Chapter 259: New Heroes Are Always Welcome.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 259: New Heroes Are Always Welcome.
He had wondered several times before.
Who on earth were the ones who created a game called the Tower of Trials, released it to the public, and made people play it...?
And above all, what was the reason behind creating such a supernatural, colossal tower? These questions had always lingered.
‘I’ve wanted to know the reason ever since the day the Tower first appeared.’
Although he had poured all his focus into frantically climbing the Tower and growing stronger, he hadn't neglected his fundamental questions.
"Take a good look. With your own eyes."
Jinhyuk brought up a status window.
It was a status window where he had compiled some of the comments Sae Yeong Eon Hwan had left on his videos.
The comments scrolled down in a long list.
"No ordinary viewer could possibly know about the existence of the Boundary-Breaking Mirror."
Even among the veterans, not a single person had heard of that name.
How could a regular viewer know about the mirror's existence?
Even rumors are only possible for those who have access to the information in the first place.
"Besides, trying to sway public opinion by saying you want to see us in the same place, when you already knew that Unknown and I are the same person, was just ridiculous."
Of course a match between the two couldn't easily happen. Because he and Unknown were the exact same person.
Therefore, they had no choice but to be the only players who could go toe-to-toe with each other.
There were plenty of other statements that could serve as evidence.
And so,
Based on the clues he had been gathering bit by bit,
He was finally able to ask his first question.
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Kyah. How amusing. I tried my best to hold back in my own way, but I guess it was a bit too sloppy to fool the sharp-witted Jinhyuk? Getting caught this quickly wasn't part of the plan, though.
An exclamation of admiration escaped Sae Yeong Eon Hwan.
As if having no intention of denying it, the darkened status window lit up brightly.
[The broadcasting system is forcibly activated.]
What appeared was a giant '?'.
An indescribable sense of incongruity radiated from the white question mark that filled the screen.
So...
This was the so-called administrator.
He had wondered if it was true, but to think he would actually face them.
Back when he cleared the Tower in the past, he had wanted to meet them so badly. Now that it was actually happening in reality, his heart pounded frantically.
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: You don't have to be so tense. Just because you found out our identity doesn't mean we're going to harm you or anything. In fact, since you did something so cute, we're thinking of giving you a wonderful extra gift.
Wait...
"'Our'?"
Jinhyuk's eyebrows furrowed.
Did that mean there were other administrators?
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: There are several others besides me. We've been watching you with interest since the early days of your broadcasts. Though, to be honest, there wasn't really anyone else worth watching besides you.
"I know that."
How could he not know, when they had been stalking him relentlessly ever since the Thousand-Handed Guanyin incident?
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: No.
The voice coming from the question mark changed completely.
If he felt like the corners of its mouth were twisting upward despite it having no face, it must have been his imagination.
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: The 'early days' I'm talking about isn't after the Tower of Trials became reality. It's since you first started streaming as a BJ. We have been with you all along.
"What... did you say?"
Jinhyuk's pupils shook violently.
He was so battle-hardened and jaded that it was difficult for him to feel surprised by almost anything anymore.
But this time, he couldn't help but be utterly bewildered.
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Why do you think those loyal viewers who always visited your stream—Jinhyuk Is Best When He's Rolling, Coffin Dance Song, Dieting for 25 Years, and so on—are nowhere to be seen now? Even though the BJ they cheered for so much has grown this big?
A viewer count of 20.
The number was small, but he had thought they were more than enough for a small-time BJ.
But those weren't humans... they were the administrators who created the Tower?
"That's a bit bitter. I thought it was the result of my own hard work."
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Ah, you seem to have misunderstood a bit. It wasn't that you lacked talent for streaming and thus weren't popular. Rather, you were too talented, and that was the problem. We actually had to play a little trick, you know? To prevent your gameplay of the Tower of Trials from being exposed to the outside world. Plus, we had to donate Star Balloons so you wouldn't have trouble making a living, order food delivery to your house, and even get the gym director to discount your membership fee. We were quite busy. We put a lot of effort into you.
The more he heard, the more mind-boggling it became.
At this point, he couldn't even guess when they had started pulling the strings.
But one thing was certain...
The reason they had orchestrated all of this.
"...Was it to make sure I could focus solely on climbing the Tower?"
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Exactly.
The question mark vibrated slightly.
As if it was absolutely thrilled.
However, Jinhyuk was just as intrigued.
After all, he had finally met the ones behind the curtain who had orchestrated everything.
"You said you're very interested in me. What is it that you want me to do?"
This was the most important question.
They must have had a reason for setting all of this up.
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: Climb to the top of the Tower once more. We want you to reach the very end of the Tower, a place that no divinity or resident of the world we created has ever reached.
"You want me to repeat what I've already done? Isn't that a bit too much effort just for that?"
– Sae Yeong Eon Hwan: ...The bastards on the 50th floor... are all... Ah, damn it, I guess direct transmission is blocked. Seriously, the system is such a pain. It's a shame, but this is as much as I can tell you. Keep one last thing in mind. The top of the Tower... is completely different from the place you used to know.
