Chapter 17. A Sprout Grown with Beatings Turns Out Beautiful (1)

By the way, where's Aged Kimchi off grumbling now?

What if it suddenly barges in out of nowhere?

Then I'd really end up as stir-fried red blood cells in one strike.

Nah, no way.

Even the invasion of the human world got called off, so that sort of thing probably won't happen.

Hopefully not.

Please, let it not happen...

'Whew.'

A fleeting thought.

Anxiety, born from curiosity.

Kim Jangcheol almost let out a low sigh… but swallowed it back. Then he looked up. Darkness. Under the dusky sky of the night, the outline of a large building came into view.

It was the potato storage.

"......."

Right.

I'm in ambush right now.

The purpose of this ambush is…

[Do you really think they'll come?]

Before he realized, Zephyros had approached and was holding out his notebook. On one side of the crisp white page, a neatly written question—was he really sure they would come?

He gave a slight nod in response.

'Of course they will.'

They're coming.

They have no choice but to.

I formed a special forces unit.

I blatantly provoked them.

Surrounding Fikamir, who had become the No. 2 lightning rod, I chewed chuno with blissful faces, putting on an all-too-obvious performance(?) that our food situation would only get better from here.

Thanks to that, the 1st Star Master must be getting pretty anxious.

'They've probably started to realize that, contrary to their expectations, our farming won't be easily ruined.'

And also, that holing up on the cliff like this won't do them any good.

Which means now, they'll slowly start sending their subordinates.

Their target is probably…

'Here, the potato storage.'

Kim Jangcheol gestured toward the storage with his eyes.

Zephyros scribbled something quickly in his notebook.

[So you mean they'll think ruining the hard-earned potato stock will ruin our farming?]

'Exactly.'

It's certain.

There's nowhere else to hit.

The potato field?

We haven't even planted any yet.

The 1st Star Master surely knows by now that plowing that field would be pointless. Which means the only thing left to sabotage is the stored potatoes.

So all we need to do is crush the ones who come to carry out that sabotage.

And then we plant the potatoes.

Right in front of the 1st Star Master.

Just plant them.

"......"

When will the potato sprouts finally emerge?

While reviewing the plan, Kim Jangcheol unconsciously let out another sigh. Even though plenty of time had passed since the harvest, the potatoes hadn't sprouted yet. That concern bubbled up again.

'…The sprouts aren't coming up as fast as I thought.'

The sprouts should come out before he can plant the potatoes.

The thing is, you can't just dig up a potato and plant it right away as a seed potato. That's because of their hibernation.

'The potato tubers were happily giggling underground. But one day, violent demons dug up the soil and yanked them out by force. The potatoes were startled. They fainted and fell into a deep slumber. Waiting for the day when a sweet kiss—or rather, the end of their hibernation—would awaken them, like a prince in a fairy tale.'

…Would that be a good way to explain it?

Literally, once dug up from the ground, potatoes go into shock. All biological rhythms stop. They fall asleep.

That's hibernation.

During this period, no matter how perfect the conditions, the sprouts won't grow. Even if you plant them, it's no use. So they can't and shouldn't be planted.

Right now, the wild potatoes piled up in the storage are all in that state.

"......"

Originally, I thought their hibernation would naturally end during the plowing period. That was the timing I was aiming for.

But unexpectedly, we ended up getting the plowing done for free, and in record time, which left Kim Jangcheol with a brand-new headache.

'Tsk… we're done with the plowing… so why can't we plant anything!'

Frustrating. So frustrating.

Of course, he was trying to hasten the end of the hibernation. He'd been shoving farming corps members into the storage regularly to make them do squats.

Thanks to that, the storage temperature had risen to around 23°C—warm enough to help break the hibernation.

'Honestly, the better way would've been to store them at around 4°C for 2–3 weeks, then transfer them to a warm, dark place in one go. That'd end hibernation faster.'

But unfortunately, that method was off-limits.

The Four Heavenly Kings' Sirgi, wielder of the blade of ice—

She flat-out refused to volunteer as the storage cooling unit(?).

'......'

Can't exactly beat her into it.

If I did, and Sirgi got pissed and teamed up with Hartok… that'd be a disaster.

'I need to avoid any direct conflict with the Four Heavenly Kings for now.'

Live cautiously.

Live long and steady.

Kim Jangcheol reaffirmed his resolve to himself. At least until he was strong enough to take on and suppress two of the Four Heavenly Kings at once, he'd stay low. He'd only release Asurat around then, too.

…Or so he was thinking, when—

Shhh, shhhrrr...

'Hm?'

Something squirmed in the direction of the storage. Then he saw several blurry, semi-transparent figures gathering toward the storage.

At the same time, Zephyros furiously scribbled in his notebook.

[They're here!]

'…Yeah, I see them too.'

Kim Jangcheol narrowed his eyes.

And then he saw them.

A crowd of hazy figures had already filled the area near the storage. Just looking at them sent a chill down his spine. And gradually, he began to make out specific features.

'They've got… three heads?'

No doubt about it.

Their bodies were like normal (?) ghosts, but they had three heads each. It should've been chilling, but…

It wasn't.

In fact, he felt a strange sense of joy shimmer through him.

'These bastards, they're the Three-Faced Ghosts, the elite mobs of the 1st Star Master's legion, aren't they?'

Kim Jangcheol couldn't help but grin.

They weren't unfamiliar foes.

No, they were way too familiar.

They were the ones he'd run into to the point of nausea while playing Paladin of Blood, the game this world was based on.

