A Shift in Thinking (1)
After completing his climber registration using the certification badge he received from Elzad, Seon Yul immediately checked the climbing schedule for the Tower of Life.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t currently the entry period, and he would have to wait about half a month for the next entry.
With that time available, Seon Yul thought for a while and decided to return to Earth-104 once more.
There were two reasons.
The first, and most important… was to check the progress of the tasks he had entrusted to Earth-104 and retrieve the results.
The second was to reset Cheon Li Yu’s stay duration in Earth-001.
“You’ve got some leeway, so stay here and keep managing the shop. Li Yu, come with me.”
After roughly organizing the situation, Seon Yul spoke, and both Cheon Li Yu and Jang Jun Hyeok nodded in agreement.
“So I just stay here and run the shop?”
“Sell goods and quietly gather information. Knowledge will become power. Oh, and like I keep saying, never go outside the fortress. If you go out with your current skill level, you’re seriously in danger.”
“Alright, alright. Stop talking about my skill already. People with weak awakening abilities really have it rough.”
“I’ll find a way to upgrade your ability, so just hang in there a bit.”
In truth, Seon Yul was already looking for ways to strengthen Jun Hyeok. If Jun Hyeok stayed weak, it would only make things harder for him.
After leaving the shop in Jun Hyeok’s care, Seon Yul immediately returned to Earth-104 with Cheon Li Yu through the emergency exit.
Now that they had some leeway with return stones, traveling between Earth-001 and Earth-104 was no longer a burden.
The first thing he checked upon returning was the community.
It was the fastest way to understand the current situation of Earth-104.
The posts described the condition of each country in detail.
Surprisingly, things were much better than expected.
Many countries had successfully secured their capitals and second cities and were actively working to restore national functions.
Of course, some nations were still in near-collapse, but most developed countries were stabilizing.
Among them, South Korea stood out the most.
Thanks to Seon Yul, it had secured resources and information faster than any other country.
Not only had it secured Seoul, Busan, and Sejong as safe zones, but if Pohang became one too, it would have four safe zones.
Even the United States, considered the strongest country, had only secured Washington, New York, and Houston… three safe zones.
South Korea was surpassing the U.S., and since its territory was smaller, its recovery was faster.
***
“So you’ve come back again?”
Seon Yul met Cha Seong Hyeon near POSCO this time.
Cheon Li Yu stayed in Seoul for other matters, so he came alone.
“Yes, I just returned.”
“But… is it okay to travel back and forth so often? Others usually use up their maximum stay time because of return stones…”
Cha Seong Hyeon didn’t even ask how he bypassed the main gate.
He knew it would be crossing a line.
“I move alone, so I have more flexibility with return stones.”
That wasn’t entirely untrue.
Surviving alone on Earth-001 and producing results already proved how exceptional Seon Yul was.
“Anyway… It’s finished, right?”
“Yes, it’s complete.”
The reason Seon Yul had come all the way here was, of course, the 10,000-ton tungsten sphere.
“It couldn’t have been easy. You really worked hard.”
“It’s nothing. I simply did what had to be done. This way, please.”
Cha Seong Hyeon led Seon Yul to where the tungsten sphere was stored. Knowing Seon Yul’s personality well, he had already cleared out the entire POSCO facility and even turned off all CCTV.
So the path to the sphere was completely quiet.
Upon arriving, Seon Yul saw a black sphere even larger than the steel ones he usually used for his “God’s Hammer,” and he couldn’t help but nod.
‘Now this is what I’m talking about!’
“Then take your time… I’ll step outside for a bit.”
Quick-witted, Cha Seong Hyeon left Seon Yul alone inside the warehouse.
The moment he left, Seon Yul opened the entrance to his Absolute Space and immediately stored the tungsten sphere inside.
Then he followed Cha Seong Hyeon back outside.
He planned to organize the space later; there was something else to handle first.
“Finished already?”
“Yes.”
“Then next is…”
“The GPS satellite.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“How is it? Is it ready?”
