I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 30
“That’s quite a generous benefit. Though I do have one question.”
“Of course, please ask.”
“Why did I receive a Numbers card?”
Kang Hyo-jun’s eyes gleamed.
‘That indifferent gaze, that bored expression… Does he already know about the existence of portals?’
A magnate so composed he could yawn upon hearing the Black Market’s most closely guarded secret…?
Kang Hyo-jun’s mind turned ice-cold.
If he failed to respond properly now, this man could walk away from the Black Market whenever he pleased.
Someone capable of supplying such miraculous goods would have no reason to need the Black Market.
‘I must make him understand. Why we have no choice but to bind ourselves to him.’
Kang Hyo-jun opened his mouth with measured composure.
“I’ll set aside the value that comes with an S-rank rating. You likely already know that much.”
…His response was silence.
I’d anticipated as much.
“Even the finest consumables eventually build tolerance in the human body. Once tolerance accumulates, the consumables become less effective and side effects emerge.”
Consumables were ultimately products of the Tower.
No matter how refined, they contained components incompatible with Earth’s inhabitants.
Impurities. What we call ‘Tower residue.’
The man watched Kang Hyo-jun without so much as a nod.
That indifferent gaze made Kang Hyo-jun feel utterly overwhelmed.
‘Right, he’s telling me to skip the obvious parts.’
So Kang Hyo-jun quickly moved to the crux of the matter.
“…This consumable contains no impurities. Even the Religious Order’s ‘Holy Water,’ which has held the top position until now, ultimately failed to filter out microscopic impurities, making tolerance limits inevitable. But your consumable, Hunter… it’s flawless. An elixir that can be used indefinitely. This is a miracle that would shatter the entire ecosystem.”
A subtle shift crossed the man’s expression.
‘I’ve struck gold. That’s the answer.’
I don’t know how he obtained this consumable.
As a merchant, it wasn’t my place to wonder, nor should I have wondered.
Yet Kang Hyo-jun instinctively grasped the commercial potential of a consumable free from impurities.
S-rank? Certainly impressive.
But consumables are ultimately disposable—they vanish with use.
That alone wasn’t enough to rival the Numbers.
What elevated this consumable from ‘impressive’ to ‘extraordinary’ was the complete absence of impurities.
Which meant no tolerance. In other words, this supreme-grade consumable—one that even reattaches severed limbs—could be used infinitely.
No side effects. Regardless of gender, age, or status, anyone could use it without hesitation.
The social upheaval that a single vial of this potion, housed in such a cheap glass bottle, could trigger was beyond what Kang Hyo-jun could dare imagine.
But one thing was certain. Absolutely clear.
‘This consumable is guaranteed to be a massive success.’
“This is undoubtedly an artifact crafted by a special being. And the fact that you’ve obtained such a consumable artifact means you’ve forged a connection with that special being.”
He continued carefully, measuring each word.
Speaking with confidence, I made an effort to project trustworthiness in my tone.
“This means you are the only entity on Earth capable of supplying such divine artifacts.”
Kang Hyo-jun spoke with unwavering certainty.
“Therefore, you are ‘Numbers.’ Specifically, ‘Number 1.'”
That’s right. Numbers. Specifically, Number 1.
The Black Market’s strongest card.
The only method to capture this man.
—Hmm.
The man laughed as though intrigued.
* * *
As I left, I reflected.
‘Was he always like this?’
This was Kang Hyo-jun’s first encounter with Ha Sung-woon, but…
I had history with this man.
I’d seen him several times when selling stones and purchasing supplies at the Black Market.
Back then, he carried a different aura entirely.
More like a courteous store manager—’How may I assist you, valued customer?’
But now…
‘He seems like a true expert.’
A remarkable transformation.
To be honest, midway through I found myself nearly laughing at the absurdity of it all.
No impurities?
I’d hastily crafted these alchemical items in a cramped room using supplies bought urgently from the marketplace. How could there be none?
There should have been dust everywhere.
“Heh heh.”
An artifact forged by a special being?
Me? Special? An Awakening-disabled individual?
Well, I suppose I’m special in the worst possible way.
Though I do possess that absurdly powerful ability—Synchronization.
