The First Dig of a Tower Scavenger
“Mr. Hwang Geumpa? Um… Is your real name really Hwang Geumpa?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Your name is ‘Hwang Geumpa.’ Your parents must have picked it out with real flair. That’s one thing… but in the application form, the traits section is completely blank?”
“Well, the thing is… it’s a bit embarrassing to reveal my trait.”
The interviewer’s expression stiffened slightly, then he asked again. “Embarrassing? So does that mean our guild has to hire hunters who won’t even reveal their own traits, even though the young generation these days is supposed to be so free-spirited? This is going too far, don’t you think?”
I understood. I knew I was doing something crazy right now. Leaving the traits section blank on a guild application. It was like an idol wannabe wearing a mask to audition. “I’m sorry. It’s just… complicated. But I’m applying for the Scavenger position, and the trait isn’t that crucial. If you could give me a chance, I’d give it my all—working myself to the bone to make up for it! Even dangerous missions are fine with me!”
The interviewer sighed and shook his head. “F-rank and still hiding stuff like this? How are you supposed to get a job? Why can’t you just reveal it? Is it because you’re afraid someone will kill you and steal the Rune Stone?”
Rune Stone. I’d have to look that up once I got home. It was bound to hit different once I heard the explanation. “Hunters die and leave Rune Stones behind, just like tigers leave skin when they die.” That was the truth. After the towers rose in the capitals around the world, awakened individuals with various abilities appeared. And soon it came out that dead hunters left behind these Rune Stones. The even bigger shock was that another hunter could absorb one and inherit the dead man’s abilities. Once that news spread, every awakened person started watching each other like a hawk. That was why hunters like me, who didn’t reveal our traits, started showing up every now and then. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, our guild and Mr. Hwang Geumpa, it looks like our paths just aren’t meant to cross. Thank you for coming in. I’ll pray for your future luck.”
* * *
This was the twenty-third interview I’d failed. Yeah. With F-rank already making guild entry hard, and now I couldn’t even reveal my trait, getting hired should’ve been the strange part. My friends had all warned me. “Just drop the trait already, you idiot. What’s there to be scared of? F-rank Rune Stones are going for a measly ten million won these days. Who’s gonna risk killing someone just to eat that kind of money?”
I’d try to push back each time. “Still, Rune Stones are like tower entry rights, right? That’s too much.” And then they’d hit me right back. “Stop saying that nonsense about tower entry rights. The whole country was already yelling about climbing the tower for a life reversal, remember?”
“You mean you don’t know the resources and gear that come out from the lower floors have crashed in price? Even guild workers quit their jobs and went back to regular company gigs.”
True. Everything they said was spot-on. If I were them, I’d have given me the same advice. But… even so… my trait… I could never reveal it. [Your trait is the Luck of Shoveling.] Classification: ??? Grade: F-rank Overview: You earn money every time you dig the ground inside the tower. Could I believe it? My trait. Just digging dirt would pay me. Of course the amounts weren’t huge. Per 1 meter per floor: 1 gold / random luck item 1 gold was roughly 1,200 won right now. So digging a single meter on the first floor would net me about 1,200 won. No normal person would pull a stunt like that unless their brain was made of noodles. But there was a catch. Per floor. The earlier math only worked for the first floor. On the tenth floor, digging 1 meter would bring in 12,000 won. Still, the guy who’d say “I’ll give you 12,000 won if you dig 1 meter of dirt” had probably never swung a shovel in his life. Plus, the spots you had to dig weren’t just some cemetery—there were monsters constantly respawning everywhere. But there was a variable. This was only the reward at Level 1. What if my level rose? I hadn’t seen the Level 2 reward yet, but from other examples I could guess it would be… Per 1 meter per floor: 2 gold / random luck item Per 1 meter per floor: 3 gold / random luck item Per 1 meter per floor: 4 gold / random luck item …and so on. If I pushed hard enough to hit just Level 10, digging 1 meter on the tenth floor would net me 120,000 won. That was a decent number. If I dug 3 meters a day every day, I’d pull in 360,000 won. Even working five days a week, I’d be looking at nearly a billion a year. That was actually a real sum. Plus, there was no income tax. The government was giving tax-free status to everything earned inside the tower to stop hunters from leaving the country. The “???” in the classification was also suspicious. That was why I had no choice but to keep my trait a secret. S-rank and A-rank would see it as nothing special, but for D-rank and E-rank hunters it was a pretty solid Rune Stone for scraping by without risk. * * *
“I’m gonna try being a Tower Scavenger.”
