I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 49

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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 49
I don’t need to handle everything myself.
I should focus solely on what matters most—
preventing South Korea’s annihilation.
The Resonar subjugation campaign drawing near.
The conquest of Tower Floor 94.
Beyond these two critical objectives, everything else frankly… falls lower on the priority list.
‘I have to survive first, after all.’
So I entrust the Golden Mine’s financial matters to Kang Hyo-jun.
“Prepare a business proposal.”
“….”
“Answer me.”
“Y-yes….”
I tucked the Golden Mine card back into my pocket carefully.
I had no intention of handing it over outright, of course.
When Kang Hyo-jun eventually takes complete control of this foundation’s operations,
any budget requests following proper procedure would be approved after Whitey’s meticulous audits.
‘The master must keep the keys to the treasury.’
I’d confirmed the hunters’ combat readiness thoroughly.
I’d verified Kang Hyo-jun’s exceptional administrative capabilities.
And I’d broken ground on an ambitious new venture for South Korea’s future—three birds with one stone.
‘An overachiever who accomplishes three goals in a single stride.’
That’s me.
* * *
After sending Kang Hyo-jun off, I stopped by the Hunter Association to check on Han Seol-ah’s condition.
I rode her private elevator to the top floor, and the moment the doors opened, I couldn’t help but be startled.
‘Damn, it’s freezing!’
Tap tap tap.
I frantically mashed the elevator’s close button.
“Phew.”
Without Synchronization active, I’d need to keep my distance from where Han Seol-ah trained.
‘She’s doing well.’
The bone-chilling cold seeping even beyond the specially treated training grounds—enough to alarm any civilian—told me
she was diligently mastering the core principle of Frost Boundary magic: the art of freezing itself.
‘No concerns there.’
One floor below.
I headed toward Min Ji-hee’s War Room.
I passed Song Director, who offered a respectful bow, and entered Min Ji-hee’s office.
‘Ugh.’
Min Ji-hee apparently had no talent for tidiness.
In this digital age, I couldn’t fathom why paper documents were still needed in such abundance. What had once been a desk had transformed into a paper graveyard, with documents scattered haphazardly across the floor.
Skimming through them, I found Hunter rosters…
‘Hmm?’
It appeared Kang Hyo-jun had received considerable assistance from Min Ji-hee in calibrating artifact fragments.
The papers crammed across the floor and walls were inventory lists of artifacts I’d purchased and evaluation documents detailing the characteristics of hunters.
‘I had no idea the Black Market manager and the Hunter Association vice-president were cooperating to this extent.’
The Black Market operated in shadow. The Hunter Association stood in the light.
I’d assumed the two organizations were bitter rivals who couldn’t easily accept each other.
The Association had the Apostle; the Market had Special One.
I’d planned to distribute traces across two separate channels, but the connection had formed faster than anticipated.
‘If the connection has formed, they’ve likely already deduced that the Apostle and Special One are the same person.’
For two intelligent people, such a deduction was elementary.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Having them discover the dual identity was always part of the plan.
It was merely a question of when. If I’d intended to keep it hidden forever, I would have separated the two identities’ movements far more intricately.
‘I’m already pressed for time just preventing the apocalypse—why would I bother managing that?’
The reason I’d deliberately split my identity into two was precisely for situations like this.
When my trail was discovered this way, it became the most effective ‘shield’.
‘The more intelligent the person, the more they become satisfied with their own insight in deducing that the two are the same, and the more firmly they believe that to be the complete truth.’
It was a form of elaborate double trap.
A snare that makes them believe they’ve uncovered all secrets once they’ve dismantled one trap.
Kang Hyo-jun and Min Ji-hee were already overwhelmed by the irrational actions displayed by Special One and the Apostle.
The moment those two massive personas merged into one, the emotion they’d feel wouldn’t be curiosity toward the truth, but overwhelming awe and terror.
A monster so colossal they wouldn’t dare attempt to probe its depths.
Once I’d established that, it would be finished.
After all, what mattered most to me was perfectly concealing the true identity crouching beneath those glittering facades: Ha Sung-woon, the Unawakened.
Whether as Special One or the Apostle, they were merely chess pieces I could discard at any moment to protect my true self.
“Welcome, Apostle.”
“Mm.”
