It Won't Budge
Bang!
Bang! Boom! Bang!
Kim Yohan, who had been hurling his whole body against the iron wall, furrowed his brow.
"It won't budge. Not an inch."
"Did I not tell you? As we are now, unable to use mana or skills, there will be no escaping."
"We still can't just stay locked up like this. We don't know when they'll come to kill us."
"Time will see to it, I expect……."
"Easy words. They roll right off your tongue."
"And you—how about you stop whining, sit down beside me, and do a little thinking?"
"Whining? Whining? Argh, this old man, I swear I'd—except I can't actually do anything to him."
"Which is precisely why you ought to have trained your body."
"There you go again with the nonsense. Who comes to the Tower of Infinity to train their body? Raise your stats and you get stronger on your own."
"Hah. Tch, tch. Young folk. You know the one thing and miss the other."
Dokgo Minsu, Joseon's Best Sword, clicked his tongue.
"Exercise will not raise your stats, no matter how much strength or muscle you build. The body does grow stronger, though, and the change in it is plain to see. Skills and traits are no different. Train them—whether through mental imagery or real combat—and even if nothing shifts in the system, you can feel yourself growing stronger, little by little. And this peculiarity shows itself in humans alone."
"That speech again. I'm going to die of boredom. So what, exactly, is the reason?"
"We were not born with a player's abilities. They were granted to us only after we were dragged to this place. Five years, now. Humans rise in level faster than the players of other races, and we break the level ceiling just as quickly. Is it so strange that humans should have one more peculiarity besides?"
"To me, that's hardly different from being told to take it on faith."
"And why will you not believe it? I have explained it to you."
"Because I tried it myself, and nothing changed. Argh."
Kim Yohan thumped his chest, as if the frustration were stuck there.
"Hah. You think thumping it like that will send the pent-up rage flying?"
Dokgo Minsu stepped in and shot out an arm, clean and brief.
Boom!
"Guh—!"
Kim Yohan slammed hard into the wall and rolled across the cold dirt floor.
"What was that for, you old fossil!"
"Mind that tongue. I am still in my forties. You know the average age of the other races here, and still you treat me like some old man?"
"Then how did you even hit me? The curse has our stats down at newbie level right now."
"Did I not say so? The difference between a trained body and an untrained one is considerable. Look at my build. How could I possibly be weaker than a reed like you?"
"Then you should have been pounding on the wall from the start. What have I been doing all this time?"
"And if, by some luck, we broke through and got out? What would you do once we were surrounded?"
"Flash a little grit and genius, rattle through every crisis just like that, and done!"
"It is because you are like that that we are not leaving. Were it only me, perhaps. But the risk is too great if I must look after you as well, when you would only be in the way."
"What do you take me for? In the way?"
"A greenhorn who received a privilege and lucked his way into strength?"
"……Your filter's been completely off lately."
"You have been that noisy."
"Fine. Say I sit still and think, the way you want. Then is there actually anyone who might come save us?"
"I have been in contact with Do Jiyun all the while."
"Her, by herself? Is she bringing the whole guild?"
"Hardly."
"Then what's the use? If she comes alone, she'll end up a prisoner just like us."
At Kim Yohan's words, Dokgo Minsu smiled a slow, thick smile.
"She will not be alone."
"Huh?"
"There will be two."
"……You smiled that creepily over that? One or two, what difference does it make? How are they supposed to break in here and come save us?"
"You. Do you remember No-Pay Fun Gamer?"
"Do you even need to ask? A War of the Gods player who doesn't know No-Pay Fun Gamer would be a spy—huh? Don't tell me he's the one coming?"
"Yes."
"Since when did you know?"
"Just now."
"……."
"You see? Sit down, set your thoughts in order, and something good comes of it after all."
"I'm not sure we can thank the sitting for that…… Well. Good thing I didn't kick up a fuss."
"Have you never heard? Heed your elders, and rice cakes appear even while you sleep. Ahem."
Dokgo Minsu's shoulders rose a notch.
"This time I have to give it to you. But still……."
"What now."
"Is there any guarantee that No-Pay Fun Gamer is actually strong?"
"Of course he would be strong. Even light spenders like us received absurd privileges."
"Light spenders? I sank more than ten million won into that game."
"Set beside that man, No-Pay Fun Gamer, is the sum even worth the dirt under his toenail?"
"……Fair enough."
Every user who had stayed and played through to the very end received privileges that set them apart from other players. The mere experience of having played War of the Gods already put them ahead, and the privileges came on top of that.
Comparing themselves, Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan had realized those privileges differed according to how much each of them had spent. If so, No-Pay Fun Gamer—known to have poured billions of won in cash into the game—would have received a privilege greater still than theirs. In money spent, and in time sunk into the game, there was no one who could compare with him.
"But there hasn't been a single word of him in the last five years, has there? Honestly, I thought he was dead. So I'm having a hard time believing he's coming to rescue us now."
