Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The peaceful first-floor territory.

A few of the senior lords were hurling criticism at me.

「Pay the proper price for your interior work!」

「How dare you exploit those poor goblins!」

「Your character is rotten!」

Most of the seniors were harmless, but some were actively hoping to see me fall from grace.

「Fall」

「From」

「Grace」

「Fall」

「From」

「Grace」

「Fall」

They were even spamming it?

If this were at work, I might have let it slide, but here I just confronted them head-on.

“Seniors. If you don’t like what you see, leave.”

「How dare you!」

This was my territory.

If I worried about what others thought, I’d only be hurting myself.

「Is that any way to speak to your great seniors!」

“If you don’t like it, get lost.”

「Insolent brat!」

“I said leave.”

Aqua joined in with the threats.

[Aqua... Nasty troublemakers can’t be reasoned with! Need to sprinkle salt all over them!

( ⚆ ⚆)و✧

]

Aqua flung salty grains toward the sky, but it had no effect.

[Aqua... Ack! Covered in salt, turning into a seawater spirit!

ᕤ

]

Aqua fell victim to its own saltiness.

Just as I was getting frustrated.

A quest appeared.

=======

[Quest: Culture 2]

Objective: Receive a group of guests

Reward: 「Forced Expulsion」 skill

=======

Forced Expulsion, huh.

That sounded like exactly the skill I needed right now.

‘How am I supposed to receive a group of guests?’

I didn’t even know where to find guests, and there was no reason a whole group would visit this wasteland.

At that moment.

A group of guests arrived.

It was Wol Hayeon and Cheon Ryujin.

“Treat them with nothing but the very best!”

The Asura Rakshasa statues, the faces of the territory, sprang into action. The full first-floor hospitality course began.

* * *

Cheon Ryujin clicked his tongue.

The executives he had brought along were in terrible shape.

“Keeeeeegh!”

Some had fainted and gone into convulsions, while others were trying to run away by themselves just to survive.

Every variety of useless bastard was represented.

The company had been getting lax lately. He’d have to put them through a round of hell training later.

‘Assuming we make it back alive.’

The pressure from the Asura Rakshasa statues was no joke. Had they been like this last time?

No.

They hadn’t.

They looked five times stronger. Ghostly aura, lightning, obsidian skin and all.

『Answer the question!』

A voice that shook heaven and earth.

This was clearly a sign that the Lord Merchant was displeased.

‘Of course he wouldn’t like a bunch of nobodies swarming his territory.’

The Lord Merchant was testing the 「quality」 of his guests.

Meaning not just anyone was qualified to be one.

The executives were idiots, sure, but the test itself was pretty brutal.

Even Cheon Ryujin’s whole body was tingling.

“Wol Hayeon. Are we screwed?”

“Looks like it.”

Amid their concern.

The Lord Merchant spoke kindly.

“Welcome. I’m glad you came.”

...Would you look at that?

Cheon Ryujin’s eyebrow shot up. The porters were collapsing, vomiting, and generally losing their minds right in front of him.

Yet the bastard sounded incredibly warm.

‘Is he enjoying this?’

A spirit’s inner nature might be very different from a human’s.

(Hey, Wol Hayeon. Are all spirits this psychotic?)

(Watch your mouth, you lunatic. And yes, spirits are obviously psychotic.)

(Oh. Right.)

(Let’s watch ourselves.)

Whisper whisper.

While the two conferred, the Lord Merchant sounded positively delighted.

“My goodness. So many guests have come. How should I possibly entertain you all?”

What a load of crap.

Everyone’s dying because of you.

Cheon Ryujin had to control his expression.

“No, no. No need to entertain us.”

“Would you care for some chlorella?”

“!!! That sounds good.”

Chlorella was served to every guest, and the executives swallowed it with faces like mourners.

It tasted absolutely god-awful.

Hehe.

The Lord Merchant laughed.

“So, what brings you here?”

“We made a promise.”

Cheon Ryujin dumped items onto the ground.

[Flame Axe x 15]

[Elf Boots x 15]

[Orc Bracers x 15]

He had brought the 「Wuchang Uniform」, the most popular cost-effective item set in the world.

