Temple of Tribulation

I was the first to hit level 17. Well within the expected range — it couldn't have gone any other way. My level had been the highest to begin with, and my contribution dwarfed everyone else's.

From the midpoint onward I'd taken on the Keeper role and put Na Seoyun out in front, and Na-yeon had been pulling critical weight from the very first fight. Even so, my level-ups still came fastest. Na-yeon followed, then Na Seoyun, and after them Nam Eun-ju, Joo Ha-yeon, and Han Ba-da began reaching 17 in that order.

"This is insane..."

Having just ticked over to 17 — which meant her leveling would stall out for a while — Han Ba-da muttered it under her breath.

This party is in a league of its own.

She found herself admitting it without even meaning to.

The charging herds. We were used to them by now. Twin-Horned Minotaurs mixed in among the Single-Horned, but that wasn't a problem in the slightest. We ignored the passage that opened to the next floor after we dropped a Twin-Horned, and the party kept hunting.

By now the herds were coming in packs of ten, then nearly twenty, and not a single person looked tense. Na-yeon would calmly send Wind Cutters into the leading Minotaurs, collapsing half their formation, and Na Seoyun would surge in to tear through the broken ranks. Nam Eun-ju and Han Ba-da formed a second line, stopping the rest from punching through, while Joo Ha-yeon and Lee Yoon-hyung supported them from behind. Once we'd broken the herd's momentum, Na-yeon and Cho Yeon-eun opened up with ranged fire and we started wrapping the fight down.

I stayed in the back, stepping in only when things got critical, watching so the others could chase their own growth. Even if their levels weren't climbing, this kind of sustained combat would raise their stats and stack skill proficiency. For me, even swinging a sword at empty air was enough to grow — my first-cycle experience was still settling into my body. They didn't have that luxury.

The fights felt like they were following a well-rehearsed script, a sequence everyone already knew by heart. They all looked comfortable in their roles now.

Haa...

We made up for the slower leveling that came with more people by drowning it in volume. Nearly three weeks of this kind of combat had passed, and we'd gathered more than enough of those strange iron fragments. This was it. We'd hit our target.

And with the fight we'd just finished, Lee Yoon-hyung and Cho Yeon-eun had reached 17 as well.

"Is it... over now?"

Han Ba-da looked at me with something like hope in her eyes. I nodded, and it wasn't just her — the entire party let out a collective sigh of relief.

"F-finally..."

"Now I get why they're the vanguard... Is it always like this?"

"...It wasn't like this during the tutorial... Then we got to the Labyrinth and..."

The moment I said we'd hit our goal, both Han Ba-da's party and mine let the tension drain out of them. The local monsters had been wiped out in that last fight anyway, so I didn't particularly care.

Then I quietly called Han Ba-da over.

"...What is it? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Don't tell me..."

She looked terrified I was about to send her back into combat. That was how brutal the schedule had been. Honestly, almost nobody ran a forced march the way I did. Combat was full of variables and lives were on the line. Safety should have been the top priority — but I didn't give a damn about any of that. Cut the time first, worry about the rest later. For Han Ba-da, going through this for the first time, being scared made perfect sense.

The payoff, though, was undeniable. Her average stats had already climbed past the high twenties and were knocking on thirty. She couldn't compare to Na Seoyun, who'd broken an average of 30 and proven her talent in the process, but it was still a growth curve you couldn't dismiss. Even Nam Eun-ju, who was showing absurd growth of her own, still fell short of Han Ba-da. And Han Ba-da's raw talent was high enough that even if she plateaued for a while, she'd keep growing steadily — which made comparing her to Nam Eun-ju feel almost unfair.

"No. This isn't about hunting. ...It's about the traitor party."

Jin Sang-soo.

The moment that name came up, Han Ba-da's expression changed completely.

We'd deliberately avoided hunting near the safe zone where Jin Sang-soo's party was holed up. Han Ba-da had given us their location, so steering clear hadn't been hard. With her holding administrator rights over that safe zone, dragging them out and dealing with them would have been trivial. But I'd prioritized hunting, and Han Ba-da had gone along with it.

