NOVEL NEXT chapter 4
4 – 0th Floor, Tutorial.
A white room, six branching paths.
Jin Cheol-hwan, standing in front of the stone gate, recalled the humiliation he had suffered earlier.
‘Those damn b*stards.’
He had suggested a way for everyone to be comfortable, considering the women who were weaker than the men.
Instead of saying more, they just kept their mouths shut and watched.
To make matters worse, Lee Min-ji clung to that guy who looked just so-so, as if to show off.
‘She’s not even that pretty, acting all high and mighty.’
In the same situation, summoned to the Tower of Struggle, wouldn’t it be better to climb the tower together?
He didn’t like the look in his eyes, as if he were looking at a bug.
“Oruin… you rude b*stard.”
The guy who had been quiet until a moment ago suddenly glared at him and challenged him, perhaps wanting to show off in front of the girl.
“If an adult tells you to do something, you should do it.”
Kids these days are hopeless.
Jin Cheol-hwan didn’t say that out loud.
He swallowed it inside.
It wasn’t that he was scared.
The tutorial was much more important, so he just put his personal feelings aside for a moment.
If Jin Cheol-hwan beat Park Ji-hoon or Oruin to a pulp and rendered them unable to fight?
“It would just increase the amount of work I have to do.”
To avoid troublesome matters, Jin Cheol-hwan left the two alone.
That didn’t mean he forgave them.
They would pay the price for glaring at him.
So he mustered up his courage.
While others were hesitating, he boldly stepped beyond the stone gate.
Believing there would be a reward this time as well.
“…Where is this?”
A new space greeted Jin Cheol-hwan.
A large cavern.
A man stood there.
“Big, he’s big…!”
The man was enormous.
From Jin Cheol-hwan’s perspective, who had to look up at Oruin, who was about 180 cm tall, this man surpassed the boundary of “looking up.”
“Did you come alone?”
The man, whose entire body was covered in hair like a beast, looked at Jin Cheol-hwan and asked.
Did you come alone?
“Why, that…”
Jin Cheol-hwan was quick-witted.
Even during his school days, in the military, and at work.
The era he lived in was an era of romance.
It was called romance, but it wouldn’t have been strange to call it an era of violence.
To survive in such times with a small frame, one had to be quick-witted.
That way, you’d get hit less.
Jin Cheol-hwan’s intuition sounded an alarm.
He sensed doubt in the man’s question and quickly found the right answer.
“N-no way. The helper’s words to cooperate…”
“Heh heh. It’s too late to realize it now.”
Boom-!
The man stomped his foot.
Then the ground shook.
‘No… it’s not.’
The ground didn’t shake.
‘My-my body won’t listen!’
Jin Cheol-hwan’s sense of balance was paralyzed, making him feel an earthquake.
“Isn’t it fascinating? The skills of the ‘Soul System’?”
The man blocked Jin Cheol-hwan’s movements first and leaped into his arms.
“Ugh, ugh!”
Jin Cheol-hwan tried to raise his arms to block, but it was futile.
The man’s short punch hit Jin Cheol-hwan’s solar plexus.
Thud-!
“Ugh…!”
Jin Cheol-hwan spat blood and rolled on the ground.
“Normally, you should die instantly from this blow. But you won’t die. You still have some life left.”
Jin Cheol-hwan struggled to lift his head.
His vision turned red.
Was it because his blood vessels burst?
No.
This was a signal that his life force had dropped below 10%.
“Why do I have to explain this to someone who’s going to die anyway? The administrators really make us do ridiculous things.”
The man muttered something.
The new player, who should have been listening, was too close to death to pay attention.
“A contract is a contract.”
The man conveyed all the necessary information to Jin Cheol-hwan and raised his fist.
“Farewell.”
“S-Save me…!”
Thud!
* * *
He opened his eyes wide.
He gritted his teeth to avoid the knight’s sword.
But that didn’t mean he could read the trajectory of the blade.
Prediction.
He had no choice but to guess and roll his body as if dodging a ball.
“Ugh!”
He tried his best, but he couldn’t completely avoid the sword.
It grazed his arm.
‘It’s not fake.’
It was a real, genuine sword.
He got goosebumps.
“You raised your arm to block it. That was quite a good response. But there was no need to go that far.”
The knight temporarily withdrew her sword and continued speaking.
“In the tutorial, you won’t die from a single blow. Even if my sword pierced you just now, you would only lose 70 health points.”
“…Damn it.”
He was cut by the sword.
A sharp pain swept through his forearm.
He couldn’t say anything nice.
“Getting hit first and getting messed up. Damn it.”
No matter how much he cursed, the knight didn’t seem to care.
She listened indifferently, as if she had heard it all before.
“Cooperation is important. If we cooperate, we can pass through easily. So, it’s even more puzzling.”
“……”
“Why did you challenge it alone? You must have teammates who were summoned together with you?”
Is this a revolving lantern?
The events from earlier flashed through my mind in an instant.
And then I realized.
‘The helper never said to attack the stone gates individually.’
They said to cooperate.
People misunderstood cooperation.
They thought it meant to clear each gate individually.
“…Malicious.”
It’s malicious.
Six gates, six people.
‘Anyone can see it’s one person per gate.’
Blood was flowing from my arm.
The situation was more serious than I thought.
I wondered if I really wouldn’t die.
‘Quickly.’
I had 30 life points left.
I didn’t know how much that was, but it definitely wasn’t a generous amount.
