Chapter 01
The First Floor Lord
Rent was insane.
That was what I thought as I watched my salary pass through my bank account only to disappear almost immediately.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
‘Are you a ghost?’
My salary was performing an escape magic trick, swiftly stepping out of my bank account with some fancy footwork…
All because of the ridiculously expensive rent.
And that wasn’t all.
What would happen after deducting the utility bills, phone bills, heating bills, and electricity bills?
“What? I’m already broke on payday?”
Anyway, that was the conclusion.
Rent was insane.
The speed at which it was rising was downright terrifying.
And it wasn’t just monthly rent.
Jeonse prices were going crazy, too.
“Huh? Wait. Am I the one who’s gone crazy?”
After work, I was looking at the properties advertised at a nearby real estate agency when I was shocked.
Had I read the numbers wrong?
There was an extra zero compared to the price range I’d expected.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with my eyesight.
That was the brutal reality of Seoul’s housing prices.
“Oh-ho-ho! Young man, are you here to look at a house? Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee?”
“N-no, thank you.”
Startled by the real estate agent’s attention, I hurriedly made my escape.
Sorry.
My bank account was practically empty.
“What the hell is this…”
I’d worked hard again this month, putting in overtime at the company. I left for work at six in the morning and didn’t get home until ten at night.
Work was one thing, but commuting took two hours each way. That meant four hours of commuting every day!
This was what had happened because I’d been searching for cheap rent.
A studio apartment near my workplace would have cost an additional 500,000 won per month, so I hadn’t had much of a choice.
I’d been saving every penny I could to eventually buy my own home.
But…
Was that even possible?
“Haah. Forget it. Let’s not think about it.”
I bought a one-plus-one beer deal at the convenience store and put the cans into a plastic bag.
Then I casually made my way up the alley.
“Haaah. Did I overspend? They always say you should cut back on small expenses…”
Feeling a little guilty, I reluctantly did the math.
Each can of beer cost 1,500 won…
If I saved the money from 500,000 cans of beer, I could afford my own home.
This was driving me insane.
Following the winding uphill road, I finally reached my studio apartment. I entered after punching in the door code and collapsed face-first onto my bed.
There was no luxury greater than this.
“Phew. There’s nothing like being home.”
First, I got comfortable and opened a beer.
Then I turned on the TV.
A famous celebrity was showing off their house.
[We’ve come to the penthouse of the promising new star of Tower climbing, Kim Byeolbit! As expected, it’s absolutely amazing!]
“Oh, dear. I’m embarrassed because I haven’t really furnished my home properly!”
“Wow! You could play soccer in here! How many pyeong is it?”
“Ho-ho. It’s 120 pyeong!”
120 pyeong…
That was incredible…
Kim Byeolbit gave her pet dog, Ppoppi, a beef jerky treat.
A caption appeared on the screen, revealing that each treat cost a whopping 50,000 won.
“I’m drinking 1,500-won beer from a one-plus-one deal…”
[Woof!]
Always remain humble, human.
It felt as though Ppoppi on the TV was saying those words to me.
“Urgh. I’ve lost.”
These days, showing off celebrities’ wealth had become a popular TV trend. It was practically torture that I was paying a TV subscription fee to endure.
I changed the channel, and this time, a documentary about Tower climbing came on.
[Humanity has entered the Age of Towers. The global economy has achieved an average annual growth rate of 15%.]
The Towers!
It had been quite some time since Towers had sprung up in cities all around the world and changed the face of the world.
The Towers that appeared across the globe showered humanity with all sorts of wonderful things.
Magic Stones. Items. Summons.
And even supernatural abilities!
Simply climbing a Tower made people far stronger than ordinary humans and allowed them to use all sorts of extraordinary abilities.
Tower climber had become a highly sought-after profession, and climbers were objects of admiration.
In the past, the chances of awakening had been low, but these days, the number of awakened people was increasing at an insane rate.
Perhaps it was the Tower’s plan to awaken just about everyone.
Even so, they said that anyone without talent couldn’t even make it past the fifth floor.
No, wait.
Forget the fifth floor.
There were countless people who got eliminated on the very first floor.
Of course, I was just an ordinary person who hadn’t even awakened.
“I’m in a worse situation than Ppoppi the dog. Can’t I at least get that common Awakening everyone talks about?”
