A Wimp's Strategy Guide to Conquer the Tower

Chapter 128

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The proclamation of occupation against North Korea’s tower by a Player affiliated with the Republic of Korea.

Countries all over the world were watching this situation closely.

A mere individual Player was proclaiming the forced seizure of a nation’s Black Tower?

Whether something like that was even truly possible was beside the point.

The deed had already been done,

and the time for arguing whether it could or could not happen had passed.

What people were interested in now was what came after the proclamation.

How exactly would North Korea respond?

Resistance? Or submission?

And in ten days, would the nationality of North Korea’s Black Tower really change?

If that actually happened, what would become of the Players affiliated with North Korea’s tower?

That was right.

What mattered was the result.

How this proclamation would end.

The Players affiliated with North Korea’s tower were inwardly hopeful.

Both the original-nationality Players and the foreign Players who had temporarily naturalized and then ended up trapped there.

It would be nice if they became Republic of Korea nationals.

They would be able to climb the sweetest jackpot tower, the one with the highest probability of item rewards.

Meanwhile, the country that took the biggest shock from all this

was China.

China and North Korea.

Their relations had grown somewhat distant lately, but they were still, strictly speaking, military allies.

And yet the situation was changing far too abruptly.

Chairman Kim Injung’s ambiguous attitude.

In particular, everything after the miraculous recovery from that vegetative state was deeply suspicious.

Chairman Liu Zhao of China was receiving a report from the intelligence director.

“They aren’t responding at all?”

“Yes. Progress in North Korea’s tower remains unchanged. They do not appear to have any intention of climbing to defend it.”

“Hmph! So they intend to hand it over.”

More than a week had already passed since the proclamation.

The point when the tower would soon be transferred was approaching.

And still they were doing nothing?

That was not like the North Korean government.

No matter how incapable they were of clearing the tower, this was too much.

The one who had made the proclamation was a Player of the Republic of Korea.

Then at the very least, should they not have issued denunciations or threats?

They even had nuclear missiles.

‘The rumor may be true.’

That Chairman Kim Injung had directly requested it from the government of the Republic of Korea.

And that was not all.

Since the Tower occupation proclamation, the deaths of the key hardliners against South Korea.

And despite that, the Supreme People’s Assembly had still been forced through.

Moreover, political bureaucrats and military figures classified as pro-China were also being purged or falling from power.

What in the world was happening?

It was suspicious beyond measure.

It might even mean they were trying to break with China and join hands with South Korea.

In the end, the answer was Chairman Kim Injung.

What exactly was that man thinking?

And one more thing—

“This man here is the one rising as the second most powerful figure in North Korea after Kim Injung.”

“The new Minister of the People’s Armed Forces?”

“Yes. The name is Go Sageuk. It appears this man was also deeply involved in the purge of the hardliners and pro-China figures.”

There was a photo too.

On the tablet screen, Go Sageuk was leading a chant of long live at the Supreme People’s Assembly.

“He’s young.”

His appearance was ordinary too.

A typical East Asian face.

“Have you found out who he is?”

“We could not. Age, education, hometown, everything is a mystery. It looks as though he fell from the sky.”

Liu Zhao carefully examined other photographs of Chairman Kim Injung and Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Go Sageuk.

They looked extremely close.

No matter where they went, the two always stayed close together.

From morning to evening.

As though they were {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} lovers.

No one short of a fool could fail to realize it.

At the center of the changes now taking place in North Korea

was this man, Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Go Sageuk.

“So Go Sageuk’s identity is the key.”

“That is correct. We are looking into it from every angle.”

“How long will it take?”

“Th-that is... the only information we’ve been given is the name and the face...”

As if something had just occurred to him, Chairman Liu Zhao asked,

“...Could he be a Player? The kind that can use abilities in reality.”

“You mean a Player using the Liberation Rune Necklace and the Ring of Appearance Transformation?”

“Yes. The way the hardliners were removed without a trace is suspicious.”

At that, the intelligence director tapped the tablet screen and enlarged Go Sageuk’s fingers to show them clearly.

“If you look here, during the long-live chant, there is no ring on the fingers. I checked the neck area too, and for now it doesn’t seem like there is any necklace either.”

Then there was a very high chance this was not a liberated Player.

“Send someone to investigate Go Sageuk directly.”

“Understood.”

There was no helping it if North Korea’s tower was transferred.

