Juhyeok was in the middle of clearing Floor 25.

If you were a Player who’d made it past the final goblin stretch on Floor 20, then Floor 25 wasn’t that hard to clear either.

The patterns were similar.

The problem was the Orc Great Chieftain.

How you dealt with that bastard—what strategy and tactics you brought for him—mattered more than anything.

Of course, for Juhyeok, it wasn’t something he even needed to worry about.

Meatshield and Cossack would handle it on their own anyway.

The weakest orcs were the forest orcs.

Smaller bodies, and their attack power was about hobgoblin level.

The strongest were the volcanic orcs.

Not something you could take lightly.

Blood-red skin, a faint aura of flame wrapped around them, burning anything that touched them.

But to the barbarian warrior Meatshield, they were basically just hand warmers.

Stomping around, and whenever he ran into a volcanic orc, he’d go grab—crunch—pull it into a warm hug—

“Chuurk?”

Crack!

With a bear hug, he snapped its waist.

“...Isn’t that hot?”

“Look at Meatshield’s skin. Not even a scorch mark. Even if you seared him with a gas torch, he’d go, ‘Oh! Nice and cool!’”

Well... he was the kind of body that had endured a hydra’s breath.

“Uwooooo!”

Once he drew aggro like that, every orc charged Meatshield.

There was nothing better for an assassin like Cossack to operate.

“I’m going too!”

“Let’s go!”

Pop!

Pop-pop-pop!

Cossack—now SSR rank.

His Shadow Step.

It was fast enough you could hear it tearing through the air.

And that wasn’t all.

Blade Explosion detonating without pause, Shock Break, Vile Ambush, Poison Dagger...

The dazzling skills Cossack unleashed.

“Khahaha! This is SSR.”

It hadn’t even been five minutes since the mission started, and the battlefield on Floor 25 was already packed with orc corpses.

Nice. SSR.

Juhyeok started moving too.

He’d said three kills. He had to fill his quota.

And skill training came as a bonus.

...Better not pick volcanic orcs, right?

I’ll get burned if I screw around with those.

Forest orcs and desert orcs were perfect.

Swat! Swawt!

Juhyeok activated Shadow Step.

And in that instant—

Pop-pop!

John Cossack flashed in, like lightning, and took position right beside him.

“Hey! Why are you right next to me?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay still.”

Thorough. He was unbelievably thorough.

Still, I shouldn’t be in any danger.

“Mixed-Origin Thunderclap Staff—Falling Thunder Chases the Soul.”

Crackling electricity gathered around the mace.

Whip!

Crack!

Thunk!

“Kyeeng!”

A forest orc died on the spot.

Its skull half-seared by lightning.

Even though he hadn’t used Falling Thunder Chases the Soul that many times, it was settling into his hands more and more.

“...One more?”

Cossack nodded.

Crack!

Thunk!

A desert orc—one hit.

It wasn’t that there’d been no danger.

A thrown axe from a cave orc came whipping straight at Juhyeok.

Clang!

Before it even got close, it was smacked aside by a dagger.

Honestly, I could probably take that hit.

As my level rose, the Energy Barrier’s effect rose too.

“Are you alright?”

There he went again with the fuss.

What was he doing, raising a kid?

“I didn’t even get hit.”

“You might have taken mental damage. Post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“Oh, come on. Not even a little.”

“...Why are you copying how I talk?”

“Because it’s funny.”

“Is it? Hehehehe.”

“Hahahaha.”

Juhyeok knew exactly why Cossack fussed like this.

If he pretended not to, he’d be shameless.

It was just... suffocating sometimes.

But what could he do?

I have to grow fast.

So even Cossack can feel at ease.

Honestly, why was safety-first, self-preservation Juhyeok able to act this wild inside the Tower at all?

Because he had reliable, sturdy teammates.

Alone, it wouldn’t even be a question.

He wouldn’t have climbed the Tower in the first place.

Even now, I’m scared.

I was basically borrowing their authority.

Like some loser middle schooler with older brothers in the high school judo club and boxing club.

Even if you’re at the bottom of the food chain, the bullies can’t touch you.

Because if you tell your brother, he shows up immediately.

That was exactly what was happening right now.

The cave orcs that had thrown axes at Juhyeok were getting carved apart by Cossack.

...Kinda feel bad for them.

I’ll take a few more.

Seems like I can.

It’s almost over anyway—I might as well pick up some scraps.

Juhyeok stayed strictly on the outskirts.

Only choosing orcs that were alone,

safely,

Crack!

one by one,

Thunk!

Not so much to kill orcs, but to train Falling Thunder Chases the Soul—

Crack! Thunk!

And then—

Ding!

[Mixed-Origin Thunderclap Staff—Second Form ‘Falling Thunder in a Flurry’ has been unlocked.]

