The Tower’s Seven Floor Gold Mine
“Baek Jiho. So he’s a climber from the sixth Hard tutorial...”
The one listening to the chief’s report was Vice Minister Kim Hyeongtae of the Hunter Management Department, a middle-aged man with a deep-set gaze and a scar across his forehead. He leaned forward slowly and asked, “How strong do you think he is?”
“...I’d say he’s the highest level we’ve ever seen.”
“Are you sure? These internet posts of his look like nothing but bragging and exaggeration to me.”
Kim Hyeongtae’s eyes flicked down to the documents on the desk. The posts Baek Jiho had been writing. They were so absurdly lighthearted, so blatantly unbelievable, that they almost seemed like jokes.
Was any of that dizzying nonsense actually true? Had he really climbed from the first floor all the way to the sixth by slaughtering every enemy in sight?
It was impossible to believe.
The chief continued, “It’s certainly packed with completely ridiculous claims. It’d be natural to assume it’s all lies. But...”
“But?”
“He really is paying that much in points every day. The Tower loot sales records also show that he’s earning that much. We even checked to see whether he’d gotten help from other Hunters, but... that wasn’t it. The only Hunter around Baek Jiho is a low-floor reserve Hunter with five years of experience.”
“Hmm.”
“These posts. They may be exaggerated, but there’s a strong chance they reflect some degree of truth.”
“...”
“He’s a Hunter with promise beyond the usual Hard-climber track. We need to secure the budget and recruit him right away. At this rate, another country might steal away yet another Hard-climber from us!”
The chief was arguing that they should recruit Baek Jiho—meaning, he wanted him officially placed under the South Korean government.
South Korea had already lost three of the five Hard-climbers.
Two had gone to the United States. One had gone to Europe.
Two had been sold off because they couldn’t earn enough points, and one had abandoned the country, seduced by overwhelming rewards.
That left only two Hard-climbers in South Korea now: Kim Taeseok and Choi Yejin.
Even Kim Taeseok was isolated on Floor 41, so in truth, the only active Hard-climber left was Choi Yejin.
And now a new Hard-climber had been found.
Of course they had to recruit him immediately.
But Vice Minister Kim Hyeongtae shook his head.
“We can’t recruit him officially yet.”
“Why not?! Before another country gets to him, we have to get our hands on him first—!”
“You know perfectly well what a mess this country is right now.”
Hoo.
Kim Hyeongtae let out a long sigh. It came from the suffocating thought of his homeland’s reality, which had already gone so bleak that even looking straight at it felt like peering into a void.
“We’re a nation only three months from disappearing, and the place is full of people stabbing at every possible angle, trying to squeeze out whatever they can before the end. The moment we raise an official proposal for recruitment, the information will leak. Then everyone will come running—America, Europe, China, Russia...”
Hard-climbers were recognized as talents born at the summit of human potential, the kind of people expected to reach the upper floors no matter what.
And now there was a new one, one showing even more overwhelming momentum than the existing Hard-climbers.
Such a Hard-climber had appeared in South Korea, a nation on the verge of collapse.
And he was still only weak, barely on the low floors?
Wasn’t that a perfect opportunity to buy low?
“America and Europe will come running with obscene amounts of money, and China and Russia... who knows what kind of insanity they’d pull. Wouldn’t be strange if they brought a military with them. Hell, maybe they’d even send special forces to kidnap him.”
“If we tighten security measures...”
“Security? That only works if someone actually intends to keep it. Our own minister is already selling information around the place—do you really think security will hold?”
“...”
“To be honest, how many of our ministers and vice ministers aren’t busy selling out the country? The place is full of people bartering away anything and everything just to squeeze out a slightly more generous immigration package.”
That was the reality of South Korea, three months before annihilation.
Ordinary citizens still clung to a shred of hope, and that was just enough to keep society from falling apart. But the elite—those with access to more information—had already become certain the end was coming.
And this was the result.
If the country was going to vanish forever in three months anyway, why not sell off a little while there was still time?
So ministers, vice ministers, and high-ranking officials were bartering away the national coffers and national secrets, while the upper class hurried overseas with mountains of money packed under their arms.
The number of people remaining loyal to South Korea until the very end was vanishingly small.
Given that situation, the instant the Hunter Management Department made a move, all sorts of small fry would swarm in and Baek Jiho’s information would spread overseas.
What happened after that was obvious.
America, China, Europe, and Russia would all rush in at once to claim him.
And then Baek Jiho would be sold off to another faction, while South Korea, in its final moments, would lose the sixth Hard-climber without even putting up a fight.
“So we can’t recklessly submit this as an official proposal.”
