Ten days of gathering ore.
He just piled it up at home.
He worried that if he put it into his inventory and entered and exited the Tower, it might disappear.
But now there was too much.
At this rate, the house might collapse.
It seemed like time to sell it to the Awakener Management Agency.
First, he'd at least get the ore appraised.
Surely it wouldn't take as long as the leather, right?
Juhyeok took the ore Gobang handed him and put it into his inventory.
Whew… there's a lot.
This wasn't easy.
Since it only went in if he mimed holding it with his hands and putting it away, his arms nearly fell off.
"I'll be back. You all rest."
"This girl prays for Young Master's victory."
"Lord Summoner Bong, fighting! Sell it for a high price!"
"I'll guard the house well."
"Hoeng!"
Right on time, Vice Commissioner Jeon Gwang-il appeared in front of the apartment.
It felt burdensome, making the Vice Commissioner act as his driver.
So he apologized—
"Hahaha, don't worry about it. Meeting Player Bong Juhyeok is an important matter, you know. And this is the safest way."
Well then.
"And there's something I need to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"We're currently taking reservations for the holy sword."
Reservations, huh.
"Uh… are there many countries applying?"
"Only Norway so far. They need to clear the 66th floor as well. Soon, more countries will start lining up."
Just one for now.
Just because you reach the 61st floor doesn't mean you absolutely have to use the holy sword.
With light-attribute items alone, you can get up to around the 65th floor.
That's how Korea did it too.
"As for holy sword rentals or reservations, please just let the Agency handle it like before—"
"Yes, don't worry."
Ten million dollars again.
It still didn't feel real.
At this rate, his sense of money might dull.
When the money comes in, I should buy some land.
Land or buildings were the best.
He could retire later and farm.
Of course, he wasn't underestimating farming.
If anything, wasn't this a team perfectly optimized for agriculture?
Gobang, stronger than an ox.
Rajiks, whose very class was laborer.
Gyeon Dallae, a shrine maiden who prayed for bountiful harvests.
And Kosak… well, he could chase off deer or wild boars.
"Oh! The Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates has entered Korea."
"Hm, I see."
But what did that have to do with him?
"The situation with the UAE's Black Tower isn't good. Not long ago, a terrorist attack by Islamic extremists killed all of their state-sponsored players."
"That's awful!"
That place had terrorist attacks every day.
To think even players got caught up in it.
"The Tower's conquest deadline is only twenty days away. They're planning to submit a request for temporary naturalization to the Korean Awakener Management Agency soon."
If temporary naturalization was an option—
"To Player Nam Ga-eun?"
"That's right."
They had guts.
Borrowing a top-tier player?
"They currently believe Korea has two top players."
"…Yoo Cheol-min? He's Japanese now."
"No. Player Bong Juhyeok."
…That came out of nowhere.
"How would they even know about me?"
"They don't, of course. But they seem to believe our Agency knows the identity of the S++ conquest record holder."
Tsk. They must be truly desperate.
"If that's the case, wouldn't a neighboring country be better? There's Saudi Arabia too."
"Saudi Arabia does have one top player, but would they really lend him out? Maybe if it were a next-in-line player—but the level gap between their top and next player is over ten levels, so it wouldn't work."
Naturally.
If you had a solid next-in-line, a Plan B, you might consider it.
But sending out your top player?
What if something went wrong?
"Actually, those two countries aren't on very good terms."
"Why? They're both Arab countries."
"Because of trait-enhancement runes."
That caught his interest.
Juhyeok's eyes sharpened.
Trait-enhancement runes, all of a sudden.
"When trait-enhancement runes first entered the market, fierce competition broke out between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by overwhelming oil money."
Oh! A clash of titans.
"During that process, there were rumors that many runes originally contracted to Saudi Arabia ended up going to the UAE instead. It was never confirmed, though."
Meaning the UAE might have stabbed Saudi Arabia in the back.
"In the end, the UAE succeeded in nurturing many state-sponsored players… so those rumors might be true."
The competition between nations to climb unconquered upper floors of the Black Tower.
Juhyeok wasn't particularly interested in national rivalry, but something had caught his attention for a while now.
"Hey, do you think the UAE still has trait-enhancement runes?"
