[Player Nayunjajangman has sent you a friend request.]

How did he send me a friend request? Didn’t I block everyone from sending me friend requests through the public forum? A sudden suspicion crept up inside me.

“Erm…”

I hesitated before accepting.

Ding— Nayunjajangman immediately messaged me.

[Hyung! What happened? I heard you made 20000 TP!]

I checked my system settings once again.

[Allow friend requests through the public forum (OFF)]

It remained the same. I had blocked friend requests since things would get annoying after my name spread from the third tutorial. Players couldn’t send friend requests unless they had been within 20 meters at some point.

[Hey, how did you add me as a friend?]

I messaged Nayunjajangman as a strange feeling rose inside me.

[Lol We must’ve passed by each other in the third tutorial. I saw hyung’s name in my list of encountered players.]

[You’re also in the highest difficulty?]

[Yeah lol]

“Eh?”

I took my eyes off the chat window for a moment. My neck suddenly began to hurt and I needed some time to think. Only 50 people managed to clear the third tutorial. The first part of his name always bothered me even though he always called me hyung and spoke like a man. Was it just a coincidence? Or had I changed fate?

[Hyung, how did you make so much TP? I have mad respect for you.]

I closed the chat window and typed ImGosu into the public forum.

[There is no comment or post under that player name.]

Next, I typed Nayunjajangman.

— Anyone clear the highest difficulty tutorial? — The highest difficulty tutorial is filled with scammers. Be careful, everyone. Pickpockets can also steal money from your inventory. — Yep, I got 150 TP stolen from my inventory while walking in broad daylight. — Also, there are thugs all over the dark alleyways. They’re gunning to steal your money. — I don’t know if the hardest difficulty tutorial has any benefits. — Lol I am in the highest difficulty tutorial. — Screw off if you don’t believe me. — Fuck you too!

Cold sweat began to form after reading through his comments and posts. I brushed my hair back and felt a chill down my spine. My head grew hot and my hands trembled as I tapped the holographic keyboard.

[It just happened.]

[You just happened to make 20000 TP? Hyung, are you really Vast Expanse? I’m a big fan.]

[By the way, are you really a guy?]

I asked a seemingly random question after a bit of back and forth.

[Why? That was kinda sudden.]

[Just asking. You know, your name is jajangman. Do you run a restaurant? How did a restaurant worker clear the highest difficulty tutorial?]

[Lol I’ll tell you when we meet. Like I said, I think we’ll meet one day.]

Nayunjajangman avoided the question. I didn’t dig into it too much, afraid my suspicion would be correct. He sent me a few more messages, but I told him I was busy and left. Then Boss suddenly messaged me.

Boss: Newbie.

Me: Yes? What’s up?

Boss: Do you have anything to eat?

Me: Lol Didn’t you say you already ate?

I laughed in the chat, but my expression remained stiff as I subconsciously touched my lips. It felt cold.

Boss: W-Well, the player shop has bento boxes for sale.

Boss: I just thought I shouldn’t waste TP on bento boxes.

Me: Oh, okay, hold on a second. I’ll invite Boss to my place. We can eat together.

Boss: Ok.

I sent Boss an invitation as I sighed on the edge of my bed. I wouldn’t be alone thanks to Boss, but she didn’t show up even after a long time. A message arrived 15 minutes later.

Boss: How do I use the invitation letter?

“…”

Me: Just take it out of your inventory and rip it in half. You can just ask the system if there’s anything that you don’t know.

Boss: Ah, okay!

Soon, a light flashed in my waiting room and Boss appeared. She stood imposingly with her eyes closed, then slowly opened them.

“…?”

Her eyes widened. “W-Where is this?”

“It’s my waiting room.”

“What?”

Marble tiles, a comfy couch and bed, a storage closet made from the wooden flooring, a table, tableware, etc. It probably looked quite different from Boss’ empty waiting room.

“You know how it is, I like decorating things. Wait just a moment. I’ll cook something for you.”

