The First Step of the Outsider
“Awakened Kim Uju…?”
“Ah. I’m fine.”
The Hawk’s Eye, which applied even in reality.
As I stood there with my mouth agape in surprise, Yoon Jinki, who had been watching the entire scene right in front of me, asked me in a flustered, stammering voice.
I told him I was fine, calmed him down first, and then looked back at the Team Leader.
“So. You want to sign a contract with me to expand your influence, Team Leader?”
“Exactly!”
I’d heard the situation, but.
“Find someone else. There’s Seo Ian or Hong Jehun. This is a position too big for someone like me who’s only just cleared the 5th floor.”
Someone other than me.
As a homebody, I had no intention of doing something like that.
“A tree that will grow tall is different from the seedling!”
“That’s right!”
Jinki.
You need to leave a pause before you chime in.
How does the answer just pop out like that?
“And what does it matter if it’s the 5th floor or the 6th floor! We’re planning to form this TF team as a special-floor expert team anyway!”
‘Special-floor expert team’.
Come to think of it, I hit 3rd place this time, didn’t I?
1st and 2nd were Hong Jehun and Seo Ian.
The percentages were both 27%, but they were divided into 1st and 2nd rather than a tie.
First, 1st place, Hong Jehun.
Even if he’s pro-Association, he wouldn’t join hands with these guys who are in the minority.
2nd place, Seo Ian.
She’s anti-Association, so there’s no way they could even get in touch with her.
The reason they went out of their way to ‘escort’ me to my front door.
I think I knew.
Because I was the only rope they had left to grab.
“How would it proceed?”
Let’s hear them out.
But….
If the conditions aren’t too difficult, isn’t it worth doing?
Special-floor raids happen once a month.
Everything is decided within ‘10 minutes’.
Therefore, if I finish it in one go?
It means I can get the rewards after suffering for only ‘10 minutes’.
With just a 10-minute investment, I can kill two birds with one stone, both inside and outside the Tower.
Even ignoring the whole TF team thing.
Special floors are places you have to enter anyway.
It’s a honey pot that even rankers grit their teeth to enter, giving up on repeated high-floor raids, so it’s a loss if I miss it.
The prerequisite condition is ‘finishing it in one go’.
“Maintaining a ranking on the special floor!”
When I heard that.
Rather than the question, ‘Is it difficult?’
The thought, ‘It’s doable,’ came first.
“Then I just have to run the special floors, right? While staying in the top 3?”
I was 1st this time.
And I felt like I could overwhelmingly take 1st place next time, too.
But you never know what will happen with people.
Loose criteria are better for my mental and physical stability.
“Uh… of course!”
Team Leader Oh Wontaek smiled brightly.
Once a month.
Given the nature of special floors that shower rewards, he probably doesn’t think I’d intentionally lower my ranking.
Of course, that would be the case.
And even if I wanted to lower it, would Hong Jehun, and especially Seo Ian, just sit by and watch?
Anyway, I knew the conditions weren’t too difficult for me, but.
“But how do I become the ‘Team Leader’? Special floors are entered individually, aren’t they? How do I lead all those people?”
Let’s move on to a more realistic question.
No matter how few Awakened there are.
Even if the number of A-rank or higher Awakened among them is even smaller.
If you include Enchanters, there must be at least a hundred.
How do I handle all those people?
“You don’t need to lead them all. Because the only countries where everyone moves in perfect unison on special floors are China and North Korea.”
“That’s right! You can do as you please!”
“Still, it would be better to recruit a few team members to go with you.”
“That’s right! Actually, on special floors, if a few people with high damage lead the way, the rest of the Awakened tend to follow suit, so you’ll only need to recruit a few more people!”
Team Leader Oh Wontaek and Yoon Jinki shouted in unison.
Now that I think about it……
Last time, too, Seo Ian and Hong Jehun took the lead, and the rest followed to deal damage.
I was like that too, at first.
‘…That’s not difficult, either.’
I already had people in mind for team member invitations.
I had everything in my head, including how to persuade them.
Methods that could be handled quickly without taking extra time.
Then, from now on, it’s the ‘main point’.
Ah, but first, a bit of complaining.
“Recruiting team members also seems quite difficult….”
“We could arrange meetings for that…”
The complaining goes out.
The disappointing response comes back.
But I don’t need that.
It’s not like I’m going on a blind date, arranging meetings.
Even if they forced it into my hands, I’d decline.
Instead.
“I can handle that on my own. But what’s in it for me if I become the TF team leader? I’m prone to stress-induced illnesses if I get too stressed out….”
This is the ‘main point’.
I omitted the rest because it would make me look too materialistic.
But the nuance that ‘if the rewards aren’t good enough, don’t even think about bringing it up’ was buried underneath.
