Among tower items, some are prohibited from being taken overseas.

Usually, those are things like high-grade Magic Stones, or runes and tickets that can decisively affect strategy, along with Tower reward items and the like.

In this case, it was the Liberation Rune Necklace.

An item whose import and export were both prohibited.

Even possessing one was illegal.

The government banned it, but in reality, there was no practical way to catch anyone.

Once players put one into their inventories, that was the end of it.

How were you supposed to find something that would not even be caught at airport security?

The transactions were simple too.

Anytime, anywhere—meet up, take it out of the inventory, and the deal was done.

Of course, because bank records remained, people usually traded in coins «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» or bearer bonds.

That was how Chinese-made Liberation Rune Necklaces were spreading all over the world.

Japan was no exception.

Japan was in the middle of a tourism boom.

A Black Tower stood in the very center of Tokyo.

Taking a photo of the Tokyo skyline with the Black Tower in it and uploading it to social media had spread like a fad.

The United States, Europe, Taiwan, China, Korea, and more.

Countless tourists flocked to Japan to see the alien Black Tower rising from the middle of the city.

And naturally, among those tourists were players who had secretly brought Liberation Rune Necklaces hidden inside their inventories.

A quiet bar in Ginza, Japan.

An old man sat across from a rough-looking young man.

“It’s here. Never been used even once.”

The old man set a necklace on the table.

“You’re a player too, so you can check it yourself, right?”

Nomura Daikinzo silently stared at the Liberation Rune Necklace, then reached out and checked its information.

For one hour, the player’s abilities could be manifested outside the Tower, for a total of three uses.

“Is it Chinese-made?”

“Did you think it’d be Japanese-made? All Liberation Rune Necklaces are Chinese.”

Nomura was a yakuza.

At the same time, he was also a player.

And an unregistered one at that—not listed in the national database.

He had awakened while living as a yakuza, and now, as a leader, he controlled one district of Shinjuku, Tokyo.

“Do I have to give it back after I use it?”

“Not at all! As long as you complete the mission, the necklace is yours. Doesn’t matter how many uses are left.”

The mission was nothing less than a contract killing.

Only one person needed to die.

But the target was extremely troublesome.

Nearly impossible, really.

Even if one unleashed one’s full power.

Because the target was also a player.

And a very famous one.

Someone Nomura normally could not even get close to.

“You know how hard it is to kill a player, right?”

“I do. Because they can run into the Tower.”

That was right.

No matter how dangerous the situation became, they could just enter the Tower.

And all the pursuer could do was stand there like a dog that had lost a chicken, licking his fingers in frustration.

“But don’t worry. We can tell whether he’s already used his daily entry.”

“...”

Nomura thought it over.

Killing a person was not difficult.

It was just that this was no ordinary person.

“He might have a Liberation Rune Necklace too.”

“But his level is lower than yours, isn’t it?”

That much was true.

The target’s public level was Level 31.

Meanwhile, Nomura’s level was on a completely different scale.

“Just succeed. We’ll take care of the cleanup. Then Shinjuku, Roppongi, Kabukicho, Asakusa—they’ll all be yours. No, I’ll hand over all of Tokyo to you.”

“Hoo.”

Honestly, Nomura was growing more and more tempted.

It would be difficult, but if he succeeded, the reward was guaranteed.

The old man sitting in front of him had the power to make it happen.

“What about a magic-sealing scroll? I heard that thing can nullify magic itself.”

“It hasn’t made its way into Japan yet.”

“You sure?”

“Don’t trust me? Do you think we’d start something like this without doing our research first?”

Nomura nodded.

Right. He was not alone.

All he had to do was succeed.

The people behind him would handle everything afterward.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Kekeke, wise choice.”

The contract was sealed.

“We’ll set the table. You just sit down and eat. How easy is that?”

“Understood.”

Nomura did not think for even a moment that this job would fail.

Even if the target was wearing a Liberation Rune Necklace just like he was.

There was nearly a thirty-level difference in base level.

