My name is Seo Uri.
My nickname is Seoul.
Ever since I was little, I got teased a lot because of my name.
Out of frustration, I went to the two people who created me and confronted them, and this was their answer.
“Uri, what’s the most expensive land in our country? Seoul, right? In this world, being expensive is proof that something is strong. So that means you have the strongest name of all.”
“Wow, I’m strong?”
“Of course. Our son is going to be the strongest in the world.”
Thinking back on it now, it was complete nonsense, but to my childish mind, I must have liked it quite a bit.
Because wherever I went, I ran around shouting that I was the man who would become the strongest.
Of course, once I grew up, it became one of those dark histories I erased from my memory, but a few of my childhood friends never forgot and would tease me about it.
Just like now.
“So, Mr. Seo Uri, the man who will become the strongest, when exactly are you going to get strong?”
“In five hundred million years!”
Fuck.
I shouldn’t have bragged that I Awakened.
A class reunion after so long since graduating high school.
I thought I’d be having a good time with my old classmates, but if I’d known I’d just be made fun of like this, I wouldn’t have come.
Of course, to them, it probably meant they were happy to see me, but they say a frog dies from a stone thrown without thought.
I knocked back soju one glass after another and opened my status window.
==========
[Name: Seo Uri]
[Age: 22]
[Stats] Strength: 1 Agility: 1 Intelligence: 1 Luck: 1
[Skill]
Late Bloomer (SSS) - In five hundred million years, all stats will be fixed at their maximum values. Until then, stat increases are impossible. (Time remaining: 499,999,997 years)
==========
“Is this for real?”
The moment I saw it, a deep sigh escaped me.
After the Tower appeared, they said Awakening was like winning the lottery and turning your life around, but I was the only one whose life stayed exactly the same.
No, it felt like I’d actually taken a loss.
If I hadn’t Awakened at all, at least I could’ve had some hope that things might get better someday.
But this was no different from scratching off a losing lottery ticket.
“Life, fuck.”
Seeing me keep drinking, my friend Sangcheol patted me on the back.
“Hey, cheer up. You’re still the only SSS-rank Awakener among us. Later on, you’ll probably be the strongest.”
“What’s the point? It’ll take five hundred million years.”
No matter how long Hunters lived, living for five hundred million years was impossible.
In the first place, the reason they could live long was because they could raise their stats, but I had to live with all my stats at 1 until the day I died.
Even now, he’d only lightly hit my back, but my mind had gone hazy.
“Hit me gently. Every time you smack me, it feels like my organs are getting churned up.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I was trying to hold back, but I guess I messed up because I’ve been drinking.”
Sangcheol laughed heartily.
Come to think of it, I heard this guy had gotten into a pretty good guild too.
How much did they say the annual salary was there?
At the very least, it was definitely more than what I made working part-time at a convenience store.
Feeling pointlessly deflated, I shut my mouth and listened in on my friends’ conversations.
“Wow, I thought I was going to lose my mind during the 9th-floor raid this time. The tank didn’t tank and just went off to deal damage.”
“That happens sometimes if you go on Easy difficulty. At the very least, you’ve got to go Normal for people to actually do their jobs properly.”
“You guys don’t need insurance? If you work as Hunters, the risk of dying is high. There’s Hunter-only insurance…”
Every single one of them was wearing luxury brands, and foreign car keys were sitting on the table.
On the opposite side were friends dressed somewhat shabbily.
At a glance, the group had split into Hunters and ordinary people.
“The results for the Association civil servant exam come out today, but I’m probably going to fail again, right? This is already my third try. Ha, I wish I’d Awakened too.”
“Nowadays, even major corporations won’t hire you unless you’re a Hunter. Only about ten percent of the population Awakens, so what, the rest of us are supposed to suck our thumbs?”
We’d all been pretty similar back in school, but now that we were grown up, they looked very different.
“I only cleared Normal 8th floor, but Seongmin already cleared Hard 10th floor? We Awakened around the same time too. That’s so unfair.”
“Still, you at least got a passive skill book while hunting. I heard that’s basically the lottery. What’d you do after selling it?”
“What do you think? I bought a house. What about you? I heard you put some insane equipment up for auction.”
“So what? After I sold it, all I could do was buy a house in Seoul and that was the end of it.”
Maybe because my Hunter friends were doing pretty well in this field.
They were all decked out head to toe in luxury goods.
“Still, after getting a job, life’s gotten a little more livable. Making two million won a month isn’t too bad.”
“There’s no point being jealous of the Hunter guys for making a lot of money, okay? That’s all luck anyway, so the most important thing for us is to live peacefully and be content with what we have.”
My ordinary friends seemed to be living modestly, each satisfied with what they had.
‘I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t belong anywhere.’
Since I Awakened, I wasn’t an ordinary person, but since I couldn’t climb the Tower, I wasn’t a Hunter either.
Feeling like I was the only one set apart, the alcohol tasted truly sweet.
