The waiting room on the first floor of the Tower.
A point from which it was possible to leave before beginning the first-floor raid, and a place suitable for setting up the initial base camp.
The moment the first-floor raid began, the entrance gate would close and departure would become impossible, but
once the first-floor boss was eliminated and the altar destroyed, the entry and exit gate would activate again.
In this way, each time a floor was cleared, the gate in the first-floor waiting room would activate to allow passage in and out,
and before beginning the raid on the next floor, the raid team would have an opportunity to reorganize.
Having a save point on every floor, along with a chance to reorganize, was an enormous safety measure.
However, the card known as “being able to leave after clearing each floor” was not all-powerful.
Most cleared floors no longer had monsters or floor bosses remaining, so they could be traversed freely, but the place where one could leave was always the first-floor waiting room. That meant the higher one climbed, the farther one had to travel in order to exit.
Leaving from around the third to fifth floors could not be compared, in terms of travel distance, to leaving from the sixtieth or seventieth floors.
There was exactly one other place, aside from the waiting room, where a gate allowing departure existed: beside the altar on the top floor.
After dealing with the floor boss on the top floor and destroying the altar, an additional exit gate would be activated... but since that was an option one could only enjoy after finishing everything anyway, it was beside the point.
For various reasons like these, the higher one climbed, the more the “chance to leave” could only be used in special circumstances.
To make matters worse, the higher one climbed, the stronger the monsters became, the harder the raid grew, the closer the Tower raid deadline drew, and the scarcer the resources one carried became.
Thus, in the upper floors, the card known as “being able to leave” was often nothing more than a pie in the sky, usable only in the direst of circumstances.
It was not impossible to bring modern goods into the Tower, but large items such as vehicles or mobile buildings could not be brought in, and even if they could, the waiting room did not have enough space for them.
For that reason, it was essential for many raid teams to carry “flight jetpacks” or other “flight-type items” obtainable within the Tower as a means of traveling between each floor inside the Tower and the waiting room.
The interior breadth of the Tower was different from how it appeared from the outside.
The hologram-like appearance seen from outside was merely a symbolic form; no one could guess the actual size and environment inside until they entered.
In most cases, the interior was immensely vast, and after climbing beyond the twentieth floor or so, exiting all the way back to the first-floor waiting room without a special movement item was practically impossible.
Since it was common to encounter monsters and enter combat the moment one stepped onto an upper floor, the base camp would continually be moved upward and set up on the floor directly beneath the one being raided.
Therefore, until the second-floor raid was finished, the first-floor waiting room would serve as the base camp, and before beginning the third-floor raid, they would go through the process of moving the base camp from the first floor to the second.
“If everyone’s ready, shall we go?”
After organizing the hard-shell transport carriers and all the supplies in the waiting room, Joshua looked around at everyone checking their equipment and spoke.
Having quickly finished their preparations, wearing their respective armor, weapons in hand, and equipped only with the items they would carry on their bodies such as potions, the raid team nodded.
As expected of veterans, they were quick to get ready.
At that moment, Haruto Takeda, the buffer from Japan, asked one thing.
“How are we planning to distribute and use that?”
Where he pointed, there was a large hard case that Suho had additionally given them.
It was the hard case containing the “mid-grade potions” he had given them to use freely when reorganizing, as long as it was not an emergency.
A large hard-shell case one meter tall, two meters wide, and 0.8 meters high.
Haruto Takeda made a proposal.
“Jeong Suho-nim said we could use them freely, but won’t it be difficult to set a standard for when and how to use them? Everyone’s definition of ‘when it’s truly necessary’ is different. So I think it would be fair to divide them in advance according to headcount.”
At Takeda’s words, the other team members glanced around, gauging one another’s reactions. Most of them seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“That sounds good.”
“I agree.”
As Emilia Rossi and Ava Mitchell chimed in, opinion swiftly tilted in that direction.
Joshua pondered for a moment, then looked at Danbi and Thomas. The two of them slowly nodded as well.
There was no reason to spend long arguing over an issue like this. Having made his decision, Joshua announced it.
“Very well. Let’s do that. We’ll divide them equally among the sixteen of us. If anyone needs more of a particular type, then the parties involved can freely exchange among themselves.”
At Joshua’s final decision, everyone’s faces brightened.
In a Tower raid, potions not only increased combat power and raid efficiency, but also dramatically improved survivability.
Needless to say, the higher the grade of the potion, the better—but quantity was also something one could never have too much of.
A large number of potions was practically no different from a cheat code in a game.
Chiiik— chiiiiik—
When Joshua entered the passcode Suho had set in advance and told him, the lid of the case opened with a heavy sound.
“Whoa...”
“How many are there?”
In truth, they had only accepted the mid-grade potion case and had not opened it until now.
Since each person had already been issued potions individually, they had intended to keep these as spares, but now that opinion had tilted this way, they had to divide them.