There was no way he could fail.

The Tower administrators knew every single thing that happened inside the Tower.

Who climbed to which floor, whether a run succeeded or failed, and if it succeeded, what rewards had been obtained.

Then what about outside the Tower?

How did they keep track of the real world?

The fastest method was to consume causality and read the consciousness of players who entered the Tower.

They could not know every detail, but they could roughly grasp the major events currently taking place outside the Tower.

That was why, although only in a very limited way, they had learned of the first Liberation Rune Necklace incident in China.

An incident that had begun in Chongqing, China.

The death toll had exceeded fifty.

Good.

At last, the seeds that had been sown had sprouted.

Now the chain reaction would begin.

The Liberation Rune Necklace was a kind of virus.

Once people witnessed its effects, no one could resist the temptation to use it.

And in fact, that was exactly what happened.

Starting in Chongqing, the use of Liberation Rune Necklaces spread throughout all of China.

But then—

An engineer reported hesitantly to the designer.

[ ... Um, apparently something called a magic-sealing scroll has appeared.]

[Huh? What’s that?]

[If we’re not careful, the Liberation Rune Necklace may be neutralized.]

What the hell?

[The Liberation Rune Necklace is a Tower item. It won’t break until its usage period ends, and it doesn’t malfunction either.]

[That is... ... ]

The engineer continued explaining.

It did not interfere with the operation of the Liberation Rune Necklace itself.

Instead, it bound the magic manifested in the player’s body afterward.

A summoner again.

It had to be his doing.

[How many are there? If there are only a few, isn’t this just a tempest in a teacup?]

[They’re printing them. They’ve entered mass production.]

[ ... ]

Right.

That had slipped his mind for a moment.

Magical Alchemy Engineering.

That damned trinity.

[They say the scroll’s effectiveness has already been proven in the United States. They easily subdued players using Liberation Rune Necklaces. Without a single casualty.]

[ ... ]

Rage surged.

Every time a move was made, countermeasures came out far too quickly.

There was no time to respond.

What should he do?

Should the plan be scrapped?

That damned summoner.

He was so infuriating it felt as though the designer’s head might burn white-hot.

[Maker, push more Liberation Rune Necklaces.]

[But the causality... ]

[Do as I say. ... We’re taking this all the way.]

Fine.

Then let’s do it.

Let’s see who wins.

The world of souls.

The wish of the souls living there was to be chosen by a summoner and escape that wretched Infinite Prison.

And beyond that, to achieve complete liberation from their binding contracts.

“Isn’t the random summoning date around now?”

“Feels like it already passed.”

“Then who got out?”

“Who knows. Ever since the White Tower appeared, anyone who leaves never comes back.”

“Still, the ones before always made sure to brag before leaving. Those guys did, and that attention-seeking mage bastard did too.”

“I guarantee it—if anyone here got summoned, they’d ask the summoner for permission, come back here, and lord it over the rest of us.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. How could anybody resist that?”

“If it were me, I’d have bragged at least three times before getting my Residency Rights card.”

“But the fact that it’s this quiet means... Hey! That’s worrying. What if random summoning isn’t happening anymore?”

“No way.”

“Could it be those administrator bastards again?”

“Hoo... isn’t there anyone who can tell us what’s going on outside?”

The souls were deeply anxious.

They were worried that something might have happened to the summoner.

Prime Minister Maeda Kenji of Japan, a former player, was on his way in a bulletproof official car to attend a special lecture at the University of Tokyo.

There was nothing especially remarkable about the lecture itself.

The duties and rights of Japanese players, future plans for Tower climbing, Japan’s fourth industrial revolution based on new resources like high-grade Magic Stones, and so on.

During the speech, he intended to express concern over the incident in China and announce Japan’s decision to import magic-sealing scrolls from Korea.

But his head was already throbbing.

Just thinking about how the right-wingers would come swarming like wild dogs over that announcement made him sick.

Relying on Korea again.

