Chapter 3: Greed’s Mangrove Tree

“Please, save me. Please!”

Lee Jong-su begged for his life, but Jin-hyuk coldly snorted in response.

“Why should I?”

If it bothers you, why don’t you sue me through that fancy law firm of yours?

“Pl-Please… Noooo! Aaaaah!”

Crunch!

Crack!

The tree trunk crushed Lee Jong-su with tremendous pressure.

A man who had committed a death-deserving act had died.

As such, Jin-hyuk felt no pangs of conscience.

‘Even trash like you can be of use at a time like this.’

The halfhearted ones had all fled upwards.

‘It’s time to start moving.’

Thud!

Jin-hyuk leapt toward the main body of the tree.

Most of the tree’s branches were busy absorbing nutrients – this was his chance.

Of course…

Swoosh!

Not all of the branches were idle.

Accompanied by the sound of the wind, two tendrils aimed for Jin-hyuk.

If he got caught, he’d end up just like Lee Jong-su.

Completely crushed and drained of all fluids.

Jin-hyuk tilted his body.

‘Dodging is not difficult.’

The tree branches that cut through the air collided.

Crack!

The splintering fragments of wood.

35 degrees to the right.

22 degrees to the left.

Calculating even the angles and directions.

Just as he experienced in the game, there was not a single error.

At the perfect timing, the branch that attacked Jin-hyuk instead burrowed into the main body of the mangrove.

Jin-hyuk smirked.

‘Right, figuring out the exact trajectory to make it attack itself is hard to pull off.’

“Grrrrrr!”

The Greed’s Mangrove let out a heavy groan.

How can it be in such pain when it hardly feels any?

Its bulk is just inconvenient. One would think it’s about to catch fire from being doused in oil.

Jin-hyuk grabbed a splinter fallen on the ground.

“Why don’t you just hand over the ‘Mokdan (Wood Elixir)’ without tiring each other out?”

This thing doesn’t give any experience being event-specific.

At best, it gets mentioned in the ‘Hall of Fame’ for a day.

Instead of wasting effort in a fight to the death, it’s better to just take what I want.

“Krrrrr!”

The mangrove roared fiercely.

I don’t know well but I guess that means no.

Got no choice then.

With things as they are, it must be brought down.

Jin-hyuk pointed the sharp edge of the wood splinter forward.

[The Greed’s Mangrove Tree has activated the skill ‘Bloodsucking Vines!’]

Buzz!

Buzz!

Dozens of tree branches shot out simultaneously.

Even for someone as skilled as me, dodging all of them is impossible.

But slightly altering their trajectory…

‘That’s doable.’

His eyes narrowing, Jin-hyuk moved the wood splinter in his hand in tune with the incoming branches.

Crack, crack, crack!

A branch that grazed his cheek stuck into the ground on the opposite side.

That was the beginning.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A full-scale fight commenced.

Holding a 30 cm wood splinter in a reverse grip…

Thump.

Jin-hyuk took a step forward.

Crash, crash, crash!

The closer he got, the more intense the perceived speed of the attacks.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

There was no room for a single mistake in this tightrope walk of a battle.

Jin-hyuk parried or absorbed every attack.

‘I have to… get into the rhythm.’

He had to find his unique breathing pattern and align with it.

No need to be scared.

No reason to be afraid.

He had repeated this over and over already.

He had closed in to within 1 meter.

One leap was enough to delve inside the creature.

Thump-thump! Thump-thump!

He could feel the pulsing of the tree.

Something resembling a human heart was visible through a knothole.

That was the weak point.

But just then.

Whooosh!

Something rose from among the branches all at once.

Butterflies.

Thousands of butterflies emitting a blue glow.

Spreading sparkling dust as they flew through the air, creating a picturesque spectacle.

“Gasp!”

Jin-hyuk held his breath.

‘Sleep butterflies.’

Creatures that use sleep-inducing dust as a defense mechanism.

Their effects are swift when inhaled, often leaving those unprepared defenseless.

However, conversely.

