Chapter 6: Stale Veteran's Cheap Tricks (1)
Fwwap!
In an instant, the outerwear vanished like a magic trick.
And just like a far-off dream, bare skin was revealed.
Kim Jangcheol’s entire body dug into the pixelated surface of the cliff. He was firmly fixed in place. Only the two pale, rice-cake-like cheeks of his butt peeked out gently. A passing sea breeze quickly turned back. A flying gull instinctively squeezed its eyes shut.
Zephyros and the Four Great Demon Generals felt the same way.
"……!"
No one could believe their own eyes. The jagged cliff on the coast—long thought impossible to climb. A place where countless challengers had fallen, a graveyard of failed attempts.
And yet, there he was…
'Th-this is embarrassing…!'
Zephyros, the first to grasp the situation, clenched his molars without realizing it. A faint trace of red surfaced in his eyes.
It was no wonder.
Why, of all days, did the sun have to shine so blazingly bright today? Thanks to that brilliant sunlight, the Demon Lord Credos's bare buttocks were exposed in full clarity, looking so smooth and plump. Somehow, the shame had ended up being his own to bear.
The Four Great Demon Generals felt exactly the same.
‘Insane! Pervert! Outrageous! Disgusting!’
‘What… the hell is that?!’
Gulp.
Sirgi’s face flushed bright red with humiliation. A look of shock crept into Hartok’s eyes. Baal swallowed nervously, tense without knowing why.
All of them, at the same time, thought:
The Demon Lord Credos, determined to succeed at something thought absolutely impossible. His back, so proud and full of might, was also… so pale… no, so plump… or maybe fluffy… Anyway! It was overwhelmingly (!) impressive in more ways than one.
However, Kim Jangcheol didn’t care in the slightest about their thoughts. In fact, he had no time to even consider their reactions. This was only the beginning of his pixel cliff-climbing method, which exploited a glitch in the game system.
‘…Phase one, complete!’
Huff!
Kim Jangcheol exhaled heavily through his nose.
Honestly, it’d be a lie to say he wasn’t nervous. He had discovered and developed this method after attempting it hundreds of times with his in-game character, but this was the first time trying it with his actual body.
Even so, he had successfully completed the first phase: clinging to the cliff.
So, what came next?
‘Rotate and get dressed!’
He spun his body like flipping a seafood pancake, still buried in pixels. Butt toward the cliff. Front side toward Zephyros and the Four Great Demon Generals.
At the same time, he selected the “Full Equip/Unequip” option from the inventory menu.
Fwap!
A perfectly timed re-equip.
Kim Jangcheol’s runaway clothes returned, wrapping around his entire body. Just before his shameful front side(?) could be fully exposed to the world, his outfit covered it in the nick of time.
At the same moment, his body jerked upward with a squelch, as if pushed by an invisible hand. Still half-buried in the pixels of the jagged cliff.
‘One step up! Now rotate and unequip again!’
Fwap!
Another sharp twist.
He spun his entire body like flipping a mung bean pancake, facing the cliff once more. As he turned, he tapped the unequip menu. His rice-cake-like buttocks jiggled in the sea breeze as they were exposed again. At the same time, his body jerked upward again, as if someone’s unseen hand was pushing him.
‘Yes, it’s working!’
A triumphant smile crept onto Kim Jangcheol’s lips.
He felt it now.
He was going to make it.
He would make it.
Just like back then.
Like that day during his 13th playthrough.
‘I…!’
He had died countless times. Right here. Repeatedly throwing himself into this reckless challenge. And yet, he never gave up.
He wanted—no, needed—to climb this jagged cliff.
The reason?
It was simple.
He was curious.
This cliff, said to be absolutely impossible to scale—he had to know what was up there. Was there perhaps a hidden item he’d overlooked? A secret event or passage?
So he challenged it over and over again.
Dying.
Then dying again.
He experimented with hundreds of different paths. Of course, he kept failing. But he didn’t stop. If it doesn’t work, keep trying until it does. With that mindset, he tried every trick imaginable. And thanks to that, he found a way. In the end, he had conquered the summit of the jagged cliff.
Just like now.
‘Success.’
…Creak!
Kim Jangcheol stood tall atop the jagged cliff.
Like a ruler.
He looked down on Zephyros and the Four Great Demon Generals on the land beyond the cliff.
Zephyros found himself involuntarily admiring the sight.
‘…Brazen.’