“Well… It’s ready, but… we’ve only managed to make one so far.”
“Oh, but it’s completed?”
“Yes. Fortunately, there was an old facility in Sejong that we reactivated to build it. But the production cost is a bit…”
Seon Yul had asked for GPS satellites, but he wasn’t shameless enough to expect them for free.
“How much per unit?”
“At cost, it would require about 10 kg of mana stones per satellite. It’s this cheap only because satellites are practically useless now, otherwise it would’ve cost over ten times more.”
“Then I’ll buy them for 10 kg of mana stones each. If you prefer, I can pay in soul stones of equivalent value instead.”
Seon Yul answered without hesitation.
He had never expected to obtain satellites for free, so this level of expense was acceptable.
“However, like the reconnaissance satellites before, you’ll need to assist with orbital placement and management systems.”
“Of course, I’ll take care of all of that.”
For Cha Seong Hyeon, this deal was extremely important.
In the back of his mind, he kept wondering, What exactly is he doing in that other world that he needs satellites, and how does he plan to launch them into space there?
But right now, results mattered more than curiosity.
Especially since soul stones were the top-priority resource for the Korean government and management agency, if they could earn those, they would sell anything.
No matter what Seon Yul… no, Absolute Safety First, was doing in that other world, as long as he provided a stable supply of soul stones, everything was acceptable.
“Let’s meet again in Sejong in three days.”
Seon Yul could go there immediately, but Cha Seong Hyeon couldn’t, so he gave him ample time.
Honestly, he wanted to just throw Cha Seong Hyeon into his Absolute Space and move right away to check the satellite… but even for him, revealing that secret was impossible.
After parting ways, Seon Yul immediately entered his Absolute Space.
He rolled the tungsten sphere to a corner and carefully registered it in the Universal Tool Shop.
Naturally, it registered instantly.
The most important part, the price…
“500 kg of mana stones… yeah, it’s expensive.”
That amount equaled about 50 billion won before, but now it has exceeded 100 billion.
“But it’s not unusable.”
Not cheap enough to spam, but not so expensive that it couldn’t be used.
Seon Yul considered it a reasonable price.
Currently, he possessed about 3,000 kg of mana stones, and if his plans proceeded smoothly, that amount would increase further.
If that happened, using it would become even easier.
‘If this next plan works… it might not even feel that expensive.’
For a long time, Seon Yul had been thinking about how to strengthen his Absolute Space ability further.
The conclusion he reached was simple: continuously stockpile mana stones.
Upgrading the ability itself had nearly reached its limit.
Of course, there were still levels to gain, but that was ordinary growth.
He wanted something beyond that.
So he began researching ways to secure a stable supply of mana stones. The shop he opened in the Free Fortress was one result.
But that alone wasn’t enough.
So he devised a business idea with nearly limitless scalability.
‘GPS satellites. If I can deploy them stably in Earth—001’s orbit… I won’t have to worry about mana stones anymore.’
His idea was a communication business.
More specifically, he planned to launch GPS satellites into Earth—001’s orbit and mass-produce mana stone mobile phones to sell there.
The phones would be simple, and once the embedded mana was depleted, the entire device would need replacement.
A simple, fast, convenient communication system.
Its impact on Earth—001 would be enormous.
He finalized this plan after receiving the World Tree’s Leaf from Elzard.
Originally, he considered satellites only for personal use, but after learning how the leaf worked, everything changed.
Instead of primitive methods, he would provide a modern communication system.
Demand would explode.
And then… he would simply sit and collect money.
No one could copy it.
To replicate it, they’d need satellites in orbit, which only Seon Yul could achieve.
A perfect monopoly.
No regulations.
Once operational, mana stones would pour in endlessly.
“Then my Absolute Space… becomes invincible.”
With effectively unlimited mana stones, his ability would reach an entirely new level.
Seon Yul was preparing his own “cheat code.”
And if everything went as planned, he would have nothing left to fear.
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