Most Awakened kept a lukewarm distance from the Association.
Seo I-an was unusually hostile toward it, in a way that stood out even among that crowd.
Hong Je-hun, on the other hand, maintained an unusually close relationship with it.
Hong Je-hun’s community post about meeting the rabbit.
Team lead Oh Won-taek read it and immediately reached out to him.
Unlike a certain prickly individual who lived somewhere or other, he picked up right away — and through that call, they were able to confirm that the ‘wandering merchant’ and the ‘rabbit’ that had been circulating like a rumor were real.
Including the fact that the two were the same entity.
“He said he doesn’t know what the conditions are for encountering them. Just that they appear somewhere in the middle of a run.”
Team lead Oh Won-taek had his most recently prized employee, Yun Jin-gi, seated across from him and spoke in a measured tone.
“So I need you to gather more intelligence on this ‘rabbit.’ Specifically, the most efficient way to make use of them.”
“Yes sir! And what about the Awakened Kim Woo-joo situation……”
The unspoken question: what do we do with that one?
New top record on Floor 2.
Low floor still, but that was exactly what made it significant — the potential it implied.
Before another country quietly moved in to poach him, they needed to lock him down on their side first.
“You’re thinking right now that we need to lock him down on our side before another country quietly moves in to poach him, aren’t you.”
“Yes sir!”
Yun Jin-gi nodded emphatically.
“Right. I was thinking the same thing — but public sentiment shifted overnight.”
“Sir?”
“The rabbit, apparently, is only appearing in Korean Towers. For now.”
“Sir?!”
Right. That was the problem.
Work, ideally, would come at you one thing at a time. Orderly, manageable.
It always came in waves instead.
Normally the right play would be to secure the at-risk talent first, then handle the intelligence-gathering. Talent acquisition tended to take less time than information collection.
Focus and prioritize. Strike fast on the talent since it’s a single target, take the slower, broader approach on the research.
But right now, that wasn’t an option.
When Seo I-an — ranked second — had mentioned the rabbit, even overseas observers had remained skeptical. But the moment Hong Je-hun — ranked first — confirmed it too, international interest had ignited overnight.
Why isn’t a wandering merchant appearing in our Towers?
That was the mild end of it. The extreme end:
The Koreans poisoned our Towers to keep the wandering merchant out.
Short of a formal statement, at minimum Korea needed to share its investigative findings with other nations.
“But sir…… what if another country gets ahead of us while we’re focused on the rabbit?”
Yun Jin-gi asked, genuinely worried.
He understood why finding the rabbit had to come first — it still made him nervous.
“It’s fine.”
A faint smile spread across Oh Won-taek’s gaunt face as he continued.
“As it turns out, a very reassuring ally has stepped up to help us with the Awakened Kim Woo-joo situation. They seem to have a personal interest.”
“That’s a relief!”
The tension eased from Yun Jin-gi’s face, replaced by a soft smile.
The Awakened Association.
More people than one might expect thought of it as a comfortable workplace — and in practice, the work itself wasn’t particularly difficult.
The problem was the volume.
The number of Awakened wasn’t enormous, but every Awakened in Korea was managed through this office.
On top of that, regular exchanges with Associations in every other country around the world.
And not enough people to do it all.
The government said new hires weren’t possible.
Reason given: the global depression’s ripple effects were still ongoing.
The Association staff, needless to say, were not convinced by that explanation.
“But who exactly is this ally, sir?”
Awakened didn’t tend to get along with each other.
For good reason — they were fundamentally solo competitors. Competing for government support, competing to get the items they needed from Enchanters. Mutual aid wasn’t exactly common.
So one Awakened taking a personal interest in another Awakened?
When they weren’t a scout?
It was something anyone would find puzzling, not just Yun Jin-gi.
“There is one. Always smiling, but you can never tell what’s going on inside their head.”
Oh Won-taek turned his attention to the near future and what it might bring.
A special entity called the wandering merchant, and on top of that — the emergence of a new rising star.
The world’s attention would start converging on Korea before long.
Still cautious, still just watching — but unmistakably so.
Like a bomb with no visible timer, just waiting.
The next day.
