Chapter 27
Babel System > Global Notification
– The Midway Station on the 50th Floor has opened.
– The 51st-Floor Scenario has opened.]**
A notification that was sent to everyone inside the Tower.
People walking through Ba-man-jang froze mid-step and stared blankly into the air.
Most people here would never dream of challenging the 51st floor,
but the fact that the Tower’s “ceiling” had been raised still carried enormous weight.
‘…Myself included.’
An E-rank hunter like me couldn’t even imagine participating—
it was like a pie in the sky.
All I could hope for was that the guilds would work hard and clear it.
And the reason I wasn’t rushing to the 50th floor yet was simple:
I needed to appoint Kang Yeonhee as the middle manager before anything else.
The job quest had been sitting unfinished for days, and it was driving me insane.
Once I assigned the two middle managers and filled the 50th-floor branch with 47 shops, the quest would be finished.
‘Ugh, I’m sick of this already.’
Dragging out this kind of work was completely against my nature.
There wasn’t even a time limit on the quest,
and yet my personality refused to leave “homework” undone.
“People like me bring suffering on ourselves.”
I muttered as I pulled my robe low.
Most people crowding around the Ba-man-jang branch were now focused on the 50th-floor opening, so the entrance had cleared a little.
I darted in like lightning and slipped inside the building.
‘Quiet.’
The inside was surprisingly silent.
Since I slept with the window open upstairs, I expected to hear noise—but apparently the building was soundproof.
Except for Yeonhee’s potion display on the first-floor window, all other windows were covered with opaque film, so I finally took off my robe.
I checked in the mirror to make sure the “Anonymous” skill was still applied and then looked around.
Yeonhee wasn’t in sight.
“Is she working in the workshop?”
I knocked carefully on the closed workshop door.
“Yes, just a moment!”
A cheerful voice answered.
Now that I thought about it—I’d never actually entered her workshop before, despite being the one who installed it.
The door opened—
I stepped back automatically.
“Oh—Ms. Ihye.”
Yeonhee looked like she’d survived a lab explosion.
Huge goggles.
Hair sticking up in all directions like a bomb had gone off.
Behind her, the workshop was absolute chaos: strange materials scattered everywhere, bottles of bizarre colors covering the wall—
‘…Was that a living insect? No. Don’t ask. Don’t know. Don’t think.’
“…What happened to your hair?”
“Oh, I failed an experiment.”
“…Yes. You do look like a mad scientist who failed an experiment.”
At least she understood herself well.
She laughed awkwardly and scratched her head with a hand covered in glowing green liquid.
I did not ask what that liquid was.
Yeonhee removed her goggles and smiled brightly.
“It’s been so long. Almost a week? Did you go home?”
Home……
I hadn’t even seen my home because of how busy I was.
I couldn’t say that, so I awkwardly nodded.
“Yes… actually, I came because I have something important to tell you.”
“Oh! Can I keep working while we talk? If I don’t stir this on time, it blows up.”
“Th-that’s fine…”
If something explodes, what am I supposed to do, stop her?
As she stirred a pot of ominous dark-red liquid with a long stick, I asked casually:
“Do you want to take on a higher position?”
“…Huh?”
“I want you to become the manager of this building.”
Her face scrunched up like she’d heard incorrectly.
“…Me?”
As if I’d asked something completely absurd.
The reaction was so negative I panicked a little.
“Why would you trust me with something like that?”
“Huh? What about you is untrustworthy?”
“What do you even know about me?”
“Kang Yeonhee, 25, B-rank hunter.”
“You don’t even know my title.”
“…What is it?”
She glared at me silently.
‘Oops. I thought she’d just tell me.’
I really didn’t understand why she wanted to close the distance between us so badly.
Landlord–tenant.
Clean, simple, drama-free.
Ever since my brother went missing, the number of people who hurt me or betrayed me had increased dramatically.
I no longer believed in “friendly intentions.”
Yeonhee muttered again:
“I just don’t understand why you want to give me that responsibility when you barely know me.”
She clearly didn’t like it, but I had no intention of choosing someone else.
It wasn’t like I had many people to choose from anyway—
she was literally the only person who ever stepped foot in this building.
I sighed and said:
“So that’s what this is about? This is the continuation of our previous conversation.”
“People shouldn’t be purely transactional, you know…”
Ah.
She wanted a relationship based on mutual trust, not pure business.
I remembered how upset she sounded before—when she said she couldn’t defend me to others because she had zero information about me.
Did she really want to know that badly?
‘This is starting to stress me out.’
That tiny emotional flutter I felt toward her felt like a waste now.
At this point…
maybe I should just be honest and make her sign a contract so she can never reveal anything.
[⁕ If you register her as a middle manager, you can impose restrictions! :)]
‘…Oh?’
There was a feature like that?
Giving Yeonhee “trust” meant giving her information about me.
But if I gave her information and imposed restrictions afterward, then both of us would win.
Besides, this situation was too suffocating.
I decided quickly.
“My real name is Lee Haewon.”
“…Huh?”
Yeonhee froze, eyes round.
“I’m 28. An E-rank hunter, but my title is high. I can’t reveal it yet.
