Breaking News!
The Shen Guild has just finished their attempt at raiding the 50th floor of The Tower!
The guild that had boasted the most about clearing the hardest floor that Korea has been stuck on, had returned with nothing. There are severe injuries across their roster, with over half of the raid team injured, and ten confirmed deaths. It is a sad day for the once proud Shen Guild. Yet another attempt to beat the floor had been failed.
My hand gravitates towards the remote, finger pressing down on the off button.
I let out a long sigh of relief.
This is why I do not want to become a hunter. The risks involved are too high, even for the mightiest of guilds and people.
5 years ago, the normal lives of everyone on earth changed.
Mysterious towers had been erected right in the center of every country in the world, seemingly connected to one another.
The tower was a sight to behold. A seemingly unending tower stretching out past the horizon.
These majestically entrancing steel cold towers appeared on earth suddenly one day without a word, and with its arrival, brought doomsday upon humanity.
On doomsday, 1/3 of Koreas population had fell at the hands of monsters that appear out of gates caused from said tower.
Korea was left devastated after said event.
After trying to fight hard against the monsters with military power, it was hopeless in the end. Upon the brink of humanities extinction, they figured out that only through challenging the towers floors, were we able to gain the powers necessary to fight back against these monsters. Only through this given power, has humanity survived against extinction.
Up till now, Korea and the rest of the world continued to challenge the floors one by one in hopes of eventually reaching the top.
The broadcast faded to a black screen, showing a reflection of my trashed apartment.
"Ah shit it's time for work".
I annoyingly press down the power button on the remote and angrily throw it down on the couch beside me.
"Another night shift tonight huh, just great".
It was around 6pm when the Shen guild had failed their raid on the 50th floor. Koreas number one guild, one of the strongest guilds in the world, was not enough to beat the 50th floor.
"Damn it I forgot to take my work clothes out of the washing machine".
My name is Ryu Chuseok.
An average person in this world with no accomplishments to my name.
I rush towards the laundry room at high speed, slamming open the door.
"Damn it my clothes are soaked to the brim! Am I really going to work in this? Ugh I have no choice".
I live in a messy and run down apartment that I can just barely afford rent for. Wooden floor creaking, walls barely holding up.
This is my harsh life I have to live with.
"Damn it I have to go now, no time for thinking!".
I hurrily slapped on the drenched work uniform and rushed out of the apartment door.
I check the time on my phone.
"Shit it's 6:30pm, I'm going to miss the train!".
After sprinting like my life depended on it, I came to a sudden halt.
A flash of light zoomed past me in the blink of an eye.
It was my train.
"Damn it! Now I'm going to be late for work ".
I was always an unlucky person. This isn't the first time I've missed the train.
Before I could even catch my breath, electricity began violently zapping the vicinity.
The entire train station started to shake violently.
The walls failed to support the roof.
Chunks of debris was raining down from above.
In the midst of all this debris and action, a bouncing electricity formed into a blue coloured portal.
The people in the train station fell into despair.
"Everyone it's a blue gate!"
"No way, a blue gate here?".
The screams of men and women flooded the station. People dashing out of the train station.
"Wow, just my luck. First I'm late to work, and second, there is a blue gate out of all gates appearing in front of me?"
Blue gates are the second highest ranked gate behind Red gates. That means that whatever comes out this gate is capable of mass destruction. A national threat.
Before I could even react, a ray of glowing blue light shone down on my body, eloping my whole being.
I fell unconscious.
Sometimes during my life, I wonder just what it is like to be in a hunter's shoes, even though I know I wouldn't be cut out for any sort of fighting job. I was known as a weakling my entire life. Hell, I never even took a hunter exam to test out my strength because I already know I would get the lowest score. It would save me the shame.
After opening my hazy eyes, I am greeted with a holographic frame in front of me. Surrounded by nothing but the dark void, a bright screen panel appeared before me. There were words on the panel.
I have heard about this happening before, this was the difficulty setting selection area that everyone gets to choose before raiding the tower.
People usually keep their chosen difficult hidden from others, because with a harder difficultly, comes with greater rewards. Those who have chosen hard mode would be leagues ahead in strength compared to easy or medium players. No matter what you do, easy and medium mode players can never beat hard mode players unless they are on a significantly higher floor than the opponent.
My finger shook violently as it hovered over the "Easy Mode" button, and doubt crept into my mind. Was I really cut out for this? Even choosing the lowest difficulty seemed like a stretch for someone like me.
Suddenly, the screen flickered.
I paused. My finger hesitated, and a strange chill ran down my spine.
Something looked off.
As if the panel before me was deteriorating.
Like something was corrupting the panel slowly.
The words on the screen flickered again.
"Am I seeing this right?"
"ERROR: SYSTEM MALFUNCTION DETECTED"
I blinked and shook my head. The panel scrambled for a second, text flashing in unreadable symbols.
My mind raced.
Was it a bug?
It looked like everything was still running smoothly before. But no... something felt wrong now. Something was off.
As if on cue, the soft hum of the system's interface changed. A loud beep filled the air, more insistent than before, piercing through my thoughts.
It was the system.
"You have chosen, ERROR MODE".
The screen flickers on and off violently.
"An error has occurred within the system".
"Breach has been detected, forcibly changing chosen game mode of 'EASY' to {REDACTED}".
"Good luck".
A strange voice whispered, its words heavy with an unsettling tone.
I felt my conscious leave.
Knocked out cold.
When my eyes wide open, my body was in an upright position.
Beholden by the sight of a nature infested forest, seemingly empty with no animals in vision.
Before being able to fully take in the scenery change, a blue screen decided to show itself.
A quest window appeared before me.
|| Welcome to Floor One, Natures Garden ||
|| Mission: Kill 5 Goblins ||
"Kill 5 Goblins? I don't think I'm strong enough to kill one, let alone get the courage to do it!".
The screen suddenly flicked on and off.
New text corroded and replaced what was there previously.
||ERROR ERROR, updating passing criteria||.
"Wait, the passing criteria is updating?".
"Maybe the gods have heard my cries!".
|| UPDATE: || Floor One: Kill The Goblin Lord||
"Haha, what? You are kidding".
Wet tears ran down my face, heart beating at rapid pace.
Stunned and perplexed, arms and legs shaking uncontrollably.
I muster up the power to speak.
"Why did the passing criteria change? It was supposed to be 5 goblins, why do I have to kill their lord now?".
"The system really expects me to complete this?".
My breath is running dry, heart pounding at an astounding rate. Body on the brink of shutting down.
"I am so screwed".
CHAPTER ONE END.