At that very moment…
As if it were a lie, I awakened.
======
[Han Ja-in]
[Level: 1]
[Class: ■■]
======
“Whoa!”
It had just been an ordinary complaint, but I’d actually awakened!
After calming my startled nerves, I stared at the pitch-black class field.
[Class: ■■]
“Why is it so black? Is it dried seaweed or something?”
I went online and asked about the [■■] class.
Comments started pouring in almost immediately.
— Your future is so dark that it shows up as ■■. LOL.
— You’re a doomed character. Just give up. LOL.
— Bro, you’ve become dried seaweed.
“…!!!”
While I was despairing, new replies began appearing in real time.
— Did it really show up as ■■?
— If it’s ■■, there’s still hope!!!
— Ooh! A new newbie just awakened with ■■?
— Wow, I’m jealous.
— Jealous my ass. LOL.
My post quickly became popular, gathering dozens of comments in no time.
The amount of attention was almost overwhelming.
‘…Do Tower climbers even climb the Tower anymore? Or do they just hang around online communities?’
Anyway, here’s how it worked.
A very small number of awakened people received ■■ as their class.
These people were those whose classes hadn’t been determined yet.
Their classes would be decided according to their talents and choices.
— If you get the right class from ■■, your life is set! Just look at Darklight Thief and Mythic Mage!
Ooh! Those classes!
Weren’t those the classes of the top-ranked climbers who ruled the world?
I was suddenly getting excited!
— LOL. You idiot, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Have you ever heard of Poor Warrior, Mussel Mage, Blockhead Thief, or Kleptomaniac Paladin?
Ah! I’d heard of those, too!
They were the classes that frequently appeared in online posts titled The Despair of Tower Climbers!
I’d heard that people who received those classes were eligible for government assistance payments!
So those classes also came from ■■?
‘So it’s either heaven or hell, huh?’
A cold sweat broke out, but at the same time, my curiosity grew.
I felt like I wouldn’t be satisfied until I found out what ■■ really was.
“Enter Tower Floor 1!”
This was the quickest way to find out.
Before I knew it, I had entered the first floor of the Tower.
Awakened climbers could enter the Tower anytime and anywhere.
It was quite convenient.
Furthermore, there was no need to worry about running into other people inside the Tower. Each person’s Tower interior was individually allocated, so the only people you might encounter were your party members.
It was basically the same concept as an instance dungeon in an RPG.
“It’s huge.”
The first floor of the Tower was a wasteland stretching in every direction, with enormous insects crawling around.
The Tower’s rules were simple.
Defeat the monsters on each floor, and you clear it.
You receive rewards and are granted permission to advance to the next floor.
Naturally, the higher the floor, the greater the rewards. However, plenty of climbers died because they recklessly challenged floors that were too high for them.
At least the lower floors served as a kind of tutorial.
On the first floor, all you had to do was beat up some insects.
I’d heard they were nothing more than weak mobs that didn’t even fight back.
“Huh? Why did I bring this?”
I’d put the beer cans from the one-plus-one deal into my inventory.
But why was my inventory so empty?
“They said basic weapons were provided…”
I hadn’t even received a basic weapon.
Wriggle, wriggle!
The insects on the first floor were about the size of dogs, and veins bulged all over their bodies.
“Are these bodybuilding insects?”
They looked like they’d been hitting the gym.
I gathered my courage and tried kicking one of them.
CRACK!
The insect didn’t even get a scratch.
Only the top of my foot hurt.
======
< Lv.1 Tough Insect >
[Health: Wild Dog Level]
[Defense: Hippopotamus Level]
======
This was terrifying.
How was I supposed to get through that with my bare hands?!
[Floor 1 Objective]
[Defeat 20 Tough Insects.]
Good grief.
I’d heard plenty of stories about mediocre climbers getting stuck on the very first floor, but I never thought I’d become one of them.
“Was my Awakening a failure after all?”
The bleak scenery of the wasteland reflected my feelings perfectly.
Still, it was pretty spacious.
Maybe I should give up on climbing and just come here occasionally to relax.
“Yeah. This is perfect.”
Even I, someone who couldn’t afford to own a piece of land in Seoul, could gaze out over a vast wasteland inside the Tower.
At that moment…
Something about the size of a coin sparkled in a crevice in the wasteland.
Wondering if it might be a weapon, I quickly picked it up.