"There's a very high chance. They probably stockpiled them instead of using them all at once."
"If they offered those as compensation for temporary naturalization?"
"Well… it's unlikely they'd give them up easily. They'd probably try to solve it with money instead."
"I see."
If they weren't giving runes, he wasn't interested.
They could sort it out themselves.
I do happen to have a multinational Tower access ticket too.
If trait-enhancement runes were on the table, he'd be willing to burn himself out for it.
Tsk. He should just keep climbing slowly.
By the time they finished talking, they had arrived at the Agency's Tower materials warehouse.
Juhyeok and Jeon Gwang-il got out of the car, put on long padded coats, and went inside.
They'd kept the temperature extremely low to store leather.
"The leather is being safely stored. Once the processing facilities are fully set up, we'll handle it immediately."
Come on.
It was still just sitting there.
What good was a big payout later?
He needed money now.
Business first.
"I brought materials again today. Not leather, though."
"Oh! Yes, yes."
Jeon Gwang-il's face filled with anticipation.
Not leather?
Then what?
It definitely wouldn't be anything ordinary.
In fact, there was something he was secretly hoping for…
Those rectangular metal ingots players sometimes received as rewards.
I hope it's ingots.
Juhyeok began taking out the ore Rajiks had mined, one by one, from his inventory.
Jeon Gwang-il felt a bit disappointed.
He didn't show it, though.
They weren't ingots.
Just ordinary-looking stones.
"…Rocks, I see."
"Close enough."
Definitely rocks. No matter how you looked at them, rocks.
No—
Rocks that went into a Tower-exclusive inventory.
Looking closely, they seemed to glimmer faintly.
So he picked one up with his hand.
Flinch! Jeon Gwang-il jumped in surprise.
It was heavy.
Not the weight he had imagined at all.
More like iron ore…
Huh?
Iron ore… iron ore… iron ore?
Don't tell me—
"Is th-that… ore?"
"Yes."
Damn it. Idiot.
How did he not realize?
That the Tower materials Player Bong Juhyeok brought back were different from what players usually received as rewards.
It was the same with leather.
The same with herbs.
No—he even brought back ore?
What couldn't he bring back, then?
"…This is adamant ore."
"There's orichalcon and sectonium too. Not as much as adamant, though."
Jeon Gwang-il was left speechless for a while.
It was very much Player Bong being Player Bong, but still—
Haha…
He always exceeded expectations.
So far beyond what one's imagination could keep up with.
"Since it's ore rather than ingots, it'll be a bit troublesome to use."
"N-No, not at all! Troublesome? Not in the slightest!"
Ore instead of ingots.
Refine ore, and you get metal.
Would that work with Tower ore too?
Of course it would.
All metals melt with fire.
Tower reward ingots were no exception.
That was why weapons and equipment could be crafted from them.
"Ah, then… I'll take everything out."
"…There's more?"
"There's quite a lot, so we'll need containers."
"J-Just a moment, please."
Juhyeok kept taking ore out of his inventory.
Jeon Gwang-il's mouth slowly fell open as he brought over several baskets.
Ore came out.
More came out.
Just when he thought that had to be it—more came out again.
Before long, Juhyeok was sweating profusely and had taken off his padded coat.
This was insanely exhausting.
And there was so much of it.
Roughly six hundred pieces of ore in total.
Even when taking them out of the inventory, he had to hold each one and set it down somewhere.
They felt light to carry inside the Tower…
But this was outside.
He could've just sat still and collected holy sword rental fees regularly.
I'm really working myself to death.
How much money was he even trying to make?
He could've just waited for the leather goods to sell.
But he couldn't ignore the hopeful look in Rajiks's eyes.
That earnest desire to be useful, even if it meant mining ore.
Jeon Gwang-il didn't just stand around either.
He took the ore Juhyeok brought out, sorted it by type, and placed it into baskets.
Adamant, orichalcon, sectonium—each separated.
You could tell by the color.
Finally—
"Phew, that's everything."
"I-Is that all?"
"Yes. I thought my arms were going to fall off."
"Hahaha…"
Just how many baskets was this?
"…You'll buy it, right?"
"We'll buy it. Unconditionally."
Thank goodness.
Now all that remained was the price.