To climb the cliff using a method too mortifying to imagine or describe, and then stand atop it like nothing had happened—striking a dramatic pose as if he’d done it the proper way.
And yet, in another way, it was awe-inspiring.
‘What the hell kind of bizarre magic did he use?’
Hartok, standing beside Zephyros, frowned. He had secretly hoped that Credos would fall to his death from the cliff. Or that if he found himself in trouble, they could charge in and land the finishing blow. But somehow, things had veered away from their expectations.
What Credos had just demonstrated was, in fact, utterly bizarre. A magic that allowed him to move by stripping off his clothes and burrowing into the cliff—what kind of sorcery was that? Could it be a new type of magic that Credos had been secretly developing recently? How on earth was one supposed to counter something like that?
A pounding headache set in.
‘…Ugh, my eyes!’
Sirgi, standing beside Hartok, bit back a curse. She felt like gouging out her own eyes after witnessing something so horrendous. She genuinely wished she could return to the Demon Lord’s castle as soon as possible. To go back to her ice grotto, gently caressing her neatly arranged ice beads to cleanse her mind.
With that hope, she turned her head.
And then she saw it.
Baal, standing next to her, was limbering up and stepping forward.
“Hm?”
What was that muscle-bound lump doing? Why did it look like he was preparing to charge toward the jagged cliff?
…That was the moment she questioned it.
“Baal is hungry. Can’t take it anymore. But over there—looks like there’s lots to eat.”
“What?”
Where?
Surely he didn’t mean up there, atop the jagged cliff?
Sirgi wanted to ask in all seriousness.
Of course, Baal didn’t respond. He simply lifted his rock-like gaze and stared at the cliff.
“……”
Crack…!
Suddenly, she remembered.
She had been here once before. That jagged cliff beyond the swirling sea. She, too, had once held hope that if she could just climb it, she could crack open and eat a devil gull egg.
But she had given up.
She’d been afraid.
She lacked the confidence.
In the end, she had no choice but to retreat.
But now, the story had changed.
“Baal saw the path Credos took. If I follow, I can climb. If I climb, I can eat. I’ll catch a gull.”
“What the…?”
Sirgi furrowed her brow.
Thunk!
Baal dashed forward. He picked up speed. He pushed off the ground. He launched himself into the air.
Swoosh!
His entire body soared into the sky.
“Lord Baal!”
Zephyros’s urgent shout echoed, a moment too late. The jagged cliff rapidly closed in. Baal reached out. It was the very same spot where Credos had clung to the cliff earlier.
‘Baal will do it!’
He was starving.
He couldn’t hold it in anymore.
Honestly, he felt like he might die.
He was sick of this endless hunger. He would climb. And when he did, he could feel full. He could be happy.
Crunch!
Baal’s brutish hand slammed into the side of the jagged cliff. No—just as it was about to dig in…
Clank–!
A translucent barrier, stretched over the top of the jagged cliff, deflected Baal’s hand. He couldn’t break through. His hand slid off like a beetle hitting a glass wall.
“……!”
He hurriedly reached out again. But it was no use. His hand slipped off in vain. His chest sank. His body dropped, falling with him. A wave of regret and dread. A sense of helplessness washed over him.
‘Am I…’
Had he failed?
Was he just… going to fall?
He didn’t want to die like this.
He hated the thought of it ending this way even more.
But there was no way out…
Thunk!
Suddenly, a shock like his shoulder and forearm were being yanked out surged through him.
Startled, Baal looked up.
And he saw.
“Cre…dos…?”
The Demon Lord Credos.
He had his lower half buried in the jagged cliff and was gripping Baal’s hand with one of his own. Then he shouted furiously.
“Hey! Are you insane?!”
“……”
“What? You saw the way I climbed, so you thought you could just copy it and succeed? Do you hear yourself?! You think this is something that works just by watching it once?!”
“Cre…”
“Ugh, damn it, you're heavy as hell. Stop squirming!”
“……”
Baal shut his mouth.
Kim Jangcheol’s face, clinging to him as Credos, turned beet red.
‘…Seriously, no joke, this bastard’s ridiculously heavy!’
He’d caught him on reflex.
Unfortunately, Baal was by far the most massive of the Four Great Demon Generals. Trying to hold that brute up with one hand… honestly, it felt like his arm was going to snap off.
And him?
He still hadn’t fully adapted to the body of Demon Lord Credos. He couldn’t draw out its full strength. The grip in his hand was gradually weakening.
