Chapter 33: There Is One More Cause

The next morning.

“…A curse?”

Ko Nam-tae replied with a sigh to Kim Gu-bok, who was speaking passionately.

Corn porridge and bean porridge had worked on someone so afflicted by a curse that they could not even stand the smell of food.

No, it was not just the porridge. It meant Ko Nam-tae’s crops themselves had worked.

It did not seem that the curse had been completely dispelled, but at least the person’s life had been saved, and Kim Jae-won also expressed his gratitude.

Ko Nam-tae frowned.

‘A curse,’ how ironic.

Of course, what Park Seong-yeon had suffered was suspected to be an act of terror.

It probably had nothing to do with the former boss’s curse, but a curse was still a curse.

The damp, despicable feeling it carried made his skin crawl.

By chance, there were several things he had harvested at dawn.

Ko Nam-tae grabbed whatever was at hand and sent various items through the mirror.

For sales, he usually sent crops harvested from the farmland beyond the stream, but these had been grown in his own garden.

Judging from the subtle difference in flavor of the garden crops, they would probably be quite effective even against a curse.

Ko Nam-tae casually added a note.

-These should help quite a bit. I planted them a little differently. Please do not distribute them elsewhere. Send them to the patient, and let only your family eat what is left.

He deliberately sent it as a handwritten note instead of a message.

Sending a note meant secrecy.

As Kim Gu-bok looked shocked while reading the note, the mirror closed.

What Ko Nam-tae sent additionally were three things: pumpkin, cucumber, and tomato.

The pumpkin was one he had planted using Earth seeds.

From the start, Heungbok’s pumpkins could not be sent to Earth.

[Heungbok’s fruit is fatal to Earth’s life-forms.]

[Awakened individuals may lose their mana or become incapacitated, and ordinary people could lose their lives at worst.]

[Of course, this does not apply to you, Boss.]

[For you and your retainers, it is a supreme medicinal ingredient, so you may eat it without worry.]

‘I will make all the pumpkins you eat myself, Boss!’

Heungbok was always shy in front of Ko Nam-tae, but when it came to the pumpkins Ko Nam-tae ate, he showed unmistakable pride.

He claimed he could make any kind of pumpkin that existed in the world.

And in truth, Heungbok’s pumpkins were delicious.

They were also what had purified the former boss’s curse.

That such pumpkins could be poison to others was deeply ironic.

In any case, the pumpkins Ko Nam-tae planted were one hundred percent for export.

Just looking at the effects proven by the system, they were outstanding.

[Boss’s Pumpkin: Grade – Yellow]

[+13% Mana Recovery Speed]

[Alleviates and resolves mana intoxication]

[Barrier effect increase – internal mana five percent]

[Mana stabilization]

Only Ko Nam-tae would describe such a crop as merely ‘quite good.’

If the effects of alleviating mana intoxication and stabilizing mana became known, countless people would rush in with wild eyes.

The same went for the cucumber.

[Boss’s Cucumber: Grade – Yellow]

[+11% Mana Recovery Speed]

[Hydration and blood replenishment]

[Fatigue recovery increased by twenty-two percent]

[Recovery effect on burn scars]

[Fever reduction – removes mana-heat abnormal status]

The mana recovery speed was slightly lower than the pumpkin’s, but it had recovery power and blood replenishment.

In an emergency, it meant cucumber juice could substitute for lacking blood.

If transfusion was impossible, it would be an even more helpful crop.

On top of that, it removed the mana-heat abnormal condition.

For those suffering because they could not properly vent mana, it would be incredible news.

For now, this effect existed only in Ko Nam-tae’s garden cucumbers.

As for the tomato, Ko Nam-tae, a picky eater, did not originally like it.

But its effects were astonishing.

[Boss’s Tomato: Grade – Yellow]

[+12% Mana Recovery Speed]

[Wound regeneration and purification]

[Concentration increased by nineteen percent]

[Mental strength and defense increased by n percent]

It had a purification ability.

Mental strength and defense being listed as n percent meant the effect scaled with mana, but what mattered right now was whether purification existed at all.

They had already improved even with only the other crops, so the tomato would surely help with fully lifting the curse.

The shop’s measuring device could only determine the grade.

To uncover these effects, a professional appraiser or a research institute would have to conduct a detailed analysis.

Since he had deliberately sent a note, it was unlikely they would let the information spread to unrelated parties.

It was something Park Seong-yeon’s side might look into anyway.

No, it was better that they did.

Ko Nam-tae clicked his tongue as he turned away.

“Just because you have power and money does not mean you live well.”

The Saeron Guild was a place where financial power, military force, and authority were concentrated.

In common terms, it could be called a conglomerate.

Yet the heir of that conglomerate had been attacked.

It felt bitter, as if witnessing a power struggle from the age of monarchies.

It would be fortunate if it ended as mere bitterness, but he worried whether Kim Gu-bok’s family had been dragged into it.

He had thought they would be safe under the protection of the Saeron Guild, but it might actually make things more dangerous.

If someone realized that Park Seong-yeon recovered because of the crops Ko Nam-tae sent, they would surely try to block the supply first.

Kim Gu-bok’s family would become an easier target.

As things stood, the foundation to protect Kim Gu-bok’s family was far too weak.

“I need to find a way….”

[If Mr. Kim Gu-bok keeps the secret well, we can buy time.]

[Once the curse is lifted, blocking the supply will be meaningless.]

[But the longer the tail, the more likely it is to be stepped on.]

