Juhyeok visited his parents’ place.

He’d called in advance to say he was coming today.

RING.

He opened the door and walked in, and—

‘Huh.’

His dad, his mom, and his brother were sitting quietly in the living room.

But it was chilly.

A heavy air settled over the entire house.

First, stay calm—

“...I’m here.”

“Come over and sit.”

“Yup.”

Mom’s low, quiet voice.

I don’t know what this is about... should I run?

Anyway, when he sat down—

Thud, a bankbook tossed onto the living room floor.

‘So it’s this.’

At the very bottom, the amount was written.

A full ten billion won, deposited by Bong Juhyeok.

“What is this money?”

“I-It’s allowance. It’s already been handled with gift tax and everything, so you can relax—”

“I know you make good money because you’re an elite Player. I’m always proud of you.”

That’s right.

I make good money.

Ten billion won is what you make after mining ore for a few days.

“But you want your parents to live it up on money you earned by risking your life? Are you trying to turn us into shameless, brazen people with no self-respect?”

“I-It’s not like I risked my life for it.”

I don’t even move.

I want to hunt monsters, but they won’t let me.

I’ve got people who handle everything, and an adorable worker.

“The money you earn should be spent on you. You’ve worked so hard. We don’t need it. Take it back. We already feel guilty just for receiving the big house.”

“I-It’s not even that big.”

The penthouse I live in is three times larger than this house.

Do you know how many rooms it has?

No choice. I’ll have to reveal it.

“Mom... do you happen to know about the holy sword?”

“...Huh?”

Dad and my brother too—

“I know. There’s that saying, ‘Above landlords are holy sword owners.’”

“I heard it costs ten billion won just to rent it.”

To be precise, ten million dollars.

Over thirteen billion won.

“I’m the holy sword owner. I picked it up in the Tower. I scored big.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

They all looked like they were thinking, What the hell is he talking about?

“Hyung, if you keep lying, you’ll get into a bad habit. Even if fraud charges don’t apply between parent and child, morally—”

“Here, look!”

Juhyeok opened his smartphone banking app and showed them.

“See this? Holy sword rental fee: 26.8 billion won. The Administration deposited it.”

Minhyeok’s eyes went wide as he stared at the phone screen.

Dad shoved his face in close too.

“Huh? It’s real. W-wait, the circled number is... eeek?”

“Let me see too—where, where? One, two, three, four... gah! Y-You little punk! You were rich!”

With a snort of laughter—

“You’re only realizing now? I can live fat and happy just renting out the holy sword without climbing the Tower.”

“Oh my, young master, in this humble ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ place—”

“I, Bong Minhyeok! I will dedicate my loyalty to you, elder brother!”

“....”

Mom also looked pretty stunned.

She kept flicking her eyes between the bank balance and Juhyeok’s face for a long while, then—

“Ugh, you absolute sucker! You like giving away money you worked your ass off for?”

“YES, MA’AM!”

So what if I’m a sucker?

That’s how weak men are.

It’s way better than being a psychopath.

If you make money and spend it all alone, what’s even fun about that?

If the people I love use the money I worked hard for and live well, that’s fun too.

*****

Somewhere in Seoul.

Xiao Jun checked the operational plan.

At first, Xiao Jun had come to Korea feeling like he’d been shoved out the door, and he’d had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Bring back Korea’s S++ clear record holder?

How?

Even if he knew who it was, it would be hard.

The Chinese government knows it’s impossible.

So why send him anyway?

‘They’re telling me to try something, at least.’

He had to show something.

His loyalty to China.

Korea, swollen with arrogance.

Even now, the sight of them puffing their chests out like they were some “advanced Tower-climbing nation” made rage surge up inside him.

‘How dare a small country.’

China couldn’t even clear Floor 59 and had practically begged Russia.

And Floor 60 didn’t look clearable at all.

But Korea?

Floor 67 clears were basically guaranteed.

No—up to Floor 70, they’d probably be fine.

The gap would only widen.

While China trembled in fear of a Tower Collapse, Korea would lift their heads high and swagger as an “advanced Tower-climbing nation.”

Xiao Jun couldn’t bear to watch that.

They needed to be punished.

Like the Player terror incident that happened in the United Arab Emirates.

And then, an opportunity appeared.

He got intel that, in a few days, a fashion-company showcase would be held at the HG Hotel.

There were even rumors that elite Players would attend.

How could he sit still?

He’d wipe them all out.

He’d make Korea taste the despair of Tower Collapse too.

If China’s Towers collapse, then Korea should collapse as well.

Isn’t he underestimating the National Intelligence Service and the Korean government?

So what—are they gods?

Even the CIA, the so-called world’s greatest intelligence agency, makes mistakes.

Type keywords like CIA humiliation, failure, blunder into any internet search engine and you’ll get story after story.

Caught wiretapping. Exposed trying to assassinate foreign officials. They even leaked lists of their own operatives—people got arrested, or expelled en masse.

Russia’s intelligence service?

They’d been the world’s laughingstock for ages.

