Namyangju villa.

Juhyeok sat facing the Mad Demon across an outdoor table, just the two of them.

The first round had ended with everyone gathered together, going heave-ho, heave-ho as a group.

Right now was the second round, and since only two people actually enjoyed drinking, there was no helping it.

The other summoned entities were scattered around, each resting somewhere else.

Gyeon Dallae was reading with warm sunlight as company, Rajix was tending the vegetable garden, Veronica was holed up sleeping, and Meatshield and Bardin were chatting quietly together.

Juhyeok unsealed a genuine bottle of Maotai he’d bought at a department store and poured it into the Mad Demon’s cup.

“Hmm, the aroma is excellent. To think I’d get to taste liquor like this. Summoner, accept a cup as well.”

Trickle.

“Thank you.”

Cossack was in charge of the food.

He lit charcoal at the side and set meat on the grill.

ZZZZZT!

After grilling a perfect piece of top-grade Korean beef chuck flap so none of the juices escaped, he set it on a plate with a neat plop.

“Have a taste, sir. Steak specialist, wizard of flame control, Michelin three-star, global chef master—this is meat grilled by me, Chef Cossack.”

Chef Cossack now?

The Mad Demon let out a chuckle and spoke.

“You’ve got the order wrong. Not me—summoner first.”

“Huh? This chuck flap is for Summoner Bong.”

“...Mine?”

“I’m grilling it right now, ain’t I?”

Cossack grilled a big piece of sirloin and placed it on a plate.

“Mm. The meat’s different.”

“This is tasty too. You lookin’ down on Korean beef sirloin?”

And as he said that, he stuffed a piece of sirloin into his own mouth.

“It just melts.”

He washed it down with a gulp of cola.

“Kyah...! Mad Demon, what’re you doin’? Hurry up and eat. If you don’t, I’m gonna eat it all.”

“...Ahem! O-okay.”

The Mad Demon quietly brought chopsticks toward the meat.

“That ain’t your meat. I said the chuck flap is Summoner Bong’s.”

“...”

Wow. That nerve.

Cossack was fearless.

He’d witnessed the Mad Demon’s mass slaughter with his own eyes, and he still had the gall to act shameless right to the face.

Well—

It was all in Cossack’s background description.

Even when his skill rank had been SR, he’d tried to assassinate a sword master and died.

Would the target being the Mad Demon make any difference?

The Mad Demon looked like there was nothing to say.

With a bitter smile, chewing a piece ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) of sirloin, the Mad Demon spoke.

“Summoner.”

“Yes?”

“Today, you were excellent. I worried you might charge out, but you kept a firm center.”

Keeping that kind of center is easy.

Just don’t step forward.

“You did well too, Mad Demon... uh, well... hahahaha.”

“Hahaha. I know what you mean. I’m fine.”

Juhyeok wanted to praise, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Thank god it was the Tower—if the Mad Demon had unleashed those force-crescents like a boomerang at that anti-Korean protest in Japan back then, what would’ve happened?

Tokyo would’ve become a sea of blood.

A dangerous summoned entity, as expected.

At least it was fortunate the Mad Demon obeyed Juhyeok’s words.

Still, he couldn’t let his guard down.

What if, one day, the Mad Demon decided to invoke Summoned Principles, Article Three?

“By the way... when is the badge award ceremony...?”

“Ah! I’m going to do it now.”

“Oh! Is that so... hmm, for me as well?”

“Of course. Mass slaughter—ah, no, I mean, you performed an ultra-high-difficulty mission brilliantly. Haha.”

Even if the Mad Demon had done nothing, Juhyeok would still have to give one.

Honestly, it was scary.

The moment he said he was holding the badge ceremony, the summoned entities came rushing over in a swarm.

Should he start handing out rewards for merit?

Meatshield had suffered the most.

But despite earning the biggest contribution, Meatshield was excluded.

Because Meatshield was about to be promoted to LSSR with 22 badges soon.

And then Gyeon Dallae, Veronica, and Bardin.

They had worked hard too, but the merit was just a little short for earning badges.

Seeing faces without any expectation, it seemed like everyone knew that already.

