"Status Window."
I called up my Status Window to check.
[Status Window]
Name: Cheon Yeong-hwan
Class: Divine Shaman
Level: 2
Trait: Spirit Command
─ First Spirit: Ancestral God
Trait Skills: Lending / Spirit Communion (Inactive) / Divine Descent (Inactive)
Common Skills: Subspace Inventory / Tower Entry Ticket (71:59)
Achievement Points: 1
First of all, my level had risen to 2.
The Awakened gained permission to climb floors corresponding to their levels.
In other words, I could now choose whether to enter Floor 1 or Floor 2 whenever I entered the Tower.
[Tower Entry Ticket (71:58)]
In that brief moment, the time displayed on my Tower Entry Ticket had changed.
Seventy-two hours.
Three days.
That was the cooldown before I could enter the Tower again.
All of this was already established information about the Tower, so I knew about it.
However...
"Achievement Points?"
At the very bottom of my Status Window, I had accumulated one Achievement Point.
I'd never heard of anything like this before.
'Didn't it say I'd cleared the floor by the proper method?'
Then again, the current situation was hardly ordinary.
I'd never heard of anyone being told they'd achieved a proper clear, nor of anyone being automatically transported to the Reward Space without shouting "Mission Complete!"
I knew why it had happened.
It was all the result of following the Ancestral God's arrangements.
"Ancestral God."
─ What is it?
"What are Achievement Points?"
─ They appear to be a quantification of karma.
"The same karma I'm thinking of?"
─ Indeed.
Karma.
It was a concept also expressed through causality, or Karma.
In shamanic practices, I'd been taught that it represented the power through which gods intervened in the mortal world.
Wasn't it said that a Divine Shaman would suffer spiritual backlash if he revealed heavenly secrets that exceeded his karma?
Perhaps using this karma could prevent such backlash.
─ It would be best not to touch it for now.
"Yes."
It was only right to listen carefully to the Ancestral God and follow his advice.
My climb through Floor 1 had already proven that.
I'd finished checking my Status Window, but there was still something else to examine.
"Subspace Inventory."
I summoned my Subspace Inventory and checked its contents.
"So this is a Magic Crystal."
A Magic Crystal.
It was a new substance possessing limitless possibilities.
Although humanity had yet to uncover its full potential, its value was already assured simply because it could function as a new energy source.
I'd heard that Magic Crystals were worth roughly the same as pure gold of an equivalent weight.
The reward I'd received for clearing Floor 1 was ten grams of Magic Crystal.
'If I remember correctly, pure gold is currently worth around a hundred thousand won per gram......'
That meant this fragment of Magic Crystal, smaller than my little fingernail, was worth a million won.
"Jackpot."
I'd earned at least a million won for a single day's work.
As expected, being Awakened was the best.
A half-unemployed young man had suddenly transformed into a highly paid worker earning a million won a day.
Afraid I might lose it, I carefully placed the Magic Crystal fragment back into my inventory.
There were other items inside.
Seventy-seven Dead Ones' Resentments.
Apparently, there had been seventy-seven Dead Ones in total.
Since the Tower's byproducts were used as materials for various items with supernatural abilities, I figured it would be a good idea to have them appraised later.
And then there was the Seed of the Seocheon Flower Garden.
Something told me I shouldn't show this to other people so easily.
I had at least that much judgment and intuition.
"What should I do with this?"
But there was no problem.
After all, I had the Ancestral God, an adviser wiser than anyone else.
─ Those will have their uses once we leave.
"Yes."
As expected, the Ancestral God was the best.
He had an answer for everything, didn't he?
I'd finished examining everything I'd obtained when I was teleported to the Reward Space.
In that case, all that remained was...
"Shall we go collect the real reward now?"
The real reward awaiting me in the Reward Space.
***
I stood before the rewards.
"So this is really how it works."
A great deal was known about the Tower, but the most widely circulated stories concerned the Reward Space.
Naturally.
