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

As Black Rabbit, Cuengi, and Blackie entered the Void Storage, Theo looked at Sejun with a longing gaze from the storage door.

Why are you being so wistful? We’ll see each other again in less than a minute.

“Alright. See you in a bit.”

Clunk.

Sejun slowly closed the door, maintaining eye contact with Theo until the last moment.

Then he took out a bracelet made of green vines from his pocket and put it on.

At that moment,

[You have put on the Grapevine Bracelet of Sealing on the target.] [How much of the power would you like to seal?]

A message appeared.

No one’s around, right?

Sejun checked his surroundings before answering. If he sealed his power and someone was nearby, his weakened body might not withstand it and he could faint.

Good. No one’s here.

“Seal it to the maximum.”

Upon confirming that no one was around, Sejun spoke.

[Sealing 99% of power.]

[Total of 11583 stats will be sealed.]

“Ugh…”

As his power was sealed, Sejun’s body staggered under the immense sense of depletion.

His total stats had dropped from 11700 to 117, the gap was too enormous.

“Phew.”

Sejun took a deep breath to adapt to his body’s condition.

“Pretending to be a hidden powerhouse is going to be difficult.”

He was disappointed as he checked his stats.

Even after sealing his power to the maximum, his total stats were 117.

To have such stats, one would need to be at least level 30 as a hunter. It was tough to stay hidden.

“Such a pity.”

Sejun regretfully removed the equipment that he could no longer use due to the stat reduction.

After putting the equipment into the Space Expansion Pouch,

Rustle

Sejun then spread out the Land Deed of the Black Tower that he had prepared.

[The summoning function is activated for the initial engraving of the land deed for the Black Tower’s first floor.]

Hehehe. Finally!

Along with the message, Sejun vanished from the 99th floor of the Black Tower.

***

Black Tower, first floor.

[The Black Tower you used to enter has been destroyed.]

[The exit has disappeared, you cannot leave.]

“What?! The tower has vanished, what do you mean?!”

How can the tower be gone when Korea has a safe zone?!

Hunters, who couldn’t exit through the entrance, were bewildered by the message.

Among them were foreign hunters who relied on the safe zones in Korea.

“What should we do?!”

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

“Will a new tower appear?”

“The rate at which new towers are appearing has slowed down lately…”

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

As hunters were falling into panic,

“Hello. We are staff from the Korean Awakeners Association. For now, please rest at the accommodations we’ve prepared, and we will explain what we have found.”

Staff from the Korean Awakeners Association stepped in to calm them down and guided them away.

As dozens of hunters followed the staff and left ,

“Come and choose!”

“Our shop has the lowest prices!”

“Selling Heart of the Venomous Spider!”

The large open area near the exit where hunters had gathered became lively with the shouts of street vendors.

At that moment,

[You have arrived on the first floor of the Black Tower.]

[You have moved from the 99th floor, the highest floor, to the first floor.]

[You have descended 98 floors.]

[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 98.]

On the 409th day of entering the tower, Sejun quietly arrived at a corner of the large open area on the first floor of the Black Tower.

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

His total stats nearly increased by 400, but fortunately, with the power sealed by 99%, his total stats increased by 4.

Finally, I’m here on the first floor of the tower!

“Hehehe.”

While Sejun was chuckling,

Clunk.

“Chairman Park, I missed you, meow!”

Theo slightly opened the Void Storage slightly door to prevent the energy from escaping and dashed out.

Kking!

[Catch me!]

Blackie followed closely, launching himself into the air.

Grab.

Catch.

Sejun caught the flying Blackie and placed him in the sling bag while Theo clung to Sejun’s face on his own.

“Meow…”

Sejun grabbed Theo by the nape and placed him on his knee.

“Cuengi, are you okay?”

He asked Cuengi, who was visible through the small gap in the partially opened Void Storage door.

Due to Cuengi’s difficulty in controlling his strength, he had decided to stay in the Void Storage until they returned to Earth. Sejun had arranged for Black Rabbit to keep him company so he wouldn’t get bored.

Kueng! Kueng!

[Cuengi is fine! Eating carrots with big brother is fun!]

Sitting on the floor, Cuengi answered quietly while munching on carrots with Black Rabbit. Speaking loudly might unintentionally draw out his energy.

I’m sorry.

Sejun felt a pang of guilt as he watched Cuengi trying to reassure him by enjoying his carrots more deliberately. But for now, there was no other option.

“Eat other things while you play too, okay?”

Kueng!

[Got it!]

Ppip! Ppip!

104.28.193.250

[Uncle, leave Cuengi to me! I’ll make sure he has lots of fun!]

“Alright.”

Clunk.

After finishing the conversation with the two, Sejun closed the small gap in the door and looked around.

“Finally, I get to see this.”

Sejun surveyed the first floor of the tower with an expression full of emotion.

Chandeliers lights illuminated the surroundings, the floor was paved with white marble, and the wide plaza was lined with shops selling equipment and potions, as well as training centers for warriors and mages to learn skills.

“Cheap! It’s cheap!”

“Come and take a look! Just browsing is fine!”

But I’ve never heard about there being street vendors…

As Sejun looked curiously at the bustling street vendors,

“Huh?! Sejun! It’s you, Park Sejun, right?!”

One of the hunters, who had laid out a stall on the ground, waved at Sejun.

“Hak! How dare you call our Chairman Park by his name so casually…”

Theo, incensed at someone casually calling Sejun’s name, was about to burst into rage.

“Vice Chairman Theo, calm down.”

Sejun quickly stopped Theo.

“Got it, meow! I’ll stay calm, meow!”

With Theo quieted down,

Who is that?

Sejun cautiously approached the man wearing leather armor with a bow slung over his shoulder, and a long scar on his face.

