The next morning.

On his way out for his daytime convenience store shift, Juhyeok called his father.

“Dad, are you working hard on rehab? Did your hip bone set firmly?”

You think it sets that easily? I’m lying down half the day. Why’d you call? It’s not like the house is far. You should come in person.

“I’m kind of busy. Next time, let’s eat out together.”

His parents’ place was in Seoul, too.

Two rooms, a kitchen, one bathroom.

The reason Juhyeok started living on his own was because the house was cramped.

There were two grown sons.

When the brothers were little, they shared a room, but once they grew up, it was unbearably uncomfortable.

Nothing going on, right?

“What would be going on? The problem is I don’t have money. Haah... if only I could Awaken at a time like this.”

He tested the waters a little, and—

Awaken and do what? That 0.01% chance isn’t coming, but even if it did... you still wouldn’t do it! You wouldn’t!

“Huh?”

How would you enter the tower, you punk that takes after me exactly—

“...”

His father was convinced Juhyeok wouldn’t work as a Player.

It wasn’t a wrong judgment.

They knew each other better than anyone.

“Yeah, well. It’s not like you’re wrong.”

Quit with the useless fantasies and come home soon. Let me see your face.

The reason Bong Juhyeok had a small-time-citizen, weak-man, safety-first mindset was, in a way, a family trait(?).

What about the other guy with the same genes?

He called his younger brother, Bong Minhyeok.

“...Anyway, Minhyeok. If you Awakened, would you enter the tower?”

Are you crazy? I’d never go in. I’d quietly burn three months and then just give up.

“Yeah, figures. You weak-man bastard.”

Like you aren’t a weak man too, bro.

“This little shit?”

Well, where would those paternal genes go?

Anyway, just hang in there a little longer. I’ll graduate soon and turn the household around, and I’ll pay you back for everything too.

“...You talk big.”

I’m sorry. And thank you.

“Yeah. Just study hard.”

He called his mom too.

“Mom.”

Yeah, son. What is it?

“Everything going smoothly?”

Yeah. I’m doing fine. Except I got fired from my job yesterday.

Huh?

“That doesn’t sound like you’re doing fine... Why?”

Because of some asshole customer. He said he’d give me a good Satisfaction Rating, and then he told me to clean up all the trash in his house, even the food waste. How could I just sit there and take it? I snapped right back at him. So I got fired.

“Aaaah...”

Don’t worry. I’ll find another job soon. Don’t worry about us—just live your life. And don’t you dare think about sending money again.

His mom was forceful and brave.

The type who couldn’t stand injustice.

That was why his father fell for her head over heels,

and if you really think about it, how could his father’s greatest achievement in life not be that he asked her out?

“Hmph.”

It stung his pride.

The wretchedness of paternal genes.

“...I must have some of Mom’s genes mixed in. Yeah. That has to be it.”

He was sure of it.

That’s why he entered the tower too.

“Anyway, I should keep climbing.”

And now his mom had gotten fired too, so the household’s money line would’ve been cut off.

He’d heard Floors 1 through 5 were very easy.

“They said the death rate was 0%.”

A kind of tutorial. A practice game.

“After I reach Floor 5...”

If it’s okay, he keeps going.

If not, whatever.

※ ※ ※

Convenience store part-time during the day, charcoal-grilled meat restaurant at night, and when he got home, tower climbing with John Cossack.

That was the daily plan Juhyeok made.

Whether the plan succeeded depended on Cossack.

So he had to always be grateful.

And the star rating was always a perfect five.

“L-Loyalty... I, I don’t know where to put myself. To give a 5 to someone as lacking as me...”

“If I could give you 10, I’d want to give you 10.”

“Hehe, I’m glad you were satisfied.”

“On Floor 2, what should I—”

“What do you mean, what will you do? There won’t even be time for that. Three-minute clear, sir.”

“Hahaha. Sounds good.”

“Hehehe. It is good, sir.”

All right, then, before we start.

“Can I ask a few things?”

“Oh my! Ask as much as you’d like.”

“I heard it when we first met. You said you came from a place with a lot of people, right?”

“That’s right. There’s a big space, and we wait inside it.”

“How many?”

“Whew, there’s a lot. Roughly, it looks like more than three hundred.”

So there were over three hundred summonable “random-draw” characters(?).

That was a lot.

The ranks would all differ, of course.

“And to go outside from there...?”

“I have to get a call. Then I manifest like this, with a body.”

That “call” was probably a summon.

