50th floor.
A rich and beautiful world where heaven and earth were connected.
In the mountains, the sun had just risen.
Son OhGong, lying on a flat rock and yawning in his sleep, raised his head and looked up at the clouds.
"There's one coming, huh."
The clouds in Son OhGong's eyes quickly grew in size.
The clouds were slowly approaching.
In his Ash Golden Eyes, he saw a reflection of himself in that cloud.
"That must be the fourteenth."
He had a hard time finding it.
Since he was moving in the dark, and he was staying on the fiftieth floor, not anywhere else.
"Anyway, that selfish bastard... ah, that's me."
The words that came out of his mouth made Son OhGong slap himself.
He overcame the annoyance and stood up.
"You called me?"
There was another Son OhGong, standing high above the clouds.
"It's been a while since I called you."
"Isn't it dangerous to call like that, what if they find out?"
Each alter ego has a slightly different personality.
Despite the same situation, the alter ego in front of him thought differently from the twelfth alter ego, which was him.
"It's not like me to worry about things like that. If there's a problem, I fight."
At the twelfth Son OhGong's words, the newly arrived fourteenth Son OhGong rolled his eyes.
"Without the main body, do you think that's possible?"
"It would be impossible."
"Man, there's a limit to how ignorant we can become. What kind of nonsense..."
"That's why I called you guys."
"...You guys?"
It was plural, not one.
It was then that a question mark appeared on the face of the fourteenth Son OhGong.
Hwareuk-.
The Golden Ash Eyes of the two people reacted.
"This is the fourth one."
Grrrr-.
Among the rocks scattered around, two rocks changed their appearance.
Two people, each with Golden Eyes of Ash.
Two other alter egos appeared in their place.
"Sixth and Eleventh."
The twelfth Son OhGong pointed to the newly arrived Son OhGong, "This is the fourteenth."
The four alter egos were seated.
It was a sight to behold in the Heavenly Realm. Those who distrusted the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven would not be too happy to see those alter egos gathered in one place.
Even knowing this, the twelfth Son OhGong gathered them together.
-He said, "Gather all your alter egos until I come up. It will be easier for you who have the strength and ability to climb up and down the Tower.
YuWon had only made it to the 42nd floor.
The role of gathering the alter egos belonged to him as an alter ego instead of YuWon.
'It's going to cost to reunite them all....'
However, there was a part of him that believed.
'When I go up...'
-When I get to the fiftieth floor....
The four Son OhGong. They all shared their memories with each other through the Golden Eyes of Ash, and at this moment, they all remembered one person in common.
- At that moment, I will save Son OhGong.
'At that time, he will rescue our main body.'
* * *
After the 40th floor, the trials really started to get difficult.
The level of the players had increased considerably, and as the difficulty increased, so did the time it took to complete the test.
YuWon took two tests.
On the 42nd and 43rd floors.
As expected, both were passed.
"There is no point in taking any more tests."
Even the Examiner/Administrator who did the test was ironic.
YuWon didn't take the Administrator's tests.
It wasn't as if his schedule was that tight, there was simply no immediate need to climb the Tower.
'Even if you get to the 50th floor, there's no point unless all the clones/alter egos are gathered.'
At this point, I didn't know exactly how many alter egos there were.
But considering that the Son OhGong he had met was the 'twelfth', that meant there were at least twelve of them.
Besides, since he had to wait for the production of that object, there was no reason to move in a hurry.
So Yu-Won calmly climbed the Tower.
Some people would have to risk their lives and do their best, but for YuWon, the time itself was a kind of rest.
A path he had walked once before.
It was not difficult to walk it again, and the trials were not difficult.
[Welcome to the 44th floor].
The air was desolate.
The air was thick with dust, and the sky had a glow that made it hard to tell if it was night or day.
A pungent smell.
'The 44th floor'.
Climbing up to the 44th floor, YuWon frowned.
It was the second time he had come.
Even before the Regression, he had not returned to this floor since he ascended.
There was only one reason.
This place is worse than hell.
Hell, the world of the 42nd floor, was not a pleasant place to live, but it was not the most dangerous.
But this 44th floor, always compared to Hell, was far worse than the 42nd in terms of safety.
A world ruled by the Three Precious Children.
The Three Precious Children, given dominion by the Administrator, neglected this world in the name of 'freedom'.
Freedom.
A nice, romantic word.
But it didn't work out so well.
Lawless freedom brought the worst results to the world of the 44th floor.
'Freedom is the same as lawlessness.'.
A very small world compared to other worlds.
This world had no governing body. Here, power was the law, the rule.
"Aagh!"
A shout was heard in the distance.
It started as soon as it came.
"This guy is unbelievable."
"Hey, don't kill him yet, take his points first!"
"I know, man, but let me torture him first..."
An unpleasant conversation ensued.
Yu-Won ignored the conversation. Elsewhere, it was impossible to intervene in all these things in this world.
