Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 61

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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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61
Just a month ago, Lee Woo-jin had been working as a Tower Management Official, pulling night shift duty at the office roughly once a month.
The reason I’m bringing this up is simple:
After finishing a night shift and getting home, he’d demolish a bowl of ramen, brush his teeth, shower, and collapse into his fluffy blankets—and it felt like nothing short of paradise.
This afternoon, that same feeling had returned.
“Ahh. That was a good sleep.”
By the time he woke, it was already noon.
Twelve o’clock exactly—the sun directly overhead.
In other words, the perfect time for lunch.
Lee Woo-jin spotted Kkamangi snoring softly on his stomach, while his Doppelgänger sat rigidly nearby, staring at the wall—whether deep in thought or just spacing out, he couldn’t tell.
The moment Kkamangi noticed Lee Woo-jin stirring,
(……) Greetings!
“Doppelgänger, good morning.”
Lee Woo-jin reached up and gently stroked Kkamangi’s head with his fingers. The cat’s eyes fluttered open slowly—apparently he’d dozed off without realizing it.
“What—what? How long was I asleep?”
“Long enough that someone could’ve carried you off and you’d never notice.”
Hop.
Kkamangi bounded down from Lee Woo-jin’s chest and stretched into a classic feline pose, rear end extended.
“Deities, if you’re in the shrine… could we perhaps make lunch simple today?”
[The God of Adventure says they’re all here and will eat whatever is offered.]
“What I mean is, would it be alright if we just had something quick?”
[The God of Adventure says we eat whatever you give us!]
[The God of Law asks if eating simple means subsisting on crops like cherry tomatoes or sweet potatoes.]
“No, no. Rice is still necessary.”
A Korean lives on rice.
The deities aren’t Korean, of course.
But rice makes a meal feel complete.
“I was thinking of just cooking some rice and using the side dishes I brought from home.”
[The God of Fate laughs and says that’s not eating simple at all—that’s a full feast.]
[The God of Authority nods vigorously in agreement.]
He wondered if Kim Mi-sook had any idea.
That the absolute rulers of the Tower—whom she called “the great dame”—were absolutely infatuated with the side dishes she’d personally prepared.
.
.
.
“Whew. That was delicious.”
To briefly catalog today’s menu:
Rice.
Seasoned Bean Sprouts.
Zucchini Pancake.
Miso-seasoned Spinach.
Kimchi.
Seasoned Nori.
That was all.
Honestly, just hearing those dish names alone was enough to make most elementary schoolers shake their heads and whine about not wanting rice—but
[The God of Law chuckles and says today’s lunch was truly a sumptuous feast.]
[The God of Authority nods in agreement and says he could eat this every day without tiring of it.]
For some reason, these divine palates seemed perfectly suited to the meal.
Now that he thought about it, he remembered that neither Lee Woo-jin nor his younger sister Yun-ah had ever complained about the side dishes at home.
“I’ll do the dishes today!”
“Hmm? You can manage that?”
“Of course I can! You two just rest up!”
Kkamangi padded over to the basin they’d kept for dishwashing and transferred all the dishes to it, scrubbing the stone bowls and various plates with vigorous splashing sounds.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Leave it all to me!”
In the meantime, Lee Woo-jin decided to check on the rice seedlings he’d planted yesterday.
He’d given them plenty of water to help them sprout and buried them in the soil.
“Oh.”
The seedbed was densely carpeted with young shoots rising thickly from the earth—like a thin green blanket had been laid down.
Compared to photos he’d seen online, the growth looked remarkably similar.
A soft whisper.
Lee Woo-jin pulled out his smartphone and reviewed the photos he’d saved about rice transplanting.
“This is a seedbed, isn’t it?”
Rice farmers bring seedbeds and transplant the young rice shoots into the paddies one by one—what they call “rice transplanting.”
The seedbed was the essential tool for rice transplanting.
And it sat directly in front of Lee Woo-jin’s eyes.
Tap, tap.
He touched the smartphone screen and found the relevant information.
It was about the method of transplanting rice.
【Young seedlings that have grown sufficiently in the seedbed should be transplanted into the paddy. The paddy should maintain a shallow water level; if it’s too deep, the tender shoots may topple over.】
【Divide the seedlings into clusters and plant them at regular intervals. If they’re too crowded, they’ll compete for nutrients, and the paddy will be inefficient to manage.】
【When planting, gently press the roots into the soil so they take hold properly, and manage water carefully at first—not too much. This is crucial.】
“I see. That makes sense.”
One pyeong of seedbed.
He’d divided it into handy portions that fit comfortably in one palm.
Thirty centimeters by sixty centimeters each.
The seedbeds were stored in the Subspace Backpack.
[Subspace Backpack]
– Seedbed × 18
Now he just had to take these and plant them in the paddy he’d prepared yesterday.
Lee Woo-jin took out one seedbed and walked toward the paddy.
The shallow water pooled on the paddy floor glimmered gently in the sunlight streaming down from above.
Tap.
Lee Woo-jin carefully separated small bundles of seedlings by pressing his fingers along the edge of the seedbed.
The young shoots had roots more tightly interwoven than he’d expected, but they came away easily enough with the soil intact.
