Chapter 08
The next day.
As always, I woke up early in the morning and boarded the bus heading toward the Tower.
Leaving behind the toolbox I used to carry around every day when I went to work, and leaving the house with nothing but my body felt incredibly convenient.
‘The inventory really is useful.’
The items I needed inside the Tower were already stored in my inventory.
Well, though, the only thing I needed to prepare was just a single knife.
‘It feels strange. I’m actually going to work at the Tower as an Awakener…’
I guess you really do have to live a long life to see everything.
On the bus heading toward my destination, I reviewed the plan I had made last night.
‘I’ve roughly organized what to sell and what to keep. The problem is how to sell them…’
When it came to the safest way to trade items obtained from the Tower, the answer was obviously the ‘Tower Disaster Management Headquarters Official Safe Trading Exchange.’
The problem was that registering as an Awakener was mandatory to use it.
‘Hmm, I’d rather avoid Awakener registration if possible…’
I didn’t want to advertise that I had an ability that could copy other people’s abilities exactly.
But more than that, what happened yesterday while absorbing ‘Endless Hunger’ kept bothering me.
‘They definitely said that outside the Tower, Awakeners were no different from ordinary people… But an ordinary person’s shadow doesn’t just move around on its own.’
And after seeing that, would I really go and register while saying, ‘Haha, now I’m a proud Awakener too!’?
No.
I would become a test subject in some underground laboratory, not an Awakener.
After removing the best option, the choices left were using a private broker while paying a commission, or personally searching for buyers inside the Tower.
The former had expensive fees, and the latter was basically a perfect way to get taken advantage of.
‘For now, I have enough savings, so I’ll think about it slowly. I have enough for three or four months of living expenses.’
Soon, I arrived at my destination and headed straight toward the plaza near the Tower.
I was greeted by an enormous crowd and endless noise.
The plaza was practically holding a festival.
“Come on, come on! A 1.5 times drop rate effect! You need to stock up on potions and take down even one more monster to make a profit! If you don’t buy now, you’ll regret it forever!”
“Come on, mister. Even if people are crowded here, how can you double the price? I come here every day and know the market price. You shouldn’t run a business like this.”
“Yesterday was yesterday, and today is today. If you’re not buying, don’t interfere with other people’s business and move along.”
“Hey, who said I wasn’t buying? Don’t be like that, boss. Cut it down by 30%. I’ll admit that much.”
It was the peak season.
Merchants selling potions at inflated prices and experienced customers bargaining with them!
“Hey, did you hear? Minhyung got a high-grade dagger from the 7th floor early this morning. Let’s make some big money today too!”
“Looking for party members for an 8th-floor attempt! We only need one healer and we’ll leave immediately!”
People excited by their acquaintances’ lucky drops and Awakeners trying to challenge higher floors without missing this opportunity.
“Wow, I knew there would be a lot of people… but this is crazy.”
For the three days that the swamp’s blessing of abundance was active, the plaza was packed with people trying to make as much money as possible.
The number of people was at least three times higher than usual.
Considering that most Awakeners didn’t even come this far and simply used the Tower’s system to move directly to the Tower waiting rooms, this was an incredible number.
‘If it’s this crowded here, the 1st-floor waiting room must be overflowing.’
Among all those people, countless strange smells mixed together.
‘So this was the smell I noticed since morning.’
Until now, I wasn’t sure, but after coming here, I was certain.
The strange smell I had been sensing since this morning was probably because of the new skill I obtained last night, ‘Delicious Smell.’
‘First my shadow started moving by itself, and now I can smell strange things too…’
Honestly, after my shadow started moving on its own, being able to smell things wasn’t even that surprising.
The real question was why it worked outside the Tower.
‘Healing didn’t work outside, though. So what’s the standard?’
The only guess I could make was this.
The two skills that worked outside the Tower both had the prefix ‘Shadow’ from my unique ability, ‘Shadow Mimic.’
‘Delicious Smell was also included in the Shadow Devouring trait. Wait… if that’s true…’
Then that meant—
‘Shadow Mimic works too.’
If that was true, it was quite a major discovery.
What if I met a high-ranking player in reality, someone I normally couldn’t even encounter because they were on a completely different level, and stepped on their shadow?
‘This is worth testing.’
There were still countless questions.
Some abilities worked outside the Tower, while others did not.
But one thing had become certain.
‘…I absolutely cannot register as an Awakener.’
It wasn’t just about attracting jealousy because of a special skill.
At this rate, people would ask, ‘What is he? Why can he use skills outside the Tower?’
And they might even dissect me to find out.
‘Well, I’ll figure it out one thing at a time.’
I put those questions aside for now and focused on the smells passing through my nose.
People wearing equipment that looked like it came straight out of a medieval fantasy movie were walking around the plaza in downtown Seoul.
