Twenty-Fifth Baam

Twenty Fifth Baam (abbreviated as 'Baam') is an Irregular and is the central protagonist of Tower of God. , Baam enters the Tower in search of his best friend Lahel.

Appearance and the Origin of the Name
Baam is a young boy with brown hair and amber/gold eyes. He wears a brown long sleeved shirt, red vest and beige pants. He is described as good looking and cute by the Black March and Androssi. He is overall human-looking.

He was named after his birthdate, twenty-fifth night. Later the Guardian of the 1st floor, Headon abbreviates his name into Baam, joking "It has become a tasty name!' In Korean, the word 'baam' has two meanings: one is 'night' and the other is 'chesnut'.

History
Baam's early life is mostly unknown and nothing is known where he lived before coming into the Inner Tower, other than that it was some kind of cave. He was dressed in an unkempt manner, he had long unruly hair, and a white scarf around his neck He has never seen blue skies or stars. There was only one light in the cave, and Baam built a huge tower of stones to get to it. At the top, he found that only a small sliver of light was getting past a huge rock in the celieng. When the rock collapsed, a girl called Lahel came down with it. Lahel, who became Baam's only friend, taught him how to read, write and talk. She also told him about the sky and stars, and Baam recalls Lahel let him know the human warmth. She even educated him on many things about the human world, though his grasp on human society is still quite weak.

Plot Summary
Baam entered the Inner Tower in search of his friend Lahel. When Lahel decided to climb the Tower, a golden light descended on Lahel to take her away, but when Baam grabbed her it also caught him and seperated the two of them.

Baam awakened on the first floor of the Tower where he encountered Headon, the Guardian of the 1st floor. Headon welcomed him and decided to test him with a Ball and a White Steel Eel, telling Baam that he could go to the next floor if he pop the Ball. When Yuri and Evan arrived, they gave Baam a A-Grade Pocket. Yuri warned Headon that the test was too much for Baam but Headon refused to change the test. However, he did agree to bend the rules and allowed Yuri to lend Baam Black March to help pass his test.

Baam managed to get past the Steel eel guardian by letting it swallow him and then stabbing it in the tongue. Consequently, he punctured the ball with the Black March. When the ball turned out be tougher than expected, he popped it by Igniting Black March, much to Yuri's surprise. He then arrived on Evankhell's floor, the 2nd floor. He was attacked by some Regulars, but managed to escape through luck and his considerable agility. He decided that he had to fight if he was to ascend the tower and find Lahel, and was just about to attack a harmless creature as Koon appeared and told him that he was making a mistake. Koon then asked if Baam had a pet, and Baam noticed that Rak had just arrived. Rak attacked Koon and Baam, both of whom hid behind a rock to avoid him. When it was announced that the Regulars had to team up, they were left with no other choice than to team up among them three. When they tried to persuade Rak to join them, Rak replied that turtles were for hunting, not for making friends with. Baam realized that Rak only wanted to fight him because of the March, and so dropped it and told Rak to hunt him. The alligator was greatly confused and frustrated by this, but would not come to a rational decision, so Baam and Koon simply grabbed Rak at the last second, forcing him to team up with them.

Baam and the Regulars were teleported to a new room and met their Exam Supervisor, Leo-Ro. After letting them take a rest, Lero-ro blasted a Shinsoo barrier at them. When Baam did not get pushed back by the barrier, Lero-ro realized that 'we got a monster.' He agreed to let Baam pass the test. He sat down with Baam and offered to make a bet on who will get through the barrier first, with the winner getting to ask the loser a question. They both bet on Anak, and both proved to be correct. Baam asked Leo-Ro what an irregular was, which Leo duly explained. Afterwards Koon and Rak got through the barrier and the team prepared for the next test.

Baam, Koon, and Rak passed Yu Han Sung's test, in which they had to rely on a scant few clues to choose a correct door out of several, due to Rak kicking open a random door, which turned out to be the correct answer to the test. They then decided to take part in a bonus game called 'Crown Game'. When Anak noticed the Black March and demanded that he give it to her, Baam made a bet with Anak, and agreed to give Black March to her if his team failed to win the next four rounds. For the first few rounds, Baam simply sat on the throne with the crown while Koon, Rak and their allies wiped the floor with the other Regulars. On the final round, however, Baam saw Lahel being attacked and abandoned the throne trying to save her. Baam made a Shinsoo attack on Lahel's assailiant, who was later revealed to be Hwa Ryun, and fell unconsious himself. As a result, he lost the Black March to Anak.

