You Did All This Just to Give Me a Reason to Climb the Tower?

[Title: New Awakened just dropped!!!]

(A photo of Joo So-jeong sitting beside Han Mi-reu and introducing herself)

...

Mimir-chan, did you pick up another pretty girl?

-This Awakened looks seriously indifferent

-I want her to step on me

-Huh?

-What's her class?

-Phoenix.

-What, she's a Fire Chicken.

-That class name sounds like it's about to unleash an insanely spicy flavor.

-Last time you brought a Pure Succubus, and now it's a Fire Chicken?

[Title: My Hobby Is Suicide.]

(A photo of Joo So-jeong holding a rope with a noose big enough for her head, trying to put it on)

(A photo of her looking bewildered as the rope is shredded in an instant)

Apparently, Mimir stayed by So-jeong's side after that.

-She tried to self-destruct as soon as she showed up?

-How'd Mimir-chan manage to avoid an instant ban?

-I think Mimir-chan was the one who shredded that rope

-Of course Mimir-chan's here to stop the suicide

[Title: But Doesn't Something Feel a Little Off About the Awakened Person She Brought This Time?]

(A close-up photo of Joo So-jeong's face)

Her looks are definitely top-tier, the sort of girl everyone would adore, but there's something kind of worn-out about her expression. Like she thinks everything in life is meaningless and doesn't care about anything.

Even when she was looking at the comments, she just seemed to be thinking, 'Oh, more stuff is appearing.' That kind of expression is one of the patterns you see in people with empty hearts.

(A photo of Joo So-jeong learning how to use a computer from Han Mi-reu)

(A photo of Joo So-jeong looking annoyed while watching a sea monster in the game as Han Mi-reu tells her stories about climbing the Tower)

Still, she doesn't seem completely devoid of emotion. Maybe there's a chance of helping her, if we handle things right?

-Funny thing is, she tells a ton of stories but doesn't give a single bit of advice lol

-Mimir: Okay, this is called clicking.

-Her reactions whenever she sees those monsters crack me up

-Joo So-jeong: I want to see what it's like to get eaten. I wonder how it'd feel to get impaled on a sea serpent's horn. It calls itself a mind-whatever, so why does it only use mind-shredding beams and tentacle attacks? I bet a deep-sea monster would chew me right down to the bones. I want piranhas to tear me apart, flesh and guts together. I'm jealous of that fishing boat that got swallowed by Leviathan.

-Is she an M?

-She's just a suicide wannabe, yeah

-She wrote 'die a whole lot' as her future dream, then got caught and changed it. What a lunatic...

-Think she'll find a reason to live? Her face is such a waste.

"You made it to the 15th floor in just three days? Our So-jeong's really talented!"

"Is that so?"

"Most Awakened people only climb one floor at a time, taking it little by little! Even when they climb a lot, it's only two or three floors at a time."

"How many floors did you clear at a time when you were starting out, Mi-reu?"

"Ten floors at a time."

"Wow..."

I couldn't say for sure, but it seemed like climbing the Tower usually wasn't easy.

In my case, I could climb while blowing myself up because I couldn't die. Han Mi-reu seemed to have just cleared the floors with her physical abilities...

People said that if you climbed the Tower, you'd grow stronger and gain the power to match, but all I'd thought about was earning money and paying off my hospital bill. I had no goal of accomplishing anything by climbing the Tower.

Actually, I'd paid off the hospital bill ages ago, so I didn't even have a reason to keep climbing...

"So are you thinking of just quitting here?"

"Maybe. I don't have any reason to climb higher anyway."

"Hmm... So that's how it is?"

Han Mi-reu's eyes lit up at my answer as she spoke. Something about this made me a little uneasy...

"Sigh... Why do I have to stream while climbing the Tower?"

-Hey, Fire Chicken.

-What is this? Is it a stream?

-Haven't seen a Tower-climbing stream in a while.

-Why not?

-People got put off because it's hectic when you're fighting, and someone might die on camera.

"Honestly, I had no reason to climb past the 15th floor. But Mi...Mi-reu said she'd give me a reason, and turned me into a streamer..."

-???: Not motivated to climb? Then climb while streaming!

-I heard you can get a high-ranking position by climbing floors. Interested?

"I'm not interested. Why would I want to get into politics? What's the point of doing that? A sense of self-satisfaction?"

-Most Awakened people change, except for a few. Why does it feel like this one's never going to change?

-Her expression explains it.

-This isn't a political stream. Please leave.

-LMAO

-What does 'sense of self-satisfaction' even mean lol

I was more surprised than anything that the response wasn't bad. Judging by the comments, there seemed to be quite a few Awakened people who'd already streamed their climbs besides me.

She said not to worry because the camera would use something called a stealth function to record like a hidden Observer... What even is an Observer?

Well, whatever. I'll go up to the 20th floor today and call it a day.

[Defeat the Skeleton Party.]

"A party?"

-Haven't seen those clackers in a while. The clack-clack club.

-They're skeletons, but they've got a full lineup: warriors, archers, mages, shielders. Watch out for their combos.

-Wait, did these show up on the 16th floor?

-Who knows?

Four warriors. Three archers. Three mages. Two shielders. They looked like monsters who'd died while raiding some dungeon and ended up like this.

But their weapons are the only things in good shape. They don't have any armor. Hmm...

"I can't be bothered to use skills, so I'll just fight them hand-to-hand."

-?

-?

-What?

THOOM!!

After saying that, I immediately side-kicked the shields of the two shielders at the front, sending them flying along with the skeletons. The warriors and archers had good reflexes and dodged, but the mages couldn't see past the shields, so they were crushed beneath them and smashed before they could even cast a spell.

[Clack! Clack!]

Seeing the mages wiped out in an instant, the skeletons clicked their teeth a few times. Then the archers used a skill and fired a volley of arrows.

