The moment they entered the 46th floor, Rajiks started sniffing the air.
A rich, heavy scent of metal.
No doubt about it.
There was ore here.
The source was that huge boulder over there.
"Hoeee!"
If he mined ore and gave it to the Summoner, he'd be really happy, right?
Then Rajiks would be acknowledged again.
When they first met, Rajiks thought he was going to be kicked out.
Even now, just thinking about that moment made him feel like he might faint.
He worked hard, determined never to be driven away again.
Thanks to that, he managed to secure a place for himself.
And before he knew it, he had grown fond of this place.
Especially fond of the Summoner.
Even when Rajiks didn't bring back a full backpack, the Summoner still smiled.
He eliminated competitors for him.
He even let him eat as many delicious carrots as he wanted.
Carrots.
Just thinking about them made his mouth water.
He had tasted carrots in many different worlds, but the carrots in this world were the best.
And that wasn't all.
The Summoner and his companions always called him properly by his name.
Not "hey, you," not "Lajjiks," "Jjiks," or "Squeaky"—but "Mr. Rajiks."
It felt wonderful.
To be a laborer who was respected.
Now Rajiks had become someone who could no longer leave this place.
His lifelong goal was to stay together with the Summoner and his companions for a long, long time.
But then a problem arose.
The skins he'd been peeling all this time weren't worth money?
Because of that, even basilisk hunting had been halted.
This was bad.
The skins were useless?
His heart began to race.
He'd thought he had completely secured his position.
But that was a mistake.
He was even in danger of losing his right to eat carrots.
Then what should he do?
He'd have to give them something else.
Luckily, he found the answer on the 46th floor.
Metal was valuable anywhere.
Naturally, this place would be no different.
The Summoner would praise him again, right?
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Following the scent of metal, Rajiks struck the rock.
Fragments of stone scattered in all directions.
Tuduk, tuk-tuk!
Meanwhile,
Juhyeok just watched in silence.
A round, fluffy ball swinging a pickaxe was a truly rare sight.
Stone chips bounced off Rajiks's safety helmet as they struck it.
So that was why he always wore that helmet.
Not to look cute—
but for safety.
Right. No matter what, safety came first.
[You have successfully completed the 46th Floor mission.]
"Huh?"
"Hoeng?"
[Notice: You have achieved an S++ conquest rank on the 46th Floor of the Black Tower (Korea).]
[S++ Conquest Reward: A Platinum Badge has been awarded.]
[You may challenge the 47th Floor.]
[Exiting the Black Tower of the Republic of Korea.]
When did it end?
He'd been so absorbed in watching that he'd lost track of time.
Spot!
Juhyeok and the summoned beings returned to the spacious living room of the penthouse.
"Hueeeng…."
Rajiks looked like he was about to cry.
The reason was obvious.
"Did you not fill your backpack again?"
"Yes… I couldn't even peel the exoskeletons."
Fumbling, he took off his backpack and laid out the ore inside.
There were about five chunks.
Unable to even meet Juhyeok's eyes, Rajiks watched his reaction.
"I'm sorry."
"…"
"If I go in one more time, I'll work really hard. I'll fill the backpack completely."
Suddenly, Juhyeok's chest felt tight.
There was a sense of shared hardship.
The other summoned beings seemed to sense the mood and stayed silent as well.
"No. That's enough for today. Get some rest. Don't even clean."
At Juhyeok's words, Rajiks's eyes widened in shock, and he said tearfully,
"…A-am I… not needed?"
What was he talking about?
"Who said you're not needed?"
Kosak, Gobang, and Gyeon Dallae hurriedly chimed in one by one.
"Who'd say they don't need a laborer who even does mining work? If anything, I should be the one to leave."
"That's right. Whether Kosak is here or not doesn't matter much, but without Rajiks, this great household would eventually collapse."
"The warrior respects Rajiks. He must stay here. If Rajiks disappears, it would be sad. If the assassin vanished right now, I wouldn't feel anything."