Magic-sealing scrolls are unnecessary.

The civic consciousness of the Japanese people is the best in the world.

There will be no accidents caused by Liberation Rune Necklaces.

Instead, thoroughly inspect tourists coming in from China and Korea.

Even so, Prime Minister Maeda had decided to push through head-on.

Those right-wingers would nitpick him no matter what he did.

’Tch. Still can’t escape the ghosts of the past.’

Some things had to be acknowledged.

Japan’s bubble had already burst completely.

The country currently leading global Black Tower raids was Korea.

Did he like Korea?

Of course not.

They were only pretending to be friendly for strategic reasons.

Doing everything they could to prevent the collapse of the Tokyo Tower.

‘Criticizing everything without knowing anything...’

That was when it happened.

CLUNK!

The car suddenly stopped.

... Huh?

Maeda immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Why?

There was no way a vehicle carrying the Prime Minister would stop in the middle of an operation—especially not on an elevated roadway.

A bad feeling crept over him.

The driver, the secretary, and the guards were all sitting still, taking no action at all.

“Hey? What do you think you’re doing right now?”

There was no answer.

“Could this be...?”

Prime Minister Maeda’s judgment was swift.

Why had he worn a Liberation Rune Necklace in the first place?

Because he feared that an unexpected situation might arise.

Like now.

And so, almost instinctively, he muttered:

“Liberation.”

At that instant—

KRRRK!

The roof of the car split open.

THUD!

A black spear pierced straight down into the interior.

Maeda threw himself against the side door and leaped out of the car.

CRUNCH! CRASH!

But then—

A sharp pain shot through his shoulder.

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK!

Even after he got outside the car, black spears continued to rain down on Prime Minister Maeda.

He rolled across the elevated highway to evade them.

THUD! THUNK! THUNK-THUNK-THUNK!

Fortunately, none of the strikes hit a vital point, but Maeda’s entire body was soon drenched in blood from the spear wounds.

But he did not just endure it passively.

He immediately drew a longsword—a Tower reward item—from his inventory.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

SLASH! SLASH!

He counterattacked while retreating, and only then did he get a clear look at his opponent.

He had no idea who the man was.

An assassin, most likely.

Someone who had activated a Liberation Rune Necklace.

Maeda’s attacks shredded the mysterious assailant’s shirt to pieces as well.

And on the man’s chest was a terrifying oni tattoo.

“... Yakuza?”

That was not some fashionable tattoo.

It was unmistakably the tattoo of a yakuza.

The man curled his lips into a fishy grin and spoke.

“You lied about your level. You bastard Prime Minister.”

Of course he had lied.

As Prime Minister, his personal information was classified.

Maeda’s publicly known level was 31.

His real level was 45.

“You think you’ll get away with this?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. As long as you die.”

FLASH!

The yakuza—no, the assassin—lunged at Maeda in an instant.

SLASH! SPURT-SPURT-SPURT-SPURT!

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Driven back again and again by the savage spear thrusts infused with magic power, Maeda retreated step by step.

It was not enough.

Both of them had activated Liberation Rune Necklaces, but the bastard’s level was higher.

More than that, none of the guards in the escort vehicles behind them had gotten out.

Which meant this was a prearranged trap.

Nomura found it strange as well.

He had clearly landed fatal blows, yet the man still had not collapsed.

The bleeding had even stopped, and the wounds were closing.

‘He didn’t even drink a healing potion... Is it an item?’

And apparently not one marked tower-exclusive.

That seemed to be the case.

As the belt around Maeda’s waist flashed with a red glow, the wounds across his body healed.

“Damn it!”

WHOOSH!

Nomura charged again, spear in hand.

Maeda sharpened his focus to the limit.

He had to dodge.

If he stayed here, he would die.

STEP!

Twisting his body sharply, Prime Minister Maeda fled.

Endure.

If you endure, you live.

Even if the bastard’s level was higher than his, he still had a way to endure.

His greatest treasure.

The belt he was wearing right now.