Min Ji-hee’s expression showed a moment of dismay.
Naturally—she hadn’t wanted me to see evidence like this.
‘Goodness, is Min Ji-hee unwell?’
Min Ji-hee’s face looked haggard.
It was the face of someone who’d been working frantically, pushed to the absolute limit.
‘…Never mind the cleaning.’
She must have been too busy to even manage that.
“….”
As I watched with concerned eyes, Min Ji-hee offered an embarrassed smile, cleared her throat with a soft cough, and returned to her usual expressionless face.
“…I’ll brief you on our readiness status.”
Afterward, I received an operational briefing from Min Ji-hee.
‘They certainly do excellent work here.’
A talent to be coveted, but…
If Min Ji-hee were to leave, the Hunter Association would collapse.
She was a pillar that simply could not be removed.
The single Jenga piece supporting the two pillars of South Korea and the Hunter Association, one might say.
In any case…
Min Ji-hee’s expression—that look of being exhausted to the point of death—weighed heavily on my mind.
“It seems you need rest, doesn’t it?”
“Pardon? Oh, no, that’s not it.”
“If you want to rest, you may.”
“Ah…”
Color returned to Min Ji-hee’s face.
She seemed moved by my consideration.
‘…I’m not that harsh of a person.’
Besides, I had roughly a week of breathing room before Resonar’s arrival.
Originally, the schedule should have been tighter.
I’d planned on needing at least three or four days just to distribute the artifacts.
But thanks to Kang Hyo-jun and Min Ji-hee’s frenzied work ethic, it all finished in a single day, giving me that much more leeway.
“And you, Apostle?”
“I gained significant enlightenment this time, so I intend to cultivate that.”
After completing Lee Ah-woon’s Quest, certain classes had been unlocked.
I needed to verify them.
‘It’ll just be a matter of clicking away at home.’
Not a difficult task, but one that would require considerable time.
“Then, rest well.”
“….”
Having urged her so earnestly to rest, she would surely take care of herself.
As I left the Hunter Association, I encountered Jin Cheon-jin rushing in breathlessly.
“Apostle.”
“Watch over Min Ji-hee carefully.”
I gave Jin Cheon-jin firm instructions as well.
‘Rest well and absolutely do not collapse, Min Ji-hee!’
* * *
Click.
The moment the office door closed and the Apostle’s footsteps faded completely away.
“Haah…”
Min Ji-hee exhaled a long, kettle-like sigh and collapsed into her chair.
“Dear! Are you alright?”
Jin Cheon-jin, who had rushed over with urgency, turned pale as he helped steady Min Ji-hee.
“What did the Apostle say to you…?”
“…Honey.”
Min Ji-hee, who compulsively maintained the titles of “Chairman” or “Association Chairman” in official settings, had just called me that.
Honey? From Min Ji-hee’s lips?
It meant I was mentally knocked out cold.
Jin Cheon-jin carefully wrapped his arms around Min Ji-hee.
Min Ji-hee gripped his sleeve tightly.
“…He told me to rest.”
“Rest? Wasn’t that considerate of him? You haven’t taken a break in ages—you’ve been working non-stop.”
“…Do you understand what the situation is right now?”
“Didn’t the artifact distribution finish well?”
“Resonar’s descent is only days away!”
Min Ji-hee cried out in exasperation.
It was a whisper, heavily suppressed so her voice wouldn’t leak outside.
“The true crisis is only beginning now… and he says ‘rest if you want to’?”
Jin Cheon-jin’s face began to harden as he turned those words over in his mind.
Now that he thought about it, something was off.
Would that merciless, cold transcendent really console someone just because they’d accumulated a little fatigue?
Absolutely not.
“Then…”
“It was a warning.”
Min Ji-hee swallowed hard.
“‘You’re exhausted by merely this? How disappointing’… That’s what it meant.”
“…!”
Jin Cheon-jin drew in a sharp breath.
“Surely not…”
“…That’s not all. He saw the state of this room. All the materials I received from Kang Hyo-jun, all these documents I compiled by synthesizing them with internal Hunter Association data—he saw everything.”
“Which means…”
“He must have noticed the cooperation between the Black Market and the Association, and he must have realized that I’d deduced ‘the Apostle and Special One are the same person.'”
“….”
