Chapter 6: Famous Already?

#1

Equipping summons.

Hwanung’s own avatar could only wear equipment made specifically for it.

His summons, on the other hand, could equip one item to raise their stats.

Normally, an avatar could equip a [Helmet], [Armor], [Gloves], [Greaves], and a [Weapon].

One-fifth of that, but it was fine.

He would have overwhelming numbers, after all.

If anything, having only one piece of equipment kept things simple.

Was it like the held items in Pocket Monsters?

Just holding one could raise attack or defense.

‘And if I’m right…’

They might be able to equip accessories, too.

None had dropped yet, so he would have to check while farming.

Hwanung chuckled and looked at Lucas.

“Let’s find some equipment for you next.”

“What I have is sufficient, Master.”

“Well, it isn’t for me. Good work, everyone.”

“Your command was excellent, my lord.”

Eyas praised him with a bright smile.

Seeing such a beautiful avatar smile at him left Hwanung oddly bashful, and he laughed.

When had anyone last praised him so openly, with a smile like that?

He had no intention of digging around for a memory he couldn’t even recall.

“We’re going to go pretty hard today. That all right?”

“We belong wholly to you, my lord. Use us as you please.”

“Indeed. A master need not ask his servants. Simply command us, and we shall obey.”

He met gazes filled with a madness that went beyond devotion.

Looking into the two summons’ eyes gave Hwanung a strange feeling.

The towers, his summons, and these abilities that had appeared out of nowhere…

‘Could I talk to them about it?’

Before he had time to think, the tower expelled him into reality.

He closed his eyes, then opened them to the real world.

“Hmm.”

With information, he could prepare.

One fact would never change.

If he became overwhelmingly powerful, he wouldn’t need any of that information anymore.

Ultimately, the only answer was to keep running towers, gathering summons, and evolving them.

Hwanung looked up at the tower, then turned away.

It was still morning.

The day was long, and there were plenty of towers for him to climb.

“Let’s go.”

He saw people leaving in little groups.

Once, he had been among them.

His experiences climbing with others had given him information—and nightmares.

Contempt, ridicule, dismissive looks, words that fed his sense of inferiority…

Those experiences had stabbed him in the heart, much like the bullying he had suffered at school as a child.

Even the Climbing Club he had stayed with until the end had eventually abandoned him.

‘Still, I’m grateful he didn’t give up on me until the very end.’

Just once.

One favor would be enough to repay him.

Hwanung turned his head away again and quickened his pace.

He never wanted to squeeze himself into their midst again.

“Shall I try this one next?”

[Unnamed Tower – No. 22]
[Stages: 5]
[Grade: Namsan]

Namsan, one grade below Bukhansan.

He would increase his summon count, then go find equipment.

Lucas was an excellent bruiser, after all.

#2

[Unnamed Tower – No. 22]
[1st: Avatar No. 19930211]

Starting with the first tower.

[Tower of Vigilance]
[1st: Avatar No. 19930211]

[Tower of Assault]
[1st: Avatar No. 19930211]

Then the Tower of Vigilance and the Tower of Assault.

He had run three towers in total.

They had netted him one R-rank summon and three N-ranks.

Unlike Lucas and Eyas, who had appeared individually, this R-rank was simply labeled [Priest].

And two had appeared at once.

That was when he realized.

There were different kinds of summons, too.

‘Assuming they’re divided into named and regular summons…’

Their stats were lower overall, and their skill sets were nothing special.

It really was completely random. He had no choice but to leave some of it to luck.

Having reached that conclusion, he found himself deeply troubled.

“Could I actually get a summon that performs worse than one of a lower rank?”

He was waiting for his payout.

Hwanung’s expression darkened at the unpleasant thought.

Surely not, but every game had its dud summons.

What if he had no choice but to evolve them?

And what if he ended up with a dud worth far less?

‘That’s something I’ll have to think about. Ideally, they’d be able to keep growing all the way.’

Take Eyas, for example.

Her information had clearly said [This summon can grow.]

He would have to find a lead on that, too.

‘This is fun.’

Having so much to do meant there were endless possibilities for growth.

Hearing his name called, Hwanung shook off his negative thoughts.

He would just have to give it a shot.

A higher rank couldn’t hurt, anyway.

When he approached the counter, a familiar face was standing there with an awkward expression.

“Oh? Hwanung.”

“Changsu hyung. Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah. You’re still… working as a Sherpa, then?”

Ji Changsu.

The leader of the small Climbing Club who had tried to bring him along until the very end.

The club was barely more than a crew, but they were skilled enough to grow into a midsized Climbing Club soon without much trouble.

Hwanung greeted him warmly enough.

He had his regrets, but he held no ill will toward Changsu, at least.

So he spoke easily.

“Yes. Turns out there isn’t much else I can do. Anyway, did you find a new Sherpa?”

“It hasn’t been easy. The stats are good, but… they don’t have your experience.”

“I see. I’m grateful for everything you did, hyung. If you need me, I’ll help you out once. You still have my number, right?”

“Yeah, but… would you be all right with that? I feel bad about it. Seeing the others would be awkward for you, too.”

It would have been.

If he had only changed a little, he wouldn’t even have looked their way.

But he had changed completely, and he was confident he could climb higher than anyone.

Did that make him a pushover?

No. This was revenge.

Besides, Changsu had taken Hwanung in despite his teammates’ objections.

“Sure. I probably won’t even care, anyway. Just give me a call sometime.”

“All right. Hope the payout’s good.”

“Okay.”

Their encounter was brief.

Would he actually call?

If he really needed help and reached out, Hwanung intended to help him gladly.

