The clear missions for every floor of every Tower in the world are identical.
The environments and monster types are the same as well.
The 50s of the Black Tower are the flying-monster zone.
From floors 56 to 60, wyverns of five different attributes appear.
Wyverns.
Inferior versions of dragons.
Kings of the sky said to prey on ogres.
Earth Wyverns with overwhelming physical strength and defense,
Flame Wyverns that spew fire breath,
Frost Wyverns with freezing breath,
Lightning Wyverns that discharge electricity from their bodies,
and Venom Wyverns brimming with toxic miasma.
The 57th floor Yoo Cheol-min entered from the broadcast studio was the Flame Wyvern floor.
[Entering the Japan Black Tower, 57th Floor.]
[Physical abilities have been enhanced to match your level.]
[Traits and combat skills are available.]
"It's been a long time since I've been here."
He had experience, his level was 66, and he was equipped with all kinds of gear and countless skills.
A mission he couldn't fail even if he wanted to.
[57th Floor Mission: Defeat 15 Flame Wyverns.]
[Time Limit: Within 14 hours.]
[Failure Conditions: Death or mission abandonment.]
The mission appeared.
A rugged mountainous terrain.
Countless wyverns densely packed around towering peaks.
There's a prerequisite when dealing with flying monsters.
Since you can't fight them in the air, you absolutely have to drag them down to the ground.
Magic traits and ranged traits have an advantage in that regard.
But melee fighters?
What choice do they have?
You bring in something like a micro crossbow or pistol that still qualifies as a carried item.
But what if your ranged weapon proficiency is sloppy and you pull two at once?
There's no choice.
You run.
Tower clears are fundamentally solo play, so creating a one-on-one situation is always the most important thing.
The clear began.
After pulling out a bow from his inventory and spotting a wyvern flying alone—
Fwsh!
"Kyaaaak!"
A milky, translucent mana arrow struck the Flame Wyvern's abdomen.
"Got it."
Even as the wyvern descended, Yoo Cheol-min didn't move, standing in place and firing mana arrows at the monster.
An archer-type player would be frantically moving to keep distance, but—
"I'm an all-weapon user."
Even if the distance closed, he could just swap to a melee weapon and slash or thrust.
"In other words, it's a piece of cake."
Fwshshshshsh!
He activated a rapid-fire skill and peppered the wyvern.
Dozens of mana arrows focused on that single target.
If crits popped well, he could kill it before it even landed—
But then—
"Hm."
Strange.
Not a single critical hit.
"At this point, at least one should've triggered."
And then—
Ting!
One mana arrow that bounced off a wyvern's claw flew off in a strange direction and hit another wyvern.
"Haah."
Add.
Aggro pulled to another wyvern.
So the number descending suddenly became two.
The first one was already almost on the ground.
"Hoo…"
What choice did he have?
He had to kill both.
At level 66, he could handle two—if he pushed it, even three.
Weapon swap.
The bow went back into his inventory.
Sword and shield came out.
Block, dodge, thrust, slash.
He barely dealt with the two of them.
"This time…"
Carefully. No carelessness.
After waiting a long while and selecting a target,
just as he was about to fire a mana arrow—
"…Hng."
Suddenly, his nose tickled.
"Hng—achoo!"
A sneeze burst out.
The recoil caused a mana arrow to fire unintentionally.
Fwsh!
"Gah!"
Bad luck—the arrow flew straight into a cluster of wyverns gathered together.
"Kyak!"
"Krrraak!"
"Kya-kak!"
Add, and another add.
Three of them flew over at once.
"Are you kidding me?"
Three was tough…
But he still had to do it.
If he abandoned the mission, he'd be ejected from the Tower immediately.
And where would he end up if that happened?
A broadcast studio in the middle of a live show.
He wouldn't be showing anything off—he'd be humiliating himself on a national scale.
"Absolutely not."
He used ultimates, used finishing moves.
Was it a cooldown issue?
Even then, critical hits still wouldn't trigger.
"Am I cursed or something?"
Seriously—what is this?
Just in case, he swapped weapons, but whether it was basic attacks or skills, the crits that used to trigger so reliably didn't go off even once.
Flame breath spewed from the wyverns.
Three of them—three directions.
Dodging was difficult.
Fwoosh! Fwsh! Fwoooosh!
"Guhk!"
Sizzle.
His flesh was cooking.
Even so—
"I'm not abandoning this mission."
It was a desperate struggle.
He struck with melee weapons, created distance and fired arrows or throwing spears, blocked breath attacks with his shield, then threw spears again—
Two dead. One left.
Then the final wyvern swatted aside the spear he threw with its claw.
Screeeech!
Clang!
The spear ricocheted off in a random direction.
Right into another densely packed group of wyverns.
"Damn it! What the hell is this?! Why does this keep happening?"
Luck—or rather, the lack of it—couldn't have been worse.
Adds kept chaining.
Like train cars, one after another—
This time five of them. No, there were more behind them.
Just how many was that?
Even at level 66, this was impossible.
