The Heavenly Demon Destroys the Tower - Chapter 12
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 12
‘The Celestial Demon Ruling Technique?’
The Celestial Demon Ruling Technique—it had appeared in the skill list as a bonus reward when he’d obtained the Celestial Demon Physique.
Later, when he’d looked into what the Celestial Demon actually was, he’d learned it was a movement technique.
‘Getting something new every time I wake up isn’t bad, I suppose.’
Yesterday, the lowest grade of his Celestial Demon Physique characteristic had improved.
Today, he’d acquired the Celestial Demon Ruling Technique.
Looking at just the results, gaining skills while he slept seemed like pure profit.
‘But this business of waking up injured—it doesn’t sit right with me.’
Yesterday when he’d broken through, the wound had left a mark.
Today there was no wound itself, but in the recording Kim Joo-young had made, you could see the entire process of a scar forming and then regenerating with vivid clarity.
So far things had worked out—he’d gotten hurt and then healed.
But if he’d sustained a fatal wound, he might have died in his sleep.
“I think I’ll need to record myself sleeping every night for a while.”
“Yeah. Get a camera or something. It really does seem necessary.”
Kim Joo-young yawned as he said it.
“Haaah…… Anyway, I’m heading home. I’ve got to edit your footage too.”
“All right. Get back safe.”
“Oh, right. Are you going into the Tower again today?”
“Depends on how I’m feeling. If I’m awake, I was planning to go in.”
“Ah…… I guess sleep might throw things off.”
Lee Gang-han nodded.
The Infinite Tower—you could enter it once every twenty-four hours.
But yesterday he’d cleared it around eight in the morning, which was when he normally slept.
So today it looked like he wouldn’t be able to enter because of sleep.
‘I should just set my entry time to the morning from now on.’
Otherwise the schedule would keep drifting like this, and he’d lose a full day.
As Lee Gang-han made the decision to change his entry time to morning starting Monday,
“Hey. Why don’t we just go to the Management Bureau and get your Player Registration Certificate? We can convert your TP while we’re at it.”
“It’s Sunday though?”
“They’re open even on Sundays.”
He currently had forty thousand Tower Points.
If he converted all of it, he wouldn’t have to worry about living expenses for a while.
“Yeah, we should do that.”
Thinking he should take care of these errands today,
Lee Gang-han left his place with Kim Joo-young.
“So how much TP are you planning to convert?”
“I was thinking of converting all forty thousand.”
“Forty thousand? You’re converting that much?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…… that’s kind of a waste not to go through a Guild, isn’t it?”
With a Guild backing you, they’d typically give you about ten percent more on your Tower Points.
Ten percent of forty thousand TP came to four thousand dollars, which was five million two hundred thousand won in Korean currency.
That was a significant difference.
“Our company can probably give you a bit more if you convert through them…… But no. I can’t have anything to do with them. Better to go with a different Guild.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah. Last time this parachute executive threw his weight around on a Player like they were just another employee. A bunch of Players defected to other Guilds because of it, but the guy still kept his position.”
Kim Joo-young spoke with renewed conviction.
“No. This place isn’t it.”
“Got it, got it. I won’t have anything to do with them.”
“Good. I’ll ask around about other Guilds and point you toward a decent one.”
Kim Joo-young, who had zero corporate loyalty.
So he, who’d just offered to point Lee Gang-han toward somewhere other than his own company,
“Oh, but I heard the government’s been offering benefits to new Players lately. Someone like you would probably get top-tier treatment, so register first.”
“But don’t you need to register before you can convert anything anyway?”
“Oh. Right. If the exchange rate stays the same, just convert later. Five hundred thousand is huge.”
Lee Gang-han nodded.
He wasn’t desperate for living expenses right now.
Today he’d just register, and if the exchange rate stays as is, he’d convert his TP through another Guild later.
“All right, take care of things. I’ll send you the edited footage to your email.”
“Yeah. See you next time.”
And so Lee Gang-han parted ways with Kim Joo-young, heading toward the new building next to City Hall.
The Tower Management Bureau.
Sunday or not, the lobby was swarming with people.
“The Player Registration line is over here!”
“This way, please!”
A long queue stretched before the Player Registration counter.
‘Since Friday was when the Awakening happened… Saturday and Sunday must be when it gets most crowded.’
Lee Gang-han had cleared the Beginner’s Tower in a flash on Friday.
But other beginners died once to the Tutorial boss.
They got ambushed by goblin hordes and died, revived, tried again — the cycle repeated endlessly.
