The sky had already turned dark by the time Chae Nayun completed a mission. She trudged back to the same inn from the night before after only receiving 200 TP for a 500 TP mission. She only had 125 TP left once she paid for her lodging.

“Hey, you need to pay another 75 TP.”

“Ask my companion for the other half.”

“Hm, fine.”

“Alright then, I’m heading back to my room.”

She walked past the greedy innkeeper to her room. Chae Nayun stared at the ceiling as she lay in bed. She felt tired, but couldn’t fall asleep. Suddenly, her heart rate slowed and her mood turned sour. Lonely thoughts began to distract her. Tk, tk, tk. Rain began to fall.

“It’s raining.”

She opened the door in case she misheard, but it really was raining. She sighed and recalled how much easier the first two tutorials were compared to this one. Back then, she felt so exhausted she couldn’t think. Now, she had idle time in solitude and everything came alive again. Fragments of memories swept through her head. Her mental illness had grown worse since she entered the tower. Was it because she stopped taking her pills? Her breathing became rough and her head hurt.

“Uk!”

An unbearable headache struck her as she clutched her head. Beeeeep— A ringing noise buzzed in her ears. She felt like the strange sound shook her surroundings.

“Ah… fuck…”

Blood dripped as she bit her lips. Things she couldn’t understand flashed before her eyes. The conversation from that day rose in her foggy consciousness. She still had many questions left unanswered.

“Argh…”

Was it really him or did he just make up an absurd lie? If he did murder her brother… Why, why, why? Just why did he do it? Her questions repeatedly rattled in her mind. The resentment and sadness formed a chain around her.

Click—

The door to her room slowly opened. Chae Nayun slightly raised her upper body. She could see a man with disheveled hair trudging in. He had that man’s face. Kim Hajin, Kim Hajin, Kim Hajin. The face she could never forget appeared in front of her. She reached for the spear next to her bed.

“You’re already back?”

However, her hallucination scattered away with a single sentence from the man. With a sigh, Chae Nayun closed her eyes before opening them again. Then she saw who the man really was.

“Why you are sitting in bed like a ghost?”

Shin Jonghak asked. Chae Nayun examined his dirty clothes that looked like he spent the day rolling in mud.

“Did you make any money?”

“Pft, is that the first thing you ask? Is this what it feels like to have a nagging wife?”

“Shut up.”

Chae Nayun encountered Shin Jonghak purely by coincidence. He suddenly appeared with a stupid smile as she looked for a mission at the mercenary’s pub. It freaked her out at first, but she decided to share a room with him to save money.

“What’s this bento box?” Shin Jonghak pointed to it on the bed.

“Oh, this? It came with an item I bought.” Chae Nayun glanced at the half-empty bento box.

“I didn’t finish it though.”

“Why? Is something wrong with it?”

“No, it’s actually pretty well-made according to the status window.”

“Then why didn’t you finish it?”

“No reason. It just wasn’t to my taste. Why do you keep asking? For the record, I didn’t save it for you.”

Honestly, she couldn’t taste it. After that incident, Chae Nayun lost her sense of taste. Ironically, she finally overcame her pickiness because of that. She merely treated food as fuel now.

“You bought an item? Are you sure you didn’t get scammed?”

“Please, if anything, I’m the one who scammed the seller.”

Chae Nayun proudly held up the red crystal spear.

“Is it good?”

“Yep. It should be worth at least 1500 TP, but I bought it for just a tenth of that price!”

Huhuhu— Chae Nayun made a big smile.

“I went on a mission with this thing and it slashed through goblins like butter!”

“…”

However, Shin Jonghak didn’t react. His serious expression made her feel awkward.

“Don’t force yourself to smile.”

“What?”

“It hurts to see you like this.”

“What are you blabbering about.”

Chae Nayun brandished her spear in front of Shin Jonghak, who promptly raised his hands and backed away.

“I’m kidding. Anyways, doesn’t that mean you spent TP?”