If you don’t breathe, they’re no threat at all.

Jin-hyuk took a deep breath and quickly plunged into the main body of the tree.

The wood splinter, rotating counterclockwise…

Poof!

…pierced straight through the mangrove’s heart.

“Nooooo!”

A tearing scream echoed.

The tree branches shook wildly.

Jin-hyuk put even more strength into his grip.

Poof! Pooooof!

soon, the screaming stopped.

The tree did not move any further.

He had finally brought down the creature.

“Whoo…”

Jin-hyuk let out a long breath he had been holding.

Sweat streamed down his face and his breathing was rough.

And his heart was racing like crazy.

Everything felt alive.

‘Hah. Who would’ve thought the pattern grinding and timing I repetitively studied would be useful like this?’

He felt grateful for all the effort he had put in until now.

That’s when it came.

[You are the first to defeat the ‘Greed’s Mangrove Tree.’]

A status window popped up with a congratulatory message.

Oh, right.

‘I was the world’s first when I think about it.’

That means…

[Your feat will be recorded in the ‘Hall of Fame’ starting tomorrow for one day.]

[Please state your player name.]

Of course this followed.

What a ridiculous system, asking for personal information to be featured in the Hall of Fame.

“I have no name. Keep it all anonymous.”

Without hesitation, Jin-hyuk replied.

Revealing personal information was absolutely out of the question.

Attention would be all over him if anyone found out about his max-level veteran status.

[Name unknown (Unknown), your face will be pixelated, and your voice will be altered.]

The system did not allow complete anonymity.

‘It means to compromise by hiding who I am.’

Of course, there might be a way to deal with it later.

But for now, in the early stages, it couldn’t be helped.

‘It’s better than before.’

During the height of my teenage angst, I was featured in the Hall of Fame with a trench coat and a cigar in my mouth.

Muttering ‘the sun sets…’ like some brooding anti-hero.

Thank goodness it was a dying game.

If it had been popular, I might have been eternally tormented.

‘Darn it. Let’s forget about it.’

Just thinking about it made him want to kick his blanket twelve times more.

“Do as you like.”

With a click of his tongue, Jin-hyuk rummaged through the now dead tree.

Something caught on his finger.

A 1 cm green elixir.

[You have acquired the essence of the tree, ‘Mokdan (Wood Elixir).’]

‘Finally!’

The corners of Jin-hyuk’s mouth lifted.

If each fruit from the tree could increase strength, agility, health, or magic by +3.

Then ‘Mokdan’ added a full 12 bonus stats.

Considering 3 points per level, it was as if he had gained 4 levels.

‘Insane.’

Honestly, no item had a better cost-performance ratio.

Not even looking at all 50 floors.

Gulp!

Jin-hyuk popped the Mokdan he held in his palm into his mouth.

Warm energy surged from his stomach.

‘Let’s see if it’s properly absorbed?’

Jin-hyuk activated his status window.

Name: Kang Jin-hyuk

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Level: 1

Strength 5 Agility 6 Health 7 Magic 5

Available Stat Points: 12

Occupation: None.

Unique Ability: None

Skills: None

Level is 1.

But available stats are 12.

‘The strongest Level 1 ever.’

There was no other way to put it.

＊＊＊

About an hour later?

A message was posted in the [Hall of Fame] of [Tower of Trials] stating that for the first time someone had defeated the Greed’s Mangrove Tree.

With an added note that a related video would be uploaded shortly.

An almost empty Korean server community board was suddenly swarmed by countless people.

-4Dollars!: WTF. There’s someone who actually defeated that thing?

-RedHorsePCBang: No way. That tree, could it really be killed in the early stages? I remember grinding this game until my teeth hurt, dying like 100 times before giving up.

-Babamba: How skilled was that person to defeat it?

-CrownPrinceInProgress: Everyone else quit the damn game in less than a year; this one must have been grinding it to death for 11 years.

-BunnyConductor: It’s either luck, or it’s not. My brother is among the elite, and normally it’s impossible! NEVER! Can’t ever defeat it.

