A newly built apartment that felt a little large for one person.
On any other day, Seo I-an would have been tearing through the place in fury over not having her name at the top of the ranking — but tonight she let out a sound of pure astonishment instead.
What was below her own name was more startling than Hong Je-hun’s being above it.
“Wow…… this guy is completely insane.”
That was what came out the moment she saw the name in third.
“Didn’t he run Floor 5 just yesterday?”
She double-checked her memory wasn’t warping on her and pulled up the detailed ranking for Korean Tower floors 1 through 6.
Kim Woo-joo’s name was there through Floor 5. Gone from Floor 6.
And his Floor 5 clear date showed as yesterday.
“And he still placed third……? ……Maybe Park Si-woo was right.”
She’d started out fairly convinced that Kim Woo-joo was the rabbit — but looking at the Special Floor ranking, that certainty cracked.
She’d been thinking he might be a Transformation-type Awakened, able to take the form of an NPC.
There were already documented cases of Awakened who could transform into werewolves and beast-type forms.
But——
“Kim Woo-joo not only didn’t transform into a rabbit — there wasn’t even a glimpse of the rabbit while I was running the Special Floor.”
On top of that, Kim Woo-joo had used skills and dealt damage to the boss in his own human form.
For a Transformation-type, it was common sense that skills only worked in transformed form.
All of that shifted the weight away from the Kim Woo-joo is the rabbit hypothesis, toward Park Si-woo’s read — that he was an S-rank combat-type Awakened concealing his trait.
And whatever the case, the fact that he was remarkable was undeniable.
He’d clearly been firing a single skill the entire time.
And pulled 20% boss contribution doing it.
She and Hong Je-hun came in with weapons, equipment, and accessories specifically tailored for the Special Floor. Different setups for different map types.
Plus every potion type that could extract maximum efficiency in the Special Floor — all prepared before entry.
Result: 27%.
And Kim Woo-joo.
Looked like he’d come in with nothing but one weapon, and hit 20%.
Whether she wanted to acknowledge his potential or not — the result was sitting right in front of her face.
The rabbit was the rabbit, but something new had shown up that she liked.
Her eyes blazed with want and resolve.
Seo I-an picked up her phone without hesitation.
She swept away all the missed call notifications without reading a single one and called someone.
“Why isn’t this guy picking up? He just got booted from the Tower.”
One ring.
She was already frowning — a classic impatient Korean.
Before the second ring even finished——
Park Si-woo’s voice came through.
[Yeah?]
“Hey. Can you arrange a meeting with Kim Woo-joo?”
She jumped straight to it, no preamble.
[You want to?]
“Yeah. Me.”
[I’ll ask.]
“If he says no, at least get me his number.”
[I’ll ask that too.]
“If he says no, find a way to make him say yes. You’re good at that.”
A promising new Awakened.
She couldn’t afford to let this one go.
Korea had already hemorrhaged capable combat-type Awakened to other countries — the Steven Lee situation being just one example. On top of that, the recent defection of Zhuge Qing to China had made it harder for climbers to source items.
Losing another Korean talent to a foreign nation would be infuriating.
[Oh — are you thinking of getting Kim Woo-joo into that guild thing you mentioned before?]
A light laugh came through on his end.
“Yeah. Though I assumed I was the only one thinking about guilds — turns out Hudson already made one first.”
Hudson Moore.
The Lightning-type Awakened who held America’s number one ranking without challenge.
That Hudson had abruptly founded a guild within the United States.
Just a matter of days ago.
Currently in America, two camps were in sharp opposition: climbing Towers is about protecting the country, so the state should manage it entirely, versus in a capitalist society there’s nothing wrong with guilds forming for profit through necessity — it just needs legal regulation to prevent abuse.
Hudson was pushing through regardless, whatever deal he’d cut. Given the strong support from the Awakened who were joining him, the expert consensus was that the guild would come into being as he intended.
And.
“The moment Hudson cuts the ribbon, I’m making one too.”
