“Did you hear?”
“Yes, Steel Shade.”
The woman bowed her head, looking at the man whose body gleamed, partially composed of metal.
“If we simply participate in conquering the Korean Tower… Did you hear about the items he said he would give?”
“I heard. He put up tremendous items as rewards.”
When the man called Steel Shade gestured lightly, the massive steel chair in the corner flew as if pulled by a magnet and halted behind him.
He dropped heavily into the chair, draped his arm over a large armrest, and stroked his chin.
“It seems we underestimated him.”
“That’s right. There were too many absurd details…”
“Yes… We thought it was all inflated… But it seems we were the ones who were too hasty. Yes…”
Clack, clack, clack.
He propped his chin with one hand and merely tapped the metal armrest with the index finger of his other, yet between his fingertips—his entire hand having turned to metal before anyone realized—and the armrest, a sound like hammering rang out.
Not all Admittees in the world climbed towers in the first place.
There were many Admittees in every country who sought to wield their power freely beyond government control, and among them were high-rank Admittees.
Among the groups gathered by such people, the top group was undoubtedly the OAE (Oath of Ashes Enforcers).
Those who called themselves the [Oath of Ashes Enforcers] (Oath of Ashes Enforcers) were a group with their own firm ideology.
Those who awakened as Admittees were a new race transcending humanity,
and they believed that conquering towers under the pretense of protecting inferior and ordinary humans, or maintaining the order of existing nations and societies, could not be their duty.
They were ones who argued that it was foolish for themselves—chosen as a superior high-rank species—to sacrifice themselves conquering towers for the sake of inferior humanity that had not been chosen.
Instead, they pursued a new world order where awakened Admittees ruled the world.
Such radical ideology naturally caused conflicts with the governments of various countries, and in those conflicts, they did not hesitate to become terrorists.
As time passed, they openly opposed nations, steadily expanding their influence with the goal of collapsing existing social order and building a new world led by the Awakened.
The OAE, which had grown quite large, maintained secret bases around the world, mainly utilizing sparsely populated mountainous areas, remote islands, and underground spaces in major cities.
Each base was thoroughly protected by highly trained Admittees, and surveillance systems and magical defense devices were installed to strictly control access by outsiders.
They did not hesitate to carry out terror attacks and raids targeting major government institutions, military facilities, Admittee Management Offices, and Administration Bureaus, and they monitored the movements of various governments and Admittee Management Administrations through diverse intelligence sources, collecting necessary information.
Instead of securing powerful resources by conquering towers, they also raided auction houses, high-grade item shops, and item vaults to plunder rare items and strengthen the organization.
Moreover, they scouted new Admittees worldwide who wished to share their ideals, and they enticed, kidnapped, or threatened existing Admittees to make them contribute to the organization.
There were many criminal groups composed of Admittees besides them, but few teams possessed such powerful and organized military force.
Naturally, they were wanted worldwide. Militaries and police forces across the globe pursued them, and pursuit teams composed of Admittees were also mobilized in considerable numbers.
But they were literally a high-rank Admittee criminal group. No matter what pursuit force was assembled, it was insufficient.
The positions within the OAE were indicated solely by numerical order,
and Numbers 1 through 10 were all S-rank or higher.
Numbers 11 through 40 were A-rank,
and below that was the beginning of B-rank, but within the OAE, B-ranks were practically treated as errand boys and disposable riffraff.
That was how many high-rank Awakened they had.
Even among prominent tower-tier clans at home and abroad, nowhere possessed as many as ten S-ranks.
This was due to the temperament of S-ranks; S-ranks were generally arrogant and disliked serving under anyone.
They mostly formed their own clans and became owners themselves.
Because of this atmosphere, even high-tier clans inevitably had a limit to the number of S-ranks they could possess,
but the OAE had a whopping ten S-ranks, so as a single group, they could rightfully be called the strongest.
Among them,
Number 2, Swordsman ‘Edge’ Ryuji Takeda, and Number 3, Soul Sorcerer ‘Specter’ Khalid Al-Farsi were S+-rank powerhouses beyond the heavens,
and Number 1, who founded the OAE, a special ability Awakened capable of metal manipulation, Nikolai Volkov called ‘Steel Shade,’ was an apex-level, S++-rank Admittee.
S++ rank was a grade almost reaching SS rank, estimated to possess ability values closest to the SS rank that did not yet exist on Earth.
Those obsessed with ranking the combat power of Admittees worldwide did not hesitate to name Volkov as the world’s number one Admittee.
Of course, since he was a criminal, official statistics published by formal institutions did not rank his name or that of any OAE member at all, but many people across the world called him the ‘unofficial world’s number one Admittee.’
Steel Shade, who had been immersed in his own calculations for a while, stopped tapping his fingers and raised his head.
Number 8, Frostbite Mage ‘Frostbite’ Ingrid Johansson, who had been assisting him by his side the entire time, focused on him with extreme tension.
Steel Shade, whose only fingertips had been metal, now had all his skin transformed into metal, gleaming.
No longer looking human, like an iron statue, he opened his mouth with an expressionless face. A voice like scraping steel came out.
“Frostbite.”
“Yes, Steel Shade.”
“We must verify it. There are still many dubious aspects, but if even ten percent of what was announced is true, I consider it sufficiently valuable.”
“Understood. Shall we capture him?”
“Yes… I heard the dogs guarding the house have entered the tower, have they not?”
“That’s correct. Confirmed by the intelligence team.”
“But he will not be alone… Number 2, go with Edge.”
When Steel Shade gestured lightly, the massive steel chair carrying him floated gently and brought him to the top of the curtain wall in the great hall.
Looking down through the large window, he muttered again.
“We must ask him if he possesses the will to inherit our will.”
