Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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105
The water was refreshingly cool.
Absolutely incredible.
So water could taste this good!
Tears sprang to his eyes.
“Hnngh. Hnh…….”
Then.
Sizzle!
A stone skillet, heated to a gleaming temperature by the roaring fire.
Five generous strips of Pork Belly — one, two, ……five!
The aroma of grilling meat filled the room.
Gulp.
He hadn’t eaten anything for days.
The smell of cooking Pork Belly hit him with almost violent force.
His mouth flooded with saliva.
“Here we have lettuce and perilla leaf, garlic and doenjang, plus salt — season it however you like. You’ve had Pork Belly before, haven’t you?”
“Y-yes, I have.”
His mother had worked at a Korean restaurant, so he’d been exposed to many Korean dishes. And when one speaks of Korean cuisine known worldwide and beloved everywhere, isn’t Pork Belly the first thing that comes to mind? He remembered there had been days when he’d eaten it, and it had been quite the delicacy.
Snap.
A perfectly cooked strip of Pork Belly.
He dipped it lightly in salt and took a bite.
“Ah!”
The juices burst across his tongue — rich, succulent.
A pinch of salt sharpened the umami into an explosion of flavor.
Never in his life had he tasted Pork Belly grilled so expertly.
Next, he layered two more strips onto a leaf of lettuce and perilla, topped it with garlic dipped in doenjang, and wrapped it all into a bite.
Delicious!
Pork Belly truly shines when eaten this way.
Then.
[Tower’s Blessed Sleep Lettuce consumed. Quality of sleep increased.]
[Tower’s Vision Enhancement Perilla Leaf consumed. Vision slightly improved.]
“……?”
What’s this?
These vegetables seemed to have Buff effects.
Ethan Coldwell realized that every vegetable here was an ‘item.’
[Tower’s Blessed Sleep Lettuce]
– Grade: C+
– Effect: Upon consumption, promotes deep sleep. (Stamina and Mana recovery speed increased by 40% during sleep)
– Description: A Tower lettuce cultivated by someone. Eating it should improve sleep quality. Blessed, its flavor and effects are enhanced.
[Tower’s Vision Enhancement Perilla Leaf]
– Grade: D
– Effect: Upon consumption, vision is slightly improved.
– Description: A Tower perilla leaf cultivated by someone. Eating it should enhance vision.
[Tower’s Doenjang]
– Grade: A
– Effect
– Taste Bonus +100%
– When used in Cooking, skill-related bonuses apply
– Description: Homemade doenjang made from Tower skill beans. Using this in cooking seems like it would bring good fortune.
[Tower’s Detox Garlic]
– Grade: C
– Effect
– Upon consumption, cures poisoning
– Description: Tower detox garlic cultivated by someone.
“Th-this? Vegetables with Buff effects?”
Despite having climbed to the 38th floor of the Hard Difficulty Tower and absorbed vast amounts of information, he’d never heard of vegetables that granted buffs.
Gurgle.
Eat first.
Filling his belly was what mattered.
Munch-munch!
Lee Woo-jin watched Ethan Coldwell devour the pork belly with single-minded focus.
When only five pieces remained on the stone pan, he used kitchen shears to cut them into fine strips.
He pulled out aged kimchi, sliced it thin, and began stir-frying it with the pork belly. Inside the cave’s hidden chamber, the kimchi—marinated in the rendered fat—sizzled across the pan almost as if it were deep-frying.
Szzzzzt!
From his Subspace Backpack he retrieved a portion of cooked rice and tossed it into the pan.
The pork belly fat, infused with the kimchi’s seasoning, seeped between the grains of rice and began to coat them with heat.
The finely chopped pork belly and kimchi fragments tumbled together with the rice, each grain catching fire.
Ethan Coldwell understood in that moment.
Though he had not yet tasted it, he was certain.
This would be, without question, the most delicious kimchi fried rice in the world.
[You have created Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice through Cooking.]
[Cooking Level 9 proficiency has increased slightly.]
[Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice]
– Grade: A
– Effects
– Taste Bonus +100%
– Upon consumption: All Stats +20% for 60 minutes
– Description: A dish made by stir-frying pork belly and kimchi together with rice. The flavor is exceptional.
“Please, have some.”
Lee Woo-jin handed him a spoon.
Ethan Coldwell took it and scooped up a generous portion of the kimchi fried rice from the pan, which still sizzled and popped from the residual heat.
The fried rice gleamed, slick with pork belly fat.
He brought it to his mouth slowly and placed the spoonful on his tongue.
The instant he bit down, flavor erupted.
“Ghhhhaaaaahhh!”
[You have consumed Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice. All Stats increase by 20% for 60 minutes.]
And what in the world was this insane buff?
All Stats up twenty percent for a full hour?
“Well? How is it?”
“This is… this is divine.”
“Ha. Please, eat as much as you like.”
Ethan Coldwell wondered if he should be eating something this exquisite alone, but since Lee Woo-jin insisted he finish it all, he accepted with gratitude and attacked the remaining rice with renewed fervor.