Because there’s no reason to do it otherwise.
“First, it’s information.”
That’s the Awakened commu….
“The amount and quality of information obtained through total collection by state agencies are bound to be different from the information obtained bit by bit from individual Awakened in places like communities!”
The Team Leader started, and Yoon Jinki cut off my thoughts and continued.
It’s true that ‘information’ itself has aspects that are hard to get even if you pay for it.
But special-floor information?
I’m not the only one going in.
Once I get inside, someone who knows something will lead the way.
Newbies are supposed to ride the bus behind the veterans anyway.
As I remained indifferent.
“Second is the increase in the T.C conversion rate. We’ll raise it from 1:7,000 to 1:10,000!”
This is tempting.
An increase of nearly 1.5 times.
It means that if I sell 100 million won worth, a little less than 50 million won will be deposited as pocket money.
“Is this a rate that ends when the TF team disbands after maintaining the special-floor ranking?”
“How could that be?”
“That’s right! The T.C conversion rate is uploaded to the Association’s computer, so once it’s raised, it can’t be undone! That’s why we don’t bring up this condition easily!”
It’s time to use this once.
The one where you pretend you have dust in your eyes.
At least it’s not a lie.
The T.C conversion rate is going up.
It means the rewards I get in the end will increase relative to my effort.
The labor intensity is the same, but the hourly wage has been adjusted upward.
And it’s fixed at a pretty decent rate.
‘Isn’t 1.5 times the return for a 10-minute investment pretty good?’
Recruiting team members can be done quickly through Intrusion.
It’s like adding a few words while doing what I have to do anyway.
I’m not going to do it with all A-rank or higher Awakened, just a few, so it’s not much of a burden.
I nodded slightly.
Affirmative.
And the silence that followed.
As if unable to bear the heavy, sinking atmosphere, Team Leader Oh Wontaek began to speak again.
“And… we will support everything you need for your activities!”
“Things you need?”
“For example, broadly speaking, housing, transportation, and security personnel for your safety would be the representatives. There are many others, though.”
I’ve seen that before in a community.
They said those were the special benefits that rankers receive.
Especially the security personnel—I can’t forget it because a post where Seo Ian screamed, ‘They stick to me all day like sweet potato vines!’, still remains as a best post.
“Does the security stick to me 24 hours a day?”
Sweet potato vines, that’s burdensome.
“If that were the case, there’s someone who would have quit being an Awakened and emigrated long ago.”
Yoon Jinki said.
Is it just my imagination that ‘someone’ immediately comes to mind…?
“Depending on your request, it can be constant, or it can be temporary.”
Yeah, it should be like that.
“Then what about housing?”
Currently.
I’m looking for a house to move to.
I’ve earned a decent amount, so I want to stop living while smelling mold.
But if they just give it to me…, wait?
“Ah, but is the housing temporary?”
The TF team is structured to automatically disband once the goal is achieved.
It’s closer to an outsourcing contract where you join hands only when necessary.
And special floors appear once a month.
It means the team will disband in about a month or so.
But if the housing is temporary?
Is that ‘housing’? Isn’t it a one-month ‘shelter’?
“Housing is, of course, provided. The same goes for the car.”
“If you wish, we can transfer the ownership immediately, or if not, like other rankers are doing, it’s possible to handle the ownership transfer later and have it registered under the Association’s name first. Many others leave it to the Association first because of management fees and tax issues!”
It comes out so smoothly.
But why?
They must know that this is, at most, a one-month, one-off thing.
That it’s practically a 10-minute contract?
“Oh, is it a stye? My eyes…”
I tried using Hawk’s Eye, but the two people were still desperate and sincere.
…Did they catch some disease where they die if they can’t maintain the special-floor ranking?
Or were they threatened by someone with a knife…?
Either way, it wasn’t bad for me.
The T.C I’ve collected so far.
I was planning to put a pretty large portion of it into finding a house.
If it turns out like this, I can turn it toward finding a weapon.
It means I can actually roll the money instead of tying it up in real estate.
“In conclusion, you’re saying I just have to be active on the special floors, right?”
“Yes. And by any chance….”
“By any chance?”
“Minimize contact with people from other countries…. Especially foreigners who speak Korean…”
Did they say they wanted to prevent the brain drain earlier?
It seemed to be an extension of that.
“I understand.”
It’s a one-off contract anyway.
“By the way, ownership transfer aside, when can I move into that housing?”
Because I think I’ll have to move out of my room soon.
“Do you have a specific place you’d like?”
I hadn’t thought about it specifically.
It’s just that there are super-high-rise penthouses that often appear as rich houses in movies or media.
I just vaguely thought that I’d like to live in a house like that at least once someday while watching those.