"H-hold on, I-I didn't mean it like that…"
Encouraged by his companions, Rajiks's expression brightened considerably.
"You heard that, right? Mr. Rajiks is the most necessary person of all."
Rajiks was so happy his fur practically stood on end.
"Hoeng!"
Snorting loudly, he put both hands on his hips and struck his trademark proud pose.
Goodness. He's adorable. So adorable.
"Shall we rest and eat some carrots? I ordered organic ones, and the fridge's vegetable drawer is packed full."
But Rajiks shook his head firmly.
"I won't eat carrots."
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I want to go in one more time. I want to fill my backpack."
"I told you it's okay to rest…"
"…Is that not allowed?"
"Uh…"
Do I have some ancestor who died because they were bad at working or something?
Gyeon Dallae sidled up and whispered,
"Young Master, please do as he asks. Rajiks is a farmhand down to his very bones."
"…"
There was no helping it.
"Alright. Let's go in one more time. Go and fill your backpack to the brim."
"Hoeng!"
And so, the 46th floor was conquered again.
This time as well, I stood beside Rajiks and watched him work.
For Rajiks's smooth progress, Kosak, Gobang, and Gyeon Dallae didn't hunt scorpions directly, instead luring them around here and there just to buy time.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
As he broke apart the rock, glittering ore mixed with metal would catch on the pickaxe and pop out.
Then he'd pick it up and put it into the backpack.
How exhausting must it be?
Breaking rocks and picking up ore.
Doing two kinds of work alone.
"I'll pick up the ore for you."
"Ho-e? No. It's tiring."
"Doing at least this will put my mind at ease."
"Hueeeng…"
Rajiks didn't know what to do, but if the Summoner said so, he had to follow.
Putting ore into the backpack was easy.
Just bring it close, and the ore would slide in automatically.
It kept going in.
It had to be quite heavy.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Rajiks focused solely on mining the ore.
He didn't care if terrifying scorpions came crawling over.
If the Summoner was happy, he was fine with dying while mining ore.
On the other hand, Juhyeok couldn't help but worry about Rajiks.
He's working too hard.
At this rate, he'll get sick from exhaustion.
Juhyeok kept picking up the ore Rajiks mined and putting it into the backpack.
There was no helping it.
If even he didn't help Rajiks, who would?
Then—
Thud!
A piece of ore got stuck at the mouth of the backpack and wouldn't go in any further.
Was that it?
Finally full.
For some reason, Juhyeok looked even happier.
"Yes! We're done. Done! Let's go home and rest now. What are you doing? Hurry up, let's finish the conquest and get out."
The other summoned beings responded as if they'd been waiting for this.
"Yes, sir! Our turn now. Leave it to us."
"I'll finish it quickly."
"I'll shake the bells, so Kosak and Gobang, earn your keep."
"Princess, please go with the whirlwind rhythm."
Rajiks's face was brighter than ever.
Did he really enjoy working that much?
"Heh."
"My goodness, look at all that sweat."
"Heheee."
Well, as long as he was happy. Whether working or playing.
Honestly, keeping things like this for a while didn't sound bad.
Helping Rajiks out.
And the mission was completed too.
Spot!
We exited the Tower.
The ore taken out of the backpack—
Large and small chunks numbering over seventy in total.
Compared to hides, the volume was much smaller.
Unlike a player's inventory, Rajiks's backpack seemed to be measured by weight.
Even though the ore chunks were small, each one was quite heavy—probably because they were mixed with metal.
What metals are these, anyway?
Looking closely, they were all different colors.
Jet-black metal mixed into stone—looked like adamant.
The silvery ones were orichalcon.
The yellow ones were sectonium.
So they all come out together, huh.
Among them, adamant seemed to be the most abundant.
The mined ore was stored in an empty room.
For now, the quantity was still small.
It would be better to gather more and sell it all at once.
That said, making Rajiks work every single day didn't sit right either…
In that case, let's climb.
Up to the 49th floor.