Using a level gap to farm weaker monsters—what people call bullying, low-floor slaughter.
That only works on monsters in the 30s or below.
Once you reach the 40s or 50s, where colossal monsters start appearing, even a level 66 player has to be careful.
One mistake, and it's death inside the Tower.
Yoo Cheol-min clenched his teeth.
A crossroads of choice—
Fight or run?
There was nothing to think about.
Better public humiliation than death.
Dignity be damned.
…Run.
Yoo Cheol-min bolted toward the safe zone.
A safe zone doesn't mean monsters can't follow you.
It's just a zone where escape is possible.
"Abandon mission!"
[You have declared mission abandonment.]
[Mission failed.]
[Exiting the Japan Black Tower.]
Flash!
In the end, Yoo Cheol-min reappeared in the studio.
The live broadcast was still ongoing.
The worst possible situation.
"Fuck."
The announcer said something, but he didn't feel like answering.
He turned around and walked out.
Waiting outside was Tomoda, the Tower Ascent Administrator.
Promoted to a cabinet official thanks to the credit of bringing Yoo Cheol-min in, he asked,
"What happened? Why so early?"
"Can't you tell? Why ask when you already know? You're annoying."
Failure?
Really, a failure?
After making such a huge spectacle of it?
"My condition was bad. And my luck sucked."
He couldn't believe it himself.
A level 66 abandoning a 57th-floor mission?
"I'll rest and try again next time."
"…"
Administrator Tomoda couldn't say a word.
All he could think was that they were finished.
How was he supposed to clean this up?
※ ※ ※
Japan was thrown into chaos.
A verified level-66 player.
A player the nation had naturalized at the cost of national dignity—abandoned a mere 57th-floor mission and exited.
Was he a fake?
Had they been scammed?
Criticism poured down.
A foolish Japanese government.
A stupid and arrogant Yoo Cheol-min.
Approval ratings plunged endlessly.
The panicked Kawaguchi cabinet hurriedly dispatched experts to analyze the cause of failure, secured fire-resistance items, and sent them into the next attempt.
The second run was quiet—
They didn't leak a word to the media.
Without anyone knowing, they attempted a re-clear.
But—
"Fuck, fuuuck, fuuuuuck!!!"
Yoo Cheol-min was forced to abandon the mission once again.
No, seriously—what the hell was going on?
The fight with the wyverns never followed the tactics he'd planned.
Every time, unexpected situations occurred.
Was he possessed?
How could a single critical hit not trigger?
Was the Japan Black Tower different from other countries' Towers?
It was maddening beyond belief.
What if he couldn't clear it at all?
Only his impatience grew.
Worse still, news of the second failure inevitably leaked to the press.
Upon hearing the news, Koreans swarmed Japan's largest community sites.
└ Yeah, thanks for taking Cheol-min off our hands.
└ No refunds for change-of-mind users, you bastards!
└ What are you gonna do? Your Tower's on a fault line.
└ I'll mock you, but honestly, I don't want a Tower collapse either. So hang in there!
It wasn't just Koreans.
Japanese users also filled the boards with self-mocking ridicule.
Meanwhile, news from Korea—
That wasn't all.
Next door was a festival.
Here, a funeral.
The contrast couldn't have been sharper.
And amid it all, Yoo Cheol-min failed his third consecutive attempt.
At last, his mental state collapsed.
The Japanese government had no way to fix it.
The fear of Tower collapse slowly began to seep across Japan.
※ ※ ※
Juhyeok saw the news too.
Failing repeatedly on floors far below his level—it seemed karma had hit properly.
It's not just Yoo Cheol-min. Japan's in trouble too.
Naturalization is an individual's freedom.
But abandoning the Korean Black Tower and fleeing in the dead of night, indifferent to whether it collapsed or not—that wasn't normal.
If he judged the 66th floor to be too much, he should at least have returned everything the Awakener Administration had supported him with.
His achievements were worth acknowledging.
But that was give-and-take—a contractual relationship.
If so, he should have honored the contract to the end.
Did he really think he'd grown that strong on his own?
Why didn't he realize how many people's sacrifices and material support had gone into it?
If he didn't know that, then he deserved what he got.
Even a loser like me knows that.
"Does that last for life?"
Juhyeok asked Gyeon Dallae, whom he'd summoned for the 32nd-floor clear.
"Regrettably, it does not last forever. Once the balance of karma is restored, things will return to normal."
"Is that so?"
Well, whatever.
Japan's Tower is for Japan to deal with.
Koreans should climb the Korean Tower.
They'd cleared the 31st floor the other day.
After a day's rest—
Today was the 32nd floor.
[Entering the Republic of Korea Black Tower, 32nd Floor.]
The monster to clear was once again the Minotauros.
If there was one difference, it was that the monster type and Tower environment were exactly the same.
The only difference between the 31st and 32nd floors was the Minotauros's size.
Even on the first 31st floor, it had already been bigger than Barbarian Gobang.
About four meters?
On the 32nd floor, it was a full 4.5 meters tall.
