Floor 30 — The Shelter (1)

A fair amount of time had passed since I arrived at the waiting room, but the countdown showed not the slightest sign of changing.

Then again, this was a trial that granted four days from the start. By that measure, I'd finished on the fast side.

The other climbers were probably out on the storm-lashed sea right now, still hunting for their murderers.

There's bound to be at least one poor soul who never finds theirs until the very end……

Which meant I was looking at two more idle days in the waiting room with nothing to do. Even Heijeong was still stuck on Floor 29, so I didn't even have anyone decent to talk to.

Ugh. There really is nothing to do……

I was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling when Floor 29 drifted back into my mind.

We found the murderers earlier than I expected, but……

Honestly, it had been a tough floor for me personally. One thing I'd learned since entering the Tower of Trials was that brain work simply didn't suit me.

I was a born worrier. I'd run through ten thousand possibilities, and the more I thought, the more my brain felt like it was tying itself into knots.

The boat wasn't exactly a picnic either.

It was the first time I'd ever spent more than a day on the water. My physical stats had carried me through, but the open sea in a storm had left me a little dizzy.

Dobby had suffered worst of all. It was his first time on a boat, and the poor guy had been seasick something awful — by the time we reached the waiting room, he'd graduated to being seasick on solid ground.

Only after I'd bought him motion sickness medicine from the shop had he managed to eat a little and finally fall asleep.

That was when a message flew in from Heijeong.

I couldn't hide my surprise at the unexpected answer. Heijeong was sharp — she'd absolutely crushed it back when we played mafia games, too.

If it had gone that badly for her, something must have gone seriously sideways.

Stealth magic in the middle of a storm.

So people really did think alike, no matter who they were. Not that I could blame anyone without that kind of skill — they'd have had no choice but to run themselves ragged on foot.

I'd been about to tell her there were two murderers, and instead I jolted and fired the question back. Come on, really? I wasn't that slow on the uptake.

What on earth had happened during my first run through Floor 30?

No — never mind. It wasn't important. The me of right now had saved seven people, and that was what counted.

After a brief pause, a more serious message arrived from Heijeong.

Deep down I'd already thought it was a good reward, but having Heijeong confirm it outright made the satisfaction all the sweeter.

She fired off another message right away — one I'd already anticipated.

Well, that tracked. Heijeong had saved five sailors — a touch above average. A perfectly reasonable reward.

Even so, it must have stung for her. For a regressor, a floor like this was a frustratingly modest haul.

Just as the conversation was winding down, it occurred to me that I was thoroughly sick of resting. Come to think of it, I'd promised myself I'd ask Heijeong how she killed time in the waiting room……

I fired off a message before I could second-guess myself.

This was a problem Heijeong and I had chewed over before: the sheer lack of a suitable opponent for combat training.

Not good to learn it now?

Which meant, presumably, that this kind of dead time would only pile up further down the Tower.

The marshmallow experiment floated to mind — the one about holding out for a bigger, sweeter reward later instead of grabbing the treat in front of you. Honestly, I was an eat-it-while-it's-warm kind of guy…… but a judgment call from someone who'd climbed past Floor 90 was probably the right one.

Heijeong seemed to need a moment to think, because her reply came a little while later.

Playing pebble games with Dobby did not last long.

At first I'd thrown myself into it with genuine childlike delight, patiently teaching Dobby the rules — but gomoku against a first-timer was so easy it wasn't fun. The checkers died within the hour when the novelty wore off, and baduk was a lost cause; I barely understood it myself, so playing solo was out of the question.

What on earth did I do for fun in the first run?

Beginner or not, playing with someone and playing alone were two entirely different things. The games with Dobby had gone stale just as fast, which left me genuinely curious what solo pastimes were even out there.

Just what kind of outlandish methods had I used back then?

I wracked my brain and came up empty. Fine. Forget it — might as well check the community.

More than anything else, the community was flooded with posts about killing time rather than talk of Floor 29 or the Shelter. Apparently there were a lot more people like me than I'd expected.

Well, made sense — roughly half the climbers had been stuck in their waiting rooms on that stormy night. Two days on, the itch was more than understandable.

Still, with the next floor being the Shelter itself, the whole atmosphere felt less like a forum and more like the grounds of a festival.

Maybe I'll try that word chain.

I stepped into the Korean-only room, and the moment I left a comment, replies came flooding in by the dozen.

All I'd done was show up wanting to play a word game……

And yet the greetings aimed at me kept pouring in. I nearly closed the community right then and there — then remembered that if I did, I'd be back to having absolutely nothing to do.

Poor guy must be feeling the pressure. "Nightcap."

The view of the Shelter I'd been waiting for finally unfolded before my eyes.

My third visit — a landscape I was getting used to by now.

Perhaps because I was moving as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a solo party this time, no one else stood nearby. In the vast blue meadow, there was only me and Dobby.

And then, one by one, the other climbers materialized across the field.

"Suhyeok!"

"Suhyeok, oppa!"

At the shout from my left, I turned to find my party members waving at me — the old man, Seo Harin, Cole, and Hakin.

We'd rarely gotten to stay together for long on any given floor, which made the familiar faces all the more welcome. I waved back and started walking toward them, and Heijeong and Harin immediately began urging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me on.

"Hey, hurry up! We need to claim a spot!"

"That's right! Oppa! Come on, hurry!"

It was such a heartwarming scene that a fond smile crept onto my lips all on its own.