Survivors Emerge: Training Camp Chaos
Survivors from the group tutorial began emerging one by one through the training camp portal.
"Alright, you newbies. Quietly take a seat over there on those chairs!" The male instructor directed the mechanically appearing people, and the summoned man obediently went to a chair and sat down.
"Next... oh! Applicant! No women's clothes. Applicant!" The next woman to emerge was completely naked. In the group tutorial, she'd allowed the men to use her body as a meat toilet, and somewhere along the way, she'd lost all her clothes. She was barely covering her breasts and crotch with her hands. A female instructor brought over a large cloak and draped it over her.
"Cover yourself with this for now."
"Thank you." The woman expressed her gratitude and sat down on a chair as directed by the female instructor.
"Emergency! Treatment! Treatment!" The next summoned man had a critical wound on his arm, wrapped in a makeshift bandage from his clothing, and he was in dire condition. An instructor with healing skills rushed over and chanted a spell on his arm.
"Ah..." The man felt his arm healing, and the healing instructor wiped sweat from her brow as she said, "I've done emergency treatment. Get checked at the training camp later for further care."
"Th-thank you!" He was then guided to a prepared chair.
The portal summoned one person every minute who had completed the group tutorial. The instructors provided clothes based on their conditions, performed emergency aid, or handled other urgent requests.
"Next... huh?" The instructor at the portal entrance's eyes widened as Namgung Seojun appeared.
Clean clothes and proper gear! A tutorial escapee!
"You there! Sit in the frontmost chair." Following the instructor's direction, Seojun sat in the chair positioned at the very front. The other instructors glanced at him surreptitiously.
A tutorial escapee!
Whoa, jackpot after so long.
An inviter?
There must be more like him, right?
Next came Gisohee, Lee Guho, Jo Jaehun, and even Kim Hoon.. The group emerged one after another in clean attire with full gear, and they were all directed to the frontmost chairs. The party obediently sat and waited. Meanwhile, Namgung Seojun surveyed his surroundings.
The place where tutorial survivors emerged resembled a grand cathedral, radiating a sense of sanctity. Rows of desks were neatly arranged in the hall, already filled with many people seated.
People who completed the group tutorial.
Though he'd seen them before, just in case, he steadily scanned the people with God's Eye.
Nothing special.
They'd gone through the group tutorial, but nothing had particularly changed.
The portal continued spitting out one completer every minute or so. But as the process dragged on longer than expected, impatience grew among those who'd been waiting—especially those who'd come out first and waited the longest.
"Ah, fuck... how long do we have to wait?" One of the waiting men, a muscular East Asian with a scar on his face, Janggon, was thoroughly displeased. In the group tutorial, he'd been in the top echelon. He was the leader of the strongest party even in the largest cave group. Naturally, upon reaching level 5, he'd awakened an attack skill and already possessed an intermediate trait. His party hunted well, so food was plentiful, and he could fuck any woman he wanted with it. From his perspective, this situation was intolerable. He could overlook the instructors controlling them, but what grated on him was...
Why are those guys getting special treatment?
The ones seated at the front... the four men led by Gisohee looked like they were receiving VIP treatment in their pristine outfits. Unable to hold back, Janggon voiced his complaint.
"This is too unfair, isn't it!"
"?"
An instructor approached at his words and engaged him.
"What's the problem?"
"Why are only those guys up front getting special treatment?"
The instructor understood how Janggon could misinterpret it. Only Namgung Seojun's party was spotless, neatly dressed, with brand-new gear.
"To clarify, the instructors haven't done anything special. Their condition is exactly as it was at the end of the group tutorial."
Janggon's other party members joined the protest.
"Those guys! They were selling us water, no way they're that clean."
"Exactly! If you didn't give them special treatment, they wouldn't look like that."
"This is unfair."
"Give us good clothes and gear too!"
Their words grew more heated, and though the instructor kept smiling, his patience was wearing thin.
"As I said again, the instructors did nothing. So shut up!"
The instructor spoke firmly, but Janggon, emboldened, sneered back.
"You racists? Why only treat the Korean party well? Don't you know the great nation of China? You'll regret this later!"
That snapped the instructor's patience. He chuckled dryly and said, "Maknae. Handle it."
"Yes."
The instructor called "maknae" stepped forward. The burly man held a baton and said with a smile, "Come on, come on. Shut your trash mouths, trash lords."
Janggon and his party members bristled and jumped up.
"What? Trash?"
"You fucking shit!"
"Kill him, everyone!"
All of Janggon's party charged at the maknae instructor simultaneously.
Whoosh. Swish. Whoosh.
The maknae instructor effortlessly dodged their punches. He then swung his foot at the last attacker.
Thwack!
"Argh!"
The instructor's high kick nailed the man's temple, knocking him out cold. Smiling, the instructor taunted, "Draw! Draw!"
Provoked, the rest of Janggon's party rushed in, only to fall one by one to his kicks moments later.
