Tower of God: Part 1

Tower of God: Part 1 is the first section of the Tower of God series.

Part 1 of Tower of God began on June 30, 2010 and ended January 9, 2012 on Naver. It contains 80 chapters (including the preview and review), 78 of which are split into 11 Arcs and an epilogue.

It features Twenty-Fifth Baam as it's main protagonist. It's preview is Chapter 0 and the story consists of Chapters 1-78 and Chapter 79 as a review.

Part 1 covers the introductory characters and a detailed explanation of the Second Floor. It gives a brief outline of the Tower and introduces concepts such as Regulars, Irregulars, Rankers and Shinsoo.

It is succeeded by Tower of God: Part 2 - The Return of the Prince.

Intro
When Rachel decides to climb The Tower in search of stars, Twenty-Fifth Baam follows her to be by her side. But Baam quickly finds that there's more to the Tower that meets the eye. During his difficult struggle, he meets many friends and discovers his true potential. But there are dangers lurking around every turn. Will Baam be able to find his friend Rachel? What's to become of Baam during his adventure? It all begins in the Tower of God.

Twenty-Fifth Baam
The main protagonist of Part I, this young boy knows the true value of life and lived in complete solitude. When his only friend leaves him, he is prompted to force his way into The Tower and chase after her. Only he does not know what she is willing to do to reach her goal...

Koon Aguero Agnis
This young man is an expelled 'Child of Koon', hailing from a detested branch of the Koon Family. At first, he saw fit to use Baam, but soon built a strong friendship with him and a desire to lead him to the top of The Tower.

Androssi Zahard
This Princess of Zahard is trying to make her way up The Tower, on her own, with her own power. After taking a liking to Baam, she becomes a figure of guidance and trains him to fight steadily in combat.

Rak Wraithraiser
A member of Baam's team during their time on the 2nd Floor; provides comic relief.

Ha Yuri Zahard
Ha Yuri Zahard is the lady who properly introduced Baam to The Tower, feeling Irregulars deserve the same treatment that Regulars do. After taking pity on the young boy, she lends him the Black March. To her shock, he is transported the the Second Floor, prompting Yuri to go after him and retrieve her beloved 13 Month Series.

Yu Han Sung
Yu Han Sung is the primary antagonist of Part I, although he is later revealed to be supporting Baam behind the scenes. This man cares deeply for the stability of The Tower and is looking forward to the downfall of the Zahard Family.

Lo Po Bia Ren
The secondary antagonist of Part I and member of Zahard's Royal Enforcement Division. His job is to eliminate any threats to Zahard's kingdom. His targets are Anak Zahard and Twenty-Fifth Baam.

Plot Synopsis
It starts with Baam chasing after his friend Rachel. He tugs on her ribbon and they both fall. Baam asks her where she's going, to which she replies that she's going to climb the Tower. She tells Baam to forget about her so that she could be reborn and a light envelops her. Baam begs Rachel not to go, or else he will follow her until death. Rachel makes it into the Tower where she meets Headon. She introduces herself and tells him that she wants to climb the Tower. Headon says to her, "you're not the person the Tower has selected". Rachel asks Headon to give her a chance to climb the Tower, in which Headon gives her the Ball Test. She refuses to do the test and sits out as Baam arrives. Headon welcomes Baam to the Tower and introduces himself as the Guardian of the First Floor. Baam asks if he's seen Rachel and Headon says to head for the Top as he administers the Ball Test for Baam. He tries to make Baam give up the test, but Baam still tries to challenge the test to look for Rachel.

Meanwhile, Yuri and Evan both make their way to the First Floor after hearing that an Irregular has entered. When they make it there, they are disappointed to see that the "Irregular" who came in is just a normal-looking human. As Baam starts running towards the White Steel Eel, Yuri jumps down to try to help him. Evan also comes down after Yuri calls him to give Baam an A-grade Pocket. After a bit of talking, Headon allows to bend the rules if Yuri lends Baam the Black March, which Yuri agrees to. While Baam begins facing the White Steel Eel, Yuri and Evan comment on how bleak the test seems for Baam. Much to Evan's surprise, Baam does not run away from the eel and gets swallowed up. Yuri attempts to go in and save Baam but Evan holds her back saying "that is the answer". Baam reappears outside the eel, having stabbed its tongue, and he strikes the Ball. Nothing happens after a while as Headon tells Yuri, "I guess it's a very well-made ball". As Yuri starts to go and help Baam, Evan tells Baam to ask the Black March to start ignition. Black March appears to Baam and starts ignition in his hands. Afterwards, he is warped to the Second Floor and Yuri and Evan chase after him to get the Black March back. Meanwhile, Rachel once again appears and asks Headon why it is that Baam is chosen when she was the one who wanted to climb the Tower. Headon tells her that if she does something for him, he will make her the heroine of this story and she agrees.