“...Then what, we’re just supposed to sit on our hands and watch? Because we’re scared of information leaks and foreign interference?”
“No. We’re going to recruit him. Just... more thoroughly, and more secretly.”
Tap. Tap.
Kim Hyeongtae drummed his fingers on the desk as he thought.
I’ll have to swallow my pride and ask the NIS deputy director for a favor. They’re the only ones with a budget that isn’t exposed to the outside world...
In present-day South Korea, people from the highest offices were all scrambling like rats in a sinking ship. And yet a few patriots still refused to abandon their country until the very end.
Han Jiwon, First Deputy Director of the NIS.
If they got his cooperation, they’d be able to recruit Baek Jiho more discreetly, and more reliably.
He gave the order to the chief.
“You said the first people to discover Baek Jiho were the Tower record keepers?”
“That’s correct.”
“Coordinate with the NIS and get their mouths sealed properly. Not just the record keepers. Everyone who knows about Baek Jiho—from the chief-level staff down to the branch employees—has to be silenced. If necessary, spill some blood over it.”
“Understood.”
“And keep the administrative conveniences, identity protection, and covert security arrangements exactly as they are.”
Baek Jiho didn’t know it, but he was already under the watch of a state apparatus.
South Korea.
In the twenty-first century, it was second only to China in terms of Big Brother society. Before its dense administrative network, total computerization, and powerful digital surveillance, no one had any secrets at all.
“Remember this above all else. Security is what matters most. Information about Baek Jiho absolutely must not leak to any foreign country. Absolutely.”
Early the next morning, I went to the Hunter branch again to check in.
Please specify the amount of points to be transferred to South Korea.
“All of it.”
928 points will be transferred to South Korea.
“Hunter Baek Jiho. We have confirmed 928 points. 9.28 million won will be deposited into the designated account. South Korea will remember your devotion...!”
“Yeah. Thanks for your hard work.”
I left after hearing the familiar farewell from the familiar civil servant, and I couldn’t help laughing at how ridiculous it all was.
“Seriously. How long are they going to keep misunderstanding this...?”
The official who had already been treating me with considerable respect before seemed even more tense today. He’d been sweating faintly, watching my expression and mood with painfully careful attention.
Even North Korean soldiers meeting their round little supreme leader probably didn’t get this nervous.
How long were they planning to cling to this ridiculous misunderstanding about me having a giant network of high-ranking connections?
Whatever. I’m sure the misunderstanding will sort itself out eventually.
I shuffled out of the branch and rode home in my sister’s car.
“Noona, I think I’m starting to get what it feels like to have powerful connections in high places.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Nothing, just... By the way, when’s Hyeji coming over?”
“She said afternoon. She’ll tell us again before she comes, so we can get ready to enter the Tower then.”
And so, with my sister and me making meaningless small talk all the way home, I happened to glance at the side mirror on the passenger side and thought to myself, Wait. That car behind us... is it weirdly following ours? Nah, probably just my imagination.
Once I got back home, I immediately started preparing for the climb.
The floor I was heading to this time was Floor 7.
In a lot of ways, it was a turning point floor.
“Finally, I get to fight in a bright outdoor map.”
The so-called large-scale outdoor map trial run.
The stealth-assassination floor.
Unlike the earlier Tower floors, which had all taken place indoors or in caves, this one was the first to unfold in an open area.
Well, “open” was a bit generous—it was really just a rocky mountain with not a single tree on it.
Still, sunlight is sunlight, right?
Apparently, because the sun was there, it was bright compared to the previous floors. People who had always fought in dim caves or cramped interiors were finally stepping into a wide, sunlit outdoor space.
Thanks to that, they said it felt like their chests were opening up at last.
As expected, seeing the sun really did keep a person’s head clear.
Anyway.
I looked up the Floor 7 strategy post.
By the time you reach Floor 7, everyone’s probably learned group combat on Floor 5 and trained their teamwork on Floor 6.
Floor 7 centers on stealth movement in teams and long-distance travel.
I’ll start with the guide.
Once you begin, you’ll spawn halfway up the rocky mountain.
If you look up toward the upper part of the mountain, you’ll see a place packed with little huts and shacks.
That’s the large Goblin village.
First, let me stress this.
Do not go anywhere near the Goblin village!!!
There are around seven hundred Goblins in the village, and a hundred of them are Goblin Warriors, lol.
The moment they spot you and start ringing the bell like crazy, hundreds of Goblins will swarm out and chase you until you die. Seriously, there’s no surviving that.
And you know how insanely fast Goblin Warriors are, right?
If a hundred of those are chasing you, and there are another two hundred Goblin Archers, there’s absolutely no escaping.
