Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 129
At Seo-jin's declaration that he would form a team, Nam-gung Cheon frowned.
"Don't tell me... with the people gathered here?"
"Yeah, I'll need to add a few more people to this group."
There were several people he had already made connections with on the 12th floor.
However, even at Seo-jin's words, Nam-gung Cheon looked dissatisfied.
"I'm not so sure. I'm skeptical about this."
He crossed his arms and examined the faces of those gathered here.
Before forming a team, he needed to thoroughly understand each team member's abilities, character, and background.
First, there was the black mage Lee Seo-jin—strong but somewhat unhinged.
As the biggest wild card whose actions couldn't be predicted, he was the most dangerous person from the perspective of working together as a team.
'...And he's unlucky too.'
Next was the fire mage Han So-yul, who couldn't even properly control the firepower of her own magic and ended up burning her teammates.
While her background as the association president's sister and Taebaek's guild leader was good, her combat ability was unreliable.
She had belonged to a raid team in the past, but had fallen out due to team-killing issues.
Nam-gung Cheon then turned his gaze to the girl next to her, a rising rookie whose stock was supposedly soaring.
A girl wearing a cap pulled low and even a mask.
From what he heard, she was a crazy berserker with zero social skills who preferred acting alone—he wondered if she could even be controlled.
And there was that thief cat hiding in the shadows in the corner, eavesdropping on the conversation.
Her work capabilities were good, but her combat power wasn't much to expect.
Most importantly, their positions overlapped.
And his unreliable younger sister sitting next to him.
While he agreed with her stepping down from the Thief Guild leader position, as her older brother, he was strongly opposed to her moving with that crazy guy.
There was also the possibility that black-hearted bastard harbored ill intentions.
Finally, there was himself—the tower's greatest thief, a man of fortune, a heroic figure.
The only normal person in this party, possessing both tremendous skill and character.
As you can see, except for Nam-gung Cheon himself, there were only people with screws loose somewhere.
'This won't work.'
He shook his head vigorously.
Looking at their individual abilities and power alone, it wasn't too bad, but this was a team that couldn't harmonize.
Moreover, the composition's balance was completely terrible.
There was no tank to take the front, and no healer to use recovery magic in emergencies. It was truly a garbage composition.
"You want to form a team with these people? Are you out of your mind?"
At Nam-gung Cheon's complaining words, Seo-jin shrugged his shoulders.
"Hah, when was I ever in my right mind?"
And.
"You don't have the right to refuse."
Seo-jin declared calmly, supporting his chin with both hands.
"...?"
Nam-gung Cheon didn't know it, but he was bound to Seo-jin by the bet from the 8th floor. One way or another, he had to follow Seo-jin's will.
And Nam-gung Rin had promised cooperation in exchange for entrusting the Thief Guild with the management of the Neptune mine. She couldn't give up such a source of income.
Han So-yul's situation was similar.
He had brought massive profits to Taebaek, and as the connection to Circe, an elder of Pandemonium, she couldn't separate from Seo-jin.
The same went for Francesca.
As long as Seo-jin served as both shield and financier for the orphanage children, she would gladly cooperate.
He had also planted a similar type of contract on her as Nam-gung Cheon.
As for Kim Se-yeon, she would join without complaint if Seo-jin requested cooperation, so there was no worry there.
He planned to create similar levels of connection with the remaining recruitment candidates and bind them as well.
Seo-jin leaned back comfortably in his chair and spoke calmly.
"When I say we're doing it, we're just doing it."
"What are you talking about? I won't do it!"
Nam-gung Cheon jumped up at Seo-jin's proposal.
However.
"......"
The others except for him seemed to have no particular objections.
"What, what's with you people? Are you really thinking of doing this? Are you crazy? You're going to do this crazy stuff every time we climb the tower?"
Watching giant monster battles was fine once or twice, but if this happened every time, they'd really die.
However, the responses to his appeal were lukewarm.
"I owe Seo-jin a lot. And there are things I need to receive."
"Me too~ I need to make money."
"Oppa, don't you remember the Neptune mine?"
"......"
Each had their own reasons for wanting to join the team.
Nam-gung Cheon brought his hand to his neck and made slashing motions.
"Debts or whatever, if you follow that guy around, ten lives wouldn't be enough! Don't you people know how precious life is?"
Seo-jin calmed down the jumping Nam-gung Cheon.
"That's because you run around causing trouble everywhere. Did you forget that I even went to negotiate directly to save you? If you just don't act individually for no reason, there won't be such dangerous situations."
"Kuk."
It was Seo-jin who had even saved that idiot who got captured by the enemy after spouting about chivalry when asked to gather information.
For the person involved to talk about safety in front of Seo-jin was shameless.
"So stop complaining and join up. Don't you also need to find the sword's original? To find such an item, you'd need a team equivalent to a raid group. There probably isn't a team of that caliber other than us."
Of course, besides the frontline raid team, there were several national representative-level parties fostered by each country.
Tower climbing before the formation of the frontline raid team was closer to competition between nations.
With Nam-gung Cheon's skills, he could easily join China's national raid team.
But that would go against Nam-gung Cheon's nature.
It would be much better to join Seo-jin's team, where he could move freely and interesting events never ceased.
"And you need to look after your sister too. Right?"
Moreover, since Nam-gung Rin had decided to join, he had no choice but to follow as a set.
