Jeong Sohyeon.
Jeong Sohyeok’s older sister.
She was an Awakened.
Unlike her half-baked younger brother, she was a genuine Awakened.
Her rank was A.
She was practically the face of the White Lotus Guild.
Yet she had a problem.
An annual salary of five billion won.
Her standing within the guild.
A home and a car of her own.
None of those things could resolve the problem troubling her.
Growth.
Her progress had come to a halt on the 49th Floor.
No matter how many times she challenged it, she could not defeat the boss of the 50th Floor.
Even she herself believed it.
I cannot kill that thing.
She had unconsciously reached that conclusion.
As the face of White Lotus, she could not simply give up on challenging it.
Yet no matter how many times she tried, she could see no possibility of clearing it.
She was trapped.
“Weapon maintenance is complete.”
“Support Team is ready!”
“……Whew.”
Members of the guild surrounded Jeong Sohyeon.
“Everything is ready.”
Determination filled Jeong Sohyeon’s eyes.
Yet perhaps because she still lacked confidence, she was trembling slightly.
She entered the Tower.
WHOOOSH!
[You have entered the 50th Floor.]
[Name: Jeong Sohyeon]
[Affiliation: Republic of Korea]
[Level: 49LV]
[Ability: Heaven-Splitting Greatsword]
[Exclusive Skill: Heaven Split]
[General Skills: Downward Slash, Upward Slash, Spinning Slash, Sword Aura Release……]
[Currently Active Buffs: Blessing of the World Tree, Battle Cry, Berserker’s Soul, Hero’s Strength, Guardian’s Grace, Iron Will……]
The Status Window appeared before her eyes.
And then—
SHING.
Before she knew it, an enormous greatsword was in her hands.
“It feels a little lighter today.”
She tightened her grip around the hilt.
Then she stared ahead.
An enormous canyon stretched before her.
A full moon hung in the sky.
And standing at the center of it all was a single creature.
―Grrrrrr…….
“Lycanthrope…….”
The moment Jeong Sohyeon identified it—
[50th Floor Mission: Defeat the Lycanthrope.]
[Time Limit: 4 hours]
[Condition: Lycanthrope 0/1]
[Failure: Death, Abandoning the Mission]
The clear conditions appeared.
‘……Four hours.’
No matter how many times she saw it, the time limit was absurdly tight.
The 49th Floor had given her six hours.
The difficulty had increased by more than threefold, yet the time limit had actually decreased.
‘Even if that thing stood still and let me beat on it like a punching bag, it would take at least two hours.’
And she was supposed to defeat it while defending herself?
It was ridiculous.
At that moment—
―ROOOOAAAR—!
“Ugh……!”
Their eyes met.
Its eyes were blazing crimson.
The creature, which had been standing on two legs, suddenly dropped to the ground.
Onto all fours.
Then it began charging toward her at tremendous speed.
What made a Lycanthrope truly terrifying was its mobility.
In an instant, it reached Jeong Sohyeon.
Then it swung one of its enormous claws.
“Urgh!”
CLAAANG!!
A clear metallic crash echoed throughout the canyon.
Greatsword against claw.
She barely managed to block it.
But—
‘Huh?’
Something was strange.
Jeong Sohyeon, holding the greatsword—
and the monster pressing its forepaw against her—
both realized it at the same time.
‘It’s light.’
―Grrr……?
BANG!
Realizing she still had strength to spare, Jeong Sohyeon knocked its foreleg away.
Three steps.
The creature was sent skidding backward, carving thick lines into the ground.
The Lycanthrope’s stance collapsed.
Jeong Sohyeon did not miss the opening.
“Haaaaah!!”
BOOOOM!!
She brought the raised greatsword crashing down.
Meanwhile, back at White Lotus after Jeong Sohyeon disappeared into the Tower—
“Do you think Ms. Sohyeon…… will clear it today?”
One of the Support Team members spoke worriedly.
“Probably not.”
“This is already her twelfth attempt. Not a single person in the country has succeeded after taking more than ten attempts.”
“I guess that was simply the limit of her talent.”
The words could easily have sounded like malicious gossip.
But they were closer to resignation.
After all, they were members of White Lotus themselves.
Who would be happy that the growth of their guild’s star had stopped?
If their star could no longer grow—
then the guild itself could no longer grow either.
“Two hours have passed.”
“Whew…… Time really flies like hell.”
“Let’s wait a little longer. The limit is four hours.”
“I’ve already given up hope∼ We should start thinking of something comforting to say to her again.”
At that moment—
WHOOOSH!
