The Player Who Can't Level Up

Gabinji13-17 minutes 23.07.2022

The entire nation of Korea froze, and it wasn’t because of the cold weather. Every few minutes, the media blasted the grim news. While Korea saw an unbelievable five exceptional gates in a day, only a few exceptional gates appeared in the other countries in comparison. 

The news caused two different reactions: One faction believed players would continue to protect humanity, and the other believed it was the apocalypse. The majority belonged to the first category, but they feared the second group might turn violent out of fear. 

The streets remained quiet as if it was the calm before the storm.

***

On their way to the association building, Gi-Gyu asked Sung-Hoon, “What’s the situation?” 

They were inside the car Gi-Gyu gave to Sung-Hoon as a gift. Before Gi-Gyu could even process the news he saw on TV, he heard the doorbell ring and found Sung-Hoon waiting outside with a tense face. Sung-Hoon was there to take him to the association, so he promptly said goodbye to his family and got into the car. He knew that something was very wrong. 

Driving, Sung-Hoon explained, “Everyone is on alert. Our government used to trust the KPA completely, but even it is fearful of what is to come. Something like this has never happened before; consequently, the association has been unable to react quickly.”

The street was pretty empty: An unbelievable sight considering it was Christmas yesterday. 

Gi-Gyu murmured, “Five unratable exceptional gates…” 

Even a single S-Class gate could bring devastation to an entire country. When Gi-Gyu had first gained his power, he heard the news talking about Angela Guild's intention to resume climbing the Tower and the appearance of a new S-Class gate in America. Closing that gate took the life of a high ranker. 

“That gate was nicknamed ‘High Ranker Devourer,’” Gi-Gyu muttered in concern. What was a high ranker? Soo-Jung and Tae-Gu were high rankers—people who could easily survive on the high Tower floors. 

Sung-Hoon continued, “A total of 20 gates have appeared globally.” 

When Gi-Gyu nodded, Sung-Hoon added in shock, “Of those, five have appeared in Korea. This is unheard of.” 

“When have the gates ever been considerate of human situation? They will always do what they do,” replied Gi-Gyu. 

Humans had no control over the gates and the Tower's changes. Well, at least that was what Gi-Gyu believed back then. 

***

Gi-Gyu put on the clothes Sung-Hoon prepared for him when they arrived at the association. It was a coat with the association aegis embroidered on it. 

Sung-Hoon explained, “Today’s meeting is a pretty important one. General Manager Oh Tae-Shik asked me to have you ready.”

Gi-Gyu didn’t like wearing extravagant clothes, but he wasn’t stupid enough to refuse the coat. When Gi-Gyu looked annoyed, Sung-Hoon offered, “If you want to hide your identity, you are free to wear a mask.”

“Just what kind of meeting is this?” Gi-Gyu asked, but Sung-Hoon only smiled. He felt curious, but he didn’t ask Sung-Hoon again. The who, what, and why didn’t matter since he had to attend the meeting. 

‘Hmm… A mask…’ Gi-Gyu wondered quietly. Since he had decided to stop hiding his identity, there was no need to wear a mask. Shaking his head, he followed Sung-Hoon. 

As expected, the association building was hectic. The agents were running around and screaming while the phones rang nonstop with citizens calling in fear and protest. 

Sung-Hoon and Gi-Gyu walked for a while before they reached a giant door.

“So the meeting is in the association president’s room.” When Gi-Gyu announced, Sung-Hoon nodded and replied, “Yes. You can go in now. I will wait outside. When you’re done, please come find me.”

With a deep bow, Sung-Hoon turned around and walked down the quiet hallway. With a deep breath, Gi-Gyu looked at the door. Sung-Hoon gave him no details, but he could tell what kind of meeting this would be.

‘The powerful auras from the inside are…’ Gi-Gyu thought in awe. Some player item was blocking outsiders from sensing the auras inside, but it couldn’t block Gi-Gyu’s senses. Despite the barrier, he could feel the giant magic storm inside the association president’s room. Some auras inside were as strong as him, while others were stronger. Only one person inside had an aura weaker than Gi-Gyu, but he was sure everyone inside was an experienced fighter. 

Creak.

Gi-Gyu slowly opened the door and entered. Compared to the well-lit hallway, the inside was dimmer. 

“There you are,” Tae-Gu greeted him. The room was filled with chatter, but the moment Gi-Gyu entered, a sudden silence fell. Tae-Gu seemed calm as usual as he nodded toward Gi-Gyu.

