Korea’s OnTower Auction House was turned upside down once again.
No, the whole world was turned upside down.
Although the OnTower Auction House was said to be an auction house exclusively for Admittees, Admittees were, in the end, people who lived with one foot in society like everyone else.
News from the OnTower Auction House and news about Admittees had always been connected to the world at large,
and word of the [Highest-grade Healing Potion] spread in every direction until it was even covered on regular news.
The heated interest was on a completely different level from the time S-grade Etherium, which at most was mounted onto the high-grade equipment of A-rank and above Admittees to enhance performance, had appeared.
Social media, buzzing about Admittees to an extent that couldn’t even be compared to places that dealt with celebrities, overflowed with chatter.
[OnTower Auction House Breaking News] Highest-grade healing potion showed up at the auction house!!
└ I heard rumors, but isn’t that fake?
└ Since when is fake merchandise on the OnTower Auction House anything new?
└ Isn’t it the opposite? I heard OnTower is where fake listings show up the least.
└ True. Related laws are strict. One wrong move and it’s clink-clink.
└ If, just if, it’s real, that’s insane.
└ Is the paradigm of tower climbing going to change?
└ Bullshit. There’ll be an insanely tiny amount and it’ll be expensive as hell. No way strategies change just because of that.
└ I’m curious about the performance.
└ I wanna try drinking it.
└ Your descendants would be paying off the price of one bottle for generations.
└ Who the hell listed it?
└ An S-rank or higher Admittee.
└ Idiot, if they’re S-rank, they’re S-rank. What do you mean “or higher”?
The [Highest-grade Healing Potion] was, in truth, not something only Admittees climbing the tower could use, but an item any ordinary person could use as well.
Since supernatural items that couldn’t be obtained anywhere else were registered there, it was an item that even chaebol families, who always kept an eye on the OnTower Auction House, would find tempting.
After all, it was practically an extra life.
A few days later, the auction began, and an auction unfolded where the highest sums in history changed hands.
At first, countless participants sized one another up, trying to obtain the item at a reasonable price, but as time went on, the competition intensified and the winning bids soared.
In the latter half, as the rarity of the remaining items increased, the prices rose in an attempt not to miss the final chance, practically reaching a peak.
The first bottle of the [Highest-grade Healing Potion] sold for 30 million points, the second for 50 million points, the third for 55 million points, the fourth for 60 million points,
and the final bottle sold for a staggering 80 million.
What Suho earned was 275 million points, a whopping 2.75 trillion won in Korean currency.
Even after nearly half was taken in taxes, an enormous sum was deposited into Suho’s account at the auction house as points.
The accumulated points were money no different from cash, which could be used to participate in auctions again or transferred and withdrawn to a bank account.
Even if he didn’t use them right away, he decided to stockpile plenty of points for the time being.
* * *
The ace of the Ice Cold Clan, one of America’s three great clans, “Joshua Evans.”
He was an S-rank fire mage Admittee and, among the roughly sixty S-ranks with American nationality, a powerhouse within the top five—an S-rank among S-ranks, unofficially called S+ rank.
Unlike other S-rank Admittees who lived in luxury with the wealth and fame they had gained from climbing the tower, he was famous as an Admittee who lived an extremely frugal life.
There was a reason of his own behind that, and it was none other than his twelve-year-old daughter, who was dying of an incurable disease.
He had
a daughter suffering from “Aether-Variant Multiple System Degeneration,” a new disease that had begun to occur with extremely rare probability at the same time the tower appeared in the world.
It was a rare, incurable disease in which cells maladapted to aether lost function and degenerated around the nervous system, making daily life impossible as the symptoms worsened and ultimately leading to certain death.
Evans had tried everything he could to save his daughter.
Hospital treatments and medicine went without saying,
and he had even tried all kinds of healing potions and heals from high-grade healer Admittees.
His wife, a researcher at a pharmaceutical company, had also poured an enormous amount of her own money into research funds and pushed herself so hard in her research that her body broke down, but the disease was not so easy to overcome.
His daughter’s illness showed no improvement at all.