As soon as Baam reaches the 2nd Floor, the test begins. The first test has Baam bringing the total number of Regulars down from 400 to 200. Meanwhile, Koon Aguero Agnis begins recruiting members to join him on his climb. Rak Wraithraiser begins finding prey to hunt down and settles with fighting Baam who is holding the Black March. And somewhere else, Hatsu and Anak Zahard begin to face each other while Ship Leesoo avoids them. Koon meets up with Baam by chance while searching for teammates. They run into Rak where Koon helps Baam get away from him. Here, he finds out about the Black March and instantly teams up with Baam. The first test is over and the next test begins immediately after: make a team of 3 to pass. With no other choice, Koon and Baam have to find a way to get Rak to form a team with them. Similarly, Ship has to find a way to team up with Hatsu and Anak, who form a team quickly and without trouble. Ship manages to team up with them later. Koon and Baam try to distract Rak and make physical contact at the last moment, forming the team, where they pass on to Lero-Ro's test.

Lero-Ro's test is simple, make it past the Shinsoo barrier to the other side. Baam makes it past by virtue of his great Shinsoo resistance. While waiting for the rest of the Regulars to come past the barrier, Lero-Ro tells him about the Tower's structure and about Irregulars. Soon the rest of the Regulars make it through the barrier and they begin Yu Han Sung's test: in 10 minutes, pick the correct door out of all of the doors behind him. By dumb luck, Rak opens a door just before 5 minutes is up, fulfilling the actual conditions for the test: open any door in 5 minutes or less. Ship shows his true worth by figuring out the hints in the test easily. Meanwhile, Quant has just finished his examination where only three Regulars passed: Androssi Zahard, Rachel and Akryung. In order to save face and remedy the situation, they have a bonus game: The Crown Game. The team that wins the Crown Game gets to move on to the 3rd Floor.

The game starts with Anak, Hatsu and Ship facing off against an opposing team of Regulars, where Anak takes the crown and sits on the throne. For the other rounds, they dominate the competition until Anak decides to jump off the throne after Baam after noticing he has the Black March. She bets the Green April and the Black March in the Crown Game saying if Baam's team can defend the Crown for the rest of the rounds, he can have both 13 Month Series. Baam initially refuses the bet until Rak and Koon decide they will accept the bet. Things go well for Baam's team when Baam is sitting on the throne with the crown while Rak and Koon defend the throne. That is until the final round when the mysterious group of Androssi, Rachel and Akryung and powerful warrior take part. Androssi fights against the powerful warrior only for the warrior to take advantage of Androssi's high heels and attack Rachel. Baam steps off the throne to defend Rachel on impulse while unconsciously using Shinsoo to attack the warrior known as Hwa Ryun, damaging her right eye. Baam falls into a coma for several days before the Position Test. Meanwhile, Yuri gathers a ragtag group from Wingtree to take back the Black March and give Baam a place in Wingtree.

While Baam is in bed, Koon learns about Rachel and her relationship to Baam and how she wants Koon to keep it a secret from Baam. Anak quickly finds that the Black March doesn't want to ignite or talk to anyone who isn't a man, making it useless for Anak. She searches for Ship who can't do anything about it and she meets Androssi for the first time. Meanwhile the other Regulars rest up for the next test: the Position Test where they are put into their positions for training. Anak and Androssi are assigned to Fisherman; Rak is assigned to Spear Bearer; Koon and Rachel are assigned to Light Bearer; Hatsu and Ship are assigned to Scout; and Baam, Hwa Ryun, Phonsekal Laure and Ho are assigned to Wave Controller. Baam wakes up just in time to begin the Position Test where he begins to learn the basics of what it means to be a Wave Controller. With additional tips from Laure, Baam quickly realizes his talent for manipulating Shinsoo. During his time on the 2nd Floor, he begins bonding with Ho, Hatsu, Ship, Laure and Androssi.

