“Ahem. Theo Park~nim, you have passed the first stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test. Congratulations.”

Mason, who had witnessed the unbelievable sight of a three-digit fame score, announced Theo’s passing of the test while still somewhat dazed.

“Puhuhut. Thank you, meow! Chairman Park, we did it, meow!”

Theo said in a bright voice, rubbing his face against Sejun’s knee.

“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot.”

With his right front paw, he patted Iona’s head, who was hanging on his tail.

At that moment,

Kueng.

[Dad, Cuengi is hungry.]

Cuengi, who was holding onto Mason’s collar and shaking it vigorously, grabbed Sejun’s hand and whined, seemingly hungry.

“Just a moment.”

Sejun took out a boiled Egg Fruit and milk from the Void Storage.

Kking?

Fenrir, who had been sleeping in the sling bag, slowly lifted his head and looked around. What are you eating?

“Did Blackie wake up to eat a snack too?”

When Sejun pulled out some dried sweet potato strips and put them in Fenrir’s mouth,

Kkihihit. Kking.

‘Hehe. It’s tasty.’

Chomp. Chomp…

Fenrir chewed on the dried sweet potato strips a few times before falling back to sleep.

Then,

Tap.

Tap.

Sejun and Cuengi sat at the table in the chairman’s office, sharing the boiled Egg Fruit. Sejun was also feeling a bit peckish.

“Here.”

“Puhuhut. It’s delicious, meow! Mason, bring on the second test, meow!”

Theo shouted at Mason in a confident voice while eating the yolk Sejun gave him.

“Yes… The second stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test requires you to bring 1,000 employment contracts.”

The second test was to determine if the candidate had the capability to hire a large number of employees as a Legendary Merchant.

“Puhuhut. That’s too easy, meow!”

Theo pulled out a thick bundle of contracts from his bundle. Nearly 200,000 contracts.

Although they were all slave contracts,

“Oh. Theo Park~nim, you treat your employees very well.”

To Mason, they appeared to be favorable employment contracts that guaranteed daily wages and meals and did not require more than 8 hours of work per day.

“Hiring so many employees, you are indeed impressive. You have passed the second stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test as well.”

“Puhuhut. I am naturally impressive, meow! Chairman Park, don’t you agree, meow?”

“Of course! Our Vice Chairman Theo is truly amazing.”

Usually, he wouldn’t indulge him, but today was a special day.

Moreover, he couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm outside, so Sejun praised Theo a bit excessively.

“Puhuhut. I know I’m amazing, meow! The amazing Vice Chairman Theo and great Chairman Park have done it again, meow!”

With Sejun’s lavish praise, Theo became even more proud and said in an extremely confident voice,

“Mason, bring on the next test, meow!”

Thanks to Sejun’s praise, he became even more proud and spoke in an immensely confident voice.

“Yes. The third stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test is to test the power of a Legendary Merchant…”

A Legendary Merchant needs to excel in both business and strength.

While Mason was explaining the test, putting on the monocle-type strength reader,

“Chairman Park, lend me some money, meow!”

“Alright.”

Theo borrowed money from Sejun.

I can’t let our Vice Chairman Theo be underestimated. Burn it all, Vice Chairman Theo!

Sejun gave Theo one-third of the treasures from the Void Storage.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Parkhas a lot of wealth to burn, meow!”

When Theo happily burned the treasures given by Sejun,

Fwoooosh.

Theo’s body shone with such a brilliant golden light that it almost looked like the sun.

And then,

Bang!

The strength reader, which could measure up to 999, was destroyed.

“Ahhhh! That was an expensive item…”

Mason was devastated as he picked up the pieces of the broken strength reader.

It was the latest model, upgraded at great cost after the previous one got destroyed while measuring the Minotaur King’s strength reader…

While Mason was in despair,

“Chairman Park, did I do well, meow?! I completely smashed it, meow!”

Theo, hanging onto Sejun’s knee with a proud expression, boasted about his achievement. Praise me quickly, meow!

“Our Vice Chairman Theo did well.”

“Puhuhut. I know, meow! I did well, meow!”

Theo grew even more arrogant after receiving Sejun’s praise.

“Puhuhut. Mason, bring on the next fourth stage test, meow!”

“Yes. The fourth stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test requires you to bring a total of 11 trillion Tower Coins, combining the 1 trillion promotion fee and 10 trillion in extra funds.”

The fourth stage test was a test of financial power, the most crucial condition for becoming a Legendary Merchant.

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow! Chairman Park, lend me money, meow!”

“Sure. Here.”

Sejun took out 11 trillion Tower Coins from the Void Storage and handed them to Theo.

“Mason, here it is!”

“Theo Park~nim, you have also passed the fourth stage of the Legendary Merchant promotion test.”

He easily passed the fourth stage test as well.

“Then let’s start the final test for the promotion to Legendary Merchant.”

Mason took out five scrolls from his bosom and handed them to Theo. Each was numbered from 1 to 5.

“What’s this, meow?”

“Wait a moment! You have to open those in order. Forcing them open will disqualify you from the promotion to Legendary Merchant.”

Mason hurriedly stopped Theo from opening the scrolls as soon as he received them.

“Meow?!”

At the mention of disqualification, Theo hurriedly put the scrolls down. That can’t happen, meow! I’m going to become a Legendary Merchant and receive Chairman Park’s congratulations, meow!

“Ahem. Please listen to my explanation first.”

“Got it, meow!”

“When you open those scrolls, a list of items registered with the Wandering Merchant Association will appear randomly.”

Mason continued his explanation.

“The final test is to bring the items listed in the five scrolls within three months. You can either find them yourself or buy them with money.”

The final test was to see if the candidate had the ability to procure necessary items as a Legendary Merchant.

However, this test unofficially tested one more thing.

