Obtained End-Game Gear for a Bowl of Ramen - Chapter 17

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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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Chapter 17. Find the Difference Game
After consuming three drops of Blue Stone Oil, my Sensory Stat jumped two full ranks—from D to B.
It felt like upgrading from an ancient computer to the latest model. If you’d been running a game at low specs because your machine was bottlenecked, and suddenly maxed out the graphics—was this what that felt like?
My sight, hearing, smell, and even touch had expanded dramatically. For the first time, I truly grasped just how absurdly powerful Dae Young was. Roughly speaking, he was like a hundred million versions of Li Wei, China’s top-ranked S-Rank Hunter, all compressed into one.
My senses had been too dull before. I’d walked the earth my whole life without ever truly seeing it.
‘Dae Young really is far more incredible than I ever imagined.’
The image of this overwhelmingly powerful being getting worked up over a single bowl of ramen struck me as so absurd that I let out a quiet laugh.
“Dae Young. Thanks for the potion. Next time, I’ll cook you something special—maybe a new ramen recipe.”

“Isn’t that exactly what happened?”

I glanced at what might have been Dae Young’s hand—or something tentacle-like. Somehow, he’d already produced a pair of chopsticks and held them fast.
“Why don’t you put those away first, then make your case.”
Dae Young stared intently at the tentacle gripping the chopsticks, then casually hid it behind his back.

“Never mind. What’s waiting on the fourth floor of Hero’s Tower?”

‘Something feels off. This doesn’t match the vibe of the previous floors. And Dae Young isn’t making a fuss about it either.’
Until now, Dae Young had always fretted dramatically whenever I climbed the tower.
On the first floor, he’d said I’d fail if I so much as blinked. The second floor would reduce me to a vegetable. The third would kill me outright. So why was he so calm about the fourth?
“Dae Young. Is it really just Find the Difference Game? If I fail, nothing happens? No death, no permanent damage, nothing?”

I froze. My spine tingled. The skin on my face prickled. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead.
“Wait—that’s incredibly dangerous!”

I scratched the back of my head. Dae Young had played me perfectly. He’d convinced me to climb the tower first, sweetened the deal with a potion, the works.
‘But honestly, even without Dae Young, I was going to climb the tower eventually anyway.’
The fourth floor was inevitable—something I’d have to face sooner or later. When you looked at it coldly, I’d already gained from the potion and the hint. I was ahead.
“Fine. Once I’m back from the tower, let’s grab some ramen together.”

“That’s exactly it! Ow, ow! The shopkeeper’s hitting me! Entering Hero’s Tower, fourth floor!!”
With a flash of light, my body vanished. The Shadow Giant Dae Young withdrew his bloated tentacle-like appendages, which had swelled grotesquely like those of a sea creature.

The Shadow Giant Dae Young turned his head. A burning crack tore through the air—a Fire Portal opened, and a limping giant staggered out.
“Dae Young. You say all that, but the kid’s grown on you.”

“Kang told me something amusing. Said you’d taken a shine to someone—was that the boy just now?”

The Blacksmith of Volcano studied Dae Young intently. Then the faintest smile tugged at his lips.
“He cleared the first, second, and third floors without a single failure, didn’t he?”

“But the fourth floor is different. If you’ve never experienced failure through the third floor, you’re bound to fall into a trap on the fourth.”

“Water under the bridge. I slipped on the stairs at the fourth floor landing. I kept climbing after that, but the ankle I broke on those stairs—it finally caught up with me.”
The Blacksmith of Volcano gently rubbed his own ankle.
“That boy will tumble down like I did. The higher you fall, the harder the impact. He won’t walk the Hero’s path ever again.”

“See? You care about the boy. Dae Young, I’m bored—want to bet on whether he clears the fourth floor?”
The crimson gaze of the Shadow Giant narrowed.

“I’m betting my Hammer and Anvil that Jung Ho fails on the fourth floor of Hero’s Tower.”

The Blacksmith of Volcano smiled, as if his wager was calculated.
“Since I’ve staked something, you have to as well. Surely the Shadow Giant won’t take my Hammer and Anvil and run?”

Dae Young reached into his side and produced a small bottle. The Blacksmith of Volcano’s eyes changed at once.
—Legendary Rebirth Potion: A chance to be reborn in a new body…….

