The press conference held by the Korean Awakened Management Agency once again shook the entire world.
The Spell Power Binding Block—also known as the Mana-Sealing Scroll.
It was nothing more than paper.
It couldn't even be stored in a player's inventory.
Because the paper used to make it was an Earth-made item.
Honestly, people even doubted whether it really worked.
Would anything really change just by tearing it?
When you watched the SNS videos that occasionally surfaced about the situation in China, the liberated players there possessed almost superhuman combat power.
To think that such superpowered villain players could be subdued with a single sheet of paper.
Yet the first country to request the scrolls was the United States.
Three million copies in the first batch alone, worth 220 million dollars.
Would the U.S. really pay 220 million dollars for useless scraps of paper?
Were they idiots?
The mana-sealing effect had to be real.
Would the Korean Awakened Management Agency really scam the entire world?
For now, better to place the order first.
If it were weapons like firearms, importing them might have been difficult, but this was just simple leaflets.
You could just load bundles of paper onto a plane and fly them in.
Carry one in your pocket, and if an emergency happened, just tear it.
It didn't matter if a situation requiring its use never came.
That would be even better.
Orders poured in from all over the world.
But supply, too, had its order.
First priority was supplying South Korean government agencies, then distribution would proceed sequentially according to order time.
Online communities buzzed with talk about the Mana-Sealing Scroll.
L: You just tear it? That's really simple.
L: Would it work inside the Tower?
L: Probably? It binds mana. But no sane person would use it in there, right?
L: Isn't this not enough? If a liberated villain player charges in seriously, you wouldn't even get to use it…
L: Still better than guns. Multiple people can use it at once.
L: I hope they sell it to civilians soon. I want to carry one around.
The most important function of this scroll:
It allowed relatively safe suppression without escalating the situation like the incident in China.
It could also act as a deterrent.
And thus, it sent a message to players:
The Rune Necklace of Liberation is not all-powerful.Mana can be sealed at any time.Even by ordinary people.So don't even think about trying something with brute force.
Of course, there were voices of concern as well.
The incident in China had occurred because the government oppressed players without valid reason.
L: Blame the Chinese government. Why seal innocent players?
L: That's why China isn't exporting them.
L: What about players in other countries? The Rune Necklace of Liberation is an item from the Tower too—this just makes it unusable.
L: Then why use the necklace at all? Ah! You have one, don't you?
L: Suspicious. What are you planning to do with it?
L: I don't know what you're planning, but don't do it.
L: That's exactly why they made the scroll.
L: I'm a player too, but if you want to use power, do it inside the Tower—not in reality.
China was a special case.
Who there wasn't oppressed—only players?
It was a dictatorship.
Ordinary citizens and players alike were suppressed indiscriminately.
Looking at past records gave the answer.
Legitimate criticism by citizens, and the resistance, protests, and collective actions that followed, were never tolerated.
They were crushed with guns and tanks, arrested and imprisoned.
Why would players be any different?
L: You think China will apologize? They're the ones who kidnapped players and forcibly naturalized them.
L: Even if they apologize, it'll just be for show.
L: The captured resistance players are probably already executed.
L: Anyway, we must make sure not a single scroll ever reaches China.
People knew.
The Chinese government would never apologize.
From the Chinese government's perspective, they didn't want this conflict to drag on either.
They were making their own efforts to somehow patch things up.
But once things exploded, they spiraled out of control.
Trouble erupted here, and there, and everywhere.
Even the nationally sponsored Chinese players were restless—
the core personnel for climbing the unchallenged upper floors.
In any case, they were players too.
Risk factors affected by the Rune Necklace of Liberation.
And their levels were high.
With full gear equipped, you couldn't even scratch them without actual missiles or rockets.
Outwardly, the Chinese government pretended to appease them, but internally, it was tightening surveillance even on its nationally sponsored players.
Then news spread of the Mana-Sealing Scroll—
once again, an externally manufactured item distributed by Korea.
It was the most urgently needed item in China right now.
