Black Knight
"What?"
He knew it.
It was a dumb, utterly lame response.
Jinhyeok wanted to reply coolly, too.
Something like, I am your master! or Pledge your loyalty!—the kind of lines dripping with that addictive thrill from anime or comics.
But imagination and reality are different beasts.
When a knight you've just met—one radiating a brutally intimidating aura—asks if you're his master, who could spit out lines like that?
If he pushed it further, maybe he'd blurt out, Yes! I'm your master! But somehow, that felt even worse.
The knight furrowed his brow, clearly displeased with the idiotic answer.
He didn't grip the baseball bat any tighter.
Even without the exact memory from before, Jinhyeok was certain.
No way I could beat that guy.
Black armor veined with crimson patterns like pulsing blood vessels.
The sword set aside to one side was the same.
A pitch-black blade etched with red streaks spiderwebbing in every direction.
Definitely a demonic sword.
It couldn't be anything like a holy sword.
If it were, the designer deserved a good thrashing—and it'd be justified.
"Only the one who will become my master can enter this place."
"Then I guess that makes me your master."
"You look weak."
"That's accurate."
He obediently set down the baseball bat and pot lid.
No regrets.
Even with a hundred lives, he couldn't win against this.
Jinhyeok eyed the knight.
Ash-gray skin that looked cold to the touch.
He must use good lotion and shampoo—his skin and hair were impeccably smooth.
"If you're weak,"
the knight said, his unbound silver hair shimmering as he rose to his feet,
"then grow stronger."
"Wise words."
The knight picked up the demonic sword he'd set down.
A blade that could cleave a dragon in two.
Jinhyeok flinched, nearly yelling for escape, but mercifully, the sword wasn't swung.
The knight dropped to one knee and offered the sword to Jinhyeok.
Dodged a bullet there. Would've looked like total trash if I'd bolted.
A master who chickens out and vanishes, leaving the knight alone.
Just imagining it made his limbs curl in cringe-worthy shame.
As he mentally patted himself on the back for holding it together, the knight spoke.
"My name is Seira Kinkayton. I am the captain of the Black Knight Order, which once rent the continent asunder. I offer you my sword and my loyalty."
Jinhyeok gazed at the proffered blade.
This was his first time in real life, but he'd seen it plenty in comics and anime.
With a solemn expression, he extended both hands and accepted the demonic sword.
At that moment, a sigil of oath etched itself between Seira and Jinhyeok.
[A new card has been added!]
[Seira Kinkayton]
Captain of the Black Knight Order.Class: Black Knight.Rank: Epic.Level: 121.Can evolve to the next rank upon reaching max Epic level of 200.
[Unique Traits]
Blessing of the Black Knight.Oath of the Black Knight.
.
.
.
[Unique Skills]
Sword that Cleaves the Earth.Black Wave Tsunami.
.
.
.
[Possessed Treasures]
Demonic Sword Tarkhan.
He skimmed the listed descriptions rapidly.
What's with all these traits and skills?
The high rank and level made it overwhelming just to read through them.
Quite a few were grayed out, likely locked behind unlocks.
And an Epic rank, no less.
He'd heard that snagging an item of that rank in the tower flipped your life upside down.
Perks like this are the real deal, he thought, shifting his gaze to the status window.
[Owned Cards 1/3]
Seira Kinkayton.
The card bore an illustration of a pitch-black knight gripping the demonic sword.
Black Knight, huh. Romance aside, the cool factor was off the charts.
[You have cleared the 0th floor of the Myth Tower.]
[Next floor entry condition: Clear the 5th floor of the Despair Tower.]
[Each floor is divided into sub-stages, revealing stories unseen during gameplay.]
[Difficulty increases for each floor.]
Clearing the awakening conditions had been grueling enough during play, and now the difficulty ramped up? It was a clear setback, but...
I'll just clear it anyway.
Nothing in the world was impossible.
He'd just have to push harder, more meticulously.
Just as when he'd entered, the surrounding scenery dissolved.
The next blink, and he was back on the rooftop of his attic room.
"Whew!"
He let out a deep sigh.
It had all happened so fast that he wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality, but either way—he'd awakened.
A laugh bubbled up from his lips.
Overwhelmed by the thrill of finally doing it, he threw an uppercut into the air.
"What are you doing by yourself?"
They said you couldn't even curse if you were too shocked.
Frozen solid, Jinhyeok turned around.
There stood Seira, the one he'd seen in the forest.
Why are you here?
Even after awakening, you could only use abilities under specific conditions, and that was limited to inside the tower.
There was no way the freshly awakened Jinhyeok met those conditions.
"Why are you here?"
"Because you called me. And speak informally. You are my master."
"Will do?"
Having adapted quickly, Jinhyeok rubbed his chin.
Then continued.
"By any chance, can you use your abilities here?"
"Of course."
In an instant, Seira drew her sword and swung.
Black sword energy sprayed in its arc.
Shwick!!
It sliced clean through a rooftop fixture and kept flying, dissipating only after a long distance.
Jinhyeok, freaked out, summoned his status window.
[Player: Yoo Jinhyeok]
Class: Collector.Synchronization Rate: 100%.
