Believe in the Manager and Repent!
"Believe in the Manager and repent!"
No — he couldn't even say his class name.
Couldn't mention what his class-exclusive skills were, either.
And the title of the constellation that had granted him this rare class? Completely off-limits.
So what, exactly, could he say?
No. This was unacceptable.
"Argh! If you can't tell me anything, why are you even still alive?! Do you have any right to be breathing?! Hey! Bald monk! Answer me!"
"I-I'm sorry for still being alive…"
"Shut up! Bed-wetter! Baldy! Disgusting cultist monk!"
"Khhn…"
Why was this so frustrating?!
They'd caught the villain fair and square. Things were supposed to start rolling smoothly from here, right?
But thanks to this damn seal or whatever it was, the conversation wasn't advancing an inch.
I refuse to accept this kind of plot development.
Spit out the intel, snappy!
"Um, Miss…"
"Hm? What?"
"Kuku mentioned that Miss has taken on human subordinates. Is that true?"
"Yeah. That's right. I've already got three."
"In that case… you might be able to use that to bypass the seal."
"…Huh?"
Bypass a constellation's seal with a subordinate contract?
How? I wasn't following.
With the filter on, my intelligence dropped so hard I could barely keep up.
No good.
Time to shut it off.
I needed to use my brain for once.
Mental Filter has been deactivated.
That soft, squishy brain of mine slowly firming up again.
Hardened into a solid adult intellect!
Like a child detective aging back into a grown-up.
"Ah— ahhh! I get it! I understand! You're saying to splash ink all over the constellation's contract, right?"
"You've understood perfectly! Amazing, Miss!"
"Heh heh. Easy stuff. I got it completely! Wow, Popo, how are you this smart?!"
"It's all thanks to having such a wonderful Miss!"
In short, Popo's idea was to overwrite the existing contract.
Take the bald monk the constellation had claimed and turn him into someone who couldn't live without me.
Conveniently, I had exactly one open slot.
Diligent foreign worker Nadim.
A little dumb but kind-hearted friend Hyeji.
Kang Haesol, who wrote letters in the bathroom.
And now, on top of that — a bald cultist monk?
Damn. This was the basement.
What a lineup. Absolutely unhinged.
At this point, I had no choice but to recruit the cultist monk!
I couldn't just leave a guy who reeked this hard of basement energy sitting around.
Time to bring him in.
"Hey, bald monk."
"Y-yes…?"
"You're becoming my subordinate."
"Pardon? Me?"
"Don't want to? Then you're useless, so you die. That work for you?"
"…So I never had a choice to begin with."
"Yep. That's about right."
No choices here.
The moment our basement family caught you, it was over.
"But standing at your side would mean… even my soul stepping onto the path of evil. Rather than betray everyone by siding with my sworn enemies… I would rather die…"
True to form for a cultist fanatic.
Even at the last moment, personal vengeance and stubborn faith were making him waver.
In that case, this bald monk needed to hear the truth.
"Hey, bald monk. What's your name?"
"My name is Kim Wonhyul."
"Weird name. Anyway, Wonhyul. Like I just said — these friends of mine were originally all basement staff, okay? They were living quietly down there, doing their jobs."
"Yessir."
"Then the constellations kicked them all out. Mass-fired them without so much as severance pay."
"What? But these beings kill humans because they can't control their own desires…"
"Wrong. Your entire premise is off. It wasn't about desire or anything like that. They were just driven out. Forcibly. Abandoned somewhere they couldn't survive without eating humans."
Forced eviction wasn't enough.
Starve to death — or kill to live.
Only two options, both imposed on them.
They never wanted this, yet someone else's will made them accumulate karma.
From a Buddhist perspective, wasn't that a total foul?
They'd been forced to rack up karma on someone else's behalf!
"What kind of madness… If that's true, then the constellations are…"
"And the constellation that gave you power probably had a hand in it, too."
"…"
That the constellations had wrecked the basement was now all but confirmed fact.
Whether every constellation had been involved in that basement terrorism or only some of them had stepped in, I still didn't know for sure.
But the odds that the one who'd empowered Wonhyul was involved? Extremely high.
Why? Because the whole pattern was suspicious as hell.
If the Basement Manager gathered the entities and rebuilt the basement into something great again…
So first, fire every entity, drive them out of the Tower, then use Exorcists to wipe them out?
This structure — making the victims kill each other — was so vile it made my skin crawl.
"B-but…"
"Wonhyul. Think carefully."
"Yes…"
"Recently, a Basement Manager was born. That's me."
"R-right."
"What have I done so far?"
"That would be… the Babel Gallery trolling terrorism…"
"No! Not that! That was just a joke!"
"Ah— sorry. So, what the Manager has done so far is…"
Full recovery of the stolen library books.
Unlocking the sealed Landing City and Simple Labyrinth.
Stabilizing the Tower's food supply, plus the appearance of floor merchants.
Once the basement normalized, the Tower naturally normalized right along with it.
Anyone who spent even a little time on the gallery would know this.
Look at the gallery!
The truth is in the gallery!
Gallery info is the most accurate there is!
What are you even doing if you're not reading the gallery?!
Author: MilkyWayHiker
The quality of Tower climbing has genuinely changed.
