Characters appearing in the webcomic The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower.
open/close all folders
Protagonist
Hyeonu Kim (The Advanced Player)
- The Ace: Due to 12 years of beating the tower largely on his own, all of his physical stats have been maxed out, which puts him somewhere between S- and A-rank as a hunter. For comparison: Seoyeon, a guild leader, is an A-class.
- Anti-Hero: Heyonu isn't exactly a heroic person and seems to be motivated primarily by greed and selfishness. His main goal after finally escaping the tower is to find the one behind his imprisonment and make them suffer as he had to.
- Berserk Button: People trying to get in his way or control him.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He might look a little ridiculous with his tracksuit and slipper outfit, but make no mistake: He's called the Advanced Player for a reason and even without magic he's still capable of beating boss monsters to a pulp with only two kicks.
- Blood Knight: At first he was as terrified of the monsters in the tower as everyone else, but after years and years of fighting and beating them, he came to enjoy the tussle. To the point that he approaches the Final Boss Balrog with a smirk on his face.
- Calling Your Attacks: Given how his signature "martial style" was combed together from half-remembered action comics, Hyeonu has never been able to get rid of this habit. He is sp embarrassed by it, in fact, that he prefers to just use Good Old Fisticuffs whenever he can help it.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: His Training from Hell in the tower made him strong enough to punch through solid stone without breaking a sweat.
- Chuunibyou: Went through this phase while trapped in the tower, coinciding with the time he taught himself martial arts. After escaping, he is extremely embarrassed about it, going to great length to never be reminded about it again.
- Cloudcuckoolander: His years in the tower have left him a bit.. eccentric, so to speak. He lacks social skills due to the lengthy isolation, is hugely uninformed about Korea's new social structures and tends to just bluntly speak his mind whenever it suits him to do so.
- Cosmic Plaything: The tower decided to curse and entrap him seemingly at random. When it finally lets him go, there's no explanation given for why it cursed him in the first place or why it decided to let him out all of a sudden.
- Curse: The mysterious Tutorial Player curse that prevented him from leaving the tower for twelve years. When the comic starts it has finally been lifted and Hyeonu is ecstatic when he finds out.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His parents died in a car crash and his cousin basically dumped him as soon as he could and stole his entire inheritance.
- Determinator: By the time the comic starts he's been clearing the tower 1349 times.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: At one point during his imprisonment, he disguised himself as an otherworldly entity and took a left-behind trainee under his wing. His training was apparently quite brutal, to the point Hyeonu hopes he'll never meet the guy again. Turns out, "the guy" was actually a girl who went on to founded the Pado Guild. Despite him wearing a monster mask during her training (which she had tattooed on her back, as well as issued copies of to her Guild's special forces), she immediately recognizes him by his fighting stance after spying on his battle against a Rift demon.
- Enemy Scan: One of Hyeonu's most versatile powers as the Guardian is the ability to scan anyone and anything to find out their secret properties. While it starts off quite weak (amounting to some Flavor Text with heavy redactions), using it reveals more and more information as he keeps defeating Climbers, to the point where Hyeonu can discern individuals' true motives and even read surface-level thoughts.
- Energy Absorption: At first, Hyeonu was unable to learn magic no matter what he tried until it all changed when he took the brunt of the first two climbers he had faced. Due to his insanely high stamina, Hyeonu endured Cheonma's lightning which forced a magic awakening and then later gained internal magic expansion resistance as well as several magic upgrades from Spectral Queen's Ten-Step Destruction (Shown to have annihilated the 8th layer in half the steps). Thanks to them, Hyeonu was able to absorb the excess magic their attacks gave to have incredibly strong magic capabilities of his own and proceeded to wipe the two from the face of the earth.
- Iconic Outfit: His black-and-white tracksuit and matching slippers is recognised by all as his signature style. Perhaps it's because it's his only style when he wears the same outfit 24/7.