By Saturday they were exhausted and collapsed.
So most Players who came to register showed up on Sunday.
‘I’d better get in line.’
Smoothly.
Lee Gang-han stepped into the Player Registration queue.
Even in the long line, a man of his considerable height couldn’t help but stand out.
And soon after.
Murmur. Murmur.
“Huh?”
“That person…”
“Isn’t that the Celestial Demon?”
“Wow, that physique is insane.”
More and more people in the crowd began to recognize him.
“The Celestial Demon? What’s with the sudden nickname?”
“You don’t know? He’s the Player who broke the Tutorial record.”
“Oh… the record was broken? I just barely cleared that Tutorial and woke up a moment ago.”
“The community is in an uproar about it.”
“They say he just smashed through the maze map with his bare fists…”
He’d only entered the Tower twice.
Whether it was because Players were gathered here, or because his video was spreading rapidly through the community online.
Many people knew him by the name ‘Celestial Demon.’
And then.
“Ah. One moment, please. Could everyone move aside for a second~?”
A staff member rushed out from the crowd and stood in front of Lee Gang-han.
“Are you perhaps Lee Gang-han, the one who placed first in the Tutorial?”
“Yes.”
“Please come this way.”
The counter he was led to was completely empty.
“Hey, what is this, special treatment?”
“Discrimination from the start. We’re Players too…”
Some people grumbled about the preferential treatment.
“There’s a sign saying only Characteristic Grade S or higher can enter that counter.”
“I heard they do precision testing for S-grade and up — that must be why.”
“Ah… well, since he’s first place, he’s definitely S-grade anyway.”
Once word spread that this was a counter exclusively for Grade S and above Characteristic Players.
The complaints gradually faded away.
‘Wait, wasn’t my Characteristic Grade E through SSS?’
This was supposedly a counter for Grade S and above only.
Was he even allowed to go in?
Lee Gang-han sat at the counter with that question lingering in his mind.
“Then… we’ll measure you using our precision testing equipment.”
A Tower Management Bureau employee regarded Lee Gang-han with curious eyes.
Then withdrew a measurement device gleaming with golden light.
A camera lens mounted at the very top.
A space for the palm to fit inside, and a screen above it.
‘Is this the precision testing device?’
It looked interesting.
Smoothly.
Following the instruction to insert his right hand, Lee Gang-han slipped it inside.
Beep! Beep!
An alert tone erupted from the measuring device.
[Characteristic Grade: E]
[Not subject to detailed inspection.]
That message appeared on the screen of the testing equipment.
And the staff member who had been assisting with the test—
“……Huh? E?”
muttered it aloud without thinking, shock written across his face.
* * *
What grade another Player had received was something
that any ordinary person would naturally be curious about.
And especially so—
if it concerned the Characteristic of a Player like Lee Gang-han, who had just set a new record.
It was a matter that drew people’s interest.
So those who had been leaning in to listen toward the counter where Lee Gang-han sat
“E?”
“Huh? Didn’t they measure it wrong?”
“How could an E possibly come up?”
doubted their own ears upon hearing what the staff member had said.
An E, no less.
The Celestial Demon had just subdued a goblin chieftain and destroyed the walls of the maze map, only to barely exceed the lowest grade.
Did that make any sense?
“Ah, I’m so… I apologize. I didn’t mean to disclose the test results….”
Meanwhile, the staff member bowed his head to Lee Gang-han with a stricken expression.
Characteristic results like these were supposed to be confidential,
but the outcome was so shocking that he had blurted it out without meaning to.
He hadn’t anticipated it would spread as gossip so quickly.
However—
“Ah. It’s fine. It’s understandable to be surprised.”
Lee Gang-han wasn’t particularly bothered.
‘So the part after E~SSS doesn’t get reflected, I suppose.’
Given that it had grown from F initially to E,
the current grade level displayed at the front should be accurate.
Though, honestly, given how powerful the strength he’d shown inside the Tower was, he did wonder if E was truly correct.
‘If E is this strong, what kind of monster would an SSS become?’
Lee Gang-han rose from his seat with that thought.
In any case, the current measurement result was E.
So he ought to head over to where the regular line was, not stay at this counter.
“Should I go back over there and get in line?”
“Ah, no, I… if you don’t mind, is your Characteristic really E? It seems to me the measurement result must be incorrect….”
In contrast to Lee Gang-han’s composure,
it was the staff member himself who now refused to believe the measurement result.
“Yes. It’s E for now.”
“That can’t be right….”