First, the Mad Demon.

“You, as the eldest brother among the summoned entities, have rendered great service by using your fearsome martial power to eliminate a potential threat, uh... cleanly. Therefore, I award you a badge.”

“Hrm!”

The Mad Demon clasped hands with both fists in salute in return.

“I thank you for the blazing support of the comrades of the martial world.”

Next—

“Mr. Cossack.”

“Yes, sir!”

Cossack had to receive one.

Even if there was no merit, Juhyeok would make some up and give it anyway.

The highest seniority among the summoned entities.

And yet, he still only had three badges pinned.

Even the Mad Demon and Veronica had four.

That had always bothered Juhyeok.

“You have rendered great service by guiding the cosmic bald farmhand to the royal palace treasure vault with your elusive trap-disarming ability, and therefore I award you a badge.”

One badge for Cossack.

Honestly, Juhyeok wanted to give two.

If there hadn’t been trap disarming and lockpicking, would the cosmic bald farmhand have been able to get into the vault at all?

But it didn’t seem like Cossack wanted that.

With a grin, Cossack thrust out his chest where the badge was pinned.

“Thanks. I’ll work hard.”

Next, Rajix.

How many should he give?

Two last time, so two this time as well.

“You once again sniffed out the scent of items perfectly and stole—no, relocated a massive quantity of items from the royal palace treasure vault, so I award you two badges.”

“WAAH!”

Rajix threw both hands up and cheered.

This was exciting.

With two badges pinned, that would make five.

A total of ten.

Would a skill upgrade happen again like before?

As Juhyeok carefully pinned them on—

FWOOOOSH!

The five badges shone brilliantly.

And then the badges vanished almost instantly.

[The cumulative badges awarded to summoned entity Rajix total 10.]

[Summoned entity Rajix has received trust and recognition from the summoner.]

It appeared.

[One of the summoned entity’s skills will be upgraded to LSSR rank.]

[The skill to be upgraded will be chosen by the summoned entity.]

A second skill upgrade.

So what would he choose?

What if he upgraded a skill like cleaning?

Well, cleaning would be fine too.

If Rajix wanted it, how could Juhyeok stop it?

But Juhyeok believed.

In the ambition flashing in Rajix’s eyes.

“What did you pick?”

“WAAH...”

No words were needed.

Because he could see what had been chosen.

FWOOOOSH!

The Subspace Backpack Rajix had been carrying began to change.

“...Subspace?”

“WAAH, yes.”

That’s right.

The cosmic bald farmhand’s identity, the signature skill.

Subspace, upgraded to LSSR.

First, the backpack’s visible size shrank dramatically.

If before it had been about the size of a hiking pack, now it was the size of a kid’s picnic bag.

Of course, the outward appearance and the real performance would be different.

“How much bigger did it get?”

Once again, Rajix proved it through action.

He toddled over to the camper van.

Then—

Swipe, he touched it with his hand.

Slide.

The camper van vanished.

My god!

And when Rajix reached out again—

Slide.

It reappeared in the exact same spot.

That fits in there?

Before, Rajix couldn’t store bulky objects.

So what was the capacity now?

“How many of those camper vans can you fit in Subspace? Like... ten?”

Rajix shook his head side to side.

“More?”

Rajix raised a hand higher to say no—

As if that was nothing.

Meaning: try bigger.

“...Uh... one hundred?”

The hand went higher.

More?

“Five hundred?”

Still not it.

Then—

“One thousand?”

Rajix tilted his head, thinking.

“WAAH, it all goes in. Even more than that.”

Holy shit.

A thousand camper vans fit.

How was that even possible?

An LSSR-grade Subspace, vast beyond measure.

Just how big was it?

This is insane. Insane.

And Subspace didn’t just change in capacity.

When Rajix reached out, the items he wanted poured out, sorted by type.

On the wide open lot: high-grade Magic Stones on one side, weapons on another, armor beside that, then elixirs and potions, jewels, gold bars.

Stacked neatly.

Like someone had deliberately piled them, beautifully arranged.

“Can you separate Tower-Only items and regular items too?”

Nod nod.

He could.

A round of applause came out on its own.