‘To survive…’
I had no choice but to beat the opponent to death.
“That look in your eyes. I like it. It seems you’ve finally gotten serious.”
The female knight pointed her sword at me.
Seeing the blood-stained blade, my barely ignited fighting spirit was about to be extinguished.
‘Even professional fighters say to run away if you encounter someone with a knife. Can someone like me defeat this female knight?’
The opponent was a female knight.
Not only was she armed with a sword, but she must have also undergone additional swordsmanship training.
‘And the skills from the Soul System are a bonus.’
What are the chances of me breaking through her swordsmanship and winning?
Practically zero.
This can’t go on.
My head is spinning.
To find a way, I think of countless possibilities.
“…Thinking about it, it’s funny.”
Communication works.
It’s a variable.
A variable I can use.
‘Alien.’
A blonde female knight.
Her armor is not like medieval plate armor, but rather the kind of armor you’d see in an animation.
A princess knight vibe.
“…A knight who strikes first and then talks as if they’re dueling with honor… Honestly, it’s a bit pathetic?”
I gently provoked.
“Listening to what you’re saying, it seems like the tutorial is structured to be tackled with the cooperation of team members. Is that right?”
“That’s correct.”
The female knight answered readily.
“It’s a mission that can be overcome with the cooperation of six people. It’s not as difficult as it seems. All players, including myself, are restricted in their abilities.”
“…What kind of restrictions?”
“All abilities are fixed at 15.”
How much is 15?
I can’t gauge it.
‘The first strike must be a skill…’
After calculating this and that.
‘There’s a chance of winning.’
The assistant didn’t return Park Ji-hoon’s abilities.
That means a man with Park Ji-hoon’s physique has abilities exceeding 10.
‘Same goes for me.’
If I were to express my original physical abilities in numbers, it would be around 15.
Then there’s a chance of winning.
‘Still, just in case.’
I want to minimize the variables as much as possible.
“No matter how restricted you are… isn’t this a bit too much?”
“What is?”
“You’re a knight, aren’t you? Don’t you have any chivalry?”
I raised my arm to show him.
Blood was trickling down.
“After putting me in this state, you pick up your sword as if to say, ‘Let’s fight properly from now on’… Honestly, don’t you think that’s too much? I have no weapon, nothing at all.”
“This is the Tower of Struggle.”
The female knight replied firmly.
“This is a place where you trample on your opponent and climb up to prove yourself.”
“…If you climb up using such cowardly methods, what remains?”
I panted heavily.
I gasped as if I might collapse at any moment.
“A knight should fight like a knight. Under the same conditions.”
“Are you telling me to throw away my sword?”
I shook my head.
“I have no weapon, just my body. That’s my fault, not yours. It’s something I have to endure.”
“……”
“But, being attacked first wasn’t my fault. You confused me with your words and swung your sword.”
The female knight thought for a moment and then withdrew her sword.
“I was also too flustered when I saw you appear alone. It was a slip of the tongue. I apologize.”
Is it because she has the intelligence to think?
It seems like something is connecting.
“An apology? If I die and get eliminated here, what use is your apology?”
“…There’s nothing I can do about that… I feel wronged.”
The female knight said with a genuinely aggrieved expression.
“When a challenger appears, I ambush them, just as the manual says.”
“So you’re saying you did nothing wrong. The chivalry of your dimension is quite light, isn’t it?”
“……”
“Must be nice to be as light as a feather. You can fly without using any skills.”
The female knight gritted her teeth.
‘Looks like I hit a nerve.’
In a good way, she was a woman who acted as she appeared.
“So?”
The female knight barely suppressed her anger and spoke.
“What do you want? Judging by your long-winded tongue, you must have something to ask of me. Speak. I’ll grant you everything except surrendering this tutorial.”
She smirked inwardly.
“…I want a fair fight.”
“A fair fight? How do you propose a fair fight in your condition?”
Maybe it was because she kept bleeding.
She looked to be in a serious condition.
But it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
“…You said it yourself. You didn’t want to, but you had to ambush me according to the manual.”
“Yes, that’s right. The manual says to strike the challenger and explain about life force. I had no choice but to ambush you.”
Just in case, she blocked the female knight’s retreat.
“The subsequent battle process isn’t in the manual, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Then it’s simple.”
A way to rectify what she had to do.
“You just have to allow me to strike you once as well. If we each land a blow, then it can be considered a fair fight.”
The female knight, after a moment of thought, readily agreed.
“Good idea.”
“Really?”
“To be honest, I felt bad about it. It felt wrong to cut down someone who challenged alone without knowing anything. But you showed courage. As a knight, I think it’s right to accept this proposal.”
“Hmm. As expected of a knight.”
She said that with her mouth, but inwardly she was cursing the female knight.
‘You’re only agreeing because you know you won’t lose.’
It felt like a high school student allowing an elementary school student to score a point in a sparring match at a Taekwondo dojo.
The mindset of not losing was underlying it all.
So it feels subtly repulsive.
“Put down the sword.”
“As you wish.”
The knight put down the sword.
Carefully placing it down, she approached me.
“What skill did you acquire?”
“Smite.”
“I see why you made such a request.”
The knight stood completely defenseless, waiting for my strike.
“I hope you won’t resent me too much if you die by my sword in the future battles.”
“……”
I loaded Smite into my right fist.
‘Better than dying.’
And then I struck with all my might.