Not far from the police station, we arrived at our destination in no time.
She stopped in front of a stylish, modern house about four stories high.
"Alright~ This is the house where you'll be staying, Do-hee~ It's completely free for one year, and that includes electricity and water. If you want to keep living here after that, you can sign a separate contract~"
Following her inside, I found a nice family home with four bedrooms. It felt like the kind of place a moderately wealthy family would live in.
It was a far better house than I deserved, especially for living alone.
It didn't seem like anyone had lived here before, yet it was fully furnished with a new computer, washing machine, dryer, refrigerator, and everything else I could possibly need.
When I asked how such a nice house could be provided for free, the woman told me she was the owner of the building…
She explained that she cooperates with the police as a sort of donor or sponsor. She emphasized several times that the entire building was for women only, so it was very safe.
And it wasn't just the house that surprised me.
The closet was full of clothes and underwear, which, strangely enough, fit me perfectly.
How on earth did they know my size?
When I tried on the underwear, it clung to my body as if it were custom-made.
Don't tell me...?
I glanced at the landlady, who was smiling warmly as she watched me get dressed.
"Looks like the size is a perfect fit. I had some things I'd bought but never worn. It's okay, right?"
Ah…
This is… actually a bit disappointing…
"Ah, yes, it's fine. In fact… no, it's nothing."
"Hohoho… You don't have to feel burdened. You're like a daughter to me… I'm doing this for my own peace of mind."
Ma'am…
She said that if her own child had grown up, she would have a daughter my age, but honestly, I found that hard to believe.
"Oh, and here's a cell phone! You know how to use it, right?"
"Yes. Thank you."
The phone looked much better than the one I used to have.
After receiving explanations about the house and essential modern items like an ID card, a bankbook, and a credit card, I was pretty much settled in.
"My goodness, Do-hee… No matter what happens, the most important thing is to live. Whenever things get tough, don't be afraid to call me! Call me if you're bored, too. I have plenty of time, so anytime is fine. Got it?"
"Yes!"
It seemed she had read my statement and misunderstood, thinking I had suffered some kind of terrible ordeal. Of course, it was possible the original owner of this body had gone through something like that.
After all, what kind of person ends up wrapped in layers of plastic and thrown away in a junkyard?
—Thud…
After the landlady left, I tidied up a bit and turned on the computer.
I wanted to get my revenge as soon as possible.
But first, I needed to do some research. In this body, I was completely helpless.
What happened to my body after I died?
What about my assets?
Are my hidden treasures still safe?
Did they manage to clear the next floor without me?
The moment I turned on the computer, I discovered a shocking fact.
What? The date is weird.
September 17, 2028.
And the year I died was 2023.
Five years have passed…?
It took five years for me to come back to life?
Fine, that could happen.
I'd already been reincarnated into a woman's body; what's a five-year time skip on top of that?
So, what's the status of Korea's Tower conquest?
I had so many questions.
The last floor I had cleared was the 72nd.
According to the Tower's rules, if a new floor isn't cleared at least once a year, the Tower collapses.
Of course, climbing more than one floor was fine, but clearing ten floors at once didn't mean you were safe for ten years. The timer started the moment a new floor was cleared.
And the moment the Tower collapses…
The surrounding area becomes a demonic landscape, impossible to restore.
That's why most other countries played it safe after the 50th floor, clearing only one or two floors a year.
Of course, I was different…
Maybe that was why I was betrayed.
I had single-handedly broken through the 70th floor, which everyone said was impossible, and ignored their pleas to proceed safely, continuing to climb…
Even though I was certain it was possible and had a plan, other countries—and even people in Korea—treated me like a madman.
Hoo… Still, with all the groundwork I laid, our country must still be number one in the world, right?
Or so I thought.
But what was this?
[World Tower Ranking Chart]
United States - 91st Floor
China - 88th Floor
Japan - 81st Floor
Russia - 79th Floor
Korea - 78th Floor
Germany - 78th Floor
...
..
.
What the…? Where did our great Korea go?