- Limited Wardrobe: Seems to have hundreds of identical tracksuits and slippers considering his outfit gets worn and torn up going into battle yet wears a brand new set afterwards.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Subverted. Immediately after escaping from the Tower, Hyeonu has no idea how to use magic, putting him at a disadvantage against strong magic users, which he has to compensate for with his raw strength and agility. However, he immediately recognizes this as his only true weakness and looks for a way to rectify it, eventually convincing the spirit of the Phantom Soldier to train him in magical martial arts, becoming a true Master of All.
- The Mentor: After trying and failing to escape the tower for five years, he took on the job of a tutorial NPC and trained the arriving hunters for a while. Eventually, he couldn't stand watching them leave anymore and went back to clearing the floors on his own.
- Mugging the Monster: Various criminal Hunters keep taking on the hits that Ares Guild puts out on Hyeonu, failing to learn that Hyeonu's power levels are intended for punching out Cthulhu. When the notorious Pandemonium gang tries to take on him, they are first annoyed by his nonchalant attitude, then terrified when they comprehend that he is merely bantering with them to determine out who among them is useful enough to be kept alive for later.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Any time Hyeonu seems to be getting beat up by the Villain of the Week, expect him to break out a new set of moves to completely shut them down after a strip or two.
- Older Than He Looks: Hyeonu is physically the same age as Seoyeon and Sihyeon at 24 but in actuality is 36 years old from being stuck in the tutorial tower which prevented him from aging for 12 years.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are red and he's an Unskilled, but Strong Anti-Hero Blood Knight. Take warning, indeed.
- Shoe Slap: Can send anyone flying with just one slipper although it breaks upon impact every single time. Luckily, he has plenty of spares.
- Smug Super: Hyeonu knows he could easily beat just about every other hunter he comes across and doesn't bother with hiding that fact.
- Unskilled, but Strong: He doesn't have any magical abilities and isn't trained in combat beyond his self-taught moves, but since all of his physical stats are maxed out he can easily keep up with S-Rank mages through sheer brute strength. Becomes Strong and Skilled after gaining magic and learning proper fighting technics.
- Would Hit a Girl: He wouldn't hesitate to whack his disciples, both girls, if they go out of line and AV in earlier episodes for not disclosing information. In combat situations, he completely decimated Divine Spectral Queen with his Asura Fire Blast, socked Ten from The Order in the face and intimidated Anya into compliance to the point of fearing for her life after what he did to Pandemonium.
Allies and Supporting Cast
AV
A mysterious girl (who may or may not be an AI) who inhabits the pocket dimension where Hyeonu, as the Guardian, can retreat to recuperate and train.
- Gamer Chick: Under Hyeonu's influence, AV has discovered a passion for gaming (since she doesn't have anything else to do, stuck in her pocket dimension) and constantly asks him to bring her newest consoles and games.
- Girl Friday: AV is basically the current Guardian's secretary and assistant, whose main function to explain the rules of the setting and the Guardian's newest powers.
Hyeonu's friends
In General
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: Seokwon is the Fighter, Seoyeon is the Mage and Sihyeon is the Thief.
- Theme Naming: All their names begin with "S".
Sihyeon Kim
- Best Friend: While Hyeonu treats all three of his ex-party mates as peers (despite their vastly different power levels), he is by far the closest with Sihyeon, down to living in his bachelor pad instead of purchasing his own (or living any of the mansions Miryeong had built for him).
- Brutal Honesty: He has a rather frank way of speaking and doesn't hold back with criticism. Shown when he bluntly tells Seoyeon that she's never on time when she asks if she's late in episode 3.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He ends up becoming this to Hyeonu, once he moves in with him. He gets Hyeonu caught up on most of the hunter-politics and gives him information about dungeons while simultaneously making sure he doesn't forget to take care of the paperwork his job entails.
- Not So Stoic: He gets rather flustered when Hyeonu remarks on his tendency to cling to him for support back at the Tutorial Tower.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed as he's not evil, but he is an extremely powerful hunter and guild-leader.
- The Stoic: His expression remains calm and neutral throughout most situations and he rarely if ever emotes.
Seoyeon Lee
- Beware the Nice Ones: She seems like a polite, young lady, but when Hyeonu reminisces about an embarrassing event in the tower that involved her, she dons a Nightmare Face and threatens him not to continue.