First, the stories about each floor, with its vast labyrinthine layout, weren't particularly important to people who weren't Awakened.
Second, stories about the Reward Space were precisely the sort of thing that stimulated people's curiosity and got their dopamine flowing.
Of course, I was also fairly knowledgeable about the Reward Space.
"So I have to choose one of those?"
According to a veteran member of the Awakened community, the Reward Space's system resembled the reward system from an old game called Dun×eon & Fi×hter.
Upon reaching the Reward Space, several random cards appeared in midair with their backs facing you, and you were given a choice.
[Select your reward.]
Five cards floated in the air, all showing their backs.
I was allowed to choose only one.
Whichever card I selected would determine the reward I received.
That's right.
It was a thoroughly vicious gacha system.
[Just pick anything. It'll be a Magic Crystal anyway.]
That was a common saying in the community.
I'd heard that at least ninety percent of the time, the reward turned out to be a Magic Crystal.
Apparently, it was better to empty your mind rather than get your hopes up for nothing.
[Fuck. It still hurts, though.]
But the Tower's cruelty didn't end with its gacha system.
Once I selected a reward card, the cards I hadn't chosen would also be flipped over.
And if I discovered that one of those unchosen cards contained an excellent skill or a rare item with supernatural abilities...
[AAAAARGH! MY HOLY SWOOOOOORD!]
A complete mental breakdown was practically guaranteed.
That was why a wise man in the community had once declared that "Torment Space" was a far more appropriate name than "Reward Space."
"Hehehe."
However, I couldn't hide my confident smile.
After all, standing beside me was the king of gacha himself, the miraculous Ancestral God.
I had absolutely no doubt that the Ancestral God would point me toward the card containing the best reward.
"Ancestral God, which one should I choose?"
─ Hmm.
Perhaps sensing my anticipation, the Ancestral God stared intently at the cards for a while.
Gulp.
If there had been water in this place, I would have wanted to perform a ritual bath, set out a bowl of purified water, and offer a sincere prayer.
That was how I felt.
After all, I knew that, however minuscule the odds, one of those cards might contain something capable of turning my entire life around.
Just then...
Float, float, float.
The Ancestral God slowly flew toward the cards.
"Ah, that's......"
As I'd mentioned, the cards were floating in midair.
Naturally, people had tried moving around to the opposite side to see their fronts.
But I'd heard that every such attempt had failed.
Perhaps because of the system's restrictions, it was impossible to move to the side where the faces of the cards were visible.
In fact, even when I tried walking forward, I couldn't move.
I'd heard that even Awakened who had surpassed Floor 20 and acquired all sorts of skills couldn't see the fronts of the cards, no matter what supernatural abilities they used.
However...
The Ancestral God continued floating forward without the slightest obstruction.
Pop—.
I thought I heard a sound.
"Holy crap."
The Ancestral God's ethereal form reached the front side of the cards.
He moved his gaze from one card to another.
─ I can see all of them.
"Wow."
As expected, the Ancestral God was the best.
***
As I'd mentioned, once I selected one reward, the remaining cards would flip over afterward.
In other words, I'd be able to see everything that had been among my possible choices.
I'd heard that sometimes, when your luck was truly terrible, all five cards contained nothing but Magic Crystals.
No, rather than calling that terrible luck, it was supposedly the most ordinary outcome.
Even so, being able to know what every card contained was extremely significant.
After all, even if the rewards were all Magic Crystals, the number of grams could differ depending on which card you chose.
"Which one is the best?"
─ Hmm.
The Ancestral God considered the cards for a moment.
That was good news.
Didn't it mean there were at least two good cards to choose from?
─ Choose the fourth card.
"This one?"
─ Yes.
Trusting the Ancestral God, I selected the card without hesitation.
[Reward selected.]
Slowly, the card I'd chosen flipped over.
[Passive: Nimble Movements]
"......!"
It was a skill.
