Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 1

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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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1
Towers appeared in the world, and Awakeners were born.
The difficulties were as follows.
[Normal]
[Hard]
[Hell]
Each difficulty was divided into Levels 1 through 100.
Clear Level 100, and you could advance to the next difficulty.
Humanity’s highest difficulty reached so far: Hard Level 34.
And I—
– Difficulty: Mythic
– Level: 99
—was trapped in an impossible place.
Surviving day by day through farming.
* * *
30 to 1
A competition ratio that was high if you looked at it one way, low if you looked at it another.
Lee Woo-jin had spent all his early-to-mid twenties pursuing a Grade 9 civil service position in Seoul.
While others his age were enjoying youth at university, he’d spent three years locked in a small room, wrestling with online lectures and past exam papers.
After that brief span of preparation, Woo-jin finally achieved his dream of becoming a civil servant.
Tap-tap. Tap.
10 PM on an evening when everyone else had left.
Woo-jin sat alone in the empty office, fingers moving across the keyboard, dark circles hanging heavily beneath his eyes.
Day after day, overtime after overtime.
Though he was only a junior Grade 9 clerk, the work piled up like mountains—and without staying late, there was no way to finish his assignments.
‘This isn’t the life I dreamed of.’
Sigh.
Why not just quit right now?
Convinced he couldn’t waste any more of his youth, Woo-jin opened a file—a resignation letter template.
“…Wait.”
He pulled up his bank app on his smartphone.
Current Balance: ₩1,320,780
Woo-jin closed the resignation letter file without another look.
He couldn’t do anything with that amount of money.
Between rent, utilities, insurance, and food alone, his entire monthly salary disappeared in an instant.
And so Woo-jin’s determination to quit evaporated in a single minute, replaced by a firm resolve to work overtime and save as much as he could.
…Still.
It wasn’t as though Woo-jin had completely lost hope.
[Tower Ascent Plan.hwp]
A tower climbing strategy guide spanning over 100 pages.
He’d prepared it long ago, meticulously documenting every detail of how to clear Levels 1 through 20 on Normal difficulty—strategies he’d planned to execute the moment he received an invitation to the Tower.
“Man, if that invitation just came through, I’d resign on the spot.”
Working as a Tower management official for the past two years, Woo-jin had gathered information and knowledge that gave him confidence he could clear the lower levels of Normal difficulty better than anyone.
With each level cleared, you could return to reality; and when you brought the Tower Coins and byproducts you’d earned back to the real world and sold them, you could pocket a sum equivalent to a decent office worker’s monthly salary.
And if you cleared higher levels?
The money scaled up from monthly wages to annual salaries.
Clearing Levels 1 through 20 would net roughly one billion won.
With that kind of money, you could invest in dividend stocks and live frugally—what people called Financial Independence, Retire Early. You could even take early retirement without a care in the world.
Of course, clearing higher levels would bring in more money, but from Level 21 onward the risk of death spiked, so he wouldn’t even entertain the thought.
That was why Woo-jin’s tower climbing strategy guide ended at Level 20.
Tap-tap.
‘Just finish the budget report and head home.’
That was when Woo-jin’s fingers, busy at the keyboard, suddenly froze.
A pause.
“……?”
[Would you like to enter the Tower?]
“It’s here!!!”
Lee Woo-jin, age 25.
His lottery had just come in.
* * *
Monday came around again.
Lee Woo-jin immediately shared the news with his workplace — he’d received an invitation to the Tower.
“Congratulations!”
“Congratulations, Woo-jin.”
“Ha. Thank you.”
Bathed in his coworkers’ genuine, envious felicitations, he began the resignation process.
July — the civil service reassignment season.
The timing had worked out perfectly: the Tower invitation arrived in early June, and the personnel department confirmed his resignation would be processed as of July 1st.
“When should we do the handover?”
At Woo-jin’s question, Park Team Leader waved his hand dismissively.
“Handover? You’re leaving — forget about it. Anyway, how many floors are you planning to clear? Twenty, like the others?”
Tower management civil servants naturally gravitated toward one topic during their breaks: what you’d do if you received a Tower invitation.
And each time the conversation turned that way, Woo-jin had his answer ready.
“Yes. I’ll clear up to the twentieth floor, pocket a billion won, dump it into index funds and dividend stocks, and go for FIRE.”
“Ooh, FIRE — that’s the dream. I’d love to do it too.”
“We’re rooting for you, Woo-jin.”
“Thank you.”
“For the coins and by-products, just send them our way. The government rate’s the same as the market anyway.”
“Will do. I’ll make sure to sell here and throw in a bonus for you all.”
“Ha! Woo-jin’s the best.”
They held one last team dinner in that warm, cheerful atmosphere, and his official resignation was processed.
[Will you enter the Tower?]
Before entering.
He showered, changed into comfortable sleep clothes — a light t-shirt and shorts — and slipped on slippers.
[Tower Climbing Strategy.hwp]
“Floor one’s nothing special.”
Normal difficulty floor one was a peaceful grassland stage.
The goal was simple: use the 100 coins granted as an entry bonus at the Auction House.
That was it.
“I’ll clear floor one quick, come back, crack open a beer, and get some sleep. Ha.”
That was why Woo-jin had showered and put on sleepwear before entering the Tower.