“Yeah, but I ended up making money from it.”

“What?”

Shin Jonghak frowned as if he doubted her. Seeing this, Chae Nayun took out 5 gold coins from her inventory and told him about the lucky incident.

“I was going to give it back, but they chased me out while calling me an idiot.”

“…”

Shin Jonghak normally would’ve made a snarky comment, but remained silent. Chae Nayun caught him looking at the coins with a complicated expression.

“So how much do you have?”

“H-Huh?”

As expected, he became flustered and she sneered at him.

“Pft, I bet you’re poorer than me.”

“Pft, as if. Of course, I have more than you. Who do you think I am? I’m the man who will become the world’s youngest high-intermediate rank hero, Shin Jong—”

“Then show me.”

“I’m feeling tired all of a sudden.”

Shin Jonghak pretended to be drowsy and collapsed on the ground when she put her hands out. She snickered and looked down at him.

“Oh right.”

She suddenly recalled something and nudged his shoulder with her foot.

“Stay on the floor if you’re going to sleep. If you try to put a leg over the bed like last night…”

“I’ll do my best, but my only flaw is my bad sleeping habit.”

“Try it if you want a broken leg.”

“…”

“Actually, I’ll sleep on the floor tonight since I slept on the bed last night.”

“What? You don’t need to—”

“Hurry up and move.”

Chae Nayun dragged Shin Jonghak onto the bed despite his resistance.

***

Tk, Tk. I closed the stall late at night under the drizzling rain. Cheok Jungyeong already left to go drinking, but I returned to the inn. I felt like someone threw a huge rock at my head and couldn’t bring myself to stay outside.

“Ssp… huu.”

Boss was the only one inside the room. She sat cross-legged and focused on regaining her stats.

“…”

For some reason, her attire looked more daring than usual with only a black tank top and hot pants. Her well-developed muscles showed through every time she breathed. I quickly walked past her and lay on the bed.

“Did something happen?” Boss asked with her eyes still closed.

“No, nothing.”

“Did the stall not go as expected?”

“No, I sold everything. I made a lot.”

“Then did you get scammed?”

I shook my head. Before going to sleep, I took out 2 random dice as part of my daily routine. I wished for good items to sell and rolled the dice.

[Lv.4 Krill Dragon Leather] [Lv.3 Big and Juicy Mango]

A good material and a nostalgic fruit from the second tutorial. I could sell these tomorrow.

“…”

I turned around after feeling a laser-like stare. It came from Boss. Heh. I grinned.

“Are you hungry, Boss?”

“No.”

She frowned with a pout. “Do you think I’m a glutton?”

“No, it’s just that you were staring at this mango.”

“That’s a mango?”

Her eyes flashed with greed when she looked at it. However, Boss soon retracted her gaze and stood up.

“Cough, it’s not that. You don’t look so good today, newbie.”

“I just get a bit depressed on rainy days.”

Things that made me angry, sad, apologetic… For a long time, I’d been burying emotions deep inside. Otherwise, I would be in pain every day. However, these emotions subconsciously surfaced and always caused me distress.

“Anyways, Boss.”

“Hmm?”

“How are your stats looking?”

Honestly, Boss currently lived like a NEET. After I gave her 1000 TP, she stayed indoors all day without doing any work and spent all her free time either eating or training. She must’ve made some improvements.

“My magic power is at 3.5 and the other stats have entered the 2 point range.”

“Oh?”

Her growth speed was still incredible despite the tower’s increased stat gain. This was why division of labor was important.

“You’re like a max level NEET.”

“What’s that?”

Boss narrowed her eyes. It meant she was a bum who played around all day without working, but could easily dominate whatever she set out to do.

“It’s a good thing.”

“I don’t believe you. I’m hurt. I think I need to eat that mango to feel better. Give it here.”

Boss reached for the mango, but I stopped her by putting it inside my inventory.

