I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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21
He made straight for the armor specialist section on the fourth floor.
What opened before his eyes was another world entirely.
“…Huh. It’s almost like a clothing boutique.”
Gleaming plate armor that a knight from a medieval fantasy film might wear, ornate robes embroidered with elaborate patterns for mages, and shadowy black hoods that would let a rogue disappear into darkness—all displayed with meticulous care.
It was a feast for the eyes.
At least, until he checked the price tags.
‘Good grief—how many zeros are on these things?’
He abandoned that line of browsing and stepped into a specialty leather armor shop instead.
“Welcome, sir. What might you be looking for today?”
“I’d like to see some decent leather sets. Standard Grade or Lower Grade would do.”
The employee’s gaze swept over him from head to toe—subtle, but unmistakable.
“Standard or Lower Grade, then. Let me show you over here.”
As he followed the employee deeper into the shop, shabby items unlike anything he’d seen before came into view.
The leather hadn’t been properly maintained, and the musty smell that rose from it was eerily familiar—like the mildew that crept through his own apartment.
‘Actually, this is more comfortable somehow.’
“Take a look around here.”
Lower Grade items were mostly in the hundred-thousand to three-hundred-thousand won range.
Once he moved into Standard Grade, prices jumped two to five times higher.
‘So Lower Grade and Standard really are worlds apart.’
That gap showed in how the two tiers were treated.
Lower Grade items were piled haphazardly to one side like clearance merchandise from a clothing store, while Standard Grade pieces were at least arranged with some care.
‘Well, this is decent enough.’
What he needed right now wasn’t spectacular gear.
Anything here would beat a tracksuit for climbing the Tower anyway.
He spent a long time examining the items carefully.
The leather quality, the seams, and—most importantly—the Special Effects.
“Sir? How about this Standard Grade Goblin Tracker Set here? If you equip all three pieces—breastplate, leggings, and combat boots—you’ll get an Agility bonus, and it’s specifically optimized for Goblin hunting. It’s very popular with new Awakeners, and the value for money is exceptional.”
Finally, a set he recognized.
The uniform of the salaried Awakers who worked the third floor, as they called it.
‘Reduced damage from Goblin-type monsters, increased movement speed when tracking Goblins… the craftsmanship is solid and the options are decent.’
Everyone wore it for good reason.
Plus, the full set—breastplate, leggings, boots—came to two million won together.
Well within his budget.
‘Should I go with this…?’
Something made him hesitate. He felt unsatisfied, somehow.
It wasn’t as though he’d spend his whole life hunting Goblins like some salary man.
“Thanks for the recommendation, but I’d like to look around a bit more.”
“Of course. Take your time.”
He thanked the employee and began circling the shop once more.
‘Hmm?’
A mannequin caught his eye—dusty, dim in the corner.
It wasn’t a set item.
It was a mishmash of different materials and styles assembled piece by piece.
The breastplate was wolf leather, the leggings were Salamander skin, and the boots were Goblin leather with cave spider leg plating grafted on top.
‘…That’s an odd combination.’
There was no coherence to it whatsoever—a genuinely ramshackle assembly.
Yet even at a glance, the craftsmanship of each piece was far superior to anything else he’d seen.
“Boss? What’s special about this set here?”
“Ah, that’s what we call an ‘assembled set’—made by our master craftsmen from leftover materials. It has no Set Effect, but the performance of each individual piece is solid. Customers who want to mix and match with their existing equipment often ask for these.”
On hearing the explanation alone, this seemed perfect for him.
He already had a decent breastplate of his own, after all.
Curious now, he checked the information on the leggings.
“Item information.”
[Salamander Leather Pants]
Grade: High
Category: Leather Armor
Description: Lower garment crafted from the supple hide of the fire-attribute monster Salamander.
Designed not to hinder the wearer’s movement, it possesses minor flame resistance.
‘Minor flame resistance, huh…’
I’d been needing fire resistance anyway.
Crescendo runs hot enough that I shouldn’t skimp on it.
