The Poison Demon Finds the Murim Tower Too Easy (3)
In my past life.
When I was captured by Sa Hon-il, leader of the Nallyu Gang.
I was young and terrified, so I didn't remember the situation well, but I did remember the atmosphere.
The cold, sharp sensation of the blade that Sa Hon-il pressed against my neck.
The strong hands of the Nallyu Gang bastards gripping my arms and legs.
......And my father standing before me, not knowing what to do.
Father seemed shocked.
The mission he received from the Murim Alliance as the Family Head had become a complete mess because of me.
Originally, our Sacheondang Family was said to be without mercy or tears, with poison flowing even through our veins.
But Father was different.
What Father chose was not the family's honor or his own, but my life.
"Puhahahahat! You chose well, Family Head Dang."
Sa Hon-il burst into laughter.
Pak!
I was roughly shoved and fell onto the dirt ground.
"Keuheuk......"
I couldn't stop my tears. I was so ashamed and felt so guilty.
I was humiliated that I had trampled Father's honor into the ground.
As I staggered to my feet and approached Father, behind me was one of the Nallyu Gang's underlings mocking me.
'Crying like that. Keuhahahat, did you piss yourself? Puhaha! Laugh, you bastard! Laugh!'
Yes......
The one who laughed the loudest.
I remember that bastard.
The one with narrow, slanted eyes and thick, long eyebrows.
I think he had a mole next to his lips.
Was it a mole? Or a wart?
***
【Republic of Korea Murim Tower (2nd Floor)】
"That was quick, wasn't it?"
The surroundings had turned into a wasteland, melting away with poison and blood.
As promised to Sa Hon-il, after killing exactly 30 people, I approached him.
Deopseok!
I grabbed Sa Hon-il's hair and lifted him up.
Keulleok, keulleok—!
The bastard was coughing up blood.
He was still alive.
"......"
His mouth opened as if trying to say something, but I couldn't understand at all.
From my attack just now, Sa Hon-il's ribs had shattered and pierced his lungs, so only a shwik shwik wheezing sound could be heard.
That's fine.
"You don't need to speak."
Kwajik!
I gripped his collarbone.
"You just need to feel the pain."
Ttiring!
【Additional Mission Success】
【Eliminate the Gang Leader of the Nallyu Gang, Sa Hon-il.】
—Mission (2nd Floor) considered successful!
—Happiness Points +30,000!
—Spirit Medicine Cheongshimdan will be provided!
【Time taken to complete mission: 9 minutes 35 seconds】
【Overwhelming Achievement (GOLD)!】
【Murim Tower 2nd Floor turns golden.】
【The entire world takes notice of the Republic of Korea's tower.】
9 minutes 35 seconds, huh.
That's a shame, I could have played for 24 more seconds.
I wish the time limit would appear before my eyes.
It's a bit difficult trying to figure it out by feel.
Tuk.
I threw Sa Hon-il, who was now unrecognizable as either human or pulp, to the ground and turned my body back toward the Nallyu Gang bastards.
......Strange.
Just like on the 1st floor, why aren't they running away?
Well, works for me.
It saves me the trouble of chasing them down.
"If I could, I'd like to ask these bastards questions, but that's impossible."
After investigating the Murim Tower, the published results stated that conversation with the tower residents—the Murim people like these Nallyu Gang bastards before my eyes—was impossible.
But humans are great, so they eventually found another way.
More precisely, should I call it an arrangement of the tower?
Now that more than ten years have passed, quite a bit of research has been done and there's even a form of 'interpretation'.
If you get a secret manual or something with an extremely rare probability, you can apparently learn it.
It's a method of listening using Qi. In my opinion, I think it uses the method of 'Sound Transmission'.
Especially China was called the best in this area.
Anyway, accurate communication is still difficult, but somehow simple conversations are possible, they said.
Even that alone is an incredibly precious ability and talent.
This Murim Tower is filled with 'Qi', the third type of energy, and is a place with spirit medicines, spirit herbs, and spirit creatures.
The spiritual energy is even denser than in my past life's murim.
Like my medicinal herb and poison herb fields.
So.
For outsiders—people from the real world—it's natural to want to search through and investigate this entire tower.
