Chapter 1
All humans are equal.
Nothing could be more ridiculous.
That was the thought that came to me as I looked at the man in front of me.
"Wow…."
You said not to feel pressured just because you're D-rank, Foreman.
He was flying around carrying several forty-kilogram loads at a time.
How was I supposed to treat someone like that as casually as the youngest member of the crew?
I muttered without realizing it.
"I'm so jealous…."
"There's nothing to be jealous of, punk."
"Huh, old man?"
It was the voice that rang out behind me.
He was the senior hand who taught me the ropes at the construction site.
"That guy climbed the Wimp's Tower. You're still jealous after seeing him hauling materials around a place like this?"
"I'm incredibly jealous. He gets to cheese his way through the Tower and live the good life."
I answered vaguely and looked ahead.
A great deal of the materials that had been piled up had already disappeared.
But the man who had moved them?
He wasn't tired, nor was there even a drop of sweat on him.
He was probably going to take home a few million won for that.
I was insanely jealous.
"Honestly, being that strong would be enough."
"Then if you awaken, are you going to go for Easy difficulty?"
"Hmm."
But the old man had asked me a question.
If I awakened, which Tower would I climb?
If I became one of the fewer than ten thousand Awakeners in Korea….
"Of course I'd go Easy. I'd climb the Wimp's Tower."
I answered immediately, without hesitation.
There was a reason for it.
"You can form a party, and if you pay, the seniors will even carry you through. Why would I go anywhere else when there's such an easy-mode Tower?"
There were three Towers that only Awakeners could climb.
They were the only places where Awakeners could grow stronger.
Even the Easy-difficulty Tower, known as the 'Wimp's Tower,' was enough to live life on easy street.
Especially if you'd awakened a common-grade trait like the man in front of me.
"Good grief, what a spineless kid."
Maybe my unambitious answer had frustrated him.
The old man stretched out his only arm toward me.
Tap.
His palm landed on my shoulder, heavy with reproach.
"It's only fifty floors, you know? The rewards are lousy, so even reaching the twentieth floor of the Challenger's Tower blows it away!"
"You say that as if you've been there yourself."
"Ahem! Anyway, if you awaken, you have to go for Normal difficulty. You can't change later, so don't regret it."
After that, the old man tried to launch into a lecture, but….
"You know I have a little sister."
"…Ah."
"If I die horribly while climbing the Tower, who's going to look after our Serin?"
The ultimate Talulha.
The moment I brought up my sister, who had fallen into a vegetative state due to an incurable disease, the old man's voice dropped sharply.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to advise you because I think of you like a son, but I was being too thoughtless."
"Aw, what are you apologizing for?"
I didn't mind.
"It's not like you told me to go there."
"The Pilgrim's Tower? Kid, that's basically telling you to go die."
"Exactly."
Hard difficulty: the Pilgrim's Tower.
Its nickname was the 'Coffin.'
There were only two kinds of Awakeners who chose it.
Idiots who overestimated the traits they had awakened.
And idiots who chose the wrong Tower.
They both had one thing in common: they usually didn't come back alive.
"Even someone who awakened two Legendary traits is stuck somewhere in the thirties, right? I didn't tell you to go there, so why would I be angry?"
"Hwi-min…."
"I know you said it for my sake, so don't worry."
After giving the old man a halfhearted reassurance,
I turned my gaze away again.
The materials that had been piled up like a mountain were back in place, as though they had never been moved.
'…Jealous.'
I could do that too if I awakened.
Ah, I was dying to awaken.
* * *
After I got home,
I said the words I used instead of 'I'm home.'
"Status Window!!!"
One second, two seconds, three seconds passed.
As always, nothing happened.
My hopes sank, and I let out a sigh.
"Ugh, why won't I awaken too?"
'There can't be many people in Korea as desperate as I am.'
Normally, I would have washed it all away with a can of beer.
Awakening was that rare.
But I didn't feel like doing that today.
The old man's words wouldn't leave my mind.
'…Could there be some secret to awakening?'
I was desperate enough for a thought that pointless to occur to me.
As if possessed, I sat down in front of the computer and turned it on.
Whirrr—
After the old computer tower groaned grandly,
the family photo on my desk was washed in the pale light of the monitor.
"Well then…."
Clack clack—
I hammered the keyboard and searched the internet.
An interview with an Awakener who conquered the Normal-difficulty Tower.
I'd already seen that one.
A news article about a third-generation chaebol heir with two unprecedented traits being trapped in a tomb.
He was the same age as me, too. What a shame.
'Not this. Isn't there a way to awaken?'
I wandered endlessly through the sea of the internet.
At the end of it, I arrived at the holy land of shitposts.
[Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: Must Read If You Want to Become an Awakener
"Hmmmmmm."
It was an eye-catching post.
I quickly checked the details.
Account? A throwaway account with one post and comment combined.
Photo? Something was attached.
Upvotes? Three. No, five after refreshing.
The odds of it being a shitpic: 80 percent.
'Still, I should at least click it.'
I clicked it without much thought.
Fortunately, it wasn't gore.
Unfortunately, it was a bait post.
[Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: Must Read If You Want to Become an Awakener
(An illustration of a green-haired VTuber sticking out her tongue)
This is a real secret, but I'm only sharing it here.
One option is to eat dirt for thirty days.
Or fill the bathtub with water and throw in a hair dryer.
If you need anything else, comment below.
ㄴ You're telling people to reset their lives, aren't you?
ㄴㄴ (OP: Anonymous) I'm serious though;;
ㄴㄴ Not easy.
"…Not easy."
Was it fun to mess with desperate people?
Yeah, it probably was.
Let me have some fun too, you bastards.
[Minor Gallery]
Title: I awakened, but what are these three traits?
(A photo of feces taken at a construction site to report it)
I get that you're a little angry.
But what should you do now?
I think you know.
ㄴ Damn, I was eating curry.
ㄴ YUNA: ;;;
ㄴ MOD!!!! MOOOOOD!!!!!
"Phew."
The gallery instantly descended into chaos, but… hmm.
Revenge really was hollow.
I muttered as I moved the mouse over the delete button.
"I want to awaken…."
And then, click—
I pressed the delete button before the moderator could see it.
A cheerful sound rang out in the dark room, and….
-Freeze.
'……Huh?'
Along with the cheerful sound of the mouse button springing back into place,
the room began to shine brightly.
-Fwoooosh!!!!
"Whaaaat!!!?"
The blinding radiance pouring from my body made the family photo sparkle in its light.
What kind of phenomenon was this?
I knew it very well.
It was what I had dreamed of all this time.
"Awakening!?"
'Of all times, now?!'
No, I had awakened after posting and deleting a shitpic.
Somehow, that felt incredibly filthy.
Why did my awakening have to happen like this?
'Still, nice!!'
"Nngh…."
But awakening was awakening.
Despite the pain of cramps all over my body, the corners of my mouth shot upward.
Dopamine surged through me.
'I don't need a good trait! Just awakening is enough to satisfy me!!'
Other people would probably pray even at the moment of their awakening.
And if they got a bad trait, they'd be disappointed.
I wasn't going to make such a spoiled wish.
'Mom, Dad!! Watch over me!!!'
I didn't need overwhelming strength.
Excessive wealth and glory meant nothing.
I didn't even want fame.
All I wanted was simply….
'All I need is to awaken!!!'
Grind—!
I gritted my teeth and forced myself upright.
The muscles worn out by hard labor screamed, but I ignored them and reached out my hand.
"…Status Window."
[…….]
"Status Window!"
[…….]
"Sta!! tus!! Win!! dow!!!"
I must have shouted it about three times.
Ding.
A clear sound rang beside my ears.
It was so crystalline it brought tears to my eyes.
[Ryu Hwi-min]
Level: 1
Title: None
Strength: 13
Agility: 18
Vitality: 14
Mana: 9
Luck: 6
(Stat Points Owned: 0)
"Ah…!!"
So this was the Status Window.
They said it confused Awakeners, making them wonder why something like this existed when it wasn't even a game, and whether we were actually brains in vats.
It was pretty, though.
"……."
'But why does it feel strangely shit-brown?'
There was one part that bothered me a little,
but I didn't pay much attention to it.
The community users' cries for a moderator had long since been forgotten.
"…Anyway, Serin will be happy."
'Since she went around fangirling over Awakeners.'
I collapsed to the floor, drenched in sweat.
Then I reached out a trembling hand.
The Status Window gleamed with a luxurious brown sheen.
I traced it with my finger and scrolled down one item at a time.
'Where are the traits?'
What I was looking for were traits.
The unique abilities that every Awakener possessed.
When I remembered the D-rank Awakener's almost-flying movements at the construction site, anticipation rose in me.
'I won't even get a Unique or Rare, let alone a Legendary….'
"A common-grade trait would be more than enough."
I hadn't expected much.
Legendary, the highest grade known to date, was something I had never even dreamed of.
I couldn't even imagine having two traits like the chaebol heir I'd seen on the news.
Still, if I allowed myself a little greed….
Wouldn't it be nice if a Rare trait appeared?
Even so, I'd still go to the Wimp's Tower.
There was no harm in having a good trait.
That was why my heart had begun to beat a little faster,
-Freeze.
"…Huh?"
At the very bottom of the scroll, I saw something.
It was enough to make me doubt my eyes.
'One, two, three….''
"…Thirteen?"
What the hell was this?
I blinked in confusion.
At least it wasn't a dream.
Was it some kind of error?
'They said two at most…?'
I prided myself on knowing a lot about Awakeners.
I knew that Awakeners with two traits were extremely rare, and that most of them had easily conquered the Normal-difficulty Tower.
But thirteen?
That was impossible.
What was I, anyway?
'Did I save a country in my past life…? No way. I must be misunderstanding this.'
A rational suspicion followed.
Come on, only one of those was the real trait.
The rest were probably supplementary descriptions or something.
Anyway, they couldn't be traits.
'I should at least see what they are.'
"Hup."
I reached a finger toward the Status Window.
Press—
After selecting and clicking one of the traits,
unexpected text greeted me.
"……Huh?"
'Mythic-grade?'