"May I weigh it first?"
"Sure."
Jeon Gwang-il pulled out a large scale from the corner of the warehouse.
After zeroing it out, he began placing the sorted baskets on it.
He carefully recorded the weight of each basket.
Weighing complete.
His hand trembled as he tapped numbers into his smartphone calculator.
Partly from the labor of lifting the baskets—but mostly because the amount was staggering.
"Player Bong."
"Yes?"
"Usually, players occasionally receive metal ingots as conquest rewards."
"I know."
"At player shops, adamant ingots are bought at 5 million won per kilogram. Orichalcon is 10 million per kilo, and sectonium is 20 million per kilo. That's the international standard price."
Compared to leather, metal was an even more vital material for Tower climbing.
Leather could only be used for armor, but metal was used for weapons, armor—everything.
The chance of receiving equipment items as Tower rewards was extremely low.
Most players had to climb wearing weapons and armor crafted directly by their nations.
In short, strategic materials for Tower climbing.
That was why standard prices were set—not too exorbitant.
The metal purchase prices are better than I thought.
After all, a small hand shield made of metal plate cost 40 million won.
And that was at cost—quite cheap, actually.
This might turn out very well.
It would easily exceed 1 billion won.
Jeon Gwang-il picked up a piece of ore and continued.
"Typically, iron ore contains over 50% iron. Since this seems similar to iron ore…"
So at half the ingot price—
"We'd like to purchase adamant ore at 2.5 million won per kilogram, orichalcon ore at 5 million, and sectonium ore at 10 million. Those are standard rates. Is that acceptable to you?"
Juhyeok nodded.
With standard pricing, there was no need to haggle.
So what was the total?
"Adamant: 3.7425 billion won.
Orichalcon: 2.68 billion won.
Sectonium: 3.005 billion won.
Altogether, that comes to 9.4275 billion won."
Then he cautiously asked, watching Juhyeok's reaction,
"What do you think? Are you satisfied?"
Juhyeok didn't move.
He had heard the number, but—
"…How much did you say?"
"9.4275 billion won."
"Not 940 million?"
"9.4 billion, at standard rates."
Flinch.
9.4 billion.
Was this real?
Did that even make sense?
"…Uh, a-are you sure you didn't calculate that wrong?"
"Not at all. The total ore weight rounds to 2,342 kilograms. Of that, adamant is 1,497 kg, orichalcon 536 kg, and sectonium 309 kg."
So it was 2.3 tons of ore.
"If refining yields more ingots later, we'll add that amount to your payment."
"…And if it yields less?"
"That would be my mistake, so there's nothing to be done."
Jeon Gwang-il himself could hardly believe it.
Such an enormous amount.
If the yield was 50%, that was over one ton of metal ingots.
Even at just 30% success, that was 700 kg.
Seven hundred kilograms was slightly more than what player shops bought in an entire year.
He felt embarrassed for ever worrying about leather crafting tools.
Now they could freely supply players with high-quality equipment.
Enough to outfit melee players in full plate armor.
"Thank you for selling this to us."
No, I should be the one thanking you.
He wanted to say it, but his heart was pounding too hard for the words to come out.
These days, every deal was in the tens of billions.
The holy sword.
The penthouse.
The ore.
This was bad.
Ten million won no longer even felt like money.
Thanks to Rajiks, his sense of scale was only going to grow bigger.
Juhyeok's penthouse.
Kosak was rolling around on the floor, munching on snacks.
Rustle, rustle—
Crumbs fell every time he took a snack from the bag.
The living room floor got dirty, but there was nothing to worry about.
From afar, a rolling ball of fur came tumbling over—
"Hoeng!"
Shhht!Swipe!
One quick wipe with a mop and it was clean.
"Thanks, Mr. Rajiks."
"Hoeee."
Rajiks disappeared again.
Gyeon Dallae shook her head slowly.
Kosak, dirtying the living room without a shred of guilt.
Rajiks, the farmhand, happily rushing over whenever there was something to clean.
The one who made the mess and the one who cleaned it—perfect compatibility.
Haah… this is ridiculous.
Kosak rolled around on the now-clean floor and said,
"Gobang, don't overthink it. Just say whatever comes to mind."
"I can't think of anything."
