Even a Third-Generation Chaebol Heir Can't Resist This (1)

Inside the safe zone on Floor 39.

Hwi-min blinked.

It was because of the notification window that had appeared before his eyes.

-Ding.

[First Scenario Clear!]

"…First?"

'Egen Tower's Tier Four?'

The 'Beginner's Tower,' prefixed with all sorts of derogatory names like Egen Tower and Weakling Tower.

Even counting only Korea, there were over a thousand Awakeners from this place.

No matter how clearly defined the limits of growth were, there were plenty of people who didn't want to risk their lives.

But first clear?

What did that mean when so many Awakeners had already passed through here?

That was why Hwi-min was dumbfounded for a moment, but

"……Ah!"

'I guess it treats the changed setting as a changed story!'

After thinking it over, he came to a conclusion.

Oh, right. The setting had changed.

It must be treating it as an entirely different story and awarding me the first-clear status.

"Sweet."

Having understood, Hwi-min nodded.

'They barely changed the content… Even the Tower cuts corners sometimes.'

The Tower hadn't even realized that the story had changed.

Hwi-min thought they were recycling material, too.

That was what he clicked his tongue over inwardly.

[…….]

…If the Tower had free will, this would have been something worth getting quite angry about.

And with good reason—the Tower had completely overhauled the story.

The setting was that the distant descendants of the Third Prince and the princess would someday cause the demons to rise up.

And beyond that, the future of the Normal Tower timeline, which would be saved when Hwi-min prevented the two from joining together.

It had even prepared all of that with moving direction and presentation.

But Hwi-min?

After going to all the trouble of changing the setting, he hadn't even shown his face at the important Normal Tower.

If he had traveled even once, he could have seen what changes each of his adventures had caused in the future.

He could even have gained hints about the past from the future and used them to move forward.

Instead, he ignored everything and simply climbed the Tower.

As a result, the story of the hero who saved both the past and the future…

'It would've been nice if they'd changed the gay ending, too.'

From Hwi-min's perspective, it had become a comedy that ended with the sword pervert coming out of the closet.

The Tower would have been blameless even if it had grabbed him by the collar.

[…Calculating the first-scenario-clear reward.]

But the Tower only moved according to the system.

It was too busy preparing rewards for the climber.

Ding—!

Notification windows filled Hwi-min's view.

[Calculation complete.]

[Beginner's Tower Tier Four (Custom - Ryu Hwi-min) Cleared]

[Achievement Difficulty: First (First Clear)]

[Achievement Reward]

- Boss Floor clear rewards are doubled

"Oh."

'Doubled, huh.'

And the reward the Tower had thoughtfully prepared.

What was Hwi-min's reaction upon seeing it?

'That's stingy.'

It was somewhat disappointing to him.

He was so accustomed to getting things for free that merely doubling the reward wasn't enough to make his dopamine flow.

"You could've given me a little more. How stingy."

[…….]

If other people found out, they would have called him a spoiled glutton and come at him with bamboo spears.

Fortunately, no one had seen it.

Only the notification the Tower had displayed in the brown status window flickered forlornly.

* * *

Somehow, I'd received double rewards.

The numbers were a little stingy, but

'Well, better than nothing.'

Come to think of it, this was actually pretty effective.

Twenty additional stat points, and twice the potions.

It even applied to Stigmas.

Let's gratefully take whatever it gives us.

'First, I should collect the rewards.'

"Move."

Click.

I reached out and pressed the Move button.

Along with the notification that the 'Tower Harmonizer' trait had activated, my vision was dyed red.

-Ding.

[The Floor 39 climbing rewards….]

'I would've been really upset if these had been doubled.'

As soon as I arrived, I collected the rewards first.

The double reward I'd received earlier was a bonus applied to the boss reward, so these were just the usual 20 stat points and miscellaneous junk.

I didn't bother looking through them, either.

I was a little too tired to read through them carefully.

"Yaaawn~. Whew, I'm sleepy."

Had it been about a day since I started climbing the Tower?

I had stayed awake for 24 hours and pushed on nonstop, so of course I was sleepy.

I had nearly dozed off while studying etiquette on Floor 38, too.

'I should take a short nap before challenging the boss.'

I decided to rest on the spot.

I could defeat the Egen Tower or Normal Tower bosses even while half-asleep, but I was planning to challenge the Hard Tower boss this time.

I had no intention of going in while tired.