“A super-high-rise penthouse?”
I had a conscience, so.
I raised the pitch slightly.
It was to aim for the so-called ‘anchoring’ effect.
To intentionally suggest a big one first, so that the intermediate values suggested later feel reasonable.
But.
“Then how about one in Seocho-gu?”
The answer came back immediately, as if taking out a pre-prepared option.
I thought it might be one of the real estate properties they already own.
“That’s a very immediate answer.”
“Basically, it’s an area that quite a few people look for, so the Association has secured a certain amount of stock!”
“But isn’t Seocho-gu too close to the Association’s location?”
About 30 minutes.
If it’s far, it’s far, and if it’s short, it’s short.
Yoon Jinki tilted his head.
“Isn’t that better? You’re physically closer to the shop, aren’t you?”
Right. I have to stop by the Association to sell T.C and buy items.
But.
“If I accept, will there be frequent, and occasional, times when we have to meet separately?”
“We have mobile phones, so why would we?”
Yoon Jinki countered me instead.
Then.
“Of course, if Awakened Kim Uju has business at the Association, I’ll drop everything and run over first!”
He smiled pleasantly.
It means I should just sign the contract and handle the special floors well on my own.
“And there’s a reason why we have a lot of housing we can provide in Seocho-gu and Pyeongchang-dong!”
“Because there are many large-sized units?”
“That too, and those locations are among the places where the Tower is visible.”
“Is that so?”
“And if the Tower bursts, the real estate bursts with it.”
“Ah….”
They were forcibly giving Awakened motivation to climb the Tower.
“But what’s good for Team Leader and Mr. Yoon Jinki if you sign a contract with me?”
Actually, even if we don’t sign a contract, I, and others, won’t run the special floors half-heartedly.
I’m the one running it and getting the contribution, so it’s my loss if I run it half-heartedly.
Pure curiosity.
As if he had been waiting, Team Leader Oh Wontaek opened his mouth.
“It’s a ‘precedent’. A precedent where individual Awakened formed a team and directly led the special floors, not led by the Association.”
“You can see it as keeping the mainstream faction in check from trying to control the Awakened!”
“But if I sign the contract, won’t that also go into the Association’s achievements?”
The Team Leader shook his head.
“That’s why we’re creating a ‘TF team’ to sign the contract. Not as an individual Awakened receiving requests from the Association. Simply put, it’s not ‘under’ the Association, but running it like a special-floor response TF team ‘outside’ the Association!”
They say ‘Ah’ is different from ‘Uh’, and ‘under’ is different from ‘outside’.
The former means an affiliation with a hierarchical relationship, and the latter means support in an equal relationship.
“Strictly speaking, the Association is an organization that must coexist with and help the Awakened. Not exploit them. So when a special floor appears, we will provide the information, but the overall operation….”
Meeting eyes.
They were quite upright and serious.
“We’re leaving it to the other Awakened, led by Awakened Kim Uju.”
Team Leader Oh Wontaek, who had moistened his throat for a moment, continued.
“A precedent once created suggests a new standard, and if it happens twice, it becomes… an implicit rule from then on.”
At those words, I stared straight into his eyes.
Stubborn pupils.
But look at this guy? He’s subtly mentioning ‘twice’ first?
In times like this, you just change the subject.
“But who else has signed a contract with the Association? Mr. Hong Jehun?”
“None.”
“Yes?”
No, I thought Hong Jehun would definitely be in it?
“There are cases where they are bound by contracts regarding Tower floor climbing, but there are no contracts regarding special floors.”
A smile appearing on his detective-like face.
“That’s why now is the right time.”
“Uh….”
“Who would have ever thought of leading the special floors until now! Isn’t it a place where they couldn’t even break the defensive barrier until now!”
Oh, look at this guy.
He’s suddenly getting excited.
Anyway, isn’t this a complete empty house robbery?
* * *
The housing is a penthouse in Seocho-gu.
The car is the blue sports car I saw in person and fell for.
And the contract is per case.
The team naturally explodes as soon as the notification that I’ve settled into the special-floor ranking appears.
Ah, it was agreed that security personnel would only be attached upon request.
And after trying it out first.
‘Huh? This is doable?’
If I feel that way, I’m fully open to renewing the contract.
Special floors I have to enter anyway.
If I can gradually raise the T.C conversion rate while I’m at it?
Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?
But….
They’ve been whispering to each other across the table for a while now.
“Hey, Yoon Jinki. You go and say it!”
Yoon Jinki looked at me reluctantly.
The guy smiled awkwardly as our eyes met.
“The… should I call it the final confirmation procedure? That’s necessary, you see….”
Ah. There’s something else.
Can I even go home today?