A Chance That Will Never Come Again
How was he supposed to explain it?
Call it pure instinct?
I have to take this one.
It had been the same back when he played the Tower of Despair. Before he uncovered any of the hidden routes the developers had buried, he always felt this exact kind of searing certainty.
A chance like this will never come again.
Failure would hurt—badly—but even factoring that in, it was worth the risk.
Once the decision settled, hesitation vanished.
“Yeon-ho hyung!”
The shout shattered the silence.
“Wh—whoa? What?”
Baek Yeon-ho’s face went paper-white at Hyun Si-woon’s sudden yell.
You crazy bastard! You can’t just scream like that out of nowhere!
His heart lurched, but his hands moved on pure instinct, yanking a shield from his inventory. He had already read Si-woon’s intent.
They were going to finish off the wounded Moonlight Tribe member.
God, this kid… Sometimes I wonder if he’s right in the head, and then—
It wasn’t a bad call either. Caution came from the fact that this was reality. If it had still been a game, wouldn’t he have charged in just as fast?
Fine. Screw it. Let’s do this.
Yeon-ho nodded and signaled with his eyes.
Taat!
Si-woon burst out first; Yeon-ho followed hard on his heels.
There was only one wounded Moonlight Tribe creature in the space. Cut it down fast, then get out—that was the perfect plan.
They were out of time.
—Kieeek?
The exhausted Moonlight Tribe member reacted to the sudden ambush. But Si-woon’s blade was already driving toward its abdomen.
—Kiruk!
It tried to rise and dodge, yet an ambush was an ambush precisely because it was hard to avoid.
Puhk!
Si-woon’s sword sank true—straight into the wound that was already gaping open.
Puhwak!
Flesh parted. Blood sprayed. The feel of ruptured organs transmitted straight to his fingertips.
Die, Moonlight Tribe.
Poison filled his eyes. Even if he failed to kill it this time, he would regress and seize this chance again. He would not let it slip.
—Kiaaaaaaah!
The Moonlight Tribe creature screamed. On the threshold of death, its survival instinct detonated.
This is bad.
Si-woon flinched hard.
Swaeaeaeek!
Ignoring the blade in its gut, the creature swung a dagger.
It still has this much strength left?
Teeth clenched, Si-woon started to twist away on pure reflex—
“Si-woon!”
Kwaaaang!
Yeon-ho slammed the flat of his shield into the incoming dagger.
Pagak!
A chunk of the wooden shield splintered through, but for the moment it was enough. That single heartbeat of space was all Si-woon needed.
“Perfect timing!”
Puhk, puhk!
He ripped the sword free of the abdomen and drove it straight into the neck. Once was never enough. Chest, head, gut—he stabbed every vital point he could reach without discrimination, relentless.
—Kieeek!
Even then the Moonlight Tribe creature thrashed with terrifying vitality.
Seogeok!
Its dagger carved a deep gouge through Yeon-ho’s shoulder. A thick slab of flesh tore free.
“Khuhk!”
Agony twisted Yeon-ho’s face. Before the blue sword-energy wreathing that dagger, even a shield might as well have been paper.
“You son of a bitch!”
Blood-red murder flooded Yeon-ho’s eyes.
At this rate we’re finished.
If the shield was useless, he would help some other way. Whatever it took to give Si-woon an opening!
“Kraaaaaah!”
Yeon-ho swallowed the pain and roared. He flung the cumbersome shield aside and hurled himself at the Moonlight Tribe creature—not from the front, but from the blind spot at its back.
He latched on like a cicada, left arm locking around its throat while his right desperately seized the wrist that held the dagger.
Lucky break.
The creature’s focus on Si-woon had given him the opening.
—Krrrrrk? Kiek!
It bucked in panic. Crushing pressure hammered down on Yeon-ho, but he clung on with everything he had and bellowed like he was coughing up blood.
“Hyun Si-wooooon!”
Bloodshot eyes locked on his partner.
“Now! Just gut the bastard!”