‘This is how you do it, right?’
Splash.
Wading into the paddy, Lee Woo-jin bent at the waist and pressed a seedling into the muddy bottom—gently enough that the roots took hold in the silt without being forced.
Thunk.
The young shoot straightened up, its head above the water, settling into place.
[Seed Planting Lv. 6 effect applied.]
[Seed Planting Lv. 6 proficiency increases slightly.]
Lee Woo-jin immediately moved to the next spot.
And the next.
Spacing them evenly, he continued planting row by row.
Splash.
Thunk.
Splash.
The doppelgänger began mirroring the same motions beside him.
The spacing was uneven at first, but after a few tries, it seemed to catch on quickly.
(…….) Working hard!
Lee Woo-jin and his doppelgänger pressed forward, bent in tandem, continuing the transplanting.
Young shoots began to settle one by one across the previously bare paddy floor.
At first the rows looked sparse, but as each line filled in, the paddy began to take on a proper appearance.
Tender seedlings reflected in the water like a mirror, standing in neat rows.
The fact that he was actually doing rice transplanting himself—something he’d only ever seen in photos online—struck him as genuinely remarkable.
“This really looks like a proper paddy. Or wait—it is a proper paddy, right?”
(…….) Nod!
The work finished faster than expected.
Then again, it was only ten pyeong, not the tens of thousands that professional farmers cultivated.
Lee Woo-jin straightened his back and surveyed the paddy.
Young seedlings were planted at even intervals across the shallow water.
Kkamangi had finished the dishes and wandered over to admire the work.
“This really turns into rice, right?”
“Yup.”
“Woo-jin can do anything. You’re an amazing Adventurer.”
“Hmm. Anyone can follow along if they look it up online.”
The praise felt good nonetheless.
* * *
After the rice transplanting, there was still plenty of time before dinner. Lee Woo-jin played with Kkamangi for a while, and whenever the cat acted cute, he’d crack open a Churu and feed it to her piece by piece.
The Doppelgänger, by contrast, rarely rested.
Whenever Lee Woo-jin permitted it, the creature would drain its Mana to tend the already-established fields—cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, lettuce, and more.
It was almost like a workaholic.
When sitting idle, it had seemed listless enough,
but now, removing side shoots from cherry tomatoes or pruning perilla leaves, it appeared positively vital.
Crunch.
[You have consumed a Cherry Tomato blessed by the Tower’s Blessing. Your Mana permanently increases by 0.02.]
[Mana recovery speed increases by 20% for 10 minutes.]
Even so, eating cherry tomatoes while the Doppelgänger worked at a reasonable pace meant Lee Woo-jin didn’t suffer the usual exhaustion from Mana waste.
Hydration and Mana regeneration both taken care of.
Cherry tomatoes were truly a superfood.
Crunch.
[You have consumed a Cherry Tomato blessed by the Tower’s Blessing….]
He munched cherry tomatoes steadily while browsing the Community.
All manner of Adventurers were active here, and the posts reflected that diversity.
The hottest topic, as always, concerned the Rankers.
Records that had stalled for some time were now being broken by 1–2 floors at a stretch, and Kang Min-woo in particular had somehow vaulted from Hard Mode Layer 1 straight to Layer 18.
Everyone was speculating wildly about the reason, but nothing was confirmed,
when news broke.
Fresh off the wire, it seemed.
– Breaking: Kang Min-woo has an Intermediate Observer backing him!
– ???
– No way that’s real
– Whoa LMAO that’s insane, an Intermediate??
– I knew you had it in you, Min-woo!
The reason people reacted so intensely was that an Observer becoming a patron meant the Observer recognized genuine talent—it was that simple.
That an Intermediate Observer had begun watching Kang Min-woo was shocking enough to astound the entire world.
‘Calorn, wasn’t it?’
The Intermediate Observer, the Sword Master Calorn.
The name Kang Min-woo had mentioned to Lee Woo-jin before.
Either way,
‘Good for him.’
Lee Woo-jin felt a warm satisfaction as he popped another cherry tomato into his mouth.
After browsing the Community for another hour or so to kill time, he stood.
He stretched from side to side.
Might as well work on expanding the Manager’s corridor.
‘I’d reached Layer 70, hadn’t I.’
.
.
.
Whoosh.
Using the Teleportation Ring, Lee Woo-jin descended instantly to the corridor at Layer 70 and drew out Dark Moon.
Without a word from him, Dark Moon shifted on its own into the form of a shovel.
He downed a Carrot Juice first.
[You have consumed Carrot Juice. Your Stamina permanently increases by 0.02.]
[Stamina recovery speed increases by 20% for 30 minutes.]
“Let’s go, Dark Moon.”
Thud.
Crunch.
Thud.
Lee Woo-jin began moving swiftly, using the Soil Leveling skill with each strike.
[Your proficiency with Soil Leveling Lv. 7 increases slightly.]
[Your proficiency with Soil Leveling Lv. 7 increases….]
About two hours had passed.
Lee Woo-jin reached the door to Layer 60.
A Player Farming in the Dragon Lair (Serialized)
Author | Gaebyeok S
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | JPL Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul, Unit 401 (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gaebyeok S2026
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the 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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