The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
My vision was dark and blurry, as if I had a black eye.
The air was fishy and damp.
Scritch-scratch! The horrifying sound of giant cockroaches scurrying about echoed through the space.
That’s right.
I was currently on the 30th floor of my Tower.
It was the lair of the Hardy Cockroach.
“What’s wrong, Benefactor? Are you scared of bugs?”
Seo Ian giggled.
“How are you planning to climb the floors with Money Bugs later on…?”
Hong Jehun asked in a worried tone.
“Ah! Benefactor! You should know that if you pop a Money Bug on those floors, a giant horsehair worm bursts out! Even the bravest hearts freak out when they first encounter that, hehe!”
Judging by their reactions, there must be a floor with Money Bugs.
But the background for each floor is random. It’s all over the place.
It won’t show up for me, right?
I decided to think that way.
Worrying wouldn’t change anything anyway.
[Tower (South Korea) 30th floor cleared!]
As the clear notification popped up, the surroundings turned a soft, loamy yellow.
Perhaps because we cleared it as a party, no record appeared despite it being a first-time clear.
“Woof?”
“Kyu-rung?”
A pitch-black Doberman and a snow-white Arctic fox appeared in the distance.
They looked at us, their heads tilting in unison.
The Doberman’s name was ‘Ber’.
He was Seo Ian’s Tower Merchant.
Then that white fox must be Hong Jehun’s Tower Merchant.
Cute. Not as cute as my Rackcho, though.
“Ian-nim, are you sick or something, nyang! Forming a party with Hong Jehun, nyang!”
Ber rushed over to Seo Ian.
Then, he sniffed her all over.
“Jehun-nim. If you’re being threatened, just shake a carrot, kyu-rung.”
The Arctic fox slowly approached Hong Jehun, hopped onto his shoulder, and rubbed its face against his neck.
“Oh, right. Ber. I picked this up on the way, you can have it.”
Seo Ian handed Ber a dog collar that looked brand new and perfectly packaged, without a single scratch.
In the center of the collar was a silver Doberman ornament that looked exactly like Ber.
“B-Ber! I believed in you, Ian-nim, nyang!”
At that moment, the Arctic fox’s eyes, which had been thin slits, flickered open to glare at Ber.
I saw it.
And that sight reminded me of Rackcho.
‘The time she calmed down the moment I bought her a churro… could there actually be a backstory like this? And is Seo Ian the culprit?’
The bitter thought lasted only a moment.
My eyes caught the white Arctic fox coiled around Hong Jehun’s shoulder like a scarf.
“…Uh? Is it okay to touch?”
Wouldn’t touching a Tower Merchant result in a one-month entry penalty?
“It’s fine if the Tower Merchant approaches first.”
As Hong Jehun gave his shoulder a light shake, the Arctic fox balanced itself as if it were used to it.
“But Master, doesn’t your Tower Merchant come?”
Suddenly, Hong Jehun asked.
At the same time, a laugh burst from Seo Ian’s lips.
“You idiot! Isn’t the rabbit busy doing merchant work?”
Seo Ian covered for me tactfully.
This is why I treat her as my ace.
For reference, Seo Ian knows I’m the rabbit.
And since I’d bragged about Rackcho incessantly in passing, she also knew that whenever I wasn’t climbing the Tower alone, I was being dragged into Rackcho’s room.
“Man, it’s only the 30th floor, but look at these pathetic rewards!”
Seo Ian, read the room…?
Rackcho’s Blue Room.
I saw a ball of fur, not a cat.
This is all my fault.
I fed her too many churros.
“It’s Uju-nim, nyang!”
“…Want a churro?”
Let’s just give it to her for today.
How could I not, when she’s looking at me with eyes like that?
I’m not human if I don’t.
Rackcho raised her tail and laughed, “Nyang!”
Thus, the churro time continued for a while.
And it was immediately followed by playtime (exercise) with toys.
The weight I put on her, I had to take off.
My last shred of conscience for Rackcho’s diet.
“But Rackcho.”
“What is it, nyang?”
“Do other Tower Merchants brag when they receive gifts from Awakened?”
“…It’s a bit extreme, nyang. Tower Merchants can’t possess personal items unless they’re gifts from Awakened, nyang.”
“……Does Ber do it a lot?”
“Ber’s bragging ratio accounts for 99 percent of all Tower Merchants, nyang.”
Perhaps hit by a sudden wave of irritation, Rackcho tore into the toy more fiercely than before.
……This was definitely Seo Ian’s fault!
