Two noisy days passed since the first worldwide announcement from the Tower. On the first day Governments and Association branches of each country scrambled to cough up an explanation for the seething civilians.

The American government that touted itself on share all relevant information with the public and their collaborators the European Union, the under-pressure Japanese government along with its fellow Asian countries, the Chinese government that said that it had everything in control, the Indian Government that couldn’t keep things under control, and the Russian government that had yet to make an official statement.

There wasn’t one world leader that wasn’t sitting on a seat full of needles. Reporters ran wild as the public was looking to tear into anyone with authority.

The main reason for this breakout of panic was the lower rank Awakened who wanted attention. Although low in rank, they too got the messages. They didn’t waste time hopping onto social media and running their mouth to exaggerate the situation even more than it was.

At least that was the sentiment the EU tried to drive in.

So far we know nothing of the Tower, aside from the fact that there are over 45 of them scattered across the continents! Imagine if the Stampede means that those monsters will pour out of each one of them. That would be terrifying! I mean just look at how much damage the Gates do alone! I can’t understand why they would keep it a secret. Like what was the point? If they worked together and released more information this wouldn’t be such a big deal! I am sure many people would volunteer to help their countries. I know I would! JammyBread said with utmost conviction.

She became one of the top streamers that covered Awakened-related content with daily streams. And she too was an awakened, although not combat-oriented. From the day of her debut a month ago, her popularity soared for three big reasons.

RandomMob: Yeah, Jammy’s so right!

InternetDrone378: Those damn politicians never care about the people anyway.

Pigeon_no_007: They want money, those filthy bloodsuckers. Even the Association seems the same.

RandomMob: Definitely! Love you Jammy, you are the only one who isn't defending them.

LoveJammyFR: Fr, the rest are ducking sellouts.

I_like_Big_Melons: That is why we only support Jammy!

Breaking_Broke172635: You Goddamn right.

.

.

.

Now guys, don’t use bad words and be respectful, ok? She leaned forward noticing the swear words in the chat. If you don’t, I’ll have you banned.

The chat was soon filled with apologies from the offenders and how they wouldn’t swear again. She smiled with a nod because when she talked about banning it wasn’t an empty threat.

I’ll let it slide this time. Aiyaa, I forgot where I was…um…. She held her head trying to dig out the points she wanted to say.

Her audience liked her streams and bright personality, so they came around every day just to watch. As for the other two reasons for her success.

Ah! Yes! I remember now! It is about Awakened Lee Do-Yun! She almost jumped out of her chair. The sudden action did stir something in the chat.

I_like_Big_Melons: They are moving…

LoveJammyFR: They indeed are moving…

Random_Mob2: You guys are fucking disgusting lol.

Juicy_Melons89: Just so you know every single one of us is failing the eye tracker test.

Jammy_Stan7999: Kekeke

So, you know that Mr. Lee Do-Yun entered the Tower at Namsan Peak with his own team, right? That is the first team to enter any of the Towers so far. Isn’t that amazing? It totally is, ‘cause other countries are still trying to build teams, but not only South Korea has such a team. They also cleared a whole floor already! And this was all thanks to Mr. Lee Do-Yun doing this on his own! JammyBread’s face lit up with the light of a thousand suns as she talked about Lee Do-Yun.

This was a monumental achievement for them. While every country was scratching their heads on how to deal with this turnaround, South Korea’s Awakened Association released the video of Do-Yun entering the Tower. They even staked the claim that this team had cleared the Tower’s first floor. No other country was able to pull them down because they had no evidence, and no such claims from others arose.

Even if they did say something, it had been confirmed with video coverage on national news that across the Towers only three people had entered. So, it had become a fact that South Korea took a giant leap forward.

That is why I keep telling you all. Even if things look tough and problems arise like this, we’ll always overcome them. Not only have we cleared the Floor to reset the timer, but with this successful raid, we’ll learn a lot about the Tower and how to deal with them. So everyone, don’t lose hope in a brighter future! We still have hope! JammyBread smiled.

Positive messages flooded her chat and even if she couldn’t read them all in time, she tried her best to point out the ones she could notice.

“This went smoother than expected.” Ji-Hu exited the streaming app and placed his phone to the side.

