Stop That Dog from Barking!

Seoul and Incheon — every last illegal hunter who'd been hiding across the region, wiped out in a single sweep.

Two entities had literally erased thirty percent of the Yuranghoe, the criminal syndicate that had been leeching off Korea for years.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Faint, but I definitely felt it. There's an entity down below."

An abandoned motel in Danwon District, Ansan. The basement storage room.

Popo and Kuku had been cleaning out the Joseonjok climbers affiliated with the Yuranghoe who'd been holed up in Ansan, and the trail of an entity's presence had led them down into the building's underground levels.

What they found there was something neither of them had expected.

"What are you doing here?"

"...Mokgu. You're Mokgu, right? Hey?"

"Can't answer. Vocal cords are shredded."

"...Why would anyone do this. They didn't even kill it — just left it alive like this..."

Inside an iron cage, an entity sat chained by the neck and ankles.

Three eyes — hence Sam-mok, the Triple Gaze.

A dog's form — hence Gu, the Hound.

Its name was Sammokgu.

"It's in terrible shape."

"What the hell did they do to it to end up like this?"

"...Torture marks, too. Mokgu. Where are your brothers? Why only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you... Ah."

Nothing left but hide and bone — a skeletal frame.

Tongue lolling, white foam pouring from its mouth.

Pupils blown wide. A nose that could no longer tell friend from foe.

One ear severed. Tail half-gone and never regenerated.

The broken entity had been left to rot exactly like that inside the warehouse cage.

"Hhhk... hhhk..."

"Mokgu. Can you hear me? Mokgu."

"What happened? Who locked you in here?"

"...Whine."

The eight-foot ghost surveyed the surroundings. Every last criminal hunter from the Yuranghoe had already been eliminated. No one left to interrogate.

They'd have to hear the whole story from Sammokgu itself.

"It's completely gone. Almost no intelligence left in those eyes."

"Kus-kus. Let's give it some Almond Water."

"Almond Water?"

"Yeah. We have My Lady now. We can spare some."

"Ah ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— right. We have the Manager now."

Entities once cast out of the Tower treasured Almond Water as dearly as their own lives. To sustain their existence, they either had to devour humans — or replenish themselves with Almond Water.

Under ordinary circumstances, they would never have shared a single drop. But the two entities taken in by the Manager didn't hesitate. They pulled out their own rations and wet the dying Sammokgu's lips.

Lap. Lap.

The creature that had shown no reaction no matter how many times they called its name tasted the Almond Water — and gave the faintest wag of its tail.

Then, with enormous effort, Sammokgu rose and drank every last drop the two entities had offered. At last, a fragment of the severed intelligence returned, and it opened its mouth.

"Woof!"

Humans... the humans said they'd feed me!

"Feed you?"

"Woof woof!"

At first they took care of me. But then...

At some point, the food had started tasting strange. Meal after meal, until its body went weak. And that was when the attempts to break it began.

Very painfully.

Agonizingly.

"Climbers did this."

"Ones with connections pretty high up, no doubt."

"...Then there's only one real culprit."

Constellations.

And the Seekers chosen by those Constellations.

They had been running experiments on entities cast out of the Tower. That was the conclusion Popo and Kuku reached.

"The targets would've been the low-intelligence ones. Adults like us aren't easy to mess with."

"Beast-type entities, mostly. Those pieces of garbage..."

"Mokgu. It's okay now. Let's go back to the basement together."

"Whiiine?"

The basement? I can go back? Liar... you're lying!!! Those humans said the same thing. Said they'd send me to the basement. And then they tortured me.

"You really can go back. The Manager came to the basement! There's a Manager in the basement now, do you hear me?"

"Woof!"

Liar! Impossible. Managers don't exist... I'm not falling for it again!

Sammokgu tried to bolt past the two entities and escape. Years of unrelenting cruelty had left it with chronic distrust and anxiety — and now the terror response kicked in, spiraling into full-blown symptoms.

Blind aggression.

A wound of the heart that two bottles of Almond Water could never heal.

Sammokgu began snapping and biting through tears. It was the thrashing of an entity reduced to nothing but the raw will to survive.