Possibly the only means to safely subdue liberated players.
Naturally, their ears perked up the moment it was announced.
But the preconditions?
Apologize to their own players and allow asylum for those who wanted it?
How dare they! Who did they think they were?
"This is interference in internal affairs. We must lodge an official protest."
An emergency central committee meeting of Chinese Communist Party officials and government administrators.
"Protest? We should declare war."
"Agreed. We need to snap them back to reality."
"They're nothing but Tower climbers."
"Start with economic sanctions. Shut down every Korean company in China."
"We can't leave North Korea alone either. They're all in on this. Ungrateful, after all we've done for them."
"Declare a full alert for the People's Liberation Army. Move aircraft carriers and submarines to the West Sea."
There were dissenting opinions, of course.
"Even if not asylum, shouldn't we at least talk to ordinary players?"
"Yes. If this continues, it may become impossible to contain."
"We need to yield first. Release the leadership of the Player Association and open dialogue."
But with hardliners vastly outnumbering them—
"Are you out of your minds? The players who caused this are all criminals. Why talk to criminals?"
"The Player Association? You mean traitors trying to overthrow the state?"
"There are only a handful of them. Arrest them all and execute them."
"We need to make them realize our government isn't weak."
"Honestly, what have players ever done for us?"
In truth, the perception of players within Chinese political circles had never been good.
Distrust of domestic players among Chinese leaders had a long history—
even toward those raised by the state.
There was good reason for it.
Back in the early days of Tower climbing, three Towers had risen in China.
How much money had been poured into raising players to prevent Tower collapse?
Yet as time went on, the results were utterly disappointing.
They couldn't overcome the wall of the 59th floor.
To the point they even resorted to kidnapping foreign players to climb the Tower.
In the end, they had to borrow Russia's strength to clear the Tower,
conceding enormous interests in the process.
Even reaching the 71st floor after clearing the undead section
had relied on a loophole strategy using Tower Jumping Tickets.
And after all that effort, that bastard Bairung repaid them by assassinating Chairman Wang Yuan.
After all this, trust in domestic players had completely collapsed within the Chinese government.
Protect them? Nonsense—useless people with power but no loyalty.
Meanwhile, Korea?
Undisputedly the world's strongest Tower-climbing nation.
Home to numerous top-class players.
Even excluding the world's strongest player, people like Nam Ga-eun, Lee Min-ah, and dozens of other elite players were climbing in the 70th floors.
It was humiliating.
They couldn't help but feel enraged.
Every world announcement stoked their jealousy.
And now what?
They were being told to stop suppressing Chinese Player Association members?
To release those detained?
Absolutely not.
They weren't worth that much.
"Let's first review sanctions against Korea. From now on, Korea is an enemy state."
"Are you suggesting war?"
"If necessary!"
"We must be careful. North Korea is already aligned with the South. Korea is now a nuclear power."
"North Korea aside, what about the United States? They won't stay idle."
"So what, we just let this slide?"
Chinese powerholders bickered endlessly.
"This is all because China lacks a leader. We must hurry the election of a chairman."
"Is this really the time for that?"
"No decisions are being made at all."
"If someone wants to be chairman, they should just say so."
In effect, there was no real will to resolve the situation.
Tokyo, Japan—Prime Minister's Residence.
A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Maeda of the Democratic Innovation Party, a former player.
Although the administration had changed, the party's support base was extremely weak.
For seventy years, the Liberal Party—backed by right-wing forces—had dominated Japan.
Did anyone think the world would change overnight just because the ruling party changed?
The bureaucracy, the media, the corporations—
Japan's core power still lay with the Liberal Party.
Still, Prime Minister Maeda was no incompetent.
Backed by player support, he was steadily tightening his grip on Japanese politics.
Resistance was fierce.
The deeply rooted right-wing forces were not easy opponents.
Approval ratings were stagnating.
And then the China incident erupted.
Followed by the announcement from the Korean Awakened Management Agency.