I couldn’t join my friends as they laughed and chatted with one another.
In the past, we’d been close without any barriers, but now it felt like a thick wall had risen between us.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“Bathroom…”
My need to pee was urgent, so I staggered toward the bathroom.
The attention on me lasted only a moment; everyone was busy talking about themselves.
I felt pointlessly hurt and inferior.
So instead of returning to my seat, I went outside.
It was chilly outside.
In the distance, I saw Jang Seongmin, the friend I’d been closest to, walking over with some woman.
Whoa, shit, she looked like some kind of celebrity.
Was she his girlfriend?
Come to think of it, I heard he’d cleared the Tower’s 10th floor on Hard difficulty and joined a major domestic guild.
‘He’s got money, fame, and a woman. I don’t have anything.’
Out of petty jealousy, I thought about just leaving, but I still felt like I should at least greet him before I went.
He might be a little awkward to deal with now, but at one point, he had been my closest friend.
I staggered toward Seongmin. Then I hugged him.
“Oh, Jang Seongmin. Congratulatiooons, my beeest frieeend. Heard you cleared the 10th floor.”
“Ah…”
He froze for a moment, then peeled me off and glanced at the woman standing beside him.
“Oppa, who is this?”
“Ah, this person is…”
What came out of his mouth next sobered me right up.
“I don’t know either. I think he mistook me for someone else.”
“Right? There’s no way you’d be friends with someone like this. I’ll get going now. Have fun at your reunion, oppa. Love you!”
“Yeah, I love you too!”
After making a show of affection like that, Jang Seongmin walked past me and into the bar, leaving me speechless.
So you don’t want to be friends with someone useless like me, is that it?
“Fine, I’m not being friends with you either!”
Life was meant to be lived alone anyway.
You were born alone and died alone, so there was nothing to feel particularly wronged about.
I kicked the trash can on the roadside.
Maybe because my Strength stat was low, my foot hurt. And the trash can didn’t even fall over.
“Pfft!”
I heard a passerby snicker.
Feeling pointlessly embarrassed, I went into an alley.
It was the opposite direction from my house, but I wasn’t about to turn back and lose face.
How long had I walked like that?
Suddenly, some crazy person grabbed my arm and spoke.
It was a man wearing a crow mask, his entire body covered by a robe.
“Sir, this is a five-hundred-million-year button I obtained while hunting. If you press it once, I’ll give you one C-rank mana stone.”
“…A C-rank mana stone?”
“Yes. The item description says all memories will be erased, but for some reason, I’m too scared to do it myself. Just think of it as a comfortable little test.”
What kind of mindset was it to ask someone else because you were scared to do it yourself?
Naturally, I was going to refuse.
But the moment he took out a C-rank mana crystal, I couldn’t.
That thing was worth one hundred million won.
One hundred million for pressing a button? I couldn’t resist that.
What I did for five hundred million years didn’t matter anyway.
The memories would be erased regardless, and from my perspective, wasn’t it basically getting one hundred million won in the blink of an eye?
On top of that, if things went well, my cursed ability, Late Bloomer, might activate too.
“So, will you do it?”
“Yes, then let’s start right away.”
“Oh. You’re brave.”
Perhaps this was my chance to turn my life around.
Maybe I could even get revenge for being completely looked down on by my friend earlier.
I pressed the button once.
…?
That was it.
“Do you feel any change?”
“…Isn’t this thing broken?”
“Was there any change in skill proficiency or stats?”
“No, nothing changed at all.”
“Tsk, is that so? Well, since you pressed the button, I’ll give you the mana stone.”
With a disappointed expression, the man handed me the mana stone.
“If there’s no particular difference, then there’s no need for me to use it.”
Then he destroyed the five-hundred-million-year button with a magic sphere.
“Well then.”
The man suddenly disappeared.
What the hell, what kind of person was that? Still, he kept his promise.
I looked down at the heavy ore in my hand.
Nothing had happened, and yet I’d received a C-rank mana stone.
Naturally, the time for my skill, Late Bloomer, hadn’t decreased either.
‘No matter how I look at it, it really was broken.’
He must have known that too, which was why he destroyed it.
I’m a little lucky today.
Just as I thought that and was about to head home.
Translucent windows began appearing endlessly before my eyes.
[Congratulations. You have successfully cleared the Towers of ten dimensions.]
[You have obtained the title: Savior of Dimensions.]
[You have acquired the skill Soul Contract (EX).]
[You can summon those with whom you have formed Soul Contracts.]
[List]
[Saintess of Baselheim.]
[Kkanpeu.]
[♥The Super-Beautiful Mage Who Wants to Take Your First♥]
.
.
.
[The Demon King Who Always Waits for You on the 100th Floor]
[The Demon King of the current world recognizes you as the most dangerous enemy.]
[From now on, when entering the Tower, the difficulty will be fixed at Hell (HELL).]
…What the hell is going on?