[Breaking News: South Korea Joins the World’s Top 5 Powers.]
Suddenly, astonishing news broke out.
The whole world was stunned.
‘What…?’
‘South Korea among the top five powers?’
[United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia]
The known top five powers until now.
But now?
[United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, South Korea]
‘Right.’
‘Since China’s number one ranking player died, they were stripped of their spot.’
‘Still…’
‘Don’t you have to clear past the 61st floor of the Tower to be considered a great power?’
‘South Korea?’
‘Weren’t they only around the mid-to-late 50th floor?’
The doubts lingered briefly.
But after a quick search, the news popped right up.
[South Korea’s No. 1, I Bojun, Successfully Clears the 60th Floor of the Chaos Tower!]
[Baek Hwarang (South Korea’s No. 2), Following No. 1, Also Clears the 60th Floor of the Chaos Tower!]
Both cleared the 60th floor.
Meaning, they have entered the 61st floor.
That definitely counts as a great power.
‘Wait…?’
‘Crazy.’
Not just one, but two people?
‘Weren’t they in the 50-floor range just a few months ago? What on earth happened in Korea?’
Suddenly, two people broke through the 60th floor…
Korea sounds familiar somehow…
[K-POP? Dramas? Isn’t that what people usually know?]
[Ah… yeah, that seems right.]
But that has nothing to do with the Tower.
‘How did this happen?’
‘What kind of magic was this?’
Countries with fast information were already moving.
Others were still in shock.
‘And what about the Koreans?’
Looking at other countries’ internet, people were wondering how Korea suddenly shot up so high, hahaha.
[Jealous, huh? hahahaahaha.]
[They still don’t know yet…]
[Exactly hahaha, countries with fast info are already taking action.]
[Us? The country with the Labor Management Office Head.]
[Wow!!!]
That’s seriously reassuring hahaha.
But who exactly is it?
20…
[Labor Management Office Head—His True Identity?]
Now everyone knows.
That the Labor Management Office Head even cleared China’s S-rank Dungeon.
Seriously insane…
Not even human…
[Is it just one person???]
He took requests from the Awakening Management Bureau and cleared A and B-rank Dungeons like nothing.
Suddenly started making impossible weapons.
‘And now?’
‘Cleared an S-rank Dungeon in China?’
What the hell…
Even more astonishing is…
[Wait, how come nobody knows who he really is???]
And it’s been dead silent since that day;;;
[Yeah… he suddenly disappeared.]
[China, the U.S., and Russia are all in uproar, apparently.]
[Yeah, I heard. They’re investigating everywhere.]
This guy.
His identity is completely unknown.
He doesn’t even operate anymore.
[Is he dead?]
[A Hunter who can clear an S-rank Dungeon???]
[But if not dead, how could it be this quiet;;;]
[Don’t you guys know??]
L???
[The one constantly breaking new records on the Chaos Tower? That’s him.]
Meanwhile, additional info surfaced.
[South Korea’s Chaos Tower 17th Floor, World Record Clear!]
[South Korea’s Chaos Tower 18th Floor, World Record Clear!]
These announcements kept popping up…
The Labor Management Office Head, you say?
[No way hahaha.]
[That person must have like a thousand bodies???]
[20…]
‘Could it be…’
Even the info that’s come out is mind-blowing.
And on top of that, smashing records on the Chaos Tower?
Makes no sense.
Everyone was skeptical, but…
Huh?
[South Korea’s Chaos Tower 21st Floor, World Record Clear!]
[South Korea’s Chaos Tower 22nd Floor, World Record Clear!]
Right after the Labor Management Office Head stopped active operations, the records suddenly kept climbing?
‘But how can someone clear twice in one day…?’
‘Wasn’t it only possible to enter once per day?’
[This really has to be the Labor Management Office Head, right?]
[Yeah, he’s known for pulling off impossible things.]
[Clearing the Chaos Tower twice in a day alone is just too much!!!]
[Then, what about clearing the S-rank Dungeon without a trace…?]
[Living life solo, damn, I’m jealous.]
[And then, even more surprising news came.]
[Breaking News] The Chaos Tower’s 30th Floor Cleared with a New World Record.
[Chaos Tower 30th Floor Conquered!]