* * *
[Entering Hero’s Tower, fourth floor.]
[Floor 4 Objective: Find the Difference Game.]
Whoosh! Jung Ho emerged from a portal of pure white light. The moment he stepped out, bewilderment washed over him.
“What is this? What on earth is—!”
He had landed in a frozen world. It was like a single frame from a film with its pause button pressed.
Leaves hung suspended mid-flutter, while birds and fish hung taxidermied in the sky, caught in the very act of flight.
‘Fish? Why is there a fish in the sky? Is that the difference?’
Jung Ho recalled Dae Young’s hint.
-If there’s no difference, just keep going straight. If there is one, turn around and go back. Simple, right?
Jung Ho immediately spun around and tramped forward. After a while, the landscape around him began to swirl and shift.
Suddenly, he found himself in the middle of a medieval fantasy battlefield, frozen at the instant where swords and spells clashed.
‘They want me to find the difference here? There are thousands of people alone.’
How could he possibly find it in any reasonable time? Did the difference even exist? Then something caught his eye.
A commander charging forward alone, cutting down fleeing soldiers’ throats. Even from a distance, it was clear the battle was already lost, yet the commander raged on by himself.
‘The commander has to be the difference. If you’ve lost, you run and save your own skin. You don’t keep fighting a losing battle—that just gets everyone killed.’
Without hesitation, Jung Ho spun around and tramped forward. Whoosh! The landscape shifted again. This time, it was a village being plundered.
A knight draped in dazzling items held a blade to a citizen’s throat, while shabby-dressed mercenaries stood uncertainly, blocking the way.
‘Is this knight the difference? No, he looks wealthy enough—why plunder from those who have nothing?’
Jung Ho turned around again and trudged forward. Whoosh! Once more, the landscape changed.
Jung Ho landed in the reception hall of a noble castle. It was identical to what he’d seen in the Hero’s diary before.
In the reception hall, two figures played something like chess. One looked like the castle’s lord, and the other was a mercenary who seemed as strong as an S-Rank Hunter.
‘I don’t see an obvious difference here. Wait—could it be?’
Jung Ho pressed himself to the window and looked out. Enemy forces had climbed to the castle gates, and bodies of the lord’s soldiers and the hero’s mercenaries formed mountains of the dead.
‘This entire room is the difference. They’re playing games while people down there are dying or dead!’
Jung Ho turned and pulled open the closed door, then walked through a dark corridor for a long stretch until torches suddenly burst to life on either side.
As he walked, following the dim torchlight, various thoughts crossed his mind.
‘What exactly is the fourth floor of Hero’s Tower testing?’
On the first floor, humility was demanded. On the second, he endured long suffering. On the third, he was punished for arrogance.
And the fourth floor’s Find the Difference Game seemed to be teaching what a heroic figure truly looked like.
‘Did Hero’s Tower literally mean it tests the qualities of a hero?’
Jung Ho’s footsteps halted. A staircase leading upward came into view. He started to climb it thoughtlessly when he froze.
‘Why isn’t the clear message appearing?’
Every time he’d cleared Hero’s Tower until now, a message had appeared. Was this a system error?
It probably was. He’d found all the differences, hadn’t he…?
‘Ah! This must be the final difference! I don’t even know if I got the others right.’
The fourth floor’s Find the Difference Game didn’t reveal the answer. You never knew if you were right or wrong.
But as you do it, you grow familiar. And familiarity breeds certainty. Certainty that you’re right. What if he rashly assumed he’d gotten it right and climbed the stairs?
‘That’s terrifying. A trap like this at the end? But that didn’t work.’
Jung Ho spun around and tramped forward. The dim torches that lit the corridor went out one by one, snuffed out.
It felt like a wrong answer. All the lights extinguished. In the pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t see even a hand’s breadth ahead.
As Jung Ho walked deeper into the darkness, the upward staircase behind him glowed brightly. It was like an anglerfish’s lure in the deep sea, baiting its prey.
‘I’m not going back. I may be stubborn, but—’
His foot found no ground beneath it.
“Ahhhhh!”
Jung Ho plummeted into the darkness. As he fell, his Status Window materialized before his eyes.
[You have cleared Floor 4 of Hero’s Tower!]
[Clear Grade: EX]
[EX-Grade Special Reward: Hero’s Power awakens!]
[Hero’s Power Stage 4 has been unlocked!]
“Clearing doesn’t matter right now! I’m falling!”
Pop!
Suddenly the world brightened. Jung Ho’s falling body stopped in mid-air. What was happening?
<Kuhuhuu. Falling like a frog, are we?>
That mocking laugh—now familiar. The massive silhouette of Dae Young. Had Dae Young caught him?
But Dae Young looked exactly as he always did. Not a trace of those shadowy tendrils anywhere. Then who—?
“Quite the amusing fellow.”
Jung Ho turned his head toward the voice. He found himself resting in the palm of a giant’s hand—a man with thick red hair and a bushy beard.
“W-who are you?”
“Call me the Blacksmith of Volcano.”
Jung Ho stared at the giant’s form, piece by piece. Volcano. Blacksmith. Giant. Limp.
‘Hephaestus from Greek myth? Or Vulcan from Roman? Either way, he’s a god!’
The Blacksmith of Volcano set Jung Ho down gently on the ground and smacked his lips.
“Dae Young. I lost the wager. I never thought this fool would clear the fourth floor of Hero’s Tower safely.”
A wager? Jung Ho, bewildered, stood between them as the large shadow known as Dae Young spoke.

A custom aura of my own making. After much deliberation, Jung Ho reached a decision.
“The range covers all citizens of South Korea. The effect is enhanced survival.”
The moment he said that, the great shadow Dae Young was stunned.
To be continued ▶
Got the final item from a bowl of ramen
Author
Hayan Gocgam
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact
[email protected]
Published
August 24, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260423069
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violators are subject to criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram awaits your precious manuscript.

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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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