Chapter 428 – Vice President Theo, Handle It

“Chairman Park, see you in a bit then, meow!”

As the Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Kkamang-i entered the sub-space warehouse, Theo looked at Se-jun with wistful eyes in front of the warehouse door.

Why look so wistful? They would see each other again in less than a minute.

“Yeah. See you in a bit.”

Clank.

Se-jun slowly closed the door while keeping eye contact with Theo until the end.

And he took out the bracelet made of green vines from his bosom and put it on.

Then,

[You have fitted the Grapevine Bracelet of Sealing onto the target.]

[How much of the ability would you like to seal?]

a message appeared.

‘Is there no one around?’

Se-jun checked the surroundings before answering. If he sealed his abilities and someone was nearby, his weakened body might not hold out and he could faint.

‘Good. There is no one.’

“Seal it to the maximum.”

When Se-jun, who confirmed that there was no one around, spoke,

[Sealing 99% of your abilities.]

[Sealing a total of 11,583 stats.]

“Ugh…”

As his abilities were sealed, Se-jun staggered from an immense sense of exhaustion.

Since his total stats had decreased from 11,700 to 117, the gap was too large.

“Whew.”

Si-jun, who adjusted to his physical condition by taking a deep breath for a moment,

“Pretending to be a weak powerhouse will be difficult.”

He was disappointed as he checked his stats.

Even though he sealed his strength to the maximum, his total stats were 117.

To have stats of this level, one’s Hunter level had to be at least 30 or higher. Pretending to be a weak powerhouse became difficult.

“What a pity.”

Se-jun, with a look of regret, took off the equipment that he could no longer wear due to the restriction of use as his stats lowered.

Se-jun took off the equipment and put them into the Space Expansion Pouch like that.

Fwip.

Se-jun unfolded the land deed for the Black Tower that he had prepared, and

[The summoning function is activated for the imprint of the first owner of the land deed for the 1st floor of the Black Tower.]

Hehehe. Finally going!

Along with the message, he disappeared from the 99th floor of the Black Tower.

***

The 1st floor of the Black Tower.

[The Black Tower you used when entering has vanished.]

[The exit has disappeared, making it impossible to leave.]

“What?! The tower vanished? What do you mean by that?!”

“South Korea has a safe zone, how can the tower disappear?!”

The hunters who couldn’t leave through the exit were flustered upon seeing the message.

Some of them were foreigners who had used the tower in South Korea, trusting the safe zone.

“What do we do?!”

“Even the Brazilian hunters couldn’t leave until a new tower appeared in South Korea…”

“Will a new tower appear?”

“Lately, the speed of towers appearing has slowed down…”

“Then we don’t know when we’ll be able to leave.”

While the hunters fell into panic,

“Hello. We are employees of the Korean Awakened Association. Please rest in the accommodation we have prepared for now, and we will explain the details of our investigation.”

The employees of the Korean Awakened Association stepped forward to calm them down and led them away.

As dozens of hunters disappeared following the employees of the Awakened Association,

“Now. Please choose!”

“Our shop is the cheapest!”

“Selling Poison Spider’s Heart!”

the massive empty lot near the exit where the hunters had gathered became noisy with the shouts of the street vendors who originally held spots there.

Then,

[You have arrived at the 1st floor of the Black Tower.]

[You have moved from the 99th floor of the tower, the highest floor, to the 1st floor of the tower.]

You have descended 98 floors.]

[Due to the effect of , all stats increased by 98.]

409th day since entering the tower. Se-jun quietly arrived in a corner of the massive empty lot on the 1st floor of the Black Tower.

[The Grapevine Bracelet of Sealing seals 99% of your abilities.]

His total stats almost increased by nearly 400, but fortunately, as his abilities were 99% sealed, his total stats increased by 4.

‘1st floor of the tower, I’m finally here!’

“Hehehe.”

While Se-jun was laughing,

Clank.

“Chairman Park, I missed you, meow!”

Theo rushed out, opening the sub-space warehouse door slightly so his energy wouldn’t escape, and

Kking!

[Catch me!]

Kkamang-i threw his body right after.

Catch.

Grab.

