Chapter 164.

[Player ‘Nayunjajangman’ has sent you a friend request . ]

I was taken aback .

How did he send me a friend request? Didn’t I block people from sending me friend requests through the public forum?

A sudden suspicion sank into my heart .

“Erm… . ”

I hesitated for a moment, but soon I accepted the request .

Ding—

As soon as I accepted the friend request, Nayunjajangman messaged me .

「Hyung-nim! What happened? I heard you made 20000TP!」

Looking at his message, I checked my system setting once again .

[Allow friend requests through the public forum (OFF)]

It was still the same . Knowing that things could get annoying after having my name spread in the third tutorial, I had the friend request option blocked . As a result, Players couldn’t send friend requests to me unless they were within a 20-meter range of me at some point .

「Hey, how did you add me as a friend?」

I messaged Nayunjajangman as a strange feeling began to rise up within me .

「ㅋㅋ I think we passed by each other in the third tutorial . I saw Hyung-nim’s name in my List of Encountered Players . 」

「You’re also in the highest difficulty?」

「Yes ㅋㅋ」

“…Eh?”

I took my eyes off the chat window for a moment . My neck suddenly began to hurt .

I needed time to think .

Only 50 people had cleared the third tutorial, and of those 50, Nayunjajangman was one of them .

Nayunjajangman .

Even though he always said ‘hyung-nim’ and talked like a man, the first two characters of his name had always bugged me .

Was it just a coincidence?

Or was it part of the fate that I changed?

「Hyung-nim, how did you make so much TP? I have mad respect for you . 」

I closed the chat window and typed ‘ImGosu’ in the public forum .

[There is no comment or post under that Player name . ]

There was nothing .

Next, I typed ‘Nayunjajangman’ .

—Anyone clear the highest difficulty tutorial?

—The highest difficulty tutorial is filled with scammers . Be careful, everyone . Pickpockets here can also steal money from your inventory .

—Yep, I got 150TP stolen from my inventory while walking in broad daylight .

—Also, there are thugs all over the dark alleyways . They’re clearly gunning to steal your money .

—I don’t know if the hardest difficulty tutorial has any benefit .

—ㅋㅋ I really am in the highest difficulty tutorial .

—Screw off if you don’t want to believe me .

—Fuck you too~

Reading through his comments and posts, cold sweat began to form on my forehead .

I pushed my hair back .

A chill went down my spine, and my head became hot .

With trembling hands, I tapped on the holographic keyboard .

「It just happened . 」

「You just happened to make 20000TP…? Hyung-nim, are you really Vast Expanse? I’m a big fan of him . 」

After a bit of back and forth, I asked a seemingly random question .

「By the way, are you really a guy?」

「?? Why? That was kinda sudden . 」

「Just asking . You know, your name is jajangman . Are you supposed to be a Chinese restaurant? How did a Chinese restaurant clear the highest difficulty tutorial? 」

「ㅋㅋㅋ I’ll tell you when we meet . Like I said before, I think we’re going to meet one day . 」

Nayunjajangman avoided the question .

I didn’t dig into it too much . I was afraid that the suspicion I had was real .

He sent me a few more messages after that, but I told him I was busy and exited the conversation .

At that moment, Boss messaged me .

Boss: 「Newbie . 」

「Yes? What’s up?」

Boss: 「Do you have anything to eat?」

「ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Didn’t you say you had food? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ」

I was laughing in the chat, but in reality, my expression was stiff . I subconsciously touched my mouth . It was hard and cold .

Boss: 「W-Well, the Player Shop has bento boxes for sale . 」

Boss: 「I just thought I shouldn’t waste TP on bento boxes . 」

「Oh, okay, hold on a second . I’ll invite Boss to my place . We can eat together . 」

Boss: 「Ok . 」

I sent Boss an invitation . Then, I sat on the edge of my bed and sighed . It was nice that Boss was coming over since I didn’t want to be alone .

…But even after a long time, Boss didn’t come to my waiting room .

15 minutes later, a message arrived .

Boss: 「How do I use the invitation letter?」

“… . ”

「Just take it out of your inventory and rip it in half . If there’s anything else you don’t know, you can just ask the system . 」

Boss: 「Ah ㅋ okay!」

Soon, a light flashed inside my waiting room and Boss appeared . She stood imposingly with her eyes closed, then slowly opened her eyes .

“…?”

Her eyes widened .

“W-Where is this?”

“It’s my waiting room . ”

“…What?”

Marble tiles, a comfy couch and bed, a storage closet made using the wooden flooring I pulled out, a wooden table, tableware, etc…

It was probably very different from Boss’ empty waiting room .

“You know how it is, I like decorating things . Wait just a moment . I’ll cook something for you . ”

**

[The final bid has been completed . ]

“Yes!”

Rachel clenched her fists .

