Translator: Qii
Editor: Maralynx
There are two types of human beings in this world.
The first type are the people who consider themselves special but are nothing more than ordinary people.
The second type are the people who consider themselves special and actually are special individuals.
From the moment Jung Si-woo gained his consciousness, he has always considered himself as part of the latter.
“Oh, Jung Si-woo! I told you not to lift the couch!”
“Kyaahahaha!”
“Should we send our baby to some kind of Guinness?”
“No, he will be caught and get dissected. Ah! Stop lifting the refrigerator! Why don’t you just lift the whole house instead, the house!”
“kyauh?”
“No, dad is sorry. Please don’t lift it…”
He is strong. He’s just strong from birth. Incredibly strong. The strength he has is not from any hard training, but just something he was born with.
“Siwoo, control your power.”
“I am controlling it?”
“It hurts!”
“Ah, it’s Jung Si-woo!”
When he was a kid, he could not control his power properly and got fed up. His parents decided that his power needed to be controlled somehow and registered him in various martial arts dojangs, however, none of those dojangs could last for more than 1 year.
“This child… it is impossible for us to teach him in our dojang. I’m deeply sorry, madam.”
“Somehow he gets the basics. But in the process, he destroyed our dojang as well.”
“He can’t hold weapons. There are no weapons that could withstand his strength. Actually no, his body is his greatest weapon, so why are you making him use another weapon?”
However, the judo dojang that accepted him confidently saying ‘Suppress the strength with skills!’ did last a little longer, but Jung Siwoo who already has a great strength added with the judo skill, easily defeated the head of the dojang.
“Siwoo, you’re a beast. You have no need for any human’s skills.”
The head of the judo dojang, who was lying on the ground after being thrown over by Jung Siwoo softly says it to him. But Jung Si-woo shook his head and replied to him.
“But I think I have become stronger after learning judo.”
“Yes, actually that’s the problem… you’re a beast, but now that you have even learned skills, you became a monster. In the future, don’t tell anyone that you learned judo from me.”
“You mean I can just sell your name if I ever get in trouble, right?”
“This clever brat…!”
Although it resulted terribly for some dojangs closing their doors, Jung Si-woo barely managed to moderately control his strength to some extent by the end of it. That was Jung Si-woo at the age of 11 years old.
“Hey, why are you the only one playing alone in PE class?”
“I’m excluded from any ball games.”
“Why are you the only exception? Are you kidding me?”
“If I play with the rest, everyone will be excluded. Physically.”
“Hic.”
People can faintly sense that he is special and that he was only matching himself to others. It would be a lie to say that Jung Si-woo has never felt more superior toward others. Furthermore, his power that keeps on increasing everyday has never been properly revealed, and to think that he was already outrageously strong even without using his full power!
‘Of course, I’m a special person.’
It was a natural fact for him, and it was absolute. He has never once in his life doubted the fact that he was special.
But that didn’t mean he lives arrogantly. It is normal that when a human is on the top of one field, he would want to challenge other fields as well, he trained himself with the innate strength he was born with while challenging himself to study.
“Jung Si-woo ranked 3rd in the whole school.”
“Crazy bastard.”
“If he’s even good at studying then what are we supposed to be?!”
The results were clear, but not as absolute as his strength. However, Jung Si-woo was satisfied with that. This is sure to make him more special. After that, he searched for other things that would make him more special. Ironically, the natural ability he was born with raised him to be someone diligent.
When he was 16 years old, an enormous castle appeared in the sky. It was a mysterious castle that could not be contacted by airplane, by jet or even by missile. There’s no human technology that could find a way inside.
However, the castle began selecting a few among the humans and granting them wings; when they reached the castle, they found mysterious goods that did not exist on earth, and the one guarding it were monsters. Those who defeated the monsters were called ‘Players’, and the centre of human society was immediately focused toward them.
Jung Si-woo thought that he obviously could be a player.
But the wings did not grow for him.
Just like that, 10 years have passed.
Jung Si-woo hasn’t yet been able to forsake his dream of becoming a Player.
It has been 10 years since the Sky Castle appeared over the earth or more precisely, the Pacific Ocean.
It was a really huge castle that appeared one day without notice. If there are any unique features about the castle, it’s the fact that a ridiculously large subject is floating in the sky and that every means of human technology has been unable to touch it.
When they try to attack it using a fighter jet, it passes through as if there is nothing there and when they try to shoot it down using a missile, the missile just disappears right before it hits the castle. Even if several attacks were made at once and using a big one, it is of no use.
Sky Castle seemed to be in a different world than Earth. Humans could not get any information from it, except that it is visible to everyone.
To figure out the identity of that castle and the effects it has toward humans or the Earth, they try hard to contact anyone that might be inside the castle, but all of the tries resulted in failure.
That was until humans started to have wings.
Similar to how the Sky Castle suddenly appeared, wings suddenly began to emerge on the backs of very few of the earthlings without any particular reason, neither was there any warning. There were many types of wings, such as butterfly wings, bat wings, eagle wings, but they all had one thing in common.
