Global Tower Frenzy
While the North American homepage was buzzing with talk of Mu-hyuk, the South American one was just starting to heat up.
It was a simple post, but its impact was massive.
As they bantered in the comments, posts about Mu-hyuk started popping up more and more on the South American homepage. The momentum built like accelerating speed.
They shouted, but the hype refused to die down.
Why?
The reason was simple.
The power of Korean netizens.
*
It started small.
More people clicked the link than expected.
Huh, North and South America?
And Mu-hyuk? That's one of ours, right?
Wonder what their reactions are like?
Simple curiosity sparked it.
And the reactions were pretty funny.
More intriguing posts followed, drawing even larger crowds to scour the North and South American Illusion homepages or check translated reactions.
They flooded the South and North American homepages with posts, aided by translation tools.
That made the sites even rowdier with Mu-hyuk talk.
Replies to those posts got translated as "overseas reactions" and spread across Korean sites, where Illusion players and netizens jacked up the views for the lols.
That drew more eyes to Illusion TV broadcasts.
Viewers tossed coupons while watching Mu-hyuk's stream. Others bragged on North/South American homepages.
They reacted with shock, which got screenshotted and shared for more laughs.
An endless virtuous cycle.
*
The 41st floor monsters were level 163 Red Zombies.
"Watch out not to get scratched!"
"Got it!"
Getting clawed spread a unique poison that ignored defense and chipped away at HP—300 per second. Had to stay sharp.
"Ngh...!"
Sung Min-woo got scratched.
"Ugh, idiot. Fall back!"
"Shit!"
30-second duration. 9,000 HP gone—better retreat.
"Ji-yeon."
"Y-Yeah."
Kang Ji-yeon cast a heal skill.
HP refilled.
Tired of waiting, he asked around.
"Cure skill doesn't work, right?"
"Yeah. Tried it earlier—no detox."
"Whew, nasty stuff."
"S-Sorry."
"Huh?"
"Can't even detox it..."
Sung Min-woo widened his eyes and waved it off.
"No! It's fine!"
"Oh, o-okay."
"I didn't mean it's nasty because of that..."
"I know."
"Ah, yeah..."
As they had their awkward chat, Mu-hyuk pressured five Red Zombies with his summons.
He kept distance, peppering them with arrows.
Normally, without him, hunting would slow, but recruiting Poison Ogres, Yetis, and Orc Great Warriors fixed that.
Krr, grrrk.
Still, the Red Zombies wouldn't drop easily.
High defense, HP.
And attack power you couldn't ignore.
Storm, Powerful Arrow Shot.
But their HP regen was insane.
"Whew, back in action."
"Yeah, you're back."
"Won't get scratched this time, promise!"
"Please don't."
Sung Min-woo struck one with his spirit. It wounded, but healed instantly. Same every time.
"Damn it. Why's the regen this high?!"
"Try bursting it in one hit."
"Even that doesn't work! Ugh, this is bullshit! Worse than trolls!"
Then the mage finished casting.
"Magic incoming—move!"
"Got it!"
As Sung Min-woo pulled back, spells rained down.
Kaboom!
Two Red Zombies that survived everything else dropped dead.
"..."
Sung Min-woo fiddled with his knuckles and shook his head.
"Summons stronger than me? Hurts my pride..."
"Stronger than me too, so don't sweat it."
"Yeah, that I buy."
"But summons are part of me, ultimately."
"Yeah, that too..."
He had to admit it.
He wielded spirits too, after all.
"Finish the rest and play, big bros!"
Yerin's voice from behind made Sung Min-woo and Mu-hyuk both cough awkwardly and refocus on the fight.
They cleared the zombies and took a break.
Once hunger was sated, they moved out.
Five revived Red Zombies.
They advanced together, then halted.
Summons outnumbered them heavily.
"Skeleton Summon."
"Spirit Summon."
"Squirrel Summon!"
Mage spells and archer power shots sliced the air first.
Kaboom!
As dust flew, cavalry charged.
Overwhelming force stomping the ground.
Lance-tip destruction.
Charge presence.
All combined to engulf the Red Zombies.
Nothing left in the Armor Cavalry's wake.
Red Zombies crushed by magic and bone arrows, then skewered by lances, littered the floor.
But they twitched back up, only to face focused summon attacks.
Krr, grrrk!
Regular cavalry and Bone Swords melted as before.
As expected, Red Zombie farming was no issue.
Same after.
But junk loot kept dropping, forcing loops back to hunting.
Red Zombie hunt.
Gacha fail.
Zombie hunt again.
Gacha fail.
The loop continued for 10 days.
Finally, they got the key and hit the 42nd floor.
You have entered the 42nd floor of the Tower of Death.
Clear: 0 teams
But that wasn't the point.
Mu-hyuk's 42nd floor news hit the North and South American Illusion homepages.