I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 40

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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 40
The world is vast. The strong are legion. And above the heavens, there exists yet another heaven.
Kim Min-seok, who had lived his entire life like a cockroach, felt that cruel truth pierce his very bones as he collapsed to the ground and wept.
“Ugh… ugh…”
His survival instinct screamed with terrible intensity.
If he remained trapped in Pandemonium, he would eventually die at the Master’s hands.
And his intuition whispered the truth: that day was not far away.
There was only one path to survival.
That grand spell which had frozen Pyongyang!
He had to cling to whoever wielded that magic, no matter what.
Because the reason the Guild Master had been searching for—the reason Han Seol-ah had grown stronger—was surely that man.
Kim Min-seok, who had shattered expensive artifacts to track Scathach’s spatial displacement trajectory, finally laid eyes on ‘that man’.
The moment he saw that man.
Kim Min-seok sensed something he could scarcely articulate.
A gaze that regarded him as a mere insect, something that could be extinguished at any moment.
Something beyond that gaze.
The reverse side.
Unable to express precisely what it was, he could only call it the ‘reverse side’—the true nature of that man hidden beneath the surface.
That reverse side threatened to drive Kim Min-seok to madness.
It was a maddening contradiction.
His bestial survival instinct screamed at him to grovel at that man’s feet and beg for his life, but the deepest intuition of his soul issued a warning.
The moment he touched that sinister ‘reverse side’, he would surely be devoured and destroyed.
“P-please… spare me. Spare me. Spare me. Spare me.”
Guaranteed survival. And impending death.
That gap drove Kim Min-seok to the brink of madness.
Trembling violently, Kim Min-seok fumbled for his phone with shaking hands.
“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…”
* * *
“It’s me, you bastard.”
The one who answered was Min Ji-hee.
[M-Min Ji-hee? I was trying to call Uncle Cheon-jin…]
“Shut up, you bastard. Who’s your uncle?”
[…]
After a moment of silence, Kim Min-seok began pleading in a trembling voice.
[P-please… save me.]
“Why should I.”
[I’ll do anything, please. Save me. Please, please… *sob*.]
Hmm.
A gleam of interest flickered in Min Ji-hee’s eyes.
‘He’s broken. This could be useful.’
Min Ji-hee gauged the Apostle’s reaction.
The Apostle nodded silently in approval.
Clearing her throat, Min Ji-hee spoke with calculated warmth.
“Kim Min-seok. If you want to live, listen carefully to what I say.”
[Y-yes.]
“Return to Pandemonium. And work diligently there. Act as though you’ve truly betrayed South Korea. Do you understand?”
[Yes.]
“And when I contact you, answer. Understood?”
[Yes?]
“Become a double agent.”
[…]
Watching Kim Min-seok hesitate, Min Ji-hee’s mind raced.
Kim Min-seok was a cockroach—he’d do anything to survive.
His obsession with survival was almost pathetic.
Yet he was so terrified that merely seeing the Apostle had shattered him.
This meant only one thing.
Kim Min-seok believed the Apostle could kill him at any moment.
Why?
She didn’t know.
Min Ji-hee had no idea what kind of person the Apostle was.
She didn’t know what Kim Min-seok had witnessed either.
But showing ignorance would be amateurish.
“Kim Min-seok. Don’t refuse.”
[…?]
“If you refuse… you will certainly die.”
Gulp.
Kim Min-seok swallowed hard.
“If you agree, you might survive depending on what you do.”
Kim Min-seok’s survival instinct screamed an alarm.
Just as his scattered wits began to return.
Min Ji-hee drove the final nail home.
Speaking almost in a whisper.
She leaned close to Kim Min-seok’s ear.
“The One will be watching.”
[···!]
From context and atmosphere.
Kim Min-seok understood who “The One” meant.
Gripped by renewed terror, Kim Min-seok nodded frantically instead of answering.
Even though it was impossible to see through the phone.
* * *
After the call ended.
Min Ji-hee, having sent Pandemonium her affirmative response, received the ‘strategy guide.’
The contents were brief.
[Observation Report]
[Resonance Entity – Resonar]
[Classification: Boss]
[Appearance: Both specimens possess the form of enormous larvae]
‘So two of them appear, not just one.’
[Key Characteristics]
[Resonance entities convert elemental and physical strikes into energy and absorb them]
[The absorbed energy is immediately utilized as an attack resource for the opposing resonance entity]
Suppose Han Seol-ah fires an ice arrow.
The resonance entity takes damage from the ice arrow and absorbs the frozen energy.
Then, the opposing resonance entity expends that ice energy to launch an attack.
It’s not a complicated mechanism.
But the problem lay in the next line.
