Solo Farming In The Tower Chapter 815 87: Theo’s Mental Breakdown (2) / 811
TL: Hanguk
PR: MiniPixelZ
"Dad, this is it!"
Taecho shouted as she lifted up a bizarre leather armor with colorful patterns.
[Colorful Leather Armor]
→ ???
→ Usage restriction: Lv. 20 or higher, Agility 30 or higher
→ Creator: Confidential
→ Grade: C
This was definitely Kyung-chul's.
Sejun decided to generously give the item Taecho had found with her newly awakened Golden Hand ability to Kyung-chul. The design was far too eccentric for him to wear himself.
"Iona, can you appraise this?"
Sejun woke Iona, who was sleeping on Theo's tail, and asked her to appraise the armor.
"Kyoot? Yes… Power of magic…"
While Iona was casting her magic,
Huh?
Sejun noticed Theo, who had his head deeply lowered. Theo, who always radiated such a dazzling and confident aura, was now incredibly dark.
It was a darkness Sejun had never seen before. No, it was similar to when Theo fell into despair after realizing he had been scammed by Skaram in the past.
Could it be because he didn't feel any pull?
"Vice Chairman Theo, it's okay."
As Sejun tried to comfort Theo by patting his head,
-Sejun-nim, please help! Vice Chairman Theo is in danger!
Mini Chairman Park No. 6's voice rang in Sejun's head.
Theo is?!
Got it!
Swoosh
Without hesitation, Sejun entered Theo's mental world.
Thud.
Sejun collapsed, losing consciousness.
And then
Gooooooo.
The darkness emitted by Theo grew even denser.
***
The golden front paw that Chairman Park liked is gone, meow…
I'm now useless to great hybrid Chairman Park, meow…
Looking at Taecho, who had awakened the pulling ability, Theo couldn't smile. He felt as though his value as a being had vanished.
If he was no longer helpful to Sejun, was it okay for him to stay by Sejun's side?
Chairman Park might not like me anymore, meow…
As all sorts of thoughts filled his head, Theo's confidence continued to shrink. The more it did, the more he curled up and wanted to hide where no one could see him.
And then
I'm just a useless cat to Chairman Park now, meow…
A swamp formed beneath Theo's feet, and he began to sink.
Down.
And Down.
Continuously.
Endlessly.
***
Theo's mental world.
Rumble.
The mountains of grilled fish and the lakes of Churu were being sucked into the ground.
"Where's Theo?!"
As Sejun looked around urgently and asked,
"He went down here!!"
Mini Chairman Park No. 6 pointed to a black hole in the ground and answered with a loud, booming voice.
No matter how much he trained, his voice had only gotten slightly louder with little result, but
I must save Theo-nim!
Sejun-nim, please help!
As he pleaded for Sejun's help, Mini Chairman Park No. 6 unknowingly achieved a complete vocal breakthrough.
Just then,
"Dad, what's going on?!"
"Kyoong… Theo-nim, what's wrong with your mental world?!"
"Hmph… Is this mental collapse?!"
"Blackie oppa, what's mental collapse?"
Sensing something strange, the others followed Sejun into Theo's mental world.
"Butler. Big Brother's soul has sunk to the bottom of his unconscious. If time passes in this state, Big Brother's soul will merge with the unconscious, and then his mental world will collapse!"
Mental Breaker Blackie, who had shattered many mental states, explained the situation inside Theo's mind.
"Dad, does that mean Big Bro will die?!"
Taecho asked with fearful eyes.
"No. Dad will definitely save him."
Sejun answered and jumped into the swamp.
"Kyoong… Theo-nim, just wait a little! I'll save you!"
Iona quickly followed after.
"Dad! Sister-in-law! I'm coming too!"
"Butler! Great Blackie will help too!"
"Dad, take Taecho too!"
The others followed Sejun and Iona into the swamp as well.
Sejun and the others continued to sink.
It felt like passing through mud made of soft fur.
