Black Tower’s Administrator Area.

“Kuhihi. In 3 days, I’ll be able to see Mother in person? What should I wear?”

Upon hearing that Earth would be incorporated into the Black Tower, Aileen hurried to her closet and began choosing outfits to wear when meeting Kim Mi-ran.

Even though she couldn’t descend to the 99th floor of the tower, Aileen temporarily forgot that fact in her excitement.

At that moment,

Woong.

The crystal orb vibrated again.

“Kkyeng? Is there something else?”

Aileen quickly checked the crystal orb.

[Great Black Tower’s Administrator Manual has been added.] “Manual?”

Aileen swiftly began reading through the manual.

“Since the Black Tower’s 0th floor is temporarily incorporated, there is no land deed. Instead, only administrators, mid-level administrators, and those they permit can enter through the dedicated entrance of the Black Tower’s 1st floor. Kuhihi. Great!”

Excited that she and Sejun could go to Earth, Aileen’s mood changed.

However,

“On the 0th floor, you can only stay in the safe zone created by the Black Tower, and to avoid affecting the 0th floor of the Black Tower, a stay fee must be paid. The stronger your ability, the higher the cost?”

As she read further, Aileen’s expression darkened.

If the total sum of all stats is 100, the cost is 100 million, if 1,000, it’s 10 billion, if 10,000, it’s 100 billion, if 20,000, it’s 150 billion, if 30,000, it’s 300 billion…

Like a progressive tax, the cost increased as the amount of stats increased.

“Kkyeng?! Mine is 10 quadrillion Tower Coins?!” (TL: 10 quadrillions = 10,000 trillions)

Aileen was greatly shocked.

And this was the cost per hour. Due to the premium for being a member of the great dragon race, there was an additional surcharge.

“Kkying…”

How am I supposed to gather that much money?

Feeling depressed as she read the manual, Aileen decided to check on Sejun instead.

She searched for Sejun using the crystal orb.

***

99th floor of the Tower.

Thwack! Thwack!

“Oh. This is good?!”

Sejun exclaimed while swinging the Giant Sausage Staff at a rock made using his Land Moving Skill.

Even with a light swing, the sturdy rock shattered under the Giant Sausage Staff.

Tremendous destructive power.

Despite its seemingly trivial appearance, the Relic lived up to its name.

After completing the test of the Giant Sausage Staff, Sejun put it down for a moment.

Kkihihit! Kking!

[Heehee. The great Blackie will take possession of the Giant Sausage!]

As soon as Sejun put it down, Blackie snatched the sausage and ran off.

“Hey! That’s not for you to eat!”

Sejun hurriedly chased after Blackie.

In the past, Sejun would deliberately not catch Blackie and play along, but Blackie had become somewhat stronger after creating a new core.

Udadada.

Kkihihit. Kking!

[Heehee. Here comes the swift Blackie!]

With his small body, Blackie skillfully navigated through the crops, making it hard for Sejun to catch him.

As they continued their game of tag,

“Puhuhut. Tomorrow, I’ll earn ten times more, meow!”

Theo was filling his bag with crops, burning with determination to sweep up all the tower coins from the Green Tower tomorrow.

Kuehehehe.

Sausages for dinner!

Cuengi was diligently harvesting sausages, imagining eating sausage for dinner.

After a while,

“Huff. Huff. You sneaky little thing. Running only through the crops… If that’s how you want to play, I’ve got a way too. Cuengi, can you catch Blackie for me?”

Tired from running, Sejun stopped and asked Cuengi for help.

Kueng!

[Got it!]

Cuengi used telekinesis to lift Blackie into the air.

Kking! Kking!

[I lost him! Now I can hide and eat!]

Blissfully unaware, Blackie joyfully ran towards his secret stash.

But,

Bump.

Kking?!

[What’s this?!]

Blackie was bewildered when he suddenly couldn’t run forward anymore.

Flailing about, he frantically moved his legs, but they didn’t reach the ground.

And then,

Grab.

“Hehehe. Got you, you rascal.”

In the end, while floating in the air, Blackie was caught by the scruff of his neck by Sejun and had to spit out the Giant Sausage Staff.

