Chapter 8
Awakener credit loan: 100 million won.
General credit loan: 30 million won.
Government Awakener support loan: 100 million won.
Awakener subsidy: 20 million won.
Floor 1 clear credit loan: 20 million won.
In the past, handling things like this meant going to the bank in person, but these days, everything can be processed quickly from home with a single click.
And when I added the 20 million won I had painstakingly earned while being sexually harassed today to the roughly 16 million won in government support money I already had,
[Tower Bank: Remaining balance 296,645,002 won]
“Wow…”
- Fuck…
- Wait, why did she suddenly take out loans?
- What? Is that balance real?
- Wow, some people will never see that much in their entire lives, and she's getting it just for being an Awakenerㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- If you're jealous, challenge the Tower yourselves^^
- Guys, almost all of that is borrowed money… She has to pay it back, so why are you talking like it's a subsidy?
I ignored the chat window blazing with activity and went straight into the Awakener Market.
‘There's no way I can handle Floor 2 in this body.’
Since Floor 1's gimmick was nothing more than taking a beating, I survived thanks to my Defense Trait and the experience from my previous life, but combat began from the next floor onward.
They would keep targeting my sluggish body, and if I couldn't counterattack, I would die.
‘I have to gobble up everything I can.’
Unlike back then, when I could only window-shop, I had already been automatically verified by climbing the Tower. I quickly bought the elixirs I had planned out in advance.
[Hobgoblin's Inner Core: 20 million won]
Only effective when Strength and Agility are 30 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Strength Stat +1
Agility Stat +1
[Earth Golem's Core: 30 million won]
A naturally formed Earth Golem core. Can be consumed when Defense is 20 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Defense +1
[Rainsterga's Lesser Elixir: 40 million won]
The finest elixir produced by the Rainsterga family. Effective when all Stats are 20 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Strength +1
Agility +1
Defense +1
I started by buying the items with the best effects for their prices. As with all products, cost-effectiveness mattered, but prices were also determined by rarity, so an expensive elixir was not necessarily better.
- Fuck, how much is she spending?
- My head hurts....
- Holy shit
- So you really are 'serious' about the Tower?
- Fuck, but if she dies after all this, who's going to pay it backㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- But if they didn't offer loans like that, no one would climb the Tower these days
- Wow.... Fuck
“Everyone, I'm not done yet. I'm spending it all today.”
[Blue-Mane Wolf's Heart: 50 million won]
The heart of a special species that lives only north of the Arcadia Empire. Effective only when Agility is 20 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Agility Stat +1
[Kamasylvia's Jewel: 50 million won]
The jewel of Kamasylvia, a draconic species that lives in the Ugrim Mountains. Can be consumed when Strength is 15 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Strength +1
[Refined Drake Blood: 100 million won]
Drake blood refined and mixed with moonlight grass in the proper ratio. Can be consumed when Agility is 12 or lower. Maximum one effective.
Agility +2
These were all elixirs whose effects would be lost if I didn't consume them quickly in the early stages.
'No wonder it costs so much money to raise each new recruit......'
Even with a major corporation's sponsorship, raising a single new Awakener was difficult. Most of them died along the way even after being fed all the best things with money thrown at them like this.
“Whew..... This should be enough. Now that I'm out of money... shall we stop here for today?”
[Tower Bank: Remaining balance 6,645,002 won]
The balance that had been nearly 300 million won plummeted to 6 million in an instant.
- Wow.....
- You're seriously devoted to the Tower, for real
- 300 million just vanished, fuck
- Awakeners really do spend money on a different level
- Just watching the money disappear makes me dizzy;;
- A woman who's serious about the Tower—a Tower-crazy woman ㄷㄷ
“Please give me lots of support from now on!!”
I stood up once more and bowed deeply.
After that, donations poured in again. Although they weren't as numerous as when I was being sexually harassed, these donation messages were mostly filled with warm words of encouragement.
Yes, this was the normal Awakener streamer broadcast I had originally imagined.
After a brief donation-gathering session.
“And there's something else I'm doing today. Let's head out for now.”
Actually, today's main content was an outdoor stream.
When I stood up, the black, donut-shaped camera on top of the computer automatically rose and followed me.
- ????
- You're going out?
- An outdoor stream??
- You're really going out?
- Her address.....
“Sigh, you all know it anyway, right? Masan Building, Room 203. Come on over if you want~”
There was nothing I could do about my address already having spread. With money so tight that I was taking out loans, I had no intention of abandoning a place where I could live for a full year free of charge just to move.
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Crazy bitch
- Guys, you'll get arrested if you go there.....
- You saw that review, huh?
- Yeah, I can't go anyway~ fuck
- That place is famous, for realㅋㅋㅋ
When I opened my front door and went down to the first floor, I saw security guards lightly nodding at me in greeting.
