Unique Skill Awakening

A small cube, glowing.

The first person to find one had taken it for little more than a souvenir. Experts soon proved otherwise. Inside that tiny cube lay an immense store of energy — a perfectly clean source, with no combustion, no exhaust gas, and no radioactive waste.

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that every nation on earth had begun urging people into the Tower, and funding them to go, because of this. The cubes were used above all as electrical power. Korea alone already leaned on them for a serious share of its consumption: thirty percent of the country's entire grid. Experts projected the cubes could replace that much. A resource, in other words, capable of overturning the balance of the world.

Well. For now, that was only a forecast.

A country that doesn't pump a single drop of oil, and now we've got an energy resource of our own.

I picked up the glowing cube.

"Sia."

"Yes?"

"I just thought of a way to clear a major hospital."

"What is it?"

The two of us stared at the cube like people whose souls had stepped out for a moment.

"We sell this and hire mercenaries. Round up about five hundred and that should do it, right?"

"There's a limit on how many hunters can enter at once."

"Shame. Then we just buy anticancer drugs made in the Tower."

"I already looked. There isn't any stock."

Every plan I pulled out of thin air got rejected on the spot, and still I was smiling. With this in hand, it felt like there was nothing we couldn't do.

We really got lucky.

Not just lucky. Double lucky.

"Two Energy Cubes. Of all things."

"Hehehehe...."

The cubes had even Yoo Sia laughing like her mind had gone blank.

We each tucked one into a subspace backpack.

"Sia, let's get out of here."

"Yes! If we get greedy for anything else, I feel like something's going to happen."

I felt like I'd turned into a mega golden goblin.

Make it out of here and my whole life flips in one shot!

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Yeah, right.

An escape still needed an exit to open. So we decided to spend the leftover time farming. The shopping street had finally been cleared, and it felt like a waste to just walk away.

We stepped outside.

"It feels like we leased the whole shopping street and went on a private spree."

"It really does."

A zombie wave had torn the place apart, but still.

"Want to farm from here?"

"Yeah. Let's go in."

This time it was an ordinary clothing store. If anywhere had something we could turn into armor, it was here.

Between the thinly stocked racks—

Lucky.

I found a leather jacket.

Pocket this for now.

I could cut it up later and use it to reinforce armor. Selling it would bring in an absurd amount of money, but cash wasn't the emergency at the moment.

I'd hauled in plenty, but almost none of it was worth wearing. The leather gloves were tougher and sturdier than what I had on, so I swapped to those. Sia had finished looting a while ago and was staring at her phone. Nothing in here was going to replace her gear.

"Ah! Jaeha!"

"What? What is it?"

"The exit opened! It's close!"

"Oh!"

I checked the map at once. It was the entrance of the building we'd already cleared.

"Sia, let's go. Right now."

"Yes!"

Escape, at last. Every feeling hit me at once. From the moment we'd entered the Tower until now, it had been one absurdly packed day.

The building entrance glowed green. Before we stepped into that exit—

"Should we exchange contacts first?"

"Oh! We still haven't, have we?"

We needed a way to reach each other if we were going to make any plans. Just in case, not only chat — our actual numbers, too.

"I hope you get a good Unique Skill, Jaeha."

"Same here. Otherwise you won't call me when you go after that major hospital."

"Ugh! It's dangerous, so it'd be better if you didn't follow me."

"If I pull a good skill, you'll be the one clinging to me."

"I-I'm not going to cling like that, okay?"

The rest of that conversation could wait until we were outside.

"Let's head in."

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"Yes."

Plenty of room in the quota. Let thirty seconds pass, or let the exit close, and we'd be pulled out automatically.

"This really is the escape."

"Get some real rest, then message me."

"Yep."

Parting like this felt a little unfinished, but we had time.

"Oh, right. Sia."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for helping me get out."

"Ugh, why bring that up now. And I got plenty of help from you, too."

"Did you?"

I was still trying to remember what I'd actually done for her when—

Flash—

"Hhk."

I was back in my studio.

Ding.

A push notification chimed as if it had been waiting for me.

Generating a Unique Skill, it seemed, was going to take time.

Hmm. Sleep first?

I sent Sia a message, then stretched out on the soft bed. We traded a few texts about this and that, and before long I sank into sleep.

No entering the Tower in my sleep this time.

I couldn't go back in for another three days anyway.

"Nnngh."

My whole body felt like it was melting, in the best way. I'd slept hard.

It's still bright, though?

I was sure I'd gotten back after the sun was up. I checked the time.

"It's morning? How long was I out?"

The surprise didn't last.

Well. Fair enough.

Inside the Tower I'd been in an awakened state, so I hadn't noticed — but I must have been right up against my limit.

I was about to set the phone down when—

"Right! The Unique Skill!"

I opened the Tower of Calamity app at once.

"Huh?"

Puppetry?

What kind of skill was that supposed to be? At a glance, I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Options first.

I read it. I understood it even less.

And what is EX?

Unique Skills were graded from A down to F. That was the assumption, anyway. Officially, the highest grade anyone had confirmed so far was B.

EX doesn't look like it sits anywhere between A and F. Above A?

Forcing the pieces together on my own would only get me so far. Using it would tell me.

Puppetry. A human form... then, this?

I took out the mannequin I'd farmed from the big sportswear store.

The moment I looked at it, the method rose in my mind as if I'd known it all along.

I set my hand on the mannequin's chest.

"Grant Will."

A blue ripple started where my palm met the plastic.

Wheeeee—

It kindled a light near the heart, then raced up the spine into the arms and legs, spreading all the way to the tips of the fingers and toes.

And then—

Kreeeeeeee—!

With a strange, grinding whine, lines and grooves cut themselves into every joint. The thing reshaped itself as if it were copying the structure of a human body.

And at last—

"Holy shit, the mannequin's moving?"

The mannequin raised a hand, the motion almost like it was confirming that it existed. Hands that had been nothing but mitten-shaped lumps were already flexing as freely as human fingers.

Right. It said it moves the way I command it.

Then maybe—

"Throw some punches at the air."

Could I use this in a fight?

Whoosh, whoosh— whoosh— whoosh, whoosh—

"Huh?"

Fast, natural movement you would never believe came from a mannequin. Dress it, and I would have taken it for a person.

But the movement wasn't what shocked me.

Its ability to carry out orders is absurd.

It wasn't simply obeying. As if it understood what I wanted to check, it ran the same motion several times over.

If it performs my orders while actually understanding them...

Uses for the mannequin started drawing themselves in, concrete and specific. I still needed to test it.

"Jump. Lightly."

Whoosh.

"Sit."

Even the crouch looked human.

"Stand."

It rose as if it had been waiting for the word. The reaction speed was ridiculous.

No way.

Sit.

It dropped into a crouch again.

I can give orders just by thinking them?!

This was a masterpiece.

Inside the Tower, stealth was life itself. However good the performance, if I'd had to speak every command out loud, it would have been nearly impossible to use.

At this level, I really could take it into a fight.

Bzzzt.

My phone buzzed. It was Sia.

Sia's skill recoil should have left her even more worn out. I was glad she'd slept.

I'd only just opened it. The testing wasn't finished.

We were meeting at the café where I'd farmed the LP player.

So I was finally going to see Yoo Sia's face?