When things like that happen, some people always say the same thing.

It’s too sloppy.

How can a nation’s top intelligence service fail to prepare for something like this? Even a novel would flop with logic this flimsy.

Ridiculous.

What in this world is perfect?

Reality is a catastrophic mess.

Worse than movies or novels.

No matter how tight security is, holes open up.

Because people are the ones doing it.

Even now, they still didn’t know the team had entered Korea.

From Taiwan, from Singapore, from Malaysia, from Indonesia—Special Intelligence Department for Tower Clearing team members infiltrated Korea.

“This is war. You cannot hesitate.”

“Yes!”

In truth, no matter how meticulously you plan, most of the time it doesn’t go according to plan. You can never predict the variables that appear in sudden situations.

What mattered was bold execution.

Doing, without a shred of hesitation, the thing everyone assumes you wouldn’t go so far as to do.

That was the key to success.

This time would be the same.

*****

Juhyeok finally decided.

The uncleared upper floor—Floor 61.

After visiting his parents’ place, he’d kept going with fragment searches through repeat Tower runs.

While he was at it, he peeled basilisk hides, peeled wyvern hides, mined ore too.

Mostly he ran the Floors in the 50s, and dipped into the 40s for basilisk hides, but there wasn’t much to show for it.

The only items that dropped were basically trash.

No rune fragments, no ticket fragments either.

“It’s because the floors are too low. You gotta go to 61 and up.”

Cossack’s opinion.

“And even if you find items on low floors, they probably won’t be useful. I’m sorry for the dead, but do you really think stuff low-level Players carried would be any good?”

He was right.

Uncleared upper-floor climbing was necessary.

But he planned to stop at Floor 66.

He couldn’t just clear mindlessly.

What if some talented, insane Player cleared Floor 67, 68, 69... whatever they wanted, in just a few days?

The world would end.

The state can’t know when or where a Player clears which floor.

They can’t block entry either.

Then when Tower climbing hits its limit, the consequences land squarely on the country.

From Floor 67 onward, they had to match the collapse time limit.

In step with the government’s plan.

Juhyeok went down to the underground parking lot.

There was something he needed to pick up.

Beside the ever-changing car, this time it was Section Chief Lee Mina.

“A little while ago, the Norwegian Player cleared Floor 66 and left the country.”

“Oh, really?”

“They asked me to pass along their thanks to the actual owner...”

“Yeah, yeah. Good. That’s a relief.”

Thanks, my ass.

Just deposit the rental fees, on time.

“Here...”

SWOOSH!

The holy sword slid out of Section Chief Lee Mina’s inventory.

He took it, checking the item info too.

<Tower-Only Holy Sword of the Paladin Commander of the Roland Holy Kingdom>

“Until the next reservation... I’ll return it.”

“Player Bong.”

“Yes?”

“Clear Floor 61 without even a hair getting hurt—safely! You can do it!”

What is this?

Embarrassing.

Lee Mina looked like she still had more to say.

“Oh! Are you coming to the showcase event tomorrow?”

“...I haven’t decided yet.”

“Okay. Call anytime. Security will come pick you up. That’s how the other elite Players move too.”

It was an event co-hosted by HG Fashion and the Tower Player Awakening Administration, so other elite Players would attend too.

Go, or not go.

Honestly, he was curious.

How those events even worked.

In twenty-five years, he’d never gone to a concert even once.

Sometimes you’ve gotta try being social.

And it’s not like you get to see famous people up close all the time.

Juhyeok went back up to the penthouse.

The summoned entities waiting for him.

“Ta-da!”

He took the holy sword out of his inventory to show them.

“Is that the holy sword? Why does it look even more worn down than before? At this rate, the patterns will get rubbed off.”

Tsk.

Way to kill the mood the second I take it out.

“What, you missed it?”

“SQUEAK!”

He gently set the holy sword down on the floor.

SHK—!

Rajix pulled a huge magnifying glass out of his Subspace Backpack.

‘It had a magnifying glass in there too?’

Rajix carefully inspected the engraved patterns on the holy sword through the magnifier.

“SQUEEEAK...”

Then, shff—he pulled something else out of the backpack.

‘A book?’

It was a thick book nearly half his body size.

‘What a ridiculous backpack.’

Cleaning tools came out, a pickaxe came out, tongs, a magnifying glass, and now a book.

FLIP-FLIP-FLIP-FLIP!

He rapidly turned pages.

“SQUEAK? SQUEEEAK!!”

Rajix sank into thought.

He made noises to himself, then closed his eyes, then rolled around this way and that.

“SQUEAK! I can fix this.”

What?

“...You can fix it?”

“I need materials. If I find them, I fix it. SQUEEEAK.”

“W-What materials?”

“SQUEEENG... I have to look.”

“If you don’t have the materials, you can’t fix it?”

“SQUEAK. Yeeeah.”

“Can you get the materials in the Tower?”

“Yeeeah.”

Meaning it wasn’t confirmed.

Might be fixable, might not.

Even the possibility was something.

