Chapter 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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Translated by Jinmu

Read more at hivetoons.org

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Twenty years have passed since the pitch-black Black Towers were erected.

Smooth cylindrical shapes, painted black on the outside, and possessing a colossal size that was on a completely different level from common high-rise skyscrapers in both height and scale.

One to three were built per country around the world.

South Korea had one.

Located on a small mountain in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province.

When the towers first appeared out of nowhere overnight.

Militaries from various countries were dispatched, and scientists and media gathered to figure out what they were.

However, no one could get close to the towers.

They were visible but physically blocked.

It seemed as if they denied human entry.

It was the same from the sky.

What in the world is that?

Why did it appear?

No one knew until the players appeared.

The truth they learned after they appeared.

The tower existed to be climbed.

By whom?

By the players, of course.

People who obtained the qualification to enter the tower.

The number of players relative to the total population was estimated at 0.01% to 0.02%.

Between 700,000 and 1.5 million out of the global population of 7 billion.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 out of South Korea's population of 50 million.

Only players could ignore the constraints of space and time and enter or exit the tower whenever and wherever they pleased.

And when they entered the tower?

They performed the missions given for each floor.

Climbing the tower was like a game.

Inside the tower, players utilized their powerful abilities and skills to clear arduous missions while climbing the tower.

Players were fundamentally independent.

Parties or cooperative climbing were impossible.

It was designed so that they couldn't do it at all.

Even if they were performing the same mission on the same floor, their phases were divided.

There was no chance of meeting each other inside the tower.

Alone, without anyone's help.

It meant that a single player decided the fate of a nation.

If they succeeded in a mission, they received a reward.

In the real world, that is.

The Mana Stones they brought back became a crucial resource that modern industry could not do without.

The rewards grew larger the higher they went.

However, no one knew how many floors the tower actually had.

The country that had climbed the highest was the United States, at the 66th floor. They possessed two towers and had successfully cleared the 66th floor in both.

South Korea's climbing speed was also exceptionally excellent.

They had reached the 65th floor.

Only a one-floor difference from the United States.

Then why did they have to climb?

Was there a need to keep going up?

It wasn't just for the rewards.

If the uncleared upper floors were not climbed, the tower would collapse.

The time limit was approximately six months.

Within that time, some player had to climb to the uncleared upper floor.

What if the upper floor was not updated?

[Notice : �� Country's Black Tower climbing is sluggish.]

[Notice : The tower collapse countdown is activating.]

[Notice : The countdown will stop upon a successful climb of the uncleared upper floor.]

Eventually.

[Notice : �� Country's Black Tower is collapsing.]

The collapse of a tower.

A massive disaster.

It wasn't just the tower that crumbled.

The ground of the entire city where the tower stood would split apart, magma would erupt, and a gigantic sinkhole would form, erasing an entire city.

That happened in India three years ago.

India had three towers.

New Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

Among them, the climbing of the Mumbai Black Tower stopped at the 43rd floor, and the incident occurred after about 180 days passed.

Over ten million people died, and Mumbai became a lost city.

It didn't end with one disappearing.

A new tower rose in Chennai, India.

So India still had three Black Towers.

Collapsing, and then generating again.

Thus, climbing the towers became a matter that national governments directly stepped forward to handle.

The nation separately created and managed an Elite Tower Climbing Team.

There wasn't much a nation could do for tower climbing.

They supported them with items they could bring inside the tower, took care of the players' mental health, or obtained and shared clearing information.

After all, only players could enter the tower.

Since they were ordinary civilians outside the tower, they also needed personal protection.

Players also had a clearing time limit.

If they didn't enter the tower for over three months, their qualifications were revoked.

Therefore, nations were desperate to secure and manage talented players.

* * *

Bong Joo-hyuk finished his part-time job at the barbecue restaurant and returned home.

He had already told them he would rest tomorrow.

He also called the convenience store owner.

'Let's try entering the tower.'

It was just dipping his toes in.

If it was too spicy, he could just spit it out.

If he did nothing for three months, it would just become a passing event anyway.

[Universal Skill] : Enter Tower (Once a day) / Tower-Exclusive Inventory

Since he had made up his mind, he would get it done now.

He had researched in advance what kind of place the 1st floor was.

The mission was monster subjugation.

Their defense was quite high, but they supposedly had next to no attack power.

He just needed to beat them to death.

Though they were tough and didn't die easily.

"Now, then......."

Wait!

A sudden thought came to mind.