Baam woke up two days after the position test had begun. Koon told him that the girl he saved was not Lahel, although Baam knew that Koon was lying, and wondered why Lahel did not simply tell him the truth. He was assigned the Wave Controller position and discovered that he has a true talent for handling Shinsoo. He became friends with Androssi, Hatsu, Ho, and Ship Leesoo.

During the Hide and Seek game he was put on Team 2. He watches as Koon's team was defeated by Quant and felt sorry for Koon, although he reminded himself that Koon and him are no longer on a team. He then prepared himself for the group-B test.

In the test, he travelled with Androssi and the other fishermen. He talked with Androssi about her history, and wondered how Androssi had managed to get all the food she wanted. When Androssi ruthlessly betrayed the other Fishermen, Baam realized how she had done it: by defeating or killing everyone who got in her way.

One of the fishermen then attacked Baam, believing him to be in on Androssi's plan. Androssi stepped between them and slammed the Des Lion to the outside of her circle. She then told Baam to watch closely, as she was going to show him what was necessary to climb The Tower. Baam responded by stepping in front of Lion, and saying that it was wrong to fight against their teammates. Androssi responded that if he was to act like this he might as well give up, there was no way he could protect Lahel without hurting people. Lion then tried to take Baam hostage, but Androssi quickly knocked him out. Hong then Ignited his sword and blasted Shinsoo at them both. Baam got in the way, and took heavy damage but managed to stay standing. He then decided to leave, as he would not fight others, and would never attack those precious to him, even if it got him to the stars. Androssi asked him why he kept chasing Lahel, and he simply replied "the heart goes where the heart will", and ran off.

He then found a Lighthouse, and the controlling Light Bearer told him that they had lost communication with Lahel in the Safety Zone. Baam headed there, hoping that Lahel would be alright. When he arrived, he found Ho, who threatened to kill Lahel if Baam did not attack Quant. When Baam complied to save Lahel, Quant immobilized him with Shinsoo, and told Baam that by copying the flow he could stop Ho long enough to rescue Lahel. Baam did this, and was able to rescue her. Ho then lost hope and stabbed herself, which shocked Baam. Afterwards, he stood up, and used his paralysis ability to help Androssi defeat Quant.

Afterwards, instead of rejoicing because his team won, he was sad, due to Ho's death and Lahel's injury. When he found out that Lahel had lost the use of her legs, he went to Koon for help, and Koon agreed to try and find a way to get Lahel into the next test. Baam then went around asking the other Regulars if they would help with little success.

Relationships
Lahel: Baam has a deep friendship with and has strongly implied he is in love with Lahel She was the reason he had entered the tower in the first place. However, since Lahel requested Koon to lie about her identity, Baam wonders why she will not just reveal herself to him, and is aware she may not want him to follow her, but has decided to do so anyway. As for his relationship with Lahel, it could be also implied that she is more like a mother or sister to him. Either way, how his relationship will evolve, will depend on the author.

Koon: Baam was a little uneasy with Koon at first, but they are now fast friends, despite being character foils. Koon has in fact helped Baam out more times than he knows...

Rak: Baam is also friends with Rak, although he is a little bit annoyed by him at times.

Powers and Abilities
Agility: Baam is very agile, he can dodge sword blows very effectively. After his training with Androssi he has gotten much faster and can even avoid the fastest attacks.

Intuition: Despite not being much of a fighter, Baam has good fighting instincts, as shown when he correctly determined a Steel eel's weakness in only a few seconds.

Novice Shinsoo Genius: Baam can use Shinsoo surprisingly well for someone who has had little exerience or training with it. However, he is still a novice, and so far the most he can do is fire two small beams of Shinsoo before his Room runs out - it is worth noting that this ability usually takes several years to learn, something that Baam learnt in a few days. He is also able to use Shinsoo without having formed a contract with the current floor's guardian -- something that is considered both impossible and against the very laws of the tower.

Paralyzing Flow: At medium range, Baam can temporarily immobilize an enemy using Shinsoo. Again, this is an ability that usually takes ages to learn which he mastered quickly, and he can use it at greater range than most.

Shinsoo Resistence: Normally, a person wouldn't be able to move under enormous density of shinsoo, which is usually located at where the white steel eels live. However, Baam has demonstrated an amazing resistence to shinsoo pressure, being able to move freely even in dense shinsoo environment.