MDPS 13

Chapter 13
Team Member Supplementation (1)

After clearing the labyrinth, I went straight home and checked the marketplace to complete the gear for Caligo and Hertia.

The variety of gear set types and combinations was endless.

Of course, there were always expensive sets.

The most popular was the “Gale Set,” which boosts speed.

It’s extremely useful since you can activate skills first and set the stage for battle.

But, naturally, the more popular it is, the more absurdly overpriced it gets.

A single hero-grade Gale Set piece with good base stats costs over 40 million won.

If it even happens to have extra speed as a sub-stat?

Then we’re talking billions.

Back in the game days, since there were fewer players, those items rarely even appeared on the market.

But I don’t need speed.

Because I have Hertia.

And Hertia’s damage scales with HP, so higher HP is better.

Also, thinking ahead to Caligo’s future skills, a “Ruin Set” that reduces the enemy’s max HP would be great.

Hmm. As expected, the Ruin Set is so undervalued it’s practically free.

If I sold the set selection boxes I got as rewards, I could get 15 million won each.

That’s low for selection boxes, but since they’re from the labyrinth, the quality cap is lower.

Still, I have 15 of them—selling them all would net me 225 million won.

That’s enough to buy legendary gear.

I was tempted to summon my third villain right away, but gearing up my two existing ones came first.

In a month, I’d be fighting elves, so expenses were piling up.

Besides, I still had two empty party slots.

If I wanted to fill them with the right people, I couldn’t spend all my money now.

Alright, let’s register these for sale and start adding good items to the cart.

“[Equipment Set (Hero) Selection Box ×2 sale completed.]”

I thought low-ceiling labyrinth gear wouldn’t sell quickly, but surprisingly, people bought it right away.

“[After deducting the 5% marketplace fee, 28.5 million won has been deposited.]”

Looking at my bank balance felt satisfying.

Now, I just needed to gear up Hertia and Caligo properly.

Alright, let’s go buy some equipment with this money!

“[Purchased Legendary Blooming Despair Helmet (Ruin).]”
“[Purchased Legendary Blooming Despair Armor (Ruin).]”
…

My next destination: the “Tower of Confrontation.”

It’s the only existing “must-clear” tower in the world, and each country has one.

The tower is basically a compressed version of the “Legend Seven” main story from Episodes 1 to 7.

It has 100 floors, with a mid-boss every 5 floors and a floor boss every 10. The rewards are substantial.

One notable point: the bosses from the game—meaning the Seven Deadly Sins—do not appear.

Stages that should have featured villain bosses were instead replaced by other enemies.

No one knows why.

I can only guess it’s somehow related to my awakening, ever since the ability to summon villains became possible.

The tower also has a kind of “clear deadline.”

If the top floor isn’t cleared before that time, a “Dungeon Break” occurs.

I’d rather not remember the first Dungeon Break…

The very day the tower appeared, goblins, orcs, and even dragons—like something out of a movie—were breathing fire from the sky.

It was chaos, and adventurers barely managed to enter the tower and stop it.

Since then, governments around the world have quickly passed laws to support adventurers.

…Something that must never happen again.

I don’t want to live through that nightmare twice.

If things had gone even slightly worse, I might have lost my parents and sibling too.

Anyway, back to the present.

Korea’s current progress in the tower is at the 94th floor.

Considering that powerful nations have already cleared their towers and eliminated the threat, we’re not actually slow by comparison.

The problem is, our progress wasn’t achieved entirely with “our own strength.”

Those powerful nations, after clearing their own towers, sent surplus forces to smaller countries, offering protection from Dungeon Breaks in exchange for economic and political concessions.

Korea is one of those countries.

I’m not complaining too much—among small nations, we’re relatively well-off.

Some countries, unable to offer anything in return, survive only on minimal “humanitarian aid” and are practically in a state of anarchy.

But this fragile peace won’t last forever.

In just a month, when the main episode updates, who knows what will happen?

For all I know, another tower might just pop up.

“But I can’t just sit here worrying.”

I have the strength now.

The strength to keep moving forward against any storm.

For myself, for my family, for those around me.

Clearing the Tower of Confrontation quickly is just a matter of course.

And if I save the country in the process, well, that’s just a bonus.

Alright, time to plan my climbing party…

The tower is difficult enough that the official government guide recommends preparing multiple party compositions for different floors.

Each floor has unique mechanics and strategies.

Not wrong, but not enough either.

To me, it’s like half a map—missing the other half.

More like voodoo guesswork than a real guide.

Still, I can clear it far more efficiently.

But first, team supplementation is inevitable if I’m going to climb the tower.

