Chapter 12 — The Tower of Trials

- 10,000,000 won has been deposited.

Suddenly, ten million won appeared in my account.

When I checked the sender, the name read Cheolin Disposal Shop.

They're giving me ten million won?

Something felt off. No matter that the haul included a boss monster and an elite monster, this was still just the byproduct of an F-rank and an E-rank gate. It should have come out to seven million at most.

"Hello?"

I called the old man right away.

"Ah, I see the money went through."

"Yes, but I think there's been a mistake with the amount."

"No mistake. That's the correct amount," the old man said flatly. "My son got some training out of this one too, so think of it as covering that and take it."

He had, admittedly, said his son could help with this disposal.

"And yet the extra charges seem a bit steep, don't you think? What I'm supposed to receive is the amount left over after taxes and disposal fees. As a C-rank awakener, after the ten percent tax comes off, I should be getting around six million, and after the disposal fee, closer to five."

"Consider it a bribe so you keep using our shop," he said. "If that's the case... understood."

I accepted quickly and hung up. If the deposit was deliberate — the old man's own choice, not an error — then politely taking the money was the right move.

"Maybe I'll stop by a church?"

It was five in the afternoon. The gate run had eaten up five hours, and the evening service would be starting right about now. If I timed it well, I might even catch it.

Come to think of it, there's a gate connected to a church, isn't there?

Chasing the memory of a certain gate through my mind, I headed for the church.

"Ah—! Aaah!"

Hymns filled the entire room, and as they washed over me, my mind and body settled.

"Lord, who grants us our daily bread this day as well..."

When the hymn ended, a man who looked to be the pastor stepped up to the pulpit and began reciting a prayer.

So it has no effect after all.

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I hadn't expected anything dramatic, but I'd hoped to pick up some hint about the divine. Yet neither the hymns nor the pastor's prayer stirred the divinity nestled in my heart one bit.

No reason to stay any longer, then.

I rose from my seat and left the chapel. By the time I stepped outside the building, it was already half past six.

Should I suggest dinner out?

I called Mom right away.

"Uh, Mom. Let's eat out."

"Send me the address."

I texted her the location of a barbecue place near the house and set off in the same direction. About thirty minutes of walking later, the restaurant came into view.

"Oppa, you're late!" Sunha called, waving from in front of the restaurant.

I joined my family and we went inside together.

"Jin-ah, what kind of place is this?"

"It looks expensive!"

Mom worried at the old-fashioned, upscale interior, while Sunha beamed at how fancy the place looked.

"Jin-ah, you're not overdoing it, are you?" Dad asked, coming up behind me.

"It's fine. The money from dismantling yesterday's gate came in."

I said it casually and flashed my phone screen at him. Dad glanced at it, stepped back without a word, then clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Son, I'm proud of you."

"Haha."

Once we were settled in a private room, I ordered the meat without ever showing the menu to Sunha or Mom.

This is exactly what money flexing is for.

I ordered the most expensive cuts the place carried, one after another. That evening, we ate our fill of A++ grade Korean beef.

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"Yawwn—"

I yawned as I boarded the KTX. The reason I was on an early morning train was the gate waiting below — the Tower of Trials in Pohang.

It was a gate that wouldn't be discovered for another four years or so, and I had spent roughly ten years of my previous life inside it. The Tower of Trials stood ten floors tall, granting a reward each time a floor's trial was cleared. It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a permanent gate, open to anyone level 100 or below.

It's the gate that turns even an F-rank awakener into an E-rank or better.

What I needed right now was to strengthen my talent. My current talent was S-rank or higher — but that wasn't enough.

Five hours to clear the Gray Forest, an E-rank gate.

On average, that wasn't long at all. If anything, it was remarkably short.

Time would eventually solve it, but time alone isn't enough.

Passing through the Tower of Trials would solve it immediately. And yet I was still uneasy.

Because Pride is simply in a league of his own.

The other six Great Demons were stronger than S-rank too. At equal levels, maybe three of them would match me; the other three would beat me.

During the North Korea purge a year from now, I have to kill Envy.

North Korea was currently under the control of the Cult of the Demon God, worshippers of monsters — and behind the cult stood Envy.

It feels a bit early, but entering before level 10 gives the best returns.

