The day the fastest clear time for the 1st floor of the Seoul Tower was renewed.

Late in the evening.

Kim Taemin held a secret meeting with two other superhumans.

“Kkal kkal kkal! You bragged so loudly that your 1st-floor privilege would never be stolen! How are you dealing with your sour grapes?”

Seoul Tower Rank 2.

59th-floor climber.

The Electric Empress, Park Soyul.

At her uproarious laughter, the burly man next to her joined in mocking Kim Taemin.

“Kuhaha! Are you the weakest among us now? Wait, shouldn’t we kick you out of the group?”

Seoul Tower Rank 3.

58th-floor climber.

Iron Heart, Yoon Changdae.

Enduring their ridicule, Kim Taemin downed his strong drink in one gulp, struggling to calm his nerves.

“Cut it out… before I flip everything upside down here.”

62nd floor.

The sole climber to reach the 60th floor.

Aside from him, the highest floor officially reached by any superhuman affiliated with the Seoul Tower was a mere 47th floor.

Considering that most high-levelers were stuck in the 40s, the climbing speed of these three was truly overwhelming.

And that was the result of their intentional actions.

If a Tower’s next floor is not cleared within a month, it collapses.

Which meant.

The nation had no choice but to provide full support to the superhuman climbing the highest floor.

Five towers had already collapsed.

When the Tower 25 appeared in Seoul.

The Korean government tried everything to control the Awakeners and ensure a stable progression.

But would Koreans, the gaming nation of the world, actually follow those instructions?

Everyone joined the reckless sprint, climbing the Tower at breakneck speeds.

Currently, the tower that reached the highest floor was Tower 6 in New York, USA.

The highest floor was 71.

Tower 24 in Rome, which appeared half a year before Seoul’s, had a highest floor of 49.

So it was glaringly obvious just how desperately the Seoul superhumans risked their lives to climb the tower.

In truth, there had been a total of 10 superhumans who climbed past the 50th floor.

However, due to the overheated competition, 7 of them died, leaving only the current 3.

Kim Taemin, Park Soyul, and Yoon Changdae.

The three secretly formed an alliance and agreed to slow down their progression from then on.

The name of the secret gathering created by the three rankers was the Triumvirate Meeting.

Originally, Kim Taemin suggested the English name ‘Triple Ace’, but it was rejected for being too cumbersome to pronounce, and ‘Triumvirate Meeting’ was chosen instead.

A meeting of three heads…

It was a name he couldn’t dare say in pure Korean.

As Kim Taemin suddenly set the mood and barked at them, Park Soyul replied with a defiant smile.

“Try me. What’s a toothless tiger gonna do, just make a mess?”

The Wyvern, which was practically Kim Taemin’s alter ego, had disappeared.

Although that wasn’t the entirety of his power, it was an undeniable fact that his overall strength had been drastically reduced.

“You think I won’t do it… just because I’m warning you?”

Stripping off his gentlemanly facade, he glared at Park Soyul with the eyes of a wild beast.

He looked ready to tear out her throat right then and there if she said one more word.

Feeling it was time to wrap things up, Yoon Changdae spoke in a grave voice.

“Enough, both of you. We didn’t gather here just to brawl amongst ourselves, did we?”

Park Soyul and Kim Taemin decided to take a step back at Yoon Changdae’s mediation.

Just as he said, fighting here would only bring them harm.

“…Hehe, I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ll whine about when I steal the 60th-floor privilege from you too.”

“…Haha, I’ll gladly get you a ten-million-won funeral wreath.”

Yoon Changdae slammed his glass down as if to shatter it and asked.

“So, what’s the reason for summoning this meeting?”

A brief silence flowed.

Kim Taemin calmed the atmosphere and spoke with a serious tone.

“Mirinae. Find out who he is.”

They had expected it to be about that.

If the superhuman who achieved the fastest clear time dies, the privilege returns to the previous record holder.

That was why Kim Taemin had entrusted himself to the Superhuman Management Agency immediately after obtaining the 1st-floor privilege.

Though he had now sucked them dry of all their sweet nectar and was instead bending the Agency to his will.

“With just your words?”

In response to Park Soyul’s question, Kim Taemin offered the reward he had been pondering.

“I’ll offer one Return Ticket.”

There were a total of three ways to return alive from a Tower.

1. Clear the challenge floor.

2. Survive until the time limit.

3. Return Ticket.

So, in a way, a Return Ticket was essentially a spare life.

However, since it dropped extremely rarely as a first-clear reward, Kim Taemin only possessed four of them.

Hearing that he would offer such a precious item, Park Soyul’s eyes flashed like a viper’s.

“Wow… you’re totally serious, aren’t you? But isn’t one… a bit weak?”

It was already a sufficient reward, but in situations like this, the one who wanted it more was at a disadvantage.

Kim Taemin knew her intentions well, so he slightly frowned and added.

“If you kill the bastard, I’ll throw in one more.”

Only then did the faces of the two hearing the proposal brighten.

“You must really have a fire under your feet. Two Return Tickets… that completely kills any thought of doing this half-heartedly.”

“Kuhaha! For you to offer two of those! I guess I’ll have to start searching in earnest too!”

To become a superhuman and enter a Tower, one had to be within a 20km radius, just like during the awakening process.

Therefore.

One of the recently Awakened within that radius.

Was Mirinae.

* * *

The next morning.

Shin Jungho arrived at the small neighborhood cafe right on time.

