Chapter 30
A café in Seoul.
“Wow. Chang-seop, don’t you think this is a bit too much?”
“I agree…”
Kim Chang-seop, who was working part-time at the café, looked at his boss pointing at a monitor.
“I mean, even with the Terminal Illness trait, how the hell does hitting the ground make all the surrounding monsters explode?”
On the monitor, the player known for having the “Heavenly Demon” trait—Lee Kang-han—was clearing the 11th floor. An Iron-rank player, taking down monsters in a wide area with just one punch.
“This is way too unfair, isn’t it? Most E-rank players quit because their awakened traits suck, and he’s just clearing everything on his own.”
“You’re right…”
Come to think of it, didn’t the boss say he quit being a player because he was E-rank too?
Chang-seop gave an emotionless reply to the boss’s constant complaining and thought to himself:
‘If he hates it so much, why does he keep watching…?’
This wasn’t because of today’s emergency broadcast. The boss had been watching the Heavenly Demon’s channel even before, always cursing in disbelief. He even said he’d keep watching until that damn Heavenly Demon lost his powers.
‘It’s probably because business tanked after the tower appeared…’
Ignoring the boss’s grumbling, Chang-seop glanced toward the front of the café.
Even though it was daytime, the building was covered in shadow. The Tower loomed directly outside, blocking the sunlight, leaving just enough space for two or three people to pass through.
‘Business dropped off ever since that thing showed up.’
Except for the explosive “Tower of Light,” most Towers were considered harmless. Still, with so many other cafés around, who would want to sip coffee next to something that ominous?
Customers vanished, and staff were cut. Now, the wide café was often manned only by the boss and Chang-seop.
‘It’s an easy job, but awkward as hell.’
Stuck with the boss in a nearly empty café, listening to him trash-talk the Heavenly Demon all day… maybe he should quit too.
Just as Chang-seop was seriously considering it—
“Whoa, he even broke the core… An A-rank achievement? Damn, that Heavenly Demon guy really did something before losing his powers.”
The boss, who had only ever bad-mouthed the Heavenly Demon, suddenly gave an unexpected compliment.
‘What’s gotten into him?’
While Chang-seop absentmindedly read through the announcements—
Rumble…
Suddenly, the ground trembled like an earthquake.
Thud!
A loud noise came from outside.
“W-What the?! Was that an earthquake?!”
The boss, panicking, dove to the ground and yelled from under the counter:
“Chang-seop! Go outside and see what’s going on!”
Another tremor.
“Hurry up!”
The boss, still hiding, ordered him to go.
‘Ugh. I swear, once I get this month’s paycheck, I’m out.’
Step, step.
Carefully approaching the door, Chang-seop looked outside—
The dark tower that had blocked the café’s entrance—
“Wh-What the…?”
Thud! Thud!
It was shrinking and collapsing straight downward.
“S-Sir! Something’s happening!”
“What?! What is it?!”
“T-The Tower… The Tower is disappearing!”
Chang-seop shouted while pointing outside.
The boss immediately shot up from under the counter.
The Tower—gone?
He’d sunk everything into this café after losing his job.
The first three months were fine… until that damn Tower appeared, cutting off all business and pushing him toward bankruptcy.
And now…
That cursed Tower was vanishing?
The earlier announcement came to mind:
[By clearing an A-rank achievement, global score gain has increased by 20% for six months.]
[All Towers under No.4 have been destroyed.]
‘Could it be… that No.4 Tower?’
He ran outside in a hurry—
Rumble…
The sunlight that had been blocked out was finally shining into the café.
Cracks spread from the Tower’s base, and it crumbled in neat layers, getting sucked into the earth below.
‘It’s sinking into the ground?’
The Tower disintegrated in an orderly way, causing no damage.
“Whoa, what the heck?”
“Get this on camera!”
Passersby stopped to record the sight.
“Hey! The Tower in front of Mega Café is disappearing! What? Heavenly Demon? Who’s that?”
“Wow, Towers really can disappear…”
Some made calls, urging others to come and see.
‘It’s… bright.’
As sunlight flooded back into the café, the boss dropped to the floor.
He thought he wouldn’t make it through the year.
He had already half-given up.
But now… the Tower was gone.
“I-I’m saved…”
He muttered to himself in disbelief, staring blankly as the Tower disappeared.
And it wasn’t just happening here.
Towers were collapsing all over the world—simultaneously.
Meanwhile.
[Opening clear rewards.]
[Level increased by 4.]
[You’ve gained 135,000 TP.]
Stepping through the portal, Lee Kang-han blinked at the massive rewards.
“Whoa. Why so much?”
Even compared to the usual SSS+ grade rewards, this was way beyond.
Sure, the level-up was two more than usual.
But the TP was nearly 100,000 higher than expected.
‘Was it because I cleared the 11th floor?’
Well, he had wiped out a ton of Orcs…
Just as he was recalling when he used “Heaven-Crushing Strike”—
Brrr…
His phone vibrated.
Caller ID: Kim Joo-young.
“Yo.”
Lee Kang-han picked up as usual.
