Chapter 3
“Please, save me. Please!”
Lee Jong-soo begged for his life, but Jinhyuk coldly snorted.
“Why should I?”
If it bothers him that much, why doesn’t he sue through that fancy law firm of his?
“Just, wait a seco… Aaaagh! Aaaaaah!”
Crack! Crunch!
The tree limbs crushed Lee Jong-soo with tremendous pressure.
He who committed folly met his end.
Thus, Jinhyuk felt no pang of conscience.
‘Even trash like you can be of use at times like this.’
The half-hearted ones had all fled upwards.
‘Now it’s time to make my move.’
Thump!
Jinhyuk leaped towards the tree’s core.
With most of the tree limbs busy absorbing nutrients, this was his chance.
Of course…
Ssshhhwiiiick!
Not all the tree limbs were idle. Accompanied by the sound of the wind, two tendrils targeted Jinhyuk.
Getting caught would mean ending up just like Lee Jong-soo, crushed and drained of all fluids.
Jinhyuk tilted his body slightly.
‘Dodging isn’t the hard part.’
The tree limbs that had aimed for him collided with each other.
Crack!
Tree fragments flew in all directions.
Right 35 degrees.
Left 22 degrees.
Angles and directions, all accounted for.
As expected, there was not a single deviation from his experiences in the game.
Perfectly timed, the tree limb aiming for Jinhyuk ended up burrowing into the mangrove’s core instead.
Jinhyuk smirked.
‘Right, knowing its exact trajectory to make it attack itself is part of the challenge.’
“Groooooo!”
The Greedy Mangrove groaned heavily.
Why so pained when it barely feels touch?
If anyone saw us, they’d think it was about to be set on fire.
Jinhyuk grabbed a piece of the fallen tree.
“Why don’t we avoid the hassle and just hand over the ‘Mokdan’?”
This creature, being an event, didn’t give experience points.
At best, it would only get his name up in the ‘Hall of Fame’ for a day.
It’s better to just get what he wants than to fight tooth and nail.
“Grooooo!”
The mangrove roared fiercely.
Clearly, it wasn’t keen on the idea.
No choice then.
If it’s come to this, he has to take it down.
Jinhyuk positioned the sharp end of the tree fragment forward.
[The Greedy Mangrove Tree uses ‘Vampiric Tendrils’!]
Vrooom! Vrooom!
Dozens of tree limbs shot out all at once.
No matter how skilled he was, dodging them all was impossible.
But slightly altering their trajectory…
‘Is doable.’
And indeed, it was.
Jinhyuk narrowed his eyes, timing his movement with the incoming tree limbs, and moved the piece of wood in his hand.
Crack-crack-crack!
A tree limb grazed his cheek and lodged into the ground on the opposite side.
And with that as the start…
Puff-puff-puff!
The real battle began.
With the 30cm long fragment held in a reverse grip.
Step.
Jinhyuk took steps forward.
Crash-crash-crash!
The closer he got, the faster the attacks felt.
Puff-puff-puff!
There was no room for error in this tense tug-of-war.
Jinhyuk countered or neutralized every attack.
‘Need to get into the rhythm.’
He had to find that unique tempo and match it.
There was no need to panic.
No reason to fear.
He had repeated this countless times before.
Soon, the distance was closed to just 1 meter.
One more leap would get him inside the creature.
Thump! Thump!
He could feel the tree’s heartbeat.
Something resembling a human heart was visible through the knotholes.
That was the weakness.
But just then.
Vroooom!
Something flew out from between the branches.
Butterflies.
Thousands of blue butterflies.
Spreading sparkling dust as they flew, creating a breathtaking scene.
“Ha!”
Jinhyuk held his breath.
‘Sleep Butterflies.’
They use dust with sleep-inducing properties as a defense mechanism.
Inhaled through the respiratory system, it takes effect quickly, leaving many helpless on their first encounter.
But conversely, it meant…
If you don’t breathe, they pose no threat.
