HHDT 24

Chapter 24

‘Awareness?’

Awareness?
As the voice rang in his ears, Kang Han opened his eyes.

“…Where am I?”

What he saw was a completely unfamiliar sight.
A vast wasteland.
Within the dark and eerie space, a chilling energy lingered.

“…?”

He was sure he had fallen asleep earlier.
Could this place be that red portal world?

With calm eyes, Kang Han looked around.
For now, aside from traces of blood, there was nothing particularly visible.
He figured he needed to move forward.

‘Up above… huh? Are those… towers?’

When he looked up, where the sky should have been,
countless black towers were hanging down from the ceiling,
not stretching up from the ground, but rather extending downwards in reverse.

Thousands—no, tens of thousands of them—
formed what could be called the ceiling of this world.

‘The Tower of Light is the only thing giving this place some light.’

Among those countless dark towers,
a few radiant white towers glowed faintly,
casting a soft light over this ominous land.

“Hm…”

What could he have been doing here to be covered in blood like that?

‘Guess I’ll look around for now.’

Step, step.
Kang Han cautiously moved forward while observing his surroundings.
After walking for about 10 minutes—

‘Is that… a bloodstain?’

Just as he spotted a red smear on the dusty ground, a message appeared.

[You have entered the First Tower.]
[The Power of Infinity is in effect.]
[You will revive upon death.]

“A First Tower?”

This is a tower?
Kang Han looked around again, puzzled.
The only things resembling towers were the ones hanging above.

‘Well, tower interiors never really looked like towers anyway.’

Ever since the tutorial, the “towers” had always felt like different worlds.
If anything, this place—with its ceiling full of towers—looked more like a proper tower space than any of the others.

‘And the Power of Infinity… that must be the resurrection feature.’

Reviving upon death—
That was a standard feature for players challenging the Tower of Infinity.
Kang Han had never died during his runs, so he hadn’t experienced it until now.

‘Might be useful here.’

Looking around this clearly dangerous place, Kang Han thought.

Then, he reached a red-colored open area—

[You have entered the Heavenly Demon Valley.]
[1,000 candidates compete for the title of Heavenly Demon.]

So, this place was called Heavenly Demon Valley.

‘1,000 candidates…’

Are they all supposed to fight here?

Should I prepare for a fight—?

[You have already won.]

Guess not.
Kang Han blinked and looked around again.

The so-called Heavenly Demon Valley was just an empty field with bloodstains.

‘I beat 1,000 people here?’

He didn’t remember any of it.

As he tilted his head in confusion—
Flash!
Four red portals appeared in the north, south, east, and west.

‘Looks like the red portal from the video.’

The ones that had sucked him in while lying on the bed.
These four portals looked very similar.
He approached the northern one.

[Would you like to train in the Hall of Strength?]

A message appeared as he neared it.

‘Hall of Strength, huh?’

Seems like a training ground to improve strength.
But then—

[Player Death Count: Over 999 times]

“999?!”

Over 999 deaths…?

He had died that many times in this training room?

‘What kind of training makes you die that much?!’

Baffled, he checked the other portals:

[Would you like to train in the Hall of Agility?]
[Player Death Count: Over 999 times]

[Would you like to train in the Hall of Stamina?]
[Player Death Count: Over 999 times]

The same result for the east and west portals.

But at the south portal—

[Would you like to train in the Hall of Magic?]
[You have never entered this training room.]
[Player Death Count: 0]

Not even once. Zero deaths.

‘Strength, Agility, Stamina—all over 999 deaths… That matches my 10+ stats.’

He had received 10+ in strength, agility, and stamina—Olympic athlete level.
Now it made sense.

‘999 deaths… this must’ve happened before I got the Heavenly Demon Physique.’

More likely, this was linked to the “sleep disorder” he had ten years ago.
It would explain his muscular build without any training.

But then…

‘Could other Tower Syndrome patients be connected to this too?’

He remembered those who’d suffered from Tower Syndrome,
sleeping 12 hours a day and later recovering on their own—
though they didn’t get muscular like he did.

But the number of cases was over 10,000.
That didn’t match the 1,000 candidates listed here.

‘Guess I need to gather more information.’

Then he looked again at the Hall of Magic.

“Why didn’t I ever enter this one?”

All other rooms showed he had entered and died 999+ times.
Only this one was untouched.

‘Magic stat was the only one at 7. Should I give it a try?’

He moved toward the portal to check what was inside.
As he approached—

Sssss…

A white mist rose from the portal.

[Wait a moment!]