“If he refuses… what do you intend to do?”
“Even so, he has no choice.”
The cold metal lips curled up at the corners.
* * *
“I’m short on money.”
“Huh…?”
“What do you mean…”
Narae and Seongsik were startled by Suho’s sudden remark about lacking money.
If a human like Suho was short on money, who on earth had enough? And if such a situation existed, just how much money was required?
But it was true.
To build a new city on the level of a metropolitan area, an investment of at least hundreds of trillions of won was necessary.
It would be nice if the government provided tremendous aid, but the Korean government, having recently experienced a national economic crisis, could not possibly have that much leeway. Moreover, this was a new city development not even in the original plans.
Furthermore, Uiseong County in Gyeongsangbuk-do, which Suho had selected, was not a suitable place to build a new city.
As such, astronomical amounts of money would be spent solely on establishing basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and waterworks.
Even if National Assembly approval was granted,
receiving state-owned land from the government, obtaining development permits, regional analysis, land-use planning, transportation network design, and environmental impact assessments—having them take charge of initial planning and development commencement alone would be a great help.
Satisfied with that, Suho would have to pour in the necessary funds without hesitation,
but for that, he was severely short on money. The tens of trillions of won Suho currently possessed were woefully insufficient.
Even now, trillions of won were flowing in through TDM, the Global Ontower Auction House, and various other routes, but at this rate, how many years would it take to gather hundreds of trillions? It was not enough.
“I need to earn money in much larger quantities…”
Several good ideas came to the worrying Suho.
* * *
Suho’s dream house and his family house, [Elysium Heights], had begun to reveal its form several months ago; the exterior finish work, internal structures of each floor, partitioning, and structural work for major public spaces were all completed.
The electrical wiring, plumbing, and HVAC system installation were finished, and the elevator and escalator installation stages were also complete.
Now, only the building reinforcement work, public space and interior finishing, major equipment installation, landscaping, external roads, and entrance construction remained.
Listening to the construction superintendent explain that all work would be finished within four months, Suho smiled contentedly.
He had his own dream village inside the subspace warehouse, but now a dream house would soon exist in reality as well.
In terms of safety, there was nowhere in the world that could match his dream village in the subspace warehouse,
but the place where the most money, effort, and hardship had been invested was undoubtedly Elysium Heights.
Above all, it was even more special because here he could stay ‘together with other people.’
It would take a very long time, but… If his new city, fully reflecting Suho’s will, was completed, he would have to make his own residential area within it as well, and Suho fell into pleasant imagination about how he would decorate it.
“Then please continue your hard work. Please spare no support so that all the technicians and workers can labor without inconvenience, shortage, or danger. Do not worry about the additional costs.”
“Yes, yes, sir. Thank you as always.”
As Suho, having exchanged greetings with the bowing construction superintendent, turned to leave the construction site, Admittees from the Sanarae Clan immediately attached themselves to his side.
Lee Seojun, the vice clan leader of Sanarae and an A-rank Admittee, asked.
“Where are you planning to go now…”
“I need to eat dinner. Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
Suho looked around at the five A-rank Admittees of Sanarae, including Lee Seojun, and asked.
“We are fine with anything. We eat everything well.”
Thinking he could not get a freer answer from Lee Seojun, who was tightly bound by responsibility, Suho directed the same question at Park Dohyun.
He, who had a much more easygoing personality than Lee Seojun, scratched his cheek sheepishly and answered.
“Ahem, the truth is, it’s a lie that Seojun eats everything well. We like meat.”
“Haha, of course. What joy is there in life if you give up meat and carbohydrates? Let’s go carve some meat. You probably know better than me, so please recommend a good place.”
“Yes, we shall escort you to the finest steak house.”
The vehicle carrying Suho and the vehicles escorting it in front and behind glided into motion.
* * *
The sixteen S-ranks who had rapidly progressed through conquering the lower floors were now in the process of moving the base camp they had set up on the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor, having already destroyed the altar at the top of the 3rd floor.
“This is annoyingly tedious. I used to do this without a thought in the past… But after sticking with the Captain all the time, something strange has rubbed off on me.”
Thomas grumbled as he moved large quantities of supplies.
“That’s right. If Suho-nim were here, he’d move everything into the subspace in one go.”
Danbi also smacked her lips as if disappointed.
“…There wouldn’t even be a need to move base camps around like this. He’d set it up when needed and store it all away again otherwise.”
Joshua, who had observed Suho closely for a long time, also chimed in.
Somehow, even with Danbi, Taewoong, Joshua, and Thomas gathered together, talk of Suho never ceased from their mouths. There was no fandom more unanimously united under the banner of Suho.
Watching this silently, S-rank Healer Park Seoyeon quietly sidled up to Danbi during the base camp relocation work.
“Unni. Danbi unni.”
“Mmm, Seoyeon?”
“Have you seen Suho Admittee-nim every day?”
“Well… pretty much…?”
“Hwa, I’m jealous. Suho-nim hasn’t created a clan, right?”
“That’s right. Suho-nim is still unaffiliated. Somehow I feel like he’ll remain that way in the future too.”
“Should we beg him to join our clan…”
“Don’t even try. You think Sanarae hasn’t tried?”
“Right… Actually, what could our clan possibly offer to recruit Suho-nim?”
“Even offering the entire clan wouldn’t be enough.”
“Ah…… so?”
“So what?”
“I see… Since Suho-nim can’t be drawn in… That’s why all those amazing people are sticking by his side?”
“Of course. Hey, have you seen the sun orbit the earth? No, the earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all orbit the sun.”
“Right… B-by any chance, is there still an empty spot in that solar system?”
“Oh my, look at you. What about your clan?”
Park Seoyeon’s eyes sparkled brightly, ignoring Danbi’s question.