Grinding the Tower of Ordeal
The Small Giant.
For the record, the fellow didn't know Ramba, Hungyo, Pokryongi, or any of the others.
Jakgeo and Damphir had been part of Jinugod's roster since his eighth year of play. On the surface he'd been nothing more than an unremarkable tank line, but once a new Unique Rune was discovered back in those days, just how broken he was began to shine through.
Tank. Healer.
And if the rune setup matched exactly what Baek Jinwoo had envisioned? The result was an all but unbreakable, invincible shield.
They were the very duo that had once steamrolled the Tower of Ordeal's eighties. And by the time they'd pushed on and slain the floor 90 boss?
Deleted in a balance patch.
Goddammit.
That was probably when his rage at this game had peaked. There's such a thing as going too far. Every single time he raised something properly, they deleted it—no wonder the game had stopped being fun. If it hadn't been for floor 90, he'd have quit right then and there.
"Hoh? So you're that junior I've only heard about! The pitch-black junior from way down below!"
"Gwoooar?"
"None of that 'Gwoooar' stuff—bonk!"
Ramba was cutely laying down the law.
"It's nice to meet you, Jakgeo."
So was Pokryongi.
"Hmm. Unlocking this Small Giant's latent potential could prove entertaining in its own right."
Hungyo gave Jakgeo his own welcome as well.
"Come to think of it."
He'd never unlocked Jakgeo's or Damphir's latent potential. Back then, Hungyo had already been deleted and gone.
"They're already broken. I could make them even more broken."
Ha.
With things turning out this way, he suddenly wondered whether heading to floor 27 himself was the right move. Call it wanting to grab Damphir first and grind them up together.
The C-grade Guaranteed Summoning Scroll drops raw like this—so why isn't a single one on the market?
"Could it be something like this?"
Hwang Jiwoo, who had been listening nearby, offered her take. For the record, the guild members knew perfectly well that Hungyo, Ramba, Pokryongi, and the rest were very special summons.
"They actually drop fairly often. People just never really needed them, so they used them up without a second thought."
"The C-grade Guaranteed Summoning Scroll?"
"Yes. For rankers, a C-grade is genuinely nothing special."
That tracked. They might have figured they'd stepped in something foul and tossed it. To Baek Jinwoo it was priceless; to ordinary rankers, it was garbage, plain and simple.
"Hmm. That does make sense."
But more than that...
Hardly any rankers had climbed the Tower of Ordeal to begin with. Most who did were dead, and the average world ranker topped out somewhere in the teens. Until just a few months ago, the record had been Rachel's floor 29—that said everything.
In other words, with nobody running the tower, there was no supply.
Fwoosh!
As Baek Jinwoo stared into the crackling campfire, something clicked in his head.
"Hold on."
"What is it?"
"Come to think of it... this works."
"Have you thought of some brilliant idea?"
"You guys can just go."
"...Pardon?"
Hwang Jiwoo's eyes went round as saucers.
What is he saying right now...
Was he seriously suggesting he'd throw the guild members into that players' graveyard just to farm C-grade Guaranteed Summoning Scrolls?
"Right, right. Now's not the time for me to climb alone."
Floor 50? That was a floor he could clear anytime, even if he shelved it for a bit. Right now, raising his odds of acquiring Damphir mattered far more.
"N-no, wait... Master Jinwoo, this is a bit sudden..."
"It's fine. I've got the entire clear strategy up here anyway. Honestly, with the World League right around the corner, there's no better training ground for building up our strength."
He's insane!
The Tower of Ordeal—a training ground?
"D-don't tell me... I'm going too...?"
"Of course."
"What?"
But I'm not even a ranker...
Well, Master Jinwoo isn't a ranker either, but...
Still, Master Jinwoo is a monster!
"Right now Kang Geonho's on floor 13, Ki Jaehyeok and Kang Jiho are on 9, Song Yeonhee's on 5, Hwang Jiwoo's on 0, and the rest are on 10, yes?"