A faint shape appeared and blocked his path.

Kang Han stared at the figure.

It was about palm-sized, dressed in white robes,
with long black hair that covered most of its face.

“…A ghost?”

It looked just like a traditional Korean “virgin ghost.”

[Wha!? A ghost?! I am a Priestess of the Heavenly Demon Sect!]

“A priestess?”

[Yes!]

The spirit flared up at being called a ghost.

Still, no matter how he looked at it, it really looked like a ghost.

‘Isn’t a priestess supposed to be a high-ranking figure?’

Since obtaining the Heavenly Demon Physique, Kang Han had been reading martial arts novels.

In those, the priestess of the Heavenly Demon Sect was either second-in-command
or a religious symbol of the cult.

Not some ghostly figure like this.

[In some aspects, yes! Though I’m weaker than the Four Guardians in combat…]

“So you’re a symbolic figure?”

[You’re quite knowledgeable!]

Then, flash!

A pair of glowing white eyes shone from between her long black hair.

It made her look even more ghost-like.

But then—

[You always wandered around in a daze… now that you’ve awakened, you seem quite sharp.]

Hearing this, Kang Han furrowed his brow.

“…You mean I was walking around in a trance?”

[Yes, exactly.]

“What did I look like back then?”

[Please speak informally. You’re the Heavenly Demon.]

“Talk casually? Alright.”

As soon as he switched to informal speech—

Flash!

Her ghostly eyes sparkled again.

[Words can’t explain it. I’ll show you directly.]

Whoosh!
The priestess flew to the center of the field.

She pressed a finger to the ground—
and a complex formation began to draw itself.

[Formation, activate!]

A glowing white light radiated from the circle,
and an image of Kang Han appeared—translucent and ghost-like.

‘My eyes are completely blank.’

He watched his own form.

The ghost-Kang Han scanned the area briefly—
then suddenly dashed into the northern portal.

Fast, but clumsy.
Still, his body moved on instinct.

After disappearing into the portal—
Flash!
He reappeared in the center.

Covered in blood, badly injured.
Yet again, his blank-eyed form scanned the area,
then bolted into the western portal.

And again, and again, repeating this cycle through all three portals.

“…So that’s why I died over 999 times.”

[Probably. You respawn in the center after dying.]

“But why would I do that? Do you know the reason?”

[I tried stopping you many times at first… but you ignored me.]

“And how long has this been going on?”

[Um… about ten years.]

Ten years.
It matched the time he had Tower Syndrome.

Did he keep doing this cycle every time he slept?

“Can you explain this place to me?”

[Yes. I’ll answer everything I can.]

“What is this space?”

[This is the Heavenly Demon Valley. A testing ground to select the next Heavenly Demon.]

She stared at him with gleaming eyes.

[You were the only one who passed the test, out of 1,000 candidates.]

“What kind of test was it?”

[I don’t know. I was summoned only after the test ended.]

“Really?”

[Yes. But I heard it was to choose the one with the strongest physical ability.]

Strongest body, huh?

‘Ten years ago, I was just a lanky middle schooler…’

But even among other Tower Syndrome patients,
he was the only one who got so muscular.

‘Maybe that’s why I passed.’

“By the way, I found a note in my hand after waking up. Did I write that here?”

[A note? I never saw one. You were always in a daze.]

That note had revealed how to level up his Heavenly Demon Physique.

It was in his own handwriting…
But even the priestess didn’t know about it.

‘If I wrote it… will I remember eventually?’

He stored that thought for later.

“I saw the words ‘First Tower’ when I came in. Know anything about that?”

[I know this is the First Tower… but not much else.]

Not helpful.

Then he asked what had been bothering him most.

“Earlier, I heard something about a blessing no longer controlling me. Do you know what that was?”

[A blessing… controlling you? Ah, maybe that’s why you were out of it…]

So she doesn’t know either.

“Why did I get Tower Syndrome anyway?”

[What’s Tower Syndrome?]

“A type of sleep illness—sleeping 12 hours a day. I think it’s related to this place.”

[Is that bad? Isn’t more sleep good?]

She asked innocently, tilting her head.

Kang Han sighed deeply.

“…Do you even know anything?”

[Ugh… You keep asking about things before the test! It’s not fair!]

She looked genuinely frustrated.

Well, she did say she only appeared after the test ended.

“Alright. Then just tell me what you know.”

With low expectations, he said that—

But then—

[…Very well. I shall now teach you the True Heavenly Demon Arts.]

“The true technique…?”

What she offered to teach him…
was far more valuable than he had expected.