- Curtains Match the Window: Both her hair and eyes are dark blue.
- Girliness Upgrade: When Hyeonu first met Seoyeon, she used to be a Tomboy with Boyish Short Hair. Twelve years later, she grew her hair long, wear dresses often and is more elegant-looking.
- Potty Failure: Hyeonu reminiscences about the time she wet her pants upon seeing a banshee on the 14th floor of the tutorial tower but Seoyeon menacingly gave him a Death Glare from continuing.
- Shock and Awe: She possesses incredibly powerful lightning magic, able to burn her enemies to a crisp.
- The Smurfette Principle: Seems to have been the only female member of Hyeonu's group back in the first generation.
- Stealth Pun: Her main colour scheme is dark blue but the exact shade is electric blue, coinciding with her lightning magic.
- True Blue Femininity: Her hair is dark blue, she favors blue accessories and she is an elegant and well-spoken guild leader.
Seokwon Han
- The Big Guy: He was the tallest and oldest in Hyeonu's old group.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Fighter to Seoyeon's Mage and Sihyeon's Thief.
- Out of Focus: So far, he has no significant screentime or importance to the plot compared to Seoyeon and Sihyeon. It seems his only role in the story is being the third ally to Hyeonu and nothing more.
- Stone Wall: He specializes in being the tank for his guild and Hyeonu's friend group and wields a massive shield that repels enemy waves with his own.
The Disciples
In General
Hyeonu's students who he had taken under his wing during their time in the Tutorial Tower.
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: When the two first get into a scrap, Hyeonu complains that they just like cats and dogs, complete with imagining a pair of cat ears on Narin's head and puppy ears on Miryeong's.
- The Rival: Both girls see each other as this for Hyeonu's affections after their introduction to each other.
- Yandere: Both are unhealthily obsessed with Hyeonu's approval, to the point where when he reads their surface-level thoughts, both of them seem to be chanting "Master, Master, Master..." in their heads (at least, in his presence). He does his best to helm them grow out of it, though.
Miryeong (The Supreme Dragon)
The mysterious leader of the powerful Pado Guild on the cusp of controlling all dungeons in mainland China. She is the timid girl whom Hyeonu had personally trained during his brief Old Master phase in the Tutorial Tower. Ranked fifth in the global S-grade hunter ladder.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Miryeong still of sound mind? Is she a shrewd but loyal ally of Hyeonu or a Yandere just waiting to snap?
- Chekhov's Gunman: Early on, Hyeonu reminisces about a student he once had in the Tutorial Tower, whom he put through a Training from Hell based on his own rather flimsy martial arts knowledge. Said student is later revealed to be Miryeong.
- Deal with the Devil: Is offered one by the (remains of the) Divine Spectral Queen when she is defeated by another climber. Recalling Hyeonu's teachings, Miryeong immediately rejects the offer, prompting the Queen to grant her a one-time use of her Ten Step technique to entice her to take up her offer. This allows her to literally walk over the Climber, killing him in the process.
- Girliness Upgrade: During her time at the Tutorial Tower, Miryeong wore a long black-and-white coat with a hood covering her face, slacks and boots that made the viewers mistake her for a guy. Subsequent appearances has her in a black, backless cheongsam with gaping side slits and ballet flats.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The timid young girl she had once was died in the Tutorial Tower. The person who left the Tower after enduring Hyeonu's Training from Hell, Miryeong, is power-hungry, extremely dangerous, and singularly obsessed with fulfilling a promise Hyeonu had never asked her to fulfill.
- In Love with Your Carnage: She is positively ecstatic to watch Hyeonu beat up Tank (and even records it on her cellphone, presumably for later... review).
- Playful Cat Smile: Miryeong does the :3 whenever she's cheerfully or playful, and especially when she receives attention from Hyeonu (or just fantasizes about it).
- The Promise: Before she successfully left the Tutorial Tower, Miryeong swore to Hyeonu that she would prepare a throne for him to sit on when he finally escaped the Tower. He basically forgot all about it soon afterward... while she went to conquer all of China for it.
