Episode 1
- Lee Suho, if only you hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t have had to live like this.
- …Mom.
- Don’t call me Mom. It makes me sick. Just go out and die instead. You took my entire life from me.
“Ugh, my head. That dream again.”
I woke up as if I’d had a seizure and instinctively reached for water. Maybe it was because I’d drunk too much yesterday with the guys from the boxing gym, but everything in front of me was blurry.
My gym mates had gotten gloomy after hearing about the family history from my past, which I’d long since forgotten. I hated that they’d gotten depressed because of me, so I’d overdone it trying to liven the mood.
‘My title match is next month. What the hell am I doing?’
Regretting it now was too late. I just had to do well from here on out. I’d worked hard all this time, after all.
One month left until I became the boxing champion of Korea. For this one month, I would give it everything I had.
…That was what I’d resolved.
I guess the alcohol still hadn’t worn off.
“Where am I?”
Otherwise, there was no explaining the situation I was in.
A massive room that smelled even mustier than the semi-basement I lived in. If I had to describe it, it felt like the inside of a tower built several hundred years ago.
‘Did a tower this huge ever exist in the world?’
Could architects of the past really have built a tower this tall, with no end in sight?
Yeah, I was definitely still drunk. I should go back to sleep.
But where was my bed?
That was when it happened.
[Would you like to enter the Tower?]
[Yes / Yes]
An opaque window appeared in front of my eyes. Did I want to enter the Tower? What kind of bullshit was this?
What made even less sense was… there was only one option. As if it was telling me I had no choice but to enter the Tower.
Gulp.
As I began to realize this was real, I swallowed without meaning to. At that moment, my head gave a small nod.
[Entry into the Tower has been permitted!]
With a boom, the strength left my legs.
When I came to my senses, I was lying inside the same tower as before, the musty smell stabbing at my nose. If there was one difference, it was that a door had appeared.
First, all I could think was that I wanted to get away from this smell, so I reached for the doorknob.
The moment I opened the door—
- Kieeek!!
A goblin, the kind I’d only ever seen in movies or webtoons, charged at me with a knife in hand.
Bang—!!
I instinctively slammed the door shut, then collapsed to the floor again.
“Fuck… What the hell am I supposed to do?”
This had to be a dream, right? Yeah, it had to be. Muttering that, I pinched my cheek. My cheek reddened and swelled. The incredible pain was a bonus.
[Tower Climbing Gallery]
Another opaque system window appeared.
…Gallery? That thing every Korean has used at least once to get information or kill time?
[Title: Smash upvote if you miss seeing Ian, the NPC on the 1st floor of the Tower lol]
[Author: ㅇㅇ(115.13)]
[Upvotes: 5] [Downvotes: 98]
- It’s a night that makes me remember that crazy bitch I saw when I first entered the Tower, the one with flowers in her head… no, the one who literally had flowers on her head….
What the hell is this, fuck.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(112.33): You son of a bitch, you made me remember something I’d forgotten. She was pretty, so I talked to her and almost got my head cut off.
ㅇㅇ(232.21): In my opinion, a sane Ian would be the strongest. Even now that I’ve climbed to the 80th floor, I’m not confident I could beat that bitch….
ㅇㅇ(133.32): Now that you mention it, it reminds me of when I first entered the Tower. I miss the NPC I met on the 10th floor. I thought the murim theme was the most fun.
Cheonsalseong: Hmm, this reminds me of when I fought the Heavenly Demon of that world. He was crushed by this venerable one’s presence and died without even being able to breathe.
Why Did God Create Me: This Cheonsalseong bitch is just as crazy as Ian. She still thinks she’s the Heavenly Demon, lol, when she’s stuck on the 89th floor. So what if you’ve got talent? I’m stranded on the 90th floor. It’s fucking hilarious how she still acts all high and mighty like some Heavenly Demon.
Cheonsalseong: You lowly fucking wench. I told you this venerable one was stranded because I discovered a hidden route.
Why Did God Create Me: Still going on about “this venerable one,” huh? So what if you discovered a hidden stage? You still couldn’t clear the 89th floor and got stranded.
Cheonsalseong: Moron, are you that jealous that I have talent? I helped a worm of a bitch who didn’t know her place, and now you’re running your mouth.
…What is this?
[What is this?]
It was strange.
My thoughts began to move faster, and I could more or less understand that, like the protagonist of some novel, I had been forcibly summoned somewhere.
…And that the gallery I used every day was appearing in reality.
I instinctively wrote a post in the gallery.
- I woke up, opened the door, and saw a monster right away. Am I going insane, or can you guys explain?
I found myself posting in the gallery as if it were second nature. …This was why habits were scary.
[Comments]
- Holy fuck lol. A newbie finally showed up.
- A real newbie?
- …How many years has it been?
- Twenty-five?
- Nope, there was one 10 years ago. You know, the idiot who got killed by a goblin right away.
- Fuck!!! Finally!!! Our hope has finally arrived!!
- Our “hope” has shown up twenty-five times over the past 100 years, and they all died on the 10th floor.
- Sigh, fuck. What are you expecting? He’ll just die or get stranded again. I came here 200 years ago and now I’m stranded on the 50th floor.
Cheonsalseong: Th-then it is true. You there, by any chance, are you a martial artist of murim?
Why Did God Create Me: A newbie at last. Hey, read the notice.
[Required Reading for Newbies of the Tower Castaway Gallery]
- This is a gallery where people stranded in the Tower gather. I’ll summarize briefly, so read carefully.