‘If the holy sword’s effect gets better... I should charge more for rental.’

I’ll search harder.

Starting from Floor 61.

“Let’s go in.”

*****

[Entering Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 61.]

The start of the undead section.

Juhyeok held the holy sword.

That was the safest option.

‘Come to think of it, even though I own the holy sword, this is my first time using it inside the Tower.’

WOOOOOO...

A faint white Radiance settled over his whole body.

Confidence rose.

It felt like the Radiance was protecting him.

[Floor 61 Mission: Kill 20 dark mummies.]

[Time Limit: Within 15 hours.]

[Completion Condition: dark mummy 0/20]

[Failure Condition: Death or mission abandonment]

The mission popped.

Dark mummies.

The weakest undead.

Which meant their dark aura was very thin.

“Krrr...”

“KRAAAH!”

“GRRRRRR...”

They shuffled forward slowly.

Corpses in rags so rotten they looked like they might slough off at any moment.

Bodies so withered they looked like you could tap them with a fist and they’d crumble—if not for the dark aura.

But if you underestimate them, you’re screwed.

Just touching dark aura contaminates a Player’s mind.

Actually, more than the holy sword’s effect, he was curious about something else.

How did the shamaness Gyeon Dallae neutralize this dark aura?

“Dark aura, in essence, is the grudges, hatred, and malice a human held while alive, condensed into a tangible force.”

Gyeon Dallae stepped forward with light, careful steps.

“If the efficacy of the holy sword is to suppress and subdue dark aura through the power of potent holy-attribute, then the method this girl uses differs in its very foundation.”

She set a portable speaker down from her bosom.

“Master, do you know which rite my teacher first bestowed upon me?”

How would he know?

And she probably wasn’t asking for an answer.

“It is the cleansing rite.”

Cleansing rite?

“A rite for the dead—also called the funeral rite. It is shaman song that soothes pitiful souls who wander the nine heavens, unable to release the resentment bound in this world, and prays for their rebirth in paradise.”

Gyeon Dallae gently gathered her skirt with both hands, lifted her socked foot, and stepped.

Then came the drumbeat—

DOOM, DOO-DOOM, DOO-DOOM-DOOM, DOONG, DOO-DOOM, DOO-DOOM-DOOM.

A very slow rhythm.

To that rhythm, Gyeon Dallae drifted among the dark mummies in soft, flowing dance.

Her bearing was noble, solemn, and so sacred it felt beyond approach.

She lightly shook her bells—JINGLE JINGLE—and a mournful melody poured from her lips.

“This murky, suffering world... life has already ended, leaving only the soul, yet there is nowhere to go. Unbind what was knotted, cross the river of three crossings, and go to the western flower garden. Come, come—let us go.”

The dark mummies seemed affected by her song and dance, shrinking in on themselves.

Ah.

It was beautiful.

Holy.

A cleansing rite that warmly comforted the dead—performed by the foremost shamaness of an empire.

Juhyeok forgot to speak.

So did every summoned entity.

The cleansing rite’s dance.

And the song that pierced the chest.

The dark aura spilling from the mummies’ bodies was visibly weakening.

In that moment—

SWOOSH!

Meatshield, his body enlarged—

surged forward.

THUD!

He threw a punch—

CRUNCH!

A dark mummy scattered into dust.

Only then did Cossack and Veronica snap back to themselves, charging into the field after Meatshield.

Juhyeok moved too.

This time, no one stopped him.

CRUNCH! CRRSHHH! CRUNCH!

He didn’t even need skills.

Just swinging was enough to shatter dark mummies into nothing.

With this, did he even need the holy sword?

It looked like fixing it didn’t matter at all.

Still, it wasn’t a holy sword for him to use—

‘So it’s better to repair it anyway.’

And so the first clear—

[Notice: You have achieved Clear Rank S++ for Black Tower (Korea) Floor 61.]

[dark mummy kills 20/20]

[You have succeeded in the Floor 61 Mission.]

[Your Level has increased.]

[Reward: Magic Stone 6.1kg]

[S++ Clear Reward: You are awarded a Platinum Badge.]

[You may challenge Floor 62.]

[Exiting Black Tower (Republic of Korea).]

It ended way faster than expected.

Then came the second run.

He left only one dark mummy alive.

From now on, it was Rajix time.

Under Meatshield’s escort.

“SQUEAK!”

ROLL... PUNCHPUNCHPUNCHPUNCH!

“SQUEAK?”

ROLL... PUNCHPUNCHPUNCHPUNCH!

“SQUEEEAK!”

Search results.

<Fallen Off ???..., Rune (2/7)>

He attached one rune fragment.

And he attached two ticket fragments.

<Ticket ???.... With Illegible Letters (2/8)>

<Half-Torn ??... Access Ticket (3/5)>

It was better than expected.

Sure enough, the higher the floor, the better the haul.

‘Hm.’

And one of those tickets... he had a pretty good idea what it was.

‘It’s a Multinational Tower Access Ticket.’

If he completed this too, it’d be useful.

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