Chapter 112: The Third Proposal |
“Huff, huff… I can’t go any higher…”
My father glanced back at my sister, who’d started whining already, and had a word for her.
“That’s what happens when you don’t exercise. Times like these are exactly when you should be building up your stamina.”
“Ugh, I don’t care… let’s just rest a bit…!”
“If even we can climb this well, a kid in the prime of her youth shouldn’t be struggling.”
It had been a while since the whole family went hiking together.
My parents were fully kitted out, hiking clothes, poles, the works.
The two of them go out for exercise on weekends fairly often even normally. They keep themselves in good shape.
My sister, the only one with a useless constitution, was too busy whimpering to do anything else.
“Mom, how many times have you said that already…”
I chimed in too, half teasing.
“It’s because you laze around all day, every day.”
“Tch, says the climber… If I were a climber I’d be cruising up too, you know?”
“You need the base stats to back it up. If you were level 1, you’d barely scrape the average person’s level.”
She grumbled, but she kept trudging upward all the same.
We reached the summit of Gwanaksan.
I drank in the breeze, looking down at the panorama where the whole city, ringed by mountains, fit into a single view.
My father, who had been drinking water and catching his breath, turned to me and smiled.
“You don’t look the least bit tired. Is that the climber in you?”
“Something like that, ha ha.”
To me it had just been a stroll.
At my current level, I could climb all the way to the top in a minute and not have a single hair out of place.
“I suppose so. A climber would be good at climbing mountains too. Heh heh.”
“Ha ha…”
My father, who had cracked the dad joke and laughed, soon let out a sigh and looked up at the sky.
“The weather really is lovely, isn’t it…”
There was something a little complicated, hard to read, in his expression.
There was only one reason for it.
The Day of Destiny was drawing near once again.
“Seo-hyeon.”
“Yes?”
“It just occurred to me, all of a sudden. That it’s such a blessing the world is still intact after all this time.”
My father said it quietly.
I nodded and looked back over my shoulder.
My mother and sister were taking pictures beside the summit marker.
“And that we get to spend time together like this so often now.”
I had a feeling I knew what he was trying to say.
It was true that ever since the Tower appeared, the family had gone out on outings together far more than before.
After all, it was a world where it wouldn’t be strange for everything to end at any moment.
It made people try to live each day to the fullest.
The Tower’s one and only redeeming function, so to speak.
“I hope we can watch the sunrise again next New Year. All of us together.”
It was a wish, carrying the hope that we’d make it through this year safely too.
“…Don’t worry, Father.”
I said it with a smile.
“Person123 has always pulled it off. He’ll definitely do it this year too.”
There is no failure for Person123.
I would pull it off this time as well.
Yes, I had to pull it off.
“Seo-hyeon! Come over here, I’ll take your picture. You too, dear.”
Mom called out. My father and I had our picture taken too.
After coming down the mountain, we ate duck baeksuk and went home.
It was the point when two months remained until the Floor 8 challenge.
*
Time flowed past, quick as anything.
The world had its share of events, large and small.
And of those, the biggest change on the international stage was North Korea, hands down.
– North Korean leadership undergoes sweeping reform, easing of fear-based rule… a transformation from the roots up?
– North Korea’s Chairman Kang Tae-seong signals commitment to peace on the peninsula and cooperation with the international community… large-scale food relief shipments brought in…
– Denuclearization of North Korea: is it really a possibility?
From the very day the coup broke out, Kang Tae-seong began tearing North Korea down and rebuilding it, just as he’d said he would.
He firmly declared his intent to actively cooperate with the international community going forward and to grant freedom to his people, and even alluded, obliquely, to denuclearization.
The international community, naturally, gave North Korea’s complete about-face an enthusiastic welcome.
The United States gradually lifted its economic sanctions on North Korea, and a number of countries began providing food and relief supplies.
There were surely all sorts of negotiations going on behind the scenes beyond what made the news, but that was no longer any of my concern…
except that Bilon and Kang Tae-seong both kept sending me whispers, so I ended up learning about it anyway.
[Kang Tae-seong: There is something I would like to ask, if I may.]
[Person123: Sure. What is it?]
[Kang Tae-seong: Do you, by any chance, wish for the reunification of North and South?]
He’d ask me things like that, out of nowhere.
