Retaliation (2)
One day earlier. Before Choi Junseok set foot on Japanese soil.
In a heavily secured hotel room, Choi Junseok and Team Leader Kang were deep in discussion. Their goal was simple: share the latest developments.
How the situation had unfolded since the terror attacks. How the Korean government planned to respond. They had extracted a wealth of information from the captured perpetrators, but the most shocking revelation was that the attackers appeared to be Koreans who had been brainwashed. The likelihood that a mind-control summon had been involved was extremely high.
“However, one thing is certain. To carry out that kind of brainwashing, spies or summons from either North Korea or Japan must have infiltrated Korean society.”
“Whether they’ve already returned home or are simply waiting for the scrutiny to die down is still unclear.”
“We’re pouring every resource we have into finding them. We intend to exact bloody revenge.”
At this point, Choi Junseok had already decided the matter was beyond his control. Yet Team Leader Kang made him an unexpected offer—one that could easily be misunderstood if overheard.
“Junseok, have you considered taking a vacation?”
“…Excuse me?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking, so wipe that look off your face. It really is just a vacation proposal.”
“If it’s a vacation, just say it’s a vacation. Why add ‘it is’ like that? Makes me nervous.”
“Well, there is one condition. Nothing difficult, though. It’s actually a pretty good deal for you.”
“The destination isn’t North Korea, is it?”
Team Leader Kang chuckled and shook his head.
“It’s Japan.”
“A vacation… in Japan. How ominous.”
“Think of it as a small reward for capturing one of the terrorists.”
“I doubt that’s the only reason.”
Choi Junseok’s remark made Team Leader Kang grin and nod, clearly pleased by how quickly he caught on.
“There’s a Magic Tower in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. We don’t know what the first-floor clear reward is, but like all towers, it’s bound to offer something on the level of a mythic-grade item.”
“You want me to steal it.”
“Exactly.”
Choi Junseok had three immediate concerns.
“There are some problems with this plan, aren’t there?”
“Go ahead.”
“First, even if I disguise myself with Song Hana’s help, the moment an F-grade clears the first floor of Shibuya Magic Tower, everyone will know it was Korea’s Function, right?”
While the Japanese public might not know about the mysterious F-grade player called Function, the Japanese government would immediately recognize him.
Team Leader Kang nodded without denying it, urging him to continue.
“So basically, you want me to go there and take a dump on their tower… Won’t that completely destroy relations between Korea and Japan?”
“Can they get any worse?”
“…”
“Even when we present evidence and pressure them, Japan keeps playing dumb. They act like they have nothing to do with it and even have the audacity to ask if we’d really turn hostile over the words of some brainwashed Korean players. So why not play along? We’ll just say it wasn’t our F-grade.”
“That was the real goal, wasn’t it?”
“An eye for an eye. As I mentioned earlier, North Korea’s Magic Tower is being stripped of its major rewards by Korean players. At this rate, people are joking that Kaesong will clear its 100th floor before Suseo does.”
Unlike Suseo Magic Tower, where different guilds split their teams and spread out their talent, the players tackling Kaesong Magic Tower were united by rage and a thirst for revenge against North Korea. Though the lower floors helped, the real advantage came from S-grade and A-grade rankers from rival guilds forming a single dream team.
The vanguard pushed through the early floors at breakneck speed. Whenever a floor with special conditions or limited rewards appeared, waiting S-grades would be deployed to secure the hidden rewards.
“The Player Management Agency and the government will take full responsibility for any consequences. All you need to do is slip in, grab the item, and get out.”
“Fine. I won’t worry about the fallout. But will I actually make it back alive?”
Team Leader Kang nodded reassuringly.
“Song Hana will handle the disguise on the way in, and we’ll provide additional mask prosthetics to alter your appearance.”
“Mask prosthetics?”
“You’ve seen it in movies, right? They literally flip a layer of skin over your face to completely change your features.”
“…That’s actually possible?”
“Of course. It doesn’t even take long. And on the way back, you have an item that can handle the return trip.”
“…?”
“The teleportation item that lets you designate a location. You mentioned it before, didn’t you? Set the destination to Korea before you enter Japan. That way, you can teleport out instantly.”
Choi Junseok scratched his head in frustration, weighing the risks. Team Leader Kang offered one final reassurance.
“As long as you aren’t caught in Japan, there’s zero chance your identity or information will be exposed.”
Choi Junseok finally nodded.
“Screw it. Let’s do it. It’s not like I’ll get another chance to steal a foreign tower’s first-floor reward.”
Thus, Choi Junseok agreed to the Agency and government’s plan—an act of retaliation disguised as clearing Shibuya Magic Tower’s first floor, using the same excuses Japan had used.
After Team Leader Kang left, Choi Junseok explained the operation to Song Hana and Lee Nayeon. Song Hana looked both terrified and strangely excited.
