A conversation among the tower administrators.

[So he really did use the Tower Occupation Proclamation Loudspeaker.]

[That’s right. Cleaner than anyone could have hoped, without a single conflict or dispute.]

[I’ve felt this for a while now, but the synergy between this Savior and the helpers seems exceptionally good.]

[That’s only natural. People whose souls resonate are the ones who get summoned in the first place, but yes, it is smooth. Has anything gone wrong so far?]

[He even handles that crazy Mad Demon better than anyone.]

[Changing a tower’s nationality this time is an achievement too, which worries me. What kind of achievement reward will it give?]

[There’s no need to worry too much. Achievement rewards are probability-based too, so at worst it’ll be something like increased Enter Tower uses or extended manifestation time limits for the helpers.]

[Hoo, at this rate all we can do is wait for him to hurry past the seventies and come up into the eighties.]

[Up to Floor 79 is an event section, so fine, but from Floor 80 onward we need to design things properly.]

[Well, by then there’ll be room in the causality margin, so if we set up a few things here and there.]

[If there’s one variable, it’s the alchemist Aliamari... though this time too, she’ll probably just stay holed up indoors making medicine, right?]

[She has to. If that bitch starts participating directly in the clearing, it’ll become a headache.]

*****

No matter how you looked at it, a Player’s main source of income was Magic Stones.

Of course, if you got rewarded with an equipment item or an item without the Tower-Only modifier, that was the equivalent of hitting the jackpot.

But the only thing that brought in steady, fixed income even if you simply climbed the tower every day and kept doing repeated clearing was Magic Stones.

Then, at one point, the existence of high-grade Magic Stones first became known.

High-grade Magic Stones, which could only be obtained as rewards from the Black Towers of countries that had successfully climbed to Floor 71.

At first, nobody knew how valuable they were.

So even when governments or corporations bought them, they only valued them at roughly double the price.

But repeated research revealed the uses of high-grade Magic Stones, their value as room-temperature superconductors.

Their price skyrocketed.

Demand surged mainly from corporations, universities, and government research institutes.

At first double, then triple, quadruple, ten times.

They were so scarce that they sold no matter the price.

When prices are high, that’s when you need to make your fortune.

To the Republic of Korea Black Tower, where high-grade Magic Stone rewards dropped the best,

that was why countless Players had gone through temporary naturalization into North Korea, and due to an unintended incident, nationality transfers ended up restricted for a full year.

Today was the day.

The day it would all be decided.

If the Black Tower’s nationality changed, what would happen to the affiliated Players?

Ding!

[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 appeared!

The naturalized Players cheered.

It was the best possible result.

Nationality changed to the Republic of Korea.

Whether they were ordinary Players from each country who had jumped in looking for a big score, or Black Market Guild Players who had naturalized en masse for a new industry,

all of them had been hoping they would get to milk the Black Tower under Republic of Korea nationality.

But what was going ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) on?

Their Status Window nationality wasn’t changing.

Did it just take a little time for the change to apply?

Soon, they realized why.

The first notice applied to the Players previously affiliated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Black Tower, meaning the native Players, not the temporarily naturalized ones.

Then what about the temporarily naturalized Players?

A little later, the Global Notice sounded again.

Ding!

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

What?

They doubted their ears.

Erased?

Then what happened now?

And then their changed Status Windows.

None.

If you had no affiliation, that meant you no longer had a tower to enter.

What the hell was this?

At the same time, ding.

[Acquire a new nationality within 10 days.]

[If you fail to acquire a nationality, your Player qualification will be revoked.]

Ah! So that was how it worked.

If it was erased, it didn’t recover automatically. You had to create a nationality again.

But how hard could it be to acquire a nationality?

All they had to do was sign with a country again.

There was no reason for any country to turn away Players who were essentially industrial workers.

But what about the money they had invested for temporary naturalization?

They were about to recover none of it.

Disappointed Players, angry Players, irritated Players, Players cursing.

Were they all furious?

Not a chance!

In reality, Players with negative emotions were only an extreme minority.

Most of the temporarily naturalized Players felt relieved.

And then they cheered and gave thanks.

Why?

Because they had thought they would be stuck helplessly in the North Korea Black Tower for an entire year.

Other countries were racing toward the seventies at breakneck speed.