They had nowhere to run anyway. And once they realized the administrator rights were still in Han Ba-da's hands, they would have started to suspect something was wrong. Those three weeks must have been sheer terror for them. The surviving members of Han Ba-da's party could come to kill them at any moment. At first they would have clung to hope — that Han Ba-da's group had somehow survived, that my party was operating separately and would come looking for them.

But three weeks had passed. In that time, Han Ba-da was alive and hadn't come for them. Three weeks was more than enough for my party to have reached the 15th Floor. They'd probably half-guessed by now that we'd joined up with her group. All they could do now was hope that Han Ba-da and I had already moved on to the next floor, and that some third party would climb to the 15th and take them in. With information completely cut off, that speculation was the only scenario that let them believe they might survive.

"Are they still inside the safe zone?"

"...Yes. They're still in there. They couldn't take down a single Minotaur on their own anyway. They have no choice but to hold out inside."

That was right. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't kill a Minotaur. All they could do was train inside the safe zone to raise their stats, and pray. Even then, at levels 12 to 13 with Mid to Mid-High potential, taking down a Minotaur was a tall order. Four warriors with a type disadvantage and not enough skill to compensate — that made it even harder.

"We're heading to the 16th Floor. Rest today and tomorrow. We leave the day after."

I'd proposed that Han Ba-da's party travel with us through the Labyrinth on a temporary basis, and she'd accepted with gratitude. She'd completely given up on securing a Fixed Safe Zone of her own. She'd recognized the gap in ability, confirmed that our intentions weren't hostile, and with her party already cut in half, she had no choice but to attach herself to us. With the skills I'd helped her build, they could operate independently from the next floor onward — but that wouldn't serve my purposes. That was why I'd proposed the temporary alliance.

Which meant Han Ba-da's party would also be heading to the 16th Floor the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day after tomorrow. Once they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did, they couldn't return to the previous floors — they still didn't know you could go back down from the 20th Floor — and their chance at revenge would vanish.

From what I'd seen of her, Han Ba-da was less uptight than Na-yeon. She shared Na-yeon's sense of morality and the conviction that the weak should be protected, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but unlike the old Na-yeon, who had hesitated to take a life even from garbage, Han Ba-da believed that letting trash live was giving them the chance to hurt more people. In other words, she considered keeping trash alive a sin.

Couldn't have asked for better. If Na-yeon had been even half this practical, things would have been less frustrating. She listened well enough now, though. Actually, the current version was better. She wouldn't object even if I did something a little immoral, as long as it was for the party.

"...We'll have to deal with them before we go."

"Want me to help?"

"Honestly, we could handle it ourselves, but it's a fair distance. Would you mind?"

"We'll take care of it on the way the day after tomorrow. We need to kill a Twin-Horned Minotaur anyway, so we can look for them while we head toward the safe zone. For the record, I really can't stand bastards like that either."

I grinned. Han Ba-da looked a little more reassured.

Honestly, from her perspective I probably came across as a pretty likable guy. But at the root we were different. I did this because I needed to — to see my family, to save Earth. Han Ba-da did it because it came from somewhere deep in her heart.

The result was the same. That was enough.

We all returned to the Fixed Safe Zone. The party looked genuinely happy when I told them we'd be resting for two days. The moment she found out we were taking the day off, Na Seoyun came running.

"Oppa, oppa!"

"What is it?"

"Let's go to the temple!"

The temple. She meant the Temple of Tribulation next to the Fixed Safe Zone.

"...Why there?"

"It looks so cool! And I want to know what it's for!"

In truth, ever since we'd first found it, one thing after another had kept us from actually going inside. We'd stumbled on it by chance — or so the party thought — then immediately found the Fixed Safe Zone, and after that we'd gone looking for Han Ba-da's party, who were clearly in danger. Once we'd found them, we'd gotten them back on their feet and plunged straight into combat, and after that we'd spent three solid weeks focused on nothing but driven hunts. The results had been spectacular, but we hadn't had the bandwidth for anything else.

