The Hero Returns

For the first time in a long while, Su-hyeun treated Shin Su-yeong to a meal. His busy schedule meant they couldn't meet often, but he still tried to keep the promises of eating together with her.

"Are you going to keep working?"

Su-hyeun's question prompted Shin Su-yeong, who was roasting the meat, to stop wielding her tongs and ask him, "If not, should I just do nothing?"

"It's fine to stop working, you know. I've made enough money and more will keep coming in the future, too. I thought you wanted to enjoy the fruit of your son's labor?"

"No, thank you. You can only laze around doing nothing for a day or two, and besides, how can a person not work for a living?"

"Aren't you being too much of a workaholic?"

"It's more like I don't want to laze around, that's all. Having my own business and working for myself can be really rewarding, you know."

Even though Shin Su-yeong's business hadn't opened its doors for long, it was already doing rather well thanks to her over 20 years of experience in the field. They chatted about this and that, then Su-hyeun took Shin Su-yeong back home. When he came back to his own place, it was already well past ten o'clock in the evening.

The room and the bed previously soaked in blood were all spotless now. It seemed that the cleaners had come by while he was out.

<<So, then. It's the 21st floor from here on.>>

Two years. He had basically climbed ten floors every year.

The reason for him taking longer than expected was fairly simple, actually. Each and every floor's trial had been difficult, yes, but Su-hyeun's own desire to pass them all perfectly played a large factor, as well.

<<Things are going to get busy for a while.>>

Click—

Su-hyeun equipped the newly-acquired item, the Falcon's Holy Armor, underneath his clothing. Then, he firmly secured Gram on his waist before extending his hand to the front.

He concentrated for a moment or two, gripped the space tightly, and tore it open.

The doorway leading to the Tower was opened.

Su-hyeun slowly walked inside.

* * *

The world of 21st floor.

Su-hyeun spent all of his remaining achievement points to buy food and medicine.

What little of his achievement points remaining after purchasing the highest-grade potential catalyst potion and the Property of Dimension order form was now completely gone.

He did have a few points stashed away for rainy days, but even that was used up to take the necklace of the Shayres to the other side.

<<For sure, I should really make them work hard for it later.>>

He felt slightly bitter about spending almost every bit of his hard-earned achievement points. What was left was only enough to buy consumables such as foodstuffs.

<<I think that's enough food...>>

He was preparing just in case the trial turned out to be lengthier than expected, but still, he was sure that the event of him running out of food wouldn't happen any time soon. Indeed, all of this preparation was simply for that one in a million chance.

<<I'm planning to finish as soon as possible, anyway.>>

Su-hyeun's current level of growth meant that the 21st floor didn't hold much meaning despite the fact that it was the tenth level of trial. His current self needed to focus on climbing up to the higher floors rather than getting too caught up in achieving the perfect accomplishments in the trials themselves.

Su-hyeun immediately headed to the gate located in the 21st floor's plaza. The moment he passed through the portal, the view before his eyes transformed and messages floated up.

[Applicable individual Kim Su-hyeun is starting the 20th floor's trial.]

[Please select your difficulty.]

His answer was the same as always. "The tenth level."

As soon as he announced his decision, the previously-blank view slowly regained its natural color.

[The 21st floor's trial, tenth level, will now commence.]

The landscape greeting him was a forest. It was a forest so quiet that not even the common noises of winds blowing or birds chirping could be heard. It was difficult to guess the exact theme of this trial just from the surroundings, so Su-hyeun waited for the next set of messages.

[The trial will now commence.]

[Mercenaries from Balkan Kingdom capable of wielding special powers wish to conquer a dungeon that has appeared in the forest. Although attacking dungeons is their main job, they haven't realized the true dangers of this dungeon yet.]

[Your name is Warrick. You must work together with your comrades and conquer the dungeon.]

[Your reward will change depending on the level of success of the trial.]

Su-hyeun read the floating messages and quickly confirmed his appearance.

