Chapter 55
Chapter 55: The Genius Kang Ho-in Saves the Tower (3)
Conquering 37th floor of the Tower.
The long-cherished wish of the Republic of Korea, and the very culprit that had pushed climbers from around the world into the pit of despair.
The moment I said I might be able to create an antidote for that 37th floor Purple Haze Dust Poison—
"……!!"
Chief Han's eyes snapped wide open.
The antidote for 37th floor that even the world's leading pharmaceutical companies had failed to produce time and again.
The United States was the only country that somehow possessed an antidote, and they treated it as a strategic resource, never giving it up easily.
But.
Would she…… Trust me?
"I'll back you."
Now we're talking!
She pointed to the tiny glass vial—no bigger than a thumbnail—clenched in my hand.
"Purple Haze Dust Poison, 100 million per vial that size. What do you say? In return, our Gukmubon will hand over the Purple Mist Grass and any medicinal herbs we can find at no cost."
"Agreed."
"But you'll have to sign an exclusive contract with our Gukmubon. You supply, we sell. We'll give you 30% of the sales revenue."
I could guess what she was thinking.
The value of Purple Haze Dust Poison is enormous.
If we can raise the 60% survival rate to 80%—no, even 90%—the entire world would shower the Republic of Korea with immense wealth just to get their hands on it.
That was exactly what I wanted as well.
To think I could hide behind Gukmubon.
I would no longer need to rely on the Choi Brothers or the Black Market.
"Let's do it. But instead of calling it Purple Haze Dust Poison—call it the Nameless Hero's Medicine."
I pressed my index finger to my lips.
It meant to keep the name of Purple Haze Dust Poison hidden so nothing could be traced from it, and to keep my identity a secret to the very end—known only by the name Nameless Hero.
Chief Han smiled faintly.
"Of course. Any other conditions?"
"There will come a time, before long, when I ask a favour of Chief Han. When that happens, grant it just once—no questions asked, no conditions."
Chief Han thought about it briefly, then nodded.
"Alright. Anything else?"
"That's everything."
"Okay!"
Chief Han shot up from her seat.
I could practically feel her eagerness to dash straight to Gukmubon.
But would it go as planned?
This is a big deal.
A deal with enormous amounts of money at stake—and even lives.
I had already been through it during the Demon Wind Manor conquest.
Pressure would pour in from all sides demanding that I reveal any information about Purple Haze Dust Poison.
On top of that, this was an exclusive contract with the state, requiring the government to hand me medicinal herbs and poison plants out of a massive budget.
Even getting government approval might prove difficult.
I handed her a sample of Purple Haze Dust Poison and asked.
"How long will it take? It won't be easy."
She slung her bag strap over her shoulder and turned the question back on me.
"Do you know the country code for the Republic of Korea?"
"……82?"
"Yes, very quick."
She gave me a wink.
"Give me two days."
***
The Republic of Korea really is insanely fast.
Whether it was thanks to the president's approval ratings, which had skyrocketed on the back of the Golden Tower and the Iron Instrument God's Sword.
Or whether it was the influence of Minister Han Seung-pyo and Chief Han, who had his full trust.
Chief Han, who had taken the Purple Haze Dust Poison sample, contacted me in less than two full days.
All communication between her and me went through the Gukmubon encrypted phone she had given me—my third mobile phone.
The one Kim Tae-yang had. The one the Baekgyeong Choi Brothers had given me. And now the one from Chief Han.
Three phones.
It felt like being some sort of secret agent.
Chief Han had explained that the encrypted phone she gave me was absolutely not capable of location tracking or recording, but I didn't believe it.
I always kept it off, and not even that was enough—I kept it stored inside my own pocket dimension: the medicinal and poison herb field.
I only switched it on to check messages near the Black Market.
There was no harm in being too careful.
Anyway, she called me with a lively voice.
"Nameless Hero! Everything's been approved. Please come and collect the Purple Mist Grass and the medicinal and poison herbs."
Collect them? By going to Gukmubon?
Out of the question.
"That won't be possible, I'm afraid."
"Ah, it seems there's been a misunderstanding. Gukmubon has a warehouse at the Black Market. We'll leave everything there, so please collect it. We'll restock whatever we can get our hands on, on this same date every month. Oh, and the password is—"
The Black Market.
A place with no CCTV and difficult to track.
A suitable location.
I went to the address she had told me.
I entered the password.
The warehouse was packed full of Purple Mist Grass.
There were also quite a few medicinal and poison herbs that had dried up in the open market, including ingredients for the Eight Great Extreme Poisons that I had been searching for.
"Hallelujah!"
She really does good work, I'll give her that.
The problem was how to move it all—but that, too, was solved in an instant.
I transferred everything into my medicinal and poison herb field.
I slipped out of the warehouse wearing only the Dark Moon Mask.