[The opposing resonance entity gains ‘complete immunity’ to strikes identical to the absorbed energy]
[This is a ‘rule’ and cannot be circumvented]
Min Ji-hee furrowed her brow.
If the resonance entity took damage from an ice arrow.
Then the opposing resonance entity immediately gained ‘complete immunity’ to frozen elemental strikes.
Even the penetration demonstrated by the Apostle and Eternal Winter wouldn’t work.
An absolute, immutable rule set by the system and the world itself.
Because that was the rule.
‘Seol-ah and the Apostle’s abilities are both ice-based…’
What could be done?
‘He said there was a method, but…’
Min Ji-hee stole a glance at the Apostle.
A human could only awaken to one ability.
If one awakened to an ice-based ability, that was the end of it.
Miracles like additionally awakening to a flame-based ability simply didn’t occur.
Yet Resonar could only be conquered with two or more attributes.
‘What could it possibly be?’
As things stood, this boss seemed impossible to conquer.
Flip.
Min Ji-hee turned to the next page of the report.
[Strategy Method]
Below that, large letters in bright red appeared with a thud.
[Redacted]
[Additional Payment Required]
A sigh.
Min Ji-hee couldn’t hold back any longer, and a breath of exasperation escaped her lips.
“Give it here.”
Min Ji-hee respectfully handed the strategy guide to the Apostle.
* * *
‘Seriously? That’s all there is?’
The information was far too sparse.
‘Whoever wrote this doesn’t even properly understand what Resonar is, do they?’
The fact that there’s this little suggests they at least know about Lost Honor.
But given how poorly written the actual content is, they’ve clearly never actually captured it.
And on top of that, the strategy method is marked as “Censored.”
‘Hah.’
They write such shoddy content, yet they pull the paywall trick on the most crucial part?
I don’t know who wrote this, but it’s absolutely infuriating.
‘Unforgivable.’
I came here specifically to discuss how to capture Resonar.
This is the perfect opportunity to properly explain what Resonar actually is.
I picked up the report and tore it to shreds, tossing it into the trash.
Garbage information like this doesn’t deserve a second glance.
I stood up from my seat and moved to the whiteboard.
I picked up a marker and wrote in large letters.
[R E S O N A R]
[S T R A T E G Y C O U N C I L]
Alright.
Everyone take a seat.
* * *
One hour later.
The lengthy lecture had finally ended.
Min Ji-hee, maintaining a state of intense concentration.
Ah, so this is the person known as the Hunter Association’s brain.
She certainly looks sharp.
Meanwhile, Han Seol-ah looked completely lost.
She’s trying to disguise it with an expressionless face, but I have ways of seeing through it.
That’s the look of someone pretending to understand when they don’t.
Still, Han Seol-ah’s role in this operation is just one thing.
‘All she needs to do is use Eternal Winter to smash half of the resonance entity.’
I can handle the rest.
As for Jin Cheon-jin… his eyes have been half-glazed over since a moment ago. He’s completely useless when it comes to thinking.
[Understood?]
I wrote two characters on the whiteboard and tapped it sharply.
Min Ji-hee and Han Seol-ah nodded in unison.
‘Good.’
Now for the next matter.
‘So much to do, so much to do.’
* * *
After the Apostle departed in haste.
“Pandemonium is a place the Apostle takes interest in. It’s quite a useful organization as well. Now that we have an internal intelligence network, we can make good use of it.”
“…You think that’s feasible?”
“It depends on how we control it.”
Min Ji-hee pushed her glasses up and her eyes gleamed.
“Everything up to this point has been the Apostle’s game.”
“Hmm?”
Smack.
Min Ji-hee struck Jin Cheon-jin’s forearm hard.
“Do you really think it’s coincidence that Kim Min-seok, who betrayed us, rolls in like a gift at this exact moment? And more than that—who do you think reduced Kim Min-seok to such a broken state?”
“Hmm…”
Jin Cheon-jin’s response remained lukewarm.
‘The Apostle isn’t a god, so there’s no way he could predict and move through every single event…’ That was his thought.
And Min Ji-hee could see Jin Cheon-jin’s reasoning plainly.
Smack!
“Stop thinking so naively. We didn’t even know if someone as powerful as the Apostle existed on South Korean soil. An awakened one who lived hidden from our eyes until reaching that age and acquiring such ability. When did he awaken? Was he strong from the moment of awakening? How old is he now? And most importantly.”
“…”
“Just how strong is he?”
“Right.”
“We know nothing. There’s nothing we can answer, is there?”
“That’s true.”
“And precisely at the moment we needed ‘salvation’ most, he broke his long seclusion and appeared before us. You don’t actually think that’s mere coincidence, do you?”