Although he was now given an alias of Warrick, his actual appearance hadn't changed a bit. Not just his clothing, but even the sword equipped on his waist as well as the pauldrons of the Falcon's Holy Armour over his shoulders were still there.

<<Is this the system's doing?>>

In any case, the contents of this trial didn't seem all that difficult in nature. It sounded pretty much the same as every dungeon attack he participated in.

As for the achievement level, it was probably dependent on how quickly the dungeon attack was completed, as well as the percentage of monsters defeated, etc.

<<My comrades are....>>

"Mister Warrick—!"

With great timing, he heard a voice calling out to Su-hyeun coming from the side.

Technically speaking, it was calling out to Warrick, but judging from the system's explanations, Su-hyeun must've looked like this Warrick guy to the eyes of everyone else.

He quickly made his way in the direction of the voice.

"Warrick! Hey, dude!"

A total of three people were waiting for him.

Among them, a large man over one hand-span taller than Su-hyeun hurriedly approached him and asked, "What kind of a bathroom break takes that long? We were worried that you might have gotten lost."

"Ah, I took a wrong turn by mistake, that's why... I'm sorry."

For some reason, Su-hyeun thought he could recognize the names and faces of all three people before him.

<<Keshunirn, Howal, Aile.>>

Two men and one woman. No, rather, this group now consisted of three men including Su-hyeun himself, as well as the lone woman.

The large man approaching Su-hyeun was an awakener named Keshunirn. He was the leader of the group, and also the liveliest of the bunch, as well. The other man with the constrasting, gloomy atmosphere was Howal. He was slightly shorter than Su-hyeun, and his shoulders were slumped forward noticeably.

As for the woman with the blonde locks extending all the way down to her shoulders, she came across as just too pretty to be called a mercenary. It seemed that she was originally a daughter of a noble house, but had no choice but to start working as a mercenary after her family fell into ruin.

<<As I thought, the trial this time might not be all that difficult.>>

To think that the information would be entering his head oh-so thoughtfully like this. Not only that, despite their era or dimensions not being the same, the environment they were in wasn't all that different from the one Su-hyeun was used to living in, too.

<<Awakeners and appearances of dungeons. And the mercenaries that attack those dungeons...>>

What a relief that there didn't seem to be any particular issues to worry about, at least on the surface.

The skill levels of each and everyone here weren't too shabby, either. All three were awakeners ranked B, while the magical energy concentration almost reaching the A rank could be felt from Aile herself. This group had been attacking dungeons without any problems until now, so it should be the same story this time as well.

Even then, why the trial was about attacking the dungeon?

<<Maybe it's not an ordinary dungeon?>>

The trials didn't hand out missions that anyone could clear. Even if the mission seemed ordinary and not all that difficult on the surface, there was one thing he must remember at all times.

He was in a tenth-level trial.

* * *

Su-hyeun traveled to the dungeon with the three members of the group. As they walked while chatting about this and that, they soon spotted the dungeon's entrance at the bottom of the distant valley.

"Over there!" Keshunirn shouted out with a bright face.

That prompted Hawal to grumble in a small voice. "What's so great about discovering a dungeon anyway...."

It was a mystery how the bright and outgoing Keshunirn decided to team up with the negative and gloomy Howal.

"It's great that we found our source of income, that's what. Don't you agree?"

Su-hyeun had no choice but to nod when Keshunirn asked him. "Yes, I agree."

As he said that, Su-hyeun sneaked a glance at Aile. She hadn't said a word while on their way here. He didn't even know what her voice sounded like.

"What's the matter? Did you fall for her?" Keshunirn spotted the glance and stuck close to Su-hyeun to whisper that question.

The latter frowned ever so slightly and stared at the former. Keshunirn chuckled softly under his breath and waved his hand about. "I'm just kidding. No need for the glare, you know. Besides, it's true that she's a beauty, right? We haven't been working together for long, but there's no doubt that her abilities are the real deal, too."

