I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 48

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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 48
‘Where have I seen this before?’
The sensation felt familiar, yet the memory eluded me.
It was hazy, as if paint had been spilled across my recollection.
Yet I sensed instinctively that I could not refuse.
Han Seol-ah immediately tapped [Yes].
In that instant.
Pop!
A sensation like warm yet simultaneously cool wind brushed past my head.
A status window I’d never seen before appeared in the corner of Han Seol-ah’s vision.
[Party] (2/5)
[Me]
[Han Seol-ah]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Leave Party]
‘A party?’
Though Han Seol-ah wasn’t one for games, I wasn’t entirely ignorant of the concept.
This party window had the appearance of something from within a game.
‘Who is this “Me” that’s already registered?’
It seemed that “Me” was the entity who had invited Han Seol-ah into this “party.”
‘The Apostle?’
When I tried to think of someone with such an extraordinary ability I’d never heard of before, only one person came to mind—the Apostle.
If it were the Apostle, nothing he did would surprise me.
‘He does engage in peculiar acts from time to time… but surely he wouldn’t do anything that would harm me. Surely… he wouldn’t, right?’
Though Han Seol-ah was startled enough for my hair to stand on end, once I identified who had orchestrated this spectacle, my mind settled.
‘A party, then…’
Examining the party window closely, I noticed two bars—one red and one blue—drawn beside the name.
‘Red must be health, blue must be mana?’
As a test, I cast a single ice arrow.
“Ah. It decreases.”
The blue bar diminished ever so slightly.
I cancelled the ice arrow and took a moment to catch my breath, and the depleted blue bar refilled completely.
‘How fascinating…’
I wanted to verify the red bar as well, but I couldn’t very well harm myself…
‘Next time we meet, he’ll explain it in detail, surely.’
Just as I was about to turn my attention away.
Within the [Party] status window, one of the [Empty] slots was suddenly filled with a new person.
[Lee Ah-woon]
‘Who is this… huh?’
Before I could even wonder who it was, Han Seol-ah jolted upright in alarm.
The red bar next to the newly added ‘party member’ looked so worn it could crumble to dust at any moment.
‘Red means life, health-related, right? In this condition…!’
Wasn’t this the state of someone on the brink of death?
* * *
“Mmm.”
“Sleep well.”
[Vital signs are stable.]
Beneath my feet.
Lee Ah-woon was sleeping soundly on a shabby mattress.
When Lee Ah-woon returned to reality and Whitey announced [Vital signs are abnormal!], I was so startled.
“Gave me quite a fright.”
[I apologize once more…]
“No, it wasn’t your fault.”
I flew immediately to where Lee Ah-woon was and found him sleeping, mixed in with a dark tar-like liquid.
Seeing that horrific state, I thought something terrible had happened to Lee Ah-woon, but…
Lee Ah-woon was perfectly fine—no, actually incredibly healthy.
In martial arts novels, when people undergo something like a complete metamorphosis, all sorts of waste matter flows from their bodies.
What Lee Ah-woon experienced was similar to that.
Remnants of the Outer God, or waste matter.
And all sorts of drugs Lee Ah-woon had consumed to survive.
Those tangled together, gnawing at Lee Ah-woon’s insides, but when Lee Ah-woon was reborn as ‘New Lee Ah-woon’ in Lost Honor and returned, they were forced outward.
I just fetched some water and splashed it, and it all disappeared.
‘When I had him join the party to check, his HP was already bottomed out. Case closed.’
When Lee Ah-woon woke up as I was splashing water and I had him join the party to verify, I was shocked to see the HP bar at the bottom.
A guy who had 1/10 HP now had 10/10,000 HP, so it was inevitable the bar showing the ratio would hit rock bottom.
Still, the shock wasn’t without its rewards, so I had no regrets.
Around the time the situation settled and I caught my breath.
A cautious voice came from outside the door.
“Is there anything else you need, Special One.”
This old man right here.
