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Chapter 14
Recruiting Team Members (2)
This high schooler’s name was Go In-su.
He’s 18 years old, a second-year in high school.
When I asked why he was out here selling summons on a weekday when school was in session, he said he was the head of his household.
He’d already dropped out of school.
His father died in an accident during the Great Cataclysm, and his mother was in poor health.
Now it was just him and his 10-year-old younger brother — and he was the only one who could earn money.
…Why does this sound familiar?
Yeah — because it’s basically my own story.
Well, I guess it’s not that rare. They still don’t even have an exact estimate of the damage from the Break.
In such a grim situation, this kid had gotten lucky — he awakened as an adventurer.
That meant he could use the Exchange, so he started a small trading business with what little capital he had.
“At first, business was pretty good, so I could make some pocket money. But then… I got scammed. Badly.”
At first, he made a decent profit buying and selling items.
He’d even saved up a good chunk of money — enough to cover living expenses at home.
But since it still wasn’t quite enough, he thought he’d expand into trading higher-priced summons…
“So you tried to flip expensive summons for a profit?”
“Yes. But I didn’t know those people would be like that…”
He’d bought a number of Hero-grade summons from a young couple — each for 5 million won.
But when they wouldn’t sell at all, he got suspicious, checked their market prices… and realized he’d been scammed.
“It’s not like I can blame anyone else. I should have double-checked before making the deal. I just think of it as paying tuition now.”
Go In-su smiled bitterly as he said this.
Some of the summons didn’t even have sales history, so he couldn’t check their going rates. And when the sellers threatened him, saying they could sell them elsewhere, he rushed into buying based solely on their abilities.
“Still, from what I saw, their abilities looked pretty good. I didn’t think they were defective summons.”
And he was right.
The summons’ abilities themselves were fine.
The problem was that he’d judged them without any basic knowledge about Legend Seven.
He hadn’t considered the current meta or team synergies — just judged based on individual stats.
That was his mistake.
“…I see. Your situation’s unfortunate, but I can’t really give you more than I planned.”
“Of course!”
“How much did you say you wanted?”
“Oh. 300 each.”
The boy avoided my gaze as he named the price, looking uneasy.
He probably thought it was too high.
But actually — it was the opposite.
Both the summons I picked were limited-time exclusives — once the period passed, you could never get them again.
This kid clearly lacked knowledge in that area too.
“Ah, before I name my price, let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes?”
“That summon, Temina, Canopy of Flames — what about her abilities stood out to you?”
“Oh. Well, her attack goes up whenever an ally takes a turn, and if the whole team gets a buff, she joins in on their attacks. Her follow-up damage seemed huge, so I figured she was a good summon.”
So, he’d been dazzled by the summon’s high potential.
But in the market, good summons are often valued more for their low floor than their high ceiling.
Look at Herna Caligo — she doesn’t need tricky conditions to shine; she just does everything herself.
Temina’s attack power was indeed strong.
But she needed two conditions:
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The team must act first.
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The whole team must be buffed.
Needing both was already a problem.
Was she useless then?
Not exactly.
If you built a team to meet those two conditions, she was an excellent pure damage dealer.
So… his eye for summons isn’t actually bad.
When I nodded in understanding, the kid seemed flustered and quickly lowered the price.
“Ah! Sorry. 200 each. I think I was being greedy.”
“Oh, 200?”
He must have thought I was unhappy with the original price.
“You’re sure you’re okay with that price?”
“Uh? Yes. 200. That seems fair.”
I couldn’t help but smirk.
“Nope.”
“Eh?”
“Both of these are limited-time summons. Did you know that?”
“Eh? T-that’s a thing?”
“Yep.”
Of course he didn’t know.
“So… the price is higher?”
I decided to stop teasing this talented young guy.
“They’d go for at least 1.5 million each. Even if they’re tricky to use, there’s nothing wrong with their abilities.”
“Wha—?! Really?!”
“Yep. And those two you sold me? No sales history on the Exchange, right? That couple’s going to regret today for a long time.”
“So, 30 million total? Sent.”
“Whoa! Woooow! Seriously! Hyung! Thank you so much!”
Go In-su jumped to his feet, bowing over and over.
Not that I’d done this purely out of kindness.
“What was your name again? Go In-su?”
“Yes, hyung! Ah, and you can just talk casually to me!”
“Alright. You said you’re an adventurer now, right?”
“Yes!”
“Not in a guild?”
“No! I haven’t even done the tutorial!”
Oh? Not even the tutorial?
A complete blank slate. Even better.
This country was full of nonsense, useless “guides” — I’d have had to re-educate him anyway.
This way, I wouldn’t have to undo any bad habits.
“So you’re planning to just keep trading for now?”
“For a while, yeah. I just don’t know enough.”
“Do you want to be active as an adventurer someday?”
“I do… but I’ve got no money, and I don’t think I have talent for it.”
“From what I see, you do.”
“R-really? Thanks for saying so!”
When I climb the Tower and level up as an adventurer, I’ll eventually have to join a guild.
Some resources can only be obtained through guild content.
But joining an existing guild is out of the question.