Aile had joined the group comparatively later than everyone else. They only attacked one dungeon together with her. During that conquest, she displayed the greatest set of abilities among the group.

"And besides, isn't it better to have a quiet but pretty older sister type around you than a gloomy bastard?"

"Well, you're right about that..." Su-hyeun's unenthusiastic response brought out a puzzled expression on Keshunirn's face.

Su-hyeun looked back at Keshunirn and asked, "What's wrong?"

"No, well, something feels a bit strange, you see."

"About?"

"I mean, I was convinced that you had the hots for Aile until now, but... No, even if it's not that, you used to go absolutely mental over any girls you spotted, so...."

"Be careful with what you say. Who's supposed to go mental over women here?"

Although something did pop up and lightly prodded him in his mind, Su-hyeun decided not to sweat over it.

<<It's too much work trying to pretend to be someone else, and it doesn't really matter even if they find me weird.>>

He had experienced this type of trial plenty of times before, the one where he had to inhabit the body of someone else and pretend to be that person. Every time he did that, though, Su-hyeun grew more and more aware of the burden of acting like that person, and eventually, he came to realize one thing: even if he didn't play the part, as long as that didn't pose any issues regarding the clearing of the trial, then there was no problem in how others perceived him.

The only issue with that was the resulting uncomfortable stares, but that also didn't matter depending on his mindset.

"Hmm...."

Sure enough, Keshunirn pondered Su-hyeun's reply for a moment or two before nodding his head. "Well, sure. A person's mind does change on a whim, so...."

He was jumping to conclusions all on his own.

Su-hyeun could only sigh inwardly but endured it. All he wanted to do right now was to get through this trial as soon as possible.

"By the way, this is supposed to be a yellow-color dungeon, so will it be alright?"

It was then that Aile spoke for the very first time.

Indeed, the yellow-colored dungeon did pose a tough challenge for a group of four awakeners around the rank B level. If another rank A Awakener was added to the group, then it'd been a different story. So, it wasn't all roses and smiles even if they did discover the dungeon.

"We have Miss Aile with us, so what could be the problem? If it's proving to be too difficult, then we can just walk away content after checking out the entrance." That opinion was from the ever-positive Keshunirn.

"Don't be stupid. Did you forget how many idiots without enough abilities die because their greed got the better of them? Seriously, man. Why do I even call someone like you our leader...."

"Mister Howal."

Aile shot him a glare, prompting Howal to shut his mouth. He then averted his head away and began grumbling something to himself.

It seemed that Aile was carefully weighing her options, while Keshunirn was in favor of challenging the dungeon. As for Howal's opinion, he didn't want to.

But then again, his personality dictated that he'd always lean towards a no anyway, not just in this matter. He was the type to first oppose whatever other people were suggesting and then see what happened next.

"What do you think, Mister Warrick?"

Su-hyeun didn't hesitate to reply to Aile's question. "Let's challenge it."

"Yes!" Keshunirn cried out.

Two voted for, one neutral, and one against.

The result had been decided.

The group stepped inside the dungeon. The most motivated of the group was, as expected, the duo of Su-hyeun and Keshunirn.

Once they stepped into the dungeon's interior, a lengthy, arrow-straight cavern appeared before their eyes. The cavern was so large and long that they couldn't even see the end.

The chilly air cutting into their skin felt rather ominous. Perhaps Keshunirn himself had felt it, too, because he began muttering in a worried voice next. "What kind of atmosphere is...."

Clack—

He then tripped over something and wobbled unsteadily for a bit.

Su-hyeun reached out and grabbed the tottering Keshunirn's arm. The latter's complexion paled instantly. "This, this...."

The rest of the group entering behind them also carried similar expressions.

"Bones." Su-hyeun looked at the countless number of bones strewn about everywhere on the floor and continued on. "They are all human remains."

Keshunirn, still pale-faced, sneaked a glance in Su-hyeun's direction.

Unlike the others, his expression hadn't changed a bit.