After that, Thomas was left utterly dazed by Suho’s modest hospitality.
The most overwhelming of all was the cutting board made from a lump of S-rank Ethereum.
When Suho brought it out to cut more fruit and said that the huge cutting board—one that looked like it weighed at least three kilograms—was made of S-rank Ethereum, even Thomas couldn’t hold back and shouted.
As for the potion bottle he had brought as a gift for Suho—the one made of gold and studded with diamonds—he couldn’t even bring himself to take it out.
He secretly texted his manager, firmly warning him not to even think about taking it out or mentioning it.
But when Suho, who had roughly guessed what the wrapped box the manager was carefully cradling in his arms might be, casually asked, “What’s that?” Thomas’s flustered answer was truly a sight to behold.
“Ahaha, th-this is, well, we felt awkward coming empty-handed, so we bought a cup out front on the way here. A cup. Hahaha. I-I hope you like it. Hahaha.”
“Wow, something this precious. Thank you.”
As Suho unwrapped it, he had to struggle to hold back his laughter.
Then he asked Thomas.
“I saw your interview last time. You said you’d teach me a thing or two about luxury life, and honestly, that’s exactly what I need. I’ve become nouveau riche, so I still don’t really know how to live like a refined rich person.”
Thomas was at a loss for words.
Because he had already realized that even if he sold off all his assets, he wouldn’t be able to buy even one of Suho’s cutting boards.
When he remained silent, Suho began to impart wisdom to Thomas instead.
“Maybe it’s because I suddenly came into a lot of wealth... but I still have a long way to go. I just found it all empty.”
Thomas still said nothing.
“Have you ever heard this saying? ‘He is richest who is content with the least.’”
Only then did Thomas open his mouth in response to Suho’s question.
“...Socrates.”
“Oh, you know it well!”
“There was a time when I listened to that saying with great interest too...”
“Wow, as expected, I can really communicate with Thomas, the world’s number one in annual salary. I’m glad. Truly. That’s exactly how I felt. Being rich isn’t about having a lot; the truly rich person is someone with a wide range of satisfaction. I often think that way. Once you actually handle a lot of real money, it all feels meaningless.”
Thomas stared intently at Suho with calm eyes.
“I have a lot of transcendent materials. But I started wondering what the point was of having so many good materials. It’s not like I’m going to smear gold on my body, or chew up diamonds and Ethereum to eat them.”
Thomas’s lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but no suitable words came to mind.
After waiting for a moment, Suho continued.
“When I tried to find meaning in possession, in the end, I couldn’t find anything at all. Just being able to use things abundantly—I think satisfaction should stop right there, and the real core meaning has to be found somewhere else. Well, I’m sure it’s different for everyone. In my case, when I focused on the excitement inside me and looked for what I wanted to do, this fog-like emptiness began to lift, little by little. Now I’m actually happy that, with all these uselessly overflowing materials, I can build good relationships with wonderful people. That’s just how it was for me.”
Suho stopped teasing Thomas and acting like an overly meddlesome know-it-all there, then changed the subject.
About Canada’s Tower, about the Thunder Base Clan of which Thomas was the clan leader, about Chronos, the finest magic gun, and so on.
Having been surprised in many ways, and after hearing unexpected things from Suho, Thomas lost track of time as he became engrossed in conversation.
From beginning to end, it was neither the atmosphere nor the flow of meeting he had imagined, but that didn’t matter much.
Thomas, who was thirty-three this year, felt that Suho, though much younger than him, somehow seemed more grown-up.
Afterward, Thomas began talking with Joshua, Han Taewoong, and Lee Danbi about classes and combat styles, and much of it was beyond Suho’s understanding.
After all, the world inside the Tower was still unknown territory to Suho.
As the day was gradually getting dark, Suho quietly got up and prepared a farewell gift for Thomas.
Although Thomas had made the absurd joke that he had bought it out front, the potion bottle made of gold and diamonds clearly showed that a great deal of care had gone into preparing it.
The bottle looked as though the materials alone were easily worth hundreds of millions of won, and its vivid details seemed to indicate it had been commissioned from a craftsman and made by hand.
‘I received a big gift, so I can’t send him away empty-handed.’
Just before Thomas left Suho’s home, Suho handed him a box that looked as though it might contain a wine bottle.
“What... is this?”
“My gift. Open it when you’re alone later. It’s something that can’t easily be priced in money. I only give it to special guests.”
Suho smiled brightly.
