Chapter 26
“Don’t use your skill—just die!”
Even after realizing the voice sounded exactly like his mother’s, Kang-han couldn’t bring himself to believe it.
‘Why would Mom be here…?’
His mother, Yoo Yi-soo, had always been an ordinary woman. An orphan who married his father in her early twenties.
‘She went missing while searching for a cure for me.’
After her disappearance, Kang-han had searched for years, but never found even a clue. And now, he heard her voice in a place like this?
[You have to die! Kang-han, you must die!]
He never imagined the same mother would be yelling at him to die.
As the voice continued to shout, a strange face slowly emerged from the wall like a shadow—grotesque and eerie.
[Hiieeek! A ghost!]
The shrine maiden ghost shrieked in fear, snapping Kang-han back to his senses.
Right. Nothing was certain yet.
Just because the voice was similar didn’t mean it was really her.
“I’ll ask one more time. Are you really my mother?”
[Don’t use your skill!]
“No answer, huh.”
All the voice did was repeat the same thing: don’t use skills, just die.
Kang-han’s gaze darkened.
“Then I’ll do exactly what you don’t want me to do. Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”
He activated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and reached up with one hand—thud!—the giant boulder stopped mid-air, unable to crush him.
It seemed like with the art activated, even this “Impossible” difficulty could be overcome.
‘If I hadn’t used it, I would’ve been crushed, just like the voice wanted.’
Holding the boulder with one hand, Kang-han clenched his other fist tightly.
[Skill “Heavenly Demon Fist” activated.]
Boom! His punch slammed into the boulder.
Crack! Cracks spread throughout it, and it shattered into pieces that rained to the ground.
[Wow! You’ve completely mastered the Heavenly Demon Fist! Your understanding is incredibly high!]
The shrine maiden ghost was amazed.
“It’s just system buffs.”
[Still, you move like the power is fully your own…]
Kang-han waved it off, but the ghost clearly saw something more in his movements.
Then—
[You failed to train ‘Strength.’ Would you like to reset the difficulty?]
Apparently, destroying the boulder didn’t count as proper training. The system suggested changing the difficulty.
[Set the difficulty to ‘Impossible.’]
[It has to be Impossible for your strength to grow.]
[You must reach 20. You have to die.]
Now, the voice that only screamed before was repeating new lines.
“20…? You can raise it to 20 on Impossible difficulty?”
No response—just the same line, repeated over and over.
It was like a pre-recorded message triggered under certain conditions.
‘It says “Don’t use skills” when I use skills, and “Set to Impossible” when I change the setting. So it’s just meant to push me to die in this training.’
Kang-han looked at the wall stained with shadows.
That grotesque face twitched and kept repeating:
[Set the difficulty to ‘Impossible.’]
[Set the difficulty to ‘Impossible.’]
[Set the difficulty—]
[Now that I hear it again, it’s just repeating like before…]
“Yeah. Seems to just say things depending on what I do.”
[But what is that thing really? Didn’t you say it sounded like your mom?]
Kang-han nodded.
“Yeah. It sounds exactly like her, who went missing. Which is why…”
He tapped the shadowy wall.
“I think I need to break this thing.”
[You’re going to destroy the wall?!]
“Yeah.”
[But… you said it might be your mom.]
“That’s exactly why I need to destroy it.”
Kang-han took a breath, and boom!—punched the wall with all his might.
CRASH! The wall shattered.
He hadn’t struck the shadow face directly, but breaking the upper part was enough.
Hssss… Thick black smoke rose from the break.
[Ahh… you foolish child…]
[Everything was for you…]
A voice that sounded just like his mother’s echoed—and then vanished with the smoke.
‘…It was all for me, huh.’
Was dying over and over again in Impossible mode really something for him?
Kang-han scoffed bitterly.
[But it wasn’t just a recording this time.]
“Yeah. It spoke in response for once… but I still couldn’t have a real conversation.”
He looked at the ruined wall, thinking of the other training rooms.
If they also had traces of this strange voice, he had to check them too.
Especially—
‘I need to finish before the Heavenly Demon Divine Art wears off.’
Without the art, he would’ve died instantly from the first trial.
He needed to confirm if the other rooms were the same.
Also—
‘The 24-hour limit didn’t trigger here.’
He’d activated the art before entering this tower and slept, but it was still active.
Maybe the cooldown timer worked differently in the First Tower?
‘I’ll check later.’
With that thought, Kang-han turned and stepped into the portal behind him, returning to Cheonmagok.
‘Time for the next room.’
He ran toward the portal for Agility training.
[W-Wait for me~!]
