The Player Who Can't Level Up

Michael was outside the entrance when Gi-Gyu collapsed on the ground in agony. 

“Kim Gi-Gyu!”  Michael shouted as he ran toward Gi-Gyu. 

When Michael reached Gi-Gyu, he frowned and muttered, “Dammit! What the hell is this place?!” 

Turning toward Gi-Gyu again, Michael asked, “Are you okay?”

“Haa… I’m okay…” Refusing Michael’s hand, Gi-Gyu stood up slowly. The pain was blinding, and before he could even think about it, Lou and El suggested. 

-Have a look at your shell.

-Please look at your shell, Master.

Gi-Gyu shouted, “Michael, step back.”

“What?” 

When Gi-Gyu pushed Michael away, Michael looked annoyed. Still, he silently took a step back, and El appeared simultaneously. 

El announced, “I’ll guard you, Master.” 

Turning toward Michael, she warned, “Please do not come any closer.”

When El ordered, Michael replied in resignation, “Tsk. All right.” 

His tone was a little impolite, but he maintained his respectful attitude toward El. For the first time, El rewarded him with a smile, and he couldn't help but blush and take another step back. 

Plop.

Meanwhile, Gi-Gyu sat down on the ground and began to meditate. 

‘What the…?!’ Gi-Gyu couldn’t hide his confusion at what he saw. Everything looked dark.

-Focus.

When Lou ordered, Gi-Gyu forced himself to concentrate. Slowly, the darkness disappeared, and he saw his shell. Shockingly, Death had taken over, and the balance he had achieved was about to tip over.

Lou commanded,

-Stay awake and maintain the balance. That should be your priority.

Gi-Gyu nodded. As he focused more on his shell, he felt his consciousness moving further away from him. And just like that, Gi-Gyu began to unite his consciousness and his shell.

***

“Are you awake now?” The moment Gi-Gyu opened his eyes, Michael asked. 

Gi-Gyu stood up and mumbled, “How long have I been like this?” 

Both Michael and El had their backs to him, indicating they had been guarding him. As soon as Gi-Gyu woke up, El returned to her ring form. 

Michael answered, “About two hours? Are you okay now?” 

“Yup.” Gi-Gyu answered with a nod. 

‘What just happened?’ Michael wondered as he felt a little uncomfortable. Something in Gi-Gyu had changed. After sitting with his eyes closed for two hours, his magic became a bit stronger, he looked calmer, and…

Michael stammered, “Y-your eye!”

“Huh?” When Michael pointed at his right eye, Gi-Gyu touched it. 

Michael murmured, “It’s violet! You…”

“Ah… I guess it returned for a while,” Gi-Gyu replied. His eye color returned to normal when he blinked a few times.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Michael commented, “Haa… Just… what are you? I’m now more curious about you than I’m about myself. Do you have a unique ability that lets you level up by sitting quietly?”   

Usually, a player’s magic level only changed after leveling up; shockingly, Micheal saw Gi-Gyu level up by… sitting. Nonplussed, he didn’t even know what to think. 

Lou muttered,

-I don’t know if this will be good or bad for you. 

El added,

-Master, you must always maintain the balance.

‘Okay,’ Gi-Gyu replied to his Egos quietly. During his meditation, he reestablished the balance within his shell. Something in this gate made Death overthrow the balance, so he had to use all his strength to regain it. That disbalance strengthened all his abilities related to Death; consequently, his magic became stronger, which was why his evil eye returned briefly. 

Death-related abilities getting an upgrade was an advantage, but… 

‘There is no way of knowing when it might explode.’ Gi-Gyu considered this alarming possibility. If Death escaped its assigned territory and invaded Life, he had no idea what might happen. 

Lou stated,

-This damn demonic energy… It must be because this is Botis’ territory. 

Gi-Gyu’s Death became overactive because of the vicious demonic energy inside this gate. Death grew whenever it was in proximity to demonic energy. Watching Michael frown in displeasure, Gi-Gyu could tell that Michael was also being affected by the demonic energy in this gate. 

