"A person who has it all has everything to lose…
...But doesn't that also mean they have everything to give?"
[FeiFei is requesting for
[Denied.]
…
[Maydon Appeleiger has died]
[Saladon Egreie has received the
[FeiFei is requesting for
…
[Denied.]
…
[FeiFei's morale has reached zero.]
"Tell me… Master."
[FeiFei is looking at MinusXjun11.]
"What do you have to lose?"
…
[FeiFei has died—
…
2 hours earlier…
…
Minjun looked out of the glass, the sun slowly set on the horizon. He scoffed, and continued mopping the floors.
"I can't wait to get home… I need to continue training team 2…" He thought to himself.
With the mop on one hand, he pulled out his phone from his pocket with his other hand.
[5:32 PM | Saturday]
His mind was racing with the thoughts of finally defeating the last floor of the Horizon Tower in Withering Moon.
He stored his phone back into his pocket and continued mopping, the white tiles of the restaurant soaked with water, glistening under the dim fluorescent lights.
Then, he heard a yell from the back.
"Stop!" It was his co-worker's voice.
Minjun put down the mop and hurriedly ran to the back, sprinting into the kitchen.
There, he saw his boss harassing the new employee who was recently hired.
"Hey~ Come on? Why don't you stay at my house for a while?"
His cruel face put on a lustful smile as he cornered her.
"Mr. Kim, stop that." Minjun expressed his frustration sternly, clenching his fist.
Minjun's coworker looked relieved to see him.
"Huuuuuuuh?! What was that you punk?!" However, his boss didn't share the same relief.
His boss turned around with an annoyed face.
"Geez. You prick! I'm your boss damnit! Mind your own goddamn business!" He kicked the trash bin in the kitchen over with great force.
Minjun looked Mr. Kim in the eye, quietly remarking on his boss's extremely annoying and punchable face.
He went silent, facing his head down.
"Hey, you bastard… Don't you wanna pay off your father's stupid fucking debt?" His boss's words pricked Minjun's heart like thorns.
…
Mr. Kim got closer to Minjun, eyes piercing into him cruelly.
"Jeez, if you're going to act all righteous…"
"Then you could've at least had the money for it you fucking shit!" His boss stopped his own fist right before it hit Minjun's face.
He sighed, turning back and fixing his tie.
"Bastard! Get lost unless you want me to fucking kill you."
Minjun could only stand there in shame and despair,
"Do you want me to repeat myself!?" Mr. Kim yelled out loud.
He flinched, his breaths quick and sharp. The air around him was heavy and gloomy.
He looked up and saw his coworker sobbing in the corner.
"You, get out of my sight too, this fucker killed my mood." His boss gestured for his coworker to go away.
Mr. Kim went into his office and slammed the door shut.
Without the commotion, he could only listen to his own quickened heartbeat and the faint humming of the bright lights.
Minjun's coworker approached him and looked him in the eye,
"T-thank you…"
A slight smile formed on his face,
"Go home. I'll finish cleaning."
…
Later, Minjun closed the door of the restaurant as he stepped out.
The night sky was illuminated by the bright moon, he looked up and stared in awe.
Continuing to walk, he passed by silent streets and poorly lit alleys before finally making it back to his apartment building.
Stepping in, the quiet sound of a clock ticking and a cat purring filled the room.
Minjun noticed that the kind old lady at the front desk was asleep, he passed by her as he walked to the stairs.
He made his way up the apartment building,
"Jeez… Mr. Kim does that every time we have a new hire…"
He scoffs,
"Every time he does it, the new hire leaves… That's probably why he hasn't fired me yet, I'm the only employee that has worked in his restaurant for over 4 years…"
"He even understands when I can't go to work because of school…"
"What a pervert though…"
He remembers a memory of him at his father's funeral… Him and his mother had recently divorced, when a loan shark approached the young Minjun.
"Lee Minjun, do you know who we are?" The loansharks asked him, before pressuring him to pay back the 32 million won that his father owed them.
Forced into work at Mr. Kim's establishment, he was given just enough money for school, an apartment, and food and water. The rest of his wage used to slowly pay off his father's outstanding debt.
