The First Believer

Not long before, a man had been given a piece of advice by Bonghyuk:

That man was D-rank Awakener Kim Dojin, who—with his fellow members of Byeokdu Guild—was on the verge of challenging Lower 15F.

"Hey, what'd that nutcase just say?"

"Dunno. Something about bringing a silver weapon?"

"A silver weapon? The hell is that supposed to mean. You even have one?"

"Nope?"

"Forget the bullshit and let's get moving."

Kim Dojin forced himself to ignore it and headed for the gate. And yet—

...God, it's nagging at me. Fuck.

His mouth felt gritty, as if he'd been chewing sand. Just in case, he opened a trade with a merchant-class Awakener who happened to be running a stall right next door.

Kim Dojin bought a single silver steak knife—the kind you'd use to carve meat—and shoved it into his inventory. Purely because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the feeling wouldn't leave him alone.

Bonghyuk spent a long while crouched in a corner of the lobby before finally dragging himself back to his studio apartment. No matter how hard he steeled himself, he could not take that one step through the gate. A few tears slipped out. He flopped onto his single bed.

Ding— an overdue-payment text came flying in.

"Aaaagh..."

He felt well and truly cornered.

Right! They'd said Awakeners could get loans just like that.

Bonghyuk hurriedly logged onto AwakenersNet.

DTI? His debt already sat at 50 million won—there was no way they'd hand him 30 million more.

Not happening, then...

Dazed, Bonghyuk scrolled through other posts.

Bonghyuk absentmindedly left a comment of his own.

Replies came trickling in a good while later.

Bonghyuk flung his phone across the room.

Grroowwl.

His stomach was empty.

Then—

Tak. A notification popped up in the group chat with his friends.

Bonghyuk's hand shook with rage.

And so they ended up meeting. When Bonghyuk walked in, his friends waved with bright, beaming faces.

Their grins had split clean open. Of course their moods were golden—they'd each made an absolute killing on their Samsung HiNex apartments.

And the way they beamed at a friend's ruin—you couldn't ask for truer childhood friends.

Bonghyuk sat down among them with all the ease he could muster. He knocked back a drink and spoke.

"Hey. I awakened."

His friends startled upright.

"Awakened? Oh? For real? Insane. As what?"

"Do we finally get an Awakener friend?"

"A shaman."

"......"

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—

The table erupted.

"Don't laugh. I'm dead serious here."

"What rank?"

"...F."

"Ah... you're toast..."

By this point even the friends had sobered up a little.

"Wait, can't shamans do that whole stock-chart thing? Like, 'this stock's about to rise~' and whatnot?"

Bonghyuk pulled out his phone and peered at the charts, half hoping the divination thing might actually work. But it was a skill usable only inside the Tower. No matter how hard he glared at the red candles, nothing came to him.

"Please, Bonghyuk's been a shaman since forever. All you gotta do is do the opposite of whatever that guy says and you're rich."

"So that's why you awakened as one?"

"Shut the hell up, you bastards."

"Let's just drink."

"Chin up, man."

Fucking pricks, every one of them.

He was pleasantly buzzed on the walk home. Too cheap to spare the bus fare, Bonghyuk strolled along on foot. Still, he'd at least scored a free dinner, so his mood had lifted a little.

Right at that moment—

Tii-ring—

A system message floated up inside his head.

Huh? What was this?

An Awakener who received a divination? That man I told to "take a silver weapon" in the lobby earlier?

Bonghyuk scrambled to open his status window.

Tower Coins: 0.5 TC.

In cold, hard cash, that came out to...

500,000 won???

"Holy shit...!"

Half a million won had materialized out of thin air. The booze burned clean out of his veins. And for the first time in his life, something called hope wriggled awake in a corner of his chest.

Moments after Bonghyuk said "take at least one silver weapon with you," Kim Dojin and the Byeokdu Guild party entered Lower 15F.

