In the Black Tower, every floor had a different environment.

There were caves, deserts like wastelands, forests where grass and trees blended together, even denser jungles, rugged mountains, snowfields where blizzards raged...

The inside of the Tower wasn’t any different from a real environment.

The stones rolling around were real, the trees with their hard texture were real, the swaying grass was real.

Do you think the Players who entered the Tower just stood there and looked at that stuff?

To commemorate entering the Tower, they’d pick up rocks and put them into their Tower-Only Inventory, snap off branches and put them in, yank up a few tufts of grass and put them in.

But the moment they exited the Tower, all of it vanished.

Rocks, branches, grass—everything.

Maybe it was because it was in the inventory?

What if you held it in your hand when you exited?

But the result was the same.

No drops, no gathering.

Only clear reward items.

Only the things issued through the Tower-Only Inventory could be taken out.

Nothing else was ever allowed.

But the stuff that came out of Rajix’s backpack?

Somehow, at some point, he’d peeled the hide off a gigantic Ironclad Basilisk whole, mined Magic Stones, and even yanked up grass that looked like medicinal herbs.

“You’re saying Rajix gathered all of this and brought it out?”

“SQUEAK, sorry. Summoner. Those people ended the clear too early. This is all I could grab,”

“They’re bad people! Clearing everything all by themselves and ending it whenever they want!”

“SQUEAK!!!”

Either way, it was unbelievable.

To the point where it felt weird that Rajix was only Rare.

Well...

Meatshield had been Rare at first too.

Strong, but dumb.

In the same way, Rajix was capable, but his combat power was weak.

Ah...

To think he’d tried to kick this precious person out just because his combat power was low.

He needed to reflect deeply.

Juhyeok went WHAM! and hugged Rajix tight, rubbing his face against him as he spoke.

Soft, round,

“Man, Rajix! You’re the best! The best! You’re seriously an angel among angels! Tell Mad Demon to get the hell out of here!”

And then the others, too.

“Y-yes, sir. Very excellent summoned entity, sir.”

“Lord Rajix, may this young lady have one hug as well?”

“Excellent. Warrior protects Rajix.”

“SQUEAK?”

Rajix didn’t know what to do.

He thought he’d get scolded for not filling the bag all the way.

But they were praising him like this.

“SQUEEEAK...”

The items Juhyeok had been getting up through Floor 41.

Other than a few things, more than 90% were Magic Stones.

So what if you clear S++?

It’s like they’re telling you to eat Magic Stones and get lost.

Other Players were the same.

A Player was a job where you lived off selling Magic Stones.

Once in a while, you’d hit metals, leather, herbs, items—clear rewards like that—but the odds weren’t that high.

In that sense, Rajix’s Tower gathering ability was enough to chew up an LSSR. For that much stuff to come rolling out of such a small bag...

‘It’s like a backpack with performance similar to an inventory.’

We’re going together to the end.

There’s no such thing as swapping him out.

What about Floor 51?

Well, we can park.

And pull off another Trait enhancement.

No matter what it takes.

“Rajix, you’re disappointed it ended so fast, right?”

“...Yeeak.”

“Then want to go in one more time?”

“Tomorrow?”

“No, right now.”

“SQUEAK? It’s once a day, though...”

“I can go in. I can do it twice. Hahaha.”

“SQUEAK?”

Rajix flinched in shock.

Eyes going round, he stared, then—

“...SQUEAK, Summoner, you’re cool. You’re amazing.”

“Want to go in now?”

“Yeeak.”

“Then let’s go!”

SPOT!

[Entering Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 41.]

※ ※ ※

Before the clear started.

Juhyeok gathered the summoned entities.

“Alright, alright. We already cleared this floor at S++ once, so. As slow as possible. So our Lord Rajix can work comfortably, got it?”

“YES, SIR! We’ll drag it out until the mission time limit, sir.”

“I will try. Lizard, kill late.”

“This young lady will move together with Lord Rajix.”

“SQUEAK!”

He was excited.

Just how much material would Rajix gather?

Rajix, deploy.

ROOOOLL—

The enlarged Meatshield moved forward and blocked the chokepoint so the basilisks couldn’t get to Rajix.

Cossack supported him, too.

And Rajix was already way up ahead, starting his gathering work.

‘Fast. He’s fast.’

His legs were basically decoration.

They didn’t hinder his movement at all.

That round body looked like it had been made for mobility.

He rolled over there, wiggled his butt while working, then rolled to another place and wiggled his butt again.

He was so cute that just watching made him happy.

It wasn’t just Juhyeok, either.

“Kyaaaah!!!”

Gyeon Dallae screamed like a crazy bitch and chased after Rajix.

‘Huh.’