China was in no position to help defend the tower.

But if the actual country itself passed into South Korean hands?

For example, through unification—

that had to be stopped.

A practical unification of South and North Korea was absolutely unacceptable.

And so China’s elite special intelligence agents were urgently dispatched to North Korea.

*****

Japan.

Prime Minister Kawaguchi had died a screaming, untimely death when the Tokyo Black Tower appeared, and acting Prime Minister Usuda had also been futilely killed by coup forces.

The nation had fallen into chaos, but even so, a general election still had to be held.

Changes arose in Japanese politics as well.

The Reform Party narrowly took first place, edging out the Liberal Party.

A change of government.

And so Japan’s current prime minister was Maeda Kenji of the Reform Party.

There was something unusual about him.

He was a former Player.

An early-awakening Player in the early forties.

But as a politician, that was a very young age.

The first thing he did after taking office as prime minister was declare an attempt on Japan Tokyo Tower Floor 58.

He did not jump in himself.

Even though he was a Player, he lacked the talent to climb upper floors.

Instead, he focused intensive investment on the most promising Player among the state-trained Players already in place.

In that process, Korea’s role had been extremely large.

Loaded from head to toe with tower-reward weapons and equipment purchased from the Player Shop, and fully doped with elixirs and potions, they had managed to kill the Floor 58 Frost Wyvern.

Maeda Kenji had no choice but to acknowledge it.

If Japan wanted to survive, help from Korea was essential.

And that would remain true in the future as well.

Prime Minister Maeda’s stance on this Tower occupation proclamation was also flexible.

“It is true they made the request first, correct?”

“It is certain. Just looking at the total lack of movement to defend North Korea’s tower.”

Maeda nodded.

“It’s a decent method. If they can’t clear it, handing it over is the wise decision.”

“It seems they’re trying to go a step further than that.”

“What do you mean?”

The Chief Cabinet Secretary answered carefully.

“The atmosphere is unusual. The military hardliners have been dying one after another, and pro-China figures have also been purged.”

And then—

“They put forward a new Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and seized power in one stroke. It appears Chairman Kim is trying to redraw the board.”

Redraw the board.

If so...

“Don’t tell me—unification?”

“That would be too hasty a guess, but at minimum, it is certain that they are trying to improve relations with South Korea. Even considering that there was some degree of mutual understanding between the Blue House and Chairman Kim Injung in this Tower occupation proclamation...”

“Hm.”

Improved relations between South and North Korea.

In the old days, Japan would have tried to stop it somehow.

But now it was in a position where it had to watch Korea’s mood.

Japan also had to climb to Floor 71.

It had to receive high-grade Magic Stones and prepare for the coming new industrial revolution.

And to do that, it absolutely had to break through the undead section.

Holy water alone was not enough.

The rental of a holy sword from Korea’s Awakening Administration was essential.

“I believe we should decide the Cabinet government’s position in advance.”

A position, huh.

“If relations between North and South Korea improve, then we should congratulate them. What else is there to do?”

But the secretary still looked full of concern.

“The old men will resist fiercely.”

“Hmph! What can those people possibly do?”

Japan’s right wing?

Their era was setting.

Japan had grown too old.

Its politics, its economy, its culture.

The younger generation had to step to the front.

Instead of babbling endlessly about the future, future, future, they had to act for a real future.

“We also urgently need improved relations with South Korea. If we spend all our time worrying about old men, we may miss our chance.”

Japan also needed to redraw the board.

And at its center, there would be no place for the aging right wing.

Fortunately, the young generations of both countries got along fairly well.

Young Koreans wanted to travel to Japan, and Japan’s younger generation was passionate about the Korean Wave.

Maeda also felt no burden about improving relations with Korea.

With the collapse of Japan’s Black Tower and the annihilation of the Japan Self-Defense Force coup faction, the right wing’s influence was in tatters.

Now was the opportunity.

Japan had to move more aggressively.

Settling the past?

What was so difficult about that?

He intended to give the Korean government whatever it demanded.

This Tower occupation proclamation made that obvious too.

The Republic of Korea’s S+++ clear record holder, and because of that, the Republic of Korea would become the leading nation of East Asia—no, of the world.

But Prime Minister Maeda was taking Japan’s domestic right wing far too lightly.

He did not realize how persistent and obsessive they were.

