The One-Woman Man's Tower Conquest Guide /// A one-woman man of scrupulous self-preservation and safety-first principles climbs the tower. #ContemporaryFantasy #System #Superpowers #Awakening────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The year 2004.
Massive black towers—Black Towers—appeared all across the Earth.
At the same time, humanity's awakening began.
Through it, people came to vaguely understand.
Why those towers had appeared, and how to deal with them.
Awakened humans came to be called "Players."
A most fitting designation.
And twenty years later, in 2024, the black towers still existed, and a tiny fraction of humanity was still undergoing the process of awakening.
※ ※ ※
Bong Juhyeok, twenty-five years old this year, had awakened.
Even though he wanted nothing of the sort.
[You have awakened, Bong Juhyeok.]
"…Uhho, shit, that scared me!"
It was early Sunday evening, the exact moment he'd picked up a bite of freshly cooked ramyeon with his chopsticks and was bringing it to his mouth in his one-room apartment.
"Aw-Awakened?"
Good heavens!
"What the hell?"
Surely he hadn't misheard.
He really hoped so.
He stared blankly for a long while.
Why me?
Awakening is sometimes called a blessing.
Luck greater than winning the lottery—do well, and you might seize the jackpot of turning your life around.
That is, if you survive.
But that wasn't Bong Juhyeok.
He'd never once dreamed of becoming a Player and entering the tower.
Even if life was a little hard, he simply wanted to live ordinarily, unremarkably, without greedy ambitions.
Bong Juhyeok was a one-woman man and a small-time commoner.
Even witnessing injustice, he avoided it when he could.
He made a point of never creating dangerous situations.
And entering the tower was an extremely dangerous thing.
No one even knew how many Players died every day from failing their missions.
You could be torn apart by monsters, freeze or burn to death in extreme environments, die poisoned, get crushed in a trap, or starve because you couldn't find your way out.
"Whoa! That gives me chills."
Was this really an awakening?
There was a simple way to check.
Open the status window.
That could be done even outside the tower.
"St-Status window!"
And then,
Fwiiiip!
[Name] : Bong Juhyeok
[Affiliation] : Black Tower (Korea)
[Level] : LV.1
[Trait] : Summoning (Simultaneous Summons: 1)
[Catalog] : Empty
[Trait Skills] : Targeted Summon / Random Summon / Release Summon
[Common Skills] : Tower Entry (Once per Day) / Tower-Exclusive Inventory
[Combat Skills] : None
"Hah."
The awakening was certain.
Tower Entry meant exactly what it said.
Tower-Exclusive Inventory could only store and retrieve items obtained inside the tower.
But his trait was…
'Summoning, huh.'
Upon awakening, a trait is granted.
There were many kinds, too.
[Flame Magic] [Ice Magic] [Lightning Magic] [Martial Arts] [Herculean Strength] [Summoning] [Swordsmanship] [Spearmanship] [Archery] [Healing], and so on.
The Summoning trait was fairly well-known as well.
Spirit summoners, phantom beast summoners, golem summoners, magic beast summoners, and the like.
What kind of summoner would he be?
Maybe try using a skill?
"Random… Summon."
Why is nothing happening?
"Ah!"
He'd forgotten.
There was no way a skill would activate outside the tower.
A Player's level, trait, and skills were only valid online, inside the tower.
Offline, outside, they were no different from ordinary civilians.
On the other hand, the system status window and messages could be seen anytime, anywhere.
It was like a game, in a way—which was why awakened people were called Players.
Just as a level 100 character in a game is still a pathetically weak human in reality.
No matter how many skills he used now, none would execute—
And right at that moment!
[Initiating Random Summon.]
"Huh?"
Fwaah! Pa-pat!
So it does work?
'Wh-Why does this work?'
A skill had been cast outside the tower.
And along with a wisp of white light, something appeared.
Blinking his eyes to see clearly.
"Is that—a person?"
Is this for real?
An ordinary-looking Western man with reddish-brown hair, looking young.
"Yes sirree. That's me."
"What the—"
A successful summon.
Not even inside the tower, but outside, where skill manifestation was impossible—and of a human being.
"Sniff sniff, what is that smell… Oh! Ramyeon? Might I have just one bite?"
And a one-bite freeloader, at that.
※ ※ ※
Bong Juhyeok's mind was a tangled mess.
