Every Tower in the world has the same clear missions on each floor.

The environments and the types of monsters are the same too.

The Black Tower’s Floors 50-something are the flying-monster section.

From Floor 56 to Floor 60, wyverns of five different attributes appear.

Wyverns.

A downgraded version of dragons.

Kings of the sky that supposedly eat ogres as their staple diet.

The earth wyvern with physical power and defense. The flame wyvern with a fire breath. The frost wyvern with a freezing breath. The lightning wyvern that discharges electricity from its body. The venom wyvern brimming with poison.

Floor 57—the one Yoo Cheolmin entered from the broadcast studio—was the place where flame wyverns appeared.

[Entering Japan’s Black Tower Floor 57.]

[Physical abilities have been enhanced to match your level.]

[Trait and combat skill use is available.]

“It’s been a long time here too.”

He had experience, he was Level 66, and he also had all kinds of gear and countless skills.

A mission he couldn’t fail even if he wanted to.

[Floor 57 Mission: Kill 15 flame wyverns.]

[Time Limit: Within 14 hours.]

[Failure Conditions: Death or mission abandonment.]

The mission appeared.

Rugged mountain terrain.

Countless wyvern packs packed tightly around a peak that rose high into the sky.

There was a prerequisite for clearing flying monsters.

Since you couldn’t fight in the air, you had to drag them down to the ground, no matter what.

Magic Traits and long-range Traits were advantageous in that regard.

But melee?

What could you do?

You had to enter with a micro crossbow or a pistol—something that could pass as personal items.

But what if your long-range weapon proficiency was sloppy and two of them came along at once?

You had no choice.

You had to run.

Tower clearing was basically solo play, so the most important thing was always creating a 1-on-1 situation.

The clear began.

He took out a bow from his inventory and found a wyvern off by itself—

Fwssht!

“Kyaaak!”

A milky, translucent mana arrow hit the flame wyvern in the belly.

“Good.”

Even as the wyvern came down, Yoo Cheolmin didn’t move—he stood in one spot and kept firing mana arrows at the monster.

If he were an archer-Trait Player, he’d have to move frantically to widen the distance, but—

“I’m All-Weapon.”

Even if the distance closed, he just had to swap to a melee weapon and slash or stab.

“In other words, it’s like eating cold porridge.”

Fwshushushushushut!

He activated a rapid-fire skill and struck the wyvern.

Dozens of mana arrows concentrated on that one target.

If critical hits popped well, he could even kill it before it landed—

But—

‘Hng.’

Strange.

Not a single critical hit procs.

‘At this point, at least one should’ve procced.’

And then—

Ting!

One mana arrow that got deflected by the wyvern’s talons flew off somewhere else and hit another wyvern.

“Haa.”

An add.

Aggro got pulled from another wyvern.

So the wyverns coming down became two.

The one he’d shot first was already almost down—

“Phew.”

What could he do?

He had to kill two.

At Level 66, two was possible—if he pushed it, even three.

Weapon swap.

He stowed the bow in his inventory.

He pulled out a sword and shield.

Block, dodge, stab, slash.

He barely dealt with the two.

‘This time...’

Careful. Don’t get complacent.

He waited a long time, selected a target—

And was about to fire a mana arrow.

“...Heeh.”

Suddenly, his nose tickled.

“Heee-CHOO!”

A sneeze finally burst out.

From the recoil, a mana arrow fired unintentionally.

Fwssht!

“Ghk!”

Bad luck—the mana arrow flew straight into a place where wyverns were gathered in little groups.

“Kak!”

“Krarrak!”

“Kyakak!”

Add after add.

Three of them flew at him at once.

“This is driving me insane.”

Three is tough...

But he still had to kill them.

If he abandoned the mission, he’d just exit the Tower.

And if he exited here, where would he go?

The broadcast studio—live on air.

He wouldn’t show anything—he’d just humiliate himself.

‘Absolutely not.’