*****

Cossack had begun operating in earnest.

So now, waking up early every morning and sending Cossack off to work was how Juhyeok’s day began.

Lately he had been worried because Cossack had way too much on his plate.

North Korea dispatch duty, Black Tower clearing duty, side jobs, overtime, night shifts...

Should he brew some kind of tonic for him?

Though as far as North Korea duty went, all he really had to do was stick close to Chairman Kim and make sure the man did not pull any nonsense.

Once he had sent Cossack off to North Korea?

Well, there was not much to do.

He just loafed around.

Called out the summoned entities, ate meals with them, watched movies, went for drives.

He had postponed climbing the upper floors.

Until North Korea’s Black Tower had fully changed nationality.

After that, he would climb Floors 75 and 76 in order, get a Rank Breakthrough Rune and send Princess Gyeon Dallae in, maybe try a random summon too.

After resting like that, that day finally arrived.

It was today.

The day the tower’s nationality changed.

“This is something worth commemorating, sir. Might even trigger an Achievement, sir.”

That was right.

It was not a Player’s nationality changing, but a tower’s nationality changing, so of course it ought to trigger an Achievement.

“In that sense, sir, how about coming to Pyongyang today, sir?”

“To North Korea?”

“Yessir! I’ll give you the full Pyongyang course, sir. I’ll head over first and get everything set up neat and proper, sir.”

“Hm.”

He was not sure whether that was really okay.

Wouldn’t that count as an illegal visit to North Korea?

What if the National Intelligence Service caught him and interrogated him on espionage charges?

“...Nothing will happen, right?”

“Just stick on recognition-obstruction talismans and come, sir.”

Should he go once?

It sounded like a pretty good idea.

It was a special place most people would never get to visit.

And so Juhyeok made the snap decision to visit North Korea.

After every summoned entity, including Mad Demon and even Rajix, had attached recognition-obstruction talismans,

he entered Republic of Korea Black Tower Floor 1, gave up the mission, and exited into North Korea’s Black Tower.

Far off in the distance, Pyongyang came into view.

He had really made it all the way to North Korea.

‘This feels strange.’

Now all that was left was to meet up with Cossack.

But even after the appointed time had passed, Cossack still had not shown up.

“Hmph, that brat got himself a position and now he’s become arrogant. He dares make both this seat and our summoner wait?”

Mad Demon’s dissatisfied voice.

“It’s probably because the exit point is random. He’ll show up if we wait a little.”

“Hoh-hoh, our summoner truly is generous. However, by now he should have sensed our presence—” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

At that moment—

POP! POP! POP! POP...

A sound came from afar.

And then a man in People’s Army clothes came running up in a fluster.

It was an unfamiliar face, but Juhyeok knew at once upon seeing it.

Cossack had changed his face with polymorph.

“Chung! Summoner Bong, welcome, sir. Comrades, do come in as well, sir.”

Gyeon Dallae gave a small snort of amusement.

“You have become quite the important figure. Hard to get a meeting with you. Second in North Korea’s hierarchy—or really, if one thinks about it, first.”

“Oh, Princess, the moment I realized you’d arrived, I came running at full speed, sir.”

Veronica spoke too.

“May I shoot the Minister of the People’s Armed Forces? Since he is the head of the enemy state of our Republic of Korea anyway, isn’t he?”

“Sergeant Ver, why are you like this, sir? I’ve been working so hard for the Juche revolution...”

CLICK!

Sergeant Ver chambered her magic gun.

“He really is a double agent. I believe he has been brainwashed.”

“The warrior thinks so as well. Is it 111 to report a spy?”

“Hurk!”

Cossack grinned crookedly and said,

“In that case, sir, how about Sergeant Ver coming to North Korea too as a revolutionary fighter, sir? It’d be nice if you let the reactionaries have a taste of Juche’s revolutionary fire stick, sir.”

Veronica’s ears perked right up.

She had already been feeling a little jealous that Cossack seemed to be having all the fun by himself.

“Is there a position open?”

“Oh, of course there is, ma’am. How about Director of the General Political Bureau, ma’am?”

“Is it a good seat?”

“If you come, the two of us can roast and stir-fry North Korea together, ma’am.”

“Will this face work? I don’t have a face-changing skill.”

“Ask Summoner Bong to lend you the Ring of Appearance Transformation, ma’am.”

