Asymmetric Power (3)
Team Leader Kang boarded the vehicle and sent a text message to Choi Junseok.
A National Intelligence Service agent was driving for him.
The driver was an agent who had already been vetted by the counterintelligence department.
Above all, since only Team Leader Kang knew which room Choi Junseok was staying in at the hotel, there were no particular security concerns.
- I’ll come visit you at the hotel.
The moment he sent that message, Choi Junseok smiled at the inevitable contact from Team Leader Kang.
- Ah, yes. I’ll climb the 20th floor before you arrive.
For a moment, Kang Jinsu naturally nodded to himself. Then he startled himself with the realization and let out a dumbfounded chuckle.
‘This guy is seriously insane.’
Who phrases “I’ll climb the 20th floor” the same way they’d say “I’ll take a shower before you get here”?
The 20th floor was a level where even S-rank or A-rank players would need to stay tense if attempting it alone.
Team Leader Kang swallowed the words he had been about to say—asking whether Junseok needed any support while preparing for the 20th floor.
More than that, as someone who had cleared up to the 28th floor himself, he understood the pressure of the 20th floor better than anyone.
Boss floors that appeared every ten levels.
Some called them raid floors.
If the 10th-floor boss slaughtered those who were merely mediocre, the 20th floor and beyond slaughtered players who weren’t properly prepared.
‘He’s not even asking about the clear anymore. How disappointing.’
Kang Jinsu immediately checked the internet community reactions related to Function.
Quite a few people were sharing reactions from within Japan.
Japan’s F-rank anonymous player clearing the 1st floor in zero seconds.
Many people, including YouTubers, had begun reporting on Function all at once.
At this moment, people’s reactions to the third Function were concise.
‘That’s Korea’s Function.’
Who else could achieve such a feat besides Korea’s Function?
At the same time, people were even calling Japan’s F-rank player the third Function.
As expected.
Just as anticipated, chaos erupted in the players’ community, Player Inside.
The reason they had covered the Hall of Fame in Suseo Magic Tower was simple.
Officially, they had sealed off the area around Suseo Magic Tower for security and public safety reasons, blocking all access.
But the real intention was to create confusion in Japan regarding Function.
The player community, which had been gloomy from the deaths of colleagues and acquaintances, now found a small ray of hopeful and humorous news.
‘Yeah, that’s right. We have Function.’
He was an irreplaceable force that no other nation could replicate, a being with an unknown power.
That was why people were gradually shaking off their sorrow.
Of course, Japan had been pointed to as the mastermind behind the terror attacks on players.
When Japan kept denying involvement, no one knew that Korea had adopted the same strategy—dispatching Function and then denying everything as well.
‘You’re doing great work, Junseok.’
Now, for the sake of preventing national losses, Function’s identity could never be revealed.
‘We must minimize the number of people who know and protect him by any means necessary.’
This felt like both Kang Jinsu’s personal mission and a duty tied to the fate of the nation.
At the same time, the key to catching the spies still remaining in Korea also lay in Choi Junseok’s hands.
The guilt he felt over the recent attack on Choi Junseok’s house only grew heavier.
At the very moment Team Leader Kang Jinsu was heading to the hotel room where Choi Junseok was staying, Choi Junseok had already begun his assault on the 20th floor of Suseo Magic Tower.
A warning window appeared in Choi Junseok’s vision as always.
Would you like to enter the 20th floor of Suseo Magic Tower? (Y/N)
No warning appeared regarding the minimum recommended party size.
He already knew this, but the floor’s structure didn’t require a certain number of people anyway.
The previous record for the fastest clear of the 20th floor was 5 minutes and 22 seconds.
Just as he was about to enter the 20th floor, Lee Nayeon stopped him.
“May I make a request?”
It was the first time Lee Nayeon had ever asked for something.
“I would prefer that you not use the Holy Sword right away.”
“Then?”
“I would like to fight alone until the five-minute mark. If I still cannot clear it by then, please use the Holy Sword at that time.”
She bowed her head, as if she thought it was an unreasonable request, but it wasn’t unreasonable at all.
“No, it’s fine. Actually, this works out well. I wanted to see how much you’ve grown anyway.”
“However, Song Hana and I will break straight through to the mid-boss room. No problem?”
“Understood.”
When Choi Junseok selected yes to the prompt asking if he wished to enter the 20th floor of the Magic Tower, his vision changed in an instant.
A corridor filled with reddish-brown bricks.
Darkness lay thick, and the stench of blood clung heavily to his entire body.
Along with it came the noise of monsters.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…
The strange sensation of something running along both walls and the ceiling rang out, and at that moment—
“Summon!”
The cold weapons Choi Junseok summoned poured out in a spiral, slicing through the darkness.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Amidst them, Song Hana’s arrows of light flew and embedded themselves, revealing the forms of the approaching creatures.
Four-legged demons with grotesquely twisted joints—ghouls.