Fifteen sets cost around ten billion won.

The purchasing team had suffered terribly because listings were almost impossible to find.

They had turned on VPNs and trawled marketplaces all over the world to get them.

Naturally, the Lord Merchant had no way of knowing how much work Cheongyeol had put in, so his reaction was lukewarm.

“You can’t just. Bring this much. Out of nowhere—.”

Apparently dissatisfied even with this much, the Lord Merchant openly showed disappointment.

‘Playing hard to please, huh.’

Cheon Ryujin snorted. He had expected a spirit bastard to act like this.

“Guys.”

The executives began pouring out items.

Clatterclatterclatter.

Wuchang Sets gathered from all over the world spilled endlessly across the ground.

“A total of 150 sets.”

Roughly one hundred billion won in cash.

It was the result of the purchasing team grinding away their souls, and Cheon Ryujin grinding away his slush fund.

‘How about that.’

Damn bastard.

Still no reaction.

An ordinary Climber would have fainted at the sight.

The Lord Merchant made no sound at all.

“Lord Merchant! I brought some too!”

Wol Hayeon was rich.

She worked both as a Climber and a model, and she was popular enough to have advertising schedules booked three years in advance.

This time, she had mobilized all her money and connections.

“I secured 100 sets!”

Cheon Ryujin had 150.

Wol Hayeon had 100.

A wave of items worth a total of roughly 170 billion won poured down.

This was...

There were literally so many items that you could kick them with your feet.

Even Cheon Ryujin, who had spent his whole life rich, had never seen a sight like this.

‘You’re going to ignore this too?’

Cheon Ryujin felt fairly confident.

No matter how incredible a spirit you are.

You can’t ignore this.

...Thud!

A dull impact rang out.

The Lord Merchant said nothing, and the tense moment dragged on.

It was quite a while before the Lord Merchant finally spoke.

“...I will put them to good use where they are needed.”

Cheon Ryujin and Wol Hayeon breathed sighs of relief.

“I gratefully accept your gifts. What may I do for you this time?”

““Carcosa!””

Ah.

Carcosa.

That accursed name.

The pursuit of Carcosa had been horrifically difficult.

One member of Class 13 had continued searching until he was half-mad.

He had changed so drastically people could barely recognize him.

Ah.

Carcosa.

No one could reach the city’s secret, and even those who did went mad.

‘So fucking what.’

If something like that scared him, Cheon Ryujin never would have come this far.

He was prepared.

Wol Hayeon was the same.

But the answer they received was cold.

“I cannot tell you about Carcosa.”

“Hey.”

Cheon Ryujin stepped forward.

He had always been a man without brakes.

“Then what can you tell us? Earth is starved for information. We’re a newborn civilization that can’t even figure out how to beat a Cyclops. Still, we did put some effort into these gifts—.”

“Cyclops strategy.”

Then an Asura Rakshasa statue opened a certain book.

It was tiny compared to its enormous hand.

A solemn voice rang out.

『It is inefficient for a tank to withstand the Cyclops’s monstrous strength, so select an agile member and—.』

Everyone stood there blankly for a moment before finally realizing what was being read aloud.

“—It’s a strategy guide!”

Everyone began taking notes.

Cheon Ryujin even held his pen cap between his teeth as he scribbled down the contents.

The strategy was crystal clear.

The more they copied, the wider their perspective became.

‘Not a single part of this is wrong.’

It was so obvious in retrospect that they wondered why no one had thought of it before.

That was exactly what made strategy development so difficult.

It was like Columbus’s egg.

Once someone else had already walked the path, following it looked easy.

But when you were the one at the front, it was hell.

“D-Director...! This strategy’s approach. It surpasses even 「that person’s」 methods...”

“Shut your mouth. Is that bastard important right now? Focus and write.”

“Yes, sir!”

It was an astonishing strategy.

If they used this approach, the specifications required for the climb would drop by three full tiers.

It felt as if someone from the future had appeared and taught them how to clear it.

‘Ji Wuchang!’