Day by day, the couple could only watch helplessly as her bodily functions failed and her life faded away.
They had poured in every penny they had without sparing a thought and tried every method, but there had been no results whatsoever.
Whenever Evans encountered the phrase “aether maladaptation,” he felt as though his daughter’s illness was somehow his fault, and the anguish was unbearable.
Even so, the reason he had not yet given up hope was because there remained one final method—perhaps the most promising method—that they had not tried.
It was none other than a “Disease-Curing Potion.”
Because they appeared far more rarely than healing potions, the Disease-Curing Potions he had managed to obtain with great difficulty were limited to the lowest-grade, low-grade, and intermediate-grade.
But those had not cured her.
They said that a “High-grade Disease-Curing Potion” existed, but where under heaven it was inside which tower, he had no way of even glimpsing one.
He could not simply wait forever for a Disease-Curing Potion, so Evans climbed the tower using the military power he possessed.
With the single-minded determination to obtain a “High-grade Disease-Curing Potion,” he climbed every high tower he could, heedless of danger.
While facing the powerful monsters of high towers, he had crossed countless brushes with death, and he had poured in his money, replacing ruined equipment again and again.
For several years, he had run forward disregarding his own life, yet the “High-grade Disease-Curing Potion” still hadn’t shown even the tip of its nose, and Evans’s heart was swaying dangerously as well.
“Honey... I’m afraid I’ll lose you too.”
Each time Evans climbed a dangerous tower, his wife always said that.
That she was afraid of losing not only their daughter, but her husband as well.
Couldn’t he stop climbing dangerous towers? If their daughter’s fate, as decided by heaven, ended here, then shouldn’t they steel their hearts now and accept that fact?
At his wife’s quiet, gentle words, Evans flew into a rage and left the house.
Let their daughter go now?
Insane... He couldn’t do that.
It rained that day.
After arguing with his wife, he blindly rushed out onto the rainy road and howled until his tears mixed with the rainwater.
As he ran down the deserted road in the pouring rain, crying and shouting, aether was released without him even realizing it.
Even if it was only about fifteen percent outside the tower, he was a peak fire mage who surpassed S-rank.
Its power was terrifying.
The falling raindrops evaporated before they could even touch him, covering the area in pure white steam.
It was an incredible sight.
How many hours had he run like that?
Clutching his chest as though it would burst, Evans, who had been running while screaming and crying, finally exhausted himself and stopped.
Then he sprawled out on the road and let the pouring rain strike him.
In truth, his wife was right.
In the end, someday, it was a reality he would have to accept.
But he couldn’t accept it. How could he let his daughter go like this?
Ding—
As he was unable to gather himself, his phone rang.
Thinking it must be his worried wife contacting him, Evans picked up his phone, and his eyes widened as though they would tear.
—Evans, check the Global OnTower Auction House. A Disease-Curing Potion appeared. And it’s highest-grade.
It was a message sent by people from the clan.
* * *
After he sold off all the Highest-grade Healing Potions, people from the OnTower Auction House came.
Because he was an S-rank Admittee and a customer who had recorded a tremendous transaction volume, they issued him a VVIP membership number and registration card, and informed him that he had also been granted access to the Global OnTower Auction House.
Whenever the delivery team or others from the OnTower Auction House came, they had to go through the Administration Bureau bodyguards surrounding his house and the security androids patrolling the area, receiving verification one by one, so Suho felt somewhat sorry for them as they broke into a sweat.
But it couldn’t be helped. Better safe than sorry.
What if robbers disguised themselves as auction house delivery personnel and barged in?
Then again, with Minsu and Minji by his side, he could feel at ease.
If even they were pushed back, he could just run into the subspace warehouse.
Still, it was right to pursue as much safety as possible.
‘I sold healing potions... so what should I sell this time? Aether potions? No. It seems like only certain classes would use those... Antidotes? Those aren’t great either...’
In the end, Suho debated between the [Highest-grade Regeneration Potion] and the [Highest-grade Disease-Curing Potion] before choosing the Disease-Curing Potion,
and to commemorate the opening of the Global OnTower Auction House, he decided to try holding an auction globally.
