At long last, the long-awaited Elysium Heights—Suho’s dream house in reality, not in his subspace—was finally complete.
In truth, the structural parts such as the exterior frame and outer walls had been finished long ago, but the interior electrical work, plumbing, communications facilities, interior design, elevators, and other finishing work, as well as the completion inspection and occupancy approval, had all taken quite some time.
Even so, it was still about a month ahead of schedule.
After confirming that even services such as the building management system, security, and maintenance had been completed, they decided to move in properly.
In fact, partial occupancy had been permitted once the finishing work for certain floors or sections was complete, but Suho hadn’t felt any particular need to do that and had wanted to move in only after everything was perfectly finished.
On the day of the move-in,
The top-of-the-line armored vehicles carrying Suho’s family drove through the vast park surrounding Elysium Heights and headed for the building entrance. Then they arrived on the fourth floor.
They had come straight to the fourth floor because it was both a parking level and the location of the welcome lobby.
“Waaah...”
“It’s incredible...”
Suho’s mother and father simply craned their necks as far back as they could, trying to take in the building at a glance, while Jiho and Suji also let out pure exclamations of wonder.
Unlike Suho, who had frequently visited the construction site, his family—especially his mother, father, and Suji—had only been there a few times, so their amazement was all the greater.
It was far too large to be called a residential building for a family. Larger even than a massive department store, the building flaunted its grandeur under the dazzling sunlight, giving off golden reflections.
Excluding the park surrounding the house, the building alone covered an astonishing 22,500 pyeong, with each floor spanning 4,500 pyeong.
When the line of vehicles reached the main entrance, uniformed attendants opened the car doors, and the family got out one by one.
The attendants were not people but androids. Just the androids Suho had brought in for building management, facility operation, guidance, and the like—excluding building defense—numbered over four hundred.
“Wow... This is seriously amazing, Oppa.”
“It doesn’t feel like a house at all... It feels exactly like the lobby of a five-star hotel...”
“Come on, it’d be disappointing to compare it to just a five-star.”
As the family looked around the vast interior of the welcome lobby with dazed expressions, an android in a neat suit approached Suho’s family and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“Welcome, Masters. I am James, the general manager who will assist you with everything in this new home. From now on, I will guide you through Elysium Heights and explain the facilities and characteristics of each floor. First, please put on one of these watches, one for each person.”
At James’s gesture, another android beside him stepped forward and opened a luxurious wooden case. Inside were watches, one for each family member, with a unique design: a pitch-black hemispherical display set atop them like a dome.
“Whoa...”
When they put on the watches, a holographic image formed, and their current location within the entire area of Elysium Heights appeared before their eyes.
The image neatly explained the surrounding space centered on their current location and moved for easy viewing according to the wearer’s direction, drawing exclamations of admiration.
It was a high-tech navigation device that allowed not only the size of the image but also the type of information displayed to be freely adjusted.
James first guided the family into the interior of the Elysium Heights lobby.
The ceiling soared high overhead along with an enormous chandelier, and works by famous artists were displayed throughout the space.
“The chandelier is so beautiful...”
The crystals, reflecting and refracting the light to create dazzling effects, were so brilliant that they looked like the glitter of sunlight on a lake in the late afternoon.
His mother let out a pure exclamation of wonder and began taking photos with her phone.
“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? The crystal parts there are all diamonds.”
“Ghk... Ahem, cough. Cough, cough.”
At the words that the crystal parts of that enormous chandelier were not glass or acrylic but diamonds, his father kept coughing as if he had choked.
The spotless marble floor glowed softly beneath their feet, creating a quiet sense of grandeur.
James extended an arm with a splendid smile.
“This is the fourth-floor welcome lobby. Not only resident family members but any visitors or guests will necessarily pass through this place.”
The androids standing at the front desk also bowed deeply toward Suho’s family.
“The fourth-floor welcome lobby, through which anyone entering the building must pass.”
This was also an area whose design Suho had taken particular care in participating in.
Like poison hidden within splendor, it was also a place equipped with specially designed defensive lines and armaments.