It was round, soft, and transparent.
The thing glimmered as it caught the light.
‘A water droplet?’
But it wasn’t just an ordinary water droplet.
‘It’s alive?’
An actual living water droplet!
[Aqua… trembling… ( ´_ﾉ` )]
For some reason, the little water droplet seemed afraid of me.
Although it was a water droplet, it had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, so I could read its expression.
It looked like a slime from an online game, except it was only about the size of a coin.
After trembling for a while, the water droplet seemed to steel its resolve and began threatening me!
[Aqua… terrifying! ( ⚆ ⚆)و✧]
[Aqua… Hiss! Hiss!]
Well, look at that.
It could even hiss.
Naturally, it wasn’t intimidating in the slightest.
The poor thing was so weak that I couldn’t help feeling sorry for it.
Pop!
Its status window appeared.
=======
< Extremely Severely Weakened Water Spirit Aqua >
[Health: Dust Level]
Status: [Dehydrated] [Severely Dehydrated]
[Extremely Dehydrated]
[So Sad!] [Fear] [Dissolving] [Resignation]
This tiny being was a spirit that had wandered around homeless until it had fallen into complete ruin.
Its presence was faint because it was on the verge of disappearing from dehydration.
=======
The water droplet was actually a spirit.
And it was dying.
No, considering that its health was at Dust Level, it was practically already dead.
[Aqua… woozy… (っ´―`c)]
Perhaps it had exhausted itself from hissing at me, because it soon went completely limp.
“Huh? Hey! Come on, snap out of it!”
I called out to it, shook it, and tried waking it up, but there was no response.
I decided to try saving the little guy.
I didn’t even know what a spirit was, but now that I’d seen its pitiful condition in its status window, I couldn’t just leave it alone.
A spirit that had wandered around homeless until it had fallen into complete ruin.
You too?
Even spirits had a hard time when they didn’t have a home.
That damn housing problem was everyone’s worst enemy.
“First, I need to give it some water…”
The wasteland stretched in every direction.
If water had been easy to find here in the first place, this little guy wouldn’t have been dying of dehydration.
[Aqua… gurgle…]
Every second counted.
I opened my inventory and took out the one-plus-one beer.
“Let’s save this spirit by feeding it beer!”
Even I thought it was ridiculous, but it was the best option I had at the moment!
Pssshhh!
Beer foam bubbled out of the can.
This was water, too.
It just had an extra six percent alcohol!
Time for some hydration!
“Ah, whatever!”
This wasn’t the time to be picky about plain water or beer.
A refreshing liquid poured out, and the spirit absorbed the moisture like a sponge.
Sluuuuuuuuuurp! ꉂꉂ (ˆoˆ )
Ooh.
It was drinking with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
But…
Wasn’t its face getting a little red?
[Aqua… Alcoholqua! (@ˍ@)]
“Huh?”
[Aqua… CHARGE! ᕦ(@ ͜ʖ@)ᕤ]
The spirit that had been on the verge of death suddenly burst with energy and charged toward the insects!
Boing! Boing! Boing!
It was hopping along adorably.
[Aqua… Full of Confidence! ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭]
Was it confident that it could defeat the insects?
The spirit leaped high into the air.
[Aqua… Primordial Cataclysm: Descent of the Flood.]
The spirit suddenly spoke in an extremely serious and solemn voice.
KWA-BOOOOM!
The next moment, twenty insects exploded.
They had been completely annihilated by the spirit’s water-stream attack.
“…Wow.”
This was a spirit?
Rather than being cool, it was terrifying.
If I got hit by that stream of water, I’d be taken out in one shot, too, wouldn’t I?
[Aqua… I’m quite good at holding my liquor!]
The spirit shouted proudly, but it was staggering.
I’d often said things like that back when I was in college…
[Aqua… I’m not drunk! ꉂꉂ (ˆoˆ )]
Ah! I’d shouted that one plenty of times, too!
Then that meant the spirit’s next action would be!!!
[Aqua… BLEEEEEGH! ԅ(◜¬◝ ԅ)]
Yep. There it was.
I patted the spirit on the back and checked the new messages that had appeared.
[Floor 1 Conquest Complete]
[You have claimed Floor 1 as your territory.]
[You have acquired a class.]
[You have become the Lord of Floor 1.]