Looking again, it was a person.
In appearance, and in behavior.
Even now, the guy was inhaling the ramyeon like a man possessed.
"Hmm, sh—mm! Hoo, it's spicy, haven't eaten in so long."
The tempura udon is spicy?
"Did you make it spicy on purpose? I prefer mild flavors myself,"
A one-bite freeloader AND a spice wimp.
Slurp, slurp!
And yet he eats so well while saying that.
Strange.
He couldn't figure it out at all.
Why did his summoning skill succeed outside the tower?
Of a human being, no less?
Juhyeok checked his status window.
The trait, first of all.
A message floated up.
[You summon humans and demi-humans.]
[The summonable range extends up to R-Grade (Rare), SR-Grade (Super Rare), SSR-Grade (Special Super Rare), and LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare).]
[Summoner and summoned being can communicate smoothly under any circumstances.]
From Rare to Legend Special Super Rare.
This wasn't a gacha pull for game characters.
And that wasn't all.
[The summoned being observes the Three Principles.]
'Three Principles?'
[1. The summoned being places the summoner's life above all else.]
[2. The summoned being absolutely obeys the summoner's commands.]
[3. Should Principles 1 and 2 come into conflict, Principle 1 takes precedence as the highest value.]
'Hmm.'
Then that human—draining the pot, broth and all—what exactly was this summoned being?
In that instant!
Ding!
Another status window opened.
Not his own, but the summoned being's.
- Name: John Kosak
- Grade: SR (Super Rare)
- Type: Assassin (Human)
- Manifestation Duration: 6 hours
- Satisfaction Rating: None.
- Resummon Cooldown: 3 hours (applies after Release Summon)
As he stared quietly, a background story appeared too.
- John Kosak was the white elephant of the Cruel Assassins' Guild. In a word, he was deranged. And yet his mission success rate was 99%, and he had even managed to assassinate a 5th-Circle black mage. His end came from a single failure. He died miserably attempting to assassinate the Empire's strongest Sword Master.
At the same time, scenes flashed through his mind.
Like watching the man's past as a film.
Brief, but vivid.
John Kosak hiding himself with stealth, ambushing from behind, slicing off his target's head.
'Crazy!'
An assassin, beyond a doubt.
Not a shred of hesitation about killing people.
He severed and slashed necks without reserve.
And yet.
'….'
Now he understood why the man was called deranged.
The sight of him tying a ribbon into a bow on the head of the person he'd just cut down.
'Like a gift, maybe?'
He'd decorated the head he himself had severed with a pretty butterfly ribbon.
'…Or maybe he just made it easier to carry.'
And then his final moments.
His upper and lower body being cleaved apart by the sword of a white-haired knight.
In the end, John Kosak had died.
'So I summoned the ghost of a dead man?'
In appearance, undeniably human.
First, let's have a conversation.
"Mr. Kosak?"
"Yes sir!"
"Where are you from?"
"I don't rightly know. …Someplace with a whole lot of people, anyhow."
Not people—ghosts, presumably.
Heaven? Or hell?
"Could you stand up for a moment?"
"You got it."
The assassin John Kosak sprang to his feet.
He follows orders well.
Was this really absolute obedience?
"If you're done with the ramyeon, clean up the pot and the bowl. Wipe the table too."
"Yes sir!"
Not a word of complaint.
Just how far did this go?
"Mr. Kosak."
"Speak your mind."
"Do you truly obey everything I say?"
"Anything and everything!"
"Then… w-would you take your pants down if I told you to?"
John Kosak, who had been seated wiping the table with tissues, shot to his feet.
"Taking them down."
And he pulled down his pants, just like that.
Right there in the open.
Typical Westerner.
Quite large, too.
"…Please put them back on."
"Yes sir!"
It seemed the summoner's commands took precedence over any sense of shame.
"Uh, Mr. Kosak, do you know what the Tower is?"
"Course I do! Are you fixing to start your climb?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"Give the word anytime, and I'll serve you to the best of my ability."
This is driving me crazy.
Why is this happening?
And right at that moment!
Bang bang bang bang!
Someone pounding on the door of his one-room apartment.
"Bong Juhyeok! You in there? Open up, quick."
Damn it!
Someone had come.
And he knew exactly who.
Debt collectors.
