Chapter 33: 33

Lee Ju-ho, who was fidgeting on his smartphone, suddenly had a surprised expression on his face .

Lee Ju-ho, who habitually went on Abyss Online on the go to check for updates, got his eyes caught on a post where an awakener introduced himself as the awakener on the 12th floor .

“Already…?”

The awakener who had cleared the 11th floor was moving onward to the 12th, which meant the record on the 12th floor was the ranking from the 11th floor’s trial .

Seated beside Lee Ju-ho, Kim Ba-reun asked, “What? What is it?”

Lee Ju-ho brought his smartphone screen in front of Kim Ba-reun’s eyes .

“Kim Su-hyeun? He has already cleared the 11th-floor trial?”

“Yeah . It looks like Su-hyeun’s record this time was quite insane, too . ”

“They’re really something . Whether it’s this Su-hyeun or the other Su-hyeun, they’re both…” Kim Ba-reun, who wasn’t aware that both Su-hyeuns were actually the same man, shook his head .

His admiration was just for the famous Kim Su-hyeun, the one who had been creating the highest record made in history as he climbed each floor . But the surprise that Lee Ju-ho had was of a different level than Kim Ba-reun’s .

He, on the other hand, had received a call from Su-hyeun yesterday morning .

“I am going to go to the 11th floor of the Tower of Trials . I might be hard to get in contact with for the time being . ”

Reality and the world in the Tower of Trials were totally different . And obviously, it would be impossible to contact anyone from inside the Tower of Trials via smartphone .

Thinking that Lee Ju-ho might have contacted him immediately, Su-hyeun gave him a heads up in advance . No one could tell unless they knew in advance how long it would take to clear a trial or the content of the trial .

But…

Su-hyeun had always cleared the level 10 trials of each floor . It was a kind of identity for the awakener named Kim Su-hyeun . And of course, it was almost impossible to clear such a trial just within a day .

Lee Ju-ho grinned widely and locked his smartphone . He laid back down and spoke . “Head back now if you’re done . I can discharge tomorrow, so don’t be too worried . ” Lee Ju-ho, who was donned in a patient’s outfit and was being admitted to the hospital, waved his hand at Kim Ba-reun, implying that the latter was annoying .

Kim Ba-reun hit his chest at Lee Ju-ho’s reaction, feeling frustrated . “This fool . How did you think of challenging a dungeon when its level was raised?”

“I don’t know either . But it was harder than I had thought, really . ”

“Thankfully, you did not die . Don’t you know? The rule of the Tower of Trials . How big of a difference it is for every floor . ”

Even if it was just a single level difference, the difficulty got exponentially harder as it ascended . Therefore, the higher class awakeners would challenge the lower level trials, but never the higher ones . It was a clear rule for the awakeners to survive .

But Lee Ju-ho had broken that very rule .

“Right . I know that it was suicide, but it just so happened . ”

“Why did you suddenly have a change of heart? You even said so yourself that climbing the Tower of Trials was a stupid thing to do . ”

“I’m not sure . After escaping from death once, my thoughts seemed to have changed . ”

“…You have changed a lot . ”

“I’ll take that as a compliment . And I want to rechallenge it sometime later . ”

“Are you for real?” Kim Ba-reun asked in surprise .

How could he want to rechallenge it after all that? Even if he was lucky enough to have survived that time, he had not actually passed the trial .

He should have returned back to reality by now .

“Yeah . I will continue to challenge it as long as I’m alive . ”

“…What about the dungeon attacks?”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t go together in the future . I think I’ll concentrate on climbing the Tower for the time being . ”

Kim Ba-reun bit his lips tightly after hearing Lee Ju-ho’s response . As he saw the expression on Kim Ba-reun’s face, Lee Ju-ho felt a bitter pang in his heart .

He was the friend who contacted him suddenly one day, saying that he had become an awakener .

In the years that followed, Lee Ju-ho and Kim Ba-reun had gone to dungeon attacks together . And it had been a year since then . But instead of supporting or worrying about Lee Ju-ho, Kim Ba-reun looked disappointed at the fact that they could no longer go on dungeon attacks anymore .

Lee Ju-ho closed his eyes . Kim Ba-reun lastly wished him well and then left the room . Lee Ju-ho felt slightly bitter, but at the same time relieved too .

It was something he had to say either way . In fact, he was also afraid of how his friend would have reacted to it . But now, he would be able to focus on climbing the Tower, like before .

As he recalled the trial which he had challenged the day before, he felt a little frightened . Even so, it was not suitable to be hesitant about challenging the trials .

[Kim Su-hyeun, your 12th-floor trial starts now . ]

Three months later, a yellow level dungeon appeared in Jongro, Seoul . The Ares Guild was being selected as the guild to head the dungeon attack .

“Thanks for the hard work!”

“Thanks for the hard work!”

Tens of awakeners bowed towards one man in the group: the Ares Guild’s master, Jeong Dong-yeong . Jeong Dong-yeong went around patting each awakener in the guild and sent them off .

“Right, you’ve worked hard . Hak-joon stays back, and everyone else should head back for an early rest . ”

“Yes!”

At Jeong Dong-yeong’s orders, the guild members quickly dispersed on the spot . Jeong Dong-yeong and Hak-joon remained and let out exhausted pants while boarding the back seats of a black sedan .

“Is it tiring?”

“This dungeon attack was quite tough . Why didn’t you take an easier one?”