Also, they must be dying of curiosity about why the tower appeared and what its purpose is.
Therefore, the ability to converse and communicate is a treasure among treasures, comparable to the handful of supreme masters in the entire world.
Naturally, the state is taking care of them preciously, offering them salaries worth hundreds of billions at the national level, they say.
Of course, the Republic of Korea doesn't have any.
How enviable. Hundreds of billions.
Anyway, it's certain that conversation is impossible.
What a shame...... I had many questions I wanted to ask if I met the Alliance Leader, the Young Master of the Evil Path Alliance, or the Heavenly Demon.
I shook my head.
"Let's focus."
Abandoning the stray thoughts I'd briefly entertained, I approached the remaining Nallyu Gang bastards.
Same as the 1st floor. I'm going to kill them all.
Kwajik!
I grabbed the collar of the bastard in front of me.
The one who'd been hovering around Sa Hon-il earlier.
I gathered my fingertips to form a hand blade and raised it.
"Hiiiiik!"
The bastard raised both hands to cover his eyes.
Stupid bastard. Does he think covering his eyes will keep him from dying?
I looked at him in disbelief.
His eyes were narrow and slanted, his eyebrows thick and long.
Next to his lips was a mole...... No, a wart.
"......Huh?!"
His face looked familiar.
"You're that bastard!"
From my past life.
'Crying like that. Keuhahahat. Did you piss yourself? Puhaha! Laugh, you bastard! Laugh!'
The Nallyu Gang underling who had mocked me loudly.
Ha! Nice to see you, so nice to see you.
I tried to remember whether you had a mole or a wart next to your lips, and it even appeared in my dreams.
It was a wart! Hahahat!
I released the hand blade.
Killing him instantly would be too wasteful.
I grabbed his collar and lifted him up in one motion.
"Wart! Nice to see you, you bastard!"
We've met before.
You mocked me like your lungs had a hole in them, and even spat at my back, didn't you?
"Hiya, I can see it all now."
Grinning broadly, I pushed my hand toward his navel area.
Kkuuk. The bastard's face turned ashen.
"You won't be able to laugh anymore. Because I'm going to tear out all your lungs."
I'll make you a severe trauma case.
Saying these horrific words, just as I was about to pierce through his belly!
"S-spare me!"
......Huh?
"Spare me. Please! Please!"
Suddenly, Wart's voice came through clearly.
In that same language I'd heard in my past life.
【Murim Person (Tower Affiliated) confirmed.】
【Murim Person: Poison Demon】
—Affiliated Tower: ■ Floor
【Murim Persons can use their affiliated tower in a limited capacity.】
The messages I'd forgotten suddenly came back to me.
Ah, right, I'm a Climber.
......And a Murim Person.
I felt a bit confused for a moment.
As a Climber, am I a person from outside the tower, and as a Murim Person, am I affiliated with the tower?
Hmm......
Soon I began to understand bit by bit.
Kim Tae-yang's body, my soul and Kim Tae-yang's soul.
Also, the fact that I can enter and exit the poison herb field could actually be considered part of the Murim Person's domain.
And above all, pondering the mystery deeply wouldn't solve anything.
I just needed to be satisfied and accept it.
I smiled and spoke to Wart.
"Do you remember me?"
***
[Same Time]
The Minister of National Defense, Han Seung-pyo, was meeting with the sect leaders of the Republic of Korea's prominent sects.
This place was one of the top three sects among Korean sects.
The Red Dragon Gate.
"Last time the Vice Minister came, but this time the Minister himself came? Hahahat!"
The Red Dragon Gate's Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong was deeply buried in his chairman's seat and didn't even stand up.
"I heard the story. You already visited the Goryeo Sword Sect and the Changbai Sect first? That's a bit disappointing. I thought you'd come to our Red Dragon Gate first."
"That's just how the route went."
"Well, well, to have the Minister himself, who usually holds his head up high, come personally to ask for a favor feels quite good."
Lee Won-ryong dared to sneer in front of the Minister of National Defense with his legs even crossed.
But Minister Han Seung-pyo didn't retort.
He'd already been rejected by both the Goryeo Sword Sect and the Changbai Sect.
Though the Red Dragon Gate had a poor reputation, he had no choice.
