When the Liberation Rune Necklace first appeared,

he had once talked about it with Mad Demon.

Mad Demon had said that there were cunning bastards who had deliberately released that item into the world.

Juhyeok had asked who they were, but Mad Demon hadn’t explained in detail.

Now it turned out that those bastards were the tower administrators.

The ones behind Diamat.

The ones who would do anything to trigger a Tower Collapse.

What exactly was their goal?

Why were they doing this?

Did they perhaps create the towers?

Even Diamat could not give an answer.

All she said was that administrators existed, that they had ordered her, and that the final objective was the elimination of the summoner Player.

Those ridiculous bastards. Why eliminate me? All I did was climb the tower. Way to make a guy nervous.

Of course, he trusted his summoned entities.

But honestly, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Anyway—

The restaurant server Lingling, a plain-looking woman in her thirties.

She had released her polymorph and returned to her true form as a succubus.

A queen, no less.

Fatal beauty.

A tail swaying seductively.

Clothes so revealing she looked like some over-the-top cosplay fan at a comic convention.

When she twisted her body slightly and begged for her life, his heart had nearly dropped out of his chest.

For a weak man, it was a lethal temptation.

He had almost blurted out, Of course I’ll spare you!

She was truly a dangerous creature.

A beauty that could topple kingdoms.

The perfect phrase for Diamat.

And yet she was asking to defect?

Honestly, it was bewildering.

She was a tower monster.

What was she, some kind of North Korean spy?

“...Hmm.”

On second thought, it actually made sense.

Diamat.

If you looked at it one way, she was indeed a spy from the tower—sent to Earth under orders from the administrators to sow chaos and division.

That must be why she uses the word defection.

So what should he do?

“P-please spare me.”

Honestly, he couldn’t understand it.

For a tower monster, she had an incredibly strong will to «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» live.

But wasn’t she just a soul?

Even if she died, she would reset and come back.

“If you die outside the tower, the soul is destroyed. You can’t revive.”

Ah.

So that was it.

Inside the tower, death meant reset.

Outside the tower, there was no reset.

She took a huge risk coming out here.

And in the end, she got caught.

“Gosh darn it, woman! Once a traitor, always a traitor! You think we’re that easy to fool? Not a chance!”

Cossack suddenly slipped into the persona of the Minister of the People’s Armed Forces again.

Diamat waved her hands frantically.

“I-I won’t betray you! I can’t! Just accept my defection!”

“You never let a black-haired beast into your house! ...Well, actually, that hair is pretty black.”

It was indeed jet black.

“...I made this decision knowing the risks.”

What risks?

“By breaking my contract with the administrators, I’ll suffer a penalty. My qualification as a monarch will be stripped away.”

So her abilities would drop.

And she was willing to accept that just to survive?

“What do you think, Mad Demon?”

“This old man will always support the summoner’s decision. The path you walk is the correct one.”

What about Gyeon Dallae?

“It is suspicious. However, if the system itself is supervising the defection, it may be trustworthy.”

Veronica, Meatshield, and Bardin also spoke.

“A defector soldier should be accepted. It lowers the enemy’s morale.”

“She looks weak, but she may still be useful.”

“My lord, she is a repentant lamb.”

Juhyeok himself was leaning that way too.

Wasn’t more always better?

The more the merrier.

Besides, the system said defectors were handled separately from the Catalog roster.

That meant he could increase numbers without needing a Catalog Expansion Ticket.

There could be other defectors besides Diamat.

If he accepted the defection, Diamat would be freed from the tower.

Then what about Hartmann, Cossack’s father?

That thought kept bothering him.

At the current level of Earth’s Players, reaching the Floor 77 extreme-difficulty mission would be difficult.

But later, as Players grew stronger...

Or if someone above level 80 reached it through repeated missions?

They might clear it.

Hartmann dying by a Player’s hand?

Unacceptable.

Could he also be freed through defection?

Juhyeok asked Diamat.

“That’s impossible. Hartmann and I are fundamentally different.”

Different how?

“There are two types of souls belonging to the tower. One is bound by contract. The other is bound by force.”

Hmm.

“I’m bound by contract. But the other souls in the tower are no different from enslaved prisoners. They probably don’t even realize their situation.”

Her explanation continued.

Diamat had manifested on Earth to carry out a specific mission.

To disrupt the world.

To sow division.

It was highly complex work.

That required free will.

So she had made a contract and come out.

But the bound souls had no free will.

At first glance, it sounded reasonable.

But was that really true?

Then what about Haeryeong, Gyeon Dallae’s master?

She had clearly understood both her situation and the tower.