The boots I examined next also passed inspection.
The special effect was just “slip resistance,” nothing remarkable, but the craftsmanship and durability were in a different league from those Goblin Tracker boots.
My preference shifted toward these.
“How much if I buy everything except the breastplate?”
“According to what you’ve said… 3.6 million won.”
‘3.6 million….’
It was pricier than the recommended Goblin Tracker Set and lacked the set effect, but both pieces were high-grade equipment.
‘Well, two high-grade items at that price seems fair enough. Let’s go with this.’
I didn’t second-guess the decision.
“I’ll take these.”
Payment confirmed without hesitation.
The purchased items went straight into my inventory.
“So next….”
Following the appraiser’s thoughtful advice, it was time to list the helmet in the auction.
‘If I set the minimum bid at 600 and post it, I won’t take a loss either way.’
Who knows if this useless helmet will actually hit the jackpot.
‘If it works out, great. If not, oh well.’
* * *
These days, everyone thinks of Shin Yu-sung when the name “Korean Tower” comes up.
But twenty years ago, back when the Tower had only been standing on this land for barely three years, Korea was a different place.
At the heart of that era were five Pioneers.
An age when five heroes vied for supremacy over a single throne.
When one conquered unexplored upper floors and surged ahead, another would race to claim the next level first, refusing to fall behind.
Through fierce and noble competition, they pushed and pulled each other forward, ushering in the Golden Age of Korean Tower climbing.
In those days before the Collapse Countdown existed, ascending was not a survival duty but a challenge toward greater heights and an adventure into the unknown.
Yet no golden age lasts forever, and it is called golden precisely because it is a glorious period that has passed.
As time flowed on, the Tower became a time bomb, and two of the five Pioneers fell and died within it.
Of the three who remained, two founded massive guilds bearing their names and became living legends.
Standing proudly on centuries of history and noble tradition, commanding one of Korea’s four great guilds with confidence, Haetat was one of them.
What could such a mighty guild as Haetat lack? Yet now, at the heart of that power, an untimely shadow hung heavy in the air.
“……As a result, the young lady’s Summoned Creatures frequently fall into an uncontrollable state due to the enemy’s special abilities, which has been impeding our progress.”
As the secretary finished the report, silence settled over the room.
Kang Tae-san, the Guild Master of Haetat, gazed out at the Tower beyond the floor-to-ceiling window without speaking for a long moment.
“Hmm….”
Most of the report had concerned his daughter, Kang Yu-jin, and her Tower climb.
The crux of this briefing was that she had failed to clear the 46th Floor, the Phantom Knights’ Corridor, again.
It was already the second week.
‘Phantom Knights… they certainly are troublesome creatures.’
In his younger days, Kang Tae-san himself had struggled against their howls.
The roars of the cursed—dead yet unable to die—shatter the spirit of the living and plant fear in their stead.
This was a threat to any Awakener, but for Summoners in particular—those for whom the bond and morale between Awakener and Summoned Creature were paramount—it was quite literally the worst matchup possible.
‘Yet for Kang Tae-san’s daughter to be stuck in a place like that… it won’t do.’
Every climber who ascends the Tower experiences a plateau at some point.
Even knowing it was a wall one had to overcome alone, a parent’s heart yearned to lend a hand.
“I cannot simply stand by and watch.”
Kang Tae-san, having murmured this quietly, turned his body back toward the secretary.
“Now then, Secretary Kim.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’d like to give my daughter a small gift. Could you help me with that?”
“Just give the order, and I shall see it done.”
“I’m looking for equipment—something that can directly grant my daughter’s Summoned Creatures either Mental Resistance or Morale Boost effects.”
The secretary grasped his intention immediately.
“Understood. I’ll begin the search at once. Is there a particular rank you’re hoping for?”
Kang Tae-san waved his hand dismissively as he answered.
“Ha, surely you’re not thinking we can find Summoner equipment while picking and choosing by grade. Forget about rank—just find everything you can.”
Few people sought such items, few sold them, and the Tower itself seldom yielded them.