- Psycho Supporter: While Hyeonu is not averse to killing other hunters who target him, he is never cruel about it. Miryeong, on the other hand, outright enjoys meting out painful death to those who disrespect her teacher (like Tank).
- Red Baron: Ranked fifth in the global hunter rating, her sobriquet is "the Supreme Dragon".
- Sole Survivor: Everyone else who was summoned by the Tower together with her was wiped out by monsters, and she was on the cusp of giving up when Hyeonu found her and decided to train her on a whim.
- Tattooed Crook: She has had the skull mask Hyeonu wore when training her tattooed onto her back, and her most elite underlings get the right to have the same tattoos on their shoulders.
- That Man Is Dead: Implied by her dialogue with the Ares Guild head, when she says that she owes even her current name, Miryeong, to Hyeonu, which means that she considers her old self and name to have died in the Tutorial Tower.
Narin Ha (The Shadow Assassin)
Another young female Hunter whom Hyeonu has trained in the Tutorial Tower after Miryeong and who founded the Illumiti Guild in Mexico City after escaping. Ranked fourth in the global S-grade hunter ladder.
- Always Someone Better: Narin Ha is this to Miryeong. Despite being Hyeonu's second disciple, she had spent a much longer time with him in the tower and their relationship was a lot more equitable — less that of an adoring puppy and more of an equal companion. After leaving the Tower, Narin Ha has not only completed her "assignment" (building an economic power base for Hyeonu in North America) faster than Miryeong did hers (taking over mainland China), but she also scored higher on the global hunter ranking (albeit only by one rank)!
- Conflicting Loyalty: Subverted when Mason orders her guild to taking out Hyeonu: she has never been loyal to him in the first place, so she immediately backstabs him as soon as she confirms that he is an enemy of her teacher.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In chapter 42, she briefly appeared in a panel back facing the shot when Hyeonu reminisces about the people he met in the Tutorial Tower. It wouldn't be until twenty-three episodes later we are formally introduced to her as Hyeonu's second disciple and leader of the Illuminti.
- Four Is Death: Naturally, being an assassin-type hunter, she is fourth in the global ranking.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Wears a horned skull — Hyeonu's infamous mask — on her left shoulder.
- The Starscream: From Mason's point of view, he founded the Illumiti in case his Plan A failed, with her as his second-in-command. However, she has never been loyal to him in the first place, only using his financial channels to set up her guild in preparation of her teacher's escape from the Tower. When he tells her that he plans to go after Hyeonu again, she immediately offs him (which mainly works because Mason is already severely wounded from his last confrontation with Hyeonu).
Hyeonu's guild
Anya
See here for her first appearance
Former Pandemonium mage mercenary turned office accountant at Hyeonu's Guild.
- Brought Down to Normal: Technically she still has powers but once Hyeonu took her S+ rank cloak and staff, it seriously diminishes her magic abilities from former S-Grade rank 52 mage to harried office accountant who has to draw magic teleportation circles otherwise she'll face the wrath of her employer.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The only reason why she's the Sole Survivor of her old mercenary group is because Hyeonu needed someone to draw magic teleportation circles so he can travel to countries and deal with the climbers there. While Hyeonu treats her fairly and equally like a normal hunter, he does occasionally warn her rather menacingly (otherwise threaten her) so as to not betray him.
- Evil Wears Black: As an ex-Pandemonium member, her former outfit was a black dress with matching clock and boots as fitting for an evil mage back then.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Because the magic circles require days to complete and how Hyeonu frequently uses them as more climbers begin increasingly popping across the globe, she sports very prominent ones as she pulls one too many all-nighters to not outlive her usefulness.
- Facial Markings: She used to have a USB logo under her left eye back in Pandemonium before removing it when she joins Hyeonu's guild.
- Mundane Utility: Her ability to draw magic circles is commonly used as a way of teleporting to countries relatively quickly and without the hassles of airport security.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction upon realising why Hyeonu asked seemingly pointless questions about magic circles and not taking Pandemonium seriously.
Hyeonu: I'm asking so I can decide whether it's worth keeping some of you alive.
