Also known as 나혼자 탑에서 농사, "Farming in the tower alone", Solo Farming in the Tower is a 2023 ongoing Manhwa webtoon story from sdcknight, based on the Light Novel of the same name. Published by Naver Corporation. Illustrated by Lee Hae-kyung. The webcomic follows the story of Park Sejun, a 26-year-old NEET from Korea trapped and surviving in another world with a colorful cast of cute monsters.
A decade ago, one hundred vast and mysterious tower-like structures suddenly appeared all over the world in the middle of major cities. At the same time, groups of people started to vanish without a trace. Scientists were unable to determine anything about the tower's origin or composition from the outside. Only that they were 990 metres high, and Made of Indestructium. Then one day, people began exiting the Tower wearing strange outfits of magicians or warriors and spoke of their experiences and battles inside. They were abducted by small black holes that brought them inside to one giant fantasy world - full of rugged terrain and dangerous monsters. But it was also a land of opportunity, where countless treasures and rewards awaited.
Sejun dreams of finding his own fame and fortune in the Tower. His dreams appear to come true when he finds himself "invited" to the dungeon by chance, but is stranded in a hidden area of the mysterious tower away from the participants. All he has are some groceries and seeds from the supermarket. Now Sejun must farm, collect resources, and figure out his own survival strategy!
Solo Farming In The Tower Contains Examples Of:
- All Women Are Lustful: After building their new home, the first thing the Wife Farmer Rabbit wants to do is to drag her husband off inside to make babies.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: The Game Master black dragon often threatens Sejun with death, if he doesn't hand over the magical produce of the cavern farm. As Sejun is... little more than a slave, not chosen to play her game, but neither allowed to go home, there's only so many threats the man can take, before he chews the dragon out for being "a terrible employer". The dragon is horrified, yet struggles to apologize for her behaviour, though Sejun trolls her before she can follow-through. She settles on less-demanding offerings as the farmer decides it's wise not to provoke what amounts to a Physical God.
- Artistic License – Biology: Later into the story, Sejun cultivates honey jelly as a beekeeper, with a shelf-life of 1 year. Honey does not spoil.
- Beast of the Apocalypse: Along with Jormungandr and other forces of destruction, the Animalistic Abomination massive wolf Fenrir is an Eldritch Abomination that wasn't created by God, they willed themselves into existence as a response to creation and sought to destroy everything the creator made, and return it back to nothingness. Any evil forces the wolf can't control? He just swallows them whole and imprisons them in his core. Fenrir is more of an AntiGod for he ultimately kills God who sacrificed himself to halt the advance of destruction and created The Towers to protect what remained.
- Babies Ever After: White Farmer Rabbits, Husband and Wife, have a litter of five adorable bunnies in chapter 4. They're an energetic handful, so Sejun is happy to babysit the fluff-balls every now and then. Later, they have another litter of six.
- Bad Moon Rising: Once a month, a Blue Moon eclipse occurs, blocking out the sun that never sets in the Black Tower's fantasy world. When this happens, vegetables can sometimes grow larger than their real-life counterparts, yielding magical properties when consumed. Monsters become even more vicious and powerful than usual.
- Bamboo Technology: Sejun has to work with what he's got. Subsequently, a lot of gear he and the rabbits use, from bowls to ropes, are woven from green onion leaves.
- Bears Are Bad News: In Chapter 4, a Crimson Giant Bear turned feral by the Blue Moon detects Sejun, roaring savagely as it forces its way into the cavern and causing the poor man below to faint. His White Farmer Rabbits wake him up hours later, leaving him shaken and unsure how he survived the encounter. Later, he meets the same bear under different circumstances and befriends her.
- Bee Afraid: Averted. A Queen poison honeybee happens upon Sejun's cavern, allured by the scent of the crops. Normally, these are very dangerous carnivorous monsters that prey on other monsters, when plants are scarce. The White Farmer Rabbits run away at the sight. But as Sejun waves flowers at her, she turns very docile and tameable. The poison honeybee and her larvae become essential in pollinating the plants and protecting the cavern from hostiles. In later chapters, he gains the "Beekeeper" skill and starts taking in even more hives.