Floor 41. Interior: Forest of the Mysterious Giant.
The fact that it wasn’t a snow mountain where you’d freeze to death — even on Floor 41 — was because the Tower’s owner today was not Hong Je-hun.
He couldn’t speak for whoever was actually climbing, but of all the Towers he’d intruded into so far, this one felt the most comfortable.
He’d gotten some gathering and synthesizing done on arrival, then went looking for Seo I-an.
“Hey. I’m Bunny. Wandering merchant.”
He delivered his usual reflexive greeting.
And then——
“You…… Bunny……!”
The moment Seo I-an saw him, her eyes blazed sharp through her visor, and she called his name with her molars clenched tight and a voice that shook slightly.
She was the one who’d been desperately posting about wanting to see him, and here she was looking anything but happy.
“Yes?”
But she wasn’t going to touch an NPC, was she.
He asked back without flinching.
“You went to Hong Je-hun yesterday.”
It was true, so——
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was there.”
The truth was that he’d been drawn in by her post saying she wanted to see him — but he didn’t need to volunteer that. He wasn’t about to let on that he read the Community.
“Do you have any idea how much I wanted to see you?”
He did, actually.
She’d put up posts looking for him on the Community.
But an NPC playing dumb about knowing things felt more appropriate.
“Your feelings must have reached me — since we’re meeting now! All’s well that ends well, right?”
He came eventually — wasn’t that enough?
He made it sound like he didn’t understand what the issue was, and quietly activated Eagle Eye.
[Eagle Eye Activated!]
[Seo I-an Status Screen]
— Currently very offended!
Right. He knew that already. It was written all over her.
“Bunny. Even granting all of that — I was the one who wanted to see you first, and I wanted it more. So you should’ve come to me first…… If you go happily running off to Hong Je-hun instead, what does that make me?”
The logic was completely unreasonable.
But he was curious what the answer would be, so——
“What does it make you?”
“Very angry.”
“Ah……”
He shouldn’t have asked.
So the issue wasn’t just that he hadn’t come — it was that he hadn’t come first.
It didn’t matter though.
His inventory was carrying something more than capable of fixing her mood.
Let’s see how angry she could stay.
“Anyway — I have a Bronze Hammer. Want it?”
Bronze Hammer.
A commemorative gift handed to him by Park Si-woo, the Enchanter he’d met at the Association, to mark their first transaction.
He’d checked the Community briefly before entering the Tower. Right now, Seo I-an was struggling because she was out of Bronze Hammers.
A direct hit. The moment she heard the words, the edge in her eyes noticeably softened compared to before.
“How do you always show up with exactly what I need right at that moment?”
She tilted her head.
“You have to have that kind of intuition if you want to survive as a wandering merchant.”
A vague cover story.
“Not leftovers from what you sold Hong Je-hun?”
The eyes in the visor narrowed into a flat line.
Wow. She really holds a grudge. Or does she have some kind of grudge against Hong Je-hun specifically?
Not something he could say out loud.
“Of course not. The items I show change each time.”
He didn’t actually know if that was true.
He’d just decided to go with that as his merchant logic. Starting today.
“Really?”
The flat line shifted slightly — not quite round eyes, not quite a scowl. Triangular. Her eyes were sharp by nature.
Either way, that was a positive signal.
He blinked rapidly twice.
[Seo I-an Status Screen]
— Currently somewhat less irritated!
“If you really can’t trust me, ask Awakened Hong Je-hun. Whether I offered him a Bronze Hammer or not.”
He said it with confidence, banking on that. And——
“Why would I need to ask? I always trust our Bunny!”
Seo I-an’s tone went warm and easy.
“Anyway — one Bronze Hammer, 2,000 TC.”
Cost price: 1,000 TC.
He’d looked it up on the Community before entering.
His first reaction on seeing it had been shock.
Who gives away a 1,000 TC item as a first-meeting gift? he’d thought, baffled by Park Si-woo’s generosity.
Either way — he’d charged Seo I-an exactly double cost.
As previously established: house call surcharges are what they are.
“Here.”
As expected — the model of frictionless transactions. Seo I-an didn’t bother negotiating. Just a straight here.
