The Legendary Regressor Devours the Tower - Chapter 9

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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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Episode 9
[User Information]
-Name: Yu Seong-un
-Level: 6
[Detailed Stats]
-Strength: 11
-Agility: 11
-Stamina: 11
-Perception: 11
-Mana: 11
Level 6.
Having completed the Tutorial, it made sense that the Level had risen to 6.
The problem lay with the skills the examinee possessed.
-Super Senses (SS)
-Swordsmanship Mastery (SS)
‘What on earth is this?’
Hwang Chan-hui, who hadn’t been with the Association long, was seeing a Grade of SS or higher for the first time.
And not just one—but two of them.
Even if the Grade started low now, given enough time wouldn’t it grow to SS-rank eventually?
‘This is absolutely incredible. These are the skills possessed by someone who cleared at EX-rank…….’
This was the caliber needed to face the Association Director himself.
Yi Ki-chul and Hwang Chan-hui were staring at the assessment report with entranced eyes.
“You asked if I was finished.”
Seong-un’s single remark pulled them back to reality.
Yi Ki-chul, regaining his composure, hastily bowed.
“Ah, my apologies. Is the content of this report correct?”
Seong-un reviewed the report and nodded.
“Yes, it is.”
A title should be added here, but titles are classified as items, not skills.
Which is why they don’t appear in the examination results.
“In that case……. I’ll make sure this result isn’t disclosed for now.”
Normally, once examination results came back, they would be posted on a program used only by Guild personnel.
Based on those results, Guilds would attempt to contact Climbers to recruit them.
However, in Seong-un’s case, since the Association Director was moving directly, they planned not to disclose anything until the matter was definitively settled.
“Let’s do that.”
* * *
In front of the Association stood the Balhae Guild, the Horus Guild, and others.
All the major Guilds had gathered.
“Seung-beom, is that person really EX-rank?”
A Human Resources Department employee who had arrived late and Park Seung-beom.
Park Seung-beom had completed his examination the very day he finished the Tutorial, confirming himself as an S-rank skill holder.
The reason he was here now was none other than Han Geon-u, who was causing a spectacle at the front.
“No. That guy was recruited by Cheonha. And he died the moment the Tutorial started.”
He remembered it clearly.
How he’d lunged at an unarmed man and had his life snuffed out in an instant.
“Ah, so that’s why Cheonha is having a fit like that.”
Han Geon-u was still bickering with Cheonha, and the scouts nearby seemed to have caught on to some degree.
“Yes, if I recall correctly, he was a man with a well-built frame and delicate features.”
A monster who displayed overwhelming force despite wearing no equipment whatsoever.
“But why is he claiming to be EX-rank?”
The employee tilted his head in confusion.
“Who knows. He’s such an erratic character that…….”
Though it had been brief, he’d gotten a clear sense of just how thoughtless Han Geon-u truly was.
Which made that sort of nonsensical behavior at least somewhat understandable.
“I just heard that someone made contact with him.”
Then an employee returned with a report.
“Contact?”
“Yes. I didn’t catch the details of what was discussed, but given that he’s now claiming to be EX-rank afterward, it seems there must be a connection.”
“……This makes no sense whatsoever.”
Making such a scene wouldn’t hold up for long—it would unravel quickly.
Moreover, Cheonha won’t let this slide—not with guild scouts watching.
He’ll definitely be processed as a full guild withdrawal.
The problem is that joining another guild becomes complicated too.
What on earth did they discuss to pull off such a gambit?
“The issue is that he hasn’t registered yet,” one of the personnel department staff said.
The man clicked his tongue.
Park Seung-beom tilted his head.
“He hasn’t registered?”
“That’s right. Clearly Cheonha made him wait at the Association to flush out any EX-rank climbers they could find.”
The waiting room before the examination hall was only accessible to those preparing to register.
Cheonha must have exploited that fact by not registering Han Geon-u.
Which is why things have stalled like this.
“That’s some impressive administrative work,” Hwang Chan-hui muttered.
It was so absurd he could barely contain his exasperation.
“Indeed,” Yi Ki-chul agreed.
* * *
‘He’s holding up better than I expected.’
From the fifth floor, Yu Seong-un gazed down through the window at Han Geon-u stirring up trouble below.
He’d never expected Han to even attempt this, let alone endure for so long.
