Chapter 2
The area around them immediately erupted into chaos.
Most of the people still couldn't understand what was happening.
I looked down at my body.
I was wearing the ordinary formal clothes of an office worker.
After spending so long wearing armor, seeing myself dressed like an office employee felt strange.
Only now did it finally sink in.
I had truly returned.
Clench.
I opened and closed my fist.
The feeling was completely different from my previous life.
It felt awkward, but I knew I could get used to it quickly.
The problem was this body.
It barely had any muscle at all.
Just looking at myself was enough to tell me that my stats were probably even worse.
Status Window.
The moment I called for it in my head, a holographic window appeared before my eyes.
I stared at it blankly.
The numbers were shocking.
...So this is my current level.
[ Status Window ]
Name: Lee Suhyeok
Age: 28
Level: 1
Stamina: 5
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Mana: 0
Traits: Trait Plunder (EX), Synthesis (D)
Skills: None
My stats were pitiful.
Considering the average stats of the people here were around 10, excluding Mana, mine were practically at rock bottom.
So this was how weak I used to be.
The fact that I even survived this place back then was practically a miracle.
But it was still too early to be disappointed.
Unlike my previous life, something had changed when I regressed.
My list of traits.
More specifically—
Trait Plunder.
It was my unique trait that allowed me to steal another person's traits regardless of their number or type.
However, certain conditions had to be fulfilled before I could steal them.
The conditions differed depending on the target.
But their difficulty depended entirely on one thing.
My own strength.
Just like that bastard had told me before my regression, I had discovered this ability far too late.
That had been the problem.
I regretted it.
No—
I had regretted it for decades.
If I had awakened this ability even a little earlier, I could have become much stronger.
By the time I finally discovered it, the conditions for stealing other traits had become almost impossible to fulfill.
But things are different now.
Since I had become weaker, the conditions for Trait Plunder had also become easier.
I could raise my stats gradually.
What mattered right now was deciding which traits I should steal.
If I did everything the same way as before, nothing would change.
This time, I needed to claim as many rewards as possible for myself.
And those who would become threats in the future...
I would steal their traits and eliminate them beforehand.
I quietly looked around.
Some people already seemed to have adapted to the situation.
They're probably the same people who stood out early in my previous life.
Then someone immediately caught my attention.
Among the confused crowd stood an unusually large man.
Taesu.
The man who had met his end on the 99th floor.
"Everyone, please calm down first...!"
"M-Move!"
...His personality really hasn't changed at all.
Even in a situation like this, he's worrying about everyone else.
For a moment, I felt relieved to see him alive.
But I quickly hardened my heart.
No matter what happened, during this tutorial, Taesu would have to survive through his own strength rather than relying on me.
I looked around again, memorizing the faces in the crowd.
Even I couldn't remember everyone.
The people I remembered usually fell into two categories.
Those who stood at the front lines of the Tower's conquest...
And those who tried to interfere with it.
If I don't remember most of them, they probably died early.
I couldn't steal traits from innocent people.
I already knew far too well that I couldn't fight everything that awaited us alone.
The people I needed to target were those who would become obstacles in the future.
Then, first—
Tap!
"H-Hey, Assistant Manager Lee! You know what's going on here, don't you? Huh?"
"..."
A bald man with a bulging belly tapped my shoulder while nervously talking beside me.
If my memory was correct, he had been my boss.
More specifically, he had been one of the pieces of trash who constantly bullied me at work.
Of course, that had happened more than fifty years ago from my perspective.
The memory was already blurry.
"Hey! Why aren't you answering me?! You planning to stop coming to work, Assistant Manager Lee? You know nothing good will come from treating me like this, right? Once we get out of here, I'll immediately—!"
[ You should all stop chatting around now, nya. ]
...He's finally here.
A tiny beastman shaped like a cat appeared through a door that suddenly formed in midair.
He wore a neat suit and floated above the ground as he revealed himself before us.
"Hup! Coming here like this every single time is exhausting, nya. I suppose I should introduce myself first. Ahem! I'm Leon, the Lower Administrator in charge of guiding you through this tutorial, nya."
An Administrator of the Tower.
And among them, one of the lowest-ranking beings.
But just because he was considered low-ranking didn't mean he was someone we could underestimate.
Those creatures were beings similar in nature to the Constellations.
"Guiding tutorials is such a pain, nya. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could just figure things out on their own?"