He trembled with anger and gritted his teeth, but eventually decided to join the team.
"Damn it... Fine! But only call me when absolutely necessary."
"Of course."
He had no intention of always having all team members gather and move together.
Basically, everyone would move freely on their own, and only when necessary would he summon some members to act together.
"Then I'll take it that everyone agrees."
A new team formed with everyone's consent after smooth discussion.
Creak-.
Seo-jin stood up from his seat and bowed his head to the team members who had answered that they would join.
"Thank you."
These were people who were tied to Seo-jin for various reasons, so he had expected they would join without much resistance.
But even so, he couldn't help but be grateful that they had agreed to his proposal without complaint.
'I said there wouldn't be dangerous situations, but the tower is a place where you never know what might happen.'
He couldn't guarantee absolute safety.
Moreover, this wasn't an ordinary party—if they moved with Seo-jin, they would be exposed to far more dangers than expected.
Compared to those dangers, he couldn't promise great support or rewards.
Unlike other raid teams that received massive support from media, corporations, and nations, Seo-jin's team had to solve everything on their own.
Rather than expecting support, they would face interference and checks.
Nor could he say they would receive honor or admiration.
'If the frontline raid team is the light leading tower climbing, we're the shadow.'
While they received media spotlight and corporate support, Seo-jin's team would conversely face checks and envy.
Perhaps they would have to handle the problems and difficult, arduous tasks that the frontline team couldn't solve and left behind.
Like this Atlantis incident.
'The frontline raid team was hailed as heroes who defeated the Kraken and left, but we painstakingly faced Atlantis's dark side and solved the remaining problems even while making enemies of giant corporations.'
Such incidents might repeat several times in the future.
Dangerous work that brought neither money nor honor would continue.
These people must know this too.
Despite such harsh conditions, he was truly grateful they had agreed to form the team.
"What are you saying now? I've received much more help up until now."
Han So-yul continued speaking.
"So what should we name our team?"
"Is a name really necessary?"
"We need at least that for appearance. It also builds camaraderie."
"Hmm."
Seo-jin fell into thought while petting Baduki sitting next to his chair.
With his naming sense, he'd only come up with names like Baduki.
"Recommend something. I'll listen and consider it."
But the names that came up weren't really to his liking.
Baekdu, Taegeuk, phantom thief group, tteokbokki—they were all terrible.
"I'll just decide myself. Let's call it Reverse Heaven Society."
"What's that? The name sucks."
"Be quiet. If you're dissatisfied, suggest a proper name."
Reverse Heaven Society.
It was the moment when a new team was formed to oppose the frontline raid team after much trial and tribulation.
***
Tower 33rd floor.
The frontline raid team's lodgings, located in the floating island zone where white clouds drifted.
'Ah. This is nice.'
Warm sunlight and a gentle breeze tickling her cheeks.
The natural environment of this sky island where the Celestial Folk lived was truly like heaven.
She would have liked to settle down here permanently, but it was regrettable that she didn't have that luxury due to the recently accelerated tower climbing schedule.
It was when Ha-yeon was lying on a hammock, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
"Ha-yeon! Did you see this?"
Yelena burst through the lodging door.
"Ah, what's the matter?"
She who had barged in without warning made a fuss while pulling out her terminal to show Ha-yeon the news.
"It's news from the 20th floor, about Nova."
"Ah, I suppose he achieved something amazing again?"
Instead of any particular reaction, Ha-yeon just shrugged her shoulders.
When she first heard news about him, she was surprised, but now it was no different from daily routine.
As a fellow climber, she knew how amazing his achievements were, but...
'These days, we're under pressure because of him, making our climbing schedule difficult.'
Perhaps due to the rookie chasing them fiercely, the frontline raid team's pace had also become hurried.
The conquest speed that used to take up to six months now felt compressed to intervals of one or two months.
'Geez, take it easy.'
Working hard was good, but this made things difficult for her.
Since it had come to this, she should visit the 20th floor to see his face after a long time and warn him to work moderately hard.
With such thoughts, Ha-yeon took the terminal Yelena handed her.
But the news she checked contained completely different content from articles praising Nova's achievements.
[Atlantis closes its doors to openness... Nova's influence?]
[Secret deal between Climber Association and Sea Folk royal family. Who's the mastermind?]
[(Breaking News) Multiple climber deaths occur on 20th floor.]
Far from admiration or praise, articles that would negatively affect his reputation were filling the screen.
Ha-yeon frowned as she read the articles.
"What's this?"
At Ha-yeon's question, Yelena shrugged her shoulders.
"What else? He finally got on the bad side of the higher-ups."
This was something that had happened frequently before.
Whenever a climber with star qualities appeared, massive organizations like nations or corporations would try to win them over or place them under their management.
They would entice from the front with all kinds of support and rewards, and when that didn't work, they would resort to threats and interference, ultimately eliminating them.
This was because uncontrolled power and fame could always harm the organization.
Among such cases, Nova was particularly exceptional.
"Didn't he even mess with Hanseong before? He's lasted a long time."
"......"
The ones funding news agencies were corporations.
For such articles to pour out sporadically was impossible without corporate intervention.
And this kind of work was definitely...
"I guess they're finally going to eliminate him."
The checks targeting Seo-jin had begun in earnest.