"Fine. I'll go first. I say five hundred million."
Then Gyeon Dallae spoke up.
"Only that much? To belittle Lord Rajiks's efforts like that—very well. I'll say one billion."
"Princess, no backing out. I clearly heard one billion, right?"
"I am not Kosak. I never go back on my word."
"Heh! Just because you're a princess doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."
"I didn't ask you to."
Kosak, Gobang, and Gyeon Dallae were in the middle of a betting game, guessing how much the ore would sell for.
The punishment was a forehead flick from first place to last place.
"Gobang, if you're not going to say anything until the end—"
"I will."
"How much?"
"One hundred billion."
Kosak jumped to his feet and burst out laughing.
"Ha-ha-ha! Ore worth a hundred billion? You've totally lost your sense of reality. This place costs two hundred billion."
"I-is that so?"
"No backing out for you either. Get ready to take that flick, punk! And don't transform when you get hit."
"…Understood."
And then he went right back to rolling around on the living room floor.
As expected, snack crumbs scattered everywhere.
Rumble, roll—
Swipe!
Rumble, roll—
"Hoeng!"
Just then—twitch!
Kosak's ears perked up.
Whoosh! Kosak vanished in an instant.
Spot!
What's wrong with him now?
Just as Gyeon Dallae tilted her head in confusion—
Beep!
The front door opened.
"I'm back."
It was Juhyeok.
"Welcome back, Young Master."
"Summoner, we were waiting."
Kosak reappeared, now holding a cordless vacuum cleaner.
Vrrrmmm!
With a shameless expression, he cleaned the living room.
"Huh? When did you get here? Loyalty! Kosak, the right-hand man of Lord Summoner Bong, was in the middle of cleaning. I was helping Rajiks."
"Oh my, you're working hard. As expected, there's only Kosak. Hahahaha."
"Hehehehe."
"Ho-e?"
Gyeon Dallae stared at the scene in disbelief.
Th-that crafty…
A born sycophant.
The kind of grand traitor who would ruin a nation.
She felt like throwing him straight to a mad berserker.
Juhyeok took off his shoes and sat down on the living room sofa.
Everyone looked at him with curiosity.
Just how much was the ore worth?
Juhyeok slowly opened his mouth.
"9.4275 billion won."
"…What?"
What nine point four billion?
"That's how much I made selling the ore today."
"…What?"
The summoned beings looked utterly confused.
"I don't quite understand what you mean—"
Juhyeok smiled and said it again.
"9.4275 billion won. I sold the ore. Money Rajiks earned all by himself."
Kosak's eyes shook violently.
"Hiiik?"
Gobang wore a satisfied smile.
"Mm."
Gyeon Dallae fluttered over like a butterfly and gave a deep bow.
"Young Master Bong, congratulations."
Rajiks still looked dazed.
"Ho… hoeng?"
Suddenly—cheers erupted!
"Wooooah!"
"Hooray! Long live Rajiks!"
"As expected of the great household's farmhand."
At the same time, a white ball of fur shot high into the air.
Rajiks toss time.
"Hoeng, hoeee—"
Rajiks enjoyed the moment.
He felt proud—truly proud of himself.
Even when lifted high, he wasn't scared at all.
But then, in the middle of tossing him, Kosak suddenly seemed to remember something. His face turned pale as he sidled up to Juhyeok and whispered,
"L-Lord Summoner."
"What is it? Hmm, you don't look so good. Something wrong?"
"I'm not feeling well, so could you dismiss my summon right now?"
"Huh?"
As if an S++ ranker could suddenly feel unwell.
"We should go out to celebrate."
"No, th-that's not it… please, dismiss me right now. Please!"
"Uh—"
"Q-quickly! If not, I-I'll die!"
Right at that moment!
Grab!
A massive hand seized Kosak by the collar.
"Pay up!"
"Eek?"
"Assassin. A promise is a promise."
"W-wait, let me explain—"
Snap!
KWAANG!
An explosive sound shook even the living room windows.
Kosak's head snapped sharply backward, like it might break.
Dangling limply in Gobang's grip, Kosak swayed back and forth.
Gyeon Dallae smiled with satisfaction.
"…"
What kind of forehead flick was that?
He's not dead… right?