Jinhyeok's jaw dropped.
He rubbed his eyes, but the number didn't change.
Still 100%.
The Despair Tower lived up to its name, teeming with dangers.
Yet one reason people clamored to climb it was this synchronization rate.
You could raise it by scaling the tower or earning special rewards.
A player's abilities in reality scaled with their sync percentage.
It enabled feats impossible under normal circumstances.
That's why everyone obsessed over this stat.
But cruelly, without lucky perks, it only crept up by minuscule amounts.
A player who'd cleared 50 floors purely on their own had just hit 20%—and even that was enough to draw love calls from governments worldwide.
Jinhyeok's was 100%.
Meaning he could wield his awakening abilities fully in reality.
He exhaled softly.
And stared at the neatly bisected fixture.
Auntie, let's call this even for that boiler repair you skipped last time.
Having settled that in his head, he turned to Seira.
Just the sword energy she'd unleashed was far more impressive than anything on NewTube.
Let's verify this.
His head was buzzing, but he knew exactly what needed doing now.
He opened the system window.
[Enter the 1st floor of the Despair Tower?]
He nodded.
No reason to delay.
Time to start climbing the tower.
[Entering the 1st floor of the Despair Tower: Goblin Encampment.]
The easiest floor, but one that claimed plenty of lives in the early days when the tower first appeared.
No sooner had the scene materialized than goblins began emerging from their tents, one by one.
"Grrr!"
Sweat beaded on Jinhyeok's forehead.
He'd watched footage of this endlessly.
But facing it for real was another story.
You couldn't help tensing up when staring down creatures built solely to kill humans.
Should've grabbed the baseball bat after all.
Mid-regret,
Clank.
Seira, armed in an instant, stepped forward.
Jinhyeok stayed put.
At 22 years old, Yoo Jinhyeok was more of a realist than anyone.
He knew Seira Kinkayton was the strong one—not him—so he had no intention of strutting forward like some hotshot.
"Master, give the order."
He pointed at the snarling goblin horde charging in.
"Kill them."
"Simple. I like it."
Seira smiled and slashed horizontally with her sword.
Black sword energy shot out, just like on the rooftop.
Shwaaaack!
The goblins it touched were rent apart in an instant.
Ding!
[You have cleared the 1st floor of the Despair Tower!]
[Clear time: 5 seconds. World record! Entry in the Hall of Fame has been updated!]
[An astonishing clear speed. SSS+ rank achieved! Achievement gauge increased! When full, you can spin the perk box!]
[Acquired Goblin Fang! Intact teeth can be used for armor and weapon crafting!]
[Acquired Goblin Wooden Club!]
[Acquired 20 pieces of Tattered Leather Scraps!]
[Player level increased by 1. Current level: 2]
Loot automatically funneled into his inventory.
Suppressing a rising grin, he turned to Seira.
She wore an utterly bored expression—probably because it had been too easy.
Watching her, a firm conviction settled in.
A lump of pure luck just rolled right into my lap.
An absurdly powerful lump of luck, at that.
[Exiting the tower.]
He went through the familiar process and emerged outside.
With the battle over, Seira disarmed.
Her armor and sword vanished, replaced by an outfit fit for imperial nobility.
He'd wondered if he should buy her clothes for when she manifested, but it looked like that wasn't necessary.
Gurgle.
Jinhyeok glanced down.
Not his stomach.
He'd scarfed down two packs of ramen just earlier.
He looked up to see Seira staring at her own belly.
"I'm hungry."
Jinhyeok scowled deeply.
Unacceptable.
His lump of luck was hungry?
Ending the manifestation like this would be gross negligence as a master.
Without hesitation, he opened the delivery app.
22-year-old unemployed bum Yoo Jinhyeok.
He'd been scraping by on ramen and week-old kimchi with a bank account on fumes, but not today.
He blew 50,000 won from his last 100,000 without a second thought.
An unimaginable splurge for the usual Jinhyeok, but today was worth celebrating.
"Dinner's chicken tonight."
"Chicken? What's that?"
"You'll love it. It's insanely good."
"Really? Then I'll trust my master."
Jinhyeok flashed a thumbs-up and headed for the stairs.
"Alright, let's head back. To my room!"
His father had always said:
Keep your shoulders back and live proud.
Like a strutting peacock, he threw his shoulders wide.
A smile wouldn't leave his face.
It had been ages.
Since tomorrow felt this worth looking forward to.
The Despair Tower's biggest community site: All About the Tower.
A post went up there.
Despair Tower 1st Floor, Cleared in 5 Seconds.
At first, it drew no attention.
Makes sense—nothing special about it.
High-level players weren't barred from low floors, after all.
But when the title changed to:
Despair Tower 1st Floor, Cleared in 5 Seconds. SSS+ Rank.
Views skyrocketed.
No matter how fast you cleared, a level mismatch with the floor meant no decent rank.
An SSS+ rank meant one thing:
A low-level user, deemed appropriate by the system, had obliterated the floor in 5 seconds.
The surging views landed it on hot issues.
And from there, it spread like wildfire across sites.
A hot potato had dropped.
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T/N:
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