That's right.
In my absence, our country had barely managed to climb one floor per year. The remaining members had only climbed just enough to prevent the Tower from collapsing.
It had been a glorious era when countless people around the world watched our every move, certain we would become the world's greatest nation. Nationalistic news was rampant, and many scholars predicted that Korean would become the world's standard language alongside English.
And China and Japan, who had been nipping at our heels, were constantly begging our country's Awakeners and government for help.
Haa… In the end, did those bastards choose to settle for comfort?
It might make getting revenge easier, but I didn't feel good about it.
Alright, let's see what these assholes have been up to.
While most of the data was classified, I could easily find posts floating around on community sites.
[Tower Climbing Support Gallery]
---
[Title]: The Reason Our Country's Awakeners Became Cowards
[Content]: I respect the conquerors who risk their lives to climb the Tower.
But I have to say it.
Ever since the huge number of casualties on the 72nd floor, they've all become wimps.
They're not Tower conquerors anymore; they're just the establishment.
They sacrifice the lives of young newcomers who are trying to turn their lives around, while they clear floors safely from the rear. And it's not uncommon to see them picking fights with rival guilds or bullying neutral Awakeners.
What's more, the masters of the Six Great Guilds have all entered politics and business to snag themselves a cushy position lolololol
They're not Tower conquerors anymore. They're just the Tower's establishment.
---
Comments:
- So what? If you don't like it, climb it yourself.
- But at this point, our country can't clear the Tower without the Six Great Guilds anyway. We have no choice but to beg those bastards to do it.
- The big guilds control all the information, skills, and elixir recipes. Plus, they don't party with neutral users and only climb among themselves, so it's structurally impossible for a new guild to emerge. For real.
- Just let Korea fail.
- Fact: 5th place is still pretty good.
└ We're basically 6th, lol.
└ Expert opinion: Korea will fall out of the top 10 in five years.
- I can tell this guy is from that guild.
└ For real, the only guild kicked out of the Seven Great Guilds lol.
└ I feel bad for them, though.
└ That Blind Sword Saint? lolol
---
So they're basically clearing it out of a sense of duty…?
But that was the public's perception. When I looked up other materials, I found that they had their reasons.
The official reason for the delay was the massive number of casualties among their main forces on the 72nd floor. So, they were training newcomers and climbing slowly with them, a method that was naturally slow.
Did I really kill that many?
I was fighting in a near-trance state at the end, so I don't remember it well. If not that, then my death itself could have been the problem.
It even seemed like the distribution of spoils based on contribution had become an issue, as the guilds weren't on good terms with each other.
The public thinks the major guilds have become the establishment and are just playing it safe, but the reality is a bit different…
It looked more like they were struggling just to maintain their vested interests, barely managing to climb one floor at a time. Entering politics and business was likely a necessary choice, as the cost of training new members was substantial.
They might not have expected it, but from my perspective, this was the natural outcome.
Of course. It's because… I wasn't there.
Without me, the commander who led all Seven Great Guilds and possessed the strongest military power, it was inevitable that casualties would mount and they would fall into disarray.
Those foolish bastards…
In a way, they were already starting to pay the price for their betrayal.
*
Yongsan District Police Agency, Seoul.
"Officer Kim, have the investigation results come in?"
Based on Lee Do-hee's statement, they had begun investigating how she had ended up in a scrap dealer's junkyard.
"Yes, Inspector Park. The violent crimes unit from the criminal investigation department gave us the results, but… how should I…"
"What is it? Let me see."
They had back-traced who had discarded the plastic wrap Lee Do-hee was found in, and the result was shocking.
"Lee Seong-yong's mansion, the current leading heir of the Ohsung Group…? Wait a minute, this is…"
Ohsung Group.
No further explanation was needed.
It was the undisputed number one global mega-corporation in Korea, and the Ohsung Guild was the nation's top guild.
This was a massive, massive case.
Nothing had been confirmed yet, but if the investigation continued, it would inevitably lead to talk about the Ohsung Group's owner family.
