This Too Must Be the Manager's Grace
This too must be the Manager's grace.
The normalization of the Basement 4th Floor kitchen.
The Tower's food supply, which the Constellations had been greedily sucking dry, was restored to the lower floors once more.
And every single person inside the Tower received the same notification at the exact same time.
Food shortages have been improved by the Basement Manager.
Tower Merchants now appear.
Landing City is now open.
Simple Labyrinths have been liberated.
Enjoy your climb.
A content-addition notice for features no one had ever seen in the Tower before. Information about places no one had ever heard of.
"The Basement Manager pulled something off."
"Indeed. At last, a restructuring of the new order."
"Ahh. I can already foresee the chaos to come."
"Whether this marks the dawn of a new era or the stubborn survival of the old one… we shall have to wait and see."
Even the Floor Lords — long regarded as the Tower's administrative NPCs — each offered a word. Every one of them spoke of the Basement Manager's existence. And when climbers began pouring out firsthand accounts of the newly added facilities, the floodgates truly opened.
Tower Merchants just casually sell rare recovery items.
They even buy your junk — perfect for clearing inventory space.
Stuff I used to throw away as useless trash? They buy that too.
Thanks to the Basement Manager, my bag is finally empty. Absolute win lmao
The Babel Tower Gallery ignited overnight around the new meta. Even people who never used the gallery flooded in, scrambling for intel on Tower Merchants, Landing City, and the Simple Labyrinths.
Title says it all.
Beat Floor 20 and you can walk into Landing City.
This place feels like the real heart of the Tower. A massive rest city built for climbers — you can actually rest, and there are restaurants everywhere.
No more fretting about food inside the Tower. You don't have to choke down those disgusting combat rations anymore.
The hot springs and saunas especially? Dirt cheap, and the buffs are insane.
Just come see for yourself.
I used to think the Basement Manager was just a troll and never liked them. But the second I got to Landing City, every merchant was singing the Basement Manager's praises all day long.
I'm singing along now.
Long live the Basement Manager!
Public opinion skyrocketed.
The Basement Manager — who had spent most of their time on Babel Gallery doing nothing but stirring up chaos — had bestowed such a blessing that the vast majority of climbers were genuinely moved. Even people who had given up climbing the Tower began trickling back in, one by one.
With returning players flooding the ranks, a new golden age of the Tower had begun.
Just buy a Simple Labyrinth entry pass from a Tower Merchant and go in.
Comparing it to leveling inside the Tower itself isn't even fair.
It's a dungeon you enter with up to four people after setting the difficulty, and the leveling speed is ridiculous — the rewards are solid too.
Plus, the currency you earn clearing Simple Labyrinths is what lets you actually relax in Landing City.
Conclusion:
The Basement is god, and the Manager is invincible.
Sell junk to Tower Merchants, buy Simple Labyrinth entry passes, dive into the Labyrinths to farm a fortune in Landing City's currency — Coins — then head to Landing City to rest and enjoy the facilities. That was the loop.
The Tower's economy was alive again.
All of it was a blessing from the basement. An achievement the Basement Manager had unlocked by restoring the Basement 4th Floor kitchen.
"Long live the Basement Manager!"
"Unbelievable! You can eat food this good inside the Tower?"
"Hit the sauna and the hot springs back-to-back and your skin gets younger!"
Landing City satisfied everyone — men, women, young and old. The Basement Manager's fame and reputation climbed without end.
And then, one particular post went up.
Looking for people to be my Subordinates!
Lots of perks available~!
Please show lots of interest!
If nobody cares… I might get a little sad…?
Cheonwoo, who had received a Subordinate recruitment quest while browsing the Constellation Gallery, had written a hiring post without the faintest grasp of the situation she was currently in…
Only now did the climbers truly understand just how extraordinary the Basement Manager was.
The Seekers — those chosen by Constellations, climbing the Tower with superior gear and better conditions than everyone else. Perhaps this was a second chance offered to those who had never been chosen at all.
In that light, the comment section under the Subordinate recruitment post exploding was only natural.
What the hell?! There are way too many comments!
There's no way I can read all of these…
"Every time I refresh, the comments jump by a hundred… Wait, I didn't even spam the board, and they're giving me this much attention? I knew it — everyone actually liked me!"
Have I always been this popular?
Well, to be fair, there's no real reason not to praise me. I normalized the Tower. I fixed the rampant racism culture on the gallery by threatening them with grandma-meme spam terrorism. This is the reward for living a virtuous life. Everyone finally recognized my hard work!
"Mmm, excellent. If only everyone reacted like this all the time."
People begging to be made Subordinates. People asking what the various perks actually were. People writing pure, brainless praise posts. Seriously — were these people getting orders from somewhere?
"But perks for Subordinates, huh. What am I supposed to give them?"
First, I'll lend you one book from the library
And I'll give you a city access pass
And also… um.
You can hang out with me in the basement sometimes!
Good. Perks explanation done.
Looks like I can recruit as many people as floors I've cleared. I've gone down to the Basement 4th Floor, so that means four people max.
So now the real question: what criteria do I use to pick Subordinates?
"First things first — check everyone's post-to-comment ratios."
Since ancient times, the community wisdom has been: if you want to filter out the psychos, look at the post-to-comment ratio. Do that right and you weed out half the lunatics on the board. A proverb of the ancestors, if you will.