1. The Tower is a place where created worlds are mixed together. In other words, it’s divided by themes. Floors 1 to 5 are a fantasy world. Floors 6 to 10 are the Demon Realm. That kind of thing. When you enter a dimension, you’re given a quest, and you climb one floor at a time by clearing those quests.
2. We are all castaways. We failed to clear the Tower’s quests or stepped into traps and ended up locked forever in rooms where we’re alone. In cases like this, we can’t die even if we want to. So if you think you can’t clear a quest, suicide is also recommended.
3. If you clear the Tower, you can return to your original world. All of us are from different worlds. Different dimensions, in other words.
4. Therefore, you need to climb the Tower with our help and save us. If you save all of us who are stranded, you’ll definitely be able to clear the top floor of the Tower.
There were many other explanations besides that.
So, to sum it up, the Tower randomly brought humans from various dimensions here, and they had to go to different worlds for each theme, clear quests, and climb.
It meant I had to kill NPCs, kill monsters, or blend into that world according to its rules and fight.
And all these gallery users had been stranded while climbing the Tower, and I was the only climber who could save them.
[Title: Newbie, read this venerable one’s post.]
[Author: Cheonsalseong]
- First, open the door and fight the goblin. If you cannot even kill a single goblin alone, you will be useless no matter how much help we give you. Prove yourself. If you satisfy this venerable one, I will help you as much as I can.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(181.21): Who the fuck are you to test our precious newbie’s skills? Are you gonna take responsibility if the newbie dies right away??
ㅇㅇ(212.11): But everything that Cheonsalseong bitch said is true.
Why Did God Create Me: Newbie, what kind of place was your world? Are you a mage? If you’re a mage, floors 1 through 5 should be easy.
I left a comment under my real name.
Lee Suho: I don’t know how to use magic.
Cheonsalseong: Could it be that you are a martial artist as well? Ahh, what a relief. This is good news!
Lee Suho: …I don’t know how to use martial arts either.
ㅇㅇ(212.32): Don’t tell me you’re from Earth?
Lee Suho: How did you know?
ㅇㅇ(212.11): Ah, fuck. It’s over. GG.
ㅇㅇ(1.123): I got excited for the first time in ages, fuck. Hey, newbie, people from Earth with no power at all have all died. The newbie who came 10 years ago was probably from Earth too, right?
Their interest died away with astonishing speed.
At that moment, irritation rose inside me. I was someone who had always lived having to prove myself. Because my life was shabby, miserable, and no one acknowledged me.
Even so, I liked people. I wanted to be acknowledged. So I had lived gritting my teeth and enduring.
Was it because reality was no different from the Tower? It didn’t take me long to realize this was reality. Even in reality, I had always lived by being given new quests and clearing them.
…If that was the case.
‘I’ll prove myself to these bastards.’
[Title: I’m the newbie. So I just have to kill the goblin or whatever, right? If I kill it, do I go to that fantasy world or whatever?]
[Comments]
Cheonsalseong: What a foolish one….
ㅇㅇ(1.123): How are you going to kill a goblin without mana or internal energy? Seriously, you absolutely can’t kill it. You really can’t kill it even if you died and came back to life. It’s impossible. Just hold out at the spawn point for the rest of your life. If you stay here, survival is guaranteed at least, okay? You won’t die of thirst or starvation. So just keep us company and hold out as long as you can.
Why Did God Create Me: If you kill a goblin, I’ll acknowledge you. You’ve got passion. Give it a shot lol.
ㅇㅇ(1.123): But seriously, you’re a total lunatic. It won’t happen, but if you kill one, I’ll acknowledge you…. Mourning you in advance. Goodbye.
There was nothing more to see.
Since I had been summoned to the Tower anyway, what else would happen if I stayed bored at the spawn point except going insane?
I had no choice but to go to the next stage.
Without hesitation, I opened the door.
Goblin wielding daggers drooled as they charged at me.
They looked to be about one meter tall, and there were five of them.
Most importantly… they were fucking fast. Well, of course. They were monsters.
They probably had physical abilities far superior to a human’s.
My life had been one where I lived because I couldn’t die, where I forced myself to set goals and run because I couldn’t die.
But when I actually faced death, I was afraid. For the first time, I had a goal: I wanted to live properly. It was the first goal that came from the heart, not one I had forced myself to grab onto.
Why Did God Create Me: Time! Time! Share your vision! Newbies can share the screen!
…This is a little different from the gallery I know.
I turned on vision sharing in the upper right. My face appeared as if I were doing a livestream, and countless gallery users’ chats popped up.
I didn’t have the time to pay attention to that right now. I had to focus on surviving.
Whoosh—!
I lifted my heel and pivoted on my lead foot, my right foot, tracing a semicircle.
Naturally, I was able to avoid the dagger of the goblin at the front, and immediately centered my weight and rotated my rear foot.
With the rotation of my waist, my arm drew a squared curve.
A perfect hook connected, and one goblin staggered.
…It works. Boxing works!
- ???
- ???
- Did he just hit a goblin without mana or internal energy?
- …Huh?
- That crazy bastard….
- What the hell is that?
- …If he escapes that goblin dungeon, exchanges between gallery users open up, right? With that talent, if he gets some weapons or magic stones from us, doesn’t he have a chance?
- Guys, I’m stranded on the 20th floor. My skills have improved over the 200 years I’ve been stranded. If he just reaches the 20th floor….
- …!!