"Well, there is no guarantee he is even a fifth-year player. Frankly, he might be a first-year."
"Sorry? That's even stranger. A first-year wouldn't have received the privilege. He'd be starting at least four years behind everyone else—behind us."
His suspicion was a fair one. Every user who had stayed to the end was a fifth-year player, and the later one's start, the further behind one fell. That was only natural. If No-Pay Fun Gamer were a first-year player, it could never be called a benefit at all.
"If not that, then he has simply lived quietly, without being caught by anyone."
"We asked around and searched everywhere, and he still wasn't found? A sharp awl can't help but pierce the sack."
"Then he must be a first-year. Was it not already a year ago that we last went looking for him? No wonder we never found him."
"Come on. I'm telling you, there's no way he's a first-year."
"Do Jiyun said she was certain it was No-Pay Fun Gamer."
"Fine. Let's see whose word holds up."
Boom! Bang! Boooom!
"Wh-what was that?"
Kim Yohan flinched and hunched in on himself as the blast hammered his ears. It was not coming from right beside them, but the explosion was so enormous that the shock of it seemed to carry all the way here.
"This……."
"It would seem Do Jiyun and No-Pay Fun Gamer have arrived."
"You're saying they picked a fight with that many celestials? Now? Seriously?"
"I imagine so."
"Are they insane? Even sneaking in, it was anyone's guess whether they'd succeed, and they're just charging the front……."
"That is how confident they are."
"Why are you so calm about this?"
"Think it through. Do Jiyun is a wise player. If No-Pay Fun Gamer were weak, and merely reckless, would she not have stopped him? And had that been the case, she would never have brought him in the first place."
"Mm…… Then what about us?"
"Best we prepare to leave."
"Honestly, it's a huge relief the celestials didn't take our items."
"They looked down on us."
"We did go down without a fight, though."
"You did. I did not."
"Listen to the excuses pour out."
"It is no excuse. Am I not far stronger than you? If you know nothing at all, close that mouth."
Dokgo Minsu lost his temper for the first time in a long while. Kim Yohan pouted.
"……You've got a real gift for leaving a man with nothing to say."
The blasts kept coming without a break. The two of them finished their preparations and waited for the players coming to rescue them—until a shout cut through.
"Secure those two first!"
The door that had been shut fast burst open, and two celestials appeared. For the pair who had been waiting on No-Pay Fun Gamer and Do Jiyun, it was nothing short of absurd.
"Can't we just kill them? What do we gain, hauling other races around like this……."
"Humans are a rare race in Heaven. They are not without value as prisoners."
So saying, the two seized Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan by the arms and dragged them without mercy.
"H-hey? What do we do? We're supposed to wait……."
With their mana and skills sealed, the two of them were no match for a celestial's strength. They had no choice but to be led wherever they were taken.
And then—
Thuk. Thuk.
The two celestials dragging Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. In the moment Kim Yohan glanced around in bewilderment, a player stepped out in front of them.
"It's been a while."
It was Yujun.
"Huhh?"
"Sh-Shin Yujun?"
Dokgo Minsu and Kim Yohan already knew who Yujun was. Was there anyone on the Continent who did not? Among humans, at least, there would not be. In the last half year, he had become that famous.
"Why is Shin Yujun here……."
Kim Yohan muttered it before he could stop himself. But he was quick on the uptake, and he understood at once what the situation meant.
"Don't tell me…… No-Pay Fun Gamer?"
"That's right."
"You were No-Pay Fun Gamer?"
"Yes."
Yujun had no thought of lying. He said it as it was. Do Jiyun already knew, so there was no reason to hide it.
"Wow. This is a genuine shock."
"I had more or less guessed."
"There, there he goes. Look at this old man playing the sage again. Drop the act."
"I truly did know."
"How?"
"A first-year player, and at the same time said to be stronger than any other human—that is Shin Yujun. Honestly, no matter how great the talent, it never made sense."
"You're saying the privilege made it possible?"
"That is what I think. Well?"
Dokgo Minsu turned the question on Yujun.
"You're asking what I think?"
"I am."
"What's there to ask? I already told you who I am."
"Not that. I am asking how we get out of this crisis."
The celestials closing in around Yujun, Dokgo Minsu, and Kim Yohan kept growing in number. They did not rashly step inside a certain distance, though, for too many of their own had already met their end on Yujun's sword. Those he had cut down came to roughly thirty, by a loose count. Past that, he had stopped counting.
"What in the world have you two been doing, for them to swarm like this?"
Yujun asked it in a tone that feigned anger. Kim Yohan looked utterly dumbfounded.
"I'm not sure they're swarming because of the two of us?"
"This isn't the time. Let's get out before we're spotted."
"I think we've already been spotted……."
"I secured an escape route in advance."
"What about Jiyun?"
"I came alone. I left Do Jiyun some distance from here, so she shouldn't be in much danger."
"Good call. But, Yujun—couldn't you have slipped in quietly?"