It was only natural, given how scarce Summoner-class Awakeners were.
No one understood this better than Kang Tae-san, who once commanded the Tiger summon and vied for the highest position among Korea’s Awakeners as the legendary “Mountain Lord.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll proceed with tracking down the rest of the items.”
Kang Tae-san added a remark after hearing his secretary’s response.
“Keep it from Yu-jin, would you? The girl dislikes receiving help from her old man. When she was younger, she’d ask for anything—’Dad, do this. Dad, do that.’ But as she’s grown, that charm’s faded. That headstrong thing. Tsk.”
Yet even as he spoke, a deep smile played at the corners of his mouth.
How could he not find it endearing—his daughter trying to scale every wall with her own strength, refusing to lean on her father’s name and reputation?
“Understood, sir. I’ll report it to her as the secretary’s independent decision.”
“Much obliged, Secretary Kim. You’ve been a great help.”
With that, the conversation wound down and the secretary withdrew, leaving Kang Tae-san alone.
He reached for a photograph frame sitting in the most visible spot on his desk.
In the picture, a young Yu-jin with a tender, youthful face beamed brightly.
Cradling a brand-new game console in her arms—a gift she’d just received.
‘The girl said it was the first thing she’d ever owned. Lord, how delighted she was.’
The day he first met her at the Orphanage, Kang Tae-san had felt it instinctively.
That she was the one who would carry the future of the Korean Tower on her shoulders.
‘In the beginning, it was merely ambition.’
He himself had failed before the final gate, but the desire to bring in a promising young gem who had awakened at such a tender age and raise her as the next generation’s strongest—that was greed, pure and simple.
Yet over the years they spent together, such shallow sentiment had been erased.
The day she hesitantly called him ‘Father’ for the first time, not ‘mister.’
A family portrait drawn with clumsy hands, the lines crooked and uneven.
The moment she came running with her small arms spread wide, crying ‘Dad!’ as she threw herself against his chest.
All those accumulated moments had transformed her. She was no longer merely a ‘talented piece of jade.’
She had become a daughter he wouldn’t trade for the world.
‘The affection we nurture surpasses even the bond of blood. That’s exactly what this is.’
As he recalled Yu-jin’s childhood, an image surfaced unbidden—a young boy he’d somehow forgotten in those memories.
‘Ah, now that I think of it….’
Those days when he was slowly growing accustomed to Yu-jin’s face as he worked through the adoption process.
Worried that giving gifts only to Yu-jin would be unfair, he had ended up presenting game consoles to every child at the Orphanage.
All of them tore open their presents and eagerly began playing, but there was one exception.
One boy who didn’t open his gift at all—just stood at a distance, quietly watching Yu-jin’s joy.
‘Yes, there was a child like that.’
Originally, the photograph now in the frame was supposed to be taken with both Yu-jin and that boy together.
But he had refused to be photographed, so in the end only Yu-jin remained in the picture.
‘The boy must have been sad to see his friend leave forever.’
After the adoption, for a long while the girl asked for nothing. But the first thing she ever requested was to send a letter to that friend.
Of course, Kang Tae-san had refused her then.
He believed that for a fresh start, old bonds should be severed.
He’d thought it was for the best at the time.
‘I did wrong by that boy. No matter the circumstances, I took his friend away from him.’
Now that his daughter had become a proper young woman, that boy from back then would be a young man by now.
‘He wasn’t an ordinary child like the others. I wonder where he is now, what he’s doing with his life.’
Kang Tae-san set the photograph down with a bittersweet smile.
The past was the past.
What mattered now was his daughter Yu-jin’s future.
“…I wish she’d stop climbing that tower. The danger grows with each ascent.”
A cruel irony—he had raised her to be an Awakener, yet now he wished she would not live that life.
But he knew that wasn’t how things would turn out.
“Who could break that stubbornness? She’s my daughter, after all.”
No matter what anyone said, she was his child.
Shadow Tracing: Skill Copied Instantly
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Killing Part
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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