The Tower's Blind Spot
Physical and magic immunity, what the hell is that?
Right after the call ended.
Lee Nayeon acted as if there was no problem at all.
“Fourteen seconds. That should be enough time to hide from the aftershock.”
“Yeah. As long as it’s not an open plain with nothing to take cover behind.”
Two issues stood out.
One was the lack of terrain or cover to brace against the aftershock.
“I could dig a hole,” she offered.
“No. Wouldn’t we just get buried alive?”
“That is a fair point.”
“Could you even dig a pit big enough for me to fit in within fourteen seconds?”
“…It would be an impossible task.”
Lee Nayeon asked with genuine confusion.
“Then how do we clear this floor?”
She lightly bit her lower lip, sounding uncertain.
“I am not sure I can kill that giant slime within fourteen seconds.”
Her shoulders slumped, looking somewhat dejected. If she were a cat, her ears and tail would have drooped.
Choi Junseok shook his head.
“Killing it with your physical strength in fourteen seconds would be difficult. Besides, you said physical attacks just make it split in two.”
“This is a problem. Even summoning the Holy Sword… counts as a physical attack, does it not? Perhaps we should take this floor slowly.”
Lee Nayeon looked at him as if asking how the two of them were supposed to kill it then.
Choi Junseok spoke with confidence.
“Every slime has a plan for splitting—until it meets overwhelming physical force.”
“…Hm?”
“The Tower’s systems and rules aren’t absolute.”
“Did you not say that even S-rank Ranker Lee Chan-wook of the Flash could not stop the splitting?”
Lee Chan-wook of the Flash?
‘Who the hell is that?’
Choi Junseok looked at Lee Nayeon and asked.
“Can you protect me?”
“From the Holy Sword’s aftershock?”
The moment Lee Nayeon tilted her head, Choi Junseok answered firmly.
“No. From something else.”
Lee Nayeon still did not seem to fully grasp her own power. Of course she had watched the situation with Choi Junseok’s eyes, but she had never witnessed the Holy Sword’s might up close.
After a brief hesitation, she nodded as if clearing her mind.
“I will protect you.”
Thus.
“Summon.”
The Holy Sword plunged down onto the giant slime.
Fwoooosh!
The massive slime was literally ground down to the molecular level, scattering fragments everywhere. Thanks to that, the sword reached the ground without any following shockwave or aftereffect.
Lee Nayeon immediately understood exactly what she had to protect Choi Junseok from.
It was the slime fragments.
The viscous pieces that flew in every direction as the slime was shredded.
The slime’s viscosity perfectly absorbed the sword’s aftershock. The moment the blade finally touched the ground—
Fwoooosh!
The remaining large masses of slime exploded outward in all directions.
“Nayeon!”
“I know!”
Lee Nayeon grabbed the longsword summoned in midair and stood in front of Choi Junseok. It was no ordinary sword. Kim Chun-sik’s Longsword, which gained a mysterious bonus effect when slicing kimbap, was Unique-grade. Though its acidity rivaled concentrated hydrochloric acid, touching the blade caused no harm.
The real problem was what came after—for Choi Junseok and Lee Nayeon. The slime’s mucus was so corrosive that it could melt skin on contact, and its viscous nature made it hard to shake off. It was like living white phosphorus.
‘Not a single piece gets through.’
Lee Nayeon knocked away and sliced through every incoming slime fragment with swift, powerful strikes.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Slime mucus splattered everywhere, yet none of it reached Choi Junseok.
After a frantic exchange of slashes—
“At this rate the level won’t rise…”
Lee Nayeon watched the scattered slime fragments on the ground slowly begin to gather. However, a completion window had already appeared above their heads.
Congratulations!
You have cleared the 6th floor.
Congratulations!
You have achieved the fastest clear time.
Clear time: 5 seconds.
Would you like to register anonymously on the Hall of Fame? (Y/N)
“Register anonymously.”
Slime pieces were scattered in every direction. They wriggled and crawled toward a specific point.
“Lord Junseok! They are merging into one place!”
“Exactly what I wanted. Stay alert. It is not over yet.”
The slimes gradually began to merge. Even though they had been scattered far apart, they quickly gathered into two separate masses. It was as if they were trying to reform until they reached a certain size.
Seeing this, Choi Junseok raised the laser pointer.
“Alright. Time to start leveling up.”