Apart from rare items possessing special supernatural abilities, skills were considered the best possible rewards.
And this was a Passive Skill, no less.
Unlike Active Skills, which could only be used inside the Tower, Passive Skills became integrated into the body and remained effective even outside the Tower, improving one's quality of life.
In other words, I'd hit an enormous jackpot on my very first visit.
Perhaps the reason a skill had appeared among the rewards on the mere first floor was that I'd achieved a "complete clear."
Slowly, the remaining four cards flipped over.
As expected, they all contained Magic Crystals.
It was clear that I'd benefited greatly by following the Ancestral God's advice.
"Hmm?"
But then I noticed something strange.
One card was shining particularly brightly.
Written on it were the following words.
[Magic Crystal 5kg]
"Five kilograms?"
One kilogram was a thousand grams, so five kilograms meant five thousand grams.
And if I converted that into money...
"Five hundred million won?"
Crumble.
The cards I hadn't selected began disintegrating into dust.
Five hundred million won turned to dust.
"......Wow."
I felt like I was beginning to understand why the Reward Space was called the Torment Space.
─ Ahem. It was all for your sake, descendant.
"......"
For the first time, I couldn't bring myself to respond to the Ancestral God's words.
'Five hundred million won......'
I left the Tower in silence.
***
Among the Awakened communities on the internet, the largest was an anonymous community.
That was because many Awakened didn't want to publicly reveal that they had Awakened.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
Climbing the Tower meant risking one's life.
It wasn't uncommon for a user who had been happily chatting and socializing with everyone just the previous day to suddenly stop logging in the next.
As a result, the Awakened naturally gravitated toward anonymous communities.
In any case, the Awakened community, which had once been incredibly active, had seen its posting frequency decline considerably in recent times.
After all, over the past twenty years, its users had already discussed, dissected, chewed over, and thoroughly exhausted practically every topic concerning the Tower.
Even so, there was a period every year when the community became active again.
[Awakened Ji Seo-yeon has become the first to clear Floor 27 of ‘Labyrinth Tower - Korea’.]
It happened whenever a new floor was cleared for the first time.
The moment the system kindly sent an announcement to every Awakened, the community would spring back to life.
However, it had already been a month since Ji Seo-yeon, Korea's greatest Awakened, became the first to clear Floor 27.
Since the community had already spent an entire month discussing everything related to Floor 27, it had entered another quiet period, with only occasional new posts appearing.
The community wouldn't briefly come alive again until the following year, when Ji Seo-yeon climbed another floor.
However...
└ Did everyone see that? Or was I hallucinating?
└ A complete clear?
└ Same here. I think I saw it too.
└ Same here. What the hell was that?
└ Fuck. So it wasn't a hallucination.
The Awakened community suddenly experienced an unexpected surge in activity.
[Floor 1 of ‘Labyrinth Tower - Korea’ has been cleared by the proper method for the first time.]
For the first time, a system-wide announcement unrelated to the first clear of a new floor had reached every Awakened.
└ What does clearing it by the proper method mean?
└ Fuck. So everything I've been doing until now was just a half-assed method?
└ Think there are separate rewards for it?
└ Nah, probably not. Ji Seo-yeon already said ages ago that there weren't any special rewards for being the first to clear a floor.
└ Are a first clear and a proper clear the same thing?
└ What's the difference? Both the first clear and the proper clear got system-wide announcements.
└ The wording is different, though.
└ The only thing different here is your intelligence.
As was typical of anonymous communities, arguments and debates flowed freely.
Eventually, however, all the discussion converged on a single question.
└ Fuck, so what the hell was that? How did someone even do it?
That was the question.
***
According to statistics from the Awakened Management Agency, the Awakening rate was approximately 0.1 percent.
Out of South Korea's population of fifty million, around fifty thousand people Awakened.
Of those Awakened, approximately forty percent managed to clear Floor 1.
That amounted to around twenty thousand people.
