‘…Damn, caught red-handed.’
I didn’t know exactly what “So it was you” referred to, but I had a bad feeling about it.
Still, they said that even if a tiger dragged you off, you could survive as long as you kept your wits.
I turned around, playing completely innocent.
“…Yes? Is something the matter?”
Behind his thoroughly covered face, both eyes were fixed solely on me.
“There is no need to be alarmed. I am not a strange person.”
His very first introduction was, “I am not a strange person.”
He was definitely strange. Just as I raised my guard….
The man glanced around, tugged down the mask covering his face, then immediately pulled it back up.
‘The Sword Saint…!’
My eyes flew wide open.
It had only been for an instant, but I had clearly seen him.
The very man I’d seen countless times on the news had just flashed me an amiable smile right in front of my eyes.
“A-an autograph, please…!”
My fanboy instincts burst out before I could even think!
“You pass.”
Pass? Did that mean he would give me an autograph? While I wondered what he could sign and what he could use to sign it, he continued with something incomprehensible.
“It is good that you are trying to hide your identity. Now is not a good time. Considering what you have already set in motion… the moment your identity is revealed, you will be dragged into troublesome affairs whether you like it or not. But that does not mean you can fool me.”
“Pardon?”
As I stood there wondering what he was talking about, Shin Yu-seong continued in a low voice.
“You want to know how I knew? Your eyes. The look in them. No one else was paying attention to me, but you were different. You looked like a predator with prey before its eyes. You were conscious of me and hid among the crowd as you approached. I could sense a clear intent behind it.”
‘He sensed that?’
He hadn’t given me an autograph, but the Sword Saint’s instincts clearly hadn’t gone anywhere.
“It is fascinating. A moment ago, you treated me like prey. Then, as soon as you thought something had gone wrong, your eyes instantly filled with the pure admiration of a fan. You would have made quite an actor, wouldn’t you?”
…No, I took that back. This man’s instincts weren’t very good.
‘I guess I should play along.’
I hadn’t even tried to deceive him, but he’d gone and fooled himself so thoroughly that I had no choice but to play along.
How embarrassed would he be if I said, ‘But I really am a fan’?
From here on out, I was really acting.
“Ha, you caught me. The strongest man in the Republic of Korea truly is different.”
“…That is an unexpected reaction, isn’t it? I have discovered the identity you have kept so carefully hidden all this time.”
Shin Yu-seong’s eyes gleamed with interest.
My identity was in danger of being exposed, but I honestly wasn’t too worried.
This was Shin Yu-seong, after all.
He was the man people called the Republic of Korea’s Guardian Deity and all that.
‘There’s only one reason why a man of his stature would come all the way here to find me and wait.’
The Highest Floor’s conquest deadline had been extended.
That had to be it.
Of the hundred thousand Awakened in the country, he was the most sensitive to the countdown to the Tower’s collapse. There was no way he would simply say, ‘Oh, nice,’ and move on.
So I decided to push a little.
“Yes, well. Fine. What are you going to do now? Turn me over to the Tower Disaster Control Headquarters? I do not think you will. You? Turn over the first person in history to extend the Tower’s conquest deadline by a means other than conquering it?”
Shin Yu-seong burst out laughing again at my bold reply.
“Ha-ha! I like this. I am glad you already seem well aware of your own value. Things would have become troublesome if you were merely strong but did not understand your value—or if you were a fool—but that does not seem likely.”
I’d tried a bit of bravado, and his reaction wasn’t bad at all.
“I will be blunt. I came today to… yes, put a face to you and offer my thanks.”
Just as I’d expected, he’d come with goodwill.
“Did it help?”
“Oh, of course. Those seven days will be put to extremely good use. Thanks to you, I can finally breathe a little easier.”
“I am honored. I only did it to save myself, and that was merely an incidental reward… Still, I am glad it helped.”
“Goodness! You are humble, too…! This is serious. I think I can already hear the people overseas licking their lips.”
Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to him, Shin Yu-seong exclaimed, “Ah!” and proposed a deal.
“Would you care to make a deal with me? Tell me your name, and I will tell you an interesting secret. It concerns the Bounty Lord, but it is something even you do not know….”
He’d already seen my face, so what did my name matter?
Since the other person was Shin Yu-seong, whether he knew my name was no longer important.
What mattered was how much he wanted to know about me and how far he was willing to exercise his power to do so.
‘It’s only a matter of time.’
So I gave him my name without hesitation.
I was also curious about this secret concerning me that I didn’t know.
“I am Kim Si-hyeon.”
Shin Yu-seong smiled in satisfaction at my answer.
“Excellent, Mr. Si-hyeon. Lend me your ear for a moment.”
“…Is all that really necessary?”
How great a secret could it be for him to go this far?
Everyone else was busy with their own affairs and paying us no attention.
Regardless of my reaction, Shin Yu-seong stepped closer.
‘The world really is unfair.’
