『STARTING BROADCAST...』
『LIVE STREAM: [SINGULARITY IS
• LIVE ]』
[LIVE STREAM CHAT]
@Tower_Watcher: HE'S LIVE! AAAAHHHH!
@Gate_Crasher: Are you going to be in the Floor 11 expedition? Please tell us you'll be there!
@Guild_Hunter: Singularity, please tell us you're joining the Coalition...people are already starting rumors everywhere!
Kang Min stared at the scrolling text with a detached gaze.
He ignored the questions about the 11th floor entirely, his silence acting as a wall between him and the frantic curiosity of the public.
He had no intention of any of it.
However, one specific super chat caught his eye.
「@Clip_Master (Donated 500 Coins through Superchat): Did you see what Kim Jin said about you when asked during his earlier stream today?」
"Where?"
Kang Min asked, his voice low and steady.
@Clip_Master: The clip is trending on ENrich right now. Check the top 10
Kang Min reached into his inventory and pulled out a sleek, glass tablet.
With a few swift swipes, he navigated to the ENrich platform and pulled up the trending clip.
The video started.
Kim Jin was sitting atop a pile of mangled monster corpses, looking remarkably clean despite the carnage.
He was opening a bottle of water.
A comment hovered on his stream overlay.
「 "What do you think of Singularity?"」
Kim Jin took a long drink, draining the bottle completely.
As he lowered it, the empty plastic shimmered with a blue light and disappeared from his hands.
He looked into the camera.
"The behind-the-back meta thing was good." Kim Jin said simply.
He offered no further elaboration, standing up and walking out of the frame as the clip ended.
"Well..."
Kang Min muttered, sliding the tablet away.
"He didn't particularly say anything about me.
But I can tell he was trying to be respectful."
He dismissed the video and looked back at the drone camera, his expression unreadable.
"What does it take to become a ranker?"
The chat erupted answering his questions.
@Noob_Climber: Sponsors! You need a Constellation that drops fat stacks!
@Meta_Slave: Riches and high-grade gear. You can't climb without a gold-plated sword.
Suddenly, a Super Chat flashed in bright gold.
「@Pro_Analyst (Donated 1,000 Coins through Superchat): Mostly, one has to clear with record time. Usually at least 10 floors with an SSS+ Clear on the quests or mission objectives given. That's the gold standard. 」
"So, Floor 1 to 10 perfect clear?"
Kang Min said aloud, the words tasting heavy.
@TowerGossip: Exactly. Kim Jin had SSS+ clears from Floor 11 to Floor 20 Main quests, which is why he's a legend. Of course, that's apart from going to each floor's ruins.
@Old_School_Fan: Yeah, he actually wasn't that great on Floors 1-10. He got famous for clearing Fable floors perfectly later on.
'He's like the main character of some novel who knows what happens in stories he read that he got dropped in...'
Kang Min thought to himself.
The chat began to notice his surroundings...the vast, empty horizon and the crunch of brittle, blue-tinted grass.
@User_99: Wait... look at the sky. Is he on Floor 2?
Kang Min opened the System Shop interface.
He browsed the basic equipment tab and purchased a simple, unremarkable blade.
He checked the item's stats before immediately spending a portion of his coins to MAX out the durability.
He rested the blade over his shoulder and looked directly into the drone's lens.
"Does Korea need another ranker?"
The chat went into a state of absolute shock as the realization hit them.
[LIVE STREAM CHAT]
@SSS_Hunter: NO WAY. He's going for SSS+ Clears?!
@Goat67: Is this going to be like a marathon? He's going to blitz the first ten floors?!
@Doubt_It: There's NO way. Even G-Dragonfly couldn't do it... all he could get was 4 in a row. It's impossible.
@History_Buff: That's why even Kim Jin decided to go for SSS+ Clears after Floor 10... the early floors are a meat grinder.
Kang Min understood their skepticism.
'I understand why they would say something like that.
After all...there are two ways to move past the first ten floors.'
