One day, without warning, enormous towers suddenly rose all across the world.
Then came the so-called Awakened, those chosen by the towers and granted strange powers.
Ever since the Great Upheaval, the world had been divided between those who could climb the Tower and those who could not.
And I, Kim Si-hyeon, was....
‘Obviously one of those who can’t.’
Honestly, I wasn’t even envious anymore.
Things I didn’t have, yet everyone else possessed as a matter of course.
Even feeling envy or jealousy over such things was a luxury.
‘I got over that crap back when I was a snot-nosed kid and realized everyone else had parents while I didn’t.’
It was regrettable, but I couldn’t spend all my time despairing.
All I could do was give my best with what I had.
And so... once again, I was off to work early in the morning.
“Whetstones, check. Rust remover and an oily rag, check... Needles and scissors, check. Okay, that’s everything.”
I used what little skill I had picked up by watching others to repair the Awakened’s damaged equipment.
That was my job.
Honestly, I couldn’t call myself a repairman or an artisan.
A handyman, maybe.
‘I don’t know if I can even call this a profession... but it pays my rent and puts food on the table, so I guess it counts.’
The Awakened were famous for making good money, but as with any profession or industry, working in a lucrative field didn’t mean everyone raked in cash.
My main customers belonged squarely in the group that didn’t.
They were the salarymen of the Awakened—people with no desire for fame or fortune who made their living repeatedly running lower floors they had already cleared.
‘In a way, they’re smart. At least there’s no chance of dying.’
Low risk, low return.
They said even those who chose this safe path made salaries in the hundreds of millions of won, so everyone was desperate to Awaken.
‘It beat actors, idols, doctors, prosecutors, and judges to become teenagers’ number-one dream job. That says it all.’
I had dreamed of it too.
Who wouldn’t want to climb the Tower in style, make a fortune, and live as a hero revered by the public?
‘Well, it’s not like I’m still that desperate for it.’
I only went as far as watching my customers head toward the Tower and thinking, ‘I’m jealous.’
‘It’s just... like living with a lottery ticket tucked against my heart every week. Oh, right. I didn’t buy one last week.’
About thirty minutes after setting out for work, I reached my destination just as I resolved to buy a lottery ticket this week without fail.
It was a small plaza near the Tower entrance where the Awakened prepared their gear.
Awakened preparing for their climbs and merchants selling to them had set up shop, filling the plaza with a boisterous din.
“Come on, take your pick! Fresh recovery potions, just brought in today! Curse Removal Scrolls for Floor 10 and below! One of these will wipe away a Goblin Shaman’s curse in one shot!”
“Hey, young man! First time at the Tower, right? How did I know? Come on, it’s written all over your face. Then this Beginner’s Survival Kit is a must! Antidotes, bandages, even emergency rations! What, no potions? Are you trying to bankrupt your family? Do you have any idea what those cost?”
They said people could eat, maintain their equipment, and recruit party members inside the Tower too, but there was a reason a market formed and people gathered out here.
‘Because the services of the real professionals who learn the relevant skills and do business inside the Tower are absurdly expensive.’
In the end, it came down to money. As always.
Leaving the familiar sights and sounds behind, I began unpacking and setting up my spot.
‘Then shall we get started for the day?’
“Oh, Si-hyeon! I was wondering when you’d get here.”
I had barely spread out my wares when a familiar voice rang out.
My regular, Kim hyung, waved in greeting.
“Hey, hyung. You’re out early today.”
“Of course. I’ve got to earn every won I can. My second child’s due any day now.”
It felt like only yesterday that I had heard about his second child, but apparently his wife was already near her due date.
“Oh, has it already been that long? No wonder you’ve been working so hard lately.”
“Whew, another mouth to feed. I’m in trouble, real trouble. I somehow managed with a family of three... but now I’m worried sick.”
He said that, but Kim hyung couldn’t hide his smile.
“Anyway, do you have any appointments today? If not, can you sharpen my sword right away?”
“Oh, I can get started immediately. I’m grateful you’re giving me my first sale of the day as soon as I arrive.”
“It’s a win-win. I’ve tried leaving it with all sorts of people, but your sharpening was the best. It really is uncanny, though. You said no one ever taught you, right?”
“Come on, everyone’s just being generous. I’m sure a true craftsman would do a better job, but their prices aren’t exactly cheap. Reasonable service at a reasonable price. That’s what I offer.”
“Sure, that’s true, but sharpening isn’t the only thing you can do, is it? You’ve practically mastered it by now, and you can work leather and metal too. Last time, it looked like you knew a bit of sewing as well. Am I right?”
