The Strongest Player Hides His Identity (2)
A hidden skill.
It referred to an individual’s derived skill branching off from their awakening skill.
Yet it was still called a hidden skill for a simple reason.
The system window registered it as a brand-new skill.
In truth, the system window only ever explained a fraction of what any skill could do.
Whether a player could fully awaken its latent potential was entirely up to their own ability.
When someone honed their skill in a specific direction and reached a new realm, the system window would announce that they had acquired a new skill.
Yu Junhyeok seemed to have already sensed the existence of a hidden skill through his unique perception.
After all, he was the man who had coached countless players and climbed the towers himself.
He must have watched players grow and witnessed the true power of skills awakening on numerous occasions.
“Well, the ability to talk to items is certainly useful.”
“Of course it is.”
“Then why don’t you call fusing with a sword a hidden skill too?”
“I’d rather call that my awakening skill.”
‘…So it was real.’
“Anyway, look at you now. You’re talking to both me and Nayeon.”
“I was talking to Nayeon too?”
“Your senses are dull. Of course you were. I can even hear her breathing. She simply chooses not to answer.”
She heard him but didn’t respond.
‘What is she, a cat?’
It felt exactly like calling out to a cat that clearly knew you were talking to it yet refused to even twitch an ear.
“She doesn’t even listen, yet you still call it a useful ability.”
At Choi Junseok’s sarcastic remark, Yu Junhyeok calmly agreed.
“It’s an extraordinary ability. One that will truly shine the higher you climb. It may be useless below the mid floors, but that won’t matter.”
It didn’t sound like empty talk.
“And above all, you might be the one to show me the next stage I’ve been seeking.”
“I have no intention of becoming a sword.”
“Of course not. And it wouldn’t be possible anyway. Do you think achieving unity between sword and body is that easy?”
Yu Junhyeok’s words continued, leaving Choi Junseok’s mind reeling.
“The technique I once looked up to as the next step after Sword-Body Unity. Sword Control. I see the potential for it in you.”
‘Don’t tell me… he thinks dropping a summoned sword counts as Sword Control?’
“Every man dreams of becoming one with his sword and soaring through the skies, doesn’t he? I thought that was normal.”
“Most people don’t.”
“Is that so?”
Choi Junseok nodded as his body scattered into particles of light for the return trip.
It was a nod of absolute certainty that this man was truly insane.
Who in the world actually dreamed of something like that?
Flying through the sky was one thing, but becoming one with a sword?
“Don’t mock it. No one who mocks another’s dream ever amounts to much.”
“I wasn’t laughing.”
“Then that’s fortunate. Ever since I was young, my dream has been to become the greatest swordsman under heaven.”
“No, that’s not what I… Never mind. You achieved your dream. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Flash…
When he opened his eyes, he stood in the empty lot near his house—the same place he had been when he entered the Magic Tower.
The zombie blood that had stained his body had vanished without a trace.
“The system really is something else.”
Items disassembled and stored in his inventory were treated like personal belongings and didn’t disappear.
Injuries sustained inside the Magic Tower also remained unhealed.
Yet, strangely enough, any dirt, blood, or filth on him had been completely cleaned away.
“Even after awakening, I’m not exactly rolling in money.”
Returning with nothing profitable made the A-grade hidden skill feel just as disappointing as before.
‘I need to change our lives quickly.’
He wanted to be filial.
He wanted to work hard, save money, and send his smart little sister to college.
He wanted his mother and sister to buy whatever they wanted without worrying about the cost.
‘Mom, who kept working even while she was sick.’
She was better now, but it would still be nice if she never had to work again.
Above all, he felt guilty toward his little sister, who had grown up far too fast without ever experiencing a proper adolescence.
She never once complained about needing her own room.
The moment school ended, she rushed off to her part-time job.
When she came home, she studied alone from workbooks until she fell asleep.
While other kids her age were into cosmetics, idol merchandise, and diets, she hunted down discarded workbooks from friends just to study.