‘Ughhh… I really… can’t hold on much longer…!’
It was the limit.
No willpower, no grit—none of it mattered now. No matter how hard he tried, it was the harsh wall of reality.
And then, the selfish thought surfaced in his mind.
‘Actually, if you think about it… these Four Great Demon Generals guys… they’d kill me the first chance they got… right?’
So maybe letting one of them fall here wouldn’t be such a loss.
So really—
Don’t blame me.
This is your own fault for acting on your own—
“……”
At that moment, Kim Jangcheol froze without realizing it.
What the hell.
Why was Baal looking up at him like that?
How could he make a face like that, on the verge of tears?
Why was he making his heart feel weak?
Why, of all things—
Why was he bringing back memories he wanted to forget?
He was at a loss for words.
Just as he was about to let go of Baal’s hand—
In that very moment when their eyes met—
He ended up seeing it.
That glistening, pleading look in Baal’s eyes.
And because of that, he couldn’t let go.
“……”
He felt it.
That it was just because Baal was hungry.
That he couldn’t endure it any longer.
That he wanted to come up and help.
That he was asking—not to let go of this hand.
To hold on just a little longer.
It reminded him of that evening last year, one he had almost forgotten.
The face of a junior in the lab, teary-eyed and pleading,
Saying the professor wouldn’t review his paper.
He just wanted to submit it.
He was too exhausted to keep waiting.
That was why he was asking.
Asking him—
To speak to the professor.
To use his standing as a favorite among the faculty,
Just this once.
So what did he…
‘What do you mean, what did I do.’
He refused.
Because he was scared.
Because deep down, he was just another grad school slave.
Afraid of getting on the professor’s bad side if he spoke up.
Afraid of getting penalized somehow.
He told himself there was no way around it.
That the cold, immovable wall of reality couldn’t be helped.
That he had no choice.
Just excuses—
Excuses for letting go of that junior’s hand.
And now, somehow…
Baal.
Why were you making the same face as that junior back then?
“……Ha.”
Honestly, he was speechless.
What kind of absurd, useless sympathy was this?
At a time like this?
But he couldn’t help it.
Those eyes looking up at him.
Those tearful, desperate eyes.
He just couldn’t let go.
So—
“……Hold on tight, you bastard.”
He poured strength into his whole body.
Gripped tight.
Pulled upward.
He felt the blood rushing to his head.
The sensation that his arm was about to tear off.
Pain.
Agony.
Crack!
Something made a strange sound in his elbow.
His vision turned pitch-black.
He tried not to let go.
More.
Just a little more.
One more time.
Upward.
More.
“……Aaaaargh!”
Thwump…!
He hauled Baal up and hurled him over.
Baal’s massive frame momentarily blocked out the sun, casting a shadow.
He passed over his head and landed with a crash atop the jagged cliff.
“……Guh!”
The fool tumbled and screamed as he landed.
Only then did Kim Jangcheol finally manage to catch his breath.
“Huff… huff… huuuh… You dumb bastard… Were you really that hungry…?”
“……”
Was Baal reflecting on his own reckless actions? Despite his massive size, he now stood awkwardly, fidgeting without knowing what to do with himself.
The sight made a bitter chuckle slip from Kim Jangcheol’s lips.
At the same time, a strange, inexplicable sense of pride welled up inside him.
“……”
Still, this time… he hadn’t let go.
What would’ve happened, if he had done the same back then?
With a sense of relief and an odd emotion lingering in his chest, Kim Jangcheol collapsed onto the ground. He was exhausted. Just for a moment, he wanted to rest.
But then it happened.
Ding-dong!
A sudden, clear, and graceful chime rang out as if it resonated through the entire world, slamming into his eardrums. Then, an unexpected series of messages began to rapidly fill his vision in satisfying bursts.
[Despite not being fully adapted to the body of Demon Lord Credos, you poured out all your available strength.]
[As a result, you have earned the heartfelt gratitude of Baal, one of the key figures among the Demon Lord’s forces in the game.]
[Due to this achievement, a new system has awakened: whenever you bring a sense of full-bellied happiness to your subordinates in the Demon Lord’s forces, you will be awarded immense points.]
[The Happy Point accumulation system has been unlocked.]
“……What?”
Kim Jangcheol’s eyes widened in disbelief.
This was the first encounter with the unprecedented stepping stone—
The very one that would, in time, elevate him beyond Demon Lord…
to a Demon God.