"Snowball No. 1!" Kim Haru called out.

    A muffled whimper answered him, as if Snowball No. 1's mouth was blocked by something.

    Kim Haru hurried over, taking long strides.

    Snowball No. 1 slowly turned around toward him, revealing its predicament.

    "...Pfft."

    The moment Kim Haru saw Snowball No. 1 clearly, he couldn't hold back his laughter.

    Snowball No. 1's pristine white fur was now covered in grayish, stringy objects, thin and long, resembling octopus tentacles. These strange appendages clung tightly to its face. Around its mouth, a lump of grayish-white material was lodged, completely blocking its ability to bark properly.

    It looked just like a greedy dog that had tried to eat an octopus and ended up getting tangled in its tentacles.

    After a good laugh, Kim Haru quickly stepped forward to help.

    "What exactly were you chasing after—" Kim Haru stopped mid-sentence, startled as he pulled the object out of Snowball No. 1's mouth. "What the heck?!"

    Caught off guard, Kim Haru momentarily loosened his grip. The thing was about to escape, but Snowball No. 1 that was quick as lightning, snapped it back up into his mouth.

    "Woof woof," Snowball No. 1 mumbled through a full mouth, shoving the object back toward Kim Haru's hands.

    Kim Haru collected himself and took another look at the strange object. It resembled an ordinary white radish, identical to the ones piled in the sled cart. But unlike those radishes, this one was alive—and moving.

    The gray, string-like tendrils that had wrapped around Snowball No. 1's mouth turned out to be its roots that was as flexible as octopus tentacles. When Kim Haru pulled the radish from Snowball No. 1's jaws, the roots flailed wildly in the air, and the radish's body began to wiggle with surprising vigor.

    This sudden activity caught Kim Haru off guard, making him took a step back in shock. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire Sёarch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Now that he had calmed down, Kim Haru realized what he was holding: a mutated white radish.

    "I'm not a lowly radish, you fool!" A deliberately deep voice suddenly rang out—from Snowball No. 1's mouth.

    For a moment, Kim Haru thought Snowball No. 1 had learned to talk. But as the words sank in, he realized it was the mutated radish who is speaking.

    "A talking radish?" Kim Haru's amazement grew. None of the other mutated plants he'd encountered could speak. At most, the mutated wheat he tended could produce faint, whining noises, while others used visual signals like glowing text to communicate.

    To encounter a plant that had evolved the ability to speak was beyond surprising.

    The radish continued to squirm in Snowball No. 1's grasp, clearly angry but completely overpowered by the Cryo Wolf. With Snowball No. 3 and Snowball No. 4 standing nearby as backup, and the protective barrier from the sled cart still active, Kim Haru wasn't the least bit worried about this strange plant causing trouble.

    The mutated radish's fury only grew at his nonchalant attitude. "I said I'm not a radish, damn it!"

    "Then what are you?" Kim Haru asked, tilting his head. "You look exactly like a radish to me."

    The muffled voice coming from Snowball No. 1's mouth sounded both indignant and exasperated. "You think I want to look like one of those lowly things? I was just trying to find a quiet place to sleep! How was I supposed to know I'd wake up looking like this? You think I'm not upset too?!"

    It paused dramatically before continuing, "Do you even know who I am—?"

    Abruptly, it stopped itself, as though realizing it had said too much. "Wait, why should I even tell you? Let me go this instant! I'm warning you, I'm not someone to mess with! My underlings could crush ten of you in one blow!"

    Listening to the radish's bravado, complete with its affected gravelly voice, Kim Haru couldn't help but laugh. Its tone reminded him of an old classmate from elementary school who had once tried to act tough in the playground, despite being anything but intimidating.

    That classmate hadn't been doing well in life and at some point joined a small gang. He always walked with hunched shoulders, narrowed eyes, and feet splayed outward, constantly referring to himself as "the boss" in every sentence. His speech was peppered with commands like "get lost," and he even practiced making his voice sound "more charismatic and intimidating."

    If he could, Kim Haru thought, that guy would've probably slung a jacket over his shoulder and stuck a cigar in his mouth to complete the look.

    The mutated white radish in front of Kim Haru—the one vehemently insisting it wasn't a radish—gave off exactly the same vibe as that classmate.

    Kim Haru began to believe the radish's claim that it had "woken up from a long sleep." Judging by its demeanor, it had probably been hibernating since the pre-apocalypse era when trying to look tough in black-market gangs was the trend.

    The more Kim Haru observed the talking radish, the more curious he became. But this wasn't the right place to investigate further. Patting Snowball No. 1, he asked, "Can you carry this thing in your mouth without any trouble?"

    Snowball No. 1 nodded.

    "Good. Let's take it back first."

    Neither Kim Haru nor the three Cyro Wolf paid any attention to the radish's frantic struggles and angry curses as they retraced their steps back home.

    When they reached the sled cart, the other Cyro Wolf were behaving well, staying put and guarding the radishes. They had left everything untouched. As usual, Snowball No. 2 took the lead pulling the sled, and Kim Haru, accompanied by the radishes and the pack of fluffy Cyro Wolf, returned to the small farm.

    By the time they arrived, Go Okrim had already cleaned the previously harvested radishes and stored them in the granary. He had left four outside to be added to the meal for the two black pigs.

    Seeing Kim Haru return with all the Cyro Wolf, Go Okrim guessed that the radish patch must have been thoroughly harvested.