Returning the Favor
Beijing, China.
Inside the grand office of the Heavenly Martial Alliance Leader.
[Tower of Despair — Floor 15]
1. ??? (South Korea) / 00:00:28 (EX)
2. Luo Qin (China) / 00:27:33 (S)
······
Luo Qin ground his molars so hard the enamel threatened to splinter at the glaring, obtrusive notification hovering in the air.
“That miserable cur... Tearing him limb from limb wouldn’t even begin to satisfy me.”
The ranking shift on the fifteenth floor of the Tower of Despair was not a complete shock; unlike previous upsets, he had anticipated this one well in advance. Just yesterday, word had broken that the fourteenth floor had fallen, and once again at a pace that defied all human reason.
Yet anticipating it did nothing to dull the sting. How could he not be furious? He had been forced to stand by, helpless, while a nameless ghost robbed him in broad daylight of a blessing he had bought with his own blood and sweat.
“To conquer even the fifteenth floor in a mere twenty-eight seconds... I shudder to imagine what manner of class that scoundrel could have awakened, Heavenly Emperor,” the Vice Alliance Leader muttered, his brow furrowed with deep unease.
Luo Qin gave a stiff nod. He agreed with every word.
The fifteenth floor was no gentle stroll. When Luo Qin had cleared it himself, the ordeal had demanded twenty-seven grueling minutes of relentless, bone-breaking combat—and that was with the entire logistical might and boundless resources of the great Middle Kingdom propping him up. Yet this unregistered shadow had dismantled the very same trial in twenty-eight seconds flat?
“Ha... Utterly unbelievable.”
Having awakened the absurdly broken class of ‘Heavenly Emperor’ himself, Luo Qin was convinced that this ‘???’ had to be sitting on some incomprehensible anomaly. And besides...
‘It’s not as though I actually expected him to fail.’
The monster had already torn through the fifth and tenth floors in under half a minute. Why would the fifteenth pose any real barrier? Expecting him to stumble would have been pure delusion. He had braced for this outcome, yet the grinding of his teeth would not stop. The fury burning in his chest simply refused to cool.
“Fuu... Damn it all.”
The Seal of Amplification, With Explosive Power—neither was insignificant. But the fifteenth-floor blessing, the Will of the Impregnable Fortress, carried a weight all its own. It was a trump card, a final bastion that granted a second breath of life when hovering at death’s door. And now that they had lost their national buff, the Song of Victory...
‘Challenging the sixty-seventh floor is completely out of the question for the time being.’
Luo Qin sat at Level 67. It was high time he conquered the sixty-seventh floor. He had intended to mount an assault any day now, but this anonymous insect had thrown his entire timetable into disarray. Floor 67? What a joke. In his current state, he could barely manage repeated speed-runs on Floor 64.
“The envoys from the Central Administration Bureau have already been dropping unsubtle hints, prodding about when you intend to ascend Floor 67, Heavenly Emperor. This is turning into a crisis.”
“Had I known it would come to this, I would have punched through the sixty-seventh floor weeks ago.”
“Well... clearing it right against the Tower Break deadline has always yielded the greatest efficiency, so...”
Ha. Yes. That accursed Tower Break. Were it not for that hanging executioner’s axe, there would be no need for this suffocating urgency.
The Tower of Despair was not named ‘Despair’ on a whim. If a nation failed to conquer its highest reached floor within a strict timeframe—precisely four months—a Tower Break would trigger, plunging an entire province of that nation into total collapse.
Literal, catastrophic obliteration. China had never suffered such humiliation, but South Korea, having lost its pinnacle Climber the previous year, had already seen two of its territories wiped completely off the map.
“We must prevent such an outcome at all costs.”
“Most certainly, Heavenly Emperor.”
Prevent it, yes. But how? There was no miraculous shortcut. Luo Qin was already Level 67, and his gear ranked among the very finest on the planet. Squeezing any further combat power out of standard training or equipment was practically impossible. Which meant only one viable path remained.