“Wow...!”
When he accessed the Global OnTower Auction House, there were so many items listed that it was impossible to compare it to the domestic auction house.
The auction house was filled with wondrous items he had never heard of or seen before, and the pages seemed endless.
His heart pounded with excitement.
At the thought of listing yet another item that did not exist in the world.
* * *
—Hello! This is Manager Jang Narae from Towerpia Management’s Premium Customer Care Department!
“Ah... yes.”
It was a call that came to Suho as he was lazing around after registering the item at the auction house. An unknown number.
He had lightly ignored it, but since they kept calling without knowing when to give up, he answered, only for it to be this place.
Out of annoyance, Suho frowned without realizing it.
“What is this about...?”
—Yes! Since there have been no requests from you since the contract was signed last time, I contacted you. Anything is fine, so please leave troublesome and bothersome matters to us!
It wasn’t that Suho hadn’t thought about it. But no matter how much he considered it, he couldn’t think of what kind of work he should entrust to them.
He had even thought about handing over some annoying agency work, but in truth, for the sake of his own mental health, he needed a moderate amount of work, so he ultimately gave up on that.
“I think I mentioned this once before...”
—Yes! Yes! Anything at all...
“I said I would make requests only when something I need comes up.”
—Ah... yes...
The voice beyond the receiver suddenly became dispirited.
At that moment, a good idea occurred to Suho. Something he could entrust to the management company.
“Ah... right, then I’ll make one request.”
—R-really! Yes! Please tell me anything!
Did she want to work that badly? He thought she really was a diligent person.
“You know the OnTower Auction House, right? Please organize the tower items that have been listed there over the past five years by category. Include the final winning bid prices as well. I need that.”
If he had such a list, Suho thought it would be very convenient in the future when he sold things at the auction house. In deciding on items, grasping market prices, and in many other ways.
—Ah......
But the manager, flustered, couldn’t answer easily.
—As you know, the OnTower Auction House can only be used by Admittees...
Suho smacked his forehead. Ah, he’d forgotten that.
Ordinary people could only barely access the information Admittees leaked outside. Tsk.
“Aha, that’s right. This was the one thing that came to mind, but I didn’t think it through. You won’t be able to handle this, then.”
On the other end, Manager Jang Narae, who was holding the phone, felt her mind go blank for a moment.
You won’t be able to handle this, then.
You won’t be able to handle this, then.
You won’t be able to handle this, then.
Those words circled her ears like an echo.
It felt as if those words were the final ultimatum from that S-rank Admittee.
She had a hunch.
If they couldn’t pull this off, Towerpia would lose one of the S-rank Admittees under its management.
And not just any S-rank, but the hottest and most promising S-rank right now, an S-rank that even the Tower Management Agency had recently been putting their heart and soul into caring for.
If things went wrong, her head could roll too!
She drew in a breath, raised her tension even further, and acted confident.
“...It is something only Admittees can use! However! We are none other than Towerpia! Aren’t we the number one management company in the industry? We have many connected Admittees. Of course. The request you mentioned can be done. It can. We’ll look into it somehow and deliver good results as soon as possible!”
—Ahh... Then I’ll leave it to you. Thank you. Take care.
With the languid voice of the man, the call ended.
Jang Narae set down the receiver and clenched her fist.
‘I’ll get it done somehow! Even if I have to mobilize all our subcontracted agencies!’
* * *
Joshua Evans felt as though he was going insane.
What had appeared on the Global OnTower Auction House was, shockingly, a [Highest-grade Disease-Curing Potion].
Not high-grade, but highest-grade.
An item he had never heard of or seen before was sitting proudly on the auction house.
And there were five bottles of it.
It was an unprecedented item that had never been seen in any high-floor tower or any auction house until now.
He felt as if heaven was helping him.
That at last, his daughter could live.
As though they had already obtained the potion, he embraced his wife and cried like that.
But had his hopes been too hasty?
The price of the potion far exceeded his imagination.
The starting bid had been a mere one million points, but the price at which the first bottle was won had already surpassed fifty million points.
An astronomical sum of over 380 million dollars.
