Chapter 48 : Seeds of Chaos

“How on earth did Korea manage to distribute the vaccine to everyone except the authorities right after the last meeting?!”

An angry voice echoed within the Chinese committee.

It was Jang Lin, the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Players and simultaneously the Minister of Health.

His thick beard bristled as veins bulged on his neck, pointing fingers to accuse someone.

At the spot his finger indicated sat Wang Zhipeng, who had attended last year’s player meeting as the Chinese representative.

Sweating nervously, Wang Zhipeng hurriedly tried to explain himself.

“Th-this is nonsense. You’re saying a vaccine that was supposed to take three months to produce in a small country was made overnight? It’s obvious they prepared in advance and used some tricks.”

Wang Zhipeng groaned, looking at the other committee members.

But they had already made up their minds to abandon Wang Zhipeng.

He shouldn’t have made a fuss in the first place. They heard he even left during the meeting, and no matter what tricks he used, he wouldn’t be able to avoid responsibility.

Realizing he might quietly disappear without a trace, Wang Zhipeng frantically racked his brain.

“Th-then… l-let’s use North Korea. Everyone.”

His tone had already changed.

When it comes to survival, there’s no time to hesitate.

“North Korea?”

“Why not just keep firing missiles like usual? I’ll try putting pressure on them.”

Wang Zhipeng said confidently.

This kind of thing had happened before.

They would exert pressure on South Korea through missile launches or military provocations.

At that moment, Jang Lin, who had been silently listening, stood up without a word.

Then he clapped Wang Zhipeng hard on the head.

“You have to have some limit to your stupidity. What? Put pressure through North Korea? Do you even have a brain? That thing on your head isn’t just for decoration.”

Even if one were crazy, there’s a line you don’t cross.

You have to speak sense. Does he think this is an elementary school class president election?

Using North Korea?

How many vaccines do you think you’ll get from that?

At most, a few thousand?

That amount is useless.

Unless the authorities monopolize the vaccines first, China’s prestige will steadily decline.

Someone needs to be held responsible.

The biggest culprit in this situation was Wang Zhipeng.

“Don’t you realize that dragging North Korea into this will bring worldwide condemnation? You’re trying to cozy up to Korea’s \/\4 company even though you despise it as a small country? And you want to put pressure?”

“W-well…”

“That’s why you behaved so rudely in the meeting. Act like a great country if you’re one. You’re only here thanks to Chairman Song.”

Jang Lin, after a long reprimand, let out a dry sigh.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no other way.

Someone had to take responsibility for this.

“I’ll inform Chairman Song of this fact. That’s all.”

Jang Lin said with a furious expression.

It was basically a death sentence.

Wang Zhipeng quickly tried to grab Jang Lin’s sleeve, but it was already too late.

In the end, he was going to bear all the responsibility.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he shouldn’t have attended the meeting as a representative.

Now, because of his cluelessness, he was about to lose his position.

“Chairman Jang Lin, I-I have other ideas…”

He lowered his head to the ground, giving up the last shred of pride.

Pride doesn’t fill your stomach.

Survival is what matters.

Only Jang Lin could sway Chairman Song’s mind in this place.

They had to somehow change his mind.

But no good idea came to mind.

He tried to explain as much as possible, but Jang Lin’s sharp eyes couldn’t be fooled.

“That’s enough. It’s obvious what kind of thoughts come from that dumb head.”

With words as final as a death sentence, no one remained in the room.

Only Wang Zhipeng stood there dumbfounded, muttering to himself in despair.

***

About two weeks after the Seryu Group’s promise.

Japan broke through the 49th floor with the speed of Takehiko’s boasting.

There was concern the Top Virus incident might cause delays, but the climbing speed didn’t slow.

And today.

Only the fateful 50th floor remained.

All of Japan’s media anxiously awaited the tower climbing message.

Could it really be done without Korea’s item?

Korea, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom.

Only five countries had reached the 50th floor so far.

Although slightly late, the position of the player powerhouses was still intact.

Rather, the first country to climb solely by their own power without items would earn a great reputation.

Now, all that was left was to wait.

Then it happened.

The press conference door opened, and a familiar face entered.

It was Takehiko.

He walked in casually, accompanied by a young man.

Simultaneously, a barrage of questions poured down.

Reporters clamored.

“Mr. Takehiko, did you succeed in climbing the 50th floor?”

“And who is the person beside you, the player who had hidden his identity until now?”

Standing on the podium, Takehiko scanned the reporters and spoke.

“Yes. Takashi, a player secretly raised by the Seryu Group, just succeeded in climbing the 50th floor.”

Cheers erupted instantly.

“What is Takashi’s ability?”

“Why has he been active in secret until now?”

Takehiko only smiled in response to the reporters’ questions.

Then he handed the microphone to Takashi.

“From now on, Takashi will answer all questions. He’s the main character here, not me.”

With that, Takehiko left the press conference room.

He smiled quietly, unnoticed by anyone.

Moments later, chaos would erupt here.

Takashi, unable to handle the medicine, would lose control.

The media had already become completely hostile.

Today’s tragedy would be reported as Takashi’s personal rampage.

Thus, justifying the restraint of the powerful nations.

The top-ranked player who reached the 50th floor was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, a fact engraved firmly in the world’s minds.

“G-greetings. I’m Takashi.”

