It had been twenty years since the Black Tower was erected.

A smooth cylindrical shape, an exterior painted black—its height was enormous, and even its sheer scale was on a different level from ordinary high-rise buildings and skyscrapers.

Each country in the world had one, or up to three.

The Republic of Korea had one.

Its location was a low mountain in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province.

When the towers first appeared overnight out of nowhere,

militaries from each country deployed, and scientists and the media gathered, to find out what they were.

But no one could get close to the tower.

You could see it, but you were physically blocked.

As if it did not permit human entry.

It was the same from the sky.

What the hell was that?

Why did it appear?

Until Players appeared, no one knew.

The fact they learned once Players appeared.

The tower existed to be climbed.

By who?

Obviously, Players.

People who gained the qualification to enter the tower.

The number of Players compared to the total population was estimated at 0.01% to 0.02%.

Out of Earth’s population of 7,000,000,000, about 700,000 to 1,500,000 people.

In the Republic of Korea, out of 50,000,000 people, about 5,000 to 10,000.

Only Players could ignore the constraints of time and space, and enter and exit the tower whenever and wherever they pleased.

When they went into the tower?

They carried out the mission given on each floor.

Tower climbing was like a game.

Inside the tower, Players climbed while carrying out harsh missions based on powerful abilities and skills.

Basically, Players were independent.

Party climbing or cooperative climbing was impossible.

It was built so you simply could not do it.

Even if you were on the same floor performing the same mission, your phase diverged.

You never met each other inside the tower.

Alone, without anyone’s help.

A single Player could decide a nation’s fate.

If you succeeded in a mission, you received a reward.

In the real world.

The Magic Stones they brought back became an essential resource the current industry could not do without.

The higher you climbed, the bigger the rewards.

But no one knew how many floors the tower had.

The country that had climbed the highest was the United States—Floor 66. It had two towers, and it had succeeded in clearing Floor 66 on both.

Korea’s climbing speed was also quite solid.

It had reached Floor 65.

One floor behind the United States.

Then why did you have to climb?

Did you really need to keep going up?

It wasn’t only for rewards.

If the uncleared upper floors were not climbed, the tower collapsed.

The time limit was roughly about six months.

Within that time, some Player had to climb to an uncleared upper floor.

If the upper floors weren’t updated?

[Notice : The Black Tower climb in △△ Country is sluggish.]

[Notice : The Tower Collapse Countdown is activated.]

[Notice : Upon successful climb of an uncleared upper floor, the countdown stops.]

And then, at last—

[Notice : The Black Tower of △△ Country collapses.]

Tower Collapse.

An immense catastrophe.

It wasn’t only the tower that fell.

The ground of the entire city where the tower stood split apart, magma erupted, gigantic sinkholes formed everywhere, and an entire city vanished.

India was like that three years ago.

India had three towers.

New Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai.

Among them, the Mumbai Black Tower climb stopped on Floor 43, and at the point about 180 days had passed, it happened.

More than ten million people died, and now Mumbai became a city that no longer existed.

It didn’t end just because one disappeared.

A new tower surged up in Chennai, India.

So India still had three Black Towers.

It collapsed, and then it formed again.

And so tower climbing became an issue national governments dealt with directly.

The nation created and managed a separate “ELITE TOWER CLIMBING TEAM.”

There wasn’t much a nation could do for tower climbing—

providing support for items you could take into the tower, taking care of a Player’s mental state, obtaining strategy information and informing them.

Either way, the only people who could enter the tower were Players.

Outside the tower, they were ordinary people, so they also needed personal protection.

Players also had a climbing time limit.

If you didn’t enter the tower for more than three months, your qualification was canceled.

So the nation was desperate to secure and manage talented Players.

※ ※ ※

Bong Juhyeok finished even his barbecue restaurant part-time shift and returned home.

He’d said in advance he’d take tomorrow off.

He’d called the convenience store owner too.

“I’ll try going into the tower.”

He would just take a little taste.

He’d just take a taste.

If it turned out to be too much, he’d back out.

And if he did nothing for three months, it would all quietly go away.

[General Skills] : Enter Tower (1 time per day)/ Tower-Only Inventory

Since he’d made up his mind anyway, he would get it over with now.

He’d researched in advance what Floor 1 was like.

The mission was monster extermination.

The defense was pretty high, but the attack power was almost nonexistent, they said.

You just beat it to death and that was it.