I was level 9. Because I'd gained more stat points than an S-rank, I could, if I put my mind to it, become stronger than a level 99 F-rank. And the Tower of Trials gave better rewards the lower your level was — the rewards for anyone level 10 or below were known to be the best of all.

- We will be arriving shortly at the final stop, Pohang Station.

The ride was over in a blink. I shouldered my bag and stepped off the KTX.

Somewhere on Mount Gunryun in Pohang stood the Tower of Trials.

"Hah. Hah. Hah."

Panting hard, I stared at the gate before me. Where ordinary gates glowed blue, the gate of the Tower of Trials radiated a green light.

Of course it had to be buried in a mountain like this...

I'd reached Mount Gunryun twelve hours ago. A full twelve hours of combing the mountain just to finally locate the gate.

Before the regression, getting here was easy.

In my past life, proper trails had been blazed all the way to the gate. I sighed and pulled out my phone.

Let the folks know first.

I sent my parents a short message, powered the phone off, and pocketed it.

"Well then. Let's go in."

I stepped through the green gate. On the other side, darkness swallowed everything.

"Huh?"

I frowned at the message floating before my eyes. An error has occurred — nothing about that sounded like good news.

"What on earth..."

The cascade of error messages threw me for a moment, but I recovered my composure quickly. It must still be holding the records from before my regression.

But the me standing here now was nothing more than a fresh awakener who had never once challenged the Tower of Trials.

"I have never challenged the Tower of Trials."

As if my voice had reached it, the system displayed something other than an error.

It's already been two months since I regressed.

I grumbled at the system in my head. I had regressed before my awakening, which meant I was now an entirely new awakener.

I am not the same person I was before the regression.

I'd possessed mana even before awakening, and my starting stats had been different. My soul might be the same, but as an awakener, I was a completely different human being.

With that final message, the darkness around me lifted. As it cleared, my surroundings came into view — a lobby, and a row of doors.

So the difficulty went up...

The Tower of Trials had three difficulties: the Blue Door, the Red Door, and the Black Door, ascending in order from blue to black. Before my regression, I had taken the Red Door.

And this time, I'd been planning to take the Black Door...

An unforeseen complication had driven the difficulty even higher. If I'd come just a little later, would things have been different? So I really did come too early?

If I'd grown a bit more before arriving, I could have chosen the Black Door outright. But as I was now, I wasn't strong enough for that.

Should I take the Red Door?

At the pre-regression difficulty, I was confident I could clear it easily. But with the difficulty raised, I had no idea what the Red Door would demand of me.

And once I choose the Red Door, the Black Door is off the table.

Before the regression, the Black Door had never been cleared, not even once. The finest awakeners had long since blown past level 100, and the so-called Super Rookies had challenged it in droves — and every last one of them failed. Barely a month after the tower's discovery, the government had barred anyone from even attempting the Black Door without official permission.

...

I agonized for a long while. Play it safe and take the Red Door, or gamble on the future? The difficulty had risen, but so had the rewards. Even clearing just the Red Door would net me better spoils than my first run through the tower.

Logically, the Red Door is the right choice... but my instincts are screaming at me to take the Black Door.

Fine. The Black Door it is.

Instinct is the single most important asset an awakener has. More than once, it had been instinct that kept me alive. And yet my feet wouldn't move easily. My hands are trembling.

There had been almost no time in my life when my hands shook like this. The only other occasion had been facing the Seven Great Demons. My instincts were screaming a warning.

That place is dangerous.

I forced my feet forward. I strangled my instincts and approached the Black Door.

If my instincts are warning me this hard...

Before the regression and after it, the only ones who had ever set off that alarm were the Seven Great Demons.

Then I should assume the Black Door is at least as dangerous as one of the Seven.

At level 100 or below, the way I was now, merely meeting the gaze of one of the Seven would kill me. Compared to that, the Black Door would be easier.

Besides, if I can't grow stronger, Pride kills me anyway.

My life was a spent thing either way. So this was a place I had to walk into.

Then my hand touched the Black Door.

"Yes."

The instant I answered, the Black Door swung open and swallowed me whole. And at the same moment, one last system message appeared.

In a space veiled in utter darkness, a single presence watched Han Jin.

"I'll be waiting... Han Jin."