He shook his head, returning back to the present day.
"Let's not worry about that right now…"
He put in his password on the keypad on his door,
*Ding* The door's locked clanked and the keypad made an upbeat beeping noise as the door unlocked.
Minjun opened it and went into his room,
*Click* His light switch clicked as the lights illuminated the once dark room.
The bed felt ethereal as he jumped onto it, cushioning his fall.
"Aaah~ This bed is so nice especially after a long day at work…"
"Oh right!"
He hurriedly pulled out his phone.
The phone's light filled his eyes as he opened an app,
[WITHERING MOON]
"Ah… Withering Moon, the light guiding me in the darkness."
Withering Moon, an MMORPG, base-building, gacha, roguelike, hardcore, gacha game…
"Greedy…" Minjun muttered.
Greed is the adjective most commonly used by its fans to describe Withering Moon.
A game where a singular F-Class gacha pull costs 1,500 Credits—the currency used in Withering Moon. It is a game that has never been beaten before, a game notorious for its practically impossible difficulty.
The game was praised globally as a "marvel of programming" —super advanced AI that reacted to the slightest of variables, a near infinite pool of characters to pull in the gacha system, realistic effects and graphics that were optimized to the point where even the oldest of phones could run the game at a steady 60 FPS.
The game's final tower, the Horizon Tower, held the game's hardest floor—Floor 100 of the Horizon Tower—known worldwide for being impossible to defeat. Even 12 years after the game's release in 2013, not a single person has defeated it.
Minjun is a part of the "New Generation", having joined the game in 2021, and yet devoting a vast majority of his later years in life to endlessly grinding within the game.
Now, he—like most other "veteran players" (Players of the Archaic Generation) before him—reached Floor 99 of the Horizon Tower.
"It's been four years since I joined, I'd heard rumours of how impossible this game's final floor was… And that only made me more excited."
Then, a notification appeared on his phone,
["Minjun-nim, thank you for defending me earlier… I didn't like what happened earlier though so I am resigning from the job—"]
Minjun chuckled,
"As expected, she quit… Well, I would've quit too if I was her."
"Jeez… I remember first hearing about Mr. Kim's perversion… I reported it to the police but they didn't do anything else aside from a quick "investigation." In the end, I quit my job, but realized no other place was willing to hire me…"
"...So I had to kneel and beg Mr. Kim for my job back to pay off my father's debt."
He slid the notification away, wanting to reply later.
The game finished loading, his character spawned in on the forward operating base he had set up in front of one of the entrances to the Horizon Tower.
In Withering Moon, guilds and players could own territory within the game's incredibly massive open-world map.
Minjun owned very little territory on the map, with only his main base and his forward operations base for the Horizon Tower, where his main character and the characters he gained from the gacha recovered after every floor cleared.
[MinusXjun11]
[Level 764]
[SR-Class Character]
[Skills: LVL 14 Perfect Woodworking, LVL 8 Flames of Fury, LVL 19 Masterful Swordsmanship, LVL 4 Heavenly Sky-shattering Sword Technique, …]
His skills list went on endlessly, he hadn't wasted four years of his life for nothing.
He saw several unread messages from two group chats in Withering Moon.
[the main crew]
[4 Unread Messages]
[international crew]
[2 Unread Messages]
He opened
[Song Jieun]
["Hey minjun, arent you going to challenge the last floor of the horizon tower right now? Good luck!!]
[Baek Hyeonjun]
["oh yeah! Good luck minjun! Btw jieun can i borrow one of ur S-class characters pls, i need them for a big raid"]
[Song Jieun]
["ill send an exchange request, i want 10 blood-soaked leaves for this though to level up one of my summons"]
[Baek Hyeonjun]
["ah right, sure i have a lot of those anyways."]
…
He smiles,
"No one has ever beaten the last floor before… Maybe I'll be the one to do it…"
With the messages read, Minjun got serious, and selected all of his characters, and equipped all of his most powerful equipment.
Withering Moon differed from other gacha games; Withering Moon allowed players to manage characters, while also managing their own player character, a combination of MMORPG and gacha.