Gi-Gyu asked Lou, ‘Tell me about Botis.’

He didn’t know before, but thanks to the system announcements, he now knew the landlord's name: Botis.

Lou explained,

-He isn’t a high-level demon lord, but he’s close to it. He has no special powers, but his combat strength alone puts him close to high-level demons. 

Lou tried to sound indifferent, but there was a hint of alarm in his voice. Other demons like Andras had special powers that helped them become a demon lord. So for Botis to become this powerful without special skills had to mean that his physical strength was spectacular. Gi-Gyu suspected that this would be a difficult fight. 

‘A territory war…’ After pondering the previous system announcement, Gi-Gyu turned to look at Michael.

“What’s wrong?” When Michael asked, Gi-Gyu inquired, “When you entered here, what did you hear from the system?”

Michael looked at Gi-Gyu with a funny expression, wondering why he would ask such a question, and replied, “It said that I had entered the demon’s sphere of influence. And that the demon’s energy will affect me since it sensed my presence and deemed me an intruder. I think that was pretty much it.”

“Hmm…” What Michael heard was different. He might have lied, but Gi-Gyu didn’t think so because he could read Michael’s expression, which was like an open book. 

Gi-Gyu had noticed that the system announcements were sometimes different for him compared to other players. Meanwhile, Micheal just shrugged, failing to understand why Gi-Gyu asked such a question. 

Without saying more, Gi-Gyu began to lead the way. 

“What an annoying jerk,” Michael grumbled, but he soon followed Gi-Gyu.

***

Swish.

The wind blew loudly, followed by the sound of metal crashing into metal.

Clang!

Immediately after, something sharp cutting into flesh could be heard.

Slice.

Then, the wind blew again.

Swish.

Finally, only the sharp shrieking of a monster remained in the air.

“Kirrrrrrrrrk!”

The wind blew gently as the dead mantis’ green blood spurted everywhere. Meanwhile, a dark red sword vibrated as it absorbed this green blood.

[Lou has absorbed the mantis’ soul.]

[Lou has absorbed the mantis’ blood.]

Gi-Gyu heard the system announcements. Admiring how Gi-Gyu slew a mantis with a single swing, Michael murmured, “That was pretty impressive.”

Michael was confident in close combat, but he wasn’t as good as Gi-Gyu. When he battled Gi-Gyu briefly in the US, he was sure he could defeat Gi-Gyu with minimal damage. However, after witnessing Gi-Gyu’s speed and accuracy, he realized they were most likely equals. 

Turning toward Michael and sighing, Gi-Gyu muttered, “Haa… You’re useless.” 

“It’s this terrain. What do you expect me to do? I would love to fight, but it’s just impossible,” Michael argued as he shook his head. Currently, they were in a dungeon-shaped area that led to the underground. Most of Michael’s skills involved laser-like beams that needed a wide berth; if he used them in such a narrow path, the whole structure could collapse. Consequently, Gi-Gyu had to do most of the fighting. 

‘I need to level up my other Egos too,’ Gi-Gyu thought. El and Lou have gone through their evolutions already. El’s evolution wasn’t a complete one, of course, but the result was even better than the proper evolution. This gave Gi-Gyu an idea. If a certain amount of time passed, wouldn’t his other Egos also get a chance to evolve?  

Besides Brunherat, who had a grade rather than a level, Gi-Gyu’s other highest-level Ego was Bi. A few more kills and Bi would reach Level 100. While passing through the dungeon-like area, Gi-Gyu killed every monster that appeared before them. Since he had decided to level up Bi, he offered to take care of all the monsters here alone.

“After all, a good hunting ground like this is hard to come by. And I don’t want to give up the experience points to you either.” When Gi-Gyu stated, Michael smirked and replied, “Hmph. As you wish.”  

Ignoring Michael, Gi-Gyu continued to move forward. He could still feel countless mantises ahead of them. Mantises here weren’t like the mantises outside—the ones here had sword-shaped, black front legs. 

