Chapter 1: The Summit of the Tower

A failed game.

A common term used for games that are unenjoyable, have broken character balance, or are poorly managed.

But there’s another scenario that falls into this category.

That is when a game has an absurd level of difficulty.

The virtual reality game [The Tower of Trials] was exactly that.

For the year following its release, Korean veteran gamers, who took pleasure in mocking the developers, clung to it, attempting to conquer the game.

Sacrificing sleep and sustenance, they persevered every day of the year.

However, after three years, people came to a realization.

This game was impossible to clear.

It wasn’t an exaggeration—it was the literal truth.

Take, for instance, the guardian of the 10th floor—it was invincible.

Invincible, meaning no amount of skills unleashed or weapons hammered against it would suffice.

Would it not have been more reasonable to at least allow for a single point of damage?

Moreover, the 7th floor was an arctic zone where you would freeze to death within an hour at negative 60 degrees Celsius.

And the 8th floor awaited you with a labyrinth stretching over 10,000km.

This wasn’t designed for fun—it was torture.

Or perhaps a scheme to spite the Korean gaming elite.

Consequently, the game failed.

Or more accurately, it ‘almost’ failed.

There were still a very small number of hardcore players challenging this hellish difficulty.

Included among them was…

A Korean youth named Kang Jinhyuk.

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[You have conquered the 50th floor!]

[Congratulations! You are the first to clear the Tower of Trials!]

“Is… Is this for real?”

The 50th floor of the Tower of Trials.

Jinhyuk let out a sigh filled with a mix of emotions.

It was merely fun for him.

He took on the tower with fresh, unorthodox strategies,

And the sense of achievement from repeating and memorizing every detail felt immense.

But to think that he would end up clearing the final floor…

From 17, when he first encountered virtual reality games, until the age of 27 when he became an adult,

A full 11 years had whirled past him like a revolving lantern.

“Ha. Maybe I should’ve streamed it.”

Although he was just a streamer with 20-30 regular viewers, a streamer was still a streamer.

But Jinhyuk immediately shook his head.

After all, who would watch his broadcast?

Even his regular viewers had left, tired of watching the same thing repeated for three months.

Now, even if he enticed viewers with titles like ‘Boss Strategy’ or ’50th Floor’, no one was interested when they heard it was about playing the Tower of Trials.

‘But maybe if I post it on ViewTube, it might get a fair number of views?’

A 10-minute edit of the final result could attract some attention.

It was then.

Ding!

[We truly appreciate your patronage of our game thus far.]

[Reboot update is scheduled to occur in 12 hours, and we hope for your continued support.]

It was a message reserved for administrators.

Jinhyuk thought they had given up on managing the game, as there had been no communication or management for 11 years.

‘Surprising. And a reboot update, no less. What did they do, strike oil in the desert?’

Logically, it made no sense to him.

The game had no profitability whatsoever…

‘…Forget it. They must have their reasons.’

It had nothing to do with him anymore.

Reboot update or not, he had no intention of playing the game any further.

Besides, he was also planning to quit his career as a streamer after today.

There was no family to support, but at the age of 27, he couldn’t keep living on a monthly income of 500,000 won.

‘I should tell the gym owner I’ll need to take a break from training for a while.’

He had once been told he could aim to go pro in martial arts, but right now, money was more of a concern than training.

-jjy77: Jinha! Jinha! It means ‘Jinhyuk hi!’

-OwlMender: Oh, what’s up? You started early today?

As soon as he started the broadcast, 20 regular viewers promptly joined.

He had prepared an array of food on his desk: chicken and pizza, cream shrimp and yangjangpi, and two bottles each of beer and soju.

-25YearsofDieting: Wow, you’ve set quite a spread there.

-MukbangTzuyang: As always, bro, you’re meant for mukbang, not game streaming.

-JinhyukRollsBest: When you think of Streamer Jinhyuk, what comes to mind?

-CoffinSong: Eat the cow and the barn too!

-CornerOfTheRoomTS: Even test the stepping stone before eating it!

-OnePersonTwoChickens: Eat the lid off the pot after being surprised by the snail!

Thanks to his small community of viewers, he had been able to continue broadcasting.

Laughing and chatting with his viewers while enjoying the soju and various dishes, dawn gradually approached.

‘I’ll have to announce that I’m quitting tomorrow in a proper notice.’

He couldn’t quite bring himself to say it out loud just then.

Yes.

He would speak of it tomorrow.

But…

Jinhyuk himself didn’t know yet.

That when he opened his eyes again, the world had already changed.