How far had they gone?
Step.
Sejun, having escaped the swamp, landed on solid ground.
"Where is this?"
As Sejun looked around,
Thump. Thump.
Giant statues, reaching only up to the knees, began approaching to eliminate the intruders.
They were the gatekeepers meant to protect Theo's mental state. True to Theo, who loved Sejun's knees, the statues of Sejun's knees guarding the gate perfectly replicated even the wrinkles on his knees.
Don't tell me I'm supposed to destroy these?
How do I break them?
While Sejun was running away, trying to figure out how to deal with the statues, the others emerged from the swamp.
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo- Power of gravity…"
Iona gathered the statues into one spot using her Black Hole magic.
"Dad, Cuengi will protect you!"
Shooong!
Seeing Sejun being chased by the statues, Cuengi quickly enlarged himself and
Kueng!
Kwa-gwa-gwang!
Picked up one statue and swung it like a club, smashing all the statues Iona had pulled together in one blow.
"Grrrr. Guys, take them down!"
"Yes!"
The Blackie Family joined the battle as well.
"Dad, Taecho will protect you!"
Taecho spread her arms wide and stood in front of Sejun.
Thanks to the party's efforts, only a few statues remained when,
Srrrk.
The shattered statue pieces began to move and started restoring themselves.
"Huh?!"
Kueng?!
Kking?!
"Kyoot?!"
"Ara?!"
Seeing that, the group was briefly flustered, but they quickly regained their composure and began breaking the statues again, which had returned to a count of 100.
However, once about 20 statues were left,
Srrrk.
The destroyed statues began regenerating again, and the group once more broke them.
This cycle of regeneration repeated dozens of times.
Sometimes the statues regenerated after only 2 had been broken, and other times when 50 were left.
What is this?
There must be a condition…
Sejun carefully examined the statues, trying to figure out the reason.
"Huh? That is?!"
He spotted some knee statues that were different from the rest.
[Park Sejun]
[Park Toryong]
…
..
.
Names written in small letters between the wrinkles of the knees.
[Iona♡]
Next to Iona's name, there was even a heart.
That little rascal Theo, even here he's thinking of his girlfriend.
Sejun let out a small chuckle when,
Bang!
As the statue labeled 'Park Taecho' was destroyed by Iona's magic, the knee statues began regenerating.
And the statue that had just been destroyed and restored no longer had the name 'Park Taecho.' It seemed the name had been reset and shifted to a different statue.
Ah. So this is it?
"Guys, leave the statues with names on the knees and only destroy the rest!"
Sejun quickly gave the group a hint.
A short while later.
When only 17 statues with names remained,
Thump.
The statues stopped moving.
"Dad, you're a genius!"
"Heehee. Great Blackie knew too, but just gave the butler a chance!"
"Taecho wants to be a genius like Dad too!"
While Cuengi, Blackie, and Taecho chattered,
Srrrk.
A new swamp opened on the ground.
"Are we supposed to go down again?"
"Kyoot. There's probably one or two more gates like this."
"Gates?"
"Kyoot. Yes. They're defenses for the unconscious. Things that were considered important appear as soldiers guarding the gates."
"Then do I have something like this too? I don't think I did."
"Heehee. Of course the sunfish butler didn't have one!"
"What?!"
Sejun, as usual, tried to pinch Blackie's cheek, but seeing that Blackie was now much bigger than him, quietly lowered his hand.
"Guys, let's go."
He and the party dove into the swamp.
After descending for a while through the soft, fur-like swamp,
Tap.
Sejun and the party stepped on solid ground again.
And then.
"These are way too big…."
Sejun found ten full-body statues of himself, much larger than the knee ones.
Heh. Is this how much Theo thinks of me?
Thinking that the size of the statues represented how highly Theo regarded him, Sejun felt proud.
But that feeling didn't last long.
Thud! Thud.
"Why are they only chasing me?!"
The statues started chasing only Sejun, the one who looked exactly like them.
