Juhyeok's daily life was always the same.
He lazed around at home.
Every day, until Rajiks became summonable again, his only task was fooling around with the summoned.
Veronica was snoring away in the living room.
She had started dozing off the moment she was summoned and was still asleep now.
Gyeon-dallae sat on the sofa, reading a book.
As expected of an imperial princess—such refined dignity.
Gobang was sprawled out in the outdoor garden, sunbathing.
Not that his skin would tan anyway.
Juhyeok and Kosak were playing a game.
A soccer game on a console.
"Number 8 Kosak intercepts Bong Team's pass with razor-sharp timing! Breaks free of the press and immediately sends a through pass forward—ah! Number 10 Kosak receives it! Dazzling dribble! Bong Team's players are in total disarray! The cross goes up! Number 7 Kosak with the heeaaader! Goal! Goal! It's a goooal! Goalgoalgoalgoal!"
Phew.
"…"
This is really pissing me off.
It was only the first half, and the score was already 5–0.
Of course, Juhyeok was the zero.
How was he supposed to beat Kosak with SS-rank physical stats?
The guy was sly upstairs, fast with his hands, and sharp-eyed.
"Mr. Kosak."
"Yes, sir!"
"Are you having fun?"
"Yes, sir!"
"I'm glad. At least one of us is enjoying it—I'm not."
"…Sir?"
"Well, you scored five goals. No way you wouldn't be in a good mood."
Seriously. Scoring goals is one thing, but what's with the real-time play-by-play commentary? Is this about crushing someone's mental?
"Ah—n-no, I was just thinking it'd be fun to, to play the game…"
"Yes, yes. Thanks to you, it's very 'fun.'"
Fun, my ass. It's only fun if I score at least one goal.
Kosak looked flustered.
"Sh-should we stop?"
"Keep going. We started it, so we should see it through. Sigh… how many goals am I going to concede in the second half? Twenty to zero would feel just great."
"…"
At that, Gyeon-dallae lowered her book.
"Sir Kosak, you certainly have guts. Not knowing your place and daring to challenge Confucius himself. At this rate, you'll be climbing right over his head."
"O-oh no."
Veronica mumbled half-asleep.
"Mmm… when the commander dribbles the ball, you're supposed to fall over on your own. If you defend, you'll end up in confinement. At minimum, full combat gear and one hundred laps around the parade ground."
"Ugh… aaah…"
The game resumed.
Kosak's mentality had already collapsed.
There was no way his controller inputs would work properly.
Juhyeok's players ran rampant across the field.
They ravaged Kosak's goal.
"Yes! Five to one!"
"…"
"Oh yeah, one more goal."
"…"
"Ah! Tied game! Let's go for the comeback!!!"
Games are only fun when you win.
Just like that, Juhyeok slammed in six goals in a storm, flattening Kosak's nose.
This is the class of an Earthling gamer!
He felt a twinge of guilt, but the world of competition is merciless.
Still, playing around like this day after day—
Living off leisure alone made him restless.
The life of a rich, unemployed man.
Something he'd always dreamed of, but once you actually live it, it's not much.
At least the worries about money were gone.
But when was Rajiks coming back?
It had already been four days since he was sent off.
If he was similar to Gobang, he should be summonable around today.
"When's our worker coming back? Ah! I want to enter the Tower."
"Can't we just climb it ourselves?"
"Hmmm."
If they climbed, there were only two options.
Repeat clears, or uncleared upper floors.
Without Rajiks, repeat clears were meaningless.
Then uncleared upper floors?
From the 61st floor onward was the undead section.
Living corpses—mummies—started appearing from the 61st floor.
All while spewing dark aura everywhere.
Clearing it was possible.
The problem was getting an S++ clear.
"Confucius, please do not worry. This maiden can sufficiently suppress the aura of such impure beings."
That made sense.
Her class was a shrine maiden.
If she just rang her bells properly, negating dark aura would be easy.
And if they brought out the holy sword and wielded it?
An S++ clear would be guaranteed.
Even so, what fun was a run without Rajiks?
There was also the issue of Veronica's ammo resupply.
'Let's decide after Rajiks gets here.'
In truth, he'd been checking the status window constantly since yesterday.
He'd checked just a moment ago.
And now again—
"Huh?"
It had changed.
The "unsummonable" mark was gone.
Juhyeok shot his hand into the air and cheered.
"Rajiks is up!!!"
"Really, sir?"
"Oh my?"
"Sergeant Veronica Caliber! Has the supply officer arrived?"
Kosak and Gyeon-dallae rejoiced with him, Veronica woke up automatically, and Gobang came in from the garden.
"All right, let's start preparing the welcome."
"Yes, sir!"
He must have gone through a lot, getting promoted.
For this day, Juhyeok had prepared in advance—Jeju-grown, pesticide-free organic carrots, spread out across the living room.
A small banner reading "Congrats! Rajiks Promotion" was hung up, along with colorful balloons taped to the wall.
"I'll summon him now."
"I'm excited."
"I've missed you, Supply Officer."
"The warrior feels the same."