“Then why the Satisfaction Rating?”

“The better the rating, the more benefits you get. For example, manifest duration, rank increases, and it goes without saying you get more chances to receive a call.”

“Ah-ha!”

He’d figure out the details little by little.

Let’s enter the tower.

The important thing was safety first.

The more greedy you got, the shorter you lived.

[Entering Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 2.]

What’s the mission?

[Floor 2 Mission: Defeat 10 Sly Fat Grubs.]

[Time Limit: Within 2 hours.]

[Completion Condition: Sly Fat Grub 0/10]

[Failure Condition: Death or Abandon Mission]

Fast grubs this time.

“I’ll finish quickly and escort you home, sir.”

“Should we have chicken today? Beer too—”

“Thank you, sir.”

SPIRIT! THUNK! BOOM! SPIRIT! THUNK! BOOM! SPIRIT! THUNK! BOOM...

[You have succeeded in the Floor 2 Mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward: Magic Stone 200g]

[Notice: You have achieved Clear Rank S++ for Black Tower (Korea) Floor 2.]

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

“This is insane. Seriously.”

Enter and it’s S++.

Is it really allowed to be this easy?

Even for fast, it was too fast.

“I could go in and come out before my morning shift.”

Because re-entering the tower wasn’t based on a strict 24-hour timer, it was based on the day, like a daily quest.

So the next morning.

[Floor 3 Mission: Defeat 10 Ice-Chill Fat Grubs.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward: Magic Stone 300g]

[Notice: You have achieved Clear Rank S++ for Black Tower (Korea) Floor 3.]

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

Floors 4 and 5 were the same.

The Magic Stone rewards were 400g and 500g.

And he still got Platinum Badges.

Five badges total, lined up in one corner of the inventory.

“What am I even supposed to do with these—”

In that moment!

[You have collected 5 S++-Rank Platinum Badges.]

It popped up.

“So there is something?”

[You will be granted a perk for accumulating 5 Platinum Badges.]

[Perk: Awakening Trait Enhancement.]

“Oh!”

Trait enhancement.

“Status Window.”

[Name]: Bong Juhyeok

[Affiliation]: Black Tower (Republic of Korea)

[Catalog]: John Cossack

[Trait Skills]: Designated Summon/ Random Summon/ Dismiss Summon

[General Skills]: Enter Tower (Once per day)/ Tower-Only Inventory

It jumped out immediately.

Simultaneous Summons: 2.

“So I can bring one more along?”

He didn’t expect breaking records to feel this good.

It would be safer.

When John Cossack alone was already mowing everything down.

“If I use Random Summon, one more... Ah. Right.”

Cooldown. Reuse wait time.

There were still more than twenty days left before he could Random Summon again.

“I’ll wait until then, call one more, and the three of us—”

No.

“I won’t participate in combat, so it’ll be the two of them.”

That was ridiculously sweet.

From now on, slow and steady.

Until the Random Summon cooldown ended.

Tomorrow, he climbs again.

No overthinking. Just go up.

To Floor 6.

※ ※ ※

Hannam-dong, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The Tower Player Awakening Administration.

Commissioner Park Kyungsoo waited with a tense heart, palms sweating, for the tower’s global notice message.

When would it ring today?

Morning, lunch? Dinner? Or late at night?

The timing differed, but it was clearly the same person.

Because they were climbing in order.

The global message, meaning the notice,

something only the Players affiliated with each tower could hear.

That was why many Players were gathered in the office.

After a little time passed—

“Gasp!”

“...My god!”

“Again?”

Commissioner Park Kyungsoo asked urgently.

“A notice came up?”

“Yes. It’s an S++-Rank clear for Black Tower (Korea) Floor 6.”

“Haha...”

Six days in a row of S++-Rank clear notices.

Who was it?

“It has to be someone who just awakened this time.”

Normally, the clear rank was properly calculated only when Players at the appropriate level for that floor cleared it.

In other words, on Floor 6, only a Level 6 Player could set a record.

“The best record we know right now is Rank A.”

He hadn’t even known there was something above that.

Or that S++ triggered a global notice.

Who was it?

Someone with insane talent.

If Floors 7, 8, 9, 10, every floor they cleared from here on out was S++...

He had to find them.

Find them and manage them with special attention.

If they weren’t careful, another country could snatch them up.

And if they got snatched up, what then?

If you changed nationality, the tower affiliation changed.