Did he have to summon the insane assassin, John Cossack?

Wasn't there a slightly better option?

Summoning someone else with a proper mind instead of John Cossack.

Who knows?

A Legend Special Super Rare rank might pop up.

Great.

He would think about it after giving it a try.

One more Random Summoning.

However.

[Random Summoning is unavailable.]

[The Random Summoning cooldown has 28 Days 11 Hours 08 Minutes 37 Seconds remaining.]

'...There was a cooldown?'

It seemed to be about a month.

Cossack's designated summoning cooldown was three hours.

It made sense.

Since it didn't cost any currency, if there was no cooldown, he could endlessly spam it until a good rank came out.

He should just summon Cossack.

An SR, Super Rare, was an excellent rank too, wasn't it.

He wouldn't know that Joo-hyuk tried to summon someone else, right?

He hoped he didn't know.

In that case.......

"John Cossack, designated summoning!"

Whoosh! Paf!

This time as well, a message asking him to evaluate his satisfaction popped up.

[Before designated summoning, please leave a satisfaction rating for John Cossack.]

Because he felt sorry, he gave a perfect 5 stars.

[John Cossack has been designated summoned.]

"Summoner Bong, sir, thank you for the 5 points. Loyalty! Just give me your orders, sir."

Ahhh!

To think he was such an amiable person.

"I've decided. Let's enter the tower."

"Ooooh! Already? You are brave, sir. ...A-Ah, no, cancel what I just said, sir. You shouldn't be brave, sir."

"Don't worry. I'm just going to get a little taste and come out."

"You are wise as expected, sir. Please do not lift a single finger once you enter the tower, sir. I will drive comfortably and safely, sir."

John Cossack rubbed his palms together and fawned over him.

Joo-hyuk nodded as if satisfied.

He wouldn't know, right?

The fact that he tried to summon someone else until just a moment ago.

He'd feel sorry if he knew.

"Shall we go? Oh, right! We can enter together from here, right?"

"Whew, we unconditionally go together, sir. I am Summoner Bong's tool and hunting dog, sir. Hehe."

Is that so?

Then well.

Enter tower.

The current time was 11 PM.

The entry cooldown was on a daily basis.

Meaning, even if he entered now, he could enter again once an hour passed and it became midnight.

However, was there a need to be so diligent?

[Will you enter the South Korea Black Tower?]

[The currently accessible floor is the 1st floor.]

Naturally.

"To the 1st floor."

Paf!

Inside Bong Joo-hyuk's studio apartment.

He and John Cossack simultaneously disappeared.

* * *

[Entering the 1st floor of the South Korea Black Tower.]

He finally entered.

At the same time, system messages rolled up continuously.

[Physical abilities have been enhanced according to your level.]

[Traits and combat skills can be used.]

Automatic physical ability enhancement, huh.......

He did feel slightly stronger, though it was miniscule.

Even though he was only level 1.

"I will move, sir. Please follow me, sir."

The entrance was a safe zone.

In order to receive a mission, you had to go further inside.

Then, once the mission popped up, the clearing began.

Ding!

[1st Floor Mission : Eliminate 5 Tough Leather Fatty Maggots.]

[Completion Time Limit : Within 2 hours.]

[Completion Condition : Tough Leather Fatty Maggots 0/5]

[Failure Condition : Death or Mission Abandonment]

The mission was simple monster subjugation.

However, it wasn't simple for Joo-hyuk at all.

'Sigh.'

His worries were a mountain.

I have to catch maggots?

A wasteland terrain without a single blade of grass.

Maggots crawling awkwardly here and there.

Their size was as large as a pet dog raised inside a house.

He couldn't even tell which end was the front.

They didn't have limbs, nor eyes, nose, or mouth.

So their means of attack was probably nonexistent.

Instead.

'It says their leather is tough.'

It meant they were difficult to kill easily.

And that was indeed the case.

Listening to other players' experiences, it took about 30 minutes to kill one at best.

There were even players who failed the mission while dawdling.

Well, it wasn't like you died if you failed.

The 1st floor was a testing ground for one's skills.

Those crawling Tough Leather Fatty Maggots over there were a type of scarecrow concept.

Would Mr. Cossack be able to do well?

Usually, Summoning trait players shared their level with their summons(?).

If Joo-hyuk was level 1, John Cossack was also level 1.

But since his rank was displayed separately instead of a level, it also felt like it might be different.

"You know the 1st floor mission, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then let's go."

"Loyalty! I will uphold your command, sir."

