Chapter 328

“Mr. Yoo! I had a question for you! Great timing!”

“Mr. Yoo, what in the world are you planning, using that

game

as an excuse?”

“Can non-hunters really awaken in the Tower of Tribulation?”

The heads of the various associations, momentarily stunned by Yoo Jinho’s abrupt arrival, recovered quickly. Now, rather than venting at Woo Jinchul, their outrage turned squarely on Jinho.

Jinho felt suddenly terribly overwhelmed. These were the heads of associations worldwide, as well as masters of influential, large guilds and S-rank hunters. The energy they gave off was nothing short of terrifying. But this was only a virtual world. And in here, Jinho was the undisputed authority. So, despite the sheer weight of their hostility, he remained calm and ignored their angry shouts.

“Ah. You could’ve gotten straight to the point from the start. Then we wouldn’t have wasted each other’s time. What was that nonsense about real estate law? Oh, and for those of you whose countries haven’t sold their land yet, I recommend wrapping that up soon. Once the servers are open, it’ll be too late for regrets. And there

will

be regrets.”

With a casual wave of his hand, a plush executive chair materialized beneath him. Jinho dropped into it, crossed his legs, and continued sharply.

“Since everyone’s clearly dying to know, I’ll get straight to the point. Yes. Anyone can awaken in the Tower of Tribulation.

Anyone.

And the abilities that they gain inside the virtual world will apply in the real world to some degree. In fact, depending on the level of effort involved, they may have even more to gain from this than normal hunters.”

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“What?!”

Everyone stared wide-eyed. These weren’t PR lines from a press release. This was a direct confirmation from Yoo Jinho himself.

“Y-you really mean that?”

“That’s really possible?”

It was no surprise they were stunned. The media often twisted and exaggerated the truth. Their viewership depended on it. In this world flooded with clickbait and false news, no one in this room had taken the headlines at face value. However, now, the CEO of Ahjinsoft had just confirmed everything as fact. The weight behind his last words, in particular, was significant.

“What do you mean, they might gain more than regular hunters?”

The voice belonged to Thomas Andre, who had been watching with mild amusement. Jinho met his eyes.

“You’re focusing on the wrong part,” he replied. “What I said before is the part that matters.”

“Hmm... The part about effort?”

“Right.”

Jinho grinned and faced Thomas from his seat.

“As stated in our announcement, the Tower of Trials is merely the tutorial for the main game. If you want power, you’ll need to put in the effort.”

“Sure, that much is expected. What sort of effort are we talking about?”

“Grit. Fearlessness. Endurance. Grim determination. And more than anything else... the courage to risk even death for further strength.”

That last phrase made everyone’s eyes narrow. The association chairman from Canada raised his hand to interrupt.

“What do you mean, risk death? Are you saying people might actually die while playing this game?”

“Of course not. The player’s real body is safely inside the capsule. Only the avatar dies. I’m sure you’re already familiar with the concept. After all, the same is true of this place.”

Jinho raised a hand, and suddenly, a massive shadow fell over the room. They looked up and found, to their shock, that Jinho’s palm, its size extremely magnified, hovered in the air, looking ready to crush everyone present. The hunters from all over the world frowned and glared at Jinho. They did not particularly appreciate being treated like flies.

But in here, Jinho had no reason to fear them. Jinho, the master of this server, withdrew the giant hand with a mischievous smirk and continued.

“As you can see, even if I kill you right now, you’d simply wake up in your own game capsules. Humanity is already accustomed to this sort of thing. Avatars can never truly die. They can regenerate dozens of times—hundreds of times if necessary. And the ones we developed are quite sturdy. Sure, it might be painful enough to feel like dying, but no actual harm will come to anyone.”

“‘Feel like dying?’ Are you saying this is far more realistic than other VR games? Enough to be traumatic?”

“That would depend on the person. I mean, if someone hates horror games, they just don’t play them, right? We’re not forcing anyone to participate. If they are scared, then they don’t have to take on the Tower of Tribulation at all. Speaking of which, the Tower of Tribulation is for adults only. No minors are allowed inside.”

The more Yoo Jinho spoke, the heavier the atmosphere became. Everyone here had experienced close shaves with death as hunters. They all knew exactly what “painful enough to feel like dying” meant. Some had lost limbs to monsters. Some had been devoured and left barely breathing. Even after being healed by a high-ranked healer, the memories of death remained etched into their minds. It was not as easy as it sounded to overcome the fear of death that remained in one’s memory and make up one’s mind to fight the magic beasts once again.

The Canadian chairman spoke heavily.

“Mr. Yoo... Why... Why did you develop something like this? What is your goal in creating more hunters?”

“Hmm. My goal, you ask? It isn’t for my personal gain, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jinho stared at the face of the man, who had been turning pointed questions at him for some time now. He was older now than before, but Jinho still remembered his face. This was Jay Mills, the S-rank hunter who represented Canada.

In the bygone timeline, that man had sworn at Jinwoo when he’d urged those who couldn’t fight to flee. He had been the one who led the hunters insisting on fighting before the gates. Their method hadn’t been right, but they couldn’t be blamed for what they’d done. He had been willing to give his life, albeit pointlessly, to protect his country. His mistake was ignorance.

He hadn’t understood how powerful the enemy truly was, nor how precarious humanity’s situation had become. Even so, without understanding any of it, he had still put himself forward to protect others. For that, at least, he deserved some credit.