"..."
"Good. Then you all just need to reach floor 20. Perfectly fair for everyone."
He'd run the numbers: just getting that far gave them 114 chances in total. 114 chances to claim the Tower of Ordeal's rewards!
"F-floor 20?"
Hwang Jiwoo felt like she was losing her mind. Since when was floor 20 of the Tower of Ordeal a walk in the park? Korea's Rank 1, Kang Geonho, hadn't stalled at floor 13 all this time because he was an idiot!
"It's fine, it's fine. Just take it easy and come back safe."
Baek Jinwoo had it all planned out. Just as he'd once lent Song Yeonhee the puppets, he could simply lend them Hungyo. The Hungyo of today? Even soloing all twenty floors, the man would never die.
Perfect.
They'd enter the Tower of Ordeal, hone their instincts for real combat, claim the rewards, and kill two birds with one stone.
Ohh, sweet.
There was just one snag. The trade process would expose Hungyo's grade... his EX-rank. That part he could muzzle with a contract. And what if someone took the summon and bolted? That was what the "rental contract" was for. Used cleverly, the system could be set up so ownership automatically reverted to him.
"Okay."
Baek Jinwoo nodded and immediately put in a call to Yoo Jia. Tomorrow morning. The order: all guild members, assemble at the Tower of Ordeal.
The guild members' reaction to the explanation was better than expected. In a way, that was only natural. Hungyo's support would carry them straight to floor 20—only a fool would say no.
The ultimate bus driver.
Getting picked for this year's national team was the single best move ever.
For everything he was giving them, the conditions were simple. If a C-grade Guaranteed Summoning Scroll showed up in their rewards, it was to be handed back on the spot!
Baek Jinwoo also made a promise: the first player to pull one would be paid 100 billion won, immediately.
Ohh yeah.
That's basically the Powerball.
The Powerball was the American lottery. Unlike Korea's dud lotto that doled out a few hundred million won at best, this was a ticket that paid out close to 100 billion.
I'd take the 100 billion over some C-grade scroll any day.
Please, please, come to me.
The guild members' eyes brimmed to the brim with burning resolve to be the one.
"...However."
A firm voice left Baek Jinwoo's lips.
"This is training, after all—Hungyo will not be carrying you through."
Baek Jinwoo had no intention of robbing them of the opportunity. Facing a hard problem and working through it with their own ingenuity was a major driver of growth in itself. Hand-fed from start to finish, they might get stronger for the moment, but breaking through their own walls would only get harder.
"Hungyo will move only at the very moment a player is about to die. Hungyo, you heard me?"
"Your command is received, my Lord."
Swish.
Hungyo turned and fixed the guild members with a flashing stare. In those eyes burned a fierce will: he would not, under any circumstances, make this easy.
Ugh.
So much for an easy ride.
Us... clear floor 20 of the Tower of Ordeal? With our own strength?
"If you can't clear even floor 20 of the Tower of Ordeal on your own, don't bother dreaming about the World League semifinals."
Others might find it brutal, but to Baek Jinwoo, floor 20 was a kids' playground. He had no desire to watch the disciples he'd chosen fail to clear even that. This was Jinugod, after all—the man who hadn't even taken the Five Emperors as disciples!
"Try to clear it on your own strength. By any and all means."
The first player to set off was Hong Ari. The moment Hungyo was rented into her party, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head like a frog's.
"Th-this is insane...!"
By contract—by the clause forbidding her to breathe a word about anything she saw regarding Hungyo during the rental!—she couldn't say it out loud. But Hong Ari had seen it, plain as day.
EX-rank...!
Unbelievable. In three years... no, nearly four now, she had never once seen that grade. According to the Five Emperors, A-grade was always followed by S-grade, and that was the end of the line.
But EX-rank? A stage beyond S-grade? How was that even possible?
No wonder.
