Chapter 28: Strength

“Strong and energetic morning!”

The magic power bar was a clear blue.

The boss, fully recovered from the aftereffects of unlocking skills the day before, began a new day.

Installing a large mirror turned out to be a brilliant move.

It felt like adding a jet engine to Kim Gubok’s supply deliveries.

As the door closed and he checked the items, Go Namtae’s eyes and mouth fell open in admiration.

“You already got coffee beans... huh, is this sugar beet?”

Kim Gubok had sent sugar beets.

Since sugarcane would take longer due to approval and quarantine, he said to try planting sugar beets first.

Go Miyoung’s plan document was attached as well.

“You are selling kimchi...? If it tastes like an auntie’s homemade kimchi, it will sell well. Then we should plant more radish and napa cabbage. Green onions and mustard greens, scallions, and garlic too...”

While diligently listing kimchi ingredients, Go Namtae looked around one side of the storage.

That was where the fruit tree seed boxes that arrived the day before were stacked.

Plum extract was essential to Go Miyoung’s seasoning recipe.

“Should I set aside one plum and one sugar beet and try turning them into seeds?”

With a skill just unlocked, maybe this was a sign to try using it.

[You have nearly exhausted yourself while completing part of the seeds that were over seventy percent converted.]

[The boss’s magic power is still ‘very’ weak.]

[If you wish to knock yourself out for over a day, you may attempt it.]

Toto’s warning cut like a blade.

By Toto’s standards, he was still like a baby in a cradle.

‘When am I ever getting out of this “very weak” stage?’

Still, a cold and rational butler’s advice could not be ignored.

Go Namtae let out a small sigh and made a decision in his heart.

‘Next warehouse trip is absolutely sugar beets and plums!’

After finishing the morning routine, Go Namtae headed toward the riverside.

Compared to the first day when he fainted while carving a path, it was easier now, but since he kept widening the road, the arrival time was about the same.

“Good thing I packed a lunch, right?”

‘We like it!’

‘Lunch, lunch!’

They would like anything he did, but at the word lunch, they went absolutely wild.

Pumpkin leaves spread out instead of a mat became the table.

On top of them, he took out something wrapped again in large pumpkin leaves.

When he unfolded them, there were piles of round bundles wrapped in young pumpkin leaves.

Four such bundles.

When the young pumpkin leaves were opened, white, round lumps appeared.

With limited ingredients, Go Namtae’s picnic lunch was rice balls.

The base was fluffy rice seasoned with salt.

The fillings were made from what grew in the garden.

Soybean sesame rice balls, corn rice balls, pumpkin rice balls, and rice balls with chopped chili added for Go Namtae only.

“Alright, everyone, let’s eat!”

‘Let’s eat!’

‘Lunch!’

After that, no one spoke.

Hagye cried a little after eating one of Go Namtae’s rice balls, but not a single grain was left.

After eating well and storing up strength, Go Namtae picked up his pickaxe again.

But there were beings causing a ruckus before him.

Boom, crash!

Today Autotring was absent, and only Gyarok and Kwarul were fighting.

Crash, boom!

With one missing, it ended more weakly than before.

Kwarul slipped away first, and Gyarok turned its body the other way.

Its wings were fully grown, but because its iron scales were too heavy, it could not fly.

Still, just one flap created a gust.

It likely contributed the most to the devastation of the riverside.

Swoosh.

In an instant, it glanced toward Go Namtae and crossed the river.

“...Does it know I’m here?”

[Entities with a certain level or intelligence recognize the boss.]

[Gyarok is level eighty-three.]

Even from afar, its power was anything but ordinary.

Still, he could not help coveting its wings... perhaps that was the boss’s instinct.

After all the riverside predators withdrew, Go Namtae lifted his pickaxe again.

Crash!

In less than one hour, rice paddies about the size of two soccer fields were created.

Of course, the distance to the river was still nowhere near enough, but that was actually welcome for now.

If riverside predators glared at him while he was swinging a pickaxe, his liver would freeze.

Everything expanded today was paddy field.

As he diverted stream water to fill the paddies, the pumpkin leaves discarded where they had eaten lunch began floating.

Dozens of pumpkin leaves spread evenly between the paddies.

Into the center, to the edges, and between them.

Among them, one pumpkin leaf caught on something and stood upright.

At that moment...

Pop!

Light burst upward.

Brilliant golden light mixed with ominous black, purple, and dark green hues, spiraling up like a dragon’s ascent.

“What is that now...!”

Go Namtae hurriedly blocked the stream bank and ran.

The light quickly faded, but the other pumpkin leaves formed a circular ring around the spot.

As if forming a barrier telling others not to cross.

“Toto, do you know what it is?”

[We need to dig underground to find out.]

[But please do not touch it directly.]

“Got it. I had a bad feeling anyway... Everyone, you too, back away! Get under the pumpkin leaves over there!”

The pumpkin leaves that had served as their table drifted over as well.

At Go Namtae’s shout, the creatures who had been peeking out hid their bodies under the leaves.

How long did he dig?

Only after digging several times deeper than a person’s height did ‘it’ reveal itself.

Its identity was unclear just by looking, but the moment he saw it, he felt bad.