I could have gone straight into the medicinal and poison herb field to begin production right away, but.
You never know.
By the time I came back out, there could well be armoured vehicles and tanks swarming outside that warehouse.
Out of caution, I scoured the area thoroughly, checking for any CCTV Chief Han might have planted.
Anything even remotely suspicious, I destroyed outright.
And then I made my way home, taking extreme care not to be tailed.
I'm not at ease.
"I suppose I'll need to set up a few more safe houses besides the Cheongdam place."
I had the money to buy a house, but the problem was the name on the deed.
I couldn't very well register a safe house under Kim Tae-yang's name or my family's, could I.
I could have asked the Choi Brothers for help, of course, but I dropped that idea.
It was good to have connections, but connections that ran too deep could be dangerous in their own right.
"Trying to get property under a borrowed name is such a hassle. I suppose I'll just have to rent month-to-month, even if I lose the deposit."
Things were so much simpler in Gangho.
Anyway, I produced a large quantity of Purple Haze Dust Poison.
I met with Chief Han again and gave her 30 doses of Purple Haze Dust Poison first.
Along with the antidote.
I explained the method of use in detail as well.
I urged her again and again to practice it thoroughly at least ten times before attempting entry.
"Don't worry."
She gave me a wink.
……Is she low on magnesium?
"One more thing."
There was one thing that concerned me.
The 10-minute time limit I had been mindful of because of the Golden Tower.
For them, it wasn't the Golden Tower but the Shadowless Thousand Hands that made this time limit something they had to account for.
I too had struggled with this 10-minute limit during my own 14th floor Shadowless Divine Thief climb—managing to find the Shadowless Divine Thief with barely a minute to spare, at the 9-minute mark.
When hit by Purple Haze Dust Poison, the Shadowless Divine Thief would inevitably sneeze within 3 minutes, but the problem was the travel time.
Purple Mist Grass disperses Purple Haze Dust Poison through the air.
But from my own experience, it had taken nearly 6 minutes to spread throughout the entire inn.
The Shadowless Divine Thief's inn, where not a single breath of wind stirs.
A faster way to disperse it?
"Don't worry about that either."
Chief Han showed her confidence.
"Is there a method?"
She showed me a photo on her phone one more time.
"Wind God Sacred Jade!"
It was a treasure that dropped from 21st floor's Demon Wind Manor.
But how did she acquire this?
The conquest method I had told the Choi Brothers involved shattering the Wind God Sacred Jade to blow away all of Demon Wind Manor's enemies in one go.
"It's all thanks to you, Nameless Hero. We kept conquering 21st floor with the method you gave us, and it just happened to drop one day."
Originally they had intended to shatter the Wind God Sacred Jade, but.
Not everyone was as gifted in archery as the Choi Brothers.
And so a new conquest method evolved from refining the one I had provided.
Specifically: approach via the cliff bypass route I had described, then infiltrate during the moment when Demon Wind Manor's warriors are storing up the Wind God Sacred Jade's wind energy.
Then open the manor's main gate.
Since the majority of casualties occurred during the siege-like process of forcing open the main gate—if you could just get that gate open, it was said to be far quicker and safer.
"As expected of Chief Han."
She couldn't hide her pride at my praise.
Thanks to that, I—
Quietly slipped the Wind God Sacred Jade I had brought along just in case back into my bag and returned.
Heh.
Was this what Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu felt when they showed each other the word 'fire attack' written on their palms at Red Cliffs?
What a relief.
I had been wondering whether I'd have to reluctantly lend out the Wind God Sacred Jade—essential for growing Wind Fur Moss. Heheh.
"We're preparing well on our end. Care to take a look?"
Ding-dong!
She sent me a video of the agents training for the conquest.
50 in total.
Normally they moved in groups of 30 to prepare for all-out combat against the Shadowless Thousand Hands.
This time, confident as they were, they had significantly increased the number to 50.
They lit the Fire Strikers to illuminate Hell's Darkness.
Simultaneously, they scattered Purple Haze Dust Poison, and used the Wind God Sacred Jade to stir up a wind and disperse it.
Immediately after, they deployed a circular encirclement formation.
At the vanguard stood 30 warriors armed with throwing spears.
The moment 3 minutes passed, a red flash flickered somewhere inside the mock-up of the Shadowless Divine Thief's inn.
"There!"
30 throwing spears were launched as one.
Immediately, the 20 warriors at the rear rotated in with spears drawn.
"The Shadowless Divine Thief is down!"
The moment the shout rang out, the rear 20 drove their spears into a single point.
The 30 who had thrown their spears drew their swords, blades, and whatever weapons they carried.
Swapping positions with the thrusting spearmen, they wailed away relentlessly.
This…… is good.
I almost felt sorry for the Shadowless Divine Thief.
"Well? Perfect, isn't it?"
