Because I Figured You'd Be Good At It
After Park Ji-hoo, even Lee Sia had shown up.
Yujin never expected everyone would gather here. He had been operating under the assumption that he would be moving alone, so of course the situation left him flustered.
Well, it's not exactly a bad thing.
No—if anything, the situation had improved.
Lee Ki-seok believed Yujin's words to some degree, but he still hadn't fully accepted them. Getting support from outside the Tower required persuading Lee Ki-seok first. With that persuasion stalling, two living pieces of evidence had just walked in. There was no reason for Yujin to complain.
If there had been only a single specimen, Ki-seok would never have believed him so easily. But now there were three. No matter how rational and calculating a capital-T Thinking type science guy he was, he could no longer dismiss Yujin's claims out of hand.
Look at that. His expression already changed.
Ki-seok's face had gone serious. He hadn't been treating any of this as a joke before, but with the evidence mounting, he looked like he was thinking it through far more carefully.
"I understand what you're saying for now. I'll need to look into the details further, but it doesn't appear to be a lie."
"You'll find out eventually anyway. In about a month, other players will start showing their faces."
The players still inside the Tower weren't just sitting around either. They were infinitely slower than Yujin's group, but they would be hunting gradually, adapting as they went. A full month was a long time. Some of them would have reached the second floor by then, and a handful of exceptional ones might already be on the third. Give it another month beyond that, and people who had reached the fifth floor would start appearing. That was how it had gone in the first timeline, too. Once those people emerged into the world, disbelief would no longer be an option. Yujin had simply pulled that timeline forward a little.
"So the support you want is…"
"As I said—every kind of support, regardless of genre or quantity."
Just because players were inside the Tower didn't mean their connection to reality had been severed. A secure rear made for a solid front line, and for the players, the real world was the rear. No one could climb with peace of mind if everything behind them was rotten. Money was the most basic form of support. On top of that, guaranteeing things like their families' safety was what actually gave players a reason to climb. Vague talk about stopping the apocalypse never hit as hard as concrete rewards.
"I see."
Ki-seok nodded as if he understood.
"Of course, that isn't all of it."
If that had been everything Yujin wanted, he would have gone to the president instead of Ki-seok. It would have been much faster. The reason he had sought out Ki-seok specifically was something else entirely.
"I'd like you to make some items for me."
"…Items?"
Ki-seok tilted his head. Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo did the same. Weren't items only obtainable inside the Tower—through hunting, quests, or rewards? Asking a theoretical physicist who wasn't even a player to make items?
"One second."
Ignoring their confusion, Yujin reached out and grabbed Chunbae.
"Kku-a-a-a-a-aang—!"
Apparently bored, the little bear had been dozing while hanging from his arm; now it burst into a wail.
"Hold still for a second."
Yujin paid the noise no mind and shoved his hand into Chunbae's mouth.
"Ugh."
Sia scrunched up her face. Ki-seok's eyes went wide. The only ones whose expressions didn't change were Yujin and Ji-hoo.
"Let's see here."
After rummaging around inside Chunbae for a moment, Yujin pulled out a whole cascade of materials—the crafting mats he had been stockpiling all the way up through the fifth floor. Being lower-floor drops, none of them were particularly good, but the sheer volume was enormous. Everything Sia and Ji-hoo had obtained while hunting was in there too, since Yujin had been storing all of it.
"…What is this?"
The fact that the stuffed bear was alive was already shocking. Watching that much material pour out of its body was even more so. And every single thing Yujin had pulled free carried an unmistakably unusual air about it. Interest was inevitable.
"At a glance they look like pure junk, but that's not all they are."
Yujin picked up one of the materials.
"This is called Red Goblin Hide [E]. Red Goblins drop it at a pretty high rate when you kill them."
There were hundreds of identical sheets just like it.
"This is a Dire Wolf Fang [E]. And over here, Troll Scrap Bone [F]."
He introduced a few more.
"They're not exactly high-quality. A few days of hunting and you can pile them up like mountains."
At Yujin's words, Ki-seok reached out and picked up several of the hides.
"They're all identical."
As if they had come off a factory cutting line. Every Red Goblin Hide [E] shared the exact same shape and size—even the same pattern.
"Well, they are items."
Yujin shrugged as if it were nothing worth noting.
"Anyway, that's not the important part."
He selected a few of the materials and stacked them together in one place.
"If you combine these properly, you can do things like this."
He didn't do anything special. He didn't even use mana. He simply piled a few crafting materials on top of one another. The result, however, was anything but simple.
Wooooom—!
With a faint vibration, the materials melted down. Then—
Fwaaah—!
A small swirl of light fused them into one, reshaping them into an entirely new form.
You are the first to successfully combine items.
The Akasha System 2.0, as always, loved firsts. Even though the act had taken place outside the Tower, it still carefully handed out a reward.
Oh, Luck [E]?