So this time... I will make sure he knows exactly who we are up against. How weak humanity really is.

Jinho met Jay’s eyes.

“Jay Mills. If you truly want safety for your country, then you should take on the Tower of Tribulation first.”

“What...?”

“The tower is open to not only non-hunters, but hunters as well. In fact, I hope more hunters take it on than not. This game we have created was always meant as a training ground for the awakened, after all. So please... I would like to ask everyone here to take on the challenge before anyone else. Then you will understand.”

“Understand... what?”

“The truth.”

“What?”

With that, Jinho stood and extended his hands to everyone present. Each person was greeted with a chime.

[Invitation to Tutorial: “Tower of Tribulation” has arrived.]

[Invitation to Tutorial: “Tower of Tribulation” has arrived.]

[Invitation to Tutorial: “Tower of Tribulation” has arrived.]

[...]

Before each of them, a mysterious key appeared, floating in midair.

“I’m exercising my right to designate each of you as beta testers,” Jinho said. “Those keys will link your game capsules directly to the Tower of Tribulation. Use them, and you can enter the tower at any time. Even now.”

They looked stunned.

“If you’re that curious...” Jinho added, turning away, “then go see for yourselves. Find out. Now, I’m a bit busy. I’ll catch you all later.”

With a flash, he rose to his feet and vanished, having said what he’d come to say. After he’d gone, the chairmen stared at the mysterious keys in their hands, conflicting emotions passing through their eyes.

“We can use this... to enter right now?” one murmured.

Strangely enough, they found that their palms were sweaty as they held the dark keys. This virtual world was quite intriguing, they realized. They were sweating. In

VR.

It felt like magic.

In a world filled with monsters, supernatural powers, and gates, perhaps this—this technology born of human minds—was the most magical thing of all. Everyone gathered grew nervous. Now that they knew Jinho’s creation could allow even ordinary people to awaken... What did that make him?

“If this is true,” someone muttered quietly, “that man could be considered a god.”

A few others gave bitter, humorless smiles. There was one person, however, who reacted differently.

“God? I wouldn’t go that far. Maybe a Monarch among the humans. I sure didn’t see this coming.” It was Thomas, chuckling to himself. He gripped the key and said before anyone else, “I will enter the Tower of Tribulation.”

The words struck the air like thunder. All eyes turned to him in shock. Black energy flared from the key in Thomas’ hand. A gate appeared before him, swirling open.

“Ah. So I can gain access right from the virtual world. The updates are efficient,” he noted.

Before anyone could stop him, Thomas stepped through.

[Entering Tutorial: “Tower of Tribulation.”]

The moment he was inside, he saw something quite incredible. It was a massive, ruined city, shrouded in endless shadow.

“Wait...”

His eyes settled on a toppled monument in the distance—a shattered Statue of Liberty. It was New York, or what little remained of it. Thomas frowned, standing still in the heart of the devastation. A grim memory stirred inside him.

“Is this... the past?”

Or a coming future?

He clicked his tongue. “It looked like a pyramid from the outside, but inside, it’s an entire wrecked planet.”

Thomas was old, but he still knew a few things about VR games. It seemed that the dark pyramids all over the world were not actual buildings, but something akin to communication sites. They seemed to serve as gateways, allowing people from all over the world to access this massive dimension. The ashen city showed no signs of life whatsoever. As he looked around, he realized something.

“This is what would have happened to Earth without Sung Jinwoo.”

His sense of debt to Jinwoo grew, knowing that even now, the man was out there—fighting alone in the far reaches of space.

“Thomas...”

“Hmm?”

A faint presence stirred in the desolate expanse. The voice sounded like it belonged to someone on the edge of death. Thomas turned. There, collapsed against a broken wall, was an elderly woman. She was severely wounded, frail, and fading fast. Thomas’ eyes went wide.

“Norma Selner?”

The name left his lips in disbelief. Norma was his only friend. What was she doing here? His leisure vanished, replaced by a rage that sent blood rushing to his head.

“Norma!”

He was beside her in an instant. She smiled sadly at him.

“Thomas... At least you have survived. I’m glad.”

He ground his teeth. It might be just a game, but this was taking things too far. This Norma couldn’t be real. It was just a commonly used hallucination in VR games, some NPC based off of the user’s memories. He

knew

this, and yet, seeing her like this—broken, bloodied, dying... His vision went red with rage.

“Jinho, you son of a b*tch!”

“Don’t be angry,” Norma said gently. “Death... is fair to everyone.”

Even as she gasped for breath, Norma kept speaking, just like any well-written NPC.

“We fought with everything we had... but in the end, we lost.”

“So this

is

the past, then!”

“It is. It is also our future. One of many timelines... from Earth’s long history of invasion.”

She coughed violently, blood staining her lips. Thomas didn’t know what to do. He knew it wasn’t real, but everything felt so vivid and authentic. It was impossible to ignore. Compared to this, every VR game Ahjinsoft had released before now felt like a joke.

“Still... I’m glad. At least you are alive.”

As she spoke, the black key in Thomas Andre’s hand began to glow. With her vision fading, Norma’s face softened into a smile.

“So you have the key. It is the seed of hope, created with the last of humanity’s strength. Use it... to go back.”

“Go back? To where?”

“The past. To the days when we still had hope...”

Ding!

[Load saved data?]

(Y/N)

A game after all.

Thomas Andre stared at the prompt hovering before his eyes, eyes blazing.