Out of three forms total, the second one had opened too.

“...Whoa.”

A flurry of falling thunder.

Meaning lightning drops in a mixed swarm.

An area attack.

Juhyeok raised his mace high.

A desert orc that had gotten separated over there caught his eye.

Swat! Swat!

“Falling Thunder in a Flurry.”

Whiiiip!

Bzzzzzzzt—

Lightning splitting into five branches.

“Kkuaaaak!”

This is fun.

It felt like he’d become Thor, god of thunder.

...Should I kill more?

Cossack shook his head hard.

“Just because you unlocked a new skill doesn’t mean you should get carried away.”

Ah, come on.

I have to watch the mood of a summoned entity that “absolutely obeys” me?

How long does that keep going?

I felt irritation flare.

Was he strong from the start?

Did he come out of his mother’s womb using Shadow Step?

“Mr. Cossack.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Outside the Tower, I’m a weak man. But in here, I’m more of a tough guy than anyone.”

“Yes, yes, but safety first is still—”

“Safety first, my ass! Let the Orc Great Chieftain show his face—I'll charge over and smash his skull—”

That was when—

“Grrrrrrrr!”

Something big arrived.

A massive Orc Great Chieftain burst onto the battlefield, holding an axe the size of his own body.

THUD THUD THUD THUD!

Tattoos covering his body, tusks jutting out past his lips, biceps thicker than Juhyeok’s torso.

...Is that even an orc?

Why is he that huge?

Overwhelming size.

Even bigger than Meatshield.

Uh...

No matter how gutsy I’d gotten, that was impossible.

Cossack glanced at him and asked, very politely—

“What did you say you were gonna do to the Great Chieftain’s skull?”

“Mm... maybe I tweaked my back earlier when I pushed too hard. My lower back suddenly hurts. ...I should just watch.”

“Oh no! A man’s strength comes from his lower back. Please rest well.”

“If my back didn’t hurt, I’d smash a Great Chieftain’s skull in one hit.”

“Of course! You think I don’t know that? Just looking at something like that is bad for your mental health.”

Cossack was annoyingly smug.

Meatshield spotted the Great Chieftain and threw his head back with a huge roar.

“KUUUOOOO!”

Like a berserker.

The Great Chieftain and Meatshield locked eyes.

Neither hesitated.

They stomped toward each other—

CRUNCH!

A contest of strength.

But it was never even a contest.

“...Kkuik?”

Crack!

Both of the Orc Great Chieftain’s shoulders were crushed.

And then—

Pop-pop!

Cossack, shining with SSR rank, finished it.

Slash!

The head launched up.

[You have succeeded in the Floor 25 mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward: Magic Stones 2.5 kg]

[Notice: You have achieved an S++ Clear Rank on Black Tower (Korea), Floor 25.]

[S++ Clear Reward: A Platinum Badge will be awarded.]

Floor 25—clean finish.

“Good work.”

“Hehe, thank you, sir.”

Now it was time to check the perk.

Depending on what came out, it would affect the Elite Team contract.

More perks. Safer climbs.

“What do you want to eat today?”

“...Can we do tteokbokki?”

“You sure? You can’t handle spicy food.”

“What’s with you? I’m SSR, SSR! The ‘can’t-handle-spicy’ era is over.”

“Is that so? Good luck.”

Juhyeok ordered ten servings of tteokbokki.

With cold drinks too.

“Eat as much as you want.”

“Aren’t you eating too, Summoner Bong?”

“I’ll eat in a bit.”

Meatshield started slurping down tteokbokki.

Slurp, slurp.

...Isn’t that spicy?

“Not spicy at all. It’s just sweet.”

“O-Oh. Yeah?”

Cossack stared at the tteokbokki, then—

Gulp.

Swallowed once.

Stared again.

Stared with determined eyes.

Picked up one rice cake with his chopsticks, trembling, and kept staring...

When are you even going to eat that?

Fine.

He’ll eat eventually.

Let’s check the perk.

He opened the Tower-Only Inventory and checked the badges.

[You have accumulated 25 Platinum Badges. A perk will be granted.]

Please be good.

Please.

[Perk: You may select an Encore Perk.]

“What?”

Encore...

[Selectable Encore Perks: Trait Enhancement, Skill Copy, Random Item, Summoned-Entity Rank Enhancement.]

“Oh!”

So that’s what it was.

Not like some omakase encore sushi or anything—what kind of jackpot was this?

There was no choice to make.

Picking anything else here would be stupid.

Trait Enhancement.

[Your Awakened Trait has been enhanced.]

“Heh...”

A grin spread across his face on its own.

Tower climbing?

Easy.

And it could be safer too.

Let’s see.

First—level?

Skills too.

[Combat Skills]: Shadow Step / Mixed-Origin Thunderclap Staff

And Trait.