“Let me review the test papers for a moment,” Choi Hyuk said to the staff member.
“Of course.”
Choi Hyuk cleanly ignored the commotion outside and took the papers from the employee.
His reaction was not much different from Yi Ki-chul’s or Hwang Chan-hui’s.
“Hmm……”
Choi Hyuk couldn’t contain his admiration.
He could almost understand where such towering confidence came from.
Since receiving an Invitation Letter and sitting in the president’s chair, he’d never seen a climber who held two SS-rank aptitudes from the very beginning.
“What would you like to do?” the staff member asked.
“Before that, there’s something I should explain.”
He couldn’t let this monster rookie slip away.
Choi Hyuk wanted to bring him to the Association even if it meant accepting every condition he demanded.
But certain matters needed to be made clear.
“What is it?”
“We’re a bit different from guilds. The Tower System is entirely biased toward guild preferences.”
Every year-end, the Tower distributes rewards based on guild rankings.
Moreover, it distributes these to individual guild members according to their guild affiliation.
No matter how hard lower-ranked guilds push, they can’t climb above others—and that’s precisely why.
As time passes, the gap only widens.
That’s the main reason climbers desperately try to join higher-ranked guilds.
The Association, meanwhile, receives no rewards from the Tower system.
The Tower has excluded them entirely.
“But there are advantages. First, climbers affiliated with the Association receive bonus points.”
Unable to collect Tower rewards, they gain bonus points instead.
Two percent, no less.
Combined with the Blessing of Odius title, that’s a twenty-two percent total increase.
‘Which means I could potentially receive EX-rank even with slightly lower results.’
This aspect was extraordinarily appealing to Yu Seong-un.
“And?”
“We have authority to pass immediate judgment on problematic Awakeners.”
For instance, those who abuse their power and commit crimes.
Those who deliberately refuse to register.
Those who operate without Association permission.
We’re granted the authority to eliminate such individuals.
Of course, not everyone in the Association has that power—there’s a dedicated crime division.
“Are you saying you’d grant me such authority?”
“Not immediately. The Association will support everything you need, and once we judge it appropriate, we’ll also grant you investigative powers.”
At such an extraordinary proposal, Seong-un let out a soft laugh.
“In other words, you’re making an investment in me.”
“Yes. The Association will become your shield. Additionally, we won’t interfere with solo climbing or its rewards. We’ll even permit you to establish your own guild and operate on both fronts. But in return, you must prove yourself.”
“Prove myself?”
“Yes. Your first clear score must never drop below SS. That’s the condition.”
“And if it does?”
“Certain options will disappear.”
Typically, when a novice climbs the lower floors alone, reaching even an A grade is a luxury—SS is beyond reach.
So he was diplomatically telling me to cancel the solo ascent if I wasn’t confident.
But that warning didn’t apply to Seong-un.
SS grade?
For someone aiming at EX grade, such a condition was hardly worth mentioning.
Still, there was something unsatisfying about accepting it as is.
“If a condition like that’s attached, I think it’d be better to just join a guild.”
The moment he mentioned the guild, Choi Hyuk smiled as if he’d expected exactly this.
“I said we’d support everything. That includes high-grade items the Association possesses. Of course, I’ll make sure you can choose whichever Artifact Item you want.”
“!”
Seong-un’s eyes went wide.
Much time had passed since the Tower appeared.
In that span, several Artifact Items had been discovered.
Most had been used, but some remained untouched.
Cases where the Association or guilds kept them in storage rather than use.
EX grade was impressive, sure, but I hadn’t expected them to pull out Artifact Item cards.
“Of course, I’m not saying we’d hand it over right now.”
“It’s part of the verification?”
“Correct. After calculating your performance going forward, I plan to provide you with the Artifact Items we have stored at the Association.”
Did that mean he could obtain ‘that’ as well—the one being held at the Association?
Like Super Senses, it was employed late, but it boasted overwhelmingly superior performance.
Seong-un maintained his poker face and nodded.
“That’s quite an unprecedented offer.”
“Isn’t it?”
“What’s the reason?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m curious why you’d pull out an Artifact Item you’ve kept in storage all this time just to recruit one person.”
Choi Hyuk nodded slowly and lifted his teacup.
Sip.
As he wet his throat, a brief silence settled over the room.
Not long after, Choi Hyuk broke that silence and spoke.