"The nation is in danger. You all need to work together to conquer the 37th floor."
"The nation is always in danger, isn't it? Since the days when Hwanung touched Ungnyeo, when have we ever been at peace?"
"......"
"Sit down first."
Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong offered a seat and spoke to his secretary.
"What are you doing? Not bringing coffee. Bring the expensive stuff. Taster's Choice."
The secretary in a body-hugging suit smiled and disappeared, and the Minister said,
"There's only a year and a half left in the tower. We must conquer the 37th floor to buy another month."
"Conquering one floor stops the Murim Tower's clock for one month...... Well, who doesn't know that?"
The Sect Leader spoke as if it were obvious.
"The problem is that it's not as easy as it sounds. The cost is one thing—."
"The government will cover all expenses."
"Eh, that's a given."
Lee Won-ryong added,
"National Defense also has supreme masters, doesn't it? Like Director Han. And there's also 'that person', right? Why don't you ask retired Mr. Hwan-gbo to come back?"
The Minister didn't answer and stared at the Sect Leader before opening his mouth.
"Director Han alone would be too much. He's severely injured right now and can barely move. Help us."
"I don't know about that. Well, I know it's tough since supreme masters don't grow on trees in the Republic of Korea, but still, when both the Goryeo Sword Sect and Changbai Sect have refused, for our Red Dragon Gate to step up and take the lead is not particularly—."
"Don't be like that, just for the sake of the nation—."
"Nation! Nation! You attach it to the end of every sentence, but what is the nation anyway? We're all just trying to make a living."
Lee Won-ryong said irritably.
"Minister, making money isn't easy these days either. Items dropped in the tower don't come out as well as you go up to higher floors. And!"
He struck the desk tak!
"I can somehow manage everything else, but we can't do anything about that poison on the 37th floor! They spray extreme poison as soon as we approach, so we can't withstand it!"
Lee Won-ryong's eyes were sincere.
The Republic of Korea, which had been climbing steadily, stopped at the 37th floor.
The 37th to 39th floors occupied by the Poison Valley, a sect that deals with extreme poisons.
Even with Artificial Dantians generating protective energy to the fullest, just getting close caused blisters on the skin and made them cough up blood.
Approach was impossible.
Moreover, when one person was poisoned, others were also poisoned as if it were an infectious disease.
The Minister said,
"China and the United States solved it, didn't they?"
Lee Won-ryong waved his hand as if dumbfounded.
"China ground through thousands of climbers to break through, and the United States made an antidote."
The fact that the United States made an antidote was true.
But the side effects were severe too.
The Republic of Korea, with its national fate on the line, wanted to obtain it even while accepting those side effects, but the United States demanded tens of billions of dollars and tariff exemptions for just a few antidote capsules.
"......"
As Minister Han Seung-pyo closed his mouth, Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong sneered as if to say 'I told you so'.
"You see? What do you expect us to do without even one antidote?"
"......"
"What exactly has this nation called the Republic of Korea done so well for us that you keep rushing us? You just keep taking items from us. Right? Isn't that so?"
"That's taxes. Citizens must follow the law—."
"Ah, I don't know about that!"
Lee Won-ryong cut off Minister Han's words and touched on the Republic of Korea's shame.
"Minister, because the nation keeps telling us what to do, like you do, Jang Aeguk ended up naturalizing to Japan! Ah, should we call him Jang Masayoshi now?"
Jang Aeguk.
The humiliation of the Republic of Korea's National Defense.
It had been over a year since he, who had borne all of the Republic of Korea's expectations, naturalized to Japan.
The Minister glared at him. His angry eyes were bloodshot.
He wanted to slap Lee Won-ryong right then and there, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Because there was no more time to waste.
A year and a half remaining. They absolutely had to break through the 37th floor.
In the end, he had no choice but to surrender.
"......Tell me what you want."
Sshiik.
Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong smiled and laid out his conditions.
"First, National Defense must guarantee our Red Dragon Gate all profits from tower conquests for the next 5 years without any taxes."
"......Agreed."
"Second. Allow us to wear Artificial Dantians in full even outside the tower."
"That's difficult. Wearing an Artificial Dantian makes you no different from a superhuman."
When the Minister refused, Lee Won-ryong snorted heung!