Their plan to calm down the public outcry had gone better than he expected. Most of this was thanks to Do-Yun telling him to prepare for it in advance. Even told them to film his entrance into the Tower and waving at the camera before going through with it.

“What a show-off.” Da-Eun scoffed.

“How did you get Jammy on board with this? She has declined to work with the association on multiple occasions till now.” Chung-Ae asked leaning forward.

“Well… she agreed when I told her that the topic was Mr. Lee. She said she is a fan.” Baek-Hyeon sighed, he prepared for yet another failure but it worked in their favor this time.

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“That bastard has fans?!” Da-Eun cocked an eyebrow.

“Mr. Lee has a fan club… so yeah, he has many fans.” Baek-Hyeon nodded, he didn’t expect it either.

“People have no taste, do they? Just cause he’s a little good-looking.” Da-Eun’s face scrunched up as Chung-Ae grinned.

“That doesn’t matter to us, what works, works. Now then Baek-Hyeon did you get any reports regarding the trouble in America from X?” Ji-Hu asked.

“X is in America now? Wasn’t he in Japan?” Da-Eun asked.

“New problems came up.” Ji-Hu had been meaning to bring the rest of the team up to speed on this. Now that it appeared that they were the front runners, they needed to keep their eyes everywhere.

Everyone turned to Baek-Hyeon who sent out the file to the personal tablets of all the members. It contained a short report on the situation that the American government tried their hardest to hide.

Chung-Ae’s brow furrowed reading through the document.

“Did they really have no idea where one of their S-Rank is? This is a new level of irresponsibility.” Da-Eun muttered in disbelief.

“Ethan Fray. The guy supposed to lead America’s Strike team into the Tower. For him to just vanish like that… it doesn’t look that simple.” Ji-Hu frowned. It had been days since the last time Ethan had appeared in front of anyone.

Reading through his document they could understand why it happened. However, that was of little concern to them or anyone.

An S-Rank was capable of devastating damage, even the rampage of one that lasted for a second in America it razed down two whole buildings and the nearby area claiming hundreds of lives.

Even before that Countries and Associations have kept their eyes on the high-ranking Awakened by either discreet or open methods. They provided the Awakened with some privileges as compensation if the method turned extreme. The American Government, like most used the latter method. However, they had no idea what happened even with their invasive methods.

“They are even using their biggest private tech company to scan the neighboring countries with satellites and even used all their government resources in the past week… it doesn’t look like they planned for this,” Chung-Ae said closing the file.

“Just when we thought that one problematic S-Rank got caught another went loose, it looks like we’ll see a list of serial murders in America too.” Da-Eun frowned at the thought. She hoped that it didn’t happen though.

“Rather than caught, that guy in Tokyo surrendered on purpose. They are holding him in captivity. Preventing his escape wouldn’t be easy unless they use the S-ranks as personnel. Which is kind of not that easy……” Baek-Hyeon too sighed, S-Rank awakened were like walking disasters whose powers had yet to be revealed in full.

However, instead of the power, the fault came with the person. The skills didn’t distinguish between evil or good, everyone had the chance to get it, whether they were a blood-loving murderer or the saint. That was how the system had always worked.

‘We have been lucky that such people haven't appeared in the country, but the future is uncertain. That is why this country needs to have a strong system that can deal with such problems. Right now, we are nowhere close to that.’ Ji-Hu kept the worst in mind at all times. The chance that something he overlooked today turned into a problem later didn’t sit well with him.

“Tell X to continue his investigation on Ethan Fray and dig deeper. From the looks of it, they find him soon. The information from this case would be of great help as reference..” Ji-Hu said to conclude the meeting.

The others left to do their own tasks as he got back to dealing with paperwork. Although most of the time he had to deal with outrageous proposals from the assembly. Watching these requests he had to agree with JammyBread’s followers, many of the politicians were blood-sucking leeches. They didn’t care for the betterment of the country, nor the safety of the people they swore to help.

“Even in a time where real monsters can run free in any city, the humans are the hardest to deal with.” Ji-Hu sighed.

“Sometimes this makes me want to choke them all with my own hands… The world might be better off without them.” He muttered but shook his head after, “That isn’t the correct way of changing the country.”

If he killed them and took over, others would think they could do the same.