- Beware the Silly Ones: The Physical God dragons all act and behave with a degree of Immortal Immaturity and normally only care about eating and partying. They are not to be trifled with. If you've angered a dragon, you better hope and pray another dragon is protecting you. Their aura alone can and will find you and it bares down upon you like concrete blocks, until it crushes you. And if a dragon really wants you gone? You are gone. In fact, the dragons are dangerous if they love and adore you! Sejun prepares a banquet fit for the rulers of the towers and their families at the Red Dragon Tower Manager's meeting. They are so enamoured with his meals, their collective praise nearly destroys Sejun's soul, forcing the possessive depowered Fenrir who befriended him to save him from annihilation.
- Big Bad Wolf: One of the first threats and attempts on his life Theo encounters when going down to the lower floors to trade is from Canis Major Elka and his silver wolves. The chieftain was under contract from the evil landlord Grid to recover the rare straw hat item the merchant already gave to Sejun. They become determined to catch the little cat. Sejun has to hire the Minotaurs as bodyguards to give Theo some protection when going down.
- Call to Agriculture: Stranded in another world with a limited food source, Park Sejun had to put away all dreams of being a wizard or warrior, and plant veggies to survive. Fortunately, his crops entice the White Rabbit Farmer couple to join him in setting up a farm.
- Can't Take Anything with You: Defied. A hunter awakened by the Manager when leaving, can take an unlimited supply or amount of treasure with them. The only drawback is bringing everyday household items from Earth into the Tower, which is severely limited to 1 kg per trip.
- Cat Folk: A travelling cat merchant, Theo, joins Sejun's farm, as the man grows miracle produce that helps people with dietary issues lose weight. Sejun cannot leave the floor of the Tower he's trapped on, but a merchant monster has no such restrictions, the only catch is, he's not telling the human hunters/adventurers who's growing the cherry tomatoes they so crave.
- Character Select Forcing: When a human is brought to the Tower, they are defenceless against the dangers that await them. The Tower Manager has to "awaken" them, and at the dragon's own discretion, determines whether they become a magician or warrior. This is irreversible. Even if they go back outside, they can't unequip their RPG Mechanics 'Verse garments or abilities. Sejun was uninvited to this game, so the dragon makes them a farmer (which is more of a job than a character class).
- Chekhov's Gun: In the very first chapter, a group of Hunters decides not to buy anything from Theo since he's just selling cherry tomatoes, but when they notice that it can burn fat, they buy his entire stock. In a later chapter the original Hunter guild that Theo encountered tell him they have been waiting him for several days to buy his wares, including one of the members who went back into the tower to get the tomatoes for his daughter who is dieting. In another, later, chapter two executives of a major food conglomerate and a health supplement company begin negotiations to get the cherry tomatoes and sell them as a miracle weight loss cure.
- Creator Cameo: Artist vaselline00's fursona makes an appearance in Chapter 19 of the Manhwa, among other monsters in the 75th floor's merchant town.
- Crystal Ball: The black dragon Tower Manager who lives in her Mage Tower elsewhere, watches Sejun's work through her ball, often salivating at the freshly-grown produce. Sejun is unaware she sees everything that goes on in the Tower. Her intrusions of privacy irk him in the beginning, but accepts there's nothing he can do.
- Cuddle Bug: Theo the merchant cat desires to become the best peddler in the Black Tower, and it seems with Sejun's wares can achieve this, but being a cat really loves getting physical affection from his human partner.
- Cute Monster: Farmer Rabbits are the first adorable sentient creatures that understand human languages the protagonist encounters. While the bunnies communicate in their own tongue, they help Sejun tend all to the crops in the cavern. They are monsters though, and become something more terrifying during a Blue Moon.
- De-power: Fortunately for the main cast, Fenrir accidentally loses his core when infiltrating the Black Tower. The wolf tries to restore himself, but being a helpless puppy, becomes dependant and very attached to Sejun as the man feeds and takes care of him. The former-wolf of the end has no thought or regard for anyone but the tower farmer, and initially his goal of finding the beans empowering the dragons doesn't change. Fenrir even force-feeds Sejun 0.1% of his core to save him from the Green Tower Manager's wrath, meaning the two are now forever linked. Horrifyingly, this would've meant Fenrir would keep Sejun, and him alone in all creation, alive in an endless void together for eternity once he rose back to power and annihilated reality. This is averted as his core is gradually being purified by the Tower Manager, and the wolf pup cares more about Sejun, than destroying the universe.
