Chapter 236 – Strengthening the Authority

Mount Bukhan, South Korea.

“Let’s quickly reach Baegundae, come down, and have a drink!”

“Koo. That’s great, great.”

Two hikers, thinking of happily drinking after sweating it out from hiking, excitedly entered the entrance of the hiking trail.

After walking a few steps like that,

“Huh?! Isn’t that the Black Tower?”

“Huh?! You’re right. Why is that on Mount Bukhan?”

In their eyes, the Black Tower towering over Mount Bukhan was visible. It was the 101st tower created as the status of the Black Tower rose.

At that moment,

“Excuse me. Beyond this point is a restricted area.”

“What?!”

The employees of the Awakened Association guarding the hiking trail stopped them. The 101st tower, which had never appeared in the world. They were controlling the access of civilians out of concern that something might come out of the tower.

“It can’t be helped. Keep up the good work.”

“Keep up the good work.”

The hikers meekly backed away at the employees’ restraint.

“Tsk. Of all places, a tower had to appear here…”

“My thoughts exactly… I wanted to sweat and have a drink… I guess I should just drink anyway.”

“Hehehe. So it can’t be helped.”

The hikers went straight to the shop at the entrance of the trail, smiling at the thought of drinking since morning.

South Korea, which now owned three towers. Surrounding countries were envious, but they did not care much. It was because three towers were concentrated in a very narrow region, and the towers had no special functions other than hunters entering and exiting.

Thus, the event of the 101st Black Tower appearing in South Korea quickly faded from people’s interest.

***

“Here, take this.”

Se-jun readily handed 500 million Tower Coins to Theo, who asked to borrow money. As the saying goes, ‘generosity comes from the granary,’ having two thick coin pouches in both hands made Se-jun’s generosity overflow.

But,

“Thank you, meow! I only need this much, meow!”

Theo returned the money Se-jun gave him, leaving only 100 million Tower Coins. This was because the maximum amount of money he could burn at one time was 100 million Tower Coins.

Moreover, once he burned money, he needed time to adapt to his grown abilities. These were things he realized after burning Yuren’s money.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes, meow!”

“Okay. I get it.”

As Se-jun put the money he had given to Theo back into the coin pouch,

[The administrator of the tower proposes to buy an Authority with your money.]

“Authority? Ah, right!”

Come to think of it, he also had a way to grow stronger by burning money.

“How much do I have?”

Se-jun began to count the money inside the coin pouch Kaiser had given. The coin pouch given by Kaiser contained 1.4 billion Tower Coins, excluding the 100 million Tower Coins given to Theo.

Combining it with the 1 billion Tower Coins Kellion had given, the money Se-jun possessed was 2.4 billion Tower Coins. It was an enormous amount.

“Aileen, what Authorities can I obtain with 2.4 billion Tower Coins?”

[The administrator of the tower says to wait a moment.]

A moment later,

[Bestowable Authorities]

,

[Enhanceable Authorities]

,

Aileen showed the bestowable Authorities and enhanceable Authorities with the money Se-jun had.

“Ah, I can enhance the Authorities I already have. Aileen, is it possible to bestow and enhance all the Authorities here?”

Since he had 2.4 billion Tower Coins, Se-jun was overflowing with confidence.

Moreover, since he knew the cost of bestowing Strong Strength and Strong Agility was 100 million Tower Coins, Se-jun thought that enhancing an Authority would be around 500 million Tower Coins at most.

But,

[The administrator of the tower says that is difficult.]

[The administrator of the tower says that and require 2 billion Tower Coins each to enhance.]

The ‘Mighty’ tier, which was the next stage after ‘Strong’, was far more expensive than Se-jun had thought.

“Is that so? Then I will go with Mighty Stamina, Strong Strength, and Strong Agility.”

Se-jun, who prioritized survival, naturally chose Mighty Stamina first to extend his lifeline, and selected the other Authorities with the remaining money.

[The administrator of the tower says she will start with bestowing the Authorities.]

[The administrator of the tower says it might hurt a little.]