Yujin's expression brightened a little at the reward. It wasn't a high-grade trait, and the effect was accordingly minor—but something was better than nothing. Every once in a while. Very, very rarely. It was the kind of trait that could drop a jackpot into your lap. Getting it this early already… he really was lucky in the second timeline. He reached out. The reward itself wasn't the priority right now.
"This is an item called Red Parchment [E]."
A completely new form and name. Like its grade, it wasn't particularly useful on its own.
"Combine things carefully enough and you can make some fairly impressive equipment. More importantly—you don't even have to be a player to do it."
"Are you saying…?"
Ki-seok grasped Yujin's meaning at once.
"Exactly. Find combination recipes for items we can actually use, and make them for us."
Players would supply the materials. Ki-seok and his research team would extract maximum efficiency from them. Mutual benefit—climbing the Tower a little faster and a little safer. Nothing like this had happened in the first timeline. Back then, players had monopolized the method and used it purely for profit, because the state and the government had never offered them any support.
But this time will be different.
If Yujin's plan worked, players would no longer have to worry about money. They could throw everything they had into climbing the Tower.
"Think you can handle it?"
Yujin asked. Ki-seok accepted the Red Parchment [E] and examined it, but he didn't answer right away. It was far too massive a commitment to make lightly.
"I'm nothing more than a two-bit physicist."
"I know."
"Wouldn't it be far more efficient to take this to politicians or government officials?"
"Maybe."
"Then why come to me with a request like this?"
"Ah, that?"
At Ki-seok's question, Yujin gave a short laugh and answered without a second of hesitation.
"Just because I figured you'd be good at it."
"Augh, finally done."
Yujin stretched as he stepped out of the research building.
"Running my mouth is not my thing. I'd rather fight Black Dark Dragon one more time."
Black Dark Dragon?
"You mean the dragon that came out of the Tutorial Floor?"
"Yeah, that's the one. Originally it's on the 90th Floor…. Never mind. You don't need to know that yet."
Yujin had been about to explain further in response to Sia's question, then shut his mouth. If he talked too long and she started pressing him on how he knew all that, it would just get annoying.
"Saying you'd rather fight a monster like that. People hearing you would think you'd actually fought it."
Sia snorted. She couldn't help it. No matter how strong Yujin was, Black Dark Dragon was an existence on an entirely different level. Something like them would die the moment it so much as flapped its wings. That was how it had actually gone, too.
"Sure. Think whatever you want."
He was a little curious what kind of reaction she'd have if she learned he really had killed Black Dark Dragon on the Tutorial Floor—but he didn't bother telling her. He dug a finger in his ear and ignored her, and Sia's face crumpled.
"Always with the bluffing."
Muttering, she turned her gaze on Ji-hoo this time.
"Why are you still looking like that? Didn't you go home?"
"Ah, well…"
But Ji-hoo hemmed and hawed, unable to speak easily.
"Leave him alone. He's got his reasons. Why dig into every little thing?"
It was Yujin who bailed him out.
"Hey, when did I dig into every little thing?"
"Just because we're climbing the Tower together doesn't mean we need to know each other's personal business. Right?"
"Ah… yes."
Ji-hoo gave a small nod. He clearly did not want to talk about his private life. Sensing that, Sia closed her mouth as well.
"Anyway, forget that. Tell us why you came here. I heard you beat down every last one of those soldiers."
"Right, right. I came all the way here because I was curious about that too."
When Yujin redirected the conversation, Sia jumped in right on cue, as if she'd been waiting for it.
"Well…"
Ji-hoo hesitated a moment longer, then opened his mouth as if he'd made up his mind.
"Because of money."
"Money?"
"What about money? You take out a loan from some loan shark or something?"
"No, it's not like that."
As they walked, Ji-hoo began calmly laying out the situation he was in. A violent father and an indifferent mother. A desperately poor household, and a little sister in the hospital on top of it. It was a story common enough to be a cliché—and that only meant the environment was just as harsh. Anyone hearing it would feel pity and sympathy.
"So? Be precise. Do you need money, or do you need someone reliable to protect your sister?"
"…Someone to protect her."
That was the whole reason for needing money in the first place, wasn't it?
"Hmm. Someone, huh."
Yujin scratched his head with an annoyed look. No matter how hard he dug through his mind, there was no one who fit. Of course there wasn't—Yujin himself didn't have a single friend or family member to begin with.
"Hey, want me to just kill the bastards threatening your sister instead? Wouldn't that put your mind at ease?"
"Kill them? What the hell is wrong with you, you psycho. Don't talk like that to a kid."
Sia immediately tackled the perfectly sincere offer. But Ji-hoo's reaction was strange.
"No, that won't be necessary."
"Hm?"
Yujin quietly studied the boy's eyes. Then, soon enough—
He grinned.
"Kid's got more guts than I thought."
Even with that timid look on his face, killing intent lingered in his pupils. Which meant Ji-hoo had already taken care of those bastards himself. Somehow, Yujin found himself liking Park Ji-hoo even more.