Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: The Decision to Buy a House
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I finally decided to buy a house.
I still wondered if this was the right move.
If I felt perfectly at ease after dropping 20 billion won, that would be the abnormal thing.
I had to keep doing mental gymnastics, telling myself that I had made a good purchase.
'Luxury apartments don't depreciate much, you know.'
I rather hoped they would appreciate.
I can always sell it and move out later.
'Think of it as an investment.'
Joo-hyuk, this wasn't for you.
It was for the Summoned Beings.
I wanted to create a comfortable, relaxing space for them while they were out in this world.
So they didn't have to crowd in this cramped officetel.
The next morning.
As always, I performed a Designated Summon of my Summoned Beings.
"Boss! We climbing the 42nd floor today? I'm ready."
"No, we did it twice yesterday, so we should rest today."
"This is not the time. We gotta make money. We're really gonna become house-poor."
Somehow, Kosak seemed more frantic.
"Good thing the worker Razix is here too. We gotta make a big haul."
A big haul? What nonsense.
"You won't become house-poor. We have enough money, and we're eating and living well even now."
"Ugh, money can never be enough. Money is power. The more money you have, the stronger your influence. Stronger influence means Summoner Bong is safer too."
When did this guy become such a money-grubber?
"Also, if someone's selling a Trait Enhancement Rune, you need to have the money to buy it."
Ah, Mr. Kosak.
That's not a few pennies we're talking about.
Joo-hyuk had asked Jeon Gwang-il about it before.
How much does a Trait Enhancement Rune cost?
He said deals go up to tens of billions.
Of course, that's in dollars, not won.
"Ah, we could never earn enough to buy that. Let's give up. It'll be more peaceful."
"Many a mickle makes a muckle." (Proofreader's note: Scotish proverb)
Gathering dust-like money to build a mountain-like fortune?
A saying that only worked in the agrarian past; nowadays, gathering dust just gives you more dust.
"I will prepare a briefing for the Tower Climbing Profit Generation Project."
"A briefing? Why make it so grandiose?"
"We must plan thoroughly."
"..."
My resolve weakened.
I was planning to take it easy.
We could live comfortably enough.
But with Kosak passionately arguing, spittle flying...
'Well, I guess I should humor him.'
Later, when other countries seriously started climbing the floors beyond the 60s, dust might indeed become a mountain.
Spending money is fun, but so is saving it.
"Alright. Let's proceed. Mr. Kosak, please prepare the briefing materials yourself. You can present it too."
"Yes, sir!"
The plan is obvious.
Making money using worker Razix's abilities.
So, let's try selling the Tower materials we'd gathered so far and see how much we could get for them.
But not at the Player Shop.
The materials Razix collected were clearly very different from Tower reward materials at a glance.
The hides were whole skins, peeled off a monster in one piece; the herbs weren't dried but fresh, raw herbs.
And the quantity was enormous.
This probably far exceeded the amount of hides the Player Shop purchased in a month.
We needed to contact Team Leader Jeon Gwang-il directly to sell them.
Magic Stones have a set market price, so we could just hand those over, but...
Even so, today is for rest.
It was Sunday, so all the civil servants were off.
Also, the second conquest took a very long time.
Razix worked hard; it wouldn't be right to exploit such a capable worker.
Round and round, just looking at him makes me happy.
"Mr. Razix, let's climb the Tower together for a long, long time."
"Hooong!"
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
"Hoooeh... carrot?"
"Oh! Carrot."
That's right.
Hamsters love carrots.
Gyeon Dal-rae quickly ran to the fridge and brought out a carrot, some cheese, and broccoli.
Crunch, crunch.
Sitting in the living room with his short legs stretched out, Razix ate the carrot pieces Gyeon Dal-rae cut for him with his tiny, bean-sized hands.
A treasure. A real treasure.
As expected, when I let go of greed, fortune came to me.
LSSR Mad Demon?
Who was that?
Did such a person even exist?
Yesterday was a storm of a day.
A series of reversals.
I thought it was a dud, but it was a jackpot; I thought it was a jackpot, but it was a dud.
'The Mad Demon was a Dud Demon.'
Wait, the more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.
World conquest? Kill all the powerful people?
I regret it.
I should have logically rebutted him before releasing the Summon.
But it's already in the past.
I can't call him back.
It was an Ordinary Guy's trait.
Often during debates or arguments, I failed to counter the other person's logic and ended up stammering.
I had many thoughts, but I was also clumsy at expressing them in words.
What did an Ordinary Guy who lost a debate do when he got home, before going to sleep?
He started reviewing why he lost.
If I had rebutted like this, I would have won; his basis was weak, I should have pointed that out; next time, I must counter like this... Kicking the blanket in regret.