“We’re going to clear the first floor of Shibuya Magic Tower? That’s huge! But… that means we have to go to Japan, right?! Matsumoto won’t just sit still!”
“If you want to wage war, charging into enemy territory is only natural. You can’t win a war by fearing the enemy.”
Lee Nayeon’s response was exactly as expected. Song Hana’s eyes trembled with anxiety, but she soon steeled herself.
“I-I want to go too!”
Choi Junseok simply tilted his head. There was no need for them to accompany him into danger. He could just summon them inside the tower.
“I’m only summoning you two once we’re inside the tower anyway. You can stay in Korea. Just help me forge my player profile.”
“Oh? Now that you mention it, you’re right. Ehehe.”
Honestly, he wouldn’t even need to summon them. The only thing he planned to summon was the Holy Sword.
Upon arriving at the Tokyo Magic Tower, Choi Junseok exited the taxi and followed the routes meticulously scrambled by the National Intelligence Service. Once in a secluded spot, he stepped directly into Shibuya Magic Tower.
Enter Shibuya Magic Tower 1st Floor? (Y/N)
He already knew the internal layout from the countless videos uploaded by Japanese player YouTubers. Without hesitation, Choi Junseok recalled the summoning formation that would instantly bring him to the target point and pressed his hand against the entrance prompt.
The scenery shifted. Without a moment’s delay, he summoned the Holy Sword.
“Summon!”
The Holy Sword tore through the air in a spiraling descent and slammed into the ground.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!
It was the same trap-avoidance first floor as the Korean towers.
Congratulations!
You have cleared the 1st Floor.
Congratulations!
Hidden Reward Condition: Cleared in the shortest time by a single person.
Clear Time: 0 seconds.
Would you like to register anonymously on the Hall of Fame? (Y/N)
Registered anonymously.
Hidden Reward granted.
Having cleared the floor without mercy, Choi Junseok immediately returned to reality and activated an item—the legendary-grade Teleportation Summoning Circle.
Thus, the moment Choi Junseok’s name was anonymously etched into Shibuya Magic Tower’s Hall of Fame as an F-grade, he vanished from Japan without a trace.
Vacation, my ass.
If he lingered even a few hours, something disastrous was bound to happen. And sure enough, Japan went into immediate emergency mode.
Four minutes after the mysterious F-grade shattered Shibuya Magic Tower’s first floor, the Japanese Player Bureau—equivalent to Korea’s Player Management Agency—received the report.
“S-Sir! An unidentified F-grade has appeared on Shibuya Magic Tower’s 1st floor!”
The bureau director closed his eyes and nodded. The moment they had been waiting for had arrived. He immediately activated Matsumoto’s operation.
“Commence Operation Function Analysis.”
Japan had already anticipated that Korea would send Function in exactly this manner. After all, their true objective had been to lure Function into Japan all along.
And just as expected, the foolhardy Koreans had played right into their script.
Matsumoto Hirobumi, Japan’s Defense Minister and an S-grade ranker, clenched his fist and barked out orders.
“He’s trapped in our net now! Capture him at all costs!”
Got you.
Japan declared a state of emergency that lasted only ten minutes. Five minutes later—roughly fifteen minutes after Function’s first-floor clear—every flight departing Japan for Korea was ordered to stand by. At the same time, immigration records for all entrants over the past three days were subjected to a full identity check.
They prioritized those who had flown directly from Korea to Japan, but Matsumoto, who knew about summons like Song Hana, refused to limit the search to F-grades alone. Accounting for possible disguises, he ordered a thorough sweep of every single person.
Half a day later, the results came in.
“What? No promising suspects at all?”
“Yes… Among all entrants from the past three days, not a single player boarded any flight bound for Korea or abroad.”
“…Not a single player?”
Matsumoto nodded to himself. Function was still inside Japan.
“Find him. He hasn’t left Japan. Monitor every port around the clock to prevent any stowaways!”
The mere appearance and subsequent disappearance of Function had already consumed a massive amount of Japan’s administrative resources. Other government functions were nearly paralyzed by the manhunt.
That alone was already a sufficient warning from Korea to Japan.
— Junseok, reports say the Japanese government has put all other work on hold to focus entirely on tracking Function.
— The administrative costs and budget wasted on this incident are estimated at 40 million yen, roughly 400 million won.
But there was something even more satisfying.
— According to intelligence, the Defense Minister is reportedly furious and has lodged an unofficial protest with the government. The Korean government is feigning ignorance.
Even Japan’s player community was in an uproar over the anonymous F-grade who had cleared the first floor in zero seconds.
Whether in Japan or Korea, people were all the same.
Having thrown Japan into chaos and vanished without a trace, Choi Junseok was already back in Korea, opening the first-floor hidden reward alongside Song Hana.
The item that emerged exceeded even Choi Junseok’s expectations—someone who had already opened two first-floor hidden rewards before.
Once again, it had appeared.
An item that defied the tower’s fundamental logic and system.