9.

"Acting captain, do we really need to be going this fast?"

Right before they set out, he told them to ask any questions they had, and one guild member spoke up.

The others might not have been consciously aware of it, but they were curious too, and they listened closely.

Even Jeong Cheol watched him with eyes full of curiosity.

He had been the one leading the team, but it was Kim Buja who had suggested the rest times and the pace for clearing each floor.

They figured he must have a reason, and since the speed hadn't caused any major issues with the clears, they had let it slide.

"Ah."

Kim Buja seemed to have forgotten about it himself for a moment, but he nodded as if to acknowledge the fair question.

"I didn't explain that part, did I?" he said. "It's not for any particularly important reason. As you all know, the most important thing in the Tower of Annihilation is managing your own pace, right? That's exactly why they show everyone the other teams' progress—to disrupt it."

He had meant to explain it to at least Jeong Cheol, but the battles had been so intense, and they had been climbing so quickly that he had missed the timing.

"The other teams are probably watching us, but they'll still try to maintain their own pace as much as possible. That's why there's such a big gap right now. Even if they push themselves, they won't catch up. Still, just by running without rest, we can mess with the teams that think they're managing their pace well."

Kim Buja knew the rules of this game, too. He knew exactly how to squeeze the most efficient and effective score out of the Tower of Annihilation.

The problem was that the other teams knew it as well.

It was a strategy anyone could figure out—the most common, stable method.

Like running a dungeon, you needed to conserve your stamina, recover, and then move forward.

It wasn't wrong. It was just too ordinary and obvious.

"Besides," Kim Buja added with a grin, "doing it that way is no fun."

'Competition is all about luring your opponent onto your own turf,' he thought. 'Just like they say, even a stray dog is king in its own alley. Creating unexpected situations is a crucial element of victory. And I have the ability to create exactly those kinds of variables.'

But there was an even more important reason.

"Everyone else will be focused on the holograms overhead," he continued, his voice dropping slightly. "But in my opinion, the most important things are the various quests and buff effects."

Clearing floors and accumulating points were obviously the most critical factors affecting the event's outcome. In contrast, the hidden quests and buff effects sounded like they were just there to make the climb a little smoother. If you asked which was more important, a hundred out of a hundred people would choose the former. Naturally, they would prioritize clearing floors and proceed accordingly.

That was the biggest difference between Kim Buja's method and everyone else's.

"If we play it safe, taking breaks and climbing at the same pace as everyone else, do you think we can take first place? No—do you think we can beat the United States?"

It was a challenge. It was a gamble.

"The main drawback of my class is what you're seeing right now—it prevents us from keeping pace with other teams in the early stages. That's it. These cheap consumables and doping potions won't be effective for much longer. We're already on the seventh floor, and the penalties are starting to outweigh the buff food, aren't they? I could use stronger items, but my supply isn't infinite. We have to secure our lead before that happens."

Besides, this team event was a race against the clock, not against other players. Unlike a solo match, there was no way to simply out-level an opponent and crush them with superior stats.

So while it looked like he was overextending just to rattle the other teams, he was actually sprinting with a hidden objective in mind.

"Four days. We've rested on regular floors, not in the designated rest areas, and we've minimized our time on each level. If something's going to trigger, it'll be now."

Even with an unknown future, Kim Buja was certain.

"If nothing happens, then so be it. We'll just do our best until the end."

Perhaps it was because he had nothing to lose.

"This place is basically a game, so no regrets. When else will we get a chance to go all out like this, holding nothing back—not even our lives?"

Whatever the reason, one thing was certain: everything was unfolding exactly as he had planned.

[You have completed 'Hidden Quest: When Do We Rest?'.]

[A buff is applied.]

[Attack Power increases by 30%.]

[Duration: 71 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]

And soon enough, he had proof that his plan had been the right one.

* * *

The Jeong Cheol Guild members already had a degree of trust in Kim Buja.

His level might be low, but he had accomplished feats on his own that they never could have at his age. In the solo event, he had defeated Fly—a player whose footsteps they once thought they could only ever hope to follow.

That was likely why Jeong Cheol had given him command, and why the guild members were willing to follow his lead.

But then came a buff they had never imagined possible.

It was all thanks to Kim Buja's relentless pace, a strategy that had initially seemed like nothing more than a reckless overreliance on his class.

Their initial trust quickly snowballed into something much stronger.

The buff was so potent it made them forget all about the attack power they'd lost to penalties, giving them the courage to face the World Tree boss without hesitation.

They felt confident they could survive and see the raid through, even if his calls were a little unorthodox.

And in that moment, Kim Buja's shot-calling was the final piece of the puzzle.

"Branch attack incoming! Don't back off—stay in close! We need to pump out damage now. Firebomb squad, move in."

"When the sap flies, don't dodge. Block it with your shields and throw bombs into any openings you see."

"Guildmaster, I'm leaving the roots to you."

"Seora, I need some buffs here."