‘In a world where giants fight, the ants suffer.’ The innocent civilians that he wanted to protect would come in harm’s way. Even the flimsy shield of Law that protects them now, wouldn’t stop the savagery of Human nature. That was why he needed to bring change in a different way.

To stop Awakened Criminals who used their skills for evil, they needed a symbol of power. Someone who would crush such people without leaving a doubt about their strength. It had to reach a point where their presence alone would be enough to deter criminals.

Such things were common in fantasy, he often laughed about how convenient this was. A symbol of Peace. A Hero of the People. It would be such a blessing to have it in the real world. However, now this has become a possibility.

‘There are three candidates for this position. If any of them takes this position the citizens of this country can be safe… Then they can change the system to maintain that peace.’ Ji-Hu hadn’t talked about this with the three people in question yet, he still had his doubts but that came from personal beliefs.

But the question was, which one would it be?

“Those two are hard to read.” He could never understand them, but he knew that they were more than capable of achieving this.

Ji-Hu was about to return to his work the now familiar red panel showed up in front of him.

[Congratulations! The Second Floor of the Tower has been cleared!]

[The Timer will now reset!]

[Clear the Third Floor of the Tower within 30 days. Failure will result in a Stampede.]

In the next instant, his private phone rang, a message came from one of the few people he had given his personal phone number to. The content of the message were sharp and to the point.

Park Gun: Send me a ticket to Seoul. I am interested in this Tower thingy.

“Looks like it wouldn’t long till I find out the answer.” Ji-Hu smiled picking up his phone.

***

Second Floor, The Tower.

The blanket of night stretched as far as Do-Yun’s eyes could see. He took a bite of military ration with a relish as the cold wind brushed against his face under the moonlight.

‘This felt more like a camping trip than the stressful Tower raid most people would imagine.’ They all sat under the glow of the Angel statue at the foot of a hill. Stuffing their faces with balanced meals in a clean environment.

‘The reason things go so smoothly is because of him.’ Eun-Young stared at Do-Yun, ‘It is like he knows what problems will appear and always has something that’ll help… Wonder if he was a survival nut or something?’

Even with that level of expertise, it took them a while to clear the second floor. The monsters they faced were still orcs, but they had to hunt over 250 of them. The worst part, they scattered all over the Floor in smaller groups. There wasn’t a floor boss this time around and they received +2 compartments in the inventory and a book that Ethan was still translating.

“Are we going to attempt the Third floor?” Eun-Young asked as they finished the meal. They hadn’t set up their tents, so only two possibilities remained. First, he had changed his mind, and second…

“Have we run out of supplies?” That was all they needed to hear.

“I think the supplies can last for another 4 days. With the help of the books we were able to gather lots of edible fruits and herbs too.” Byung-Ho checked the small notebook in his pocket. He kept track of the supplies now.

“That’s enough then, the next floor is our last one.” Do-Yun stretched his body a little.

Byung-Ho sighed in relief, they could get a break after the next one. Although the Tower was fascinating, it also had a dark feeling to it. Throughout the two floors, Do-Yun had always told them to keep their eyes wide open. Even if he appeared lax, he always knew what happened several meters around him.

Such awareness had helped them prepare for what came.

The Tower was a deadly place that could take their life at the moment they let their guard down. He wanted them to understand that. However, it would’ve had more impact if he wasn’t there.

‘Well, as long as Hyung is around, it shouldn’t be a problem.’ Byung-Ho said accepting the invitation to travel to the next floor as a party.

The space in front of him crumpled like a sheet of cloth and swirled. Hit with vertigo he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, a grass plain waited in front of him.

The sky still dark, made him squint his eyes to adjust back to the darkness. He looked around finding the Angel statue behind him. Ethan standing next to it reading the book under the glow. However, that’s where things went wrong.

“Where’s Hyung and Miss Kim…?” No matter where he looked, Byung-ho couldn’t find the two.

…

-:Moments Lost Between Pages:- (A small segment I plan to do at the end of every chapter)

Ji-Hu: Should I send out a Private jet?

Gun: If you can, send me some money too. I am gonna recoup my losses.

Ji-Hu: …

Gun: Don’t worry I’ll pay you back double when I win.

Ji-Hu: …That is not what worries me.