Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Gift Box
The input was clearly a true boss vibe.
But for a moment, I couldn't wrap my head around why the output had turned into this suspiciously steamy atmosphere.
[Father. Would it be okay to start making those employee potions you mentioned last time now?]
"Huh? Oh. Yeah, let's do it."
I snapped back to reality at Tabula's words. Anyway, Lin's power-up event had safely reached its finale, so that was good enough.
Using this intermission before the girls woke up, I decided to make the employee potions.
"You know you have to keep it moderate, right?"
[Of course! I got a feel for it from last time's synthesis.]
[I'll make something similar to the potions on the Exchange!]
With that confident declaration, Tabula's clickety-clack synthesis show began.
It lasted about a mere 10 minutes.
.
.
.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Synthesis Skill Activated. Selecting optimal recipe...] [Confirming materials needed for synthesis. Purchasing shortages from Exchange...] [Synthesis preparation complete. Initiating multi-synthesis...] And just like that, fatigue relievers, coffee, energy bars, energy drinks, Vita 500, candy, and so on...
Items that exhausted office workers from my old convenience store days always grabbed started piling up neatly in the material slot.
I also mass-produced low-grade recovery potions and low-grade mana potions for the Climber employees and stored them in the material slot.
[I've made 3,000 of each, so it should be fine for a while!]
"Good work, Tabula."
Now all the preparations were complete.
All that was left was to hand these out one by one to weary employees whenever I spotted them, encouraging them along—that would complete the true leader.
"Oh ho ho hot, this is going to be fun."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ And right around then.
Thud thud thud-!!!
"Good morning, Daddy-nyang!"
"We're all ready to head out! We can eat breakfast and go right away!"
"Fairy prep complete!"
No longer the half-asleep versions like me.
The girls, already washed up and dressed for outings, came running over.
"Today's building forest adventure-nyang~!"
"I want to explore floors we haven't seen yet!"
"Sounds good-nyang! Let's aim for 100% exploration rate-nyang!"
"And if we get tired, we'll have a picnic in the middle!"
They must have regretted not properly exploring the building yesterday.
They'd gotten up early this morning and finished their adventure prep.
Hm... Come to think of it, I still don't know the details of what's in this building either...
...This might cause a bit of controversy.
Think about it.
If my subordinates found out that their future boss doesn't even know what's in his own building?
"Ah! This president's a total incompetent!"
"Escape is based on IQ, right? Gotta job hunt ASAP!"
"Oh my, you're still working there? I get your level now. Tee hee hee!"
That kind of conclusion might spread.
"...Terrifying."
I'd definitely resolved to be a true leader, but already the stench of a trash-tier leader was creeping in.
This won't do.
I need to fix my incompetence ASAP.
With that in mind.
"Kids, let's eat."
"Meat meat beef-nyang!"
"I want meat meat fish!"
"Fairy likes fresh salad!"
"Master. This is tasty, but a bit spicier and saltier would be better."
Like the saying that Koreans live on rice power.
For now, let's fill the kids' bellies nice and full.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After devouring a breakfast equivalent to a cow, a pig, and a whole tuna.
We headed not to the main entrance of Cheongsung Central Tower, but to the employee-only back door.
The reason for using the back door instead of the main was simple.
For starters, I hadn't cleaned up yesterday's mess (my owner declaration!) yet.
In that situation, going through the main entrance with our group—which drew eyes from all angles—would be awkward.
"Everyone's quite the lookers, aren't they."
Having made and drunk the elixir to acquire 'Plausibility,' I was sick of saying it.
Lulu and Arin, who could be called the cutest and most lovable in the world, were nestled in my arms.
Lavris (humanized), now a healthy bronze-skinned beauty thanks to my influence, was getting subtle admiring glances from exercising Climbers.
And the mysteriously beautiful blue fairy floating beside her drew even more attention.
Everyone except Tabula in tablet form was attention-grabbing right now.
[Tabula wants a body soon too...]
"Don't worry. I'll ask Hyung-gyu hyung to prioritize yours."
[Okay...]
I understood Tabula's feelings of isolation as the only one without a body.
I planned to make her one as soon as possible.
How long had we walked?
When we arrived at the back door and stood in front of it for a bit.
A familiar-faced woman in a suit soon emerged from inside to greet us.
"You've arrived, Mr. Yi Ron. Please come in, everyone."
"It's only been a day, Suit Team Leader. How did you know I'd come through the back at this hour?"
"We were on 24-hour standby since a VIP was visiting. And I'm Team Leader Yoon Seo-yoon."
"I see, Suit Team Leader. Sorry to make you work for it. Ah, want some candy? It's good for you."
"...No thank you. I'll guide you inside. Just follow me."
After a brief greeting with Suit Team Leader, we entered through the building's back door.
Unlike the guest-facing main entrance, it felt dingy and purely utilitarian as an employee passage.
But after passing through the employee speed gate and heading inside, a pristine white corridor appeared—what looked like the employee passage.
Deeper along the corridor, a luxurious room for entertaining guests came into view.
"The sofa's so fluffy-nyang!"
"There's a su~per big picture frame here!"
"Kids~ Don't touch things recklessly. What if you break them?"
"It's fine. They're not that fragile."