Those with wings were able to fly on their own. There are differences in flight speed and distance depending on the type of the wing and skill but either way, they are all able to fly.
Then humans came to a realization. Perhaps? At such an unbelievable timing these humans who suddenly grow wings, wouldn’t it mean that these humans could enter the sky castle? That was what was said then.
The hypothesis was then greatly proven correct. Humans with wings, who would later be called Players, were able to enter the Sky Castle under the condition that they fly by themselves except for those who use a shortcut by riding an aircraft to reach the Sky Castle.
It is not known in detail what exactly is there inside the Sky Castle that humans barely managed to enter. This is because it is impossible to shoot or record anything inside the Sky Castle as no modern objects except clothes could enter and leave.
But still, the change was very dramatic.
Since the contact of humans and Sky Castles, ‘Dungeons’ full of monsters and traps began to emerge in the Sky Castles all over the world. The humans with wings went inside the dungeons as if it is a natural thing to do to gain more information about the Sky Castle. And inside the dungeons, there are special powers and an incredible amount of treasures.
It was the birth of a Player, a privileged human that has exclusive access to wings that could monopolize the treasure by going through the dungeons.
‘I think it’s time for me to become a player.’
Jung Si-woo, a 26 years old that became professionally jobless after graduating from college.
You never know when you will become a player, so you should never focus on other things! You need to work hard in training your body, reading various books, and not neglect self-discipline, in the remaining time, you could use your body to feel the temperature of the floor in the living room, it is a special work that not everyone could do.
The only problem is that to other people, you could be seen as lazing on the floor of the living room.
“Si-woo, go throw away the trash.”
“I’m doing something important right now… okay, I will go now mom. Uh, but I can’t fit into this trash bag?”
“Just wait a little bit, son. I will make sure you really fit in there!”
“Ah!”
Jung Si-woo ran out of his house after catching the trash bag while avoiding his mother who was chasing him with her eyes rolled over his small joke.
“Fuh, that was scary. She really is a mother who extremely loves her son.”
It was a simple task to just throw away the trash in the trash bin in front of the house, but it is boring going out just to throw away the trash.
He always pulled his handkerchief out of his back pocket, wiped his hands roughly, and looked at the blue sky while stretching vigorously. I was planning to do a little photosynthesis and then stop by a convenience store near my house and buy an ice cream before returning. Isn’t it really a great jobless life cycle?
“Ha.”
However, at that time an explosion of lights spread across the sky. Red, orange, yellow, colorful lights that could be mistaken as a rainbow. Not only Jung Si-woo, as long as you live in Korea, no, the whole world could see the intense colorful lights blooming in the sky.
It was like a firework display, but Jung Si-woo knew very well what it really meant.
‘I guess clearing the 32nd stage of the Sky Castle is a success.’
Jung Si-woo nodded his head firmly and pulled out his smartphone. It’s not like he needs to bring his phone along while throwing out a trash bag, but he was just too busy running avoiding his mother he has no chance to leave his smartphone at home.
After turning on the app and entering the right portal site, there was news that the 32nd dungeon was just cleared.
“[After a decade since Sky Castle opened, we succeeded in clearing the 32nd dungeon for the first time, led by the great Korean players guild ‘Rising Tornado’]… What, it was a success in Korea.”
Jung Siwoo who read the headline of the article had a bitter smile on his face.
There will be no one who could take the bloody smell that is hidden under the glorious title of the first dungeon clear. It’s a very difficult kind of dungeon where even if you know the strategy and challenge it, it’s still ridiculously hard to clear. To be the first one who clears it there, it’s crystal clear even without seeing just how great the hardships that the Players need to go through are.
“Haa… let’s just go and buy ice cream.”
If he had become a player, he would have conquered the whole Sky Castle by now, rather than just clearing level 32. Even the Sky Castle has no eyes to see real talent, he grumbled and hurried to the convenience store. While complaining, he kicked a pebble on the ground and watched as it soars high and disappeared into the sky.
“It’s one thousand won.”
“What, for this little bit of ice cream, a thousand won you say…”
“The ice cream is in a one-plus-one promotion.”
“Good.”
Why do humans always repeat the same mistakes? I would not be able to eat both of them, but every time I heard there’s a promotional event, I always ended up bringing two ice creams back home. He took a sigh and gave one to the part-timer there.
“It’s hot today, eat one.”
“Good.”
The part-timer opens and eats the ice cream with me. In the past, this ice cream helped me a lot when I was practicing controlling my strength. If you put too little strength it won’t crack open and if you put in too much the ice cream will burst out. So, it’s a great training that will give you just the right amount of strength to open the ice cream.
This reminded him of when he ate 50 ice creams at once while training and ended up with a stomach ache, it’s a good memory.
“Did you see it? The fireworks in the sky.”
“Of course.”
“I see the 32nd stage has finally been cleared for the first time in Korea. Humans really are greedy creatures.”
Jung Si-woo exchanged a smile with the part-timer who was eating the same ice cream and left the convenience store. It was a face that wasn’t as bright as it was.
‘It’s been 10 years already.’