True to his word, he led the charge against the World Tree, all while issuing precise orders to every guild member without missing a beat.

He wasn't just adequate; he was exceptional.

The nineteen guild members executed his commands without a single major error.

Just as he had warned, there were moments they thought, 'Is he serious?' But they trusted him and acted, and the results were immensely satisfying.

The World Tree's attacks gradually dulled, giving them room to breathe. Its leaves began to wither. Wounds opened across its bark. Sap poured down like blood.

These changes, visible just seven hours into the seventh-floor raid, didn't exhaust them; they invigorated them.

When would they ever experience such a perfect raid again?

Jeong Cheol was an excellent leader, and he could still proudly say his command was top-notch. But Kim Buja was on another level. It was a natural conclusion, given how completely different their styles were.

"Just take the hit. You won't die. If you really think you're about to, chug a potion. But potions cost gold, so try to just grit your teeth and take it."

"Don't hold back. Squeeze out every last point of damage before you die."

"A little scrape isn't going to kill you. You have extra lives. Stop being a scared old man and just throw it."

His crisp, no-nonsense calls were aggressive, almost excessively so. But in this event, that aggressive style was paradoxically safer and far more effective than their usual methods.

In the end, when the World Tree boss finally fell, every guild member collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Not a single one of them had died.

"Haah, I burned through everything I had."

"That was hard as hell."

"A raid like that will put you in bed for a month."

They grumbled, but smiles tugged at the corners of their mouths. At the end of the day, they were players.

Their own strength was their greatest asset, and they lived for the confidence and satisfaction that came from watching themselves grow.

A raid where they could feel themselves improving was bound to be satisfying.

Of course, that was only true up to that point.

They didn't know the real Kim Buja. A man obsessed with maximizing profit. The kind of guy who would refuse a potion to save a single coin, who had even sold off potions donated by sympathetic viewers and kept grinding without them.

"We'll rest for ten minutes, then move out."

"Huh?"

'Did we hear him right?'

With satisfied smiles still on their faces, the guild members stared in disbelief at the man who had just uttered something so insane.

No matter how right he'd been, no matter how successful his plan, this was going too far.

Unfazed by their stunned looks, Kim Buja shamelessly continued.

"We've confirmed the existence of hidden quests and that the buffs are better than expected. We have to keep moving. Are you really going to throw away all the progress we've busted our asses for?"

They couldn't argue—he was right. But they still wanted to ask, how the hell did he know there were hidden quests?

No one dared to say it aloud. Reading the unspoken questions on their faces, Kim Buja offered them a carrot.

"Don't worry. If I see you're truly exhausted, I'll let you recover. But we're not here on vacation, are we? If you rest every time you feel tired, how are you ever going to climb up?"

The problem was that the guild members couldn't tell whether he was genuinely offering a reprieve or just stringing them along.

Either way, the Jeong Cheol Guild soon set out again.

At the time, all they'd wanted was to rest. But upon reaching the eighth floor, they understood with perfect clarity that Kim Buja had been right.

[You have completed 'Hidden Quest: Aren't You Tired?'.]

[A buff is applied.]

[HP Recovery Rate increases by 500%.]

[Duration: 239 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]

[You have completed 'Hidden Quest: The Human Machine'.]

[A buff is applied.]

[HP increases by 20.]

[Duration: 95 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]

They couldn't get tired even if they wanted to. That was the nature of the Tower of Annihilation. The higher you climbed, the more you pushed yourself to the limit, the easier it became to climb even higher.

Every time they should have been exhausted, another buff would stack, making it impossible to feel the fatigue.

Naturally, their climbing speed accelerated.

* * *

The players climbing the other towers were in the dark, but the spectators could see everything.

They could see how the current first-place team, Korea, was ascending the tower and managing their stamina.

At first, the viewers reacted just like the players inside the tower. But as time passed and the hidden quests were cleared one by one, they began to applaud.

—I actually thought of that too. If it's big enough to get its own hologram, there's gotta be some kind of hidden Easter egg, right? This is insane.

—At that point, it's worth dropping everything and sprinting like your life depends on it.

—How does it make sense to slap stat and item caps on everyone and then hand out buffs this broken?

—That just means the quests are that hard to complete. And there are probably a lot more of them.

—Yeah, exactly. Look at Korea: they basically sprinted nonstop from the 1st floor. They say four days, but living four days straight on thirty-minute catnaps is brutal enough, let alone keeping your focus and fighting the whole time. Their minds are probably on the verge of collapse. Anyone saying the buff conditions are easy is full of crap.

It was a radical strategy that completely overturned the conventional wisdom for tackling the Tower of Annihilation, and the results spoke for themselves—a payoff only possible for someone who had meticulously studied the holograms.

Thanks to that, nearly a week into the team event, people were finally able to voice a new thought.

—Hey, what if Kim Buja actually wins this too?

It was a cautious prediction. But no one jumped in to argue.

* * *

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