It was tough so it didn’t die easily, but—

“Alright, then...”

Wait.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

Did he have to summon the insane assassin John Cossack?

Wasn’t there a better direction?

Summoning someone else with a proper head on their shoulders, not John Cossack.

Who knew?

Maybe a Legend Special Super Rare rank would pop.

Good.

He would try it first, then worry.

One more Random Summon.

But—

[Random Summon is not possible.]

[Random Summon cooldown remaining: 28 days 11 hours 08 minutes 37 seconds.]

“...There was a cooldown?”

By guess, about a month.

Whereas John Cossack’s Designated Summon was three hours.

That made sense.

There wasn’t even any currency cost, so if there were no cooldown, you could spam pulls until you got a good rank.

He should just call Cossack.

SR, Super Rare, wasn’t that an excellent rank?

He wouldn’t know Juhyeok tried to summon someone else, right?

He hoped he didn’t.

Then—

“John Cossack, Designated Summon!”

WHOOOSH! SNAP!

This time too, the message to rate satisfaction appeared.

[Before Designated Summon, please leave a Satisfaction Rating for John Cossack.]

Since he felt sorry, a perfect 5.

[John Cossack has been designated-summoned.]

“Summoner Bong, thank you for 5 stars, sir. Loyalty! Just give the order, sir.”

Ahhh!

To think he was this polite.

“I decided. We’re going into the tower.”

“Ooooh! Already? You’re brave, sir. ...Ah, no, I take that back, sir. You must not be brave, sir.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to taste just a little and pull out.”

“As expected, you are wise, sir. Once you enter the tower, don’t even wiggle a finger, sir. I will drive comfortably and safely, sir.”

John Cossack rubbed his palms together, fawning.

Juhyeok nodded, satisfied.

He wouldn’t know, right?

That until a moment ago, Juhyeok had been trying to summon someone else.

He’d feel bad if he knew.

“Shall we go? Oh—right! We can enter together from here, right?”

“Oh, absolutely, we go together, sir. I am Summoner Bong’s tool and hunting dog, sir. Heh heh.”

Yeah?

Then, well—

Enter Tower.

The current time was 11 p.m.

The entry cooldown reset by day.

Meaning even if he entered now, once an hour passed and it turned 12 a.m., he could enter again.

But did he need to be that diligent?

[Do you want to enter the Black Tower of the Republic of Korea?]

[The floor you can currently enter is Floor 1.]

Of course—

“Floor 1.”

SNAP!

From Bong Juhyeok’s one-room apartment,

he and John Cossack disappeared at the same time.

※ ※ ※

[Entering the Black Tower (Korea), Floor 1.]

He finally entered.

At the same time, system messages rose in a stream.

[Physical abilities have been enhanced to match your level.]

[Trait and Combat Skills are available.]

Automatic physical enhancement...

He did feel stronger, though only slightly.

Even if he was only Level 1.

“I will move, sir. Please follow, sir.”

The entrance was a safe zone.

To receive a mission, you had to go farther inside.

Then when the mission popped up, the clear began.

DING!

[Floor 1 Mission : Defeat 5 Tough-Hide Fat Grubs.]

[Completion Time Limit : Within 2 hours.]

[Completion Condition : Tough-Hide Fat Grub 0/5]

[Failure Condition : Death or Mission Forfeit]

The mission was a simple monster extermination.

But for Juhyeok, it wasn’t simple at all.

“Haa...”

His worries piled up like a mountain.

He had to catch grubs?

A wasteland terrain with not a single blade of grass.

Grubs crawling around everywhere, inching along.

They were as big as a pet dog you raised in your house.

He couldn’t even tell which side was the front.

They had no arms and legs, no eyes, no nose, no mouth.

So they would have no means of attack.

Instead—

“It says the hide is tough.”

Meaning they weren’t easy to kill.

And it was true.

From other Players’ experiences, at best it took about thirty minutes per one.

Some Players even failed the mission while floundering.

Well, failing didn’t mean you died.

Floor 1 was a place to test your skills.

Those Tough-Hide Fat Grubs crawling over there were basically a kind of scarecrow.

Could Mr. Cossack do it well?

In general, summoning-trait Players shared levels with their summons.

If Juhyeok was Level 1, John Cossack was Level 1 as well.

But since it was displayed as a separate rank instead of a level, maybe it was different.

“You know the Floor 1 mission, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Then let’s go.”