When Thomas came out of the officetel building, his bodyguards busily moved to prepare the car.
Watching Thomas get into the flashy, gleaming Buti Veyron, Suho offered him a handshake.
Looking into Thomas’s eyes as he clasped his hand, Suho spoke with a face full of mischief.
“Thank you for visiting such a humble place. Oh, and Thomas, I’ve been enjoying your Outstar posts. The wall you built out of gold was especially amazing. Please upload lots more fun things.”
Thomas fled with his face red all the way to his ears.
* * *
After sending Thomas off, Suho thanked everyone who had participated in the little farce he had planned.
Danbi asked with a grin.
“For what? It was just fun. It was like a hidden camera prank. But Suho, why did you do that?”
Since everyone was curious about the reason, they listened closely to Suho’s answer.
“Well... Seeing Thomas show off his money like that somehow made me feel sorry for him. I wondered if, in the end, it was all a desire to fill loneliness and emptiness... And in various ways, I had a few things I was hoping for.”
At those words, which they seemed to understand yet not quite understand, several people slowly nodded.
“Oh, right. Anyone who needs the props we used today can take them. The cutting board too, and especially the Starlight forks should be taken by Sanarae, right?”
Narae waved her hands.
“Oh, no, Suho, you gave us so much last time that we still have plenty. Let’s just leave them here.”
“Yeah, just leave them here and use them. We’re the only ones who come here anyway.”
Taewoong also added a word.
“Mm... Leave them here? The security in this place isn’t exactly great... Will it be okay? What if a thief breaks in...”
At Suho’s concern, everyone burst into laughter.
Seongsik patted Suho on the shoulder, telling him not to worry.
“Hey... Who in the world would think someone uses Starlight as forks and S-rank Ethereum as a cutting board, and come here to steal them?”
That was true enough.
“I’ll head out first! It was fun today. Oh, Joshua, tonight’s security detail is half and half with me.”
“Huh, noona, let’s split it into thirds with me too. Just for today.”
“Eh? You too, Taewoong? Then thanks.”
After roughly tidying up the officetel, they left one by one for their own residences.
And in the very end, the last ones remaining were Suho and Narae.
Narae, who never did anything half-heartedly, didn’t stop cleaning up until the officetel was spotless, and Suho had been waiting for her.
Narae, coming out after hanging the kitchen dishcloth on the drying rack, was startled when she saw Suho still sitting at the living room table.
“Oh my, you scared me! Suho, you still haven’t left? I could finish up by myself...”
“Narae, you’ve worked hard. Could you come here for a moment?”
Tilting her head, Narae sat across from Suho.
“Narae, thank you for all your hard work in so many ways. You’ve really filled in a lot of the things I needed.”
“Ah, no... What did I do...”
“It’s not just one or two things. Everything related to the TDM business, and finding me a financial management system too. You have no idea how much I rely on you.”
At Suho’s sudden praise, Narae couldn’t find anywhere to rest her gaze and lowered her eyes.
“So I’m going to try becoming someone necessary and useful to you too, Narae.”
Wondering what he meant, Narae opened her eyes wide.
Suho smiled gently.
“First, I deposited a bit of a quarterly bonus for you.”
“Huh... My current salary is already more than enough...”
“Salary is salary, and a bonus is a bonus. Well, giving an employee a bonus is up to me.”
“Ah... Then, th-thank you.”
“And this is the real gift. Actually, I should have given it to you sooner, but I failed to think of it.”
Not understanding what was going on, Narae dazedly accepted the box Suho held out.
“You can open it.”
Click—
As Narae opened the box, she froze on the spot.
Inside the box lay four potions, neatly arranged.
Looking at the labels, there were two [Highest-Grade Healing Potions] and two [Highest-Grade Disease Treatment Potions].
They were items ordinary people, those who weren’t Admiti, effectively had no chance to see or possess.
Above all, there was no way Narae wouldn’t know just how expensive they were.
“I heard both your parents are very ill. Why didn’t you say anything? I found out far too late. I’m sorry for being so insensitive.”
Narae had never said anything about her family circumstances.
But Suho had personally found out about her situation through the Towerpia manager newly assigned to him.
Over Narae’s delicate fingers, which trembled faintly as she held the box, tears as large as drops of chicken droppings fell one after another.
“Thank... you... Thank you...”
Watching Narae finally burst into sorrowful sobs, Suho felt both proud and sorry at the same time.
