Chapter 608. "Now You're the Youngest Boss."

 

Black Tower, 99th Floor.

[Communication between full-time employees in the Black Tower and the Red Tower is now possible.]

As the communication networks merged between the two towers—

[Black Tower, 59th Floor Green Goblin Parku: To all Red Tower employees ranked lower than me, make sure to greet me properly. Just so you know, I'm on day 148 as an employee.]

Parku quickly began establishing a hierarchy.

Then—

[Red Tower, 33rd Floor Red Skunk #23: And who are you to say who should greet whom?!]

[Red Tower, 43rd Floor Red Monkey Mongo: Greetings?! That's what you should be doing! This place is now under the control of the Red Lawless Gang!]

New Red Tower recruits immediately rebelled.

[Red Tower, 87th Floor Loser, 'Loyal Full-time Employee' Red Fox Beyon: This is embarrassing. These recruits just joined, so they don’t have any manners yet. Give me an hour to handle it.]

Humiliated by the Red Tower’s lack of etiquette in front of the Black Tower staff, Beyon gritted his teeth as he left the message.

"Go educate them!"

"Yes, sir!"

Following Beyon’s orders, the Red Foxes started heading down to the lower floors to discipline the newcomers.

While they moved to educate the new recruits—

[Black Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Bull King: Balrog, now you’re the youngest boss.]

The Bull King attempted to transfer the “youngest boss” title to Balrog.

However—

[Red Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Battle Maniac Balrog: No way! I’m stronger, so you’re the youngest boss, Bull King!]

Balrog immediately protested.

If the Bull King had been there in person, Balrog wouldn’t have dared speak this way, but he’d never actually seen the Bull King before. And as a battle-crazed Balrog, he couldn’t accept being the youngest without a fight.

At that moment—

[Battle Shop Headquarters, God of Battle Battler: Let me settle this and determine who’s stronger.]

Seeing that the hierarchy dispute might drag on, Battler, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up.

That’s right. The reason the Bull King held the “youngest boss” title was because Battler, the God of Battle, and Hunt, the God of Hunting—both stamped by Theo—outranked him.

[The God of Battle, Battler, from the Battle Shop Headquarters, uses <Virtual Battle>.]

In a virtual space, the Bull King and Balrog appeared.

The two started to fight.

[The results of the virtual battle are in.]

[Black Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Bull King’s win rate (100%)]

[Red Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Battle Maniac Balrog’s win rate (0%)]

The Bull King won in a landslide.

[Black Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Bull King: Now you’re the youngest.]

[Red Tower, 99th Floor Boss, Battle Maniac Balrog: Yes, sir!]

After being soundly defeated in the virtual battle, Balrog humbly accepted his position as the youngest.

Once the bosses’ hierarchy was settled, the assistant bosses’ ranks were also established.

[Red Tower, 87th Floor Loser, 'Loyal Full-time Employee' Red Fox Beyon: Nice to see you again, Pinkfur-nim and Elka-nim. Greetings, Assistant Bosses! This is youngest assistant boss Beyon, at your service!]

Having already encountered Black Tower assistant bosses Pinkfur and Elka, Beyon wisely avoided confrontation.

Just as the full-time employee network was finalizing the ranks of bosses and assistant bosses—

[Red Tower, 43rd Floor Red Monkey Mongo: Hello! I’m Red Monkey Mongo!]

[Red Tower, 33rd Floor Red Skunk #23: Greetings! I’m Red Skunk… oops! Sorry, I farted. I’m Red Skunk #23!]

New recruits, after a thorough lesson from the Red Fox seniors, started introducing themselves more respectfully.

And—

[Black Tower, 63rd Floor Boss, Stone Lizardman Heta: So… does this mean I don’t have to do morning greetings anymore?]

Heta thought he had finally escaped from being the youngest, but—

[Black Tower, 59th Floor Green Goblin Parku: What nonsense is that, Lizardman?! Of course, you still have to do it.]

