In the end, I made up my mind to buy a house.

Even now, I keep wondering if this is really the right move.

If you drop 20 billion won and feel totally at peace, that would be abnormal.

I have to keep mind-controlling myself that I bought well.

‘Luxury apartments don’t really drop in price.’

If anything, they go up.

And if I ever need to, I can sell later and move out.

‘Just think of it as investing.’

This isn’t for me.

It’s for the summoned entities.

While they’re out in the world, I want to give them a space where they can rest comfortably and recharge.

Instead of all of us cramming into this tiny officetel.

The next morning.

As usual, the moment I performed a Designated Summon on the summoned entities—

“ATTENTION! Today we climb Floor 42, sir? I’m ready, sir.”

“No. If we went in twice yesterday, we have to rest today.”

“This is not the time, sir. Must earn money, sir. We become truly house-poor, sir.”

Why is Cossack more frantic than anyone?

“Worker Rajix also here, sir. We need big score, sir.”

A big score, my ass.

“I’m not becoming house-poor. I’ve got plenty of money, and even now I’m eating well and living well.”

“Ugh, money can never be ‘plenty,’ sir. Money is power, sir. The more money, the stronger the power, sir. If power gets strong, Summoner Bong also becomes safe, sir.”

Since when did this guy get so money-possessed?

“Also, if someone sells Trait Enhancement Rune, we must have money to buy it, sir.”

Cossack...

That’s not pocket change.

I’d asked Jeon Gwangil before.

Trait enhancement runes—how much?

Sometimes tens of billions of won change hands.

Of course, not in won.

In dollars.

“Yeah, no. You can’t earn enough to buy that. Just give up. It’s easier that way.”

“Dust piles into mountain, sir.”

Gather dust and you get a mountain?

That was something that worked back in the agricultural age. These days, you pile dust and all you get is dust.

“I will establish Tower climbing profit-generation project and brief you, sir.”

“Brief? Why are you making it so dramatic.”

“We must plan thoroughly, sir.”

“...”

My resolve wavers.

I was going to take it easy.

I can already live comfortably.

But with Cossack spraying spit as he argues—

‘Fine. I should respond.’

If other countries seriously start climbing into the 60s, dust might actually turn into a mountain.

Spending money is fun, but saving it is fun too.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Cossack, you handle preparing the briefing materials. And you present them.”

“YES, SIR!”

The plan was obvious.

Make money using Worker Rajix’s ability.

So first, we should try selling the Tower materials we’ve gathered so far.

See how much they’ll fetch.

But we can’t use the Player Shop.

The materials Rajix gathered looked wildly different from Tower reward materials at a glance.

Starting with the hide—this was whole-hide, peeled off in one piece. The herbs weren’t dried, either—they were fresh, living herbs.

And the quantity was insane.

At this volume, it probably far exceeded the amount of leather the Player Shop buys in an entire month.

I need to contact Team Leader Jeon Gwangil directly and sell to him.

Magic Stones have a fixed market price, so I can just hand those over.

Even so, today is rest.

It’s Sunday, so civil servants are all off.

And the second clear took a very long time.

Rajix worked hard. You can’t exploit a capable worker.

Round and round—just looking at him makes me feel satisfied.

“Rajix, let’s climb the Tower together for a long, long time.”

“SQUEAK!”

“Anything you want to eat?”

“SQUEEEAK... carrot?”

“Oh! Carrot.”

Right.

Hamsters like carrots.

Gyeon Dallae sprinted to the refrigerator and pulled out carrots, cheese, and broccoli.

Crunch-crunch.

Rajix sat in the living room with his short legs stretched out, eating carrot pieces Gyeon Dallae had cut for him with his tiny hands.

He’s a blessing. A blessing.

Sure enough, once you let go of greed, fortune comes looking for you.

LSSR Mad Demon?

Who’s that?

Was there even someone like that?

Yesterday was a storm of a day.

Twist after twist.

I thought it was a dud, but it was a jackpot. I thought it was a jackpot, but it was a dud.

‘Mad Demon was a mad dud.’

Just sitting here, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.

World conquest? Kill all the powerful?

I regret it.

Before I dismissed him, I should’ve refuted him logically.

But it’s already in the past.

I can’t summon him again anyway.

Weak man trait.

When a normal argument or debate happens, a weak man often can’t refute the other person’s logic. He stammers, “Uh—uh—,” and it ends.

He thinks too much, and he’s clumsy at turning those thoughts into words.

So what does a weak man do after losing a debate and coming home?

He starts replaying it before bed.

If I’d countered that claim like this, I would’ve won. His basis was weak. I should’ve pointed that out. Next time I’ll definitely refute it like this—while kicking the blanket over and over and drowning in regret.

That’s what I’m doing right now.

