The Birth of the Honeybees

At the same time, his vision lit up and several small bees appeared in the air.

There were five in total.

Each one was about the size of a thumbnail, flying around happily while wiggling their chubby backsides.

[Please name your bees__]

“Name them?”

The scarecrow never asked for a name.

But bees were living creatures, so things must be different.

“Okay then— Ilbeol, Ibeol, Sambeol, Sabeol, Obeol.”

It took less than thirty seconds to name them.

Complicated names would only be hard to remember.

Honestly, even with names, he still couldn’t tell which one was which.

[The bees have started building a hive.]

Bzz bzz—.

The cheerful bees flew to the wall and started doing something together.

There were too few of them, so the hive grew slowly.

“What’s that?”

Park Deokpal, noticing the bees clinging to the wall, asked.

“I got them at level 10.

They’re supposed to help with pollination.”

“Just five?”

“You can see them?”

“Of course. My eyesight’s good.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing.

The number increases when the level rises.”

“Ohh, then will we get to taste honey someday?”

Since the era was what it was, pure honey was extremely rare.

Even artificial honey required paying its weight in gold.

If this was real bee-made honey, the price would be astronomical.

“It’ll probably take a long while.”

“But still— it’s exciting!”

“You’re such a pervert.”

“A pervert?!

Anyone would say the same!”

“Anyone like that, I do not want to meet.”

Garam said firmly.

“By the way, I forgot to tell you earlier— Jinyoung asked if she could take any leftover crops.”

“She can.”

“Should I deliver them?”

“You?”

“Yeah. I’m worried our innocent Garam will get eaten alive if he goes.”

“Are you insane? No one’s eating anyone!”

“But look.”

Deokpal stepped closer, held Garam’s hand, and gazed at him with a soft, lingering stare.

He leaned so close Garam could feel his breath— and his knee almost shot up before Deokpal backed away laughing.

“What the hell?!”

“See? If you get flustered even with me, imagine a pretty beauty coming close and pleading.

Can you say no?”

“I’m not that easy to manipulate!”

“Really?”

He leaned forward again, and Garam swung his fist.

“You want to get hit that badly?!”

“I’m helping youuuu~.”

“Shut up! Come close again and I’ll crush your—!”

“Wow, harsh for two guys, don’t you think?”

“I don’t care!”

“But hey, did you know—?”

Deokpal glanced around and whispered.

“What.”

He was obviously planning another prank.

“You know what?”

Garam steadied his stance and glared.

“Your face is red.”

I knew it— a joke!

Garam kicked, but Deokpal dodged like a slippery fish.

“Ugh, I swear—!”

“Okay, I’ll go deliver the crops~!”

Deokpal backed away and headed toward the storage room.

Annoying as he was, at least the atmosphere felt lighter.

Kang Jungbae, watching from the side, was even smiling faintly.

Deokpal really was good at managing moods.

The tiny hive was completed the next day.

Once it was done, the bees began collecting nectar from the blooming crops.

Five days later, the first worker bee evolved.

[The worker bee is evolving into a queen bee.

The queen will now lay eggs.

Maximum bees manageable at current level: 50.]

The bees increased until they reached fifty, then stopped.

It looked like a lot, but pollination still wasn’t fast.

“At this rate, when will pollination finish? We could just do it ourselves.”

“The bees need levels too.

And normally, you’d need several hives for this much land.”

“How do you know?”

“I went to the library.”

“Ohhh.”

Deokpal clapped and continued.

“But isn’t this basically a pet bee army?”

“You want to get stung?”

“No thanks. Honeybees die after stinging.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Just… knew it somehow.”

“Anyway, did we get news about the crops?”

He meant the ones they sent to Jinyoung.

“Yeah. They sent them to the lab for experiments.

They said they might be able to make delicious potions.”

“Do potions need to be delicious?”

“Of course they do!”

Garam shouted with conviction.

He remembered drinking dozens of blue potions trying to save the flowerpot.

Speaking of which, quite a while had passed.
How far had Lee Jaehun gotten in the tower?

The answer: up to the boss room.

Ailen drank a potion with a dying expression.

“It tastes awful.”

She tossed the empty bottle aside blindly and clung to Kang Yujun.

“Save meeee.”

“Please refrain from clinging to me.”

“You’re still the best off among us.
You’re a tank with stupidly high HP.”

But Yujun didn’t reply.

For days, they had marched without rest because Lee Jaehun wanted to clear quickly.

They chugged potions nonstop, so physically they weren’t in bad shape.

The problem was their minds.

Their bodies were fine— their sanity was not.

“How strong is our guild master’s mental stamina…”

While the others collapsed to rest, Lee Jaehun was clearing nearby enemies alone.

Ailen watched him and wiped imaginary tears.

“I want something delicious…”

Items brought into the tower were limited: only what fit in inventory or could be carried on the body.

Even mages carried huge backpacks inside.

All their food was compressed to the extreme— resulting in awful taste.

Ailen called it “brick flavor.”

“Better than starving.”

“True. Still, I wish potions tasted good. Like juice potions.”

“Mana potions are strawberry flavored.”

“If this is strawberry, I’ll choke someone.
It tastes like dipping a strawberry tip in water for one second.”

“It does not taste like strawberry…”

By then, Lee Jaehun had finished clearing the area.

“Guild maasteeer!”

Ailen called him over.

He approached with his usual blank expression.

“Do you have it? That thing?”

“I drank it.”

“Nooooo!”

Yujun watched the two exchanging nonsense but didn’t bother asking.

He didn’t have the energy.

“Rest a bit more. Then we enter the boss room.”

“Yeah! Let’s finish this and get out!”

Ailen jumped up.

“If we get out fast, we can even attend the inter-city alliance event.”

“Our mayor sure is hardworking. But how did he schedule events before knowing when we’d be out?”

“If the guild master can’t attend, Park Garam and Jung Jinyoung will go instead.”

“Oh yeah, the guild master’s lover!
Speaking of— don’t you miss him, guild master?”

At her sparkling-eyed question, Lee Jaehun paused.

Now that she mentioned it, he had indeed thought of Garam every day in the tower.

But he assumed it was because of the flowerpot.

Whenever Garam didn’t touch the pot, it lost vitality again.

“…I do miss him.”

Hearing that, Ailen rubbed her ears in disbelief.

“Can’t believe I heard that from the guild master!”

“Stop overreacting.”

“No, seriously! I always thought you’d be single forever, then you suddenly get a lover, and now you SAY you miss him! Isn’t that crazy?”

“Why would someone like the guild master stay single forever?”

“You really don’t know?”

She looked at the flowerpot he was holding.

At that moment, Kang Yujun wisely shut his mouth.

Even he knew that was too much.

“Who would date someone who loves a flowerpot more than people?
Guild master, you must NEVER let that person go.”

“I won’t.”

Only Garam could keep the pot alive.

“Absolutely not.”

“How romantic… I want a lover like that too…”

Ailen pressed her hands together wistfully.

Yujun just gave a weary smile.

“It seems time’s up. Let’s move.”

“Boss room at last!”

“Once we beat the boss, we’re done! Let’s go!”

The guild members stood, shouting with energy.