Come to think of it, he'd forgotten the interest payment date.
Coming even on a Sunday—how diligent.
Right, he'd borrowed money.
A full ten million won, at that.
For his father's surgery after slipping on ice and fracturing his hip joint, for his younger sibling's university tuition, to secure the deposit on the one-room apartment he lived in now.
Regular banks wouldn't lend to him, so he'd gone to the easy-to-reach option: a private lending company.
He'd thought if he worked hard and paid it back quickly, it would be fine.
But he'd already paid over five million won in interest alone.
The principal remained untouched.
Honestly, he knew it had been a foolish thing to do.
But what could he do?
Even going back to that time, he'd have made the same choice.
"Juhyeok! Just let me see your face. I only need to check you're alright."
No way around it.
"Mr. Kosak."
"Give the word, and I'll slice that fella's head clean off."
This guy's going to cause a real disaster.
"Not that—hide over there, out of sight, and don't move a muscle. Keep your mouth shut tight, and don't make a sound."
"…Can I, can I still breathe?"
"Yes."
"Phew, what a relief."
Juhyeok opened the door.
Three private lending company employees filed into the entryway.
"Well, well, Bong Juhyeok, looking healthy. I was worried you were sick somewhere, seeing as the interest never came in."
"I'm not sick. I forgot. I'm sorry. I'll transfer it right now."
Juhyeok opened his banking app on his smartphone and sent the money.
"Good. Anyway, you're not allowed to get sick without my permission either. Work hard and earn that money."
"Yes, yes."
"If you're desperate, sell off an organ or something. How about a kidney? Want me to connect you with a broker?"
Hah, shit!
He'd really gone and done it?
And on the very day he awakened, no less.
"What's with that look? Getting brave, are we?"
"…."
"Careful now. Unless you want to die without so much as a mouse or a bird knowing."
Even a Player is just an ordinary civilian outside.
"…I'll do my utmost to pay it back. The principal too."
"Heh heh, take your time with the principal. Do well, understood?"
The debt collectors left with satisfied smiles, closing the door behind them.
"Hah,"
Life is hard.
That aside.
"You really hid quietly in there."
"You did tell me to, didn't you?"
"…."
So absolute obedience really was absolute.
Still, if those bastards had actually threatened him, he would have helped, right?
A wave of exhaustion suddenly crashed over him.
The awakening, summoning a human, the debt collectors' visit.
His head was a mess.
So many things hitting him all at once—he had no capacity to cope.
He'd have to decide, too.
Whether to climb the tower, or to live quietly as if nothing had happened.
One-woman-man Juhyeok would choose the latter, but…
That wasn't a decision for right now.
He had work tomorrow, after all.
"So what should I be doing now, then?"
What to do?
Send him back with Release Summon?
"Well. What would you like to do? If you're heading back, I can send you—"
"Then might I watch some TV? It's been a long while for that, too,"
He seemed to know what a TV was, and ramyeon too.
Did those things exist in Kosak's lifetime?
In any case, there was no harm in it.
"Go ahead."
Juhyeok turned on the TV with the remote.
"Much obliged! I'll watch a few dramas."
He flopped down onto the mattress.
Exhausting, exhausting.
His eyes were closing on their own.
That he'd awakened was an undeniable fact, anyway.
Anything else he was curious about, he could just test the summoning skill again.
Thinking at all was too much effort right now.
Bong Juhyeok promptly fell asleep.
How much time had passed?
A sound drifted into his sleep.
[John Kosak has been released from summoning.]
So he's gone.
Best to just keep sleeping.
※ ※ ※
Bong Juhyeok woke on his mattress to the sound of his alarm.
It was early morning.
'Was Mr. Kosak released from summoning?'
He was nowhere to be seen.
The TV was still on.
Time to wash up and brush my teeth.
And right at that moment!
The morning news playing on the TV.
- Last night, a gruesome murder occurred at the offices of Smile Cash, an illegal private lender. There are three victims, all discovered decapitated. In a shocking detail, the victims' severed heads had been adorned with red ribbon bows—
He froze!
Bong Juhyeok abandoned his toothbrush mid-brush and rushed toward the TV.
Smile Cash—the private lender he'd borrowed money from.
But a murder?
'What? Did I hear that wrong?'
Ribbons.
And butterfly bows.
'No way.'────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────