Even as they fell in droves, their numbers showed no sign of decreasing.
“Kwaaaak!”
Dozens of ghouls rushed forward, clinging to the walls and ceiling.
It seemed endless, like ants pouring out of an anthill.
Each one had its head and joints twisted at unnatural angles, reminiscent of a necromancer’s horrific failed experiment.
The thrown cold weapons were depleted in an instant.
Just as Choi Junseok was about to spray gravel rounds, Lee Nayeon took a step forward and drew Caliburn from her waist.
At the sight of her, the approaching ghouls visibly slowed.
Perhaps because the weapon was forged from the sword of the great demon Balrog.
Lee Nayeon took a deep breath, then accelerated her body in a single burst.
Shwaaak—
She didn’t quite reach Lee Jiyu’s super speed, but her movement left afterimages that blurred the eye.
Lee Nayeon’s sword aura flashed between the dark corridors as she moved farther and farther away.
Her speed in cutting through enemies surpassed even the running speed of Choi Junseok and Song Hana.
Choi Junseok and Song Hana quickly followed behind, weaving between the corpses of ghouls sliced into pieces.
The time it took to break through the corridor was a mere two minutes.
For an ordinary raid team, this wouldn’t have been an issue.
But for those aiming to set a record, Lee Nayeon now had only three minutes left.
After passing through the ghouls’ corridor, they arrived at an open area.
Beyond it, at the door, the mid-boss appeared as expected.
It was a patchwork corpse golem.
A massive lump of flesh that looked like it required at least two hundred human corpses to create.
Just looking at it was enough to turn one’s stomach.
However, compared to its body, its tiny head was already rolling across the floor.
Lee Nayeon had leaped into the air in a single bound, spun once, and cleanly severed it with a single strike before landing.
The shockwave from beheading it was strong enough to make Song Hana stagger.
Thud-thud-thud…
Black, rotten blood gushed from the severed head like rain, splattering in all directions.
The moment the corrosive rotten blood touched the floor, it hissed and emitted white smoke.
The time it took for her to slay the mid-boss in a single strike was roughly ten seconds.
Lee Nayeon’s sword aura was becoming clearer with each passing moment.
The investment in her had paid off.
The legendary Rank Upgrade Ticket that elevated her to SS-rank.
Moreover, the sword she wielded was of mythic grade.
The gauntlet she wore to use that sword.
Even the item used to summon her was mythic grade.
Mythic-grade items were considered plentiful if an S-rank ranker possessed even one.
Yet here was an SS-rank who wielded two such items.
If she were weak, that would be strange.
If SS-rank was valued at mythic grade or higher, then Lee Nayeon herself was the living embodiment of three mythic-grade items.
While Song Hana cleansed Choi Junseok of poison and disease debuffs, Lee Nayeon had already opened the door leading to the boss room.
‘Immune to poison and disease?’
It seemed the protective effect of the Lionheart’s Gauntlet had activated.
Honestly, the performance she had shown up to this point already exceeded expectations, but her summoner, Choi Junseok, knew the truth.
Lee Nayeon’s performance had only just begun.
Lee Nayeon was impatient.
Less than three minutes remained.
The 20th-floor boss monster was a reaper wielding a massive scythe.
Its black robes and cloak evoked the image of a ghost.
The only differences were its enormous size and the fact that it rode an equally massive ghostly horse.
The moment they entered, the 20th-floor boss monster’s pattern began.
The green glow in the skeletal horse’s eyes shot toward Lee Nayeon like twin laser beams.
But Lee Nayeon was no longer where the beams struck.
Her speed, accelerated in an instant, was so great that even Choi Junseok and Song Hana struggled to follow.
A new skill registered before Lee Nayeon’s eyes.
Active Skill ‘Super Speed’ acquired.
It was none other than the S-rank skill Super Speed, the same awakening skill Lee Jiyu possessed.
In a single motion, Lee Nayeon grabbed the skeletal horse with one hand and soared into the air, instantly matching the reaper’s eye level.
At the same time, blue energy flowed along her body and gathered into her sword.
Fwoooosh—!!
The sword raised high pierced through the reaper from its lower body to its upper body in a single strike.
Only one slashing motion was visible, yet strangely, blue trails began to connect across multiple trajectories.
It was impossible to tell whether the attack had been unleashed while landing or while ascending.
But one thing was certain.
By the time Lee Nayeon landed, the 20th-floor boss—the reaper and its skeletal horse—had already been torn to shreds like rags.
Congratulations!
Hidden Reward Condition: Achieved the fastest solo clear time.
You have cleared the 20th floor.
Clear Time: 2 minutes 38 seconds.
Hidden clear rewards and lower-floor clear rewards have been granted.
Would you like to register anonymously in the Hall of Fame? (Y/N)
The additional effect of ‘Recovery Fairy’ has activated.
Would you like to return? (Y/N) Automatic return in 30 minutes.