-Target silenced. Well done, Tower Master.

"You too. With this, I've cleared everyone up to the fourth-years."

As the thick smoke slowly cleared, Hyeonjin's figure came into view. His suit was in tatters, and he lay collapsed on the ground.

Kim Yusin <1,000/1,000>

Hyeonjin Jang <0/1,000>

"The winner is second-year, Kim Yusin!" a staff member shouted, raising his arm.

"Aah!"

"That was overwhelming! A fourth-year didn't even stand a chance!"

The students cheered while the scouts furiously typed on their laptops or made hasty calls.

When I stepped down from the gymnasium stage, Bora and the vice president were waiting for me.

"Yusin!"

"Good work, President."

An ecstatic Bora threw her arms around me and jumped up and down. The vice president bowed politely, and I quickly returned the gesture.

"It's a shame you'll be graduating soon," she said. "In terms of performance, you're the best student council president we've ever had."

"…Haha. You didn't apply for early graduation?"

She shrugged. "You wouldn't get benefits and perks like this in most guilds. I plan to milk this for all it's worth before I leave."

She had a point. Before I became the Tower Master, I'd also tried to cling to the academy for as long as possible.

"Yusin," Bora called to me just then, her voice coyingly sweet.

Having been around her for a few weeks, I'd learned to predict what was coming based on the sweetness of her tone. Right now, she almost certainly wanted something from me.

"What is it?"

"How about a picture to celebrate your first win in the round of sixteen? Join too, Vice President! A photo of the new student council officers together…!"

I immediately stomped on my Leap Boots and fled.

* * *

As soon as I returned to the Magic Tower, I collapsed onto the golden sofa in the first-floor lobby. The plush cushions made me feel wonderfully relaxed.

Lately, I'd been thinking that there probably wasn't another provisionally licensed player as successful as I was. I was the student council president of Korea's top academy, the world's only master of the Magic Tower, and the CEO of Alchemia, a brand the entire hunter world was watching. I had won my round-of-sixteen match spectacularly and was now awaiting the quarterfinals. Winning this next match would confirm my early graduation, granting me the special privilege of becoming an official Rank-5 hunter.

Everything was going smoothly.

"Tower Master, here is the new cocktail I mentioned."

"Ah, thanks."

And to top it all off, I could lie here on a comfortable sofa and be served by a beautiful homunculus. 'I've really made it,' I thought, bringing the glass to my lips.

"Kegh! Ack!"

The taste—both familiar and strange—made me sit bolt upright.

"How is it, Tower Master?" Ea asked.

"…This just tastes like perilla leaf water."

"The Perilla Leaf Mojito is a failure. It is believed the recipe was flawed."

She would never admit she was the one who'd made it poorly. From my perspective, it looked like she'd used way too many perilla leaves; bits of green were floating in the liquid.

"Next, I will attempt an Apple Pie Soju."

"…What?"

"I will compile a list of ingredients for you to purchase upon your next return."

"Can't I just have some water?"

Ea's eyes narrowed with determination. "I can succeed next time!"

"Yusin," Eunsol whined, clinging to my leg. She had been playing in the lobby. The once-shy girl had now completely adapted to life in the Magic Tower. "Sol wants to drink that too!"

As she reached for the hellish Perilla Leaf Mojito, I quickly lifted it over her head.

"No! This isn't juice, it's alcohol."

"Alcohol? I've drunk lots of it."

Eunsol's shocking confession made me lose my composure. "Wh-when?"

"A long time ago. The men in the slums gave it to me!"

I was speechless.

Why did I leave that demonic village standing? I wanted to go find those bastards, kill them all, and ascend to heaven.

"Anyway, no more alcohol from now on. Let's wait until you're a little older, okay?"

"Okay!" Eunsol chirped, scampering back to her spot in the lobby.

I let out a soft sigh and leaned back against the sofa.

"Should I kill them?" Bora, who had appeared at some point, was smiling eerily. Liquid dripped from the potion bottle she had just shattered in her grip.

"…I'm having similar urges, but they've probably already moved on by now."

"Ugh, seriously," Bora muttered. "I hate monsters, but just this once, I wish one would catch those people and chew them to bits." She then tapped her lips with a look of regret. "Goodness. I should be using prettier words."

Even now, she couldn't give up her prim act. I silently pointed to the shattered potion bottle in her fist.

"Oh my, why is this broken? I'll go get something to clean it up!"

"I will handle it," Ea interjected. She waved her hand, and the bottle fragments flew up and gathered together. A mop then soared through the air and began scrubbing the floor. This was why the Magic Tower was always so clean.

While Ea went to dispose of the trash, I asked Bora, "What about the Cold Resistance Potions that were ordered yesterday?"