I enabled a broadcast setting that automatically mosaicked the faces of everyone except me, then turned the camera around.
“Come on~ You can see it, right? If you can get through here, come on over!”
At this point, I could say it with complete confidence.
Huge guards in blue security vests stood armed at the entrance, keeping watch like an impenetrable fortress.
- Fuck, what kind of place is this?
- Look at those huge guys;;
- Would you go there if you were her?
- Fuck, is this the presidential office or something?
- Is it a national-security restricted area?
- What the hell kind of building is that;;
- Fuck, that isn't a handgun, is it?
- It must be a gas gun.... Surelyㅋㅋㅋ
“Come on~ That's classified, so I can't tell you. Shall we head to our destination?”
I turned the camera back toward myself and confidently walked outside.
My destination was an Awakener-only training center.
Naturally, the Awakener-only training center was located near the Tower, about a ten-minute walk from my home.
“If any of you come looking for me, I'll remove your mosaic immediately and put you on display. Everyone, just watch from home, okay? Understood?”
- Yep
- Those forum tough guys only act like warlords from the safety of their homesㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- You'd all freeze up and be unable to say anything if you met herㅋㅋ
- I'll just watch from a distance
-
Fuck, I'll go right over and fuck her like a dog
(This message has been deleted)
- Ah, come on, hold it inㅋㅋㅋ
- So where are you going?
“You can't just eat elixirs, you know. You have to train, too!”
Today, I'd go there to meet him.
Choi Tae-soo.
He was the man who ran the Awakener training center where, in my previous life, I trained and worked out with him until I died.
Just in case, I had searched for him yesterday, and he was still there.
'Let's go see how well you've grown, kid.'
This was my first meeting with someone from my previous life.
He wouldn't recognize me, but that didn't matter. I could become friends with him from now on.
*
Ten minutes later.
I had been worried that some people might recklessly come looking for me, but fortunately, nothing like that happened.
A few people who seemed to recognize me glanced over from a distance, but no one approached me or said anything strange.
In fact, since I happened to pass by the police station I'd been hauled to back in the day, even the people who had been following me with sidelong glances scattered in an instant.
And so I arrived at the Awakener-only training center.
“Huh? What's all this?”
Something was wrong with the building.
The outer walls of the training center, which occupied an entire four-story building, were slathered with ominous red spray-painted messages like 'Sex Offenders Die,' 'Murderers Die,' 'Rapists Die,' and 'Fucking Criminal.'
“What?”
Had something happened to him during that time?
- Huh? That place is.....
- Do-hee, don't go there
- No no no no no no
- Don't go there;;
- Ah, that place?
- No no no
The viewers seemed to know what had happened.
'It can't be....'
Despite the viewers' protests, I ignored them and entered the building.
'There's no way Tae-soo did that.....'
He had run the training center more diligently and conscientiously than anyone. The idea that he was a criminal was impossible to believe. I would see it with my own two eyes and make my own judgment.
-Ding~
The door opened, suggesting the place was still operating, and I went inside.
'Huh? There he is.'
Choi Tae-soo was sitting alone at the counter.
Even while seated, his enormous, bear-like build and bulging muscles seemed threatening. His expression wasn't pleasant either; simply sitting there was intimidating.
There weren't even any customers working out inside, leaving the place filled with a chilly, empty atmosphere.
But I would change the atmosphere.
“Excuse me, hello?”
'Long time no see, you bastard.'
I approached him, looked him in the eyes, and greeted him warmly.
“Who're you?”
He had been staring blankly into space, but when he saw me, his eyes widened in surprise.
'Heh heh, your friend came back as a stunning beauty, you bastard!'
“I'm here to sign up.”
A smile spread across my lips as I imagined teasing him while we worked out.
However, the moment I said I wanted to register, his expression changed completely.
His expression was as though he were looking at an enemy. Was this what a beast looked like when it was angry?
“We don't accept women. Get out right now!!!”
“What? What kind of rule is that?”
What was he suddenly talking about?
In my previous life, he had said training was especially important for women, gone out of his way to obtain a women-only secret manual, and even offered special discounts to increase his female membership.
But now he was suddenly rejecting women??
'I thought he'd be happy a woman was coming!?'
“That rule exists for a reason, so get out!!!”
“No, wait a second. Just a moment... Hey!”
In the end, when I held my ground, he forcibly pushed me out by the back and drove me away.
He was also a high-ranking Awakener who had climbed to Floor 49. I planted my feet and resisted, but he pushed me away effortlessly, and I nearly lost my balance and fell before barely catching myself.
-Ding~
“Don't even think about coming in, woman!!!”