But when you think about it, that’s less ‘my skill’ and more ‘my character’s skill,’ isn’t it?
I still lack far too much to consider myself truly special.
Yet hearing such praise did make my chest flutter inexplicably.
‘Speaking of which, the time…’
I glanced at my holographic watch.
Approximately eighteen hours remained before Lee Ah-woon’s life would end.
I still had some margin.
Swiftly.
I withdrew an elegant black card from my pocket and examined it.
The front face bore no decoration whatsoever—a flawless expanse of black.
Whether due to some special material, it possessed an unnaturally deep, absolute blackness.
I’ve heard there’s a special coating that absorbs light, and this appears to be made from such a material.
The back side is remarkably simple.
The number ‘No.1’ is engraved in gold.
[How intriguing. It appears to be engraved in gold, but this is actually hologram technology on par with the optical camouflage I use myself.]
Interesting.
[This technology released to civilians…? At least, there’s no record of it in my database… That number seems to change according to commands from the Tower’s control center. And looking at this, it’s not just a simple card. It appears to function as a communication device as well?]
Whitey continued muttering things I couldn’t quite understand after that.
Roughly summarized, it was questioning how this could possibly exist here.
In any case, it looked incredibly luxurious to my eyes.
The elegant harmony of jet black and gold was truly striking.
Beneath that lay the alias I had chosen for myself.
‘Hmm.’
It was an alias I’d improvised on the spot when asked to decide on a title so it could be engraved on the card.
I’d infused it with the meaning of being someone special.
‘Special One’.
It also carried the meaning of Number 1.
‘But if only 100 people can receive this, and I came in as number 1, then either someone was pushed out of the top 100, or whoever was originally number 1 got bumped down to number 2, right?’
Whoever it was, they might be holding the back of their neck in frustration right about now.
‘Well, it’s not my problem. Surely they wouldn’t come directly to confront someone they don’t even know?’
* * *
“Kyaaahhh!!!”
In a dimly lit underground chamber.
Yereche, the saintess who had been offering prayers in a reverent posture, suddenly bolted upright from her position.
The sacred power that had been gently enveloping her shattered with a sharp pop, scattering in all directions.
“This… this can’t be!”
“Saintess!”
“What has happened?”
The believers who had been waiting outside the chamber known as the ‘Underground Prayer Chamber’ rushed frantically into the room.
“It’s changed.”
“Pardon?”
The saintess held out a single black card with trembling hands.
A card so black it stood out distinctly even in the dim light of the prayer chamber.
It was the Black Market’s ‘Black Card’.
“Why is this…?”
It’s black as always, isn’t it?
At the moment the believers voiced their confusion.
Whoosh.
The saintess flipped the card over.
“!!!”
The believers gasped in shock, their mouths falling open.
The number.
Had changed.
The Saint’s Black Market number was 1.
But now.
The number had become 2.
“I’ve become Number 2?”
Grind.
The Saint gnashed her teeth.
The ‘Holy Water’—something only the Saint could produce.
The Black Market number was what she’d received in exchange for monopolizing its supply.
Holy Water fell short of true artifacts, certainly.
But it functioned as a pseudo-artifact, boosting healing power and disease resistance.
That alone made it so precious that money couldn’t buy it—its value was immeasurable.
Naturally, befitting that worth, her number was 1.
It had taken considerable time to claim that 1, and since then she’d maintained an unshakeable position at the top.
And that had just shattered.
“Who on earth is it?”
The Saint called the Italy Market Branch manager.
[Yes, Saint.]
“My number has dropped.”
[Yes, I imagine so.]
“…What happened? Are you saying you won’t accept our Religious Order’s Holy Water anymore?”
[Oh, no, that’s not it. How should I put it… it was a very ‘legitimate number usurpation.’]
“‘Number usurpation?’ What’s that?”
[My, you’ve never heard of it? Ah, well, you’ve always been first, so you might not know. When a rookie appears and, with just their first submission, surpasses the existing number one and takes their place. That’s what we call number usurpation.]
Yereche’s words caught in her throat.
“…A newcomer? Do you think that makes sense?”
[Yes, it made perfect sense. All the Market’s leaders gave a unanimous standing ovation. Ah, you must continue supplying Holy Water. If you want to maintain your position at number two, that is. Well then.]
