Chapter 7

Honestly, the most convenient method—for both me and the Association President—would be a phone call.

If I just called, there’d be no need for Lee Woo-jae to sneak into the president’s office and slip a note into his pocket, and no risk of the president’s personal information being exposed.

But there’s a reason we’re going this far.

“It’s all for show. A performance.”

A performance meant to deceive everyone and raise my value.

If I were to openly reveal the Association President’s personal phone number, not only would the president be flustered, but so would the entire world.

After all, doing something like that is practically declaring war against the state. And turning your back on the state usually means aligning with a guild or a dark organization.

Even guilds might find that difficult.

“The whole world would go mad trying to track me down.”

The basics of baiting are simple: first, the quality of the bait; second, how appetizing it looks.

In other words, something previously considered out of reach suddenly appears attainable—and just that alone is enough to stir every guild and shadow organization in the world into descending on Korea.

But they won’t find me.

Because I’ll be right under the Association’s nose.

‘Hiding under the lamp.’

That’s the first reason I’m going through all this trouble.

Of course, once I do this, the president is going to be extremely nervous—and that means I can raise my value at the same time.

The second reason…

‘I’m not someone to take lightly.’

I need to instill fear in the Association President.

It’s not that I want to negotiate through fear, but in any contract, I need to be in the dominant position.

Anyone who’s ever been the underdog knows how valuable it is to be in control.

And with this ability, I have no intention of staying the underdog.

“So basically, you’re saying you want to kill three birds with one stone and come out on top?”
“Correct!”

Lee Woo-jae summed it up perfectly.

All I have to do is sit back and watch while the world panics.

And in doing so, my value rises, people start making assumptions, and I can quietly reap the rewards behind the scenes while hiding behind the Association President.

“But won’t you be found out eventually? I mean, your ability isn’t exactly common. Once Korea’s hunters level up more, they’ll catch on.”
“That’s fine too. By then, I’ll be stronger. And worst case, I’ll have you, Woo-jae.”
“That’s true, if you plan to climb the Tower.”
“Of course I’ll climb. If I’m offered a free ride, why not? I just need time to mentally prepare.”
“Then they won’t be able to beat you even if they find you. Time’s on your side.”

He had a point—he said he could unleash S-rank power with just 5% of his strength.

Even if he wasn’t quite on Woo-jae’s level, once we clear a few floors, S-rank might not be so far off.

“And it’ll probably be harder to find you anyway. Early on is the easiest. Later, it’s almost impossible. No one meets up anymore.”
“That’s true.”

If things went as they usually did, the Association President would deploy people to find me—leaving plenty of chances for information to leak. But if we kept it one-on-one like this, it would be far harder to track me.

After our first encounter, there wouldn’t be any more meetings anyway. The president would only trust a few people for secret contact.

“TowerMew is blowing up. They’re arguing about whether the phone number is actually real.”
“Of course they are. It’s not something that makes sense.”

“LMAO, you think that’s really the President’s number?”
“Figured it out after the Majang-dong butcher called it. This guy’s just a forum junkie fishing for attention. Come on, if that number were real, it’d be treason.”

— “Not wrong, but what’s he trying to gain with this stunt? He could get more attention just by posting a ramen set.”

— “True. But then again, someone from the Association said he got the number directly, so who knows?”

— “There’s no benefit to turning the Association into an enemy. Unless he’s going dark side?”

— “Fair point. I dunno anymore.”

“But what if it is real?”
“What happens if the President’s number goes global?”

— “What do you think? First guy to post it gets sued and the president changes numbers.”

— “But the first guy is Midas. No personal info—how would they sue him?”

— “They’d go after whoever posted it online first.”

— “Is that even possible? Everyone in the Tower already has it now.”

— “Who knows, man.”

Exactly as I predicted.

Even inside the Tower, a community is still a community.

Ten years of lurking has taught me every possible reaction they might have.

“So once the President figures it out, I just pass him the note?”
“Exactly.”
“That’ll take at least three days though. What do we do until then? Climb the Tower?”
“Hmm…”

The question was back again.

Should I climb the Tower?

Sure, if it’s a low-difficulty Tower, it’d be easy.

I had an S-rank hunter right next to me.