“Kking…”

[My Giant Sausage…]

Slurp. Slurp.

Blackie licked around his mouth with a regretful expression.

“Kkihihit. Kking.”

[Heehee. Delicious.]

The taste of the sausage lingering on his tongue quickly lifted Blackie’s mood.

“Huh? There are teeth marks?”

Sejun remarked as he saw the teeth marks on the Giant Sausage Staff after taking it back from Blackie.

When I bit it, it didn’t even leave a mark, but dragon teeth are different after all.

After retrieving the Giant Sausage Staff, Sejun and Cuengi continued harvesting the remaining sausages.

And once the sausage harvest was finished,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I’m back, meow!”

Theo, having packed all the items to be sold in his bag, walked over with Blackie on his back, exuding confidence.

Kkirorong.

He must have picked him up from where he was sprawled out, sleeping on the floor.

When Sejun lifted Blackie,

“Kking… Kking…”

[Sleepy… want to sleep…]

“Alright. Got it.”

When Sejun put the whining Blackie into his sling bag,

Kkirorong.

He soon fell into a deep sleep.

“Puhuhut. I’m so happy, meow!”

104.28.193.250

In the meantime, Theo clung tightly to Sejun’s knee, hugging it.

At that moment,

[The Tower Administrator says there is a way for you to go home.]

Aileen spoke to Sejun.

Initially, Aileen had been disheartened that she couldn’t go to Earth with Sejun.

But watching Sejun, she realized how selfish she had been.

Sejun must want to go home too, right?

He always remained cheerful, but occasionally, he would stare blankly into space with a lonely expression.

I’ve been too careless…

So, she hurried to inform Sejun that he could go home.

“Huh?! Home?!”

Sejun was startled by Aileen’s words.

“I thought it was difficult for me to go because I’ve become strong?”

[The Tower Administrator says there’s no need to worry.]

[The Tower Administrator says thanks to you, the Black Tower has grown into the Great Black Tower, allowing you to go home safely.]

“Great Black Tower?”

[The Tower Administrator says the Black Tower grew thanks to your efforts.]

[The Tower Administrator says so…]

Aileen explained to Sejun that Earth had been temporarily incorporated as the 0th floor of the Black Tower and shared the contents of the Black Tower manual she had read.

“Oh! So in 3 days, I can really go home?!”

[The Tower Administrator says you just need to find the land deed for the 1st floor of the tower to go home.]

“Hehehe. Guys, we can go to my house!”

Sejun shouted to Theo and Cuengi after hearing Aileen’s explanation.

Then,

“Meow?! Isn’t this our home, meow?”

Kueng?

[We have another house?]

Both were puzzled.

“Ah. Not our house, my parents’ house.”

“Meow?! So we get to meet the Chairman of Chairman Park, meow?!”

Theo asked excitedly at Sejun’s words.

“Huh?”

The Chairman of Chairman Park? Ah, he means my dad.

As Sejun interpreted Theo’s words,

Kueng! Kueng!

[Finally, Cuengi get to meet Cuengi’s Grandma! Grandma will make lots of delicious food!]

Cuengi cheered and ran around in excitement.

“Calm down, you two. We need to find the land deed for the 1st floor of the tower first.”

Sejun calmed them down.

Despite constantly searching, they couldn’t find the location of the 1st floor land deed.

Until now, there was no urgency to leave the tower, so they weren’t desperate to find it, but now they truly needed it.

Using every means possible, they needed to find the 1st floor land deed within three days!

“Let’s go find the land deed!”

Sejun exclaimed, clenching his fist.

“Good, meow! Let’s depart, meow!”

Kueng!

[Let’s go!]

Theo and Cuengi clung to Sejun, raising their front paws high.

So, the three… no, including Blackie and Paespaes, the five of them left the farm and headed to the waypoint.

[You have arrived at the 75th floor of the Black Tower.] …

..

.

[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 24.]

Sejun and his party arrived at the 75th floor of the tower.

A moment later,

“Hand over the land deed for the 1st floor of the tower, meow!”

Theo, who was clinging to Sejun’s leg, brazenly held out his front paw to Mason, the Chairman of the Wandering Merchants Association, demanding the land deed for the 1st floor of the Black Tower.