Click.
The call ended.
“…You bastard. You treat me like this because my number dropped one spot?”
The number had shifted.
This wasn’t merely a matter of 1 becoming 2.
The Religious Order’s income depended absolutely on the Holy Water the Saint produced.
Becoming second-ranked meant the commission benefits she’d received until now would plummet drastically.
And that inevitably led to one conclusion: a mortal blow to the Religious Order’s finances ahead.
Crunch.
Yereche nervously bit her nails.
“Damn it. Damn it.”
She felt suffocated, as if her breath had caught in her throat.
‘Regardless of where that bastard crawled out from, there’s only one place where something like that would surface.’
The Black Market.
Something momentous was definitely happening there.
It seemed an artifact put up for auction by the one who’d stolen Number 1 was making an appearance.
“Summon the Money Bag.”
“Uh, Saint. Calling the Pope a Money Bag is···.”
“Summon the Money Bag.”
“···Yes, ma’am.”
‘I’ll verify for myself just how remarkable this item is.’
The Saint, Yereche, had decided to raid the Religious Order’s treasury.
The treasury of the organization that held the most ‘Gold’ in the entire world.
* * *
“Hm?”
The man felt the black card in his pocket vibrate and hastily pulled it out to check.
“Oh ho.”
The number ’99’ on the back vanished, and ‘100’ appeared in its place.
It meant the man who’d been barely clinging to the lowest rung of Numbers had now teetered on the brink of falling off entirely.
The man scratched at his sparse beard.
Then slowly dialed a number.
“Yeah, Hyo-jun. Just checked it.”
[Teacher. I’m terribly sorry.]
“Nah. I was hanging on by a thread at the tail end anyway, so it was bound to happen. More importantly—the medicine?”
[…You’re asking about that first, sir?]
On the other end of the line, Kang Hyo-jun, the South Korea branch director of the Black Market, sighed inaudibly.
Teacher. The mentor who’d once guided Kang Hyo-jun down the path of the Market, and a legendary merchant magnate who’d once ruled the Black Market.
But ten years ago, a man who’d abandoned everything to hide in the shadows, claiming he would save a dying child.
[The stabilizer has… been discontinued.]
“Discontinued? It’s not a delivery issue, is it? You said Gold was no problem. How much was it? Fifty thousand Gold per dose?”
[They say they won’t make any more. Whether you offer a hundred thousand Gold or a million Gold, it doesn’t matter.]
“Why?”
[They say there aren’t enough customers to make it worthwhile.]
“…Hyo-jun, then what about Bloodclot?”
[…]
Bloodclot.
His Korean name was Lee Ah-woon.
A hunter who’d awakened the S-rank ability ‘Circulation’.
Yet reduced to an ordinary hunter by a cursed incurable disease.
Kang Hyo-jun knew well to the teacher what Lee Ah-woon meant.
That’s why he couldn’t possibly utter those five words: ‘Let’s give up.’
Through the receiver came the teacher’s ragged breathing.
Despair seeped through every breath.
“There’s… no way, is there?”
[Teacher.]
Kang Hyo-jun clenched his fists.
It was a violation of protocol.
But surely he could repay this debt to his benefactor.
[“Stabilizers” do not exist. However…]
“….”
[“A cure” has emerged.]
“What?”
[In this auction, a spiritual elixir with the potential to treat “mana backflow” has been submitted.]
“R-really? That… it actually exists?”
[I have personally appraised it. It is S-rank.]
Silence.
Through the phone, I could feel his trembling.
[So, Teacher.]
“….”
[How much gold have you accumulated?]
Kang Hyo-jun decided to offer “hope.”
It was the only way he could repay the debt he owed his teacher.
But this hope was never kind.
A vicious battle for gold would inevitably erupt over a single spiritual elixir.
But.
Lee Hyung-je laughed wickedly.
“I have a damn fortune.”
The one who had won that war, survived it, and claimed the tail end of Numbers.
That was Lee Hyung-je.
* * *
“…A saint and a gold mine too? It’ll sell for an astronomical price.”
After hanging up, Kang Hyo-jun summoned all his staff.
This auction.
It was truly a major operation.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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