None of it had added up. The way he mowed down entire hordes solo like some unstoppable war god, the way he spoke... and above all, wasn't he the only summon of his kind in the entire world?
Wow... then that means.
Hong Ari's eyes spun in circles.
Ramba, Doldori, Pokryongi... and even that Jakgeo he got yesterday.
Every last one of them had to be EX-rank.
A monster. No—not even the word monster could describe him.
That was Baek Jinwoo.
And on top of that.
What were all these absurd endgame runes and specs supposed to be?
"Ha."
A sigh escaped her of its own accord. Envy? No—this was awe. And relief, too. Relief that she got to train and learn beneath such an impossible existence!
"Well? Aren't you going in?"
An EX-rank ability, perhaps? Even with ownership temporarily transferred, Hungyo's manner of speech hadn't changed one bit. No matter what moment came, his one and only Lord was Baek Jinwoo.
I'm a little jealous of that.
To have such a loyal, capable right hand at your side for life...
"I'm heading in."
"You always said you wanted to grow stronger, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
As Hong Ari answered, Hungyo grinned.
"Then climb to floor 20 without my help. Your Phoenixes are more than capable. Dracul is weak to fire, after all."
The other players would need Hungyo's support. The teens might be manageable, but the floor 20 boss was genuinely tricky. But Hong Ari? In Hungyo's eyes, she was the only one capable of challenging floor 20 alone.
"We'll cover the details inside. My Lord's time is gold."
"Got it, I got it."
Who needs a right hand to get by, anyway! Grumbling under her breath, Hong Ari spun on her heel—whoosh!—and strode into the tower.
Hong Ari, Kang Geonho, Ahn Gijeong, Hwang Juwon... and the rest. One after another, they began taking on the tower.
Their reactions were all exactly the same. They confirmed the EX-rank, gasped, and their jaws hit the floor—and in the same breath, their faces declared that they finally understood why everyone before them had worn that exact expression.
It was a process of realization. An exercise in engraving into their very bones just how far above them Baek Jinwoo stood.
Baek Jinwoo had drilled them on everything they must never do inside the tower. From here on out, there was nothing left to do but pray.
Please!
Please, just one C-grade Guaranteed Scroll!
Once he pulled Damphir, he'd never have to look at a C-grade again.
One day passed, then two. And after about a week, the better part of the guild had conquered the tower outright.
The headquarters and the whole country were in an absolute frenzy. The director and lawmakers had come down in person, pitched camp, and kept watch over the records room, while reporters hovered around the tower outside, cameras in hand, firing off shots nonstop.
National Team in Full Clears Floor 20 of the Tower of Ordeal!
They were camping out for that honey-sweet exclusive scoop.
And now—
Song Yeonhee and Hwang Jiwoo.
Only those two were left.
Naturally, Baek Jinwoo was disappointed.
Ah... is it seriously not going to drop?
Then again, it dropping would have been its own kind of absurd. Something that had never shown up anywhere in the world—was it really going to appear just because nine guild members cleared twenty floors?
"Sigh."
So it just wasn't in the cards? Shelve Damphir for now and simply raise Jakgeo?
And Baek Jinwoo wasn't the only one stamping his feet. The guild members, too, instinctively sensed that Baek Jinwoo wanted this more desperately than he let on.
Just drop already, please.
Then he'll be in such a good mood he might toss us another windfall.
Song Yeonhee! Hwang Jiwoo! We believe in your luck!
Everyone clasped their hands and prayed.
And at that very moment—
Grrrind!
The tower's main gate swung open. And from within—
"KYAAAAAH!"
Song Yeonhee came bounding out, giddy as could be. She had just cleared floor 12.
"What!"
"What is it!"
"What happened?!"
"Did it drop?!"
Ignoring their cries, she bolted full tilt—and wham!—threw her arms around Baek Jinwoo, who stood there frozen. And then—
"It dropped! It dropped, I'm telling youuuu!"
She roared her joy at the heavens.