I finally decided to buy the house.
I still wonder if this is the right call. Anyone who buys a 20-billion-won property and feels completely at ease would be the abnormal one.
I'll have to keep doing mental conditioning that I bought well. "High-end apartments don't drop in price that easily." If anything, I hoped it would rise.
I can always sell it and move out later. "Let's think of it as an investment." Juhyeok, it's not for yourself.
It's for the Summoned.
As long as they're out in the world, I want to give them a comfortable space where they can truly rest.
Instead of crowding around in this narrow officetel.
The next morning.
As always, I designated-summoned the Summoned.
"Chung! Shall we climb the 42nd floor today? I'm ready!"
"No, if we did it twice yesterday, we should rest today."
"This is no time to rest! We gotta make money. I'm seriously gonna end up house-poor."
For some reason, Kosak seemed even more desperate.
"Worker Rajix has arrived too. We gotta make a big score!"
A big score, my foot.
"I'm not going to become house-poor. I have plenty of money, and I eat and live well even now."
"Ahh, there's no such thing as enough money! Money is power. The more money you have, the stronger your power becomes. And if your power grows, Summoner Bong-nim becomes safer too."
Since when did this guy get so money-crazed?
"Besides, if someone wants to buy a trait enhancement rune, we gotta have the money for it."
Oh dear, Mr. Kosak.
That's not exactly pocket change.
Juhyeok had asked Jeon Gwangil about it before.
How much does a trait enhancement rune cost?
Sometimes tens of billions change hands.
And not in won—in dollars.
"Ugh, if you can't buy it after earning, just give up. You'll feel better."
"Every little bit adds up to a mountain!"
Gather specks of dust to build a mountain of wealth?
That saying only worked in the agrarian past. These days, no matter how much dust you gather, it's still just dust.
"I'll set up a Tower Climbing Revenue Generation Project and give you a briefing!"
"A briefing? No need to make it so grand."
"You gotta plan thoroughly!"
"..."
My resolve is weakening.
I was planning to take it easy.
I could live comfortably as is.
But Kosak argued so passionately, spitting as he spoke. "Well, I might as well go along with it." Later, when other nations start seriously climbing into the 60th floors, dust might well become a mountain.
There's fun in spending money, but there's also fun in saving it.
"Fine. Let's proceed. Mr. Kosak, you prepare the briefing materials yourself. And you give the presentation."
"Yes sir!"
The plan was obvious.
Making money using Worker Rajix's abilities.
So let's start by selling the tower materials we've collected so far.
See how much we can get for them.
But not through the Player Shop.
The materials Rajix gathered were, at a glance, very different from tower reward materials.
Starting with the hides—whole pelts skinned in one piece—and the herbs weren't dried but fresh, raw herbs.
And the volume was enormous.
This much would easily exceed a month's worth of hides purchased through the Player Shop.
We'd have to contact Team Leader Jeon Gwangil directly to sell.
The magic stones have a fixed market price, so those could just be handed over.
In any case, today was a rest day.
It was Sunday—all the public servants were off.
Also, the second clear had taken a very long time.
Hardworking Rajix—what's a capable worker for, if not to exploit?
Round and chubby. Just looking at him makes you smile.
"Mr. Rajix, let's climb the tower together for a long, long time."
"Hueh!"
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
"Hueee... carrots?"
"Oh! Carrots."
Right.
Hamsters and carrots.
Gyeon Dallae quickly ran to the fridge and brought back carrots, cheese, and broccoli.
Crunch, crunch.
Sitting in the living room with his short legs stretched out, Rajix munched on the carrot Gyeon Dallae had cut up with his tiny little hands.
A lucky charm. A lucky charm indeed.
Truly, once you let go of greed, fortune comes knocking.
The LSSR Mad Demon?
Who was that?
Was there even such a person?
Yesterday had been a storm of a day.
One twist after another.
What I thought was a dud turned out to be a jackpot, and what I thought was a jackpot turned out to be a dud. "The Mad Demon was a mad dud."
The more I think about it while sitting still, the angrier I get.
Conquer the world? Kill all the powerful people?
I regret it.
I should have logically rebutted him before dismissing the summon.
But it was already in the past.
I couldn't call him back.
A loser's trait.
When having a debate or argument, losers usually just stammer, unable to rebut the other side's logic, and let it end there.
They think a lot, but they're clumsy at putting those thoughts into words.
So what does a loser who lost a debate do when he gets home, before falling asleep?
He starts a post-mortem on why he lost.
If I'd countered that argument like this, I would have won. The premise itself was flawed—I should have pointed that out. Next time, I definitely need to rebut like this—and he kicks his blanket in regret.
That's what Juhyeok was doing right now.
When the Mad Demon had declared world conquest with his own twisted logic—"Good grief, does he think this is some simple world like the martial arts jianghu? This place is a world far more complex than any jianghu."
