Hitchhiker Tops the World – Korea's Glorious Surge

Republic of Korea wasn't a country anyone could even jokingly call a great place to live.

Fast internet?

Advanced transportation?

Diverse food culture?

Sure, all that was top-tier.

But being dead last in tower climbing wiped out every single advantage.

They were barely scraping by each month, just enough points to prevent the towers from rampaging.

That was the vibe.

The silver lining?

The national mood was more unified than ever before.

Didn't they say crises forge internal solidarity?

Just look at the Imjin War— the people united as one against the invaders.

Political divides? Gender conflicts?

Generational gaps? Regional rivalries?

Nope. None of that.

Everyone pulling together, chanting "fighting!" as one.

Sharing tower intel.

Lending gear if you had it.

The Management Agency even posted floor guides and class build strategies.

But even so.

They were still hanging on by a thread each month.

Every site online felt like a funeral home.

Until the last few days. The mood flipped.

Carmina, munching on nachos while surfing her laptop, turned to me excitedly.

"Master! People are asking you to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠save them!"

Save them, huh. Honestly, doesn't everyone fantasize about that at some point?

Becoming a movie hero with special powers, rescuing folks from danger.

Suddenly striking it rich and being hailed as a big shot.

Or awakening genius artistic talent and dominating your field.

The fantasy became reality.

Just on a massive scale.

A dream bordering on delusion had come true.

It felt strangely surreal.

My shoulders felt a bit heavier too.

Not much. Just a little. A smidge?

Because if this momentum held, real "salvation" might actually happen.

The last three days in summary:

—Kyaaak! Spider! Dead! I hate multi-legged things the most!

—Kyaaak! Bees! Gross! Come near and you're dead!

—Kyaaaak! Huh... Frog...? This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one's kinda cute, but oh well. Dead!

Truth be told, I barely did anything.

Carmina handled it all.

Her specialty: blood magic.

Droplets from her fingertip turned into crimson drills, shredding enemies in seconds.

The results?

World #1 across the board.

By at least 10x the scores of established rankers.

The floor guides I'd prepped? Useless.

Start signal pops, Carmina blinks, everything's cleared.

Click. Clear.

Click. Clear.

Click. Clear.

Makes sense, really.

Even at her current state, she could take 10 level 50 S-ranks.

"Nom nom. The monsters here are way weaker than the ones in Nosferatu's tower."

Tower difficulties vary by planet, apparently.

Yeah, Carmina's a vampire— inherently leagues above humans.

No way the difficulty's balanced the same.

"Carmina-nim, if you climbed towers, you must've awakened too, right?"

"Nom nom. Of course! You need to awaken to even enter."

"Remember what class you got?"

"Nom... Not really. Probably system-locked."

She didn't remember everything from Nosferatu.

Disappointing, but unavoidable.

Anyway, right now—

Munch. Munch.

"Nom nom."

Her pale hand rummaging nonstop through the nacho bag.

Over the last four days, she'd been devouring convenience store snacks and delivery food, totally hooked on Earth's—specifically Korea's—snack culture.

When she tried chicken, she teared up about her wasted vamp life.

Anyway, she's snacking again.

Munch, munch.

On the bed.

Prone, tapping away at the laptop.

Poof!

Crumb avalanche...!

Dust. Crumbs...!

For a Korean from an East Asian culture where you remove shoes indoors and beds are sacred cleanliness zones, this was blood-pressure territory.

But...

I was feeling generous.

Thanks to extra rewards.

Regular awakeners climb forever without seeing these.

I got one per floor. 1 through 4, no skips.

Floors 2-4? Top-grade mana stones.

Known as the most common "trap" reward.

But not total trash.

Three? 1.5 billion. Can't sell yet, but my sense of money's already numb.

Bed getting dirty?

Who cares? Buy a new one later.

What actually bugged me was something else.

Carmina was wearing my borrowed tracksuit.

"Hehe, nachos yummy."

Days of 'home-snack-convenience store-snack-tower-late night snack' routine.

She looked exactly like a slovenly little sister lounging in her room.

My ideal vampire: elegant, aristocratic grace.

