CH 1

Around 20 years ago

The things called ‘towers’ started appearing all around the world

The black towers that fell like a strike of lightning on each capital city was so large that the top of it couldn’t be seen, and it was impossible to discern with any modern technology

What’s that? How scary…

Once people’s fear and confusion started getting out of control

A sound started being heard from the tower that was originally silent. To be more exact…

It was a ‘message’ that appeared in front of people’s eyes

[Babel Network, opening world server]

[Planet Earth. World channel open]

[Nice to meet you, Earth!]

[The first entrance ticket into the Babel tower has been sent out]

A translucent message window

At first glance, it looked similar to notification windows in online games

The difference was that this was a one-sided delivery, and this is not inside of a monitor but rather reality?

And thus, the unidentified tower introduced itself as ‘Babel’

It then kindly informed everyone of the disaster that would come if the people didn’t follow its guidance

There wasn’t any time given for panic and hesitation. Without even giving mankind the opportunity to contemplate about it, the disaster suddenly appeared in the world

Gate outbreak

(Gate Outbreak)

Dozens of black holes emerged as the sky ripped and the ground started cracking

The cracks that appeared simultaneously, quite literally ‘spurred out’ foreign monsters

Modern weapons were useless against it. People thought that the world would be in ruins due to global warming, but all of a sudden it was in ruins due to a festival of monsters. Everyone was in despair

Those who entered the tower after being given the first ‘ticket’ made a dramatic return

Their hands were… full of old-fashioned weapons like swords, spears and bows

Some people summoned fire and lightning out of empty air

It was the 1st generation of what we call ‘the awakened’

And the era of the great hunters had begun

***

“What’s the wi-fi password here?’

“It’s written in the bottom of the receipt, miss”

“…aaah, I’ll get a glass. The smallest one.”

It was indeed a dystopia. The viability of cafes were growing stronger and stronger everyday

Gyeon Zio sat down admiring the amazing modern business tactics

It had already been a month since the college test results had come out

This time once again, her mother had angrily stopped her cell phone services with to a clean cut

So she could only use her reception, a perfect unusable phone

Without wi-fi, the situation was no different than being a prehistoric man in a remote island

‘How come you didn’t send me to a boarding school again….’

To be more exact, she had told her to teach herself, saying that the return of her investment was too terrible

It was a modern hell over there anyway

Zio shuddered as she recalled the terrible memories from last year

“Wow, when did they change the model here? It’s Yeo Kang-Hee in the commercial now”

“The country is changing too. The last model was Han Si-ju. The kids who do dungeons are hundreds time more than those who do the tower”

“Don’t you think that’s only natural, since Dungeon helps them make money while the Tower is being a sacrifice for the future of mankind? This game doesn’t work. I even used a jailbreaker, how unlucky”

“That’s easy to say. Is it easy to risk your life to enter the Babel Tower? It’s all the same when you get assigned and called in when a gate outbreak happens anyways, it’s all bullshit”

“Why are you so angry. Don’t tell me you want to be a hunter?”

“What kind of a toilet did you flush your wits in. Jane’s older brother is a ranker, fucker”

They are so loud while they are eating

At any rate, the murmurs of the teens full of energy should be noted

With her chin raised, Zio looked up at the poster on the wall. The Hunter’s face full of bright smiles was dazzling

‘A newbie… A tutorial clearer at the second half of the year?’

Even if it was unfamiliar you would get used to it soon. As Jane had said, if you are a hunter that takes the lead on attacks, advertisements like that won’t end with just one

The awakened, this was the era of the ‘hunters’

The lowest floor of the Babel Tower was called the ‘Tutorial Floor’

The winners who obtained random ‘entry tickets’ could be reborn as true awakened through this tutorial

There were 2 paths to take when one became awakened

The former were called the ‘Pure faction’, while the latter were the ‘escapees’

They would be sorted out the same way when being called by the state due to a crack appearing, but the popularity of the two groups were completely different

Since the current situation began with the appearance of the tower, everyone believed that the answers would also be found within the Babel Tower

These last few days prejudice against those who only focus on dungeons so they can live in comfort has been growing stronger

Besides the side that the ‘stars’ watch are not the dungeons, but rather the tower

Signing a contract with a deity during the tutorial would be perfect, but the chance that a covenant can be signed within the ‘sky(heavenly) gate’ at the final gateway of the tutorial is less than 20%

In the end, the rest of the people who were not chosen had to work hard and diligently roll around the dungeons or towers in hopes of being chosen by a deity…

In terms of probability, the chances of being chosen inside of a tower was incomparably higher compared to the dungeons

As a result, the appearances of the so-called ‘rankers’ were far more romanticised

But perhaps the phenomenon of the public popularity leaning towards one side was a natural thing

Oh, of course there were escapees chosen by stars also. It’s just that the odds were relatively low

But whether you are from the pure faction or the escapees… all of these were considered the ‘normal’ route

Neither of the two was a story of an unusual case

It was very, very rare, but there was a chance that even before you gained a ‘ticket’ from the tower, there would be a case where the covenant would find you first… 

“Ah, dammit, I don’t want to go to the academy. Where can I get a star spoon?”

“You’re crazy, winning the lottery would be faster”

[your covenant, ‘the reader of fate’ says that’s it! Did you just hear that?]