Even if a combat unit of battle Admiti were to charge in, the security system was so advanced and firm that they could never break through this lobby by force alone.
Ordinary firearms had been installed as well, but primarily, weapons of S-rank or higher that Suho had crafted himself were hidden one layer beneath the glamorous interior, inside the luxurious walls and pillars.
If an external intrusion or threat was detected through the smart sensors or the androids in the lobby, a report would immediately be sent to Suho.
And once Suho gave approval, reinforced firewalls made of Magrite would instantly descend from all directions to seal off the lobby, and the prepared weapons would immediately begin attacking according to an automated targeting system. That terrifying built-in defensive system space was none other than the welcome lobby.
The first through fourth floors were parking levels, and everything related to vehicles, including vehicle maintenance and management facilities, was installed there.
James led the family across the tremendously wide lobby toward the elevator area. Ten large elevators encircled the center of the building, all made of transparent glass, allowing a full view of the inside and outside of the building at a glance.
“In addition to these ten elevators, the family-only elevator is this way. And the elevator added here is an emergency elevator that operates under any circumstances.”
There were twelve elevators in total. Their types varied as well.
After that,
They toured the fifth-floor leisure and sports level, where the indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, gym, Pilates room, spa, sauna, and the like were located,
then the sixth-floor entertainment level, packed full of every kind of amusement: several large theaters, VR game rooms, karaoke rooms, an indoor golf course, indoor baseball field, billiards room, pinball, darts area, bowling alley, video arcade, racing simulator, and more.
They looked around the seventh floor, which had a lounge, bar, and café,
and by the time they had seen the eighth floor, with its large banquet dining hall and casual dining spaces for quick meals, quite a bit of time had passed. That was how vast the building was.
Since Suji grumbled that her legs hurt, they decided to eat and rest, and the family had a modest dinner together on the eighth floor.
After replenishing their energy and going up to the ninth floor, further explanation was needed, so Suho took over from there.
“Originally, the ninth floor had guest lounges and guest bedrooms for visitors, and I was planning to make the tenth through fifteenth floors private living spaces for the family. But no matter how I thought about it, one full floor of living space per person seemed way too big.”
“Right.”
“Ugh, of course... Just thinking about my room being several thousand pyeong is exhausting.”
When he had asked them in advance about changing the structure, not a single family member had wanted such a vast space, so Suho had proceeded with peace of mind.
“So I just configured the ninth through fifteenth floors as residential spaces. Each floor has homes arranged all around the sides, and you can think of it as sixteen luxury apartments of various sizes, from as small as 80 pyeong to as large as 120 pyeong.”
“Seven floors like that?”
Suji’s eyes went round.
“That’s right. So roughly speaking, it’s a residential space that can accommodate about 112 households.”
“Wow... Then what about our family?”
“Our family can choose one floor... Which one do you want to use?”
“Let’s take the highest one.”
“The fifteenth floor? I agree.”
“All right, then our family will use the fifteenth floor, and we’ll leave the rest empty for now. James, register that.”
“Understood.”
The family swarmed up to the fifteenth floor with James, then scattered, running around the floor as they chose the rooms—no, the homes—they would use.
It was no longer one room per person, but one penthouse per person.
Though the unique part was that all those homes were within a single building.
Amazingly, every single home was perfectly furnished like a top-tier hotel, with custom-made luxury furniture, the latest appliances, and the finest bedding.
At the center of each floor from the ninth to the fifteenth, where dozens of households were located, there was a large central lounge, which was intended to be used as a plaza for various purposes.
Even that lounge was quite spacious, with its own café, gym, and the like.
Suho’s family designated the central plaza on the fifteenth floor as their family meeting room and decided to gather there regularly to share updates on how they were doing.
The house was now too large, and each of their lives had become busy, so if they didn’t set something like that in place, it seemed they might not see one another even while living in the same house.
“No, but if all the furniture and appliances are already here, there’s no need to move anything, is there? What do we do with the stuff in our penthouse?”
As if she had been waiting for Jiho’s question, Suji jumped in.
“Th-then, Suho Oppa, what are you going to do with the penthouse we were living in? That was a rental, right? Are we moving out now?”