Anya: [Shudders in terror]
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: When she started (or rather forced into) working for Hyeonu's guild, Anya grew her hair out, removed her Facial Markings, wear brighter, casual-smart clothing contrasting her previous all-black mage garb and gained Exhausted Eye Bags from all-nighters drawing magic circles. This was intentional so nobody would recognise her in the guild.
- The Smurfette Principle: She was the only female ex-hunter in her old group Pandemonium before it was disbanded for fatal reasons.
- Sole Survivor: Pandemonium never stood a chance against Hyeonu but luckily was spared whereas the rest were completely annihilated offscreen on the condition that she must now work for him and draw magic circles when necessary.
Female Hunter, Cheon Lee and Changseok Kim
A trio of hunters who were simultaneously and personally hired by Hyeonu for their respective opportunistic, selfless and faithful attitudes. They are the only members besides Anya we've seen working at his guild.
- No Name Given: The female hunter wasn't named in her debut due to her status screen not being shown and her sparse appearances makes it highly unlikely to be revealed.
Antagonists
Ares Guild
In General
- Starter Villain: Their influence and power were no joke (At first) but as the episodes went on, the stakes got higher and higher with the introduction of climbers. Hence, their revelance as antagonists fades into nothing.
Heuk Seonu
- Disc-One Final Boss: For the first forty or so chapters, Heuk was Hyeonu's main enemy and sent all sorts of mercenaries and assassins to take him out. However, once the reputation of Ares' guild becomes ruined beyond repair and the Climbers proved to be a bigger threat than he ever will be, Heuk was quickly defeated by Miyeong and spent the rest of his natural life in a rat-infested dungeon.
- Fatal Flaw: His inability to back down despite being hopelessly outmatched by Hyeonu. It's because of him that the Ares's guild eventually collapsed due to his attempts to seek Revenge and not thinking of the consequences on doing so which also lead to his brutal uncertain fate in the process. Had he just ignored Hyeonu, he and the guild would still be in power as Hyeonu doesn't give less of a shit about them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's a leading force in the Ares guild and oversees their global expansion.
- Properly Paranoid: He ultimately decides against recruiting Hyenou after the first attempt fails out of worry that Hyeonu would eventually use his superior power to usurp his position, comparing him to a poison apple (tempting to eat but absolutely fatal). Alas, this doesn't stop him from getting revenge even though it's ruining the guild's reputation.
- Uncertain Doom: Upon Miyeong finding out he wanted to kill her master, she beats him up and by request of Hyeonu, was thrown into a dungeon full of swarming, diseased vermin for a month. The kicker was that anyone with C-rank or higher stamina, will not die but suffer endless excruciating pain from the rats eating them alive and Miyeong is very likely to make Heuk overstay his visit so it will be a rat chance in hell before we see him again.
- Unknown Rival: Heuk's been trying to ruin Hyeonu's life while the latter doesn't even know he exists.
Martin Short (The Faker)
For his tropes, see under "Climbers".
The Order
A group of murderous hunters previously graded at Rank 30 or higher, each numbered from "I" through "X" and equipped with S-rank weapons to finish off anyone who betray or get in the way of Ares' guild.
- Dwindling Party: Their notoriety as elite assassins and S-ranked are no match against the collective wrath of Hyeonu and Miryeong.
- Four (IV), Seven (VII), Nine (IX) and Ten (X) had their heads smashed open beyond recognition when a ticked-off Hyeonu went all out in response to their ambush.
- Eight (VIII) and Five (V) were captured by Miryeong and thrown into the dungeons for further torture and eventual execution.
- Three (III) was killed on the spot after Miryeong caught him trying to rescue Five and Eight.
- One (I) and Two (II), although Hyeonu had a harder time than the others, are given a severe beatdown (With One being slam-dunked from a high-rise apartment), arrested and possibly sentenced to the death penalty.
- Six (VI), the only spared knight, becomes trapped in a cramped, unlit closet for the rest of his natural life since Hyeonu forgot he left him there.
- Facial Markings: The Order all have their roman numerals tattoed under their right eye.
- Sole Survivor: Six is the remaining hunter alive, or at the very least not confirmed outright dead, since his boss didn't sent him to fight Hyeonu or Miryeong. It's unknown if he ever did ever come out of the storage closet though.
