Chapter 59: Physics Primer

[The rankings for challengers on the 1st floor of the Tower of Infinity have changed.]

It happened right after Revan smashed in the head of the Master Orc.

Those waiting outside the tower, holding their breath, couldn’t help but shiver at the new announcement from the Tower.

“What the…?”

“The rankings changed again?”

“Wasn’t the last ranking 2nd place?”

“Cheonak lost? No, Cheonak got pushed down?”

“No way…”

This was an unprecedented event.

Cheonak, a star pro player, set a record of 9 hours and 25 minutes—a time considered an insurmountable wall, a fourth-dimensional barrier no one could break.

Yet just now, that record had been shattered.

“Someone broke the dimensional wall… Could the challenger be Thanos?”

“No, maybe it’s Thor.”

“Who cares who it is, just how amazing do you have to be to break that record?”

“I’m dying to know who it is.”

“Honestly, more than who it is, I’m curious who’s going to recruit them.”

“How much is the signing bonus going to be? 100 million?”

“Bullshit. This isn’t just anything, it’s the 1st place in the Tower of Infinity. Is 100 million even possible? I heard Cheonak got 300 million.”

“Is that for real? Or is that just a rumor?”

“Wow… then 500 million?”

“Probably after tax, right?”

A massive crowd gathered to get a look at Revan.

Among them were not just reporters from gaming news agencies, but also a significant number of streamers hoping to boost their viewers by showing Revan’s appearance on their ‘relay channels.’

It was then.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sudden fireworks exploded into the sky.

They weren’t set off by players.

They were launched by the Tower itself, in celebration of Revan clearing the 1st floor.

This was a first since the Tower of Infinity opened.

And with the celebratory fireworks, the doors of the tower swung open wide.

Radiant light poured from within.

Everyone held their breath.

Then, from deep inside the tower, slow, unhurried footsteps could be heard.

“Move!”

“I was here first!”

“Hey, don’t step on my foot!”

“You maniac!”

At the sound of footsteps, the players surged forward, desperate to secure a spot at the open door.

The Tower’s gatekeeper, Dekarn, waved his hand with an expressionless face.

Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu—!

“Uwaaah!!”

At the entrance, a marble staircase rose from the floor.

And a formless barrier appeared, preventing anyone from approaching the stairs.

“Wh-what is that?”

“Wow, when Cheonak took first place, there was nothing like that!”

“What’s going on?”

The crowd murmured and buzzed.

And at last, as Revan emerged from the shining light, the crowd fell silent as if doused with cold water.

‘…Uh, what, what’s this?’

Countless eyes stared at him.

Revan was flustered.

He’d expected some attention, but he never imagined this many people would gather.

But now that he was experiencing it, it didn’t feel all that bad.

No, in fact, it felt good.

Because Revan had once felt this exact feeling before.

‘When I got into university. The class looked at me with those same eyes.’

Some looked on in shock, others with reverence.

Revan still remembered it.

The day he got early admission to Sky University, when his surprised homeroom teacher ran to brag about him in front of the whole class.

‘That thrill back then…’

Sky University, one of the nation’s most prestigious schools.

Honestly, everyone, including his teacher, expected him to fail.

After all, Revan was diagnosed with ADHD and started preparing for college late, in his senior year.

But Revan passed with flying colors, and he still couldn’t forget the looks he got from his classmates back then.

So now, even with such a huge crowd gathered near the Tower, he didn’t feel burdened—if anything, he was pleased.

As Revan stepped out of the tower, Dekarn, the gatekeeper who’d been waiting, spoke up.

“We have been waiting for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes. Many people have been waiting a long time to see you.”

“Ah…”

Revan’s challenge time was an impressive 9 hours and 14 minutes.

Even assuming people had been waiting since he broke into the top ten, it was quite a long wait.

Dekarn said,

“This staircase is called the Stairway of Glory. It is one of the rights the Tower grants to victors like yourself. The Tower wishes for you to fully enjoy your moment of glory, basking in everyone’s praise. So please, take this baton, ascend the stairs, and show off your majesty while receiving the applause of the crowd.”

Dekarn handed Revan a baton.

Dekarn explained: if you point the baton at someone, everyone but that person falls silent.

And if you bring it to your own mouth, everyone but you falls silent.

In short, it was a special interview mic.

Naturally, the baton would disappear once you left the stairs.

So Revan hugged the baton close to his chest and began to climb the stairs slowly.

The stairs weren’t very tall.

About ten steps or so.

But at the top of those ten steps, you could look down on everyone below.

Revan took a deep breath and slowly climbed.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

With each step, he remembered every hour he’d endured on the 1st floor.

And at last, standing at the very top, Revan could see the crowd of thousands gathered before him.

“Wow…”

His whole body tingled with excitement.

It was nothing compared to getting an award in front of classmates at school.

Fighting back the rush of emotion, Revan opened his mouth to speak.

“Um… hello?”

His first words came out awkward.

But the effect was like a typhoon.

“Oppa, I love you!”

“Join our guild!”

“Come to our team!”

“Damn, he’s so handsome!”

Words poured out without a pause.

He couldn’t make out a single thing people were saying.

But even in the chaos, the compliments—‘handsome’ and ‘cool’—filtered through and rang clear in his ears.

Revan thought,

‘Man, so this is why everyone wants attention.’

Of course, some people get overwhelmed by the spotlight.

But, as one celebrity once said, if you know how to enjoy it, attention is a gift.

