Yesterday the 16th floor, today the 17th.
[You have entered the 17th floor of the Black Tower of South Korea.]
[Your physical abilities have been enhanced to match your level.]
[Traits and combat skills are now available.]
“Whoa!”
Strength surges into him.
Muscles bulging, mana brimming, senses sharpened.
If level 17 feels like this, what would it feel like past level 30?
He stretches in the safe zone, pulls out the Adamant mace from the tower-exclusive inventory, vreeeng! activates the energy shield, and tucks healing potions into his pouch for quick access.
“Mr. Cossack, Mr. Gobang, let’s move out.”
“Yep!”
“Gobang is coming.”
The 17th floor was a goblin warrior purge.
Intelligent monsters armed with shields, swords, and armor, capable of strategic and tactical movement.
He pushed deep into the interior.
[17th Floor Mission: Defeat 30 goblin warriors.]
The mission popped up.
The number to catch was also 30.
And at that very moment—
Thud thud, clatter-clatter!
Goblin warrior units appeared from three directions—front, right, and left—in perfect formation.
Thirty each, ninety in total.
Nearly company-strength.
Perfectly ordered.
Armed with swords, shields, rattan armor, and helmets, they positively reeked of elite soldiers.
How did other players clear this?
The moment the goblin warrior unit appears, you retreat to the safe zone first.
Then, after waiting a while and returning to that spot, the company-strength force has dispersed, and goblin warriors patrol in groups of three. Lure and kill them three at a time—that’s the way to succeed.
This process is extremely difficult.
If six get lured instead of three, you must immediately declare mission surrender.
It’s somewhat easier for ranged-class players.
They can use skills from afar to pick off one or two and dash back to the safe zone.
But Juhyuk the summoner—
“Mr. Gobang!”
“The summoner calls me.”
“You can handle them, right?”
“I kill them.”
“Wipe them all out.”
With nothing more than those orders—
“KWAAAAAAH!!!”
THUD THUD THUD THUD!
The barbarian Gobang charged into the goblin warrior unit.
Goblin warriors stand at most 1.5 meters tall.
Gobang the barbarian, on the other hand, stood over three meters.
His body was all muscle, thick as a wall.
Moreover, he possessed monstrous strength capable of ripping the head off a greater beast, the Hydra.
PAPAPAPA-POW!
Goblin warriors went airborne as bloody pulp.
Weapons?
They didn’t even dent him.
Armor?
Torn to shreds.
“Wow, that meathead Gobang—this is nuts.”
“···.”
It was nothing less than a K2 main battle tank crushing ninety bicycles.
Strategy and tactics?
You need to be on a similar level for them to work.
Assassin Cossack joined in too.
[Notice: You have achieved an S++ clear rating on the 17th floor of the Black Tower (South Korea).]
[S++ Clear Reward: Platinum Badge awarded.]
Onward.
Next up, the 18th floor.
The 18th floor features goblin assassins.
Amazingly, these are monsters that use stealth.
It’s a very low-level stealth skill, so if you focus your mind, you can faintly see them moving.
In a way, it’s easy.
Once you see through the stealth, they’re nothing.
But it is by no means simple.
Assassins are cunning.
They frequently use tactics where one goblin assassin feigns dropping its stealth to lure a player, while assassins lying in ambush behind launch a surprise attack.
On the 18th floor, Cossack shone.
A master of his craft as an assassin.
“You’ve worked hard watching that meathead Gobang’s approach. Now I shall show you what a dignified clear looks like.”
Runty goblin assassins are something he could catch with his eyes closed.
John Cossack, the one who shows what true stealth is.
Shhh!
“The assassin vanished. Cowardly. Bad guy.”
“···I’m not that bad a person.”
“Understood. Assassin is good. I go help.”
THUD THUD THUD THUD.
He marched forward, but Gobang just scratched his head.
He couldn’t do anything.
Because he couldn’t see.
Still, he swung his arms wildly in all directions, and—
THWACK!
One lucky goblin assassin caught in his grip became a bloody pulp.
“Kek!”
Meanwhile—
Swish, shrrrkk!
The sound of Cossack’s blade.
His kill count rose rapidly.
[Progress: Goblin Assassins 7/30]
Silently swift.
The 17th floor was Gobang’s show.
The 18th floor was Cossack’s show.
‘What about me?’
No wait, he paid 2 million won for the Adamant mace—surely he couldn’t not even swing it once?
Not on the 16th floor, not the 17th, nor on the 18th he was currently clearing.
There was no real need for him to fight, but···,
‘Shall I give it a try?’
Trusting his energy shield.
And the Shadow Footwork skill as well.
The more he used it, the more fun it was.
Juhyuk moved in the opposite direction from Cossack.
