“How are things these days-nya?”
Under a clear blue sky.
By a vast lake.
Ragcho’s thick tail swayed gently.
Today, for the record, Ragcho’s conversational partner was not Kim Woo-joo.
“Our I-an-nim is making a successful climb every day without fail, woof! Experience and dedication are not to be underestimated, woof!”
Vehr puffed out its chest with great pride.
“It’s thanks to the items our Woo-joo-nim sourced that she’s even able to push forward like that — woof has no right to brag! Though I suppose a faster climb rate is a good thing regardless-nya!”
Ragcho, evidently finding Vehr’s smugness intolerable, tried to redirect the credit toward their own charge.
Understandable enough.
All through the years when Seo I-an had had no dedicated merchant — from the very beginning of her Awakening, rising steadily through her own force of will.
And Vehr there, who had been insufferably full of itself the entire time.
The resentment Ragcho had built up over that period was still lodged firmly in their chest.
Even Foxie — the Tower Merchant for the actual number-one ranked Hong Je-hun — was quietly modest!
“No, woof! It’s I-an-nim who’s extraordinary, woof!”
Vehr showed no signs of stopping the self-congratulatory customer bragging.
“It is not, nya! Without Woo-joo-nim, I-an-nim wouldn’t have gotten that far-nya! Vehr, you’re not even a fox like Foxie — what exactly do you think you’re riding on-nya!”
“Who are you to talk, Ragcho, woof!”
A ragdoll cat and a Doberman, bickering at each other.
And a large audience of Tower Merchants observing the spectacle.
“Then let’s make a bet-nya!”
“Fine, woof! You lot over there — you’re the witnesses, woof!”
Vehr spun around to address the others watching.
“But what exactly is the wager going to be-kyurrng?”
Curious now, Foxie — who had the look of an arctic fox and served as Hong Je-hun’s Tower Merchant — stepped in.
“The wager, woof?”
“Let’s bet on who has the higher contribution in the next Special Floor-nya!”
Ragcho answered as if waiting to be asked.
“The next Special Floor puts our I-an-nim at a disadvantage, you clever little cat, woof!”
Vehr bared its teeth in a flash of fury. Unable to contain the anger, saliva actually gathered at the corners of its mouth.
The sudden burst of hostility startled Ragcho into shrinking back.
Ears drooping, tail going limp, voice barely a whisper:
“……It was a joke-nya……”
At that, Vehr caught itself, and carefully approached.
No apology for the outburst — but instead:
“Ragcho!”
“Nya……?”
“Want some Churu, woof?”
“What’s Churu-nya?”
“Our I-an-nim packed it as a snack for me, woof!”
Vehr had apparently tried to make amends by sharing its own treat — but:
“I don’t need it-nya! Our Woo-joo-nim gives me things like that too-nya!”
It produced a significant misunderstanding.
And at that, the one who had been quietly watching with what one might call a knowing eye — Foxie — suddenly spoke.
“Would it be all right if I joined that bet-kyurrng?”
“Thank you for using the Mercenary Bunny service again today, customer.”
Forget the wandering merchant rabbit!
The age of the Mercenary Bunny was here!
Well — in practice, it was more of an unavoidable choice. He’d had to cut back sharply on what he was selling for the sake of Special Floor preparation.
“Thank you so much! Bunny-nim!”
He left the thanks behind and went to meet Ragcho.
Floor 12.
The reward wasn’t significant.
Nothing worth buying, so he was paying off a bit of his debt to Ragcho——
But lately Ragcho had been a little off.
“Ragcho.”
“What-nya?”
How to put it. A bit frosty?
……Probably because of what happened a few days ago, he thought.
The day he’d confirmed the gauntlet skill: Reflect.
He’d been deeply disappointed.
A high-damage burst? An AoE?
It wasn’t even an attack skill.
On top of that, it came with the demanding condition of only working if you used it at the right moment.
If you use it well, it’ll be great-nya.
Ragcho’s response — cheerful, serene, utterly unbothered.
If you use it well. Again.
Was it the trait?
Somehow everything that appeared required skillful use to actually be good.
No, at this point it wasn’t a feeling — it was a near certainty.
A sigh had escaped him without meaning to.
At which Ragcho’s ears had twitched.
And that was probably when it had started.
He was getting ready to blink for Eagle Eye when——
“Don’t use it on Ragcho-nya!”
A mild hiss.
Using Eagle Eye on a Tower Merchant was probably the equivalent of opening someone’s hidden photo folder on their phone.
“Okay, sorry. But Ragcho — did I do something wrong?”
“No-nya!”
“Then why does your voice sound so full of irritation.”
“It’s not irritation-nya! This is just my normal voice-nya!”
And not even making eye contact while saying so?
Next time he came in, he was going to bring a cat toy and spend some time playing with her.
Strike while the iron was hot.
He headed straight out to the nearest Daiso.
Nothing Daiso didn’t have.
He went directly to the third floor and found the pet supplies section.
But there were so many options.
Too many to just buy everything.
Not a budget problem — an inventory space problem.
What did Ragcho like? What would she enjoy?
He wandered the cat toy aisle for a while.
“Awakened Kim Woo-joo-nim?”
An unfamiliar woman approached with a warm smile.
The fact that she knew he was an Awakened meant she was either an Association person or——
An A-rank or above Awakened he’d encountered in the Special Floor!
He lit up and smiled back pleasantly.
“Hello! Great to see you, how have you been?”
With extra warmth layered on.
Any A-rank or above Awakened was always welcome.
“Oh, I’ve been well! By the way — do you keep a cat, Woo-joo-nim?”
She smiled and stepped closer.