Beginning with that, the final bottle exceeded one hundred million points.
Well, he had been far too complacent. How many tycoons around the world were there who wanted to cure an incurable disease? In effect, he had been competing against all of them.
Evans had not only poured in all the money he had, but also maxed out his bank loans and borrowed heavily from close friends within the clan.
But having already spent countless family assets, he ultimately failed to purchase a highest-grade disease-curing potion.
His heart sank coldly.
For a moment, he even thought about raiding the Korean auction house and seizing it, but there was no way he would succeed.
He shook his head hard and drove away the idle thoughts.
Feeling as though he had to grasp at even a straw, he resolved to try speaking with the seller, and used a function of the Global OnTower Auction House that required quite a large number of points to access—DM.
Due to the nature of the OnTower Auction House, where transactions were conducted anonymously, the whisper function was extremely limited.
All he could do was send a DM; he could learn nothing whatsoever about the other party’s identity.
Not only that, but the authority to decide whether or not to engage in conversation lay entirely with the other party, so if they refused the conversation, he would simply lose a large number of points. It was that kind of unfair system.
But Evans was in no position to be picky.
“Huh? What’s this?”
On Suho’s phone, a pop-up appeared in the Global OnTower Auction House app, along with a message.
“They had this kind of thing too?”
It was unfamiliar to Suho, who still did not fully know all of its functions.
Since this was the first time he had ever received a personal message like this, he clicked on it right away.
- [Greetings. My name is Joshua Evans of America’s Ice Cold Clan.]
The app’s automatic translation function translated Evans’s words perfectly and displayed them for Suho.
“Joshua Evans?? Holy shit... Is this really Joshua Evans?”
He was someone Suho knew as well.
One of the top five S+ grade Admittees in America—if it was Joshua Evans, wasn’t he one of the five powerhouses known as the Heaven Beyond Heaven?
Why would such an incredible person send him a message?
As if to prove that he truly was Joshua Evans, the other party even posted a photo of himself along with his Admittee registration card.
- Hello. I’m Jeong Suho, unaffiliated, from Korea.
Wondering why such a big shot had contacted him, Suho waited for a reply with both unease and anticipation.
Evans began calmly and concisely typing out his circumstances.
His dying daughter, the time he had spent trying every possible method to save his child, and even the resolve he was prepared to bear in order to cure her.
And at the end, he explained that due to insufficient funds, he had been unable to purchase the [Highest-Grade Disease-Curing Potion].
It was a composed message, neither rambling nor appealing to emotion.
And yet the situation, and his feelings, were conveyed more than enough.
- [...That is my situation. That is why, despite knowing how rude it is, I requested a private conversation. If by any chance... you come to possess an additional disease-curing potion... then, though I know I have no shame in asking, if you would grant me priority to purchase it, I would very much like to buy it. I will do everything I can to prepare an amount as close as possible to the price of the first winning bid.]
- ......
Suho’s heart grew heavy at Evans’s story.
The things that he had as abundantly as the Pacific Ocean—someone else was searching for them like this, staking a life on it. The thought even made him feel guilty.
How many people on Earth were in circumstances like this? As that thought occurred to him, he also thought of the people who had won the potions by paying enormous sums.
And it was easy to imagine the many people with heartbreaking circumstances who had also been desperate, but lacked the funds and failed to win a bid.
But Suho was not cruel enough to pretend not to know when someone facing such a terrible situation was right before his eyes. Nor, moreover, was he righteous enough to discuss fairness in that situation.
So after a brief moment of thought, he typed a message.
- Can you keep it a secret?
- [Of course. I can stake my life on it.]
- You don’t have to go as far as staking your life... I do have some extra. I’ll just give you one. But you’ll have to come to Korea to receive it.
- ......!
For a long while, there was no response in the other party’s message window.
And after quite some time, the reply came back.
- [Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I will be sure to pay you for it. I will come immediately.]
The next day,
news that America’s greatest Admittee was naturalizing as a Korean citizen threw both America and Korea into an uproar.
Evans was not merely coming briefly to receive the potion.
He had decided to immigrate to Korea with his wife and daughter.