As he walked along cautiously—
Swoosh!
‘Huh?’
Twip!
A goblin appearing behind him, driving a dagger toward his back.
“Wha—! Damn it!”
A crisis.
He had to dodge.
Swish! Swish-swish!
The moment he became aware of it, his body moved on its own.
Shadow Footwork.
But he didn’t just run.
He came here to swing the mace at least once.
What was the most effective response?
The path drew itself in his mind.
Swish! Swaaaash!
Before he knew it, he’d slipped behind the goblin assassin, and with the sturdy Adamant mace—
CWACK!
KRAKOOM!
Skull.
“Guhk?”
Struck in a vital point, the goblin crumpled flat.
His kill count rose simultaneously.
‘···I-it died?’
He killed it?
With the mace?
‘···Hmmm.’
His first experience, so he felt dazed.
Only on the 18th floor had he finally succeeded in killing a monster with his own hands.
Truly a monumental event.
But now wasn’t the time for this.
Another goblin assassin had appeared before he knew it.
“Kikik!”
FLIT!
A goblin assassin about 1.5 meters tall leapt up, aiming for Juhyuk’s neck.
‘···You little—.’
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Juhyuk vanished and reappeared as if blinking, his new form—
swirling around the goblin, driving it into confusion, then—
CWACK!
KRAK!
Skull!
“Kek!”
Another kill.
‘Ahh.’
His hands trembled.
His heart pounded.
Adrenaline surged.
How strange.
It wasn’t bad, actually.
‘One more?’
A goblin assassin appeared yet again.
Swish! Swish-swish!
His body reacted first.
Ahh!
The world slowed down.
The goblin’s slash looked like slow motion.
Swish!
Behind it—
Skull!
KWAAAM!
“Guhii···,”
It didn’t die in one hit?
Probably because he had no proper attack skill.
Then—
CWACK!
KRAKOOM!
Another blow.
Next?
Nothing again?
But then—
[Notice: You have achieved an S++ clear rating on the 18th floor of the Black Tower (South Korea).]
[S++ Clear Reward: Platinum Badge awarded.]
Apparently he’d landed the finishing blow.
He had completed the mission himself.
‘···This is, more than I thought—’
This is really nice?
‘How on earth—’
He had done it with his own hands, yet he couldn’t believe it.
When he tried to move behind the goblin assassin with Shadow Footwork, he entered exactly along the path he’d pictured in his mind, with precision.
He lowered his stance, slipped into the blind spot, and rotated his body, naturally catching the creature from behind.
Dark shadows trailing with every change of direction.
Smooth, fluid movements.
How long had he even practiced Shadow Footwork?
‘Did I really do that?’
He caught sight of Gobang and Cossack standing dumbfounded in the distance.
One simply stared blankly at him, while the other shook his head and let out a deep sigh.
[You may now challenge the 19th floor.]
[You are exiting the Black Tower of South Korea.]
※ ※ ※
Chief Park Gyeongsu’s office in Hannam-dong, Seoul.
Player and Management Agency employee, Manager Lee Mina, clenched her fist and shouted.
“The global notice is up. The 18th floor—S++ clear, success.”
“Excellent!”
“Unstoppable. It seems they prepared thoroughly after all.”
Chief Park Gyeongsu’s face flushed red with excitement.
“Honestly, part of me wants to blurt it out—to the whole country that the person behind South Korea’s consecutive S++ clears on the 18th floor is right here!”
“You mustn’t say that, even as a joke. We need to provide generous support so they can climb to floor 60 quietly and discreetly.”
“That’s how proud I am.”
Bong Juhyuk was no longer a mere general contractor.
He was a top-tier player who needed to be handled with even more care than the Elite Team.
“Tomorrow, the 19th floor?”
“That’s likely, but I’d prefer they take it a bit slower. The pace is too fast.”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
It wasn’t just the Management Agency.
All of South Korea was buzzing.
The global notice issued to players belonging to the Korean Black Tower spread quickly to the general public as well.
It was even on the primetime 9 o’clock news.
— A new wind is blowing through the Korean Black Tower climb. After a twenty-day hiatus, an incredible eighteen consecutive floors cleared at S++ rating—an unprecedented record, and the history of tower climbing is being rewritten before our eyes.
— Not only players but ordinary citizens are astonished, and all eyes are on how far this record will continue. The mysterious player is currently estimated to be level 19, and···,
— Controversy is also brewing over the identity of the S++ player. The prevailing opinion is that they are an elite player newly recruited by the Awakening Management Agency, to which the Agency has maintained a firm no comment···,
General and elite players alike were tremendously fired up.
South Korea’s magic stone production was suddenly increasing by leaps and bounds.
General players who had been considering giving up the climb resumed their attempts, and those who had settled into the lower floors began climbing to new ones.