I was able to meet Lee Hyung-je from the ‘Golden Mine’.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
This man did all the work of washing, drying, and dressing Lee Ah-woon.
Even when I offered to help, he flatly refused.
Saying he couldn’t soil the hands of his benefactor.
‘But you’re my benefactor too.’
I couldn’t let it show though.
“Shall we take a walk.”
“Yes.”
I instructed Whitey to monitor Lee Ah-woon’s condition, then walked the man around the surrounding area.
Once we’d put some distance between ourselves and Lee Ah-woon’s place—his hovel? His hideout? Whatever you wanted to call it.
“So, what did you want to tell me?”
It was clear that Lee Hyung-je had something he wanted to convey.
“It’s an old story… but may I tell it?”
“Keep it brief. Keep it engaging.”
“I once had quite a lot of Points.”
I knew that well.
Ten years ago, when the Tower first appeared.
I understood the Black Market had emerged around the same time.
A man who had poured all his wealth into the Black Market to raise capital, then leveraged his awakened ability—”Emotion Merchant”—to conduct business with that exacting organization, earning an enormous amount of Points.
And wasn’t he a saint of the Hunter era, having sunk every last Point into relief efforts?
When I casually mentioned this, Lee Hyung-je laughed as if amused.
“I didn’t want to become a good person from the start.”
* * *
“…and that’s how it came to be.”
I see.
Lee Hyung-je had quite the gift for storytelling.
Waves of emotion were crashing through my chest.
But… it was long.
Ultimately, it was a story that could be summarized as: Lee Ah-woon’s younger sister’s death was Lee Hyung-je’s responsibility, and out of that guilt, he devoted himself to relief work and looked after Lee Ah-woon.
“I apologize. That must have been tedious.”
“It’s fine.”
‘I summarized it myself anyway.’
Lee Hyung-je laughed sheepishly and pulled a card from his pocket, offering it to me.
“What is this?”
“It’s a Numbers card with my account information.”
“I know.”
It’s identical to the one I have.
The only difference is that if I’m 1, then Lee Hyung-je is 100.
“I’m giving it to you.”
“….”
“I understand you’ve spent quite a considerable amount of Points purchasing supplies to save people this time.”
“I still have plenty of Points.”
“I’ll have more.”
“….”
For now, that’s the truth.
Who knows how many Points Lee Hyung-je actually possesses?
They say no one on Earth knows except Lee Hyung-je himself.
“The legendary VIP, the Alchemist. Excluding him, you possess the most Points on Earth.”
The Alchemist?
That’s me.
“A VIP… So the Alchemist must have quite a lot of Points?”
“They say it’s beyond measure.”
I know better.
That’s just enough to buy some chicken and pizza, really…
‘I do have convertible assets piled up in the Warehouse, but that’s my bare minimum survival fund for navigating this harsh world—not money I can spend freely.’
My mental accounting was strictly compartmentalized.
“If I earn Points from the Black Market, I heard the Alchemist actually produces Points.”
That’s not quite right.
I earn it through honest labor at Lost Honor…
‘…Though if I really committed to emptying the Warehouse, I could generate an astronomical amount of Points.’
I simply hadn’t needed to yet.
“So, why are you giving me this?”
“My vessel was too small. Even with vast Points, my limit was ensuring people didn’t starve.”
“I believe that alone is a remarkable achievement.”
Lee Hyung-je shook his head firmly.
“But if Special One had Points, it seemed like you could save South Korea itself.”
“….”
“If accepting is difficult, please think of it as repayment for saving Ah-woon and freeing me from the chains of a distant past.”
Lee Hyung-je, having finally handed over the card, wore a relieved expression as he walked into the dark alley, as if to say this was where he belonged.
This was his place.
* * *
There were things Lee Hyung-je didn’t say.
If he deliberately chose silence, I had no desire to press for answers.
After all, there’s no grave in this world without its story.
If I could find peace with what he’d shared, that was enough.
‘How much could it be?’
And what should I do with this?