As an Awakened, he was the Republic of Korea’s strongest and the Sword Saint. He was also famous for being handsome enough to put actors to shame, and now that I saw him up close, he looked over 185 centimeters tall.
‘Did this man save a country in his past life? No, he’s saving one in this life. Did he save one in his past life, too?’
Shin Yu-seong’s ensuing whisper blew my idle thoughts away in one stroke.
“…Mr. Si-hyeon, you saved the Republic of Korea.”
“…What?”
Excuse me?
For a moment, I wondered what I’d just heard and whipped my head around.
Shin Yu-seong met my bewildered expression with a gentle smile and continued.
“To be precise, you prevented the Tower from collapsing and saved the twenty-five million people living in the capital region. Without the seven days you earned, the government would have officially announced that it was abandoning the capital region. If events had continued down that path… the announcement would have come yesterday or today.”
So it wasn’t that Shin Yu-seong had deliberately saved every last moment of the deadline. Our country had nearly ended up like Russia?
“How did that happen? Even with you here?”
Shin Yu-seong gave me a bitter smile.
“Because I failed spectacularly. It is a long story, but let me see… How should I explain this? Ah, this should work.”
After choosing his words for a moment, Shin Yu-seong explained the situation with an analogy.
“Let us say there is a certain fruit that is ‘absolutely’ necessary to clear the Highest Floor. There are no exceptions. Ab. So. Lute. Ly. The problem is that the fruit takes time to ripen. Quite a lo…t.”
A man of his stature had emphasized ‘absolutely’ twice.
That meant there were no exceptions. In that case….
“You did not have enough time.”
“Correct. Not by much, either. I was exactly five days short. But then I gained seven days through ‘someone’s’ accomplishments.”
Shin Yu-seong wore a playful expression as he mentioned ‘someone.’
I couldn’t believe it.
But considering who was telling me… I had no choice but to believe him.
“Twenty… five million….”
My mind simply went blank.
Until a few days ago, I’d trembled at the thought of rent and utility bills. I didn’t even have twenty-five million won to my name, yet I’d saved twenty-five million lives? Really?
As though he understood exactly how I felt, Shin Yu-seong patted my shoulder twice.
The face that had smiled throughout our conversation was more serious than ever.
“From now on, this will not be a simple climb. Every step you take will determine the fate of this country. Please… walk the right path. If you do, then when your identity is eventually revealed, whether by choice or otherwise, the Republic of Korea will welcome you. The nation will hail you as a hero.”
It was a declaration without the slightest doubt.
A certainty that sounded as though he were reciting a future already set in stone.
“That was how it was for me, too.”
He added those brief words with a self-deprecating smile.
Shin Yu-seong’s eyes held a complex tangle of emotions, but his face soon returned to its bright smile.
“Now that I have seen your face, I should be on my way. I am busier than I look. Ah, this is my contact information.”
Shin Yu-seong took a pristine business card from his coat and handed it to me.
It had something about national certification written on it. Apparently, the government even printed business cards for you when you signed a contract with them.
“If you ever need my help, please feel free to contact me. No—contact me whenever you wish. I will help with anything within my power.”
It was hard enough to believe that Shin Yu-seong stood before me, yet he was giving me his contact information first and telling me to call whenever I wanted.
‘Is this a dream? Or is he some con artist using an Awakened ability to imitate Shin Yu-seong?’
It was starting to frighten me.
“…Why are you going this far?”
“Because I rather like you, Mr. Si-hyeon. I think we can become good friends. That is the feeling I get.”
“What could you possibly have seen…?”
“Who knows? Intuition? I believe you are a good person.”
He chuckled and continued.
“I compared your eyes to those of a predator earlier, didn’t I? I was half right and half wrong. They are clearly the eyes of a predator stalking its prey, but there is no greed or killing intent within them. People with eyes like that do not easily stray from their path. They work relentlessly to achieve their goals, but they have a line of their own that they never cross.”
Shin Yu-seong launched into a lengthy speech about my eyes as though he’d suddenly become a physiognomist.
If anyone else had said this, I would have dismissed him with, ‘Ah, I do not know anything about the Way. I have no money.’ But because of who he was, I found myself strangely convinced.
‘Hmm, am I really like that?’
“If you had looked like a yellowing seedling from the start, I even considered killing you without so much as a rat or bird knowing… but that will not be necessary.”
This man made jokes that sent chills down my spine without the slightest change in his expression.
‘Wait, was that even a joke…?’
If it was him, he seemed perfectly capable of doing it inside or outside the Tower.
Even without dirtying his own hands.
“Um… I will respectfully decline.”
“Heh-heh, as you should. Then I will see you again.”
Shin Yu-seong gave me a slight bow, turned, and started to leave as though he’d finally said everything he wished to say.
I couldn’t let him go just yet.
“Wait a moment.”
“…Yes?”
I abruptly held his own business card back out to him.
“Why are you giving this back…?”
“Please sign it. I really am a fan.”
“Bwa-ha-ha! Ah, is that so? Of course I will. How could I refuse a request from the hero who saved the Republic of Korea?”