Soon, it was obvious that practically all decent Players would be receiving high-grade Magic Stone rewards.

And what about themselves?

They would have had no choice but to keep clearing only the North Korea Black Tower for a year.

Getting rewarded with ordinary Magic Stones whose prices had already dropped as far as they could go.

But now things were different.

Miraculously, they had been freed.

Now they could change nationality to whatever country they wanted.

All thanks to the Republic of Korea’s S+++ clear-record Player successfully carrying out Tower occupation.

How grateful should they be?

They felt like they wanted to meet the person in person, throw their arms around the S+++ clearer, and thank them.

So the Players whose nationality had been erased went to Korean Player community sites and each left a short comment.

Using translation software, of course.

ㄴI am grateful. I will never forget this kindness.

ㄴEscape, change, successful, very thankful.

ㄴYou are an angel. Blessings upon you!

ㄴI will live without greed. Thank you for giving me this chance.

ㄴKorea is the best. I will visit someday.

ㄴS+++ clear-ranked Player, I respect you. Cool and strong Player.

ㄴTake this chance and unify with North Korea. I support it.

The Korean Players also added a word or two.

ㄴHeh heh heh, I was wondering who these people were. They pasted that in with a translator.

ㄴHey! This is the majesty of Korea’s S+++ ranked Player.

ㄴThey’re thanking us for getting their nationality erased.

ㄴThey must’ve felt suffocated. They were stuck there for a whole year.

ㄴSeriously, they’d been the Players affiliated with the worst Black Tower that whole time.

ㄴDo better from now on, okay? Don’t get greedy.

ㄴThis is making my patriotic blood boil in a really weird way.

It was a happy ending for everyone.

Except for one person.

Who?

A Player whose nationality had been erased, but who couldn’t possibly acquire a new nationality within 10 days.

Dmitry, the Black Market Guildmaster imprisoned in North Korea’s Player cooperative labor camp.

“Fucking!”

All Dmitry could do was spit curses.

Could a new nationality really be acquired within 10 days?

And if Player qualification was revoked, what would happen to all the treasures in the Inventory?

*****

After the Global Notice announcing the nationality change of the North Korea Black Tower,

the news exploded in the Republic of Korea as if it had been waiting for this.

<Breaking) North Korea Black Tower changed to Republic of Korea nationality.>

<Breaking) Players previously affiliated with North Korea tower inherit Republic of Korea affiliation.>

<Breaking) Shock! There was prior consultation between the Republic of Korea government and the North Korean government.>

<Breaking) Black Tower unification, full national unification is not far off.>

<Breaking) Chairman Kim Injung proposes an inter-Korean summit.>

<Breaking) Promise of friendly exchange across politics, economics, and culture.>

<Breaking) Korean Awakening Administration plans exchange with North Korea, decides to pass on tower-climbing know-how.>

These were matters the governments of North and South Korea had already agreed upon beforehand.

An embargo had been placed on the media, with instructions to release breaking reports once the notice appeared.

Follow-up reports also poured out.

<Breaking) Temporarily naturalized Players who had been trapped in the North Korea tower have their nationality erased.>

<Breaking) Finally escaped! A flood of thanks to the S+++ ranked clearer.>

<Breaking) Governments of various countries begin nationality acquisition procedures for temporarily naturalized Players whose nationality was erased.>

<Breaking) China’s Chairman Liu Zhao expresses concern over Tower occupation, says forced occupation is no different from imperialism.>

<Breaking) Official White House statement welcomes tower integration. It was carried out after sufficient prior consultation. Also expresses thanks for rescuing the trapped temporarily naturalized Players.>

<Breaking) Japan’s Prime Minister Maeda actively supports discussion of unification between North and South Korea.>

The Korean Awakening Administration,

the mood there was excited too.

The amount of work to be done had increased drastically.

“To be honest, I’m more shocked that North Korea changed than I am that the tower’s nationality changed.”

Commissioner Park Kyungsoo’s face was flushed red.

“The President keeps calling whenever they have time.”

“Asking what?”

“Asking whether we can really trust North Korea.”

“Ha ha ha, and what did you say?”

“I said the current Chairman Kim is someone we can trust more than anyone.”

Jeon Gwangil nodded as well.

Commissioner Park was right.