‘Delicious! There’s no comparison to Kim’s Restaurant’s kimchi fried rice!’
Kim’s Restaurant was the name of the Korean diner where his mother had worked.
The kimchi fried rice he would pick up from there after work—that was the taste of home, the taste of memory.
He had believed that no amount of objective deliciousness could overcome nostalgia and its rose-tinted lens; he’d thought nothing in the world could surpass the kimchi fried rice from Kim’s Restaurant. But he was wrong.
.
.
.
“I truly… cannot thank you enough.”
After consuming three servings of pork belly and stir-frying the rice with aged kimchi, Ethan Coldwell’s gaunt appearance had vanished entirely. His face now glowed with the sated contentment of a man who had eaten his fill, and he smiled broadly.
Lee Woo-jin grinned.
“I’m just glad I made it in time.”
“I was so hungry I wasn’t thinking straight. So it was you who gave me the Lightning Sword?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Anonymous 58,763.
Already a figure of worldwide renown.
Rankers who had received A-rank weapons from the Anonymous had resumed their stalled progress through the Tower and were now breaking their long-standing records.
Ethan Coldwell knelt right there and performed a deep bow.
Had he been among fellow Americans, he would have offered a handshake and a hearty embrace, but he had learned that in this Eastern land of Korea, the proper way to express gratitude with respect was to offer a bow.
“Please, there’s no need for that.”
“I cannot accept such words. You have saved my life.”
Lee Woo-jin shrugged his shoulders.
In truth, he felt good about it.
It was only natural to feel satisfied when someone enjoyed the food you had made and offered you sincere thanks.
[You cannot proceed further in this stage.]
[You cannot receive rewards.]
[Forced Return will occur in 1 hour and 8 seconds.]
Time was running short.
Lee Woo-jin spoke.
“I really should be going now. I have some things I need to take care of.”
“Oh, yes!”
Though I’m not entirely sure what he meant by that.
Surely he has his reasons.
“If I happen to make it out of here, would it be all right if I came to find you and offered my thanks? I’d very much like to repay this kindness.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I wanted to do it anyway!”
“B-but…….”
Ethan Coldwell was taken aback.
Was there truly such a thing as a person so compassionate and free from greed?
Had a saint descended before him?!
But that was Ethan Coldwell’s misunderstanding.
“Well, if you really do want to repay me, I won’t stop you. For what it’s worth, Kang Min-woo has been getting me things whenever I need them, and he even gifted me an apartment in Cheongdam-dong. Not that I’m demanding anything—just so you know. Ahem!”
For a moment Ethan Coldwell was flustered, but he soon laughed heartily.
“Understood! When I make my way back, I’ll prepare a gift worthy of your satisfaction, Lee Woo-jin. Could I perhaps get your contact information?”
“Sure.”
Woo-jin jotted down his phone number.
It was a Korea number, but international calls and texts would go through anyway.
* * *
Woo-jin vanished like the wind.
He truly seemed to appear and disappear without a trace.
“Phew.”
Ethan Coldwell let out a deep breath.
His thirst and hunger had been satisfied.
His condition had improved dramatically.
On top of that, for some reason, the Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice had granted him a sixty-minute buff of twenty percent across all stats.
“All right. Let’s do this.”
There was no choice now but to push forward.
Ethan Coldwell swallowed hard and carefully opened the door, having decided on a simple strategy: to run straight ahead with all his might.
It seemed the only way to survive in a cave shrouded in such profound darkness.
Click!
“Ahhhhh!”
Ethan Coldwell burst from the doorway with a battle cry, ready to sprint down the tunnel—but he stopped dead in his tracks. He was bewildered.
And for good reason.
“……Huh?”
For some reason, the cave had become remarkably bright.
It felt as though sunlight were filtering through.
Far ahead, a brilliant glow was visible.
His instincts told him the truth.
That was the exit.
“The shadows… where are they?”
Whip, whip!
He spun around, scanning the area, but not a single shadow was to be seen.
Of course, his own shadow was cast squarely on the ground in the opposite direction of the light, but the shadows that had previously lunged at him with sudden violence made no such move.
They were just ordinary shadows.
Nothing out of the ordinary at all.
“What is this……?”
Crunch, crunch.
He made his way toward the exit.
[Objective Completed]
[You have successfully escaped the Shadow Cave.]
[You have earned 5,500 Coins as a reward.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have cleared Hard Difficulty Tower Floor 38.]
[You may now return to Earth.]
He could scarcely believe it.
What on earth had just happened?
Ethan Coldwell racked his brain, but he could find no explanation.
The only unusual thing that had occurred was that Woo-jin had suddenly appeared and shared some food with him.
That was all.
Yet those terrible shadows had vanished completely!
The Player Farming at Dragon Lair (Serial)
Author | Gae-byeok S
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyeok
Address | 401, Ace Tech Tower 8th, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
© Gae-byeok S 2026
※ This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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