[It also lamented his miserable situation, saying there is no deity that would be more unlucky than him]

‘Please be quiet’

<Gyeon Zio’s covenant, ‘the reader of fate’ issues a entrance ticket to the Babel Tower, using the special authority of a deity>

<Randomly issued ‘exclusive tickets’ cannot be given to other people>

‘Your Gyeon Zio refuses so shut up’

[Y-your incarnation ‘the reader of fate’ tucks at your waist asking if you have ever seen such a cute incarnation]

[It points at the people around you showing how the kids act just like this]

“Ah fuck, there is no mute button for this thing…”

Zio pounded at her bluetooth keyboard with fierce spirits

If she talked to herself people would think ‘Ah, that person has a covenant’ so pretending to do something was essential

So at the same time, she was browsing through the hunter network

[Breaking News] The Babel Tower of the United States successfully reaches the 42nd floor. (+452)

-I heard from a friend that the achievement belongs to Timothy’s guild. A detailed follow up report will be released shortly

-I heard the Heavenly rankers usually don’t go into the Babel, but the first place came in person

-When will the Korea faction reach floor 40…. I guess Hell Korea really had hell’s level of difficulty

-Where and who is the number one spot in Korea? Have they left the world? Will they go in?

-No one knows. Or has seen them

-How mysterious– Isn’t 1st place everything?

-Yeah, it is…

-What a great man they are;;;

‘Its the third time, fuck movement…’

Skipped the entrance ticket into the Babel Tower

Skipped the tutorial courses

But the golden path set for me was definitely greater than that of anyone else

Lotto, such a thing was rarer and harder than winning the superbowl, the so-called… ‘star spoon’

(Lotto is a slang for a lot of profit that can be obtained by luck)

Although there were many variations that came depending on the color of the spoon, the star spoon were usually greatly favored by the deity

The person who was the most known for this kind of situation was Giselle Junui, France’s ‘saintess’ ranked 12th in the world

Giselle used to be a completely ordinary person, until one day she was judged as a S-rank and immediately entered the world’s top rankings

The identity of the stars were usually anonymous and unknown, however it was no secret that her covenant was a legendary french hero

[‘the reader of fate’ snorts]

[the difference is so ridiculous it’s not even worth comparing]

‘I didn’t ask for your opinion…’

-It’s great. They are the first S-rank in Korea. There are quite a few S-rank right now but it wasn’t like this back then

When the first place was first revealed all the world’s ranking changed and so did the number of ranker channels. Everything was pushed back one by one

-Wow, back in my days were paths that required effort

-It doesn’t even matter if they are a junkie, I just wish someone would tell about their sightings of the 1st place; or a channel 1 experience

-no no, it’s complete rotten water like that. They can’t even get out, lets all get along instead

Ding, diiing-

Notifications from kakaotalk rang like crazy. She just kept on eating so now it was calls coming in

Zio put down the ice americano that had been drank from until it reached the bottom of the glass

The sound of constant vibration caused the table next to her to start glancing her way

However, a bit after the vibrations started coming in irregular intervals

‘…did you do this?’

[Your covenant clicks her tongue at the rash remarks]

Diing- I looked over at my cell phone with a bad feeling

[Mother’s son: Hey, miss strong]

[Mother’s son: Come home right now before I expose your identity on the world channel]

“A bastard who won’t be helpful within this lifetime…”

She hurriedly packed her stuff

She was only two stops away from her house, but that didn’t matter

The short hair swayed straight into the alley as soon as she stepped out of the cafe building. Pull on the doorknob of the rear back door. And then.

“…where have you been?”

“I was inside of my room? I guess I didn’t hear you since I was absorbed in my studies”

Zio nonchalantly answered as she closed the door

Without missing a remark she narrowed her forehead. As if she found the question ridiculous and absurd

Gyeon Ji-Rok, who had been standing in front of the door the whole time, snorted. The steel plate was amazing.

(Steel plate refers to someone who isn’t ashamed of what they have done)

“I was about to break the door, but I was worried that this time my mom would shave my head for real”

“…un, logilogi, did you? Why did you look for me, what do you need?”

“Are you kidding me? You really don’t check the world channels. I was on my way from the tower when I heard the breaking news. Gyeon Zio, what do you think I need?”

“Well, let me think. A warm affection between a brother and a sister?”

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since she had last seen him Zio murmured to herself

The leader of the domestic pure faction. In the end, the top ranker Ji-rok couldn’t stand the situation and bursted out in anger

“Hey!! Please stop playing around with your strength, you little brat!”

[Your covenant ‘the reader of fate’ cheers passionately at his spirit that has finally bursted]

According to Babel, among the spoons the spoonest spoon was the star spoon. And… among the star spoons, I had just happened to get an S-rank

It had been 10 years since she first debuted as a S-rank in Korea while she was still in elementary school

She had never been inside the tower, or went to a dungeon, but despite that her rank was still number one

The 3rd place in World rankings

1st place in Korea

The magician king, ‘Jo’

(Jo is a play on her name, it takes her initials G.O to create the nickname ‘jo’)

But in reality, Gyeon Zio(aged 20, female) was currently avoiding the burning eyes of his younger brother. Ah, it’s hot