The electronic display board in front of the enormous gate flickered.
[5th Floor Opens D-00:10:00]
The crowd was packed so tightly it was hard to breathe.
The 5th floor was a mission that more than a hundred people entered at the same time.
And floors ending in 5, like the 15th and 25th, all opened only on the 1st of each month.
Today’s date, just after I had finished the 4th floor, was July 1st.
With good timing, I could enter the 5th-floor mission.
‘Luckily, I made it in time.’
The 5th floor’s mission was simple.
Close to 100 players carried it out together on a single island.
Killing monsters gave you points, and killing a player let you take half the points they had.
‘I’d take 1st place just by killing monsters, but this time is different.’
On the 5th floor, you didn’t die.
To be precise, if you were killed by a player, you were moved to the lobby, but if you were killed by a monster, that was the end.
“Hey! Did you see this?”
“What’s up? The 5th floor’s opening soon. Did you finish your maintenance before goofing around?”
“That’s not what matters right now! The player community is going crazy right now!”
Murmuring rose on all sides.
I picked out the sounds that reached my ears.
Words like ‘community,’ ‘video,’ and ‘monster’ popped out.
“Did you see what just got posted?”
“How does a Soul Binder show up on the 4th floor?”
“I know, right? And apparently he killed it in one hit.”
I took out my phone and went straight into the player community.
‘Monster player appears? Is it this video?’
A single video was pinned at the very top.
It had been up for less than an hour, yet it already had over 100,000 views.
‘What is this—’
Flinch—
The moment I saw the thumbnail, my body froze.
The video was from the 4th floor.
A video of the Soul Binder being taken down.
A video of a familiar man driving a black-iron spear into a monster to kill it.
‘Which X-ing bastard….’
The video quality itself was poor, so the face wasn’t visible.
But I could tell for certain.
The star of that video….
Was me.
‘It wasn’t filmed by anyone standing there. There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed.’
The camera angle seemed to be looking down from above.
A shot that looked like it had been taken with a drone.
On top of that, it had already been edited.
‘Don’t tell me it’s a mana drone?’
For a moment, I was dumbfounded.
A single mana drone cost hundreds of millions, or as much as billions, of won.
‘Somebody brought something like that into a mere 4th floor?’
There were players who made money by selling combat videos.
What they favored most were drones powered by mana stones.
“Haa— This has gotten annoying.”
I had a good idea who had shot the video.
Only three people had cleared the 4th floor.
As my anger settled, my mind began to turn.
Mana drones ran on mana stones, but.
When first taking flight, the user had to pour their own mana directly into it.
So it wasn’t Kim Hyeong-taek.
He was someone who didn’t know the first thing about mana.
‘Han Ji-won. It must be her.’
One question came up here.
Did she not realize I would figure it out?
‘Anyone who knows even a little about mana drones can easily deduce the culprit. There’s no way she didn’t know that, is there?’
Beeeep—
The display board’s timer began to flicker.
[5th Floor Opens D-00:00:15]
Fifteen seconds were left until the mission began.
The murmuring of the crowd surged in like a wave.
‘If I leave now, I’ll have to wait another month. Let’s focus on what’s in front of me first.’
[5th Floor Opens D-00:00:00]
When the timer ran out.
The enormous gate began to move.
“It’s open! Let’s go!”
“This time, please let me start somewhere good—”
“The 1st-place reward is mine!”
When the enormous gate opened, an entirely different scene unfolded before my eyes.
An island stretching endlessly beneath a blue sky.
Dense forests and wide, sprawling plains.
‘At a glance, it looks peaceful.’
But that was only the shell.
The entire island was a battlefield imprisoning both players and monsters.
Step— Step—
The moment I stepped forward, the air changed.
All the players around me disappeared, and I was moved to a place thick with trees and bushes.
[5th Floor]
[Mission: Survive on the island for one day]
[Survive on the island for 24 hours and kill monsters to earn points.]
[Rewards will be granted according to ranking.]
[23:59:59]
“So my starting point is the forest? Not bad.”