I couldn't be bothered, so I just protected my eyes and let all the arrows hit me.

"That stings."

-You didn't dodge?

-Were you a tank?

I walked forward, reading the screen that appeared on a holographic device showing the viewers' reactions.

The warrior swung its sword, but its movements were clumsy, probably because it was nothing but bones. I dodged to the side a little and kicked its skull away like a ball.

I dodged a sword swinging horizontally by flying, then dropped onto another one, knocked it over, and stomped it to pieces.

Or I'd move behind one, let all the arrows hit me, hook my foot between its neck and jaw, then swing it down and grind it into the ground.

When one jumped at me, I leaned out of the way and delivered a straight kick to its jaw. It hit the ceiling once, then toppled over.

-Wow, those legs

-Show us more of your thighs

-But why are you only wearing a T-shirt? Aren't you wearing underwear?

"I'm not wearing any. Too much hassle. Of course, I'm not wearing any on the bottom, either."

-Tilt the camera a little lower, for fuck's sake

-Bring your T-shirt closer to the camera. I'm curious what the picture looks like haha

-Why aren't the mages using water magic?!!

-They all died after getting crushed under the big shields

-Damn it, shielders!

I'd only answered that I wasn't wearing anything because it was a hassle, but their reactions got intense. What's with them?

Anyway, only the archers were left. Maybe because the frontline fighters and mages had been wiped out, the archers were moving faster. Were they just trying to run away from me and shoot?

Well, actually... I'd put points into Intelligence first and some into Strength, but I'd put a little more into speed.

I caught up to an archer running away, went around behind it, and spun around to strike its head. Its skull separated from its neck, flew into the wall, and shattered.

Next, I ignored the arrows flying at me, charged in, and hit it with a knee strike. It shattered starting from the face.

When the archer realized the arrows weren't working, it drew a dagger and charged at me. I hopped lightly, planted one foot on its shoulder bone, and stomped on its head with the other, crushing all the bones in its torso and driving it into the ground.

-Wow, it broke apart like that.

-Behind you!

-Behind! Behind!

"Behind me?"

KWAANG!!

I turned around to see what was going on and jumped. Two large shields slammed down where I'd been standing.

One of the shielders had survived. It had picked up the other shielder's shield and was holding one in each hand.

"Oh."

Come to think of it, I'd heard that some shielders used a tactic where they held a shield in each hand to attack and defend at the same time. I guess this was one of those cases.

When I tried to approach, it shoved me away with both shields. At a distance, it swung them like a huge club.

If I were alone, it wouldn't matter if my head got smashed and I died, since I'd just revive anyway. But right now, other people were watching me through the Observer.

"If blunt force won't work, then..."

KRRK!!

"I'll just pierce through it."

It tried to block me by bringing its shields together as I charged, but I angled my side-kicking foot sharply, slipped it through the gap between the shields, and pierced its skull.

The body, nothing but bones, lost control, slowly fell backward, and crumbled apart.

-Wow, it got pierced by a kick.

-Is it for real that she cleared it without using her hands?

-Where'd you learn taekwondo? Did you go to a dojang?

"I watched a video. Some kind of fighting game."

-"I learned it from a game."

-Fuck, I can think of a few characters who fight with their feet. Which one do you mainly play?

-Isn't it that one? The one who uses taekwondo

-Those crazy bastards who can take down real kaiju barehanded

-And then those guys had a god-awful story until they finally made it halfway decent in 8...

Can't everyone fight like this? I'd only copied people I'd seen taking down monsters that breathed fire, huge machines, or monsters that fired things like minerals or beams. I thought they might be Awakened, so I tried it out too.

"Come to think of it, I heard the Tower's difficulty changes depending on the Awakened person climbing it. Is that right?"

-Yeah

-The rewards change, too

-It can go down if you party up, but your rewards go down too

"Is that so?"

Honestly, finding Awakened people who wanted to climb the same floor wasn't easy, so I figured that was just how it was.

On the 17th floor, I found a hard, rocky wasteland with stones standing around, worn down by impacts.

[Defeat the Cannon Cow.]

"Cannon? Whoa."

KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!!!

-Holy shit

-That crazy cow bastard showed up here?

I dodged to the side as something shot past me and slammed into one of the stones.

A huge cow with blue hide, sparks of fire flying every time it scraped its hooves against the ground.

But it didn't have horns.

Come to think of it, that Mad Rhino had its horn pointing forward. Was a rhino not a cow, but a rhinoceros?

[Moooooo~!!]

The cow bellowed like it had mad cow disease, smashed the ground, and charged as if bursting out of it. I dodged by flying.

I wasn't sure, but it seemed like it would keep going forever if I left it alone, so I stood in front of a stone that wasn't too badly damaged. Looking closely, this wasn't just a rock. It looked like ore.

-KWAANG!!

The Cannon Cow shot toward the spot where I'd been, like a cannonball. I dodged to the side and watched it get its head stuck in what might've been rock or ore, unable to pull free. I was dumbfounded.

"What is this? Is it stupid?"

-That's just how that cow bastard is.

-All it can do is charge, so if it hits something hard, it takes forever to get free. The proper strategy is to deal with it then.

-The problem is it's so fast that you usually get headbutted once or twice before you can dodge

-As you climb and raise your stats, you get tough enough not to die from getting run over, but that's a whole other problem.

-How many Awakened people are watching this? Damn...

I walked over while reading their reactions and drove two fire swords deep into the back of the Mad Cow's neck.

[Moooooo~!!!]

The Mad Cow let out an ear-splitting bellow, then collapsed flat on the ground, sprawled out with only its head still stuck.

"I want beef..."

After I make it to the 20th floor and go back, I should ask if she knows how to grill meat.