Rule Breaker (1)

A full week of searching and dueling a level 999 wraith had finally ended. The reward for all that suffering?

“...Unique?”

The sword came first. Unique grade. Wasn’t that the same tier Hwang Hee-chan used? Anyone else would have bowed in gratitude, but my honest reaction was, This is a bit disappointing.

I was the guy who had already scored Legendary-grade armor back on the second floor. After defeating a level 999 wraith in a duel, getting Unique equipment felt underwhelming. It honestly left me a little deflated.

...Wait, isn’t this kind of a shameless thing to think?

In reality, this was perfectly normal. Legendary items were rarer than artifacts—with fewer than ten existing worldwide. In East Asia, Japan had the only one. There was no way something that valuable would just pop out of the Under-dog’s Tower. Of course not.

And no achievement notification either.

One more thing. Unlike the Orc Lord, dueling the wraith hadn’t counted as an achievement. She was closer to a hidden-piece NPC than a boss monster. That was why the rewards felt a bit stingy.

Well, it’ll still be useful in low-mana environments.

It was a solid item. I decided to accept it without complaints. There would probably come a day when I needed it.

And above all… what I was most excited about was something else entirely.

-Swoosh.

This is probably the real prize.

My eyes fell on the orb in my hand. The item the wraith had handed over herself right before ascending. The extra reward for resolving her grudge at a thousand percent.

“Level 999 pet or enhancement item, please!”

After shouting with desperate hope, a bright ding rang out. The message that Dragon Eyes had activated appeared, and the item information unfolded before me.

“...Possession?”

The moment I read it, my brain kicked into calculation mode.

Her specs are from the fifth floor of the Tower of Pilgrims, right?

So this was it. The wraith Baekri-hyang would possess my body. I could fight using a level 999 NPC’s stats. Sure, if the level gap was too wide it would only last a few seconds before fizzling out, but still.

Not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bad at all.

With this, anyone could become a munchkin. Even if only briefly, it could surpass even Hwang Hee-chan. At the decisive moment when you needed that final blow, you could become the strongest in Korea. Its value was obvious just from that.

Still…

“I don’t actually need it myself.”

Of course I had no intention of using it. Her stats were only slightly higher than mine right now, and my swordsmanship completely overwhelmed hers. There was no point in gaining the possession ability.

After a few more clicks, I would become far stronger than Baekri-hyang anyway.

Put another way, for someone struggling to clear even the fourth floor, this would be like a beacon of light and a handful of salt in the desert.

That third-generation chaebol would need this perfectly.

Hyeon-seo. The rich heir trapped on the thirty-ninth floor of the Tower of Pilgrims, surviving day after day on bread and jerky that even Dohwa refused to eat.

If I sold this to him…?

That would be quite the profitable deal.

It was an item I wouldn’t need anytime soon. Handing it to the person who needed it most and accepting a reasonable reward in return seemed fair. How much he would value it as the price of his own life was up to him.

At least I was sure I wouldn’t feel shortchanged.

And it’s almost time for the fourth floor. Perfect timing.

With a small chuckle, I slipped the orb into my inventory.

A Unique-grade sword, an item too valuable to price, and I had even learned the footwork technique on top of it all. This was more than enough to leave me satisfied.

“Shall we head out, then?”

I started walking again. I had wrung every last drop of profit from the third floor. Now it was time to clear it for real.

“O great and exalted one. What exactly was that just now?”

“Hm? Oh, you were still here?”

The salamander had returned at just the right moment. Perfect. If he had run off, tracking him down would have been a pain.

“Open the portal for me.”

“Yes!!!”

With the sight of him prostrating flat on the ground as my final memory, my climb through the third floor came to an end.

“Saliva… mouth…”

“Space Slash barrage!!!”

“Just stop…”

Crack.

Countless fractures spread across the golem’s body. Then it shattered into pieces. It hadn’t even taken ten seconds for the Crystal Golem—the boss of the third floor of the Tower of Challengers and a formidable level 250 opponent—to turn into dust.

The normal difficulty really is nothing special.

First normal-tower boss clear. I had only come because of the Ruler trait, but it turned out to be much easier than expected. From now on I could just farm bosses on normal difficulty. Nice.

“Whiiine…”

“There you go again. You really wanted to tackle the hard tower that badly?”

“Kyaa!!!”

Dohwa clearly wanted me to defeat a boss from the Tower of Pilgrims, but—

“You saw it earlier. That place was a bit… much.”

I had stopped by the Tower of Pilgrims too. My confidence had been growing, so I figured I would just run if it looked bad. But the moment I stepped inside, a skeleton attacked me. It shouted something like “A pilgrim like you should burn in hell” and fired a beam right away. I yelled “WA!!! It’s strong!!!” and immediately jumped floors. I didn’t even have time to check the level gap.