“…”
“He was waiting. For that moment. That’s the kind of person he is. So we can only regard him as someone who anticipates and moves through things we cannot even conceive of.”
Goosebumps rippled across Min Ji-hee’s entire body.
A game of strategy against a transcendent being playing moves several steps ahead—impossible even to fathom.
A tension she had never felt before thrilled through her.
Han Seol-ah carefully raised her hand.
“Um…”
“Yes, Seol-ah?”
“I know how strong he is.”
“You do?”
Nod.
Han Seol-ah nodded firmly and spoke.
“He’s the strongest on Earth.”
“···Hmm.”
Min Ji-hee nodded in acknowledgment.
Was Han Seol-ah’s judgment correct?
The naive Jin Cheon-jin nodded in complete agreement with Han Seol-ah’s words.
But Min Ji-hee found it difficult to reach the same conclusion.
‘Mushin’s strength was beyond logical explanation. The Apostle’s grand magic was certainly powerful… to that degree. But could that really be called the strongest?’
Min Ji-hee recalled the image of the Apostle laughing maniacally while coughing blood.
Such a grand magic would naturally demand an equally devastating recoil to withstand.
But Mushin’s single slash… produced destructive power comparable to the Apostle’s grand magic.
‘If Mushin and Scathach were to fight···.’
Mushin would win.
‘Then, if the Apostle and Mushin were to fight?’
Would that Mushin lose?
Having witnessed Mushin’s divine authority firsthand, Min Ji-hee couldn’t imagine such a scenario.
“···Seriously though. Even if Mushin came···.”
“I know, I know.”
“Tch.”
At Han Seol-ah’s pouting, her lips jutting out, Min Ji-hee’s expression softened.
Her eyes gleamed with affection, as if watching a young daughter sulking because her mother wouldn’t take her side.
But that warmth faded quickly as Min Ji-hee hardened her expression back to her usual cold demeanor.
“In any case, the Apostle is an unidentified awakener we’ve never had contact with before. It’s as if all traces of their existence have been erased.”
“Right? How was that even possible?”
Min Ji-hee pondered.
She couldn’t recall it immediately, but she was certain she’d read a classified document once that contained records of a similar type of human.
‘Awakening-disabled individuals whose traces of existence have been erased.’
But she shook her head.
‘However, an awakening-disabled individual cannot be the Apostle. They… cannot awaken.’
* * *
The theoretical instruction was complete, so now came the next step.
I left the Hunter Association and immediately sought out the Black Market.
Kang Hyo-jun bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
The sharpness of his posture conveyed genuine respect.
“I sincerely apologize, Special One.”
“Let’s head inside first.”
My face had already been changed by Whitey.
It was convenient that Whitey would change my appearance without me even having to ask.
I was guided into the branch director’s office.
“Right this way.”
I sat in the director’s chair.
‘…What is this chair? Why is it so uncomfortable?’
The chair is comfortable. With expensive leather and what must be high-quality foam, it hugs my body with a stability that’s absolutely sublime.
Yet despite that, I feel a distinct sense of unease…
Because this is an office chair!
A diabolical contraption engineered for maximum efficiency during long hours of desk work.
‘My energy… is being drained….’
My spirit rebels against it.
It compels me to work diligently and responsibly.
I want to hurry back and sink into my gaming chair.
Cheap leather, uncomfortable lumbar support, cheap foam padding.
Yet when gaming, there’s no comfort quite like it—a gamer’s true sanctuary.
‘How could I ever forget that place, even in dreams.’
Let someone else handle the work.
As I shook my head with an internal grumble, Kang Hyo-jun carefully opened his mouth.
“Shall I settle the points right away…”
“No.”
Points?
Of course they’re nice.
But there’s something more pressing right now.
“Instead, get me some artifacts.”
“Which artifacts would you like?”
“You have a catalog?”
“Yes.”
I opened the catalog Kang Hyo-jun produced from his pocket.
I flipped through it quickly, stopping at the very last section—the ‘Tank’ category.
“A pen, please.”
What Kang Hyo-jun respectfully handed me was a fountain pen with a blue gemstone intricately carved into its nib—the kind of luxury item that would easily fetch several million won at a glance.
Hmm.
It fits perfectly in my hand.
I circle the first tank artifact on the list.
“Starting from here.”
Then I flip to the very last page and circle one more item.
“Through here.”
“…?”
His expression screams confusion.
“I’ll take all of them.”
“…?”
Pfft.
Looking at Kang Hyo-jun’s face, I nearly burst out laughing despite myself.
He wears the expression of someone who can’t believe what he just heard.
I’ve always wanted to say that line once I became wealthy.
“I’ll buy everything.”

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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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