Valley of Death (1)
On Earth–001, the World Tree’s leaves were an almost absolute means of communication.
In fact, the nation called “Calderal,” which produced the most World Tree leaves, was making enormous profits by selling them.
But then, in that very Earth–001, a communication method that no one had ever even dared to imagine was suddenly introduced.
A device capable of making real-time calls.
Although it had the drawback of being a large, crude, and heavy phone, almost like carrying a brick, this wasn’t as big an issue as expected, since Earth–001 had a very useful item called a spatial expansion bag.
The phone was modeled after a satellite communication system called Starlink that existed on Earth–104, and since its functionality was limited purely to calling, its performance wasn’t particularly impressive relative to its size.
However, the call quality itself wasn’t a major problem.
The issue was that there weren’t many satellites deployed yet. So near the Fortress of Freedom, call quality was good, but the farther you moved away, the more it deteriorated.
Of course, since Seon Yul planned to steadily increase the number of satellites, this issue would gradually be resolved over time.
The number of magic stone mobile phones Seon Yul brought in the first production batch was 10,000 units. Excluding 100 units distributed for free and 10 made as master versions, the remaining 9,890 units were put up for sale, and they were currently selling at a rate of nearly 200 units per day.
At this rate, it didn’t seem impossible to sell all 9,890 units within a month.
As the magic stone mobile phones began selling well, Seon Yul decided to return to Earth–104 once more, sooner than planned.
Although it hadn’t even been a month since his last visit, just three weeks, he intended to go quickly and request additional production of mobile phones as well as faster manufacturing of communication satellites.
At the very least, he believed that around 500 satellites needed to be deployed in Earth–001’s orbit for the communication business to become stable, so he planned to push as hard as possible to accelerate production.
“I’ll be back.”
“You’re bringing Jun Hyeok too, right?”
“Yeah, I have to. Once I bring him, I’ll have him run the shop, and then we’ll continue climbing the tower together.”
For Seon Yul, the communication business was important, but he also wanted to reach Level 80 as soon as possible and check the Level 80 benefits.
To do that, he needed either to hunt irregulars or climb the tower, so he intended to stabilize the communication business quickly and then head back into the tower.
After finishing his conversation with Cheon Li Yu, Seon Yul immediately returned to Earth–104 through the emergency exit and first went to find Jang Jun Hyeok.
“Oh~ I thought you’d stay a few more weeks. Why are you back so early?”
Jun Hyeok, who had been selling return stones and gathering information on Earth–104 during Seon Yul’s three-week absence, looked surprised.
“Did you sell all the return stones?”
“Heh. Of course I did. I sold all ten and made exactly 1,600 kg of magic stones. How about that? Pretty good, right?”
“Oh, that’s impressive.”
Jun Hyeok had kept his word perfectly.
He sold the returned stones at the most opportune time to get the highest possible price from unsuspecting buyers. As a result, quite a few posts had appeared in Earth–104’s communities complaining about overpriced return stones.
However, considering most of those prices hovered around 100 kg of magic stones, it was clear that Jun Hyeok had sold them for exceptionally high prices.
“Did you gather a lot of information?”
“Yeah. As you said, I focused mainly on other magic users and the groups they formed, and I also collected as much data as possible on each country’s situation.”
“Nice, you worked hard.”
“Well, I’ve got to work hard if I want to impress the boss.”
Jun Hyeok joked with a grin, and Seon Yul laughed along.
“I’ll be heading back to Earth–001 in a few days, so get everything ready and wait.”
“Got it.”
After finishing their conversation, Seon Yul received the 1,600 kg of magic stones from Jun Hyeok, but returned 200 kg to him.
Jun Hyeok kept insisting he didn’t need it, but Seon Yul believed that since Jun Hyeok had worked hard to earn it, he deserved proper compensation.
In the end, Jun Hyeok accepted the 200 kg and said he would use it to upgrade his equipment.
After that, Seon Yul immediately contacted Cha Seong Hyeon.
Since the reason he had returned quickly to Earth–104 was for the communication business, meeting Cha Seong Hyeon was important.
The next day, Seon Yul met him in Sejong City, and they immediately began discussing the communication business.
“One hundred units per month is impossible.”
Cha Seong Hyeon replied carefully, looking troubled.
Seon Yul had requested the production of about 100 communication satellites per month, but Cha indicated that it couldn’t be done.
“Then I’ll raise the unit price. Right now, it’s 10 kg of magic stones and 0.1 kg of soul stones per satellite, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll double it. 20 kg of magic stones and 0.2 kg of soul stones. But in return, you must produce 100 units every month.”
Who was it that said there’s nothing impossible in the world, only a lack of money?
