My guess the professor wanted him as the project manager and was going to pay him reasonably but take what the profit was and be in a supervisor capacity instead of the grind.
Kim is enterprising so it makes sense that he goes for a profit split as he would do the work and at a high level.
The death bubble doesn't make sense. Her being dead would mean the tower is disconnected from the outside as she has that special ability and is now dead.
The only thing I can think of is him trying his hand at creating a specialized variety that he will then sell at exorbitant rates but that like a multi-year venture not something he can immediately cash on.
Other than that it was something cooked like apple pie or apple sauce or apple butter...
I really like the development. Everything is fluffy and decent. Like others have said the natives are a big contrast to that but maybe there's a story there.
Thanks for the translation
This is gold. Just a guy protecting his own when the world wants to screw them. I hope we get a complete translation but it's going to be an intense 80 chapters. Also good thing the dude had imaginary experience otherwise they would already have bullets in their heads.