For example,

if a Player whose [Affiliation] was Black Tower (Korea) went to Japan and changed nationality, their [Affiliation] would become Black Tower (Japan), like that.

“...Absolutely not.”

It was something he didn’t even want to imagine.

“I should start by putting a lid on the mouths of Players affiliated with Korea.”

He didn’t know if it would work, but—

“I really wish the phone would ring soon.”

To properly operate as a Player, you had to register with the administration.

The call would probably come soon.

※ ※ ※

Tower climbing that proceeded smoothly, step by step.

“Today is Floor 8, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

Floors 1 through 5 were the tutorial, and Floors 6 through 10 were the section where you peeled off the beginner label.

“Let’s do well. I should start joining in too—”

“No, sir! We aren’t doing it together. I will do it alone!”

“Mm. But if you run into a dangerous situation, Mr. Cossack—”

“Oh, there won’t be anything like that, but if it does happen, please just curse at me from behind. It’ll be because I was stupid.”

Is this really okay?

Yesterday was Floor ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) 7.

The mission was to break through a horde of monsters and pull out a flag on a high hill.

It was absurdly simple.

The monsters couldn’t handle Cossack’s lightning-fast speed.

As expected, S++ and a Platinum Badge.

What about Floor 8?

As soon as they entered the tower—

[Mission: Defeat 10 Red-Spined Frog Warriors.]

A swamp where your feet sank deep.

And frog warriors.

Small, but scary.

Unlike the grubs and larvae up to now, they had mouths and long tongues.

Thankfully they didn’t have teeth, but... 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He didn’t even get a chance to stare.

RAPAPAPAP!

John Cossack sprinted forward at a terrifying speed, zigzagging.

HUP!

WHIP!

A Red-Spined Frog Warrior’s tongue shot toward Cossack.

SLICE!

The long tongue was cut in half midair.

ZZZIIING!

Cossack’s dagger lengthened, stretched by black aura.

SLICE! SLICE! SLICE-SLICE-SLICE!

Frog flesh scattered everywhere.

They couldn’t withstand John Cossack’s black aura.

THUD! THUDTHUDTHUD!

“RIBBIT, RIIIIBBIT...”

STAB!

THUD!

[You have succeeded in the Floor 8 Mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

He cleared Floor 8, so he was Level 9.

[Notice: You have achieved Clear Rank S++ for Black Tower (Korea) Floor 8.]

[Reward: Platinum Badge will be awarded as an S++-Rank record reward.]

[Reward: Magic Stone 800g]

[Reward: Tower-Only Healing Potion (5)]

POP!

Back in Juhyeok’s studio.

“Good work today too, sir!”

“I didn’t do anything. What work?”

“Entering the tower itself is the hardest part. As long as you enter the tower, I do everything, sir.”

So “work” ultimately meant only entering the tower.

“Anyway, it really is easy. It ends so fast.”

Of course, it was Cossack, not him.

“But you still must not let your guard down, sir. The higher you go, the harder it will get. Especially from the later part of Floor 10 onward, it can’t be taken lightly.”

Right.

He absolutely couldn’t let his guard down.

Juhyeok knew that too.

Was it because he was strong?

No. It was because of Cossack.

A person had to know their place.

That’s how you lived long.

Anyway, today was another under-three-minute clear.

Should he give Cossack a gift for his work?

He pulled 50,000 won in cash from his wallet.

“There’s still a lot of time left, so go out and have some fun before you go back. Eat something good, and as long as you don’t cause trouble, it’s fine.”

“No, sir!”

“Why not?”

“I cannot leave Summoner Bong’s side, sir. I will watch TV at home.”

“Hmm.”

This wasn’t because of absolute obedience, either.

It had to be because of Principle One.

Prioritize the summoner’s life above all else.

“Should we order chicken?”

“Oooh! That’s good, sir!”

He opened the delivery app and ordered chicken.

“Let’s check the rewards.”

First, the new reward: Tower-Only Healing Potion.

Just like the name said, tower-only.

He couldn’t use it in the real world, and he also had no use for it himself.

“I can give it to Mr. Cossack.”

But what about these Magic Stones?

The accumulated amount so far was 3.6kg.

Even so, it was only a handful.

They were rocks, but dense, so they took up little space for the weight.

“So I made 1.8 million won.”

If he sold them, that is.

What was the point of just storing them in the inventory?

He had to convert them to cash.

But selling Magic Stones...

This was something he had to think hard about.

In fact, something far harder than tower climbing was waiting for Juhyeok.

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