Not a bed-rolling room swan.

But she's our hardworking tower-climbing industrial warrior, so griping feels wrong.

Eyeing her uncomfortably, I remembered something.

Pat pat pat.

Handed her the drink from the fridge I'd grabbed on the way home.

"Carmina-nim, have this."

"Ooh, what's this?"

"Tomato juice."

"Ooo! Delicious! Sweet and tangy!"

Gulp gulp.

Watching her down the red liquid soothed my soul.

Not real blood, but still.

Aaah, this is it.

The proper vampire vibe.

I'll order a few cases online. One glass morning and night.

Back to her laptop.

I checked the scoreboard.

Three days ago: #172, -200k points.

Now?

27 spots up.

450k points gained.

Including today's floor 4, over half was 'Hitchhiker's' doing.

Korea had never broken +200k in tower race history.

Always rampages or barely scraping positive.

Today, that curse broke.

"Master! Internet's exploding! Says it's Korea's all-time high score!"

Fair enough.

Korea Inc. just hit new highs.

"Oh, Master. Got a question."

"Shoot."

"Tower points per floor are limited, right?"

"Yeah. Repeated clears dry 'em up, and higher floors eventually lock."

"So why do Earth nations mine so aggressively? Wouldn't it be better to just hit quota and save the rest for next month?"

Carmina tilting her head.

Nosferatu bought time that way, even if they fell.

Solid logic.

Rounds reset anyway, whether 100k or millions.

But Earth was different.

"First, every Earth nation has way more people than Nosferatu. Hard to control climbers."

"Ah, true."

"Second, and bigger: achievements based on total score."

"Achievements? First time hearing that."

"See for yourself."

Round ending right on cue.

"Master! We stopped the rampage!"

"Not over yet."

"Whoa, what's all this?"

What else?

"The system's trick to fuel national rivalries."

2,500 Tower Coins first.

Huge, since every awakener in the country gets it free.

But the real prize: all-stats buff.

Awakeners have game-like stats in their status windows.

STR, AGI, INT, WIS, LUK, CHA, etc.

They affect sub-stats: muscle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power, endurance, HP, mobility.

Dodge, crit chance/multiplier.

Phys/magic resist, and more.

Directly tied to strength, so stats are crucial.

Ways to gain: class growth on level-up, skills/gear.

But stingy yields.

Blanket +5% across the board?

"Insane buff."

"Wild! I knew stats, but achievements didn't exist on Nosferatu."

Fun fact: They stack every 250k.

500k? 5k coins, +10% total.

750k? 7.5k coins, +15%.

1 mil? 10k coins, +20%.

Why bottom-feeders can't catch top nations.

Snowball from achievements widens the gap.

And that's not all.

End of round, top nations get massive bonuses.

"Gotta shove others aside for better rewards. Prisoner's dilemma."

"Ah."

Just hit quota together?

Pipe dream.

Ranking rewards kill any truce.

Carmina steeled her face, reaching for table chicken.

"Gotta step it up. Can't let the chicken overlords— er, Master's nation— fall!"

"......"

Pretend I didn't hear that.

Our chicken's legit, though.

Glanced at the clock. Just past midnight.

Tower rampage cycles sync to Korea's longitude for some reason.

I.e., round ends at Korean midnight.

But nah.

Scarce S/A-ranks led to "abandoned by towers" nickname.

Anyway.

Entries reset.

"Challenge floor 5 now?"

"Huh, heading in right away?"

"Yup."

Glance.

New round, 1 minute in.

Rankings shuffling wildly. Chaos.

Soon top nations' rankers hit high floors.

Stabilizes quick. 30 minutes tops.

At this rate, my floor 5 clear nets ~130k.

Won't take long.

Perfect vibe.

Turned to Carmina.

"Let's go. We'll get pushed down soon, but Korea deserves a #1 at least once."

Buffs? Nothing beats this mental high.

Even fleeting world #1 gives massive morale boost.

250k achievement is material/stats; this is spiritual buff.

"Yay! Let's go!"

"Here we go!"

Entered floor 5 with Carmina.

And soon—