“……It’s over.”
Blue energy appeared in midair.
It was the phenomenon signaling the end of a Tower challenge.
Jeong Sohyeon emerged, battered from head to toe.
She trudged forward while dragging her greatsword behind her.
“……Good work, Ms. Sohyeon.”
“S-Sis. Are you all right?”
The Support Team immediately swarmed around her.
They already knew what they had to do.
Treat Jeong Sohyeon’s injuries—
and console her after another failure.
“Sis……?”
Jeong Sohyeon did not say a word.
She merely stared silently into the air.
“…….”
They could tell.
Something was different.
Because the Support Team saw her every day, they were particularly sensitive to even the slightest change in her demeanor.
“……I did it.”
“What?”
“……I said.”
Jeong Sohyeon murmured.
Everyone leaned closer to hear.
“I cleared it.”
“Yaaawn…….”
Chirp, chirp.
Morning birds were singing.
Sunlight streaming through the window struck me directly in the face.
Even after thinking about it again, the placement of my bed was incredible.
It worked better than any alarm clock.
“Uaaaaagh……!”
I stretched and got out of bed.
After washing my face—
I headed toward the refrigerator.
Grrrrr.
“Ah…….”
Right.
I did not eat dinner yesterday.
Yesterday evening, every last one of my cherry tomatoes had been stolen from me.
My sister had told me to order delivery food, but—
how could I possibly have thought about eating anything else?
‘Now that I’m thinking about it, I want tomatoes again.’
I still could not forgive her.
She had devoured someone else’s entire dinner and then fled.
I did not care if she was an Awakened.
I did not care if she paid my living expenses!
‘If I use the skill again, will it produce more fruit?’
I looked outside the window.
All that remained was a stalk nearly three meters tall.
There was no fruit.
“Status Window.”
I needed to learn more about my ability.
There might have been something I had overlooked.
DING!
[Name: Jeong Sohyeok]
[Affiliation: Republic of Korea]
[Level: 1LV]
[Ability: Blessing of the World Tree]
[Exclusive Skills: Blessing of the World Tree, Retainer of the World Tree]
[General Skills: None]
It had been a long time since I had actually said “Status Window” aloud.
It was more embarrassing than I remembered.
“Huh?”
Then an unfamiliar phrase caught my eye.
“Retainer of the World Tree?”
My lips trembled.
There was a good reason for that.
I had not possessed a skill like this when I first Awakened.
‘Do not tell me…… a Second Awakening?’
It was the term used when an Awakened underwent another Awakening after the first.
One of the most representative effects of a Second Awakening—
was obtaining a second Exclusive Skill.
Normally, every Awakened had only one Exclusive Skill.
One ability and one Exclusive Skill.
My sister, for example, possessed the Heaven-Splitting Greatsword ability and the Heaven Split skill.
An Exclusive Skill was, quite literally, practically the personal identity of an Awakened.
How could someone have two identities?
‘I think the only known precedent was the world’s number-one-ranked Awakened.’
Gulp.
With trembling fingers, I clicked the second skill.
Its description unfolded before me.
[EX-Rank Skill ― Retainer of the World Tree]
―Turns a being that has received a blessing into a Retainer of the World Tree.
―Current Targets: 1
“E-EX!?”
Gasp.
I hurriedly clamped a hand over my mouth.
‘EX……?’
As far as everyone knew, S-Rank was the highest rank in existence.
Even the world’s number-one-ranked Awakened, who had undergone a Second Awakening, possessed only an S-Rank skill.
So what in the world was EX-Rank?
‘Turns a being that has received a blessing into a Retainer of the World Tree.’
The explanation was almost absurdly simple.
“Current Targets: 1?”
Almost as though I were entranced, I clicked the number one.
Then—
[Target ― Jeong Sohyeon (Heaven-Splitting Greatsword]
“……Sis?”
Why was my sister’s name there?
I went back through my memories.
I did not remember ever buffing her.
In fact, I had never used my ability on anyone other than myself.
Then a hypothesis suddenly crossed my mind.
“The cherry tomatoes…….”
The cherry tomatoes my sister had devoured yesterday.
What if eating the tomatoes that had received the Blessing of the World Tree had caused the buff to be applied to her?
At that moment—
RIIING♪
“……Sis?”
My sister was calling me.
What incredible timing.
“Hello?”
―Sohyeok!
“……You scared me. What is it?”
―Y-You, those tomatoes from yesterday! Ah, never mind. I’m coming over right now! Wait at home!
VROOOOM!
Just before the call ended—
I heard my sister slam down the accelerator.