"If you don't like it, let's just forget it. Well, whether the remaining time decreases isn't my concern. We'll just follow Jang Masayoshi to Japan."
"This Sect Leader!"
The Minister bit his lip.
Artificial Dantians were only allowed in a limited capacity to National Defense agents.
Though the government was controlling them, Artificial Dantians were being released on the 'black market'.
It seemed to be the work of other nations or North Korea, and the large and small incidents that occurred because of this were not just one or two.
Since guns and tanks still worked outside the tower for now, they could at least deal with Climbers if they didn't have Artificial Dantians.
But cases where they had Artificial Dantians required accepting tremendous casualties.
Police and military forces were dispatched to barely manage to imprison Climbers who committed crimes, but large and small problems continued to occur in reality.
'Keuk.'
The Minister agonized repeatedly before nodding his head.
"I'll allow 50 people."
"100 people."
"70 people."
"Okay!"
Lee Won-ryong clapped his hands and stated his final condition.
"Lastly, pardon all our precious sect members who are imprisoned."
"That's absolutely impossible!"
Minister Han's voice rose.
It was something that could never happen.
"Those guys are vicious criminals who committed arson, robbery, murder, and more! How can we release all those bastards!"
"I'm saying this all for the sake of the nation. Isn't this a time when we need capable Climbers?"
Minister Han closed his mouth.
He didn't believe Lee Won-ryong's words about doing it for the nation at all.
Rather, those crazy bastards might wear Artificial Dantians and attempt to overthrow the state.
Minister Han asked,
"Do you...... Want to become a king?"
"King, what king? I'm not interested in that."
"Then why on earth—."
"Don't if you don't want to."
At that moment, the secretary who had gone to get coffee returned.
Lee Won-ryong spoke to the secretary.
"Call the Japan Murim Tower Alliance."
"......!"
"Tell them the Red Dragon Gate will all naturalize, so please accept us."
"This Sect Leader!"
"Have some coffee before you go. Ah, what should I change my name to? Should I change it to Lee Musashi?"
Lee Won-ryong watched Minister Han Seung-pyo's contorted expression with a smile on his face.
Seuwik.
Minister Han Seung-pyo stood up from his seat with a crumpled expression.
'This was a waste of time.'
He finally realized that Lee Won-ryong never had any intention of risking his life to conquer the 37th floor from the start.
'There's no choice. I'll have to ask that person for help again......'
He stood up and headed for the door. The Sect Leader sneered loudly.
"Hey, secretary! What about the United States instead of Japan? They even provide antidotes there. Don't they? Still, Japan is better, right? They said they'd give us entire buildings in Tokyo. Right? Huh?! Hey! Why aren't you answering?"
"Keuuk!"
As Minister Han swallowed his rising anger and passed by the window.
"......Huh?!"
He suddenly stopped in front of the window and opened his eyes wide.
Seeing this, Lee Won-ryong also looked up curiously.
"What is it?"
Lee Won-ryong pointed at Minister Han and looked at the secretary.
"Th-there......"
The secretary was also pointing outside the window, suddenly frozen as if turned into a stone statue.
"What is it? What's going on?"
Lee Won-ryong quickly got up and headed to the window.
"......!"
Tuk—. Ttaenggeuraeng!
He dropped his cherished 16th-century British teacup.
The Republic of Korea's Murim Tower's clock had changed.
[1 year: 8 months: 9 days: 8 hours: 24 minutes]
The time had increased by two more months!
Time increasing!
It was an unprecedented occurrence.
......The reason was clear.
The 1st floor of the Murim Tower was shining brilliantly in a golden color never seen before.
And.
Paaat!
Once again with a bright light.
[1 year: 10 months: 9 days: 8 hours: 24 minutes]
The tower's 2nd floor also began to shine with golden light.
Kkulkkeok.
"......"
Lee Won-ryong slowly turned his head to look at Minister Han.
Minister Han's mouth corners were hooked to his ears.
"......This Sect Leader."
Minister Han opened his mouth.
"Did you say Japan earlier?"
"No, that's......"
"How about there instead of Japan?"
Minister Han glared at Lee Won-ryong.
A firm voice popped out of his mouth tuk.
"A prison cell."