At some point in the story, we learn that this Anak is not the real Anak Zahard, but rather her daughter who has come to the Tower to seek revenge for her mother and father. Androssi decides to help Anak up the Tower even if it means going against Zahard himself.

Day by day, Baam begins growing stronger and more proficient at manipulating Shinsoo. And Ho grows more and more jealous of Baam's talent. Ho gets a mysterious letter telling him to kill Rachel since she's the one whom Baam is looking for.

The next test is a joint position test known as Hide-and-Seek to the other Regulars. The "it" of the test happens to be the Ranker Quant. The object of the game is to either escape the structure of the test area or tag Quant's badge. The A Team, Koon's team, goes in first. Koon comes up with a plan to tag Quant's badge which fails. With no other choice, A Team scrambles to get to the exit, but Quant quickly catches up to Anak. Koon is forced to use diversionary tactics and planning to get Quant to fall down and let Anak progress. Behind the scenes, Koon and Laure have already agreed to help Quant go up to tag Anak. This is Koon's ploy in order to force Quant to protect Rachel in the next test. As a result, A Team fails the joint position test. Next, it's B Team's turn. Each of the members can't agree on which plan to go with until Androssi comes up with the idea of gathering all of the Fishermen and moveing as a group. The plan begins to go awry when Androssi decides to eliminate the other Fishermen to have a higher chance of passing the test. Meanwhile, Hatsu runs into Quant and tries to hold him off but his teammates leave him. Quant quickly dispatches Hatsu and moves on to save Rachel. The Spear Bearers Parakewl and Mauchi begin their "Spear Bearer Revolution" plan which involves taking everyone on B Team hostage to combat against Quant. Ho goes after Rachel in the Safety Zone and prepares to kill her. Baam just left Androssi and gets a message from a Light Bearer that Rachel is in trouble. Quant appears just before Ho is about to kill Rachel but is stopped by the Spear Bearers threatening to kill their hostages. Thankfully, Baam arrives before too long. Ho threatens to kill Rachel if he doesn't go after the Ranker. Before Baam can do anything, Quant stuns him using Fast Skip and instructs Baam to do the same on Ho while he takes care of the Spear Bearers. Much to Quant's surprise, Baam manages to replicate it in a short amount of time and Ho commits suicide. Androssi steals Narumada from Hong Chunhwa and goes after Quant. She convinces Baam to work together with her to defeat Quant and end the test. While Androssi fights one-on-one with Quant, Baam provides support by using Fast Skip from a distance to stop Quant's movements. By tricking Quant, Androssi manages to tag Quant and win.

After the Hide-and-Seek game, Rachel's legs are supposedly injured and she can't continue the test. Baam has decided to become Rachel's legs and bring her to the top. Koon, Rak and Androssi immediately join in to help and they decide to gather up teammates to help Rachel get to the top of the Tower. Koon goes to Leo-Ro to ask him about some way that they may be able to take Rachel up with them. Meanwhile, Ren contacts RED to confirm the mission to take the Black March and Green April. Yu Han Sung discovers the transmission and offers to help Ren with his plan.

They announce the Regulars who will take the last examination. From the Fishermen: Androssi, Hong Chunhwa, Blarouse and Anak; from the Spear Bearers: Rak Wraithraiser, Akryung, Parakewl and Aleksai Amigochaz; from the Scouts: Ship Leesoo, Hatsu and Sunwoo Nare; from the Light Bearers: Koon and Levin; and from the Wave Controllers: Phonsekal Laure and Baam. Koon asks Yu Han Sung if there is any way for Rachel to be included in the roster for the test and proceeds to ask permission from the Guardian. However, Yu Han Sung reveals that only an Irregular may ask the Guardian to change the rules of the test. Hearing this, Baam stands up and reveals that he is an Irregular, much to the shock of everyone in the room. He demands that he take the test with Rachel from the Guardian. Yu Han Sung reveals that he knew everything about Baam being an Irregular and that he is doing it to help Rachel. He tries to deter Baam from climbing the Tower but Baam refuses saying, "I don't care what others say. I will climb the Tower. And if all of you aren't a bunch of liars, you'd better prepare what I want up there". Meanwhile, everyone else has to choose whether or not to take the test with Baam. Through Koon and Rak's clever planning, everyone is willing to take the test with Baam, regardless of whether he is an Irregular or not.

