Leveling with the Gods

Side Story 1

A decade had passed.

The Administrators gathered in one place.

The 100th floor, the highest of the Tower.

In the sky above the world's clouds, the Administrators spoke.

"■■■■ has disappeared."

An existence so immense that its Ncouldn't even be mentioned.

It took ten years to confirm its complete disappearance.

And finally...

They reached a conclusion.

"Are Players still necessary?"

This was the topic for which the Administrators had convened.

Now that there were no more enemies threatening the Tower, it was tto discuss whether the existence of Players was truly necessary.

"Olympus, Asgard, Veda, and the Demon Kings..."

The 100th floor Administrator listed the names.

The Great Guilds that dominated the Tower.

Though it's the Administrators who manage the Tower, in reality, the world is ruled by various Great Guilds and their High-Rankers.

"There are too many obstacles."

Obstacles.

Until ten years ago, they had been the protagonists in the war against the Outers, but things were different now that the great beings known as Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth had disappeared.

"It won't be easy to get rid of them."

"Odin died, luckily."

"But there's still Zeus. There's also Son OhGong and Hercules."

"They should have died more in the war. Surprisingly, many survived."

The Administrators joined the discussions.

However, sof them had expressions that didn't seem very pleased.

"Shouldn't we discuss if it's right to maintain the Tower?"

The gazes of the Administrators turned to the voice's owner.

The Tutorial Administrator. Following his lead, sAdministrators began expressing their opinions they had been holding back.

"I'm against it. I don't know if it's necessary to go this far."

"It's not even necessary to destroy the Tower. Even in this state, the Tower is in an era of stability like never before. Players aren't challenging us either..."

"I don't care."

neither, I'm satisfied with what we have."

Opinions were divided.

SAdministrators stood up from their seats and turned away.

The number of Administrators fading into the clouds slightly exceeded twenty.

"Damn it."

The 100th floor Administrator clicked his tongue.

It was a pity, but there was nothing he could do.

They had already maintained this world for too long.

During that time, Administrators who genuinely cared for the Tower had also emerged.

However...

"But most are on this side."

With that murmur, the Administrators nodded.

They had no intention of dragging their colleagues who had changed their minds.

Fortunately, most Administrators did not forget their original intent.

"It's been a long wait."

The 100th floor Administrator then said, as if declaring something.

"Now it's our turn to be the owners."

After thousands or tens of thousands of years, the beings that had been managing the Tower began to move again.

However, they forgot about one person.

The 1st floor was the only world of the Tower that had no Administrators.

The world that had been destroyed by the Outers' attack was quickly restored to its original form by the Great Guilds, including Olympus.

After all, the 1st floor was the world where Players arrived after completing the Tutorial, so they couldn't leave it abandoned.

Thanks to that...

"Ginseng Herbs for sale, a specialty from the Murim World of the 10th Floor! If you consthem, you too can..."

"Hey, hey! These swords from Asgard's Valkyries are the best! There's only one, so take a look!"

"Dionysus's wine, a specialty from Olympus! Now available!"

"Hey, you! Why is this Ginseng so small? It's not a twenty-year Ginseng, but..."

The 1st floor world regained vitality.

Step~

A man dressed in a shirt walked towards the store where a customer was arguing about ten-year medicinal herbs.

The noisy store suddenly fell silent.

The merchant carefully observed the customer's behavior.

The goal was to check if the customer had a lot of money or not.

"Do you have ginseng?" he asked.

The store owner stepped away from the arguing customer and approached the new customer with folded hands.

"Of course! We have ginseng of ten, twenty, thirty... even a hundred years," he replied.

"A hundred years?! What are you talking about?! This doesn't look like it's more than twenty years!" shouted the arguing customer. "This man is a scammer!"

"It seems to be about eight years old," murmured the new customer while examining the ginseng root.

The store owner's smiling face turned serious.

Eight years.

The customer across could tell how old the ginseng was just by looking at its condition.

And what's more,

"I heard they started cultivating it on the top of the Tower. It seems to be going quite well," said the customer.

The customer even knew the news from the upper floors.

"How much is it?" the customer asked.

The store owner shuddered as he met the black eyes of the customer.

Now he couldn't raise the price as he had with the previous customer.

"A hundred points," he said, stammering.

"What? Didn't you just say it cost three hundred points?!" protested the previous customer.

The man ignored the customer's protests and extended his hand.

A hundred points.

It wasn't a small amount, but ginseng was a type of elixir that increased Arcane Power.

A hundred points wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either.

The store owner received the points and handed the ginseng to the man.

As the man walked away with the ginseng in his inventory, the store owner sighed in relief.

"Phew..." he said.

Luckily, the man hadn't threatened to report him to the Administration.

At that moment, the store owner realized he had forgotten someone.

The customer wasn't the only one in the store.

The other customer, who had been listening to the conversation, also knew that the store owner had tried to deceive him.

However, the customer said nothing.