"We should import the Mana-Sealing Scrolls as well."
"Indeed. There's no guarantee something like this won't happen in Japan."
"Japan–Korea relations have improved, after all."
"We urgently need scrolls to distribute to frontline police officers."
"But we must think carefully. Approval ratings will drop. People will say we're begging Korea again—asking what we're giving them this time."
"Is approval really the issue right now? After seeing China, you still say that?"
"But what if an accident happens? We'll be the ones held responsible."
Even within the Democratic Innovation Party itself, opinions were sharply divided.
But Prime Minister Maeda had already made up his mind.
"Let's bring it in."
"Yes, we'll place the order through the embassy."
Even after ordering, it would take quite some time—
at least over a month.
Other countries had moved quickly, but Japan's decision had been delayed because they kept weighing pros and cons.
Still, better late than never.
So this necklace won't be necessary anymore.
In fact, Prime Minister Maeda—himself a former player—had been secretly wearing the Rune Necklace of Liberation beneath his clothes, unknown to anyone.
Japan had also reached the 71st floor and received the four-type gift set.
The other items were carefully stored in the national archives.
Only the necklace had been secretly taken out.
Why?
Looking at the tragic history of Japanese prime ministers so far—
Prime Minister Kawaguchi died in a newly generated Tower incident,
and Acting Prime Minister Usuda was killed by coup forces.
For those reasons, Maeda had felt compelled to wear the Rune Necklace of Liberation, even if it meant taking a risk.
But now, coincidentally, the Mana-Sealing Scroll had appeared.
I took it out for nothing.
After all, a single scroll was enough to neutralize someone.
Near the Black Tower of Pyongyang.
People still didn't really know that this was the place producing the Mana-Sealing Scroll.
North Korea, one of the most closed-off countries in the world.
That was precisely why its security was top-tier.
For now, it was nothing more than a desolate factory site filled with temporary buildings.
Yet the magitech scroll printing machines ran nonstop.
The completed magic scrolls were loaded onto trucks and delivered in the first batch to the Awakened Management Agency.
From there, they were distributed in a second stage according to order quantities.
Sales through Rajiks Trading would come later,
when they were distributed to civilians.
They were sold by air not only to Korea but also to the United States.
Since that country had placed the first order.
Orders poured in from other nations as well.
North Korean workers were working frantically.
Drying the chemically treated printing paper, loading the dried sheets into the printing machines, bundling the printed scrolls by count and stacking them, then loading them onto trucks when they arrived.
And that wasn't all.
Basic construction was also underway at a site slightly farther away.
A mass-production factory for the Bracelet of Escape from Obesity.
And the magitech engineer El was in the middle of building automated machinery.
Kosak watched with deeply moved eyes.
To think such output was pouring out of this poorly equipped temporary factory.
They had confirmed the potential.
In the future, enchanted Bracelets of Escape from Obesity could be produced using a similar method.
"Comrades of the industrial vanguard! You've worked hard indeed—so I'll report this to the higher-ups and make sure you get a hefty bonus!"
The North Korean workers were overwhelmed with emotion.
Bonuses?
They'd never experienced anything like that in their lives.
If the work were hard, they might have complained—but it wasn't.
They were given meals and even snacks.
Their daily wages were paid promptly in dollars or won.
These days, the won was more popular than the dollar.
So everyone took their pay in Korean currency.
Even the jangmadang accepted only won.
The republic's currency was practically worthless.
And there were no government crackdowns at the moment.
Ahhh.
The sweet taste of capitalism.
Wouldn't reunification come soon?
They wanted to spend the money they'd earned properly.
With that thought—
"Comrade Minister of the People's Armed Forces! I have something to say."
During lunch break, a North Korean work crew leader stepped forward as a representative and spoke to Kosak.
"What is it? Speak up."
"After working on nothing but lying propaganda leaflets every day, being able to carry out such a revolutionary task for world peace makes us proud of ourselves."
"And?"
"Please allow overtime work. I'll work myself to the bone with all I've got."