He unlocked the door with the key given by the owner, went inside, and turned on all the equipment, including the lights.

He booted up the POS system and played some sweet music from NuTube.

Buuuuung-

He vacuumed up the dust.

Sseuk-ssak-sseuk-ssak-

And finished by wiping the floor spotlessly with a burlap sack.

Despite having awakened as a superhuman the day before, he had no intention of abandoning his main job as a cafe part-timer.

Stealth Superhuman Rule #1.

Maintain your daily life as is.

The moment he swaggered around boasting about his awakening and making 30 million won a month, his identity would be exposed for sure.

Besides, he had no intention of making the irresponsible choice of quitting his existing job or part-time gig without notice just because he had awakened.

So he planned to continue working at the cafe for the time being.

How long was ‘for the time being’, you ask?

About… 12 months?

Who knew.

Someone might be looking for a person who quit their job today in order to find Mirinae’s identity.

It never hurt to be cautious.

After finishing all the opening preparations.

“The morning will be slow, so should I check some streams until the first customer arrives?”

Shin Jungho opened the streaming screen.

Then he overlaid the Tower 25 Community Forum screen on top of it.

This way, even if someone dug through the cafe’s CCTV footage.

It would only look like a part-timer checking streams.

He couldn’t stress this enough.

Caution was the best policy in all things.

Checking the posts on the Community Forum had been part of his daily routine.

Of course, that was only when he was at home.

There was no need to reveal that he was interested in the Tower.

But now that he could openly browse it while working at the cafe.

It meant he had that much more free time.

Superhuman awakening.

Not bad.

As expected, the bulletin board was flooded with posts about him.

<Who is Mirinae? Let me take a guess>

<Could this be Mirinae’s skill?>

<Why an 8-second clear is impossible! A compilation of all 1st-floor clear times>

<Swordmaster Kim Taemin declares he will find and kill Mirinae!>

Out of curiosity, he clicked on the second post.

<Could this be Mirinae’s skill?>

: It’s definitely a skill that can annihilate 50 zombies at once.

If you disagree, you’re right.

As expected, it was a bait post.

Most of the other posts were bait as well.

There was no useful information to be gleaned.

He only confirmed that they hadn’t even guessed his identity or skill yet.

Next, he checked the chat room, where more real-time information was exchanged.

└ How the hell is 8 seconds even possible? No matter how much I think about it, I just don’t get it?

└ Still on about that? lol Aren’t you guys sick of it? lol

└ How could we be sick of this? lol I’m still suspecting it’s a system bug, lol

└ For real, to take out 50 zombies in one blow, wouldn’t you need to be at least the Electric Empress’s level? How good can a newly Awakened person’s skill be?

It is pretty good, I’ll give you that.

So good that even the caster gets caught in it, which is the problem.

└ Soma just released an official statement!

└ He’s saying that he also received a lot of help from the Superhuman Management Agency early on, so Mirinae should think it over and request protection? lolol

└ He must be burning up lol He wants to find and kill him that badly lol

└ Aren’t you guys viewing the Swordmaster too negatively? He’s still our proud Rank 1 Korean superhuman

└ Sure, next shill.

└ Everyone already knows Soma’s true colors, is he still doing PR? lol

└ Still, they say Soma takes good care of his shills so they don’t feel left out

Kim Taemin was known to the public as a kind, well-mannered man.

However, there had once been a commotion when the story of a superhuman who was used and discarded by him was revealed.

The result?

Acquitted.

The public was only told that the superhuman in question was punished for false accusation.

But in the Tower Community Forum, accessible only to superhumans, suspicions against him grew even stronger.

In reality, media manipulation was somehow possible.

But in the Community Forum, beyond the reach of real-world power, the circumstantial evidence exceeded 100%, even without physical proof.

Of course, he didn’t know what the truth was.

That was why Shin Jungho assumed the worst and chose the best course of action.

He had a lot of loan debt left, but working part-time meant his interest payments wouldn’t be overdue.

And since he solved his meals at the cafe, he had no separate living expenses.

If he just endured this state for a year, he would be able to proudly come out as a superhuman!

No matter how he thought about it, it was a perfect plan.

As good as wealth and glory were, could they be more important than one’s life?

In particular, the cafe he worked at, Jeonjeon Cafe, had an upscale interior atmosphere, so it didn’t have many customers, making it easy to work at.

Iced Americano: 30,000 won.

Caramel Macchiato: 100,000 won.

What kind of insane people in the world would drink coffee at these prices?

Surprisingly, there were.

And quite a few of them, at that.

That was all thanks to the cafe owner.

Ttarang-

Right on cue, the owner of Jeonjeon Cafe made her appearance.

“Good morning!”

A slender, toned body that looked ten years younger than her early thirties.

An attractive appearance that made passing men look back at least twice.

Above all.

If the most famous man in Korea was the Swordmaster Kim Taemin.

Then she was the person everyone—ten out of ten—would think of when asked who the most famous woman in Korea was.

The Electric Empress, Park Soyul.

She was the owner of Jeonjeon Cafe.

“Good morning.”

Shin Jungho straightened his posture and greeted her as usual.

Normally, Park Soyul would sit down and order her coffee first.

But today, instead of sitting, she walked up to Shin Jungho, who was preparing drinks in front of the coffee machine.

Then, thrusting her face right in front of his, she asked.

“Mr. Jungho, do you happen to know who Mirinae is?”