Chapter 10: 10

It was a pleasing message . Su-hyeun liked that the message said he had perfectly cleared the trial . He was right to exterminate the Shayres .

The slowly increasing stats and magic factor had risen by a few points at once, as well as his achievement points . Not to mention, he had obtained even more stats and achievement points from battling the Shayres in the past month . Since the Leap skill’s mastery had increased, it wasn’t a waste of time .

I’ve stayed for too long . Although he very much wanted to advance to the next floor, there was something else he had to do .

Creak, creak—

Su-hyeun, who watched as the remaining Shayres escaped, looked back at their chief . And…

“Transfiguration skill . ”

The moment he had been waiting for had arrived .

[The transfiguration skill will be used with the “Shayre Chief” as the target . ]

[Some parts of the target’s characteristics will be absorbed . ]

[Trait: “Berserk” has been acquired . ]

Berserk . Su-hyeun had known of its trait .

“A trait that increases the physical ability in proportion to one’s fatigue, health, and blood loss . ”

It was quite the useful trait . One’s physical ability would naturally decrease as fatigue and health got worse . But the berserk traits could reverse the effect exponentially . It would be quite handy in times of emergency .

It was worthwhile learning the transfiguration skill, capturing the chief, and obtaining this trait .

In the meantime, there’s no need to change the trait .

The Shayre chief was a monster similar to the Shayre’s boss . If it was the monster boss’s trait, a normal monsters’ trait would be incomparable . If there was only one trait that could be attained through the transfiguration skill, there would be no use for others for the time being .

Anyway, I’ve been here for way too long .

It was only the second floor . There were many more floors to ascend . Although Su-hyeun chose a higher difficulty level to receive better rewards, he could not continue to stay on the lower floors .

Time to speed up . Su-hyeun increased his abilities while hunting the Shayres in the past month . Although his magic level did not increase, his magic factor increased . His stats, too, had been raised significantly, and he accumulated a large number of achievement points .

He could get himself a few more useful skills with this amount of achievement points . It would be much easier to climb the tower . In the next year .

Su-hyeun’s eyes narrowed . The goal… tenth floor .

It was easier to make concrete plans with a clear goal . Su-hyeun quickly organized his future plans and goals in his mind . The determined Su-hyeun finally spoke .

“Next . ” Su-hyeun immediately ascended to the third level . He had spent a month there, as well as on the fourth and fifth floors . Su-hyeun ascended the floors without rest . A year had passed .

* * *

Wednesday, December 7, 2019 . It was a day that caught the hearts of many students . There were some satisfied with their results after a long period of suffering, but most were disappointed and frustrated .

It’s alright . Su-hyeun headed out after verifying his results slip in the mail .

Eating out… It was rare for Su-hyeun and Shin Su-yeong to dine outside . If it were a special day, Shin Su-yeong would prepare a fancy feast, but Su-hyeun would bring up the excuse of studying and not make time for it .

But now he could no longer use that as an excuse . The exams were over, and the results of Su-hyeun’s studies were shown to Shin Su-yeong . I can’t afford to use working part-time as an excuse .

He thought it would be better if he were to live independently . Otherwise, I’ll reveal the truth .

It wasn’t easy hiding the truth for a year . Moreover, Su-hyeun felt guilty about it . Su-hyeun left the house and took the subway . Although Shin Su-yeong ended work late, Su-hyeun personally went to find her at her workplace .

Su-hyeun arrived at the subway station by bus and took Line 1 towards Suwon Station . Although it was after office hours, the station was still packed .

Screech—

Clank—

It was noisy . Although Su-hyeun had earphones plugged in, he couldn’t focus on the music .

It’ll soon be… 2020? It was now December 2019 . Time flew quickly .

1

Su-hyeun looked out of the window in the crowded subway . The densely packed buildings and people passing through them looked peaceful at that moment .

Crash—!

Shatter—

The world turned upside down in front of his eyes, and everything was destroyed . The buildings crumbled, the people who were smiling brightly turned bloody . The sky turned black, and hot flames rose above the ground .

Part of the world, destroyed . This would probably be how it would look like after a few decades .

Again…

Su-hyeun shut his eyes tightly . One, two, three . He opened his eyes after counting to three . Thankfully the world was still the same .

