Since the distance from Incheon to Seoul was fairly considerable, they did not set off right away and instead waited for the octocopter Elysium had sent.
While the group waited to be picked up at the base camp’s rest area, reporters from all sorts of media outlets, who had somehow gotten word and rushed over, swarmed in.
With nothing else to do and feeling a bit bored, Suho and the Ultimate Clan members agreed to an interview.
“You cleared it at an incredible speed! How do you feel about setting an unprecedented record, and—”
“What kind of monsters mainly appeared in this tower—”
“Above the 90th floor was still unknown territory, so were there any particular difficulties you faced—”
Questions came pouring out all at once, shouted at the top of their lungs, and it was impossible to answer each one, leaving them at a loss.
Among them, one reporter’s cry happened to land squarely in Suho’s ears.
“Could you perhaps tell us what kind of item came from the 96th-floor boss, from the Final Altar!?”
It was the part many people would be interested in.
At least in Asia, it had been the highest and worst tower in history, so anyone would naturally be curious about how extraordinary the reward it left behind might have been.
But to Suho himself, it had not been an impactful event at all, so he did not even remember it properly.
Scratching his head, Suho looked at the other clan members and asked,
“What was it that came out of the last altar again?”
“Three S-rank items and about two liters’ worth of high-grade healing potion.”
“Ah, right. Did we bring it all back?”
“We picked up the S-rank items, and we just left the high-grade healing potion behind.”
“!!!!”
The reporters sucked in sharp breaths at the absurd words.
Among them, another carefully asked,
“Th-then, by any chance, were there S-rank items outside of the Final Altar as well...?”
“Oh, there were. Quite a lot. From the Random Tower Boxes! I think around seventy-something came out of those. Right?”
“That’s correct. There were 71 items of S-rank or higher from the Random Tower Boxes and 3 from the Final Altar, for a total of 74.”
“!!!!”
The reporters found it hard to tell whether this was some unfunny joke they were making for no reason, or why the entire clan would conspire to say such a thing.
“So they say. It’s all true.”
Suho shrugged and smiled.
* * *
While flying toward Seoul in the octocopter that had arrived, he checked the news on his phone and saw that the recent interview had already been turned into articles and was being posted in real time.
The tower clear at a record-breaking, historic speed,
The Ultimate Line raiding team, all of whom had returned safely,
And even the types and characteristics of the monsters that had appeared this time.
But the story about more than 70 S-rank items dropping was completely missing.
Well, if they said that many items had come from Random Tower Boxes, no one would be able to believe it.
In any case, that worked out. He had not been planning to put them up at the auction house anyway.
As soon as Suho and the raiding team came out of the tower, every news story that had been at the top until then vanished without a trace, and all the news was plastered with stories about the 96th-floor tower clear and articles about the Ultimate Line team.
As soon as they arrived at the rooftop helipad of Elysium Heights, Suho dismissed everyone.
He thought the top priority was for them to enjoy the joy of returning with the families who must have prayed more desperately than anyone for the team members’ safe return.
“Get some rest with your families, and let’s gather two days from now to distribute rewards and go over feedback.”
““Yes!””
“You all really worked hard. Rest well.”
“Yes! You worked very hard too, Clan Master!”
“Please get some rest!”
Each of them scattered toward the homes where their families were.
Though most of them probably lived somewhere inside Elysium Heights anyway.
Suho also headed to the fifteenth floor, where his family lived together, and around the time he arrived at the family lounge in the center, he met Jiho, who had come out to greet him.
“Hyung!!”
“Oh, Jiho!”
Jiho came pattering over and hugged his older brother.
“Hyung, I’m really glad you came back safely.”
“I was fine. The tower really wasn’t much.”
It was only Jiho, but even so, the fact that his family had waited for him and welcomed him like this felt good.
“Oh, right, hyung. Today happens to be our family gathering day. So everyone’s supposed to get together. You should have dinner with us too.”
“Oh, has the date already come around?”
“Actually, after you entered the tower, we didn’t know when you’d come out, so for this month, we decided among ourselves to meet today...”
“That was a good call. Even without me, the rest of the family should meet up. But I’m a bit tired today... I’ll skip this gathering. I’ll visit Mom and Dad tomorrow or something and greet them then.”
“Uh... yeah, do that. You must be tired, hyung. You’ve probably been fighting nonstop... Yeah, I’ll tell them that. Mom and Dad, and the Sujis too.”
“Hm? The Sujis?”
“Ah, I didn’t tell you. Suji said she was bringing her boyfriend to today’s gathering. She said she really wanted to show him to the family. Apparently he’s a subordinate from the same company... I’ve only heard about him too, and haven’t actually seen him yet.”
“Ohh... a boyfriend...?”
This was a big event.
The youngest, Suji, had a boyfriend. Curiosity stirred in him along with an affectionate feeling, and the thought that he was tired and should wash up and rest was pushed far into the distance before he knew it.
“It was an important day, then. I’ll go too.”
“Huh, will you? Are you sure you’ll be okay, hyung?”