At that, Veronica looked at Juhyeok with bright, sparkling eyes.

“...Let’s talk about it later.”

“CERTAIN VICTORY!”

Once they got away from the area around the Pyongyang Black Tower, several vehicles and drivers were waiting for the group.

“These comrades are my loyal subordinates, sir. No need to worry, sir.”

The drivers snapped upright and raised their hands high as they shouted,

“Welcome, sirs. Long live the spirit of Juche revolution!”

“Long live Juhyeok!”

“Long live!”

“...”

What was that supposed to mean now?

Juhyeok?

Why was his name coming out there?

“Uh, th-that’s short for the spirit of Juche revolution, sir.”

North Korea really did abbreviate everything.

Anyway, the group split up among the cars and entered Pyongyang proper.

The bleak scenery of Pyongyang.

The roads were wide, but there were barely any cars passing by.

One cart was even being pulled by an ox.

In a world where people were talking about whether high-grade Magic Stones would bring about the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions, an ox cart?

On the other hand, the buildings were unexpectedly grand and proper.

Was that because this was Pyongyang?

Every building had red cloth banners hanging from it.

All of them bore agitation slogans.

But then?

“...”

And even on the building of Okryu-gwan, their final destination—

This was driving him insane.

Who did this?

There was only one possible answer.

Comrade Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Cossack, subtly avoiding his gaze and pretending to look elsewhere.

The summoned entities seemed to have caught on too.

All of them smiling with satisfaction,

“My lord’s name is resounding through the world. Well done, assassin.”

“How admirable. Unexpected, truly. The spirit of Juhyeok—I like it.”

“This young lady is impressed as well. I thought you only had eyes for official rank.”

“Cossack, make a seat for me too. I want to try being Director of the General Political Bureau.”

“As expected, the assassin is clever.”

“WAAAH... how cool. The spirit of Juhyeok.”

At the repeated praise, the corners of Cossack’s mouth practically hooked up to his ears.

“Oh, come now, sir. This Cossack thinks only of Summoner Bong whether asleep or awake, sir.”

“...”

This was bad.

At this point, an illegal visit to North Korea no longer felt like the real issue.

The summoned entities were turning red.

They looked ready to stand up with sickles and hammers in hand.

And he was on the verge of becoming the red ringleader.

Anyway, Juhyeok, the Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, and the rest of the group entered Okryu-gwan.

“We’re the only ones in Okryu-gwan, sir. Full course begins now, sir.”

With the indisputable number two power in North Korea arriving, the staff of Okryu-gwan stiffened with tension as they hurried out the food.

It was laid out lavishly.

Authentic Pyongyang naengmyeon, Pyongyang onban, Kaesong dumplings, meat hot pot, and even Taedonggang beer.

‘...Hm.’

It looked good.

Let’s eat first and think later.

That was when it happened.

Ding!

[Global Notice: The 10-day defense period granted to Players of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has ended.]

At last!

[Global Notice: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Players have failed to defend against occupation.]

[Global Notice: The nationality of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Black Tower has been changed to the Republic of Korea.]

[Global Notice: Tower acquisition procedures have begun.]

From this point on, the system messages could be heard only by Juhyeok.

[I will now inform you of the current status of Players affiliated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Black Tower.]

[The number of original-nationality Players is 1,925, and the number of temporarily affiliated Players is 18,714.]

The number of native Players and temporarily naturalized Players differed by nearly tenfold.

No wonder overcrowding had happened.

In any case, if the system was mentioning the Players separately rather than grouping them all together—

[Please determine whether to inherit or erase the Status Window nationality of the original-nationality Players.]

That meant they could be handled separately.

The ultimate purpose of Tower occupation, in any case, was unification.

So—

“Inherit the Status Window nationality of the original-nationality Players.”

[Global Notice: The nationality of the Players previously affiliated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Black Tower will be changed in a lump sum to the Republic of Korea.]

It was proclaimed by Global Notice.

Next?

[Please determine whether to inherit or erase the Status Window nationality of the temporarily affiliated Players.]

“Erase the nationality of the temporarily naturalized Players.”

[Global Notice: The nationality of the temporarily naturalized Players affiliated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Black Tower has been erased.]

Joy and despair among the Players split apart.

And the Achievement?

[Achievement: You have changed the nationality of another country’s Black Tower for the first time.]

Of course it had to appear.

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