Just by looking at their equipment, I could roughly guess what kind of skills they had.
But now those things were strangely connected to the smell coming from each person.
‘For example…’
A warrior who had just passed right in front of me.
With a huge shield on his back and thick iron armor covering his entire body, before I gained this ability, I probably would have only guessed, ‘He’s a tank focused on defensive skills.’
But I smelled a strong scent of blood.
‘He’s definitely not a tank. He’s closer to a knight or a warrior. Did he store his weapon in his inventory because it was dangerous, or maybe left it somewhere for repairs?’
Beside him, a woman walking in step with him wore a ridiculous pointed hat and a brown robe.
Anyone could tell she was a mage.
Originally, that was all I would have been able to see.
‘She’s a fire magic Awakener.’
But now, I felt like I could even tell what kind of magic she used.
The smell of burning was the proof.
Rather than unpleasant, it smelled like freshly dried firewood burning.
I didn’t know if it could be called a delicious smell, but it definitely wasn’t a bad smell.
‘For a skill called Delicious Smell, there aren’t many things like this.’
Just as I was thinking that, a sweet smell came from somewhere.
It was similar to a fruit fragrance, but something I had never smelled before.
“…Hmm?”
Behind the strong sweetness that seemed to tempt people, there was another faint smell hidden.
A cold, fishy scent.
Something that seemed like it would come from a reptile.
It was another smell I had never encountered before, and my curiosity naturally made me follow it.
At the end of that scent was a man wearing a perfectly neat black suit.
‘He’s going to climb the Tower dressed like that?’
In a place where someone wearing a suit looked stranger than someone wearing plate armor.
Judging from his atmosphere, I could roughly guess.
‘He practically looks like he has “I’m from the Tower Disaster Management Headquarters” written on him.’
Only one day had passed.
I never expected Tower Disaster Management Headquarters personnel to appear this quickly.
‘It seems like this matter is becoming bigger than I expected…’
I slightly turned my gaze.
There wasn’t just one or two people dressed similarly.
I could see four or five of them immediately.
They were moving around the plaza, talking to everyone without discrimination—both merchants and Awakeners.
The conversation topic was obvious.
They were probably asking about the owner of the EX-rank achievement.
‘If I stay here, they’ll probably talk to me sooner or later.’
I was about to quietly leave when someone called out to me.
“Hey! You’re here at the perfect time! Sihyun!”
It was the owner of the general store, Mr. Jung, waving at me with a bright smile.
The agent had already noticed me too.
It was too late to avoid him.
‘If I leave now, it’ll look even stranger. I’ll just face it head-on.’
There was no reason to be afraid.
‘They said there were dozens of swamp dungeons opened yesterday. How would they find me?’
From what I had investigated, yesterday’s kidnapping event was basically this.
Random people were kidnapped, grouped into teams of four or five, and trapped in different rooms.
No matter which room they were thrown into, the objective was the same.
The ‘Ruler of the Swamp.’
We were simply thrown into one of countless rooms.
Unless I stepped forward, raised my hand, and shouted, ‘Ah, everyone, it’s me! I’m the owner of the Blessing of Abundance!’
There was no way they would find me.
I composed myself and approached Mr. Jung first.
“Hello, Mr. Jung.”
“Oh, Sihyun! Yesterday, I was worried because you got dragged into the Tower and didn’t come out for so long. I’m relieved to see you’re fine. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Since he was someone I normally greeted often, I could feel that his concern was genuine.
“Yes. I was dragged in together with one of my regular Awakener customers, so thanks to him, I was able to come back safely.”
“That’s a relief. Really, that’s a relief.”
At that moment, the man in the black suit cleared his throat.
“Ahem.”
“Oh my, look at me. Sihyun, this is…”
“It’s fine, sir. I’ll introduce myself.”
With a powerful and clear voice, the man in the suit took out his identification card.
“I am Lee Dohyun, team leader of Field Team 2 from the Tower Disaster Management Headquarters. I heard you survived the forced summoning incident yesterday. If it isn’t too much trouble, may I ask you a few questions?”
“Yes, of course. Please feel free.”
“I’d like to ask what happened inside. What was it like?”
“Ah, I really thought I was going to die. Luckily, the Awakener brother who was captured with me was extremely experienced, so I barely survived thanks to him. Ugh, the goblins were scary enough, but the boss was really…”
A response I came up with using all my quick thinking.
I even shivered as if I didn’t want to think about it again.
“I see. You really went through a lot. Thank you for your efforts. May I ask one more thing? Did you awaken after entering?”
Maybe that was why the kidnapping event was also called the new Awakener entry event.
It wasn’t easy for ordinary people to survive after being kidnapped.
But if they did survive, about 80% of them awakened.
