Chapter 34: Hallelujah
Hae-jin?
He imdiately called.
Tuu tuu—.
[The custor is currently unavailable, and has been forwarded to voicemail—.]
He called several tis, but it was the sa every ti.
"What's her deal?"
She sent a ssage, but won't pick up the phone? Sothing was strange. The first ti he'd called her, it had clearly said the number didn't exist. But now the ringtone was going through? Hmm……. Should he go find the police or a lawyer? It felt like you could track soone down with just a phone number. Catch her and feed her so Gu Poison? No. If he forced her out of hiding, she might go deeper underground. Damn. For now, it seed like she'd reactivated her phone number, so there was nothing to do but wait for Hae-jin to reach out.
He had sothing to do this evening. He'd made plans with the Choi brothers. He took the subway. He still hadn't gotten his driver's license. During his break, he'd passed the written exam, but hadn't yet taken the road test. For reference, he'd barely scraped through the written portion.
He'd gotten every one of the difficult legal questions right, but then gone and gotten the common sense questions wrong.
[Q. While driving, the car in the adjacent lane turns on its blinker and suddenly tries to cut into your lane. What is the appropriate response?]
① Slow down and yield.
② Lean on the horn and tailgate to prevent them from cutting in.
Easy. Number two. How dare you cut in! What, there's no option to burst their tires? Wrong! Ah, the gap between the Poison Demon's common sense and Korean common sense.
The disconnect was severe.
If he was going to drive in the future, he'd need to think the opposite way.
***
He was riding the subway when soone holding a cross cried out.
"Unbelievers go to hell! Unbelievers go to hell!"
It was soone who believed in the gods of this world. How noisy.
"The Murim Tower is a revelation calling unbelievers to repent! Everyone, repent! Hallelujah!"
Hallelujah. What did that an? He searched it up, and found it was an expression of praise for God. A shout for when sothing suprely joyful or happy has occurred. He'd learned sothing new. ……Though he wasn't sure if he'd ever have use for it.
***
"Senior, it's been a while."
Choi Jae-jun, the second brother, extended his hand for a handshake. A light handshake.
"I missed you, Senior."
Choi Jae-hwa, the youngest, gave him a brief hug. A bit much.
The place they'd t was a Chinese restaurant. A restaurant run by a Chinese chef who frequently appeared on TV. Heard it was hard to get a reservation, but they'd managed. Chinese food, huh. It reminded him of the old Gangho. The food tasted different, but still. They ordered a variety of dishes and had a conversation.
He asked first.
"Have the Goryeo Sword Sect or Gukmubon been giving you two any trouble?"
He'd revealed the strategy for clearing the 21st floor and had everyone shout it out.
"Naless Hero! We're happy thanks to you!"
【A Goryeo Sword Sect climber shouts that they're happy because of you. 10 Happiness】
It had started as a sche to rack up so points, but it carried risks too. 'Who is this Naless Hero?' It was only natural for that question to arise.
He and the brothers had gotten their story straight in advance.
The Naless Hero.
He was a middle-aged man in his mid-fifties. Thick eyebrows, tiger-like eyes. A solid build with rough hands. Average height. Whether Korean or foreign was unclear, but he held affection for the Republic of Korea.
The Choi brothers had encountered him by chance at the Black Market, and had received information on clearing the 21st floor in exchange for a large sum of money.
Of course, the Choi brothers had asked Goryeo Sword Sect and Gukmubon not to pursue the Naless Hero, but there was no way that would hold.
Rumors had a way of breeding more rumors.
They would fabricate so plausible figure, and rumors would exaggerate and expand to create a fictional person.
Gukmubon would chase shadows, but that was all they'd be chasing. Shadows.
The brothers answered.
"Now that we've handed over the information, they don't bother us anymore."
"Still, be careful."
Honestly, even this eting today made him uneasy.
If he t with the brothers frequently, Gukmubon might start suspecting him. The brothers smiled and replied to his concern.
"Don't worry, Senior. We're a chaebol family."
"We et dozens of people in a single day."
Is that so? He'd been thinking from the perspective of Kim Tae-yang, who had an extrely narrow social circle.
Well, great rchants were always busy eting people. Of course it would be the sa here.
He asked them another question. An important one.
"You two aren't going to keep climbing the Tower, right?"
They'd already acquired the Onon Grass to cure Chairman Choi, and as chaebol heirs, they had no more reason to climb the Tower.
They'd considered the Murim Tower a new-age money-maker, but the risk was very real. But the answer was unexpected.
"We're going to keep climbing."
"Why?"
"Probably for a similar reason as you, Senior."
"Hm?"
"After receiving your help last ti and succeeding, I felt a kind of exhilaration I'd never felt before……."
"I want to feel that sense of elation again, so I'd like to keep going."
Oh boy. They'd gotten hooked on dopamine. They said it was a condition many climbers developed. There was nothing that could replace the thrill of surviving a brush with death.
……This is a problem.
My friends, brothers.