- Dem Bones: The monsters of the 2nd-10th floors are armies of undead skeleton warriors.
- Distant Reaction Shot: After learning he can't become a Wandering Merchant, Sejun lets out an Atomic F-Bomb that is so loud even the Manager is able to hear it.
- Divine Conflict: Tens of thousands of Physical God dragons fought the Beast of the Apocalypse, Fenrir, and his forces of destruction, defeating them in a bloody battle. Unfazed by this loss, the forces of destruction recuperate to continue devouring worlds, before launching direct attacks on The Towers God entrusted to the dragons.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: Sejun is given a quest to kill a certain number of the Red Locusts attacking the Tower(and Earth). Unfortunately, it turns out that the Locusts' individual strength fluctuates with their numbers, and eventually he kills so many that they downgrade to a weaker form, which doesn't count for the number killed. Sejun and his friends have to slow down their extermination until their numbers build back up high enough to turn Red again.
- Dungeon Bypass: Brute-forcing his way into the Tower via a Black Hole, Sejun winds up in a higher-level of the Tower (trapped on the 99th top-floor). Blue Moon eclipses occur here which aren't supposed to happen until you make it to the 10th floor, and he witnessed a massive black dragon flying overhead, something no seasoned-warrior or wizard has ever seen.
- Eldritch Location: The dragons live not only in the exclusive Manager-only floors of their respective abodes but in the dimension outside and between the Towers. No mortal creature can survive here. Anyone unlucky enough to wind up here would either be destroyed by the dragon's overwhelming mana, or instantly corrupted by the forces of destruction.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Subverted. One-hundred indestructible massive Magitek towers appeared across Earth's major cities exactly ten years before the events of the story. The god-like Dragons who rule them, are beyond man's ability to repel or reason with, as they begin to abduct people via black holes. Done with the explicit purpose of having them play their game to ascend the floors. The appearance of these towers is an omen that world's days are numbered. But the Game Masters, later revealed to Sejun, aren't the ones responsible for that world's end. They're only here to collect as many humans as possible, before that world is annihilated by the Forces of destruction. They have done this many times across the universe. When the towers start to disappear one-by-one, doomsday draws near. When all vanish Earth is history. If somehow, the Dragons are able to drive back the apocalypse, more towers appear on the planet, and the world maybe saved.
- Family of Choice: As the months go by, being trapped in the Tower has Sejun confess the monsters helping him with the harvest and chores are his second family, his 'Tower family', and only friends he's ever known.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The crops Sejun grows soon develop fantastic abilities, such as his Cherry Tomatoes temporarily increasing the eater's Mana. Those blessed by the light of the Blue Moon even grant permanent bonuses. This starts drawing attention worldwide when people start putting his crops to the test, and discovering things like how his green onions not only neutralize poisons, but also certain diseases up to and including terminal liver cancer if you eat enough.
- Farm Life Sim: The Tower is meant to be a Marathon Level where invitees are brought to brave its dangers for unimaginable wealth. Sejun's an uninvited guest to the party, so the annoyed Tower Manager relegates him this job of farmer, with no promise of riches, stardom, or even a way home.
- Fetch Quest: The hungry Tower Manager would force these onto Sejun to give over his magically enhanced crops, and in the beginning would threaten death as punishment for refusing...until the man began rebelling against the dragon for her Bad Boss tendencies when she stopped offering any form of compensation for the tasks.
- Feuding Families: All dragon families of their Towers are competing with each other and occasionally engaging in espionage and sabotaging each other, to be the best. This causes a lot of problems for the inhabitants of their towers, but from the Physical God's perspective that's just sibling rivalry and are Fantastically Indifferent to anyone that gets in their way.
- Game Master: The great black dragon is of the Manager variety. No human has completed all 99 floors of her Tower, the difficulty has forced guilds of hunters/adventurers to abort, before they even reach the 40th floor. Presumably the rewards, already abundant in the lower levels, would be immeasurable towards the top, since items of money and power are no object to the magical dragon.