"Ahh, I wonder how our top farmhand has changed."
Juhyeok quietly intoned,
"Rajiks, designated summon."
Fwaaash!
Particles of light gathered, and—spot!
Rajiks revealed himself.
"Hooeeng!"
There he was.
Rajiks appeared, raising his short right arm high, still round, fluffy, and soft.
"Waaah!"
"How could he be this dependable?"
"Certain victory! Supply Officer, congratulations on your promotion."
"An SSR worker… that's amazing, sir."
"The warrior is proud of this worker."
"Hoe…"
Juhyeok pulled Rajiks into a hug.
So did Gyeon-dallae, Kosak, and Gobang.
Veronica snapped to attention and saluted in respect.
Name: RajiksRank: SSR (Special Super Rare)Type: Worker (Beastkin)Manifestation Duration: 7 hoursSatisfaction Rating: Average 5 pointsResummon Cooldown: 3 hours (applies after dismissal)
Just as expected—SSR.
Even the catalog title had changed.
A loyal, reliable, all-purpose genius worker.
As for his appearance?
It hadn't changed.
Which made it even better.
Of course, some things had changed.
His plain safety helmet was now a dazzling, gleaming golden helmet.
And the backpack—its outer size had grown to more than twice its former size.
It was so big you couldn't tell whether the backpack was carrying Rajiks, or Rajiks was carrying the backpack.
And then—right at that moment!
Swish!
At some point, Rajiks pulled out a cleaning broom and dustpan from the backpack.
Swish-swish, roll—
Swish-swish, roll—
'He just got here and already…'
He started cleaning while moving around.
Even with that massive backpack on, he rolled around effortlessly.
Juhyeok wanted to tell him cleaning wasn't necessary—but Rajiks looked so bright and happy doing it.
Honestly, during the time Rajiks had been gone, the house had gotten extremely messy.
Now?
In the blink of an eye, the penthouse became spotless and gleaming.
"Truly the unrivaled, peerless, absolute supreme farmhand of all ages."
He cleaned one spot, then instantly appeared in another.
He moved like lightning.
Laundry went into the washer, dishes into the dishwasher.
Floors wiped, windows polished.
Before long, Rajiks came over to the living room where Juhyeok stood and pointed at the Jeju-grown pesticide-free organic carrots with his hand.
"Hoe… put the carrots away?"
"No, Rajiks. Those are for you. You've wanted them, right?"
"Huek? That's too many."
"Hahaha, take your time eating them. If you run out, we can order as many more as you want."
"Hoe… amazing."
Rajiks picked up one carrot with one hand.
Then he crunched it with his front teeth—crack, crunch—while with the other hand he grabbed the remaining carrots and tossed them backward.
The carrots were automatically sucked into the subspace backpack, one after another.
Was he planning to ration them?
'He's just throwing them and they're going in on their own… huh?'
Wait.
The carrots were going into the subspace bag?
'Why are those going in?'
Rajiks's subspace backpack.
The ability to take Tower items outside without any restrictions.
But he could store Earth items like this too?
Juhyeok had thought it was like a player inventory—only Tower-related items could go in.
"…Could you put carrots in before?"
"Hoe, I couldn't before."
"And now?"
"Rajiks is SSR now. So I can."
So it was possible because of the promotion.
"Can you take them into the Tower too?"
"Yes."
"And they won't disappear even if you're dismissed?"
"Yes."
In that case—
Juhyeok pointed at a chair in the kitchen.
"What about that?"
"Hoeee, it goes in."
"The marble dining table too?"
"It goes in."
"Even though it's this big and heavy?"
"It goes in."
In that instant—
Sluuur—
The massive marble dining table vanished.
The chairs next to it disappeared as well.
"…!"
Earth items could be taken into the Tower.
This wasn't something to brush off lightly.
"What about this TV?"
"It goes in."
"The sofa too?"
"It goes in."
"That refrigerator?"
"It goes in."
"…Even something really big? Like—"
Juhyeok searched for a tank—K2 Black Panther—on his smartphone and showed it to him.
"Huek? That won't work. Too big."
Hmm. There was a size limit.
Juhyeok opened the fridge and the sink cabinets, pointing at various items.
Each time—swish—they vanished into the backpack.
Everything went in.
There was nothing that wouldn't.
'This is completely revolutionary.'
Modern scientific weapons would fit too.
For example, a portable missile launcher.
Well, it still wouldn't beat Veronica's magic gun—
'If I ever get a chance to copy a skill…'
Top priority would be Rajiks's subspace backpack.
And now—
"Let's go into the Tower for the first time in a while."
"Hoeeng!"
Let's see if items could be taken out inside the Tower as well.
[Entering the Black Tower of the Republic of Korea, 56th Floor.]
He deliberately chose a floor in the 50s.
The flying monster zone—if you didn't pull them, there was no need to fight.
"Rajiks, take out the chair and the table."
"Hoeeng!"
Swish—shsss—
The chair and table slid out of the backpack.
Gobang took them and placed them on the ground.
This was insane. Completely insane. That this was even possible.