Sometimes you started on the beach, but that was the worst starting point.
‘There are aquatic monsters too, but they’re a pain to kill.’
<Kkiek—!>
A small shadow burst out of the forest and lunged straight at me.
A badger-like monster with sharply gleaming teeth and claws.
It was small in size, but the killing intent in its eyes was unmistakable.
‘A Tiger Badger.’
THUP—
I seized the scruff of its neck with one hand as it lunged.
<Kkiieek—!>
Before its scream-like cry could even ring out, I tightened my grip a little, and there was the sound of bones breaking.
CRRRUNCH—
It became a lump of meat and slid from my hand.
Without even sparing it a glance, I pushed it aside with my foot.
[You have killed a Tiger Badger.]
[Points: 0 → 1]
‘If Tiger Badgers are showing up, this is the outskirts of the forest.’
The deeper you went into the center of the forest, the stronger the monsters became.
“Ah, I’m telling you I got it first!”
“What are you talking about?! Don’t you see that sword mark? That’s the one I was chasing!”
“You really want to go at it?!”
I could hear people shouting in the distance.
It seemed clashes had already broken out here and there.
‘Are they stupid or what? They can’t even have that many points yet, so what’s the point of fighting each other?’
Killing a player gave you half their points.
But it hadn’t even been five minutes since the mission started.
Which meant there were no points to be had from hunting players.
‘Wearing each other out only hurts them.’
Hunting players now was premature.
The mission ran for 24 hours, so there was no need to waste energy now.
‘I have to wait until night to use the horn, so should I go somewhere and rest until then?’
The item I had unexpectedly obtained as a reward on the 4th floor.
That item would be the key point of this mission.
***
Rustle— Rustle—
When I pushed through the reed field, a wide clearing lit by moonlight came into view.
A silent space that seemed untouched by human feet.
A place so empty it was unnatural, without even a trace of monsters.
‘This is the most suspicious area, at least. The Tower wouldn’t have made a space like this for no reason.’
When I looked up, a silver moon was shining down on the clearing like a blade.
When I steadied my breathing and focused, someone’s breathing felt even louder.
‘No talent for stealth, I see.’
Swish—
I raised my hand and drew out Eclipse, which had been resting in my inventory.
CRASH!
I drove the enormous greatsword into the ground and let my mana flow.
Then I sensed a single presence.
They probably thought they had hidden well enough, but they were still inexperienced.
‘Over there?’
SHLICK—
After pulling Eclipse out of the ground, I pointed the sword to my left and spoke.
“If you keep hiding, I’ll cut you down.”
Rustle—
Perhaps startled by what I had just said, the reeds twitched slightly.
At the same time.
Swish— Swish—
The reeds swayed and a path opened.
Through that gap, a familiar silhouette slowly walked out.
About as tall as my solar plexus, with long black hair.
A woman holding a staff.
It was Han Ji-won.
“H-hello….”
“You’ve been following me the whole time, even using stealth magic. So, what is your business?”
Honestly, I wanted to just cut her down.
Secretly following someone inside the Tower was a clear taboo among players.
Whatever her purpose in approaching me, there was no reason to forgive it.
“Um…, first of all, I’m sorry for using the video without permission.”
Twitch—
For a moment, I was taken aback.
What came out of Han Ji-won’s mouth was unexpected.
I hadn’t imagined she would come to confess.
“So you know what you did wrong? I was planning to come find you after finishing the 5th floor anyway.”
Filming someone fighting without their consent.
And on top of that, posting it to the community as she pleased.
This was an outright crime.
“Um, I took the video down before the mission started. I didn’t know it would blow up like this either—”
“You didn’t know it would blow up? Is that supposed to be an excuse?”
“I’m truly sorry!”
In truth, posting the video wasn’t the big problem.
The real problem was the bad timing.
It had been just yesterday that the global notice had set the world abuzz.
In that case, people would speculate.
That the star of that video might be the player who had taken down the 2nd-floor Guardian.
“Still, the face is blurry, so people won’t really recognize you, right?”