***

[The final bid has been completed.]

“Yes!”

Rachel clenched her fists. After a fierce 3 hour battle, she managed to obtain the [Lv.3 Gargoyle Leather Armor (J – White Order)]. Her heart filled with happiness and she considered it a strategic victory. She had raised the bid by 500 TP in the last 30 seconds, shocking other players from bidding any higher.

“Huu, huu.”

Rachel collected her thoughts and calmed herself. The coldness that made her shiver had disappeared a long time ago.

[Lv.3 Gargoyle Leather Armor (J – White Order) will be transferred to player CaptainBritain’s waiting room.]

Shoong—

A cluster of light descended from the ceiling and changed into the gargoyle leather armor. Rachel held up the incredibly light and elegant black armor. She especially liked the white symbols engraved on the leather.

“Hehe…”

What a good purchase! Rachel joyfully stared at it and carefully put it on.

[The equipment’s size will be adjusted to fit your body.]

The armor shrunk to snugly fit Rachel. It felt so light like she wasn’t wearing anything at all. Plus, she also didn’t need to tie the strings in the front. They came together like magnets and automatically tied themselves.

“Oh.”

Rachel happily hummed as she looked in the mirror. Then she entered the community to brag.

[Whoa lol the Lv.3 armor got sold for 3000 TP] — Isn’t that too much? — Must be someone rich. I’d pay that for a Lv.4 armor, but not Lv.3.

“You’re just jealous.”

Rachel pouted and commented.

— That’s quite cheap considering the tutorial just ended. — Are you the one who bought it? — No. — Don’t you remember what you had to go through to earn 1000 TP? 3000 TP is a lot.

“Sigh.”

Rachel shook her head. As far as she was concerned, she bought it for cheap. Then she moved on to the next post.

[What is everyone using their TP for?] — I bought some furniture for my waiting room, a bed and a blanket. Oh, and some bento boxes. — Same. Sucks to sleep on a wooden board. It was money well spent. — How’s the player shop’s bento box? — The 5 TP one is trash, but the 10 TP is pretty good.

Rachel felt a bit proud after reading those comments since she gave up those comforts to buy the Lv.3 armor.

[In 10 minutes, you will be transferred to the tower’s 2nd floor.] [The system’s help will decrease starting from the 2nd floor.]

“Sunshine.”

A system window popped up as Rachel summoned her wind elemental, who became a lot smaller after entering the tower.

— Yeeeah?

“Get ready.”

— Okay.

Sunshine entered Rachel’s leather armor. As expected, the combination of wind and leather felt especially good. Her body became even lighter as she prepared to enter the second floor.

***

[Lv.3 Gargoyle’s Leather Armor has been sold for 3000 TP.] [You will receive 2700 TP after a 10% deduction.] [You have obtained 3 auction house trust points. Your trust level will increase to grade 9 with 7 more trust points.]

“Oh? That much?”

The amount shocked me. I even double-checked to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. I really received 2700 TP.

“I guess people don’t know the market price since it’s still early.”

Of course, some NPCs in the highest difficulty Tutorial Town also bought Lv.3 armor for 3000 TP. However, they naturally possessed more TP.

Lv.3 items were quite common outside the tutorial. They could easily be acquired starting from the 3rd floor. That said, the armor I made would most likely be the best Lv.3 armor around.

“Was it Jain?”

The buyer and the seller remained anonymous in the auction house, so I messaged Jain. However, she said, I’m not interested in such things.

“Then who was it?”

Could someone else spend 3000 TP so easily? Another system alert popped up as I pondered.

[In 10 minutes, you will be transferred to the tower’s 2nd floor.] The system’s help will decrease starting from the 2nd floor.]

“Ah, it’s starting soon. Boss, wake up!”

I shook Boss, who slept on my bed. However, she tightly grabbed the blanket and refused to get up.

“It’s time to leave, Boss.”