“If I did that, the attack would be too easy . Yellow level dungeons are hard to come by, and it could also be a chance for others to increase their skills . ”

“Someone could die in the midst of it . These days, the death rates of awakeners are increasing, too…”

“If so, that will explain that person’s capabilities . ”

Hak-joon’s expression became slightly twisted after hearing Jeong Dong-yeong’s cold reply .

Jeong Dong-yeong genuinely did not care for the other awakeners’ lives . Had he paid more attention to the dungeon attack as an A-rank awakener, the dungeon attack would have been completed without anyone getting injured .

“I heard that you’re in contact with the kid called Kim Su-hyeun?”

Hak-joon’s face stiffened at Jeong Dong-yeong’s question . Hak-joon had never told Jeong Dong-yeong about it .

“…Yes . ”

“Was he really that Kim Su-hyeun? That guy apparently has gone up to the 15th floor recently . ”

The 15th floor .

It was never a high floor . No, instead, it was a relatively low floor .

Hak-joon was now already on the 28th floor, challenging all the level 8 trials on each floor . But even so, if anyone asked whether Hak-joon was stronger than Kim Su-hyeun, it definitely wasn’t so . All the records Kim Su-hyeun had made up until now on the 15th floor had already surpassed Hak-joon’s records on the 28th floor by a lot .

“If he was that guy…”

“It couldn’t be . ”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes . Haven’t I told you before? Brother…”

“Brother? You’ve got a lot closer to him now, haven’t you?’

Hak-joon could not continue further . No, he thought that he should not answer any further . Whatever his answer was, the consequences would be adverse .

Jeong Dong-yeong grinned at Hak-joon’s stiffened expression .

“Kiddo, what’s with this expression? I was only asking . ”

“It’s nothing . Just…”

“Anyway, if he is the Kim Su-hyeun I know, try to entice him . Even if it fails, that’s fine, too . If you guys are close, isn’t he considered my younger brother as well?”

The Ares Guild was growing bigger as each day passed . Jeong Dong-yeong, too, was quite a capable awakener, and the guild had a lot more awakeners than before . Now, even the guild placed in the higher ranks as well .

“…Yes . I got it . ”

Hak-joon nodded his head while he replied . Hak-joon was quite disturbed by the smartphone in his pocket . As the sedan’s engine started, it started heading somewhere .

It was the next dungeon’s location .

Act 6

[Kim Su-hyeun, the 15th-floor trial starts now . ]

Time had passed by quite quickly .

Time did not give anyone even an inch of error . The world continued moving on like a rewound video, slowly showing the next scenes of a story .

But there were definitely differences that had occurred .

A small stone that was tossed into a gigantic lake .

And the waves that it created started rippling out .

The year was 2021, when the world had actually started to change .

Grr—

A 16-foot tall huge monster stood with its mouth open .

The monster’s two horns were broken into halves, and it had bright red-colored skin similar to that of a tiger . The monster appeared in the middle of a medieval European city . It was said that the beast was sealed in the grounds underneath the city since ancient times .

Su-hyeun frowned as he looked at the monster .

“It took me a lot of effort in finding you . ”

“Please, please be careful!”

There was someone who did not run away . He was a young man who lived in the village, and Su-hyeun had come across him a few times .

Kyaa—!

The ancient monster faced the skies and cried out loud . It was laughing instead of crying . It was laughing madly .

It seemed that it was quite happy to have been freed from its seal .

“You, you must escape…”

Even if he was stammering, the young man could not make his run without Su-hyeun . Su-hyeun was not sure whether he was being nosy or had a sense of justice . Either way, Su-hyeun was thankful that he worried about him .

But…

“Hey . ”

Su-hyeun ignored the young man’s words and called out to the ancient beast .

“You shouldn’t be laughing at a time like this . ”

Grr—

Only then did the ancient beast look at Su-hyeun directly . It had a puzzled look . It crumpled its face after realizing that Su-hyeun wasn’t the least bit afraid of itself .

“What are you looking at?”

It turned around at Su-hyeun’s voice which came from behind .

Slide—

Squelch—!

The sword wielded from behind, blew up at the ancient beast’s body . Blood gushed out from the slash made on its back .

Stomp, stomp—

Crack, kyaaa—!

The ancient beast roared at Su-hyeun as it had almost gotten stuck to the ground .

Su-hyeun swung his sword a few times in the air as he felt a heavy feeling at the tip of his sword .

“Indeed, I can’t use this any further . ”

The ancient beast’s skin being thick was a problem in itself, too . But there was also a problem with the sword that he was using as well . A year had passed since Su-hyeun had started wielding the sword . It wouldn’t be much of a problem on the lower floors, but using it at this time was an issue .

It was time to stop talking about the sword . Even if he used a blunt sword, it would still be enough to deal with the monster which stood before Su-hyeun .

“So let’s…”

Kya, kyaa—!

The flame was set ablaze on Su-hyeun’s sword . Two birds created from the flame appeared around Su-hyeun at the same time .

They were phoenixes, which were born from the flames .

“Bite it . ”

Kyaa—!

The two phoenixes flew towards the monster at Su-hyeun’s order .

Black flames that came out from the monster’s mouth swept through the phoenixes’ bodies . The phoenixes disappeared without a trace, and the monster shifted its vision on Su-hyeun .

Slash—!

Squelch—!

The two phoenixes broke through the black flames and began to bite on the monster’s body .

Kyaa—!

The monster struggled to shake off the two phoenixes that clung onto its body, but the monster had overlooked something for the moment .

It was Su-hyeun that was now over its head .