Three simultaneous summons.

If he counted himself as fighting too, that meant climbing with four.

It was a perk beyond a perk.

Of course, this applied to all Summoning Trait Players.

Not solo—team play. Enhance the Trait and the number of simultaneous summons increased.

But they had constraints.

Controlling summons wasn’t easy.

They weren’t overwhelmingly strong since they scaled with the Player’s level, they had no free will so you had to micromanage commands, and the mental drain was brutal.

And that wasn’t all.

If you lost control even once, they could go berserk.

Then you had to Dismiss Summon.

Because if you messed up, your own summon could attack you too.

Being a Summoning Trait Player wasn’t all upside.

The drawbacks were clear.

But Juhyeok was different from the start.

His summons were different.

Real people with power and ability so immense you couldn’t see the limit.

All he had to do was say, “Let’s start the mission,” to Cossack and Meatshield, and it was done.

And the Random Summon cooldown?

About ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ eighteen days.

Time flew anyway.

...I can sign with the Elite Team.

At the very least, I won’t end up disappointing people.

Now...

All that was left was talking it through with his family.

But right then—

“Gaaah! Hrrrk! Hrrrk!”

Cossack was twisting and crawling on the floor.

His long tongue had turned red and was hanging out of his mouth.

“Assassin will die soon.”

“Ghk—ghk!”

“Throw this one away and summon someone else.”

“Sh-Shut up... w-water...”

Juhyeok cracked open a bottle of soda and shoved it into his hand.

“Tsk. I knew it.”

Does ranking up turn a spicy-weakling into a spicy-bragger?

Wait.

Whenever Cossack got annoying, should I feed him spicy food?

It wouldn’t violate Article Three, so he’d obey.

But—

No.

How could a person do that?

I’m not a psychopath.

※ ※ ※

Juhyeok’s family home.

For the first time in a while, everyone was together.

He’d bought premium Korean beef and gone home.

Poor but warm—the kind of family that stayed sitting together, talking loudly even after the meal was done.

“Seriously, the moment I got a lawyer, the company started calling. The same people who acted like I didn’t exist.”

“And what happened to those people? The customer who dared to bully my mom. On the news they said the press swarmed in.”

“Don’t even get me started. Turns out that man’s husband is a high-ranking official. It blew up. The amount of calls I got, saying they wanted to ‘apologize’...”

“Honey, don’t accept any apology. This is how you teach them a lesson so they stop bullying other people too.”

The first topic was Mom’s lawsuit.

Then the conversation flowed into—

“I’m getting admitted tomorrow. And guess what—the room is a VIP room.”

“Whoa! Dad, can I sleep there too? I’ll take care of you. It’s close to my school anyway.”

“No. Your mom has to be by my side for me to feel comfortable.”

“Wow... a VIP room is probably nicer than our house.”

Minhyeok’s situation came up too.

“Getting a scholarship is great, but it’s only one semester.”

“Because of your grades?”

“Bro, I’m good at studying. I couldn’t get full tuition, but I’ve always gotten half tuition.”

“Then why only one semester?”

“Because next semester I’m taking a leave and going to the army.”

“Ah.”

Right. He was that age.

“By the way—how are you doing lately? ...Still working part-time? I wish you’d find something stable.”

“He’s right. Once I finish rehab, I’m going to look for work too. You should use this chance to study for job applications.”

“Our oldest son... you’ve suffered a lot. Now live for yourself. Once the lawsuit ends and we get compensation, things will loosen up for our family.”

Juhyeok hesitated.

How do I even bring it up?

This was basically a bombshell.

In moments like this, the straight route was best.

“You know how I hinted at it before?”

He paused.

“I Awakened. I’m active as a Player.”

Everyone stared at him like he was talking nonsense.

“You’re joking without even smiling.”

“You mean a video game player?”

“Bro. Eat some fruit.”

He had no intention of revealing the S++ clears.

He trusted his family, but the fewer people who knew, the better.

Juhyeok reached into his Inventory and dropped out a chunk of Magic Stone.

Thud.

Then an adamant mace.

Thud.

Then the alloy round hand shield.

Thud.

And he kept talking.

“You see? Magic Stones, and the weapons I use. I made some money clearing the Tower too.”

How could they not be shocked?

Stuff was popping out of empty air.

“...Uh.”

“Th-This is—?”

“...”

Then the decisive line.

“The Tower Player Awakening Administration wants me to sign an Elite Team contract... Haa. This talent of mine really wears a person out.”

It hit them like a shock.

Dad’s mouth fell open.

Minhyeok clapped a hand over his mouth.

Mom looked at Juhyeok with a complicated expression.

“I’m a tough guy now. So in front of me, please refrain from calling me timid, or a weak man, or anything like that.”

Juhyeok’s expression was dead serious.

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