“….”

That was exactly what Ko Nam-tae was worried about.

No matter how much one tried to hide it, force could pry open any secret.

In that process, it would be Kim Gu-bok’s family who got hurt.

He could not tell them to stop supplying food.

Lives were at stake, and there was also the calculation that maintaining good relations with them would better ensure their safety.

‘Let me think this through….’

A smile formed on Ko Nam-tae’s lips as he organized the items Kim Gu-bok had sent.

“Coffee!”

Arabica, Robusta, Liberica….

There were the two most famous types of coffee, along with several kinds of rare Southeast Asian seeds.

That alone was impressive, but there was something else he had been waiting for.

“So this is sugarcane…!”

They said sugarcane had to go through quarantine, so it had come in stalk form.

“Toto, can a stalk become a seed too?”

[Yes! Since last night, conversion of stalk seedlings into seeds has become possible.]

[However, it will take a bit longer than with other seeds, similar to grains.]

Kim Gu-bok’s timing was impeccable.

Until now, even if saplings or stalks came in, they had been useless.

But from now on, he could plant seedlings as well.

The range of seeds available to him had expanded.

Still grinning, Ko Nam-tae opened the next box and his mouth fell open.

“Oh, this is really…!”

This is insane!

The words almost burst out as he saw the labels attached to the unknown seeds.

The box was filled with various tropical fruit seeds.

Bananas, mangoes, pineapples, papayas, coconuts, and more….

Just reading the names conjured sweetness and tartness.

But as if something were lacking, Kim Gu-bok had added a few words in a note.

-I tried to get tangerine seeds too, but that will take a bit more time. If possible, I will try to get oranges as well and send them.

Ko Nam-tae shouted fervently at the note.

“Sir, I love you!”

Tangerines! Oranges? This was even better!

Ko Nam-tae was a notorious tangerine killer who ate them until his face turned yellow.

One year, he had eaten so many that he was suspected of having jaundice, and Kim Gu-bok had teased him about it.

Still smiling, Ko Nam-tae suddenly remembered something.

“Right, he said fertilized eggs could come too.”

Thinking about it, he had not put them on today’s order list.

But it was not too late.

Ko Nam-tae opened the needle-hole gate a second time.

-Sir, please include fertilized eggs too!

The reply came immediately.

-Nam-tae, are you planning to raise chickens too? Haha, then we are on the same wavelength. Do not worry. I know a really good place. I will bring a lot!

Kim Gu-bok’s response was refreshing.

The fact that he said they were on the same wavelength meant Kim Gu-bok had already been preparing.

Encouraged by the reply, Ko Nam-tae sent another message right away.

-Sir, sorry to ask, but could you also get portable mirrors? About ten would be fine.

-Sorry? If you say that, I will be hurt! I will get various types and send them. Not ten, even one hundred is fine!

With Kim Gu-bok’s cheerful reply, the needle-hole gate closed.

Ko Nam-tae planned to install portable mirrors everywhere he went.

That way, he could send messages even while working.

Even after finishing up, Ko Nam-tae stood there blankly, unmoving.

After a long while, Toto asked him.

[Is there something else you wish to convey?]

“No, it is not that….”

Ko Nam-tae said as he checked the mana bar again.

“It feels like I barely used any mana just now. It was not much of a burden.”

For comparison, it felt about the same as swinging a pickaxe once.

His pickaxe swings, using the field-tilling skill, could be done hundreds of times a day.

[Are you planning to use the needle-hole for something else?]

“Something a bit bigger than a needle-hole. I want to try opening a door somewhere else.”

[…Are you considering direct communication with Park Seong-yeon?]

“Yeah. Given the situation, that seems the safest.”

[Mr. Kim Gu-bok’s family could become more endangered.]

Ko Nam-tae knew that.

Humanity’s hostility toward rifts was etched into history.

If things went wrong, Kim Gu-bok’s family could be misunderstood as being controlled by a labyrinth monster.

But he felt he could not let Park Seong-yeon go like this.

Ko Nam-tae did not know it yet, but this was the boss’s intuition.

“I am going to try. Since it is a matter of life and death on their side too, they will accept it.”

[If you wish to connect directly to Park Seong-yeon, you must first secure a fixed coordinate.]

“…Right, that was the problem.”

Ko Nam-tae’s expression twisted again.

Even though he had not communicated in real time, he had been continuously opening the needle-hole gates.

In truth, they had been a bit larger than needle-holes.

Ko Nam-tae had been doing well in the labyrinth, but sometimes… he grew curious about the world.

You could say he had been peeking through a small peephole.

The places he had opened gates to were incredibly diverse: terminals, marts, parks, orchards, barns, and more.

Once, a gate had opened right in front of someone else’s balcony, and he had panicked and closed it immediately.

He had no hobby of peering into other people’s private lives.

Yet among all those places, for some reason, a gate never opened near his hometown house.

If anything was bound by fate, that place should have been the strongest.

Toto spoke carefully.

[Until now, we assumed that when your house was transported to the labyrinth, a disturbance occurred in the surrounding area.]

[We believed that interference prevented you from opening a rift there.]

“…And?”

[There is one more possible reason.]

“…What is it.”

[This is only a hypothesis, but the location where your house once stood may be undergoing labyrinthization.]

“What!”

Since the entire house had been taken, nothing remained on the site.

But on the hillside right behind the house was his father’s grave.

It meant his father’s grave might have been swept somewhere into the labyrinth.

Because of his stubborn son!