That was because you t and found a shortcut—that kind of luck doesn't co around often. Your reasons and goals for climbing are different from mine.
The brothers took his hands.
"You'll keep helping us, won't you?"
Their eyes sparkled.
"We'll……see about that."
The luxury of being casual with chaebol. The brothers broke into wide smiles. They handed him an envelope.
"A gift."
"What is it?"
"Go ahead and open it."
Inside the envelope was a certified copy of the real estate register.
Ah, that 15-billion-won place in Cheongdam?
Owner: Kim Tae-yang.
He felt a strange sense of pride.
This truly was a crazy world.
The country might collapse because of the Murim Tower, and yet the price tag was 15 billion won? Did people think living in an expensive house would save them from death? He didn't understand it.
They were all on the brink of death, yet people still went to work and went to school. Perhaps they'd just gotten used to it after about ten years since the Tower appeared.
It was a remarkable absence of any sense of danger.
The brothers noticed his expression and spoke.
"Expensive, isn't it? You probably can't make sense of it."
"A little."
"Anxiety, happiness—they're all relative."
Choi Jae-jun explained in detail.
"It's not just going under—the whole world is going under, so people feel less anxious, see."
"I suppose."
"The governnt is also covering everyone's eyes. If they said it was all going to collapse, who would go to work and pay taxes out of fear?"
"The world putting us all under a mass hypnosis……"
"Exactly. A collective hypnosis that says everything will be fine."
Only the politicians and the climbers knew the full truth. Mass hypnosis. Perhaps that was the role of politicians. He'd learned yet another thing about happiness.
As the mood grew heavy, Choi Jae-hwa said brightly,
"Let's talk about the house. Don't worry about taxes. We've sorted all of that."
"How?"
"There are ways. Huhuhuh."
The title had been transferred, but it would be a little while yet before he could move in.
This ti he handed over the gift he'd prepared.
If sothing cos in, sothing should go out.
He handed over sothing wrapped in a cloth.
"What is this?"
"A health tonic."
"A tonic?"
It was a tonic made by the Poison Demon.
An elixir, to be precise.
He had been renowned in the old Gangho for his elixir arts.
It wasn't at the level of Shaolin's small revival elixir that boosted internal energy by one full cycle at a ti, but it would still significantly reinforce the Choi brothers' internal energy.
dicine is categorized by preparation type: tang (liquid decoction), san (powder), hwan (pill), and go (ointnt). He was at the master level in tang and hwan.
"Wow!"
"Impressive!"
The brothers opened the cloth and gasped in admiration at the two elixir pills inside the wooden box.
Occasionally, elixirs would surface at Gukmubon's exchange or the Black Market.
In this world, elixirs were called the dream of eternal youth, alongside internal energy.
It wasn't rely a matter of improving health—they had the power to elevate internal energy and cure illness.
"How did you get these……?"
"I obtained them in the Tower."
Liquid decoctions and elixir pills differ greatly when it cos to storage. A properly made elixir could retain its potency for decades, even centuries.
It wasn't simply a matter of solidifying and compressing the ingredients.
The core was channeling one's internal energy—and sotis spells—to trap spiritual essence within it.
The brothers had known he could brew decoctions, but didn't know he could also craft elixirs.
Those who could make elixirs were few and far between even among climbers.
Pharmaceutical companies had been continuously trying to achieve it as well.
"Thank you, Senior."
"You've given us sothing far too precious."
"I wanted to."
Heh.
Don't be surprised when you take it. It'll be extraordinary.
The gifts didn't end there.
"Please give this to your father."
He handed over the brewed decoction.
He had unblocked Chairman Choi's energy channels, but upon examining his pulse, he'd discovered the man's blood vessels were in poor shape.
He made sure to add a word of advice.
"I can vouch for its efficacy, but it must not be overused."
The teaching: 'dicine is poison in excess'. The way to live longest in this world was not to stuff yourself with this and that just because it was good for you.
Misuse and overuse were more fearso than plague and pestilence.
"Thank you. I'll pass it along to Father."
Stay healthy, Chairman Choi.
You need to stay healthy…… ……so my stocks keep going up.
The reason he'd given the brothers the elixir pills was for the sa reason.
My hard-won subordinates, grow stronger.
Chaebol subordinates don't co along easily.
Following bungeoppang and chocolate, the art of dicine-making was an area he had long been pouring his heart into.
To earn Happiness Points, he would inevitably need to create a big wave across the entire world. Through the incident with the Choi brothers and Chairman Choi, he'd co to realize that dicine could be the answer.
But there was one thing that had been bothering him while brewing the decoctions.
It was that the decoction pot he'd found in this world wasn't to his satisfaction.
He'd scoured the herbal dicine market and obtained the finest available, but it was still just a regular decoction pot.
One might think anything would do the job, but that was absolutely not the case.
The decoction pot he'd used in his previous life in Gangho was sothing very special!
The Samgeuk Yeonokro.
The northernmost tip of the central plains, the peak of the highest mountain, and the southernmost tip.