Thanks to it, he had gained fourteen levels in a short time.

But where could he run?

A crowded area would be best.

That was when he saw it—the Black Tower rising from central Tokyo.

‘There. I need to get there.’

His destination was the Tokyo Black Tower.

Tokyo’s greatest tourist attraction.

Which also meant the place where the most people were gathered.

Maeda ran desperately.

Nomura chased right behind him.

White Tower Floor 17.

Juhyeok was in the middle of a phone call with his younger brother, Minhyuk.

— Hyung! He was a spy?!

Haah, this little punk.

“I told you already. I’m on good terms with Chairman Kim.”

— That’s the problem! You shouldn’t be close to him. Unification is still a long way off.

“Shut up. I’m hanging up.”

But then a call came in from his mother too.

— Son, you’re not meeting strange people these days, are you? I trust you... right?

“Haah...”

In the end, Commissioner Jeon Gwangil stepped in.

“Yes, yes, ma’am. The government is fully aware of the situation. That’s right. So there’s no need to worry.”

And thanks to that—

— I knew it. This man was trembling over some National Security Law nonsense and making a bigger fuss than our son.

That’s right, Mom.

I take after you, not Dad.

Sure enough, once a high-ranking official stepped in, everything got resolved.

“Thank you.”

“Hahaha, it was nothing.”

It was fortunate that Commissioner Jeon Gwangil happened to be nearby.

Well, lately he had been dropping by whenever he had time anyway.

And since he was already there, they ended up talking about the large-scale plan for the 80th floor too.

“If things go well, I think we may be able to come up with a strategy for the 81st floor and beyond—the giant-monster zone.”

“... What? How?”

“It’s hard to explain in detail, but you remember when I borrowed the holy sword for the undead zone, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Something similar to that. There’s a weapon currently under development. If it works, we may be able to kill giant monsters too...”

“Oh.”

“It’s still only at the planning stage, so please don’t mention it anywhere else.”

“Ah, understood.”

The bait had been dangled.

Now all that remained was for magic engineer El to complete the improved magic firearm.

Then—

Ding!

A notification sound came from Jeon Gwangil’s smartphone.

He checked the message, tilted his head, then tapped the YouTube link attached to it—

And his eyes widened in shock.

“Gasp!”

“What is it? Did something happen?”

“Hmm.”

He showed the smartphone to Juhyeok.

“Apparently, two players using Liberation Rune Necklaces are fighting in the city.”

“Really? Where? China?”

“Japan.”

Japan?

Juhyeok looked at the phone.

With the Tokyo Black Tower in the background, a man in a suit was wielding a longsword while another man fought with a long spear, grotesque tattoos flashing beneath his torn clothes.

“Wow. Look at that tattoo. Is he yakuza?”

“Probably...”

“But I’ve seen this guy somewhere before.”

“That’s Japan’s Prime Minister—Prime Minister Maeda Kenji.”

“Ohhh, the Japanese Prime Minister, the Prime Minister—... what?”

What the hell was this?

“The Prime Minister of Japan and a yakuza are fighting each other.”

“... Is this some AI deepfake video?”

“No, it’s real.”

Unbelievable.

The Prime Minister and a yakuza?

It felt like—

King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Superman vs. Batman.

Alien vs. Predator.

Something straight out of a Japanese anime or live-action film.

Except it was actually happening.

In the middle of Tokyo.

“Idiots got into a fight.”

To some, that was all it was.

“That belt the Japanese Prime Minister is wearing... it’s a magic-engineering item. And the latest version too. It’d be nice to take it apart and study it.”

To others, it was research material.

“It looks like an automatic potion injector. The item probably has a lowest-grade inventory magic formula engraved into it. It’s not my specialty, but if we take apart that belt, we should at least be able to figure out the magic circuitry...”

As expected of a Prime Minister, he was carrying something good.

It would be nice to borrow it later so magic engineer El could study it.

Anyway, all sorts of crazy things were happening.

So—who would win?