To be precise, it wasn’t Chairman Kim they trusted, but Cossack standing next to him, no, Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Go Sageuk,

“By the way, who’s going to North Korea? If we’re going to establish an Awakening Administration branch in the North, I think we need to decide on the working-level staff to dispatch first.”

That had been one of the points agreed on with North Korea.

To pass on the Korean Administration’s know-how in fostering Players.

“Should I go? Team Leader Lee Mina is someone the Administration absolutely needs.”

“No, you stay put. I’m going.”

“You, Commissioner?”

“That’s right, this works out nicely. I can step down from the Commissioner position and take the post of North Korea Branch Director.”

“Uh...”

Well, if it was Commissioner Park Kyungsoo, there wasn’t really anything to worry about.

“With this, your promotion is decided too. Congratulations in advance, Commissioner Jeon Gwangil. I’ll be counting on you from here on.”

A promotion?

Jeon Gwangil looked as though the thought had never even crossed his mind. All he could do was stand there with his mouth hanging open.

*****

After finishing the banquet at Okryu-gwan in Pyongyang, Juhyeok returned home using the tower.

The saved default destination was the penthouse.

The Tower occupation proclamation.

Cossack’s dispatch to North Korea using the Exit Ring,

and the start of the groundwork.

There had been unavoidable casualties in the process.

Still, everything had clicked into place one after another.

Without any major conflict, he had taken over the North Korea Black Tower.

And now discussions for improved relations had begun.

Unification was not far off.

It felt almost right in front of him.

To the point where it would cause no problem even if it happened right now.

Naturally, an achievement had appeared too.

And he had received an achievement reward.

But that reward was extremely bewildering.

‘They give stuff like this too?’

[Achievement reward will be granted.]

It was something he had never expected at all.

[White Tower Floor 17 has been allocated to you.]

He had received real estate.

‘White Tower Floor 17?’

Not a Black Tower?

Did a tower like that even exist?

It wasn’t entry. It said allocation.

Didn’t that basically mean they were handing over an entire floor of a tower?

[Player Bong Juhyeok has become the owner of White Tower Floor 17.]

[White Tower Floor 17 is a completely independent and separate space from Earth’s Black Towers.]

Independent.

[It will never collapse. It will exist permanently.]

And it would never collapse.

[As long as the owner remains alive, the owner may stay there without restriction.]

He could stay there too.

[The White Tower Floor 17 Entry and Exit skill has been added to the generic skills in the Status Window.]

So he checked.

[Generic Skills]: Enter Tower (3 times per day) / Tower-Only Inventory / White Tower Floor 17 Entry and Exit.

There was no usage limit like there was with Enter Tower.

Any time he wanted.

Did the summoned entities know about this?

“Have any of you ever heard of a White Tower?”

“A White Tower? Not a Black Tower? ...Hmm, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“This humble one has never heard of it either.”

“Same here.”

He asked Mari too.

[Mari]: No. It’s my first time hearing about it too.

None of them knew.

How could he confirm what it was?

There was only one way. Go in himself.

“White Tower Floor 17 Entry.”

SPOT!

“Oh!”

He thought he knew why it was called the White Tower.

Everything in every direction was pure white.

Because of that, he couldn’t even judge how wide or how high this place was.

[You have entered White Tower Floor 17.]

[Calling up the owner menu.]

“Hm?”

A menu?

SSSST!

Items appeared before his eyes as a hologram.

[Basic] [Placement] [Grant Residency] [Resident List]

A total of four categories.

It looked like a game interface.

Could only he see it?

“Can any of you see it? The hologram over there...”

In that instant!

‘What is this?’

Juhyeok felt a sense of wrongness.

It was quiet.

There was no sign of anyone.

When he looked around,

‘...No way. Did I come in alone?’

That was exactly it.

There was nobody there except him.

Then—

“White Tower Floor 17 Exit.”

SPOT!

“M-Master Bong Summoner!”

“Summoner! Where did you just go, sir?”

“My lord, thank goodness. We were worried when you vanished.”

“WAAAH...”

The summoned entities couldn’t follow him in, even though he had entered.

It was definitely different from a Black Tower.

What if he called them directly from there...?

“I’ll dismiss all of you for now. I’ll summon you again in three hours.”

He dismissed all summoned entities at once.

Then he waited three hours.