Since Theo clung to Se-jun’s face on his own, Se-jun only caught the flying Kkamang-i and put him into the sling bag.

“Meow…”

Se-jun grabbed Theo by the scruff of his neck and attached him to his knee, and

“Cuengi, are you okay?”

asked Cuengi, who was visible through the slightly opened gap of the sub-space warehouse door.

Cuengi, who found it hard to control his strength, decided to stay in the sub-space warehouse until they went to Earth. Instead, to prevent Cuengi from being bored, the Black Rabbit was attached to his side.

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Cuengi is okay, yo! Eating carrots with second brother is fun, yo!]

Sitting on the floor eating carrots with the Black Rabbit, Cuengi answered quietly.

Because if he made a loud noise, he might unconsciously raise his energy.

‘I’m sorry.’

Se-jun’s heart ached as he looked at Cuengi, who was intentionally eating carrots even more deliciously to reassure him, but there was no way for now.

“Eat other things too while you play. Got it?”

Kkueng!

[Understood, yo!]

Bbyak! Bbyak!

[Uncle, leave Cuengi to me! I’ll play with him and make it super fun!]

“Okay.”

Clank.

Se-jun, who finished talking to the two like that, closed the slightly opened door and looked around.

“I finally get to see this.”

Se-jun looked around the panoramic view of the 1st floor of the tower with an emotion-filled face.

Brilliant chandeliers illuminated the surroundings, the floor was paved with white marble, and in the wide plaza, shops selling equipment and potions, as well as training grounds where one could learn warrior and mage skills, were visible.

“It’s cheap! Cheap!”

“Come and take a look first! You can just browse!”

‘But I haven’t heard that there were street vendors…’

While Se-jun wondered as he looked at the bustling street vendors,

“Huh?! Se-jun! You’re Park Se-jun, right?!”

A hunter, who had laid out a mat on the floor and was selling goods, waved his hand toward Se-jun.

“Hiss! How dare he say our Chairman Park’s name…”

As Theo, who was excited and about to rage at Se-jun’s name being casually called,

“Vice President Theo, stay still.”

Se-jun quickly stopped Theo.

“Understood, meow! I will stay still, meow!”

As Theo quieted down like that,

‘Who is it?’

Se-jun approached, carefully examining the man who wore leather armor with a bow slung over it and had a long scar on his face.

‘Huh?!’

As he looked closer, the face was very familiar.

“Are you Kyung-chul? Oh Kyung-chul from Se-ah Electronics?!”

“Yeah. It’s me. My face changed a lot, right?”

Se-jun’s colleague Kyung-chul scratched his head and spoke in a slightly dark voice.

“Have you been well?”

“Yeah. I’ve been well. But after running away from the company, did you only get skincare somewhere? Why does your face look so good?”

“Hehehe. Really?!”

Kyung-chul grinned widely at Kyung-chul’s words. Hearing that his face looked good after only hearing that his face looked rotten every day, he couldn’t help but feel good.

“But Se-jun, with what money did you buy the ticket? Did you scrape up every penny like me too?”

“Huh? Yeah! I scraped up everything too!”

Since it was complicated to explain his situation, Se-jun unconsciously agreed with Kyung-chul’s words.

“But did you awaken today?”

Kyung-chul asked as he looked at Se-jun’s attire, which had neither weapons nor armor.

Having taken off his equipment due to the restriction of use while sealing his abilities, it seemed to look like a new hunter who had just entered the tower to Kyung-chul.

“Uh…”

“That’s great. I’m Level 25, so I’ll carry you up to the 7th floor!”

Before Se-jun could even answer anything, Kyung-chul offered to help him level up.

“Huh? Help me level up?”

‘You?’

Se-jun was flustered by Kyung-chul’s words.

‘Even so, my total stats are quite high, do I not look strong?’

Se-jun, always being among strong entities, had forgotten that his energy was largely hidden due to his Talent: Insignificant Presence.

At that moment,

“Excuse me.”

A hunter who approached Kyung-chul’s street stall called Kyung-chul.

“Ah. Se-jun, I have to sell goods, so let’s meet here again in 3 hours.”

“Okay.”