Si-woon did not waste the chance. In that pure, instinct-driven moment both of them were ready to die together if necessary.
The abdomen.
Yeon-ho hyung was right—right now the gut was the answer. Hadn’t Ha-wol said it herself? The Moonlight Tribe’s remaining energy still pooled in that abdomen.
“Hyaaaap!”
With a shout Si-woon reset his grip on the Formless Sword. Close-quarters butchery like this was something he had practiced thoroughly against the gladiators on the first floor.
Seuk.
He set the tip against the creature’s belly and drove upward—not straight in, but up through the organs, aiming to shred heart and lungs and keep going until he punched out through neck and skull.
Puguguguk!
It wouldn’t go in cleanly. Things inside snagged and resisted, yet he wrung out every last scrap of strength.
“Khaaaaaap!”
Of course the Moonlight Tribe creature did not stay still.
Puhk!
The dagger tore free of Yeon-ho’s arm and punched into Si-woon’s side. A bone-scraping, nauseating sensation hit him, then a wave of white-hot agony.
“Khuhk!”
Blood gushed. The blade had slid in with horrifying ease, stopping only a hair short of his lung.
But Si-woon never let go of his sword. He shoved harder, driving it deeper.
Just fucking die already!
At last the blade punched all the way through—past the neck, clear into the skull.
—Ki… ki… r-heoeok…!
Finally the thrashing stopped. Strength drained from the dagger still buried in Si-woon’s side.
“Huk… huk!”
Clutching his flank, Si-woon grimaced. His vision swam; even breathing felt like drowning. If the creature had held even a fraction more strength…
That would have been his twenty-second death.
“S-Si-woon! You okay?”
“Khuhk… khuhk.”
Si-woon fumbled a staff from his inventory on pure reflex.
“……?”
Yeon-ho stared as if asking what the hell that was for, but Si-woon had no breath left to answer. He simply thought:
Healing Light.
Healing Light
Temporary emergency treatment applied.
Wuuuung!
A stopgap heal washed through him.
“H-holy shit. How the hell do you even—!”
“Huk… hyung!”
Si-woon forced the word out through a throat that refused to work properly. They had no time for explanations. Another Moonlight Tribe member could appear at any second. Meeting one in this condition would be an instant game over.
Loot fast and get to the exit—that was the message. Yeon-ho nodded and scrambled off.
In that same moment—
Huh?
Behind the fallen Moonlight Tribe body, a silver bow glinted.
……This is?
Si-woon’s eyes widened.
A drop item?
He had seen community posts claiming that monsters outside the Tower could drop weapons at low rates… but inside the Tower itself, beasts almost never dropped gear. When they did, it was only hidden-route items or special rewards worth using.
He snatched the bow and forced himself upright. The world spun, but he had to endure it.
……As expected of Yeon-ho hyung.
Exactly as Si-woon had ordered beforehand, Yeon-ho was sweeping every spirit elixir, mysterious herb, and rare-looking mineral the Moonlight Tribe had stockpiled into a single sack. There were a few scrolls that looked like secret manuals, but he left those—they were for kobolds and worthless to learn. Once they got everything outside, the items would convert and enter their inventories automatically.
“Got it all! Let’s go!”
Yeon-ho slung the sack over his shoulder and hauled Si-woon up. Leaning hard on him, Si-woon staggered forward on unsteady legs.
Still… I’d call this a success, right?
A faint smile touched Si-woon’s lips as they headed for the exit.
They’re back!
Yeon-ho hyung-nim! Si-woon hyung!
When the two carefully returned to the hideout, the party waiting in the crevice wore expressions that mixed pure relief with sheer horror.
“Are you all right?”
“Over here—make some space.”
Kang Si-a and Hwang Dae-un shot forward and took Si-woon’s weight. They cleared a decent patch of ground in the crevice and laid him down.
“Dear god, what happened…”
Baek Do-hee checked his condition at once. The wound in his side was vicious; he had gone into shock and lost consciousness. She cast a healing skill immediately, but even that was only a stopgap.