“It doesn’t really matter what we do... What do you want to do? Does anyone else have any plans?”
Everyone except Suji shook their heads, and Suji spoke with delight.
“Th-then, I was wondering if we could use that penthouse as our band’s dorm...”
“Do that, then.”
“Really? Yes!”
“And as Jiho said, the furniture, appliances, and bedding are already set up, so we can each just pack our clothes and other personal items and move. We’ll just leave the rest for Suji to use however she likes. How’s that?”
“Sure, then. Nothing to regret.”
“Let’s do that.”
When they had first moved into the Twelve One Cheongdam penthouse, Jiho had jumped in protest at Suji saying she would bring her band over, but that tiny house with only 95 pyeong of exclusive area had now completely fallen out of his interest.
After all, just the five members of Suho’s family were now about to use the entire fifteenth floor—in other words, a space of over four thousand pyeong.
The tour of Elysium Heights was not over yet.
Following the guidance, the family continued to tour the sixteenth-floor emergency safety space, the seventeenth-floor office space and library,
and the rooftop garden, party space, indoor garden, sky lounge, observatory, helipad, and the like located above the eighteenth floor.
In the emergency safety space on the sixteenth floor, there was an enormous vault, and Suho had filled the inside of that vault with gold, diamonds, and banknotes. It was a kind of insurance.
Suho could take assets out of his subspace warehouse whenever he wanted, but the rest of his family could not.
And on the opposite side of the enormous vault was an unidentified machine far larger than the vault itself.
This machine, with a complex and unique structure resembling the tunnel of a hadron collider, had one kilogram of SSS-rank Aetherium embedded in its center, shining brilliantly in gold as it vibrated.
“Whoa... Hyung, what on earth is this?”
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Jiho asked.
“Ah, this is a super-large barrier generator.”
“A barrier generator? Where does it generate a barrier?”
“Where else? Around this entire building.”
“Uh...?”
“It generates an ultra-powerful barrier that envelops the whole building. Since it takes an enormous amount of energy, it’s not operating at all times, but I can activate it.”
At last, when they climbed to the very top floor of the top floors—the highest level where the helipad was located—they saw an incredibly wide space on one side.
But there were no particular interior decorations or resting facilities there, only several large rocks placed about.
“Suho, what is this place? Is it some kind of art exhibit?”
At his mother’s question, Suho smiled.
“Ah, that’s Winky’s landing area. I prepared it in case Winky flies over to this building.”
“Ah... that griffon... It scares me to think of him coming.”
“Haha, Winky is so gentle!”
“Ugh... I’m still scared...”
“Ah, this feels nice. The view here is great.”
Suji spread her arms and spun around in circles, taking in the strong wind high above the ground.
“It’s a shame it’s not right next to the Han River.”
“So what. What’s there even to see at the Han River? I can see it over there in the distance.”
From the rooftop garden, Jiho and Suji bickered as they looked down below.
James, having introduced every floor, stood quietly at Suho’s family’s side, awaiting instructions.
“Even after looking around, it doesn’t feel like our home at all…”
“Hehe… you’re right… I almost feel like I should pay an entrance fee and leave now.”
Even Mother and Father, who had grown accustomed to living in the Twelve One Cheongdam Penthouse, were so overwhelmed by the sheer scale of [Elysium Heights] that they could hardly find words.
As if suddenly remembering something, Jiho asked James.
“By the way, James, I saw earlier that the parking lot takes up the 1st to 4th floors. So what about the basement? What’s down there?”
“The basement is entirely a bunker.”
“Aha… is that bunker different from the emergency safe space on the 16th floor?”
“Yes, the emergency safe space on the 16th floor is, as its name suggests, a safe area for temporary evacuation during fires and various emergency situations. The underground bunker, however, is a space where one can take refuge during large-scale disasters and survive long-term. It is equipped with an oxygen production and recycling system, vertical farms and aquaponics systems for sustainable food production, groundwater extraction facilities and large-scale water tanks, and even ether power generation equipment. A large-scale bunker facility capable of withstanding at least 20 years through any disaster situation, including nuclear attacks, is installed underground.”