Even splitting required time for the slime. However, after the overwhelming physical force completely destroyed the slime’s structure, the Tower issued a clear judgment while the scattered fragments were still trying to reform according to the system.
The 6th floor’s clear condition had simply been “Defeat the giant slime.” If the Tower judged that the giant slime had been completely eliminated before the split pieces could merge again, it would immediately grant the clear.
Choi Junseok had exploited that exact loophole in the Tower’s system.
‘Destructive power that surpasses the slime’s ultra-fast regeneration speed.’
At the same time, weapons began forming and gathering around Choi Junseok’s head. Cold weapons with blades pointing downward appeared in midair. Dozens of ripples spread through the empty space.
Though difficult to remember individually, they were all high-grade steel weapons without special effects. They merely had traits like “Does not rust. Stainless steel craftsmanship applied.” Still, they were more than usable.
Six high-quality daggers and various other weapons he had prepared appeared one by one. Spears, swords, axes, halberds—blades of all kinds materialized in the air.
Would you like to return? (Y/N) You will be automatically returned in 30 minutes.
“No. I will not return.”
Two giant slimes, each half the original size, formed in front of Lee Nayeon.
“We are going to kill them all within thirty minutes.”
“…Yes!”
The moment Choi Junseok returned home, Lee Nayeon collapsed onto the floor as if soothing her exhausted body. As she fell, she let out a short yelp.
“I am exhausted.”
“Good work.”
But the reward was clear. Her level had shot up by a full nine levels.
‘The theory that the laser pointer’s debuff counts as an attack judgment was correct.’
“What about the 7th floor?”
“The 7th floor has golems. They are actually strong against magic types.”
“…That sounds better.”
“No. It will be more dangerous. On the 6th floor the shockwave was canceled inside the slime, but…”
If they destroyed half of the giant golem on the 7th floor, massive boulders would fly outward from the aftershock.
Still lying on the floor and catching her breath, Lee Nayeon turned her head and looked up at Choi Junseok.
‘Choi Junseok is not weak.’
It was a strength hard to believe from an F-grade porter. Right after the laser pointer inflicted burn damage with its beam attack, a cold weapon followed the laser and plunged down.
“You are stronger than I thought.”
“Stronger than what?”
“…Well, you are an F-grade porter.”
“Summoning the Holy Sword is my ability, and summoning you is also my ability. How could I possibly be weak to begin with?”
“Hmm. That is true.”
Lee Nayeon spoke to Choi Junseok.
“Please take out some water from the inventory.”
“Water… You can get it yourself—”
Choi Junseok’s words were cut off by the doorbell.
He glanced at Lee Nayeon, but she remained calmly sprawled on the floor, looking up at him.
“What is with that look? Like you are checking the house guard dog’s reaction?”
“Since you are not tense, I figured it probably was not a suspicious person.”
Lee Nayeon answered while glaring with narrowed eyes, clearly displeased.
“…I am not a house guard dog… but the footsteps belong to Team Leader Kang Jinsu.”
Choi Junseok opened the door. Team Leader Kang Jinsu, looking rather tired, greeted him. His expression was quite combative, starting with getting straight to the point.
“Junseok, what did you decide about what we discussed last time?”
“Why are you asking again…?”
Kang Jinsu continued with a brief warning.
In short:
1. If you climb the Magic Tower so dramatically, we cannot protect you.
2. It is dangerous, so even if you set new records, do it by the narrowest margin with a smokescreen operation.
That way, rumors might spread that you are not actually Function, relying on the Tower’s anonymity. However, Choi Junseok simply nodded along and sent the team leader away.
Exactly one day later, Choi Junseok’s answer came in the form of clearing the 7th floor.
“Summon!”
BOOOOM!
This time, instead of plunging the Holy Sword vertically, he threw it horizontally—aiming to pierce straight through the golem’s core. While the sword flew into the distance, the plan was to quickly return, escaping the aftershock.
The giant golem scattered in all directions.
Congratulations!
You have cleared the 7th floor.
Knocking away the incoming rock fragments was Lee Nayeon’s job.
“Incoming!”
Boulders rained down.
BOOM! CRASH! BANG!
Congratulations!
You have achieved the fastest clear time.
Clear time: 4 seconds.
Would you like to register anonymously on the Hall of Fame? (Y/N)
“Anonymous registration! Hurry!”
While the window transitioned to the next message, Lee Nayeon’s sword instantly shattered, sliced, and deflected the rocks.
CRASH! BOOM! SLASH! CLANG!