‘Could he have orchestrated things that meticulously? C-could he have?’
Min Ji-hee’s imagination began to spiral.
For Jin Cheon-jin, who was utterly hopeless at complex strategic games, it became difficult to empathize with Min Ji-hee’s terror from this point onward.
“Yet despite all that, he said nothing and simply told me to rest. He didn’t care at all if the dual identity was exposed? Then why create the Market persona in the first place? Ah.”
Min Ji-hee’s movements stopped abruptly.
Jin Cheon-jin, holding Min Ji-hee, felt her body grow warm.
A phenomenon often seen when thoughts raced at tremendous speed.
“I see. So that’s what it was…”
“What was it?”
“….”
Min Ji-hee fell silent for a moment.
“To demonstrate that I can create identities. And to show that such identities mean nothing to me. Which means… ‘identity’ spreads far beyond what I could ever predict.”
“…?”
Min Ji-hee exhaled slowly, her hand pressed to her chest.
“I’m relieved.”
“…Relieved about what?”
‘…Incheon, Happiness Villa.’
Based on the Apostle’s movements, Min Ji-hee had deduced where he resided.
She’d even considered that by investigating the roster of Hunters living there, she could uncover the Apostle’s true identity.
But she’d deliberately stopped herself.
‘What if I’d dug all the way to the end?’
What would have awaited Min Ji-hee at that conclusion?
What kind of ‘identity’ would it have been?
It was a trap designed to inevitably expose that she’d ‘secretly investigated him’.
If she’d fallen into that trap, how would the Apostle have treated her now…?
Just imagining it made every hair on her body stand on end, cold sweat trickling down her spine.
‘Terrifying…’
She thought she understood.
She believed she could see that figure ahead of her.
But in this very moment… Min Ji-hee felt the back she’d thought belonged to the Apostle dissolve like an illusion.
‘And…’
“Cultivation. You said he achieved enlightenment.”
“Enlightenment?”
“Yes. So he must cultivate. He doesn’t rest…”
“…Hah.”
This time, Jin Cheon-jin let out a hollow laugh as well.
An absolute being who turned Pyongyang into an ice age in a single breath, who confronted Scathach directly and overwhelmed him before killing him.
That overwhelmingly powerful existence… cultivates after gaining some enlightenment?
The thought that there remained room for him to grow stronger was terrifying enough.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
“Does it mean the enemy coming this time is so horrifying that even the Apostle must train without rest to stop it?”
“Exactly. And here I was, whining about being tired in front of the Apostle!”
Min Ji-hee clenched her teeth.
Even the Apostle was entering bone-grinding cultivation to prevent annihilation.
And she, the supreme commander of the Resonar subjugation campaign, wanted to sleep? To rest?
That was no different from an act of betrayal—abandoning survival itself.
Then Jin Cheon-jin suddenly exclaimed as if struck by revelation.
“Ah! That’s why the Apostle said that to me as he left···!”
“What did he say?”
“To ‘keep a close eye on Min Ji-hee’. I thought he just meant to look after your health···.”
The gazes of the married couple tangled in the empty air.
“Even in the most extreme circumstances, I was given the heavy duty to stake my life and support you so the Hunter Association wouldn’t collapse!”
The misunderstanding snowballed like a rolling snowball, and finally, a sacred sense of mission was being breathed into both of their hearts.
She sprang to her feet.
Min Ji-hee stood up from her seat.
The exhausted expression from moments before had vanished entirely, leaving only eyes that gleamed with venom and fervor.
“Director. Go to the pantry and brew three bottles of stimulant with an espresso shot—five shots of it in the coffee.”
“Ah, understood. I’ll prepare it at once!”
“When the Apostle finishes his training and returns, we must have a battlefield prepared that won’t disappoint him. Song Director!!!”
Song Director, who had been waiting outside, came rushing in frantically.
“Convene a meeting immediately. Anyone even a minute late will be considered a traitor.”
Min Ji-hee, her eyes bloodshot, tore through mountains of documents as she barked out orders.
“We won’t rest either. Not for a moment.”
* * *
“Today, I should take it easy.”
I even gave my subordinates sweet rest.
I’m truly a good boss.
While I’m at it, let me rest too!
‘It really was hectic….’
A gift for someone like me.
Tonight’s dinner is chicken!

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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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