This unique system helped it grow its large following over the course of its 12-year lifespan. However, the game frequently got into controversy due to its extremely unfair difficulty, and exploitative pricing.
The gacha system, while being a core component of the gameplay, had extremely low rates, and very expensive prices.
As such, the game developers were pressed many times by critics and the media… Yet the game simply continued to exist, all thanks to its seemingly impossible technology, especially for a game released in 2013.
"I might really be the only free to play player that has made it to Floor 99 of the Horizon Tower."
He looked at his teams,
[Team 1] [READY]
[Team 2] [TRAINING]
[Team 3] [READY]
[Team 4] [READY]
[Team 5] [TRAINING]
…
A practically endless array of teams filled his view, from [Team 1] to [Team 29].
He selected every team,
"I know I said I'd continue training team 2 but… This is important."
Minjun ordered every single team to prepare for the Floor 100 raid,
"Floor 100… It's unique… I remember reading about it from a pro player's post… While most floors and levels in the game's many towers and dungeons only allowed a certain amount of characters to join the raid… Floor 100 didn't have a limit on how many characters you could send."
"So… I'll select all of my characters, and we'll defeat this floor…"
[Floor 100] [Horizon Tower]
[Would you like to challenge the tower?]
…
[Yes]
…
Then, a bright flash of light engulfed his screen.
When the light went away, Minjun found his player and characters in a vast shallow ocean, with the water reaching only their ankles.
In the center of it all was a monstrously large water dragon, its scales the size of boulders, its teeth sharper than blades, and its eyes set on killing everyone.
"Charge!" Team 2's leader, Asterios the great mage, yelled out.
[Asterios has used
[All characters have received a 2x strength bonus.]
…
Then…
The water dragon's eyes merely glanced at Asterios—
*Boom*
A deafening explosion followed by a huge splash of water and a shockwave which made everyone topple to the ground.
[Asterios has died]
[Kayden has died]
[Mal Alaura has died]
[Swordiera has died]
…
[Team 2 has been defeated]
…
[Team 3 has been defeated]
"Don't give up now! We can still take them on!" The others yelled out.
They continued to fight, but their actions were futile, not a single bit of damage had been done to the water dragon… Minjun fell into a deep despair when he looked at the boss's health.
[Horizon, the Water Dragon, Phase 1]
"P-phase 1?! This thing has multiple phases?!"
"Shit! At this rate, everyone's going to die!"
…
An endless flood of system messages filled Minjun's screen as his own player character got lost amidst the confusion and chaos of the battlefield.
Blood soaked the shallow water, water and earth flew everywhere as devastating explosions rocked the tower floor.
Minjun couldn't help but laugh nervously,
"So… This is Floor 100 of the Horizon Tower…"
[Team 4 has been defeated]
[Team 5 has been defeated]
Minjun continued to control his player character, using every skill he had at his disposal to try and damage Horizon.
[MinusXjun11 has used
He jumped onto the dragon and put all of his strength into tearing through its tough scales.
The dragon yelled out in anger as Minjun's sword tore through the colossal dragon scales, blood rushing out.
"Kaaaaagh!" The dragon exclaimed, as it spun around and hit Minjun with its tail.
"Argh!" He was flung far, crashing down into the water with great force.
When he stood up, his breaths were deep. He looked at his character's body and found many bruises and cuts.
[HP: 182 / 12,088]
"That… Single attack… Did that much damage?" He said to himself.
"Master! We can't give up now! Let's go give that big lizard hell!" Minjun heard one of his characters yell out to him.
The character had gray blonde hair, a handsome face, and muscular arms, enough to carry his extremely heavy and powerful greatsword.
It was Ayden, a powerful swordsmaster, and a character that had been with Minjun since he was still a newbie to the game…
[Ayden used
And yet…
The very next second, a scorching ray of pure concentrated energy scorched Ayden as the wind carried his ashes far from the battlefield.
Minjun remembers the many times Ayden shared with him his dream… He had always dreamed of finally getting to see his family one day and returning to a peaceful, quiet life tending to crops in a field…
Maybe the wind could at least offer him a final resting place away from the battlefield he had grown to hate as he got closer to the other characters of Team 1…
"Ayden!!!" Minjun yelled out.