He’d use his ultimate, his finisher, everything.

Was the problem cooldown?

In the middle of it all, critical hits still weren’t proccing.

‘Am I cursed?’

Seriously, what is this?

Just in case, he swapped weapons, but whether it was basic attacks or skill attacks, critical hits that used to proc fine didn’t proc even once.

Flame breath spewed by the wyverns.

Three of them, so three directions.

Hard to evade.

Fwoooosh! Fwoosh! Fwoooosh!

“Guhk!”

Sizzle.

His flesh was cooking.

Even so—

‘I’m never abandoning the mission.’

It was a desperate struggle.

He battered them with melee weapons, opened distance and fired arrows or thrown spears, blocked breath with his shield, then threw again—killed two and left one.

But the last remaining wyvern knocked aside the spear he threw with its talons.

Ssswaeek!

Taang!

The spear deflected off somewhere else again.

Right into a place where wyverns were clustered thick.

“Goddamn it! What is this!!! Why does this keep happening?!”

Even if you had bad luck, this was filthy bad luck.

A chain of adds.

Like a train, one after another—

This time it was five—no, there were more behind them.

How many is that?

Even at Level 66, this won’t work.

Bullying with a level difference. Low-floor farming.

That kind of thing only worked on monsters around Floor 30 and below.

Once you reached around Floor 40 or Floor 50, where super-large monsters started appearing, even at Level 66 you had to be careful.

If you slipped up, you died inside the Tower.

Yoo Cheolmin clenched his teeth.

A fork in the road—

Fight or run?

There was nothing to think about.

‘Getting humiliated is better than dying.’

Dignity, my ass.

‘...Run.’

Yoo Cheolmin sprinted for the safe zone.

A safe zone didn’t mean monsters couldn’t chase you.

It was just a zone where you could escape.

“Abandon mission!”

[You have declared mission abandonment.]

[You have failed the mission.]

[Exiting Japan’s Black Tower.]

Spot!

In the end, Yoo Cheolmin appeared in the studio.

It was still live.

The worst situation.

“Fuck.”

The anchor said something and something, but he didn’t feel like answering.

He turned and walked out.

Waiting outside was Councilor Tomoda, the Tower climbing manager.

Because of his merit in bringing Yoo Cheolmin over, he’d been promoted—now a cabinet-government official.

“What happened? Why so early?”

“Can’t you tell just by looking? Why the hell are you asking when you know? You’re pissing me off.”

Failure?

Really failed?

After making it this huge.

“My condition wasn’t great. And my luck was bad.”

He couldn’t believe it.

A Level 66 abandoning a Floor 57 mission.

“I’ll rest, then clear it next time.”

“....”

Councilor Tomoda couldn’t say anything.

All he could think was: we’re screwed.

How the hell do we clean this up?

※ ※ ※

Japan went into an uproar.

A Level 66 proven Player.

A Player they’d naturalized even at the cost of national pride—abandoned a mere Floor 57 mission and exited.

Was he a fake?

Did we get scammed?

Criticism poured in.

The idiot Japanese government.

The stupid, arrogant Yoo Cheolmin.

Approval ratings plunged without bottom.

The panicked Kawaguchi cabinet.

They hurriedly dispatched experts, analyzed the reason for failure, secured flame-resistance items, and put them into the clear attempt.

The second attempt was quiet.

They didn’t leak anything to the media about clearing.

They went for a re-clear without anyone knowing, but—

“Fuck, fuuuck, fuuuuuck!!!”

Yoo Cheolmin had no choice but to abandon the mission again.

No—why the hell is this happening?

The battle with the wyverns didn’t go the way his tactics said it should.

Every time, something sudden happened.

Is he possessed by a ghost?

How can critical hits not proc even once?

Is Japan’s Black Tower different from other countries’ Towers?

It was maddening, insane.

What if he can’t clear it?

Only his impatience grew.

And then the second failure still leaked to the media, in the end.

