Chapter 55: The Infinite Tower

When a person enters the restroom and when they come out, their face is different.

Seongwoo’s face as he stepped out of the capsule was exactly like that.

He emerged from the capsule with a dazzling smile, as bright as someone who had just enjoyed the most satisfying relief.

Oh Jaehyun, who was monitoring from the development team, hurried into the capsule room and asked.

“Did everything work out all right?”

“Yes, thanks to you. So, shall we discuss the compensation again now?”

Seeing Seongwoo’s beaming expression, Oh Jaehyun was secretly relieved.

At this rate, it seemed likely that things would proceed smoothly without offending Seongwoo’s mood.

That was exactly what Seongwoo thought as well.

He had come expecting that material rewards like gold or equipment items were off the table, so he’d already prepared an alternative.

Seongwoo spoke.

“Before I say what kind of compensation I’d like, may I ask what you had in mind, sir?”

Revealing your desired terms up front is the move of an amateur in negotiations.

A true negotiation means hearing what the other side offers and steering things in the direction you want.

Oh Jaehyun replied.

“For now, we’ve prepared a reward package mostly focused on consumable items so as not to disrupt game balance as much as possible.”

“For example?”

“Well… 200 elixirs that fully restore health and mana, 100 Free Movement Scrolls, 100 Designated Base Return Scrolls, 20 Double EXP Potions, 10 Resurrection Stones, and finally, an Auction House VIP Membership.”

“Hmm…”

All the items Oh Jaehyun listed were event rewards that appeared from time to time, and if you converted their value into cash, it would definitely total up to tens of millions of won.

Especially the Auction House VIP Membership—since it required paying above-standard auction fees for a whole year, it was a privilege that not just anyone could have.

Still, Seongwoo was not satisfied.

‘Not enough.’

If it weren’t for the Freedom Guild, this compensation would have been nothing but a drop in the bucket.

So Seongwoo spoke frankly.

“That’s a bit lacking.”

“Haha… I’m sorry.”

“But I know you did your best, sir. After all, there must be limits to what rewards you can offer in-game. But from my perspective, having nearly lost 5 billion, it’s still too little. So I’ll take what you just listed—twice over.”

“Pardon?”

“Is that a problem? Honestly, these aren’t even tradable items, and their total value isn’t even a hundred million. So let’s make the in-game compensation double what you just mentioned. And…”

The in-game compensation wasn’t the main course.

It was just an appetizer before the meal.

What Seongwoo really wanted started now.

“And there’s something else I want as a separate reward…”

You could always argue later. Oh Jaehyun listened carefully to Seongwoo’s request.

And when Seongwoo finished, Oh Jaehyun fell into deep thought.

Because Seongwoo’s terms definitely didn’t harm game balance or fairness between users.

That made it difficult to refuse.

‘If I pull some strings, it should be possible…’

Oh Jaehyun’s gaze swept over Seongwoo’s eyes.

Eyes so resolute it was hard to believe this was a twenty-year-old.

After seeing the fierce look in Seongwoo’s eyes, Oh Jaehyun decided to accept his terms.

‘Yeah. If the Freedom Guild hadn’t shown up just now, Han Seongwoo probably would have asked for even more. If things got complicated and feelings got hurt, then…’

He didn’t want to imagine what would come after that.

In the main Warlord scenario, a Warmage was a very important existence.

So he decided to just accept Seongwoo’s demands.

“Understood. I’ll do my best within my authority to make that happen.”

“Shall we write up an agreement, then?”

“Of course. In fact, we also need a written agreement from you…”

After today, to avoid any more disputes over the same matter, a written contract was absolutely necessary for the game company.

Each wrote out an agreement to suit their own interests, and after signing, the two finally exchanged a satisfied handshake.

Oh Jaehyun said,

“Then, Player Han Seongwoo, I look forward to your great gameplay ahead.”

“And I look forward to working with you as well, Manager Oh Jaehyun.”

An unexpectedly amicable settlement.

From this day, Seongwoo began to dream of the rosy future ahead.

---

[Attempting login with Han Seongwoo account.]

[Connecting to Warlord.]

[May you shine as a hero in the great war.]

The next day.

As soon as playtime rolled around, Levan, as always, habitually logged into Warlord.

But today, from the moment he logged in, he felt unusually good. Because—

‘Now it’s really just Warlord from here on out.’

All his troublesome problems had been resolved as of yesterday.

Levan checked his parcels as soon as he logged in.

[You have obtained 400 Elixirs.]

[You have obtained 200 Free Movement Scrolls.]

[You have obtained 200 Designated Base Return Scrolls.]

[You have obtained 40 Double EXP Potions.]

[You have obtained 20 Resurrection Stones.]

[You have obtained an Auction House VIP Membership.]

A flood of reward notifications before his eyes.

Levan felt a shiver run through his whole body.

‘Damn, this is sweet as honey!’

These were none other than the in-game rewards Oh Jaehyun had promised, all filling his inbox.

Levan hummed as he checked the details of the items he had received.

Of course, most of the items were famous enough that he knew their stats by heart, but he checked every one just the same.

Even this process itself was a joy for Levan.

He especially examined the Auction House VIP Membership closely, as it was his first time ever having one.