The sudden shower of praise from Kim hyung left me with nothing to do but smile awkwardly.
“Yes, well... Once I was old enough to leave the orphanage, I had to make a living, so I picked up all sorts of things by watching over people’s shoulders.”
“What I’m asking is, how can you learn to do all that just by watching?”
“Ha ha, well... I don’t know how else to explain it except to say... I was born with it.”
Kim hyung snorted. He clearly didn’t believe me.
“Sure. Let’s go with that.”
“But it’s true.”
“I said we’d go with that.”
Kim hyung patted my shoulder as if he knew the whole story.
He seemed to think I spent every night practicing a different craft.
‘I really was born with it, though.’
Well, what could I do? He didn’t believe me even when I told him the truth.
“Find somewhere nearby to sit and rest. I’ll use the best whetstone I have and bring it to you as soon as I’m done. You need to get to work.”
“Oh, right. I’ll leave it to you, then. I’ll be over in the smoking area having a cigarette.”
Once Kim hyung left, I pulled out the whetstone I had brought and began sharpening the blade.
Scrape, scrape, scrape!
‘Is it really that unbelievable?’
I had been abandoned in front of an orphanage when I was an infant too young to remember.
I had only gone as far as high school and had never received any special training.
But I had done every kind of work imaginable to survive.
‘An internet café, a convenience store, a restaurant... I tried nearly every low-barrier part-time job most people have done at least once as soon as I left the orphanage... Was it after the frozen warehouse that I started looking for more unusual, higher-paying work?’
And amid all those experiences, I discovered my talent.
‘I’m incredibly good at copying anything.’
I had been aware of it since I was young.
I was hopeless at studying, but when it came to physical work, I could imitate almost anything with ease.
At first, I thought I just had a knack for work... but it went far beyond that.
It was more than simply being “good” at copying others.
This was a talent in its own right.
Once I realized that, I deliberately tried to experience as many different kinds of work as possible.
I wanted to make the most of my strength.
At a smithy, I breathed in the smell of iron as I learned to swing a hammer by watching over someone’s shoulder.
— You’ll hurt yourself. Go stand way over there.
At a junkyard, I learned to take things apart and put them back together while covered in dust.
— Think you’ll understand just by watching? Staring at it won’t teach you how to do this.
After a situation like that repeated a few times, I could roughly tell.
Whether I could do it or not.
— Why don’t I give it a try? I think I get it now.
Then I proved it with my ability. The reactions varied.
— ...Well, I’ll be damned. You learned to do this in just a few days? Is this really your first time?
— Your first time? Sheesh, at least put some effort into your lies. How many years do you think I’ve made a living doing this? No, why would you even lie about something like this?
— You’re good at cheap tricks, I’ll give you that. But I’m sure all you can do is a passable imitation.
Shock, suspicion, jealousy. Then, every once in a while, admiration and cheers.
It couldn’t have been pleasant to watch a greenhorn produce even a “passable” imitation of something they had spent years of effort mastering after only a few days.
So I always showed just enough of my ability to make a living.
Just a bright guy with a knack for work who learned a little faster than most.
It was best to leave once I had learned all I could while people still thought that much of me.
That was how I steadily built up my skills, one by one.
In a miserable life with no one to rely on, this talent was all I had, and it had carried me this far.
And this was the result!
“Oh, this came out well.”
The finely honed sword reflected the sunlight, scattering brilliant flashes.
“Damn, the whetstone worked beautifully today.”
This might have been my best sharpening job yet.
I headed straight over to Kim hyung, who was smoking in the distance.
“Hyung! The whetstone worked beautifully today. Come take a look.”
“Oh, yeah? Good. Let’s see what you can do.”
Kim hyung smiled as he put out his nearly finished cigarette.
At that very moment, the smile abruptly vanished from his face.
“Look out!”
Look out? For what?
Kim hyung threw himself forward with no explanation.
“What? What are you—Gasp!”
I was trying to ask what had happened when he literally surged toward me.
CRASH!
An Awakened was still an Awakened.
In the blink of an eye, his powerful hand had already swept me away and sent me tumbling into the distance.
“Ow, that hurts....”
I rubbed my scraped arm as I got to my feet, but something felt strange.
“Hyung, what was all that about...?”
The rich scent of soil and the acrid smell of grass pierced deep into my lungs.
By the time I registered the oppressive heat and humidity, not only the air but the scenery had changed.
“...What?”
Only a moment ago, I had been in the middle of a South Korean city.
Yet the familiar forest of gray buildings had vanished without a trace, and a green rainforest now stretched before my eyes.
Ah, I understood.