They also took out food brought from home.
Fruit, drinks, snacks—processed foods too. It felt like a full-on picnic.
"If we light a campfire and grill some meat, that'd be great, sir."
"Thanks to this, we can enjoy some fresh air. It's wonderful."
Yeah, that really would work.
Maybe they should try it sometime.
At that moment, Rajiks pointed at a wyvern flying overhead.
"Hoe, catch it and skin it?"
"No."
"Hoe? Mine ore?"
"Today, you don't have to do anything."
"Hoeeeng… but I need to work…"
"Hey, this time let's just relax."
The scenery wasn't exactly great.
A desolate wasteland, wyverns flying overhead.
A conquest mission popped up, but they ignored it.
They had no intention of hunting anything.
They'd just hang out for a bit, abandon the mission, and leave.
Days like this were necessary too.
Did entering the Tower always mean you had to kill monsters?
They took photos with the smartphone they'd brought.
And while they were laughing and chatting away—
'Huh?'
One spot was empty.
Rajiks.
When did he disappear?
"Anyone seen Rajiks?"
"Our worker was right he—huh!? Where did he go? He vanished in an instant, sir."
The summoned seemed to realize it a beat later as well.
"Wow! I didn't even notice. Truly SSR."
"This maiden shall go and find him at once."
"The warrior will go as well."
"Sergeant Veronica Caliber. Search operations are my specialty. Beginning tracking now."
There was no need for that.
Juhyeok pointed in a direction and said,
"It's fine. He's coming from over there."
Rumbleee—
Rajiks came rolling in at ferocious speed.
"Where did you go?"
"Hoeee…."
He panted for a moment.
"Hoe, I smelled something."
"What kind of smell? …Did someone fart here?"
"It wasn't me. Was it the princess?"
"Yes—yes, you little brat!!!"
"Oh, then it must've been Gobang."
"The warrior does not fart. I would sooner soil myself."
"Huek! It wasn't a fart."
Then—clatter.
Rajiks placed a pile of strange odds and ends on the table.
"I dug them up from underground over there."
It wasn't leather, and it wasn't ore either.
"What on earth is all this—"
Then one object caught his eye.
"Gah!"
Juhyeok gasped.
Looking at the long, narrow object on the table—
"Isn't this a bone?"
"That's right, sir. But it's not a monster bone. It's a human finger bone."
"A human finger bone?"
Rajiks said he dug it up from underground.
Why would something like this be buried beneath the Tower's ground?
Could it be part of a player's body who died here?
But it was extremely decayed.
Pitch-black, looking like it would crumble the moment you touched it.
Gyeon-dallae examined the bone carefully.
"It appears to be at least a hundred years old."
"I agree, sir."
A hundred years—was that even possible?
The year the Tower appeared on Earth was 2004.
Now it was 2024.
Only twenty years had passed. Yet a bone over a hundred years old?
The timeline didn't match.
Still, if it was definitely human bone, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"…A human from another world?"
He remembered a conversation he'd had with Kosak not long after awakening as a player.
Kosak had known a lot about Earth civilization.
When asked why, he said there were quite a few worlds similar to this one.
Those worlds also had Black Towers.
Gwangma and Gyeon-dallae had said similar things.
If a Tower existed, then players must have existed too.
This could be part of a player's remains from over a hundred years ago—
In a Tower that had existed here for only twenty years.
What that implied was…
That a floor once cleared—or a floor where a player had died—could be entered again by others.
"H-however, it seems something is stuck on the finger bone."
"Where? …Ah!"
Looking closely, it was true.
A thin silver ring.
'A ring…'
Could it be?
"I'll take it off for you, sir."
Kosak removed the ring and handed it over. Juhyeok checked the information.
"Ah!"
His guess was right.
It was an item.
Effect: Allows use of the 5th-circle magic Blink without magic power infusion.
Limit: Consecutive use limited to 10 times.
Feature: Recovers 1 use every 2 hours.
"…It lets you use Blink?"
Kosak lit up.
"Oh! Blink—that's good stuff, sir. Top-tier."
"The warrior agrees. It is indeed good."
"Congratulations. Certain victory!"
"Our peerless farmhand has done something incredible once again."
"Hoeee…"
Blink was a skill used by high-level mage players.
A magic-type trait skill that could only be obtained after strengthening one's traits.
And it didn't even say "Tower-only."
Meaning it could be used in the real world as well.
'Right—it said no magic power infusion is needed.'
No, seriously—he becomes SSR and immediately pulls something like this? How could he be this adorable?
"Hoeeng!!!"
A pose he hadn't seen in a while—Rajiks planted his short arms on his hips, puffed out his round chest, and snorted proudly.
But the ring wasn't the only thing Rajiks brought back.
There were other items on the table.
A fragment of stone, and a yellow piece of paper.
'Hmm.'
They looked trivial, but there was no way they were ordinary.
Juhyeok picked up the stone fragment first.
'Check information.'
Then—
"…What?"
Then the paper?
A rune? A ticket?
"Th-this is insane!"
Seriously?