Seo I-an had been looking forward to it.
Building a power base would give her an effective way to check the Association’s unchecked domination and overreach.
An individual was weak. A collective was strong.
A society where only a few monopolized and inherited power — or a society where a broader cross-section of people was raised to a higher baseline?
The latter seemed like the healthier society to her.
[If you make one, let me in.]
“You’re obviously in. What would Awakened be without Enchanters?”
They signed off with matching laughter.
And Kim Woo-joo was Kim Woo-joo, the rabbit was the rabbit.
She’d wondered whether the rabbit had shown up in other Awakened’s Towers while she was running the Special Floor — she checked the Community.
And then found a post that turned all the fatigue of the day into fresh irritation.
[Title] Is Awakened Kim Woo-joo here by any chance?
[Author] Hong Je-hun
— If so, please reach out through the comments or through the Association.
“There was a new face in the Special Floor today.”
The café on the ground floor of the Korean Awakened Association building.
Hong Je-hun had placed his phone face-down on the table and opened in a measured tone.
“I saw too. You mean the third-place person?”
A girl with a neat bob cut, still with the look of someone not quite grown up, stared at him across the table while sipping something sweet and frozen.
“Yes. I just can’t figure out what the trait could be……”
Hong Je-hun trailed off and fidgeted with the paper cup in front of him.
“That’s strange? Did you eat something weird today, oppa? It’s not like you to take this much interest in another Awakened. ……Well, probably everyone who was in the Special Floor today is curious. About his trait.”
She smiled.
True — she was curious about the new Awakened’s trait too.
And for good reason. Today’s first-timer in the Special Floor had plenty of reasons to pique curiosity.
From the moment the boss appeared until they were expelled from the Tower, he’d done nothing but fire a light bowgun.
And pulled 20% boss contribution.
Only 7% behind first and second.
“I looked into him a little — it seems like from Floor 3 onward he’s deliberately going slow. Probably doesn’t want attention. If he’s hiding intentionally, the more you dig the deeper he’ll hide, right?”
“Then maybe it’s better not to stir things up. If he’s hiding on purpose, the more you dig the deeper he’ll try to go?”
That was also a fair point, and Hong Je-hun couldn’t easily argue against it.
Still.
“Even so — when the time comes to form the guild, I’d very much like to bring him in.”
Hong Je-hun smiled quietly.
“A guild? That wasn’t just something you said off the top of your head? You’re actually going to make one?”
The girl’s eyes went wide.
Understandable reaction — Hong Je-hun was actually someone who should have been opposing the formation of guilds.
Currently, government support went to Awakened individually, and Hong Je-hun monopolized the lion’s share. But if guilds started proliferating, their collective influence would grow and some portion of his support would likely get redirected toward them.
But he smiled as if that didn’t concern him much.
“You can go fast alone, but you can’t go far.”
He hadn’t always thought this way — the realization was recent.
Floor 43.
As an ice-type Awakened, the volcanic terrain of that floor was the exact worst match imaginable for him.
His damage output: down 50%.
Damage taken: doubled.
He’d started to wonder whether forming a party might not be the answer.
There was no telling how many more floors with this kind of dead-opposite elemental matchup lay ahead.
Struggling through each one like this……
The fear had started to creep in.
On top of which — it was widely known that disappearances inside Towers increased sharply above Floor 40.
Just days ago, India’s number one-ranked Awakened had vanished inside a Tower without a trace.
“Honestly, at first I was thinking of Seo I-an……”
“Oppa. Dream big, why don’t you.”
The girl burst out laughing at just the thought.
“I figured she’d say no. Which is exactly why I need Kim Woo-joo as a card.”
Hong Je-hun’s eyes held a quiet, certain light.
Meanwhile.
With word spreading like a wave through the Awakened community — how could the Korean Awakened Association be quiet?
“Yun Jin-gi……”
Not much time had passed at all.
A thoroughly depleted Oh Won-taek, Talent Management Team lead, called for his most prized employee in a voice uncharacteristically drained of its usual energy.