[Ayden has died]
…
Then, a woman with long red hair and an intricately designed mage's robe pulled Minjun aside,
"Master! Get a hold of yourself! We need proper commands to take that thing down!"
FeiFei, a beautiful red-haired mage who held an astounding affinity for fire magic—the leader of team 1—and Minjun's most powerful character.
Then, Horizon whipped its tail around, flinging all weak characters away as they all yelled.
The noise and confusion of the battlefield distracted Minjun, but he didn't have any choice…
Minjun regained his composure and started focusing.
Then, he remembered something.
"FeiFei, where's Maydon?!" Minjun exclaimed.
Maydon Appeleiger, a studious young man in team 1, he had the most critical role in team 1, and that was to identify the enemy's weak spots with his extremely powerful skill;
Then,
"Master! I've identified the dragon's weak spots!" Minjun heard someone yelling behind him, he turned around to find Maydon with a slight grin,
"We can win this, master!"
"Aim at the dragon's neck! That's its weak spot!"
Minjun nodded and looked back at FeiFei,
"Are you ready?"
FeiFei nodded back,
"Let's do this."
"Take this! Haaaaaaaaagh!" He exclaimed,
"Heavenly Sky-shattering Sword Technique!"
"Divine Blessing of the Infernal Blaze!"
…
[MinusXjun11 has used
[FeiFei has used
"Combine both of our techniques, and overpower the enemy!"
"FeiFei and Minjun's combination technique! Hell's Sword Combo!"
Minjun looked at FeiFei,
"FeiFei! …STRIKE THE WEAK SPOT NOW!"
He dashed forwards with his longsword in hand as FeiFei launched a colossal fireball at the dragon's neck.
The instant the fireball contacted the dragon's neck, Minjun tore through its tough scales with his skill and longsword.
A blinding bright light illuminated the battlefield for a moment as hope rekindled in everyone's hearts…
…But the next moment,
"AAAAH! HELP ME!"
"S-SOMEONE HELP!"
Every remaining survivor from Teams 1 to Team 29 were running around in confusion but were all subsequently defeated by the dragon.
In real life, Minjun was sweating profusely,
"Shit! Why is this thing… So overpowered!?"
"Would things have changed if I'd been a pay to win player??? No… Even the masters at this game who've spent millions couldn't beat this thing!"
"...So why did I think I'd be the one to do it!?"
"Master…" Minjun looked back and saw FeiFei on the floor, barely hanging on, blood pooling below her.
"A person who has it all has everything to lose…"
"...But doesn't that also mean they have everything to give?"
[FeiFei is requesting for
However, Minjun knew… That he couldn't afford it…
It costs 5,000,000 Won, money that he simply didn't have.
He'd heard about every other master using
With a heavy heart, he tapped on the screen.
[Denied.]
…
[Maydon Appeleiger has died]
[Saladon Egreie has received the
[FeiFei is requesting for
…
[Denied.]
…
[FeiFei's morale has reached zero.]
"Tell me… Master."
[FeiFei is looking at MinusXjun11.]
"What do you have to lose?"
Minjun looked FeiFei in the eye right before she bled out to death, he clenched his fist in anger.
"FeiFei… Remember when I was so happy putting you into Team 1 for the first time and watching you singlehandedly wipe out the goblin horde in the first quest we did together?" His voice was hesitant and shaky, his fists covered in his blood, his face in tears, as he looked at FeiFei.
…
"Please… Don't die… We still have a fight in front of us…" He said, kneeling in front of FeiFei.
Minjun reached out his arm to her, "A fight that can only be won if I have you by my side…"
…
FeiFei glanced at Minjun, her eyes trembling.
"Master… I'm sorry."
…
"You'll have to fight this battle without me…" She let out one final smile at Minjun before closing her eyes for the final time.
Her body went lifeless, cold and still…
…
[FeiFei has died]
Minjun turned around and faced Horizon.
"Four years of hard work… All destroyed in a single battle."
…
[Team 1 has died]
Now, it was only him and Horizon, the water dragon, remaining in the battlefield.