War?
An absurd notion. "Does he think people fight mindlessly with swords and spears?"
He doesn't even know how many nuclear-armed states there are on Earth.
There's one just to the north, for starters. "A nuclear apocalypse would wipe us out faster than a collapsing tower ever could."
No matter how mad a demon he is, how would he survive nukes?
Besides, could you swallow an entire country just by killing a few people in power?
Not a chance. "Any nation cobbled together like that is bound to splinter."
If there were any possibility at all, it would be unification by consensus.
But even that would be hard to realize. "Look at economic, security, and diplomatic alliances between nations—members are always threatening to leave, or not, it's a whole mess."
And even if a global federation did somehow form, how would you decide the leading nation?
By a vote?
Fat chance.
It would only come to pass with a blade at the negotiation table.
Perhaps agreement would only become possible when the world's towers collapse like dominoes and extinction stares us in the face.
By then, who knows if there'd be anything left to turn back.
But humanity has always overcome hardship and advanced.
After India's tower collapsed first, people didn't just stand by and watch.
There were countless attempts and efforts to climb the uncleared upper floors. "Thanks to that, not a single tower on Earth has collapsed since."
And it will stay that way.
Forever.
How could anyone know an unbuilt future?
Enough.
I rebutted him splendidly, if only in my imagination.
That felt refreshing.
A loser's trait.
Always achieving victory in his own mind.
There is no defeat.
Erase it from memory.
Having achieved my mental victory, I figured I'd go visit my parents' place for a bit.
***
In the morning, I lounged around with the Summoned; in the afternoon, I headed to my parents' house.
Honestly, I do feel a bit guilty.
The fact that their son is about to buy a penthouse while they live in a cramped(?) 130-square-meter apartment.
I should give them a lump sum later.
Not that they'd accept it.
And you can't just hand over a lump sum—trouble follows.
Even between family members, you have to pay gift tax.
I'll get legal advice, sort out the tax issue cleanly, and then transfer it.
Somehow, there are so many things that require money, one way or another.
I punched in the front door code and stepped inside.
"Son! Son! Come here quick. Quick!"
My father calling me urgently.
Had something happened?
"What's wrong?"
"I went fishing off the Incheon breakwater a while back, you see."
Fishing—my father's only hobby.
He goes religiously, even though he can't even clean the fish he catches.
I'd sent him some pocket money a while back to buy a new fishing rod, and apparently he couldn't wait and went right away.
"Look at this photo."
"...Whoa!"
A photo of him holding a red sea bream.
Easily over 80 centimeters at a glance.
"That's a monster."
"It's my all-time record. Incredible, right?"
"You caught this off a breakwater?"
"I told you. I thought the line had snagged on the bottom."
"Where's the fish?"
"Your mom and I ate half of it as sashimi. The rest is in the freezer."
No way—the Fortune Talisman?
Seeing my father's face up close, his complexion was definitely better.
His hip joint seemed fully healed too.
Is this the Health Talisman at work?
"Oh right! When did you buy the air purifier in the living room? I was actually thinking of getting you one."
"Huh? That? Your mom..."
Just then, Mom came out of her room.
"Why are you two talking about me? Were you badmouthing me?"
"Mom, did you buy an air purifier? Those are expensive."
"I didn't. I won it in a raffle at the new mart that opened just down the street. All these years and I win a door prize—what's this world coming to?"
Confirmed. It's the Fortune Talisman's effect.
Dad caught a trophy red sea bream, Mom won an air purifier in a raffle.
Then what about my younger brother Minhyeok? Got anything?
Right on cue, he came out of his room.
Apparently just finished gaming. The games Minhyeok mainly plays are FPS, first-person shooters.
"Kyah! Everything I shoot, I hit! Hyung, I think I'm a god of gaming. I just spray all over the place and my kill count shoots up."
"You're going to get caught. You've always been terrible at games."
"Huh...? Have I?"
Is that all this guy has got?
"Has anything good happened lately? Like some sudden, unexpected stroke of luck?"
"Hmm, oh! Wait, I remember. Yesterday—"
"Tell me. What happened yesterday?"
"I tried to get coffee from the vending machine at the school library, right? But I had no change."
"And?"
"I was about to walk away, thinking I'd get one next time, but there was a 500-won coin sitting right there next to the trash can?"
"... "
"Isn't that mind-blowing luck? Anyway, the coffee was great."
Haah, you poor kid.
How utterly trivial. Trivial.
"I'm reporting you for embezzlement of lost property."
"Come on, seriously? It was only 500 won!"
"Yes, and you can get charged even for picking up small amounts."
"Really?"
"Google it, go go."
Minhyeok's face turned pale.
"Could I go early tomorrow and put the 500 won back where it was?"
"That, I can't say."