“Well, I can rest starting tomorrow. It’s fine. If such a special guest is coming, I should go see him. He might become my brother-in-law.”
“Haha, true. I’d be glad if you came, hyung!”
Jiho enthusiastically welcomed his brother’s participation in the gathering.
* * *
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump—
From the moment Kim Seonwoo entered the grand mansion of Elysium Heights, he could not keep his wits about him.
If he let go of his focus even a little, he felt as though he would collapse on the spot.
When the luxury car he had ridden with Suji arrived in front of the magnificent main gate, peerlessly handsome men and beautiful women approached, opened the car doors, and received them. According to Suji, they were androids.
‘Th-they’re not human...?’
He had never seen androids that looked so exactly like people.
The grand welcome lobby was the height of luxury, and the handsome and beautiful staff, who also looked as if they had been sculpted, bowed politely.
‘These aren’t humans either...’
Seonwoo’s jaw had dropped as if it had nearly fallen off, and he had already almost tripped over his own feet several times while glancing around with eyes wide enough to pop out of his head.
Suji giggled, but still waited for Seonwoo’s slow steps.
On top of that, she had received word from her second older brother that her eldest brother, who had finished the raid and returned from the tower, had arrived first and was waiting, so Suji’s heart was also filled with anticipation.
“The lobby’s a bit over the top, right? My eldest brother put too much effort into it.”
“Uh... uhuh...”
Even just the lobby was so overwhelmingly vast that he felt he might get lost.
Soon, led by Suji’s hand, he found himself standing before an elevator that looked extraordinarily special.
Ding— shrrrk—
The elevator doors opened, revealing a space lavishly decorated with gold and jewels, as though someone had taken the throne of some Persian king and built an elevator around it.
“It’s our family-only elevator. Get in.”
Suji gestured with her chin and led Seonwoo inside.
And then they arrived on the fifteenth floor.
A chef had been specially called in, and a dinner banquet had been set up in the family lounge. The rest of the family welcomed the two of them.
Among that family, when Seonwoo recognized Suho, he froze on the spot like a stone statue.
“J-Je-Jejeje-Jeong, Su, Su...”
As if she could not hold it in anymore, Suji burst into laughter and introduced Suho before anyone else in the family.
“Ta-da, this is my eldest brother, Jeong Suho!”
Kim Seonwoo’s mentality went pop and flew away.
Because of Suho’s return and Seonwoo’s participation, that day’s family gathering lasted mu—ch longer than usual.
They enjoyed the splendid dinner, and tea time turned into a drinking party, which then continued into a second round, third round, and fourth round.
According to what Suji said, it was like this.
The people who had approached Suji until now had mostly been nouveau riche men or third-generation chaebol heirs who had flirted with her after seeing how freely she spent money, and Suji had found them ridiculous and disliked them.
Instead, she had gradually developed feelings for Seonwoo, who, while ordinary, was kind and steady, came from an ordinary family but had still studied hard and graduated from a good university, and had supported the company for a long time while helping Suji, who had been unable to produce any proper results.
As for Seonwoo himself, he had always considered Suji a superior he had to assist, never once thinking of her as someone he was in a position to make a move on, but Suji said her feelings for Seonwoo had grown day by day.
On top of that, he was an only child born late in his parents’ lives,
And he was also effectively the head of the household and a devoted son who lived while caring for his very elderly parents.
In many ways, Suho also liked this fellow Seonwoo, so he poured drinks and chatted with him deep into the night.
“Wow...! So my future brother-in-law has worked at Admiti Manage too?”
“Yes, hyungnim. Before I entered the entertainment side, I was in ad management for a while. I once met Manager Jang Narae of Towerpia Management—no, she was a team leader back then—at a client company, and I thought, ah, this is the work I should do. I was hooked.”
“Ohh, right. Manager Jang is quite good at her job.”
“Uh... hyungnim, you know Manager Jang Narae too?”
“Of course I do. She’s the general manager of our company TDM.”
“...I-I see...”
Suho had been feeling lighthearted after finishing the tower raid, and after meeting Seonwoo, his tension rose even higher. In such a good mood, he drank a truly huge amount.
However,
‘This damn body of mine...’
His immortal body, a fleshly body with tremendous self-healing ability, simply would not get drunk.
On a day as pleasant as this, he wanted to get at least a little drunk...
Before long, the family members had dropped out one by one, and at some point, only Seonwoo and Suho remained at the rooftop bar of Elysium Heights.
Seonwoo had also drunk a lot, and was swaying about, almost out of his mind.
‘Damn it... let’s try something, somehow.’
Pointlessly irritated, Suho made a forbidden mixed drink, practically a liquor of death.
He mixed Everclear and Spirytus Rektyfikowany, two of the strongest liquors with alcohol content exceeding 90%, along with absinthe and Bacardi 151 rum, both of which also had high alcohol content, at a ratio of 3:3:2:2, creating an S-rank mixed drink.