-fekk91: Agreed, thumbs up!

-Lovepack7: 222222

-Heisenberg: 333333

The comments were exploding.

Except for the first few comments, most expressed disbelief.

It was either luck or some trickery that they couldn’t defeat it by conventional means.

But soon after.

[The video has been updated.]

As soon as the video was released, the doubtful reactions were instantly erased.

They had no choice but to believe after seeing the entire process with their own eyes.

-kdc123: Wow…

-Heisenberg: Haha.

-fekk91: I’m speechless.

-CrownPrinceInProgress: Seriously, isn’t it hacking? That movement isn’t even human, is it?

-Babamba: Look at how he manipulates the trajectory with a piece of wood. I thought Captain America had come to Korea.

-BunnyConductor: I’m just awestruck. Crazy, just crazy. I reached the 7th floor before, but seeing this, I feel like I should sit down. Even if I died 100 times and passed it, I couldn’t keep up with that high-level player.

While the reactions varied, those who watched the video were unified in their amazement.

-KingsMan: I’m Director Park Ho-shik from Ostar Semiconductors. I can offer 1 billion won as a signing bonus and 100 million won every month.

-RedDragon: I’ll give you all the money you want, so please get in touch if you see this comment.

-IfManyCarryThePalanquin: I’m currently assembling a team…

There were even pleading comments looking to partner up.

Jin-hyuk browsed through the community’s posts, smacking his lips.

‘Was it such a big deal?’

Of course, killing the Greed’s Mangrove at level 1 isn’t easy.

But in terms of feeling…

‘It shouldn’t be this surprising.’

Ah! Well, other players have never played the latter half of the tower, so it might make sense.

I keep forgetting not everyone thinks with my perspective.

Jin-hyuk sneered.

‘But 1 billion, huh…’

Looking at the unreal amount, memories of the past surfaced.

It had been a life struggling to get by.

Eating once per meal had been a luxury.

Late on rent all the time and starving for days to gather money for food.

If this offer had been made a day earlier, he would have accepted without a second thought.

But now…

Whether it’s 10 billion or 100 billion.

He had no intention of sharing the information he knew.

‘It’s not about the money.’

No, that’s not what’s important now.

Jin-hyuk searched ‘National Museum of Korea’ on his phone.

A large museum located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

When he played the game, the Tower of Trials appeared, and the overflow of magic power spread throughout Seoul.

Most of it wasn’t affected, but one big change occurred.

Artifacts outside the tower turned into sacred relics.

Of course, they weren’t real.

The genuine relics with mythical powers were inside the tower.

What he referred to was a replica.

In other words, a copy.

‘The most replicas can be found right here.’

A place filled with countless artifacts.

The National Museum of Korea was essentially a treasure trove.

The problem was…

There were plenty of others aiming for it.

Unlike the seven mangrove trees that appeared only in Seoul, there was only one National Museum of Korea.

Undoubtedly, people aiming for relics would flock from every corner.

And of course, among them, there were bound to be high-level veterans.

“Time to get ready.”

Jin-hyuk slipped his phone into his pocket.

He had to move when all the visitors were gone at night.

＊＊＊

Jin-hyuk stopped by the E-mart located in Yongsan Station.

There were items he needed to shop for before the sun set.

‘Let’s see. I’ve got hanji paper that can be used for paper.’

He also put about five 30 cm blades into the cart.

‘Is this enough?’

It was a bit disappointing that knives were the only weapons available, but that would be the same for everyone else.

At best, they might manage to get a kitchen knife or a hammer.

Jin-hyuk pushed his cart toward the checkout.

Coincidentally, the TV on display was broadcasting breaking news about the Tower of Trials.

-The government is actively investigating the situation…

-The president convened all ministers, including the Minister of National Defense, this afternoon…

-Experts from all fields have gathered…

But no matter how many meetings were held, it was futile.

Applying logic and reason to a supernatural phenomenon would yield nothing.

Jin-hyuk looked out the window.

He could see the sun setting behind the mountains.

Day was ending.

And night was approaching.