Tower Scavenger. The portmanteau of “tower” and “ragpicker.” Think of it as the tower version of that grandma who collects trash. Tower Scavengers mostly worked floors 1 to 3. When hunters cleared out monsters and the respawn timer was up, they’d rush in to grab minerals, herbs, or any leftover leather and organs. It sounded like the most extreme job you could have. The moment those words left my mouth, my sister Hwang Eunpa’s worried look appeared on the face of the C-rank hunter she’d been working as at a mid-sized guild. “Tower Scavenger? What kind of trait do you have?”
“It’s just… something that pops out when you dig dirt. So I’m thinking of trying it on the lower floors.”
“What? Bro, you think Tower Scavenging is easy? I know 50 percent of them quit halfway.”
“The other 50 percent keep going, right?”
“Ugh, only 10 percent actually survive. 40 percent end up disabled or dead.”
I knew it. How could I not? But I had to enter the tower even with the risk. Even if I quit, I had to hit at least Level 3 first. My guess was it would be smooth—1, 2, 3, 4… But it could also be something wild like 1, 2, 4, 8, 16… Or even a slow ramp like 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3… I couldn’t quit without confirming which it was. No way. “Still, if my brother’s gonna try, can’t you cheer for him? You don’t have to sound so negative all the time.”
“What if I die?”
“What? You’re worried about me now?”
“No. I’m worried about Mom and Dad, not you. Just… don’t do it.”
I left my sister’s room without even asking her to borrow money for equipment. * * *
Right in front of Gwanghwamun Plaza—the spot where the Joseon Governor-General’s office used to stand during the Japanese colonial era—a tower had risen again. That was why people joked about the “Tower Colonial Era.” I looked up at the top of the tower, but the upper levels were hidden in clouds. At first it was visible. Then, as hunters got close to the highest floor, the tower started growing like a living thing… And after that, whenever the claimed floors and the top were separated by a certain distance, the country they belonged to started suffering disasters. Earthquakes, floods, typhoons, plagues, lightning strikes, hail, heatwaves, blizzards… That was why every government was working overtime to pull hunters inside the tower with tax breaks. Looking up at the tower, someone called out to me. “Starting Tower Scavenging, Mr. Scavenger?” He was a sloppily dressed but easy-going middle-aged man. He had the look of someone who did this for a living. I figured he’d be experienced, so I decided to ask for some info. “Yes, that’s right. But how did you know? I’m trying it for the first time today.”
“I have the highest-floor scan feature in my hunter watch. You’re showing zero floors visited, which means you’ve never even been to the first floor. Plus you’re carrying a cheap shovel and pickaxe on your shoulder—that screams Tower Scavenger.”
“Ah, so that’s how. …Hey, are you a Tower Scavenger too?”
“Yeah, about three years now. I’m still alive, so I got lucky. Lost one leg though.”
He rolled up his pant leg and showed me the prosthetic. “Did I scare you on day one? Haha. But Tower Scavengers eat. F-rank Rune Stones are called tower entry rights and still trade for over ten million won for a reason.”
“I was wondering if it’s okay to ask… How much do you earn?”
“Haha, fair enough.”
“It depends on your trait and level, but five days a week, eight hours a day, you’ll hit at least 500,000 won a month. Me? With good luck I can clear a thousand. That’s why I’m not grinding like crazy.”
That matched what I’d heard. The catch was that 500 already included hazard pay. Yet Tower Scavengers kept at it. “Outside you die working, but here we at least level up a little. Hope is still there. Sometimes even the jackpot luck.”
“What’s your trait, mister?”
“Me? Same as you—digging dirt.”
I felt a chill. “What comes out when you dig dirt?”
“You see gold popping out? Just junk and rocks. But thanks to my trait I dig super fast. You wanna see my shoveling?”
“Super fast, huh?”
“Yes! I’d love to watch!”
“Then let’s introduce each other. Call me Byeon. What should I call you?”
“I’m Hwang Geumpa!”