Chief Han's voice brimming with excitement.
"Well done."
I praised her, and at the same time let slip one more crucial detail.
"That said—about the Shadowless Divine Thief."
"Yes."
"There are two of them. Shadowless, Divine Thief."
"……Pardon?"
Her expression showed she couldn't quite believe it for a moment, but she soon fell into thought, then nodded.
"I'll revise the formation."
And then came D-Day.
The team designated to conquer 14th floor's Murim Tower entered the Tower.
The 14th floor Golden Tower I had already cleared.
Being such an important day, Gukmubon had the Murim Tower under its control.
Ding-dong!
A message arrived on the encrypted phone.
Given the significance of the day, I had been waiting at the Black Market for her message.
—Please watch over us.
—It'll go well.
After that, I waited on the rooftop of a building near the Murim Tower with binoculars in hand, waiting for them to return.
Before long, the area around the Murim Tower erupted into noise.
They had returned.
"How many came back, I wonder."
With a slightly trembling heart, I observed them through the binoculars.
"One, two, three……. Forty-five. Ha!"
45 out of 50 survived.
A survival rate of a full 90%.
Ting!
[A Gukmubon agent who successfully completed the Shadowless Divine Thief mission lets out a cheer. +800 Happiness]
[A Gukmubon agent who plunged a spear through the Shadowless Divine Thief's chest says the thrill of that moment is something they will never forget for the rest of their life. +1,200 Happiness]
[They shout that with the 'Spiritual Medicine' received as a reward for this conquest, they will break through all the way to 37th floor. +1,000 Happiness]
[Chief Han throws her arms around her surviving subordinates and sheds tears of joy. +2,000 Happiness]
"Good."
I had earned as many as 45,000 points in one go.
"If we repeat this every time 14th floor is climbed, and do it 1,000 times around the world, that's 45 million points!"
Naturally it would dwindle over time and fall short of that, but still—what a haul.
My chest swelled.
On top of that, the fact that the reward was a spiritual medicine made the lingering anxiety disappear.
If they had taken down the Shadowless Divine Thief within 10 minutes, then they too had conquered the Golden-rank just as I had.
I had been worried that the Happiness Points and the Sorcery Reversal Art secret manuals given to me might also be distributed as rewards to them.
"The Tower really does play favourites with me."
……Whether that's affection or a love-hate relationship, I couldn't say.
The spiritual medicine reward was only a single pill, but being a Golden-rank reward, its efficacy would certainly be considerable.
The thought of them climbing the Tower with a spiritual medicine and newfound confidence made my chest clench with something I couldn't quite name.
They weren't warriors I had personally trained, yet somehow they felt like my own disciples.
"I wish you good fortune in battle."
I was on a rooftop far removed from them, but I offered a respectful fist-and-palm salute.
And a little while later, a message appeared.
[An agent who succeeded in the Floor 14 conquest sends their deepest gratitude to the 'Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine'. +1,700 Happiness]
Purple Haze Dust Poison was apparently being called this within Gukmubon.
The Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine.
The secret medicine of a righteous hero who had not revealed their name.
"Calling a vengeful demon a chivalrous hero……"
An undeserved title. It had all started simply because I wanted to earn points.
Thump-thump……
What's this.
Is my heart actually racing right now?
***
A week had passed since I switched off the encrypted phone Chief Han had given me.
No doubt countless missed calls had piled up, but I planned to keep my distance from her for a while.
The closer we got, the more of a nuisance it would become.
Changing my disguise every time we met was a bother as well.
Without realising it, I had come to feel more comfortable as Kim Tae-yang in his twenties than as the middle-aged man in his fifties.
"Wait a while. I'll call on you again when I need you."
I finished circulating my energy, then loosened my body with the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic.
Internal energy and poison energy, abundant throughout my entire body.
I gathered a full supply of Storm Pear Blossom Needles, carefully stored away Yama's Life-Chasing Threads, strapped newly crafted poison around my waist, took up the Blue Dragon Spear, and even drew the White Tiger Sword—which presided over the metal element of the Five Elements in the western sector of my herb field—into my hand.
The reason I was taking every precaution.
Was precisely because of.
The 24th floor conquest.
'Blood Wolf Gate.'
The Gate Master's title and name: Wolfish Heaven Marquis, Choi Mu-jin.
In my past life in Gangho, I had been brutally tormented by the Black Wolf Squad he commanded.
The Black Wolf Squad was a pack of black wolves—near-supernatural creatures—raised by the Wolfish Heaven Marquis.
Particularly the leader of the Black Wolf Squad: 'White Night Black Wolf'.
"That damned beast."
Because of the wound on my thigh from being mauled by that creature, I had writhed in agony for days and nights on end.
That's right.
In my past life I had been the hunted, but this time would be different.
"I'm coming for you, White Night Black Wolf."