Chapter 32
“Y-Yu-ri…?”
“I’m here today as his agent, Director.”
Shin Kyung-chul was momentarily flustered by his daughter Shin Yu-ri’s cold tone.
“…Ahem. I see.”
He cleared his throat and returned to a formal stance.
“What part of the contract do you find disagreeable?”
“First of all, simply designating him as a Special Management Subject is not enough.”
“Not enough? You know better than anyone how many benefits come with that designation.”
“It’s fine for attracting S-ranks, but for SS-ranks, Korea’s terms fall far behind other countries.”
Yu-ri listed examples from the U.S., China, and the Middle East.
‘The difference is that big?’
Korea offered a basic allowance of 3 million won to S-ranks, but the countries she mentioned all started at over 50 million won—for SS-rank players.
Of course, Korea might offer more under special contracts, but the gap was still huge.
“…But Player Lee Kang-han is ranked E. No matter how strong his ability appears, it’s difficult to justify SS-level treatment.”
“Is that so? Our side is asking for SSS-level terms.”
“SSS-level…?!”
“He’s the first human to clear an achievement and destroy a tower. Not even SSS-ranks have done that.”
“…You’re aware that his trait is E, right? You understand what that implies.”
The fact that someone with that much power had an E-rank trait…
That likely meant his abilities would disappear soon.
And now they were demanding an SSS-level contract?
Shin Kyung-chul thought his daughter was being unreasonable.
“I’m sorry, but our client’s trait is no longer E.”
“…What?”
“It’s been upgraded to D.”
“Upgraded?! That’s possible?”
“If you’re unsure, feel free to bring a trait reader and confirm it.”
Confidently smiling, Yu-ri pushed the matter.
Shin Kyung-chul, still doubtful, asked his secretary to bring a scanner.
And the result from the on-the-spot reading was—
[Trait Rank: D]
“…It’s real…”
His voice trembled.
So trait ranks could go up?
‘Then… maybe he’s not terminal after all…?’
He had assumed the E-rank meant it was terminal. But now his mind was racing with new possibilities.
“Was it because of the cleared achievement?”
“No. I just woke up a few days ago and it had risen.”
“I-I see. Then why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“I’ve been too busy. I was going to bring it up today.”
“Today…?”
Shin Kyung-chul flinched and quickly cleared his throat again.
“Ahem. Could you wait just a few days before announcing this? I’ll push hard to revise the budget and—”
“Director, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“W-Why not? Surely we can ask for a little time—”
Flustered and slipping out of formal tone, the Director spoke hastily.
That’s how desperate he was.
But—
“We already contacted a journalist on the way here. The breaking news should be out by now.”
Yu-ri had called a reporter right before stepping out of the car, just like she had warned Kang-han.
She had even asked them to publish it 20 minutes later.
She didn’t want Shin Kyung-chul to have any chance to prepare a revised offer.
‘She’s seriously thorough.’
Kang-han thought, impressed by his agent once again.
“Yu-ri! How could you? For the sake of the country, you should have waited! You should’ve at least given us negotiation priority!”
“We’ve given you negotiation priority plenty of times already.”
Looking at her panicked father, Yu-ri gave a bitter smile.
“You shouldn’t appeal to patriotism. You should compensate players properly. And for the record, our client still wants to stay in Korea. Even if other countries offer slightly better deals, he’ll stay if your offer is reasonably satisfying.”
“Reasonably satisfying, huh…”
“And just to be clear, this current Special Management proposal isn’t even close.”
With that, she clapped her hands.
“Let’s end this discussion here. Since his trait has been upgraded, you’ll probably need time to go back and reconsider everything.”
“…”
“Instead, shall we talk about the award ceremony and the FIPA prize? That was the original purpose of today’s meeting, wasn’t it?”
“…Yes, it was.”
Looking at his daughter, who stood like a wall, Shin Kyung-chul felt a mix of powerlessness… and pride.
‘No wonder she’s such a successful agent.’
But the moment the discussion shifted to the commendation and reward—
The mood, which had begun to lighten, turned cold again.
“You’re giving 100 million won for the first global achievement ever? Wow… the Bureau is really generous, huh.”
“…That’s the increased amount.”
“What was it before? 50 million?”
“…”
“20? No way… was it 10 million?”
As soon as she said “10 million,” Shin Kyung-chul looked away.
Yu-ri let out a deep sigh.
“I didn’t expect much anyway. FIPA’s the real deal. What did they say?”
“They’re preparing a ‘special item’ as a reward.”
“An item…?”
“Yes. But they want him to accept it in person at their LA headquarters.”
If it was a “special item,” it probably could be used inside the tower.
‘That’s tempting.’
He didn’t know what the item was, but it definitely wouldn’t be some cheap junk.
It sounded way more valuable than Korea’s 100 million won reward.
‘Now that I’m cured of the sleep illness… and I’m not planning to leave Korea for good…’
He had to go.
Kang-han opened his mouth.
“I’ll head to LA. Can’t pass up a special item.”
“Understood. I’ll arrange the schedule with FIPA right away.”
“Thank you.”
His calm and direct answer made Shin Kyung-chul look at him wistfully.
If only he had spoken to Kang-han one-on-one—without Yu-ri there—it might have gone better.
