CLWU 01

Chapter 1

Thud.

“Ugh?!”

“Can’t you keep your eyes open when you walk!?”

The bastard had walked right into me and was now glaring at me.

But I had no choice but to lower my eyes.

Judging by the ‘writhing’ tattoo etched across his bald head, his menacing muscles, and the massive greatsword strapped to his back, he was definitely an adventurer.

‘Damn bastard.’

The most I could do was curse him inwardly.

If I actually said it out loud and that thug started causing trouble, I would be the only one who suffered.

People weren’t allowed to be killed inside the First District, but adventurers were given immunity for most minor acts of violence. In the end, the victim was always the one who lost out.

“Phew…”

I sighed and hurried on my way.

‘Whatever. Let’s just get to work.’

If I was even slightly late, the old man who owned the general store would throw a fit and try to dock my already meager wages.

Step. Step.

As I walked listlessly, the gravel beneath my feet felt especially irritating today.

In this world, shoes that actually fit my feet were difficult to obtain. The oversized shoes made from low-quality leather had almost no cushioning, so I could feel every piece of debris on the road.

That was why, when I had first arrived in this world, even walking had been torture.

I had developed calluses by now, but it was still uncomfortable.

Cheap shoes that tore at the slightest provocation were made of leather, after all, so they were still expensive as disposable goods.

‘Once I make it big, the first thing I’m getting is a pair of artifact shoes. No, wait. Underwear comes first. Damn it.’

What I missed most were the manufactured goods of the twenty-first century.

Only after falling into this hell did I realize how convenient all those things I had used without a second thought really were.

After having the same thoughts I’d been having for the past year, I finally saw my workplace.

[Johnson’s General Store]

[We Buy All Kinds of Labyrinth Goods.]

Creeeeak.

As I opened the door beneath the old sign with its painfully ordinary name and stepped inside—

The first thing that greeted me was the roar of the store’s owner, Old Man Johnson.

“You’re cutting it awfully close again today! You damn brat!”

“I’m not late.”

“Would it kill you to come a little earlier!?”

“Yes. It would.”

“What did you say, you punk?!”

“My delicate soles would suffer. Want to take a look?”

“Haa… Are you still living at that martial arts academy?”

“Of course. I’m going to become a successful adventurer no matter what.”

I had to clear the labyrinth and leave this miserable world.

“…If only you could keep your mouth shut. Tsk. Get to work!”

The bald old man adjusted his monocle irritably, brushed back the last remaining strands of white hair at his temples, and tossed two red crystals at me.

Thump.

Two red, jewel-like crystals with a faint light shimmering inside.

They were Ability Stones.

The essence released by monsters in the labyrinth.

“What are these? Ability Stones first thing in the morning?”

“They came from the Magic Tower. They’re probably low-grade trash, but appraise them anyway.”

Old Man Johnson was good at appraising other artifacts, herbs, antiques, and so on, but he couldn’t appraise ‘adventurer-exclusive’ items like Ability Stones.

Only adventurers could do that.

And among them, I was a little special.

‘Let’s see.’

First one.

[Mental Split]

[Strength +9, Vitality +9, Magic Resistance +3, Mana +10]

‘Oh?’

The stats were pretty decent.

For a red Ability Stone that dropped in the first ten floors of the labyrinth, the maximum number of stats was five, with a maximum value of ten for each.

‘This isn’t bad.’

But the name was awfully strange.

‘I’ve heard of Divided Consciousness, but Mental Split?’

It sounded like something that belonged in a psychiatric hospital.

A normal adventurer would have to absorb it to find out more, but anyone in their right mind wouldn’t absorb something like this.

It was common knowledge that the more negative an Ability Stone’s name was, the more severe its side effects tended to be.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to absorb it.

‘Check additional information.’

That was the function of my trait as a Summoned One.

It was a trait without even a rank—a Rankless Trait—but it was definitely useful at times like this.

Buzz.

[Through the experiments of Klinsmann, the Magic Tower’s eccentric prodigy, the ability ‘Divided Consciousness’ has mutated into ‘Mental Split.’]

[The consciousness is divided into five rather than two, but learning this ability has a 100% chance of causing multiple personalities to manifest.]

“Ha. Fuck.”

It was trash among trash.

“If I learn this, it says I’ll develop multiple personalities.”

“What?”

Mental-type debuffs were the side effects adventurers feared the most.

If it were something like ‘Excitement’ or ‘Rage,’ there might be ways to counteract it.

But a bizarre debuff like this?

There was no answer.

“…Goddamn it! No wonder they were selling it so cheaply. What about the other one?”

“Wait a second.”

The second Ability Stone.

[Forced Multiple Contracts]

[Agility +4, Vitality +9, Magic Resistance +4, Physical Resistance +3, Mana +8]

Hmm.

Again, the stats were decent, but the name was strange.

‘Don’t tell me this one too…?’

After checking the additional information—

[Through the experiments of Klinsmann, the Magic Tower’s eccentric prodigy, the ability ‘Spirit Contract’ has been corrupted into ‘Forced Multiple Contracts.’]

[It allows contracts with four spirits instead of one, but is limited to the lowest-grade spirits. In addition, all other uses of mana are subjected to a Mana -20 effect.]

“Damn it!”

“…Is it a dud?”

“Yes.”

After I explained the side effects to Johnson, his expression twisted even more than before.

“You bastards really passed off two piles of shit! Haiman, you bastard. Just you wait.”

Grind.

Johnson ground his teeth as he cursed the Magic Tower supplier who had sold him the items.

But I had a question.

‘What the hell is this Klinsmann guy?’

How did he manage to use precious Ability Stones to create nothing but garbage like this?

“Throw them away.”

“Damn it. I paid a fortune for these. Still, just in case, put them on display. I need to at least make my money back!”

“This is why our store keeps getting called a minefield…”

“But there are crazy people who actually buy them from time to time!”

I thought they weren’t crazy people.

They were probably just unfortunate.

“…Yes, yes. Understood, boss.”

What power did an ordinary employee have?

I displayed the trash—no, the landmines—and went back to staring blankly into space.

There were so few customers that I inevitably became drowsy.

Besides, after work I had to go to the martial arts academy again to train.

Getting a little extra sleep this way was actually good for my body.

Whenever I tried to comfort myself like that, reality hit me again.

‘How did my life end up like this…?’

Naturally, I remembered what had happened a year ago.

I had fallen asleep in my semi-basement two-room apartment as usual.

But when I woke up, I found myself standing among countless people in a gigantic, magnificent plaza, dressed in strange clothes I had never seen before, with a faint light spreading across the floor.

—Welcome to this world, Summoned Ones.

The greeting had come from incredibly handsome men and beautiful women dressed in exotic clothing.

At first, I thought it was some ridiculous dream.

But the damn dream wouldn’t end.

On top of that—

—Check additional information? A Rankless Trait?

—And only one Ability Slot?

—This is the worst of the worst. What a worthless specimen. Has there ever been a case like this?

—There have been no records of such a Summoned One in the kingdom within the past hundred years…

—Throw him out. He isn’t worth investing in.

They had judged me without me even doing anything, then kicked me out of that magnificent palace.

‘As if I hadn’t already suffered enough because of that bizarre trait.’

How much hell had I gone through over the following year?

Even the fact that I could communicate with people turned out to be because of translation magic.

The fact that I had survived after being dumped into a labyrinth city with nothing but the clothes on my back was a miracle in itself.

I desperately begged for food, learned the language, and learned the written script.

I used my Summoned One trait to get a job at this general store, and then used my wages to begin training at a martial arts academy so I could become an adventurer.

Even that had taken half a year.

It was the result of a struggle I could proudly call a victory of the human spirit.

And the deeper my pride became, the deeper my resentment grew.

‘Those bastards in the royal palace.’

Grind.

They had given me only one thing.

The hope that if I cleared the 100-floor labyrinth, I could move on to another world.

Even that came with no guarantee that the other world would be Earth.

I had been living as diligently as I could despite having nothing, yet those bastards had forcibly thrown me into hell.

No.

Judging by the information about the labyrinth I had gathered while working, it really was no different from hell.

‘Still, I’m going to do it. I have to.’

Crack.

If I were the kind of person who simply gave up on life because my circumstances were terrible, I never would have worked so hard back in South Korea.

Improving this miserable life, even little by little, was the only way I could resist this fucking world—

No, these fucking worlds.

Whoosh.

‘Status Window.’

At my quiet mental command, information about me appeared before my eyes as though a screen had materialized.

[Name: Go Cheol-woo]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 1]

[Stats]

Strength: 5

Vitality: 6

Agility: 5

[Ability Slots]

0/1

[Trait]

—Check Additional Information

No matter how many dozens or hundreds of times I looked at it, the information was painfully meager.

‘After more than half a year of hard work, I’ve only managed to raise my Vitality by 1 and Agility by 1.’

It was bleak.

But looking at it another way, it was also definite proof that I had grown.

‘Yeah. The money I’m spending at the martial arts academy isn’t going to waste.’

My trait might be Rankless, but as a Summoned One, I at least had a trait.

That meant becoming an adventurer was probably my best chance of succeeding.

No.

In this barbaric world, for someone without a family or connections, becoming an adventurer was the only way to improve their life in the first place.

—Having only one Ability Slot is the worst possible talent…

I forced myself to ignore the words of those bastards in the royal palace.

There were lucky people born with as many as five Ability Slots.

But even if I had only one, the very fact that I could equip the powers of monsters—their Abilities—meant I at least had the qualifications to become an adventurer.

‘I’ll save up some more money, buy a decent Ability, and enter the labyrinth. It won’t be long now. I’ll keep training at the martial arts academy and raise my stats by at least one more point. No, maybe I should enter the labyrinth as soon as possible and use runes to raise my stats…’

As I made those resolutions and dreamed about a hopeful future—

Creeeeak.

The general store door opened.

Gasp.

“Welcome! How may I help you?”

I reflexively sprang to my feet, wiped my mouth, and activated my twenty-first-century customer-service mindset.

And immediately regretted it.

“Huh? You’re still here?”

Kim Hyun-sik burst into laughter as soon as he entered.

Without even greeting me, he picked up an item from the display shelf. He tossed it around a few times, then apparently decided he didn’t like it and put it down wherever he pleased.

No.

He didn’t even put it down.

Thud.

He threw it onto the floor.

“Hey, Worthless.”

Lee Jung-ho entered behind him and looked me up and down.

“What was your name again?”

“I don’t know. Wasn’t it something like Scrap Metal?”

Kim Hyun-sik answered for him.

“Ah, right. Scrap Metal.”

Lee Jung-ho snickered.

“Fuck, they really gave you the perfect name.”

The two of them looked like thugs at first glance.

They were two guys around my age whom I had been grouped with for the examination when we were summoned a year ago.

‘Kim Hyun-sik. Lee Jung-ho.’

The moment it was revealed that I was a worthless specimen, they had openly laughed at me.

A month ago, they had returned from their first labyrinth expedition, dumped a pile of miscellaneous items into this store, and thrown a tantrum because Johnson wouldn’t pay them what they wanted.

And then—

“Is this the guy called Scrap Metal?”

Click.

A woman entered from behind the two of them.

Cha Hye-ryeon.

She stared straight at me.

Her eyes looked as though she wasn’t looking at a person at all, but a piece of trash abandoned on the roadside.

“You look more normal than I expected.”

A smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

“I thought that if you were really a worthless specimen, it would be a little more… obvious.”

Kim Hyun-sik snickered.

“Hey, Hye-ryeon. Don’t say things like that. You’ll hurt his feelings.”

“Why?”

Cha Hye-ryeon genuinely looked as though she didn’t understand.

“It’s not like I decided he was worthless.”

“Pfft! Hahaha!”

The two men burst out laughing.

‘…Still the same.’

She had four Ability Slots.

As a Summoned One with an A-rank trait called Mana Enhancement, she had apparently received special treatment at the royal palace and was being educated in magic.

Apparently, she had ended up hanging around with those two thugs.

While stealing a glance at Cha Hye-ryeon, Lee Jung-ho approached me.

Then he crooked his finger at me.

“Hey, Scrap Metal.”

“……”

“We’ve got customers.”

He smiled sweetly.

“You should work, shouldn’t you?”

For a moment, a curse rose all the way to my throat.

But I swallowed it.

“How may I help you?”

There was no point getting close to shit in the first place.

“Wow.”

Kim Hyun-sik laughed in amazement.

“Looks like he really doesn’t remember us.”

“He remembers.”

Cha Hye-ryeon said casually.

“He just isn’t at a level where he can afford to act familiar with us.”

“Pfft.”

Cha Hye-ryeon suppressed a laugh.

Only then did Lee Jung-ho seem satisfied as he placed a large sack on the counter.

Thud.

“You said you buy labyrinth goods, right?”

He turned the sack upside down.

Rattle-rattle-rattle!

Pieces of stone, broken bones, old accessories, and miscellaneous junk spilled across the counter.

Several pieces even rolled onto the floor.

Lee Jung-ho nodded toward them.

“Pick them up.”

“……”

“Why?”

When our eyes met, he smiled.

“The customer dropped something.”

At the same time, he drew the greatsword strapped to his back and planted it on the floor.

Boom!

“And…”

He grinned.

“Give us a good price like last time.”

Kim Hyun-sik leaned his elbow against the counter and grinned.

“Don’t start with this isn’t worth anything, that’s trash, or whatever. Don’t make things annoying.”

“……”

“It’ll just make things tiring for both of us. Right?”

He was smiling as he spoke.

But his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

These bastards are pulling this shit again.

‘Even at a glance, they’re all trash…’

I had half a year of experience by now, so I could immediately tell that these were miscellaneous items that came from the lower floors.

Literally junk items that were barely worth any money.

“Just a moment.”

Rustle, rustle.

There were only a few things that didn’t look like ordinary junk, but I still checked the additional information on every single one.

There were occasionally unusual items among miscellaneous goods.

Then I found something I had never seen before.

“This is a labyrinth item too?”

It was an unimpressive basket that looked as though it had been made from bamboo.

It looked like something roughly crafted by hand.

“Yeah!”

There was no reason they would lie about something like this.

[Goblin Basket]

—A basket cherished by a certain goblin tribe. It appears to have been used in tribal sacrificial rituals.

‘A Goblin Basket.’

They really picked up everything.

Even based on the basic information provided by the system, there was nothing special about it.

It didn’t even qualify for a ‘Normal’ rank.

It was simply a Rankless junk item.

And yet—

‘Check additional information.’

I used my trait out of habit.

Buzz.

[A basket capable of synthesizing all items.]

[Items synthesized with it have a high probability of receiving positive enhancements.]

An explanation I had never seen or heard of before appeared before my eyes.