“…Rackcho. I saw a cat collar earlier, and I think it would look great on you. I’ll bring it soon.”
I’ll have to go home, search like a madman, and order it for same-day delivery.
I can’t let my Rackcho feel discouraged.
“Nyang…!”
Rackcho, who had taken her eyes off the toy, looked up at me.
Eyes filled with anticipation, shining brighter than jewels.
My hand reached out as if possessed.
I wanted to pet her vigorously, but I remembered the penalty and shoved my twitching hand into my pocket.
It was the most effective way to physically seal my hand.
“Oh, but Rackcho. Is it possible to choose the background for each floor?”
“It’s random, so it’s impossible, nyang.”
“Ah. I had high hopes.”
I wanted to avoid the Money Bugs.
“Anyway, rewards, nyang!”
The fact that she shortened “Go get your rewards, nyang!” to just “Rewards, nyang!” must be because we aren’t just meeting once a day anymore.
I briefly had such trivial thoughts as I pulled up the reward window.
◈ Reward: 500 T.C
“Ah.”
The moment I saw the reward T.C, I understood the meaning of the “pathetic rewards” Seo Ian had been shouting about.
“Wow.”
Even though we’d shortened the time so much, the total reward amount was still like this.
My mouth tasted a bit bitter.
Now, the only thing I could pin my hopes on was—.
“Rackcho. Do you have anything to sell?”
At that, Rackcho looked up at me with her eyes narrowed, as if she’d been waiting.
“Of course I do, nyang. Who do you think I am! I’m Rackcho, nyang~.”
It was guaranteed to be a very expensive item.
“What is it?”
Half anticipation, half tension.
Instead of answering, Rackcho smiled and was about to pull up the shop window when she hesitated!
“Ah! For your information, there are two, nyang. Choose ascending or descending order, nyang!”
“Ascending order! The best stuff is always saved for last!”
“Understood, nyang~.”
“But is it possible to pull up the shop windows one by one?”
“Who do you think I am! I’m Rackcho, nyang! It’s a privilege I gained because my rank as a Tower Merchant went up, nyang!”
“Congratulations~.”
The tail of the one laughing “Hehe” wagged as if she were in a good mood.
Rackcho then pulled up the first item.
“It’s 500 T.C, nyang~.”
I’ve never been short on mana.
Not only do I have zero skills that consume a lot of mana, but Rapid Fire, the only skill I spam, doesn’t consume much mana either.
“I’ll buy it.”
But I bought it.
Because the moment I saw it, I thought of Hong Jehun.
He’d never said it out loud, but he was strictly an ice-type mage.
I didn’t know for sure, but deep down, he must always be in a situation where he’s short on mana.
The complaints on the community boards about running out of mana and having to flee with only a few percent of the boss’s health left.
It was one of the topics that consistently appeared like spam.
“I knew you’d say that, Uju-nim, nyang~. And here is the second one, nyang~.”
“What is this?”
If the first one made me think of Hong Jehun, the second one was….
It wasn’t moving, so the disgust wasn’t severe, but it was still unsettling.
“This is an item that can only be sold in the lair of the Hardy Cockroach, nyang~. It only costs 10,000 T.C, nyang!”
“No, Rackcho.”
You can’t spit on a smiling face, but you can get angry.
That’s what I think.
“What is it, nyang?”
“I earned 500 T.C as a reward here, and you’re asking for 10,000 T.C for a disposable item…”
“It’ll be useful if you have it, nyang.”
What on earth could the effect be?
I pulled up the detailed information.
- When held, it strongly stimulates the opponent’s murderous intent!
- Once drawn, the aggro never dissipates!
As Rackcho said, it would be useful to have.
But 10,000 T.C for a disposable item.
“This is fine.”
Aggro shifting on special floors.
It was a problem.
But I had my own plans!
“Then now it’s settlement time, nyang.”
Ah, right. 700,000 T.C…….
As expected, the borrower might forget, but the lender never does.
Our merchant cat turned into a loan shark cat the moment the sale ended!
“Do I have to give you everything I have? I want to keep at least some emergency funds.”
“You can do whatever you want, nyang. I know you can’t pay it all back at once anyway, nyang. But if you pay it back too late, it might be forcibly collected from your rewards, so you should be careful, nyang.”
Is this some kind of concept like seizure or forced liquidation?
I briefly thought the system knew modern society a little too well.
Currently, there are 5 members in the Outlaw guild.
Melee dealer Seo Ian.
Ranged dealer Hong Jehun.
Enchanter Park Siwoo.
