Chapter 05

Jinwoo and Lee Sohee finally arrived on the 20th floor.

The moment they stepped through the portal, an astonishing sight unfolded before them.

“So this is… the 20th floor.”

Lee Sohee could not continue speaking as she looked around in amazement.

Before them stood a city that looked like something from medieval Europe.

If the safe zone on the 10th floor was a small village, then the safe zone on the 20th floor was a much larger city.

“Wow!”

Massive walls surrounded the city, and inside were countless houses, shops, and bustling markets.

NPCs of all kinds walked through the streets, living their daily lives.

As Lee Sohee entered the city, she continuously gasped in admiration.

It felt as though she had traveled through time.

‘We’re the very first people to come here!’

She felt so emotional that she almost wanted to cry.

But unlike her, Jinwoo maintained an indifferent expression.

“Follow me.”

After saying that, Jinwoo strode forward confidently.

Lee Sohee was briefly surprised by his calm attitude, but she quickly followed behind him.

“Where are we going, Captain?”

Jinwoo’s footsteps made it seem like he already had a clear destination in mind.

“First, we need to buy the necessary items.”

Jinwoo answered casually as he headed toward the shopping district.

The 20th floor’s marketplace had far more types of stores than the 10th floor.

On the lower floor, weapons and armor were sold together in one shop, but on the 20th floor, weapon shops and armor shops were separated.

There were also many other stores selling various items.

As though he already knew everything, Jinwoo entered one particular shop.

It was a type of general store, and there he purchased a massive quantity of mana stones.

“What are you going to use all of these for?”

Lee Sohee asked.

A single mana stone was extremely expensive.

One costs a hundred Karma.

Since the current value of karma was about ten thousand won, a small mana stone was worth around one million won.

Yet Jinwoo bought mana stones in huge quantities.

He purchased well over two hundred kilograms of them.

“I’m going to sell them.”

“Ah…”

Lee Sohee nodded, but then her face became puzzled again.

‘Captain used Karma just to make money? He’s always valued Karma far more than money.’

The suddenly changed Jinwoo felt unfamiliar to her.

But when Jinwoo started walking again, she pushed aside those thoughts and hurried after him.

The next place Jinwoo visited was a weapon shop.

He bought all kinds of weapon and armor items there.

Lee Sohee looked at him in surprise.

“Are you planning to sell all of these too?”

“Probably.”

“If you sell all this, you’ll make an unbelievable amount of money.”

That was only natural.

Most of the items he purchased were uncommon-grade items, meaning high-grade equipment.

Since such items rarely appeared below the 20th floor, Hunters had no choice but to buy them even at extremely high prices.

It was basically guaranteed profit.

But hearing Lee Sohee’s words, Jinwoo simply shrugged and muttered meaningfully,

“It’s not just money that’ll come from this.”

Afterward, Jinwoo entered a medicinal herb shop.

Various herbs were displayed inside.

Jinwoo approached the shop owner and asked,

“Do you have Mana Bella seeds?”

The shop owner looked at him in surprise.

“Not Mana Bella itself, but the seeds? Are you planning to grow it?”

“Give me all you have.”

Instead of explaining, Jinwoo simply demanded more seeds.

The old woman’s eyes lit up with interest, and she asked for 150,000 Karma.

“150,000?”

Lee Sohee jumped in shock.

But Jinwoo calmly paid the amount without hesitation.

Watching the endless karma pouring out from his hand, Lee Sohee was once again astonished.

After finishing the transaction, Jinwoo suddenly asked her,

“If there were a hair-loss medicine that completely cured baldness just by applying it, how much impact do you think it would have?”

“Hair-loss medicine? I’m not really sure, but economically, wouldn’t it create an enormous impact?”

“And what if Korea exclusively produced that medicine?”

Lee Sohee tilted her head, unable to understand why he was asking.

Jinwoo smirked slightly and opened his status window.

[Name]: Kim Jinwoo

[Trait]: The Nation Belongs to Me.