That way, during the first conquest, Rajiks could rest.
Tower ascent began.
Reaching the 49th floor didn't take long,
and then came ten days of repeated conquests.
And alongside that, there wasn't much left.
The confirmation of the 50th-floor privilege and the random summon cooldown.
Korea was peaceful.
At least, there were no issues with tower climbing.
But the situations in the neighboring countries were completely different.
Japan.
Yoo Cheol-min never managed to recover from his shattered mental state.
He trembled and refused even to enter the Tower.
As a result, all the benefits he had received upon naturalization were stripped away, and he was driven out with his family to a small city in Japan.
In the end, the choice Japan made was to sign a temporary player naturalization contract with the United States.
A player affiliated with the U.S. government, currently conquering floors in the early 60s, became Japanese for one month.
No one knew how much Japan paid the U.S. in return, but it was likely at least several dozen times the rental fee of a holy sword.
Another neighboring country—China—was in even worse shape.
The fire had reached their feet.
The 59th floor conquest was just around the corner.
Yet despite kidnapping such a large number of players, they ultimately failed.
At this rate, the collapse countdown was about to begin.
If they failed to stop one, three would collapse in succession.
In the end, China's choice was also a temporary naturalization contract, just like Japan.
In truth, the 59th floor was an awkward point.
The current global average climbing floor was 55.
Only a handful of countries had conquered the 59th floor.
The United States, Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.
As for the late 60s, only Korea and the U.S. had reached that far.
Honestly, even Korea and the U.S. should have controlled their pace.
One floor every six months.
Step by step.
But how could you stop players from freely entering the Tower and conquering it?
There was no way to know who would conquer which floor, or when.
Having too many talented players was a problem in itself.
In the past, in the U.S., there was even a case where three unconquered upper floors were cleared all at once within a single month.
Korea had experienced the same thing.
Now that they were at much higher floors, such incidents no longer happened.
And with active government intervention, regulation had become possible.
Still, they couldn't relax.
At any time, anywhere, an unknown player might suddenly pop up and recklessly attempt to climb unconquered upper floors without any floor control.
Anyway, from China's perspective, there was no good country to ask for temporary naturalization.
The U.S. already had a specialist player temporarily naturalized in Japan.
Asking Korea would hurt their pride.
In the end, they had no choice but to beg Russia.
They had to pour out an enormous price for one month of temporary naturalization.
They even demanded land, and part of Heilongjiang Province became Russian territory.
A new border line was drawn.
For China, it was a crushing humiliation—
even if they had managed to get through the crisis.
Amid all this, the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates entered Korea through Incheon Airport.
Awakener Management Agency.
Commissioner Park Gyeong-su and Vice Commissioner Jeon Gwang-il were in conversation.
"Commissioner, what about Crown Prince Abdul bin Sala? You said you were meeting him today, didn't you?"
"I'll be meeting him this evening, together with the President."
"Do you happen to know the purpose of his visit? It's unusual for the Crown Prince to come to Korea so suddenly."
"First, take a look at this. It's material that came over from the NIS."
Commissioner Park Gyeong-su placed a stack of documents on the table.
Had the mastermind behind the attempted kidnapping of elite players finally been identified?
Jeon Gwang-il opened the file—but… no, that wasn't it.
"Abu Dhabi… a terrorist attack?"
"Yes. Just three days ago."
"This is the first I'm hearing of it. This wasn't even reported in the news, was it?"
"The UAE government controlled the coverage. More than ten players were blown up all at once."
"…What?"
Jeon Gwang-il read the documents more closely.
"Damn it—Karim Zahid is dead too?"
"A tragic loss. On top of that, more than ten state-managed players above level 50 died with him."
Karim Zahid.
A nationally nurtured player who had been challenging the UAE's Black Tower, 60th floor.
How much effort had the UAE poured into raising him?
They had swept the market clean of trait-enhancement runes just to develop him.
In fact, the biggest culprit behind the disappearance of trait-enhancement runes from the market had been the UAE itself.