The Elite Team players were no different.
Jealousy, competitiveness, and pride.
The Elite Team receives the nation’s full support—so why can’t we?
The internet forums heated up as well.
Nothing but S++ talk.
└ It’s 18. Eighteen.
└ Honestly, I thought it was over when no notice went up for two weeks. Dead, or quit.
└ How far will they go? Maybe not to 20, but 30 seems like a stretch.
└ If they stop at floor 20, I’ll bet the balls of whoever wrote the comment below me.
└ I’m a girl btw? And I think they’ll keep going into the 30s.
└ But about that person’s identity. They’re elite, right?
└ Who else would it be if not elite? That’s exactly why they’re hiding it. Afraid another country will poach them.
The player BJs broadcasting on streaming platforms joined in too.
Ordinary general contractors around level 30 who broadcast showing their faces.
— Alright, this is the 18th floor. The floor where the most recent S++ record was set. Do you see that faint shape passing that tree over there? Yes, that’s an assassin. Let me try catching one.
└ Bro, what’s a level 35 doing on floor 18?
└ As if we don’t know what floor 18 is like?
└ Why not retry floor 35 instead? I’ll donate a hundred bucks.
└ As if you could. You barely made it to a safe zone and declared surrender the last time you charged into floor 35.
The reaction was explosive.
Now everyone cared about one thing.
Floor 19—infamously mentally grueling?
And floor 20—nicknamed the first talent litmus test?
Could this S++ run truly conquer sections that most players could barely pass through at all?
※ ※ ※
Meanwhile,
the mood in Juhyuk’s one-room apartment was not great.
Assassin John Cossack, eyes distant.
“Huuuuuuh···,”
Sighing as if the ground should swallow him.
“Haaaaaah···,”
What’s with him?
‘Did I do something wrong?’
Whether or not Cossack sighed, the barbarian Gobang was unwrapping ten large pizzas and popping them into his mouth one after another like candy.
“Tell me. What exactly did I do wrong?”
“Umm, a-ah, w-well,”
Cossack hesitated, wavering over whether to speak, and finally opened his mouth.
“···It was too fast.”
“What was?”
“The speed at which you realized your talent.”
“What?”
Did he hear that right?
What nonsense.
“You realized your talent? Who? Don’t tell me—me?”
“Who else but Summoner Bong?”
This was absurd.
“I have, ···talent?”
“Yessm.”
This timid bottom-feeder?
“Oh come on, that’s a joke, right?”
“If Summoner Bong has no talent, then who does?”
“Th-that must be a mistake,”
“Didn’t you feel it yourself when you used the skill earlier? That was a beautiful Shadow Walker—or rather, Shadow Footwork—that even I find difficult.”
Was it really that good?
It was hard to accept.
But even Gobang the barbarian of the Great Plains—
“Our summoner, shiny and hits good.”
Even with him backing him up from the side, it didn’t feel real.
Cossack continued in a mournful voice.
“If you realize your talent this early in the lower floors, that is a problem. You will start finding combat fun. Confidence will grow. And the danger will rise in proportion. Bravery is danger.”
“Th-that, I know that too, but···,”
“If you’d started with ten perks lined up, maybe, but haaaaah, this is far too fast.”
“···,”
“Did we not promise from the very beginning? Safety first, self-preservation!”
That’s right.
They had.
Then why did he—
A direction completely different from his original intentions.
He must have lost his mind.
And yet—
‘Talent, huh.’
The memory was still vivid.
The thrill of the skill succeeding.
The feel of his first hunt.
‘How strange.’
Cossack had always insisted.
A brave summoner is poison.
He’d understood it well, and agreed.
That was why he’d been as cautious as possible.
‘But···,’
Now his thoughts had shifted a little.
The pleasure of tower climbing, already born within him.
If he’d never tasted it, maybe it wouldn’t matter.
‘But having seen it now···,’
John Cossack opened his mouth with anxious eyes.
“Summoner Bong, from now on, do not move a muscle. Hide behind Gobang or stay back there. Promise me.”
“···.”
“Your level will rise even if you do nothing. You need only wait until you receive your ten perks.”
“···.”
“Uh-uh? Why, why are you not answering?”
“···.”
“An, an answer, please?”
“···.”
“D-don’t tell me—”
“···,”
“Oh dear, oh dear! Wh-what do I do now? You’ve gotten hooked. You’re hooked, this is bad.”
The barbarian Gobang smirked.
“Assassin crying. Looks like an idiot.”
“SHUT UP! You lumbering lump of meat that can’t tell up from down!! I’ll boil you in a cauldron right now!”
His head was a mess.
Let’s rest tomorrow.
First, he needed to think things over.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────