- Smurfette Principle: Ten is the only girl out of the ten knights of the Order.
- Weapon Specialization: They fight with S-rank weapons to give them an edge over other hunters on top of their former S-grade rank. The weapons include Wolverine Claws (Ten), trident (Four), Magic Staff (Seven), katana (Nine), daggers (Eight), sword (Three), Magic Book (Two), Spear (One) and a ring (Five)
- Those Two Guys: Eight and Five usually work together as a tag-team and are mutual friends when off the clock.
- You Are Number 6: They are known by their Roman numeral, which corresponds to their rank and power (I being the lowest and X being the highest), and are called by their English numbers.
Other Associates
Cheonmyeong Woo
Cheongang Sin
- Asshole Victim: He's a Dirty Coward who has killed many innocent hunters in the Ares guild's name, so his death at Hyeonu's hands isn't really a tear-jerker.
- Chain Pain: He uses magic chains to completely immobilize his opponents. They're even strong enough to work on Hyeonu. For a while, at least.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Hyeonu rams him into a tree with so much force he gets stuck there, then throws him into the swamp to slowly drown.
- Dirty Coward: He restrains Hyeonu while he's distracted fighting the Mega-Alligator and tries to kill him with a strong magical attack when he's seemingly defenseless. His monologue implies that this is how he dealt with all his former victims too.
- Powers Do the Fighting: In confrontations, he relies entirely on his magic chains to disable his opponents, so he can deliver the final blow while they're helpless. When his chains fail against Hyeonu, he's defeated in a laughably short time.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Subverted. His death at the hands of Hyeonu is used by the Ares guild to ruin Hyeonu's reputation. Hyeonu simply counters this by playing a recording of Cheongang's bragging about his many kills for the Ares-guild at a public press conference, basically ruining their reputation in turn and clearing his name.
Kang
- Bullying a Dragon: He tries to threaten Hyeonu into joining his guild, despite knowing of his reputation and strength. Predictably, him and the hunter he brought along are subjected to an embarrassing Curb-Stomp Battle.
- One-Shot Character: Only had importance in one chapter to show what happens when others underestimated and threatened Hyeonu. He was promptly and literally one-shoted by him and was never seen again.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He claims to have people within the Hunter's Association who would gladly cover it up if his guild were to do something to Hyeonu. Or even do the deed themselves.
Climbers (In Order of Appearance)
In General
Cheonma (The Heavenly Demon)
The Divine Spectral Queen
- Mix-and-Match Creatures: One of her minions is a giant centipede with a dragon for its head.
- Worf Had the Flu: She is eventually revealed to have had a Power Limiter placed on her by the tower system when she invaded the Ninth Layer, which is how the relatively inexperienced Hyeonu was able to defeat her. In her unfettered form, she was effectively a Physical God capable of portioning off some of her power to mortals via Faustian Bargains.
Martin Short (The Faker)
The CEO of the Ares' Guild in America and secretly a Climber with the astonishing ability to replicate and simultaneously wield S-rank or higher artifacts at once.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Even more so than Heuk since Hyeonu didn't know about him at all until their first boss fight. Too bad for Martin that it was also their only boss fight.
Phantom Soldier
The #1 ranked Hunter in the world
Mason (The Keeper of Words)
- Big Bad Wannabe: Everything about him just screams this trope because no matter what Mason builds up to be as a Climber, it always falls flat simply because he's not powerful, skillful or influential enough.
- Hyeonu's final showdown with him was very disappointing especially compared to the previous three. For all Mason's talk about taking over the 9th floor with his powerful Climber abilities, not to mention the constant Evil Gloating, he was the only climber not to meaningfully harm Hyeonu in any way. The battle amounted to momentarily paralyzing Hyeonu, kicking him twice then going on a long tangent about climbers which gave Hyeonu time to figure out how to counter his powers and obliterate his mansion and the magic field he took years to cultivate. He barely escaped and sustained serious injuries which bring us to the next point.
