Chapter 1
I had fallen into a strange world.
There seemed to be no clearer way to explain the situation I was in.
There had been no particular sign or omen.
As usual, I had worked my convenience-store shift, followed my routine of hanging around the community, and gone to sleep.
But when I opened my eyes, a scene far removed from my cramped studio apartment had spread out before me.
Gray walls.
And candlesticks hanging on the walls.
This didn't seem to be a dream. I could feel the pain perfectly clearly when I slapped my cheek. Pinching my thigh hurt just as much.
The situation was so dreamlike that I was actually convinced it was reality.
‘…I should've been nicer while using the gallery.’
It wasn't as if I'd even been particularly vicious on the gallery yesterday.
No, maybe I should have worked harder at life before gallerying if I wanted to avoid being dumped into a cesspit of a world like this.
I proceeded with extreme caution.
Thud.
Something caught my foot.
My gaze dropped to my feet. What had caught my foot was a skull.
Rrrrroll…
It was unmistakably a human skull.
My head filled with confusion.
What kind of world had I been dumped into?
The presence of a skull meant this was a place where people could die.
Faded bricks. The smell of soil mixed with mold.
This wasn't some kind of dungeon, was it?
I slowly moved forward. The only thing I could do right now was follow the flames in the candlesticks.
Before long, my footsteps came to a halt.
【 1 】
The black number written on the wall caught my eye.
1.
…Was this the first floor?
So this was a building made up of floors?
For now, I had no choice but to keep walking.
Crunch!
A sound of something being chewed reached my ears.
The problem was that the source of the sound was right in front of me.
I crouched down, using a slight protrusion in the gray wall as cover.
‘Fuck.’
Crunch!
Something was eating something else.
A giant ant.
Judging by the height of its body alone, the giant ant looked a good meter tall, and it was chewing on something.
‘…It's a person.’
It looked like a person. A person who was already dead, at that.
Without moving at all, the corpse was having its flesh chewed off by the ant.
The giant ant's mandibles moved. Dark red blood flowed downward each time they did.
Crunch!
I held my breath.
I couldn't tell whether it was because I was behind it or because it was engrossed in its meal, but one thing was certain: it still didn't know I was here.
‘There's a weapon.’
Right behind the ant.
Probably the spear wielded by the person currently being chewed up by it.
The only thing that could kill that ant was the spear.
If the giant ant finished its meal and came over here, I would die before I even had a chance to pick up the spear.
This was my only chance.
My best option was to move now and grab the spear.
Keeping my body as low as possible, I slowly moved forward.
I advanced with my breath completely held.
Crunch! Crack!
I stretched out both hands while listening to the horrific sounds.
Toward the spear behind the giant ant that was still eating.
Clack.
‘…Got it.’
The spear felt quite heavy, but not too heavy to lift. Good thing I'd often lifted empty bars at the gym.
I was just about to thrust the spear when I felt a gaze—the gaze of an utterly terrifying predator.
The giant ant's black eyes were staring straight at me.
I moved my body in a hurry. I stepped forward with my right foot and thrust both arms out in front of me.
Whoosh!
The spear struck the ant squarely in the head.
I swung the shaft toward the legs of the ant staggering backward.
Crunch!
My heart pounded.
The momentum was on my side. I kept thrusting with both arms as if my life depended on it.
Toward the giant ant's head. Dozens of times.
Before long, turquoise blood formed a pool on the floor.
It seemed I'd managed to kill the thing for good.
The giant ant, its head crushed, didn't move at all.
Before I knew it, I was covered in sweat.
My black shirt was stained with the ant's sticky blood.
“Ngh….”
Maybe because I'd exerted every last bit of my strength, both arms began to ache as if they had been torn off.
[Experience increased.]
[Current experience: 30%]
[Your level will increase when your experience reaches 100%.]
[The higher your level, the slower your experience increases.]
A level?
By this point, I was starting to lose my mind. What kind of place had I been dumped into?
My gaze was still fixed on the mangled ant.
Then it shifted to the dead person behind it.
“What?”
The clothes were completely different from the modern clothes I'd been wearing until just a moment ago.
They felt like clothes from the Western Middle Ages.
Something floated up above the corpse's head.
[NPC - Fleeing Citizen]
It wasn't even a name, but the designation ‘Fleeing Citizen.’
“Does that mean it's an NPC…?”
Every situation I encountered was impossibly unrealistic.
I carefully searched through the dead citizen's clothes.
There was a pocket beneath the clothing.
Inside the pocket was an object with a very familiar texture.
I took it out.
“A cellphone?”
What the hell? Why had a cellphone suddenly appeared here?
Until now, nothing but completely unrealistic situations had unfolded. And then, out of nowhere, modern technology appeared.
Its shape looked exactly like a smartphone.
I pressed something like a power button.
Ding-
The screen lit up.
Suddenly, blue light began flashing across the screen, and an interface like a hologram unfolded in front of my eyes.
And then, words appeared.
【 Transcendents' Gallery 】
I raised my hand and dragged downward.
There were quite a lot of posts.
Just like the community gallery I'd used before coming here.
For now, I tapped some random post that caught my eye.
Title : Any rookies standing out these days?