That strict, dignified, serious image of the imperial-princess of the Heavenly Empire was nowhere to be found.

In the middle of that, Meatshield grabbed an approaching Ironclad Basilisk by the tail and whipped it around, throwing it away.

He didn’t even kill it.

Even though quite a bit of time had passed, the kill count was still 0.

It looked like he’d finished gathering to some extent.

Rajix, who had been rolling around, stopped and looked up at Meatshield in front of him.

“SQUEAK...”

“Worker Rajix, can I catch lizard?”

“Just one.”

“Understood.”

The moment everyone was most curious about.

How was he going to peel off a whole hide?

Meatshield grabbed the tail of a basilisk that was passing by.

Then he spun it around and slammed it into the ground!

THOOM!

“Caught.”

The instant—

“SWEEEAK!”

Rajix burst into tears.

Juhyeok immediately blamed Meatshield.

“No, why are you making him cry?”

Cossack too,

and Gyeon Dallae too,

“You little shit! I knew you’d cause trouble one day! Now that you’re SSR, nothing scares you anymore, huh?”

“That is too much, Lord Meatshield! To do such a brutal thing to tiny, weak Lord Rajix! Even as fellow servants, one must keep etiquette.”

Meatshield jolted and waved his hands.

“Uh— I-I only caught basilisk.”

Right.

So why was he crying?

So Juhyeok asked.

“SQUEAK, if you kill it like that, the hide gets ruined. You have to throw it away.”

“Ah!”

He had to peel the hide, but he’d smashed it so hard it got wrecked.

Normally, basilisk hide had an automatic scratch-repair function, but big impacts that exceeded its limit didn’t recover.

So Juhyeok pulled out the Cold Twilight Golden Mace he’d gotten as a perk and—

“Just trust me. I’ll kill one clean.”

“SWEEEAK, if you hit it with that, the hide freezes and shatters. Summoner doesn’t have to kill it.”

“...”

What is wrong with these guys?

Each of them was blocking him from hunting in a different way.

There was no choice.

Juhyeok signaled to Cossack with his eyes.

“Come on, Rajix, you should’ve told us earlier. This SSR Cossack will take it down cleanly, sir.”

“SQUEAK?”

“With the blade energy of this dagger, I’ll stab that bastard in the eye—”

“SQUEEEAK.”

Rajix’s eyes sparkled.

The hunt began again.

Gyeon Dallae held up her bell and placed confusion on the basilisk.

Then Meatshield lightly broke its legs and pinned it, and Cossack finished it off.

A basilisk corpse without a single scratch.

Rajix immediately stepped up.

He pulled a short knife from his chest, sliced here, sliced there.

Then he grabbed the basilisk’s jaw with his short arms—

“Hnnng-cha!”

As he rolled and yanked hard—

RRRIP!

“Whoa!”

CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!

Juhyeok and the other summoned entities applauded.

A perfect separation of body and hide.

It was like watching it molt.

The peeled hide automatically went into the small backpack.

‘That looks like a skill too.’

Of course.

Rajix wasn’t Normal—he was Rare.

He was extremely skilled and experienced.

No wonder he was well-liked and well-reviewed.

One down, then another.

So what if it takes time?

It’s not like we’re trying to clear S++.

But after the sixth one—

“SQUEAK, done.”

Huh? Done?

“The bag’s full.”

“Ah...”

Looks like that backpack has limits, too.

Well, sure—one hide is huge.

It was a shame, but this was probably enough.

Monster hide—

It was rare and expensive.

Even the combat boots Juhyeok wore were made from basilisk hide.

It was used for armor crafting, but it was also used for regular luxury goods.

Bags, dress shoes, wallets—stuff like that.

Extremely durable, and because it was rare, people charged whatever they wanted.

But since the quantity was so low, it couldn’t be commercialized.

Instead, singers, actors—celebrities, rich upper-class types—were desperate to get monster hide.

And lately, animal protection groups had been going crazy about it, too.

Saying you shouldn’t peel the skin off poor animals for human greed, they did nude protests and caused a huge uproar.

So even famous people couldn’t help but watch those groups’ reactions.

But what if it was a custom-made product crafted from monster hide?

Animal protection groups’ arguments wouldn’t work.

What, were they going to claim monsters had the right to live peacefully too?

A sudden thought hit him.

He wanted to feed Rajix the Summoned Entity Rank-Up Rune.

And create a worker who was hiding his power—a worker who was the strongest in history.

‘I really am curious.’

An SR Rajix. An SSR worker Rajix.

If his rank went up, what would change?

The backpack capacity would definitely increase.

‘What if he starts bringing out not just Tower materials, but items too?’

He was a worker companion whose growth he looked forward to.

※ ※ ※

Juhyeok and the group exited the Tower.