“Whoa…”
“That’s incredible…”
“What, Suho oppa? Is there some nuclear war warning?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then what’s this long-term survival bunker for?”
Suho simply shrugged and said.
“Well, you never know what will happen in this world.”
Truly. To be prepared is to be without anxiety (有備無患).
Should the worst disaster surge forth with an extreme probability,
Suho himself could evacuate to his subspace warehouse at any time, but his family and companions had no such means.
Suho wanted to prepare for all such anxieties.
Suho’s father spoke with a solemn expression.
“Indeed… will we ever have reason to step outside this building for the rest of our lives…”
At those silly words, Mother’s sharp palm struck Father’s back.
“Oh my, you old man, are you going to grow old and die inside this building? You need to exercise, meet people, enjoy nature, go traveling—that’s what living is!”
“No… there are so many fitness centers here that I can just exercise here. There’s no better place to meet people, so I can just invite them over. As for nature, there’s that artificial garden over there… Ouch! Ow, stop hitting me! Your hand stings!”
Watching Father flee to avoid Mother’s smashing, the three siblings giggled.
Now, this building would be more than a simple residence—it would become a bunker protecting the family, and a new stage for life.
* * *
“What list is that?”
Watching Suho diligently writing something while sitting in a rocking chair in Dream Village inside the subspace warehouse, Rabi asked.
“A roster.”
“Hmm.”
“I told you I was building an incredibly luxurious house, didn’t I? It’s finished now. I’m choosing the people who will move in.”
Suho had decided to bring various people into Elysium Heights besides his own family.
First, the five members of Suho’s family had claimed the 15th floor,
and though they weren’t moving in as families, the entire Sanarae Clan, who worked hard providing security, was assigned the entire 9th floor as a comfortable place to stay.
And after assigning Joshua’s family of three, Seongsik’s family of five, Narae’s family of five, Taeung’s family of three, Danbi’s family of four, and Thomas… and so on, more than 70 households still remained.
“The remaining empty houses… for now, I should give short-term accommodation rights first to the families of the Admittees currently raiding the Tower.”
Suho wrote down on the checklist the houses to be temporarily assigned to the families of the remaining twelve S-rank Admittees, excluding Danbi, Taeung, Joshua, and Thomas.
The season of moving had truly arrived.
* * *
The longest-time, highest-floor raid in history.
In the history of Korean Tower raids, there had never been a case where the “continuous ascent section without exit” reached a staggering 65 floors. Undeniably the greatest record.
As high as they had climbed, the path to the 1st floor where exit was possible was long, so very long.
Even though the raid was over and the space was completely empty, devoid of bosses or demons, an area they could pass through by flight alone without combat, backtracking the distance they had traveled over 90 days was inevitably enormous.
Having left behind bulky and heavy luggage at the 65th-floor base camp, the 16-member raid team began their withdrawal with flight equipment, wearing only their carried belongings, armor, and weapons.
They traveled for a full day before finally reaching the 1st floor.
“It sure was far…”
“I’m absolutely sick of it.”
“We won’t be able to go at this speed when we come back up with supplies, right?”
“Right, it’ll probably take about five days to climb back up to the 65th floor with cargo.”
“I’m going to lose my mind…”
Their faces were haggard with exhaustion, but their expressions were bright.
Because the Tower’s 1st-floor exit, the withdrawal gate, was finally in sight.
“What are you going to do first?”
“Wash up. I’m washing up before anything else!”
The female Admittees, who had maintained only minimal hygiene with cleansing wipes for 90 days, wanted to bathe,
“I’m going to eat meat… meat first. And alcohol. Damn Nutri Ampoules…”
while there were those who wanted to eat the food they craved,
“I’m going to sleep… I don’t need anything else. In a soft bed…”
there were also those who simply wanted to get a good night’s sleep with peace of mind.
They had nothing to worry about. The moment they crossed that shimmering gate at the 1st-floor entrance, there would be a special dedicated support and supply team ready to grant and fulfill any wish.
Vitality returned to their weary faces.