Thud!
"Argh!"
Thump!
"Gahk."
Smack!
"Kuhk!"
A few kicks later, Janggon and his entire party lay sprawled on the floor. The maknae instructor prodded the fallen men with his foot and said, "Trash bastards without the skills... You all believe what the instructors say! Got it?"
"Yes."
The downed Janggon party and other waiting people swallowed their complaints in silence.
As the last person emerged from the portal, it flickered faintly and vanished on its own. The assistant instructor in charge shouted, "Portal closed."
All new adventurers had entered.
"Got it?"
The senior instructor who'd been waiting in the back stood and addressed the new adventurers.
"Listen up! I'll give a brief explanation. Keep your mouths shut until I'm done, just like now. Understood?"
People naturally glanced at Janggon's party, writhing on the floor by the instructor's feet, groaning faintly in pain. The cathedral fell silent. Satisfied, the senior instructor cleared his throat, switched to a polite tone, and continued.
"Welcome, adventurers of the 11369th class! I'm Pigicheol, senior instructor at the Training Camp in Starting Village."
Despite the courteous greeting, the crowd remained quiet, and Pigicheol continued contentedly.
"I'll be in charge of your class's training. For smooth training camp life, I handle education, counseling, disputes, crimes—everything. Think of me as responsible for all of you, like a parent treating you preciously."
Pigicheol tossed in what he thought was a joke, but no one laughed. His explanation wrapped up simply. Only then did an adventurer raise a hand, signaling it was okay to ask questions.
"What's on your mind? Ask away."
"C-can we go back to Earth even now?"
At the woman's question, other women chimed in.
"Send us back to Earth. I hate this barbaric world."
"I don't want to fight!"
"I'm sick of starving, and I don't want to get raped anymore."
"This is hell. Hell!"
"It's full of demons! Humans are scarier than goblins!"
As shouts erupted from all sides, Pigicheol laughed in disbelief.
"Ha, what bullshit... You fucking bastards! Shut up and listen!"
The adventurers fell silent at his bellow.
"You criminal scum! You're trash who did evil enough for hell, but you got sent here instead! And you're complaining?!"
"......"
"Climb to the top and become a god! Or die climbing the tower! Settle on a floor and support climbers as a producer, or pop out kids—that's all you can do! So quit your impossible whining!"
The adventurers quieted at Pigicheol's words. With a frustrated look, he murmured to the female instructor beside him, Calm them down appropriately and bring them, then exited first.
As Pigicheol left, the female instructor stepped forward.
"With the senior instructor gone, I'll take over."
She exuded an odd pressure that overwhelmed the adventurers and continued.
"No more pointless questions like that, so I'll explain and move us. No complaints?"
The mood was strange, but naturally, no one objected.
"The training camp's main purpose is to help you adapt to this world. Even if you're talented, going in blind to the Tower World gets you killed unfairly—that's why the training camp exists, to teach you."
"Right now, you have no food, shelter, or clothes. The camp provides all that for free during training. Essential support when you're broke."
"Job training is crucial too. Combat classes get combat education; those wanting producer roles get training suited to their talents."
"If you still don't get it, simple summary! If you want to be a loser who can't reach the 10th floor, skip the camp. But if you want to live normally in the tower even a little, come to the training camp!"
"Loser" was the most digestible explanation. As people quieted, the female instructor added finally,
"Lots happened in the group tutorial—violence, robbery, rape, murder... But forget those grudges. It was adaptation to the Tower World. Start fresh here."
Her advice from experience drew no reaction.
"Well, if some still seek revenge... can't be helped. Last call: anyone who doesn't want to enter the training camp now, raise your hand?"
Namgung Seojun looked around, but no one raised a hand.
"Good. No idiots at least. Moving to the training camp now."
At her words' end, assistant instructors directed the group outside. Seojun's party moved with the others.
The people lined up outside the temple per the assistants' instructions and headed to the training camp. During the march, Seojun checked all tutorial survivors.
About 100? Way more women than men. Guess more guys died in the group tutorial.
Mostly black-haired folks... Some look Japanese or Chinese. A few whites too.
Women are above average in looks? Lots of men have a killer vibe.
The group tutorial weeded out the unattractive or weak in combat. The result? Death.
They arrived at the training camp, which felt like a university campus. The new adventurers entered the central parade ground, and soon a man ascended the central podium.
"Greetings. I'm Cheon Zschang, training camp director."
Cheon Zschang gave a lengthy speech full of boomer advice about properly undergoing the 4-week training. After he finished and left, Pigicheol, the senior instructor in charge of trainees, returned.
"Before dorms, we'll form teams. Instructors, divide them appropriately!"
At Pigicheol's order, junior instructors separated men and women into teams of 10. Fortunately, Seojun was teamed with Lee Guho and Jo Jaehun, plus three Koreans, two Japanese, and two Chinese.
"You're Team 9 from now on."
Thus, Team 9 including Seojun was formed.