Minister of the People's Armed Forces Kosak was thoroughly satisfied.
Volunteering for overtime—
weren't these exemplary laborers?
Such laborers deserved proper treatment.
"I'm deeply moved by your tearful loyalty. Very well—starting today, overtime is approved! I'll make sure you get overtime pay too, so work hard!"
"…You're really giving us overtime pay?"
"What, did you think I'd make you work for free? Overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular rate."
"Th-thank you!"
At the news of overtime approval, North Korean workers swarmed around Kosak, all with faces full of joy.
"There's one more thing you must keep in mind."
"Please enlighten us, Comrade Minister of the People's Armed Forces."
"You know Rajiks Trading, right?"
Of course they did.
"From now on, this factory will be operated continuously by the North Korean branch of Rajiks Trading. That means you comrades will become full-time employees of Rajiks Trading. What do you think?"
The workers' chests swelled with emotion.
They weren't blind or deaf.
Rajiks Trading.
Even in South Korea, it was extremely popular and hard to get into.
Compared to major conglomerates, its salary, benefits, and employee treatment were second to none.
Full-time employees of such a company?
If this wasn't the place to shout "manse," then where was?
"Manse to Comrade Kosak, Minister of the People's Armed Forces!"
But Kosak frowned deeply and said,
"Don't say such dangerously big words! Someone might think I'm the leader of the Republic!"
Then what?
"Comrades, what we need is the spirit of Juche-style revolution! United firmly by that spirit, we must complete our revolutionary tasks, isn't that right?"
Only now did the North Korean workers nod in understanding.
"That is correct. With Juche-style revolutionary spirit, we will exceed our assigned tasks by more than 1,000 percent!"
"Good!"
Kosak's eyes reddened as if deeply moved.
Snap—he brought his feet together into attention,
then raised both arms high with crisp precision.
"Long live Juche! Long live Rajiks!"
Kosak led the chant.
"Long live Juche! Long live Rajiks!"
"Long live Juche! Long live Rajiks!"
"Long live Juche! Long live Rajiks!"
The North Korean workers shouted "manse," raising both hands again and again.
Madness gleamed in Kosak's eyes.
He shouted louder than anyone, with larger motions than anyone.
And madness was contagious.
The workers, too, shouted until their arms nearly fell off and their throats felt like they'd burst.
"Heh."
The Mad Demon clicked his tongue at the sight.
"In all my life, I've never seen an assassin like that. Truly a fascinating fellow."
"That really is genuine madness."
"Even a cult leader wouldn't go that far."
"He could live just fine as a cult leader."
"This young lady sometimes suspects that Sir Kosak might have multiple personalities."
"Still, as a warrior, I acknowledge him. He's helping the summoner."
"That's right. Credit where credit is due."
Even the 9th-circle mage Mackenzie had no choice but to acknowledge it.
So that's what it takes to be a number two.
A terrifying man.
Someone whose mental depths couldn't even be measured.
That was the fate of a second-in-command.
If you grew greedy, the number one would crush you.
By leading chants of "Long live Rajiks," he showed his resolve to firmly establish himself as the number two, without coveting the top position.
Hoo… yes, impressive. But!
Mackenzie didn't give up.
Was he supposed to be discouraged by something like this?
Someday, the opportunity would come—
the chance to step on Kosak and stand tall as the true number two.
The 17th floor of the White Tower.
Time flowed quickly.
Scroll production proceeded smoothly.
The Pyongyang Black Tower factory was bustling, but the White Tower was quiet.
All the summoned beings had been dispatched to work at the factory.
Left alone, Juhyeok placed a chair and sat down.
He leaned back leisurely, gazing only at the top of that landmark building.
It had already been a week since Rajiks began secluded training.
Mage Bae had also returned after a week.
He had said that breaking through the White Tower with a physical body seemed to cut the time in half.
If so, today—
light would rise from the top of that landmark.
When would it happen?
If it was fast, it should happen before noon.
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