When Mad Demon declared world conquest with his own logic—

‘Seriously, does he think this is some simple martial-world-under-heaven kind of place? This world is way more complicated than that.’

War?

Ridiculous.

‘Does he think people fight like idiots with swords and spears?’

Without even knowing how many nuclear states exist on Earth.

There’s one right above us, for starters.

‘We’d get wiped out faster by nuclear war than by Tower Collapse.’

No matter how much of a Mad Demon you are, how are you going to tank nukes?

And even if you kill a few people in power, can ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) you “eat” a country?

Not a chance.

‘Any state forced together like that will definitely split.’

If there’s even a sliver of possibility, it would be integration by agreement.

But even that is hard to realize.

‘Even international economic-security-diplomatic unions have member states constantly talking about leaving or not leaving. That’s the reality.’

And even if, somehow, you create an Earth Federation—how do you decide the central nation?

By vote?

You think that’ll work?

It’ll only happen with a blade at everyone’s throat.

Maybe only when the world’s Towers start collapsing like dominoes and extinction is right in front of our faces—only then could agreement be possible.

By then, I don’t know if it would even be reversible.

But humanity has always overcome hardship and advanced.

After India’s Tower collapsed first, people didn’t just sit there and watch.

There were countless attempts and efforts to climb the uncleared upper floors.

‘Thanks to that, after that, not a single Tower on Earth has collapsed.’

And it’ll stay that way.

Haaah.

How would I know some future that hasn’t even come?

Enough.

I refuted him in my imagination, in style.

I feel refreshed.

Weak man trait.

Always a mental victory.

There is no defeat.

I erase it from memory.

Since I’ve achieved my mental victory, I’ll go visit my parents for a bit.

*****

In the morning I messed around with the summoned entities, and in the afternoon I came to my parents’ place.

Honestly, I feel guilty.

My son is about to buy a penthouse, while my parents live in a cramped(?) apartment in the 1,400-square-foot range.

Later, I’ll give them a lump sum.

They’ll probably refuse.

But giving a lump sum straight is dangerous.

Even between family, you have to pay gift tax.

I’ll get legal counsel, cleanly handle the tax issues, and then hand it over.

Man, there are so many ways money gets spent.

I punched in the entry password and went inside.

“Son, son! Come here, quick. Quick.”

My dad called me urgently.

Did something happen?

“What is it?”

“A little while back, I went fishing over by the Incheon breakwater, you know.”

Fishing—my dad’s one and only hobby.

He can’t even clean a fish he catches, and yet he still goes.

I sent him pocket money to buy a rod a while ago, and it looks like he couldn’t resist and already went.

“Look at this photo.”

“...Whoa.”

A photo of him holding a red seabream.

Just looking at it, it had to be over 80 centimeters.

“That’s a big one.”

“My best record. Crazy, right?”

“You caught that off the breakwater?”

“I’m telling you. I thought I snagged the bottom.”

“What happened to the fish?”

“Your mom and I ate half as sashimi, and I put the rest in the freezer.”

Could it be the Luck Talisman?

Up close, my dad’s complexion definitely looked better.

His hip must’ve fully healed, too.

Is that the effect of the Health Talisman?

“Oh! And when did you buy that air purifier in the living room? I was going to get you one.”

“Ah, that? Your mom—”

Then Mom came out of the room.

“Why are you two talking about me? You were badmouthing me, weren’t you?”

“Mom, did you buy the air purifier? That’s an expensive one.”

“I didn’t buy it. I got it from a prize drawing at that new mart up the street. In my life, winning a prize... what a world.”

That settles it. It’s the Luck Talisman.

Dad caught a giant red seabream, Mom won an air purifier.

Then what about my brother Minhyeok?

Right then, he came out.

Looks like he’d just been gaming.

Minhyeok mostly plays FPS—first-person shooters.

“Kyah! Everything I shoot hits, hyung. I think I’m the god of gaming. Even if I just spray, my kill count shoots up.”

“It’s probably luck. You’re usually bad at games.”

“Uh... is that so?”

Is that it for him?

“Other than that, nothing good happen lately? Like unexpected luck.”

“Hmm... ah! I remembered. Yesterday—”

“Tell me. What happened yesterday?”

“At the school library vending machine, I was going to buy coffee, right? But I didn’t have any change.”

“So?”

“I was about to leave like, ‘I’ll drink it next time,’ and then right next to the trash can, there was a 500-won coin just sitting there.”

“...”

“Isn’t that insane luck? Anyway, I enjoyed my coffee.”

Sigh, poor bastard.

So small. So, so small.

“I’m reporting you for misappropriation of lost property.”

“Come on... it’s only 500 won.”

“Yeah, even small amounts—if you pick it up and spend it, you can get in trouble.”