"Uh… what happens now?"
"Haaah…"
Inspector Park let out a deep sigh and pondered. He was the man with the patchy beard who had first yelled at Do-hee but later treated her kindly.
"Bury it. The violent crimes unit said they won't investigate any further, right?"
"What? Well, yes, but isn't this going too far? No matter how powerful the chaebol family is, if this hits the news…"
Officer Kim, still a rookie, was at the peak of his righteous idealism.
"Stop it. Of course, if we had found the woman's corpse, I might have done just that. But think about it. They probably think she's dead right now. If a full-scale investigation begins, who do you think will be in the most danger?"
They had wrapped a person in plastic and dumped her in a junkyard.
Anyone could see it was an attempt to dispose of a body. They weren't fools; they wouldn't have thrown her away knowing she was alive. The fact that they weren't even trying to look for her made it clear they believed they had handled it perfectly.
"That… that's…"
"Bury it. Cover it up as if nothing ever happened, so the people who handle Ohsung Group's clean-up don't find out. I'll request that the posts on social media and in the news be deleted as well."
Unbeknownst to Lee Do-hee, her past was being erased.
"Perhaps she really was pretending not to remember in order to survive…"
His intuition had told him she was lying. He hadn't pressed her for no reason.
"Was she kidnapped as a child…?"
He concluded that she must have been abducted before she was even registered as a citizen. Now, all he could do was hope that she would forget everything and live happily.
*
Lee Do-hee's room.
"I can't see a way forward…"
It had seemed easy just a moment ago, but the more information I gathered, the higher the difficulty seemed to climb.
"This isn't something I can solve just by climbing the Tower."
All Six Great Guilds had roots spread throughout Korea.
The moment I attacked them, I would become a target for the entire nation.
"And what's the point of knowing if I can't do anything with it?"
『Awakener Market』
I couldn't use it yet since I hadn't started climbing the Tower, but I could window-shop.
[Hobgoblin's Inner Core]: 20 million won
[Blue Wolf's Heart]: 50 million won
[Mayer Family's Breathing Technique]: 300 million won
...
..
.
Unlike in the past when I just blindly climbed, there were now elixirs, equipment, and skills that were most effective on the lower floors, but I had no money to buy them.
"I need money… and a justification for my revenge…"
No easy answer came to mind.
There was no point in agonizing over something I couldn't solve.
I decided to head outside to build up the basic physical fitness needed to climb the Tower.
*
One month later.
"Hoo… Is this enough?"
Though I had gone from being the world's strongest to an ordinary woman, I had spent the past month exercising to get my body into usable shape and gathering information online about everything that had changed.
Honestly, climbing the Tower in this body is the worst-case scenario…
My height had shrunk from 185cm to around 170cm, and my muscular frame was gone. It felt like the martial arts I used to practice had been completely reset. My ridiculously large breasts and ass threw my center of gravity off balance every time I moved.
No matter how hard I tried to build muscle, it seemed to be a problem with my innate physique; these jiggling lumps of flesh just wouldn't go away.
To put it bluntly, this body was a specimen specialized for breeding rather than combat.
But I won't give up.
My goal is the Tower, and only the Tower.
Revenge. The glory of Korea. Wealth and fame. The source of the Tower.
Everything is at the top of that Tower.
I have no intention of living like a dazed, foolish female just because I've become a woman.
"Let's go."
Personal equipment is restricted on floors 1 through 10 anyway, since they're tutorial floors, so I didn't need any supplies.
Tying my fluttering pink hair back, I left the house in a light training outfit.
The house I was living in was less than a 30-minute walk from the Seoul Tower.
The Seoul Tower had appeared where Namsan Tower used to be, and since my house was right below it, I could commute to the Tower as easily as going to work. It was a great location, like taking a stroll up the neighborhood hill.
You really can't see the top.
A colossal tower, about one kilometer in diameter and twenty kilometers high.
The massive structure, whose top was invisible from below, finally came into view.
"Hoo…"
To shake off my nerves, I broke into a light jog.