Growing Pains

There is a saying about growing pains. If you’ve ever felt your knees ache during puberty as you suddenly shot up in height, that’s roughly what it means. But the phrase also serves as a metaphor for the trials and suffering that accompany a person’s growth. Most forms of growth come hand in hand with various kinds of pain—the knowledge and experience gained only after finishing tasks that once seemed impossible to endure. And the Tower was forging the players’ Status using precisely that knowledge and experience as its raw materials.

The Tower tested their mental fortitude. It tested their eye for people and their tenacity. It tested how strategically they could wield the power they already possessed. Yet nowhere had it ever tested pure combat ability the way the fifth floor did.

Slice!

“Hoo… they really aren’t pushovers,” Park Jocheol muttered as he sheathed his sword after severing the neck of a staggering goblin. Han Gamin beside him nodded vigorously in fierce agreement.

“Tell me about it. If only we could have come up with some strategy like stealing a flag or something…”

Namgung Cheonho couldn’t deny her words either. Their mission was simply to hunt and hunt again. Of course some clever workaround might exist somewhere, but the moment they received the quest it was only natural to realize such shortcuts wouldn’t be easy.

“Still, it’s a relief that the goal is crystal clear,” Seo Seyeong offered while gazing at the scattered monster corpses. It seemed none of them were looking at their situation in purely negative terms.

“Unnie’s right about that…”

“If the quest didn’t say to wipe out every single monster in the area, I’d agree too.”

At Han Gamin and Namgung Cheonho’s reactions, Park Jocheol checked the mission he had received once more.

A clichéd tale of becoming the hero who defeats the Demon King and saves the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world. And fitting the nature of such stories, the Demon King’s castle was absurdly far away. The peculiar twist was that people contracted to the same constellation would carry out the mission together.

The problem was that all four people present had contracted with the rabbit following Seo Seyeong’s instructions.

“I’m sorry. I never expected it to turn out like this…”

“It’s fine. Who could have known when even the helper didn’t tell us?”

“Don’t worry about it, unnie. I’m actually glad it’s just the four of us.”

Han Gamin waved her hands dismissively at Seo Seyeong’s apology and continued.

“Besides, it didn’t say we have to wipe out every single monster. If we just run out the clock, they’ll all come marching at us anyway.”

“Gamin, in my opinion those two things amount to the same thing,” Namgung Cheonho sighed, shaking his head at what was meant to be consolation.

The condition was that the players had to defeat the Demon King together within the time limit. At that point Park Jocheol, who had been quietly staring at the monster corpses, added his own comment.

“Gamin, after everything that happened I usually want to take your side, but Cheonho is right about this one.”

The main objective was to execute the Demon King. The real problem was that monsters were swarming every single path leading to his castle.

“Plus, since we didn’t contract with a proper constellation, our combat strength is inevitably lower than the other groups.”

If they had the same numbers as the other constellations’ incarnations, they could have simply bulldozed the Demon King’s castle with raw force even if they killed fewer minions. But there were only four of them. They had no idea how strong the Demon King was, but since he was the final boss they needed to be cautious.

“Still… it’s not entirely bad. In the long run this will definitely become nourishment for our growth.”

Just as Park Jocheol said, fighting with a small number of people might actually be more beneficial in the long term. In a negative light it meant they were stuck carrying the burden alone, but phrased positively it meant they could monopolize all the rewards.

“For now let’s focus on what we can do. We also have our own unique merit, remember?”

At Park Jocheol’s faint smile, Seo Seyeong nodded. The reason they had contracted with the half-constellation known as the rabbit.

“We can terminate the contract at any time without mutual consent. And we stand on equal footing rather than a superior-subordinate relationship, working together for mutual benefit.”

A contract where the constellation raises its Status and the incarnation borrows strength. Normally all constellation contracts were one-sided, but astonishingly the rabbit’s contract was mutual.

The settlement was too modest to be called a city, yet too grand to be called a village. A clear chime rang out.

As I looked around at the people, the fifth floor’s main mission floated before my eyes. The content was to defeat the Demon King together with comrades in this place. However, perhaps because I had not contracted with any constellation, no one who could be called a comrade appeared.

Well, is that only natural?

Postponing a chance to gain power when your life was on the line. Unless someone was a special case like me, no one would make that choice, and even if they did it would be abnormal in a different sense.