- His death was not at the hands (or dropkick) of Hyeonu but his "second-in-command" of the Illumiti, an ever-expanding guild she founded from the ground up but Mason had the audacity to claim he's the leader just because he financed the organization. The mere mention of how Hyeonu is interfering with his plans is enough for Narin Ha to stab him right there and then. Mason spent his last moments fruitlessly calling out the guards for help who refused to bat an eyelid and listening to Narin Ha about how delusional and inconsequential he is and for thinking he can take down the man to whom the guild dedicates their lives to.
- Even the Book of Command, the sentient Spell Book where he got his powers from, refused to acknowledge Mason as its master and just thought of him as "someone who begs me for my power". Turns out Mason wasn't using the book to its fullest potential since "[its] original ability is nothing as weak as his". To summarize everything, Mason is pathetic by Climber standards and a one-trick pony who gloats more than he can chew.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Courtesy of Narin Ha for making the fatal mistake of trying to take out Hyeonu. She replies by literally backstabbing him with a broad sword she was holding and watching him slowly bleed to death before pulling the sword out sideways to finish the job.
- Spell Book: Wields a magic book called the Book of Command that allows him control anybody at a simple command by manipulating the surrounding magic in the restrictive zone he created for years. He also can teleport away when things go south. Narin Ha seizes the book to use for her own devices after killing him.
- Teleportation: Pulls this at the last second before Hyeonu can annihilate him like his mansion. It's too bad he dug his own grave when meeting up with Narin Ha.
- Weak, but Skilled: Unlike the previous climbers who possessed immense strength and offensive capabilities, Mason only has a Spell Book which has limited range and cannot be used to win against a straight fight. He makes the best of its abilities by cultivating years of magic around his mansion to create a restrictive zone for only him to control, using it to paralyze Hyeonu. This gets brutally subverted since this is Hyeonu we're talking about so Mason didn't even last five minutes into their fight when the latter discovered how the restrictive zone works, leaving the former completely helpless and desperately shouted commands at him then cowardly teleporting away before Hyeonu can kill him. Later on, The Book of Command reveals Mason is also Willfully Weak since he begged for its unlimited, unstoppable power but only used a fraction of it to be a one-trick pony that's easily defeated by brute force.
Sun Wukong
Orobas
The 72nd demon of Solomon and prince of hell with the ability to predict every conceivable outcome in the future. Too bad for him that all of them ended in his death at the hands of Hyeonu.
- Foreseeing My Death: To his horror, his future-predicting ability is rendered futile the moment he stepped into the ninth layer as every single possibility is essentially Hyeonu brutally killing him no matter what. Sure enough, Hyeonu approaches a terrified Orabas after the revelation and was never seen again.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Introduced at the end of chapter 93 and horribly defeated offscreen before the title screen of chapter 94 as Hyeonu is at a point where he's way too powerful and strong for regular Climbers to handle. This one-sided fight is the shortest of the Climbers right after Mason.
Others
Lee Kanghyeon
- The Ace: He is an accomplished Kendo-master, a skilled fighter and managed to learn lightning magic roughly a few days after clearing the tower.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: When he was still in the tower he did everything to come out on top, including cheating and kill-stealing from other trainees. Hyeonu trained by himself without cheats and never went out of his way to sabotage other trainees, even helping them train at times. Outside the tower, Hyeonu easily bests Lee in every category and makes him forgettable to both the world and the audience. Lee himself lampshades this in his angry rant in episode 6.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears after chapter 6 without explanation as Hyeonu quickly makes him fade into obscurity despite his talents and status to become a protagonist in any case.
- Jerk Jock: He's extremely physically fit, but also a fame-hungry douchebag who cares for no one but himself.
- Katanas Are Just Better: He wields a katana as his weapon.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: In any other generation, his talent and skill would have guaranteed him the top spot in his group. But since he had the misfortune of making it out at the same time as the Advanced Player, he frequently sees himself confronted with the reality that Hyeonu far surpasses him in just about every aspect.
- Shock and Awe: He strengthens his katana strikes with lightning magic.
John Michael
An American news reporter who wanted to focus on Hyeonu's controversies than his achievements. This did not end well for him to say the least when his fanatic disciples caught wind of this.