"This is bad...! Mokgu's mind is shattered..!!"

"W-we need to call the Manager. There's nothing we can do! Except kill it... there's no other way..."

"Wait! If it's My Lady — she'll have a way. I'll hold Mokgu. You go!"

"O-okay! Got it!"

The eight-foot ghost locked down the thrashing Sammokgu, and in that opening the red-masked figure bolted out of the abandoned motel's basement warehouse.

Twenty minutes later.

"Bark! Baaark!"

"Ghhk..."

The eight-foot ghost — hand bitten through by Sammokgu — pinned the creature down hard so it couldn't thrash any further. If Sammokgu broke free in this state, the entire surrounding area would be reduced to ash.

Two bottles of Almond Water had restored just enough vitality to turn Sammokgu into a walking catastrophe.

Clink.

"I heard a dog barking somewhere. This must be it."

In that instant, Popo the eight-foot ghost felt a chill. She hadn't sensed anyone approaching — and yet something was descending the stairs into the motel's basement warehouse.

"...Of all times."

She held Sammokgu down with everything she had and fixed her gaze on the figure coming down the stairs. Ready to fight at any moment.

"Ohh. So a pair of lost monsters wandered into a place like this."

Clink.

Clink.

In the dead silence of the basement warehouse, the sound of four metal rings striking against each other rang out and filled the air.

Now I get why Subordinates matter.

With Subordinates, the point income skyrockets!

"Lying down and farming Almond Water. Easy. Way too easy! Is it even allowed to be this easy?"

I finally understood what the quest window meant by "the more Subordinates, the better."

The Tower was just handing out points!

The points were literally copying themselves!

Even now I was dumping trivial quests on MyHometownPakistan, Mr. Nadim, and Hyeji — and the points pouring in were no joke.

Points coming in with every breath I take...

I was basically the Bill Gates of the point economy.

1,200 points acquired without even standing up.

Converted to Almond Water, that was a full twelve bottles.

Just hand out quests to my Subordinates and sit back — and Popo and Kuku's food supply was stockpiling in ten-year increments!!!

Ahh, the Tower is easy.

"Almond Water, one, two, three... hhhk. hhhk."

Any entity that saw this would faint from pure shock.

I wanted to see Kuku and Popo's faces. What kind of expression would they make staring at a crate stuffed full of Almond Water?

I put on the sunglasses I'd brought from outside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Tower.

I was a point tycoon now.

I wanted to savor every second of this feeling!

Time for a victory dance!

"Yeeeah!!! Points are raining down from the sky like a storm!!!"

Alright — time to recruit more Subordinates!

Looking at this point income, I couldn't wait another second!

Straight to picking the third Subordinate!

"Next candidate... I choose you!"

Basically the same pose as picking a starter Pokémon.

The starter always matters, and I only had two Subordinate slots left.

This time I wanted someone flashy — a real face of the brand. Talented. Impressive. That kind of person.

"Huh? Why didn't they leave a comment? What's going on?"

Truth be told, I already had one candidate in mind. But the person I'd fully expected to leave a comment... hadn't.

Someone who always, without fail, commented on my posts — missing this time..?

Why had the regular vanished?

"Something must've happened."

The Korean user I'd been eyeing was none other than Pajorigae.

Someone who actively praised me on the regular — so enthusiastically I half-wondered if they were a paid shill. If Pajorigae became my Subordinate, it'd be perfect.

And the thing is — I already knew who Pajorigae really was.

Among the gallery surveillance abilities was something called Observer Grade. View the gallery at Observer Grade, and real names appear next to every nickname.

No hiding. Not even if you tried.

And Pajorigae's real name was Kang Haesol.

The same female hunter I'd observed first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thing after obtaining the Personnel Management Terminal — and the third-ranked climber in all of South Korea.

Perfect post-to-comment ratio.

Fierce patriotism — zero chance of betrayal.

Massive public popularity.

Truly the ideal recruit... except.

"Let's see what she's up to."

Sure, peeping on someone's private life is wrong! I know that!