You're telling me only those constellation-sucking Seeker bastards got to enjoy this kind of easy mode until now?
No wonder I could never catch up no matter how hard I tried.
The fact that regular climbers can enjoy this too is all thanks to the Basement Manager.
I offer praise again today.
Man-men.
See?! Praise posts right on the first page!
Starting with posts about how the quality of Tower climbing has completely changed.
Author: ILoveBambooShoots
It's so goddamn filthy and disgusting I quit.
These constellation bastards keep demanding more and more.
Treating people like some kind of mutt.
We've got the Simple Labyrinth and Landing City now.
No reason to keep playing minion for those idiots, right? Agreed?
People openly trash-talking constellations, too.
Author: GiveMeYellowBadge
Is this even real?
Is Tower climbing allowed to be this comfortable?
Talking to the Floor Lords and Landing City merchants, they say this level of convenience was always supposed to be the default?
Then what the hell have we been fighting for all this time?
Without the Basement Manager, we'd still be stuck clinging to production classes, grinding enhancement gacha shows into the dirt.
Just throwing money into the void.
└ You're all being deceived. If the basement's influence grows, something truly terrible will happen.
└ Even in this situation there's still a bastard trash-talking the Manager
└ It's that faction again, isn't it
└ Semi-basement or whatever that is?
└ Yep, the constellation-worshipping idiot collective lmao
└ If you're still sucking up to constellations, there's something wrong with your brain
└ Of course they're seething — the welfare they hogged in secret is now available to everyone
This was public opinion.
Still bootlicking constellations?
Still believing in constellations?
You're still doing that?
Take a good hard look at how far behind the times you've fallen.
"Huh…?"
"Well? Think it through and the answer's right there."
"Then… truly. Truly, the constellations…"
"Landing City was always supposed to be a basic Tower feature to begin with. And we have no idea how many years it took us to finally get our hands on it. We've been getting completely screwed this whole time, you know that?"
Earthlings had spent all those years without a shred of proper welfare.
Throwing their lives at bare dirt, headbutting their way forward until they died.
So — who was the real villain here?
"This is the truth. Don't look away from it."
"Then I… may have become the subordinate of the ones who polluted our society… cleaning up the mess they left behind…"
"It's still in the realm of speculation, of course. But this close, it's basically the answer. The story fits perfectly, doesn't it?"
He wouldn't want to admit it.
But now he had no choice.
More than any hatred or loathing for the entities — the constellations who'd staged this entire situation, then sat back and enjoyed the show, were infinitely more disgusting.
"My true enemies were elsewhere all along… and without knowing a thing, I became those enemies' hunting dog."
"Yep."
"These insane bastards…"
The bald monk's face twisted violently.
Confronted with the truth, Exorcist Kim Wonhyul trembled with rage, squeezed his eyes shut — and achieved enlightenment.
That fierce gaze unique to someone who had finally found a target for every drop of their vengeance.
He'd fully crossed over.
There was no going back to the ignorant childhood of not knowing the truth.
"Manager. If I become your subordinate… can I truly take revenge on the constellations who desecrated me?"
"Direct revenge, I'm not so sure about. But help me, and you'll automatically screw over the constellations. I'm already screwing them over plenty. Just assisting me is enough to make them lose their minds."
"Then I'll do it. I'll become the Manager's subordinate."
Great.
Time to write up the quest.
"I accept."
"Excellent!"
Create Four or More Subordinates
🎁 Reward: Issued
Quick-witted Kuku and Popo immediately scooped up the rewards.
Those two really were competent, every single time.
"Good. From this moment on, you're my subordinate. Now spill your class info and your former master's details."
"Yes. First, my class is Exorcist. It's a class specialized in suppressing or eliminating spirits and entities, and its skills develop independently based on the doctrine the individual believes in."
He leaked the information — and survived.
The subordinate contract had shredded the constellation's contract!
Now that was a higher bid at auction.
"Also, the constellation that granted me power called itself the 'One Who Elicits Prayers.'"
"One Who Elicits Prayers? Fancy name."
"Yes. That being approached me as if answering my prayers. There are others besides me who received the Exorcist offer."
"Roughly how many?"
"Just the ones I know of — at least three more in Korea alone."
"Three more? Just in Korea? You've got to be kidding me. Gu Gitae. Write all of this down. From now on, you people are investigating and tracking them down."
"Yessir…!"
Devout prayer.
A constellation that answered even distorted, contaminated faith — so long as the prayer itself was genuine.
This was a constellation custom-built for cultists!
Hey, cultist constellation. You watching?
That devout Seeker you claimed? He's my subordinate now~!
"Wonhyul. You're not planning to keep this to yourself, are you?"
"That's…"
"No — you said there are more Exorcists like you. Shouldn't everyone know?"
"Certainly. I can't be the only one who knows this information."
"Then shall we go share the truth together?"
"We must. What we're fighting for. Why we were burdened with this mission. The truth must be shared with everyone."
"Mm-hm. Exactly. Great — then can you give me the other Exorcists' addresses? Or meeting places, whatever."
"Understood. I'll tell you everything."
Alright then. Start listing your colleagues' addresses.
Time for some enlightenment delivery.
Of course, the legwork would be handled by our staff!
I was going back to browsing the gallery.
Bosses don't do actual work.