After three hours of fierce battle, she managed to obtain the [Lv . 3 Gargoyle Leather Armor (J – White Order)] . Happiness rose up from the depths of her heart .

She considered this a strategic victory . She had raised the bid by 500TP 30 seconds before the end of the auction, causing other Players to be too shocked to bid any higher .

“Huu, huu . ”

Rachel collected her thoughts and calmed herself down . The coldness that made her shiver had disappeared a long time ago .

[‘Lv . 3 Gargoyle Leather Armor (J – White Order)’ will be transferred to Player CaptainBritain’s personal waiting room . ]

Shoong—

Soon, a cluster of light descended from the ceiling of her waiting room and changed into the Gargoyle Leather Armor .

Rachel quickly ran up to it and held it up .

The black leather armor was incredibly light and elegant . She especially liked the white symbols engraved on the leather .

“Hehe…”

‘Good purchase, good purchase . ’

Rachel stared at the armor joyfully, then carefully put it on .

[To facilitate the trading of equipment, the size of equipment will be adjusted to fit your body . ]

The slightly big armor shrunk to fit Rachel tightly . It was so light that it felt like she wasn’t wearing anything .

Plus, she didn’t need to tie the strings together in the front of the leather armor .

As though they were polarized, they came together like magnets and tied themselves together automatically .

“Oho~”

Rachel hummed happily as she looked at herself through the mirror in the waiting room . Then, she entered the Community, looking to brag .

[Whoa ㅋㅋ the Lv . 3 armor got sold for 3000TP]

—Isn’t that too much?

—Much be someone who’s rich . I’d pay that for a Lv . 4 armor, but not Lv . 3 .

“…You’re just jealous . ”

Rachel pouted and commented .

—It’s actually very cheap considering the tutorial just ended .

ㄴ Are you the one who bought it?

ㄴ No .

ㄴDon’t you remember what you had to go through to earn 1000TP? 3000TP is a lot .

“Ehew . ”

Rachel shook her head . As far as she was concerned, she actually bought the armor cheap . Unwilling to comment any further, she moved on to the next post .

[What is everyone using their TP for?]

—I bought some furniture for my waiting room, a bed and a blanket . Oh, and some bento boxes .

ㄴIt’s the same for me . It’s too hard sleeping on a wooden board . I think it was money well spent .

—How’s the Player Shop’s bento box?

ㄴThe 5TP one is trash, but the 10TP is actually pretty good .

Seeing the comments, Rachel felt a bit proud . She was able to buy the Lv . 3 armor precisely because she gave up on having comfort in her waiting room .

[In 10 minutes, you will be moved to the Tower’s 2nd floor . ]

[From the 2nd floor, the system’s help will decrease . ]

“Sunshine . ”

A system window popped up .

Rachel called her wind elemental, Sunshine, who became a lot smaller after entering the Tower .

—Yeeeah?

“Get ready . ”

—Okay~

Sunshine entered Rachel’s leather armor . As expected, the combination of wind and leather was good .

Feeling her body becoming lighter, Rachel prepared to enter the second floor .

**

[Lv . 3 Gargoyle’s Leather Armor has been sold for 3000TP . ]

[You will receive 2700TP after a 10% deduction . ]

[You obtained 3 auction house trust points . Your trust level will increase to grade-9 with 7 more trust points . ]

“Oh? That much?”

I was shocked when I saw the amount . I even double checked to make sure I wasn’t seeing things . My inventory really had an extra 2700TP .

“I guess people don’t know the market price because it’s still so early . ”

Of course, there were NPCs that bought Lv . 3 armor for 3000TP . But that was only because I was selling in the highest difficulty level Tutorial Town . Naturally, NPCs in Tutorial Towns possessed more TP with higher level difficulty .

However, Lv . 3 items were common outside the tutorial . It might not be the case now, but it would become common soon . In fact, they were easily acquirable starting from the 3rd floor . That said, the armor I made was most likely the best Lv . 3 armor around .

“Was it Jain?”

In the auction house, the buyer’s name and the seller’s name both remained anonymous .

I promptly messaged Jain to ask, and she immediately replied, ‘I’m not interested in such a thing’ .

“Then who was it?”

Was there someone else who could use 3000TP so easily?

While I was pondering, a system alert popped up .

[In 10 minutes, you will be moved to the Tower’s 2nd floor . ]

[From the 2nd floor, the system’s help will decrease . ]

“Ah, it’s starting soon . Boss, wake up!”

I shook Boss who was sleeping on my bed . However, she grabbed the blanket tightly and refused to get up .

“It’s time to leave, Boss . ”

“…Uaaauu . ”

“What?”

“Auuuii…”

“What?”

I yanked the blanket out .

Koong .

Boss fell on the ground with the blanket . Only after slamming her head on the ground did she open her eyes and scratch her head .