“I want it used by someone worthy.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s been ten years since the Tower appeared.”
Choi Hyuk lifted his teacup again as he continued.
“And yet we’ve barely cleared a quarter of it—nowhere close to half.”
“We’ve reached the twenty-fourth floor.”
Humanity is struggling at floor twenty-four right now.
Though in another six months, we’re scheduled to breach it.
“Do you remember the Warning Message before the Tower appeared?”
“Yes.”
How could I forget?
It said the dimension had reached the end of its lifespan, and if we didn’t reach the summit, Earth would be deleted.
“The time we have now, with this much leeway, will eventually run out. We must reach the summit within that window—but to be frank, I don’t see anyone with the capability to climb all the way to the top.”
“So you’re testing me?”
Tutorial clear at EX grade.
Without even beginning proper climbs, already possessing two SS-grade skills.
With future performance determining whether he’d receive the Artifact Item, it was certainly a gamble worth taking from his perspective.
“Isn’t it an attractive proposition for you as well? We’re talking about Artifact Items. Among them, there exist even SS-grade ones.”
“…Fine. I’ll prove it.”
There was no reason to refuse at this point.
“Welcome to the Association. I’ll ensure that your information cannot be accessed by anyone except me.”
Choi Hyuk extended his hand to Seong-un, and Seong-un clasped it with a slight smile.
“Yes. I’ll be establishing a guild soon, so I’ll need your support.”
* * *
After Seong-un left, a meeting convened around the Association chair.
The subject was the recruitment of the monster rookie.
“Withdrawing an Artifact from the Association’s vault seems like we’re overreaching.”
Item support, housing support, personal guild establishment approval.
Guild establishment approval was essentially a half-commitment to the Association, but if they could bring in a monstrous rookie and strengthen the Association’s power, an investment of this magnitude was more than worthwhile.
The problem was the Artifact.
The Artifact the Association possessed.
The founding Association President, Bae Ki-yeon, was a capable Awakener who had been the first person in the world to clear the fifteenth floor.
He had possessed up to three S-rank skills at the time, but the issue was that he was battling illness even then.
No matter how much power an Awakener possessed, overcoming illness was impossible, and he ultimately passed away three years ago.
Since Choi Hyuk had been the Vice President who supported him, he succeeded to the position of the next Association President.
‘The Artifacts stored in the Association were discovered by the founding President.’
He had not used the Artifacts he obtained directly, but instead kept them in a secret space accessible only by the President’s authority.
Now Choi Hyuk had promised to hand over such an Artifact to a rookie who had only just Awakened.
“I’m offering to provide it under my authority as Association President. Is there a problem with that?”
Choi Hyuk fixed them with a stern gaze.
As someone who had already climbed to the nineteenth floor, there was no one who could match him in either power or martial strength.
“This is a treasure left behind by the founding President. Why would you entrust such a treasure to that sort of person?”
“Why not use it yourself, President? If you used all those Artifacts, reaching the twentieth floor wouldn’t be impossible!”
Yet the executives refused to yield easily.
“Among everyone here, has anyone received an SS grade—or even S grade or higher—on the Tutorial?”
The executives fell silent at Choi Hyuk’s words.
Most of them had been part of the first wave, receiving invitations and entering less than one or two years after the Tower first appeared.
And every single one of them had finished with an A-rank grade or lower.
From the start, those with S-rank or higher didn’t join the Association—they founded their own guilds and grew their power rapidly.
“My best grade was also S.”
Choi Hyuk had ranked first out of a hundred and reached the fourth floor.
Yet even he had finished with an S grade.
From this alone, you could understand just how absurd an EX grade truly was.
“I’m not saying I’ll hand it over immediately. I have no intention of giving over an Artifact just because someone has cleared one Tutorial.”
“Then what?”
“Floor ten. He must achieve a clear evaluation of SS or higher on a solo climb through all floors.”
“SS?!”
Floors one through ten.
Even if someone knew the strategy perfectly, it was a score that would be difficult for a single person to achieve alone.
This condition was, in essence, a refusal to hand over the Artifact.
“Isn’t such a condition sufficient?”
At Choi Hyuk’s words, the remaining executives nodded in agreement.
A Legendary Returnee Devours the Tower (Serial)
Author │ Yeon I-yo
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 401 Ace Tech Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Yeon I-yo 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. No content may 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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