With the cheerful sound of the door, he went back inside, huffing angrily.
“No... guys, what the hell was that?”
'I was supposed to get the women's one-month free trial....?'
I had been forcibly thrown out without knowing what was happening. Why? When had that bastard started hating women?
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Told you not to go
- But that's unexpected. Wasn't he supposed to accept her immediately?
- For real, what's with that pervert? How come he's refusing her?
- Did he notice she's streaming?
- I thought that bastard would grin like a pervert and say welcome, but his expression looks dark;;
What on earth had happened in the meantime?
***
About five years ago.
Following Lee Do-hyeon's death, Choi Tae-soo sensed that something was wrong.
'Dohyeon died? That's absolutely impossible.....'
He couldn't possibly have died. Choi Tae-soo knew that he was a transcendent being beyond death, so he simply couldn't accept it.
Even assuming Dohyeon had died, the movements of the other major guilds were far too suspicious.
Erasing the records.
Records related to Lee Do-hyeon were disappearing one by one.
When he asked why, he received only the vague answer, 'He betrayed humanity. But the matter is too serious to make public.'
Later, the story changed to, 'He died fighting a boss monster.'
Unable to accept it, Choi Tae-soo continued investigating on his own, but......
The major guilds noticed and attacked Choi Tae-soo in return.
It was easy to attack him.
His Trait, <Miracle of the Golden Hand>, let him grant any effect only through his palm, in exchange for greatly amplifying it.
As a support-type, he thought the Trait would be more useful for raising trainees outside of actual combat, so instead of climbing the Tower, he created an Awakener-only training center.
Thus, at the request of female members, he would sometimes touch their thighs or forearms while they exercised to enhance the effects of their workouts. The guilds exploited this by bribing several women and framing him as a sex offender.
By the time he revealed all of his Traits and was found not guilty in court, the media and public had long since branded him a sex offender.
When the trial, which had gone all the way to the Supreme Court over the course of one or two years, ended in acquittal, another woman came forward and repeatedly accused him of sexual assault. The public threw stones without even properly examining the case, saying, 'That guy again?'
Even his acquittal was reported by multiple outlets as 'the tyranny of a high-ranking Awakener,' and women's groups even held protests.
After that, he refused to accept female Awakeners altogether, but public opinion had already turned against him, leaving him unable even to explain himself and powerless because he didn't know whom to take revenge on.
*
“Hmm..... Is that so?”
- Yes
- That's why, don't go
- Do-hee, that place isn't it
- Even if you want to be groped, not there
- Don't goㅇㅇ
-
If that's what you want, just spread your legs for me, you bitch
(This message has been deleted)
- I know you're a pervert, but that place is a bit much;;
- When someone says don't go, listen to them
The public knew only that Choi Tae-soo had committed a sex crime and been reported for it. Of course, I absolutely didn't believe it. And knowing roughly what his Trait did, I thought the reason he'd become embroiled in that controversy was also a lie.
“I don't want to leave. I'm going in.”
In the end, I trusted my own judgment. Ignoring the viewers, I opened the door and went inside once more.
And then
I was thrown out again.
This time, I was crumpled up and tossed into the street like a bag of trash.
-Splat!
“Kyeek!!”
- What the fuck;;
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- How can he throw a woman away like he's dumping trashㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Choi Tae-soo really does treat men and women equallyㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- How can he do that to a womanㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- He threw her out with a look of utter disgust, fuck
“Gnnnngh....”
'Fuck, Choi Tae-soo, you bastard...... Even though I'm trying to defend you....'
Besides, I had a reason I absolutely had to come here.
'That's the skill book I gave him!!!'
One of the rewards I obtained for clearing Floor 70.
[S-Rank Iren's Secret Manual for Training the Female Body]
A manual for training women's bodies created by the first empress of the Arcadia Empire.
The details can be viewed upon binding.
Eligible target (0/1), bound item.
A secret manual usable by only one person.
Since I couldn't use it in my previous life, and women who had already finished growing were using manuals suited to them, I gave it to Choi Tae-soo, telling him to secretly give it to a woman he liked if one ever appeared.
The fact that its details were undisclosed bothered me, but I wasn't in a position to be picky right now.
I'd even obtained a lifetime free membership for giving it to him.
So....
'Give me my stuff back, you bastard!'
I charged at him again, but as expected, he threw me out the same way, sending me onto the asphalt.
-Splat!
“Guh...!”
I fell backward in an undignified sprawl, legs spread and butt raised in the air.
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- I told you to go somewhere elseㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- That bastard's stubborn too. If it were me, I'd have accepted her on the spot
- If it were me, I'd pick her up immediately...
- ㅗㅜㅑ
- Tae-soo, throw her one more time
I would have to change my strategy.