Spat!

Cossack disappeared from his spot.

"Huh?"

Where did he go?

In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of a maggot.

"Blade Explosion."

He threw a red-hot glowing dagger.

Splash!

Thunk!

Boom!

The Tough Leather Fatty Maggot exploded.

"...Wow."

That easily?

That was one down.

"I'll finish this quickly, sir."

The skill John Cossack used.

If it lodged into a maggot's body, it simply exploded.

Splash! Thunk! Boom! Splash! Thunk! Boom! Splash! Thunk! Boom.......

Two, three, four... and the final fifth one.

[Eliminated Tough Leather Fatty Maggots 5/5]

[You have succeeded in the 1st Floor Mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward : 100g of Mana Stone]

Following that.

[Notice : You have achieved the clear rank S++ for the 1st floor of the Black Tower (South Korea).]

[S++ Clear Reward : A Platinum Badge is awarded.]

'...What is this,'

It was an instant deletion.

He was a minimum of level 1. Wait, at least not level 1.

And an S++ clear rank.

Did clears have ranks too?

'It must be a good thing.'

He didn't know what it was, but it was undoubtedly amazing.

That was why there were two rewards.

Normally, people only received Mana Stones.

'A Platinum Badge.......'

What kind of item was this used for?

It seemed he received it for achieving the S++ clear rank.

[You can challenge the 2nd Floor.]

[Exiting the South Korea Black Tower.]

Spat!

The environment changed in an instant.

It was Joo-hyuk's studio apartment.

'It's home.'

He already completed the mission and returned?

'How much time passed?'

He entered at 11 o'clock.

However, it was currently 11:03.

A mere three minutes had passed.

The time spent reading messages on the 1st floor was about one minute.

The time spent moving to the mission area was about one minute.

The actual time spent eliminating the maggots was... one minute, no, it probably didn't even take one minute.

"Excellent work, sir. Hehe."

John Cossack smiled brightly.

"I just stood still without doing anything though."

"That is doing a good job, sir."

"......."

Was this a dream?

He went splash! thunk! boom! and then spat! and returned.

'It's really easy, isn't it?'

His status window read [Level] : 2 LV

He had heard that others barely finished around the time they were exhausted from desperately beating up maggots.

He should check if the rewards came in.

Tower-Exclusive Inventory.

It operated outside as well.

However, it could only store and retrieve rewards obtained from the tower; other items couldn't go in.

'...It's here.'

100g of Mana Stone.

As well as the Platinum Badge.

It was a real, physical badge.

'Are they telling me to walk around wearing this on my chest?'

How embarrassing.

He took the Mana Stone outside.

A sparkling piece of stone the size of a fingernail.

The price for 100g was roughly 50,000 won at current market rates.

That was because the price of Mana Stones was dropping day by day.

In the early days, they were quite expensive.

That is, when humanity first laid their hands on something called Mana Stones.

Now that a lot of them had been released into the market.

'The people who cleared it first must have earned a fortune.'

He heard there was a first clear system for every tower.

The players who completed each floor's mission for the first time received 10 to 50 times the rewards.

Were Mana Stones the only rewards?

If you completed high-floor missions above the 30th floor, bizarre items poured out one after another.

'Still, I earned 50,000 won.'

And in just three minutes.

As he smiled goofily, Cossack's face next to him seemed to shine.

"Shall we eat some late-night snacks at least? What do you like?"

"I eat anything well, sir."

"How about jokbal (braised pig's trotters)?"

"...I-Is it spicy jokbal, sir?"

"No, garlic jokbal."

"Garlic is also... sp-spicy."

He was a severe wimp when it came to spicy food.

"Then I'll just order the regular front leg cuts."

"Ehehehe, I will eat well, sir. Thank you for your grace, sir."

What grace was there in jokbal?

"But by the way, Mr. Cossack."

"Yes, sir!"

"Is your way of speaking originally like that?"

"What part are you referring to, sir?"

"No, you're just always shortening your sentences and speaking like a soldier by adding 'sir' at the end."

"Th-That's because I hung around my former summoner for a long time, so......."

Aha.

Was it a masterpiece created by an ex-boyfriend, for instance?

In this case, it would be his former summoner's masterpiece.

"If it is uncomfortable to hear, I will fix it, sir."

"No, it's fun the more I hear it. Hahahaha!"

"Hehehehe!"

In any case, he had gained certainty.

'It's doable.'

It wasn't dangerous at all.

Although it was only the 1st floor.