They had force-fed them to their talented domestic players.
"As far as I know, the UAE still had about twenty days left on their 60th-floor conquest deadline. But with Karim Zahid and all those level-50-plus players blown to pieces…"
"It's horrific."
That was right.
Not only their top-tier tower players, but also the mid-tier players who supported the whole structure were gone.
"No, just how bad was their security?"
"Security was the problem. One of the bodyguards was an Islamic extremist. That was confirmed immediately after the incident."
A chill ran down his spine.
Come to think of it, this wasn't someone else's problem.
Outside the Tower, players were no different from ordinary civilians, so something like this could easily happen in Korea as well.
In fact, a similar incident had almost occurred not long ago.
"They must have come to request temporary naturalization from Korea. Still, Player Nam Ga-eun is out of the question. Absolutely impossible."
"Of course. But the UAE seems desperate. They're practically begging, saying they'll immediately restore nationality once the conquest is over."
Each country's top player is not eligible for temporary naturalization.
Even the United States raises and operates players who specialize specifically in naturalization.
Because dual nationality is not allowed.
A player can only enter the Tower of a single country.
There's even a theory that ordinary people with dual citizenship can't awaken at all.
What if someone temporarily naturalizes and then pretends to be crazy and refuses to restore the original nationality?
How many such cases have there already been?
Temporary naturalization is something only powerful states can even attempt.
"The U.S. naturalization specialist is already in Japan, Russia has contracted with China, and the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, and Norway don't have players dedicated to temporary naturalization either. I can see why they came to Korea."
"They probably judged that Korea has some leeway, having recently cleared the 66th floor."
The UAE's Black Tower stands near its oil fields.
If the Tower collapses, the oil fields won't survive either.
While mana crystals are doing their job well as an alternative energy source, oil is still an invaluable resource.
Commissioner Park Gyeong-su glanced around briefly, then lowered his voice and spoke quietly.
"Actually, there's one more target the UAE wants—besides Player Nam Ga-eun."
"You mean Director Lee Min-ah? Absolutely not. No way. She's currently climbing the 60th floor herself, and even if she were qualified, we couldn't send her."
Director Lee Min-ah was also ineligible for temporary naturalization.
She was the Agency's Plan B.
You could say she had inherited the role once held by Player Nam Ga-eun.
"It's not Director Lee."
"Then who?"
"A player who recently recorded consecutive S++ conquest ranks all the way up to the 49th floor."
"Ha!"
Had the UAE lost its mind?
"No, they don't even know who it is—"
Of course, Park Gyeong-su and Jeon Gwang-il knew.
"It seems the UAE believes Korea has identified the S++ player's identity."
"Even if we had, temporary naturalization would be absurd."
Player Bong Juhyeok's current floor was the 49th.
He'd need to climb eleven more floors within twenty days—
For him, that wouldn't be difficult at all. He'd probably clear them in eleven days.
"We must absolutely deny knowing anything. We can't give them even the slightest opening to probe."
"What's with you? Do I look like someone who wouldn't do that?"
"Hahaha, I've always trusted you, Commissioner."
Commissioner Park gave a faint chuckle and continued.
"Still, give Player Bong Juhyeok a heads-up that something like this has happened. The media will blow it up soon anyway."
"Yes. We're scheduled to meet him today regardless."
"Oh, right! How's the leather business going?"
"Well… there's been a hitch."
"What kind?"
"We're short on leather cutting and crafting tools."
Basilisk leather has to be cut with blades made from Tower metals.
You could force it with regular equipment, but that would damage the leather.
More importantly, delicate craftsmanship becomes impossible.
You can't even sew it properly.
"Do the workshops not have spare metal?"
"They're already stretched thin just making weapons."
"And imports are difficult too, I suppose?"
"Yes. They barely have enough for their own equipment."
Jeon Gwang-il was worried as well.
It was a business Player Bong Juhyeok had entrusted to them—and it looked like it might start going off the rails right from the beginning.