"Alright. Let's go."

I didn't see any reason to object, so I nodded. She'd probably get bored looking at it pretty fast. And once she actually used it, she'd be in for a surprise. An opponent perfectly matched to her skill would appear, and knowing she couldn't actually die, she'd be able to try all kinds of things. It was a good training opportunity. The efficiency wasn't great at this stage, but I didn't feel like talking her out of it.

"We'll come too, Shin-hoo."

"Yeah. I want to go as well."

The moment I gave permission, Joo Ha-yeon and Na-yeon appeared — I hadn't even noticed them approaching.

"...Go ahead."

No reason to stop them, so I agreed. Na Seoyun shot them a slightly reproachful look.

"Why are you two coming?"

"Just because. Nothing else to do?"

"I'm bored too."

When Joo Ha-yeon and Na-yeon came over, Nam Eun-ju, who'd been hovering uncertainly, tagged along as well. And when it became clear we were going somewhere, Han Ba-da's party approached too.

"Where are you headed?"

"There's a temple right next to us. Figured we'd take a look while we're resting. It's like a safe zone — no monsters."

"A temple?"

They hadn't known. Thinking about it, Han Ba-da's party had never had a reason to visit the temple. We'd brought them here ourselves, and the approach directions were different — we'd come from Area 6, they'd come from Area 2 — so they hadn't even passed it. After their treatment was done, they'd gone straight into hunting with us. They'd never had a chance to see it.

"Would it be alright if we came too?"

"...It's not like we rented the place out. Suit yourselves."

So even on the rest day I'd given them, we ended up moving as a group. We all headed toward the temple together.

Temple or not, as grand as the building itself was, the surroundings were empty. One lap around it and they'd be bored.

"Traveling the world and seeing sights like this was a dream of mine... Funny that I'd get a little piece of that dream in a place like this."

"You too, unni? Same here. I always wanted to pick a day and just go traveling, but it never worked out."

Joo Ha-yeon, Na-yeon, and Nam Eun-ju stuck together chatting, and even Na Seoyun, for all her pouting, latched onto them. I got dragged along too, circling the temple grounds.

"What did you do back on Earth, Shin-hoo?"

"...Nothing special. The day before I came here..."

Honestly, I could barely remember. Life in the Tower had been so densely packed. What had I even done on Earth? Was I a student? I vaguely said I'd been a student and turned the question around.

"What about you, Ha-yeon? What did you do on Earth?"

"Me? I was working. Just... buried in the job, living like that. The day I came here I'd been crushed by overtime, gotten home late, and barely managed to fall asleep..."

A distant look crossed her face. Na-yeon's had gone dark.

"Na-yeon?"

"Ah, well... I had it pretty rough on Earth... Mom was sick, and I ended up dropping out of college because of the tuition... I just worked in a factory."

A bitter expression. Na Seoyun took her sister's hand, as if to comfort her.

So their home situation wasn't great after all?

Na-yeon and Na Seoyun had a big age gap. Maybe that was why they got along so well. A full eight years. Na Seoyun had been a late child. It wasn't the kind of atmosphere for pressing further.

"I-I was a college student! Jobs have been so hard to find lately, so I've been grinding my GPA since freshman year..."

Nam Eun-ju jumped in, uncharacteristically, trying to change the mood. At the sight of her, Na-yeon slowly found her smile again. She wasn't the only one who'd been separated from her family. If anything, she was lucky to have her little sister with her. She seemed to realize that.

Before we knew it, we'd completed a full circuit of the temple. There really wasn't much to see, and as if following a script, we turned our steps toward the interior of the Temple of Tribulation.

Then a familiar message appeared.

I'd seen this message before. The early-stage efficiency here was abysmal. Winning didn't raise your level, and stats crawled up at a snail's pace. That was why most people eventually gave up on the place.

I looked around at the party.

"Since we're here, want to give it a try?"

"Yes!"

They agreed as if they'd been waiting for me to ask.