For Go Namtae, it was just ‘unpleasant,’ but it emitted energy that would instantly kill most beings.

If he had not hidden his followers in advance, there would have been trouble.

“What is this thing...”

[Absolutely do not touch it with bare hands.]

[Please put on gloves.]

“I was going to anyway.”

Go Namtae put on the gloves he had brought.

They were cotton work gloves with red coating on the palms.

They had been crumpled in a corner of the warehouse, but they possessed performance certified by the system.

[Boss’s Gloves: Work efficiency increased by ten percent.]

[Protects hands from various contaminants and impure things.]

[Does not get dirty.]

[Auto-repair: Severe damage such as cutting or loss may cause long-term malfunction or irreparable damage.]

He did not realize efficiency went up by ten percent.

No, even if he had known, he hated wearing gloves, but from now on, he would have to use them often.

Go Namtae carefully scraped away the remaining dirt with a hand hoe and picked ‘it’ up.

His brows furrowed even more at its true form.

“Wow... it looks malicious.”

It was about the length of a handspan.

From afar, it might look like a doll.

But the main feature was a skull made of bone.

The skull doll wore a skirt made of bones, a sharp bone hat, and bone shoes.

The skirt aside, the hat and shoes were not unfamiliar to Go Namtae.

[This is a remnant left by the previous boss.]

[It seems a curse was planted just in case.]

[The curse destroys what the finder treasures most.]

“What? Then should I bury it again?”

[No. Though there was a time gap, the curse has already activated.]

[Even if it does not affect the boss, it will gradually harm Earth.]

“Oh my... then how do I get rid of it?”

That was when it happened.

The thing dangling from the hoe suddenly sprang to life and began shrieking horribly.

=How dare you, how dare you touch me...! If I had gathered just a little more power, I could have crossed into your world! Now every time you open a door, I will destroy everything you cherish...!

Kyaaaaaah!

It tried to scream, but Go Namtae was faster.

He clamped the doll’s mouth shut.

The terrifying curse meant to ruin the world rebounded entirely onto the doll itself.

Crack.

Fine fissures spread across it, and it shattered into pieces.

Feeling unsettled, Go Namtae brushed his gloves, and even the grime-like powder fell off cleanly.

Toto asked in a shocked voice.

[...How did you grab that with your hands?!]

“Grab it with my hands? I was wearing gloves.”

Go Namtae replied casually, but Toto was not calm.

[As expected of the boss!]

[You accomplished something no one else could unless they were the boss!]

[You are the greatest boss!]

It was the first time Toto had been this excited.

Always calling him ‘very weak’ and treating him like a baby.

...But could the system get excited too?

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

[You are the only boss to have resolved the previous boss’s curse this cleanly!]

[You are truly the best!]

With all the sudden praise, Go Namtae was bewildered.

But only for a moment.

As soon as his lips twitched, Toto returned to its usual nagging tone.

[You must erase even the traces of the curse.]

[Seal this area for the time being and manage it until the curse fully dissipates.]

“...Alright.”

Even the soil color was ominous.

It looked like waste and garbage buried and left to rot for years.

No, it looked even worse than that.

Still, since the most toxic part was gone, it could be handled with ‘management.’

What was needed for purification was compost, sawdust, fresh soil, and a bit of time.

And a spoonful of magic power from a ‘boss good at farming.’

Go Namtae stretched his hand toward the pit and shouted.

“Abra cadabra!”

...He fainted again.

The appearance of the cursed doll shattered Go Namtae’s peaceful routine.

He started repaving the road toward the riverside from the beginning.

He had planned to widen it gradually, but after that day, he expanded it to at least four lanes.

Also, every time he dug the ground, he started checking ‘just in case.’

Because he could not guarantee there was only one cursed doll.

‘This feels really unsettling.’

The curse’s wave was more serious than expected.

Whenever Ha-eul’s group and the guardian beasts came near the pit, they became drained and struggled.

Still, finding the curse early was incredibly fortunate.

No, it was not just luck.

Finding the curse was thanks to Heungbok.

The golden light that flared when Heungbok’s leaves, flowing with the stream, repelled the curse led them to it.

Go Namtae tilted his head while looking at the cleaned red gloves.

‘Did the curse bounce off the gloves, or...?’

Come to think of it, these gloves were also something absorbed from the previous boss.

That could have granted immunity.

By that logic, Go Namtae himself was the same.

The wave was blocked before it could spread, but the previous boss’s curse was truly terrifying.

If it had been missed, Earth might have walked the path to destruction.

And yet...

‘It honestly did not feel that scary?’

That was why he could grab it without hesitation.

But that applied only to Go Namtae.

There was no guarantee the previous boss’s hidden curses were only here.

Even the remnants alone could endanger Earth.

Perhaps they were already having an effect.

‘I need to hurry up land reclamation even more!’

In the end, the boss’s duty always boiled down to one thing.

Thanks to not knowing about the existence of the other three bosses yet, he was still a carefree boss.

After digging diligently and returning, Heungbok presented him with a gift.

‘Boss, I gathered a bit of strength and made this.’

A golden pumpkin, smaller than a fist, sparkled.