Jinhyuk took a deep breath and swiftly dove into the tree’s core.
The piece of wood, rotated counter-clockwise…
Thud!
Pierced right through the mangrove’s heart.
“Screaaaaam!”
A tearing scream echoed.
The branches shook violently.
Jinhyuk gripped tighter.
Thud! Thuuud!
After a moment, the screams ceased.
The tree no longer moved
He had finally brought down the creature.
“Phewww!”
Jinhyuk exhaled the breath he had been holding.
Sweat poured down his face, his breathing was heavy, and his heart pounded wildly.
Everything reminded him that he was very much alive.
Ha.
‘The patterns and timing I’ve tediously repeated turned out to be helpful in such a way.’
He felt grateful for all the efforts he had made up to this point.
Then.
[You are the first to defeat the ‘Greedy Mangrove Tree’.]
A status window popped up with a congratulatory message.
Ah, right.
‘Come to think of it, I was the world’s first.’
That meant…
[Your achievement will be recorded in the ‘Hall of Fame’ for one day starting tomorrow. Please provide your player name.]
This was to be expected.
The damn system always asking for personal information to enter the Hall of Fame.
“I don’t have a name. Keep everything anonymous.”
Jinhyuk responded without hesitation.
The last thing he wanted was his personal information getting out.
Being known as a veteran at this point would only attract unwanted attention.
[Name Unknown, your face will be blurred and your voice modulated.]
The system doesn’t allow for complete anonymity.
‘It means they’ll hide who I am, that’s the compromise.’
Of course, there would be ways to resolve this later on.
But at the start, there was no getting around it.
‘At least it’s better than before.’
When he was at the peak of his teenage angst, he had been listed in the Hall of Fame wearing a trench coat and smoking a cigar, mumbling, “The sun sets…”
Thank goodness the game wasn’t popular.
If it had been a game with a large player base, he would have been eternally embarrassed.
‘Let’s forget it already.’
The mere thought made him want to do a dozen facepalms.
“Do whatever.”
Jinhyuk sneered as he sifted through the remains of the dead tree.
His fingers caught something.
A 1cm-sized green pill.
[You have acquired the essence of the tree ‘Mokdan’.]
‘Finally!’
The corners of Jinhyuk’s mouth lifted.
If each fruit from the tree could increase strength, agility, stamina, or magic by +3,
‘Mokdan’ offered a total of 12 bonus stat points.
Considering each level only provided 3 points, it was as if he had gained 4 levels.
‘Insane.’
Frankly, there wasn’t a more cost-effective item than this throughout the entire 50 floors.
Gulp!
Jinhyuk swallowed the Mokdan he held in his palm.
A warm sensation surged from his abdomen.
‘Let’s see if it’s absorbed properly.’
Jinhyuk activated his status window.
Name: Kang Jinhyuk
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Level: 1
Strength 5 Agility 6 Stamina 7 Magic 5
Stat Points Available: 12
Job: None.
Unique Abilities: None
Skills: None
Level was 1.
But the available stats were 12.
‘The strongest Level 1, indeed.’
There was no other way to describe it.
＊＊＊
About an hour later?
The message that he was the first to defeat the ‘Greedy Mangrove Tree’ was posted in the [Tower of Trials] ‘Hall of Fame’.
The related video would be updated in 10 minutes, as announced.
The Korean server community board, long devoid of activity, was suddenly bustling with numerous people.
-4Dollars!: WTF. Someone actually took that thing down?
-ZetomaPCRoom: Impossible. Could you actually kill that tree in the early stages? I gritted my teeth and played this game, died like a hundred times and gave up.
-BarbamBa: How high level was he to have killed that?
-KingSuccession: Everyone quit this damned game within a year, he must have been grinding away solo for 11 years.
-RabbitConductor: Must’ve been luck. My bro here is a veteran, and he says there’s absolutely NO way to beat it using normal methods. NEVER!
-fekk91: True that!