That's what Joo-hyuk was doing right now.
When the Mad Demon declared world conquest with his own logic.
'Come on, does he think this is some simple martial arts world? This place was far more complex than any martial world.'
War?
A ridiculous story.
'He probably thought we fought crudely with swords and spears.'
Without even knowing how many nuclear-armed nations there were on Earth.
There was one right to the north.
'Rather than the Tower collapsing and destroying us, nuclear war would bring ruin faster.'
No matter how much of a Mad Demon he was, how could he withstand a nuke?
Also, could you take over a country just by killing a few people in power?
Impossible.
'A country formed like that is bound to split apart.'
The only possibility was unification through agreement.
But even that was hard to achieve.
'Even economic, security, and diplomatic alliances between nations have members threatening to leave or not.'
And if you said you'll create a United Earth Federation, how did you decide the central nation?
By vote?
Would that work?
It would only happen with a knife at each other's throats.
Maybe when the world's Towers collapsed like dominoes and destruction was imminent, an agreement might be possible?
By then, I wonder if it would be too late to turn things around.
But humanity has always overcome hardships and progressed.
After India's Tower first collapsed, people didn't just sit and watch.
There were countless attempts and efforts to conquer the un-conquered upper floors.
'Thanks to that, not a single Tower on Earth had collapsed since.'
And it would remain that way.
Whoosh!
How could I know a future that hadn't even come?
Fine.
I rebutted him magnificently, at least in my imagination.
I felt much better.
An Ordinary Guy's trait.
Always a psychological victory.
There was no defeat.
I erase it from memory.
Having achieved a psychological victory, I should visit my parents' house for a while.
I spent the morning chatting with the Summoned Beings and went to my parents' house in the afternoon.
Honestly, I did feel a bit guilty.
The fact that their son was about to buy a penthouse, while his parents lived in a "cramped" (?) 40-pyeong(1420 square foot) apartment.
I'll give them a lump sum later.
They'd probably refuse to accept it, but...
Just giving a lump sum could cause big problems.
Even between family members, you had to pay a gift tax.
I should get legal advice and arrange the tax issue cleanly before giving it to them.
Somehow, there seemed to be a lot of expenses popping up.
I entered the house by pressing the door passcode.
"Son, son! Come here quickly. Hurry."
My father urgently called for Joo-hyuk.
Did something happen?
"What's wrong?"
"I went fishing at the Incheon breakwater not long ago."
My father's only hobby, fishing.
He couldn't even clean the fish he caught, but he sure loved going.
I sent him some money a while back to buy a fishing rod, and it seemed he couldn't resist and went.
"Look at this photo."
"...Wow!"
It was a photo of him holding a sea bream.
At a glance, it was over 80 cm.
"That's a monster."
"My personal best, isn't it amazing?"
"You caught this at the breakwater?"
"That's right. I thought it was snagged on the bottom."
"What about the fish?"
"Your mom and I ate half as sashimi, and the rest is in the freezer."
Could it be the Luck charm?
Looking at my father's face up close, his complexion definitely looked better.
His hip seemed to have healed completely too.
Is this the effect of the Health trait?
"Oh! When did you buy the air purifier in the living room? I was actually planning to get you one."
"Ah, that? Your mom..."
Then my mom came out of her room.
"Why are you two talking about me? Bad-mouthing me?"
"Did you buy the air purifier, Mom? That's an expensive one."
"I didn't buy it. I won it in a prize draw at the new supermarket that opened nearby. First time I ever won a prize in my life, what a strange world."
It's confirmed. The effect of the Luck charm.
Dad caught a monster sea bream, Mom won an air purifier as a prize.
What about my younger brother Min-hyuk? Anything for him?
He came out of his room just then.
Seems he just finished playing a game.
The game Min-hyuk mainly played was an FPS, a first-person shooter.
"Kya! Every shot I fire hits. Bro, I think I'm a gaming god. I just spray and my kill count skyrockets."
"You must be lucky. You were never good at games."
"Huh... wasn't I?"
Is that all he had to say?
"Anything else good happen lately? Any unexpected strokes of luck?"
"Well... Ah! I remember. Yesterday,"
"Tell me. What about yesterday?"
"I was trying to get coffee from the vending machine at the school library, right? But I didn't have any change."
"So?"
"I thought, 'I'll get it next time,' and was about to leave, but there was a 500-won coin just lying there next to the trash can."
"..."
"Isn't that amazing luck? Anyway, I enjoyed my coffee."
Sigh, poor kid.
Really trivial, so trivial.
"I'm reporting you for theft."
"Hey, come on... It's just 500 won?"
"Yep, even small amounts can get you in trouble if you just pick them up and use them."
"Seriously?"