Changsu had probably shielded him from plenty of disgust and contempt that he had never even known about.

He must have dealt with the complaints alone, too.

That was the kind of person Hwanung knew him to be.

‘Still, I won’t accept an invitation to join.’

It would feel good to go in and raise hell before walking out, but he had reached the point where he needed to care about his reputation.

Someday, when Hwanung became famous, he would simply make them envy him.

That was all the payback he would give them.

“Your payout of 2,230,000 won has been deposited.”

“Thank you.”

A deposit notification appeared on his phone.

With a crew, it would have taken over a week of hard work to scrape together that much.

Climbing alone really was better.

‘Tomorrow, I should start looking for equipment.’

He had already decided which tower to visit.

He planned to try the [Labyrinth Tower], which dropped tank equipment fairly often.

What about his drops so far?

Low-grade towers weren’t supposed to drop any equipment at all.

Anyway, that was how it worked. Yep!

Every day was a joy.

Today would be better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today.

Humming to himself, Hwanung walked on, looking forward to tomorrow.

#3

“Wow… Here, too?”

“Yeah. We came out to practice, and this is already the fourth one, right?”

“Yeah.”

Records.

They were a matter of pride.

In a single day, Avatar 1993 had broken the records of four towers.

By huge margins, too.

“Maybe they aren’t sniping us after all?”

“Yeah… Maybe they really aren’t.”

“But if that’s true, just how good are their stats?”

The next day.

The Tete Crew had arrived to climb the [Tower of Assault].

They planned to climb three towers today.

To grow into one of the Climbing Club’s main crews, they needed to raise their stats quickly.

But Avatar 1993 was proving to be a major obstacle in their path.

Even the crew members seemed to be growing conscious of this so-called “Lord 93.”

Still, they couldn’t let impatience keep them from showing their potential.

‘I couldn’t face the club leader if we did.’

At the very least, she wanted them to be the best in their grade.

To do that, they would have to surpass Avatar 1993.

Tete addressed her crew.

“Let’s try taking back first place today!”

“Sounds good.”

“It’d make decent stream content, too. Something like ‘Beating Lord 93’?”

“Definitely. I really want to face them in the Colosseum someday… That day will come, right?”

Tete’s competitive spirit burned.

She would surpass them, no matter what.

And she would make sure she didn’t disgrace her Climbing Club’s name.

That was Tete’s resolve, and her pride.

“Then let’s get going! I’m starting the stream!”

Once again, she climbed the tower.

Meanwhile, at around the same time.

Posts about [Avatar 1993] were beginning to flood the forums.

Four consecutive new records, all set while climbing alone, had become a major talking point.

≪Who exactly is Lord 93?≫

[Doesn’t look like an ordinary avatar to me. Their stats and Growth Potential have got to be insane.]

—Okay, so who is that;;

└You don’t watch Tete’s streams, huh?

└Am I supposed to?

└If you don’t know, just type “fr lol” and leave it at that.

—Isn’t it just some noob-stomper or a guy showing off his gear?

└I thought so too, but then there’s no reason to stick to Bukhansan and Namsan.

└That’s what I’m saying. Some fucker who’d get wrecked on Taebaeksan or Seoraksan is stomping noobs.

└If they’re the real deal, they’ll work their way up, right? If not, everyone’ll forget about them.

≪Tete’s going around challenging Lord 93’s records right now≫

[This is gonna hurt.]

As more posts appeared, people grew intensely curious about Avatar 1993’s identity.

Amid all the speculation, recruiting this mysterious figure would be quite a coup.

Perhaps this was someone sent by another country.

Sigrul couldn’t get Avatar 1993 out of his mind.

He wanted to uncover the person’s identity, but the towers protected the anonymity of anyone who wasn’t active in the professional League.

No hacker had ever managed to break through it, and no avatar skills related to that had ever appeared, either.

“Hmm… Where will you turn up next?”

He was curious.

Lord 93 had appeared as though intent on conquering every Namsan- and Bukhansan-grade tower.

He considered where he would go next in that position.

‘They’ll be wanting some items about now.’

If this really was a rookie, there could only be one answer.

Sigrul stared at the tower information on his monitor, then made a call.

“Hello, you’ve reached me.”

“It’s me.”

“Yeah, I know. What is it?”

“Let’s go to the Labyrinth Tower.”

“Oh, did you find them?”

What were they talking about?

None of the assumptions underlying their conversation were spoken aloud.

Anyone who didn’t know the background would think they were talking about nothing in particular.

Yet the conversation flowed smoothly.

“I haven’t found them. Just a hunch.”

“Seriously? And you want both of us to go all the way there for that?”

“Yeah. Headhunting takes legwork, doesn’t it?”

Well, it was true that sales took legwork.

A soft sigh came through the phone.

Soon, it turned into agreement.

“Fine. Have you decided who you’re going to team them up with?”

“Not yet. There’s no rush, is there?”

“You’ve got it easy, huh? Still, shouldn’t you have something to tempt them with?”

“We can just say we’ll accommodate whatever they want.”

The person on the other end sighed more deeply.

Sigrul paid it no mind and continued.

“What can you accomplish in this tiny patch of land? Talent needs the world stage to really shine, doesn’t it?”

“Well… Sure. Assuming this Avatar Whatever actually has that kind of talent.”

“I’ll treat you to omakase. Quit complaining and come with me.”

“That’s what I was waiting to hear.”

Their conversation remained inscrutable.

As it turned out, Sigrul’s guess was exactly right.

Avatar 1993—Hwanung—was indeed heading to the [Labyrinth Tower] next.