“Mm, mmm… your bed is very nice… . ”

“Get ready . ”

I began to do exactly that .

I wore the [Lv . 4 Black Messiah’s Horrible Suit], put the [Lv . 3 Temperature Control Robe] over my body, equipped the [Lv . 2 Protection Mask] on my face, wore [Lv . 3 Utility Footwear] on each foot, and put a [Lv . 3 Ice-attribute Dagger] made with frozentium on the holster around my thigh .

“Now this is what you call overgeared . ”

Using materials from Random Dice, Stigma’s magic power, and Dexterity, I was fully loaded with various equipment .

[Desert Eagle (firepower restriction: 60%)]

—A portion of the restriction (10%) will be lifted when you reach the 3rd floor .

—A portion of the restriction (20%) will be lifted when you reach the 5th floor .

—A portion of the restriction (30%) will be lifted when you reach the 7th floor .

Even with restricted firepower, I had great confidence in my Desert Eagle .

“Ooh…”

Feeling a gaze on me, I turned around and saw Boss staring at me with envious eyes .

“Oh right, there’s something for you too, Boss . ”

“Oh?!”

Boss shot up in surprise .

“Really?!”

“Yes . ”

“Hahaha, I see that you treat your boss with respect . So, what is it?”

Boss walked up to me with a hearty laugh . I took out a black robe from my inventory . Thanks to Aether, it was quite beautifully designed .

“How is it?”

“Mm, I like it . It’s very good . ”

Boss put it on with a satisfied smile . She even pulled the hood over her head .

A system message popped up at the perfect timing .

[You will now be moved to the 2nd floor . ]

[Please prepare yourself . ]

**

Whoosh—

With the feeling of being carried away by wind, my feet touched the 2nd floor’s land .

It was the start of the Tower of Wish’s real stages .

I opened my eyes . Boss was standing next to me . Us and 2000 others were gathered in a huge field . They stared at each other in surprise and soon began to look for their companions .

“Where are Jain and Gyeong?”

“Let me see… oh, they’re there . ”

I pointed behind us . Jain and Cheok Jungyeong were together, and it wasn’t hard to spot Cheok Jungyeong in a crowd .

“Let’s go . ”

“Yes . ”

We walked up to them .

“Oh~ Boss and Newbie~ Hi~”

“Hey . ”

Just like how we gathered, hundreds of groups began to form .

“Hello—”

At that moment, a man appeared on the other side of the field . His wide hair, unique clothes, and ringing voice distinguished him from other Players .

“My name is Luke . I am the administrator of the 2nd floor . ”

He only gave a simple self-introduction . However, his voice echoed out across the entire field .

“Nice to meet you . ”

Luke bowed lightly . His respectful tone, formality, and mystical voice captured the attention of all Players .

“I’d love to talk to each and every one of you, but unfortunately, we don’t have time . I will cut straight to the main topic . ”

Luke received the gazes of countless Players and pointed into the distance .

“As you can see… the 2nd floor of the Tower is chaotic . It is filled with all sorts of frightening aspects of nature . ”

As the administrator said, the 2nd floor’s scenery was chaos itself . There was no way to tell if a region was supposed to be a jungle or a forest, a volcano or a glacier, or a swamp or a marshland .

I widened my eyes and peered into the distance .

In an instant, my Thousand-Mile Eyes pierced through dense leaves and traveled forward . However, this floor’s strange mixture of land wasn’t something a grade-7 Thousand-Mile Eyes could comprehend .

—Interesting .

—An impossible terrain…

Other Players didn’t seem all too surprised . In fact, they might be thinking that it was average for a Tower of this magnitude .

“Your goal is simple . Pave through this chaotic nature filled with traps and monsters and find the elevator to the 3rd floor . ”

As Luke continued his speech, I looked around my surroundings .

I was looking for one person – Jin Sahyuk .

However, I couldn’t find her and instead, I found someone else I was familiar with .

A girl with blonde hair that shines like gold and beautiful facial features .

But rather than her appearance, the armor that she had caught my attention .

“Vice-leader, where did you get that armor?”

“Oh… it’s nothing . ”

“It’s so pretty . ”

“Huhu, it’s really nothing special . ”

Contrary to what Rachel was saying, she stood proudly and imposingly .

So Rachel was the pushover who bought my armor…

I wanted to go say hi to her, but I couldn’t because members of the Chameleon Troupe were next to me .

“There are 10 elevators hidden in the 2nd floor . ”

Meanwhile, Luke’s explanation continued .

“Each elevator can hold 50 people, which is quite a lot . Unfortunately, they are very slow . Each elevator takes 8 hours to travel back and forth . In other words, once the elevator departs, it will not come down for the next 8 hours . ”

In other words, many Players would be staying on this floor for a long time .