“What?!…”

‘It might hurt?! You didn’t mention that?!’ Before Se-jun could even finish speaking, the bestowing of Authorities began.

[200 million Tower Coins deposited in the Seed Bank are paid.]

[The administrator of the tower bestows and onto the intermediate manager token of the tower.]

[Due to the effect of , Strength increases by 50.]

[Due to the effect of , Agility increases by 50.]

[Later, you can use contribution points or Tower Coins to enhance and .]

As Aileen said, the two Authorities were bestowed first.

But,

“Huh? It doesn’t hurt?”

Unlike what Aileen said, there was no pain.

“Phew. Thank goodness.”

Se-jun breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment,

Hummm.

the Black Tower intermediate manager token on the back of Se-jun’s right hand began to vibrate.

Slowly,

The black dragon tattoo disappeared, as if absorbing beneath Se-jun’s skin.

[You have acquired all the most basic, lowest-grade Authorities.]

[Your body is too fragile to handle the next stage of Authorities.]

[Body modification begins so that you can handle the next stage of Authorities.]

At the same time, the message that his body was being modified appeared. ‘No… body modification?! By whose permission?! This isn’t right…!!!’

Crack.

Contrary to Se-jun’s will, his body was forcibly modified, and his muscles began to twist.

“Argh!”

The pain, as if being pricked by needles, made his entire body shudder.

“Chairman Park, what’s wrong, meow?! Where does it hurt, meow?!”

Knead, knead.

As Se-jun writhed in pain, Theo hurriedly began to massage Se-jun’s body with his front paws.

Crack.

The body modification lasted for about a minute and then disappeared.

Zzz…

In the meantime, Se-jun, who had already fainted, fell asleep, snoring.

Knead, knead.

“But what is this smell, meow?!”

Theo, who was massaging Se-jun’s body, looked around to find the source of the pungent odor.

And,

“I found it, meow! This is Chairman Park’s poop smell, meow!”

He discovered where the foul odor was coming from. The source of the odor was Se-jun. As his body was modified, the bad waste products inside Se-jun’s body were discharged along with sweat, causing the foul odor. He absolutely did not poop. Seriously!

Normally, if such a foul odor occurred, one would wash his body or move away from Se-jun, but

Plop.

Theo easily overcame the foul odor for the sake of Se-jun’s lap. Theo chose to just endure the smell.

While Theo endured the odor, lying flat on Se-jun’s lap in a loaf position,

Purr, purr.

he buried his face in Se-jun’s lap and fell asleep.

***

The top floor of the Black Parkae Magic Tower.

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. Having this makes work go well.”

In the Magic Tower Master’s room, Iona was processing the Magic Tower’s work while hugging the Theo Ball made from Theo’s fur.

At that moment,

Knock, knock.

Pren, the Vice Master of the Black Parkae Magic Tower, entered. Pren was a red panda and was originally an elder of the Destruction Magic Tower, but after being absorbed into the Black Parkae Magic Tower, he became one of the three Vice Masters managing the tower under Iona.

“Pren, what is the matter?”

“I have come to receive the Magic Tower Master’s signature on the payment documents for the cherry tomatoes purchased from Mr. Se-jun’s farm this time.”

“Kyut-kyut-kyut. Here you go.”

Normally, Iona would ask about various details meticulously before signing, but

Scribble, scribble.

today she quietly examined the document and signed it immediately. She looked to be in an extremely good mood today.

“Ah, that’s right! Have you heard the rumor, Magic Tower Master?”

Thus, Pren blurted out a rumor that he normally would not have mentioned.

“What rumor?”

“Recently, rumors have been spreading that the Magic Tower Master is dating a mere merchant. Isn’t it absurd?! Daring to date a mere merchant scum…”

As he spoke, Pren got heated up on his own and began to talk excitedly.

And,

Shiver, shiver.

Iona also trembled as if she were furious.

‘As expected, I knew the Magic Tower Master would be furious too!’

Seeing Iona’s reaction, Pren, who usually liked Iona, was pleased.

‘As expected, a rumor is just a rumor! There is no way Lady Iona would like a cat like that!’