“Loyalty! I will follow the order, sir.”

POP!

He vanished from that spot.

“Huh?”

Where did he go?

In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of one grub.

“Blade Explosion.”

He threw a dagger heated red.

SWHIP!

THUNK!

BOOM!

The Tough-Hide Fat Grub exploded apart.

“...Wow.”

That easily?

For now, one.

“I will finish quickly, sir.”

The skill John Cossack used.

Once it lodged into the grub’s body, it exploded right there.

SWHIP! THUNK! BOOM! SWHIP! THUNK! BOOM! SWHIP! THUNK! BOOM—

Two, three, four... the fifth and final one—

[Defeated Tough-Hide Fat Grub 5/5]

[You have succeeded in the Floor 1 Mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward : Magic Stone 100g]

After that—

[Notice : You have achieved Clear Rank S++ for Black Tower (Korea), Floor 1.]

[S++ Clear Reward : You are awarded a Platinum Badge.]

“...What is this?”

It was instant.

At minimum, he wasn’t Level 1.

And Clear Rank S++.

There were even grades for clearing?

“It must be good.”

He didn’t know what it was, but it had to be something impressive.

So there were two rewards.

Normally you only got Magic Stones.

“A Platinum Badge...”

What kind of thing was it?

It seemed like it was given for achieving Clear Rank S++.

[You can challenge Floor 2.]

[Exiting the Black Tower (Korea).]

POP!

The environment changed in an instant.

It was Juhyeok’s one-room apartment.

“So I’m home.”

He already cleared the mission and came back?

“How much time passed?”

He entered at 11 p.m.

But now it was 11:03 p.m.

Only three minutes had passed.

About one minute to read the messages on Floor 1.

About one minute to move to the mission area.

The time to actually kill the grubs was... one minute—no, it wouldn’t even have taken a full minute.

“Good work, sir. Heh heh.”

John Cossack smiled brightly.

“I didn’t do anything. I just stood there.”

“That is what you did well, sir.”

“...”

Was this a dream?

SWHIP! THUNK! BOOM! and then POP! and he was back.

“Isn’t it really easy?”

The Status Window showed [Level] : LV2

He’d heard other people ended up wiped out and exhausted by the time they finished beating grubs to death.

He should check whether the rewards came in.

Tower-Only Inventory.

It worked even outside.

However, you could only put in and take out rewards you got from the tower—other things wouldn’t go in.

“...It’s here.”

Magic Stone 100g.

And the Platinum Badge.

It was a real physical badge.

“Am I supposed to pin this to my chest?”

What a joke.

He took the Magic Stone out outside.

A nail-sized shard of stone, glittering.

The current market price for 100g was about 50,000 won.

That was because the price of Magic Stones dropped as the days went by.

In the beginning, it was quite expensive.

Meaning, when humanity first got its hands on things called Magic Stones.

Now there was a lot in circulation.

“The first person to clear must’ve made a fortune.”

He’d heard every tower had a first-clear system.

Players who were the first to complete a floor mission received 10 times the reward, and sometimes as much as 50 times.

And it wasn’t only Magic Stones.

If you completed high-floor missions above Floor 30, bizarre items poured out one after another.

“Still, I earned 50,000 won.”

And in three minutes.

Juhyeok’s face loosened into a grin, and light seemed to shine off Cossack’s face beside him.

“Should we eat some late-night food? What do you like?”

“I eat anything well, sir.”

“How about jokbal?”

“...I-is it fire jokbal, sir?”

“No, garlic jokbal.”

“Garlic is... s-spicy too, sir.”

He was a serious spice wimp.

“Then I’ll order plain front leg.”

“Uheh heh heh, I will eat well, sir. Thank you for your grace, sir.”

Grace over jokbal, seriously.

“But Mr. Cossack.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Do you always talk like that?”

“What part do you mean, sir?”

“No, you keep shortening the endings—‘sir, sir’—I mean, you keep ending everything like that.”

“Th-that’s because I spent a long time with the previous summoner, sir...”

Ah.

Like, in a way, a former boyfriend’s influence?

In this case, a former summoner’s influence.

“If it is uncomfortable to hear, I will fix it, sir.”

“No, once I keep hearing it, it’s funny. Hahahaha!”

“Hehehehe!”

Anyway, he was sure now.

“It’s doable.”

It wasn’t dangerous at all.

Even if it was only Floor 1.

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