‘Floor two’s just catching one rabbit… First, I’ll buy the basic gear on floor one — a wooden bow and a quiver.’
With the blueprint perfectly mapped in his mind, Woo-jin accepted the Tower invitation.
His surroundings shifted immediately.
…….
Tap.
Tap.
The sound of water droplets falling.
An ice-cold drop struck his forehead.
“Oof. Cold!”
Woo-jin’s eyes snapped open.
“……?”
Where was he?
He was in a vast cavern.
Vast didn’t begin to cover it. The ceiling soared to the height of a high-rise apartment building, and the width stretched endlessly into shadow.
Tap.
Woo-jin had definitely entered Normal difficulty, floor one.
So why was he looking at a dark, desolate cavern instead of a peaceful green meadow?
“Status window.”
Name: Lee Woo-jin
Level: 1
Stats
– Strength: 3
– Agility: 3
– Stamina: 3
– Mana: 3
Skills: None
Coins: 100
Difficulty: Mythic
Floor: 99
“Huh?”
Lee Woo-jin rubbed his eyes.
I think I’m seeing something wrong right now.
His eyesight had deteriorated from staring at computer monitors during late-night work, but there was no way he could mistake Normal Floor 1 for Mythic Floor 99.
…It was still there.
The Difficulty was still Mythic, the Floor was still 99.
“Objective… check!”
[Floor 99 Objective]
– Defeat Dragon Lord (0/1)
He went blank.
Not shocked, not angry.
Not sad, not depressed.
It was simply too unreal.
‘Dragon Lord? The same Dragon Lord that appears as the final boss in fantasy novels?’
They’re asking me to defeat that now?
The emotion Lee Woo-jin felt was confusion itself.
Level 1.
Stats at baseline.
No Skills.
100 Tower Coins in his possession.
The same starting point given to everyone who entered Normal Difficulty Floor 1.
And with this, they wanted him to defeat the Dragon Lord.
‘This is seriously wrong. It has to be a system error. Or maybe I’m dreaming right now.’
Yes. He was dreaming.
There was no other way this could be happening.
Pinch.
“Ow!”
It hurt! Damn, it hurt!
And worse still…
Growl.
His stomach had started to growl!
Cold sweat beaded across Lee Woo-jin’s back.
There was only one condition to exit the Tower and return to reality.
Clear the objective of your current Floor.
[Floor 99 Objective]
– Defeat Dragon Lord (0/1)
This was absolutely impossible.
Lee Woo-jin looked around.
He saw nothing but the cave ceiling, walls, and floor.
“Excuse me! I think you assigned me the wrong Difficulty and Floor!”
Wrong, wrong, wrong……!
His voice echoed through the spacious cave.
No sound of movement came back, and the system offered no response.
Thump.
Was he going to die here?
Growl.
From starvation?!
Lee Woo-jin decided to address his hunger first.
He had nothing on him.
If he’d known it would come to this, he would’ve brought something to eat before entering the Tower.
Shake of the head.
No.
Don’t be pessimistic.
How could anyone have predicted he’d end up in a place like this?
‘I need to find food with these 100 Tower Coins first.’
The Tower had multiple systems.
One of them was the Auction House.
It was a trading exchange where Awakeners with access to the Tower could register items, buy, and sell.
‘The Auction House isn’t limited to weapons and armor. I can find food too!’
Common Korean food at that.
Lee Woo-jin currently had one hundred Tower Coins in his possession.
These were coins given as standard when an Awakener first awakened.
One Tower Coin was worth roughly ten thousand Korean won in cash.
The Auction House had all manner of listings, and if he needed something, he could also request it through the community.
Just like this.
– Looking for someone to register two rolls of kimbap and one bottle of water for 1 Tower Coin!
[An anonymous Awakener has requested to chat. Do you accept?]
“Yes.”
– Anonymous 4892: I’ll sell it for 2 Tower Coins.
– Anonymous 4892: There’s a service fee involved.
Ah, right.
He’d made the request without thinking—two rolls of kimbap and a bottle of water would cost about ten thousand won in Korea, so one Tower Coin seemed reasonable.
But he’d forgotten about the delivery fee.
– Me: Got it. Please list it for 2 Tower Coins.
– Anonymous: Plain kimbap is fine, right? If you request something expensive like tuna kimbap, I’ll be asking 3 Tower Coins.
Quite the demanding sort.
– Me: Plain kimbap is fine, thanks.
Twenty minutes passed.
He kept refreshing the Auction House, and there it was—two rolls of kimbap and one bottle of water listed for 2 Tower Coins.
[Purchasing two rolls of kimbap and one bottle of water for 2 Tower Coins immediately.]
The kimbap he’d purchased appeared right before his eyes.
Lee Woo-jin unwrapped one roll of kimbap and popped it straight into his mouth.
Munch-munch.
‘This is it. Kimbap really is the best.’
After finishing the first roll,
just as he was about to eat the remaining one,
his hand froze.
‘I’ll save this for later.’
Lee Woo-jin now had ninety-eight Tower Coins.
With ninety-eight coins… he had to survive somehow.
Farming in Dragon Rare (Serialized)
Author │ Gaebyeok S
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ Room 401, Ace Tech Tower 8th, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gaebyeok S 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. The contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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