"No, Suit Team Leader. You just don't know our kids well enough to say that."
"Pardon?"
"Look over there."
Crack-!!!
"Nyang? Sofa broke-nyang."
Crash-!!!
"Oops, the frame broke."
"!!!"
"See, our kids? They look like angels, but they're mid-grade spirits whose entire bodies are weapons. They wreck anything not super sturdy if they don't control their strength."
"...So Mr. Yi Ron is a summoner."
"Hm? Isn't it on my Climber license?"
"We don't have access to personal info of owner-level figures."
"Really?"
...Did the Doctor do something?
Even though I didn't restrict it, if it's restricted, probably.
Then I need to check how much of my info is out there.
"Suit Team Leader, what did you think my job was?"
"...I assumed warrior from yesterday's aura."
"Do the other employees think that too?"
"At least everyone exposed to the aura does."
"I see."
Hm... In that case, I should assume the fact that I'm a warrior has already spread.
Some will dig into my background and find out I'm a summoner for sure...
"Soon rumors will spread that I'm a dual-class warrior-summoner."
"High possibility."
"Even if you order the response team to keep quiet now, hard to hide, right?"
"...Sorry. With our capabilities, we can't stop rumors already spreading."
"I see?"
Well, they're not the Management Bureau, a major guild, or a corporate specialist team.
Just the response team of a nominal owner with one building—too big a scale for them to handle.
"...Sorry. My fault for not ordering silence sooner."
"It's fine. Nothing major even if it spreads."
This was sincere.
Me being a warrior and summoner? The more it spread, the better for me.
As the rumor spreads and people believe it, it'll better hide my true job as an alchemist.
Of course, a sliver of worry about dual-class drawing annoying trouble.
But it's the mess I made, so I'll clean it up.
"...Sorry."
"Hey, I said it's really fine? Keep apologizing and I'll get mad?"
"...Sorry, no. Understood."
Why doesn't she get it when I say it's fine for real.
Because I'm the owner?
Even sincere words get taken as sarcastic digs.
Anyway.
"Park Ki-nam isn't here. Hasn't he woken up yet?"
He should have shown up by now.
Worried since no sign of Park Ki-nam, I asked after him.
The response was shocking.
"...Park Ki-nam resigned from management today."
"Pardon?"
What the hell? Sudden resignation?
Why?
"We don't know the exact reason, but right after regaining consciousness, he spoke with the audit team from HQ and suddenly resigned."
"Audit team from HQ...?"
...No way?
I hurriedly messaged the Doctor one-on-one.
💬 Private Chat — Angel Daddy☑ Doctor. — Tower Expert Doctor☑ Yeah? — Angel Daddy☑ Did you do something to the building manager? — Tower Expert Doctor☑ Nope. Nothing much. What's up? — Angel Daddy☑ Came today and suddenly the building manager resigned. — Tower Expert Doctor☑ Oh? Guess he got caught in the audit. — Angel Daddy☑ Pardon? What do you mean? — Tower Expert Doctor☑ No biggie. Building management was annoying so I left it to Grandpa temporarily, then handed it to you so ran an audit. Probably got fired for corruption found in the process? Didn't report minor stuff so I didn't know lol. — Angel Daddy☑ ...Isn't that a huge deal? — Tower Expert Doctor☑ Don't worry about it. If corrupt, he's a shitty guy anyway. Just put someone you like in management. Good, right? After that, the Doctor ended the chat saying it was no big deal, don't worry.
I pondered briefly, then asked Suit Team Leader.
"Suit Team Leader, what does the building manager do?"
"Mainly handles tenancy contracts for basement and floors 1-9, and has HR authority over facilities, security, and response teams."
"How about budget and revenue management?"
"Repairs and maintenance from funds earned via tenancy contracts, as far as I know. Other funding prohibited by previous owner."
"So all salaries including manager's covered by tenancy profits?"
"That's our understanding."
I now had a rough idea of how this building operated.
No place more vital for Climbers without mana recovery means.
Doctor built it for Climbers, so probably free entry, no fees.
But needs minimal staff and funds for maintenance, covered by Climber-related shops tenancing.
"No shortage of money with so many Climbers here."
"Especially since this is the only mana recovery spot nearby."
"Other places have facilities like ours?"
"A few mimicking Cheongsung Central Tower. But slower recovery and they charge entry, so not comparable."
Essentially a monopoly.
Now I get why no entry fees, just tenancy fees.
But then.
A sudden question popped up.
"Why only use up to floor 9?"
The building's 30 floors.
Why stop at 9?
"Floors 10+ blocked by magic circles."
"Magic circles?"
"Yes. Installed by previous owner—the sage who built it—preventing access to upper floors."
Sage...?
Come to think of it, I vaguely recall hearing 'the shut-in sage built it.'
Probably referring to the Doctor.
And that means.
[Ah, by the way. This is the master key controlling the entire building. Don't lose it.]
This master key from the Doctor this morning.
Sounds like it lets me freely access floor 10+.
"If the sage blocked it on purpose, something's up there?"
"Just rumors I've heard, but supposedly something the sage made. Said to dramatically boost the building's mana recovery speed."
Looks like this building the Doctor gave me.
Might just be a gift box wrapped in giant wrapping paper.