“Haeryeong was a special case. She had already experienced a transcendent world. Her soul had already surpassed the human level. She could have left the tower whenever she wished.”

That matched the background explanation.

She had been at the very brink of ascension.

“The reason she didn’t leave was her own choice. Regret, attachment, suffering, atonement, guilt... she punished herself. Haeryeong didn’t want to be freed.”

That made sense.

Her beloved disciple Gyeon Dallae had died.

The Cheon Empire had collapsed.

She had been weakened and then forced to consume human livers by a rival Nine-Tailed Fox.

But after meeting Gyeon Dallae again, all her regrets disappeared.

And with Mad Demon’s help, she walked the path she had once taken before.

But Hartmann?

Even though he was LSSR, he had never transcended the human level.

He had simply been bound to the tower and placed on Floor 77 as a mission target.

So there were only two ways to free Hartmann’s soul.

Raise the soul’s level until it could escape on its own, like Haeryeong.

Or the tower itself would have to release its binding.

Could the administrators do it?

If they could...

Juhyeok would really like to meet them and talk.

Anyway, he had to decide.

Accept Diamat’s defection?

Or reject it?

[Do you accept the defection request of Demonic Beast Lord Diamat?]

He had already decided.

Just by looking at it, the answer was obvious.

Why wouldn’t I accept this?

This screamed achievement.

The reward was right in front of him.

Achievements over perks.

The era of perks was over.

It was time for the age of achievements.

Come on!

Come to the weak man!

I’ll take you all in!

“Accept defection.”

[Beginning the defection procedure for Demonic Beast Lord Diamat.]

[The contract between Diamat and the tower administrators has been terminated.]

[Diamat’s soul rank has declined from Succubus Queen (LSSR) to Lesser Succubus (R).]

Huh?

Whoa...

The contract-termination penalty was brutal.

She had fallen three ranks—from LSSR to R.

A queen reduced to a commoner.

[The Floor 80 boss monster has been replaced with Nightmare, the Black Demon Knight.]

Even the Floor 80 mission changed.

The empty position had to be filled.

[Converted defectors must absolutely obey the commands of the summoner Player and summoned entities.]

Discriminatory treatment.

She even had to follow the orders of the summoned entities.

Does that mean she has to obey Blood Wolf too?

If she ranked below a dog, that would be truly miserable.

[A defector mark will now be applied.]

A mark?

At that moment—

CRRRRZZZZT!

“AAAAH!”

A mark burned into Diamat’s forehead.

It glowed brightly before sinking into her skin.

[Defection complete.]

[A Defector category has been created in the Status Window.]

Ding!

Diamat’s information appeared.

<Defector: A pitiful incubus who chose survival over pride>

Name: Diamat

Rank: R (Rare)

Type: Succubus (Incubus) 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Manifestation Time: 10 hours

Satisfaction Rating: None

Resummon Cooldown: 3 hours (applies after dismissal)

[Defectors are also counted toward the simultaneous summon limit.]

[Current simultaneous summon limit: 10. You are currently exceeding the limit by 1.]

Right.

Seven here.

Three at home.

That was already ten.

With Diamat, the total became eleven.

[Defector Diamat has been forcibly dismissed.]

SPOT!

Diamat vanished to balance the number.

Well, it was nice having one more...

But—

What am I supposed to do with an R-rank Lesser Succubus?

She was too weak.

Could she even hunt monsters?

Next.

Ding!

[Achievement: You have accepted the first defection of a soul belonging to the tower.]

“Yes!”

Just as expected.

[Achievement reward granted.]

What was it?

[Achievement: A new option has been added to the Basic Menu of White Tower Floor 17.]

Hmm.

Another White Tower reward?

A new option?

The Basic Menu previously had three:

Environment.

Communication Tower.

Power Plant.

He had used all of them.

What got added?

Well, he would see once he entered the White Tower.

Let’s go home first.

Another hurdle cleared.

Though there were still unresolved issues.

────────────────────────────────────

SPOT!

Juhyeok and the summoned entities returned to the penthouse.

After letting them rest—

Time to settle accounts.

First, the badges.

Previously, the cumulative badge count had been 106.

Physical badges: 17.

This climb covered Floors 75–80 of the Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.2).

But Floor 77 had no badge reward.

So the new totals were:

Cumulative badges: 116.

Physical badges: 27.

Ten additional badges.

That meant two perk rewards.

Will something good come out?

Especially something like a Catalog Expansion Ticket.

But Juhyeok shook his head.

Now he knew the administrators existed.

They were clearly trying to restrain him.

Would good perks appear under those circumstances?