What is a post-to-comment ratio? Exactly what it sounds like — the ratio of posts to comments. Roughly one post to three comments is the sweet spot. People who leave a lot of comments on other people's posts tend to be seen as kind and altruistic.
"Ugh. You're out."
Seven thousand two hundred sixty-one posts and only twenty-two comments?! What is wrong with this guy?!
That's basically just standing in front of a wall and talking to yourself. Is this some maniac who treats other people like walls?
No normal human being does this! This person is halfway to becoming a ghost entity already!
"…Huh?"
Wait a second.
Now that I think about it… isn't that exactly me?
Come to think of it, I barely leave comments either. All this time, I've only ever said whatever I wanted to say…
Eh, but I'm not a psycho. I'm just a young man who enjoys a good spam flood.
…Or am I?
Spamming a message board is also something only psychos do…
"Huff. Huff. Horrifying. The truth is a heavy burden indeed."
It felt like I'd swallowed a red pill I hadn't even known existed. What kind of creature am I, exactly…
"At the very least, my Subordinates have to be normal people…!"
The fact that I myself am the gallery's worst troll with a completely obliterated post-to-comment ratio — that can stay on the back burner for now. Finding normal Subordinates comes first.
"I like this one for starters."
Most of their comments were either sharing information or leaving kind, genuine compliments. Most of their posts were about their family and kids. And above all — a laborer who'd gotten a visa and come to Korea to work. You could practically smell the positive mindset.
Okay. You're in.
If he ever says he's going back to his hometown, I can just revoke his privileges — so if he wants to keep feeding his family, he'll listen just fine!
Casually shatter the assumption that I'd only recruit Koreans. Issue the quest, slap on the Subordinate badge, done.
"Next up…"
The moment Mr. Pakistan got picked, foreign climbers suddenly started flooding in to announce that they currently resided in Korea. Yeah. No. Too late to start pitching yourselves now. This round, I'm picking a Korean.
"Next has to be Hyeji."
My friend Hyeji. I checked her through the personnel terminal and she'd soloed the Floor 20 boss mob, King Snail, all by herself…
?????! Wait.
By herself? How??
Why is this girl so strong?!
She soloed a Floor 20 boss? Party play is recommended starting from Floor 11! Is she actually insane?
"How is a bare-knuckle fighter with grimoires jammed into her armor slots doing this well? What's her ceiling even supposed to be?"
How high is she going to climb? Of every climber I've seen so far, she might have the fastest clear speed. She's twice as fast as Kang Haesol — the famous third-ranked Hunter in all of Korea!
At this rate, she's going to run into Korea's advance party any day now.
It feels like just yesterday I was calling Lee Hyeji a dumb idiot. Turns out she wasn't just an idiot — she was a strong idiot!
Trial Tower, Floor 20.
The swamp zone. The boss room. King Snail's spawning grounds.
"Whoa…"
Having cleared Floor 20 entirely on her own, Lee Hyeji stepped into Landing City before heading up to Floor 21.
A sky so high it barely felt like she was still inside the Tower, and crowds of people everywhere. Climbers from every corner of the world stood gaping at the city's abundance — and that was when a quest appeared before her.
Your Goal!
Hey. Be my Subordinate.
🎁 Reward: Free City Access Pass
"What is this? Why would I— we're friends! Friends don't do the subordinate thing. Don't you even know that, you dummy Ji Cheonwoo?"
Lee Hyeji pushed back against the demand to become a Subordinate. She didn't have any particularly deep thoughts about it. She was just scared that it might mean she and Cheonwoo wouldn't be friends anymore.
Your Goal!
Ugh, just do it already.
Become my Subordinate and I'll give you a free city access pass.
The food is free.
🎁 Reward: Free City Access Pass
"What? For real? You're buying me food? Aww, you should've led with that! A good friend who buys meals! I'll be your Subordinate!"
At the promise of free food, Lee Hyeji accepted the Subordinate position on the spot.
A gold card materialized in her hand. Heavier, shinier, and far more powerful-looking than her mom's credit card.
◈ Enjoy every facility without limit~
◈ Squander your life on pleasure and entertainment!
"…Ooooh…! Cheonwoo! Thank you! Mwah!"
A free access pass to Landing City. The first benefit of being a Subordinate.
In Landing City, the Manager's Gold Card was a symbol of absolute authority. And the first thing Lee Hyeji did with this magnificent, precious treasure was…
"Mister! One chicken skewer over here!"
…raid a street food stall.
A truly humble and modest act of consumption, if ever there was one.
Honestly, that girl and free food. Look at her snatching up the offer the second I mentioned meals. I'm worried she's going to get scammed by bad people someday.
Anyway, the Subordinate lineup is looking pretty wild. A foreign laborer who swore loyalty, and my friend Hyeji. Who fills the next slot?
Two spots still open… and nobody else is really catching my eye.
A climber has completed a quest!
Subordinate Bonus activated!
200 Points awarded as commission!
"What?!"
Two hundred points?!
A single bottle of almond water costs a hundred points. Two hundred points is two years of Popo's food budget!
Quests this easy to complete used to pay less than ten points. The reward just jumped almost twentyfold.
Jackpot!
So that's why they wanted me to make climbers into Subordinates. Use this to hire more entities. Block the apostles of the Constellations who'll be coming down later. The Tower's grand design…!?
Ahh, Tower-Father. Just how much are you planning to hand out?
"I understand now. The Tower's true intent."
It means bring back the entities that got fired. With this much support, how am I supposed to do anything but become an entity hoarder?!