“…Director?”
When Yu-ri called out, Shin Kyung-chul cleared his throat again.
“Ahem. Enough work talk for now… How about lunch?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Let’s go eat something tasty, Dad~”
As soon as the business talk ended, Yu-ri clung to her father’s arm with a bright smile.
Her completely changed attitude made him let out a dry chuckle.
“Work talk’s over, right? Time to return to being a loving daughter!”
“You really…”
Looking at her with mixed amusement and exasperation, Shin Kyung-chul turned to Kang-han.
“Let’s go, Player Lee Kang-han.”
The lunch meeting proceeded in a cheerful mood.
Since Shin Dong-seok, Yu-ri’s uncle, also spoke informally to Kang-han, the Director naturally began to loosen up as well.
-Your mother is missing? Tell me her name.
-Yoo Yi-soo… I’ll look into it myself.
He even promised to help track down Kang-han’s mother.
And as the meal was ending—
-A country’s stability affects its people. Of course not everything about this nation is perfect, but… I hope you make the wise choice—for the sake of Korea.
He still tried to appeal to patriotism in the end.
“Geez, my dad really doesn’t give up.”
After finally pulling her father away from clinging to Kang-han, Yu-ri shook her head in the car.
“He actually held back a lot today.”
“That’s true… Cheonma-nim, shall we take you straight home?”
“Actually, I want to do a TP exchange. Can we?”
“Of course! How much are you exchanging this time?”
“Let me check…”
Kang-han opened his status window.
Between the clear reward and the Goblin’s small earnings from the market—
“I’ve got 198,000 TP this time.”
“…198,000?!”
“Yep.”
“Didn’t you exchange just a few days ago? When did you earn that much?!”
Even Shin Dong-seok was shocked.
It hadn’t even been a week since their last exchange.
How the heck had he racked up nearly 200,000 TP in that short time?!
“They gave me a 100,000 TP bonus for clearing the achievement.”
“Even if we take that out… that’s still insane. I couldn’t do that even back when I was Iron.”
“Really? I get over 30,000 TP per clear now at SSS+ difficulty.”
“Whoa… SSS+ gives that much TP? Then leveling must be super fast too?”
“I’m already level 25.”
“What?!”
Already hit the Iron cap?!
Shin Dong-seok was genuinely amazed.
At this rate, Kang-han’s growth speed was practically unheard of.
After chatting for a while, they arrived at the agent office.
[Transaction complete.]
₩308,880,000 was deposited.
‘Dang, making money is easy now.’
Though Manmajeon expenses were rising fast too, so he’d need to plan ahead.
Later, in the car ride back home—
Yu-ri checked her own trait.
**[Failed *] (Rank: SSS)
*** **** **** ****.
**** *** ***** *** *** *******.
Instead, the strongest human ****** *****.
The more she assists, the more ***.
*** *** *** *, *** *** **습니다.
“…Huh?”
Maybe because the TP amount was much larger this time—
More text than before had been revealed.
This time, she could see the name included the word “Failed.”
And “Instead” appeared in front of “the strongest human.”
Still…
‘…Failed?’
Even with more letters revealed, Yu-ri couldn’t fully celebrate.
The name of the trait often defined its core meaning.
And hers began with “Failed.”
It was hard not to feel uneasy.
“…Yu-ri?”
“Oh, Uncle.”
“What’s with that face? Didn’t any letters appear this time?”
“No, some did. But the name starts with ‘Failed.’”
“Failed?”
“Yeah. The very first word in the trait name is ‘Failed.’”
An SSS-rank trait with “Failed” in its name?
Listening from the back seat, Kang-han tilted his head in confusion.
And when he thought about the rest of the revealed text—
‘Is it saying she’s supposed to assist the strongest human instead?’
Her trait didn’t describe her abilities at all.
It was just instructions to help someone else.
Maybe the hidden parts would reveal something more…
‘Yu-ri’s trait is just as strange as Cheonma’s.’
Kang-han thought to himself as he returned home.
“I’ll report any offers as soon as they come in. And don’t forget to publicly reveal your trait before entering the tower!”
“Got it. Any buzz from the article yet?”
“I checked briefly in the car. It’s blowing up. Turn on TowerTube and check the chat—it’s wild right now.”
Already? That fast?
“Some oil-rich countries in the Middle East have already sent immigration contract inquiries. When you were E-rank, they were just testing the waters. But now that it’s D-rank, they’re getting serious.”
“And if I reveal my trait now…”
“Even more countries will come rushing in.”
“Yeah. The more offers you get, the more likely Korea is to make a proper deal—rather than just stalling again.”
Kang-han nodded.
“Then I guess I’ll head in and turn it on right away.”
And with that, Lee Kang-han entered the tower.
-He’s here.
-He’s really here.
-Is the article true?
-No way, D-rank???
-Reveal it! Reveal it! Reveal it!
-Wasn’t he supposed to be terminal??? How did it get upgraded?!
A flood of chat messages filled the screen.
[‘CH111’ has donated 10,000 TP.]
[Hello, Cheonma-nim. Could you reveal your status window again like last time?]
The same “CH111” who once donated 10,000 TP and disappeared had returned—this time with a polite message.