‘It’s a Newcomer Intake Event.’
It was one of the Tower’s tricks, capriciously acting up whenever people had nearly forgotten about it, without the slightest warning.
Newcomer intake. No, it was a kidnapping event.
***
The heat was stifling, and the vegetation was so overgrown that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
‘I heard Floor 1 was nothing but an open wasteland inhabited by a few Goblins....’
No matter where I looked, this place was nothing like the Floor 1 I had heard about.
‘It really is a kidnapping.’
They said irregular events like the kidnapping event were unpredictable, and that was exactly what this was.
“Ugh....”
“...!”
A faint groan came from nearby.
Startled, I frantically pushed aside the surrounding foliage and found Kim hyung lying facedown on the ground.
“Hyung! The arrow....”
An arrow was buried deep in his shoulder.
This was why he had thrown me aside at the last moment.
“Oh. Hey, Si-hyeon. You’re safe.”
Kim hyung casually said the very words that should have come from me.
I helped him sit up, then immediately examined his injury.
“You should’ve just let it hit me. Why...?”
“You punk, this is nothing a little spit won’t fix.”
Kim hyung only laughed foolishly.
“And it’s only this bad because I took it in the shoulder for you. If it had hit you, you’d be dead. Whoever shot it was aiming straight for your heart and meant to kill you. Enough of that. Start thinking about how you’re going to thank me. And I don’t mean with words. I want something tangible.”
What wouldn’t I give to someone who had saved my life?
“Yes, of course. I don’t have much, but if I take out the deposit on my rental room and put together whatever else I can, I should still be able to give you something....”
Smack!
Before I could finish, Kim hyung lightly smacked me on the back.
“What kind of man do you take me for? How could a senior—and an Awakened at that—take the rent deposit from a young man trying his hardest to make a living? Forget it, you punk. Buy me dinner once we’re out. Pork belly and soju.”
“Hyung....”
“Got it?”
His gaze brimmed with force, as if he wouldn’t accept any answer but ‘Yes.’
There was nothing else I could say.
“Yes. I’ll buy domestic pork, fresh, not frozen, so please just stay alive.”
“Like I’d die. Not with a wife, children, and another baby on the way. I couldn’t die even if I wanted to, you punk. Heh heh.”
That was what he said, but the look on his face told a different story.
“Hyung, are you all right? You look....”
He had grown visibly pale.
“Ugh... I think it was a poisoned arrow. It’s strange enough for a Goblin to use a bow on Floor 1, but a poisoned arrow? This kidnapping event I’d only heard about really is brutal. Ugh.”
“Hyung, first we need to find somewhere safe...!”
In truth, I had no idea where somewhere safe might be, but it definitely wasn’t here.
I was about to help Jin-cheol hyung up and move when....
Rustle!
Three green-skinned monsters emerged from the undergrowth.
They were small, with sharp claws and greedy eyes.
Even the crude weapons they carried matched the Goblins from the videos uploaded by the Awakened.
“Grrr... Kreeek!”
Did they think we were easy prey because one of us was injured?
They approached while licking their lips.
“Three of them, huh? I can handle that many easily.”
Despite his injured body, Kim hyung staggered forward and stood in front of me.
He held a sword in his hand, though I had no idea when he had drawn it.
“You bastards. Since I Awakened, I’ve made a living doing nothing but slaughtering Goblins. How dare you bare your teeth at me? Bare your teeth, my ass.”
Kim hyung charged with a face that looked ready to collapse at any moment.
But the tip of his sword remained as deadly as ever.
SWISH!
The blade carved an arc. Something flashed, and one Goblin’s head was neatly severed and dropped straight down.
“See? I told you, you don’t stand a chance.”
In the blink of an eye, three Goblins became two.
‘Thank goodness. Hyung’s condition must not be as bad as it looks.’
Just as the thought crossed my mind—
“Huh? Wait, my body....”
Kim hyung looked alarmed, and his sword slipped from his hand.
Then, before he could even finish speaking, he crumpled facedown.
“Wh-what’s happening to me?!”
Had the violent movement caused the poison that had been spreading slowly until now to circulate faster?
The mouths of the two Goblins watching from close by split into wide grins.
As if mocking us.
“Kekeke!”
The situation had reversed in an instant.
Still facedown, Kim hyung shouted urgently.
“Si-hyeon, run! Get away and join up with other Awakened! There must be more people somewhere!”
“Wh-what about you, hyung?!”
“Look at me, you punk. I’m done for. Hurry up and go. Those who can live should live.”
Even as he spoke, the Goblins inched closer while watching my reaction.