“That’s him?” When a youthful voice asked, Gi-Gyu turned toward the voice. The speaker was a teen, about 15, and seemed as strong as him. Gi-Gyu knew he couldn’t underestimate this player since he suspected this teen was actually even stronger than him. 

“So, we finally meet the 11th mercenary.” This time, the speaker was a middle-aged man. The man had a noticeable long scar on his face, and Gi-Gyu knew who he was.

‘He’s the only member and the guild master of the first one-player guild Do-Hyung: Kim Do-Hyung.’

Kim Do-Hyung was barely a high ranker, but he could not be underestimated. Despite it being a one-player guild, his power alone made it comparable to several full-sized guilds. This was why he was allowed to form a solo guild. In fact, the Do-Hyung Guild was a top ten Korean guild.

Gi-Gyu stated, “So you are the other mercenaries.” 

He expected to see them at this meeting, but he was still a little surprised. They were all under the KPA’s wing. Powerful players who Tae-Gu made special efforts to provide incredible rights and privileges. 

Gi-Gyu looked around the room slowly and wondered, ‘The numbers don’t add up.’

He was told that he was the 11th mercenary. In one of the corners, Suk-Woo was sitting and waving at him. He also saw Tae-Gu and Tae-Shik. One of the seats was notably empty, and he instinctively knew it belonged to Soo-Jung. 

Since Tae-Gu and Tae-Shik weren’t mercenaries, excluding Soo-Jung and himself, there had to be nine players in the room. But including Suk-Woo, there were only six mercenaries here: Three mercs were missing.

Tae-Gu interrupted Gi-Gyu’s thoughts and suggested, “Please have a seat.”  

Gi-Gyu found a seat next to the 15-year-old and sat down. The boy looked up and asked the dreaded question, “By the way, what’s your code name, Hyung?”

***

Gi-Gyu’s appearance sidetracked the ongoing conversation, and a dark silence fell inside the association president’s room again. Given the serious situation the world was in, even the teen, who behaved playfully earlier, remained quiet with a serious look in his eyes. 

‘Just who is this boy?’ Gi-Gyu wondered with curiosity. The world would have noticed such a young player with this much power, yet Gi-Gyu had never seen or heard of him. Was this young player hiding his identity from the public?

Tae-Gu looked around the room and announced, “Not everyone is here, but it still has been a long time since this many mercenaries were in a room. This is our third meeting, I guess?” 

The association president continued with a short pause, “I’m sure you can all guess why we are gathered here today. The new exceptional gates in Korea.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, including Gi-Gyu. The meeting was an unexpected event and his first time inside a mercenary meeting, but he still blended well with the rest of the group. 

Kim Do-Hyung asked, “Did you call us here to talk about how to tackle these gates? If so, shouldn’t you be talking to the top ten guilds rather than us? We, the mercenaries, are individuals. And as you know very well, an individual can’t do an entire guild’s work.” 

At first, Gi-Gyu found it odd that the one-player guild master Kim Do-Hyung would make such a comment. But he quickly realized that it must have something to do with the interest of his guild. If the mercenaries closed these gates, there would be less work for the top ten guilds. Less work for the guilds meant less profit as well. It appeared that Kim Do-Hyung’s priority was the financial gain of his guild. 

‘Guess he isn’t a selfless type,’ Gi-Gyu thought, disappointed. Kim Do-Hyung’s abilities were public knowledge, but his personality remained a mystery. However, that comment told him that Kim Do-Hyung was a financially-driven man. 

‘Our whole country is in danger, yet he’s more worried about his profit.’ Gi-Gyu studied Kim Do-Hyung with narrow eyes. Everyone had the right to prioritize their needs, but in this case, Kim Do-Hyung was being plain selfish and greedy. Was Kim Do-Hyung that confident in his power? 

However, Kim Do-Hyung wouldn’t have made such a comment had he seen the situation for what it was. All the new gates were at least S class and exceptional. When it came to closing a gate, the timing was everything. 

Now, Gi-Gyu wasn’t all gung-ho about his country; still, he could tell that these gates could harm his home and even his family. So, he found Kim Do-Hyung’s comment dumb and selfish.

Suk-Woo commented, “I’m sure the association president has a good reason. Besides, the current situation requires the top ten guilds and us mercenaries to work in tandem. I’m sure you are very well aware of that, Guild Master Kim Do-Hyung. Moreover, the mercenaries are only called upon when the country is in danger.” 