The one who had defeated a goblin chieftain, subjugated monsters,
and broken through the maze walls with his bare fists to carve a path—that Celestial Demon was an E?
‘And I was only a D…?’
During his Awakening, he had received Characteristic Grade D with [Strength +2] and challenged the Player position briefly.
The staff member, who had given up after sensing his limits through repeated deaths, simply could not believe this.
If E was this strong, shouldn’t he have been even stronger?
“Then I’ll head out.”
“Ah. Wait, please… would you mind if we measured once more?”
Lee Gang-han was about to get back in line,
but the staff member grabbed him instead.
“You’d have to wait in line again.”
“Well, even if we get the same result, I’ll process it right here! You’ve already waited once, and we put you through this inconvenience on our end….”
“If that’s the case, then.”
Click.
Lee Gang-han sat back down.
The staff member examined the testing device much more carefully this time, then spoke.
“Please…… run it again.”
Whoosh.
The examination proceeded once more.
[Characteristic Grade: E]
[Not subject to precision inspection.]
The result came back the same.
“No…… it’s real…….”
“Yes. It’s real. Can I register you now?”
“Ah. Of course! Then please fill in the checked sections here…….”
The employee handed Lee Gang-han a form.
At the top of the document was written:
[Special Management Target Player Registration Report]
……in large print.
“What is a Special Management Target Player?”
“Oh, that’s…… I’m sorry. I should have given you the standard Player Registration Report, but I got confused earlier and prepared this in advance……. Let me get you the right one!”
This employee certainly made a lot of mistakes.
Lee Gang-han nodded and glanced over the form.
A brand-new apartment provided rent-free, a monthly allowance of 300 or more. On top of that, an additional stipend for entering the Tower.
‘A 110% TP Exchange Rate as standard…… being a Special Management Target Player is pretty good.’
Though there were various precautions listed, like a six-month travel ban, and such.
Before Lee Gang-han could read further, the employee quickly swapped the documents.
“Please fill this out.”
“All right.”
Scratch. Scratch.
Lee Gang-han wrote his basic information and Characteristic Grade, then handed the form back to the employee.
“Here is your registration certificate.”
The photo had apparently been taken through the lens of that special inspection device.
Lee Gang-han’s face was stamped neatly on the Player Registration Certificate.
He took it and stood up.
“Standard Players have a 100% Exchange Rate, correct?”
“Ah. Yes. That’s right.”
“I understand.”
Lee Gang-han nodded and turned to leave.
“Oh. Um…… well…….”
“……?”
“The truth is, I naturally assumed you would become a Special Management Target Player, so I contacted the director of the Tower Management Bureau…….”
Shin Kyung-chul, the director of the Tower Management Bureau.
Lee Gang-han had some knowledge of him.
‘The representative player of Korea with an SSS-grade Characteristic.’
He’d never accepted recruitment offers from America or China.
Instead, he’d remained in Korea, dedicating himself as the director.
He was said to be the most respected person among all Players.
“But I’m just a standard Player, aren’t I?”
“Even so, given that you’ve set a record, the director would like to meet you…… The Bureau says the director has time available from 7 PM. We can arrange a car to the Bureau—would that be acceptable?”
“7 PM?”
Lee Gang-han heard the time and shook his head.
“That won’t work.”
“……Pardon?”
“I have something I do every night, so evenings don’t work for me. I’m just a standard Player anyway—please let him know it’s fine.”
By 8 PM he was passing out. There was no way he could make it to Seoul and meet with the director by 7.
Better not to go at all than to make a fool of himself in front of everyone.
Lee Gang-han said as much and bowed politely to the employee.
“Thank you for your work.”
With that, he turned and left without looking back.
“No…… he refused to meet with the director?”
“He really must be E-grade.”
“A record-setter who’s just a standard Player…….”
“It doesn’t make sense. There must be an error in the system, right?”
“A system error? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”
But the murmurs among the people grew louder as they watched him go.
‘Well, it’s a bit noisy, I suppose.’
Lee Gang-han left the Tower Management Bureau with his usual expression.
Thinking to himself that he ought to pick up a camera for recording while he slept.
* * *
Meanwhile.
At the Tower Management Bureau headquarters located in Yongsan, Seoul.
“……Player Lee Gang-han is E-grade?”
Bureau Director Shin Kyung-chul furrowed his brow upon receiving the urgent report.
The Celestial Demon Shatters the Tower (Serialization)
Author │ Yeom Bi
Publisher │ Kim Joo-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 1st)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
© Yeom Bi 2025
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————