Soloing guild content would only be possible once I had everything — the Seven Deadly Sins and all other preparations.
That means I’d need a few trustworthy people to act as my hands and feet.
In that sense, Go In-su wasn’t a bad recruitment prospect.
“If I ask you to work with me in the future, would you be interested?”
“Ah! Absolutely! If it’s with you, I’m in.”
“You don’t even know what kind of person I am.”
“You paid me the proper value for my summons. Someone like that can’t be bad!”
“Thanks for saying that. Let’s exchange numbers. I’ll call you later.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Then until then, I’ll do nothing but study Legend Seven.”
“That much? I mean… you should still study school stuff too, even if you dropped out.”
“I’ll do it all!”
Wow. This kid had more fighting spirit than I expected.
“Alright. See you later.”
“Yes!”
After wrapping up the summons deal, I left the café.
With my gear and summons reinforced, only the final step remained.
I paused to整理 my plan.
Tower climbing.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was that hard.
Getting a good rank and breaking records to sweep up rewards was a given.
The real problem… is the “Tower of Records.”
Once I started climbing, even if I hid my personal information, the fact that “someone” was breaking records would still be known.
If it kept happening, no matter how much I hid, I’d eventually be exposed.
They could narrow down the list of adventurers who entered at those times until they caught me.
So I couldn’t stay anonymous forever.
But… I could delay it as long as possible.
At least until I had the strength to sit at the negotiating table as an equal.
Here’s the summary:
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My summons are powerful, but also dangerous.
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If I reveal myself now, people will likely try to suppress, rob, or eliminate me rather than negotiate.
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But I have zero intention of slowing my progress just to stay under the radar.
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So—
“I climb the Tower. Faster and flashier than anyone else.”
Before the Tower of Records could track me down, I’d make myself an adventurer no one could refuse.
Even if I was dangerous. Even if the risk was high.
I’d be a poisoned apple they couldn’t resist taking a bite of.
Time limit: one week.
I got that number from the average time it took to identify suspects in major adventurer crimes in the past.
Even with limited manpower, Korea was second to none when it came to digging up domestic adventurer info.
With the Tower of Records and a CCTV network rivaled only by China, they could probably track down my great-uncle’s cousin if they wanted.
So before that—
Floor 50. I’ll clear it within a week.
Clearing the 50th floor had symbolic meaning for adventurers.
Internationally, it meant you were a full-fledged veteran.
In Korea, it was roughly the entry level for the top 100 rankings.
A promising mid-tier guild member would usually take two years to reach that point.
And I’m going to do in one week what takes others two years. That means I’ll need to prepare thoroughly.
First step — check out the new recruits.
I immediately opened the status screens for Temina, Canopy of Flames and Iron, the Cowardly Golem.
[Temina, Canopy of Flames]
Element: Fire
Level: 1
Grade: Hero
Class: Archer
Stats
Attack: 6
Defense: 5
HP: 20
Speed: 10
Crit Rate: 15%
Crit Damage: 15
Effect Hit: 0
Effect Resist: 0
Unique Skill
Skill 1: “I Said I’m Really Hot!”
Effect: If allies act first, Temina preheats, increasing attack by 20%. If 3+ allies are buffed, she joins in on their attacks, dealing follow-up hits that ignore 30% of enemy defense.
Just looking at her unique skill, she was solid.
Especially since her preheat bonus could scale up to 100% with growth.
Too bad her other stats were mediocre.
Next — the tank, Iron.
[Iron, the Cowardly Golem]
Element: Earth
Level: 1
Grade: Hero
Class: Knight
Stats
Attack: 3
Defense: 10
HP: 25
Speed: 11
Crit Rate: 15%
Crit Damage: 15
Effect Hit: 0
Effect Resist: 0
Unique Skill
Skill 1: “I’m Scared, But…!”
Effect: When placed in the back row, Iron gains +40% defense and allies gain +20% defense. When placed in the front row, he gains Trauma.
Trauma: All stats except HP and Defense are set to 1. The reduced stats are converted into extra HP and Defense. Attacks deal HP-scaling damage.
Look at that.
The pinnacle of a garbage summon, right?
A knight who only boosts defense from the back row instead of protecting allies up front.
Put him in front and he curls up into “turtle mode.”
Sure, he’s meant to be used in “stall” teams to boost ally defense — but there were plenty of other summons for that role.
Still, I wasn’t planning to put him in the back.
I’d put him up front.
He synergized perfectly with the Heart of the Crimson Vanguard Tainted by Nightmares I gave to Hertia.
If Hertia attacked with that equipped, Iron would be forced to join in — and in the front row, all his stats would be funneled into HP and Defense.
Plus, HP-scaling damage!
Sounds good, right?
Well… for anyone else, he’d be unusable.
Once Trauma activated, his Speed dropped to 1.
A summon with Speed 1?
No one else would touch that, no matter how high the damage.
First… let’s get their levels up.
No matter how perfect the team, at Level 1 the stat gap would make them useless.
I headed straight out toward the Elemental Rune Dungeon.
Here’s hoping Hertia and Caligo don’t throw a fit.