The Catalog Expansion Ticket might be hopeless.

Still—

Let’s open them.

You never know.

[Perk granted for cumulative total of 110 Platinum Badges.]

[Perk: 1 ton of high-grade Magic Stones added to inventory.]

“....”

That was harsh.

He could mine that much on Floor 76 in no time.

Next.

[Perk granted for cumulative total of 115 Platinum Badges.]

[Perk: Rune of Defector Rank Advancement added to inventory.]

“Oh!”

Now that was good.

Talk about perfect timing.

Accept a defector—and immediately receive a perk that boosts defectors.

As long as it’s not some long-term enhancement process, it should finish in a day or two.

He could give it to Diamat right away and have her raise her rank.

R-rank? What kind of rank was that?

At least SR would be decent.

Perks checked.

Next—

The achievement reward.

New Basic Menu option.

[Entering White Tower Floor 17.]

[Calling Owner Menu.]

Juhyeok tapped the floating holographic [Basic] menu.

What had been added?

A new option appeared.

<White Tower Floor 17 Elevator>

“...What?”

An elevator?

What was this?

Install an elevator to travel to other floors of the White Tower. The elevator will stop only at permitted floors. Installation cost: 1,000 tons of high-grade Magic Stones.

“...Wait...”

He had never imagined this.

An elevator?

Travel to other floors of the White Tower?

If he went there—

what would he find?

Or rather...

who?

White Tower floors were distributed to Players.

He owned Floor 17.

The other floors must belong to other Players.

Wait...

There was no way another Earth Player had received a White Tower floor.

Which meant—

they might not be from Earth.

Players from other worlds.

Other worlds definitely existed.

Places where Black Towers stood.

The summoned entities had always said so.

Is this dimensional travel?

There was only one way to know.

Install the elevator.

This could be interesting.

The installation cost wasn’t interesting.

1,000 tons of high-grade Magic Stones...

Time to start scraping together resources.

────────────────────────────────────

The tower administrators were in chaos again.

[Haah!]

[This is driving me insane.]

[Every time we get pierced at some bizarre point. There’s no way to stop him.]

[Diamat dared to betray the tower?]

[Giving her free will was a mistake.]

[We had no choice. Without free will, that mission was impossible. The problem is she used that freedom to defect.]

[That idiot couldn’t even accomplish anything before getting captured.]

[Who could have predicted Gyeon Dallae would return with something like a Tracking Talisman?]

[This is bad. The achievement reward was the elevator.]

[Even if the elevator was installed, it’s happening far too quickly.]

[Exactly. If Earth were already on the brink of collapse, a connection wouldn’t matter—but connecting while it’s still intact...]

[He’ll be able to interfere with projects in other worlds.]

[Terrifying.]

[Administrators from other worlds will protest. They’ll ask what we were doing while he grew this strong.]

[If it’s just protest, we’re lucky. They’ll mock and ridicule us.]

[We need to show we did something.]

[How?]

[Make Floor 81 impossible. A floor no one can pass.]

“...Hmm. That won’t work.”

[What about raising the difficulty just once as an event?]

[Still difficult. It violates causality.]

[Then we talk to the individual involved. If he agrees, causality is satisfied.]

[Oh?]

[Right. If it’s done through mutual agreement, causality won’t be a problem.]

[He already knows about us anyway. Maybe we should meet him.]

“...Hmm.”

The administrators’ discussion dragged on.

────────────────────────────────────

Diamat had been dealt with.

The perk and achievement rewards had been checked.

What next?

First—

the item from the Floor 79 reward.

The Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune.

He needed to send Cossack to use it.

During the two weeks Cossack would be gone, Staff Sergeant Bae, Jepetto, and Blood Wolf would rotate to cover North Korea.

But not right now.

Juhyeok climbed Floor 77 again with the summoned entities.

They quickly dealt with the prisoners and cleaned up the area.

Then Cossack stood face-to-face with his father again.

“...Rian?”

“Father?”

“Is this heaven? Or an illusion?”

“It ain’t an illusion, and it ain’t the afterlife either. This here’s the tower.”

“The tower...”

“Anyway, drink this first.”

Cossack handed Hartmann a Restoration Tonic he had received from Mari.

It wouldn’t heal him.

Hartmann’s source qi and life vessel were already shattered.

Even if filled, the energy leaked out.

The potion only bought a little time.

A conversation between father and son.

Actually—

this was the third time.

But every time, the situation ended the same way.

They explained everything carefully.

Hartmann understood.

Then he died.

The tower reset.

And the next time they entered—

everything started over from the beginning.

At this rate, it’ll never end.

Was there some way to change it?