At first, he thought that it was a mistake. He thought that if the Sky Castle is selecting special human beings, then he certainly will not be left out.
But that was not the case. Despite waiting for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and in the end 10 years have passed, but he still has not been selected as a player.
“Shoot, goal.”
He lightly throws the crumpled ice cream’s plastic into the trash bin and sighed. He turned around and his eyes immediately went to the blue sky that was shining brightly. However, he has no wings to fly into that sky.
‘But soon. Soon the wings will grow for me. I have a very strong feeling that they will. Though there really is no basis other than my gut feelings.’
I don’t even have any money now. Being a jobless son lazing around at home, my allowance was cut off this spring. I should just be grateful that my mom didn’t kick me out of the house.
‘…Should I find some work first.’
No matter how determined you are to become a player, you can’t starve to death because of money. Jung Si-woo really gave that ice cream away for nothing, he regretfully raised his head.
A woman is falling down from the sky.
“White… No.”
Observing a woman’s underwear is every man’s instinct but what matters now is not how that woman is wearing white panties, she is falling from the sky!
‘No mistake, she is a retired player…!’
Of course, not all players get wealth and glory. The Sky Castle and dungeons are filled with danger as much as they are fascinating, and if they retire due to the lack of abilities there, they will fall just like that woman right now.
I’ve never heard of a player surviving after falling from the Sky Castle like that. Whether on the ground or the surface, they fall quickly and instantly disappear without leaving any traces behind.
It is also very rare for a player to fall down from the Sky Castle. It was the first time Jung Si-woo has ever seen it in his life.
‘If she falls in front of me like that…’
“I can’t just let her be!”
Although Jung Si-woo is flustered, he has quick reflexes. He instinctively checked the distance between the crashing woman and himself and leaped from the ground with all his might. The distance between him and the woman narrowed in an instant.
“Ah… ugh!”
It is crazy to save a falling player from the Sky Castle, considering the speed of their falls. Even the airhead Jung Si-woo understands very well that the pressure would be absurd.
Nevertheless, he held out his arms without hesitation and caught the woman. He can’t even dream of saving her gently. With a tremendous amount of pressure, the pain he felt was as if his arms would be ripped out.
“Argh!”
“…Ahh?!”
The woman who was as pale as a dead man with eyes tightly shut suddenly opened both of her eyes. Fortunately, she seems to have regained her consciousness, but right now I have no time to look after her. We just need to survive this fall!
“Ughhhh!”
“What?! How?!”
The moment he caught the falling woman, Jung Si-woo’s body almost crashed into the ground, but he withstood the pain and stood firmly on the ground. If it’s not because of this extraordinary strength, I wouldn’t have tried it in the first place!
“Keughh!”
However, although the woman he caught was not hurt and he safely landed on the ground, the pressure on him did not decrease at all. On the contrary, it seems that the pressure became more severe, as if to crush and kill him.
It’s supposed to be impossible, but the very existence of Sky Castle itself is against the law of physics, so this much is not something to be surprised about.
“Let me go! If you keep going like this, you will only die here together with me!”
The woman is frightened and tries to shake Si-woo off. She’s already retiring, she didn’t want to drag an innocent person to death. However, Jung Si-woo burst out laughing.
“If you want to kill me, you will have to pour three times this pressure!”
The stance I learned while sticking to the living room’s floor after graduating from college, the immovable posture! It’s a stance that I practice even when the remote control falls far away or when I can’t reach the fan’s button and even when my mother glared fiercely at me, I endured all of them. So, I will definitely endure this pressure!
Soon the ground began to go out.
“…You can’t beat me, so you’re destroying the ground instead, huh.”
“Who the hell are you?!”
Although they were facing a life and death crisis, she couldn’t help but question his identity. This man is way weirder than anyone she has ever met in her life as a Player!
However, the ground slowly began to sink while they were facing each other and blinking. The speed soon began to accelerate, dropping them rapidly into the underground as if they are riding on an elevator made of dirt. If you look from the outside, it would be like looking at a sinkhole.
“Woaaaah.”
“Unbelievable…”
At one point, they were buried deep in the underground and it became very dark since there is no space leading outside. Only then did Siwoo realize the pressure on his body had disappeared.
“Oh.”
“We stopped…?”
They stopped moving. They were pushed so far into the ground that they couldn’t even guess how far they were from the surface, only both of them were there.
“I’m alive.”
“I didn’t know that we would really survive… but where is this place?”
“Who knows.”
Players might have been quite familiar with this strange phenomenon, but the woman also seemed to be quite confused as well. However, the fact that Jung Si-woo survived after saving a retired Player is also a situation that has never been heard of before. Perhaps what they did today might be the first experience in the whole world.
“I can’t live under here like this…”
However, when Jung Siwoo tried to break the ceiling that was blocked to find a way out, he heard a strange whisper in his ears.
[Extra World ‘Ant Cave’ has been discovered.]
[Low-tier Player has met the required conditions. Clear the White Wing Cemetery and the low-tier Player will be reborn.]
It was a moment when an unexpected blessing came.