Suddenly, Theo's feelings felt overwhelming to Sejun.
While Sejun ran for his life,
"Cuengi's Destruction Fist!"
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Meteor Shower!"
"Roasted and Dried Sweet Potato Punch!"
Cuengi, Iona, and the Blackie Family attacked the statues chasing Sejun.
"Dad, run faster!"
Taecho cheered hard to make sure Sejun didn't get caught by the statues. Maybe thanks to her encouragement, Sejun felt lighter and ran faster away from the statues.
Unlike the knee statues, the full-body statues of Sejun had incredible durability, and even with the party's attacks, they only suffered slight cracks. It took a lot of time to destroy them.
After some time,
Kueng!
Kwagwagwang!
A large hole was blown into the chest of the final statue resembling Sejun.
Thud.
The statue collapsed.
Don't tell me it's going to regenerate again?
……
……
While Sejun and the others held their breath and watched,
Srrrk.
A new swamp appeared on the ground. It was a sign that they had passed the second gate. Fortunately, the statues did not regenerate.
"Phew. If the second one was this tough…"
Sejun let out a deep sigh, worried about the third gate.
"Guys, let's go down."
Still, they had to move forward.
At that moment.
Rumble.
The ground began to shake.
"Wh-what is this?"
Sejun panicked.
"Butler! Big brother's mental world is starting to collapse!"
Blackie answered.
"Already?!"
"Butler! There's no time!"
"Let's go!"
At Blackie's words, Sejun and the others quickly threw themselves into the swamp.
Rumble.
Even while descending through the swamp, the sounds of breaking continued, making Sejun anxious.
But he had no thought of turning back. Sejun Family without Theo was unimaginable.
If Theo were here now, it would feel reassuring.
Today, his knees felt especially empty.
After descending for a long time,
Tap.
Sejun and the party landed on solid ground again.
Rumble.
On the crumbling earth.
"Huh? There are no statues this time? Whew, thank goodness."
Sejun looked around in relief. There was only one massive door on the ground.
"Butler, looks like this is the final gate."
Blackie said, looking at the firmly closed door.
"Let's hurry and rescue Vice Chairman Theo."
As Sejun approached the door,
[If you say the words that would make me Vice Chairman Theo the happiest, I'll open the door, meow! Conversely, if you're, wrong, everyone dies, meow!]
A terrifying warning written in Theo's tone was engraved on the door.
Only one chance.
Just like Vice Chairman Theo.
Sejun smiled as he read the warning. He missed Theo even more.
"The thing Big Brother would be happiest to hear… How about 'Let's eat grilled fish'?!"
Cuengi held his head with both front paws and made a guess.
"Kyoong… Maybe it's 'Vice Chairman Theo, you did great'? Theo-nim likes it when Sejun-nim praises him. Or maybe 'Vice Chairman Theo, you're the best'?"
Iona gave her thoughts.
"Kkeung… Butler, maybe the thing Big Brother would be happiest to hear is 'Let's eat Churu'? Great Blackie feels really happy when the butler says 'Let's eat roasted and dried sweet potato.'"
Blackie spoke while wagging his tail, imagining Sejun handing him roasted sweet potato.
"Taecho likes it best when Dad calls her name, so maybe it's 'Park Theo'?"
Taecho gave her own opinion.
Doesn't seem right, meow.
That doesn't sound right.
Definitely not.
The others all shook their heads at Taecho's suggestion. When Sejun used Theo's full name, it usually meant he was angry.
Rumble.
Even while the group shared their thoughts, Theo's mental world continued to collapse.
Only the area around the door remained intact now.
At that moment.
This has to be the phrase Vice Chairman Theo likes most, right?
104.28.193.250
With a look of certainty, Sejun stood in front of the door.
"Vice Chairman Theo, I'll give you exclusive knee rights for 1 million years."
Clunk.
At Sejun's words, the tightly closed door swung wide open.
*****
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