“If we eliminate that ‘???’ bastard and reclaim every stolen blessing, all of our troubles vanish.”
And when three months passed, they would reclaim their national buff as well. When that day came, the natural hierarchy would be restored. Everything would return to its rightful order. But to achieve that, one prerequisite demanded absolute priority.
“How does our operation fare?”
Truthfully, Luo Qin had looked down on the fellow until now, writing him off as nothing more than a lucky cockroach scuttling out of a minor country. But it was time to drop the arrogance: ‘???’ was a threat that could not be taken lightly. Did that mean they were out of options? Hardly. There were a hundred ways to strangle a man, and he would forge one if he had to.
“Please review these first.”
[China Terminates Security Pact, Citing ‘Breach of Mutual Trust’... Did the Government's Lack of Communication Invite Disaster?]
[Hero or Calamity? The Butterfly Effect of EX-jwa's Sudden Arrival]
[South Korea Faces Worst National Security Crisis: How Can It Be Resolved?]
[“Is This Petty Retaliation for the Stolen Buff?” Public Furor Toward China Mounts... While Voices Within Demand “EX-jwa Must Take Responsibility”]
“As you can see, precisely according to our designs, the Korean public has begun turning against ‘???’, laying the blame for this geopolitical friction squarely on his shoulders.”
“I presume this is not where our pressure ends?”
“Of course not. We intend to tighten the vise significantly moving forward.”
Naturally. That was how it had to be.
“And the dungeon Liu Wei pinpointed—did you say it manifested a few days ago?”
“Yes. At present, not a single Korean strike team dares approach it. As the raid deadline draws closer, we expect public hysteria to boil over into outright panic.”
“Excellent.”
Yes, this was the way. That ‘???’ fellow—no matter how high and mighty an Awakened he might be, he remained flesh and blood. He was no enlightened saint; under mounting terror from abroad and vicious vitriol from his own countrymen, his psyche would inevitably fracture. And after that? The trajectory was predictable. He would either self-destruct or attempt to flee the country, leaving behind a trail that their hounds could easily latch onto. Of course... if that dungeon were somehow conquered, the pressure cooker would burst. But that was an impossibility.
“Since the Koreans possess zero capability of clearing it on their own, we need only ensure other nations do not step in to play savior.”
“We have already secured backroom understandings with every major power, so you need not harbor the slightest concern!”
Then no variables remained. It might have been a different story if ‘???’ possessed raw numerical dominance, but there was no realm of reality where a measly Level 16 could conquer an A-rank dungeon. Therefore:
“The very instant you uncover the faintest lead, locate him and eliminate him without hesitation. Keep that etched into your mind.”
“Understood!”
Right now, the pest was merely Level 16. A hit squad composed of elite, high-tier Awakened would have no trouble snuffing him out. He hadn’t descended from the heavens as an immortal; the mathematical gulf of levels was not something one could casually ignore. But what if he climbed into his fifties or sixties? By then, he might prove uncontrollable. He had to be exterminated now, while he was still small. A poisonous sprout was always best severed before it had the chance to bloom.
Naturally, Kim Haun was fully aware of the tempest rattling South Korea inside and out. While the Chinese were undoubtedly the architects pulling the strings, strictly speaking, he was the spark that had lit the fuse. Besides, who could remain ignorant when the clamor was this deafening?
“Whew... The news and the community boards are in absolute shambles.”
Boot up the laptop, switch on the television, and the entire country was screaming. Even the politicians in the National Assembly were tearing their hair out. What was the latest pearl of wisdom they were spouting? That EX-jwa needed to step forward in person and shoulder the responsibility?
‘Um... Me? That sounds like a tall order. I’m surprisingly shy around strangers, you know...’
“Still, how do these forum warriors never change?”
Just a few days ago, the boards had been practically deifying him: ‘Where are EX-jwa’s limits?!’ ‘EX-jwa is our living god!’
And now?
Yeah... Their flip-flopping was genuinely something to behold. But frankly, he didn't care in the slightest.
“It’s not like this is the first or second time I’ve watched this script play out.”