“Hmm……”
Did this count as keeping? More of a stray situation, really.
Though buying toys for a stray would look a bit odd if you thought about it.
“Something like that, I suppose.”
“Something like that?”
“Either way, I wanted to play with her a bit, but there are too many options and I can’t decide. Could you recommend something?”
One item, maybe two at the most.
But seriously — who was this person?
Someone this striking — even a passing glance should have been enough to leave an impression.
He rubbed his eyes as if something had blown in, and blinked.
[Eagle Eye Activated!]
[??? Status Screen]
— Currently very satisfied at having found you!
A chill ran down his spine the moment he read it.
Found you?
Why?
And red text — he’d never seen that before.
Suspicion was rapidly multiplying when another voice cut in.
“My cat likes this mouse-shaped toy, and the feather one best.”
An unhurried voice he recognized. A calm tone that somehow eased tension.
“Hong Je-hun-nim?”
“We were meeting tomorrow, weren’t we? Is it possible to move it to today?”
He purchased Hong Je-hun’s two picks and got into the car with him.
“You drove to a Daiso? Parking here is basically nonexistent.”
Two spots total.
Fully occupied, he’d assumed.
“I was on my way home and spotted you — I stopped and followed.”
“Oh. Is that right?”
“And please don’t talk to strangers so freely — when you go out, make sure to dope. That woman just now was a foreign scout. She’s approached me before too.”
Seo I-an’s words came back to him.
She’d said foreign scouts were cunning and vicious.
“Right now, Korea has problems if you go abroad, and problems if something happens to you here. Since you’ve secured a ranking, please take better care of yourself.”
“Would I be a problem for Korea?”
“Last month’s Special Floor. Without you, we wouldn’t have reached Phase 2. This month — without you — I can’t guarantee we’d hold the same result.”
Hong Je-hun reached briefly into the air, then carefully withdrew a staff from his inventory and held it out.
“Something’s different?”
It looked identical to the one he’d been using before.
“The appearance is the same, but the contents changed entirely thanks to you. I received a Rare Elemental Enhancement Stone from the reward that time.”
He smiled quietly.
“A Rare Elemental Enhancement Stone doubles the elemental attribute, and the next one applied after that quadruples it. It appears in the enhancement status screen so its existence was known — but I’m probably the first in the world to use one. The Association wants to reveal it during the next Special Floor, so I’ve been keeping it quiet for now.”
“You can tell me?”
“Without you, I’d never have gotten it. That’s why I’m telling you.”
“Could just be that you were lucky?”
Suddenly receiving special treatment felt a little awkward.
“It wasn’t that. The box stated that a guaranteed Rare or higher item would appear due to a Phase Emergence bonus.”
He returned the staff to his inventory as he spoke.
“Is that right? That’s wonderful. The Special Floor really delivers.”
“It does. But Woo-joo-nim — I heard you recently formed a guild.”
No need to ask where he’d heard it.
Obviously Seo I-an.
Now for the main event.
With Seo I-an, the approach had been to flatter and encourage.
With Hong Je-hun? Based on multiple intrusions, he got a significant dopamine hit from successful climbs.
Which meant the appeal needed to lead with: I can help make your climbing easier.
“That’s right. Would you like to join? We’re planning to focus on the Special Floor, but we can help with personal climbing too.”
Lead with the answer — details follow.
He preferred it that way.
And Hong Je-hun seemed to as well.
“I’d like to.”
Clean, immediate. But no follow-up.
“……Why? I thought you were planning to make your own guild.”
Agreeable was great — but leaving without understanding the reason meant lying awake and stewing tonight.
“My thinking behind a guild was to keep capable people close. But recently I’ve come to feel that staying close to them is also a fairly good approach.”
He finished and offered the usual composed, neat smile.
“Isn’t that right?”
“Absolutely. A very wise choice!”
His mood lifted, and the corners of his mouth rose on their own.
And before he could think of changing his mind, he moved straight to conditions.
“……Woo-joo-nim’s dedicated Tower Merchant is the rabbit?”
That question came out of Hong Je-hun’s mouth.
“Yes.”
The card he could put on the table with the most confidence. The most enticing bait.
The way he could use the wandering merchant rabbit to help someone’s Tower climbing go more smoothly.
He’d told Seo I-an the truth about being the rabbit — but he didn’t want the number of people who knew to grow.
The help requests were already flooding in.
If everyone thought the rabbit was an NPC, being ignored felt like oh well.
But if people knew the rabbit was a specific person — being ignored would breed resentment. And a few unstable types might decide to retaliate.
So he wanted to delay the revelation of his identity for as long as possible.
A permanent secret didn’t exist, but the number of people who knew it could be reduced.
The workaround: tell people his Tower Merchant was the rabbit.
The implication: if you reach out to me, I’ll do my best to have my Tower Merchant show up for you first.
“Ah.”
Everything clicked into place on Hong Je-hun’s face.
That was the goal.
If his Tower Merchant was the rabbit, his abnormal growth rate, his Tower clear times — it all explained itself.
And along with it: why the rabbit only appeared in Korea.
“But the clause about following all instructions……”
That question coming from Hong Je-hun too made him wonder if he’d written the contract in a confusingly ambiguous way.
“I’d never ask you to do anything dangerous, and never anything that would interfere with your contribution. Just things like adjusting damage output when we’re pushing a Phase, or asking you to handle a mechanism that needs clearing first.”
“Ah. I see.”
And then the condition added specifically for Seo I-an: providing him with EXP potions.
Hong Je-hun also had one condition added exclusively for him — and that was:
“But this ‘sub-leader’ designation……”
Right. That was it.