As he mulled it over, Revan wondered if he was just born for this kind of attention after all.

After his brief greeting, thunderous applause erupted, and Revan brought the baton to his lips, just as Dekarn had taught him.

Like magic, the noise instantly died away.

Feeling grateful for the Tower’s thoughtfulness, Revan began to speak slowly.

“My name is Revan. As you know, I’m the one who just cleared the 1st floor. Now, according to the Tower’s courtesy, I’ll take a few interview questions. Each person gets one question. Let’s start with the person in the red hat over there.”

The user he pointed at scrunched his brow and nose with pride at being chosen.

“Thank you! I’m Han Kyungsoo, a reporter from WarPatch! It’s a shame we only get one question, but here it goes.”

Disappointed that he could only ask one question, Han Kyungsoo hesitated, but then settled on his choice.

“…As far as I know, challengers of the Tower of Infinity get their challenge time displayed over their heads regardless of success or failure, but with you, Revan-nim, I can’t see any time displayed. How is that possible?”

“My official challenge time is 9 hours, 14 minutes, and 37 seconds. As for why the time doesn’t appear above my head, I don’t really know. Next question, that person.”

“Yes! I’m streamer Park Kim-sam! Everyone, please come visit my Park Kim-sam channel! Here’s my question!”

“I’m not accepting questions from people who self-promote during this sacred Q&A. Next.”

Beating the odds, Park Kim-sam was the second to be picked, but lost his chance for using it to promote himself.

He begged for another shot, but as soon as the baton pointed at someone else, Park Kim-sam fell mute.

-Kim-sam’s a real idiot, isn’t he?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Look at him, even in this he tries to promote.

-Self-promo, got wreckedㅋㅋㅋ

-Kim-sam just Kim-sammed himself, any problems?

-Breaking news: Idiot of the year goes to Park Kim-sam…

At least the viewers watching Park Kim-sam’s livestream were amused.

After that, Revan answered a few more questions.

But at this rate, the interview would never end, so he decided to wrap it up and proceed with his original plan.

Bringing the baton to his lips, Revan said,

“That will be all for the interview. And seeing as representatives from various organizations are watching me, I’ll say a few words to them.”

Pointless interviews were just tiring if they dragged on.

Besides, now that Revan was a celebrity, any undisclosed information was worth its weight in gold.

So, confidently, Revan took a moment for self-promotion.

“My name is Revan. My WarTube channel is called ‘Physics Primer’. Right now, I’ve just created the channel, so there aren’t any videos uploaded. But those who pay attention may have noticed: I could have posted videos all along, but I chose not to. Why? Please look forward to it. If you want to contact me, reach out via my channel. And finally…”

Revan cleared his throat.

Then, with a sparkling smile, he said cheerfully,

“WarTube channel, Physics Primer! Please subscribe and like! That’s all!”

[You have exited the game.]

Pabat!

Revan finished his PR and logged out of the game.

“WarTube channel, Physics Primer! Please subscribe and like! That’s all!”

Pabat!

Revan logged out.

The screen turned pitch black.

“……”

“……”

Neither of them could find anything to say.

This was the office of the Warlord development team manager at Mega Company.

Oh Jaehyun and Lee Sungmi were watching Revan’s moves through the monitor.

The reason was simple.

The moment he became the new record holder for the Tower of Infinity’s 1st floor, they sensed he might cause another upheaval.

And sure enough, Revan had stirred up a storm that could shake the world.

Staring at the black screen, Oh Jaehyun said,

“Wow… this kid is a total lunatic…”

“Why do you say that?”

“Manager Lee, you remember user Han Sung-woo met with me recently, right?”

“Yes. That’s why he took mostly consumable items as his reward.”

“There was something else we promised besides that.”

“Huh?”

“Think about it logically. Han Sung-woo almost lost out on 5 billion won. So why did he quietly go home after getting just that?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“He made another demand, and I accepted it. And that was…”

Han Sung-woo’s compensation wasn’t financial or emotional.

It was something else entirely.

“What? The settlement ratio?”

“Yeah. He wanted to be classified one rank higher in settlement ratio when he debuted as a streamer.”

On the Warlord-exclusive platform, WarTube, streamers are called Streamers or WarTubers.

And there are four streamer ranks: Normal, Mega, Giga, and Tera.

These ranks exist because the percentage of revenue that WarTube pays to the streamer varies by rank.

So, in order:

Normal is 6:4.

Mega is 7:3.

Giga is 8:2.

And finally, Tera is 9:1.

Of course, the higher number is the streamer’s share.

Manager Lee asked,

“So if Han Sung-woo debuts as a streamer, he’ll start with the 7:3 ratio?”

“That’s right. But look at him now. Do you think he’ll stop at 7:3?”

At Oh Jaehyun’s words, Lee Sungmi quickly searched for Revan’s WarTube channel, ‘Physics Primer.’

And as soon as the page loaded, both of them gasped without realizing it.

“Wow…”

“This is crazy, seriously…”

The reason for their surprise?

Less than five minutes had passed since the interview ended.

And yet, Revan’s channel, Physics Primer, had already surpassed 300,000 subscribers, without a single uploaded video.

Oh Jaehyun asked,

“What were the requirements for a Mega Streamer again…?”

“Over 100,000 subscribers and a total of 1 million views on all videos.”

“And Giga Streamer?”

“1 million subscribers and 10 million total views.”

“…Unbelievable.”

Oh Jaehyun started to sense that things were about to spiral out of control.