* * *
The suites at Goguryeo Hotel, rented out in their entirety as lodging.
Among them, in the Platinum Royal Suite on the top floor, Thomas sat alone on the bed and unwrapped Suho’s gift.
When he opened the wine-like box, there really was something like a wine bottle inside, though it was quite small. A pretty bottle of about 300 milliliters.
On the bottle, a Post-it note was attached.
— It was nice to meet you, Thomas. Thank you for visiting.
With a bitter smile, he turned the bottle over, and as if to reveal what the liquid inside was, a label was attached.
And as Thomas looked at it, he went completely stiff.
The label read [Potion of Anti-Aging].
Its color churned with rainbow hues.
There was no potion of this color. As an S-rank Admiti, Thomas knew that fact all too well.
A disbelieving laugh slipped out of him on its own.
There was no way he could not know of the Potion of Anti-Aging that had been sold for three billion points at the Global OnTower Auction House, broadcast live to the entire world.
“...So the claim that there were only two bottles was a lie...”
Thomas could not believe the events of that day, and from start to finish, it felt as though he had dreamed a strange dream.
Admiti Jeong Suho, who seemed to be mocking him, yet also seemed to have something he wanted to say.
And the unimaginable wealth he possessed.
The astonishing lineup of companions who were with him.
But one thing was certain.
‘It was quite enjoyable...’
During the time he had spent in that humble space,
though embarrassing situations had continued one after another, making it impossible for him to control his expression, strangely, within that humiliation, there had been a comfort he had not felt in a long time.
As Thomas recalled the relaxed appearances of the first-rate Admiti who had been with Suho, he found himself thinking, without even realizing it, that he wanted to be among them too.
* * *
“Hey, you’re really growing fast.”
Looking at Winky, who had grown as large as a rooster before he knew it, Taewoong clicked his tongue in amazement.
It felt like Winky had grown more in the mere fifteen days since meeting Suho recently than during the past two months Taewoong had fed and raised him himself.
It was probably thanks to the fact that what Suho had given him was not D-rank or E-rank Ethereum, but A-rank Ethereum.
It made him feel pointlessly sorry for having starved the creature when it had been in the middle of growing.
Even with the same volume and size, high-rank Ethereum contained an entirely different concentration of ether.
Perhaps because of that, Winky had grown larger, yet seemed to be eating even less than before.
Piiiii— Flutter.
Winky climbed onto Taewoong again and sat on top of his head.
Now he was fairly hefty, and Taewoong could feel his weight.
But because Taewoong was so large, Winky still looked like a chick by comparison.
“Hoo... I’m worried. About the future.”
A griffon only became an adult after about five years, but the size of an adult was tremendous.
A griffon was a massive magical beast with a wingspan of about twenty meters, a body length of over ten meters, and a shoulder height alone reaching five meters.
In the large gymnasium Suho was currently building for him, Taewoong felt he could somehow raise Winky for about a year, but after that, he truly had no idea what to do.
Could mere steel walls contain this powerful griffon? And even then, would he still be able to raise it in secret?
Just thinking about it made him sigh.
This wasn’t on the level of raising a ferocious beast like a lion or a tiger.
“Still, how lucky is that? Suho said he’d take responsibility for feeding you until the end.”
Taewoong was certain that deciding to be with Suho was the best thing he had done in the past several years.
Piiik—
When Taewoong flopped down in the large bedroom where two king-size beds had been pushed together, Winky scampered over and climbed onto his stomach.
When Taewoong stroked his head, the creature felt his touch and pressed his body tightly against Taewoong’s belly.
After staying like that for a while, Winky suddenly lifted his head, then trotted off somewhere.
“Where are you going, Winky?”
When Taewoong quietly followed, Winky headed straight for the bathroom, then lightly jumped and pulled the doorknob open with his foot.
Then he leapt up again and settled himself on top of the toilet.
Now that his body had grown quite a bit, by spreading his legs as wide as possible, he seemed able to sit without falling into the toilet.
“Uh... You...”
Taewoong’s eyes widened in surprise.
He had never separately toilet-trained Winky, and had only laid out sand for him like when raising a cat, but Winky had carefully watched Taewoong use the bathroom and was imitating him.
He recalled the words of an expert who had said that large, highly intelligent magical beasts were capable of understanding human language, and even reading and empathizing with human emotions.
Though Taewoong often sighed out of worry for Winky, Winky’s growth was always fresh enough to make him forget those concerns.