After counting, they found there were 320 mid-grade healing potions, 320 mid-grade regeneration potions, and 320 mid-grade ether potions.
The sixteen of them each took twenty of every type, and the empty case was moved into a corner.
The raid team members beamed like children who had received a mountain of snacks they could never finish eating.
Each of them inserted as many potions as they could into the potion slots attached in various forms to their armor, and the ones they could not carry on their person were stored in their respective carriers.
No one’s upturned lips showed any sign of coming down.
“Um... Karim-nim, would you perhaps exchange five of my mid-grade ether potions for five of your mid-grade healing potions?”
When the martial artist Zhang Wei proposed a mid-grade potion exchange to Layla Karim, the healer,
“Ah, thank you. I was thinking the same thing.”
As if she had been waiting for it, Karim exchanged potions with him.
Seeing that, potion exchanges began taking place here and there.
It was not as if close-range dealers did not consume ether,
but close-range dealers and tanks naturally needed more healing potions and regeneration potions, while ranged dealers and healers needed more ether potions.
Watching the reorganization in the waiting room go on longer than expected for various reasons, Joshua looked down at the watch on his wrist.
Finally, only after about an hour had passed since their entry, the raid team entered the first floor.
“Whew, a snowy mountain, huh. It’s been a while since I’ve had a cold Tower.”
Hernandez muttered.
In the distance ahead of the raid team, sheer snowy mountains surrounded them, and a frozen lake spread out before them.
A cold whirlwind blew in and battered the raid team without mercy.
However, since this was an S-rank raid team that was fundamentally wearing the C-rank rare-grade innerwear item [Thermal Vein], which mitigated changes in external temperature and regulated body heat, changes in the outside climate were not that big of an issue.
“I hate the cold.”
“I hate hot places more.”
“Now, now. We don’t know how many floors this snowy mountain area will last, but let’s move quickly. We’ll push through the lower floors swiftly in our basic formation.”
On the first floor, low-level monsters such as “Frozen Foxes” appeared from time to time, and the all-S-rank team passed through the floor as if they were jogging.
The snowy mountain region continued until about the third floor, where a “Frost Giant” appeared as the boss, but it was already dealt with by the tanks before the dealers could even try attacking.
“Tsk, well, that was just poke-and-done.”
“Haha, it really feels like we’re out for a stroll.”
“Shall we pick up the pace a little?”
“Good. Let’s push up to around the fiftieth floor without stopping.”
The condition and teamwork of the S-rank raid team, united as one, were both at their peak.
Everything was going smoothly.
* * *
Suho met with high-ranking government officials.
The Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; the Minister of Environment; the Vice Minister of Economy and Finance; the Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety; the Chief Presidential Secretary for Policy, and others.
It was an important meeting to discuss and decide matters regarding the provision of state-owned real estate in recognition of his contribution in saving the Republic of Korea from an economic crisis.
Since the meeting was to broadly cover the granting of development rights for a specific region and support for the development project as well, not only key bureaucrats but also those capable of immediately providing vast amounts of data were present.
The lighting was dimmed, and the Director-General of National Territorial Policy from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport began the presentation.
“These materials are a selection of candidate government properties that can be provided to Admittee Jeong Suho from multiple angles.”
Maps appeared on the screen along with detailed explanations.
There were many commercial districts in areas with high real estate development potential, as well as sites for public-interest facilities related to culture, art, education, medicine, and more. Even parks, which were public goods, were among the candidates.
All of them were areas within the Seoul metropolitan region, and among them were many sites in locations so good they would make one gasp.
The candidate state-owned lands they intended to provide to Suho were not merely for show; they demonstrated the government’s sincerity.
However, Suho’s interest lay somewhere entirely different.
“They’re all in the metropolitan area.”
“Of course. We selected areas from which one can reach central Seoul within an hour at most.”
“Hmm... Could you turn the lights back on?”
Soon, the lights in the conference room came on, and the director-general who had been giving the presentation stepped down from his place.
When Suho straightened his back and sat upright, everyone waited for his words with tense expressions.
“I have something a little different in mind. Our country is one where infrastructure is globally concentrated in the capital, with severe overconcentration in the Seoul area, isn’t it?”
Quite a few of those present silently nodded.
“But I don’t think there’s any need for me to settle down near Seoul too and try to do something there. I’ve already used a lot of land building my house in Songpa-gu as well.”
Still, no one offered any answer. Everyone listened closely to Suho’s words, to the point that only the sound of swallowing could be heard.
“I have a rather big plan. I want to create a new city. Somewhere other than Seoul.”
Only then did the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ask,
“Then... where would Admittee Suho like to establish this new city?”
“My goal is to select the place in the country with the highest population extinction risk index right now and build an unprecedented new city in the Republic of Korea.”
Exclamations and groans came from here and there.
When several ministers gestured with their hands, office directors and section chiefs from related ministries began taking out materials.
“I looked into it in my own way, too. After checking various places across the country, the place I settled on is...”