As expected, Suk-Woo didn’t disappoint Gi-Gyu. Suk-Woo was a logical man who could read the situation accurately. There were times to be a savvy businessman, but there were also times when one must control their greed. 

Kim Do-Hyung frowned unhappily at Suk-Woo. 

‘What an open book that man is,’ Gi-Gyu thought in annoyance. There seemed to be an unnecessary tension rising in the room; thankfully, the teen player announced, “I’m sure the association president called us for a good reason. Shouldn’t we listen to him first before discussing something like this?” 

The boy’s name was Jang Hyo-Jin. He looked like a typical immature teenager, but the boy turned out to be much more thoughtful. 

“Silence,” Tae-Gu ordered. There was quite a lot of power in his words. His aura surrounded every player in the room, making everyone tense. 

Tae-Gu explained, “You were all correct just now. Normally, I do talk with the top ten guilds first about tackling new gates rather than involving the mercenaries. But, the situation is too serious for me to get only the guilds involved.”

When Tae-Gu gestured, Tae-Shik placed an item on the table. Suddenly, a map of Korea appeared with dozens of red dots all over the place. Among these red dots, five shone brighter than the others.

Tae-Gu continued, “Firstly, these five dots are the exceptional gates that can affect non-players. The problem is… We can’t send scout teams in due to the difficulty. Because these are unprecedented structures, we have no idea what kind of dangers lurk inside. A scout team is supposed to collect data about the insides of a gate. However, if there is a high chance of them dying along the way or failing to bring us any useful information, sending them in isn’t worth it.”

Everyone focused on his words as the association president added, “Therefore… We need you people to scout these gates.”

This wasn’t something the top ten guilds could do. Just like Kim Do-Hyung explained, the guilds weren’t individuals. Therefore, they would never accept such a risky mission. 

But the mercenaries were different. For example, Kim Do-Hyung was a guild master, but he could make risky decisions for himself as a mercenary. Besides, every mercenary in this room was assigned to the position to be utilized in a situation like this. 

Another silence fell in the room. Everyone here was considered a powerful player, but scouting S-Class or higher gates was a dangerous mission.  

Suddenly, Jang Hyo-Jin raised his hand and answered, “I’ll do it.”

Tae-Gu nodded quietly. 

“I’m in too. I’ll do it,” Suk-Woo also volunteered. 

“Hmm… If the compensation is acceptable, I will volunteer as well,” Kim Do-Hyung offered, suggesting that he be paid as a mercenary and a guild. 

Two more volunteers were needed. Gi-Gyu was about to raise his hand when he saw Tae-Shik glaring at him.

‘Don’t raise your hand.’ Gi-Gyu could tell Tae-Shik was telling him not to volunteer. Gi-Gyu knew Tae-Shik must have a good reason, but he couldn’t help but contemplate. 

‘Scouting an exceptional gate…’

Gi-Gyu didn’t know the other mercenaries’ abilities, but with Brunheart’s gate full of his personal soldiers, he knew he had an excellent chance at success. He was confident he could get detailed information much more safely than anyone in this room. It wasn’t peer pressure or anything—he could actually be helpful in this dangerous situation. 

So, should he ignore Tae-Shik and raise his hand? 

Subsequently, two girls, identical twins, raised their hands and announced, “We volunteer too.” 

Gi-Gyu had never seen these two women before. ‘They are the strongest mercenaries in this room.’ 

Excluding Tae-Gu, the twins had the strongest aura, even stronger than Tae-Shik’s. Now, Tae-Gu had five volunteers. 

Only Gi-Gyu and another mercenary didn’t offer to help. The mercenary in question was wearing a mask, so he couldn’t even tell if they were a man or a woman. He also couldn’t sense the player’s power at all. 

“Now, I will talk to the volunteer scouts in private. Before we end this meeting, does anyone have anything to say?” Tae-Gu asked before finishing up the meeting. Everyone seemed satisfied with how everything turned out because they remained quiet. 

Just then… 

One man raised his hand and murmured, “Well…”

It was Gi-Gyu. 

“Go ahead.” After a brief pause, Tae-Gu addressed Gi-Gyu, “You’re free to speak, Morningstar.” 

The ridiculous code name made Gi-Gyu blush in embarrassment, but he quickly continued, “I have a guess as to why these exceptional gates appeared so suddenly.” 

All the eyes turned toward Gi-Gyu, each filled with various emotions. Some looked at him with curiosity, while others seemed confused. One even seemed indifferent. Regardless of how they felt, he now had everyone’s attention.