Buffer Im Hyunjin.
Supporter, me.
If I had to classify myself, it would be correct to put me as a ranged dealer or enchanter, but since I have a lot to do, I decided to treat myself as a supporter.
Still, at a glance, it’s close to a perfect combination.
Why did I say “close to” instead of a perfect combination? Because….
“Because there’s no tank!”
That’s right! There’s no tank!
I was wandering around the unnecessarily spacious house, lost in deep thought.
Should I make Seo Ian double as a tank?
That is absolutely not allowed.
Of course, if I told her to, she’d grumble but do it.
Seo Ian is that kind of person.
She’d even do a decent job.
But she’s a glass-cannon melee dealer who poured all her stats into attack instead of defense, and raised agility instead of defense, saying, “Who cares? Can’t I just dodge it?”
Yeah. The problem is that she doesn’t block, she dodges.
“In the end, the efficiency drops….”
Typical tank-type Awakened, when a boss uses a skill?
They endure it by taking the hit in the front, or they deflect it.
In other words, they stand their ground and don’t move.
Meaning the skill never reaches the straight line behind them where the team members are.
But Seo Ian?
It was like that during this special floor, and having watched her climb several times, her tanking style?
‘Oh? Using a skill? I’ll just wait until it’s all over~.’
She just bolts to the back as if that’s what she’s doing.
She even has such high agility stats that once, she suddenly disappeared from in front of my eyes, and I had to search for her with my Hawk’s Eye.
And the biggest reason I can’t entrust tanking to Seo Ian lies in her “temperament.”
Given her personality as a former firefighter, if she thinks others might get hurt?
It was obvious she’d choose to get hurt herself.
She wouldn’t dodge the attacks and would overexert herself.
And I had promised her that I would “never give her dangerous orders.”
Therefore, “the guild needs a tank.”
That fact remained unchanged.
“I got rejected by Mr. Hwang Gyubeom.”
Yesterday afternoon.
I asked Team Leader Oh Wontaek and managed to get in touch with Mr. Hwang Gyubeom.
He said he’d gladly accept.
But he, who had to prioritize his safety for his daughter’s sake, made low-floor repeat clears his main occupation.
Therefore, no matter what conditions I offered, he just laughed heartily and turned down the tank position.
It wasn’t that I had no gains at all, though.
[Currently Intrusion-capable Towers]: South Korea
[49th Floor] Hong Jehun
[38th Floor] Yang Mugeon
“Ah, it finally popped up! Yang Mugeon!”
Another tank-type Awakened recommended by Mr. Gyubeom.
His name is Yang Mugeon!
I’m going to meet him now.
Tower 38th floor.
The Tower owner is Yang Mugeon.
The background was on a hill, and a wide-open night sky unfolded before my eyes along with the cool night air.
“Wow. What a spectacle.”
It was a thought that came to mind before the appreciation of “I won the weather lottery!”
As I was looking up at the sky, seemingly possessed for a moment.
Flash! Flash!!
In the distance, light burst forth, brightly illuminating the night sky.
A moment later.
Boom!! Boom!!!
A roar that shook the space reached my ears.
“Our team’s tank seems to be dealing with small fry, so I should do some gathering.”
Items that can be gathered and made on a floor are items that are useful on that floor.
Yang Mugeon’s 38th floor.
A first-time clear, not a repeat clear.
Meaning, I couldn’t help him catch the boss, so the auxiliary damage effect was out the window.
I had to extract contribution through encouragement effects.
Since I’d also be able to get things like boss-damage elixirs, which could be considered the default of gathering, I busily moved my feet.
“Hello. I’m the wandering merchant, Rabbit.”
He put his hand on his helmet as if he were about to start doping.
If Seo Ian was in silver-flashing full plate, Yang Mugeon was entirely pitch black.
It felt like he had soaked up the darkness of the universe itself.
He gave off an intimidating aura like a Dark Knight, but hey, it’s good if he looks strong.
The face revealed when he took off his helmet.
Pitch-black curly hair and skin so pale it was almost white.
He had a cold impression.
His eyes looked a bit dead.
It seemed like he was exhausted from struggling until just a moment ago.
No, but….
“Hello! I’m the wandering merchant, Rabbit!”
Can’t he hear me?
Why isn’t he answering?
“…….”
No, seriously, why isn’t he answering…?
I was flustered because it was my first time in a situation like this.
“……Rabbit.”
Following that, a bass voice that sounded like it would drill into the floor called me.
“Thanks to you, I can finally clear this.”
He smiled faintly.