The landscape unfurled before them. Damp stone walls. Swarms of bats squeaking overhead where they clung to the ceiling. A pall of gloomy fog deep enough to swallow their ankles. And above a distant spire hung a moon the color of blood.

Then an info window rose before their eyes.

All three of them inhaled sharply at once.

"Wh-what the hell? Why are undead in the Lower Tower?!"

Undead. Monsters that normal weapons couldn't scratch—only arms blessed by a priest could put them down. From what he'd heard, they didn't show up until the Middle floors and above.

Warrior or whatever, it meant nothing. They had no way to hit them at all.

"We don't have a priest!"

One of the guild members went ghost-white.

"We... we can't even escape!"

Enter the Tower and you were granted five attempts. For the first four, you could withdraw and try again—but on the fifth and final one, escape was barred. You cleared the floor, or you died.

And today, of all days, was the fifth.

From far off, five mindless vampires lit up with scarlet eyes and charged.

Kiiiyaaaaaah!!

The Awakeners ripped out their weapons in a panic.

Kaang! Chang!

The sword skittered away. Not a single point of damage.

"Fireball!"

The mage burned through his skill, but the vampires—singed and wheezing—regenerated in an instant and kept coming.

"W-we're so fucked!"

The three of them spiraled into panic.

Seconds before their napes were torn open—

Make absolutely sure you bring a silver weapon.

That lunatic's words struck Kim Dojin's skull like a thunderbolt. He pulled the silver steak knife out of his inventory.

Shff—

"Kieeeek?"

It dealt damage. Faint, but undeniably real.

"Th-that's it!"

Kim Dojin swung the knife like a man possessed.

"Hyaaaaaaagh!!!"

One. Two. Vampires crumbled into ash and scattered.

Hah... hah...

At last he drove the blade through the throat of the fifth and final vampire—and—

A single knife built for carving dinner had saved three lives.

That night, a post went up on AwakenersNet.

Nobody believed a word of it. Everyone chalked it up to dumb luck.

The one reading that post was an Awakener with Astra Guild—Seong Jiyeon.

Long, straight hair falling to her waist.

Her eyes were sharp and defined, but the shadows beneath them ran deep—the face of someone who hadn't truly slept in days.

Her combat uniform, starched stiff and stamped with the guild logo, only seemed to bind her tighter.

This week is all the time you get. Clear Floor 30, no excuses.

The guild had driven the nail in. Break through Middle 30F this time—or be cut from the roster.

A C-rank, taking on Middle 30F. Objectively, it was impossible. And still she had to try. Kicked out of this guild, there was nowhere left to go.

So today, too, she had hesitated at the gate, over and over. That single step beyond it weighed far too much to take.

I can't! I'm not ready...!

And so Seong Jiyeon had come back without ever entering the Tower.

Then, by pure chance, she came across a post—one claiming someone had predicted what the Tower would throw at them.

If that's real... it's an absolute godsend.

Seong Jiyeon hurriedly left a comment.

Seong Jiyeon was desperate.

The next day, Bonghyuk opened his status window.

Divination had leveled up. And its target, once random, now read: those who worship.

Those who worship? What was that supposed to be?

Bonghyuk tilted his head. He had no clue what it meant, but one thing was certain—he had to test the ability somehow. So Bonghyuk entered the Tower.

The Tower lobby.

The same scene as yesterday. Bonghyuk went and sat in that same corner spot; for some reason, it felt the most comfortable there.

"Hello there?"

Someone spoke to him.

A short-cropped bob, a hoodie worn for easy movement. A woman about his age, with bright, clear eyes.

She hadn't been there yesterday, but today someone had a stall spread out. At a single flick of her hand, goods popped out of thin air, one after another. A merchant-class Awakener.

"Ah—is this seat taken?" Bonghyuk asked.

"Nope, it's free. Go ahead."

"Ah, thanks."

The woman stole a glance at him.

"You're not a merchant, are you?"

"Nope."

"Anyone who isn't competition is welcome here. Blacksmith? Potioneer?"

"Nope."

"Then what are you?"

