Chapter 78: This Is Highly Rated by the Hero (Part 4)

“There’s a square button at the top of the wall. Press it to stop the timer. Your ranking is based on how fast you reach the top.”

I looked up as I listened to Ji-eun’s explanation.

The climbing wall looked about seven or eight stories high.

‘About 20 meters?’

Climbing that wall as quickly as possible.

That was the objective of this game.

“Hmm.”

I hummed and stared at the wall.

It wasn’t as high as I expected. But memories of ‘that world’ surfaced, and I didn’t feel very good. Back then, climbing walls was something I did only when things went south.

‘Because I couldn’t get through the main entrance and had to find a detour…’

So, whenever I climbed a wall, I had to be ready for a fight immediately after. Climbing itself was physically demanding, and the added tension of an imminent battle was exhausting.

Of course, it wasn’t like I climbed walls often. Climbing a cliff for a surprise attack only worked a few times. The enemy caught on quickly and started guarding the cliffs thoroughly.

I frowned as those memories surfaced. Ji-eun noticed my change in expression and smirked.

“So? Higher than you expected, right?”

When I turned my head without saying anything, Ji-eun coughed. She puffed out her small chest.

She said with sparkling eyes,

“But it’s not that high. When you see people climbing, it’s truly amazing. They just fly up the wall like they’re walking on air!”

“…Really?”

“Of course! You’d be surprised if you saw Olympic climbing athletes playing The Climber. They just zoom up the wall in the blink of an eye!”

She spoke with pride, as if boasting about her own achievements. Glancing at Ji-eun’s face, her nose was practically pointing at the sky. She could probably grate apples on that nose.

“Hmm.”

It seemed Ji-eun had a strange sense of pride about The Climber. Like a fan rooting for their favorite team.

What’s ‘walking on air,’ though? Is that a Chinese proverb?

“Seo Jeongyong is especially good at it. He climbs a level 5 wall in just 9 seconds. I have a video saved somewhere…”

[Lol, she’s at it again]
[It’s bad enough that she keeps recommending this game to others, but now she’s recommending climbing athletes too]
[Wow! Seo Jeongyong! You know him! He’s really good at climbing]
[Haha, it’s called being a fan, understand? lol]
[Why would anyone be a fan of this game?]
[Seriously, don’t know]

Ignoring Ji-eun, who was excitedly explaining something, I looked up at the wall again.

Was this wall high?

‘Not really.’

The cliffs I climbed were at least a few hundred meters high. Surprise attacks were only possible at that height.

If it was only a few dozen meters, the Demon King’s army would be prepared. It was only because the cliffs were hundreds of meters high that they didn’t expect anyone to climb them.

“So, Seo Jeongyong…”

Tuning out Ji-eun, who was still talking about climbing athletes, I lightly stretched. Then, I slowly backed away. To secure a running start.

‘9 seconds, was it?’

I had never tried speed climbing before…

‘This looks fun.’

With a faint smile,

I kicked off the ground.

Thud!

“Just watching her get ready to climb made my hands sweat… Huh?”

Ji-eun, who was engrossed in her story, was startled by Shihyun suddenly dashing towards the wall.

‘What?’

That’s not how you do rock climbing.

You start by standing at the bottom of the wall. Even if you jump, you do it from right in front of the wall, not by taking a running start like that.

The reason was simple, like the difference between a high jump and a long jump. High jump is about height, and long jump is about distance.

Doing that would increase horizontal distance rather than vertical height. The kinetic energy would be directed horizontally, not vertically.

In other words, it was perfect for slamming into the wall.

“W-wait…!”

Ji-eun, her eyes wide like a rabbit’s, reached out to stop Shihyun. But whatever Shihyun was fueled by, she couldn’t stop her sudden dash.

‘Crazy!’

Ji-eun couldn’t believe her eyes.

The distance from Shihyun’s starting point to the wall was about 5 meters.

But Shihyun covered that distance in just three strides. Like a sprinter.

Was that even possible with a human’s stride length? How could someone run that fast?

‘This game reflects real-world physical abilities!’

Regardless of Ji-eun’s disbelief, Shihyun reached the wall in an instant, like a superhuman.

And then, she jumped.

A sudden vertical leap.

“Uh, uhm!?”

How did she suddenly switch from horizontal movement to a vertical jump? Before Ji-eun could even process it, Shihyun reached out and grabbed a hold on the wall.

And then.

Whoosh!

Shihyun’s body shot upwards.

Literally.

Without any fancy movements, Shihyun shot up the wall. As if she had flight abilities.

Of course, The Climber wasn’t a game where you used Jedi powers to climb walls.

It wasn’t until Shihyun’s third ascent that Ji-eun realized how she was soaring upwards.

“C-crazy!”

Grab a hold, pull with her arms, and kick off the wall to ascend. These two actions were repeated like a well-oiled machine. But that wasn’t the surprising part. Speed climbers could do similar things.

The important thing was that she was ascending in a perfectly straight vertical line.

And naturally, the holds on the wall weren’t evenly distributed. If they were, it would be too easy to climb. So, even for the fastest climbers, there would be some horizontal movement depending on the location of the holds.

But Shihyun just climbed straight up.

She grabbed and kicked off places where there were no holds.

[?]
[What is that??]
[Crazy lol]
[How is that even possible lol]
[Walking on air ]
[Was Shihyun Spider-Man, not a Hero? lol]
[Where’s Spider-Woman?]

It was an impossible feat unless she had been bitten by a radioactive spider. Climbing a vertical wall, a smooth surface with no holds, using only grip strength and leg power was impossible for ordinary humans. Even for professional climbers.

But Shihyun did it.

It was only natural.

She wasn’t an ordinary human.

She was a Hero.

Shihyun was a Hero who climbed hundreds of meters of sheer cliffs filled with jagged rocks to attack the Demon King’s army.

A 20-meter wall was a piece of cake.

“…”

Ji-eun stared blankly at the scene.

When you witness something that belongs in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, you can’t look away. It’s hard to avert your gaze from something that defies common sense.

But Ji-eun quickly snapped out of it.

It wasn’t because she possessed superhuman mental fortitude like Shihyun.

It was because Shihyun pressed the button at the top of the wall.

A mechanical beep brought Ji-eun’s mind, which had been on an interdimensional journey through that bizarre sight, back to reality. However, just because your mind returned from Andromeda didn’t mean you immediately regained your reason and logic.

Ji-eun rubbed her eyes, looked at Shihyun casually sitting at the top of the wall, rubbed her eyes again, looked at the wall, and then looked back up at Shihyun.

She repeated this several times.

“Che…”

Finally, with her senses fully restored, Ji-eun’s words came out.

“Cheater! You monster!”

Shihyun, perched on top of the wall, tilted her head at Ji-eun’s cry. She had a look of genuine confusion.

“Huh? What?”

“No, no no no no!!”

Ji-eun grabbed her hair at Shihyun’s nonchalant attitude. She was about to explode. She had expected Shihyun to be good, but within human limits!

“This is absurd! This isn’t rock climbing!”

“Isn’t it climbing if you climb a wall? Is there another way?”

“You, you! Sung Shihyun, you’re doing this on purpose! You’re trying to make me explode! How is this climbing! Who uses flying techniques on a climbing wall!”

“I didn’t do that. Anyone can do this.”

“Argh!”

Ji-eun’s mental state shattered at the incredibly cruel deception (she was certain of it). It felt like her precious hobby had been violated by a monster.

Ji-eun cried out in a tearful voice,

“You monster! Get out of our climbing gym!”