Oh?!

As he looked closer, he realized the man looked very familiar.

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

“Yeah, it’s me. My face has changed a lot, hasn’t it?”

Kyung-chul, Sejun’s old colleague, scratched his head and spoke in a slightly dark tone.

“How have you been?”

“Yeah, I’ve been fine. But what about you? You disappeared from the company and look like you’ve only been getting skin treatments. Why does your face look so good?”

“Hehehe. Really?!”

Sejun couldn’t help but smile broadly at Kyung-chul’s comment. After being told that his face looked rotten all the time, hearing that it looked good made him happy.

“But Sejun, how did you buy the ticket? Did you scrape together everything you had like I did?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah! I did the same!”

It was too complicated to explain his situation, so Sejun unconsciously agreed with Kyung-chul.

“But did you just awaken today?”

Kyung-chul asked, seeing Sejun without any weapons or armor.

Having sealed his power and removed his equipment due to usage restrictions, Sejun appeared to Kyung-chul as a newly entered rookie hunter.

“Uh…”

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

Before Sejun could respond, Kyung-chul offered to help him level up.

“Huh? You’ll help me level up?”

You?

Sejun was taken aback by Kyung-chul’s words.

I still have quite a quite stats, don’t I look strong?

Sejun often forgot that his energy was well hidden due to his talent: Insignificant Presence, especially while being around powerful beings.

Just then,

“Excuse me.”

A hunter approached Kyung-chul’s stall and called out to him.

“Ah, Sejun, I need to sell some items, so let’s meet back here in three hours.”

“Okay.”

As Kyung-chul returned to his stall to sell his items, Sejun decided to clear up Kyung-chul’s misunderstanding later.

Why isn’t the land deed quest triggering?

Hoping for a quest to appear, Sejun wandered around the first floor of the tower.

The first places he visited were the warrior training center and the mage training center where one could learn skills, but

[You cannot learn skills as your job does not match.]

He was rejected.

Next, he visited the potion shop.

[Lowest Grade Healing Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

→ Instantly recovers 5% of stamina upon consumption and slowly recovers 5% of stamina over 10 minutes.

[Lowest Grade Magic Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

→ Instantly recovers 3% of magic power upon consumption and slowly recovers 3% of stamina over 10 minutes.

The effects are too poor.

Having his own Mugwort Juice of Life, Sejun had no interest in buying them.

Next, he checked out the equipment shop, but it only had gear for beginners, so there wasn’t much to see.

After finishing his tour of the first floor facilities, Sejun checked out the street vendors.

Most items were E or D-grade, not particularly useful for Sejun, but occasionally he found some promising unidentified items.

“Oh! An unidentified item!”

When he found an item with a good feeling about it,

“How much is this?”

“It’s an unidentified item, but since it’s a D+ grade sword, it’s 5 Tower Coins.”

“Come on, give me a discount.”

“Then 4.5?”

“Come on, lower it a bit more.”

He haggled to lower the price before buying it.

Though the price wasn’t high, he just wanted to buy it right away, but

To see Chairman Park haggle three times in person, what an honor, meow!

With Theo watching with sparkling eyes, he couldn’t just buy it without haggling.

“Aileen, could you appraise this for me?”

The unidentified item he bought after haggling three times was then appraised by Aileen.

[The Tower Administrator says it’s an ordinary sword imbued with ice magic.]

After the appraisal, Aileen returned the item to Sejun.

“Oh! It’s a B-grade item.”

Sejun smiled as he received the item. The D+ grade sword had turned into a B-grade sword after the appraisal.

“Hehehe. It feels like treasure hunting.”

As Sejun continued to treasure hunt for unidentified items at the street vendors,

Oh! This one would be perfect for Kyung-chul.

A quite decent bow caught Sejun’s eye.

[Longbow of Infinite Arrows]

As the name suggests, it wasn’t truly infinite, but it was a B- grade item where arrows would automatically appear on the bowstring when drawn, up to 1000 arrows.

“How much is this?”

“1000 Tower Coins.”

Perhaps because it was already appraised and of high grade, it was expensive for an item sold at a street stall.

Of course, it was a cheap price for Sejun, but

Puhuhut. Watching Chairman Park’s three-time haggling technique is always an honor, meow!

Don’t you ever get tired?

“Give me a discount.”

Because of Theo’s expectant eyes, Sejun haggled three times again before buying the bow.

Now the timing is just right to go meet Kyung-chul.

Sejun, with the newly purchased bow, headed to where Kyung-chul was.

Bang!

A commotion broke out in front of him.

What’s going on?

As Sejun pushed his way through the hunters blocking his path,

“If you want to do business here, you have to pay a spot fee to our Black Bear Gang!”

The heavily armed members of the Black Bear Gang were threatening a hunter who was running a street stall without their permission.

Sejun wasn’t aware, but in order to do business here, one had to pay a spot fee to the Black Bear Gang.

Who are these guys? What floor are they from to be causing trouble here?

As Sejun was looking at the black bears,

Thud. Thud.

“You seem to buy a lot of stuff, must be rich, huh? How about sharing some of that?”

One of the Black Bears members came up to Sejun and extended his paw.

Then,

[A quest has been triggered.]

[Quest: Either deal with or negotiate with the Black Bear Gang, who are illegally occupying the market and collecting spot fees, to reclaim the land rights.]

Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the market on the first floor of the Black Tower.

“Hehehe. A quest has appeared. Vice Chairman Theo, take care of it.”

“Puhuhut. Got it, meow!”

Sejun, looking at the land deed quest, spoke to Theo. Theo, laughing wickedly enough to be mistaken for a villain, disappeared from Sejun’s knee.

The market, along with the slaves who would manage it, came as a complete package.

*****