At the tower entrance I dropped my wallet and phone into a paid locker and stepped inside. I emerged on the 0th floor—also called the Lobby. I’d been here before, but it was still empty. Hunters who’d visited before could teleport anywhere using the waypoints outside the tower. So the 0th floor only had three kinds of people: hunters like me challenging the tower for the first time, Tower Scavengers waiting near the first-floor waypoint, and awakened people like me who’d awakened but lacked the guts to climb—so they just came to watch. We walked straight to the spiral staircase in the center of the 0th floor. Looking up, it vanished into the clouds. Proof the tower’s internal space was distorted. “Ready to climb?”
“How long will it take to get to the top?”
“Newbies need about an hour.”
* * *
When I reached the first-floor entrance, my basic stamina left me half-dead. “Huff… huff… huff…”
“It’s rough at first. Take a breather. But the second you open that door, you better stay on guard. Real monsters are coming out.”
“Can we reach the waypoint without fighting?”
“Yeah. But be careful. There are a lot of zombies hiding behind the pillars on the first floor. Anyway, let’s form a party.”
“Yes!”
Bzzzzt- [The opponent in front of you has offered to form a party.] Accept Reject [I tapped the glowing Accept button in the air. Forming a party wouldn’t reveal my trait. Plus, teaming up with a high-rank guy as a low-rank newbie was a no-brainer. The guy would probably even get experience and reward for it, not just leech off me. Byeon manipulated something in the air. A black dog popped out from his waist. “Whoa, what kind of dog is that? Battle-assistant pet?”
“Nah, no battle-assistant pets from my income. Just a truffle-search dog. Name’s Beodori.”
I’d heard of that. Truffle. It grew deep underground. The ones pulled from the tower were worth a fortune. “You’ve heard of it. Can this dog find the truffle?”
“If it’s nearby, sure. But the chance it’s on a higher floor is astronomical—basically lottery odds. Still, this truffle dog will find all kinds of underground stuff, not just truffles. Four hundred kinds, in fact. That’s why you and me as dirt-digging Tower Scavengers need to bring one along.”
“How much are truffles worth when you dig them up?”
“Depends on size. But even the smallest are worth a billion because they give power. Big ones? Tens of billions.”
“No way.”
“With a name like Hwang Geumpa, today I’m betting on jackpot luck. From now on stay alert and don’t make any noise. Zombies react to sound.”
“Yes!”
Squeak- The door opened, and the entrance hall of the first floor came into view—pillars everywhere. The boss monster on the first floor was the Tower Zombie. Slow and weak, but one scratch and you’d get infected and turn into one too. You had to stay on guard. Many of them were hiding behind pillars, ready to pounce. “…”
After an hour we still hadn’t had any pillar ambushes. We kept sneaking past the zombies as quietly as possible. That was when the Beodori dog, which had been following us obediently, suddenly started barking and running somewhere. “Hey, what’s with that dog all of a sudden?”
Two zombies aggroed and started moving toward the dog. Byeon panicked, pulled a machete, and rushed forward. He chopped one Tower Zombie’s head clean off mid-lunge. Thud- The sickening sound of a blade sinking into a skull, and the machete went deep into the zombie’s head. Byeon kicked its back to pull the blade free and kept moving without a second’s pause. He swung again, slicing the second zombie’s neck in one clean stroke. Slurp- Thud- Rattle- His machete work was so fast the first zombie fell and the second head hit the ground almost at the same time. That was when I noticed a zombie still hiding behind a pillar suddenly lunging at Byeon’s back. Byeon froze the moment it touched his shoulder. “Aaaah!”
I sprinted over and, without thinking, slammed my pickaxe straight into the zombie’s crown. Crack- The handle sank in like it was hitting a watermelon. The zombie dropped. Only then did Byeon stand up, exhale, and thank me. “Thanks, man. You saved my life back there.”
Byeon’s expression suddenly brightened as he spotted something. I stepped closer and asked quietly. “What is it?”
He pointed at the dog. Beodori was frantically digging under a broken stone slab with both front paws. His black fur had turned bright yellow. “That color changes depending on the grade of the item you find.”
“Yellow means it’s good, right?”
Byeon flashed his yellow teeth in a grin. “Heh heh. That’s top-grade talk.”
“Top-grade? No way, is it truffle?”