The Workshop

The Gong Bang (공방, 工房; literally meaning "workshop"), also called The Creation Room or The Blacksmiths or The Factory or The Workshop, is an organisation founded within the Tower by the Great Father Macseth. According to Macseth it also exists outside the Tower and no one knows its origin (the Creation of Gong Bang).

Its ultimate ambition is to find the order and reason of all creation in the world. And by doing so, to know how to recreate all such creation and with that, the God of all creation.

Note #1: To avoid all hilarity on pronunciation of the name; (probably American pronunciation) Gong – the “o” is a long “o”, like the "o" in “for”, “or”. It is NOT pronounced like the percussion instrument. Bang – NOT pronounced like the sound a gun would make. The "a" is a short a, like in "farm" or "ma".

Note #2: Most of the information on this page is derived from these sources (see references).

About
The knowledge of the Gong Bang cannot be given to an outsider and this is the absolute law of the Gong Bang. (If one leaves the group, his/her knowledge, by law, will be "sealed".)

The Gong Bang only creates items for "One who is worthy" (chosen one). And this law is often applied even to Zahard and the 10 Families. Given that the Gong Bang claim to also exist outside the Tower, it's likely highly respected enough for Zahard and the 10 Great Warriors to respect its existence and rules. This is because they originated from outside the Tower.

The Gong Bang can be found in the Middle Area of each Floor. From there, they perform the role of providing items to people who they deem worthy enough. A Regular who has climbed many Floors has better chances of receiving an item, than one who climbed fewer. The same applies for Rankers. The higher the Ranking, the better the chances.

Almost every items of the Tower are made here. Although there's a location in each Floor, there are only 7 headquarters and one of them is on the 30th Floor. Once every 5 years, this particular Gong Bang gathers E-grade Regulars and holds an item tournament called, "the Workshop Battle".

Ranks within the Gong Bang
There are presumably 5 ranks within the Gong Bang: Great Father, Father, Great Teacher, Teacher and Disciple.

Great Father
The highest rank is that of the Great Father. It is currently occupied by the founder of the Tower's Gong Bang, Macseth.

Father
(Note: It seems that Fathers can also serve as Great Teachers. However, it doesn't seem like they're equal or the same as Flux seems to be a Father, despite being out of the group.)

There is one known Father who is one of the Tower's Lords, Flux (Magician) and he was the first Disciple of Masceth.

Like all the other Fathers of the Factory, Magician is an artificial organism created by Masceth. One can view him as equal or slightly above the 4 Children who might also be Fathers.

Great Teacher
There are currently 4 known Great Teachers, Max, Mai, Mad and May, each of them an artifical lifeform created by Macseth (they are considered his 'children'). They are not given a ranking by the Ranking Administration, because of their relationship with the Gong Bang. Their fighting capabilities are judged to be of S-level, comparable to High-Rankers.

According to rumor, each of the four all hold different personalities and knowledge. And one of them, contrary to his title of Great Teacher, is a very mischievous prankster.

And it seems that most or all Fathers are also Great Teachers. However, Flux is not a Great Teacher because he holds one of the Lord's seats and it can be seen that he is out of the Gong Bang. One can view him as equal or slightly above the 4 Children who might also be Fathers.

Teacher
The title of Teacher is self explanatory, however, it has to be noted that their influence within the Tower is enormous (see Influence).

Disciple
Disciples are chosen by the Teachers of the Gong Bang. They formally become one after a set period of training.

As their position and title rises within the group, a Disciple enjoys benefits rivalling those enjoyed by Rankers.

In special cases, a Disciple may be chosen to be a Regular. However, he will be expelled from the Gong Bang and his/her knowledge "sealed" by law.

On the other hand, there also have been cases where a Ranker became a Disciple. However, he or she is not expelled from the Rankings.

Note: it seems Flux was the first Disciple of Masceth.

Influence within the Tower
The Gong Bang is not ruled by Zahard and completely independent. One may think that this kind of existence may threaten the power and balance of the Tower’s Rulers, but this is not the case. This is because the Gong Bang have "absolutely no interest" in the Tower’s power struggles and politics. This is despite the fact Masceth is affiliated with Zahard and the 10 Great Warriors and is the creator of Flux, one of the 3 Lords.

This means they are not ruled by the Ruler and the Ruler of a Floor cannot touch the Gong Bang’s laws and regulations.

When the Administrator of a Floor created a commotion with the Gong Bang, an attending Teacher completely humiliated him. The Ruler of the Floor himself came to ask for forgiveness from the Teacher after the news reached him.

Gong Bang's creations
The basic types of Pockets, the round types, are created by the Gong Bang.

The Gong Bang creates weapons by mixing substances/materials/living beings like ores, Shinheuh or humans, together with Shinsoo. If a person is skilled at handling Shinsoo, they'll be able to create better weapons.

Ashul Edwaru received special materials/ores/substances from Zahard, which were then used to create the 13 Month Series.

Kang Horyang and Beniamino Cassano were subjects who had half of a devil placed in each of them, in order to create living Ignition Weapons. Beta is possibly a full Ignition Weapon.

Emile is also another creation of the Gong Bang.

Notes and Trivia

 * SIU has stated that "no one knows the origin of the Gong Bang because it is the Gong Bang's ultimate goal to find this origin". This seemingly paradoxical statement says, in a way, that the Gong Bang will always come into existence somehow, in one way or another. Where there is creation, there is Gong Bang. In Korean, this can also be translated as "No one knows where all creation comes from because it is the ultimate goal of all creation to find its own origin".