"...A shaman."

"Huh?"

The woman's eyes went perfectly round.

"There's a class like that?"

"...Turns out there is."

"...Good luck."

"Thank you."

"I'm Kim Jian. A merchant, as you can see."

"Ah, right."

"Anything you need, just say the word."

Maybe it came with the merchant class, but she was pretty agreeable. Cute, too.

"Yeah..."

Bonghyuk rummaged around, cut up the box he'd scavenged from a convenience store the day before, and with a marker scrawled out a sign, propping it upright.

Then he settled onto a 5,000-won chair from the We-Have-Everything store.

"......"

At the sight of the sign, Kim Jian's face turned grave all over again.

"...Good luck."

"Yeah..."

Kim Jian's shop, meanwhile, was doing brisk business. Serving one customer after another, she would glance over at Bonghyuk now and then, then look away as if pitying him.

"Here, have this at least."

She pressed an iced americano into his hands—say ahh~.

"Oh! Thank you."

"You've got this!"

She smiled brightly—a smile that genuinely lifted your spirits.

"Yes, yes."

Right then—

"Ah, I've been looking everywhere. Um..."

Someone stopped in front of Bonghyuk, out of breath.

A woman with long, straight hair. A guild uniform with ASTRA stitched across the chest.

"You're the one who gave the fortune yesterday—the silver weapon thing. Right?"

"Yes?"

Silver weapon? Had this person been watching from somewhere nearby?

Bonghyuk nodded along with a wide smile.

"Ah, yes."

"Please, give me a reading too. I have to attempt Middle 30F today."

The woman—Seong Jiyeon—crouched down in front of him.

Bonghyuk stared at her blankly.

But unlike yesterday, no radiant light rose over her face.

Ah—is it because of the condition?

Bonghyuk went "Hmm," pondered something intently for a moment, then said:

"Worship me."

"Excuse me?"

"Worship me."

Seong Jiyeon tilted her head. Then she shuffled into place, sat down meekly, and pressed her palms together.

"P-please, I beg of you...? Like this?"

And at once, a brilliant radiance kindled into being, wrapping Seong Jiyeon in light.

Those who worship. Literally, it meant: show proper reverence to Bonghyuk—the man who served a god.

Bonghyuk chose "Yes."

Tsssssss—

His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brain flared white-hot, and in the same instant his eyes flew wide open, as if they had been opened for the very first time. A voice like something scraping stone began pouring up his throat, heedless of his own will.

"Seong Jiyeon... C-rank. Awakened five years ago. Stuck on Middle 30F, hmm? And this is your final attempt."

Gulp.

The sound of Seong Jiyeon swallowing rang out through the silence.

Seong Jiyeon held her breath and hung on the man's every word. She hadn't breathed a single word about herself, yet it all came pouring out of him.

"A magic swordsman, fire attribute. First attempt, a self-destruct trap forced your escape. Second, you wandered an endless maze for three days, gave up, and pulled out. Third, the bugs were so revolting you screamed the second you stepped in and ran. Fourth, you scraped out with barely enough potions left to count."

"H-how...?"

As though he'd been shadowing her every step of the way, he laid out all four of her failures with perfect precision.

Even Kim Jian, watching from her stall, wore the expression of someone thinking, There's no way that's real.

"Anyone would understand giving up. Making it to a final attempt is no small feat."

"I just... I need this so badly..."

Bonghyuk looked Seong Jiyeon dead in the eye. His gaze glinted, strangely sharp. Was this really the same man with those blank frozen-fish eyes from a minute ago? He seemed like an entirely different person.

"Then let's take a proper look for you now."

And then—

Tsssssss—

Bottomless depths began to swirl in his pupils.

"Seong Jiyeon. You can't breathe. Your body won't move the way you will it to. The way things look, you'll die before the fighting even starts."

"What?"

Bonghyuk shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

Not even the sound of a breath could be heard.

© KAY™#13lul

Author's Note

Thank you for coming to read.