But I was a little curious about the private life of Korea's most popular hunter.

She wasn't off having a lovely time with a significant other, was she?

I pulled out the Personnel Management Terminal and casually searched Kang Haesol — Pajorigae's real name.

Checking what she was doing right now...

"Aigoo. She's in the middle of something big."

No wonder she hadn't left a comment.

She was in the bathroom..!

Hospital bathroom, patient gown, bearing down with everything she had.

I had, somehow, managed to see something I really shouldn't have.

Come to think of it — she'd injured her arm on the 28th floor.

And with that injured arm, she'd been writing praise posts for me this whole time..?

Adorable and heartbreaking in equal measure.

Wasn't there some way I could cheer her up?

"Compose quest."

If you want to help someone outside the Tower from the basement, this is the best method there is.

She never said she wanted to be my Subordinate!

But hey — might as well send a Subordinate quest and see.

She might like it.

And Haesol seemed to mainly use a sword, so...

I'd just pull a sword technique manual from the B4 library and send it as a reward, right?

Kang Haesol had injured her left arm while subduing the Frost Witch on the 28th floor of the Tower of Trials. She was hospitalized at a hunter-dedicated facility receiving intensive treatment — and all the while, she had been quietly carrying out the commission sent by the Tower Management Bureau.

Unconditionally praise some basement Manager whose identity I don't even know? What is this, North Korea?

She cursed the Basement Manager under her breath even as both hands flew across the keyboard, cranking out praise posts.

But day after day of writing those posts, something shifted. She started getting swayed by her own propaganda!

What if the Basement Manager really is someone incredible? Someone genuinely impressive?

Working to stabilize public order. Casually handling top-tier hunters from Tower-advanced nations.

And so, as Kang Haesol spun her own fantasies and gradually built up an internal sense of closeness with the Manager — the decisive turning point that would upend her entire life finally arrived.

Chronic constipation, courtesy of a long-running collaboration between low-quality combat rations and irritable bowel syndrome, plus the antidiarrheals she'd been living on nearly every day.

And right in front of her, a notification window appeared!

Ding!

"....What is this. I-is this real?"

First came bewilderment.

Then, hard on its heels — elation and pure mortification.

No way. Did I just get chosen by the Manager while sitting on a toilet? Insane... of all times..!

The moment she accepted the Subordinate offer, the Manager's gift dropped onto Kang Haesol's lap.

A book densely engraved with unreadable characters and symbols.

The so-called Sovereign of Annihilation's Secret Book.

"....This is..."

The instant she opened the secret manual left behind by that once-in-a-generation genius known as the Sovereign of Annihilation, Kang Haesol understood.

This was a skill book that would draw out her potential to 120 percent — no, 200 percent!

This secret book is made for me!!

With this, she could break through the wall. She could get stronger — and the sheer joy of that realization made her cheer out loud.

"Long live the Manager!"

Today, Kang Haesol's reward circuitry short-circuited completely.

A few trash posts, a little favorability farming — and she'd landed a premium skill book.

Of course she was going to enter permanent Manager-positive mode.

She hurriedly finished her business and dumped a post onto Babel Gallery.

A long-form gushing manifesto!

Today, she became the Basement Manager's most ardent supporter.

Or perhaps — she already had been, long before this.

"Whoa. A whole essay of a letter..."

Okay, Pajorigae — Kang Haesol.

Could you write these letters from outside the bathroom...

I swear this letter smells.

I couldn't even begin to gauge how much she liked me.

Still — that made three Subordinates secured.

Now, for the last remaining slot, who should I...

"Boss!!"

"Huh? What — Kuku? Why are you alone? Where's Popo?"

"Th-that's...!"

Kuku gasped for breath and roughly explained the situation.

So while cleaning out the bad guys, they'd found an entity?

A dog-form entity.

Three eyes, so — Sammokgu.

Sounded like it had a story.

Cast out of the Tower, living like a stray... poor thing!!!

"I'll take care of everything. Just trust me!"

"Yes, sir..!!!"

I still had four days of leave left.

An injured entity.

I needed to heal it fast and bring it home to the basement!