Perhaps they had learned something from their companion, who had died in a single stroke, because they were extremely wary.
What should I do?
I had to decide quickly.
There was no time.
‘Think. Think! What do I have to do to survive?’
Run? Abandon the man who had thrown himself in front of an arrow to save me?
That had never been an option to begin with.
Then there was only one way.
‘I have to fight them somehow. But how?’
Something suddenly came to mind.
The thing I did best.
No, the one and only thing I knew how to do.
‘I just have to copy him. Copy what hyung did a moment ago.’
Could I do it? I didn’t know.
He had been too fast.
But I had to.
No matter what.
“Let me borrow this for a moment, hyung.”
My resolve firm, I picked up his sword from where it lay on the ground.
Kim hyung realized what I intended and tried to stop me.
“No! They may look weak, but they’re not easy opponents. They’re creatures that fight the Tower’s Awakened in the first place! And not just one—there are two...!”
“But we can’t just die like this.”
“Hey, you punk! Why would you die?! Didn’t you hear me?! Leave me and go! I told you I’m already done for!”
“I heard you loud and clear.”
“Then why won’t you go?! Do you want to die when you’re still so young, all because of some old man you barely know?”
His voice pleaded with me.
His eyes trembled with the fear of death.
Yet even then, his desire for me to abandon him and leave was sincere.
‘Even in this situation, he....’
That made me all the more determined to do it.
“No, I’m going to live. Both of us will. We’re getting out of here alive. And what do you mean, some old man I barely know? You’re Si-hyeon Workshop’s very first regular. I can’t let you die here.”
It was baseless confidence.
But after declaring it aloud, I genuinely felt confident.
‘This is how I’ve always lived.’
Whenever I went on about how I didn’t have a single thing everyone else did, I truly had nothing. I had survived with nothing but baseless confidence and this body of mine.
‘This isn’t all that different. Every day of my life has been a matter of life or death anyway.’
Whether I starved to death or died by the blade, it was all the same.
Even now, with the creatures right in front of me, my monthly rent and the relentlessly recurring due dates for my utility bills scared me more than that rusty sickle.
That was all the time I was allowed.
Maybe it decided I wasn’t much of a threat.
One of them strode toward me.
Thump!
My heart pounded.
Tension sent clammy sweat trickling over the hand gripping my sword.
But it lasted only a moment.
My survival instinct soon overtook my fear, erasing every stray thought and all my tension.
Only survival remained. Nothing else.
‘It’s coming.’
“Kreeek!”
The nearest Goblin charged, swinging its red-rusted sickle.
Filthy spittle flew between its yellow teeth.
“Hup...!”
There was no time to think about where or how to dodge. My body moved on pure survival instinct.
SWISH!
The sickle traced a half-moon as it swept through the air before my abdomen.
It cut through the place where my stomach had been only a breath earlier.
Having evaded its attack, I now had an opportunity.
‘An opening!’
My gaze locked onto the exposed green nape.
It was the perfect chance.
At first, I had simply intended to strike its neck.
But the instant I extended my hand, something flashed through my mind.
“...!”
The swordsmanship Kim hyung had shown earlier.
No, didn’t the Awakened call it a Skill?
‘I can see it. The path.’
I could do it.
I felt it.
My own weapon—the talent that had allowed me to endure this harsh world alone.
That talent was shouting at me.
Follow this path and cut.
‘Then...!’
The instant I followed that trajectory without hesitation—
FLASH─!
SLICE!
With the dull sensation of bone and flesh being severed, the Goblin’s head flew through the air, leaving its owner behind.
Thud.
The Goblin’s head landed on the ground, its eyes still open.
I stood dazed for a moment before the surreal sight, going over what had just happened.
‘...In a single stroke?’
A faint echo of a familiar sensation lingered in my fingertips.
It wasn’t much different from slicing meat, which left me feeling strangely conflicted.
“...Maybe it’s a good sword?”
“K-kierk!”
Having lost two companions in an instant, the last Goblin turned tail and fled for its life.
Behind me, I heard Kim hyung’s voice.
“Wh-what was that just now, Si-hyeon? You used my skill....”
“I’m not sure either....”
The moment I turned to answer—
[New Awakened Registration: Kim Si-hyeon]
[Unique Ability ‘Shadow Mimic’ acquired.]
※ Can record and reproduce a target’s ‘Skill’ by imprinting it onto a shadow.
▶ Shadow Imprint: Flash Cleave (Grade: D- / Source: Kim Jin-cheol)
It was a single lottery ticket I had kept tucked against my heart without expecting much.
It had hit the jackpot.
At long last.