It was luck.

If you were lucky, easy items would appear, making it easy to become a Legendary Merchant, but if you were unlucky, it could list nearly impossible items to obtain.

“By the way, the items you obtain will disappear. But…”

If you don’t pass the test, the items will be returned as they are, but if you pass, you will be rewarded with items worth the total value of the obtained items.

“Then open the first scroll. The test will begin as soon as you open the first scroll.”

“Got it, meow!”

Sssk.

As Theo opened the first scroll without hesitation, a list of items began spinning rapidly inside the scroll like a roulette.

The quickly spinning colorful letters indicated the difficulty of obtaining the items in five colors.

Starting from the least difficult yellow, followed by green, blue, red, and the nearly impossible to obtain black.

‘Let’s see how good Theo Park’s luck is.’

Mason watched Theo’s scroll with great interest.

However,

‘It’s a dud.’

Mason looked at the red letters on the scroll with a disappointed expression.

[1 Phoenix Tail Feather]

Of all things, the first item was the difficult-to-obtain Phoenix Tail Feather. It could take all three months just to find this one.

Some merchants are like this. They have good luck usually, but in critical moments, they are unlucky.

As Mason anticipated Theo’s failure in the legendary merchant promotion test like that,

“Vice Chairman Theo, here.”

Sejun handed a red feather to Theo.

“Puhuhut. Thanks, Chairman Park, meow!”

When Theo placed the feather from Sejun onto the scroll,

Sshhh.

The feather disappeared, and the writing on the scroll vanished, showing the word ‘Passed.’

“Puhuhut. That was too easy, meow!”

Sssk.

When the excited Theo opened the second scroll,

“……”

Mason was so shocked that he couldn’t close his mouth.

How did he prepare the Phoenix’s tail feather in advance as if he had seen the future?

He really seemed to have good luck.

As Mason acknowledged Theo as a lucky, the letters stopped.

‘Black?’

The color indicating the impossible difficulty of obtaining an item.

Did he use up all his luck at the beginning… This will be tough.

This time, Mason was 100% sure Theo would fail.

[1 Branch of the World Tree]

Because, as far as he knew, there was no World Tree in the Black Tower. It was an item that couldn’t be obtained no matter the effort.

However,

“Vice Chairman Theo, here.”

Sejun took out a branch of Podori that he had stored in the Void Storage and handed it to Theo.

“Puhuhut. Thank you, Chairman Park, meow!”

When Theo placed the branch on the second scroll, the word ‘Passed’ appeared.

The third scroll showed red letters.

But,

[1 Staff of Calamity]

“Iona, give me the staff, meow! I’ll get you a better one later, meow!”

“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Yes!”

He passed without any tension at all.

The fourth scroll was black again.

[1 Red Bone Club]

The Red Bone Club didn’t mean just any red-colored bone; it meant the favorite weapon of the Minotaur King.

It was impossible to take the favorite weapon from the strongest being in the Black Tower.

However,

Kueng!

[Cuengi has a red bone club!]

Cuengi took out a red stick from his snack pouch.

The Minotaur King had thrown it away, saying he didn’t need it, and Cuengi had kept it in his snack pouch to use as a toy.

Clearly, the world was desperately trying to prevent Theo from becoming a Legendary Merchant, but

“Puhuhut. It’s too easy, meow!”

Theo lightly dismissed the world’s resistance.

‘Am I dreaming right now?’

Mason couldn’t grasp what was happening before his eyes.

What was even more astonishing was that Theo hadn’t even gone out once to gather the items, and it hadn’t even been an hour since the Legendary Merchant promotion test started.

It was truly unbelievable.

“Puhuhut. Now it’s the last one, meow!”

In the meantime, Theo opened the fifth scroll.

At that moment,

Flash.

A dazzling light burst from the scroll.

“Golden color?!”

Was there such a color?

Mason was astonished. Even though he had overseen multiple Legendary Merchant promotion tests, it was the first time he saw this color.

It was certain. The world did not want Theo to become a Legendary Merchant.

Otherwise…

[10,000 Scales of the Great Black Dragon]

It wouldn’t ask for such an impossible item.

Even though Theo was a subordinate of the Great Dragon, no dragon would give away 10,000 of their scales… What?!

“Vice Chairman Theo, here.”

“Puhuhut. Thank you, Chairman Park, meow!”

Sejun took out 10,000 scales of the Great Black Dragon from the Void Storage and handed them to Theo, and the word ‘Passed’ appeared on the fifth scroll as well.

As he finished obtaining all the items like that,

Woong.

The scrolls numbered 1 to 5 floated into the air and began to merge into one.

“Oh my God…”

Mason watched in a daze as the extremely difficult items combined. He couldn’t imagine what kind of item would come out.

While Mason was watching the items combine,

“Mason, am I a Legendary Merchant now, meow?!”

Theo asked Mason.

“Ah, yes. Now, Theo~nim is the fourth Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower.”

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow! Chairman Park, I’m a Legendary Merchant now, meow!”

Theo, who received Mason’s acknowledgment, quickly ran to Sejun. I’ll receive congratulations from Chairman Park first, meow!

“Vice Chairman Theo, congrats on becoming a Legendary Merchant.”

“Puhuhut. I’m so happy, meow!”

Passing the Legendary Merchant promotion test with Sejun and receiving congratulations made Theo extremely happy.

Kueng!

[Big brother, congrats on becoming a Legendary Merchant!]

“Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Theo~nim, congratulations on becoming a Legendary Merchant.”

Cuengi and Iona also congratulated Theo.

“Puhuhut. Thank you, meow! From now on, call me Legendary Merchant Theo Park, meow!

The atmosphere was incredibly cheerful.

At that moment,

Thud.

A black bag fell from where the five scrolls had merged.

*****