***

I continued to make and sell equipment at my street stall for the rest of the third tutorial. I couldn’t increase my stats much because of that. However, the most important aspect of the third tutorial was money. I felt more than satisfied with over 20000 TP.

“I should be able to buy it.”

Today was the last day of the third tutorial. I stood in front of a dilapidated shop on the outskirts of town. The pouch in my pocket overflowed with money.

[Miscellaneous Item Shop]

It looked like the town didn’t sell anything special, but one shop sold rather unique items. This shop only existed in the highest difficulty tutorial and made it worth all the trouble.

Kiiik—

I walked into the shop with a trembling heart. A burst of dust spread out as I passed through the door and I could smell the aged wood.

“Uh…”

The shop looked quite battered and the shopkeeper continued reading a newspaper without even greeting his customer. First, I took a good look around.

“You have quite the collection here.”

“…”

The shopkeeper NPC didn’t say anything. However, his silence made him more trustworthy. After all, being talkative was one of the key characteristics of a scammer. I pretended to look around the shop again.

[Lv.2 Magic Contract] [Lv.2 Cure Illness Potion] [Lv.2 Speedwell Grass] [Lv.2 Sprite Shield] [Lv.2 Kim Joonghon’s Claymore]…

The shop contained all sorts of items. However, its real specialty sat on the counter. I walked up to the counter and pointed to an egg.

“Is this egg for sale too?”

[???]

An egg with question marks as its item description. The shopkeeper finally reacted.

“That egg is from a special bird that only lives in this town. It’s not something a nobody like you can buy.”

The man spoke with a husky voice that didn’t sound hospitable in the slightest. I smiled back.

“Who else would buy it if not me?”

“That costs 40000 TP, kid.”

That much TP was impossible to acquire in only 10 days even if someone knew before entering the tower. However, this egg was certainly worth every TP. It was laid by Muninn, a raven that belonged to the god Odin. Since Muninn was a god’s pet, this egg would surely be… Well, I didn’t know the answer. I only introduced it as an Easter egg that not even Kim Suho could buy in the original story. Instead, the shop NPC would see through his sense of justice and gift him a different item. Of course, I had to make do with money since I didn’t have Kim Suho’s disposition.

“How about half of that amount? 20000 TP.”

“…”

The shopkeeper gave me an odd look.

“Isn’t that reasonable? I don’t have any more than that and you can’t sell this egg here anyways.”

A 40000 TP item would never sell. Not even a business god like Yoo Yeonha could earn that much in 10 days.

“You have 20000 TP?”

“Of course.”

I took out twenty 1000 TP notes from my inventory and showed them to him. His eyes flickered.

“Why don’t you take that hood off first? It’s rude, don’t you think?”

“Ah, yes, sorry.”

I should be one of the only polite customers he would’ve met in this town full of scammers. I quickly pulled my hood down.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What is it?”

“The egg of an eagle, I think?”

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened. As I said before, Muninn was a raven, but I thought it was an eagle when I wrote my novel. Of course, many commenters pointed out my mistake, but it was too late to make edits. I recalled saying something like, An eagle sounds cooler.

“You have good eyes. You’re right, it’s the egg of an eagle. However, most people won’t be able to raise this beast. In fact, they won’t even be able to hatch it.”

“Ah… but you see, I’m not an ordinary person.”

“…”

The shopkeeper gave me a meaningful look.

“Otherwise, how would I have made 20000 TP?”

I received the shopkeeper’s gaze and spoke with ease.

***

[The third tutorial will end in 3 hours.]

A wooden tent barely stood in front of a campfire near the outskirts of town.

“This dumb, stupid town.”

Aileen’s face had turned haggard and impoverished after only 10 days.

“Everyone in this town is trash! Every single one of them!”

The humiliation she suffered flashed before her eyes. Having to eat a restaurant’s leftover food, her money being pickpocketed out of her inventory, accidentally spilling juice she worked so hard to buy on a noble’s clothes, then having to kneel and beg for his forgiveness… She would’ve never experienced such things on Earth.