“Incredible, worker. The warrior is in awe.”

“Ahhhh, Lord Rajix has surpassed the cosmic bald farmhand. He is the infinite-transcendent farmhand.”

“Eh, that don’t sound good. Cosmic bald farmhand just sticks in your mouth.”

“With just the Supply Officer, what war couldn’t we win?”

“As a knight serving the same lord, I am proud of you. O light!”

“This one will acknowledge it, just this once.”

Grin—

Rajix smiled.

“WAAH.”

He wasn’t satisfied.

His greed had no end.

The ambition to stay with the summoner forever.

*****

This Floor 73 S+++ clear was also announced to the world as a World Notice.

Broadcast news and press articles came pouring down.

<They did it again. Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 73 clear rank S+++ achieved.>

<TOWER PLAYER AWAKENING ADMINISTRATION, Korea lobby display: Collapse time limit 703 days.>

<Player Shop begins selling Tower reward items.>

<Players swarm in the moment it opens; supply is sufficient.>

<Korean Players buy items and begin climbing higher floors.>

<High-grade Magic Stones mined in increasing numbers; corporate supply begins.>

<Republic of Korea will become the leader in utilizing room-temperature superconductors.> <Requests for permanent naturalization to Korea surge from Players across the world.> <Interest in Korea skyrockets especially among Japanese Players.>

<UN recommends the Korean government refrain from recruiting other countries’ Players.>

<TOWER PLAYER AWAKENING ADMINISTRATION: Naturalization is an individual freedom, but naturalization will not be accepted for the time being.>

Countless posts also went up on the Tower-climbing gallery that Korean Players frequently visited.

ㄴBlack Tower (Republic of Korea)? It’s just a high-grade Magic Stone mine.

ㄴLooks like they got a lot of rewards?

ㄴIt sucks that you can only go in once a day.

ㄴItems too?

ㄴI dunno. But people say they give out a lot.

ㄴSo what. Even if it goes from 0.01% to 0.1%, would you even notice?

ㄴ0.1% is a damn jackpot though?

ㄴThe odds definitely went up. Go to the Player Shop. The urge to buy hit and my account got wiped.

ㄴHeh. You idiots buy items and climb the Tower.

ㄴWhat are you talking about? Then what are you buying items for, boiling soup?

ㄴReselling. You don’t even know how many foreign Players came into Korea right now. Even if I charge double—no, triple—they still buy.

ㄴThis bastard’s a reseller, huh?

ㄴHey, you son of a bitch! You’re selling Korean item assets overseas?

ㄴSo what?

ㄴIf our top Player finds out, he’ll pound his chest.

ㄴYeah. He didn’t carve out the road up to Floor 73 for trash like that.

ㄴForeign Player money or Korean Player money, it’s all money. If it sells well, he’ll be happy too, right?

In reality, quite a lot of foreign Players were buying the items sold in the Korean Player Shop through brokers.

If you had decent items, Tower clear difficulty dropped like a rock.

Was money really the issue?

When high-grade Magic Stones were waiting to be mined?

In the middle of that, an article also came out in America.

<Gerald Watson! Perfect clear of East Coast Tower #1 Floor 71.>

<Due to the nature of the mission, bodycam footage will not be released..>

<America begins receiving high-grade Magic Stone rewards as well.>

<A new item appears: Tower-Only Holy-Power Holy Water. Could it replace the holy sword?>

ㄴBravo! America became the second country producing high-grade Magic Stones too.

ㄴThird. After China and Korea.

ㄴAh! Right, China existed too. They’ve been so quiet.

ㄴIs high-grade Magic Stones the issue in China right now? Two top leaders—Chairmen—died back-to-back.

ㄴYeah, true.

ㄴAnyone here used holy water? Or planning to?

ㄴMe! I’m gonna drink this and climb Floor 61 tomorrow.

ㄴOh! What floor did it drop from?

ㄴFloor 56.

ㄴSo it doesn’t only come out on 71+.

ㄴI’m gonna drink holy water and clear West Coast Tower #4 Floor 70. That West Coast four-gift set is mine.

ㄴYou think the government will just sit and watch?