“Uaaauu.”

“What?”

“Auuuii…”

“What?”

I yanked the blanket away. Koong. Boss fell to the ground with the blanket. Only after her head slammed on the ground did she open her eyes.

“Mm, mmm… Your bed feels very nice…”

“Get ready.”

I wore the [Lv.4 Black Messiah’s Horrible Suit], placed the [Lv.3 Temperature Control Robe] over it, equipped the [Lv.2 Protection Mask], slipped on the [Lv.3 Utility Footwear], and placed the [Lv.3 Ice attribute Dagger] made from frozentium into the holster around my thigh.

“Now this is what you call overgeared.”

I fully loaded myself with various equipment made from the random dice, stigma’s magic power, and dexterity.

[Desert Eagle (firepower restriction: 60%)] — A portion of the restriction (10%) will be lifted when you reach the 3rd floor. — A portion of the restriction (20%) will be lifted when you reach the 5th floor. — A portion of the restriction (30%) will be lifted when you reach the 7th floor.

I felt confident in my Desert Eagle despite the restricted firepower.

“Ooh…”

I turned around and saw Boss staring at me in envy.

“Oh right, I have something for you too, Boss.”

“Oh?” Boss shot up in surprise. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hahaha, I see you treat your boss with respect. So, what is it?”

Boss walked up to me with a hearty laugh. I took out a black robe from my inventory. It looked quite beautiful thanks to aether.

“How is it?”

“Mm, I like it. Very good.”

Boss smiled in satisfaction and pulled the hood over her head. A system message popped up at the perfect timing.

[You will now be transferred to the 2nd floor.] [Please prepare yourself.]

***

Whoosh— It felt like being carried away by the wind as my feet touched down on the 2nd floor. This would be the real start to the Tower of Wish. I opened my eyes and saw Boss next to me with 2000 other players in a huge field. They stared at each other in surprise and began to look for their companions.

“Where are Jain and Gyeong?”

“Let me see… Oh, they’re there.”

I pointed behind us. I easily spotted Cheok Jungyeong among the crowd with Jain next to him.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

We walked up to them.

“Oh, Boss and newbie. Hey.”

Hundreds of groups began to form like how we did.

“Hello.”

A man suddenly appeared on the other side of the field. His hair, unique clothes, and ringing voice distinguished him from everyone else.

“My name is Luke. I am the administrator of the 2nd floor.”

He only gave a simple self-introduction. However, his voice echoed across the entire field.

“Nice to meet you.” Luke lightly bowed. His respectful tone, formality, and voice captured all of our attention.

“I’d love to talk to every one of you. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time, so I will cut straight to the chase.”

Luke received everyone’s gaze and pointed into the distance.

“As you can see, the 2nd floor is quite chaotic. It is filled with frightening scenes of nature.”

The 2nd floor’s scenery could be considered chaos itself. You couldn’t tell a jungle from a volcano or a glacier from a swamp. I widened my eyes and peered into the distance. My thousand-mile eyes pierced through the dense leaves. However, this floor’s strange mixture of land wasn’t something a grade 7 thousand-mile eyes could comprehend.

— Interesting.

— An impossible terrain…

Other players didn’t seem all that surprised. They probably expected something like this from a tower of this magnitude.

“Your goal is simple. Travel through this chaotic land filled with traps and monsters to find the elevators that lead to the 3rd floor.”

I looked around for a specific person as Luke continued. I couldn’t find Jin Sayhyuk, but found someone else instead. A girl with blonde hair and the armor she wore caught my attention.

“Vice leader, where did you get that armor?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“It’s so pretty.”

“Huhu, it’s nothing special.”

Rachel proudly stood contrary to what she said. So Rachel was the pushover who bought my armor. I wanted to say hi, but the Chameleon Troupe members stood next to me.

“There are 10 elevators hidden on the 2nd floor.”

Luke continued to explain.