[Trait Skills]: Body of Steel LV20 / Golden Touch LV17 / Heart of Mana LV19 / Infinite Space LV9 / Blessing of Life LV10

[General Skills]: Vision Penetration (E), Minor Shockwave (E), Cold Touch (E), Sound Amplification (E), Small Barrier (E)…

Compared to other Hunters, the number of his skills was overwhelming.

Even rankers were lucky if they received one “First Clear Reward,” yet Jinwoo had obtained it more than ten times.

Naturally, he possessed far more skills than anyone else.

But to Jinwoo, all of those many skills meant nothing.

As shown by the letters in parentheses, they were only E-rank skills.

The only things that truly mattered to him were his Trait Skills.

‘If Korea’s economy improves, then Golden Touch’s level should increase too.’

The reason he bought such a huge amount of Mana Bella seeds, the ingredient used for hair-loss medicine, was to raise his skill levels.

If Korea exclusively produced the medicine, it would greatly impact the Korean economy.

At the very least, it should raise the skill by one or two levels.

‘Even increasing it by one or two levels will greatly increase the amount of Karma I gain daily, so this investment is absolutely worth it.’

Besides, as Korea’s economy improved, his own influence and real-world wealth would rise too, so there was no loss for him at all.

A massive crowd of reporters had gathered in front of Seoul’s Tower of Babel.

Reporters from every broadcasting station and newspaper company stood in place with cameras and microphones ready.

“How did they manage to clear the 19th floor? And with SSS rank too?”

One reporter asked his colleague beside him.

“Exactly. They suddenly appeared and cleared three floors in a row. Is that even possible?”

“I heard the raid team had practically disbanded.”

“There were only two members left, right? That long-range dealer called Light Sohee?”

“So you’re saying just those two were the first to clear the 19th floor? How does that even make sense?”

Even after the announcement appeared, the reporters still looked doubtful.

That was only natural.

Even America, where every raid team hunter was worth hundreds of billions of won individually, had still failed to clear the 19th floor.

Yet somehow, a raid team with only two people, one being a ranged dealer and the other being the supposedly washed-up Kim Jinwoo, had cleared it.

Of course people were confused.

“They must’ve found some kind of strategy. Wasn’t finding strategies always Captain Korea’s specialty?”

“You were insulting Kim Jinwoo before, and now suddenly it’s ‘Captain Korea’?”

“He achieved another first after such a long time. That means we have to make him our hero again.”

The reporters chatted among themselves while waiting for Jinwoo.

But the wait became much longer than expected.

More than three hours had already passed since the announcement of the 19th floor clear, yet there was still no sign of him leaving the Tower.

“Did they smear honey all over the 20th floor or something? Why aren’t they coming out?”

“Who knows. Maybe there really is honey there. Aren’t the Hunter guilds already going crazy over that?”

“You think there are incredible items there?”

“Probably. Hunters still use the items sold on the 10th floor even now.”

At that moment, a bright flash appeared at the entrance of the Tower of Babel.

Soon after, a man and woman emerged.

It was Jinwoo and Lee Sohee.

The moment Jinwoo appeared, endless camera shutters clicked loudly.

“Mr. Kim Jinwoo, how did you manage to clear the 19th floor?”

“What was the secret behind your success?”

The first thing the reporters asked about was the raid strategy.

“We got lucky.”

One of the reasons Jinwoo had become a target of public criticism was because of his arrogant attitude toward the media.

Strictly speaking, however, he was not arrogant. He was simply honest.

As a superhuman, he did not understand why he should care about the media’s opinions or pretend to be humble.

To begin with, it was extremely rare for him to even participate in interviews like this.

He only focused on efficiently clearing dungeons.

Naturally, he almost never appeared on broadcasts, which earned him the nickname “The Recluse World’s Strongest.”

The media interpreted his behavior as arrogance, and before long they began maliciously shaping his image according to their own opinions.

Jinwoo, who had only cared about Tower raids, gradually became known as an arrogant, selfish dictator with outdated values who refused to communicate.

And after he truly began isolating himself, the image of being “incompetent” and “washed-up” was added as well.

Naturally, Jinwoo did not hold positive feelings toward the media.

‘But the greatest revenge isn’t simply crushing them. It’s turning them into my pet dogs.’

