Chapter 20: The Ruins, The Corridor of the Fallen (1)

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Jinhyuk’s heart pounded as he stared at the flickering status window.

A single line that read ‘Special Privilege’.

Yes.

He had always been curious.

He was the first to have seen the top of the Tower, but ironically, he had received no reward for it.

The reason why the system had been silent until now.

All of it…

‘Was it because they were planning to give it along with the Reboot update?’

Jinhyuk quickly surveyed his surroundings.

“Forget that. How much do they pay per day?”

“I prefer coins over cash.”

“What? Mr. Park, what are you going to do with the coins if not for climbing the Tower?”

“For us porters, it’s better to take cash. Why should we hoard coins we can’t even use outside, when we can have crisp bills instead?”

Everyone was too busy discussing their daily wages to pay attention to anything else.

Then, that means…

This reward must have been meant only for me.

“I’ll check it out.”

Jinhyuk muttered to himself.

And then.

[The first special privilege is opened.]

[The passive skill ‘Monopolize’ is activated.]

[Monopolize]

Details: If you monopolize the final reward, taking it for yourself without sharing, you will receive the best possible reward out of all available options.]

[Your Luck stat will be permanently increased by +10.]

[Your Adaptive stats will increase by +10.]

[The Ice-Cold Heart is triggered.]

[Ice-Cold Heart: You can maintain calmness even in critical situations. However, your humane feelings may diminish.]

‘This is incredible!’

Jinhyuk involuntarily clenched his fist.

The offer to receive the best reward if he monopolized it.

Things never anticipated popped up.

This is insane.

Truly insane.

And it’s not surprising.

The Tower of Ordeals often presented a choice of rewards.

It sounded good to have a choice, but it was akin to a lottery.

Sometimes only one jackpot prize would come out of thousands of options.

And now they were saying to ignore all those probabilities?

Not sharing with anyone.

And to have it all to myself if I just keep that one condition!

‘Haha.’

Thanks to a lifetime of experiences, it took a lot to surprise him.

But this time, it was hard to contain a burst of elation.

How hard was he biting his lower lip, that he almost bit into it?

‘The Luck stat… Did they really give me this too?’

Though it wasn’t as significant as the gap stat,

In the notoriously difficult Tower of Ordeals, luck was incredibly efficient.

Essentially, it was the luck stat that turned impossible situations around, even overriding causality itself.

‘Adaptive stats, this is the first time seeing this…’

It could only be assumed to mean adapting to something.

It was a skill that didn’t exist before.

Even discounting the last one, the first two privileges alone were borderline cheats.

Moreover, the term ‘first privilege’ suggested that there was at least a second one.

‘Since the status window hasn’t appeared again, it must be the end for now.’

After meticulously checking the rewards again, Jinhyuk closed the status window.

By that time, the conversation about the wages had concluded.

“300 per day isn’t bad at all.”

“Not bad, you say? We’re risking our lives here. It means our lives are worth 300.”

“Damn. Since when did we start caring about that. Plus, according to O Daeri here, some snazzy guild is participating, right?”

The workers’ gaze turned toward Seunghwan Oh.

“Yes, this raid is a joint battle. A top-10 major guild and a mid-level guild will participate.”

A major guild.

And a top-10 ranking at that.

There were well over 10,000 guilds worldwide.

“Plus many solo rankers are joining, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

“Is that so?”

“Hahaha, we can just hide safely in the back and move the luggage.”

“It looks like it’ll take about three weeks, so even after paying for security, everyone should pocket around 5000 each.”

At Seunghwan Oh’s words, everyone burst into cheers.

“Alright, the briefing’s done; let’s wrap it up here, shall we?”

“How about a round of soju with Mr. Park and Mr. Kim? How about some pork belly with it, huh?”

“Keugh, soju sounds good. I’ve been thinking about a drink.”

“I know a place, just follow me. They have killer pork belly there and they’re great with the skin too.”

Before long, the mood had shifted to a drinking party.

“Hey, you joining us, sir? You’ll need a shot of soju to get through tomorrow’s hard work!”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Jinhyuk shook his head.

Even if he were to rest fully now to prepare, alcohol was out of the question.

They didn’t know.

They had no idea how dangerous the first floor of the ruins was.

‘To think that just because a top-10 guild is going, they’ll be able to clear it, is nonsense.’

The fate of the raid team was already determined.

Either total annihilation or something close to a fatal blow.

One of the two.

And Jinhyuk’s goal was to seek the opportunity that only a veteran could find within that predetermined outcome.

＊＊＊

Boom!

A huge desk shattered, splinters of wood scattering everywhere.

“Huff. Huff!”

The man’s shoulders heaved with barely suppressed rage.

“What a disgrace this is!”

The master of the Black Crow Guild.

Sin Gunsoo.

He was fuming with anger at the report he had just received.

It was understandable.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He had kicked away the ladder that could have taken him up in the new world.

And because of the mistake by the very person he had trusted the most.

“Do you even know how much in coins and items I spent to get the Kill Guild involved?”

“I apologize.”

Park Hajin, who was on his knees, bowed his head.

“Apologize? Do you think an apology would suffice? Would you have messed things up like that if you truly were sorry?”

Sin Gunsoo grabbed a golf club.

He then mercilessly began to beat Park Hajin.

Thwack!

Crack!

“Agh! Argh!”

“Your sister was fed our best ginseng, the one with the highest refinement rarity.”