“Sir!”
The wandering merchant rabbit situation.
Multiple nations had requested information sharing since it was only appearing in Korea — that had to be addressed first.
So Park Si-woo the Enchanter had been handed the Kim Woo-joo file as per his own request, while Yun Jin-gi had been compiling everything there was to know about the rabbit.
The harvest wasn’t nothing.
The rabbit wore a rabbit mask. Outfit changed slightly each time but short sleeves and shorts were the baseline.
Confirmed Korea-only appearances, spoke Korean, and consistently sold items specifically useful for the floor they appeared on.
One thing had been clarified: the rabbit was not an Awakened.
Multiple Awakened, out of curiosity, had opened their party window mid-encounter — and each one had confirmed that only they themselves showed up in the party member list.
So that had been compiled and was ready to be handed off — one matter nearly resolved.
Or so he’d thought.
“Damn it!”
“Sir! All of a sudden! Language!”
“No! That wasn’t aimed at you! That was aimed at me! At me!”
A single expletive burst out involuntarily.
Oh Won-taek hadn’t even registered that he’d said it until he did — but the moment he realized, he immediately apologized to Yun Jin-gi.
Then carefully cupped his precious, recently thinning hair in both hands and dropped his forehead onto the desk.
He’d barely finished wrapping up the wandering merchant rabbit situation when the Awakened Kim Woo-joo situation exploded.
Not squeaking into the ranking in third — first place, beating out the United States and Germany, nations with nothing to scoff at.
Calls flooding in from every country.
Their interest wasn’t on the familiar names of Hong Je-hun and Seo I-an — it was fixed entirely on Kim Woo-joo, the new name that had appeared.
Kim Woo-joo himself had said D-rank Body Enhancement-type.
But submit that report and he’d be raked over the coals and told to clean out his desk. Absolutely certain.
He still needed to hold on until retirement for his civil servant pension……
“Yun Jin-gi!”
Held hostage by that pension, Oh Won-taek lifted his head and sat up properly.
“Sir!”
“Let’s go get Kim Woo-joo’s real profile.”
He couldn’t delay this any longer.
Meeting the man in person.
“Yes sir!”
Yun Jin-gi’s eyes lit up like a child hearing they were going to an amusement park.
He’d been curious too, after all.
Well — anyone would be. At this point, Kim Woo-joo was a hot topic worldwide.
Oh Won-taek was sure of it.
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
In his studio apartment, Woo-joo was grinning ear to ear and working his fingers fast over his inventory screen.
“The way to get something good is to just open it without expecting anything!”
Inwardly full of expectations, outwardly performing vigorous non-expectation, he opened the Special Floor Reward Box.
Unlike usual, it opened in a burst of rainbow light.
Just looking at it lifted his mood — a display this flashy was a hundred percent guaranteed to be something good.
He knew this from his years of gaming experience.
Two items came out in total. The first:
[S-Rank Random Skill Book Box]
— Contains one randomly selected S-Rank skill book!
Oh? He’d seen something similar.
He’d bought something like this from Ragcho before — except that one had been random anywhere from F-rank to S-rank.
Either way — no time to think deeply about it right now.
Fast, thoughtless, immediately!
That was how you got good things.
— Shwing!
The same crisp sound as before, and——
[Skill Bloom!]
[Skill ‘Track’ obtained!]
[Track] — S Rank
When activated, your attacks precisely follow the target.
“……That’s solid.”
A surprisingly forthcoming description today.
He could understand the rough function just from reading it.
Not the powerful single-hit offensive skill he’d been hoping for.
But used in combination with Eagle Eye?
The red flash — the reverse scale.
If he could sink shots into that precise spot every time?
The efficiency would be incomparable to anything else.
It wasn’t the flashy, impressive single-hit skill other Awakened had — but who cared. Efficient was efficient.
And since it could pair with whatever other skills he acquired later, it was a skill worth keeping regardless.
S-rank on top of that.
“So this is why people kept going on and on about the Special Floor.”
The moment everything they’d said clicked into place and hit home.
“But what’s that black box?”
As he’d mentioned earlier — the Special Floor Reward Box had produced two items.
One had given him the Track skill. And inside the other, the black box——
[Particularly Radiant Special Enhancement Stone]
This, he knew.
Ten Special Enhancement Stone Fragments collected and combined through the Crafting Codex produced this.
But he’d only gathered one fragment so far — the drop rate was rare.
He placed his hand over the rainbow-shimmering crystal shape.
[Drag to the item you wish to specially enhance to initiate special enhancement!]
He slid his eyes sideways toward the light bowgun sitting prominently in the first slot of his inventory, and——
Why is it grey?
Items went grey only when durability hit zero and they were forcibly moved to inventory.
He tilted his head slightly and gingerly touched the light bowgun.
[The above item cannot receive ‘Particularly Radiant Special Enhancement Stone’!]
[Reason] Significant grade disparity
Not that I was going to.
He hadn’t intended to enhance it anyway.
For one thing, it was a rental — not actually his.
For another, he’d been planning to switch weapons soon. Why enhance a weapon he was about to replace.
“……I think I was Level 24 just now, wasn’t I?”
When he’d come back to the room and briefly activated his status screen before diving straight into opening the reward box — he’d caught his level in passing.
The number 24 had been there.
Right — he’d feasted on EXP in the Special Floor.
The moment he fully understood why people risked their lives to get in there.
Anyway.
He’d sell this enhancement stone and use the money to buy a weapon.
But he had no idea what the going rate was.
What did you do in that situation?
Only one answer.
[Awakened Community]
[Title] What’s the going rate for a Particularly Radiant Special Enhancement Stone?
[Author] Kim Woo-joo
— Title says it all.
Post went up. He’d been about to sit and put some stat points in while waiting for answers, but that turned out to be impossible.
Replies started flooding in like people had been sitting there waiting.
└ [Anonymous07] Oh this guy. He’s here. He’s finally here.
A comment that hit too accurately — he was about to pretend he hadn’t seen it and press the back button, but——
└ [Seo I-an] Look it up and quote me first. Whatever the price I’ll buy it no questions asked.
Our queen of no-fuss transactions had personally staked her claim.
└ [Park Si-woo] Awakened Kim Woo-joo-nim. I think it’s about time we met again? I’ll obviously pay more than market rate — let’s meet with me first! 🙂
If the Tower had Ragcho the Tower Merchant, the real world had Park Si-woo the Association Merchant.
This man who looked like he belonged in combat was making meeting requests with emoticons that didn’t quite match his face.
└ [Seo I-an] I staked my claim first, where do you get off cutting in line? You [redacted]?
Hm? He thought he caught a familiar name in the comments just now, but after one blink it became Comment removed by administrator.
……Pretend he didn’t see that.
He was about to press the back button for real this time——
└ [Yun Jin-gi] Hello, Awakened Kim Woo-joo-nim……
A nearly two-thousand-character reply that was extremely detailed and, if he read it fully, would probably leave him feeling like the world’s most inconsiderate person.
Summary: please get in touch. Also something about incorrect paperwork from his Awakened registration.
Right. He did need to deal with that at some point.
But going in person would probably be faster than going back and forth over text.
And he was already planning to go to the Association anyway — new weapon to get, enhancement stone to sell.
“Knock it all out in one trip!”
As a rule, any act of going outside was work.
He opened his phone’s notes app to write tomorrow’s to-do list.
And at that exact moment——
Knock knock.
He hadn’t ordered delivery.
An unexpected knock at the door.
“Who is it?”
The only remaining possibility: a delivery that had gone to the wrong address.
He made a sound so he could prevent the situation of a wrongly-delivered package sitting outside unattended.
“Real estate agent~.”
Oh, right.
He’d been in the middle of planning to move out, hadn’t he.