“Each elevator can hold 50 people, which is quite a lot. Unfortunately, they are very slow and take 8 hours to travel back and forth.”

Many players would remain on this floor for a long time, but that didn’t matter too much. Entering the 3rd floor early didn’t have any benefits. Honestly, it would be better to go there later.

“That is all.”

The 3rd floor would be the first residential area that players could access. However, its poor conditions made staying on this floor a much better choice.

“Oh, I’m sure you all know, but I will explain it once again. You will have to start over from the tutorial if your vitality reaches zero.”

Luke sat under the shade of a tree and began to read a book after finishing his explanation.

— What are you going to do?

— We don’t have much of a choice.

— Shouldn’t we hold a meeting first?

— I don’t see the need for it. We only have to find the elevators.

Players quickly left and didn’t want to stay in this strange place for too long.

“How interesting. We should hurry up too,” Cheok Jungyeong spoke. However, I didn’t follow them.

“You can all go ahead.”

“Eh?”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have something to do,” I simply replied.

“I see.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll chase after all of you soon.”

“Mm… I’m sure you’ll be fine. Alright, we’ll go ahead.”

Boss, Jain, and Cheok Jungyeong chose to head north. I climbed a zelkova tree to locate Jin Sahyuk from a higher vantage point.

“Huu, I should be able to see everyone from here.”

By the time I arrived at the peak of the tree…

“Yeah, you should.”

“…?”

Someone replied to my murmuring. A chill immediately ran down my back. I turned to the right where the voice came from. Amidst the leaves, a man I once met stared at me.

“Hello.”

“…”

The handsome man who accompanied Jin Sahyuk appeared out of nowhere and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Are you looking for someone?”

I quickly jumped down as he followed suit. Tak. Both of us lightly landed.

“Good landing.”

The man applauded as I took a deep breath. I felt so tense my tongue went stiff, but I didn’t need to be scared. I shouldn’t lose to anyone inside the Tower of Wish and silently walked forward.

“Oi, you should answer when someone asks you a question. I’ll ask again. Are you looking for someone?”

He continued to follow me. Huu. I stopped walking and turned around.

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

I didn’t know if he expected me to actually tell him, but I did so anyway.

“Your companion.”

“My companion… Oh, the girl who fought you in Busan?” the man asked full of interest.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Do you need to ask?”

I took off my hood. By the looks of it, he already knew my identity.

“I’m looking for her so I can kill her.”

“…”

His expression immediately turned stiff as I took out my gun. The man who didn’t exist in my setting glared, but soon smiled again.

“Iya, so cool. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to wait.”

I furrowed my brows without replying.

“You see, I stole her ticket. I used it instead of her.”

The man grinned.

“What?”

“I used her black ticket. I even got something called a bonus skill from it. Want me to show you?”

That completely shocked me. He didn’t seem to be lying since he mentioned the bonus skill.

“Oh… I see.”

I quickly regained my composure. It didn’t matter all that much. It might be delayed, but Jin Sahyuk would undoubtedly enter the Tower of Wish. I could always kill her then.

“In that case—”

As I spoke… Chweeek— Puuk. Something sharp or blunt struck my back. Was it a dagger, an arrow, or a club? I couldn’t tell because I didn’t feel anything, not even pain. Was this the power of a Lv.4 armor?

“What’s this?”

I found a dagger on the ground.

[Lv.1 Well-sharpened dagger]

A blade without a handle. Someone had attacked me.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. My companion must have gotten angry. She likes Sahyuk a lot, you see.”

“… That’s good to know.”

“Sorry, I only told her to stand by and watch.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

I raised my gun and easily pinpointed the attacker’s location from the dagger’s trajectory. Then I fired towards a tree in the north.

— Uk!

Soon, a short scream rang out and something heavy fell to the ground.

“You shouldn’t do something in the first place if you’re going to feel sorry, right?”

I said with a confident smile. I wouldn’t lose against anyone inside the Tower of Wish, especially at the earlier stages.