That was only natural for someone who had grown up hearing about the Hard Tower, also known as the 'Coffin,' and its infamous reputation.

'Let's eat something first.'

"Move!"

First, I moved to Egen Tower.

I returned from the Tower to reality and headed for a nearby gukbap restaurant.

When I returned to the Tower, my stomach was full of steaming gukbap.

"Yaaawn… Dohwa, summon."

"Keng!!"

"You need to eat, too, right? Here you go~."

"Kaeung~."

I fed Dohwa as well while I was at it,

'Then, shall we check?'

While Dohwa buried its nose in a discounted buy-one-get-one chicken breast nearing its expiration date,

I lay down on the bed and reached out.

There was one more thing I had to do in the Floor 39 safe zone.

'I need to sell Baekrihyang's soul.'

The third-generation chaebol heir trapped on Floor 39 of Pilgrim's Tower.

I'd promised to sell the hidden piece to that person.

I'd told the heir to think about the price about three days ago, so I wondered how much would be offered.

My mouth watered at the thought, but

[Pilgrim's Public Channel]

Poster: Hyunseo

Title: After eating kimchi jjim with white rice…

Yagada Worker: You're just supposed to think about how much you're going to pay for it

Hyunseo: …Forget it.

Hyunseo: Don't torture me with false hope.

Hwang Hee-chan: Good call.

Hwang Hee-chan: There's nothing to gain from paying attention to someone like that.

'Agh, Hee-chan hyung!!!'

I even took care of the Brake for you.

Is this how you repay that favor?

"There's a limit to how much you can ruin someone else's business."

"…Kaeung?"

"Dohwa, keep eating. Trait Enhancement Swap, Inventory."

Grab.

I immediately took hold of my sword.

The Unique-grade Moonlight Sword once used by the Wraith.

After using it once, the difference in feel from the Rare-grade sword had been so noticeable that I'd used it throughout Tier Four.

I held it in a thrusting stance and

"Bloodburst!!"

I activated the Stigma that boosted my stats in proportion to self-inflicted damage.

A glowing red pattern appeared on my forearm.

A slight muscle ache rose in my arm as well.

I stabbed the empty air—or, more precisely, the 'Dimensional Wall.'

-Thunk!!

'Okay, it went in perfectly.'

"Hup!!"

I lowered the sword slightly.

Not by much, just enough for the other side to peek through.

Ding—!

After consuming a little mana, countless notifications appeared.

-Ding.

[The traits 'Sword God,' 'Myriad Daggers,' and 'Dragon Knight'….]

[The trait 'Dragon Eyes' activates.]

[Awakener Lee Hyunseo's Floor 39 Safe Zone]

'It worked!'

I'd made a hole large enough to peek through.

He could probably hear my voice, too.

I put my mouth to the hole in the air.

"Hellooo!!!"

I shouted loudly.

I intended to prove that I wasn't some malicious troll.

I also made my voice nasal because I really didn't want him to hear my actual voice.

"…Huh?! Who are you!"

"Were you sleeping? Sorry!! It's Yagada Worker!!!"

"……Eeeek!!!!?"

Had my voice carried through?

A cry of shock rang out from beyond the Dimensional Wall.

Okay, this should be enough.

"My arm hurts, so let's handle the rest through the channel!!"

Whoosh!

I pulled the sword straight back out.

The rift that had appeared in the air immediately began closing again.

"Wait!! How on earth—."

I could hear a voice from beyond it, but only for a fleeting moment.

Chwap—.

With the sound of the rift sealing shut, peace returned to the safe zone.

The only thing shining brightly was Dohwa's gaze as it looked at me.

"Dohwa, are you done eating?"

"Keng!"

"Good, good. Then let's take a nap together~."

"Kaeung~."

I flopped down on the bed.

Dohwa came scampering over and curled up on top of me.

Feeling its comfortable weight, I opened the community again.

[Pilgrim's Public Channel]

Hyunseo: Mr. Yagada Worker!!!! I'm sorry for suspecting you!!!!!!

Hyunseo: That uncle kept telling me not to trust you… I did trust you!!!!

Yagada Worker: It's okay, that can happen

Yagada Worker: More importantly, how much are you going to pay?

Hyunseo: Well, we'll need to negotiate with our guild…

Yagada Worker: I'm going to take a nap

Yagada Worker: So decide within five hours how much you'll pay

Yagada Worker: For reference, I only accept goods

"Then, Dohwa, let's sleep…."