"Look it up."
Min-hyuk's face turned pale.
"If I go early tomorrow and put the 500 won back, will that be okay?"
"I don't know about that."
Knowing his personality, he was definitely the type to return that picked-up 500 won to the exact spot.
Anyway, everyone was doing well.
The next morning, Monday.
Joo-hyuk sent a message to Jeon Gwang-il on his smartphone.
Asking if he had time, as he was planning to visit the Management Bureau.
A reply shot back instantly.
- I will send a car right away.
Joo-hyuk waited for the car in front of the officetel.
A moment later, a vehicle arrived with a squeak.
"Please get in, Player Bong."
"Whoa, you came in person."
"The inside of a car is the perfect place for a conversation, isn't it?"
The reason Jeon Gwang-il came himself.
If they met alone in an office-like setting, it would draw people's attention.
So meeting like this was better.
"Player Bong, you worked hard on the 41st floor S++ conquest."
"Haha, it was nothing."
"Was the meditation effective?"
"It was very effective. Beyond expectations."
Thanks to that, I got Razix, didn't I?
The Mad Demon was unexpected, though.
"If you need it, I can arrange a yoga instructor for you too. She's a young female instructor around Player Bong's age, and she teaches very well."
Ah, that's too much.
What if, while teaching and learning yoga, we hit it off and get married? If we get married, we'd have to have kids, look into kindergartens, send them to school, marry them off or find them spouses, become a grandfather...
Did I go too far in a short time?
And the meditation was more like a half-hearted attempt.
Yoga? No way.
"Yoga is unnecessary."
"Hahaha, understood."
Let's get to the point first.
"Is there a spacious place inside the Management Bureau? Even better if there are no people around."
"There is. There's a Management Bureau materials warehouse; it's a place not just anyone can enter. It's where Magic Stones and Tower materials are stored."
Perfect.
I can take things out there.
Before I knew it, the car arrived at the Management Bureau.
We went inside and headed to the back of the building, where there were guards again, as if it were a main entrance.
Seemed to be in front of the special materials warehouse.
When Jeon Gwang-il rolled down the driver's window and showed his ID and face, the barrier and iron gate rose simultaneously.
The car entered the warehouse.
Soon, the iron gate and barrier closed again.
Joo-hyuk got out of the car with Jeon Gwang-il.
"So, what's the matter?"
"I want to sell some material items."
"Ah!"
Jeon Gwang-il's eyes sparkled brightly.
If Player Bong Joo-hyuk said he was selling materials, they couldn't be ordinary.
Otherwise, he would have gone to the Player Shop.
"Shall I take them out?"
"What's the approximate quantity?"
"The count isn't much, but the size is quite large."
"Then please take them out over here."
That's when it happened.
Whoosh!
A massive object tore its way out of thin air.
Its appearance was like... a monster?
"Waaaah!!!"
Jeon Gwang-il, utterly shocked, screamed and fell backward onto his rear.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry. I should have warned you first."
"Uh, what?"
Jeon Gwang-il's legs were still trembling.
Looking again, it definitely looked like a monster.
A tremendously huge one at that.
But I've seen that somewhere before...
A massive head with a shorter snout than a crocodile, thick black bumpy skin, at a glance...
"I-Is that an Ironclad Basilisk? Am I right?"
"Oh! You know it well."
"Only from videos..."
Why is it here?
It was slumped over, seemingly already dead.
But even if dead, a Tower monster appearing in reality?
The thing he brought to sell was a monster.
"Impressive, right?"
"Huh? Um, yes, yes."
"It's a whole Basilisk hide. Skinned clean off, like shedding skin."
"Aha!"
So it was a hide.
A whole hide.
That explained it.
No, it was still not something to take for granted.
Even if it was just a hide... Could it be?
"Is it an S++ grade reward?"
"...Let's say it is."
Only then did Jeon Gwang-il approach with a relieved expression, examining it closely.
"This size... I've truly never seen anything like it."
"Can it be sold?"
"Well... Pricing it seems difficult. There's no precedent."
"Hmm..."
That's true.
Even if the hide is a player's conquest reward, it's usually just a piece the size of a cushion.
You need to gather many pieces to barely make a pair of combat boots; gather even more for one leather armor.
But a whole hide?
How many armors could come from that?
"I'll take everything out first. Please sell them as you see fit."
"...Everything out? What do you mean?"
That implied there was more.
"There are seven whole Ironclad Basilisk hides total. And there are herbs too, which probably need refrigeration."
"..."
Joo-hyuk took out the whole hides, herbs, and Magic Stones from his inventory.
Items were popping out of thin air one after another.
'What in the world...'
Jeon Gwang-il's jaw opened wider and wider.
It didn't close for a long time.