Kang Tae-seong seemed to think I had helped him for the sake of our nation’s interests, perhaps…
[Person123: Don’t worry about me. You just do your best, according to your own convictions.]
Helping Kang Tae-seong had been purely a matter of conscience, and things had simply snowballed from there.
I had no particular thoughts on the question of South and North.
Reunification? Well, sure, it’d be nice if it worked out.
But it wasn’t the kind of thing that would flow along smoothly just because I wished for it.
North Korea might be changing, but this was only the very beginning, and even a moment’s thought made it obvious that enormous chaos would follow.
This was already a world where the doomsday clock ticked forward day after day because of the Tower.
If at all possible, I wanted as much of the status quo preserved as could be.
Someday the Korean peninsula really might be reunified, but that would just unfold however it was going to unfold.
I only needed to focus on what I had to do.
[Zone 5 (79.1%)]
Hunting in Zone 5.
I was working at it diligently, but it looked like I still wouldn’t be able to fill the Zone 5 Boss Gauge before challenging Floor 8.
Given the nature of the field, the hunting pace was just too slow.
Pakang!
A Stick Insect, skewered through by an icicle, spilled its bodily fluids and died.
I spoke to the Demon King who occupied my body.
‘Time’s up now.’
“You’re just going to keep hunting anyway, aren’t you? Just let me use it for a bit.”
‘Then I’ll give you another thirty minutes.’
These days, the Demon King had been helping out nicely with the hunting whenever he took over the body.
It seemed he’d built the Ice Castle in Zone 4 and then lost all interest and abandoned it.
Other climbers hunting in Zone 4 eventually discovered it, and for a while the Communication Channel was abuzz with talk of it.
Apparently both the Security Corps and the Black Star Society sent expeditions in, but of course there was no chance of finding any hidden treasure.
I didn’t bother revealing that it was a building I had constructed.
And so, to the other climbers, the Ice Castle remained a mystery of Zone 4.
By now I’d come to understand why the Demon King had been sitting on that throne in there, spacing out…
He’d been trying to recover his memories.
The Demon King had said he had no memory of the period around when his own world was destroyed.
Anyway.
The Demon King and I now maintained a stable cooperative relationship.
A giant leap forward, compared to the days when he’d been desperate to seize my body.
I’d sensed it faintly starting around Floor 7.
The Demon King did seem, after all, to be placing a little bit of hope in me.
“Don’t make me laugh. Hope, in the likes of you…”
The Demon King snorted.
He could say that all he liked, but with our souls intertwined, there was no hiding a lie from each other.
In preparation for clearing the floors ahead, I’d also spent the time getting a grasp on the Demon King’s abilities.
True to his name as the Frigid Demon King, every spell he could use was of the freezing variety, without exception.
The only exception being a single flight spell for getting around.
It would’ve been nice if he could use a wider range of magic.
That part was a bit of a shame, but put the other way, it meant his freezing-type magic was flawless.
Thanks to the Demon King’s presence, I actually felt more confident about clearing Floor 8 than I had the previous floors.
And… the Sage.
I still hadn’t managed to figure out what on earth the Sage had given me.
Would I find out if I ran into some crisis while clearing a floor?
Whatever it was, I just hoped it would show some kind of usefulness…
Otherwise I had a feeling I’d deeply regret not choosing the Book of Omniscience.
[Nightmare]
People: 476,813
Time Limit: 23 days 1 hour 35 minutes 41 seconds
Floor Reached: Floor 8
Time kept flowing on.
The 20-day mark of the Nightmare time limit was right around the corner now.
I gradually steeled myself.
[Skill: Frost Mist (Rare+)]
Spreads a frost mist with a 10-meter radius around the caster. Targets that enter the area are continuously subject to a freezing effect. Casting requires 50 seconds of Mental Concentration.
Classification: Magic Type
Willpower Cost: 35 per second
Cooldown: 1 minute
From Bilon I’d obtained one Rare+ magic-type spell skill, one Rare+ Skill Enhancement Stone, and an assortment of common-grade skills and Enhancement Stones.
The shame of it was that it had to be a freezing-type spell, of all things.
Still, I’d used a Skill Enhancement Stone to enhance Sixth Sense, and now it was at +4.
One more enhancement and I could obtain the Epic-grade skill in the tier above Sixth Sense.