Kim Haun’s formal occupation: convenience store clerk turned Awakened. As for how long he had held his license? Barely half a month. Before that, his favorite pastime had been lurking on message boards and occasionally dropping cheeky comments into flame wars. He knew the pattern all too well. Whenever a prominent Awakened made waves in Korea, the public and media would whip up a hysterical frenzy just like this. And the inevitable result? The exhausted Awakened would pack their bags and immigrate overseas.
‘Yeah, nice try. Big bro here isn’t falling for that tired routine.’
Besides, an A-rank dungeon? It actually seemed well worth taking a crack at.
When Health falls below 30%, grants total immunity to all damage for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 1 day)
※ Upon loss of eligibility, this blessing transfers to the next qualified candidate.
After all, clearing the fifteenth floor had just dropped this magnificent prize straight into his lap.
“Sweet...”
Five seconds of complete damage immunity. He hadn’t stress-tested it yet, but anyone with functioning eyesight could tell it was absurd. On top of that, pairing it with an Emergency Escape Scroll was practically the equivalent of stuffing an extra life into his pocket. If things went sideways, he could just pop the scroll and vanish into thin air.
“Nothing beats tower blessings after all.”
The blessings awarded exclusively to the first ranker on every fifth floor of the Tower of Despair were, without exception, terrifyingly potent. Starting with the Seal of Amplification, which doubled all rewards; followed by With Explosive Power, which granted his strikes a chance to hit for double damage; and now this, the Will of the Impregnable Fortress. With this lineup, venturing into higher-ranked dungeons was entirely on the table. Even the deadliest crisis would be neutralized at least once.
Granted, the Chinese scoundrels were acting deplorably petty, but what could he do? It wasn’t like he could just stroll across the Yellow Sea and lob a city-flattening Energy Bolt right at Beijing... right?
“One ought to return what one has received in kind. Why not repay them by scattering monsters across their territory just as they have done?”
...Huh?
Who was that? The voice sounded remarkably familiar...
“It is I, Merlin.”
“Wait, Senior Mer?” Haun blinked, glancing around his room. “What the... Where are you speaking from?”
“The ring I bestowed upon you—I took the liberty of weaving a minor enchantment into its band so that we might exchange pleasantries from time to time.”
“Excuse me? When did you do that...?”
“Shortly after you conquered the fourth floor and paid me a visit.”
Wait, what? He hadn't felt a single thing. Look at this Transcendent senior! Snooping in secret without so much as a warning? That was bordering on an invasion of privacy.
“In truth, a dimensional barrier divides our realms, so I am powerless to do anything beyond merely observing. Furthermore, I intend to compensate you handsomely for the privilege of watching, so do not look upon me with such guarded eyes.”
Mmm... As expected of Senior Mer. The old sage truly understood the art of commerce.
The Mana Flow Ring—the very conduit through which Merlin was speaking right now—had been offered as an advance contract fee, a token to foster goodwill for future dealings. And that ring alone possessed specs rivaling the Red Stream Spear. Yet now he was promising handsome compensation on top of it? Haun’s expectations were already shooting through the roof. If the payout was right, he could stomach a little harmless spectating. Heck, he’d even run a 24-hour livestream if the price was right. Though, of course...
“Senior. You aren't watching me around the clock, are you?”
“Do I look like a man with so much idle time on his hands?”
Well... To be perfectly honest, he kind of did. But blurting that out would be a total failure of basic social survival instincts.
“Haha, of course not! Perish the thought.”
Aha. What a relief. Twenty-four hours would have been a bit stifling; he’d have been watching him use the restroom. Since that wasn’t on the table, all was well.
“By the way, Senior. What you mentioned just now... is that really possible?”
An eye for an eye. Repaying their hostility by seeding their own land with monsters. Was such a thing actually feasible? How?
“Heh heh... Have you forgotten where that shop you frequent so casually is located? Go inquire of Cassius. He will surely have a method tailored for your needs.”
Oh... Now that was genuinely intriguing.