“Seriously?”

“Go search it.”

Minhyeok’s face turned pale.

“Then... if I go early tomorrow and put the 500 won back where it was, will that fix it?”

“How would I know.”

Knowing his personality, he’ll absolutely put that 500 won back in the exact spot.

Anyway, everyone was doing fine.

*****

The next morning, Monday.

Juhyeok sent Jeon Gwangil a message on his smartphone.

He said he was about to visit the Administration, and asked if he had time.

A reply flew back instantly, the moment it sent.

Juhyeok waited in front of the officetel.

A moment later, SKRRRT, a vehicle arrived.

“Please get in, Player Bong.”

“Whoa, you came in person.”

“For conversation, isn’t a car the perfect place?”

The reason Jeon Gwangil came himself.

If we met one-on-one in a place like his office, it would draw people’s attention.

So meeting like this was actually better.

“Player Bong, good work on the Floor 41 S++ clear.”

“Haha, it was nothing.”

“Looks like meditation had an effect?”

“It had a huge effect. More than I expected.”

Thanks to that, I pulled Rajix.

Mad Demon wasn’t expected, but still.

“If you need it, I can even arrange a yoga instructor for you. A young female instructor around your age—she teaches very well.”

Hey, don’t make it burdensome.

What if we teach and learn yoga, then later make eye contact and get married? If we get married we have to have kids, find a kindergarten, send them to school, marry them off, become a grandpa, grandchildren—

Did I go too far too fast?

And I barely even meditated.

Yoga, my ass.

“Yoga isn’t necessary.”

“Hahahaha, understood.”

First, business.

“Is there a wide place inside the Administration? Even better if there aren’t people around.”

“There is. We have a materials warehouse in the Administration—no one can enter. It’s where we store Magic Stones and Tower materials.”

Perfect.

I can take things out there.

Before long, the car arrived at the Administration.

We went in and drove to the back of the Administration building, and there were guards there too, like it was a front gate.

Looks like the special materials warehouse.

Jeon Gwangil rolled down the driver-side window and showed his ID and his face, and the barrier and the steel gate rose at the same time.

The car entered the warehouse area.

Then the steel gate and barrier shut again.

Juhyeok got out with Jeon Gwangil.

“But what is it?”

“I’m going to sell material items.”

“Ah!”

Jeon Gwangil’s eyes glittered, sparkling.

If Player Bong Juhyeok was selling materials, they wouldn’t be ordinary materials.

If they were, he would’ve gone to the Player Shop.

“Shall we take it out?”

“How much is it?”

“The number isn’t that high, but the size is pretty big.”

“Then take it out over here.”

That was when—

SWISH!

A massive object wedged its way out of thin air.

The shape was like a... monster?

“Uwaaaah!!!”

Jeon Gwangil screamed and collapsed backward, sitting down hard as he lost his wits.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I should’ve told you in advance.”

“Uh... what?”

Jeon Gwangil’s legs were still shaking.

Even looking again, it seemed to be a monster.

And a gigantic one.

But I’ve seen that somewhere before.

Its snout was shorter than an alligator’s, but its head was enormous, its skin was bumpy and dark black, and at a glance—

“Th-th-there’s no way... an Ironclad Basilisk?”

“Oh! You know your stuff.”

“I’ve only seen it in videos...”

Why is that here?

It was sagging. It looked dead.

Even if it’s dead, a Tower monster appearing in reality?

And the thing he brought to sell is a monster?

“Cool, right?”

“Huh? Um... yes, yes.”

“It’s whole Ironclad Basilisk hide. Like it molted—just the hide came off clean.”

“Ah-ha!”

So it was hide.

Whole hide.

That’s why...

No, that doesn’t make it make sense.

Even if it’s hide... could it be?

“Is it an S++ grade reward?”

“...Sure. Let’s say it is.”

Only then did Jeon Gwangil look relieved as he walked closer and examined it in detail.

“At this size... I’ve really never seen anything like it.”

“Can you sell it?”

“Well. It’ll be hard to set a price. There’s no precedent.”

“Hm.”

That was true.

Even leather a Player got as a clear reward was usually just a cushion-sized scrap.

Collect several and you could barely make combat shoes. Collect more and maybe a single leather armor.

But whole hide?

At that size, how many suits of armor could you make?

“First I’ll lay everything out. Sell it however you want.”

“...Lay everything out?”

So there was more.

“Seven total whole Ironclad Basilisk hides, and there are herbs too. I think they need refrigerated storage.”

“...”

Juhyeok took out the whole hides and herbs from his inventory.

Along with the Magic Stones.

Things slid out of thin air, one after another.

‘What in the...’

Jeon Gwangil’s mouth fell wider and wider.

It didn’t close for a long time.

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