Step one: meet the minimum requirement—at least four summoned creatures in the party.

I’d like to summon another villain, but I don’t have much cash left.

And no, I’m not just going to buy any random summon from the market.

It’s been a while since I’ve gone to the open market in person.

The “marketplace” that awakened adventurers use is safe and convenient, but the real bargains are usually found at the “bazaar.”

Why? Simple—money.

Sellers don’t want to pay marketplace fees.

Sometimes, items you’ll never see online show up at the bazaar.

If it’s near Seoul, the bazaar around Hwaseong Haenggung in Suwon is famous, right?

Without hesitation, I headed for Suwon.

As soon as I arrived, I saw plenty of foreign faces.

It was strange seeing so many foreigners and summon sellers in such a traditionally Korean location.

They sold not only summons but all sorts of gear as well.

“Selling Legendary Gale Set! First come, first served!”
“Buying and selling rare-grade or higher summons! Come take a look!”

Even on a weekday, the place was crowded.

Because it’s such a big market, security is decent, and people seem relaxed.

But my destination wasn’t the main square where the crowd was.

Sellers there are usually big players selling only popular goods.

For example, in gear, they mostly sell the Gale Set for speed, and in summons, only those that fit already-established strategies.

Prices have an obvious markup, but since most people only know that method, they have no choice but to buy.

I left the main square behind and headed into the side streets to find smaller merchants.

Before I awakened, I’d been here on a business trip and found some interesting goods in these back areas.

Let’s see…

Just as I was about to browse the shops tucked away in the alleys—

“Hey, man, start here first!”

Right at the alley entrance, a foreign tout called out to me.

Since this was a less-frequented area, the sellers here approached much more aggressively.

“Looking for something in particular?”
“Ah, yes. I’m looking for hero-grade summons.”
“Hero? Then you should go to the main square. We don’t sell expensive stuff like that here.”
“The prices there are too inflated. I’ll just take a look around.”
“Eh, there’s nothing in here anyway! Just buy some gear here instead!”

Ignoring the sales pitches, I went deeper in.

The atmosphere got gloomier the further I went.

Sellers kept their heads down, looking like they had no will to sell anything.

I began to wonder if I’d made a wrong turn.

“Come check out my summons!”

At the end of the alley, I saw someone who didn’t fit the mood.

A boy who looked like a high schooler had set up a small stall.

His sign, made of cardboard, was clumsy.

[Hero Summons Cheap! See sales list below…]

…Bingo!

Looking at the list, he had some surprisingly interesting ones.

Not all of his summons were listed, but a few were “limited-time pickup” types.

These are way too cheap. Does he not know their value?

Now that the game has become reality, limited pickups can’t be obtained normally.

The only real way is through “selection tickets.”

That’s why limited summons are worth several to dozens of times more than others of the same grade.

But this kid’s prices were not just low—they were bottom-tier even compared to regular hero summons.

Did he even realize what he was selling?

“Young man.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have more hero summons than the ones listed here?”
“Ah, yes! I have more.”
“Can I see them?”
“Ah… But I don’t think you’re the type to buy any.”
“I never said I wouldn’t buy anything.”
“I can tell just by your walk—you don’t look like the kind of person who comes here…”

My walk?

I thought it was normal.

Do people who come here have a different way of walking?

“Just show me. I might buy something.”
“Alright… as long as you don’t curse me out after seeing them.”

He started showing me his summons one by one.

And then I understood why he asked me not to curse.

They were hero-grade, but all with big conditional drawbacks.

No wonder others were disappointed.

Most of his summons were slow.

Slow means you never get the first move.

So, even if they’re strong, they get discarded.

To make them viable, you’d have to boost their speed.

But the speed-boosting Gale Set is ridiculously expensive—more than the summon itself.

That’s why people probably told him off out of pity or frustration.

“Not great, right?”
“Yeah… most of them are missing a few screws.”
“Yeah… I thought they looked fine when I bought them. I guess I don’t have an eye for these things.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll buy them. Cash or card?”
“Eh?”
“Payment. How do I do it? You take cards?”

Among his stock, I found two I actually needed.

Hard-to-find ones, too—lucky me.

I wondered if he realized some of these were ultra-rare limited summons released just before I quit the game—when power creep was at its peak.

“Either cash or card is fine. So, which ones are you buying?”
“The Flame Canopy, Temina, and Cowardly Golem, Iron.”
“…Wait, you’re buying those two?”
“Yes. How much?”
“Uh… 300 each.”
“Ah, that price is a bit high. Let’s negotiate. How about we go to a café and discuss it?”

And so, I headed to a café with the young seller to haggle over the price.