Thinking that inwardly, he answered the reporters’ questions sincerely.

“What was on the 20th floor? Is there a shop there too? If so, what kinds of items were sold?”

This was probably the information people wanted most.

Information about the 20th floor, where nobody had ever reached before.

The internet was already overflowing with speculation.

Some people claimed it would be identical to the 10th floor, while others thought it would simply be another combat floor.

In fact, Hunters were even more curious than ordinary people.

Depending on whether they obtained information about the 20th floor quickly or not, they could either gain a huge advantage or fall behind entirely.

Since the information was so important, it would normally be best to keep it secret.

In reality, Jinwoo had hidden information about the 10th floor for a long time.

“The 20th floor was similar to the 10th floor in many ways. There was a shopping district, and it sold better items.”

“Ooooh.”

But this time, he revealed the information immediately.

After all, he already knew America would soon succeed in clearing the 19th floor anyway.

There was no benefit in hiding it.

“For reference, I obtained several hundred kilograms of mana stones on the 20th floor. If anyone needs them, please contact me.”

The reporters stared at Jinwoo with shocked expressions.

Mana stones.

Those were items obtained only through extremely low probabilities in towers and dungeons.

They were even being hailed as next-generation clean energy resources without environmental pollution concerns.

Governments and corporations were desperately buying them at high prices for research purposes, so hearing that Jinwoo had acquired them in bulk naturally shocked the reporters.

“Several hundred kilograms? That means he made hundreds of billions of won!”

“Probably. The current market price is around one hundred million won per kilogram.”

“But won’t prices drop now? Based on what he said, it sounds easy to obtain on the 20th floor.”

“And how exactly is reaching the 20th floor easy? Nobody except Kim Jinwoo managed it for months.”

While the reporters were discussing among themselves, another one shouted loudly.

“What other items did you obtain?”

Jinwoo pulled out an item from his subspace inventory.

The true name of the subspace skill he used was actually “Infinite Space,” a trait skill connected to his trait.

Of course, even though it was called Infinite Space, the actual area was still smaller than Yeouido.

Still, that was more than enough if it was only being used for storage.

“This is a rare item called the Staff of Flames. It can summon and throw a fire sphere once every ten minutes.”

“R-Rare item!”

“This is a huge scoop!”

The moment they heard the word “rare,” all the reporters shouted excitedly.

It was only natural since this was the first rare item ever revealed.

And it even had the ability to launch fire spheres.

It was practically the same as gaining another skill.

The reporters gathered here already had extensive knowledge about Hunters, so their reactions became even more intense.

“There are four more rare items besides this one.”

Hearing that there were four more Rare items shocked the reporters even further.

But there was still one more thing left to shock them.

“This is the Random Skill Book I obtained from achieving SSS rank. It’s a B-rank Random Skill Book.”

“Y-You still haven’t used it? Are you planning to sell it?”

“If necessary, I might sell it. Nothing has been decided yet.”

Jinwoo answered calmly.

The reporters once again shouted about getting a major scoop.

“So it was true that SSS gives B-rank rewards!”

“But why hasn’t he opened it yet? It’s B-rank!”

“More importantly, how much would a B-rank book cost? Tens of billions?”

“Not tens of billions. Probably hundreds of billions.”

The place became as noisy as a marketplace.

That was how influential a B-rank Random Skill Book was.

“What are your future plans? Are you going to rebuild your raid team?”

Once the atmosphere settled slightly, one reporter asked.

“At the moment, I have no plans to rebuild the raid team.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Not just the raid team. I don’t have any plans for anything yet. Including whether I’ll continue climbing the Tower in Korea.”

“……!”

Jinwoo had absolutely no intention of immigrating.

He had already regretted it enough once, so there was no way he would repeat the same mistake.

But nobody knew what he was really thinking.

So there was no harm in bluffing a little.

People needed to understand that he could leave Korea at any time for them to properly recognize his value.

‘I practically cleared the 19th floor alone. Let’s see if they can abandon me again this time.’

Just as he would not repeat the same mistake, Korea would not repeat it either.