- Gate Guardian: Every floor of the dragon's towers has a King Mook special boss monster that guards the waypoint permitting access to the next floor up (as well as any floors human hunters have previously visited). The rules of the Tower mean the boss can only leave their designated area for one hour per month. They try to keep it for partying with other monsters, so woe betide anyone that's enough of a nuisance to have forced them make an unscheduled departure from their post.
- God Is Dead: The God of Creation made the Towers to protect life in the universe from the forces of destruction, and expired fighting them, but not before leaving remnants of himself behind. He entrusted every mortal into the care of the Dragons, who are not always efficient at the task of managing them.
- Gone Horribly Right: During the Harvest Festival, Sejun gives the rabbits Detoxifying Green Onions with their carrot wine to keep them from getting drunk and hungover. Only now he has to spend the night surrounded by a thousand horny bunnies pairing off...
- Hammerspace: The White Farmer Rabbit couple have magical items, the Husband has a watering can that seemingly never runs out, and the Wife has a gardener's apron to pull out the right pruning or shearing tool needed for the job.
- Heel Realization: Sejun is about to hit a Despair Event Horizon, throwing his magical crop to the ground, when the dragon Manager refuses to let him go home, making him a lowly farmer in this fantasy world. Then he sees the rabbit monster family's sadness at his angry outburst, does he relent - realizing how much work went into growing and harvesting the vegetable, and he shouldn't waste it.
- Holy Is Not Safe: The God of creation imbued the dragons with so much of his power to fight the forces of destruction, that they are dangerous for ordinary humans (and even most monsters) to approach. According to the commandments left behind after his death, he had lamented they were apart from the rest of creation for this reason, and hoped one day Tower Farmers would find ways to overcome these boundaries and they could live together happily.
- Horde of Alien Locusts: One hundred years before the events of Sejun's story, the forces of destruction manifested in an unstoppable plague of Red Locusts on the 55th floor. Although the Great Black Dragon's grandfather was able to quickly put a stop to the invasion, it wasn't quick enough to save the rabbit monster's kingdom of Red Ribbon. Many of the poor critters ended up as War Refugees, or starving to death. After 200 days of Park being trapped in the Tower, they return to now terrorize the Lizardmen of the 67th floor, and the sickly Tower Manager is powerless to stop them.
- How We Got Here: The very first chapter shows Theo selling the cherry tomatoes Sejun grew, which includes fat burning as part of its stats, and then the story goes back several months where Sejun explained how the towers appeared, those that were selected were referred to as "awakened," and he hoped to go into a tower and become an adventurer. When a portal appeared, he was ecstatic that he was chosen to be awakened, but after the portal began to fade away, he forced himself inside and got stuck in the cave with just his groceries. As the rabbit couple moved in with him, he was able to start a farm with their help, eventually the poison bee moved into the cave, and when he met Theo who was lamenting his skills as a merchant, they make a deal that Theo would sell Sejun's produce to explores, and chapter 12 shows him selling his wares to the adventures.
- The Infiltration: Though Fenrir the Beast of the Apocalypse, is a terrifying Canis Major that at a mere 15% of his power can match the dragon Kaiser, he becomes aware that someone (Sejun) is supplying his hated nemesis, and the other Dragons, with black beans of transcendence, which allow them to push back his forces of destruction. Fenrir enters the Black Tower to infiltrate and uncover their Power Source in an unsuspecting weak form...only to idiotically lose and shatter the very core of his being. This leaves Fenrir as a depowered harmless little puppy.
- In Medias Res: The Manhwa jumps several chapters into the Light Novel after Sejun has established a small farm with the rabbit, the poison bee monsters, and Theo. Park's diary explains the events, then the story has a Flashback to when the Towers first appeared on Earth, and him later entering an unknown floor.
- Instant Home Delivery: The Seed Store. After Sejun is rewarded this for fulfilling a mundane quest from the Tower Manager, he can purchase just about any seeds the store is selling that day, providing he has the coinage. Problem is, the store is tied to his shopping history (which is non-existent as a new customer) and it limits what purchases can be made. Sejun also has to consider his low-skill level as a farmer. He soon realized there's no point purchasing expensive pumpkin or chilli seeds, if he can't germinate many crops to show any value for time or money spent.