Every time he saw her like that, guilt threatened to crush him.
‘I want to give my family a better tomorrow.’
Yet even after gaining power and clearing the second floor, he still had nothing to show for it financially.
But that was fine.
The climb had only just begun.
‘If I reveal myself just because I’m short on cash…’
Choi Junseok knew exactly what the government and the guilds were like.
Having clawed his way up from the very bottom of the player world, he understood their nature better than anyone.
If he got excited about his exploding potential and started causing trouble while showing his face everywhere?
Of course the government and guilds would welcome him with open arms.
While hiding a leash behind their backs.
It wouldn’t just mean being targeted and exploited for his abilities.
It would be no different from boarding a roller coaster straight to hell.
If he revealed himself before fully understanding the extent of his power and what he was truly capable of, that outcome was highly likely.
Humanity’s greatest enemy had always been other humans.
If the Magic Tower wasn’t cleared within 300 days, a sinkhole would form?
Did he really think players would desperately rush to clear it because of that?
Not at all.
Choi Junseok sneered.
Every player he had ever met did not want the Magic Towers to be cleared.
In fact, many of them wished a few more would appear right in the heart of the capital.
Why?
Because the greater the sense of crisis in the world, the more their status rose to that of heroes.
That was the kind of beings humans were.
The more resources and attention flowed toward them,
the more people criticized the government,
the more support and offers poured in from the Five Great Guilds and other players.
The world praised and looked up to players alone.
Their exploits filled news headlines and YouTube thumbnails.
Spotlights shone on them from every corner of the internet and reality alike.
So why would they clear the towers for anyone else’s sake?
The one who mourned the Demon King’s death the most was never his subordinates—it was the hero.
Without Magic Towers, players were nothing more than unemployed.
If the Suseo Magic Tower disappeared and a new one appeared in some remote, uninhabited corner?
The nationwide attention would naturally fade.
That was why many players secretly hoped for one thing.
‘The southeastern part of the capital needs to be devastated.’
It was obvious they wanted the Suseo Magic Tower to collapse so their own necessity would become even more apparent.
Humans were selfish creatures.
Choi Junseok knew that.
In a world full of players like that, if some unknown F-grade rookie with no connections suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
The Five Great Guilds and every other player organization would make the same obvious choice.
‘Kill him.’
It was the simplest and cleanest solution.
Rather than wasting time and energy figuring out how to recruit him, what to offer, how much to pay, what his abilities were, what his weaknesses were, or how his appearance would shift the balance of power among the Five Great Guilds…
They would simply choose to erase someone who had never existed in the first place.
From their perspective, it was the most rational decision.
That was the kind of beings humans were.
Choi Junseok knew that.
If he revealed himself, he would be lucky to even stay alive.
Hadn’t the major guilds already made it legal for their members to carry firearms under the pretext of protecting players?
It was a world where hearing about rival guild spies being stabbed in the back inside the Magic Tower was commonplace.
‘Once I start climbing the tower, money will come quickly.’
Safety first was always the priority.
But what truly mattered was “how to earn it safely.”
Choi Junseok was different from the average person who chased immediate gains.
More than anything, he was confident in himself.
He couldn’t use facilities under government supervision like the magic stone exchange, but he had years of knowledge and experience as a porter when it came to buying and selling monster parts.
He was unmatched when it came to scavenging and bringing items down from the tower.
That was how he had been able to join mid-to-low floor expeditions all the way up to the 34th floor despite having no combat ability.
Even though he couldn’t join from the 35th floor onward due to party size limits.
‘Magic Tower logistics, supplies, procurement, and retrieval.’
In that field alone, Choi Junseok could confidently claim he was the best in Korea.
“I’m home.”
“You’re back, son?”
Seeing his mother’s warm smile and his sister’s expressionless face, Choi Junseok made a vow.
‘These two people, no matter what—’
Three mouths to feed, including his own.
He would protect them at all costs.
That resolve and determination seeped into his summons as well.
‘I thought he was just some ordinary guy.’