I felt like I had caught a glimpse of why people called the Tower of Pilgrims the Coffin.

They said other people at least had time to talk. Why am I the only one who—!

Unlike with the wraith, the biggest reason was that I had been ambushed without any mental preparation. Anyway.

“Of course I could beat it. I even won against a level 999. Why wouldn’t I be able to handle that?”

“Whiiiiine…”

“But, well. Serin’s treatment is only one step away. It feels wrong to push my luck right now.”

I coaxed and soothed Dohwa. Internally I told myself I wasn’t doing this because I was some underdog—I simply refused to take any risks that might endanger my little sister. It was a little embarrassing even to me, but pride doesn’t put food on the table. Yep.

“I’ll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠challenge the fourth floor on hard mode later, okay? There!”

“…Kyaa!!”

After showering her with empty promises and finally calming her down, I gently set Dohwa on the ground. She immediately scampered off toward the center of the boss floor, bouncing around as if declaring she was ready. It was ridiculously cute.

“Trait Enhancement, Fusion.”

I smiled and reached out my hand.

Ding.

A cheerful sound rang out, and notification windows popped up one after another.

“Kyaaung~.”

Dohwa landed on the ground wrapped in a slightly shabby light. Her three tails spun like a windmill, sending fur flying everywhere. Seeing her so happy over a single level up made me feel a pang of guilt.

Sorry, Dohwa.

From the fourth floor onward, I would have to hunt hard-tower bosses without fail. Once my little sister was healed, I would have no more excuses. Time to muster some courage.

...Right, Serin!

“Dohwa, stop making a scene and let’s go!”

I quickly scooped her up and started moving. A brilliant flash of light swallowed us as the portal activated.

...I’ve gotten stronger than Hwang Hee-chan.

The flashy status window greeted me with numbers higher than those of Korea’s strongest Awakener. It meant I was now the strongest in the country, yet I felt almost nothing.

They say Cheol-gang-min has at least reached floor fifty.

My community nickname, CheolGangMin’sAwakenerAnalysis2, had caused people to make a huge fuss. They claimed I had reached an unprecedented realm and had definitely cleared past floor fifty of the Tower of Pilgrims. Maybe that was why it didn’t feel real. It just felt like… okay, sure.

Let’s finish this quickly and head straight to the hospital.

Swoosh—I reached out again. The cross containing the stigmata settled into my palm.

Decent enough.

A stat increase proportional to self-inflicted damage. It paired perfectly with the Dragon Scale trait and its self-harm restriction, so it would definitely prove useful for a long time.

That’s done. Next!

But even that was secondary. The most important thing was still waiting.

“Trait Enhancement Swap, Fusion!!”

After reinforcing the Fusion trait with the ring, I took out the items I had carefully stored in my inventory. Twenty lowest-grade potions. Nine low-grade potions. More than enough to craft the intermediate healing potion needed to treat my little sister.

There aren’t even any listings on the auction. Please…!!

I knelt reverently and placed my hand on them.

“…I-It worked!!”

I had obtained the cure for my little sister.

“Dohwa, we finally did it!!!”

“Kyaaauung!!?”

“Finally!!!!”

The massive wave of dopamine hit me late. A twelve-billion-won artifact, Legendary-grade armor with fewer than ten existing in the entire world, an insanely overpowered footwork technique I could use forever—none of those rewards compared to how happy this made me. Even lowest-grade potions had no listings, yet here was an intermediate one. This was truly one of a kind.

I’ll keep the rest of the potions for now!

“Come on, let’s go home, Dohwa!! With Serin!!!”

I jumped to my feet and hurried forward.

“Kyaa!!!”

Dohwa followed excitedly behind me, but—

-Pause.

“Ah, Dohwa. Hold on a second?”

“Kyaaeng?”

“I just need to write one comment.”

I had almost forgotten in my dopamine haze. The third-generation chaebol currently stuck filming a survival show on floor thirty-nine. I should check on his situation and ask if he wanted to buy the good item I had obtained.

Just one quick comment and I’ll leave.

I had no intention of wasting time. Ten seconds. One comment. That was all. Then I would leave the tower and sprint full speed toward my little sister.

That had been the plan, but…

“…Huh?”

“Kyaaeng?”

“Wait, why are there so many comments?”

The moment I opened the status window and entered the Tower of Pilgrims community, I realized something was wrong.

“……Huh?”

About a week ago, right around the time I had entered the third floor, Cheonghwa Guild had left to conquer a super-large gate. Since then, all contact from their public face, Hwang Hee-chan, had been completely cut off.