…My head was spinning.
I couldn’t make a decision easily.
Too much money.
Too immense a weight.
And far too many responsibilities.
Unable to reach a conclusion, I sought out Kang Hyo-jun.
“Welcome, Special One.”
Kang Hyo-jun, still radiating those gleaming eyes.
Something… some enormous sense of anticipation was practically bursting out of him.
“…Did something good happen?”
“Of course.”
Kang Hyo-jun opened the door with practiced elegance, guiding me forward.
“This way, please.”
The place Kang Hyo-jun led me to was a sprawling open field.
It was packed with South Korea’s primary hunter forces—tanks reeking of sweat and exertion.
The artifacts adorning those tanks…
Those were unmistakably the items I’d instructed Kang Hyo-jun to procure by tomorrow.
‘…He actually sourced all that in a single day?’
And beyond that.
He’d transported everything from the Black Market to this open field.
Assembled the hunters, sorted them.
And distributed the artifacts?
Impeccably executed work.
“Would you care to verify this?”
Kang Hyo-jun extended a tablet toward me.
I examined it—a meticulously organized document detailing which artifacts and consumables had been distributed to each hunter.
[Agent. This is…]
I was astounded.
Kang Hyo-jun’s execution exceeded my expectations entirely.
Every artifact and consumable combination was flawless.
[The Cellsword Armor, a German Tower specialty, carries an agility penalty. He offset it with Ogre Skin Potion. Moreover, for the tank assigned the British-made chain mail with weak mana resistance, he distributed a Salty Elixir.]
But that wasn’t all.
Rather than the typical approach of “give the best artifacts to S-rank tanks,” every distribution was optimized based on each tank’s awakening ability and characteristics.
‘C-rank tank Kim Someone. Awakening ability: Thorn Armor. Weakness: low base health, high death risk before reflection triggers. Solution: Vampire Ring for forced health recovery on impact… Here too, weaknesses eliminated, strengths maximized.’
My gaze raced through the remaining entries.
‘A-rank tank with impenetrable physical defense but fragile mentality prone to collapse—fitted with a Necklace of Courage. Evasion tank… Wow. He really did this right. Impressive…’
If he’d pursued only strength maximization, he would have given the evasion tank an evasion-boosting artifact.
Instead, the entire concept was structured around defense enhancement.
‘He even avoided the trap problem.’
He’d grasped my instructions and intent with perfect clarity.
Analyzing hundreds of hunters’ specs and fatal weaknesses, he’d crafted builds ensuring artifacts operated at 200%, 300% efficiency.
In just one day!
‘Insane workaholic bastard…’
Internally, I was giving him a standing ovation, but I turned to Kang Hyo-jun with an impassive expression.
“Not bad. You pass.”
“Th-thank you…!”
Kang Hyo-jun’s voice trembled slightly.
‘Wait.’
Suddenly.
My attention snapped to the Numbers card from the Golden Mine tucked in my pocket.
‘Why should I worry about how to use this?’
This person worked so competently.
Sharp mind.
Such excellent talent existed in South Korea.
“We should entrust greater responsibilities to those who excel at their work.”
I pulled out Lee Hyung-je’s card and jabbed it against Kang Hyo-jun’s chest.
“…This is from the Golden Mine?”
“Let’s establish a foundation.”
“…Special One? The administrator of the Market isn’t a secretary…”
“We’ll use this card as capital. The Golden Mine’s entire fortune.”
“Gasp. The… entire fortune!”
“The purpose of establishment is…”
“….”
“The salvation of South Korea, shall we say.”
‘We don’t handle such matters’ ‘Please reconsider’ ‘I’ll bring in another specialist’
Kang Hyo-jun’s frantic protests—as if he’d grab my pant leg to stop me—never reached my ears.
Competent at work.
Easy to manipulate.
That’s you, Kang Hyo-jun.
‘From today on, you’re my slave for life.’
“Just do as I say.”
I’ll work you until your bones and flesh separate.

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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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