The Samgeukto is created by mixing soil collected from these three locations with all manner of precious materials, then letting it mature for decades. And the Samgeuk Yeonokro was crafted from that, shaped with all their might by the greatest artisan of the era.
The Samgeuk Yeonokro could be used to brew both decoctions and elixirs—that is, pills—and produces results of peak dicinal potency through complete refinent during the creation process.
In short, it could draw out the full potency of dicinal and poisonous herbs to their absolute limit.
Ahh, my Samgeuk Yeonokro.
To look at it from the outside it appeared crude, no different from an ordinary earthenware pot—but it was his precious treasure.
He'd cherished it so dearly he'd even slept with it.
……Where could it be?
***
He finished his al with the Choi brothers. When they stepped outside, the brothers offered to take him ho.
"I'll take the subway."
"Why?"
For soone from the old Gangho, the subway was far more fascinating than a car. It was such a fun thing.
You'd get to witness all manner of strange people, too.
He raised his hand to bid them farewell, but Choi Jae-hwa, the youngest, asked,
"Or would you like to co with us?"
"Where to?"
"We're heading to Gukmubon. To the item exchange."
No way! Absolutely not.
The fact that he had no Gukmubon climber registration card could be exposed on the spot.
Not yet.
"I'll pass."
"Is it because of the registration card?"
……Hm. Was he found out?
Choi Jae-hwa said,
"We know. That Senior doesn't climb our Republic of Korea's Murim Tower."
He knows. How?
"You climb a foreign Tower, don't you?"
……What?
"There are a few people, rarely, who have dual or triple citizenship and climb foreign Towers, or so I've heard."
Choi Jae-jun quickly added,
"Ah, I'm sorry. You may have misunderstood. We verified when we processed the title transfer that Senior maintains Korean citizenship. But no matter how we think about it, we've never heard of an unaffiliated climber as exceptional as Senior."
Choi Jae-hwa gave a thumbs up and said,
"If you've maintained dual citizenship, doesn't that an you've also done your military service in Korea? Impressive! We were both exempt."
Ahh…… So that's how it's resolved? That said, exempt.
It made sense that Kim Tae-yang was exempt due to environntal changes from the Murim Tower, given he'd only completed middle school. But these gentlen being exempt at that age…… Well. Was there sothing wrong with them sowhere? Or too much right with them?
***
[In Front of Gukmubon Item Exchange]
"Is it alright if I go in?"
"Don't worry. Even non-climbers can purchase certain items at the Gukmubon item exchange. They might not be up to Senior's standards, though."
Let's go in and see for ourselves.
"How is it? Anything worth seeing?"
The Choi brothers ca up to him, plucking a bowstring they'd apparently purchased. I noticed they already had plenty of bows at ho, and they went and bought another one? Money to burn.
"It's interesting."
He'd co just to browse, but it was genuinely entertaining.
There were chopsticks, and earthenware. Clothing too. Seeing objects he'd known from the central plains of his past life again stirred sothing in him.
A question suddenly occurred to him.
"But why do they have items for climbers and general items on display together?"
Why put out items you can't even buy?
Choi Jae-hwa answered,
"It's Gukmubon's own kind of marketing. A dazzling item exchange. The idea is to get citizens whose hearts start fluttering at the sight of it to try their hand at becoming climbers."
"Ahh……"
The Poison Demon, genius rchant. He'd just learned sothing from the Republic of Korea.
"And it benefits Gukmubon too. The desire of collectors is imnse. After the Murim Tower appeared, for a ti, even a pebble from the Tower would sell for a fortune."
"Hmm."
"The desire of collectors can't be stopped, and if they're going to try to use the Black Market anyway, it's better to have them buy through here."
He'd learned two things.
"Shall we head out now?"
"Yes, let's."
He finished browsing and was on his way out when—
"……Hm?"
In the corner of one of the display cases, off to one side. Sothing that had been carelessly left behind caught his eye! Could it be? He dashed over and pressed his face against the glass of the display case.
It's real! The genuine article! Crude-looking, no different from an ordinary earthenware pot. But one of a kind in this world. His treasure was here!
"The Samgeuk Yeonokro!"
……Hallelujah!
***
The condition was perfect. Aside from the red sticker saying it was for climbers only. He asked the item exchange clerk,
"Why is this for climbers only? It's a regular item."
It wasn't even a weapon.
The clerk scratched his head and replied,
"Ah, the division between climbers and general items was established eight years ago. Before that, everything was climbers only."
"So you're saying this item ca out eight years ago?"
"Yes. It was supposed to be sent to storage since it wasn't selling, and sohow it's still been sitting here."
It seed as though it had been waiting here for eight years, waiting for him.
I have to buy it. I absolutely have to buy it!
The price was 55,000,000 won. 100 million or 1 billion, he didn't care.
"I'll take this!"
"Yes, please show your climber registration card."
"Choi Jae-jun!"
He called the brothers over imdiately.
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