More than half of the Awakened gave up on clearing Floor 1 because they feared the Dead Ones or lacked sufficient combat ability.
After all, even if someone Awakened, it wasn't easy for a person who had lived an ordinary life to fight grotesque Dead Ones in a desperate struggle and kill seven of them.
Furthermore, only about one percent of all Awakened—roughly five hundred people—managed to pass Floor 5, which was known as the deadly threshold.
That was why someone was only classified as a "Tower Climber" after passing Floor 5.
Those who cleared Floor 1 but gave up on climbing beyond Floor 5 generally continued challenging Floor 1 repeatedly.
That alone was enough to earn a decent amount of money.
It was a form of farming for cash, commonly known as "rice farming."
In any case, that was how things stood.
Floor 1 of the Labyrinth Tower had been cleared countless times.
However, since Ji Seo-yeon's original first clear, there had never been another system-wide announcement concerning it.
└ Me, me, me! I think I've figured it out. What if someone killed every Dead One on Floor 1?
└ Oh, that's a pretty plausible theory.
└ Nope.
└ Not interested in arguing.
└ I'm not arguing. That theory is wrong.
└ How would you know?
└ Because I've tried it.
└ You've killed every Dead One on Floor 1?
└ Yep.
└ Bullshit. I bet even Ji Seo-yeon hasn't tried that.
└ I'm telling you, I've done it -_-
└ Wow, look at that ancient emoticon. Confirmed: delusional old fart.
└ Anyway, what you're saying isn't the answer. I've killed every Dead One there. There are 77 in total. But I never got a message like that.
└ Nope. When I tried it, there were 99.
└ Nope. When I tried it, there were 12,582.
└ If you've really killed every Dead One on Floor 1, you can't be just some ordinary Awakened, can you? Post proof and I'll believe you. Come on, prove it.
└ Can't prove it, can you? Got scared and ran away, huh?
With the sudden flood of new posts pushing it down the page, the discussion attracted little further attention.
***
"......Fucking bastard."
Ji Seo-yeon muttered a quiet curse as she stared at her laptop.
She was the one who'd been arguing with the other users on the community.
And she really had killed every Dead One on Floor 1.
She'd repeated the process several times to cross-check the results and verify the numbers.
The number of Dead Ones on Floor 1 was fixed at seventy-seven.
All she had to do was reveal her identity to win the argument.
After all, the name Ji Seo-yeon carried that much credibility.
But Ji Seo-yeon couldn't reveal her identity.
No, she had no intention of doing so.
She occasionally checked the community because useful information appeared there from time to time, but she knew there was nothing to gain from exposing herself on an anonymous forum.
└ Nananana! Idiot! Got scared and ran away, didn't you?
"......If I ever find out who you are, I'll kill you."
Of course, her anger was another matter entirely.
"Haaah."
Suppressing her irritation, Ji Seo-yeon carefully scrolled through the community's latest discussions.
└ It was probably just a coincidence, right?
└ Well, the paths themselves are randomized. Maybe someone happened to stumble upon a Hidden Piece?
The community's opinions seemed to be gradually converging in that direction.
"......But was it really a coincidence?"
That question refused to leave Ji Seo-yeon's mind.
***
At that very moment, while discussions about me were unintentionally stirring up both the online community and the wider world...
"Hmm."
Having left the Tower, I was examining the Seed of the Seocheon Flower Garden.
The seed shimmered with five brilliant colors, resembling a precious gemstone.
I didn't possess an Appraisal Skill, but I could immediately tell that this was no ordinary object.
"I wonder if it'd sell for a lot?"
─ You crazy bastard. Why would you sell that?
Still haunted by the thought of the five kilograms of Magic Crystals, I'd muttered the question aloud and earned myself a scolding from the Ancestral God.
"Then what should I do with it?"
─ Plant it, of course.
"Plant it?"
─ What else?
"And if I plant it, I'll have to grow it, right?"
─ You are stating the obvious.
"......"
That was not good news.