After wrapping up the deal nice and cleanly,

I closed my eyes while hugging Dohwa.

The sleep I got after climbing nine floors in a single day was unbelievably sweet.

* * *

[Ba-bam-ba ba-bam ba-ra-bam-ba~ Good morning~.]

"…Ugh, damn."

I only felt like I'd closed my eyes for a moment, but five hours had already passed.

"Kaeung…."

"Dohwa, sorry. I'll summon you again in a bit."

"Keng!!"

First, I unsummoned Dohwa.

Then I took out my phone and turned off the alarm.

After that, I briefly raised my upper body.

Now that I'd slept and recovered from my fatigue, it was time to check the trap I'd set.

[Pilgrim's Public Channel]

Poster: Hyunseo

Title: Please look, Mr. Yagada Worker!!!

We discussed it among our guild members and came to a decision.

We'd need to see the item to know the exact details, but the conversion value of the goods we can prepare immediately is…

"Whoa."

They were offering goods worth 300 billion won.

They would first provide the third-generation chaebol heir's item as a deposit, then collect the rest from Cheonghwa.

Cash would obviously be best, but

that carried the risk of being traced.

It was only a matter of time before they discovered that Yagada Worker was Cheol Gangmin, so should I just quietly accept goods?

[Pilgrim's Public Channel]

Yagada Worker: Can I keep it on hold and buy things in exchange?

Yagada Worker: Like those insanely expensive luxury bags that money can't buy even if you have it

Yagada Worker: The… Emiris, was it?

Hyunseo: You're here!!

Hyunseo: Of course that's possible!!

Hyunseo: And I think it's probably El Miris haha

"Okay."

I guess I wouldn't have to worry about money anymore.

Even if my little sister wanted something, I could bring her anything she wanted.

[Public Channel]

Hyunseo: I asked my grandfather through one of our guild members

Hyunseo: He said that, with an arrangement like that, they could even purchase up to 1 trillion won's worth of goods for you

Hyunseo: Though it would take a long time haha

"…One trillion?"

They were even raising the price.

Well, if she managed to clear Tier Four, even Hwang Hee-chan would be nothing to her.

They must have judged that one trillion won was a worthwhile investment, but

'What an exemplary attitude toward payment!'

As expected of Cheonghwa.

They could have simply exploited me, but they were making a conscientious offer.

'Since they paid so well, I should give them a reward, right?'

"Move!!"

I immediately moved through the Tower and returned to reality.

When I came back,

I was holding a single pot in my arms.

[Pilgrim's Public Channel]

Yagada Worker: I'm coming to pick you up now!

'I changed clothes and put on a mask and a hood, so I'm good!!'

"Let's go, Bloodburst!!!"

Kraaak—!!!

I drove the sword into the air.

Unlike a few hours earlier, I was using my full power.

And,

Creeeak, creak-creak—!!!

I began cutting through the Dimensional Wall.

-Ding!

[The traits 'Sword God,' 'Myriad Daggers,' and 'Dragon Knight' activate!]

"Hnnngh!!!"

My mana drained away like the tide going out.

Cutting through the Dimensional Wall was a somewhat taxing task even for me, now past Level 900.

Of course, it was only somewhat taxing.

-Craaaack.

"Good heavens…!!"

The dimension split apart.

A hole opened in the gap between the safe zones that could not be crossed.

I threw myself through only after cutting the surrounding area into the shape of a door, just in case.

'A door to anywhere, complete!'

"Hup!!!"

I stepped forward with the sword in hand.

My target was the third-generation chaebol heir's safe zone.

My body leaped across the dimensional rift,

-Whoosh.

'Okay, transfer complete.'

Tap.

I finally came face-to-face with the third-generation chaebol heir trapped on Floor 39.

Lee Hyunseo, currently one of South Korea's top-ranked Awakeners, still possessed an androgynous beauty despite looking haggard.

The long imprisonment had clearly taken its toll.

His eyes met mine.

"You're Yagada Worker…."

"Before we exchange greetings!!"

And then, I…

Smiling broadly, I held out the pot.

"It must have been hard eating nothing but tasteless bread. I brought you a meal, so eat up."

"Th-that!!?"

An incredibly appetizing smell wafted from the pot cradled in my arms.

"It's braised pork ribs with kimchi."

All right, shall we begin?

Time to work on getting the third-generation chaebol heir to like me.