- It's All Upstairs From Here: When abducted by the Tower Managers, humans are brought to the 1st Floor. Its an extravagantly ornate area, free from monsters, and complete with a Training Stage to allow "awakened people" to prepare for the challenges above. You can't escape back outside, and have no choice but to go upwards.
- Lizard Folk: The main monster threat from the 61st-69th floors are lizardman hunters, but humans at the beginning of the story are nowhere near them. Instead the monsters are under assault themselves from the invading Red Locusts that once tried to consume the Black Tower one hundred years before the start of Sejun's story.
- Made of Indestructium: What magic or technology the god-like dragons possess is unclear, all that is known is that their items cannot be reversed-engineered. Their towers cannot be destroyed. Countries tried detonating nuclear weapons to either get rid of them, or brute-force their way inside for its untold treasures, but the explosions had no effect whatsoever on them.
- Magically-Binding Contract: When a contract between merchants, wizards or otherwise, is agreed to and signed in the Tower, it becomes part of the Tower's Magitek itself and wholly unbreakable (providing there is always an escape clause to prevent one party abusing the other into slavery).
- Merchant City: Some of the mid-tier floors of the Black Tower are "neutral areas" where monster merchants including Cat Folk like Theo, congregate and trade together what wares they've acquired from other floors. As humans have yet to reach half-ways up the black dragon's megastructure, they're oblivious to its existence.
- Minus World: A variant. If a tower farmer works hard in unlocking achievements, the status of their dragon's Tower grows until it can claim the planet where its currently residing as its 0th Floor. This means managers (and farmers) can visit that world, but at a very steep cost of Tower coins to generate a "safe zone" so their mana and strength doesn't kill regular unawakened people.
- Nightmare Retardant: An In-Universe example. A consequence of Iona's power is that she's supposed to have horrific nightmares that keep her awake. She discovers, however, that sleeping curled up in Theo's tail keeps them at bay.
- No Social Skills: The all-powerful dragon Tower Manager has no friends to speak of, talks to herself, or in the third-person when communicating with Sejun. She reads all day in her Mage Tower. The man picks up on this straightaway when renegotiating the terms of the quests.
- Odd Job Gods: It turns out that the Seed Store that Park frequents and makes purchases from, is run by various lesser-gods who've become weakened due to lack of tribute and worship. His spent money is helping them restore their powers to further the abundances of Sejun's crop harvests.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Some items and weapons have usage restrictions, and can only be used by a designated person if gifted, or the artifacts original user/creator.
- Our Goblins Are Different: Online videos from those who returned from The Black Tower showed 11th-20th floors having savage Goblins as the mainstay threat.
- Our Orcs Are Different: The monsters that oppose hunters/adventurers on the 21st-30th floors are the Orcs shown as an organised but bloodthirsty warrior race. Most humans give up fighting them before they even reach the Spider Swarm beyond.
- Pet the Dog: With Kaiju bears romping around, the 99-floor Tower is virtually unbeatable, but the dragon isn't a sadistic Game Master. The 1st floor has a training ground with no stakes, to prepare humans for the real dangers ahead. Winning an admittance ticket later, allows anyone in-over-their-depth at the challenge, to escape back to Earth. The Tower Manager gives out Sejun various crop-tending abilities and a seed store, to improve his harvest.
- Plausible Deniability: A lot of information from hunters/adventurers returning from The Tower is available online, but worryingly several groups of skilled warriors (guilds) have sworn to secrecy as to what lies beyond the 30th floor. Sejun overheard speculation there were spider monsters on those floors, but nothing was confirmed on social media at the time he entered the black Tower. This was later confirmed to be true as the Phoenix Guild battles hordes of giant spiders while struggling against their poisonous venom for which they're ill-equipped to deal with. Fortunately, Theo sells them Detoxifying Spring Onions grown by Sejun.
- Plot Coupon: Humans who brave the dragon's Tower and successfully complete its floors, can sometimes win a golden ticket (along with treasures). The ticket allows them to return home with their fertility intact(and re-enter if they wish). As the floors get progressively harder and the monsters more dangerous, most people don't return, and pawn off their tickets with a high price-tag (200 million ₩).