'The 1st Star Master's most cherished elite troops, practically his royal guards.'

Exactly 108 of them.

Not only did they have ghost traits, they were also a pain to deal with because of their three heads. They had no blind spots in their field of vision and reacted to almost every attack in real time. On top of that, they had a ridiculous trait: you had to hit all three heads simultaneously to deal damage.

And that's not even the worst of it…

Their health pools and attack power were massive. On top of that, all 108 of them always moved as a group. Was there a way to deal with them individually? Not a chance. The first time he encountered them, the strategy itself had felt completely hopeless.

'…But it's different now.'

The smile on Kim Jangcheol's lips deepened.

Three-Faced Ghosts or not, to him, they were nothing but mere mobs.

And the fact that the 1st Star Master had gone so far as to send his elite Three-Faced Ghosts, his personal guard, was also quite welcome. If General Fikamir, who'd carried out the plowing terror, was the 1st Star Master's right hand, then these Three-Faced Ghosts were basically his left.

'That just shows how nervous he's become.'

The provocation by the farming corps worked better than expected.

Feeling oddly satisfied (?), Kim Jangcheol glanced around. Then he gave a signal with his eyes to Zephyros, Baal of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the members of the farming corps.

'Begin the operation.'

Everyone who received the order moved as planned.

The farming corps, under the command of Zephyros and Baal, moved silently. They encircled the potato storage without a single gap.

And Kim Jangcheol moved alone.

Toward the potato storage.

He approached.

Opened the door.

Entered the storage.

And naturally, closed the door behind him.

Clunk, snap.

"......"

He saw the Three-Faced Ghosts, who had already phased through the wall earlier. They were just about to start smashing the piled-up potatoes to a pulp.

"Everyone. Freeze."

"…!"

The Three-Faced Ghosts flinched.

They turned to look at him.

And the moment they recognized who he was—

"C-Credos?"

"…Demon King?"

Their eyes widened in shock.

They were clearly flustered.

They hadn't expected to be caught right after sneaking into the storage. And definitely didn't expect to come face-to-face with the Demon King himself, not just some low-rank demon.

Well, it didn't matter.

They were going to be wiped out here anyway. Today, the 1st Star Master would lose not only his loyal general, but also his elite personal guard.

"You know,"

Kim Jangcheol began slowly.

"I'm the type who doesn't give up. I push through steadily and persistently. That slow and patient fight… that's the essence of farming."

"…What?"

The Three-Faced Ghosts tilted their heads in confusion.

What the hell was the Demon King talking about now? It was like he'd suddenly started spouting nonsense about harvesting rice or something. They had no idea what he was getting at.

But Kim Jangcheol didn't care.

"To summarize—"

At some point, his hand began to move slowly.

"Patience…"

Click!

His hand latched the bar on the storage door. And even then, it didn't stop.

"…makes a…"

Click…!

The upper lock clicked into place.

"…farmer."

Clack!

The final lock at the bottom made a heavy metallic sound.

The storage door, now triple-locked in an instant.

Inside the perfectly sealed space, Kim Jangcheol's gaze sharpened strangely as he stared down the 108 Three-Faced Ghosts.

"Starting with you, I'm going to slowly weed out the 1st Star Master's foundation like spraying pesticide and pulling up weeds. One by one, until he's completely ruined."

"…Huh?"

The confusion vanished from the Three-Faced Ghosts' faces.

They finally understood the situation.

Apparently, the Demon King had set a trap.

Apparently, he intended to capture them.

But… he didn't seem to understand their traits.

'He thinks locking a door means we're trapped?'

'Ridiculous, keh-heh!'

The more they grasped the situation, the more their laughter bubbled up.

The Three-Faced Ghosts, now confident, all turned translucent and began to float into the air. And all 108 of them thought the same thing at once:

'…In that case, let's toy with him!'

Even if he was a Demon King, if he didn't understand their abilities, there was no way he could catch them all at once. At best, he'd flail around in a chaotic game of tag and manage to kill a few.

'We're ghosts!'

'We can pass through walls and ceilings!'

'And you're going to catch us?'

'Try it if you can, keh-heh-heh!'

Hit and run—that was the plan.

While the Demon King wasted energy inefficiently trying to catch a few of them, the rest would destroy the potatoes. Then their lord's will would be fulfilled. This land would starve. The day when all would die of hunger would come. The joyous moment where all would wander the abyss of death with them was approaching!

'Kahahahahahk!'

The 108 translucent Three-Faced Ghosts scattered in every direction.

Some went through the walls.

Others into the ceiling.

They slipped into every corner of the storage, as if mocking the Demon King.

But then it happened.

'…Huh? What's this smell?'

One of the Three-Faced Ghosts that had seeped into the wall flinched.

A faint, fishy stench came from the wall.

And now that it looked closer, there were smears of dark crimson all over the walls and ceiling. It was a detail they had missed earlier when they were laser-focused on their goal: the potatoes.

'This… could it be?'

'Blood…?'

'Wait, the Demon King's?'

It was certain.

A realization, too late.

And with it, a creeping dread.

At that moment, Kim Jangcheol placed his hand on the wall of the storage room. A savage grin spread across his face. He could feel the traces of his blood, meticulously splattered across the storage's walls and ceiling.

"I told you, didn't I."

His vicious smile deepened.

Eyes gleaming at the brink of a brutal harvest.

"Starting with you, I'll weed them all out."

…Pzzzzzt—!

The moment Kim Jangcheol summoned his magic power,

The blood he'd spread across the walls and ceiling sparked violently like pesticide.