Having someone like him climb a Tower meant for D or E ranks was just overkill.

We’d clear it in a day. Maybe even an hour.

As someone who values safety above all else, I was definitely tempted.

‘But… choosing the Tower’s difficulty limits your growth.’

Whether it’s low, mid, or high difficulty, there’s always a ceiling.

But that’s not why I’m climbing.

I want to become strong enough to protect myself—strong enough not to need any affiliation.

Which means: I have to tackle the highest-level Tower.

A Tower no one’s ever cleared before.

“Woo-jae, be honest—can you really, truly clear the first floors without moving a finger?”
“Yep. I can breeze through up to floor 10 without even using my auto-dodge armor. And even floor 20 won’t leave a scratch on me if I do use it.”
“If that’s true, then that’s a relief…”
“Trust me. No one in the Tower is stronger than me.”

Wow. That’s kind of badass.

Even if Woo-jae’s clone wasn’t the strongest, he should be able to speedrun the early floors.

The Tower makes you stronger the more floors you clear.

And floors 1 to 10 are basically designed for normal humans—so for Woo-jae, who’s already above S-rank, they’ll be a joke.

“Okay, fine. Let’s do it. Let’s climb this damn thing.”
“Good call. Smart move.”
“But before that—”
“Hm?”
“Let’s do my main job first.”

Just because I’m getting stronger doesn’t mean I should forget my original goal.

My true mission: make money with a single click.

In my hand was a box of cola.

“Midas just dropped the Association President’s number and immediately posted cola. What a madman.”

— “This guy’s got guts. He really posted soda after going rogue.”

— “Dude’s crazy.”

— “Maybe he’s already part of a dark group? He’s acting like he’s got backup.”

— “If this is real, it’s a national-level security breach. We shouldn’t be supporting him.”

— “So are you gonna boycott the cola?”

— “Pfft. Yeah, right.”

— “Or maybe he’s just that confident they won’t catch him. It’s not like he’s selling guns—just beer, ramen, and soda. How would they even find him?”

— “Didn’t someone say he bought premium beef in Majang-dong?”

— “You really think he’d do that while hiding? Probably used a burner account.”

— “Fair.”

“I’m not crazy. And I’m not with a dark group either…”
“Anyway, time to start. You can keep watching TowerMew, boss. I won’t get hurt.”
“Um… okay. Still, I’ll keep watching just in case. Makes me nervous.”

I’d feel super ripped off if my cause of death was “watching TowerMew.”

“Whoa… entering the Tower really is something else.”

We’d just stepped onto the first floor.

The transportation effect when entering the Tower was cool, but it mostly just felt like a really realistic VR game.

At first, we were just in a white room with nothing in it.

But now? We were in a lush forest.

“Each floor of the Tower is like its own world. I don’t know how it works, but the scenery changes every time you go up.”
“I’ve heard of that. That hunters go to specific floors to gather resources.”
“Exactly. The harder the floor, the better the resources. More magic-rich items, too.”

Well, that made sense.

Stronger monsters would naturally mean better minerals, resources, and loot.

“Still, I’m glad you can come with me. This is basically a cheat code.”
“My clone was originally made to help me in the Tower.”
“Ah, so that’s why we could enter together from the start.”
“Yep.”

Normally, the Tower is solo-only. But since Woo-jae’s clone is considered an item, he can tag along.

People usually enter the Tower right after awakening but before fully developing their powers.

Floor 1 is essentially a tutorial. With S-rank Woo-jae by my side, I had no reason to be nervous.

Except this was the highest difficulty. AKA hell mode.

“So… why is Woo-jae the only survivor in hell mode?”

Up to ten years ago, there were still other survivors, or so I’d heard.

But after that, no one new entered. No one came back out.

Given how closed off the Tower and hunter world are, details never leaked to the public.

All we ever heard growing up was “don’t enter hell difficulty—it’s too hard and you’ll die.”

“For high-tier Towers, ability matters. But judgment and physical skills matter more. Not hell mode though.”
“Then what does matter?”
“Other Towers are for people trying to become hunters. Hell mode is for people who are already hunters.”

It sounded cryptic, but I understood it within three seconds.

“Krrrk!”
“A human! A human!”
“Let’s catch him and roast him!”