The "tutorial" Leon spoke of referred to Floors 1 through 9.
Every tenth floor contained a world different from Earth.
The monsters that appeared from Floors 1 to 9 changed depending on the world connected to the 10th floor.
The same rule applied to the floors above.
"Taking care of my fur is already difficult these days, and now I have to explain everything too, nya. Why did I have to get summoned at a time like this, nya?!"
Lower Administrator Leon.
Just like in my previous life, that bastard was responsible for managing the stages up to the 10th floor and guiding the players.
Leon lay down in midair while trimming his claws.
He casually glanced around.
After scanning the crowd once, he looked completely uninterested.
"Hmm. The standard here seems pretty low, nya. Maybe it's because the people in the other areas are so much better? Anyway, I'll explain the tutorial now, so everyone be quiet—"
"Is this some kind of hidden-camera prank? Even if it is, how can you suddenly drag people somewhere like this without permission?!"
"Seriously! If this is some movie shoot, you should've told us beforehand! What the hell is all this?! Let us out before we call the police!"
Several people who still hadn't understood the situation began shouting.
A few others were encouraged by them and started pointing fingers at Leon while demanding answers.
Leon sighed.
"Hmm. Looks like you still haven't understood your situation, nya. This is what makes things annoying. Explaining the same thing every time is so tiring, nya."
He pointed toward the first man who had complained.
Then he grinned as if he were about to play a funny little prank.
"At times like this, showing you directly is much easier, nya. Like this."
"What the hell are you talki—"
Slash!
Thud...
With a single movement of Leon's hand, a chunk of the man's neck was torn away.
Blood sprayed into the air.
His body convulsed before collapsing onto the floor.
The area instantly became hell.
"KYAAAAAAAH!!"
"S-Save me!!"
The tutorial had practically already begun.
A transparent cube-shaped barrier had surrounded the entire area.
"What the fuck is this...?!"
"I-It's blocked! Someone, please! Get rid of this thing!!"
People rushed toward the walls, desperately trying to escape beyond them.
It was completely pointless.
The barrier wasn't something that could be broken that way in the first place.
"Kukuk! This really is the most entertaining method, nya."
Leon spread his mouth into a vicious grin that looked completely out of place on his cute face.
That was the true nature of the creature called an Administrator.
"Everyone, p-please calm down! At this rate, we could all end up dying...!"
Amid the chaos, Taesu desperately tried to stop the terrified people from running around blindly.
There was no way a crowd consumed by fear would listen to him.
"Pfft. Hearing a gangster say something like that is hilarious."
A petite woman with black hair tied into a ponytail spoke beside him.
Compared to Taesu's massive frame, she looked tiny.
I didn't remember seeing her in my previous life.
Eventually, everyone else ran off, leaving only the two of them standing there.
Taesu awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Then he cleared his throat and tried to explain himself.
"...Ahem. People misunderstand me all the time, but I'm not a gangster. Everyone gets the wrong idea because of my size, but—"
"Anyone can tell just by looking at you. Why are you denying it so hard?"
"..."
She was calmly joking even in a situation like this.
It seemed she had already adjusted to the situation, just like Taesu.
"Kukuk! Things really do move faster when I do it this way, nya. Though it looks like one person adapted a little too quickly. Well, I suppose it doesn't matter."
He's probably talking about me.
I'm most likely the only person here who's already using the Status Window.
Leon grinned.
"Wouldn't it be easier to explain everything through actual combat, nya? It's more entertaining that way too."
Snap!
Leon snapped his fingers.
Hundreds of goblins suddenly appeared on the opposite side.
—Kerek! Kerek!
...Around two hundred of them.
The goblins struck the transparent wall with their dull blades as if they were desperate to tear us apart.
The atmosphere became even more terrifying.
Leon raised a paw.
"If we're going to make this more entertaining, we'll need something like this too, nya."
He made another gesture.
A new window appeared before everyone's eyes.
[ Kill at least 10 living creatures within the 10-minute time limit. ]
Success: Survival
Failure: Death
"I'm really curious how many of you will still be alive when I come back, nya. Still, if I just leave you alone, you'll obviously all die. So survive using these, nya."
A dagger suddenly appeared in everyone's hand.
It was the absolute minimum means of resistance provided for surviving the tutorial.
"Do your best and try to stay alive, nya. Bye!"
The moment Leon finished speaking, the wall disappeared.
The trapped goblins poured toward us.
—Kerek! Keruk!