Seon Yul presented an offer too large to refuse.
“Hmm…”
At 100 satellites per month, that would mean a staggering 20 kg of soul stones monthly.
With that amount, it would be enough not only to maintain the current four active cities but also to secure and sustain additional safe zones.
“…Can you really supply 20 kg of soul stones every month?”
Cha Seong Hyeon found that part hard to believe.
Currently, other magic user groups brought back very small amounts of soul stones from Earth–001.
Even the best teams only managed about 1 kg per expedition… and considering each expedition lasted 2–3 months, Seon Yul’s claim sounded absurd.
“It’s possible.”
Seon Yul nodded without hesitation.
The reason he could say that was because, among those buying magic stone mobile phones on Earth–001, some occasionally paid in soul stones instead of magic stones.
Out of every 100 buyers, about 10 paid in soul stones, and that alone was enough to secure 20 kg per month without much difficulty.
“…Then I’ll give it a try.”
Cha Seong Hyeon concluded that under these conditions, he had no choice.
If he treated satellite production as a national-level project and mobilized all available manpower and resources, producing 100 units per month seemed feasible.
Convincing higher authorities would be easy with 20 kg of soul stones on the table.
Magic stones were manageable due to stockpiles, but soul stones were the real issue.
Especially now, when no resources could be farmed on Earth–104, and everything depended on expeditions to Earth–001, this was an opportunity that absolutely couldn’t be missed.
“Thank you. And the magic stone mobile phones…?”
“We’re currently producing up to 20,000 units per month. But increasing production further isn’t easy…”
“Hm, then how many have been produced so far?”
“About 17,000 units.”
“I’ll take those for now. And please keep trying to increase production.”
Seon Yul didn’t push too hard on phone production.
After all, until the satellite network was fully established, phone sales needed to be controlled anyway.
“Thank you.”
Cha Seong Hyeon quickly contacted the Ilseong factory in Yongin to prepare the goods.
Seon Yul collected 20 communication satellites in Sejong and 17,000 mobile phones in Yongin, then returned to Seoul.
Back in Seoul, before meeting Jun Hyeok, he reviewed the documents Jun Hyeok had prepared.
They contained information about magic user groups and the current state of countries on Earth–104.
There wasn’t anything particularly unusual about the groups, but one common point stood out:
More magic users were dying on Earth–001 than expected, leading to an increasing number of people giving up on joining expeditions.
Those who valued their lives more were choosing to remain safely on Earth–104 rather than risk crossing over.
This was especially common among those with weaker awakened abilities.
On the other hand, artificially created magic users often still joined expeditions… even if they were weak, because their awakening had been granted on the condition that they would participate.
Many countries were mass-producing such artificial users and continuously sending them through the gates.
Among them, China and the United States stood out.
China was almost forcibly producing and pushing them through the main gate, while the U.S. used incentives, persuasion, and subtle threats.
Different methods, but similar results… they chose quantity over quality to secure magic and soul stones.
Taking everything into account, the most stable country on Earth–104 was still South Korea.
Thanks to Seon Yul… no, Absolute Safety First’s overwhelming contribution, the system operated smoothly, creating a virtuous cycle and enabling stable expedition deployment.
As a result, South Korea’s situation was even better than China’s or the U.S.
If this continued for a few years, it even seemed possible that South Korea might surpass the U.S. as the world’s strongest nation.
After reviewing everything, Seon Yul judged that Earth–104 could stabilize within three years, unless major problems arose.
However, the concern was that problems could arise on both Earth–001 and Earth–104.
If that happened, things could worsen instead.
Since worrying wouldn’t solve anything, he set it aside and soon returned to Earth–001 with Jun Hyeok.
As usual, after returning, they went to the Fortress of Freedom, met Cheon Li Yu, left the shop to Jun Hyeok, and headed into space to deploy satellites.
Now highly skilled, they quickly placed all 20 satellites and returned to the ground.
They stocked the warehouse with mobile phones and prepared to head to the tower.
Then Cheon Li Yu said something unexpected.
“Do you know about the Valley of Death on the 42nd floor?”
“Valley of Death? What’s that?”
“It’s an area on the 42nd floor filled with high-level undead monsters.”
“Oh…”
“It’s tucked away in one corner. When we climb this time, I think we should definitely clear it out.”
While Seon Yul was away, Cheon Li Yu had gathered information at the shop and learned about it.
She thought it might be a perfect hunting ground for him.
“Not bad.”
After hearing everything, Seon Yul nodded enthusiastically.
For someone eager to reach Level 80 quickly, it was ideal.
“Let’s go!”
Once he decided, he didn’t hesitate.
He stood up immediately, and the two of them headed toward the tower.
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