-Lovepack7: 222222
-Heisenberg: 333333
Comments exploded across the board.
Aside from the first few comments, the majority were in disbelief.
Attributing it to luck or accusing him of using exploits.
But soon after.
[The video has been updated.]
Once the video was uploaded, the skeptical responses vanished in an instant.
They had to disappear, as everyone saw the entire process with their own eyes.
-kdc123: Wow….
-Heisenberg: Heh.
-fekk91: I’m speechless.
-KingSuccession: Isn’t this basically using hacks? Is that even human movement?
-BarbamBa: Using a tree branch to redirect trajectories, Captain America’s Korean version or what?
-RabbitConductor: I’m just in awe. Insane. I made it to the 7th floor myself, but seeing this, I feel like I should just squat down in submission. Even if I died 100 times and respawned, I couldn’t come close to that level of gameplay.
The reactions of those who watched the video were uniformly awe-struck, with just slight variations.
-KingsMan: I’m Ho-sik Park, a director at Ohsung Semiconductors. We can offer a signing bonus of 1 billion won and a monthly payment of 100 million won.
-JaeDragon: I’ll give you whatever amount of money you want, please contact me if you see this comment.
-HelpingHand: I’m currently forming a team…
Even begging comments to team up weren’t uncommon.
Jinhyuk scrolled through the community posts, licking his lips.
‘Was it really that impressive?’
Of course, defeating the Greedy Mangrove at level 1 wasn’t easy, but…
‘It didn’t feel that surprising to me.’
Ah, but then again.
Others hadn’t played through the mid to late stages of the tower, so it made sense.
I keep forgetting not to apply my own standards.
Jinhyuk chuckled to himself.
‘And then there’s the 1 billion won offer…’
Seeing such an unrealistic sum brought back memories of his past struggles.
Times when even affording daily meals was a challenge, let alone paying rent.
There were days he starved just to save up for mukbang broadcasts.
Had this offer come a day earlier, he would’ve accepted without a second thought.
But now…
Whether it’s 1 billion or 100 billion won.
He had no intention of sharing the knowledge he possessed.
‘It’s not about the money.’
Right.
Money wasn’t what mattered now.
Jinhyuk searched for the ‘National Museum of Korea’ on his phone.
A large museum located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
When he played the game, the appearance of the Tower of Trials caused magic to overflow into Seoul.
Most things weren’t significantly affected, except for one major change.
Artifacts outside the tower had transformed into sacred relics.
Of course, the real ones were inside the tower.
What he was referring to were replicas.
In other words, duplicate versions.
‘The largest collection of replicas is right here.’
A place housing numerous artifacts, the National Museum of Korea was essentially a treasure vault.
The challenge was…
He wasn’t the only one eyeing these treasures.
Unlike the seven mangrove trees that appeared in Seoul, there was only one National Museum of Korea.
Surely, many would flock there, aiming for the artifacts, including some veterans.
“It’s time to get ready.”
Jinhyuk pocketed his phone.
The move would be made once all the museum visitors had left for the night.
＊＊＊
Jinhyuk stopped by the E-Mart near Yongsan Station.
He needed to shop for items before sunset.
‘Let’s see. Got the Hanji (traditional Korean paper) I’ll need.’
He also placed about five 30cm-long utility knives in his cart.
‘Is this enough?’
It was a bit disappointing that his weapon of choice was a utility knife, but that was likely the case for everyone else.
At best, they could only manage to get their hands on kitchen knives or hammers.
Jinhyuk pushed his cart towards the checkout.
Coincidentally, the TVs on display were broadcasting news about the Tower of Trials.
-The government is actively investigating the situation…
-The president has convened a meeting with the Minister of National Defense and other ministers this afternoon…
-…experts from various fields have gathered…
But no matter how many meetings were held, it was futile.
Applying logic and reason to supernatural phenomena was a fruitless endeavor.
Jinhyuk looked outside the window.
He could see the sun setting beyond the mountains.
Day was ending.
And night was coming.