Since Suho had asked for the materials he had prepared in advance to be connected to the presentation, when he touched his tablet, the corresponding image appeared on the screen.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the screen.
“Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province.”
The screen changed through various images, displaying satellite photos of Uiseong County and other information.
“Huh...”
“Oh...”
“But...”
“...As expected...”
Various reactions burst out. Suho continued speaking.
“I thought Uiseong County was suitable in several ways. First of all, it’s the number one region on the verge of population extinction, and while that includes mountainous terrain, it’s over one thousand square kilometers, so the area is decent. In particular, the proportion of flat land is high.”
At this, the Minister of Environment hurriedly objected.
“B-but if a large-scale new city is built in Uiseong County, a considerable portion of the existing rice paddies, fields, and farmland in the area would have to be abandoned. In particular, new city development requires infrastructure such as roads, housing, commercial facilities, and public facilities to be built on a large scale. This could become a decision that threatens food security.”
“Mm, does Uiseong County’s output account for a large share of the Republic of Korea’s overall agricultural self-sufficiency?”
“Rice is not absolute, but garlic and potatoes are actively produced there.”
But Suho spoke as though it were no big deal.
In reality, it was not a problem for Suho. If he received one yangwon’s worth of something like potatoes, how much would that even replace... After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.
“I think that can be resolved gradually. If it comes down to it, I can also help you mass-produce certain crops.”
“No, that, h-how could you... If you’re thinking of solving it through imports, that is no solution at all.”
“I’m not saying we should import it, of course. In any case, to convert agricultural land for urban development, we’ll need a change in land use, won’t we? I’d like the government to handle that part, and if there are any protected zones or the like, please lift those restrictions. Please approve the urban development plan as well, and introduce me to the working-level planners.”
All around the room, people frantically recorded Suho’s words or exchanged murmured opinions.
“We’ll have to purchase land on a large scale, so please help with that too. You said you would provide government-owned land, so I’ll take that. I’ll buy the privately owned land myself, so please handle the negotiations with the landowners. Please coordinate with Uiseong County Office as well. And also... right, please look into issues like the livelihoods of current local agricultural workers and appropriate compensation.”
Once Suho had more or less finished speaking, questions and opinions poured in from every direction.
Some saw the positives: dispersing the population concentrated in the capital region to ease overcrowding, revitalizing regions on the verge of extinction, creating large-scale jobs nationwide, and contributing to balanced national development.
On the other hand, many opposed the idea, arguing that it would damage the agricultural base, lower the nation’s food self-sufficiency rate, destroy the environment, and cause serious conflict with the local community.
Above all, the opposition pointed out that new city development could lead to real estate speculation and a bubble, and that if it failed to attract as many residents as expected, the economic effect might be negligible compared to the initial development costs. There was even a risk that it could degenerate into a ghost city.
Listening to the sharply divided opinions, Suho drove the point home.
“That’s right. You’re all correct. Where there are gains, there are losses. We can’t have everything. In any case, since the government said it would provide land and grant me development rights for a specific region, I was simply telling you my plan.”
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety raised his hand and asked one more question.
“Is there any particular aspect you intend to specialize in when constructing this new city, Suho Admiti?”
“Uh, yes. There is. I want to build a new city in Uiseong County, but one that’s completely different from other new cities—a very special super smart city.”
“Oh...”
“Ooh... In that case...”
The room began to stir again.
“If government approval is granted and we move into planning, I think we’ll need to establish criteria for selecting the first residents of this special smart city. Of course, we’ll attract a diverse range of people, but I especially want to bring in a large number of professionals and researchers working in the IT industry. And I’d like to allocate a fairly large share to newlywed couples, who are vulnerable in terms of housing. We’ll give newlyweds a significant advantage in moving in, and if they’re newlyweds with children, we’ll simply provide them homes outright and have them move in. We’ll give them jobs too. In any case, I want to give preferential treatment to newlyweds and provide them with a completely new style of residential environment.”
Suho had several goals in mind for the construction of Uiseong County Super Smart City.
Easing population overcrowding, balanced regional development, large-scale job creation, economic recovery, encouraging marriage and childbirth to resolve the ultra-low birthrate problem, and so on...
Some of those present seemed to like Suho’s plan, smiling as they applauded.
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance asked,
“What scale of city are you envisioning?”
“For now, I’m imagining a city that can accommodate at least one million people.”
“Huh... That’s on the level of a metropolitan city... Then how much investment would be required...”
“Wouldn’t it take hundreds of trillions of won? I’ll pour in my own money without holding back, so if approval is granted, I hope the government will provide plenty of support as well.”
The Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport brought the buzzing conference room back under control and concluded the meeting.
“We understand your intentions clearly, Suho Admiti. Regarding this matter, we will review its feasibility, and approval from the National Assembly will be required for budget allocation and the enactment of special legislation. We will contact you again soon.”
“Good. Please contact me anytime. I’ll look forward to a positive response.”
Suho left the room with light steps.