Shin Yu-seong burst into loud laughter at my request for an autograph.
It was loud enough to make several people in the waiting room glance our way, so I was truly grateful he’d covered his face.
He stood closer now, his shadow cast right beside me.
I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
This time, I stepped squarely on my target’s shadow.
[New Shadow Contact detected.]
[Target: Awakened ‘Shin Yu-seong’]
[Activating Unique Ability ‘Shadow Mimic’.]
***
After Shin Yu-seong left, I remained alone and sank into a delightful dilemma.
[Analyzing Skill information···]
The analysis took so long that, for the first time, I discovered this system even had a thing called ‘loading.’
About ten seconds later, a list of Skills cascaded before my eyes.
[Sword Saint (S+), Mind’s Eye (S), Tempest Slash (S), Will of the War God (S-), Single Flash (A+), Ground Shrink (A+), Sixth Sense (A), Hyper-Regeneration (A-)……]
It began with Sword Saint, the Skill that practically embodied Shin Yu-seong himself. Beneath it stretched a dazzling array of Skills whose names alone sounded extraordinary, though I’d never seen or heard of any of them.
The list went far beyond merely failing to fit on one screen. I had to scroll for ages.
‘No wonder he’s the strongest in the country.’
If I’d had my way, I would have swept up everything I could see from top to bottom, but unfortunately, I could choose only one.
Worse still, I had only one chance.
Once I took a Skill from someone, I couldn’t squeeze any more Skills from that person’s shadow.
‘In that case….’
There was nothing to consider.
At the very top of that long list, one S+ Grade Skill shone in solitary splendor: Sword Saint.
‘If I can choose only one, it has to be this.’
It was the very Skill said to bring its bearer to the realm of the divine in the art of wielding a sword.
‘I’ll take this.’
[Imprint ‘Sword Saint (S+)’?]
‘Yes.’
As though it had been waiting for that choice, a new message appeared. But the color of that message window….
‘Red?’
[Warning: This Skill is a fully developed Growth-Type Skill. Shadow Imprint will imprint its original pre-growth form.]
‘···What?’
A Growth-Type Skill? I’d heard that such Skills existed, but I’d never imagined Shin Yu-seong’s ‘Sword Saint’ was one of them.
‘More details. What exactly happens if I imprint it?’
[Displaying detailed information for the Skill obtainable through ‘Shadow Imprint’ at the user’s request.]
[The Beginning of Training]
Grade: D-
Description: The first step of a swordsman who has finally moved beyond blindly thrusting and swinging and begun exploring the path of the sword.
Every movement performed with a sword is subtly corrected.
[Detailed Information]
This is a Growth-Type Skill. Its Grade and performance improve each time a specific condition is fulfilled.
- D Grade: Conquer the Tower’s 5th Floor
- D+ Grade: Conquer the Tower’s 10th Floor
- C- Grade: Conquer the Tower’s 15th Floor
⋮
⋮
- A Grade: Conquer the Tower’s 50th Floor
- A+ Grade: Conquer the Tower’s 55th Floor
- S Grade: Rank within the top 10 of your Tower’s Conquest Ranking
- S+ Grade : Reach No. 1 in your Tower’s Conquest Ranking
[Warning: If qualification is lost, the Skill’s Grade will be automatically readjusted to the Grade matching the conditions currently fulfilled.]
It was a Skill that could only be completed by surpassing everyone else and becoming the strongest person in a Tower.
My mind went blank.
‘D- Grade? The Sword Saint started at D-?’
I let out a hollow laugh at the realization that Shin Yu-seong, whom I’d thought was a born genius with everything handed to him, was actually a man who had climbed all the way from the bottom through sheer effort.
I could even feel a sense of reverence welling up from deep within me.
Only then did I understand.
The Skill ‘Sword Saint’ wasn’t merely a Skill. The Sword Saint was Shin Yu-seong himself.
‘I already knew he was impressive… but he’s even more incredible than I thought.’
I’d hoped to steal one incredible Skill from His Lordship the Sword Saint and enjoy some easy gains, but it seemed that wasn’t going to happen.
‘But… this might not be bad in its own way.’
All I had to do was climb the Tower diligently, and I would be guaranteed to grow stronger every five Floors. That alone was a considerable advantage.
More than anything, I was curious.
How far could the Skill that had led Shin Yu-seong down the path of the strongest take me?
Or could I follow to the end of a path that Shin Yu-seong had already completed?
[Imprint anyway?]
The question hovered within a translucent message window glowing blue.
My answer had already been decided.
“Yes.”
[Erasing existing shadow and imprinting new shadow.]
[Shadow Imprint complete.]
[Shadow Imprint: The Beginning of Training (Grade: D- / Source: Shin Yu-seong)]
Had Shin Yu-seong become the strongest because this path had existed for him?
Or had he reached its end because he was Shin Yu-seong?
I decided to find out for myself.
What lay at the end of this path.