“Thank you as always.”
He meant the contribution.
The smile behind the mask rose on its own.
TC was just a bonus.
“Ugh, at my level and I’m using a Bronze Hammer.”
She grumbled as she took it.
And then something unexpected happened.
Seo I-an’s trademark — the gleaming silver armor that encased her from head to toe.
It dissolved into light and disappeared.
With the helmet gone, her jet-black ponytail scattered in the gentle breeze. Where the armor had been, an oversized plain white t-shirt and black three-stripe tracksuit bottoms caught the wind.
Her eyes were fixed on the middle distance — checking her inventory, probably — and then she pressed the Bronze Hammer toward the air in front of her.
Must not have enough inventory space. Usually you’d store it in inventory and drag it to use on the item directly.
As if in answer to his guess, the hammer disappeared from her hand a moment later.
Then——
Flash.
She was back in her silver armor.
“Don’t most Awakened keep hammers on them? From what I’ve heard, at least.”
They’d make space however they could and carry them regardless.
Tower entry was limited to once per day.
The loss from having to leave mid-run because of durability failure was enormous — every Awakened knew that.
“Golden Hammers, sure. Not Bronze ones.”
“They’re different?”
He tilted his head slightly. She mirrored him in the opposite direction.
“Weapons always lose durability no matter what — but armor only loses it when you actually get hit?”
From that, he worked out: Golden Hammers were for weapons, Bronze Hammers for armor.
And that armor durability only degraded on getting hit.
He probably should have read the beginner’s guide on the Awakened Community more carefully.
But that thing was so long……
“Anyway, anything else to sell?”
Seo I-an pulled him back.
“There’s the Boss Damage +20% Elixir, five minutes, and today I also have an All-Stats +5 Elixir, five minutes……”
Both came from gathering and synthesizing here on this floor.
According to Ragcho, items craftable from a floor’s materials were always useful specifically on that floor.
Two types of elixirs showing up — one for boss damage, one for all-stats — probably meant the boss was tough.
He’d thought that briefly, and from the way Seo I-an’s eyes started to shine the moment she heard the list, it seemed like he wasn’t wrong.
This might push the contribution up a bit……
“Give me everything you have! Don’t hide a single thing, I mean it — all of it!!”
Seo I-an pumped both fists and declared without restraint.
Being a ranker, she didn’t ask the price.
But——
“Everything, really?”
She paused at his question, hand on her chin in thought.
Then swept her gaze through the air.
“What, is there more? Too many types might be a problem……”
A condition, suddenly.
Probably an inventory space issue. He didn’t need to worry though — it was just one more.
“Well…… there’s also an Invisibility Elixir, ten-minute duration. You can cancel it by saying ‘release’ whenever you want.”
He had this one too.
An unusually vivid and colorful gathering spot on the floor.
From it came ten Rainbow Spirit Traces — combine them and this was what you got.
But why would you need invisibility inside a Tower? You still have to kill all the regular mobs before the boss appears.
It felt like a bonus item. Not particularly useful, but fun to have — the kind of thing you’d hold onto but not really need.
He’d hesitated to mention it.
The person in front of him was Seo I-an.
Someone else might just say don’t need it and that would be the end of it. With her, he had a feeling it would come with raised volume and expletives.
Today she’d been comparatively gentler — fewer curses, softer tone than usual — but still.
“What do you mean you’re only telling me this NOW!!”
The outburst arrived right on cue.
His heart lurched.
He’d anticipated she’d raise her voice, and still flinched. That was just how it worked.
Like knowing a horror game or horror movie isn’t real — a sudden jump scare still gets you every time.
Bad for the heart.
“You startled me!”
He aired his complaint.
“Sorry. Give me that too. But how many do you have?”
“One each. All one.”
A beat of silence after his answer.
She put her hand to her chin again, thinking.
Then lowered it and continued.
“Could you get me one more of each by tomorrow?”
Openly showing she needed something.
Ideal conditions for raising contribution.
No reason to refuse. He nodded.
“I can if you place an order. But we’d have to meet on Floor 41 again tomorrow.”
“Then consider it placed.”