She could knock some away, but not all of them.
When a boulder the size of a house approached above Lee Nayeon and Choi Junseok—
‘I cannot cut that.’
The moment that instinct hit Lee Nayeon, the return prompt appeared in Choi Junseok’s vision.
Would you like to return? (Y/N) You will be automatically returned in 30 minutes.
“Return! Immediately!”
Shhhk…!
The two of them scattered into yellow light, leaving afterimages. The house-sized boulder that had been falling above them seemed to pause in midair for an instant—because the Holy Sword’s aftershock, upon touching the ground, had lifted the falling rock.
Fwoooosh!
Soon after, the massive boulder turned to dust in an instant and exploded outward.
Lee Nayeon sprawled on the floor the moment they returned. Choi Junseok also sat against the wall, looking shaken by how close they had come to death.
“Haaah… Seriously. I almost died.”
But there was a reward. The hidden reward random box given for achieving the fastest record on five consecutive floors had appeared in his inventory.
Perhaps because he had burned the golem’s eyes with the laser while summoning the Holy Sword, experience had also come in. His level jumped straight to 18—an enormous leap for the 7th floor. It was likely because there were no teammates to share experience with when climbing alone.
While Lee Nayeon lay panting, her gaze suddenly snapped toward the door. Sensing someone approaching from the presence, Choi Junseok looked over as well. Team Leader Kang Jinsu entered after naturally entering the password, looking as if he was half in tears.
“Choi Junseok. Seriously, seriously… Why are you doing this? Do you have some kind of grudge against us?”
“Why can’t a player climb the Tower? You told me to climb before.”
“No… That’s… Haah…”
He seemed to calm his anger and sat down across from Choi Junseok.
Unlike the previous day, both of them looked more like they were catching their breath than exhausted.
‘Looks like it really was a crisis.’
“I have no intention of climbing the Tower quietly.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? If you keep this up, even more eyes will turn toward you. I told you to create a smokescreen.”
“Clearing it by the narrowest margin of a few seconds is not as easy as it sounds. If you heard what my ability actually is, you would understand. Want me to tell you?”
Kang Jinsu let out a sigh as if regaining some composure and shook his head.
“No. I do not want to know unnecessary things. Sometimes not knowing is safer.”
“The Americans are already watching me anyway.”
“…”
“You said you dealt with all the brokers they sent to find me, right?”
“Their player protection policies work that way behind the scenes. Kidnappings happen frequently too. The U.S. seems to have taken it as a firm warning and is backing off.”
“I see…”
Choi Junseok’s indifferent attitude made Kang Jinsu the frustrated one.
‘Does this guy even watch the news?’
CNN had already reported on it today. A crazy guy was climbing while destroying the Suseo Magic Tower in Korea. They had also covered the unprecedented record of never taking more than ten seconds per floor.
In the Middle East, they were even saying that Choi Junseok must have Allah’s blessing and urging people to board flights to the region immediately—an absurd logic that essentially served as a warning from the Middle East.
‘We are also looking for Function.’
“Do you truly want to climb the Tower safely, without interference from other factions?”
Choi Junseok met his eyes for a moment before answering.
“Have you ever bought a monthly pass to a public bath because your house did not have a shower?”
“…?”
“Ah, you probably do not even know public baths or monthly passes exist in this day and age.”
“…”
“Have you ever run out of rice at home? Have you ever had to hand-wash clothes with soap in a shared bathroom because the washing machine was broken?”
While Kang Jinsu struggled to respond to the sudden questions, Choi Junseok continued.
“You people do not understand. I am the one whose family was ruined because of the Magic Tower.”
There was a strange venom in Choi Junseok’s eyes and words.
“So do not talk to me about sincerity. Not before I decide to leave Korea for good.”
Kang Jinsu could only nod, blinking in silence.
“Go. I need to open the 5-floor record reward. I will climb the Tower my way. Do not tell me what to do anymore.”
Seeing Choi Junseok’s firm resolve, Kang Jinsu nodded.
He already knew persuasion would not work on this man.
“Understood, Junseok. But… even if you are leaving, there is one thing I must tell you.”
“…?”
“Someone will be moving in downstairs. A player. Japanese.”
“……What? You are keeping security tight, right?”
“Yes. It says Japanese player, but in reality she is not a person—she is a summon. So there is no problem. Think of it as support troops for your safety.”
Choi Junseok did not understand the logic, but it seemed he had no choice in the matter.