The shrine maiden ghost chased after him and landed on his shoulder right before entering.
[I’ll watch carefully this time! I was scared before, but now—]
“You’re a ghost scared of ghosts?”
[I’m not a ghost!]
She shouted with a perfectly ghostly face.
“Sure, shrine maiden.”
Kang-han smirked.
‘This time… I’ll figure it out properly.’
With that thought, he entered the Agility training room.
[Agility Training Initiated.]
[Difficulty Setting – Impossible]
The Agility room was filled with flying arrows—testing how well Kang-han could dodge.
But with Impossible difficulty, there was barely any space to move.
[You have to die! Kang-han, die!]
From the floor, a shadow formed, and the voice called again.
“…”
Kang-han deflected arrows with his hands.
Thud! He stomped the ground and dark smoke billowed up.
[You got too strong… too fast…]
[The blessing was supposed to last longer…]
This time, the smoke said something new—then faded.
‘So the blessing was also connected to this voice.’
When he was under the blessing’s control, he hadn’t been able to think freely.
If his Heavenly Demon Body hadn’t upgraded to D-rank, he might’ve kept dying endlessly, unaware.
Kang-han’s expression hardened.
[That aura… it’s pure demonic energy.]
The ghost, no longer scared, detected it clearly.
Pure demonic energy?
‘No way that’s something my mom would have…’
Puzzled, Kang-han left the Agility room.
“Let’s move to the next one.”
In the third training room—Stamina—
[Stamina Training Initiated.]
[Difficulty Setting – Impossible]
Chains bound his limbs, and heavy iron balls weighed down his body.
Then behind him—
Fwoooosh! Giant flames rose and began creeping toward him.
‘What is this, stamina training through burning to death?’
He looked at the chains and ripped them apart with a snap!
Immediately—
[Stamina Training Failed.]
[Would you like to reset the difficulty?]
And from the wall where the fire had emerged—
[Set the difficulty to Impossible.]
Again came the mother-like voice.
“…”
Crash! Kang-han walked over and punched the wall.
This time, the black smoke didn’t disappear.
Instead, it gathered—forming a face identical to his mother’s.
“…Is it really you, Mom?”
The face slowly opened its mouth.
[Kang-han, you’ll regret today’s choice.]
[20 is a very important number.]
The voice once again emphasized reaching 20 stats.
[If you ever want to undo your choice… just become weaker.]
[Then I’ll bless you again.]
It spoke as if offering a favor.
Become weaker… meaning revert the Heavenly Demon Body to E-rank?
Kang-han frowned.
“Answer my question first. Are you my mother?”
[Curious, are you?]
The face grinned.
Its mouth stretched unnaturally wide—like a clown’s exaggerated smile.
[If you’re curious, get weaker. Then I’ll come to bless you again.]
“…”
[Or… yes. Come down. Deeper into the First Tower.]
Slowly, the face looked downward.
Then smiled again.
[Then… you’ll know.]
And with that, fssshhh… it turned to smoke and vanished.
Kang-han stood still, staring.
“Get weaker… or go down…”
To drop his Heavenly Demon Body back to E, he’d have to die while climbing the Tower.
And since he’d only just reached D, dying once wouldn’t be hard.
But—
‘I won’t get weaker.’
Because of that strange blessing, he’d unknowingly died over and over.
He wasn’t going to let that happen again.
He didn’t care how important 20 was.
He wasn’t going to train through such madness.
Then—
“I’ll go down and meet them.”
He had to confirm the truth.
Was that really his mother?
Or something imitating her?
[That energy is incredibly dense with dark power. To meet her, you’d need to go to the middle… no, deeper layers of the Tower.]
“You can sense that?”
[Ah, I mean, not exactly… but she’s clearly no ordinary being. Maybe that’s why you’re so extraordinary too, being her child.]
“Hmm. But the mother I knew was just ordinary…”
Kang-han thought back to when she disappeared—then remembered his father in America.
‘Once I get out of here, I’ll ask Dad again what really happened back then.’
He’d been asleep the whole time, but maybe his father knew something.
As Kang-han returned to Cheonmagok—
[Uh… Kang-han! Your body—!]
“Huh?”
He looked at himself.
His body was becoming faint and transparent.
Then—
[You have exhausted your allowed time in the First Tower.]
[Returning to the original world.]
Fwoooosh!
A red portal opened behind him.
‘What? That was so short.’
He still had things to do.
But before he could resist—
Shwoooop!
The portal pulled him in.
[Pl-Please come back next time!]
“…Yeah.”
And with the shrine maiden’s farewell—
Kang-han returned to the real world.
To his home.