I was the same.
“Ah, yes. I awakened as a healer inside. I was lucky.”
“Oh, awakening as a rare healer. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. But why are government officials here all the way at this place? Are you looking for that person from yesterday… the one called the ‘owner of abundance’?”
“Yes, as you guessed. Protecting and managing that person’s safety is currently our top priority. Did you happen to see anyone who stood out inside, or does anyone come to mind?”
“Unfortunately, no. I was too busy trying to survive myself.”
The questions continued for a while, but it seemed like he decided the conversation wasn’t very useful.
The other person clearly wanted to end it quickly.
Of course, I welcomed that too.
“Yes, then thank you for taking the time. I hope you have a safe climb.”
He bowed slightly and stepped away.
Or at least, he tried to.
I stopped him.
“Ah, wait a moment!”
“Yes? Is there something else?”
I stepped forward and firmly stepped on his shadow.
Immediately, a message window appeared before my eyes.
[New shadow contact detected.]
[Target: Awakener ‘Lee Dohyun’]
[Unique Ability ‘Shadow Mimic’ activated.]
As expected.
‘Oh, it works.’
Even in reality, if I consciously stepped on someone’s shadow, the skill activated.
“Could you leave me a business card or contact information?”
“Yes… well, that isn’t difficult. Did something come to mind?”
“No, not really. Just in case I learn anything later, so I can contact you. I’m technically a companion from the same incident, right? You never know. Maybe our paths will cross again.”
Only then did he smile slightly and hand me a business card.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
I smiled back and accepted it.
“No problem.”
Thank you for your cooperation.
That was exactly what I should say.
‘Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Lee Dohyun.’
I’ll make good use of your skill.
After shaking off the Tower Disaster Management Headquarters agent, I met Mr. Kim nearby for a moment.
There was something I had asked him to prepare beforehand.
“Oh, Awakener Kim Sihyun. Here, it’s what you asked for.”
Mr. Kim took out a dagger from his clothes and handed it to me.
It was the same dagger I used yesterday to cut my arm in the swamp.
“Thank you. I’ll use it carefully and return it.”
“Forget it. It’s not even expensive. Just consider it a gift for awakening.”
“No, no. I can’t do that.”
It had a rough appearance and no special effects, but the blade itself was well-made.
Even something like this would cost hundreds of thousands of won.
I couldn’t just accept it.
“Stop talking and take it.”
“It’s too much for a gift. I’ll use it well and return…”
“Ah, whatever! Anyway, I gave it to you. Sell it, use it, buy something else with the money—do whatever you want. I’m leaving!”
“Brother!”
And then Mr. Kim ran away as if escaping.
Watching his back disappear, I let out a helpless laugh.
“…I guess returning it is impossible now.”
Anyway, my preparations were complete.
Although I could summon a portal and go straight to the Tower, I had achieved my reason for coming here, so I immediately headed inside.
“Whoa… there are even more people here.”
Just as expected, the 1st-floor waiting room was packed with people.
The number easily surpassed the crowd gathered in the plaza.
But the place was so enormous that it still didn’t feel crowded.
‘If necessary, I could probably live here. Though I don’t know if the Tower would allow that.’
I put aside that strange thought and pushed through the crowd until I arrived in front of the portal leading to the 1st-floor field.
‘First, take out the weapon…’
The only piece of equipment among the rewards I received yesterday.
An old and corroded long sword.
I planned to try using this.
‘An EX-rank reward gave me only one piece of equipment… and it’s described as old and corroded. There’s definitely something about it.’
Above all, its appearance was unusual.
A single-edged curved sword with a dull dark-colored blade made from an unknown material.
The system simply categorized it as a ‘long sword,’ but when I first saw it, the first thing that came to mind was a Japanese katana.
But looking closer, it was slightly different.
‘It looks more like something I’ve seen in historical dramas. Was it called a hwandō?’
There was no way something like this was simply an ‘old and corroded long sword.’
So, as someone whose skill was originally blacksmithing, I tried fixing it in my own way last night.
I wrapped new leather around the worn handle, removed the rust, and sharpened the blade again.
While doing that, my suspicion turned into certainty.
‘The balance of this sword is incredible.’
I didn’t know much about blacksmithing.
But from someone who had at least watched and handled metal from the side, I decided to bet that this sword had some hidden potential.
‘If things go wrong, I still have the dagger Brother Kim gave me.’
The dagger I originally planned to borrow…
It was my insurance.
I would know the true value of the sword once I tested it in battle.
With that, I took a large step forward.
[Leaving the waiting room and entering the 1st-floor mission area.]
[Warning: All actions inside the Tower may result in fatal consequences. All responsibility belongs to the Awakener themselves. Do you still wish to challenge it?]
Of course.
“Challenge.”