ㄴWhat’s the problem? It won’t even know who got it.

ㄴHmm. I should try too.

ㄴBuy items first. Even with holy water, you should go in with Tower reward items fully equipped.

ㄴMight as well go to Korea and buy a few.

Black Tower.

Until now, it had been the biggest threat facing humanity.

But now, the situation had changed.

The Tower could become a blessing to humanity.

In reality, it already had.

A revolution across industry was being forecast.

After witnessing Korea and America’s success, countries around the world poured all national power into reaching Floor 71.

First, climb to Floor 71.

And if it was possible to clear higher than that, go even higher.

With this, the paradigm of clearing the Black Tower changed completely.

*****

The Player Shop was packed with customers, but it was true that resellers—people flipping items—were causing problems.

Jeon Gwangil and Park Kyungsoo had headaches over it too.

Wasn’t there some way to regulate resellers?

“It’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“We can’t stop selling items in the Player Shop, and we can’t catch them trading it again afterward.”

“Hm.”

Because the items came from the Tower, they went into the Player Inventory.

How could you catch that? You absolutely couldn’t.

“So the only options are raising the selling price, or placing a purchase limit.”

“That’s right. But those aren’t good methods either. If we do it wrong, other Players could take the hit.”

Right.

A shop solely for Players.

It hadn’t even started as a profit business in the first place.

It was built so they could carry out missions safely inside the Tower.

“Still, we plan to regulate habitual resellers. We made a list too.”

“Good. Delete their Player Shop access authority.”

But it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand foreign Players either.

How desperate did they have to be, to come all the way to Korea to buy items?

Those expensive items.

Each item cost at least in the hundreds of millions of won.

Accessories started at 500 million.

And even this was selling cheap.

In foreign shops, it was more expensive.

Sometimes it sold for over ten times.

“Oh—right! Holy water, what about it? Did it have an effect in the undead section?”

With a heavy expression, Jeon Gwangil nodded.

“Elites tested it, and it worked. It’s weaker than the holy sword, but the undead’s dark aura becomes much weaker than before...”

“And the supply?”

“It drops fairly often in various places.”

“I see.”

It seemed like the holy sword rental business would have to be phased out soon.

From the start, it had been temporary.

They’d confirmed it wasn’t especially useful once you got past the undead section.

Even so, as if trying to squeeze out a final flame, the Administration was packed to the brim with Players from each country coming to rent the holy sword.

Holy water was dropping now, but there still wasn’t anything like the holy sword.

Because everyone had to climb fast.

“The holy sword rental’s about to go stale.”

“We’ve earned enough, so Bong Juhyeok will be satisfied.”

“Still, can we buy enough buildings? In cash, I mean.”

A Gangnam 61-floor building priced at 1.3 trillion won.

Soon, it would transfer into Bong Juhyeok’s ownership.

“Once the rental business ends, I wonder if Bong Juhyeok’s profit businesses will take a hit.”

“It’ll be fine. Items are selling well, and wyvern leather products will be released soon too.”

Right—was the holy sword the only source of money?

What was there to worry about?

“And how do you plan to handle the Japanese Player issue?”

“My head’s been killing me over that.”

Twenty Japanese Players had submitted a group asylum request through the Korean embassy.

They wanted to naturalize into Korea.

With Japan’s political situation in terrible shape right now, public order was also developing problems.

It was only natural that Players felt threatened.

Players who weren’t protected could become targets for crime.

But it also wasn’t something they could accept lightly.

Right then!

Tick, tick, tick...

A message notification sound rang from Jeon Gwangil’s smartphone.

He checked it briefly.

“Hm?”

“What message?”

“Ah, yes. Bong Juhyeok says he’ll come to the Administration tomorrow.”

“Really? For what?”

“I don’t know that.”

Park Kyungsoo’s eyes gleamed with expectation.

“He’s not going to ask us to handle sales of another massive batch of items again, is he?”

Jeon Gwangil gave a little snort, wearing a face that said there was no way.

“Come on. As if. Is there some treasure vault inside the Tower or something?”

“Hahaha. Right?”

People say ‘as if’ is how you get killed, but... still, as if!

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