The helpers said the Tower gives players trials in order to make us grow. But that statement is only half right. It is true that the Tower offers us opportunities for growth, but when you get down to it, growth is still something we have to do ourselves. The Tower merely selects whether we are worthy of becoming constellations’ incarnations. All that talk of trials and growth from the helpers is nothing but gaslighting, in my opinion.

“The order has been completely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reversed.”

It isn’t that we obtain growth through trials. It’s that if we can’t pass the trials we die, so we have no choice but to grow. In other words, refusing an opportunity to gain power like a contract with a constellation means you will be culled during the Tower’s selection process.

The culled die. There is no mercy, no second chances. That unchanging truth had not shifted once from the tutorial until now.

“Shall we get started?”

Even if I complained that it was unfair, this was still the path I had chosen. It was something only I could bear. If I had time to grumble, I would be better off scouting the surroundings one more time.

I checked the mission again. Kill the Demon King’s minions to weaken him, then slay him before he begins his invasion. If you thought about it simply, the rules were extremely straightforward, but the Tower didn’t seem like it would want such naïve people.

“Is it really testing pure combat ability?”

In every trial I had passed so far, combat had always been necessary, yet the Tower had never evaluated players on combat power alone. On the third floor it was strategy and tactics. Even on the second floor where I had to learn martial arts, most missions could be cleared if you simply followed the steady training the master provided.

But this fifth-floor Demon King hunt was…

“If you don’t have the strength, get invaded and die?”

Hunting monsters was indeed an essential element of the fifth floor. The ultimate goal of hunting the Demon King had not changed. Yet no matter how many times I reread it, one sentence in the mission kept bothering me.

…before he regains his original power…

Those words could only mean that the Demon King, right after I entered, had not yet recovered his full strength.

“Then isn’t now the perfect time?”

This was the best moment to execute the Demon King. The statement that he would come looking for us once he regained his original power made it obvious that the current Demon King was not yet stronger than the players.

“A hero from another world, huh…”

I had been an employee at a game company. Although I worked in HR and was slightly removed from the planning side, I was confident I knew far more about storytelling than the average person. And when I thought back on most of the stories I knew, there was no law saying the Demon King wouldn’t grow while the hero was growing stronger.

The conclusion I reached was a swift, decisive battle. I decided to gather the necessary supplies and head straight for the Demon King’s castle.

The small shops lining the street were buzzing with noise. When I stepped into one of the nearest ones, various items filled my vision. Everything from daggers small enough to fit in one palm to massive swords easily over two meters long were lined up in rows. In the corner I saw long-range weapons like bows as well as blunt instruments such as maces and hammers.

But what really grated on my ears and pulled my attention away from the merchandise was the conversation already taking place among several NPCs inside the shop.

“Have you folks heard the rumor? They say the Demon King is preparing an invasion…!”

“Hey now! Don’t say such ominous things!”

They were talking about the Demon King’s invasion. Monster strengthening, the monster waves that had begun occurring more frequently, and most importantly, stories about the heroes.

“That’s ridiculous! If the rumor is true, the heroes should be getting summoned any time now, but there’s been no sign of them. Don’t worry so much! When heroes start popping up left and right, then we can start panicking!”

Listening to their conversation made me feel strangely guilty, even though I had done nothing wrong. According to what they said, the appearance of a hero meant the Demon King’s invasion was imminent, and it seemed the norm was for over a dozen heroes to appear at once.

But.

Sorry. Unfortunately, there’s only me.

There was only one hero they could rely on. Honestly, the pressure was enormous. Even though it was forced on me, the weight of being responsible for someone else’s future pressed down on my shoulders with a force that surpassed imagination.

Let’s just look at the goods and leave quickly.

Still, I had no intention of standing there clutching my head just because it was burdensome. I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to kill the Demon King anyway, and these NPCs weren’t going to help—they would only flap their lips—so there was no need to pay them any mind.

“Welcome!”

Right then, a voice that presumably belonged to the shop owner made me turn my head. But.

“You’re here? You took longer than I expected!”

In an unfamiliar place, the shop owner greeted me with a strangely familiar atmosphere. The moment I turned toward the voice, I couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Ra…bbit?”

The helper rabbit… No. A ‘human’ with the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exact same voice and exact same aura was standing behind the counter, waving at me with both hands.

“Hehe, I told you we’d see each other soon, didn’t I?”

Long white hair and brilliant red eyes that looked like rubies had been embedded in them. The cheeky tone and the figure that appeared before me showed almost no difference in Status from my own.