Everyone was thinking of the same person.

If this was on par with one of Ji Wuchang’s guides, then the notes they were writing were practically blank checks.

They were worth whatever price someone cared to name.

“Hey, Lord Merchant. Is it really okay to hand out information like this?”

Cheon Ryujin asked as he stuck his pen back into the cap between his teeth.

He had spent one hundred billion won on Wuchang Uniforms.

That was not a small expense.

But if it meant obtaining a clue about Carcosa, it had been worth taking a chance.

Yet what had happened?

Carcosa had slipped away, but they had ended up receiving information worth trillions of won.

Excitement surged through him.

Out of all the countless investments he had ever made, this was among the most exhilarating returns.

“Does that book contain all kinds of strategy guides?”

“Yes. It’s a ramen pot stand. The contents are reasonably useful.”

“...”

What the hell was this sudden talk about a ramen pot stand?

Did spirits write secrets of heaven on their ramen pot stands?

A race whose culture and dimension were simply too different—

“—And bastards like that eat ramen.”

“Yes. Usually we crush the dry noodles... We had some recently too...”

“...”

“Pu Ramen...”

Cheon Ryujin’s mouth hung open.

A spirit was stuffing itself with Pu Ramen.

Did this count as patriotic pride too?

“Anything else you wish to ask?”

“I’m good. Take care of Wol Hayeon instead. She worked hard gathering items too.”

Cheon Ryujin did not get greedy.

With the balance of the transaction already tilted this badly, he couldn’t demand more.

Afterward.

Wol Hayeon asked about useful item combinations for Spirit Masters, and the Lord Merchant bestowed his wisdom.

“To think you can use the Black Jade Talisman and Ivory Talisman together! Why did no one think of this until now?”

The scene became one shock after another.

Some people who gained new insights even experienced breakthroughs in their realms.

Enlightenment was nothing special.

Once a fixed idea shattered, it naturally followed.

“Lord Merchant! Thank you!”

Amid the warm atmosphere of everyone bowing their thanks, Cheon Ryujin and Wol Hayeon found themselves strangely bitter.

The Lord Merchant’s information reminded them of Ji Wuchang.

And so.

That.

Somehow pissed them off.

‘We always thought no strategist had ever surpassed Ji Wuchang. Was that bastard nothing more than a human after all?’

The Lord Merchant’s wisdom.

Infuriatingly, it surpassed Ji Wuchang’s skill.

At least, they were strategies the Ji Wuchang of ten years ago could never have created.

What if Ji Wuchang had remained awake until today?

‘Would you have reached that far too?’

That kind of what-if story could never happen, so the two had no choice but to shake off a familiar sense of despair.

“We received an unexpected gift.”

“Safe travels.”

The Climbers returned.

The very first thing they did was collect the notebooks containing the strategy and burn them.

Whoosh.

Blank checks burned in the flames.

“Cheon Ryujin. What are you doing?”

“Information like this belongs only in my head.”

Watching the flames, Cheon Ryujin was already planning his next move.

‘I need to meet the Lord Merchant often. How do I arrange the next meeting?’

What if he used this strategy to hunt Cyclopes, then brought over large quantities of their remains?

It would give him an excuse to meet again.

Lord Merchant.

Someday, I’ll build a cooperative relationship with you as an equal.

* * *

The peaceful first-floor territory.

My head felt dazed.

I thought back to what had just happened.

When Cheon Ryujin first brought out fifteen sets, we had danced in delight.

As expected of Cheon Ryujin.

A man who never disappoints...

But that hadn’t been the end.

There weren’t fifteen sets!

There were 250 in total!

How much was all this?

I couldn’t take it anymore.

...Thud!

I fell backward and fainted for a while.

Aqua and Geumsul had to massage my arms and legs to wake me up.

“Are those people sane? Why are they doing this much for me?”

[A magnificent tribute. For the Great Lord.]

[Aqua... Decided future dream is becoming a spirit like Cheon Ryujin!

Q–(ᵔ.ᵔ Q )

]

I Set Up House in the Tower, and Making Money Became Too Easy