How big was the 35th-floor boss supposed to be?
"Minotauros King, you mean? Probably about six meters. Twice as big as Gobang."
Truly king-god—king-god.
That's why S++ clears were said to be difficult.
This is tricky.
On the 31st floor, he'd circled around with Shadow Step and smashed the Minotauros from behind for a one-shot kill.
But if the Minotauros kept getting bigger with each floor…
If it got so huge that you had to crane your neck just to look up at it—
No way!
He'd gone to all that trouble to persuade Gyeon Dallae.
If he backed out now, she'd laugh at him, wouldn't she?
"Ah! I really want to eat beef."
"Slurp, I want it too. Tenderloin and ribeye are haunting me. And a nice, hot ox-head soup."
"Don't they ever give something like ten kilos of sirloin as a Tower reward?"
"Would they? Such precious beef?"
Gyeon Dallae added,
"Beef is not something to be bought for just anyone. Please do not bestow too much upon those beneath you, lest they develop bad habits… Cheesecake or macarons would be more appropriate."
Isn't that just because you want to eat them?
Decision made.
Let's pick a day and eat beef.
But a beef party in an officetel would be difficult.
Beef tastes best at a proper barbecue restaurant.
Taking Kosak outside isn't a problem.
Assassin class.
He can use stealth, and even change his appearance.
He went alone to Yoo Cheol-min's penthouse last time and brought things back without issue.
The problem is Gobang and Gyeon Dallae.
Those two—and himself, too.
…Should I ask?
"Princess Dallae?"
"Please speak."
"Is there a technique that can completely change one's appearance into that of a human?"
"There is such a method among talisman arts. However, it does not truly change the body. It merely deceives human senses."
"Oh! Can you do it too, Princess?"
"Just give the order. I always carry yellow talisman paper and cinnabar."
Perfect.
After the clear, we'll try it once.
That said, this place is a bit small.
Kosak and Gobang were fine, but with Gyeon Dallae—different gender and all—
I do need a bigger place.
For example, the penthouse Yoo Cheol-min used to live in—
"…Nah."
They say people's hearts change between sitting and lying down.
Let's not get greedy.
Greed leads to overreaching, and overreaching leads to disaster.
[32nd Floor Mission: Defeat 20 Stage-2 Minotauros.]
Giant Stage-2 Minotauros appeared from all directions.
But before a three-summon party, they were nothing more than trivial bull-headed brutes.
Gyeon Dallae turned on the speaker.
Doom, do-dum, doom-doom!Jingle-jingle-jingle!Tss-tss-tss-tss-tss!
A three-part harmony of drum, bell, and blade.
Fwaaaash!
A mirror radiating brilliant light—
Gyeon Dallae's buffs and debuffs activated simultaneously.
Power surged through them.
In contrast, the Minotauros herd fell into confusion.
Lowing loudly, wandering this way and that—
It felt like stumbling into the Secret Cow Level from a game.
"Yiiihah!"
Kosak charged in first.
Gobang followed a beat later.
Me too…
Is there a good target?
Found one.
A Minotauros spinning in place like a top, as if it had lost its way.
Bzzzzing!
Energy barrier activated.
Mace and shield in hand.
But it really is big.
Up close, the unease only grew.
You can't ignore a difference in mass.
The axe swings might be slow, but one solid hit could shatter the energy barrier instantly.
Honestly, it's scary.
The timid nature of a hanamja began to creep back in.
How am I supposed to kill this thing?
At that moment—
As Juhyeok entered the battlefield, Gobang, Kosak, and Gyeon Dallae subtly shifted closer to him.
Close enough to intervene instantly if he was in danger.
At first it felt like overprotection—
but soon, a sense of reassurance settled in.
Someday, I'll truly become strong.
Strong enough to ease their worries.
Though honestly, I'd probably be the same even then.
The fear faded.
With the heart of a fox riding on a tiger's back—
Swat! Swat!
Right in front of the Stage-2 Minotauros, Juhyeok vanished as if sinking straight down.
A massive axe flew in, but it struck only the afterimage he left behind.
And before anyone knew it, Juhyeok was behind the Minotauros.
To smash its head, he had to leap with all his strength.
Through repeated mission clears, the final three forms of Honwon Thunderclap Staff had been unlocked.
Lightningfall Flash.
An exquisitely exhilarating technique.
As powerful as it was fast, it carried a cooldown—a one-hit-kill ultimate.
Swat!
Juhyeok leapt.
The mace raised high behind him.
He came crashing down like a bolt of lightning.
Flash!
Kraaaack!
The Minotauros's head vanished without a trace.
"Ooh!"
The electrifying feel of Lightningfall Flash.
I could get addicted to this.
As promised, he killed three.
And thus, Juhyeok's clear of the Republic of Korea Black Tower, 32nd floor—
[Notice: You have achieved an S++ clear rating on the 32nd floor of the Black Tower (Korea).]
[S++ Clear Reward: You have been awarded a Platinum Badge.]
Ended exactly as expected.