“We somehow managed to earn enough TP.”

Yi Yongha went through similar circumstances. Their sense of accomplishment felt overwhelming because of all the trouble they went through. They slept outside, skipped meals, and gave up on living like decent humans to scrape together 2000 TP.

“… I know, hic…” Aileen began to tear up.

“Are you crying?”

“Uun… They’re tears of joy.”

Aileen felt proud of herself, so proud of gathering 2000 TP with restricted stats that she wanted to shower herself with kisses.

“Oh, by the way, that was them, right?”

“Them?”

“You know, the ones we met on the first day at the pub.”

“Ah, yes, they should be members of that group your chasing.”

Aileen didn’t know their names. However, she recalled their faces from an artifact scramble long ago. She had almost arrested them both with an impeccable strategy.

“Wasn’t there someone else?”

Another member had been in the pub other than those two.

“You know, the one who made me drink alcohol.”

“I’m not sure, but only one person comes to mind when I think of a mask and hood.”

“I agree.”

Aileen nodded. Honestly, she felt quite confident that Black Lotus also entered this tower.

[The third tutorial has ended.]

“Finally, this damn tutorial is over.”

“I’ll bet my honor that less than half gathered more than 1000 TP.”

Aileen and Yi Yongha leaned against a tree exhausted and read through the system alerts.

[50/78 challengers currently possess more than 1000 TP in their inventory.] [Congratulations. You have managed to protect your profits from pickpockets, robbers, thugs, and scammers.]

Aileen turned towards Yi Yongha, who awkwardly laughed.

“There’s a bit over half, haha.”

However, the system alerts hadn’t finished.

[Hidden Reward – Profit Master] [The profit of victorious challengers will be revealed along with their nicknames (expenses excluded).] [The top 5 challengers will receive 100% of the profits they earned as a bonus.] [Rank 1 – Extra7, 21300 TP.] [Rank 2 – PhantomThief, 7800 TP][Rank 3…]

“Eh?”

“What?”

Aileen and Yi Yongha became speechless. The difference felt too overwhelming.

“It’s not 2130 TP, but…”

“21300 TP? How the fuck is that possible!”

Aileen inadvertently cursed in a mix of Korean and English.

“Who is it!”

Aileen felt so wronged. She had suffered through one humiliation after another to scrape together 2000 TP, but someone had earned 21300. He must’ve used a cowardly method!

“Who’s Extra7!”

***

Three hours later. A burst of light brought me back to my waiting room. I didn’t say goodbye to Jain, Cheok Jungyeong, and Boss since we could contact each other soon through the messenger system.

[Congratulations on achieving first place.] [21300 TP has been deposited.]

“Ah, thank you, thank you. You did well too, system.”

I bought Muninn’s egg with 20000 TP and only had 3000 TP left. However, the hidden reward returned 100% of my profits and made me rich again. I hadn’t expected such a setting change. I thought the co-author only made things more difficult, but it seemed I was wrong. A little bonus wasn’t so bad every once in a while.

“Ah.”

I took out Muninn’s egg from the inventory. Huu, huu. I blew on the 20000 TP egg in case it felt cold and carefully placed it inside my bed. I wondered what cute eagle would pop out and pulled my blanket over it. However, the good news didn’t end there.

[Your black entrance ticket has been confirmed.] [You may now retrieve 3 items you deposited since the tutorial has ended.]

I had been waiting for this. Equipment that could make up for the stats I neglected while crafting and selling items. I kneeled respectfully and already decided long ago what items to retrieve: aether, the Desert Eagle, and my laptop-linked smartwatch.

[Soon, your equipment storage will be transferred over.] [Please decide within 1 hour.]

Of course, the number of bullets available would limit the Desert Eagle, but I chose it for a single reason despite its disadvantages.

“Jin Sahyuk.”

My only reason was to kill Jin Sahyuk.