I used to live on the 2nd floor here.
I don’t have a house outside the Tower.
I’ll be living on the 50th floor from now on.”
“Uh…”
She just blinked at me, overwhelmed.
‘More? Do I need to say more?’
It had been so long since I introduced myself to anyone that I didn’t know what else to say.
“I like sweet things the most. I’m 168 cm tall.
I had a rebellious phase once. Back then, my brother—
Ah. I had a brother.
He disappeared after getting caught in a dimensional gate accident.”
Yeonhee slowly removed her gloves and took my hand.
Her hand was warm. I flinched.
“Who introduces themselves like this all at once?”
Um—
This kind of physical contact was… a bit much for me.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Her expression was so gentle and touched that I didn’t know where to look.
‘Now I feel guilty about imposing restrictions on her.’
Not that it would stop me.
I avoided her eyes awkwardly.
“…My title is ‘Guardian of Matter.’”
That caught my attention—
but then she asked softly:
“Um… can I call you unni*?”
(*“Unni” = older sister, used by women)
“…Huh?”
“Is it not okay?”
She was smart.
She knew the atmosphere was perfect for pushing her luck.
If I refused now, the emotional tension I built would crumble.
“S-sure.”
“Haewon unni.”
“Ah—outside, just call me Administrator. Or Ms. Ihye.”
“Aren’t those basically your real name…?”
I ignored that.
I pulled my hand away and regained my business-like tone.
“So, anyway, I want to ask—”
“Can you speak casually to me too, unni?”
…She really wanted a lot.
‘Does she have some kind of backstory or something?’
But I didn’t want to drag this out, so I reluctantly agreed.
“…Okay. There’s something I want to ask.”
Just like that, we suddenly became unni–dongsaeng, like a rushed bill passed in the National Assembly.
Yeonhee didn’t look uncomfortable at all. She even smiled brightly.
Well… this was work.
“Please become the middle manager for Friendly Market Branch 1—this building.
You can keep using the 2nd-floor room as your office-living space.”
“What else would I have to do?”
“Restocking inventory, handling questions and complaints.
When the 50th floor opens, tons of people will look for me, so help them naturally.
It won’t be that different from what you already do.”
“And I still have to keep your identity secret?”
“Of course.
I’ll set up a separate inquiry portal, and you can organize messages and send them to me.”
I already planned to install one opposite her potion stall—a drop-box style complaint desk.
‘The 50th floor will have way more visitors than Ba-man-jang.’
“What do I get in return?”
“You get the 2nd-floor residence, a shop in the 50th-floor branch,
5% discount on potion commission fees, free repairs and appraisals,
and access to new recipes and ingredients not found on Earth yet.”
“New ingredients…?”
Her eyes sparkled.
This had been part of my plan from the beginning.
“You said before that with new materials, you could try new things.
I can get those for you.”
A hungry look appeared in her eyes.
Good.
I trusted that kind of greed far more than emotional earnestness.
“And I can help you grow.”
A few minutes later—
Yeonhee accepted.
888
Awakened: Lee Haewon — Open Market Manager (EX)
Manager Alert
– ‘Kang Yeonhee (Dimension–Earth / Korea)’ has been registered as Middle Manager of the Friendly Market Branch: Ba-man-jang.]**
“There’s something floating in front of me! Oh—there’s a whole middle manager menu!”
“Really?”
“It shows inventory and inquiry status… Oh, here’s the manager message window.
Is this building really named ‘Ba-man-jang Branch’?”
She looked amazed, pointing at nothing in the air.
I watched her quietly, then gave Sam the command:
‘Sam, impose the restriction.’
A little guilt pricked me as I looked at her bright expression,
but precautions were necessary.
Shall I add: “Must not disclose any manager information”? :)]
I agreed silently.
Manager Alert
– Restriction added: “Middle Manager must not disclose any administrator information.”]**
Only then did the reality sink in: I had officially appointed a middle manager.
The world wasn’t a place where trust and goodwill alone kept you safe.
‘No one knows that better than me.’
Growing up without parents, losing my brother—
I learned early that safety must be earned, not assumed.
Then Yeonhee suddenly gasped.
“Oh, right! Unni!”
“…Yes?”
I still wasn’t used to her calling me that,
but she acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“You got something. I forgot to give it to you last time.”
“What is it?”
She hurried out of the workshop and returned with a small envelope.
‘Hope this isn’t something weird.’
I opened it casually—
and froze.
[Babel Management Bureau – Summons Notice]
“…When did this arrive?”
“About two weeks ago, I think?”
I ripped the envelope open.
As I read the contents, my face must have turned completely pale.
You are required to appear within 5 days at Room 307, Hunter Management Division, Babel Management Bureau,
for a review of the legality of your commercial facility operations inside the Tower.
Failure to appear may result in loss of all awakeners’ rights under Article 48 of the Babel Tower Enforcement Act.]**
My eyes stopped on the final line.
“Unni, what’s wrong?”
“……”
She leaned closer and read the paper.
Then she let out a stunned whisper.
“Oh my god…”
Sender: Park Jiwoon
(Head of Hunter Management Division, Babel Management Bureau)]**
…I’m screwed.