[Level Up.]
[Clear Time – 00:10:33]
[World Record Achieved!]
[Bonus Reward – Key Fragment of Chaos]
Okay.
Finally, the 30th floor.
“Arthur, good job.”
“Too easy.”
***
Yeah.
Up to the 30th floor was a breeze.
Got the key fragment, so once I put it in the inventory…
Ding!
[‘Key of Chaos’ is Complete.]
Ahh.
The key is complete.
Let’s take a look.
[Key of Chaos]
[D-rank Chaos Key, can unlock something.]
As expected, it’s D-rank.
So, that means heading to a D-rank Dungeon.
“Shall we go right away?”
No.
‘You guys just came back from the Tower, didn’t you?’
“Let’s rest today and go tomorrow.”
“Ah! Nice! Then boss, are you coming along?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Our Arthur.
At first, he didn’t even know what a coffee pot was and asked what it was.
Shhhhhh!
Now he boils water and makes his own coffee.
Though he still can’t tell the difference between ‘Duldulset’ and ‘Mix’.
They say all coffee is ‘Duldulset’ anyway…
“Gah! Had some Duldulset!”
“What about Rani? Give Rani some Duldulset too!”
“No way! That’s not for kids!”
“Rani’s not a kid!”
“Nope!”
Those two play well together.
Leaving them be, let’s check AwakenerNet.
[Please leave comments if there are requests related to S-rank Dungeons.]
It’s been a few days since posting.
But there aren’t any useful comments.
Well, that’s expected…
After all, the government controls S-rank Dungeons…
Still, you never know.
Maybe one comment will pop up.
So let’s check again today.
***
[Sir, please just one weapon…]
[If you grant me your favor just once, I’ll never forget this kindness until I die!!!!]
[Hey, you’re so good at making weapons, right? How much to make one?]
Nothing.
Most are requests for equipment.
“Nothing again today.”
I shook my head and was about to close it, but then, paused.
‘Huh?’
‘Awakening Management Bureau…?’
[Hello, Labor Management Office Head. An S-rank Dungeon-related request has arrived, so I’m leaving this comment. If you’re interested, please check the private message below and reply. – Awakening Management Bureau]
‘What?’
This actually works.
A private message only readable by the Labor Management Office Head.
Inside it says,
“There is a request to clear a broken S-rank Dungeon in India…”
India.
I vaguely heard about it somewhere.
It’s a failed country.
‘Why did it fail?’
Looking it up, it appears.
Countries that once were called great powers but collapsed.
‘Did you know?’
Before the current top 5 powers established their positions, there were countries that cleared past the 60th floor.
India, Egypt, and some others.
They had insane early tempos.
When the U.S. was on the 62nd floor, they were hitting the 64th and 63rd floors…
If those countries had remained intact, maybe they would have gone past the 70th floor. But that was just a dream.
Why?
Because they collapsed.
Looking back, it’s really tragic.
If those countries’ top-ranked players were alive, they’d be insanely strong…
But they died.
Whether while clearing the Tower or from terror attacks.
Anyway, they died.
And from then on, those countries quickly collapsed.
This is just my opinion, but strangely, countries where rankers disappeared seem to have more frequent S-rank Dungeon appearances.
Other countries get one or two times at most.
India had their ranker die, and the dungeon exploded five times, I think.
S-rank Dungeons appear, but there are no rankers.
‘What can you do?’
They had to get help.
From the U.S., Germany, and so on.
But even that was only once or twice.
It’s not like help comes free.
‘And the Chaos Tower?’
They can’t get help from other countries.
They say you can naturalize, but who would naturalize just to help another country?
They wouldn’t even be allowed in the first place…
‘So what happened?’
They collapsed.
Couldn’t stop S-rank Dungeons from spawning, which kept exploding.
Monsters poured out of the Tower…
Now it’s just hell.
The people of India want to go back home…
But can they before they die?
It’s no longer a country but a Monster field…
No, wait.
Maybe not.
If someone breaks through that hell and cleans it up, it could be possible.
Maybe a hunter at the 70 or 80-floor level.
Though I don’t know if that person would move for a failed country…
So.
“After the ranker died, S-rank Dungeons kept appearing, monsters poured out of the Chaos Tower, and the country collapsed…”
India today is a monster-infested land.
