due to environmental factors.

‘She said it’s possible that from the second generation born here, domestication might actually be possible.’

As evidence, we could already see that the newborns had no tusks.

At first, we thought maybe we were mistaken, but Seon-ah agreed that they probably should’ve had tusks, and that this litter was unusual.

Anyway, if we kept working on domestication here, we might even be able to export them in reverse.

Even raise livestock in the city of the little humans.

‘And I’d collect some of the meat raised that way as tax.’

Nice, very nice.

Not just the boars—recently, even the chickens had started laying eggs.

Just yesterday, one was laid, but we weren’t sure if it was fertilized or not, so we let the hen keep sitting on it.

I’ll look into ways to tell the difference later. If it’s unfertilized, it’ll make a great ingredient.

Plus, according to Seon-ah, the taste and quality of meat and eggs change depending on what the livestock eats, so I was really looking forward to it.

We hadn’t been living here long, so there wasn’t much difference yet, but she said it would gradually change.

‘Even now it’s delicious—imagine how good it’ll get if it improves more…!’

While I was lost in thought, Jung So-yeon spoke to me.

“Kyu-seong, I just heard from Seon-ah. Apparently only Romrom can give birth because she’s the leader.”

“Oh, right. That’s how it worked out.”

“A little serious as it may sound, it’s funny, but I don’t want to claim any ownership over the babies. Just seeing our Romrom living happily is enough for me, so all the babies belong to you, Kyu-seong. Though I don’t even know if I have the right to say this.”  

“No, thank you for saying it.”  

In the meantime, Hanul came over, looking at me with a hint of expectation.  

I smiled slightly and said to him, “Would you like me to give you one of the piglets too?”  

“Ooh! Can I really? I’ve already got my eye on one!”  

Looks like he had already been looking at the others.  

In the end, we decided to let him adopt one of the piglets, and we even named it on the spot.  

“Rothschild.”  

“…Isn’t that the last name of the Terror guild leader?”  

“Yeah. Sounds strong, doesn’t it?”  

I don’t know. As long as he’s happy with it.  

Surprisingly, Rothschild seemed to like the name.  

Every time we called out ‘Rothschild’, it somehow recognized it and came trotting over.  

“Wahaha! As expected of the Rothschild I picked!”  

“You really have an eye for animals.”  

Since we were already there, we fed the wild boars and chickens.  

We spent some time bonding while feeding them evenly, then played with the dogs too.  

“Wow, even adorable puppies like these exist here!”  

It seems Hanul is a dog person—he was completely smitten with our shepherd dogs.  

“Let me adopt one too!”  

“What about Rothschild?”  

“Rothschild and a puppy!”  

“Sigh, okay. It didn’t have a name yet, so you can give it one.”  

“Wahaha! Thank you, Kyu-seong!”  

Seeing how happy he was made me feel good too.  

Hanul then spent his time training and playing with the puppy, which he named Venom—I have no idea why he picked such an intense name.  

Eventually, since he showed no sign of leaving, we decided to get up and leave first.  

But before that, we decided to try some meat.  

Of course, there were workers who worked hard at this ranch.  

Which meant there was also a dining hall.  

– Beep! 

When we visited the ranch’s cafeteria, the ever-present dispatched Breeding tribe greeted us, as if to say “welcome.”  

“Shall we try some meat?”  

At my words, everyone nodded eagerly.  

Especially Jung So-yeon, who had already tasted it before, was gulping in anticipation.  

Soon, the rabbits brought out the meat well-prepped from the molted skin.  

Thud!  

The meat landed on the cutting board with impact.  

It looked beautiful.  

Lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, the grilling began right away.  

Ssszzzzz!  

Sizzle, sizzle.  

The smell of grilling meat quickly filled the entire cafeteria and made our stomachs rumble.  

Before long, the meat was fully cooked, and we called out to Hanul, who had been playing outside.  

“Meat? Of course I’m eating that!”  

Hanul rushed to the cafeteria, and together we faced the well-grilled meat.  

“Oooooh!!”  

“It looks delicious!”  

Thanks to the rabbits’ excellent grilling skills, the meat was cooked to perfection and steamed appetizingly.  

After a short resting time to finish off the cooking, the rabbits cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.  

A steak plate for each of us.  

We immediately stabbed a piece with our forks and put it in our mouths.  

“!!”  

Why does it taste even better than last time?  

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking that, as Jung So-yeon gave me a look like I’d done something to it.  

“It’s gotten even tastier!”  

Even Ara, who loves all food, shouted in excitement.  

Then, she held out her hand for a handshake to the rabbits who had been watching us eat with pride.  

“This is very delicious. I’m touched. Well done.”  

– Beep-beep!  

The rabbit’s body bounced up and down from Ara’s enthusiastic handshake.  

Another rabbit nearby stepped back slightly after seeing that.  

It wasn’t just that the rabbits had improved their cooking skills…  

“I told you, didn’t I? The flavor of the meat changes depending on what the livestock eats.”  

Seon-ah shouted proudly while she ate.  

Just as my sister said, the meat itself tasted better.  

I didn’t expect to see results this fast.  

“Sniff.”  

Suddenly, a sniffle made me look to the side.  

Hanul had already finished his plate and was now tearing up.  

“This is the best meat I’ve ever had in my life. I’m so sad I’ve already finished it… sniff.”  

“I-I’ll serve you more next time.”  

Since we still didn’t have much meat yet, we couldn’t eat as much as we wanted.  

Fortunately, Hanul seemed satisfied with just those words and nodded while wiping his tears.  

“Is all the meat made by Rothschild mine?”  

“Yes, that’s right.”  

“Make sure Rothschild eats well and stays strong!”  

“Haha. Got it.”  

We wrapped up our short but satisfying meal and stood up.  

Hanul stayed behind to continue playing with Rothschild and Venom, and we returned to the village.  

“Ah, by the way, I’ve been curious about something.”  

Since the Skyscraper guild members were here, I decided to ask about something I was recently very interested in—elves.  

“Please go ahead.”  

“Do you happen to have any information on elves, or could you tell me about their characteristics?”  

“Elves?”  

Ryu Cheon and Yu Bihong tilted their heads at the sudden question.  

Then Ryu Cheon said,  

“My mother is an elf.”  

“…What?”  

I stared at Ryu Cheon, dumbfounded.  

I turned to Yu Bihong to check if this was true, but…  

“……”  

Yu Bihong was staring at Ryu Cheon with a face even more frozen than mine.  

Looked like she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to.

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