Author : ㅇㅇ
-I haven't been able to check Climbing Gallery lately because real life has been keeping me busy. Feels like it's been a while since I came to Transcendent Gallery too, haha.
└ Haven't seen any particularly noticeable newbies.
└ For real, kids these days have no drive. Every one of them is just looking for the easy way out.
└ So what have you cleared? Normal? You're not saying that as an Easy-difficulty champion, are you?
└ Light's Sword) Do you know the sword?
└ Sword Parrot, aren't you tired of that yet?
It seemed ‘Transcendent Gallery’ was short for ‘Transcendents' Gallery.’
And what was Climbing Gallery?
For now, I tapped the back button. Then I clicked the newest post, which had just gone up.
Title : Why the hell can't I post in Climbing Galleryㅑㅑㅑ? Damn system
Author : Great Mage
-I'm going crazy from frustration. Why can't you beat something you could easily beat just because you're scared? It's only Floor 35! Whether your arms are burning or your legs are being torn apart, just push in and kill it! You recover once you clear the floor, anyway, so quit dragging your feet and do it.
└ You're giving way too much backseat advice about something that isn't your problem. Are you really the Great Mage?
└ Caught you, Easy-mode endgame scrub. Everyone should know that not everyone is a scrub like you. This guy's a Hard-mode champion. Can't you tell from his fixed handle?
Fixed handle.
A fixed handle meant someone who continued using one unique nickname within the gallery.
└ Fuck, sixty percent of us are from Easy mode, and you're probably from Normal yourself, right? You're just another scrub commoner. Why are you projecting onto that Great Mage?
└ Easy<<<<<<<<Normal
└ LMAOOOOOOO, your ego is way too big. That's the gap between Normal and the mighty Hard Mode gods right there. Still, Easy and Normal are only << about two walls apart.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, everyone, you mustn't fight.
└ Boomer.
└ Light's Sword) Do you know the sword?
It was dizzying.
The one thing I could tell for sure was that the people posting or commenting in this Transcendent Gallery all seemed to have already finished whatever they were clearing, rather than currently be clearing it.
So what did that make me?
I still couldn't even guess where I was, but it seemed certain that this was Floor 1. Which meant I was at the starting point now, unlike the people chatting in the gallery.
For now, I should make a post and see how people reacted.
I tapped ‘Write a Post’ and began composing.
The keyboard was projected in the air like a holographic keyboard, so writing was easy.
Tap-tap-tap-
The author should just be ‘ㅇㅇ’. People who didn't use a fixed nickname seemed to use that here too. It really was just like a gallery.
Once I finished writing, I pressed upload.
Title : Are you all done? I think I'm on Floor 1 now, but what is this place?
Author : ㅇㅇ
-Seeing a 1 written on the wall, I think I'm just starting out. Are you all finished already? What exactly is this place? I just killed a giant ant.
Comments appeared as soon as I uploaded it.
└ Dumbass, what kind of bait is this? This is the Transcendent Gallery—how could a climber post here? It's boring as hell.
└ If you've got nothing to do, wash your feet and go the hell to sleep~~
└ Shaman) Hawawa, this is so boring.
└ Go to Climbing Gallery.
└ LMAOOOOOOO, ‘to Climbing Gallery’? This is hilarious. Is he insane? How would a climber get there? If someone sent you back, would you climb again?
└ Fuck off. I'm never climbing again. I still have horrible post-traumatic stress.
They didn't believe me.
I was about to write one more post begging them to believe me.
In the meantime, another comment appeared.
└ Head Mod) I don't know what happened either… but it seems what they're saying is true? I checked the location coordinates, and it's 666.666.66.532. Anything that shows up as 666 is the coordinate marker for Climbing Gallery users.
Head Mod?
Was that the same role as the head mod in the gallery I knew?
A gallery administrator with the authority to delete posts or ban users.
In any case, as soon as the Head Mod's comment appeared, no new comments were posted for a moment, as if time itself had stopped.
And then.
After that brief silence, comments began pouring in like mad.
└ What?? Is this actually true?? How can a climber post in Transcendent Gallery, lmao? What's going on?
└ And he's only on Floor 1??? What the hell, lmao.
└ First floor or not, it's impossible for a climber to come to Transcendent Gallery in the first place, for real.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, I apologize for what I said earlier.
└ Light's Sword) Do you know the sword?
It went on without end, even when I scrolled down.
└ Great Mage) What the hell? How did something this crazy suddenly happen?? Can you use magic?
└ Pioneer) ??
└ Swamp Sword Saint) Tell us in more detail.
└ Absolute Sovereign) Where are you from?
└ Heavenly Demon) So you're saying you're on Floor 1 right now? What difficulty?
└ Closed-Room Theorist) An anomaly has occurredㅏㅏㅏ -This world is made up of one enormous enclosed room
└ Ice Queen) Frozen solid! Completely frozen!
└ Elf) Are you perhaps a different species?
└ Whoa, look at all those humans who never showed themselves before coming out, lmao ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ For real, he's dragging all the lurkers out. This is amazing, yeah.
└ All the monsters are coming out.
It seemed clear that all sorts of attention from the Transcendent Gallery had converged on me.