“……Wow.”
I had never seen her this flustered before.
I cautiously glanced at the cherry tomato plant.
“Oh.”
Fruit had begun growing on it again.
“To celebrate Ms. Sohyeon clearing the 50th Floor! Cheers!”
““Cheers!!””
CLINK!
The sound of dozens of glasses colliding rang throughout the room.
Nearly every member of the White Lotus Guild had gathered for the celebration.
And the guest of honor was none other than Jeong Sohyeon.
“Ms. Sohyeon! Why does the guest of honor look so gloomy? Drink, drink!”
“Ah, haha. Thank you…….”
Normally, a guild would not hold a celebration of this scale merely because one of its Awakened had climbed a single floor.
What made this occasion special was the number fifty.
The guild’s first successful clear of the 50th Floor.
Its significance was enormous.
One of the essential conditions for advancing from a medium-sized guild to a major guild—
was to ‘have an Awakened who had cleared the 50th Floor.’
White Lotus had finally prepared itself to move from the top of the medium-sized guilds to the bottom ranks of the major guilds.
‘A major guild…….’
Jeong Sohyeon lowered the glass in her hand.
She sank into thought.
She did not feel like smiling.
There was only one reason.
She had not cleared the floor through her own strength.
‘Something was strange.’
At first, she had simply assumed she was in unusually good condition.
Blocking the Lycanthrope’s claws.
Severing its left arm with a single strike.
But the longer the fight continued, the stranger it became.
No matter how many times she was hit, it did not hurt that much.
And whenever she struck back, the monster itself was sent reeling.
‘Normally, a single direct hit would have made me abandon the mission.’
That had not been Jeong Sohyeon’s own strength.
She knew that better than anyone.
But why today, of all days?
Who could possibly have done it?
‘Did the guild recruit some absurdly powerful new Buffer?’
Impossible.
If that had happened, they would have informed her first.
She retraced everything she had done.
Why today?
What had been different?
‘I trained as usual, ate at the usual place, had a meeting with the Guild Master, and then…….’
“Ah, I stopped by Sohyeok’s place.”
Her poor younger brother.
He had undergone an Awakening he had never wanted.
He had even been forced to quit the baseball he loved.
And in the end, he had shut himself away in a rooftop room.
“Sigh…….”
Just thinking about Sohyeok made her mood sink.
Yet there was nothing she could really do for him.
The most she could manage was paying his living expenses.
‘Come to think of it…… I give him more than enough money, but he was still trying to eat cherry tomatoes for dinner.’
Koreans needed rice to keep themselves going.
How dare he try to substitute vegetables for a proper meal?
‘Hmm…… cherry tomatoes.’
Drip.
“Ah.”
Saliva escaped her mouth without her even realizing it.
Now that she thought about it, those cherry tomatoes had been incredibly delicious.
She had unconsciously eaten every single one of them.
And aside from those cherry tomatoes, nothing about that day had been different from usual.
‘Could there have been something special about those cherry tomatoes?’
Hmm.
“Hahaha!”
Of course not.
Herbs capable of enhancing physical abilities could only be obtained from the Tower.
How could Sohyeok possibly have gotten his hands on something like that?
‘Well, Sohyeok is technically an Awakened too.’
But there was no way he would be crazy enough to enter the Tower.
Besides, Sohyeok’s Awakening ability was not suited for combat.
‘Come to think of it, what was his ability again?’
She thought carefully.
It had definitely been some kind of buff-type ability……
‘Was it Blessing of the World Tree?’
She remembered thinking that the ability had an excessively grand name.
Status Window.
She cautiously checked her list of buffs.
Less than three hours had passed since she left the Tower, so they should still have been active.
“Currently Active Buffs…….”
Battle Cry.
Berserker’s Soul.
Hero’s Strength.
Guardian’s Grace.
Iron Will.
……
……
……
“?”
[Blessing of the World Tree]
‘Blessing of the World Tree?’
Why was this……?
Click.
“…….”
[Blessing of the World Tree]
[Rank: EX]
“……Huh?”
CRASH!
A glass shattered with a sharp sound.
Everyone’s attention turned toward her.
“Haha, Ms. Sohyeon, you haven’t even been drinking. Are you already drunk on the atmosphere?”
“I-I need to leave first.”
WHOOSH!
Jeong Sohyeon shot out of the banquet hall so quickly that no one could even see her move.
“W-What was that?”
Clunk.
She immediately started her car and entered her destination.
[Please enter your destination……]
“My brother’s apartment!!!”
Something was wrong.