<Player Yoo Cheolmin also fails Floor 57 on the second attempt.>

When Korean people heard the news, they flooded the biggest community site in Japan and—

└ Yeah, thanks for taking Cheolmin.

└ Returns due to change of mind aren’t possible, you bastards!

└ What do you guys do? The Tower’s in an earthquake zone.

└ I’m mocking you, but honestly, I don’t want a Tower Collapse either. So hang in there!

Was it only Koreans?

Japanese people were throwing bitter, self-mocking jeers on the boards too.

In the middle of that, news came from Korea—

<Republic of Korea Black Tower: 31 consecutive S++ clears successful!>

And not only that—

<Player Nam Gaeun completes a 3-hour clear of Floor 64 dark ghouls.>

Next door was a festival, and here was a funeral.

It was different beyond belief.

Meanwhile, Yoo Cheolmin failed for the third time in a row.

His mind finally crumbled.

The Japanese government couldn’t do anything.

The fear of Tower Collapse slowly began to swallow all of Japan.

※ ※ ※

Juhyeok saw the news too.

Seeing him keep failing floors far below Juhyeok’s level, it looked like the karma really landed.

‘Not just Yoo Cheolmin—Japan got put in a bind too.’

Naturalization is an individual’s freedom.

But abandoning whether the Korean Black Tower collapses or not, and running off overnight—that’s not normal.

If he decided Floor 66 was too hard, then at the very least he should’ve spat out everything he’d received from the Tower Player Awakening Administration.

His achievements were worthy of recognition.

But even that was give-and-take—a relationship of exchange under contract.

So he should’ve kept the contract to the end.

Does he think he grew like that because he was just amazing?

Why doesn’t he know there were countless people’s sacrifices and support in every way?

If you don’t know that, you deserve what you get.

Even a weak man like me knows it.

“Does that last forever?”

He asked Gyeon Dallae, who he’d summoned «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» for the Floor 32 clear.

“Sadly, it does not continue forever. When the balance of karma is settled, it will return to how it was.”

“Really?”

Well, he’d handle it.

Leave Japan’s Tower to the Japanese, and Koreans should climb the Korean Tower.

He cleared Floor 31 the other day.

Rested one day—

Today was Floor 32.

[Entering Republic of Korea’s Black Tower Floor 32.]

The monster to clear was also a minotaur.

If there was a peculiarity, it was the fact that the monster type and Tower environment were all identical.

The difference between Floor 31 and Floor 32 was only one thing: the size of the minotaur.

Even on the very first Floor 31, it had already been bigger than barbarian Meatshield.

About 4 meters?

Floor 32 was supposedly 4 meters 50 centimeters.

How big is the Floor 35 boss supposed to be?

“Minotaur King, sir? It be like six meters, sir. Twice as big as Meatshield.”

It really is king-god. King-god.

That was why they said an S++ clear was hard.

‘This is tricky.’

On Floor 31, he’d used Shadow Step to get around and smash the minotaur in the back of the head—one-shot success.

But as the floor went up, they said the minotaur got bigger and bigger.

If it was only moderately bigger, fine, but if it was so huge you had to tilt your head back and look up—

Ah!

I finally coaxed Gyeon Dallae.

If I pull out now, she’ll laugh at me, won’t she?

“Ah. I want beef.”

“Hrrrp, I want it too, sir. Tenderloin and rib fingers on my mind, sir. And a steaming ox-head soup and rice too.”

“Doesn’t the Tower ever give rewards like ‘10 kilograms of ribeye’?”

“Would it, sir? Such precious beef.”

Gyeon Dallae too—

“Beef is not something you buy for just anyone. Do not bestow too much upon those beneath you. I fear you may teach them bad habits... cheesecake or macarons would be appropriate.”

You’re not saying that because you want to eat it?

He decided.

Let’s pick a day and eat beef.

But a beef party in an officetel was hard.

Beef tastes best at a meat restaurant.

‘Taking Cossack out isn’t a problem.’