Knowing his personality, he'd definitely return the 500 won to its original spot.
In any case, everyone was doing well for themselves.
***
The next morning, Monday.
Juhyeok sent Jeon Gwangil a message on his smartphone.
He was planning to visit the Management Authority now—would that be all right?
The reply came back instantly, sharp as a blade.
—I will send a car immediately.
Juhyeok waited in front of the officetel.
Moments later, screech—a car arrived.
"Please get in, Player Bong."
"Whoa, you came yourself, sir?"
"The car is the ideal place for a conversation, is it not?"
The reason Jeon Gwangil came in person.
A private meeting between the two of them alone in an office-like setting would draw people's attention.
So meeting like this was actually better.
"Player Bong, congratulations on your S++ clear of the 41st floor."
"Haha, it was nothing."
"I suppose the meditation helped?"
"It helped tremendously. Beyond my expectations."
Thanks to it, I pulled Rajix, after all.
The Mad Demon was unexpected, though.
"If you'd like, I can arrange a yoga instructor for you. A young woman around your age, and an excellent teacher."
"Ugh, that's too much."
Teaching and learning yoga, then eyes meeting and what if we get married later? Then we'd have to have kids, look into kindergartens, send them to school, marry them off, become grandparents and dote on the grandchildren...
Was I getting ahead of myself a bit fast there?
Besides, the meditation had been pretty half-hearted anyway.
Yoga was out of the question.
"I'll pass on the yoga."
"Hahaha, understood."
First, the business at hand.
"Is there a spacious area inside the Management Authority? Preferably somewhere without people."
"There is. The Management Authority's materials warehouse—no one can enter without authorization. It's where we store magic stones and tower materials."
That worked out perfectly.
I can take them out there.
Before long, the car arrived at the Management Authority.
We went inside and around to the back of the building, where more guards stood, just like at the main entrance.
Apparently in front of the special materials warehouse.
Jeon Gwangil rolled down the driver's side window and showed his ID and face, and the barrier and iron gate rose simultaneously.
The car entered the warehouse.
Soon after, the gate and barrier closed again.
Juhyeok got out of the car with Jeon Gwangil.
"So, what is this about?"
"I'd like to sell some material items."
"..."
"Ah!"
"..."
Jeon Gwang-il's eyes sparkled brightly.
If Player Bong Ju-hyeok said he was selling materials, they would hardly be ordinary materials.
Otherwise, he would have just gone to the Player Shop.
"Shall we take them out?"
He wanted to see how much there was.
"..."
"There isn't much in quantity, but they're quite large."
"..."
"Then please take them out over here."
Just then—
Shuuuuk!
A massive object emerged from thin air.
Its appearance was like... a monster?
"Uwaaaaagh!!!"
Alarmed out of his wits, Jeon Gwang-il screamed and collapsed backward on the spot.
"Oh my, I'm sorry. I should have warned you in advance."
"Uhh, wh-what?"
Jeon Gwang-il's legs were still trembling.
Looking again, it really did seem to be a monster.
An enormous one at that.
But that thing looked so familiar.
A head more massive than a crocodile's despite its shorter snout, deep black, rugged, bumpy skin—anyone could tell at a glance...
"Th-that's an Ironclad Basilisk? Am I right?"
"Oh! You know your stuff."
"I've only seen it in videos."
Why was that here?
The thing lying limp on the ground seemed to be dead already.
Even if it was dead—a monster from inside the Tower had appeared in reality?
The item he'd brought to sell was a monster.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
"What? Um, y-yes, yes."
"It's a whole-piece Basilisk hide. Like shedding a skin, only the hide was extracted."
"Aha!"
So it was a hide.
A full, untanned hide.
So that's why it looked like that.
No, that didn't make it any less unbelievable.
Even if it was a hide.... Could it be...?
"Is this an S++ grade reward?"
"...Let's just say it is."
Only then did Jeon Gwang-il, his expression relieved, approach and examine it closely.
"A size like this—I've truly never seen one before."
"Can you sell it?"
"Well. Even pricing it looks difficult. There's no precedent."
"Hmm..."
That was actually true.
The hides Players received as clear rewards were barely the size of a small cushion.
Gathering several of those was just enough to make combat boots; with even more, you could manage a single leather armor.
But a whole-piece hide?
How many sets of armor could that make?
"For now, I'll take everything out. Please sell them as you see fit."
"...Take everything out?"
That meant there was more.
"Seven whole Ironclad Basilisk hides in total, and there are herbs too. Those should probably be refrigerated."
"..."
Ju-hyeok pulled the whole hides and herbs out of his inventory.
Along with magic stones too.
Items kept streaming out of thin air one after another. 'What on earth...'
Jeon Gwang-il's mouth kept hanging open wider and wider.
It stayed agape for quite a long while.