Until he was able to summon them again.

After that,

“White Tower Floor 17 Entry.”

Back again into the white space.

“Designated Summon John Cossack!”

But—

Ding.

[John Cossack is not a resident.]

[You must register him as a resident before he can enter White Tower Floor 17.]

“Ah!”

So that was what the resident menu was.

Juhyeok reached out and touched [Resident List] in the hologram with his hand.

[There are currently 0 residents.]

Zero.

Then how did he grant it?

Tap.

[Grant Residency]

<Residency Rights>

Residency rights may be granted to all beings with souls. Residents may stay here whenever they wish, as long as they wish, with no limit on time. The cost is 1kg of top-grade Magic Stones per individual.

If they became residents, they could enter.

And they could even live here.

But the cost.

1 kilogram of top-grade Magic Stones per person.

Well, since high-grade Magic Stones existed now, of course top-grade Magic Stones probably existed too...

‘But where the hell am I supposed to get those?’

Would he get them if he climbed to higher floors?

Either way, as long as he didn’t have top-grade Magic Stones, White Tower Floor 17 was ultimately a place only he could enter alone.

‘This is useless.’

What was he supposed to do if he came in by himself?

In this empty white space with nothing in it.

“Tch.”

He had completed an achievement, but this reward wasn’t welcome in the slightest.

They should’ve just extended manifestation time instead.

‘Let’s leave.’

No, before that, he should check the other two menus first.

First, [Basic].

Tap.

[Basic]

There are currently 3 unlocked submenus.

<Environment>

Determines the environment of White Tower Floor 17. The first environment setting is free of charge.

Setting the environment.

It was probably something similar to the environments of Black Towers.

A desert, for example. Or a jungle, a snowfield, grasslands, and so on.

It seemed like this floor could recreate environments like that.

‘What would be good?’

Juhyeok imagined it in his mind.

A world of green plains with a river flowing through them.

And then—

SSSST!

The white space that had contained nothing transformed into a beautiful plain that looked like it belonged on a travel postcard.

‘Wow!’

It was such an enormous plain that he could see the horizon.

It wasn’t fake either. It was real.

The smell of soil filled his nostrils, and a river flowed leisurely in the distance.

‘It really changed like this?’

Then what were the other two options in Basic?

<White Tower Floor 17 Wireless Communication Network>

Builds a network within a fixed range. It can also be connected to Earth’s network. Cost: 10 tons of high-grade Magic Stones.

‘...’

And the remaining one.

<White Tower Floor 17 Power Plant>

Generates electricity. Once the power plant is built, all electronic devices within a fixed range can be used without having to be plugged in. Cost: 20 tons of high-grade Magic Stones.

Those were the three Basic submenus currently unlocked.

Environment, communications, electricity.

If all of that could really be implemented as stated, then living here would actually be possible.

There was still one more thing left to check.

[Placement]

When he tapped it with his hand, two submenus floated up.

<Copy>

Copies up to 100 object entries. Copy may also be used outside. No cost.

<Paste>

Pastes and places copied objects. A cost in high-grade Magic Stones is incurred proportional to height, volume, and value.

A sample video even appeared helpfully.

Like watching a movie.

A building copied from outside was pasted into a specific space here.

And not just buildings.

Everything from household necessities to furniture and electrical appliances.

Cars, bicycles, motorcycles, roads, airport and harbor facilities, gymnasiums, and more.

And then a city was created.

A perfect city equipped with all infrastructure.

‘This is like...’

A city-building simulation game.

Copy something from outside and paste it into White Tower Floor 17.

And in that way, create all the infrastructure and conveniences needed for humans to live.

‘So it’s basically a shelter.’

A place where you could survive through self-sufficiency even if the world ended.

But it had one fatal drawback.

Resident registration.

And the cost required for that registration, top-grade Magic Stones.

If he couldn’t obtain top-grade Magic Stones, he would have to live here alone.

Lonely and isolated.

‘...Still, maybe I should try decorating it?’

It did look fun.

Like playing a game.

Besides, the costs for Basic and Placement were in high-grade Magic Stones.

The quantities were enormous, but they were still something he could obtain.

He would do it little by little.

In the gaps while climbing the tower.

And resident registration?

He’d just have to somehow get his hands on top-grade Magic Stones.

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