Murder, extortion, violence.
Sharp, nasty words, but in this world they were part of life.
'Here we go.
Jeobuck, Jeobuck-.
YuWon walked down the quiet street.
Old, dilapidated buildings.
There were no people on the street, but he could feel their stares.
-Hey, I think that bastard's new....
-At least his clothes are clean.
-Look at the way he's strutting around.
- Look closer. Maybe he's a Young Master...
-Yes, maybe, but if he's not...
Between the buildings, lurking, there were prying eyes.
It was like when he first entered the second floor.
A pack of wolves preying on the new Players.
His behavior was not much different from theirs.
The only difference was that they were much bigger than the ones on the second floor.
'The criminal group on the 44th floor is the size of a medium-sized guild.'
Of course, they did not all belong to the same group.
First of all, it is almost impossible for unruly and violent criminals to unite as a group.
However, even though they were scattered like ants, they would come back together out of necessity.
That's what was scary.
That cohesion in the name of freedom and anarchy?
And the larger, invisible force that created that cohesion.
-Should we let it go? I have a bad feeling.
-Should we.
-I'd hate to have to deal with someone connected to a major guild. -I'd hate to have to deal with someone connected to a major guild. We've been a mess lately.
YuWon's eyebrows narrowed as they talked about himself.
Let him go?
This was unexpected.
'I thought I got it right...'
YuWon had expected that there would be someone who would spontaneously attack him like this.
But again, unlike the thieves on the second floor, they had a good sense of smell. It was amazing how a man who had robbed before could be so good at it.
YuWon sighed inwardly.
There was nothing he could do about it.
'Even if it's a sham, but I guess it won't matter.'
YuWon's body turned sideways as he walked down the deserted street.
The conversation of the boys whispering towards him stopped.
Yuwon looked at them pointedly.
Kak-.
His footsteps changed direction.
From building to building.
As YuWon entered their lair, in a corner alley, they were confused to see their chosen prey coming towards them.
-W-what? It's coming this way?
-What should we do?
-Do we kill it or run away?
-What the hell? Run away? Why?
As they hesitated, the distance narrowed rapidly.
YuWon turned into an alley.
A street with no one on it.
YuWon stepped into the middle and opened his mouth.
"Let me ask you something."
There was no answer.
Instead, they crouched down even further, mouths closed.
Some guys slowly raised their lives. These guys chose to fight rather than hide.
Swoosh-.
"Let's talk."
YuWon turned his head and their eyes met.
At that moment...
Kak-.
A sharp line appeared in front of YuWon's neck.
Ka-ak-!
C-Clang.
Revealing his hidden body, the guy who had wielded the short sword took a step back with a panicked face.
"W-what, when?"
Did he use any skills?
YuWon stroked his neck with his hand and thought to himself.
'Is this someone who just went up to the 44th floor? It's very weak....'
He didn't use any special skills. The reason the sword didn't go in was just the difference in stats.
Physical stats above 100.
These stats were too high for a player on the 44th floor. Unless he was using a powerful skill with a lot of Arcane Power, there was no way a clumsy sword strike would work.
The reason he didn't dodge the sword wasn't that important.
He simply didn't have to.
Shi, shi, shi-.
Apparently judging that there was nothing they could do to avoid this person, the others appeared around him.
They blocked both sides of the alley and surrounded the top of the building. The man who had first brandished the knife at YuWon spoke as they surrounded him.
"Everyone be careful. That bastard uses strange abilities."
That's what he said, but he didn't seem very careful.
Is it because he trusted the numbers?
His face was full of smugness and his voice was full of confidence.
Maybe there were players in the group who were not from the 44th floor, but from higher up.
"Who cares. He just got here."
"He's not a Ranker Player, what can he do?"
"Well, from the looks of it, he's got some stuff we can chew on."
These guys were talking about YuWon in the middle.
And YuWon just stared at the number of them in the alley.
'A little over thirty. It looks like a small guild.'
Although this was small, it was the size of a guild. There seemed to be no established hierarchy, but it was quite large for a group that was on the 44th floor.
I guess it wasn't a coincidence that they just wanted to let YuWon go when they first saw him.
If they were that big, they had to have equally thick skin, and there was no way they wouldn't want to steal YuWon because of his appearance.
'Right.'
The bigger the scale, the better.
What he was about to do, he needed as many people as possible to know.
YuWon raised both hands and said.
"I'm not here to fight, I'm here to ask a question."
There was no need to draw his weapon.
No fighting, no killing.
From now on, it would be his faithful feet to carry his words.
"It is said that one of the Trinities is here..."
Trinities.
The three items sought by Susanoo and the two High Ranks, the "Three Precious Children".
When such an item was mentioned in YuWon's mouth, the atmosphere that had been brutal until now hardened.
"By any chance, does anyone know anything about that?"
The bait was cast.
The bait to catch the big fish.