A stroke of luck that could almost be called a miracle.

He had allowed Park Hana to ingest ginseng with a refinement rate over 50%.

“‘You should’ve just gone and blown the trumpet when Park Hana achieved A rank.”

The violence carried emotional weight.

Thud! Crunch!

Back, shoulders, head.

Anywhere his hands could reach, the brutal beating continued.

“And you couldn’t even do that, huh? Was that too hard for you?”

Voom! Bang!

The golf club, slicing the air, struck Park Hajin on the head.

Blood spattered across the floor.

“Ugh…”

Park Hajin’s body finally collapsed.

Only then did Sin Gunsoo stop the onslaught and throw the golf club to the ground.

“Who’s the guy who interfered? What does he do?”

“That… That was Kang Jinhyuk…”

Kang Jinhyuk?

That was a name Sin Gunsoo had never heard before.

“Rank?”

“…”

Park Hajin didn’t answer.

To be precise, he couldn’t.

“Can’t you hear? What’s his rank?”

Sin Gunsoo started to reach for the golf club again, and finally a feeble voice came forth.

“…F.”

“F? F, you say?”

In an instant, Sin Gunsoo felt as if he had been hit in the head with a hammer.

“Haha, this is ridiculous. So you’re telling me you got trashed by a nobody with an F ranking?”

…Unbelievable.

At this point, even his anger seemed to deflate.

“Whatever. The guy’s going for the second test soon, right? Take some guys and finish him off cleanly. No evidence is left when it’s done in a dungeon.”

The order to kill.

Sin Gunsoo decided to mobilize the guild.

“Understood.”

Park Hajin clenched his fist.

He had been caught off guard before, but this time would be different.

Now that he had Sin Gunsoo’s permission, a group of B-ranked players would move out.

‘You will suffer as much as I did… No, I’ll make sure to toy with you even longer than that before I kill you.’

Park Hajin’s mind was consumed with visions of Jinhyuk begging for his life.

＊＊＊

The next day at 4:30 AM.

Jinhyuk was headed to the rendezvous point at the Tower of Trials.

“You’re here. Kang, right?”

“Over here! This way!”

Though the sun hadn’t even risen yet, the porters and miners had already arrived.

Since the players had to focus entirely on the fight, those in non-combat roles had to move with diligence.

Seunghwan Oh wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

‘Well, he was the intermediary manager, after all.’

Instead, there were far more people waiting than just the porters he had met yesterday.

About ten minutes later, someone cleared their throat.

“—Ahem! Ahem! I’m Kyungyeol Kim, in charge of the rations. Feel free to call me Section Chief Kim.”

A man who looked to be in his early fifties introduced himself.

“Our job is to carry enough food and other materials to last a 300-person assault team for a week. That’s about 70–80 kg per person. It won’t be easy, but the schedule is tight so let’s give it our best. When else could you earn 300 a day for such work?”

Section Chief Kim mentioned the wage.

But most faces twisted in despair.

“Damn. That’s going to be heavy.”

“We’re gonna break our backs. Do we have to carry this all day long?”

“Well, as time goes by the load will get lighter anyway…”

“Quit your whining. Go to the truck and start collecting your stuff in order. We have to get there by lunch, right?”

There were varied responses.

People grumbled, but there was nothing they could do.

After all, they had already signed a formal contract.

Shortly after, the porters began to receive heavy-looking backpacks from the truck.

“Damn it all.”

“Ugh!”

Their faces contorted as if they were carrying the weight of the world.

“Here, take it. No exceptions for an F-rank, so don’t whine and just get on with it.”

Section Chief Kim handed a backpack to Jinhyuk.

But.

‘Hmm?’

Jinhyuk cocked his head as he lifted the backpack.

It was light.

Unnaturally so.

‘It’s almost… weightless.’

But how could this be?

His level had stayed the same since the labyrinth.

Ever since the Mangrove’s core, he hadn’t increased his strength stat, so normally, a backpack over 70 kg shouldn’t feel this light.

Could it be…

An idea flashed through Jinhyuk’s mind.

He immediately activated his personal status window.

Name: Kang Jinhyuk

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Level: 1

Strength 8 Agility 8 Stamina 8 Mana 11 Gap 100 Luck 10 Adaptive 10

Available Stat Points: 0

Coins: 12740

Job: None.

Unique Ability: Fusion

Skills: Lv2 ‘Fire Element’,Lv2 ‘Eye of Truth’, Lv1 ‘Sympathy’,LV2 ‘Soul Branding’,Lv1 ‘Monopolize’, Lv1 ‘Shallow Breathing’

Only one thing had changed.

The three privileges granted along with the announcement of the second update.

And from those, the last stat, whose purpose was unclear.

[Adaptive stats +10]

That was it.

‘As a porter, I’ve adapted to the load, making the weight feel lighter.’

If that was the assumption, it all made sense.

Also, if he could receive the same effect in combat or other situations…

It was a stat incomparable even to Gap or Luck.

That’s when it hit him.

Wait a minute.

“Just a minute.”

‘This stat is only given to those who’ve seen the top of the Tower, right?’

Although the chances were slim, somehow other stats could be obtained by someone else.

But the Adaptive stat was different.

‘There’s no… no way to acquire it at all.’

Only one person.

Excluding me.

With that train of thought, Jinhyuk’s body shivered with a realization.

It seems he had come upon a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck.