I Woke Up as the Villain

On the Tower of Heaven’s first floor, the monster called Shadow Slime didn ’t have particularly high combat abilities.
Although it appeared as a beast or monster with threateningly sharp teeth and claws, it was actually a liquid-like creature whose attacks felt more like a dull shock rather than getting painfully injured.

‘Of course, it ’s only the first floor.’

The first floor was truly a space for adapting to the Tower.
If powerful monsters were placed here, the number of casualties would rise exponentially.
However, there was one thing not to be underestimated about this monster, Shadow Slime.

‘They are cunning.’

The Tower’s first floor had a trap.

‘The blue-lit floor.’

This area, which Yu-Seong had warned the party, was the trap.
When the Shadow Slimes thought they were being chased, they naturally led people to the trap while running away.
Although people tended to be cautious when they saw floors with different colors, Shadow Slimes were aware of this fact and covered the blue light with their dark slimes to make it difficult for people to see the trap.
In a way, this was one of the tutorials for adapting to the Tower.

‘The trap is simply a typical example of the many dangers one can face in this Tower.’

The most important thing was that traps were more dangerous than the Shadow Slime ’s attacks.

‘There have been cases in the original novel where people suffered injuries or broken bones on the first floor of the Tower and struggled for a long time…’

Although rare, there had been cases of people losing their lives to Shadow Slimes.
Therefore, it was why it was a bad idea to engage in combat with them by deliberately chasing them, especially since they knew all the landmarks of the maze.

‘The strategy from the original novel was to always let them attack first.’

There would only be one case where Shadow Slimes did not keep watch and attacked first.

’They probably thought it was worth a try since there were many cognitions following them, and I appeared slow-witted. ’

In fact, this was why people said Shadow Slimes were cunning.
However, it wasn ’t necessarily true that they were intelligent.

‘Considering that they are just brainless liquid-like monsters, I wonder how they can think so well, but…’

Ultimately, their intelligence was greatly limited.

Therefore, the group of Shadow Slimes, who had underestimated Yu-Seong ’s abilities, had approached him fearlessly and threatened him.
Eventually, they had all come to a regrettable end.

‘You ’ve become an excellent experience point.’

『Name: Choi Yu-Seong.
Level: 1 -> 3 』

Yu-Seong checked the level section of the system window and smiled.
He muttered to himself, “I was worried since they were weak monsters, but I still went up two levels.”

Above all, he hadn’t even hunted half of the Shadow Slime group that had appeared.

Perhaps being cunning also meant that they were cowards.
Thus, when Yu-Seong had torn apart some of the Shadow Slime group in an instant, they had scattered in all directions in a frenzy.

‘It wasn’t even a proper battle in the first place.’

However, the result was a two-level increase by only killing the ones that had been hunted quickly and closely.

After chasing the Shadow Slimes for a while, Yu-Seong realized that he might accidentally step on a trap.
Only then did he decide to stop pursuing them.

”I guess these Shadow Slimes won ’t come near me anymore.
Hm, it ’s kind of a shame. ”

Yu-Seong licked his lips and continued walking through the maze.
After all, there were two hidden rewards that he needed to find on the first floor of the Tower.
Moreover, the exact location of the hidden rewards was not clearly described in the original novel, so Yu-Seong was in a situation where he had to wander through the maze for a while.

‘If I wander around enough, those Shadow Slimes who don ’t know me will probably attack me again.’

There would be more opportunities to level up in the future.
Ultimately, all he needed was time.

‘Let’s take it easy.’

With rather quick steps, he continued to wander through the maze.

***

『Name: Choi Yu-Seong.
Level: 3 -> 6.
』

After a day had passed, Yu-Seong’s level had increased by three due to the attack of the sneaky but naive Shadow Slimes.

‘I can definitely feel the difference now that I ’m around level 6.’

In fact, after the Reset, Yu-Seong’s condition hadn’t been as great as when he had been outside the Tower.
It felt like he had been moving with a heavy sandbag strapped to his back.
However, he began to feel lighter and lighter after gradually getting used to it and continuing to grow.

‘At this level, I might be able to handle stepping on a trap to some extent.’

As curiosity struck him, a blue-lit floor appeared in front of his eyes.
He had seen the same floor several times before and had always either avoided it or turned back, but this time was different.

‘Let me try…’

Yu-Seong cautiously approached and stepped on the floor emitting the blue light.
As he did, a trap was triggered, and something rapidly flew out from the left side.
He quickly turned his body to avoid it, but the attack that barely grazed his arm still left a burning sensation on his flesh.

Then, a ‘thunk’ sound came from the wall right next to him.
Although he felt pain similar to having been stabbed, he had not directly been hit by the trap.

Yu-Seong breathed a sigh of relief and wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead.

‘I was a little too hasty.’

He then looked at the wall where the trap had been lodged.
Something round was embedded deep into the thick wall overgrown with bushes.

‘Wow, if I had been directly hit by that, my bones would have shattered.’

As expected, traps were incomparably more dangerous than Shadow Slimes.
With that thought in mind, Yu-Seong exerted strength in his legs and stood up to approach the object that had attacked him.
It was a circular and white object with red stitches embroidered on it.
He could easily identify what it was.

”A baseball? ” Yu-Seong said in shock.

The item could be used on Earth, but it appeared to be out of place in the Tower.

However, he quickly became convinced of one thing.

‘At least it ’s only the first floor, so it wasn ’t a steel ball that was hurled at me.’

Of course, at this point, even a baseball could be perceived as a threat.
Yu-Seong nodded in understanding before inserting his fingers into the baseball lodged in the wall.

‘Maybe… If I do it well, I could take it out.’

It took a considerable amount of effort.
After sweating profusely, he managed to pull the baseball out of the wall with a grunt.

”Anyway, I got some loot. ”

Although it seemed useless at the moment, one never knew what might come in handy in the future.
Yu-Seong put the baseball obtained through the trap in his pocket and continued to navigate through the maze.

***

A few days in Earth ’s time had passed.
Despite reaching level 10, Yu-Seong was starting to feel increasingly disheartened by the Shadow Slimes.

‘Yesterday, I was level 10.
And today, I am still level 10.’

Considering the number of Shadow Slimes he had hunted during the day, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the limit of level advancement through hunting Shadow Slimes had been reached.
Despite this, every time he moved to a new area, the Shadow Slimes would fearlessly attack him.
That certainly annoyed him.

‘I also haven ’t even found a single hidden reward yet.’ 

Yu-Seong began to feel uneasy, thinking that he might fail to keep the promise he had made to meet his group within a week.
Now, the Shadow Slimes that quietly wasted his time had become an unpleasant sight to behold.

‘What if I pass the week-long deadline that we all agreed upon?’

During a moment of strange anxiety, Yu-Seong spotted a narrow one-way path filled with blue light at a sudden intersection.
His eyes immediately lit up.

“Oh, there are many traps today.
How exceptional. ”

If an ordinary person adapted to the Tower, there would be no reason to choose a path full of traps.

‘Although there are some safe areas in between, generally speaking, it ’s a situation where one has no choice but to step on traps.’

Passing through such a place would be fatal.
It was a narrow one-way road that seemed perilous, but it was also the path that Yu-Seong had to take.

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‘I’m sure this is the area with hidden rewards that the original novel mentioned.’

It was a crossroad.
There were three wide roads with no significant threat, and there was one road with exceptionally long traps.
Yu-Seong ’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he had finally discovered the area with the hidden reward.

‘There are two options: run very fast or jump precisely and always land in the safe area.’

Then, Yu-Seong chose Wind Control as his second active skill with sparkling eyes.

‘Wind Control is faster and more reliable than just jumping.’

After taking a few deep breaths, he pounded the ground and then jumped into the narrow path full of traps.
He yelled to himself, ”Transition to Wind Flow! ”

The biggest advantage of activating a skill in the Tower was that special effects which had been learned from outside could be immediately applied.
Yu-Seong had no reason not to use this advantage.

‘It may not be that fast due to my low level, but…’

Indeed, it was still much faster than just running.

‘Here I go.’

Yu-Seong leaped between the blue lights the moment he pulled himself together and jumped from the ground.
He could feel strange items flying from all over the place with the sound of trap buttons being pressed.

Yu-Seong ran as if he were a crazy man.
It would be great if he could get items like the baseball he had obtained earlier, though he was too afraid in this situation to even look back.

Suddenly, one of the floor tiles he stepped on collapsed and fell away.

‘Danger…!’

Yu-Seong felt a warning ringing in his head.
He gave all his strength to his legs, jumping as high as he could into the air and moving forward.

Thuuuud-! 

With a crash and the sound of the floor crumbling, Yu-Seong couldn ’t keep his balance.
He had no choice but to step on the trap.

‘Oh my…!’

At the same time, a dull piece of wood flew towards him and hit him hard on the back.

”Ugh…! ”

Yu-Seong let out a scream of pain as he nearly lost his balance and collapsed, but he forced himself to keep moving forward.
He knew that if he fell down here, he would surely die.

‘I’d die if I fell here!’

It was only possible because of the most dangerous threat he had ever encountered.
A few steps later, Yu-Seong reached the safety zone and stopped moving immediately.
Or, in reality, he couldn ’t move any further.

Even though his Pain Tolerance skill and Insignia of Protection were both active, the pain was overwhelming and dizzying.
Additionally, his insides twisted in an uncomfortable way.

”Ugh…! ”

Yu-Seong collapsed on the ground, sweating profusely and feeling like he was about to vomit.
He had to concentrate as hard as possible to regain his consciousness, because passing out and falling down could lead him to step on the trap again.
He had to at least maintain his consciousness.

About ten minutes, or perhaps several hours, passed in this state.

”Whoo… Whoo… ” Yu-Seong, covered in sweat and drool, gasped for breath and slowly raised his head.

– The skill Strong Willpower has been created.

”Damn, how grateful. ”

Yu-Seong didn ’t know when it had been created, but it was definitely helpful in regaining his consciousness.