“What?!”

Mason wanted to say, ‘It’s not like I’m holding onto it for you. How am I supposed to find the 1st floor land deed of the tower all of a sudden?!’

However, he swallowed his words when he met Sejun’s eyes, who was quietly waiting for his response. He feared provoking the wrath of the great Black Dragon by speaking carelessly.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll do my best to find it. And although it’s not for the 35th floor of the Golden Tower, I have found two land deeds for the Golden Tower.”

Mason hurriedly pulled out two land deeds.

[Golden Tower’s 22nd Floor Farm Land Deed] [Golden Tower’s 53rd Floor Farm Land Deed]

“Thank you.”

Sejun accepted the land deeds and then,

Clink.

“This is for the land deeds.”

“You didn’t have to… Thank you.”

Feeling guilty for continually receiving things for free, Sejun opened his Void Storage and handed Mason two fistfuls of gold coins.

“Hmm…”

After Sejun and his party left, Mason appraised the gold coins with a monocle.

Since the great Black Dragon had given them, he thought there must be something special about them.

And then,

“This is?!!!”

Mason was shocked when he saw the small engraving on the gold coin. It was a rare coin, of which only ten thousand existed in the Black Tower.

As expected, the great Black Dragon is truly generous!

Mason carefully displayed the 23 gold coins, each worth over 5 billion Tower Coins, with a satisfied smile.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, where to next, meow?”

“First, we’ll go to the 79th floor of the tower, then to the 55th floor.”

Sejun replied to Theo’s question. His plan was to visit the Kingdom of Kov and then the Red Ribbon Kingdom.

And then,

“I’m sorry. We’ve been searching hard, but we’ve only found land deeds for the Brown Tower.”

Queen Prana of the Kingdom of Kov handed over three Brown Tower land deeds with an apologetic expression. They were for the 3rd, 32nd, and 34th floors of the Brown Tower.

“Thank you. This is payment for the land deeds.”

Sejun again took out some gold from his Void Storage. This time, he took out a palm-sized golden statue in the shape of an eagle.

He just felt drawn to it.

After Sejun left, Prana, thinking the golden statue seemed extraordinary, called an appraiser.

“Your Majesty! This is the golden statue of the first Queen Merma of the Kingdom of Kov, which was stolen by the faceless thief, Loon! It’s an honor for my family that I get to appraise this!”

The appraiser exclaimed in a voice filled with emotion. The statue was worth nearly 300 billion Tower Coins.

Thus, scattering wealth like that, Sejun arrived at the 55th floor of the tower.

Ppiak!

[Uncle, welcome!]

ChuChu!

[Sejun-nim, welcome!]

Upon hearing of Sejun’s arrival, Black Rabbit and ChuChu greeted him at the main gate of the White Castle.

“Yeah.”

Since it was evening, Sejun dined and chatted with the Black Rabbit couple.

“So, I’m able to go home now, and I’m looking for the 1st floor land deed of the tower. Black Rabbit, have you heard anything about the location of the 1st floor land deed?”

Ppiak! Ppiak…

[No! We’ve been looking hard too, but…]

Black Rabbit signaled to his subordinates, who brought seven scrolls in front of Sejun.

They were land deeds for the 53rd floor of the Blue Tower, the 23rd, 68th floors of the White Tower, the 25th floor of the Green Tower, and the 22nd, 78th, and 94th floors of the Red Tower.

“Thank you.”

As Sejun thanked them while putting away the received land deeds,

Ppiak?!

[Uncle, when you go home, take me with you! I want greet Uncle’s parents too! You’ll take me, right?]

Black Rabbit asked for permission, saying he wanted to go to Earth too.

“Of course…”

Sejun, happy with Black Rabbit’s touching request, started to agree, but then he noticed Black Rabbit flinching as he made eye contact with ChuChu.

Our Black Rabbit is still having a hard time. I’ll definitely take you with me!

As Sejun resolved to bring Black Rabbit to Earth,

Rumble.

A black hole appeared in the air, and the golden cart that had gone to the Golden Tower returned just after two days, having sold everything.

*****