The soft hum of his computer was the only sound that filled Kai Sung Ji's dimly lit room. It was 2:47 AM, but time had long since lost meaning to him. His fingers glided across the keyboard with mechanical precision, his eyes glued to the screen. The glow of the monitor reflected off his glasses, showing the pixelated figure of his avatar standing on the edge of something legendary.
The 100th floor.
After five years, countless hours, and more failures than he could count, he was finally here. The apex of The Tower of Eternity, a game once beloved by millions, now abandoned and forgotten.
"This is it," Kai muttered, his voice rough from disuse. "No distractions, no screw-ups. Just one final boss."
The room smelled faintly of stale energy drinks and instant noodles, a fitting environment for the life of an obsessive gamer. His desk was a mess of snack wrappers, unopened bills, and a tattered notebook filled with scribbles—his personal guide to the Tower. Years of trial and error had been condensed into those pages, strategies refined with painstaking detail.
Kai had always been obsessed with the Tower. When the game first launched five years ago, it was hailed as a revolution in gaming: a massive, ever-evolving MMORPG where players could ascend a towering structure filled with challenges. Each floor had its own ecosystem, traps, and bosses. Every step upward felt like entering a new world.
But the Tower was merciless. It wasn't just hard—it was impossibly hard. The puzzles were unforgiving, the combat brutal, and the bosses were like gods, each one seemingly invincible. Players poured their hearts into it, forming guilds and alliances to tackle the challenge together. Yet, as the years passed, frustration turned into apathy.
By the third year, no one had made it past the 80th floor. By the fourth, the game was a ghost town. The developers stopped updating it. Forums went silent. What had once been a cultural phenomenon became a forgotten relic.
But not to Kai.
---
While others moved on, Kai doubled down. He wasn't just a casual player—he lived and breathed the Tower. At his peak, he had been a well-known streamer, celebrated for his skill and tenacity. But as the game's popularity waned, so did his viewership. By now, only a handful of die-hard fans watched his streams.
"Kai, why do you even bother?" they'd ask in his chat. "Nobody cares about this dead game anymore."
He never answered them directly. The truth was, he didn't care about fame or money. The Tower had become something deeply personal to him. Beating it wasn't just a goal—it was an obsession.
Tonight, however, was different. Tonight wasn't for his audience. He hadn't gone live. This attempt was for him and him alone.
---
The 100th Floor
Kai's avatar—a dual-wielding rogue clad in sleek black armor—stood on a platform suspended in an endless void. The floor stretched out before him like an empty battlefield, its edges fading into darkness. The only source of light was the faint glow of the sky above, an eerie mixture of crimson and black.
In the distance, the final boss awaited. Elohim, the God of Annihilation.
Kai had spent months preparing for this fight, analyzing every scrap of data, every cryptic clue left by the developers. Elohim wasn't just a boss; he was a test of everything the game had to offer. His abilities were overwhelming, his patterns unpredictable.
The god's form was massive, a towering figure wrapped in a cloak of shadow. His eyes burned like twin suns, and in his hand, he held a staff that radiated destruction. Floating around him were orbs of energy, each one pulsing with deadly power.
Kai exhaled slowly, his hands steady on the controls. "Alright, Elohim," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Let's dance."
The fight began with an explosion of light and sound. Elohim raised his staff, summoning waves of fire and lightning that tore across the platform. Kai's avatar dodged and weaved through the onslaught, his movements precise and calculated.
For hours, they clashed. Every strike Kai landed was met with an equally devastating counter. His health bar dipped dangerously low, his resources dwindling with each passing moment. But he didn't give up. He couldn't.
The room was silent except for the rapid clicking of his keyboard and mouse. His heart pounded in his chest, his breath shallow. It felt like the game was fighting back, like the Tower itself didn't want him to win.
But then, finally, the moment came. With one final strike, Kai's avatar plunged his daggers into Elohim's chest. The god let out a deafening roar as his form dissolved into light, the energy orbs around him shattering into nothingness.
The screen froze. For a moment, there was silence.
Then, the message appeared:
[Congratulations! You have cleared the Tower of Eternity.]
[Player Kai Sung Ji: First and Only Conqueror of the Tower.]
Kai leaned back in his chair, his hands trembling. He had done it. Years of effort, countless sleepless nights, all for this moment. The screen displayed his rewards: gold, rare items, and a glowing artifact labeled the Ascension Key. Its description was cryptic, hinting at a secret purpose.
But before Kai could examine it further, the screen flickered. His entire system shut down, plunging the room into darkness.
---
Kai frowned, glancing around. "What the…?"
The power outage wasn't limited to his room. The entire building was dark. Outside, the faint hum of city life had fallen eerily silent. Kai walked to the window, pulling aside the curtain—and froze.
Seoul's skyline was bathed in an unnatural red glow. Towering above the city, piercing through the clouds, was an impossibly massive structure.
The Tower of Eternity.
It was identical to the one in the game, down to the smallest detail. Its base was surrounded by swirling mist, and its peak disappeared into the heavens. The sight was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
"What… what is this?" Kai whispered, his voice trembling.
Before he could process what he was seeing, his phone buzzed. Then his computer whirred back to life. Every screen in the room displayed the same message in glowing text:
[The Tower has descended upon your world.]
[The Trial of Eternity begins now.]
[Those who ascend will be rewarded. Those who fail will perish.]
[You have 30 days to Clear Each Floor, If Not Clear Within The Given amout of Days on Each Floor, The Humanity Will be Extinct!]
The message was broadcast across the globe. Every phone, TV, and electronic device displayed it simultaneously. Panic spread like wildfire. News anchors scrambled to make sense of the phenomenon. Social media exploded with photos and videos of the Tower, each post filled with fear and confusion.
But Kai wasn't confused. He understood.
The Tower wasn't a game anymore. It was real.
And humanity's survival depended on conquering it.
---
Kai sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the distant Tower through the window. His mind raced as he processed the implications. He was the only person on Earth who had cleared the Tower in the game. He knew its traps, its bosses, its secrets.
But this wasn't the same Tower. This was real. The stakes weren't just virtual loot and bragging rights—they were life and death.
For years, people had mocked him for his obsession with the Tower. They called him a has-been, a relic clinging to a dead game. Now, he was humanity's only hope.
Kai clenched his fists, determination burning in his eyes. "I've already beaten you once," he muttered. "I'll do it again. This time, for real."
---
To Be Continued...