While Pren was relieved,

“Kyu-kyu-kyu! What is wrong with Lord Theo?!!!”

Iona shouted. Contrary to his expectations, the direction of her anger was not toward the cat named Theo, but toward himself. Anger Kyu Level 3! If he misspoke here, regardless of being the Vice Master, he would disappear along with the tower.

“No… I didn’t say that, but the rumors…”

Pren ultimately had to explain desperately to survive.

***

One hour after Se-jun fainted,

“Ugh… what?!”

Se-jun, who opened his eyes, moved his body here and there, feeling amazed. He had fainted while feeling the pain of his muscles twisting, but now his entire body felt so refreshed.

Sniff, sniff.

“Ugh! But what is this smell?”

Se-jun frowned at the foul odor rising from his body, and

“Meow…”

hurriedly headed to the fountain with Theo, who was sleeping on his lap.

At that moment,

Kkueng? Kkueng!

[Dad, where are you going? Cuengi dug up a good kudzu root for Dad!]

Cuengi, who returned after tending to the herbs in the western forest, spotted Se-jun and approached him, pulling out a blue kudzu root from his snack pouch.

But,

Kkueng?

Cuengi’s speed gradually slowed down.

Kkueng…

[Dad’s body smells like poop…]

Cuengi blocked his nose with his front paws and handed the kudzu root while keeping as much distance from Se-jun as possible. ‘How can you be so mean?’

“I’m going to take a bath, does Cuengi want to do it too?”

Kkueng!

[Yes!]

Although he knew why, Se-jun, who felt disappointed, lured Cuengi, who loved playing in the water, with a bath.

A moment later, as soon as they arrived at the fountain, Se-jun washed himself clean and eliminated the foul odor.

Snap.

Whoosh.

Using his talent Friend of Fire, he created fire with his fingers to turn the fountain into a hot bath and enjoyed a half-body bath.

And,

Splash, splash.

Kuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. This is fun!]

Cuengi played excitedly, splashing water in the fountain.

“Ah. Refreshing.”

While Se-jun had a happy expression watching Cuengi and drank iced Americano,

[The administrator of the tower says she will now enhance the Authority, saying you have worked hard.]

Aileen, who realized only now that Se-jun had woken up because she was briefly busy with something else, said.

“What?! Can we not do it?”

Se-jun recalled the pain from earlier.

[The administrator of the tower says that since your body has already changed to withstand the next stage of Authority, there will be no pain this time.]

“Is that so? Then I’ll do it.”

At the word that there was no pain, Se-jun enhanced the Authority immediately.

[2 billion Tower Coins deposited in the Seed Bank are paid.]

[The administrator of the tower enhances bestowed on the intermediate manager token of the tower to .]

[Due to the effect of , Stamina increases by an additional 100.]

Flash.

Along with the message that the Authority was enhanced, this time the enhancement of the Authority ended with the eyes of the black dragon tattoo on the back of his right hand flashing brightly for a brief moment.

And,

Bubble, bubble.

Theo, who was clinging to Se-jun’s lap in a submerged state using his water-attribute talent to continue hanging onto Se-jun’s lap,

‘Chairman Park burned a massive amount of money just now, meow! So Chairman Park has no money left now, meow! Puhuhut. It is time for Vice President Theo to step forward, meow!’

Theo resolved to get up immediately and go down to the 65th floor of the tower where the pink pig sucker was.

But,

‘It is too warm, meow… my body feels like it’s melting, meow…’

The temperature of the hot bath interfered with Theo’s resolution.

Purr, purr.

Ultimately, Theo fell asleep as if passing out, warmed by the hot bath.

The next morning.

“Chairman Park, I will earn a lot of money and return, meow!”

“Just don’t cause any trouble.”

“Puhuhut. Just trust me, meow!”

Theo waved his front paw at Se-jun, who was seeing him off, and ran away quickly.

To trust him when told not to cause trouble?

“I’m anxious…”

Se-jun felt anxious watching the back of Theo, who was leaving boldly for the 65th floor of the tower.