Chapter 66 (1/2)
For the first time in a long while, Su-hyeun treated Shin Su-yeong to a meal. His busy schedule meant they couldn’t meet often, but he still tried to keep the promises of eating together with her.
“Are you going to keep working?”
Su-hyeun’s question prompted Shin Su-yeong, who was roasting the meat, to stop wielding her tongs and ask him, “If not, should I just do nothing?”
“It’s fine to stop working, you know. I’ve made enough money and more will keep coming in the future, too. I thought you wanted to enjoy the fruit of your son’s labor?”
“No, thank you. You can only laze around doing nothing for a day or two, and besides, how can a person not work for a living?”
“Aren’t you being too much of a workaholic?”
“It’s more like I don’t want to laze around, that’s all. Having my own business and working for myself can be really rewarding, you know.”
Even though Shin Su-yeong’s business hadn’t opened its doors for long, it was already doing rather well thanks to her over 20 years of experience in the field. They chatted about this and that, then Su-hyeun took Shin Su-yeong back home. When he came back to his own place, it was already well past ten o’clock in the evening.
The room and the bed previously soaked in blood were all spotless now. It seemed that the cleaners had come by while he was out.
<>
Two years. He had basically climbed ten floors every year.
The reason for him taking longer than expected was fairly simple, actually. Each and every floor’s trial had been difficult, yes, but Su-hyeun’s own desire to pass them all perfectly played a large factor, as well.
<>
Click—
Su-hyeun equipped the newly-acquired item, the Falcon’s Holy Armor, underneath his clothing. Then, he firmly secured Gram on his waist before extending his hand to the front.
He concentrated for a moment or two, gripped the space tightly, and tore it open.
The doorway leading to the Tower was opened.
Su-hyeun slowly walked inside.
* * *
The world of 21st floor.
Su-hyeun spent all of his remaining achievement points to buy food and medicine.
What little of his achievement points remaining after purchasing the highest-grade potential catalyst potion and the Property of Dimension order form was now completely gone.
He did have a few points stashed away for rainy days, but even that was used up to take the necklace of the Shayres to the other side.
<>
He felt slightly bitter about spending almost every bit of his hard-earned achievement points. What was left was only enough to buy consumables such as foodstuffs.
<>
He was preparing just in case the trial turned out to be lengthier than expected, but still, he was sure that the event of him running out of food wouldn’t happen any time soon. Indeed, all of this preparation was simply for that one in a million chance.
<>
Su-hyeun’s current level of growth meant that the 21st floor didn’t hold much meaning despite the fact that it was the tenth level of trial. His current self needed to focus on climbing up to the higher floors rather than getting too caught up in achieving the perfect accomplishments in the trials themselves.
Su-hyeun immediately headed to the gate located in the 21st floor’s plaza. The moment he passed through the portal, the view before his eyes transformed and messages floated up.
[Applicable individual Kim Su-hyeun is starting the 20th floor’s trial.]
[Please select your difficulty.]
His answer was the same as always. “The tenth level.”
As soon as he announced his decision, the previously-blank view slowly regained its natural color.
[The 21st floor’s trial, tenth level, will now commence.]
The landscape greeting him was a forest. It was a forest so quiet that not even the common noises of winds blowing or birds chirping could be heard. It was difficult to guess the exact theme of this trial just from the surroundings, so Su-hyeun waited for the next set of messages.
[The trial will now commence.]
[Mercenaries from Balkan Kingdom capable of wielding special powers wish to conquer a dungeon that has appeared in the forest. Although attacking dungeons is their main job, they haven’t realized the true dangers of this dungeon yet.]
[Your name is Warrick. You must work together with your comrades and conquer the dungeon.]
[Your reward will change depending on the level of success of the trial.]
Su-hyeun read the floating messages and quickly confirmed his appearance.
Although he was now given an alias of Warrick, his actual appearance hadn’t changed a bit. Not just his clothing, but even the sword equipped on his waist as well as the pauldrons of the Falcon’s Holy Armour over his shoulders were still there.
<>
In any case, the contents of this trial didn’t seem all that difficult in nature. It sounded pretty much the same as every dungeon attack he participated in.
As for the achievement level, it was probably dependent on how quickly the dungeon attack was completed, as well as the percentage of monsters defeated, etc.
<>
“Mister Warrick—!”
With great timing, he heard a voice calling out to Su-hyeun coming from the side.
Technically speaking, it was calling out to Warrick, but judging from the system’s explanations, Su-hyeun must’ve looked like this Warrick guy to the eyes of everyone else.
He quickly made his way in the direction of the voice.
“Warrick! Hey, dude!”
A total of three people were waiting for him.
Among them, a large man over one hand-span taller than Su-hyeun hurriedly approached him and asked, “What kind of a bathroom break takes that long? We were worried that you might have gotten lost.”
“Ah, I took a wrong turn by mistake, that’s why… I’m sorry.”
For some reason, Su-hyeun thought he could recognize the names and faces of all three people before him.
<>
Two men and one woman. No, rather, this group now consisted of three men including Su-hyeun himself, as well as the lone woman.
The large man approaching Su-hyeun was an awakener named Keshunirn. He was the leader of the group, and also the liveliest of the bunch, as well. The other man with the constrasting, gloomy atmosphere was Howal. He was slightly shorter than Su-hyeun, and his shoulders were slumped forward noticeably.
As for the woman with the blonde locks extending all the way down to her shoulders, she came across as just too pretty to be called a mercenary. It seemed that she was originally a daughter of a noble house, but had no choice but to start working as a mercenary after her family fell into ruin.