[Black Tower, 63rd Floor Boss, Stone Lizardman Heta: …Understood.]

Parku held a long grudge.

 

“Eileen, here, share this with Ace.”

After preparing lunch, Sejun sent a portion to Eileen.

“Kamangi, enjoy your meal.”

Squeak! Squeak!

[Hehe. Thanks!]

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Sejun shared a pleasant lunch with Kamangi while watching Sejun No. 3 practice swordsmanship.

It was clear that without Pochi’s guidance, his progress had stalled.

Sejun found himself missing Pochi’s lessons.

A little while later, after Sejun and the Kamangi family finished their meal—

Time to head back to work.

They moved toward the portal leading to <Earthworm>.

[Hehe. Sejun-nim, I feel like something good will happen today.]

“Hehe. Do you? Flame and Kamangi, wait here for a moment.”

Setting Flame and the Kamangi family down, Sejun stepped through the portal first, just in case there were any Destruction Tears.

What if a Destruction Tear transforms Kamangi’s family?

“That would be a disaster.”

Sejun chuckled to himself as he stepped into Earthworm.

“Oh?!”

In front of him, the Destruction Tears began to ripple and took on his form.

Flame had discovered a new route without creation energy.

Now it made sense why Flame had felt there would be good news.

Swish, swish.

Seven Destruction Sejuns, clumsily throwing punches, attacked Sejun.

“Hey, nice to see you! Here, take this.”

Sejun easily dodged their attacks and slipped a Devourer Seed into each of their fists.

Thunk, thunk.

Without complaint, the Destruction Sejuns started planting seeds.

And—

“Clocking out.”

Thanks to the help of seven Destruction Sejuns, Sejun was able to return to the Black Tower ahead of Theo and Kuengi.

“For dinner tonight, maybe I’ll make cold bibim noodles for a change. Humming.”

As he waited for his companions, Sejun boiled eggs to top the bibim noodles, thinly slicing cucumbers and other vegetables.

Then—

Squeak! Squeak!

[Dad, Kuengi’s back! Dad, here’s something for you!]

Kuengi entered the kitchen and handed Sejun three herbs.

[A deep blue potential arrowroot root]

[A three-month-old turmeric of magical energy]

[A three-month-old peppermint of magical potential]

“Oh, Kuengi, thank you.”

Sejun immediately ate the herbs Kuengi had brought.

Crunch, crunch.

Since Kuengi had washed them well, there was no dirt.

[You have consumed a deep blue potential arrowroot root.]

[All stat potentials increase by 100.]

…

…

While Sejun was munching on the herbs—

Sniff sniff.

Squeak?

[Dinner is bibim noodles tonight, isn’t it, Dad?]

Kuengi sniffed the air and guessed the menu.

“Huh? Yes.”

How did he know?

Despite not even opening a packet of noodles, Kuengi, the “food detective,” deduced the dinner menu just from the ingredients’ scent.

“Go wash your hands and wait. We’ll eat together once Theo arrives.”

Hehehe. Squeak!

[Okay!]

At Sejun’s suggestion, Kuengi washed his hands, set the table, and helped prepare dinner.

“Eileen, you’ll join us too, right?”

[The Tower Administrator says, of course.]

[The Tower Administrator says one pack of bibim noodles wasn’t enough last time and asks for a pack and a half this time.]

“Alright, got it.”

Hehe. So Eileen also feels that one serving is never enough.

Delighted at their shared love of bibim noodles, Sejun and Kuengi opened packets of noodles and began cooking in a large pot.

Then—

…

Sejun felt a shadow fall over him.

“…You’re here?”

“Nya…”

He removed Theo, who had placed a paw over Sejun’s face.

“Hehe. Chairman Park, I’m off the clock!”

“Good work. Go wash up so we can eat.”

“Hehe. Got it!”

Excited for his grilled fish, Theo began licking his paws clean.

“Shari, make some ice.”

Chirp!