This had an alcohol concentration so extreme that it would be extremely dangerous for an ordinary person to drink; even a small amount could cause an ordinary person to suffer breathing difficulties and liver damage, fall into a coma, or feel a life-threatening danger.
But on this happy day, Suho wanted to get drunk no matter what, so he gulped it down like water, and
Only when he drank it quickly enough that his self-healing speed could not keep up with breaking down the alcohol did he finally begin to get drunk.
The tipsy feeling was so good he felt as if he might fly.
Suho chatted with Seonwoo until daybreak, and at some point entered his subspace warehouse.
“Rabi, Rabi!”
“Oh, what is it? Are you under attack? Your blood alcohol concentration appears very high. What happened?”
“Aaah, there’s a reason. What attack? It’s something good! I drank because I’m happy!”
“Hmm... It is difficult to understand why you would voluntarily enter a stage of weakened self-control. What good thing has happened?”
“I might be getting a nephew or niece!!”
“Ah, I know nephew. It refers to a parent’s sibling, meaning the male sibling of one’s father or mother, does it not?”
“You punk, what you just said is an uncle. A nephew or niece is the counterpart. It refers to the child of one’s brother or sister. You idiot.”
“Aha... Human kinship degrees and titles are far too complicated. For beings that live less than a speck of dust, you have far too many useless words.”
“Heh heh... It is a bit like that. I agree. Anyway, I have a favor to ask...”
Looking at the box Suho held out, about fifty centimeters in width and height and shaped like a ballot box, Rabi tilted his head.
“You mean, fill this?”
He had been given a simple explanation, but it was an incomprehensible order.
“Yeah, in here, shave gold, platinum, diamonds, and B-rank, A-rank, and S-rank Ethereum into lots of bead shapes about two centimeters in diameter, mix them up, and put them in. Fill it.”
Chwararararak—
At Suho’s request, the box was filled to the brim with all sorts of treasures.
“Right, I can’t exactly carry this in my hands...”
Still tipsy from the alcohol, Suho teleported this time to the area where luxury bags were piled up like a mountain and began rummaging through the displayed bags at random.
Then he found a spacious tote-shaped bag. It was a Hermès bag worth over 60 million won.
“Yeah... this should be enough as a disposable bag to carry it in...”
Watching what Suho was doing and the state he was in, Rabi calmly advised him.
“I do not know what you are trying to do, but I feel you will greatly regret it later out of extreme embarrassment. Will that be all right?”
“What regret? Like I’d ever regret anything! I’ll be back. I’m off.”
The next day, the sun was already high in the sky by the time Suho woke.
Fragments of the previous day’s memories lingered, sending a wave of anxiety through him.
“Crap…”
With a foreboding fear that he might have made some terrible mistake, he entered a command into the AI Central Control System and played back the video of his conversation with Seonwoo last night—no, early this morning.
And sure enough…
“I’m going crazy… What have I done…”
Suho ran both hands down his face repeatedly.
He felt like he would die of embarrassment.
In the video, he was spewing every kind of nonsense. He had spouted all sorts of crazy things at a couple who had just started dating—telling them to have lots of nieces and nephews because he would raise them all—and had proposed strange rules to Seonwoo for a drinking game.
It was a simple dice game, and when Seonwoo won, Suho shoved a huge box at him.
When Seonwoo asked what it was, he had boasted, “Close your eyes, and whatever you scoop up with both hands is all yours.” Following Suho’s words, Seonwoo’s eyes widened to the point of tearing as he scooped up both hands full of gold and treasures. He looked completely sober.
And Seonwoo kept winning, over and over again, and Suho packed all the treasures Seonwoo had won into the Hermès tote bag he had brought.
Around dawn, when Seonwoo said he should head home, Suho told him to sleep over, but when Seonwoo stubbornly insisted on going home, the video even captured the scene where Suho picked a car he liked from the family garage, told him to take it, and pushed Seonwoo’s back to send him off driving it.
Since the car drove itself anyway, being blackout drunk wasn’t really a problem, but…
Tearing at his hair over his own shameful drunken antics, Suho quietly asked the AI.
“So… what car did Seonwoo take?”
“He took the Benz EV S-Class 700 4MATIC model, sir.”
“Ha… Maybe because he’s lived without all this… He’s really modest. I have Bugattis and Paganis of all kinds, Rolls-Royces, Koenigseggs, Lykans too…”
“He seems to have chosen a familiar brand, sir.”
“Right… For now, pick a suitable vacant unit at Elysium Heights and give it to Seonwoo. If he says he’ll move, help him with the process. And register him as a resident and grant him permanent access credentials.”
“Understood. Registration complete.”
“And make sure he can use all of Elysium’s facilities and meals for free.”
“That permission is automatically granted upon resident registration, as Master configured.”
“Ah, did I? I think I might have… And assign a security android to him. The fortified model—an Ascend.”
“Understood.”
“What else might he need… Would he need a quadcopter too? Sigh… Anyway, I just hope he doesn’t feel too uncomfortable with our family…”
Needlessly worried, Suho began getting even more things ready for him.