‘Brunheart, are you okay?’ When Gi-Gyu asked, Brunheart replied confidently,

-Of course! I’m excellent, Master! 

The only time a monster could hurt Gi-Gyu was when he slowed down. The select few times that happened, Brunheart transformed into armor to take the hit. Since Brunheart’s armor had self-healing capabilities, Gi-Gyu wasn’t too worried about it. Moreover, it could also automatically reflect the damages from the enemies. 

Lou explained,

-Botis’ army can’t be underestimated either. It also focuses on physical power and lacks special skills. 

Lou’s information wasn’t overly helpful, but it was still welcome. Lou continued,

-But there is something I can’t understand.

‘What is it?’

-Since Andras’ force created this gate, I assumed the reigning demon would be someone who feels favorable toward him. 

Lou sounded confused as he continued. 

-I thought Andras’s ultimate goal was to drag his allied demons into this world, but…

‘But?’

-Botis isn’t Andras’s ally. In fact, they are nemeses. So why did Andras open this particular gate?

“Hmm…” Gi-Gyu contemplated quietly. There was still so much they didn’t know about what Andras wanted. Well, they knew his ultimate goal: Bringing chaos to this world. However, they didn’t know the method he planned on using to accomplish this. 

“Well, whatever. Nothing will change the fact that I need to close this gate. And I still can’t feel Suk-Woo’s presence anywhere,” Gi-Gyu mumbled. His senses worked overtime, but he still couldn’t feel Suk-Woo anywhere. 

Just where was his friend?

Gi-Gyu announced urgently, “Let’s go a little faster.”

“Whatever,” answered Michael.  

***

“Hmm? Something’s wrong.” Tao Chen said quietly. 

Choi Chang-Yong, standing beside him, agreed, “I think so too.” 

They had 60 people behind them now, and the sole reason the casualties had only increased by 10 was Tao Chen. 

What they witnessed just now was puzzling. 

Tao Chen muttered, “It’s strange that there are fewer and fewer monsters as we move closer to the center of the gate. What an unusual occurrence.” 

“It’s clear battles took place in this area. I can see the marks on the ground. Was it Arok who killed them all? Or… Did the monsters turn on themselves?” Choi Chang-Yong sounded very confused. His group traveled quickly as they hunted down the monsters along the way. But at some point, monsters stopped jumping out of the shadows. Instead, the ground looked like a bombing site.  

Yoo Suk-Woo, code-named Arok, was the only person inside the gate who could do something like this. At least, that was what Choi Chang-Yong thought.  

“Hmm…” But it appeared Beautiful Beard had a better guess. 

Choi Chang-Yong continued, “Well, regardless of what happened here, this is good for us. We can’t let the Cain Guild take any credit for closing this gate. Let’s just hurry up to the center.” 

The Blue Dragon Guild was supposed to join the Cain Guild before beginning the battle with the boss monster. But Choi Chang-Yong had no intention of giving the Cain Guild an easy win by tagging along. He also felt strongly about leaving the Cain Guild behind because the monsters in this gate had been much easier to kill than he anticipated. Choi Chang-Yong knew the keeper would be powerful, but because he still had many men with him, he felt confident his guild could close this gate successfully. 

‘I mean… More of my players died than I expected, but if we can close this gate on our own, then…’ Choi Chang-Yong licked his lips in anticipation. If the Blue Dragon Guild got the credit for closing this exceptional gate, his guild’s reputation would soar. The whole world feared this new Gangnam gate. By closing it, the Blue Dragon Guild might become world-famous.

Tao Chen nodded and replied, “All right.” 

Choi Chang-Yong became more excited since even the picky Tao Chen seemingly agreed with his plan. He could already see the glorious future ahead. 

“Let’s go!” Choi Chang-Yong announced as he took a step inside the underground entrance. 

[A territory war has been declared.]

[You aren’t qualified to become a landlord.]

[You will be transferred to a neutral area.]

“Huh?” Choi Chang-Yong couldn’t hide his confusion as a system announcement that he had never heard before in his 24 years as a player rang in his ears.