“YAH YAH YAH! Are you insane?! What the hell did you just do?!”
“I dunno, I just smashed the star thing.”
“Everything’s going crazy! The Tower literally broke apart!”
“Oh yeah, I saw that message in the chat. Came out to check. It really broke?”
“Yeah! It’s not fully confirmed, but apparently one Tower in every country broke! In Korea, the one at Dapsimni Station is gone! The video’s blowing up!”
“Oh, cool. I should go check that out.”
“This is nuts. I thought your channel would blow up because of the elf… but now you’ve destroyed a Tower?! Your Heavenly Demon channel’s gonna explode!”
“Still doesn’t feel real to me. I’m just gonna browse around.”
As Kang-han opened his computer—
“Hey, Assistant Manager Kim. Who are you on the phone with?”
He heard a third person in the background.
“Huh? Oh, uh…”
“Wait a minute… was that the Heavenly Demon I heard?”
“N-No! Sir, that wasn’t—”
Click.
The call suddenly ended.
‘What was that about?’
Probably got caught sneaking a call in the bathroom or something.
Kang-han chuckled and looked at the monitor.
‘Every headline is about me…’
More chaos than when he placed first in the Tutorial.
Which made sense.
First-place clears happened every time.
But this?
An A-rank achievement.
A 20% score gain for humanity.
The first-ever destruction of a Tower.
That had never happened.
“Whoa… it really broke.”
Watching the Dapsimni Tower crumble on video, he clicked through to a few more from other countries.
[Heavenly Demon destroys a Tower (ft. actual footage) ⚡️]
[How valuable is a 20% score gain increase, economically?]
[Dapsimni Tower Collapse.AVI]
└ It really collapsed…
└ Didn’t even damage the surroundings lol
└ Who’s the crying guy?
└ Café owner. Tower ruined his business.
└ Damn, no wonder he’s crying lol
Videos from around the world were pouring in.
[Saw a Tower collapse while visiting Kyoto]
[Tower destruction in New York 😱]
[Beijing Tower collapsing too]
‘So exactly one per country, huh?’
Not clustered—spread evenly.
Given how fast Towers were multiplying now…
The 20% score boost might actually be more useful than losing just one Tower.
Though—
‘Symbolically, destroying a Tower is huge.’
The score boost wasn’t immediately noticeable.
But the visual impact of a Tower crumbling? That hit hard.
After watching a few more clips—
‘They all collapse the same way.’
No need to keep watching.
“Hm…”
He’d cleared an achievement.
He gave the entire world a benefit.
And yet…
‘All I got was a core fragment I don’t even know how to use?’
For an achievement of this scale…
His personal reward felt a bit underwhelming.
Sure, he was now famous globally.
But it wasn’t some OP skill or an overwhelming TP bonus.
‘Well, at least the channel’s gonna blow up.’
Thinking that, he sent today’s footage to Kim Joo-young.
And—
“At the beginning, there was order, evil, and demonic…”
He recited the Heavenly Demon’s true manual.
Though the world was in chaos outside…
Lee Kang-han himself didn’t feel much different.
‘Guess I’ll get some sleep later.’
As he finished reciting the Heavenly Demon arts, the time hit 5 PM.
Just as he was about to prepare dinner—
Brrr…
His phone buzzed again.
Caller: Shin Yoo-ri, his agent.
‘Perfect. I needed to convert TP anyway.’
Since he had a big influx of TP today, now was a good time to optimize the conversion rate.
He answered.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Heavenly Demon. Is now a good time?”
“Yes, I’m free.”
“I saw the broadcast. Congratulations on being the first human to clear an achievement.”
“Thanks.”
After giving him warm congratulations, Shin Yoo-ri got to the real reason for the call.
“I checked earlier and noticed that your channel has a ton of offers. Have you seen the comments?”
“Offers?”
“Yes. A bunch of companies want to contact you. Haven’t you looked?”
“Oh, I don’t really check comments.”
He hadn’t gotten around to it—he’d been sleeping.
And besides, he wasn’t the type to care about comments after posting.
“I was wondering if I could handle negotiations on your behalf. I’ll publicly declare you’re with our agency.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Thank you. And… another thing.”
After a short pause, she brought up a different topic.
“My father—Director Shin Kyung-chul—wants to meet you. When would be a good time?”
“The Director?”
“Yes. FIPA contacted us because of your achievement. They want to reward you on behalf of the international community.”
FIPA?
That was the International Player Federation.
“They said it won’t be anything formal like a photo or certificate. It’ll be something useful for climbing Towers.”
“Then of course I’ll accept.”
“Oh, really? Then… would tomorrow morning at 10 work?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
“I’ll come pick you up then.”
They confirmed the meeting time.
—
The next day.
“Director!”
“Y-Yoo-ri?!”
“As your agent, I refuse to accept that!”
At the Management Bureau, where Lee Kang-han had been invited—
Shin Kyung-chul and Shin Yoo-ri stood on either side of him, arguing intensely.
‘…What the heck is happening now?’
Kang-han blinked, watching the situation unfold.