'The first is through simulations in the tutorial lobby...
...if your stats grew beyond a certain threshold, you gained access to higher floors.'
In simulations, death was just a reset.
You could retry until you perfected the path.
'But the second way...is taking on the trials in the actual floors.'
Here, failure meant only death.
These floors were designed to hone a player's grit and physical stats through pure combat before they were ready for the Fable floors that required wits.
From Floor 1 to Floor 10, the Tower pushed out monsters in waves.
The floor number dictated the number of waves.
『SYSTEM MESSAGE: DO YOU WISH TO TAKE ON THE TRIAL?』
『PLEASE PROCEED TO THE DESIGNATED ZONE.』
A few meters ahead, a massive, cylindrical yellow barrier erupted from the dead earth, piercing the sky like a pillar of light.
Kang Min walked forward.
『OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT FALLEN DEMONIC GOBLINS.』
『REQUIREMENT: SURVIVE TWO WAVES. DEFEAT AT LEAST 10 MONSTERS PER WAVE TO PROCEED.』
『TIMER: 00:00:30』
『... 29... 28...』
'Back then, on Floor 2... after getting carried from Floor 1... the team I had all died before my eyes.'
'I clutched a small dagger their blood splattered on my clothes.
My knees were knocking, and I was trembling like crazy.'
『00:00:03... 02... 01...』
Yellow light descended from the sky, hitting the ground with a dull hum.
As the light faded, the twisted, hunched forms of Fallen Demonic Goblins remained.
They looked around, their eyes glazed with confusion, before they locked onto Kang Min.
They snarled, their small, muscular bodies coiled for the kill.
They charged.
'I wondered...'
Kang Min continued his thoughts as the monsters closed the distance.
'How did 'He' ever get to move past such a trial?
And even if he did... did 'He' ever get to survive the next floor? And the next? And the next?'
The lead goblin leaped into the air, its claws extended.
Kang Min's arm blurred.
He launched his blade with a violent snap of his wrist.
The blade buried itself deep in the goblin's neck.
-KUKH!
Blue blood splattered across the dry grass as the creature was launched backward by the force.
'I was so fucking scared.'
'I wanted to go back..out of the tower.
But I knew... there was no way of exiting.'
『SKILL: [EXCHANGE LV.2] IS IN USE.』
In a flash of light, Kang Min's body vanished.
He switched positions with the blade still lodged in the goblin's throat.
The blade appeared where he had been standing, and his arm was now where the blade had been...plunged into the creature's neck.
With a brutal, clawing motion, he tore through the neck and up into the head.
『SKILL: [FOCUS] ACTIVATED.』
He applied a massive burst of gravity compression.
-CRACK!
The goblin's head imploded instantly.
'...But would my questions ever have been answered, if I was to leave?'
Kang Min looked at the remaining goblins lunging toward him, their faces twisted in rage.
'How long would I have waited?'
Using the headless body of the fallen demonic goblin, he used [Exchange] once more, switching positions with the blade on the ground.
He caught the hilt as he reappeared and swung in one continuous, fluid arc.
A horizontal flash of steel cut through the air, slashing across the chests of ten goblins simultaneously as they entered his range.
The chat exploded into a frenzy of text so fast it was impossible to read.
[LIVE STREAM CHAT]
@Hype_Train: HOLY SHIT!!!
@Combat_Junkie: He's not even looking at them!
@Ranking_God: 10 KILLS IN ONE SWING! SSS+ IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!
@v0rt3x: The speed... it's faster than the drone can track!
@Tower_King: HE'S BULLDOZING THE SECOND FLOOR!
@Salt_Lord: Okay, I take it back. This guy is a monster!!!
@Noob_Hunter: Did he just crush the head with his bare hands!?
@God_Speed: KEEP GOING! DON'T STOP!
The blue blood rained down on the dead grass Kang Min standing in the center.
『 10/10 Fallen Demonic Goblins Have Been Slayed! [1st Wave] 』