- Power Limiter: If a hunter (or farmer) unlocks a physical or magical technique for which they aren't skilled enough to use safely, it'll be sealed off to them until they gain enough experience. When Sejun was rewarded the Thundercloud ability, the Tower automatically disabled lightning spellcasting, as it was dangerous for a novice to use.
- Puny Earthlings: In a universe of fantastical animals and monsters, humans are among the weakest sentient species. Sejun was so frail and low in Mana he fainted and passed out for days at the mere sight of The Tower Manager flying overhead. Its later revealed Earth is among the very weakest worlds, so naturally humans would be this. When the Black Tower connects to the planet Hamk as its 0th Floor along with Earth, which is populated with giant hamsters, they are seven times more powerful than people, and aggressively sought to take over. Even they are no match for the monster bears from the 70th floor who defended the human hunters.
- Refused by the Call: The black hole phenomena that abducted the first-generation of hunters/adventurers to the Tower appeared to Sejun... but it rejected him as unworthy. The man desperate for glory, forced his way in, only to end up trapped and lost on an unknown floor, (which was later revealed to be the top 99th floor).
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Sejun's cavern becomes a safe haven for many smaller weaker monsters looking for food and shelter. His giant spring onions attract the attention of farmer rabbit monsters - Husband and Wife, and they start up a family with Sejun, becoming his loyal helpers and steadfast friends.
- Slice of Life: As Sejun is Locked Out of the Loop, and becomes a farmer, his priorities are the day-to-day running of the land. Most chapters focus on the man working with his monster friends, big and small, to bring in a bountiful harvest.
- Spider Swarm: Floors in the thirties are rumoured to have spider monsters, but the guilds refuse to discuss what horrors lurk there on social media. Later confirmed to be true as the hunters do battle with the gigantic arachnids.
- Stat-O-Vision: Anyone awakened by the Tower Manager to run the gauntlet of climbing floors for rewards is given a Sudden Game Interface that gives out useful information about monsters and items.
- Sterility Plague: Turns out there was a punishment for "awakened" humans escaping the Tower too early, using the admittance tickets before reaching the 10th floor. They (and any plants they brought with them) would go infertile, leading to a lot of adventurers going back in if they ever wanted to have children!
- Sudden Game Interface: As Sejun wasn't formally invited by the Tower Manager, he is without one for many days. That is, until he is able to unlock an achievement that draws attention of his existence to the black dragon who has been searching for him. Said manager is not pleased, and considers Sejun's presence a blunder on her end she must correct. Instead of killing him, decides to make the man her farmer.
- Tally Marks on the Prison Wall: As Park's laptop and phone batteries go kaput, he has no choice but to rely on this method for checking today's date, in a world where the sun never sets. The White Farmer Rabbits always go to bed at 7PM and wake at 5AM, but keeping track of time proves difficult.
- Touched by Vorlons: Once "awakened" by the dragon Game Master, a human becomes a hunter of either a magic-user or a warrior class to fight monsters. Their outfits and abilities appear to be permanent when they go back to Earth, and cannot be lost. Without her powers, a human would faint and pass out for days at the mere sight of her. Sejun on the other hand, was made into the dragon's farmer and doesn't get anything apart from resistance to illnesses.
- Troll: The Tower Manager and Sejun butt heads often. The farmer winding up the dragon by eating all the cherry tomatoes promised to her in a Fetch Quest after expecting an apology for being a Bad Boss. The dragon likewise, taunting Sejun he'll be devoured by a carnivorous poison bee, despite already gifting the human with an affinity to nature weeks earlier.
- The Unchosen One: Sejun shows up uninvited in the dragon's RPG Mechanics 'Verse Black Tower, so he doesn't end up in the 1st floor where he can at least choose to "awaken" as either a magician or warrior hunter. He's now stuck, and may never be able to get home again.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: How the first-generation of hunters/adventurers were summoned to the Tower. After many completed floors earning them golden tickets they could use to exit and re-enter, the dragon Manager had her participants for the Tower, and saw no need to use these singularities. Sejun entered one through a fluke, and was never meant to.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The 99th floor of the Tower is widely-believed to be the final floor of the Black Tower, but nothing is known about it online, or what the Final Boss, or reward for beating it, is. Earth's bravest most skilled adventurers have yet to manage to complete the 37th floor.