With Shari’s help, Sejun prepared a bowl of icy water, making the noodles firm and chewy.

Then—

“Mix with one hand, and then mix again with the other hand…”

Humming a tune, Sejun happily mixed the noodles and sauce.

After finishing, he topped the bibim noodles with eggs, julienned cucumbers, and some sliced pear.

“Eileen, here.”

He sent a bowl of bibim noodles to Eileen, then started eating with Kuengi.

“Hehe. As expected, Chairman Park’s grilled fish is the best!”

Squeak! Squeak!

[Hehe. The roasted sweet potato chips are amazing!]

Theo and the Kamangi family enjoyed the food Sejun had prepared.

After the delightful dinner—

“Hehe. Chairman Park, come and see! Look at the great haul I, Vice Chairman Theo, brought in today!”

Theo, perched on Sejun’s knee, proudly began pulling items from his bundle.

“Hehe. Let’s see.”

Sejun eagerly watched Theo unpack, aware from messages that Theo had scored big today.

“Hehe. Look at this!”

From his bundle, Theo started pulling out items obtained from the 27th floor of the Red Tower.

Most were money pouches, with a significant number of equipment items as well.

There were no particularly impressive pieces of equipment.

Should I send this stuff to Earth?

Sejun pondered, thinking of his family back on Earth.

While he deemed the items unremarkable by tower standards, on Earth, each would fetch at least several billion won.

He could sell the equipment to support his family, then keep the remainder in his account…

“Hehe. I’m rich!”

Imagining the large deposit soon to hit his account, Sejun chuckled with satisfaction.

Though he already possessed wealth far exceeding Earth’s economy, the joy of seeing his Earth bank balance grow was still unique.

After all, there’d been so little in his account before entering the tower.

“Chairman Park, stay focused and look at me, nya! I’m still not done showing off my spoils!”

Theo called, reminding Sejun that he wasn’t done yet.

“Right.”

When Sejun turned his attention back to Theo—

“Hehe. Here’s the next item!”

Theo pulled out three jewels from his bundle.

[Fire Jewel]

[Water Jewel]

[Wind Jewel]

The jewels had similar descriptions to the Earth Jewel he had obtained previously.

Each was said to contain a sealed god’s soul, which could be released by absorbing the respective element’s energy.

“Huh?!”

A great idea struck Sejun.

Most of the gods sealed within the jewels had fallen to the Apostles of Destruction, so—

Who starts it should finish it.

He decided it would be fitting for the Kamangi family to break the seals themselves.

“You guys take care of these.”

He handed the jewels to the Kamangi family.

Fire was assigned to Mubatchil, water to Shari, Mukbupal, and Leviathan, and—

Squawk!

[I’ll take this one!]

Wind went to Karur.

After assigning the jewels—

“Hehe. And here’s the next one!”

Theo pulled more items from his bundle.

This time, they were four land deeds.

The deeds were for floors 28, 60, and 75 of the Red Tower, and the 77th floor of the Blue Tower.

“Oh! Well done, Vice Chairman Theo!”

Sejun praised Theo upon seeing the Blue Tower land deed.

Lately, he hadn’t found any Blue Tower deeds, which had halted his explorations of the Creator’s Monolith.

“Hehe. The great hybrid Chairman Park, I, Vice Chairman Theo, excel at everything!”

Theo replied proudly, basking in Sejun’s praise.

“Indeed, you’re incredible, Vice Chairman Theo.”

Sejun grabbed Theo’s sides and lifted him high.

Squeak!

Squeak!

Kuengi and Kamangi raised their paws, eager to have their turns as well.

“Why do you two… alright, up you go.”

Grumbling, Sejun hoisted both Kuengi and Kamangi over his head.

“Now, let’s go!”

With a flick, Sejun activated the Blue Tower, 77th-floor land deed, disappearing from the Black Tower’s 99th floor.

As he vanished, the Black Tower’s moonlight and starlight filled the spot where he once stood.