In reality, it didn’t matter all that much . Entering the 3rd floor early didn’t have any benefits . In fact, it was better to go there later .

“That is all . ”

The 3rd floor was the first ‘residential area’ Players had access to . However, it was in extremely poor conditions, so much so that staying in this floor’s nature could be a better choice .

“Oh, I’m sure you all know this by now, but I will explain it once again . When your vitality falls below zero on the 2nd floor, you will have to start over from the tutorial . ”

After finishing his explanation with a small smile, Luke sat down under the shade of a tree and began to read a book .

—What are you going to do?

—We don’t have much of a choice .

—Shouldn’t we hold a meeting first?

—I don’t see the need for it . Looks like we only have to find the elevators .

Players quickly left . They clearly didn’t want to stay in this strange place for too long .

“How interesting . We should hurry up too . ”

Cheok Jungyeong spoke . However, I didn’t follow them .

“You guys can go ahead . ”

“Eh?”

“What are you going to do?”

I gave a simple reply .

“I have something to do . ”

“…I see . ”

“Don’t worry, I’ll chase after you soon . ”

“Mm… if it’s you, I’m sure it’ll be fine . Alright, we’ll go ahead . ”

Boss, Jain, and Cheok Jungyeong went on ahead . They’d chosen to go north .

After watching other Players leave one by one, I climbed a zelkova tree . It was to locate Jin Sahyuk from a higher vantage point .

“Hu, I should be able to see everyone from here . ”

By the time I arrived at the peak of the tree…

“Yeah, you should . ”

“…?”

Someone replied to my murmuring .

A chill ran down my back immediately .

With shock and surprise, I turned to the right side where the voice came from .

Amidst the leaves, a man I had met once before was staring at me .

“Hello~”

“… . ”

A handsome man resembling Legolas .

Jin Sahyuk’s acquaintance .

He appeared out of nowhere and placed his hand on my shoulder .

“Are you looking for someone?”

I quickly jumped down from the tree .

Legolas also followed suit .

Tak .

Both of us landed lightly .

“Good landing~”

The man applauded .

I took a deep breath . I was tense to the point my tongue was freezing, but I knew I didn’t need to be scared . Inside the Tower of Wish, I shouldn’t lose to anyone .

I walked forward silently .

“Oi, you should answer when someone asks you a question . I’ll ask again . Are you looking for someone?”

He chased after me .

Huu .

After a brief sigh, I stopped walking . Then, I turned around .

“Yeah . ”

“Who?”

I didn’t know if he was really expecting me to tell him, but I did so anyway .

“Your companion . ”

“My companion… oh, the girl who fought you before in Busan?”

The man asked with a voice full of interest .

“Yeah . ”

“Why?”

“…Do you really need to ask?”

I took down my hood . By the looks of it, he already knew who I was .

“I’m looking for her so I can kill her . ”

“…”

In an instant, the man’s expression turned stiff .

I took out my gun from my holster . The Legolas look-a-like, a man who didn’t exist in my setting, glared at me .

But soon, he regained his smile .

“Iya~ so cool . Unfortunately, you’re going to have to put that off for a bit . ”

I furrowed my brows without replying .

The man grinned .

“You see, I stole her ticket . I used it instead of her . ”

“…What?”

“Her black ticket, I used it . I even got something called a bonus skill because of it . Want me to show you?”

I was completely taken aback . Considering that he mentioned getting a bonus skill, it didn’t seem like he was lying .

“Oh… well, I see . ”

I quickly regained my composure .

It didn’t matter all that much . Although it might have been delayed a bit, Jin Sahyuk would undoubtedly enter the Tower of Wish, and I could always kill her then .

“In that case—”

Right when I was about to say something…

Chweeek—

Puuk .

Something sharp or blunt struck me from the back . Was it a dagger? An arrow? Or a club?

I couldn’t tell because I didn’t feel anything, not even pain .

Was this the power of a Lv . 4 armor?

“…What’s this?”

I found a dagger lying on the ground .

[Lv . 1 Well-sharpened Dagger]

A blade without a handle .

Seeing this dagger, I realized that I was attacked .

“Oh~ sorry, sorry . My companion must have gotten angry . She likes Sahyuk a lot, you see . ”

“…That’s good to know . ”

“Sorry, I only told her to stand by and watch . ”

“You don’t have to feel sorry . ”

I raised my gun . It was extremely easy for me to pinpoint the location of the attacker using the trajectory of the dagger .

Above a needleleaf tree in the north .

I fired my gun in that direction .

—Uk!

Soon, a short scream rang out along with the sound of something heavy falling on the ground .

“If you’re going to feel sorry about something, you shouldn’t do it in the first place, right?”

I muttered .

I even added a confident smile .

Inside the Tower of Wish, especially at the earlier stages, I simply had no confidence in losing no matter who I fought .

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