“Huu—” He was sick of it . He occasionally had thoughts that everything was an illusion, and the world had been destroyed . Everyone else besides him had died, and the world had been burned down to ashes .

He might still be dreaming, and the moment he woke up, the destroyed world would appear before him . He had seen this illusion countless times and feared it every single time .

He was afraid that he would be left alone . Fearful that all these days were just lies .

However, it had improved lately, since he had seen these illusions numerous times . He probably would feel better staying in the Tower of Trials .

Has it been a month? He should have accepted reality at this rate .

Whatever they are, they are not illusions . The destroyed world — and the remaining part of this world, too — were both true . There was no need to take it badly . He just had to make sure the illusions he saw were not turned into reality .

Screech—

The subway soon arrived at Suwon Station . Su-hyeun alighted the subway and walked towards Shin Su-yeong’s store .

“Su-hyeun, you’re here? Wait a minute . ”

Shin Su-yeong was closing the store . Su-hyeun asked while helping her out .

“Did you sell a lot today?”

“Why should I sell so much? My salary would still be the same . ”

“There’s no bonus?”

“The boss is so stingy . She’s rich but such a miser . ” She said it half-jokingly .

Su-hyeun now smiled frequently while conversing with Shin Su-yeong . He had changed quite significantly in the past year .

They walked towards a barbeque restaurant nearby . It had been a while since they had grilled meat cooked over charcoal instead of in a pan .

As soon as the meat was cooked, Shin Su-yeong said, “Eat a lot, son . You’ve worked hard studying so much . ”

Although he felt guilty for lying, Su-hyeun still nodded his head . “Thank you for the food . ”

“Right . How were your results?”

It seemed that Shin Su-yeong did not forget that the results would be released today . Su-hyeun shrugged knowingly, took out his results slip from his bag, and handed it to her . He was about to put the wrapped meat into his mouth .

“My gosh, son! Are these really your results?”

“You surprised me . Did you think I would steal someone else’s?”

“My gosh, my gosh!”

Not realizing that the meat was getting burnt, Shin Su-yeong smiled brightly at the results slip . The tired face after work was nowhere to be seen . Su-hyeun had never seen Shin Su-yeong smiling so brightly .

“Son . I hope for you to graduate from university, but it’s alright if it’s a normal university…”

Most parents would want their children to attend a good university . It was the same for his mother from his past life . Although attending university would not guarantee a good future, but it would be advantageous to have a higher educational background .

University . Although it would be deemed useless in a few years, Su-hyeun wanted to fulfill her wishes . Thus, Su-hyeun took out some of his sleep time to study a month before the exams . It wasn’t difficult . He had done the same in his past life anyway .

There was no need to attend a good university, too .

Su-hyeun attended Dong-ha University in his past life . It was one of the three top universities in Korea . For Su-hyeun, who had studied so intensely, it wasn’t that tough to study again .

“The meat is getting burnt . Let’s dig in . ”

“Aigoo, I’m full even if I don’t eat . I’m proud of you, son!”

Shin Su-yeong, who was still beaming, seemed to not care about the meat . The string of compliments got Su-hyeun to turn red . He couldn’t taste the meat properly .

How happy she must have been . She couldn’t hold it any longer and started calling someone to boast about it . Su-hyeun eventually bowed his head and sighed as he watched .

Su-hyeun thought the results weren’t good enough . This was enough, he thought . But if it were the university from his past life? No way . It was just enough to get him into a university in Seoul . As time passed, it seemed even more challenging to get such high grades in his past life .

Should I have worked even harder? If she was delighted with results like this, what if he had gotten even better results?

She would be grinning from ear to ear . He felt good just imagining it . A smile crept up Su-hyeun’s face, too .

Suddenly, he heard a voice in his ears .

“I thought you would do even better…”

It wasn’t Shin Su-yeong’s voice — it was a voice from his past life . The words were spoken by Sung-in’s mother . The results had been a lot better back then . But why…?

Why did she have such a disappointed look? Was it because he did not meet expectations? Instead, he had hoped that she would be as happy as if he had done his best .

I don’t know anymore . Su-hyeun shook his head .

I’m not even going to attend university religiously .

He only took the exams to make her happy . Su-hyeun had no intention of attending university earnestly .

Because I’ll soon… Su-hyeun glanced at Shin Su-yeong’s smiling face… Have to take action here as well .