['Sae Yeong Eon Hwan' has left the chat room.]
[The broadcast has ended.]
With that, the conversation was over.
The screen flickered, and the chat window turned pitch black once again.
Though he had conversed with the most mysterious entity, his questions were not fully resolved.
‘The top... has changed?’
Instead, it had only left him with an even greater mystery.
However,
[A message has arrived from Sae Yeong Eon Hwan.]
The reward that followed proved that this Q&A session was by no means a waste of time.
*
It was about thirty minutes later when Jinhyuk went to see Lee Tae-min and Yu Yeon-hwa.
Since he couldn't tell them about his conversation with Sae Yeong Eon Hwan, he made up an excuse, saying he was just having a casual chat with his viewers about the broadcast.
"Hyung, more importantly, what are you going to do from now on?"
"It went well just like you said, Oppa, but won't it be hard to just reap all the benefits from between the guilds?"
The two asked with sparkling eyes.
It seemed they found it quite entertaining to watch everything unfold smoothly according to plan.
They looked even more expectant of how he would navigate the path ahead.
"First, I'm going to feed them a moderate amount of information."
Although he had agreed to work with the guilds, they hadn't built trust yet.
He needed a phase to give them some useful information to build a certain level of confidence.
And if he used that as a foundation to leverage the solid manpower and resources of the large guild alliance...
He would be able to proceed with this raid very comfortably.
‘I’ll have to take some time to think about the Tower slowly later.’
What was important right now was copying skills from the rankers and successfully conquering the ruins.
The opportunities to be seized here were by no means easy.
In particular, 'Black Tears' was one of the few skills in the Tower of Trials that could be enhanced, so he absolutely had to obtain it.
He definitely needed it to utilize it on the 40th floor and beyond.
"Oh, right. Yeon-hwa, did you try what I asked you to do?"
"Huh? Ah... that? It's a bit vague to give a definite answer, but I think it'll work. I put on quite a show of playing weak."
Yu Yeon-hwa wore a mischievous smile.
Good.
If Yu Yeon-hwa put it that way, it meant he could practically classify it as a usable card.
"Well, shall we get going?"
Jinhyuk stood up.
Nirasha and the other players were preparing to enter the ruins, so he just had to head over there.
– The place they arrived at was packed to the brim with countless players.
Since the Gate Guardian blocking the entrance had been defeated, they were likely planning to explore the interior in earnest.
Tankers, damage dealers, and finally, healers.
The properly balanced raid team was moving busily even at this very moment.
"Make sure everyone prepares plenty of supplies. We'll have to be inside for at least a week."
"Pour in all the mana potions without holding back! You can put it on the accounting department's tab. Empty out every single coin you have!"
"Keep this in mind. You must wait for the tankers to draw aggro before dealing damage. If you do what you did earlier, there will be many casualties."
Rankers belonging to the main raid team could be seen instructing the relatively new recruits.
"Tch. I'm going ahead."
Spotting Jinhyuk, Nirasha snapped coldly and left to do her own work.
On the other hand, Maria looked subtly reassured that Jinhyuk had come.
"Why is that fellow so grumpy? Is she still upset about having her rice bowl taken away?"
"Please understand. The Gandhara side sent a few vanguard members into the ruins before you arrived, Jinhyuk-ssi. But none of them returned."
Of course.
They couldn't wait and moved first.
‘I can see why she’s in a bad mood.’
Needless to say, there was no way the Gandhara Guild could grasp the information inside the ruins on their own.
This was because the second gate connected through this route was far more difficult than the first.
The second gatekeeper was modeled after 'Sloth', one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
There, only those who remained 'silent' could survive and proceed to the next stage.
‘Since I got the key by killing the Ripper... there are six left.’
If he defeated all the apostles created by the Wailing Witch and obtained their keys, he would finally earn the right to enter the Witch's room.
Jinhyuk glanced at Maria.
Before starting...
'Gluttony's Eye' pierced through her status window.
Tring!
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Name: Maria
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Level: 61
Strength: 23 Agility: 35 Stamina: 26 Mana: 112
Stat Points Available: 0
Coins: 1,132,500
Class: Magic Scholar
Unique Ability: Five Elements Mastery
Skills: Lv7 'Hellfire' Lv15 'Blizzard' Lv15 'Lightning Spear' Lv14 'Energy Shield'... Too many skills to display. Showing in 'collapsed' view.
——————————————————
[Copy Condition: While deceiving and exploiting rivals is one way to climb the Tower, you do not necessarily have to antagonize everyone. Cooperation and solidarity are the best paths to conquering the Tower. If you form an alliance with Maria and do not backstab her until the very end, you will be able to copy one of the skills she possesses.]
‘You don't necessarily have to antagonize everyone, huh...’
Well, that wasn't wrong.
He already had a connection with Maria from the Bayorodum incident during the European invasion.
And the one he could cooperate with the most was, of course, Maria, who belonged to Olympus.
But right then.
[I've been bothered by something for a while now. Can you spare a moment? If we don't talk now, things might get pretty troublesome.]
A familiar voice whispered into his ear.