Every character of every team had died…
He looked at Horizon in the eyes,
"What would it take to beat you… Do you want all of my money!? I don't have any!!!"
"You… Bastard!"
"What do I have to give… To defeat you!"
Then, as if the water dragon in-game had heard him in real life… It responded to him,
"What will it take to defeat me?"
"You have already defeated me…"
"H-huh?" Minjun hesitated, stunned at Horizon's reply, confused as to how it heard him.
Then, he heard a woman's voice from behind him,
"Greed has taken this world and placed it firmly within its evil grasp."
"So you can imagine my shock when a player who hadn't spent anything on this game made it all the way to Floor 100…"
He looked behind him and saw a beautiful woman with long silver hair dressed in an elegant white dress slowly made her way downwards, gracefully stepping on the shallow water as if she was striding across air and walking across the ground.
"You better keep your promise, Aleia." Horizon said to her.
"I will, don't worry… Horizon."
Then, she raised her arm and manifested an orb of light within her palm, she flicked the orb towards the dragon.
*Boom* A blinding ray of light annihilated the dragon, leaving nothing but smoke and ashes behind.
"I'll make sure you reunite with the infernal dragon in the afterlife."
Then, even though it was dead, the wind carried Horizon, the water dragon's sincere words,
"Thank you…"
…
[You have defeated Horizon, the water dragon.]
[Congratulations! You are the first to defeat Horizon, the water dragon! Rewards will be given accordingly!]
[Congratulations! You have defeated Floor 100 of the Horizon Tower!]
[Congratulations! You have the first to clear Floor 100 of the Horizon Tower!]
…
Then, everywhere in Withering Moon, players suddenly received a system message which surprised them all, leaving them in awe and shock.
[The Horizon Tower's 100th floor has been defeated!]
[The world of Withering Moon has been freed!]
…
In Song Jieun's bedroom, her mouth widened at the shocking message, she couldn't believe what she was reading…
"Huuuhhh!? Someone's defeated floor 100!? Wait… Could it be…"
She checked the
[MinusXjun11]
[Online]
[Location (Only available to friends): Floor 100, Horizon Tower]
…
"This madman… He really did it…"
Meanwhile, in Baek Hyeonjun's living room, as he sat on the sofa, he still couldn't believe the news.
"Minjun! You did it! You actually fucking did it!!! You are awesome!"
He frantically tapped on his keyboard, writing a message to
[Baek Hyeonjun]
["YOU MADMAN, YOU HAVE GOT TO TEACH ME HOW YOU DID IT, YOU'RE THE 1ST TO EVER DEFEAT IT!!!"]
…
Back in the Horizon Tower.
Minjun stood there quietly, looking at the individual in front of him.
"Seems I forgot to introduce myself, I am Aleia, the Moon Goddess, and one of the six central deities of Withering Moon."
"Player MinusXjun11, or should I say… Lee Minjun. I've been watching your actions since you joined the game and became a prominent rising star in the community…"
"A player who never spent anything on a game which was notorious for being severely unfair to its free to play players… How… Amusing."
A drop of sweat rolled down from Minjun's face.
"H-how do you know about that? Are you powered by an AI or something?!"
Aleia looked him in the eye,
"Oh, right. You still don't understand…"
"Surely you're familiar with this situation though… Minjun."
"A player who clears the final level of a video game… Then the video game turns into reality as he becomes the main protagonist, knowing every tiny detail in the new reality and becoming the most powerful person there is… I've read some of your world's literature…"
"A tower-clearing fantasy webnovel! Yes! That's what this is." Aleia yelled out.
"H-huh?" Minjun replied in confusion.
"Heh… I guess it's understandable that you're still in shock…"
"Minjun, you have just cleared the final tower to a video game which will soon become reality!"
"Greed has controlled the world of the Withering Moon for so long, and has even caused the deaths of many in our world…"
"Horizon, the water dragon you just fought, is not the final boss of this game…"
"In fact, the boss battle with Horizon was impossible to begin with…"
"Me and the other loyal game administrators and developers made sure of that… It was hard to pull off without alerting the game administrators and developers that were loyal to the Abyssal Being."
"T-the abyssal being… You mean…" Minjun nervously asked.