“I heard the monsters there are even stronger than normal ones.”
“Really?”
“Yep. So scary that even desperate hunters dare not approach.”
In those S-rank Dungeons, the monsters?
“Knight-type Monsters appeared…”
Why did I say ‘appeared’?
Because nowadays no one can even get close.
I heard if you enter the Indian border range and go a bit further, you’ll find S-rank Monsters wandering around…
It’s just hell there.
“Knight-type Monsters? Wow, I want to see that.”
“You want to see them? Then let’s go.”
But we’ll need some preparation.
India is a bit far…
“Boss! Are we flying? Rani wants to fly!”
“No… we won’t go there in person.”
Not to such a faraway country.
We haven’t even been able to go to nearby Japan yet.
[Summon Range Temporary Expansion Ticket]
We’ll need to use this.
I got some as a reward when dealing with China…
But I don’t have any now.
Oh well, can’t be helped.
Request Point Shop, swipe.
Request Point Shop (Rank – Bronze)
Summon Range Temporary Expansion Ticket
[10,000P]
Found it.
“Ten thousand points…”
I have it, but still have to be careful.
[10,000P.]
Unless it’s for an S-rank Dungeon clearing request, it’s hard to gather.
So.
“If we’re going, let’s prepare a bit first.”
At least with China, I knew roughly what to expect…
Here, we can’t even check how dangerous it is.
It’d be good to have other high-grade or top-grade Workers…
Arthur and Robin are enough, but still.
Better to have more for safety and avoid injury.
“Boss, you haven’t been summoning much lately, right?”
“Yeah… I feel a bit guilty about that.”
“Well… yeah.”
These Workers.
At first, they didn’t want to join the fixed team.
But lately, everyone’s fighting to be in it.
Just look at Todd—he asked to join first.
‘The Slimes that were originally in the fixed team?’
They were upset and wiggling madly after being taken out…
“Isn’t it all because the Boss created a good environment?”
“Really…?”
I don’t think so.
I think they’re just simple beings.
Even our Rani is like that.
He doesn’t need much.
Just a few candies and some materials, and—
“Heh!”
Look at him, rolling a candy on one cheek, happily playing with materials.
Arthur?
“Duldulset! This is the best! Boss, hooray!”
Yeah…
One cup of coffee satisfies him.
Robin’s the same.
Put a small rocking chair on the balcony.
He just lives there.
It’s not that I did well by them.
You guys are just simple.
Still, well.
I guess it’s fine as long as they’re satisfied.
They definitely seem satisfied.
[The Labor Management Office Head’s reputation spreads among Standby Workers.]
[Reputation increases.]
This message popped up frequently.
Is that why everyone wants to join the fixed team?
“I wish they’d increase the fixed team slots too.”
[Name: Yoon Hajun (Lv. 31) / South Korea]
[Occupation: Labor Management Office Head]
[Unique Skills: Summon Worker (Rank – Gold) / Fixed Team Summon]
His unique skills have leveled up to Gold.
But everything else remains the same.
The Request Point Shop is still Bronze.
Fixed Team Management only has five slots.
“Frustrating that there’s no info on how to raise those.”
“Take it slow. Something will come up eventually.”
Right.
That’s how it’s been so far.
Something always comes up if you keep at it.
Okay.
The life of the Labor Management Office Head is understandable but still mysterious.
‘For now?’
Do what can be done.
“Alright, focus. We’re going to use the Key of Chaos and head there tomorrow. Keep that in mind.”
“Got it, Arata!”
“Yes!”
***
The third Chaos Labyrinth entered the next day.
Result?
Of course, it ended instantly.
[Chaos Labyrinth cleared.]
[Exiting dungeon.]
Danger?
There wasn’t any yet.
Compared to E-rank, more monsters swarmed in though…
“…Easy.”
Yeah.
Looks easy.
Because someone wiped them out so fast that we barely even saw the monsters.
[D-rank Chaos Labyrinth cleared!]
[Clear Time – 00:06:19]
[Clear Reward – D-rank Chaos Box]
Anyway, success.
Wonder what’s inside this time.
If only they’d increase the fixed team slots…
[Ability Unleashing Elixir]