You’ll either turn into a pincushion from the arrows or get split in half by Goblin Warriors.
So don’t even glance toward the Goblin village.
Just focus on clearing the floor.
The clear condition for Floor 7 is to take the escape portal on the opposite side of the rocky mountain.
You start on the south side of the mountain, while the escape portal is in the north.
There are Goblin scout teams scattered all around the area.
You have to assassinate or bypass them one by one without being detected, and make it to the north-side escape portal.
The best route to the portal is to take a big detour to the east.
If you go east for a while, you’ll come across a narrow, dim gorge. Follow that gorge, and you’ll be able to reach the far side of the mountain relatively easily.
Of course, there are plenty of Goblin scout teams in pairs scattered throughout the gorge too.
When those bastards ring the bell, reinforcements come from the village, so you’ve got to kill them quietly before they can do that, or detour around them without being seen.
As long as you figure out their movement patterns, it shouldn’t be too hard to find the timing to kill or bypass them.
If you keep removing scout teams and follow the gorge all the way through, you’ll eventually come to a riverside.
Follow the river upstream and you’ll see the escape portal.
Go through the portal and you clear the floor.
In summary:
1. Absolutely do not approach the main Goblin village.
2. Follow the eastern gorge route and quietly assassinate or bypass the Goblin scout teams you encounter.
3. Leave the gorge and follow the river upstream to clear.
The rewards on this floor aren’t much.
The loot you can get is basically just the dozens of Goblins you run into here and there.
And since the average clear time is over 10 hours, it takes forever.
It’s basically not even worth the labor cost, but...
Still, once you clear it, you can move on to the Floor 8 hunting grounds, so break through fast and let’s gooooo Floor 8!
└ Floor 7 sounds like some stealth-assassination action game, lol. So you have to pick off the Goblin scouts one by one and detour around them. But why does clearing take so long? Ten hours? Is the map really that huge?
└└It’s fucking huge. The map is basically just one rocky mountain.
└└It’s big, but you also have to carefully take out each Goblin scout one at a time, so it’s hard to move fast... that’s why it takes so long.
└This floor is so damn inefficient. We killed 32 Goblin scouts with five people and made 800,000 won, but split per person that was only 150,000. Going from earning hundreds on Floor 6 to only 150,000 on Floor 7 was brutal.
└└Still, if you get through Floor 7, you can go to the Floor 8 hunting grounds, right? Have a drink lol.
└└Even on Floor 7, making less money than the Floor 4 rice-eater floor is kind of crossing the line. And it still takes ten hours, for fuck’s sake.
└What resources are in the central village?
└└According to a higher-floor Hunter who explored it, there are heaps of ingots and hides. Something like 300 kg of ingots and 200 kg of hides?
└└A large village means there are a lot of resources... Of course, unless you’re suicidal, there’s no way anyone’s going near that place.
...As expected, the Easy, Normal, and Hard rank-and-file all avoided Floor 7.
A map where you had to detour around an entire rocky mountain—naturally, it was enormous.
From Floor 7 onward, the Tower’s scale grew exponentially.
That meant clears took longer and longer, while the earnings stayed pathetic, so it was one of the floors Hunters complained about the most.
But for an Extreme Lunatic Hell Hunter like me, it was different.
“Seven hundred Goblins in the village, and ingots and hides in the hundreds of kilos... If I strip the whole place bare, I could make a fortune.”
There was a Goblin village just like on Floor 4?
Then I’d go there too and crush the whole thing, then loot every last bit.
That was going to be absurdly profitable.
So how much would I make?
I grabbed a calculator and worked it out.
I was stunned.
“Points would come to around 1,800 max, and the loot after tax would be about 47 million won... so the expected profit is around 65 million won?!”
The expected profit from ransacking the Floor 7 Goblin village.
A whopping 65 million won.
I couldn’t help being shocked.
I’ve only made a little over 50 million won total so far.
And yet if I pulled this one stunt, I’d make 65 million...!
More than everything I’d earned climbing all the way to Floor 6.
All in one go!
I shot up from my seat before I even realized it.
“So this is what life is all about—one big strike!”
Floor 7 of the Tower of Trials.
For others, it was nothing but a trash floor that ate time and gave terrible value for money...
But for me, a place where I could strip a village bare was pure gold.
It was a floor only the Extreme Lunatic Hell Hunter me could milk for all it was worth.
Just grinding seven hundred Goblins into paste would put 65 million won in my hands—the equivalent of thirty-three months of convenience store wages.
I waited for the porter, already imagining the enormous profit soon to be mine.
You are entering Floor 7 of the Tower.
The Floor 7 strategy began.