"Yes, Aracles, the Abyssal Being… I know how obsessed you are over this game… And I know that you read the lore books… Every single one… You've read everything."
That's right. Minjun remembered reading every single description and every single text from the most insignificant of facts to the most crucial of information when it came to Withering Moon…
When a quest gave him a lore book as a reward, he'd read every paragraph and every word within the book so he could understand the world of Withering Moon more…
What the other players—who simply discarded these books—didn't realize, is that these books held crucial hints and information for certain levels and floors, helping Minjun conquer them and helping him with leveling up his units.
Aleia sighed.
"You're the only one who has read everything so it saves me the trouble of having to explain to myself… But I should give a quick recap anyways."
…
"The abyssal being, Aracles, descended upon Eioth, the world of Withering Moon, several eons ago and destroyed the thrones of the six original central deities; including Aleia, the goddess of the moon, and her husband, Veiroth, the god of the sun."
"When Aracles destroyed the six heavenly thrones, the world fell into calamity, great plagues occurred after the god of life—Azoth—died. Beasts of rotting flesh and skeletons started roaming when the goddess of death—Heiah—was defeated… And other such calamities."
"When my husband died, the sun slowly started dimming, bringing about a great cancer to this world…—"
"---The Withering." Both Aleia and Minjun said in unison.
"However… That isn't the true story." Aleia said.
Minjun raised his eyebrow,
"What do you mean?"
"...The six central deities of Eioth designed the world in such a way that it would be self-sustaining and healthy even after they had long passed away…"
"...So why are there calamities destroying the world?"
"Simple…"
"---Aracles is the one who is causing these calamities." Minjun interjected Aleia, his face more serious than ever.
"Precisely."
"He's doing this because of his greed, as calamities descend upon Eioth, the people suffer, and they turn towards Aracles, the only being who has the power to save them…"
"...And in exchange, Aracles made them pay with their souls, forming an army of loyal slaves."
"...But that wasn't enough for him, he also made the minor and major deities—the deities below the six central deities—design a game and had them send this game to this world to generate more money for him…"
"...When your world's human money is used to purchase something in this game… That money is used by Aracles to purchase equipment from the Outer Realm Deities for his army…"
…
"O-okay, wait, this is starting to feel like exposition dumping. We're not in some shitty fantasy webnovel, you don't have to explain all of that…"
"Firstly, what does this have to do with me?"
"Don't you realize? I'm making you…"
Suddenly, a system message appeared…
However… The system message… Hovered above Lee Minjun in real life.
"H-huh!?!"
"No! You're not making me the protagonist of a shitty tower-clearing webnovel!"
"If you are… You have to give me something in return at least!"
"Something in return… Well… How about… Money?"
"H-huh!? You want me to risk my life for money? Are you stupid?" Minjun yelled out.
Aleia looked at him through the screen,
"Ever since you were young, you had always been risking your life for money, teetering on the edge of homelessness, you pursued a path of labor 24/7 just to pay off your father's debt."
"H-how do you know that?"
"I'm a deity, Minjun. I know that much."
"...I will give you an SSS-Class item that you may bring to the real world once you have completed the task I have given to you."
"This SSS-Class item… Will make sure you will never worry about money ever again."
Lee Minjun hesitantly looked back at Aleia.
"...What is it?"
Then,
[Withering Moon]
[Congratulations! You have been selected as a player! Brave the world of Eioth, and save it from calamity! Defeat Horizon, the water dragon preying on the innocent, and save the people!]
…
All across the world, people who have played, or even just slightly interacted with Withering Moon—which consisted of the entire world, with Withering Moon being an extremely popular global phenomenon—suddenly saw a system message appear.
Everyone on Earth all simultaneously gasped in shock,
[You will be transported to Eioth shortly, hero!]
Lee Minjun backed away from the message, his face filled with nervousness.
…
Aleia looked him in the eye once more,
"If you defeat Aracles and solve the problems of this world… I will ensure you will never have to work another day's work ever again… "
"Just make sure not to ruin your world's global economy… Because…"
"I will give you an…"
She smiled,
…
"SSS-Class Credit Card"