“Haa….”
When she finished speaking, an indifferent sigh escaped my mouth.
“Are you really just naive… or just stupid?”
I said it quietly, but Han Ji-won’s shoulders twitched.
Without lowering the tip of my sword, I fixed my gaze squarely on her.
“You know what you did wrong, don’t you? But you thought you could just gloss it over like this?”
“No, no. That’s why… I came to apologize to you in person like this.”
Her eyes were earnest, but to me, they only looked hollow.
After swallowing a moment of silence, I found myself curious about one thing.
“Let me ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“The video went up less than two hours after the 4th floor ended. How was it edited so quickly?”
In that instant, Han Ji-won’s expression changed.
She began to speak as though proud of what she had done.
“…I was a video editor before I Awakened. I worked in broadcasting for a long time. So I can put together most videos pretty quickly.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
In that short span of time, Han Ji-won had produced a video on par with those of a major NewTube channel.
“Hmm.”
I lowered my sword slightly and planted it in the ground. A sigh laced with surprise slipped out.
“I’ll give you all the revenue from the video. So please, just don’t report me to the Association.”
“Revenue? How much could that even be—”
“If I’d had just a bit more time to edit, it would’ve earned several million won at least. Of course, that video will probably only make around 800,000 won at most.”
At that moment, my heart gave a strange jolt.
‘Several million? From just one video?’
999 regressions.
Through all those long years, I had thought only of combat and conquest, regression and survival.
Kill monsters, and make money from the byproducts.
But I had never once considered videos.
‘What if… I recorded my hunts and uploaded them?’
A completely different calculation began to run through my head.
My battles would be so overwhelming that no one could compare.
What if I turned those scenes into videos?
“Then if videos like that keep getting uploaded, how much revenue could we expect?”
Han Ji-won carefully continued.
“If videos like that keep going up consistently, the viewer count will keep growing. The revenue… could go over a hundred million won.”
I wasn’t especially greedy for money.
But looking ahead, a time would come when I needed it.
Grin—
A laugh escaped me.
The technology was still lacking now, but once I reached the middle of the Tower, mana stones would hold a value far beyond that of mere strategic assets.
Perhaps I wouldn’t even need to sell mana stones for money.
“I don’t need the revenue from this video. Let’s call it a signing bonus.”
Han Ji-won’s eyes went round.
“Huh?”
“Instead… I’ll hire you as my video editor. A 9-to-1 split.”
“N-nine to one? That’s way too—”
Dissatisfaction crept into Han Ji-won’s voice.
But I cut her off immediately.
“Then I’m counting on you for today’s video too.”
Tap—
Han Ji-won’s expression froze in bewilderment.
But ignoring that, I rested Eclipse on my shoulder and turned around.
“Wait! What do you mean? Today’s video—”
I didn’t reply.
I took the black horn out of my inventory and put it to my lips.
VWOOOOOOOM—!
[You have used the Common Grade item King’s Horn.]
[The Knight of Death answers the King’s summons.]
A heavy, deep cry rang through the night clearing.
Immediately after.
RUMBLE—!
The ground shook, thud, thud, as a massive tremor spread.
The reeds swayed, and the earth split.
Swsh—
Black mist slowly spread across the clearing.
And then, right in its center.
THUNK—
A hand tore through the ground.
A single enormous hand, steeped in black energy, slowly rose up to the surface.
Looking down at the black hand, I spoke calmly.
“What are you doing? You should get your drone up.”
“What is that now?!”
“What do you think?”
<Kraaaaaah!!!>
A low roar that shook the air.
Following the hand, a black skull revealed itself.
“This island’s hidden boss monster?”
THUD—!
Then ribs, pelvis, knees.
They crawled up onto the ground one after another.
It had the shape of a person, but what could be felt within it was a cold, overwhelming aura of death.
Shaaa—
The black mist gathered around the bones and formed dark purple armor.
Lastly, dark red eyes flashed through the gaps in its helmet.
A Knight of Death clad in black-iron armor.
[A Death Knight has been summoned.]