As Kyung-chul went back to his spot to sell goods, Se-jun decided to meet later to clear up Kyung-chul’s misunderstanding, and

‘But why isn’t the land deed quest appearing?’

he looked around the 1st floor of the tower, hoping for the quest to appear.

The first places he went to were the warrior training center and the mage training center where skills could be learned, but

[You cannot learn skills due to unmatched class.]

he was rejected.

Next, he checked out the potion shop.

[Lowest-Grade Healing Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

Upon consumption, immediately restores 5% HP, and slowly restores 5% HP over 10 minutes.

[Lowest-Grade Mana Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

Upon consumption, immediately restores 3% Mana and slowly restores 3% HP over 10 minutes.

‘The effects are so poor.’

Se-jun, who had the mugwort juice potions, didn’t want to buy them at all.

Next, he also visited the equipment shop, but there was nothing to see since it only had equipment for beginners.

Once the tour of the facilities on the 1st floor of the tower ended like that, Se-jun looked around the street stalls.

Most of them were E-grade and D-grade, so there were not many items useful for Se-jun, but

‘Oh! It’s an unappraised item!’

occasionally, when he found an unappraised item that felt good,

“How much is this?”

“Although it is unappraised, it’s a D+-grade sword, so I must get at least 5 Tower Coins.”

“Come on. Give me a discount.”

“Then 4.5?”

“Come on, discount a bit more.”

He bargained, got the price discounted, and bought it.

He wanted to just buy it since the price wasn’t high, but

‘To see Chairman Park’s three-time bargaining in person, it’s an honor, meow!’

he couldn’t do that because Theo was watching with sparkling eyes.

“Aileen, please appraise this.”

The unappraised item bought by bargaining three times was appraised by Aileen.

[The Tower Administrator says it is a normal sword imbued with ice magic.]

Once the appraisal was finished, Aileen sent the item back to Se-jun.

“Oh! B-grade popped up.”

Se-jun, who received the item, smiled. It was a D+-grade sword when unappraised, but once appraised, it turned into a B-grade sword.

“Hehehe. It feels like treasure hunting.”

While Se-jun was treasure hunting, looking for unappraised items from the street stalls,

‘Oh! I should give that to Kyung-chul.’

A bow with pretty good performance caught Se-jun’s eyes.

[Longbow of Infinite Arrows]

Though not truly infinite as the name suggested, it was a B–grade item where arrows would automatically be slotted onto the bowstring just by pulling it, up to 1,000 arrows.

“How much is this?”

“1,000 Tower Coins.”

Perhaps because it was appraised and of high grade, the price was high for something sold at a street stall.

Of course, it was a cheap price to Se-jun, but

‘Puhuhut. Chairman Park’s three-time bargaining is an honor no matter how many times I watch it, meow!’

Wasn’t he tired of it?

“Give me a discount.”

Because of Theo, who kept his sparkling eyes, he bargained three times and bought the item this time too.

‘It will be just the right time if I go to Kyung-chul now.’

As Se-jun, who bought the bow, headed to where Kyung-chul was,

Bang!

a commotion occurred up ahead.

‘What is it?’

When Se-jun passed through the hunters blocking the front and went forward,

“If you want to do business here, shouldn’t you pay protection money to our Black Bear Gang?!”

Heavily armed black bears were threatening a hunter who was running a street stall without their permission.

Se-jun didn’t know, but to do business here, one had to pay protection money to the Black Bear Gang.

‘What are they? Which floor are they from to be acting up here?’

As Se-jun looked at the black bears,

Thud. Thud.

“You bought lots of things, you must have plenty of money? Let’s share some.”

One black bear came in front of Se-jun and held out its front paw.

And,

[A quest is generated.]

[Quest: Defeat the Black Bear Gang that is illegally occupying the market and collecting protection money, or reach an agreement to reclaim the rights to the land.]

Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the 1st floor market of the Black Tower

“Hehehe. The quest popped up. Vice President Theo, handle it.”

“Puhuhut. Understood, meow!”

Se-jun spoke to Theo while looking at the land deed quest, and Theo, laughing so evilly that one couldn’t tell who the villain was, disappeared from Se-jun’s knee.

Along with the market, even slaves to manage the market came rolling in on a vine.