“The wound’s too deep. Healing barely stopped the bleeding, but there’s heavy internal damage and a real risk of infection. He absolutely cannot move for now.”
Her voice trembled, yet her hands stayed steady. Rrrrip! She soaked a makeshift gauze torn from clothing and carefully cleaned dirt and debris from around the wound.
“Cha-yul.”
“Yeah.”
“Find more cloth we can use as bandages.”
“On it.”
Do-hee’s role was healing. While clearing kobolds she had already stockpiled plenty of usable scraps. She layered the cloth over the wound with practiced pressure. Perfect sterile dressing was impossible, but sealing the injury and preventing further contamination came first.
“Nngh…”
A pain-laced groan slipped from Si-woon. Do-hee pressed two fingers to his neck.
“Pulse and breathing are still unstable. We need to keep watching him. Cover him with something so his body temperature doesn’t drop.”
In a hospital this would have meant an immediate trip to the operating room. But she was a nurse, not a surgeon. All she could do was pour every scrap of nursing knowledge into care and keep the healing flowing.
The real problem is…
They were still on the dangerous third floor.
“First things first.”
Yeon-ho stood. His own shoulder was still bleeding, but he couldn’t rest either. Right now he was the leader.
“We hold until Si-woon recovers. We set up camp right here. Si-a, Dae-un.”
“Yes.”
“Yessir.”
“You two take turns on watch. Anything approaches, you tell us immediately.”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
“And Cha-yul noona, help my noona take care of Si-woon. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Okay.”
The party moved as one under Yeon-ho’s orders. Si-woon was exceptional, sure—but Yeon-ho himself had been a top 0.1 percent veteran of this game. Without a hidden route, the third floor was still doable for him.
I’d love to check and divide the loot right now, but…
That was the leader’s privilege—Si-woon’s. He would leave everything sealed until the kid woke up.
The way to clear the third floor of the Tower of Despair was to kill the Kobold King. The routes leading there were many. Back when he streamed, Yeon-ho had walked nearly all of them.
Obviously we can’t take the regular route.
That path meant open war against the entire kobold army—and with that method, clearing was nearly impossible. Individual kobolds might be weak, but sheer numbers always won.
Two realistic options.
First: a diversion. Create enough chaos in another sector to drag the kobolds’ attention away, then slip into the king’s quarters through the gap. The biggest upside? With luck you could even pull the royal guard away. After that it was pure free real estate—the king himself barely had any combat ability.
The downside, though, was just as clear. In the game, teammates could coordinate perfectly. In reality, communication was a nightmare. Timing was nearly impossible to sync, and the moment the party split and got isolated, it was over. Drag the timing out even a little and you only hardened the entire kobold force’s alert status—strangling yourselves with your own rope.
Second option: use the secret passages. Yeon-ho knew the full layout of this underground city. The fastest, most lightly guarded hidden route straight to the king’s chambers lived in his head.
But…
That path guaranteed a fight with the elite troops guarding the king. They weren’t Moonlight Tribe level, but they were still nasty.
“Haa…”
Yeon-ho let out a long breath. What now? Swallow the risks of the diversion, or take the hard fight against the elites? Neither road was easy.
While he clutched his head, a sound cut through the hideout.
“……Khuhk!”
A pain-choked groan. The first to react was Baek Do-hee, still nursing him. Her eyes flew wide.
“Si-woon?”
In an instant every noise inside the crevice died. Every gaze locked on one point.
Si-woon’s brow faintly furrowed. His eyelids trembled. Then, slowly, his eyes opened. Focus returned to pupils that had been glazed and empty.
“……Where…”
The voice was cracked and rough as scraped metal, but it was unmistakably his. Consciousness had returned.
Everyone who had been spread out on watch scrambled back toward the crevice in a rush.
Ahh…
Yeon-ho felt the tension drain from his entire body in a single rush. Had responsibility always been this heavy? The crushing pressure lifted; he could finally breathe again.
He’s awake.
Now he could truly relax. No matter what came next, as long as this insane, rotten-water veteran was here, a solution would always appear.