And I’d also enhanced Hellfire Eruption using the Epic-grade Skill Enhancement Stone I’d gotten as a reward before and held in reserve.
[Difficulty: Nightmare]
[Floor: Floor 8]
[Level: 95]
[Willpower: 5,000/5,000]
[Skills: Destruction Ray (Epic+), Subspace (Epic), Hellfire Eruption (Epic)(+1), Sixth Sense (Rare+)(+4), Teleportation (Rare+), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+)…]
“Hmm…”
Sitting at my desk, writing out my will, I paused my pen.
I wrote one every year, but every time I did, I’d get stuck like this.
Even though the contents were similar each time, my thoughts would pile up and I’d end up writing this and that besides.
A thought suddenly came to me.
Someday, maybe even this very year, if my family were to read this will.
What would my mother and father be thinking?
Well, it wouldn’t sit well with them…
Still, I hoped they wouldn’t grieve too much.
Even if the start of it had been half-forced, I’d come this far driven by my own sense of mission, after all.
There had been plenty of times I’d thought, why does it have to be me?
But now, honestly, I think it was a good thing that at least I could be the one to pull it off.
Of course, I’d have to do my best so that my family would never, ever read this. With Floor 8 too.
It was the point when 22 days remained on the Nightmare time limit.
I packed my bags.
For Floors 6 and 7 I’d stayed home, mindful of my family, but this time I planned to travel again. To Jeju Island.
For some reason, I just felt like it.
“Seo-hyeon, you haven’t gone and gotten yourself a girlfriend, have you?”
“…What? No, nothing like that.”
“If not, then never mind. Just checking.”
My father had thrown out a strange suspicion out of nowhere, but anyway.
When the day came, I left the house early in the predawn.
“Have a safe trip. Always be careful, all right?”
My father and mother saw me off at the front door.
As always, their eyes were full of worry.
After all, going off to travel around this time of year wasn’t the best timing.
“Yes, I’ll be careful. Don’t worry too much.”
I greeted them with a smile.
“I’ll be off, then.”
*
For a whole day I ate good food and went around having fun.
Returning to the hotel in the evening, I relaxed while drinking a beer.
I had the Celestial Music Box playing too, the one that calms the mind just to hear it.
[Patrasche: 5 minutes left until day 21!]
[Pine Tree: I believe, I believe… I believe in Person123, savior of humanity…]
[Karo: Ha, starting to get freaking nervous]
[Steamed Crab: Tsk tsk. That guy’s faith is still lacking]
[Frenzy: Just believe and wait, like I keep telling you lol]
When I browsed the Communication Channel, the mood was fairly upbeat.
There were even people talking as if Floor 8 had already been cleared.
Well, it beat them being anxious.
I switched the Communication Channel back off.
[Nightmare]
People: 476,805
Time Limit: 21 days 59 seconds
Floor Reached: Floor 8
It would soon be day 21.
The time when the Tower had always made its proposals.
But for Floor 7, the Tower had made no proposal.
I wondered what it would do this time.
As I quietly waited, watching the dwindling time limit…
[The Tower makes a proposal to ‘Person123’.]
…the message appeared.
I read the contents calmly.
[Should ‘Person123’ accept the following Penalty, a special reward shall be granted in exchange.]
[Penalty: While ‘Person123’ is making the first clear of Floor 8, one of the items in his possession is randomly prohibited from use.]
[Reward: ‘Person123’ acquires ‘Skill: Ark(?)’.]
[Skill: Ark(?)]
Sets a 10-kilometer radius as the Ark’s domain. The Ark completely blocks external threats, including the Fallen, and humans within the Ark’s domain are immune to the Tower’s Curse. Only humans permitted by the skill’s caster may enter the Ark’s domain. The skill can be used in an activated or deactivated state, and an activated Ark lasts forever.
Classification: Special Type
Willpower Cost: None
Cooldown: None
[If Floor 8 is entered before the proposal is accepted, the proposal is voided.]
[If ‘Person123’ wishes to accept the proposal, please indicate acceptance.]
“…”
After checking the penalty and the reward in full.
I knit my brow.
The reward was Ark, the same as for Floor 6.
The radius had even grown much larger, to 10 km.
But… the penalty.
…What kind of sneaky trick is this now?
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