‘Auction House VIP Membership… Account-bound, just possessing it grants VIP status. Obviously not tradable. The biggest perks: all transaction fees waived, and automatic highest bidding for any desired auction item.’

Needless to say, there’s no fee for direct trades between users.

But the auction house, except in special regions, can be accessed from anywhere at any time, so all trades have a fee.

That fee is 5%.

The bigger the transaction, the bigger the cut the auction house takes.

‘That’s why some guilds are already running auction proxy businesses.’

They use the VIP membership’s fee exemption to offer lower commissions than the auction house, running proxy auctions for others.

A few guilds did this, but not many used the service due to trust issues.

Levan then opened the guild window and checked the Freedom Guild’s info.

‘That hidden camera incident was unpleasant, but in the end, it worked out for me.’

Levan recalled the character info of the Freedom Guild members he’d seen yesterday.

All of them were at least level 200.

Moreover, not one of their jobs was ordinary—each and every one was unique.

‘No wonder they operated as an elite minority.’

Every member was a hidden class, and the lowest was level 200—the only level 3 guild like that.

They’d crushed the Plague Guild, a black guild, just to set up a hidden camera, and instantly bought a 1 billion gold Shared Growth accessory—their competence was already proven.

So Levan no longer doubted the Freedom Guild’s strength, and decided it was time to kick off his streamer debut in earnest.

‘The debut match has to be there, right?’

Truly, it was the age of the Great Warlord.

In the past, YouTube was king, but now “Wartube” was all the rage—so many people used it.

That’s because, by policy, Warlord prohibited uploading its footage to any platform other than Wartube.

Some say the mega company’s greed drove that policy, but it’s only natural for a business to pursue profit.

You could complain, but you couldn’t stop it.

With the scent of money in the air, everyone flocked to Warlord and Wartube, and competition became fierce.

In other words, to survive in the cutthroat world of Wartube, you needed a unique presence.

Levan had been preparing for this from long ago.

‘All right, let’s go.’

Bwoosh—

With his destination already decided, Levan used one of the movement scrolls he’d received as a reward.

---

[Failed! Come back stronger!]

“Argh! Damn it!”

Crash!

With a system alert, a man was hurled out the door.

He tumbled out in a pitiful heap, rolling all the way to the line drawn outside, and the moment he came to a stop, his friends, who had been waiting, burst out laughing at him.

“Let’s see here… What, 8 minutes? Look at this guy, such a huge gap in skill. Is 8 minutes even human?”

“Wow, you’re two levels higher than me and couldn’t even last 10 minutes?”

“Pew-pew! Here’s an idiot who couldn’t even last 10 minutes on the 1st floor of the Infinite Tower!”

“Arghhh! Shut up, you bastards!”

The man cried out in anguish at his friends’ teasing.

But here, that kind of wailing was common.

Because this was the Infinite Tower, a place of challenge.

“Wow, and I thought being a warrior would let you hold out, but you couldn’t even make it 10 minutes?”

“I told you, the first floor is all about speed, not stamina. There’s a reason it’s known for dodge tanks!”

The Infinite Tower was one of many challenge dungeons in Warlord; it was called ‘infinite’ not just for its unending height, but also because monsters kept spawning endlessly.

The man who got kicked out after just 8 minutes said,

“That’s a shame. I thought I’d do better.”

“Dream on. Setting a record in the Infinite Tower is like winning the lottery—if you can’t win it in real life, what makes you think you can in a game?”

“Guess so.”

“Yeah, give it up and let’s just go hunting.”

“Still, it’s a shame. If you just make it into the top ten, your whole life could change.”

There’s nothing more miserable than chasing an impossible dream.

Yet some say giving up is for vegetables and keep on challenging endlessly.

But these days, more people just quit early. Sometimes, quick surrender is surprisingly efficient.

Besides, in the Infinite Tower, unless you make it into the top ten, you get no reward at all.

So, from one perspective, challenging the Infinite Tower is completely pointless.

Even so, people gather here because just making the record can get you scouted by a big guild or a pro team.

Muchaka, who had just hit level 59, was here for that very reason.

‘Time for another try.’

Muchaka was a warrior who had changed jobs to the hidden class, “Bloodthirsty Berserker.”

He’d deleted and recreated his character countless times just to get a hidden class.

‘I don’t even want first place. Not more or less, just 10th. Let me make 10th, just once.’

Muchaka’s dream was to become a Warlord pro player.

It was basically the same as the pro gamer profession that was so popular in the past—just the name had changed, not the reality.

That’s why, with great effort, he’d gotten the hidden class, Bloodthirsty Berserker, and resolved to break a new record and join a pro team no matter what.

‘Those people over there are the scouts.’

Muchaka’s gaze drifted to the cafe at the side of the tower, where people were sitting clustered together.

Those were scouts, sent from pro teams and big guilds.

They waited here constantly, hoping to recruit the next new ranker.

Muchaka, determined, approached Decarn, the gatekeeper NPC guarding the entrance to the Infinite Tower.

“I want to challenge the first floor.”

“Open the door and enter.”

A curt reply.

Decarn was the minion of the tower’s master and had spoken with hundreds or thousands of challengers every day.

He neither mocked nor praised them.

With Decarn’s permission, Muchaka opened the small tower door.

[Moving to Infinite Tower, 1st Floor.]