Lee Nayeon’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as she sensed the same thoughts and emotions.
─┼
Player Management Agency in Sejong.
The moment the record for the fastest clear of the second floor was updated,
less than ten minutes later, the Player Management Bureau was thrown into emergency mode.
“Raising the emergency level from Stage 2 to Stage 1! This is now a Stage 3 emergency!”
“Emergency! Emergency! Ultra emergency! Function has appeared!”
Function.
That was the codename the Player Management Agency had given Choi Junseok.
It meant an F(x)-grade player, derived from the word “function.”
An unidentified player who had been assigned a nickname by the agency in a single day.
It was the first time in Korean player history.
Usually, nicknames were given to famous rankers.
Even then, they mostly used names that the public had already coined.
For the agency itself to assign a codename like this was unprecedented.
While Choi Junseok was casually telling his family about what he had seen on the second floor,
the barricades in front of the Player Management Agency kept opening and closing in a frenzy.
Vroooom!
As if venting their frustration from the all-nighter,
luxury sedans and military Retonas that had passed inspection sped through one after another.
The high-rise building of the Player Management Agency, where all the vehicles were headed, had every single light turned on.
It illuminated the surroundings like a lighthouse beacon.
Every floor was lit because of the unprecedented appearance of an F-grade player.
Not only had the director of the Management Bureau and high-ranking officials from related ministries been summoned,
some of them had only gotten off work less than an hour ago.
The reason they had pulled an all-nighter was also because of Function’s activities.
This emergency summons was no different.
Before any materials could even be prepared in the conference room,
the meeting had already begun.
“Function?”
“Yes. Function. It’s definitely him.”
“So Function… resumed activity right away?”
The one who couldn’t hide his surprise was the Chief of Staff from the Presidential Office.
“This is unexpected.”
“Yes. He cleared the second floor in record time.”
“What?!”
“Is that true?”
“Yes, it is.”
They had assumed his goal was the hidden reward on the first floor.
They thought he would go into complete hiding again.
Yet he had immediately cleared the second floor.
And not quietly—he had done it in a way that dramatically announced his presence to everyone.
“Did the second floor also have a solo hidden reward condition?”
“No, Vice Minister. It did not.”
“Good heavens…”
“So it was just for show? And then he registered anonymously anyway?”
“Correct.”
“What a lunatic.”
“No. I don’t believe this is simply a show of force. You’ll hear the details in the upcoming briefing.”
The conference room doors kept swinging open.
“Function again?”
The attendees nodded.
The moment one person clicked his tongue and sat down,
bang!
“What is it this time? Is it Function?”
When the agency staff member who had been setting out water and refreshments nodded,
“Yes. It’s that guy Function.”
“Wow… This is driving me insane.”
He smacked his forehead with his palm and rolled his eyes.
For the next five minutes, several more people entered asking if it was about Function.
Once most of the expected attendees had taken their seats,
the senior analyst from the Player Management Agency, who had been preparing the briefing, pushed up his glasses with his middle finger and spoke.
His first words were not what anyone had expected.
Instead of hearing that Function had cleared the second floor in two seconds,
they heard:
“We’ve received word that the United States has secretly dispatched brokers to locate Function.”
“What?!”
“Is this from the U.S. Player Management Bureau?!”
“No. The information came through the National Intelligence Service.”
It meant the information had been obtained through unofficial channels.
“Good heavens… So America is extending an olive branch to Function.”
It was the sigh of the NIS Security Division 3 Chief, who was present in the room.
“What on earth is going on…”
At the very moment when, mere days into his tower climbing career, America was salivating, the Korean government was scrambling, and Korea’s Five Great Guilds were desperately searching for him—
the player codenamed Function, the strongest F-grade player, whose real name was Choi Junseok,
was currently being smacked on the back by his mother.
“I told you! Even if you’re a player or whatever! Don’t do anything dangerous!”
“Ow! Ow! Mom! I’m telling you it’s not dangerous! I’m really strong now!”