Taking the microphone, Takashi trembled uncomfortably.

However, no one noticed anything strange about him because he had succeeded in climbing the 50th floor.

“My, my ability is….”

That moment.

Takashi’s entire body began to distort grotesquely.

“Wh-what?!”

“Quick, take pictures!”

Luckily, everyone present were reporters.

Even in such a situation, their professional instinct kicked in before any sense of crisis.

They didn’t think about escaping and frantically snapped photos.

They naïvely assumed the player wouldn’t attack them.

This complacency would bring about a great disaster.

“Kyaaah!”

Takashi’s tongue, reddened with agony, twitched wildly as he completely lost his sanity.

His abnormally swollen upper body resembled a movie monster.

He made small growls as he looked around, then suddenly grabbed the microphone of the reporter at the very front.

Then—

“W-wait! This… aaargh!”

He stabbed it through.

With sheer brute force, he skewered a person in half.

Only then did the reporters realize the situation and desperately tried to flee, but it was already too late.

The exits to the press conference hall were firmly locked from the outside.

There was nowhere to escape.

They were completely trapped here with the monster.

“P-please, save me!”

Shaking in fear, they begged, but Takashi, having lost his mind, didn’t hear them.

The press conference hall soon became one of the worst disasters in Japanese history.

***

Bio Industries had started off successfully.

Its investment amounted to a staggering 60 trillion.

Perhaps it was the fastest-growing company in history.

Converted to mana stones, that was about 300,000 tons.

Enough to buy all the items in the shop and still have more than half left.

Unfortunately, due to corporate regulations, they couldn’t freely use all 60 trillion in investment funds.

Instead, with the help of Dohyun and Pildu, they converted a portion into mana stones.

A whopping 50,000 tons.

They used the entire 10 trillion to purchase mana stones.

Their wallets were thick now, so what to buy first?

In fact, Dohyun had been pondering two things even before.

One was the weather remote control.

Its price was 20,000 tons.

If you could control the weather at will, the possibilities would be endless.

The other was an academy.

Building a small building with karaoke rooms, 00 rooms, or a broadcasting station wasn’t a bad option, but thanks to the recently constructed hot spring, they weren’t in urgent need of convenience facilities.

So they thought of an academy.

Recently, they had been short on manpower.

They still had plenty of hair loss spray and flower bracelets to make, as well as various types of honey jelly.

They needed to secure at least two million vaccines to escape the fear of the virus.

But Somi and the Honeybee Comrades only had one body each.

It would be great if capable talents gathered.

At least it was fortunate that the populations of Earth Rabbits and Honeybee Comrades were large.

Alright.

Decision made.

Let’s build an academy.

The weather remote was good, but the growth of the monsters came first.

Unfolding architectural plans, they chose the site between Ddadang Rabbit Village and the Honeybee Comrades.

With a blue light, the foundation was laid, and the building began to rise.

Chuk chuk chuk—

The lively sound of stones stacking.

In no time, a fairly large school was completed.

[The first monster academy in the Tower has been established.]

[Up to two courses can be established.]

[The teaching ability of the initially appointed professors increases by 150%.]

[Available courses to establish:]

Theory of Piak’s Purification

Somi’s Basics of Invention

Toto’s Basic Electrical Theory

Dusik’s Mineralogy

Choco’s Olfactory Detection and Tracking Methods

Royal Queen Earthbee’s Core Extraction Theory

Rarun Captain’s First Step in Scientific Farming

Brown Crescent Bear’s Guardian Philosophy

Currently, eight courses were available.

That was quite a lot.

Ideally, they wanted to establish all of them, but unfortunately, they could only have two.

Then there was no need to hesitate.

“I’ll establish Somi’s Basics of Invention and Royal Queen Earthbee’s Core Extraction Theory.”

They chose the two most needed.

Immediately, system messages appeared.

[The first monster course in the Tower has been established.]

[The information has spread among the monsters affiliated with the Black Tower.]

[Monsters wishing to attend the course can apply through proper admission procedures.]

[Tuition fee can be set (Current amount: 0 mana stones<9>)]

The course was established faster than expected.

There were no complicated procedures or processes.

Then.

After reading all the messages, with a blue light, the Honeybee Comrades materialized.

Buzz?

A sudden appearance, their head tilted in confusion.

Somi kindly explained the current situation.

Bbiee—

Buzz!

The Honeybee Comrades smiled broadly, happily spinning in place.

Then.

[Honeybee from Tower 9 has applied for Core Extraction Theory course.]

[Honeybee from Tower 21 has applied for Core Extraction Theory course.]

[Honeybee from Tower 39 has applied for Core Extraction Theory course.]

[Honeybee from Tower 42 has applied for Core Extraction Theory course.]

[Honeybee from Tower 247 has applied for Core Extraction Theory course.]

In an instant, the enrollment was full.

More than thirty bees gathered just to take the Honeybee course.

Not to be outdone.

[Earth Rabbit Maknae has applied for Basics of Invention.]

[Earth Rabbit Maknae’s second son has applied for Basics of Invention.]

[Mother Earth Rabbit Dongseng’s fourth daughter has applied for Basics of Invention.]

The Earth Rabbits also began to gather one by one.

In the end, both courses were fully booked.

Both were immensely popular.

At this rate, capable talents—no, monsters—would only increase in number!