Assassin class.

He can do Stealth, and he can even change his appearance.

Last time too, he went alone to Yoo Cheolmin’s penthouse and brought back items.

The problem was Meatshield and Gyeon Dallae.

These two would get caught.

And Juhyeok too.

...Should I ask once?

“Princess Dallae?”

“Speak.”

“Is there a ritual art that completely changes a person’s appearance?”

“There is such a thing among talisman arts. However, it cannot truly change you. It merely deceives human senses.”

“Oh! Princess Dallae can do it too?”

“Only give the order. I always carry yellow talisman paper and cinnabar mirror-ink.”

Good.

After the clear, he’d try it once.

‘Still, the place is kind of small too.’

Cossack and Meatshield were fine, but with Gyeon Dallae of a different sex—

‘I do need a bigger place.’

For example, something like the penthouse Yoo Cheolmin lived in—

“...No.”

They say people’s hearts change when they sit, and change again when they lie down.

Don’t get greedy.

If you do, you push yourself.

And if you push yourself, you end up causing something big.

[Floor 32 Mission: Kill 20 Stage-2 minotaurs.]

Giant Stage-2 minotaurs appeared from all over.

But in front of the three summoned party members, they were nothing but pathetic cow-heads.

Gyeon Dallae turned on the speaker.

Doom, do-doom, doom-doom!

Jingle-jingle-jingle!

Tsstsstsstsstst!

A three-part harmony of drum, bells, and blade.

Fwoooosh!

A mirror that emitted brilliant light—

Gyeon Dallae’s buffs and debuffs happened at the same time.

Power overflowed in his body.

Meanwhile, the minotaur pack fell into confusion.

Mooing, they went this way and that way—

It felt like entering a secret cow room from a game.

“Kiyaaaho!”

Cossack charged out first.

Meatshield ran after him a beat late.

‘Me too...’

Is there a decent one?

Found it.

A minotaur spinning in place like a top, as if it had lost its way.

Bzzzing!

Energy Barrier activated.

Mace and shield in hand.

But it really is big.

Seeing it up close made his anxiety swell even more.

You couldn’t ignore the difference in size.

They said the axe swings were slow, but if he took one clean hit, the Energy Barrier might shatter in an instant.

Honestly, he was scared.

The weak man’s nature started creeping back up.

‘How do I kill this?’

In that instant—

As soon as Juhyeok joined the battlefield, Meatshield and Cossack, and Gyeon Dallae too, drifted closer to his side.

Close enough to act immediately if he was in danger.

For a moment, it felt like overprotection—

But soon his heart felt steady.

Someday, I’ll really become strong.

Strong enough to ease their worry.

‘Though even if I get strong, I feel like it’ll be the same.’

The fear drained away.

With the heart of a fox riding on a tiger’s back—

Swat! Swat!

Juhyeok vanished from right in front of the Stage-2 minotaur like he sank straight down.

A huge axe swung in, but it became a meaningless attack that struck only the afterimage he left behind.

Before he knew it, Juhyeok was behind the minotaur.

To smash its skull, he had to leap with everything he had.

Through all the repeated missions, the last third form of the Mixed-Origin Thunderclap Staff had unlocked.

‘Falling Thunder Flash.’

A supremely exhilarating form.

As fast as it was, its power was immense, so it had a cooldown—an instant-kill ultimate skill.

Swat!

Juhyeok leapt.

The mace lifted high behind him.

It fell like lightning.

Flash!

KRAK!

The minotaur’s head disappeared without a trace.

“Ooh!”

That electrifying hand-feel from Falling Thunder Flash.

‘This could get addictive.’

As promised, he’d make it three.

And so Juhyeok’s Republic of Korea Black Tower Floor 32 clear—

[Notice: You have achieved Clear Rank S++ on Black Tower (Korea) Floor 32.]

[S++ Clear Reward: You are awarded a Platinum Badge.]

Ended exactly as expected.

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