Their clear had taken the longest time so far.

In the narrow officetel living room, the things Rajix gathered were piled up in heaps.

“Hahahaha!”

“Hehehehe.”

“SQUEAK-hehehe.”

You didn’t even have to eat to feel full.

If you assumed you sold all of it, how much would this be?

Six full basilisk hides.

Add the one he’d peeled earlier, and it was seven total.

Just those [N O V E L I G H T] alone, there was nowhere to put them in the living room.

Magic Stones he’d mined in the Tower: 50kg.

Market price: 25 million won.

Unknown herbs.

He’d know once he got an appraisal.

Clear rewards gave you dried herbs, but these were fresh herbs he’d just picked.

He couldn’t mine ore, he said.

Well, they could mine that later.

Juhyeok put everything into his inventory.

Even though his level had gone up and the space had expanded, it still filled almost a third of it.

Worker Rajix, now confirmed as an official member.

Total household: five.

‘I can’t put it off anymore.’

Moving was urgent.

He wanted to relocate right away.

For the summoned entities’ comfort, a bigger home was mandatory.

Juhyeok pulled out his laptop and turned it on.

He needed to open a real estate listing site and search for a decent apartment.

Apartment prices were no joke.

Even if it wasn’t a penthouse, any decently large unit was easily over 5 billion won.

Expensive ones were in the 10-billion range.

Hell, there were even 20-billion ones out there.

‘Expensive. So expensive.’

If he shifted his eyes to the provinces, he had more options.

At much cheaper prices, he could buy an apartment with far more space.

But he didn’t want to leave Seoul.

This was Juhyeok’s hometown.

His parents and family were here.

Click, click.

Even while thinking, he kept searching apartments.

There wasn’t a single one he liked.

He knew why, too.

Because that penthouse Jeon Gwangil had suggested wouldn’t leave his head.

It stayed stuck in his mind.

How great would it be to live there?

Once you got attached to something, it was hard to let go.

That was why you couldn’t forget your first love.

In the end, Juhyeok pulled up the penthouse photos he’d given up on before.

A demonic penthouse that was always a burden, whether you had money or not.

If he were a strong man, he would’ve just slammed the button without hesitation.

‘Right! What happened with the holy sword rental?’

Might as well ask.

He turned on his smartphone for the first time in a while.

Since the other side was a civil servant and would be busy, he sent a text.

A moment later.

Tok-tok!

The message alert sounded.

A reply came in instantly.

Let’s see. The rental fee was...

“Huh?”

What?

Juhyeok rubbed his eyes and checked the message again.

‘They rented it... twice?’

No way.

What kind of windfall was this?

Twice?

And they’d calculated everything to the exact number.

20 million dollars. 26 billion won.

‘If that’s the case, I can buy the penthouse with zero problems.’

Aaaaaah!

The strongest nation on Earth: USA.

A country overflowing with strong men.

Thanks to that benevolent American Player, a holy sword rental fee of 20 million dollars—26 billion won—would soon get deposited straight into his account.

Truly the best of Players.

Calling him bro wouldn’t be out of line.

Brother Gerald Watson.

If someone gives you 26 billion won, that’s your brother.

Damn right. Of course it is.

If he’d known they were going to rent it twice, he would’ve given them a discount.

And apparently they were coming again in a few months.

They should.

To clear Floor 67.

“Alright, everyone, gather up. I have a major announcement.”

“YES, SIR!”

“What is it?”

“Warrior is ready to hear.”

“SQUEAK?”

He held up the laptop screen for them.

“We’re moving. Here.”

“Th-this is?”

“Isn’t that the palace we saw before?”

“Big house.”

“SQUEEEAK...”

“But how much?”

“20 billion.”

“...Yes?”

Cossack trembled as he spoke.

“T-too expensive, sir. Need loan, sir. Then Summoner Bong become house-poor, sir. We can’t even eat instant noodles, sir.”

Where’d he even hear “house-poor”?

“Then loan shark come again, sir. Then need ribbon, sir.”

He was saying terrifying shit like it was nothing.

“We’re not borrowing money.”

“Uh, even if we buy it, who clean that huge house, sir?”

The instant—

“SQUEAK, lift foot. Foot!”

“...”

SHHK—SHHK—SHHK!

In a flash, Rajix swept past, scrubbing the floor with a rag.

Cossack stared at Rajix’s back in silence.

“...We can buy, sir.”

Gyeon Dallae gave one last loyal piece of advice, too.

“This young lady is worried. To indulge in such luxury for the sake of the servants... please reconsider.”

“It’s fine. We can earn money again. Right? Rajix?”

“...SQUEAK?”

We’ve got a treasure chest.

What is there to worry about?

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