"I finished them all and left them by the entrance. Ugh, I thought I was going to die from exhaustion." She tapped her shoulders with a tired expression. The potion business had become a bigger hit than I ever imagined, and Bora was working just as hard as the other administrators.

"Once Seojin sets up the distribution lines, we're going to start selling Red Elixirs too. Think you can handle it?"

Bora's face instantly fell. "…Just kill me instead."

We were moving beyond self-sufficiency and preparing for mass potion production. Even I had to admit, it seemed impossible for Bora to handle that volume alone.

"Ah! How about we hire more people to make potions?" she suggested.

"Hmm, increasing our workforce to divide the labor is a good idea, but… it's always best to have as few people as possible know about the Magic Tower." The tower's Prohibiting spell wasn't foolproof, after all. The fewer people who knew the secret, the better.

"We will have to consider a realistic solution," said Seojin, who had been sitting in the lobby, joining the conversation. The guy was sipping the Perilla Leaf Mojito through a straw.

'…Wow. To drink that perilla leaf concoction so casually… The power of love truly is great.'

We threw around various ideas but kept leaning toward hiring more staff for the first floor, despite the security risks.

But then, a new solution came from an unexpected place.

"I think a golem could do this kind of work!" Eunsol spoke up.

Potions made by golems. Everyone's eyes widened.

"That would be perfect if it's possible. Can it really be done?" I asked.

"Yeah! I'll try!"

Eunsol immediately went up to the third floor. A few hours later, she came running back down, holding a small notepad.

"To build a new golem, I need these materials!"

"Materials?"

"Yup!"

"Well, of course the Tower Master has to get them for you," Bora chimed in.

At that, Eunsol beamed. I stroked her head and looked at the list of materials written on the notepad in her crooked handwriting. Most of them were things we could get through Seojin's distribution network or the E-Market. There were also some byproducts I'd have to harvest from a dungeon myself.

Except for one thing.

'Ugh, thirty thousand dollars for one lump?'

A Plakirus's Joint. Even the E-Market was almost out of stock. Why was a squishy piece of flesh so damn expensive?

I asked cautiously, "Is there a substitute for this one?"

Eunsol peeked over and looked at the Plakirus's Joint I was pointing at. "Nope, there's no substitute for that one."

"R-really?"

"Potion brewing is delicate work, so the materials for the golem's arm and hand joints are important."

I looked into why it was so expensive and found out it was an essential component for the joints of high-end suits. We were making money from potion sales, but all that profit was being funneled into the business budget. Since we were still in the early stages, things were tight on that end too. It looked like I'd have to find separate funding for this…

Just then, as if reading my mind, Eunsol asked, "…Is it not possible?"

Ugh. The sight of her big, hopeful eyes made my heart ache. It felt like a daughter was hopefully asking to go on an expensive field trip, but only to say she didn't have to go after seeing her parents' troubled expressions. What parent wouldn't send their child on that trip? They'd go into debt to make it happen.

Damn it.

"No, no. I can get it."

"Really? Thank you, Yusin!"

An excited Eunsol bounced around the lobby. Watching her with a fatherly smile, I subtly turned my head to look at Seojin, who was typing away on his laptop.

"Seojin."

"Yes, Tower Master."

"You know what I'm about to say, right?"

"I'll find us a profitable disaster."

We were always on the same wavelength. As he diligently typed and calculated coordinates on his laptop, his eyes widened.

"…I've found it! A profitable disaster."

* * *

'WHOOOOSH!'

For some reason, I was sitting on the rooftop of a building in Gangnam. The wind whipped around me, chilling me to the bone. Looking down, the cars on the road and the people below looked impossibly small and distant.

Ugh, it was dizzying.

I spoke into my earpiece. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

—"The coordinates are correct," Seojin's voice came through.

—"Go, Yusin! You can do it!" Eunsol's voice followed.

Using my authority as student council president, I borrowed a hunter communication device from the academy. I could talk to them back at the Magic Tower, and they could watch me through the miniature camera attached to my clothes.

'This is my first time dealing with a rift. I'm nervous.'

Fighting monsters in the city was essentially a battle against 'rifts.' Dungeons were a phenomenon where Earth and monster habitats connected, and it took time for the monsters inside to emerge. But rifts opened right in the middle of the city, and monsters dropped out of them instantly.

Some rifts could be detected and some not; the one Seojin had found was undetectable. If the Association had detected it, they would have already stationed hunters around the area.

Whatever. It was fine by me. Bring it on. Just cough up the materials for Eunsol's field trip… I mean, her golem.

-Tower Master, a fluctuation in the atmospheric mana flow has been detected."

Ea's voice, incomparably clearer than the earpiece, rang inside my head.

"Alright, I'll get ready."

* * *

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