He simply looked in the direction the man who bought the ginseng had gone.

"What's wrong?" the store owner asked cautiously, thinking he might take advantage of the situation.

"That man... he seems familiar," replied the customer, with a thoughtful expression.

too," said the store owner.

"But I don't remember well. It's not very common to see people with black hair in the Tower."

The two men continued pondering the man who had just passed by for a while.

But in the end, they couldn't recall him.

Creaking sound~

As he opened the door, YuWon paused for a moment.

The door that should open smoothly creaked.

"I'll have to fix that," he said.

"Do you know how?"

A deep voice made YuWon turn his head.

Hercules emerged from the house.

Son OhGong's clones were cleaning the house, and Pandora was devouring the chocolate cake Hercules had bought.

"Leave it. I'll fix it. Go prepare that ginseng soup."

"It's ginseng stew."

"The ginseng?"

"Here it is."

"It's a shto cook it in stew."

"There's nothing else that can replace it."

"For those who just cup to the first floor, it would be a miraculous elixir."

Hercules looked at the ginseng YuWon pulled out and grabbed a small hammer.

The hammer, fitting in his palm the size of a head, looked particularly small.

"Today? Wasn't there anyone who recognized you?"

"There wasn't."

"It was about tthey started noticing."

"If it took you guys more than a year, they took much longer, I suppose."

It took a year for Son OhGong and Hercules to remember YuWon.

At first, the two would constantly visit the house to see Pandora.

The reunion wasn't very pleasant.

"Who is this guy?"

"The boyfriend?"

Hercules and Son OhGong didn't recognize YuWon immediately.

The only one who recognized YuWon right away was Pandora.

But fortunately, over time, the two began to feel a sense of unease.

"Eh? What's this?"

The memory suddenly cone day.

Son OhGong, who had suddenly cwith Hercules, was dumbfounded at the sight of YuWon.

YuWon's face suddenly cto his mind.

"What's wrong with you? Are you an idiot for a day or two?"

"Why didn't you say it?"

This was Hercules' question.

YuWon answered while drinking tea with Pandora.

"Because talking won't make things go faster."

"Pandora?"

"She remembereda long tago."

"...I feel embarrassed."

The two saw YuWon's face several times, and after a while, they finally remembered.

Of course, no one in the Tower remembered YuWon's name.

There were records, but no one wanted to think about who YuWon was upon seeing them.

That was the seven after ten years since the war against the Outers ended.

"Are you going to keep living like this?"

Son OhGong said, rolling on the sofa.

YuWon, preparing food by putting chicken and ginseng into boiling water, nodded at his question.

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Don't you really feel bad? You could play the hero."

Hercules, who had just fixed the door, looked at the house's ceiling. The house was neither luxurious nor poor. If YuWon wanted, he could have built a castle on the first floor with his points.

"Do you remember the conversation that day?"

"That day?"

Hercules furrowed his brow for a moment, but then remembered what YuWon had said.

"What I want to do the most is to do nothing."

"Enjoy the peace, sleep a lot, not plan anything, not be busy."

Hercules recalled those words and looked at the house again.

Everything YuWon wanted to do was there.

"Leave it. He says he's happy," said Hercules.

"But soon it'll be his wedding, and there will be a lot of people..."

"Son OhGong, stop!"

Hercules shouted at Son OhGong, who was about to take a chicken out of the stew.

Son OhGong's clones jumped in surprise and shouted.

"I just wanted to taste it!"

"Your 'just tasting' is not just tasting! Get rid of your clones, idiot!"

"You eat more than me! You're the size of an orc boss!"

"Are you done talking?"

"Pandora, stop eating cake, and let's eat. You two, if you want to fight, go outside. You're going to destroy the house."

The house was full of noise.

YuWon sighed and began to serve the food on plates.

Pandora, with chocolate on her hands, approached YuWon and helped him.

"Shall we kick them out?"

Pandora asked, holding a tray and plates.

Even behind them, Son OhGong and Hercules were still fighting.

Both were High-Rankers who could destroy a house with a simple sneeze.

They had already destroyed two houses because of their fights.

YuWon had already warned them that if they destroyed the house again, he wouldn't invite them again.

"Leave them be. In the long run, we'll move anyway."

YuWon shrugged and started setting the table with Pandora.

The house was full of noise.

YuWon looked at Son OhGong, Hercules, and Pandora, who were glaring at each other with gritted teeth.

A bit of chaos, but there was no need to be more greedy.

Crack-.

The sound of a broken plate rang out.

But it didn't matter.

The house hadn't broken.

'This is enough for me.'

YuWon's only concern was the truth of this world, which he had learned through Azathoth's memories.

'... If only those guys would stay still.' (Note: It's unclear if YuWon is talking about the Administrators or these two bastards)

Bang- Crack-

YuWon left the tray he had in his hand and pulled out a sword from his inventory.

If he wanted to stop them, he couldn't simply use words.