In the months before the final examination, everyone attends Ho's funeral, Androssi trains Baam in fighting, Koon and Ship create plans of attack, Rak and Amigochaz get better at throwing spears, and everyone prepares for the last test: The Submerged Fish Hunt. The goal is for Rachel and Baam, who are inside of a Shinsoo bubble, to be swallowed by the Mangdol Madame. They have to protect the Mangdol Whales from Thieves and Dogs and the Bull. Ship finds the Bull by chance and tries to protect the Mangdol Whales from being eaten before Androssi and Anak arrive. Androssi and Anak begin arguing over who should be the one to kill it and soon make a bet with the Black March on who kills it first. As Androssi is almost about to defeat it, Anak interrupts and the Bull gets away. As Androssi chases after the Bull, the Bull catches her off-guard and drags her underwater. Anak runs into Ren who reveals that he is controlling the Bull and that he killed Anak Zahard Sr. Out of anger, Anak fights Ren only to be hopelessly destroyed. Ren brings in Androssi and orders her to kill Anak using the Green April. Meanwhile, Yuri's team has just invaded the testing area to retrieve the Black March. Yuri manages to find Ship, who shows her to where Ren, Anak and Androssi are. Androssi refuses to help Ren and instead teams up with Anak to defeat Ren using the Black March and Green April. However, even with the two of them working together, Ren manages to overpower them until Yuri shows up.

Meanwhile, Rak and Parakewl are in a difficult situation when they are chasing down the Thieves. Parakewl ignores Koon's orders and attracts the Thieves' attention. They run away from the Thieves with Koon's directions. Just when it seems that they are going to be killed, Laure comes in and levitates them off the ground. Just before this, Koon and Ship determined that the Dogs travelled through underground tunnels. The Fishermen and the Spear Bearers worked to lead the Dogs to the Thieves using the tunnels. So then Koon tells them to hunt down the remaining Dogs and Thieves. Koon Hachuling, codenamed Mr. Blueberry, hijacks Koon's Lighthouse and informs the team of Yuri's whereabouts. Yuri goes up against Ren, who proves to be more than a match for him. Meanwhile, Evan goes to negotiate with Yu Han Sung about their intrusion and how they will leave after dealing with the assassin (Ren) and taking the Black March. Evan sends Kurudan after Ren, who gets crushed by Kurudan's Dansulsa abilities. Before Ren's container disappears, he gives the Bull one last order: kill Baam. Yuri starts ripping out the testing area only to be stopped by Evan and Yu Han Sung informing her that the test is going according to the Guardian's plans. Before she leaves, she takes the Black March and Green April with her and gives Ship a mark of the Wingtree to give to Baam.

Inside the Shinsoo bubble, Baam and Rachel talk about Rachel's reasons for climbing the Tower and about Baam's progress. The Bull makes an appearance in the Wine Glass and Baam has to defend Rachel. Baam can't use more than one room of Shinsoo at a time so it becomes really difficult for a time. But eventually, Baam manages to freeze the Bull and then destroy it with a Shinsoo Beam from inside its mouth. As Baam was about to celebrate his victory with Rachel, she stands up and pushes Baam out of the Shinsoo bubble saying, "Sorry Baam. You have to die here" leaving Baam to wonder why she would betray him. When Rak and the others go to find Rachel and Baam, only Rachel comes out telling them that Baam died fighting the Bull for her sake. After the test, Lero-Ro informs the rest that they have passed to the next Floor because of Baam's special request. Baam's body was never found according to Lero-Ro and Rachel faints from shock. Seeing this, everyone agrees to help Rachel make it to the top for Baam's sake. Hwa Ryun comes by later, revealing herself to be Rachel's Guide and partner-in-crime, to ask Rachel how she feels about this, to which Rachel responds "a little tired". Hwa Ryun asks Rachel why she is going to such lengths to see the stars for which she replies that she's "afraid of the night (Baam)". After this, everyone gathers to be teleported to the 3rd Floor. Lero-Ro resigns from his position as Test Administrator and Quant is fired too. Lero-Ro plans on going to the 77th Floor to find out the truth and Quant tags along. Hwa Ryun goes to the bottom of the Wine Glass to find Baam who is still alive. Hwa Ryun offers Baam a chance to climb the Tower and find out why Rachel betrayed him leading the way into Part II.